East he would abstain from wine until he had plunged his sword in an
infidel's blood, and that he would devote two years to the crusade
even if he had to remain all alone, provided Constantinople were not
recovered. Louis de Chevelast swore that no covering should protect
his head until he had come to within four leagues of the infidels,
and that he would fight a Turk on foot with nothing on his arm but a
glove. There was the same emulation in the vows as in the banquets and
many of the self-imposed penalties were as bizarre as the side-shows.

There were so many chevaliers eager to bind themselves to the
enterprise that the prolonged ceremony threatened to become tedious.
The duke, therefore, declared that the morrow would be equally valid
as the day.[8]

The Count of St. Pol was the only knight present who made his going
dependent on the consent of the King of France, a condition very
displeasing to his liege lord of Burgundy.]

"To abridge my tale [continues La Marche], the banquet was
finished and the cloth removed and every one began to walk
around the room. To me it seemed like a dream, for, of all the
decorations, soon nothing remained but the crystal fountain.
When there was no further spectacle to distract me, then my
understanding began to work and various considerations touching
this business came into my mind. First, I pondered upon the
outrageous excess and great expense incurred in a brief space by
these banquets, for this fashion of progressive entertainments,
with the hosts designated by chaplets, had lasted a long time. All
had tried to outshine their predecessors, and all, especially my
said lord, had spent so much that I considered the whole thing
outrageous and without any justification for the expense, except
as regarded the _entremets_ of the Church and the vows. Even that
seemed to me too lightly treated for an important enterprise.

"Meditating thus I found myself by chance near a gentleman,
councillor and chamberlain, who was in my lord's confidence and
with whom I had some acquaintance. To him I imparted my thoughts
in the course of a friendly chat and his comment was as follows:

"'My friend, I know positively that these chaplet entertainments
would never have occurred except by the secret desire of the duke
to lead up to this very banquet where he hoped to achieve a holy
purpose and to resist the