_Roland and Oliver_.--Canciani says there is a figure in the church
porch at Verona which, from being in the same place with _Roland_, and
manifestly of the same age, he supposes may be _Oliver_, armed with a
spiked ball fastened by a chain to a staff of about three feet in
length. _Who are Roland and Oliver_? There is the following derivation
of the saying "a Roland for your Oliver," without any reference or
authority attached, in my note-book:--
"--Charlemagne, in his expedition against the Saracens, was
accompanied by two '_steeds_,' some writers say 'pages,' named
Roland and Oliver, who were so excellent and so equally matched,
that the equality became proverbial--'I'll give you a Roland for
your Oliver' being, the same as the vulgar saying, 'I'll give
you tit for tat,' i.e. 'I'll give you the same (whether in a
good or bad sense) as you give me.'"