THE TILTYARD. 1S

apprentice to chivalry, and assiduously practised by
all who were ambitious of knightly honour.

Nor did the exercises of the tiltyard end at this
stage. At the time of which I write, the name of
Richard Coeur de Lion was famous in Europe and
Asia; and his feats in arms were on every tongue.
One of his great exploits at the battle of Joppa was
especially the admiration of the brave. It seems
that, when the Crusaders were surrounded and
almost overwhelmed by the swarming host of
Saladin, Richard, who, up to that moment, had
neither given nor received a wound, suddenly sprang
on his charger, drew his sword, laid his lance in rest,
and with his sword in one hand, and his lance in
the other, spurred against the Saracens, striking
sparks from their helmets and armour, and inspiring
such terror that his foes were completely routed.
Naturally such an exploit made a strong impression
on the imagination of aspirants to warlike fame, and
the youth who had the dexterity and the equestrian
skill to imitate it in mimic fray was regarded with
admiration and envy.

Now our concern with Wark, and its tiltyard, is
simply this—that, within the castle, there were trained
in the exercises of chivalry, and qualified for its ho-
nours, two striplings, who, when St. Louis took the
Cross, and undertook a holy war, embarked for the
Kast, and figured, during a memorable expedition,
as the Boy Crusaders.