lled
pages, and there were a great many of them about the Court. At the
palace of Westminster especially there would be many, for it was
considered a great thing for a boy to be noticed at Court. Every noble
who came to see the King would bring with him some of these pages. The
life must have been on the whole very pleasant for the boys, but there
were many things in it that were disagreeable. For instance, it was one
of the duties of the pages to wait at table and to carve the dishes on
the sideboard, and they were taught to be very particular, and always to
wash their hands before carving. We are told of one boy that his
gentility was so great that he would not wipe his hands like the others,
but waved them about in the air until they were dry! I think this must
have made them red and rough, which would not be very genteel.

The pages were gaily dressed, with short doublets of velvet and fur, and
little daggers, and caps with a feather in them, and often they were
much petted by the ladies, and were much spoilt in consequence.

The boys joined in all the sports of the time, and there were many more
sports then, when England was a wild country without many towns in it,
than there are now. The chase of the wild boar or the wolf was a
favourite sport, and stag-hunting was very popular. It was part of the
duty of pages to know how to skin and cut up the stag. Can you fancy a
refined boy of twelve enjoying that? The pages had to ride with their
masters and lead an extra horse if it were wanted, and they were
supposed always to be bright and courteous. This training served instead
of going to a public school, as boys do at present. As for games, they
had as many as the boys of the present time. One was the quintain. This
was an upright post with two arms at the top, that swung round very
easily. Tied to the end of one was a bag of sand and to the other a
shield. The boy had to run up and hit the shield, and if he did not get
out of the way very fast the bag of sand swung round and hit him on the
back. Probably they played this in the courts of the palace, where are
now the Houses of Parliament, and where one of the yards is still called
New Palace Yard. Other old games of which we know only the names were
'Hoop and Hide,' 'Harry Racket,' 'Hoodwink Play,' 'Loggats,' and
'Stooleballe,' which was like our cricket. These were all very much
liked in the days about the time that Edward's sister Elizabeth married
Henry VII. and b