{"product_id":"2940013087729","title":"SIR NIGEL","description":"CONTENT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     I. THE HOUSE OF LORING\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     II. HOW THE DEVIL CAME TO WAVERLEY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     III. THE YELLOW HORSE OF CROOKSBURY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     IV. HOW THE SUMMONER CAME TO THE MANOR HOUSE OF TILFORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     V. HOW NIGEL WAS TRIED BY THE ABBOT OF WAVERLEY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     VI. IN WHICH LADY ERMYNTRUDE OPENS THE IRON COFFER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     VII. HOW NIGEL WENT MARKETING TO GUILFORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     VIII. HOW THE KING HAWKED ON CROOKSBURY HEATH\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     IX. HOW NIGEL HELD THE BRIDGE AT TILFORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     X. HOW THE KING GREETED HIS SENESCHAL OF CALAIS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XI. IN THE HALL OF THE KNIGHT OF DUPLIN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XII. HOW NIGEL FOUGHT THE TWISTED MAN OF SHALFORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XIII. HOW THE COMRADES JOURNEYED DOWN THE OLD, OLD ROAD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XIV. HOW NIGEL CHASED THE RED FERRET\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XV. HOW THE RED FERRET CAME TO COSFORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XVI. HOW THE KING'S COURT FEASTED IN CALAIS CASTLE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XVII. THE SPANIARDS ON THE SEA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XVIII. HOW BLACK SIMON CLAIMED FORFEIT FROM THE KING OF SARK\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XIX. HOW A SQUIRE OF ENGLAND MET A SQUIRE OF FRANCE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XX. HOW THE ENGLISH ATTEMPTED THE CASTLE OF LA BROHINIERE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XXI. HOW THE SECOND MESSENGER WENT TO COSFORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XXII. HOW ROBERT OF BEAUMANOIR CAME TO FLOERMEL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XXIII. HOW THIRTY OF JOSSELIN ENCOUNTERED THIRTY OF FLOERMEL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XXIV. HOW NIGEL WAS CALLED TO HIS MASTER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XXV. HOW THE KING OF FRANCE HELD COUNSEL AT MAUPERTUIS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XXVI. HOW NIGEL FOUND HIS THIRD DEED\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     XXVII. HOW THE THIRD MESSENGER CAME TO COSFORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDame History is so austere a lady that if one, has been so ill-advised\u003cbr\u003eas to take a liberty with her, one should hasten to make amends by\u003cbr\u003erepentance and confession. Events have been transposed to the extent of\u003cbr\u003esome few months in this narrative in order to preserve the continuity\u003cbr\u003eand evenness of the story. I hope so small a divergence may seem a\u003cbr\u003evenial error after so many centuries. For the rest, it is as accurate as\u003cbr\u003ea good deal of research and hard work could make it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe matter of diction is always a question of taste and discretion in a\u003cbr\u003ehistorical reproduction. In the year 1350 the upper classes still spoke\u003cbr\u003eNorman-French, though they were just beginning to condescend to English.\u003cbr\u003eThe lower classes spoke the English of the original Piers Plowman text,\u003cbr\u003ewhich would be considerably more obscure than their superiors' French if\u003cbr\u003ethe two were now reproduced or imitated. The most which the chronicles\u003cbr\u003ecan do is to catch the cadence and style of their talk, and to infuse\u003cbr\u003ehere and there such a dash of the archaic as may indicate their fashion\u003cbr\u003eof speech.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI am aware that there are incidents which may strike the modern reader\u003cbr\u003eas brutal and repellent. It is useless, however, to draw the Twentieth\u003cbr\u003eCentury and label it the Fourteenth. It was a sterner age, and men's\u003cbr\u003ecode of morality, especially in matters of cruelty, was very different.\u003cbr\u003eThere is no incident in the text for which very good warrant may not be\u003cbr\u003egiven. The fantastic graces of Chivalry lay upon the surface of life,\u003cbr\u003ebut beneath it was a half-savage population, fierce and animal, with\u003cbr\u003elittle ruth or mercy. It was a raw, rude England, full of elemental\u003cbr\u003epassions, and redeemed only by elemental virtues. Such I have tried to\u003cbr\u003edraw it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor good or bad, many books have gone to the building of this one. I\u003cbr\u003elook round my study table and I survey those which lie with me at the\u003cbr\u003emoment, before I happily disperse them forever. I see La Croix's\u003cbr\u003e\"Middle Ages,\" Oman's \"Art of War,\" Rietstap's \"Armorial General,\" De la\u003cbr\u003eBorderie's \"Histoire de Bretagne,\" Dame Berner's \"Boke of St. Albans,\"\u003cbr\u003e\"The Chronicle of Jocelyn of Brokeland,\" \"The Old Road,\" Hewitt's\u003cbr\u003e\"Ancient Armour,\" Coussan's \"Heraldry,\" Boutell's \"Arms,\" Browne's\u003cbr\u003e\"Chaucer's England,\" Cust's \"Scenes of the Middle Ages,\" Husserand's\u003cbr\u003e\"Wayfaring Life,\" Ward's \"Canterbury Pilgrims;\" Cornish's \"Chivalry,\"\u003cbr\u003eHastings' \"British Archer,\" Strutt's \"Sports,\" Johnes Froissart,\u003cbr\u003eHargrove's \"Archery,\" Longman's \"Edward III,\" Wright's \"Domestic\u003cbr\u003eManners.\" With these and many others I have lived for months. If I have\u003cbr\u003ebeen unable to combine and transfer their effect, the fault is mine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"UNDERSHAW,\" November 30, 1905.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI. THE HOUSE OF LORING\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the month of July of the year 1348, between the feasts of St.\u003cbr\u003eBenedict and of St. Swithin, a strange thing came upon England, for out\u003cbr\u003eof the east there drifted a monstrous cloud, purple and piled, heavy\u003cbr\u003ewith evil, climbing slowly up the hushed heaven.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145541239024,"sku":"2940013087729","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013087729_p0.jpg?v=1763576855","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013087729","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}