THE CHRONICLE OF CLEMENDY
to keep pace with this mad and joyous melody and now at Eastertide when so great a company of fair and beauteous ladies and noble warriors were gathered together, some said the good old days had returned again and that they might look before long for King Arthur himself with all his host to return again. And Maistre Jehan Doucereutz the moral rhymer made a piece, richly rhymed, which he called "The Argument of the Dial and the Vane, or Constancy and Variety in Love." This he taught to two young ladies called Alicia and Avisa, and showed them how to stand and hold their figures, while they repeated it; and one evening when the serving men had borne in the tapers and lighted the lamps, this fine poem was recited before all, with so ravishing a grace and gestures so lovely that the High Constable's guests gazed silently at the young maids' lips without uttering a word. But when it was finished a great dispute arose as to the arguments and conclusions between the Dial and the Vane, for in his wisdom Maistre Jehan had left the matter doubtful, and none could determine which of the two he thought was best. Every lady and most of the young knights swore by the pheasant and the peacock that Variety in amours was treason to love; that no virtuous lady would listen to a gentleman that was variable, and that Constancy was one of love's sweetest graces. "What though our ladies slight us, and speak scornfully of us," said Sir Nicholas Kemeys, a young and high-flown gallant, "what though they frown upon us, and turn away when we look at them. Let us
[ 128 ]
