ecame Queen.

When a boy grew older he ceased to be a page, and became an esquire.
Nowadays everyone puts esq., meaning esquire, on letters in an address,
but at that time a man had really to be an esquire before he could be
called so. He served some knight and rode with him to the wars, or
attended him at home. While he had still been a page he had waited on
the ladies and played to them on the harp, or read to them while they
embroidered; but when he became esquire he very seldom saw the ladies,
and was taught to consider them almost as far above him as angels. For
the next few years he had a great deal to do. He had to dress and
undress his master as if he had been a servant. He had to look after his
master's horse, and when there was any fighting he had to carry a shield
and ride beside his master, ready to die for him if necessary.

Among the games he played indoors were chess and draughts, both of which
people still play. One knight had perhaps many squires, and they were
all supposed to love him very much, and to be perfectly obedient to him.
The young squires had games among themselves, and the squires of two
different knights had little contests, each trying to beat the others.
The squires were able to run and jump straight on to a horse even when
they were covered all over with heavy armour. They danced and turned
somersaults, and performed many other exercises to make them strong and
agile. Even princes had to be squires before they could be knights, and,
if you remember, when Edward the Black Prince was fighting the French at
Crecy, he was not then a knight, but was made a knight because he had
been so brave on that occasion. He took King John of France prisoner,
and brought him to London to a great castle called the Savoy; and when
he had brought him there he did not treat him as a prisoner at all, but
himself took the part of a humble squire, and waited on the French King
while he had supper. Very few princes would have done that; they would
rather have gloried in showing their superiority to their captive. The
palace of the Savoy was in London, further down the river than
Westminster. It is all gone now except the chapel, where people still go
to church on Sundays.

Down beside this part of the river now runs a street with houses and
shops on each side, and it is called the Strand. I wonder if you have
ever heard of the strand at the seaside? It is an old word, meaning the
beach beside water, and the St