owing cut (taken from MS. Harl., No. 4751, of the end of the
twelfth century) represents an elephant, with its castle and armed
men, engaged in battle. The bestiaries relate many strange things of
the elephant. They say that, though so large and powerful, and so
courageous against larger animals, it is afraid of a mouse; that its
nature is so cold that it will never seek the company of the female
until, wandering in the direction of Paradise, it meets with the plant
called the mandrake, and eats of it, and that each female bears but
one young one in her life.

[Illustration]

Absurd as we consider such stories, they were believed by the Normans,
who were no less credulous than the Anglo-Saxons. This is evident
from the large number of miracles, revelations, visions, and
enchantments which are related with great gravity by the old
chroniclers.

[Illustration]

THE MISRULE OF KING STEPHEN.

Stephen of Blois was crowned at Westminster Abbey during the Christmas
festival (December 26, 1135). As a King of Misrule, he was fitly
crowned at Christmastide, and it would have been a good thing for the
nation if his reign had been of the ephemeral character which was
customary to Lords of Misrule. The nineteen years of his reign were
years of disorder unparalleled in any period of our history. On the
landing of Henry the First's daughter, "the Empress Matilda," who
claimed the English crown for her son Henry, a long struggle ensued,
and the country was divided between the adherents of the two rivals,
the West supporting Matilda, and London and the East Stephen. For a
time the successes in war alternated between the two parties. A defeat
at Lincoln left Stephen a prisoner in the hands of his enemies; but
after his escape he laid siege to the city of Oxford, where Matilda
had assembled her followers. "The Lady" of the English (as Matilda was
then called) had retreated into the castle, which, though a place of
great strength, proved to be insufficiently victualled. It was
surrounded and cut off from all supplies without, and at Christmastide
(1142), after a siege of three months, Matilda consulted her own
safety by taking flight. On a cold December night, when the ground was
covered with snow, she quitted the castle at midnight, attended by
four knights, who as well as herself were clothed in white, in order
that they might pass unobserved through the lines of their enemies.
The adventurous "Lady" made good her escape, and cr