In his girdle he wore a long and double-edged
dagger, which was the only offensive weapon about his person.
He rode, not a mule, like his companion, but a strong hackney for the
road, to save his gallant war horse, which a squire led behind, fully
accoutered for battle, with a chamfron or plaited headpiece upon his head,
having a short spike projecting from the front. On one side of the saddle
hung a short battle-ax, richly inlaid with Damascene carving; on the other
the rider's plumed headpiece and hood of mail, with a long two-handed
sword, used by the chivalry of the period. A second squire held aloft his
master's lance, from the extremity of which fluttered a small banderole,
or streamer, bearing a cross of the same form with that embroidered upon
his cloak. He also carried his small triangular shield, broad enough at
the top to protect the breast, and from thence diminishing to a point. It
was covered with a scarlet cloth, which prevented the device from being
seen.
--Scott: _Ivanhoe_.
Notice also how the description proceeds in an orderly way from one thing
to another, placing together in the description those which occur together
in the person described. Just as we turn our eyes naturally from one thing
to another near it in space, so in a paragraph should our attention be
called from one thing to that which naturally accompanies it. If the first
sentence describes a man's eyes, the second his feet, and a third his
forehead, our mental image is likely to become confused.
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