Page:Popular Tales of the Germans (Volume 1).djvu/260

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242
THE STEALING

patronage of a full purſe, with thoſe conventional privileges that adhere to birth. Friedbert acted the knight in Naxos with at leaſt as much dignity and grace as an Engliſh taylor does mi lord at Paris, or a runaway valet the Marquis at a German court. He arrayed himſelf in armour without bearing or device: a knightly ſteed, well inſtructed in the manege, was purchaſed at an high price. On the day of tilting he was admitted within the liſts. His imagination, it is true, played him an unforeſeen trick: The ſpace incloſed for the tilting, and the amphitheatre, which aroſe gradually ſeat above ſeat, and was filled with numberleſs ſpectators, recalled the idea of the tremendous oven; but ſometimes, in time of danger, a faint heart ſerves for a ſpur to valour. The ſelf-created knight continued firm in the ſaddle, broke a lance with honour, and merited a knightly recompence, which he received from the hand of the bride. On this occaſion, he had alſo the honour of kiſſing the beautiful Zoe’s hand,whom