XXVIL1 THE MASTER OF GAME occasions on which the title is specifically mentioned, write it ‘Master of the Game,” it necessary to consider whether the omission of “the” is i i cornea? ae ee e” is in accordance with the majority of the In the seventeen MSS. of the “ Master of Game” examined by me the title occurs (see li MSS.) thirty-nine times. Thirty-three times it is spelt without “the,” five times the latter ne and once we find that the title is given as “‘ Master of all Games.” In view of the prepo _ we of ‘“‘ Master of Game,” that form has been retained. ee eles l! As an indication of the perplexing diversity of spelling I have appended a few examol showing what extraordinary variations were introduced in the spelling of the King’s titles a SuirLey MS.: “Into (y)onour and reuerence of yowe my right worshipful and are lord Henry by ye Grace of God eldest sone and heyre unto ye hye excellent and cristen prynce oe yi ye ferthe by ye forsayde Grace Kynge of England and of ffrance.” Har. 5086: “. . , eldest sone and heyr unto the high excellent and cristyn prince Henry the iiii by the seyde Grace Kyng of Englond and of ffrance.” Haru. 6824: “, .. ye hie excellent and cr i : ysten prince h ye fourth b Kynge of Englond and of Ffraunce.” ae eas Su. 60: “, .. cristen prince h the ferthe bi the forseid i Tee orseide grace King of Ingelond and of App. 18 652 : cee hy excellent and crysten pr ynce h ye fourt by ye forse ’ y g a id grace K n. of 17 B. I].: “. . . heldest sone and heir un to the hie excelle i i : nt and cristen prince h by the forseid Grace Keynge of Ingelond and of Ffrance lorde of irland.” a 17 D. XII.: “. . . hy excellent and cristen prince h the iiii eee Pp € iiii be forsayd grace Kyng of Inge- mn GASTON DE FOIX (“GASTON PHOEBUS ”’) AND HIS BOOK S the “ Master of Game” is to such a great extent a transcript of Count Gaston de one famous ‘La Chasse,” or, to give it its more familiar cognomen, “ Gaston Phoebus,” a name by which both man and book were known, and as, moreover, the eee now before the reader owes so much of its pictorial embellishment to the best existing copy of this classic, it is necessary to devote to the author and to his book fuller notices than would be in place in the general bibliography on venery which will be found at the end of this volume. Our hero was Gaston 11., Count of Foix and Béarn, two principalities on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees between Pau and the Atlantic. Descended in direct line from the royal house of Aragon, the Kings of that country, and of Navarre, and of England were his kinsmen ; and a glance at the history of his family brings back to our memory some of the most stirring episodes of England's early dominion in France. His great-grandfather, Count Roger Bernard m1. of Boe by a marriage with Margaret, daughter and heiress of Count Gaston vu. of the adjoining principality of Béarn, who died without male issue, united Foix with Béarn, and infused into the new line the hot blood of a race of famous warriors. For this Gaston vu. of Béarn was the lusty Aquitaine prince against whom our famous Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort, and, later on, Prince Edward, anon King Edward I., waged such incessant war. Gaston appears to have lived but for fighting, now taking up the cause of the British against his would-be over-lord, the French King, then breaking out in open revolt against his old allies the English, and doing gallant deeds under the French banner. His first revolt resulted in his being sent to England as a prisoner by Montfort, but as Henry mt.’s Queen was his niece he was soon given his liberty again and allowed to return to the turbulent scenes in Aquitaine. It was he who built the stronghold of Orthéz, of which we shall hear so much in these pages ; and when Prince Edward, on his again revolting, took the castle by assault, he had to make an ignominious submission to the English King with a rope round his neck, and lay for several years a prisoner in Winchester Castle. In the end he died peaceably in his castle of Orthéz (1290), and some forty years later (1331) his daughter’s great- grandson, our hero, was born in that historic pile.’ Of the many writers who have left us accounts of ‘‘ Gaston Phoebus ” Froissart is, of course, the best known. But to obtain a correct picture there are others that must be consulted : Gaucheraud, Lavallée, the l'abbé de Madaune, L. de la Briére, Dufau de Maluquer, C. Barriére-Flavy, G. Codorniu, and P. Raymond, as his modern biographers, and Gaston himself in his ‘‘Oroysons.” In presenting to the reader a brief summary of his career it is not the intention to deal with his soldierly deeds, but rather to give a sketch of his character, and of the man and sportsman. What the Flemish historian-errant tells us of him is all of the most flattering nature. In Froissart’s eyes the ruler of Foix and Béarn was the most sage prince in the world; neither the E In Professor Burrows’ ‘‘ The Family of Brocas,” an exceptionally interesting work, there is a picture of the only remaining tower of this once so famous castle. Even quite late ages have added to its interest, for near it, as Prof- Burrows points out, the battle of Orthéz was fought (1814), where for the first and only time in his life the Duke of Wellington was wounded while in pursuit of Soult’s army.