Thus, at a tournament held on the 17th November, 1559—­the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession—­Sir Henry Lee, of Quarendon, made a vow that every year on the return of that auspicious day, he would present himself in the tilt yard, in honour of the Queen, to maintain her beauty, worth, and dignity, against all comers, unless prevented by infirmity, accident, or age.  Elizabeth accepted Sir Henry as her knight and champion; and the nobility and gentry of the Court formed themselves into an Honourable Society of Knights Tilters, which held a grand tourney every 17th November.  But in the year 1590, Sir Henry, on account of age, resigned his office, having previously, by Her Majesty’s permission, appointed the famous Earl of Cumberland as his successor.  On this occasion, the royal choir sang the following verses as Sir Henry Lee’s farewell to the Court: 

    My golden locks time hath to silver turned,
      O Time, too swift, and swiftness never ceasing! 
    My youth ’gainst age, and age at youth both spurned,
      But spurned in vain—­youth waned by increasing;
    Beauty, and strength, and youth, flowers fading been;
    Duty, faith, love, are roots and evergreen.

    My helmet now shall make a hive for bees,
      And lover’s songs shall turn to holy psalms;
    A man-at arms must now sit on his knees,
      And feed on prayers that are old age’s alms. 
    And so from Court to cottage I depart,
    My Saint is sure of mine unspotted heart.

    And when I sadly sit in homely cell,
      I’ll teach my saints this carol for a song: 
    Blest be the hearts that wish my sovereign well! 
      Cursed be the souls that think to do her wrong! 
    Goddess! vouchsafe this aged man his right
    To be your beadsman now, that was your knight.

But not long after Sir Henry Lee had resigned his office of especial champion of the beauty of the sovereign, he fell in love with the new maid of honour—­the fair Mrs. Anne Vavasour—­who, though in the morning flower of her charms, and esteemed the loveliest girl in the whole court, drove a whole bevy of youthful lovers to despair by accepting this ancient relic of the age of chivalry.[12]

Queen Isabella vowed to make a pilgrimage to Barcelona, and return thanks at the tomb of that City’s patron Saint, if the Infanta Eulalie recovered from an apparently mortal illness, and Queen Joan of Naples honoured the knight Galeazzo of Mantua by opening the ball with him at a grand feast at her castle of Gaita.  At the conclusion of the dance, Galeazzo, kneeling down before his royal partner, vowed, as an acknowledgment of the honour he had received, to visit every country where feats of arms were performed, and not to rest until he had subdued two valiant knights, and presented them as prisoners to the queen, to be disposed of at her royal pleasure.  After an absence of twelve months, Galeazzo, true to his vow, appeared at Naples, and laid his two prisoners at the feet of Queen Joan, but who, it is said, displayed commendable wisdom on the occasion, and “declined her right to impose rigorous conditions on her captives, and gave them liberty without ransom.”