one
or other should introduce some topic favourable to the purpose which was
uppermost in his mind.

It was not long ere the King of England was brought on the carpet by the
jester, who had been accustomed to consider Dickon of the Broom (which
irreverent epithet he substituted for Richard Plantagenet) as a subject
of mirth, acceptable and inexhaustible. The orator, indeed, was silent,
and it was only when applied to by Conrade that he observed, "The
GENISTA, or broom-plant, was an emblem of humility; and it would be well
when those who wore it would remember the warning."

The allusion to the illustrious badge of Plantagenet was thus rendered
sufficiently manifest, and Jonas Schwanker observed that they who
humbled themselves had been exalted with a vengeance. "Honour unto whom
honour is due," answered the Marquis of Montserrat. "We have all had
some part in these marches and battles, and methinks other princes might
share a little in the renown which Richard of England engrosses amongst
minstrels and MINNE-SINGERS. Has no one of the joyeuse science here
present a song in praise of the royal Archduke of Austria, our princely
entertainer?"

Three minstrels emulously stepped forward with voice and harp. Two were
silenced with difficulty by the SPRUCH-SPRECHER, who seemed to act as
master of the revels, and a hearing was at length procured for the
poet preferred, who sung, in high German, stanzas which may be thus
translated:--

"What brave chief shall head the forces, Where the red-cross legions
gather? Best of horsemen, best of horses, Highest head and fairest
feather."

Here the orator, jingling his staff, interrupted the bard to intimate to
the party--what they might not have inferred from the description--that
their royal host was the party indicated, and a full-crowned goblet went
round to the acclamation, HOCH LEBE DER HERZOG LEOPOLD! Another stanza
followed:--

"Ask not Austria why, 'midst princes, Still her banner rises highest;
Ask as well the strong-wing'd eagle, Why to heaven he soars the
highest."

"The eagle," said the expounder of dark sayings, "is the cognizance of
our noble lord the Archduke--of his royal Grace, I would say--and the
eagle flies the highest and nearest to the sun of all the feathered
creation."

"The lion hath taken a spring above the eagle," said Conrade carelessly.

The Archduke reddened, and fixed his eyes on the speaker, while the
SPRUCH-SPRECHER answered, after a minute's