ape on horseback, and I most heartily weary of the rude and dirty
pastime, which I had not seen, I think, in twenty years before."
Foreigners, who have visited England in by-gone times, often allude
scornfully to our forefathers' barbarous diversions; but on the
whole they seem rather to have enjoyed the sport. A Spanish nobleman
was taken to see a poor pony baited with an ape fastened on its
back; and he wrote--"to see the animal kicking amongst the dogs,
with the screams of the ape, beholding the curs hanging from the
ears and neck of the pony, is very laughable!" But enough has been
said of these terrible and monstrous cruelties. Happily for us they
no longer exist, and together with cock-fighting, throwing at cocks
and hens, and other barbarous amusements, cannot now be reckoned
among our sports and pastimes. It was a happy thing for us when the
conscience of the nation was aroused, and the law stepped in to put
an end to such disgraceful scenes which were witnessed in the Paris
Garden at Southwark, or in the rude bull-run of a Yorkshire village.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was not known
in the days of bear-baiting and cock-throwing.

CHAPTER X.

OCTOBER.

"Rivet well each coat of mail;
Blows shall fall like showers of hail;
Merrily the harness rings,
Of tilting lists and tournay sings,
Honour to the valiant brings.
Clink, clink, clink!"--_Armourers' Chorus_.

Tournaments--_Mysteries_--_Moralities_--_Pageants_.

In the days of chivalry, when gallant knights used to ride about in
search of adventures; and when there were many wars, battles, and
crusades, martial exercises were the chief amusements of the people
of England. We have already mentioned some of these sports in which
the humbler folk used to show their strength and dexterity, and now
I propose to tell you of those wonderful trials of military skill
called tournaments, which were the favourite pastimes of the
noblemen and gentry of England in the middle ages, and afforded much
amusement to their poorer neighbours who flocked to see these
gallant feats of arms. Tournaments were fights in miniature, in
which the combatants fought simply to exhibit their strength and
prowess. There was a great deal of pomp and ceremony attached to
them. The lists, as the barriers were called which inclosed the
scene of combat, were superbly decorated, and surrounded by
pavilions belonging to the champio