book 2

. canto 3. st. 46.

"So to his steed he got, and 'gan to ride, As one unfit therefore, that all might see He had not trained been in chivalry; Which well that valiant courser did discern; For he despised to tread in dew degree, But chaf'd and foam'd with courage fierce and stern, And to be eas'd of that base burthen still did erne."

In the old poem called the Siege of Karvalerock, a knight is praised for not appearing on horseback like a man asleep.

"Ki kant seroit sur le cheval, Ne sembloit home ki someille."

[68] Chaucer, Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Selden, Titles of Honour,

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