This material part of the process achieved, he moreover, ordered that they
should be brought forthwith into his presence, even should he be engaged
in the most serious of the ceremonies of the day. The voice of Peter
speaking in anger was not likely to be unheard, and the stern mandate had
scarcely issued from his lips, when a dozen of the common thief-takers of
Vaud set about the affair in good earnest, and with the best possible
intentions to effect their object. In the mean time the sports continued,
and, as the day drew on, and the hour for the banquet approached, the good
people began to collect once more in the great square to witness the
closing scenes, and to be present at the nuptial benediction, which was to
be pronounced over Jacques Colis and Christine by a real servitor of the
altar, as the last and most important of the ceremonies of that eventful
day.

Chapter XVII.

Ay, marry; now unmuzzle your wisdom.

Rosalind.

The hour of noon was past, when the stage was a second time filled with
the privileged. The multitude was again disposed around the area of the
square, and the bailiff and his friends once more occupied the seats of
honor in the centre of the long estrade. Procession after procession now
began to reappear, for all had made the circuit of the city, and each had
repeated its mummeries so often that the actors grew weary of their
sports. Still, as the several groups came again into the high presence of
the bailiff and the elite not only of their own country but of so many
others, pride overcame fatigue, and the songs and dances were renewed with
the necessary appearance of good will and zeal. Peter Hofmeister and
divers others of the magnates of the canton, were particularly loud in
their plaudits on this repetition of the games, for, by a process that
will be easily understood, they, who had been revelling and taking their
potations in the marquees and booths while the mummers were absent, were
more than qualified to supply the deficiencies of the actors by the
warmth and exuberance of their own warmed imaginations. The bailiff, in
particular, as became, his high office and determined character, was
unusually talkative and decided, both as respects the criticisms and
encomiums he uttered on the various performances, making as light of his
own peculiar qualifications to deal with the subject, as if he were a
common hack-reviewer of our own times, who is known to keep in view th