74)

98 SNATCHING

THE GOOSE. aa

at length, after these frequent pulls, the goose’s
head was easily severed, perhaps by one of the
butcher-boys who had exerted himself far less than
his companions.

When both geese had-been thus decapitated, the |
procession reformed, the trumpeters in front, then
the two victors, bearing the poles to which the
prizes were fastened, and behind them their com-
rades, riding two and two. In this order they
proceeded through several streets till they reached
their lodging-house, where they dined, and then
resumed the dance which had been interrupted
by this out-of-door pastime.

The furriers, too, had their especial way of cele-
brating the Carnival, which, though it has now
disappeared, lasted till the beginning of the present |
century. |

The sport consisted in a solemn procession of |
all the members of the guild, habited in gay or
fantastic dresses, and preceded by a band of music.
Close behind the musicians came a running footman |
attired in a very quaint garb, and he was followed |

by a horseman wearing a sort of Hungarian hussar |
uniform. On his head was the fur kalpag or cap,
over his shoulders the skin of some animal, and in
his right hand gleamed a naked sword. In spite,
however, of all the magnificence of his rider, the |

horse was neither more nor less than a large log |
of wood, with a hole in the middle. The horseman,

who was always selected for his strength and good
mounted his steed by getting into the hole |

looks

and fastening the wood firmly to his hips, in such |
a manner that he could walk comfortably on the
ground while he seemed to be riding a hobby-horse,
which was duly provided with a head and tail, and |
was so covered with rich housings and trappings,
that the felt-covered feet of the hussar were not to
Indeed they seemed to be in the
stirrups, for a very respectable pair of legs, en-

be seen beneath.

cased in trousers and boots, were fastened to his
sides and did duty for his own. The whole con- |
trivance was not a little difficult to arrange, and |
tried the rider’s strength not a little, for to amuse |
the spectators he was obliged to make his horse |
kick and spring and behave itself generally in a
manner the reverse of what might haye been ex-
pected from so respectable an animal. Behind the
horseman came the chest of the company, on a
highly ornamented barrow, and accompanied by
four men very lightly attired, to represent Turks
or Moors, and carrying lemons on the points of
The procession was closed
by all the other members of the guild, masters,
journeymen, apprentices, in their gayest holiday
clothes. Crowds of spectators filled the streets
with their shouts of merriment; but the pageant
was not unaccompanied by risk to those who took

their naked swords.

| their admission to the rank

part in it, whether from the somewhat uncouth

| eapering and curyetting of the wooden horse, or

from the extremely light clothing they were
obliged to wear, and at length the furrier’s festival
became, like so many others, a thing of the past.
The bookbinders kept their carnival with equal
pomp, walking in procession with the chest of
their company, which contained. their charter: of
rights, rules, privileges, &c., and accompanied by
skilled workmen of the order, dressed in white
from head to foot, and adorned with streamers of
many-coloured ribbons. In their hands they carried
hoops, upon which, in some wonderful way, they
managed to balance wine-glasses full of wine, twist-

| ing them round their heads many times with great

agility, to the admiring wonder of the spectators, and
finally drinking the wine to the sound of music.

The Carnival dances of the various companies
were attended principally by the masters and work-
men, with their families. Whether the apprentices
were excluded does not appear, but other persons
were frequently admitted to take part in the dancing
on payment of a small coin. For three nights the
dance lasted, and on these occasions the masters’
daughters were invited, and conducted to and from
their houses, with the most ceremonious respect, by
the members of the guild,

Those were the days when young men were
fined if they did not marry in the first year of
and
were excluded from the worshipful company for,
the trifling offence of striking a cat, dog, or pig
with a stick. There were fines for neglecting to
take part in the processions; fines for omitting to
attend divine service om Sundays without sufficient
reason; and in fact, these guilds ruled their
members with a firm, not to say somewhat oppres-
sive hand, fixing the hours of work, and the
wages, and eyen specifying the dishes to be served
whenever the company gave a banquet. On the
other hand, with all their strict discipline, we
must do the old master-tradesmen the justice to
say they succeeded in strictly excluding bad work
from the market, and preventing any imposition
being practised on the purchaser. Goods exposed
for sale at the fairs were strictly examined; and
every craftsman, before he could become a master,
was obliged to prove his competence by the pro-
duction of one or more “masterpieces.” For
instance, some two hundred years ago a smith

ras required to prove his skill by shoeing the
burgomaster’s horse, without taking the measure
of his hoof; and as many nails as he bent, so
many pounds of wax was he to forfeit. Among |
a certain set of barbers the rule was to test a
journeyman’s skill by requiring him to prepare six
different kinds of plaister and salve; for barbers,
it will be remembered, long discharged the office
of surgeon. When a man wished to become a

of “master ;”

ee ee |