S.], and you are come of a gentle kindred .-- Ludovic, you will see that your kinsman follow his exercise diligently, for we will have spears breaking one of these days." "By my hilts, and I am glad of it, my Lord--this peace makes cowards of us all.

I myself feel a sort of decay of spirit, closed up in this cursed dungeon of a Castle." "Well, a bird whistled in my ear," continued Lord Crawford, "that the old banner will be soon dancing in the field again." "I will drink a cup the deeper this evening to that very tune," said Balafre.
"Thou wilt drink to any tune," said Lord Crawford; "and I fear me, Ludovic, you will drink a bitter browst [as much liquor as is brewed at one time] of your own brewing one day." Lesly, a little abashed, replied that it had not been his wont for many a day; but that his Lordship knew the use of the company, to have a carouse to the health of a new comrade.
"True," said the old leader, "I had forgot the occasion.

I will send a few stoups of wine to assist your carouse; but let it be over by sunset.
And, hark ye--let the soldiers for duty he carefully pricked off; and see that none of them be more or less partakers of your debauch." "Your Lordship shall be lawfully obeyed," said Ludovic, "and your health duly remembered." "Perhaps," said Lord Crawford, "I may look in myself upon your mirth--just to see that all is carried decently." "Your Lordship shall be most dearly welcome;" said Ludovic; and the whole party retreated in high spirits to prepare for their military banquet, to which Lesly invited about a score of his comrades, who were pretty much in the habit of making their mess together.
A soldier's festival is generally a very extempore affair, providing there is enough of meat and drink to be had; but on the present occasion, Ludovic bustled about to procure some better wine than ordinary; observing that the old Lord was the surest gear in their aught, and that, while he preached sobriety to them, he himself, after drinking at the royal table as much wine as he could honestly come by, never omitted any creditable opportunity to fill up the evening over the wine pot.
"So you must prepare, comrades," he said, "to hear the old histories of the battles of Vernoil and Beauge [in both these battles the Scottish auxiliaries of France, under Stewart, Earl of Buchan, were distinguished....

S.]." The Gothic apartment in which they generally met was, therefore, hastily put into the best order; their grooms were dispatched to collect green rushes to spread upon the floor; and banners, under which the Scottish Guard had marched to battle, or which they had taken from the enemies' ranks, were displayed, by way of tapestry, over the table and around the walls of the chamber.
The next point was, to invest the young recruit as hastily as possible with the dress and appropriate arms of the Guard, that he might appear in every respect the sharer of its important privileges, in virtue of which, and by the support of his countrymen, he might freely brave the power and the displeasure of the Provost Marshal--although the one was known to be as formidable as the other was unrelenting.
The banquet was joyous in the highest degree; and the guests gave vent to the whole current of their national partiality on receiving into their ranks a recruit from their beloved fatherland.

Old Scottish songs were sung, old tales of Scottish heroes told--the achievements of their fathers, and the scenes in which they were wrought, were recalled to mind; and, for a time, the rich plains of Touraine seemed converted into the mountainous and sterile regions of Caledonia.
When their enthusiasm was at high flood, and each was endeavouring to say something to enhance the dear remembrance of Scotland, it received a new impulse from the arrival of Lord Crawford, who, as Le Balafre had well prophesied, sat as it were on thorns at the royal board, until an opportunity occurred of making his escape to the revelry of his own countrymen.