, where stood a bed,
With milkwhite furs of Alexandria spread:
Beneath, a richly broider'd vallance hung;
The pillows were of silk; o'er all was flung
A rare wrought coverlet of phoenix plumes,
Which breathed, as warm with life, its rich perfumes."[64]

The array of the knights of these days was gorgeous and beautiful; and
though the materials might be in themselves, and frequently were
costly, still were they entirely indebted to the female hand for the
rich elegance of the _tout ensemble_. And the custom of disarming and
robing knights anew after the conflict, whether of real or mimic war,
to which we have alluded as a practice of classical antiquity, was as
much or even more practised now, and afforded to the ladies an
admirable opportunity of exhibiting alike their preference, their
taste, and their liberality.

"Amadis and Agrayes proceeded till they came to the castle of Torin,
the dwelling of that fair young damsel, where they were disarmed and
mantles given them, and they were conducted into the hall."[65]

"Thus they arrived at the palace, and there was he (the Green Sword
Knight) lodged in a rich chamber, and was disarmed, and his hands and
face washed from the dust, and they gave him a rose-coloured
mantle."[66]

The romance of "Ywaine and Gawin" abounds in instances:

"A damisel come unto me,
The semeliest that ever I se,
Lufsumer lifed never in land,
Hendly scho toke me by the hand,
And sone that gentyl creature
Al unlaced myne armure;
Into a chamber scho me led,
And with a mantil scho me cled;
It was of purpur, fair and fine;
And the pane of ermyne."

Again--

"The maiden redies hyr fal rath,[67]
Bilive sho gert syr Ywaine bath,
And cled him sethin[68] in gude scarlet,
Forord wele with gold fret,
A girdel ful riche for the nanes,
Of perry[69] and of precious stanes."

And--

"The mayden was bowsom and bayne[70]
Forto unarme syr Ywayne,
Serk and breke both sho hym broght,
That ful craftily war wroght,
Of riche cloth soft als the sylk,
And tharto white als any mylk.
Sho broght hym ful riche wedes to wer."

On the widely acknowledged principle of "Love me, love my dog," the
steed of a favoured knight was often adorned by the willing fingers of
the fair.

"Each damsel and each dame who her obeyed,
She task'd, together with herself, to sew,
With subtle toil; and