Shall blacke ben, in tolequyn, herte swete,
That I am as out of this world gone."
Again, in the Knights Tale, Palamon appeared at a funeral
"In clothes black dropped all with tears."
Froissart says, the Earl of Foix clothed himself and household in black on the death of his son. At the funeral of the Earl of Flanders black gowns were worn. On the death of King John of France, the King of Cyprus wore black. The very mention of these facts would suggest that black was not then universally worn, but being gradually adopted for mourning.
B. H. C.
Chanting of Jurors (Vol. vi., p. 315.).—No answer has yet been given to J. F. F.'s Query on this, yet the expression "to chant" was not an unusual one, if we may believe Lord Stratford:
"They collected a grand jury in each county, and proceeded to claim a ratification of the rights of the crown. The gentlemen on being empanelled informed that the case before them was irresistible, and that no doubts could exist in the minds of reasonable men upon it. His majesty was, in fact, indifferent whether they found for him or no. 'And there I left them,' says Strafford, 'to chant together, as they call it, over their evidence.' The counties of Roscommon, Sligo, and Mayo instantly found a title for the king."
This extract is from a very eloquent article on Lord Strafford in the British Critic, No. LXVI. p. 485.
W. Fraser.