With  the  jaunty  carelessness  of  their  knightly
time,  his  great  lords  and  their  followers  did  not
trouble  themselves  to  inquire,  preferring  to  il-
lustrate the  adage  that  when  the  cat's  away  the
mice  will  play.  Among  his  less  illustrious  re-
tainers, however,  was  one  Blondel,  an  ingenious
minstrel  with  whom  the  king  had  sometimes
amused  himself  by  matching  skill  in  verse.  Dis-
guised as  a  wandering  musician,  this  faithful  fel-
low proceeded  to  travel  about  the  Austrian  do-
minions, and  whenever  he  came  to  a  castle  sang
outside  a  song  which  King  Richard  knew.  His
loyal  search  was  at  last  rewarded  by  the  voice  of


528  MEDI.*:VAL  TRADITIONS

Richard,  who  took  up  the  song  from  inside  a  barred
window.  So  the  king  was  found,  alive  and  safe;
and  presently  his  neglectful  lords  reclaimed  and
ransomed  him.  The  story  lingered  on;  and
shortly  before  the  French  Revolution  a  popular
opera  based  on  it  was  produced  in  Paris.  For  a
while  everybody  knew  a  song  therein  assigned
to  Blondel:

O  Richard,  O  mon  roi,
,L'univers  t'abandonne;.
Sur  la  terre  il  n'est  que  moi
Qui  m*int6resse  a  ta  personne.^

(O  Richard,  O  my  king.
The  world  abandons  thee;
And  no  one  now  remains
To  deliver  thee  but  me.)

How  this  appealed  to  some  loyal  but  not  quite
sober  officers  of  the  Guard  at  Versailles  under
Louis  XVI,  how  they  sang  it  in  an  atmosphere
before  long  to  vibrate  with  the  Marseillaise,
and  how  royalty  nowise  benefited  thereby  you
may  find  set  forth,  if  you  like,  in  Carlyle's  prose
Epic,  the  French  Revolution.
