“But a short application, though over true,” remarked Herbert.
“I have rather condensed the old monk, and perhaps wrongly, as the latter part of his moral reminds me strongly of a passage in Gay’s fables. ‘The conjurer,’ says the old monk, ‘puts down a dish, but places nothing in it. Then he begins to prate and mock the spectators with fair words and long speeches. Soon he inquires of them: What is in the dish? they look, and it is full of pennies. These he distributes among the bystanders; with thanks they receive his gifts, and eagerly close their hands on them; anon, they open their hands, and lo, there is nothing.’”
“You allude,” said Herbert, “to Gay’s lines, where he describes his conjurer performing his tricks.
“‘Trick after trick deludes the train, He shakes his bag, and shows all fair, His fingers spread, and nothing there, Then bids it rain with showers of gold; And now his ivory eggs are told.’”
“Hardly so much,” replied Lathom, “as the four lines where he says of FORTUNE:
“‘A purse she to the thief exposed; At once his ready fingers closed. He opes his fist, his treasure’s fled, He sees a halter in its stead.’
And now,” continued Lathom, “now for the original of Guy, Earl of Warwick.”
“The original of a romance, that was a celebrated piece in the time of Chaucer, and usually sung to the harp at Christmas dinners and bridals, is indeed a curiosity,” remarked Herbert.
“But how comes Sir Guy in the Latin stories?” said Thompson; “does not Bishop Percy say it was of English growth?”
“I cannot resolve the difficulty,” answered Lathom; “we must admit that it was in French before the end of the thirteenth century; when it came into its Latin dress, must depend on that most difficult of all points, the date and authorship of my volume of stories. But come from where he will, you have here the story of the Champion of Warwick.”
Centuries have gone by since the court of the king of England was adorned by two valorous knights named Guido and Tyrius. Many a hard battle had they fought side by side against the enemies of their king, for the sake of the smiles of the fair ladies to whom they had dedicated themselves. After several years of brilliant deeds of daring and numerous perils, Sir Guido married the lady of his devotions. Happy were the early days of his marriage, for the knight and the lady loved each other greatly. One night Sir Guido saw a vision, as it were an angel of God talking with him, and he was afraid.