But our wonderful artist does more; he makes them talk, and tell us just such stories as they would have told in that far-away time.

Don't you wish you could have been with them, and have heard their delightful tales, as they wandered through the lovely English country?

There are three I should dearly like to have heard the Knight's chivalrous story of Palamon and Arcite, and their love for the fair Emelye; the pathetic story of the faithful wife, Griselda, which the gentle Clerk of Oxford told; and the Nun's Priest's bright tale of Chanticleer and his charming Pertilote.

What a pity that we do not know of the arrival at Canterbury, the ceremonies at the Cathedral, and the homeward journey! But the pen dropped from the artist's weary fingers before he depicted those scenes for us; and we can only guess who it was that supped at Harry Bailey's inn at no cost to himself.

THE RED CROSS KNIGHT AND UNA.

THE RED CROSS KNIGHT AND UNA.

"A gentle knight was pricking1 on the plain,
Yclad in mighty arms and silver shield,
Wherein old dints of deep wounds did remain,
The cruel marks of many a bloody field;
Yet arms till that time did he never wield.
Full jolly knight he seemed, and fair did sit,

As one for knightly jousts3 and fierce encounters fit.

"And on his breast a bloody cross he bore,

The dear remembrance of his dying Lord,

For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore,

And dead as living ever him adored.

"A lovely lady rode him fair beside,

Upon a lowly ass more white than snow,
Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide

Under a veil that wimpled was full low,

1Pricking: riding rapidly.

2 Yclad: clothed.

Jousts: mock encounters on horseback. 'Wimpled laid in folds.

And over all a black stole she did throw,
As one that inly mourned; so was she sad,
And heavy sat upon her palfry slow :

Seem'd in heart some hidden care she had,

And by her in a line a milk-white lamb she led."

It was Edmund Spenser, the poet-laureate of Queen Elizabeth's reign, who gave us this beautiful picture; but it is only one of the many exquisite scenes that he has portrayed in his wonderful poem, "The Faery Queene."

Listen, and I will explain the picture to you.

Once upon a time, the Queen of Fairy-Land was holding a festival of twelve days; and the knight who, during that time, could achieve the most glorious deed, was to be rewarded by a rich and beautiful prize. All the knights, far and near, hastened to give evidence of their skill and daring.

On the first day of the festival, there came to the court a beautiful maiden riding upon a snowwhite ass, and followed by a dwarf, leading a warlike steed that bore a suit of armor. The young girl, falling on her knees before the Fairy Queen,

"Stole a long, loose garment.