Room! room! for my horse will wince

If he comes within so many yards of a prince;

For to tell you true, and in rhyme,

He was foal'd in Queen Elizabeth's time;

When the great Earl of Lester

In his castle did feast her.

--BEN JONSON, MASQUE OF OWLS.

The amusement with which Elizabeth and her court were next day to be

regaled was an exhibition by the true-hearted men of Coventry, who were

to represent the strife between the English and the Danes, agreeably

to a custom long preserved in their ancient borough, and warranted for

truth by old histories and chronicles. In this pageant one party of the

townsfolk presented the Saxons and the other the Danes, and set forth,

both in rude rhymes and with hard blows, the contentions of these two

fierce nations, and the Amazonian courage of the English women, who,

according to the story, were the principal agents in the general

massacre of the Danes, which took place at Hocktide, in the year of God

1012. This sport, which had been long a favourite pastime with the

men of Coventry, had, it seems, been put down by the influence of

some zealous clergymen of the more precise cast, who chanced to have

considerable influence with the magistrates. But the generality of the

inhabitants had petitioned the Queen that they might have their play

again, and be honoured with permission to represent it before her

Highness. And when the matter was canvassed in the little council which

usually attended the Queen for dispatch of business, the proposal,

although opposed by some of the stricter sort, found favour in the eyes

of Elizabeth, who said that such toys occupied, without offence, the

minds of many who, lacking them, might find worse subjects of pastime;

and that their pastors, however commendable for learning and godliness,

were somewhat too sour in preaching against the pastimes of their flocks

and so the pageant was permitted to proceed.

Accordingly, after a morning repast, which Master Laneham calls an

ambrosial breakfast, the principal persons of the court in attendance

upon her Majesty pressed to the Gallery-tower, to witness the approach

of the two contending parties of English and Danes; and after a signal

had been given, the gate which opened in the circuit of the Chase was

thrown wide to admit them. On they came, foot and horse; for some of

the more ambitious burghers and yeomen had put themselves into fantastic

dresses, imitating knights, in order to resemble the chivalry of the two

different nations. However, to prevent fatal accidents, they were not

permitted to appear on real horses, but had only license to accoutre

themselves with those hobby-horses, as they are called, which anciently

formed the chief delight of a morrice-dance, and which still are

exhibited on the stage, in the grand battle fought at the conclusion

of Mr. Bayes's tragedy. The infantry followed in similar disguises.

The whole exhibition was to be considered as a sort of anti-masque, or

burlesque of the more stately pageants in which the nobility and gentry

bore part in the show, and, to the best of their knowledge, imitated

with accuracy the personages whom they represented. The Hocktide play

was of a different character, the actors being persons of inferior

degree, and their habits the better fitted for the occasion, the more

incongruous and ridiculous that they were in themselves. Accordingly

their array, which the progress of our tale allows us no time to

describe, was ludicrous enough; and their weapons, though sufficiently

formidable to deal sound blows, were long alder-poles instead of lances,

and sound cudgels for swords; and for fence, both cavalry and infantry

were well equipped with stout headpieces and targets, both made of thick

leather.




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