Note 1179 — Chapter V
Reading edition
"Je diray de lui que c'estoit le seigneur de la plus belle façon et de la meilleure grace que j'aye veu jamais, fust ce parmy les grandz, parmy ses pairs, parmy les gens de guerre, et parmy les dames, l'ayant veu en France et en Espagne, et parlé à luy." Brantôme, Œuvres, tom. I. p. 369.
An old lady of the French court, who in her early days had visited Flanders, assured Brantôme that she had often seen Egmont, then a mere youth, and that at that time he was excessively shy and awkward, so much so, indeed, that it was a common jest with both the men and women of the court. Such was the rude stock from which at a later day was to spring the flower of chivalry!