(5) At this rate, all knowledge is to be had in a
goody, and the end of it is an old song. We need not wonder
when we hear from Monstrelet that Charles was a very well
educated person. He could string Latin texts together by the
hour, and make ballades and rondels better than Eustache
Deschamps himself. He had seen a mad king who would not
change his clothes, and a drunken emperor who could not keep
his hand from the wine-cup. He had spoken a great deal with
jesters and fiddlers, and with the profligate lords who
helped his father to waste the revenues of France. He had
seen ladies dance on into broad daylight, and much burning of
torches and waste of dainties and good wine. (6) And when
all is said, it was no very helpful preparation for the
battle of life. "I believe Louis XI.," writes Comines,
"would not have saved himself, if he had not been very
differently brought up from such other lords as I have seen
educated in this country; for these were taught nothing but
to play the jackanapes with finery and fine words." (7) I am
afraid Charles took such lessons to heart, and conceived of
life as a season principally for junketing and war. His view
of the whole duty of man, so empty, vain, and wearisome to
us, was yet sincerely and consistently held. When he came in
his ripe years to compare the glory of two kingdoms, England
and France, it was on three points only, - pleasures, valour,
and riches, - that he cared to measure them; and in the very
outset of that tract he speaks of the life of the great as
passed, "whether in arms, as in assaults, battles, and
sieges, or in jousts and tournaments, in high and stately
festivities and in funeral solemnities.
Pages:
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254