he not escape the
vigilance of his two friends, who suspected the real cause of his
absence on the preceding night.

"Thou shalt be her true knight to-morrow, and she shall be queen of our
sports," said the king, graciously extending his hand to the blushing
maiden.

But this speech pleased not some of the courtiers, and Buckingham,
having his eye on this fair flower, secretly resolved that Sir John
should not enjoy its fragrance unmolested.

On the following morning, being Sunday, there came a great company of
peasants and handicraftsmen--notorious idlers about the parish--with a
petition, wherein it was shown that the loyal and peaceable inhabitants
of Lancashire had been long hindered of their usual diversions on
Sundays and other holidays by the rigour of Puritans, Precisians, and
such like folk,[32] who, being enemies to all innocent and lawful mirth,
did mightily begrudge and maliciously restrain their use. These
petitioners, therefore, prayed his Majesty, "that he would not forbid
their exercising of all honest and lawful recreation, such as dancing of
men and women, archery, running, leaping, and vaulting; nor prohibit the
use of May-games, May-poles, morris-dances, and other like lawful
sports, so that the same should not impediment or cause neglect of
divine service."

The ground of this complaint was laid in the time of Elizabeth, who, in
order to reform the manners of the people, instituted a high commission
in the year 1579. The commissioners were Henry Earl of Derby, Henry Earl
of Huntingdon, William Lord Bishop of Chester, and others. At their
sittings, which were held in Manchester, they issued orders throughout
the county against "pipers and minstrels playing, making, and
frequenting bear-baiting and bull-baiting on the Sabbath days, or upon
any other days in time of divine service, and also against superstitious
ringing of bells, wakes, and common feasts; drunkenness, gaming, and
other vicious and unprofitable pursuits." These restrictions the royal
pedant thought incompatible with the public weal, and graciously
answered the petitioners in such-wise that he would have these
over-righteous zealots rebuked; that it was a misuse of their authority;
and that he would not only grant the humble request of his subjects,
but, on that very evening he would have a masque and an allegory, with
dancing and other like diversions, by the lords and other nobility there
present.

Such was the origin of the fa