I gladly assented, for I am somewhat curious about these
relics of popular usages. The servants' hall was a fit place for the
exhibition of an old Gothic game. It was a chamber of great extent,
which in monkish times had been the refectory of the Abbey. A row of
massive columns extended lengthwise through the centre, whence sprung
Gothic arches, supporting the low vaulted ceiling. Here was a set of
rustics dressed up in something of the style represented in the books
concerning popular antiquities. One was in a rough garb of frieze, with
his head muffled in bear-skin, and a bell dangling behind him, that
jingled at every movement. He was the clown, or fool of the party,
probably a traditional representative of the ancient satyr. The rest
were decorated with ribbons and armed with wooden swords. The leader of
the troop recited the old ballad of St. George and the Dragon, which
had been current among the country people for ages; his companions
accompanied the recitation with some rude attempt at acting, while the
clown cut all kinds of antics.
To these succeeded a set of morris-dancers, gayly dressed up with
ribbons and hawks'-bells. In this troop we had Robin Hood and Maid
Marian, the latter represented by a smooth-faced boy; also Beelzebub,
equipped with a broom, and accompanied by his wife Bessy, a termagant
old beldame.
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