The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-09-12
ApIea for the Tourney.
THE OLD KNIGHTS ERRANT AND THE KNIGB
OF NEWINGTON.


OF EEWINGTON.
rFrom Yesterdays Baltimore Gazette
There are some people who have no idea
Oh true humer, and we fear that the satirist
OF the Evening Bulletin is OF that ilk, for
he has gravely ridiculed the "Tourne-
mcng" which was ridden on Wednesday
at Newington Park, and thinks that they
ought to be rdiculed out OF existence.
Upon that point we solemnly join issue.
We like the tourney; the lists ringed round
with a flame OF fair faces and splendid with
swords; the buglc that blares at the barrier
like wild horn in q land Of echoes,
and the knights who, with lances in
rest, shoot through the ioust like thun-
derDolts, and charge before the eyes Of
ladies' and OF kings. Glorious And when
we can get all this at the reasonable price Of
twenty-five cents we can always be counted
in. What is twenty-five cents compared
with the shock Of the melay, when mace,
brand, shaft, and shield shock like thou
sand changing anyils banged with hammers !?
1t only needs little imagination on the
part OF the spectator to see all this in the
coodly presse of knights that assemble from
time to time in Maryland and the other
southern States. All our sports consist in
part OF make. believe. A Tournemong"
IS in itself no more aDtagonistic to
reason than masquerade, fancy
dress ball, tragedy, or sensational
drama. It hath 4 certain advantage over
these in the way OF realism. Richard Ill.
comes ramping and cayorting down to the
foot-lishts offering his kingdom for horse,
when everybody knows that THERE'S nothing
really The matter with him-that he hasn't
got any kingdom TO swap off-and
wouldn't trust himself on the outside Of
horse If one were offered him gratuitous-
". Yet nobody laughs, and some people
OF delicate nerves wipe their eyes and blow
their noses to conceal their emotion.
There is more make-belieye in three min
utes OF Othello than in two solid days Of
hand-to-hand combat in NewinStop. where
the Young crusaders, with reckless
disregard OF their personal safety
and of Inherent probability as well as
historical accuracy, CALAMITY run their
broomstick lances through the India-rubber
,eething-rings suspended for that purpose
between the earth and sky, before the eyes
OF ladies and Of kings, for the inconsider-
able price OF twenty-five cents. II the
teething-ring were base paynim catif,, or
q dragon, or a giant, or foreswOrn knight,
it would be all the same. With the name
OF their faire ladye upon their lips, their
plumes proudly waving, and their tinfoil
armor flashing in the sun, they would lay
their spears in rest and ride as loyalty to the
press as against the teethingring. Tbering
is symbol; it represents bastard foe of
some sort; but the riding is real. The dex-
trous horsemanship, the graceful seat, the
deit stroke OF the lishtsome speare-these
are things that faire ladyes will love to the
end OF the chapter, and wilt defy ridicnle
even from the incisiye pen OF the Bulletin
satiffst. VI, g59 s. E,te sss
There was a vast deal Of fraud about old
knigbt-errantry. Consider what knight
must have been who. had only one shirt,
and that Of leather, and who wore an iron
pot on his head and tin pantaloons day and
Iightl We have no doubt that our Knights
5of Newineton looked better. rode better
horses, and smelt better, and II Brian de
Bots Gilbert or Launcelot OF the Lake had
ridden Into Newington Park on w ednesdny
I he would have found twenty young knights
!. who could have put a head on him for tho
. merely nominal price OF twenty tiYe cents.
& The tousnemong is o thing which can't be
4 laughed out OF existence. he; gallant
knight ia an Elizabe ethan run, position
iaek.beOts, and cavalier coat OF the. time OF
q Charles T., who galiops down the line ON o
! liyefy-stabIe horse and English riding.sad-
die, Is deserving OF as much credit SIS the