hey craved no more than the right of a making a goodly show in a
dance and procession at the Carnival; and they were by the same token
privileged at that time to wear apparel of velvet and silk, like gentle
folks of noble and knightly degree.

Now this dance and its appurtenances were known at the masked show, and
inasmuch as the aid of the governing class was needed to keep the streets
clear for the throng of craftsmen, and as likewise the yearly outlay was
beyond their means, the sons of the great houses took a pride in paying
goodly sums for the right of taking a place in the procession. And as for
our high-spirited young lord, skilled as he was with his weapon, he had
seen and taken part in many such gay carnival doings among the Italians,
and it was a delight to him to join in the like sport at home, and many
were fain to gaze at him rather than at the guilds.

They assembled under the walls in two bands, and marched past the town
hall and from thence to a dance of both guilds. Each had a dance of its
own. The Fleshers' was such a dance as in England is called a country
dance and they held leather-straps twisted to look like sausages; the
cutlers' dance was less clumsy, and they carried naked swords.

But the show which most delighted the bystanders was the procession of
masks, wherein, indeed, there were many things pleasant and fair to
behold.

A party of men in coarse raiment called the men of the woods, carrying
sheaves of oak boughs with acorns, and a number of mummers in fools'
garb, wielding wooden bats, cleared the way for the procession; first
then came minstrels, with drums and pipes and trumpets and bag-pipes, and
merry bells ringing out withal. Next came one on horseback with nuts,
which he flung down among the children, whereat there was merry scuffling
and screaming on the ground. From the windows likewise and balconies
there was no end of the laughter and cries; the young squires gave the
maids and ladies who sat there no peace for the flowers and sweetmeats
they cast up at them, and eggs filled with rose-water.

This year, whereof I write, many folks in the procession wore garments of
the same color and shape; but among them there were some who loved a
jest, and were clothed as wild men and women, or as black-amoors, ogres
that eat children, ostrich-birds, and the like. Last of all came the
chief glory of the show, various great buildings and devices drawn by
horses: a Ship of Fools, and behind