patched round cloak, and a mummer
with a two-peaked hood, the peaks stuffed out stiff, with bells
jangling on the points of them.

Again, among this last group, we must notice the old-fashioned loose
tunics, the coif over the head, tied under the chin, wooden-soled
shoes and pouch-gloves.

[Illustration: {Three men of the time of Edward III.}]

There are some Norfolk merchants and some merchants from Flanders
among the crowd, and they talk as best they can in a sort of
French-Latin-English jargon among themselves; they speak of England as
the great wool-producing country, the tax on which produced L30,000 in
one year; they talk of the tax, its uses and abuses, and how Norfolk
was proved the richest county in wool by the tax of 1341.

The people of England little thought to hear artillery used in a field
of battle so soon as 1346, when on August 26 it was used for the first
time, nor did they realize the horrors that were to come in 1349, when
the Great Plague was to sweep over England and kill half the
population.

[Illustration: {A man of the time of Edward III.}]

There is one man in this crowd who has been marked by everybody. He is
a courtier, dressed in the height of fashion. His cotehardie fits him
very well: the sleeves are tight from elbow to wrist, as are the
sleeves of most of his fellows--some, however, still wear the hanging
sleeve and show an under-sleeve--and his sleeve is buttoned from wrist
to elbow. He wears the newest fashion upon his arm, the tippet, a
piece of silk which is made like a detachable cuff with a long
streamer hanging from it; his cotehardie is of medium length, jagged
at the bottom, and it is of the finest Sicilian silk, figured with a
fine pattern; round his hips he wears a jewelled belt. His hood is
parti-coloured and jagged at the edge and round his face, and his
liripipe is very long. His tights are parti-coloured, and his shoes,
buttoned up the front, are long-toed and are made of red-and-white
chequered leather. By him rides a knight, also in the height of
fashion, but less noticeable: he has his cotehardie skirt split up in
front and turned back; he has not any buttons on his sleeves, and his
belt about his waist holds a large square pouch; his shoes are a
little above his ankles, and are buckled over the instep. His hair is
shorter than is usual, and it is not curled.

[Illustration: {A man of the time of Edward III.; three types of
head-gear}]

As we obse