Unless they grazed, there's not one word
Of their provision on record:
Which made some confidently write, 335
They had no stomachs but to fight.
'Tis false: for Arthur wore in hall
Round-table like a farthingal,[1]
On which, with shirt pull'd out behind.
And eke before, his good knights dined. 340
Tho' 'twas no table some suppose,
But a huge pair of round trunk-hose:
In which he carried as much meat
As he and all his knights could eat,[2]
When laying by their swords and truncheons, 345
They took their breakfasts, or their nuncheons.[3]
But let that pass at present, lest
"We should forget where we digrest;
As learned authors use, to whom
"We leave it, and to th' purpose come. 350
His puissant sword unto his side,
Near his undaunted heart, was tied.
With basket-hilt, that would hold broth,
And serve for fight and dinner both.
In it he melted lead for bullets, 355
To shoot at foes, and sometimes pullets;
To whom he bore so fell a grutch,
He ne'er gave quarter t' any such.
The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty,[4]
For want of fighting was grown rusty, 360
- ↑ The farthingale was a large hoop petticoat worn by the ladies. King Arthur is said to have made choice of the round table that his knights might not quarrel about precedence.
- ↑ True-wit, in Ben Jonson's Silent Woman, says of Sir Amorous La Fool, "If he could but victual himself for half-a-year in his breeches, he is sufficiently armed to overrun a country." Act 4, sc. 5.
- ↑ A substitute for a regular meal; equivalent to what is now called a luncheon. Our ancestors in the 13th and 14th century had four meals a day,—breakfast at 7; dinner at 10; supper at 4; and livery at 8 or 9; soon after which they went to bed. The tradesmen and labouring people had only three meals a day,—breakfast at 8; dinner at 12; and supper at 6. They had no livery.
- ↑ Toledo, in Spain, famous for the manufacture of swords: the Toledo blades were generally broad, to wear on horseback, and of great length, suitable to the old Spanish dress.
