st shot: then he jumped
for joy, and exclaimed, "I was not good enough for my country people to
bring me with them; now, God willing, I will do better still." He made
the most bull's-eye shots, and won a beautiful goblet.

A day or two before the festivities, the strangers who came to shoot
arrived from all parts. The council had to provide them with cheap
quarters, and it was enjoined on the citizens that they were to abstain
from annoying them. Many of the strangers met with a hospitable
reception from some of the cities. If royal persons were invited, their
arrival was announced by a courier; they were received by the council,
lodged, and provided with the usual gift of honour,--wine, beer, and
fish. Sometimes a preliminary shooting trial took place with the guests
who had arrived before the first day of the festival; on such an
occasion at Ratisbon in 1586, a beautiful large goat, covered with red
Lund cloth, together with a beautiful banner, was presented by the
council to the best shot. In Suabia and Bavaria a goat thus attired was
often given at these smaller shooting trials.

On the morning of the festival the _pritschmeister_, with the city
band, went through the streets, calling the strangers to the meeting at
the shooting-ground. The givers of the festival marched in solemn
procession, the _pritschmeister_ in front; behind, the markers, equally
in new dresses and the colours of the city, their marking rods in their
hands; then the trumpeters and fifers; next the dignitaries and
marksmen of the city, followed by a train of young boys of the city,
all dressed alike in festal attire, sons of families of distinction,
who bore the small target banners; after them perhaps, led by a
_pritschmeister_ or some other jovial personage, the boys with the
contumelious banners, the derisive distinction of the bad shots. Then
came other boys, who bore coloured chests, in which were the bolts and
the principal prizes of the shooting. The large and small goblets were
either brought out during the procession, or placed in a special
pavilion on the shooting-ground, under the care of the city police.

On the shooting-ground the drum was again beat, and the marksmen called
together by the _pritschmeister_. The deputy of the city then delivered
a solemn address of greeting, in which he called to mind the old
friendship of the invited cities, and expressed his best wishes for the
festival. The _pritschmeisters_ went again with mus