[Illustration: Fig. 167.--Merchants and Lion-keepers at Constantinople.--Fac-simile of
an Engraving on Wood from the "Cosmographie Universelle" of Thevet: folio,
1575.]
The people of the Middle Ages had an insatiable love of sight-seeing; they
came great distances, from all parts, to witness any amusing exhibition.
They would suffer any amount of privation or fatigue to indulge this
feeling, and they gave themselves up to it so heartily that it became a
solace to them in their greatest sorrows, and they laughed with that
hearty laugh which may be said to be one of their natural characteristics.
In all public processions in the open air the crowd (or rather, as we
might say, the Cockneys of Paris), in their anxiety to see everything that
was to be seen, would frequently obstruct all the public avenues, and so
prevent the procession from passing along. In consequence of this the
Provosts of Paris on these occasions distributed hundreds of stout sticks
amongst the sergeants, who used them freely on the shoulders of the most
obstinate sight-seers (see chapter on Ceremonials). There was no religious
procession, no parish fair, no municipal feast, and no parade or review of
troops, which did not bring together crowds of people, whose ears and eyes
were wide open, if only to hear the sound of the trumpet, or to see a "dog
rush past with a frying-pan tied to his tail."
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