CHAPTER IV. THE NORMAN PAGES.


In the days of chivalry the first step towards the degree of
knighthood was that of page. Boys of noble birth, about their
twelfth year, were generally transferred from the home of their
childhood to the castle of some gallant baron to learn the customs
of war and peace at his hand, and to acquire habits of good order
and discipline. These lads fared harder by far than modern boys do
at our great schools; they slept on harder couches, rose earlier,
and had less dainty food. They were forced to pay implicit
obedience to their superiors; modesty in demeanour, as becoming
their age, was strictly required before their elders; and they had
to perform many offices which would now be deemed menial.

First they learned how to manage their horses with ease and
dexterity; next how to use the sword, the bow, and the lance. They
had to attend upon their lords in hunting--the rules of which, like
those of mimic war, had to be carefully studied. The various blasts
of the horn, indicating when the hounds were slipped, when the prey
was flying, and when it stood at bay, had to be acquired, as also
the various tracks of the wild animals--the fox, the wolf, the
bear, the wild boar. Nights and days were frequently spent in the
pathless woods, and the face of the country had to be carefully
studied, while pluck and address were acquired by the necessity of
promptitude when the wild beast stood at bay.

And when the deer or hart was slain they had to "brittle," or break
him up, with all precision, and during the banquet they had
frequently to carve the haunch or chine, and to do it with some