Oxford, and those of Padua and Pisa. He is one of my most esteemed
friends. Master Edgar, as I told you, is greatly skilled for his years in
the use of the sword, to which he has long devoted himself with great
ardour. It is to him my son is indebted for having gained health and
strength, together with more skill in the sword than I had ever looked for
from him. I beg to recommend him highly to your Majesty's favour, and can
answer for his worth, as well as for his strength and skill."

"You could have no better recommendation, Master Ormskirk," the young king
said, pleasantly, "and I trust that although your father cares not for
knighthood, you will have an opportunity of gaining that honour for
yourself."

"I should value it, if won fairly, your Majesty, as the greatest honour I
could gain. It is not that my father holds the honour more lightly than I
do, but I know that 'tis his opinion that if given merely for possession
of land 'tis but an accident of birth, but that if the reward of bravery,
'tis an honour that is of the highest, and one that, were it not that his
thoughts are wholly turned towards scholarship and to discovering the
secrets of nature, he himself would gladly have attained."

"Methinks that he is right," the king said. "In the time when every
landowner held his feu on condition of knightly service rendered whenever
called upon, it was well that he should be called a knight, such being the
term of military command; but now that many are allowed to provide
substitutes, methinks that it is an error to give the title to stay-at-
homes. I shall be glad, young sir, to see you also at Court, though,
methinks," he added, with a smile, "that you have inherited some of your
father's sobriety of nature, and will hold our pleasures at small price."