es of religions observance, whose minutiae were attended to as much
as if they were sacramental rites, though they were not unfrequently of
the most childish character, and whose pomp and precision often caused the
most insufferable annoyance. But notwithstanding the perpetual changes of
times and customs, the French nation has always been distinguished for
nobility and dignity, tempered with good sense and elegance.

If we now direct our attention to the _tiers etat_, that class which, to
quote a celebrated expression, "was destined to become everything, after
having for a long time been looked upon as nothing," we shall notice that
there, too, custom and tradition had much to do with ceremonies of all
kinds. The presence of the middle classes not only gave, as it were, a
stamp of grandeur to fetes of an aristocratic and religions character,
but, in addition, the people themselves had a number of ceremonies of
every description, in which etiquette was not one whit less strict than
in those of the court. The variety of civic and popular ceremonies is so
great, that it would require a large volume, illustrated with numerous
engravings, to explain fully their characteristic features. The simple
enumeration of the various public fetes, each of which was necessarily
accompanied by a distinct ceremonial, would take up much time were we to
attempt to give it even in the shortest manner.

[Illustration: Fig. 397.--Entry of the Roi de l'Epinette at Lille, in the
Sixteenth Century.--From a Miniature in a Manuscript of the Library of
Rouen.]

Besides the numerous ceremonies which were purely religious, namely, the
procession of the _Fete-Dieu_, in Rogation week, and the fetes which were
both of a superstitions and burlesque character, such as _des Fous, de
l'Ane, des Innocents_, and others of the same kind, so much in vogue
during the Middle Ages, and which we shall describe more in detail
hereafter, we should like to mention the military or gymnastic fetes.
Amongst these were what were called the processions of the _Confreres de
l'Arquebuse_, the _Archers_, the _Papegaut_, the _roi de l'Epinette_, at
Lille (Fig. 397), and the _Forestier_ at Bruges. There were also what may
be termed the fetes peculiar to certain places, such as those of _Behors_,
of the _Champs Galat_ at Epinal, of the _Laboureurs_ at Montelimar, of
_Guy l'an neuf_ at Anjou. Also of the fetes of _May_, of the _sheaf_, of
the _spring_, of the _roses_, of the _fi