Ivanhoe: A Romance, Page 54

  NOTE TO CHAPTER XXXII

  Note H.--Richard Coeur-de-Lion.

  The interchange of a cuff with the jolly priest is not entirely outof character with Richard I., if romances read him aright. In the verycurious romance on the subject of his adventures in the Holy Land, andhis return from thence, it is recorded how he exchanged a pugilisticfavour of this nature, while a prisoner in Germany. His opponent wasthe son of his principal warder, and was so imprudent as to give thechallenge to this barter of buffets. The King stood forth like a trueman, and received a blow which staggered him. In requital, havingpreviously waxed his hand, a practice unknown, I believe, to thegentlemen of the modern fancy, he returned the box on the ear withsuch interest as to kill his antagonist on the spot.--See, in Ellis'sSpecimens of English Romance, that of Coeur-de-Lion.