supposed he was always allowed to proceed straight to the goal, or wicket, or even to get near it; but, on the contrary, he was obliged, in most cases, to make a circuit of many hundred yards amongst the trees, with thirty or forty swift-footed fellows stretching after or athwart him, with their fantastic tigers' tails streaming behind them; and he, in like manner, running at full speed, holding his sticks as high over his head as possible, sometimes ducking to avoid a blow, or leaping to escape a trip, sometimes doubling like a hare, and sometimes tumbling at full length, or breaking his shins on a fallen tree, but seldom losing hold of his treasure without a severe struggle. It really seemed as if the possessor of the ball upon these occasions had a dozen pair of eyes, and was gifted for the time with double speed; for in general, he had not only to evade the attacks of those who were close to him, but to avoid being cut off, as it is called in seamen's language, by the others farther ahead. These parts of the game were exciting in the highest degree, and it almost made the spectators breathless to look at them.

10. Sometimes the ball, when thrown up in the first instance by the chief, was reached and struck by one of the party before it fell to the ground. On these occasions, it was driven far amongst the pinetrees, quite out of sight to our eyes, but not to those of the Indians, who darted towards the spot and drove it back again. In general, however, they contrived to catch the ball before it fell, and either to drive it back, or to grasp it and run along, as I have described, towards the end of the ground. Sometimes they were too eager to make much noise; but whenever a sucV. & VI.

Q

cessful blow was made, the people on the winning side uttered a short yell, so harsh and wild, that it made my blood run cold every time I heard it, from being associated with tortures, human sacrifices, scalpings, and all the horrors of Indian warfare.

II. The way of reckoning was most primitive.' Two of the oldest and most trustworthy of the chiefs were seated on one side, each with ten small sticks in his hand, one of which was thrust into the ground every time the ball happened to be driven through the wicket. Twenty was game; but I observed these learned sages never counted higher than ten, so that when it became necessary to mark eleven, the whole ten sticks were pulled out, and one of them replaced. Sometimes the ball fell amongst the groups of lookers-on, the women and children of the different Indian villages. It did not signify a straw, however, who was in their way; all respect of persons, age, and sex was disregarded in the furious rush of the players, whose whole faculties seemed fixed on the game alone.

12. A person had previously taught me the art of avoiding the mischief of these whirlwind rushes of the Indians; and it was fortunate for me that he did so. I was standing on one side of the ground, admiring a grand chase which was going on at some considerable distance, when one of the players, who was watching his opportunity, intercepted the fugitive, and struck the ball out of the other's grasp, though he was bounding along with it at a prodigious rate. The ball pitched within a yard or two of the spot where I was standing. In the next instant a dozen or twenty 1 Primitive, simple,

Indians whizzed past me, as if they had been shot out of cannons. I sprung to the nearest tree, as I had been instructed, and putting my hands and legs round, embraced it with all my might. A poor boy, however, close to me, had not time to imitate my example, and being overwhelmed by the multitude, was rolled over and over half a dozen times, in spite of his screams, which were lost in the clatter of sticks, and the yells and shouts of the combatants, who by this time had become animated by the exercise, and were letting out the secret of their savage nature very fast.

CANTERBURY TALES,

PART I.

1. WHO has not heard of the far-famed sanctuary of Canterbury, where rested the bones of the Archbishop Thomas Becket, who bravely met his death to uphold the cause and arbitrary rule of the Romish Church, and who, venerated as the national saint of England, became renowned as a martyr and worker of miracles? To that sanctuary, year by year, and especially in the spring months, crowds of devout pilgrims flocked from every part of the Christian world; and although such pilgrimages were no doubt often undertaken from the most laudable motives, it is certain that even in the fourteenth century they had become amongst the great masses of the people a mere pretext for every kind of diversion, for purposes of lucre, and even for the indulgence of every form of sinful excess.

Laudable, praiseworthy.

2. It was such a pilgrimage as this that Chaucer took for the framework of his great poem, and, as a Kentish man, he was probably able to describe from experience and personal observation all that occurred on an occasion of this kind. The inimitable prologue1 of the work which, although it comprises twenty thou sand verses, scarcely reached one half of the originally

intended dimensions, begins with a short description of spring, when after the showers of April the sun bids all things bud and blossom in the groves and fields, when the birds make melody, and men from every part of the land long to go on pilgrimages to seek the martyr of Canterbury.

3. At such a season the poet was tarrying with this purpose in view at the house which was long

'Inimitable prologue, such a preface as cannot be equalled.

afterwards widely celebrated under the sign of the Tabard,' in the High Street of Southwark, where pilgrims were wont to assemble from every part, and where they found good accommodation both for themselves and their horses, before they set forth on their way. Towards evening, when the host's room was filled, Chaucer has already made acquaintance with most of the guests, who were of all conditions.

4. The nine-and-twenty persons who composed the party are introduced to us with the most lifelike colouring. A Knight appropriately heads the list. For years his life has been spent either in the field, or in the Crusades; for he was present when Alexandria was taken, helped the Teutonic knights in Prussia against the Lithuanians and Russians, fought with the Moors in Granada, with Arabs in Africa, and with the Turks in Asia. One may see by his dress that he seldom doffs his armour; but, however little attention he pays to externals, his careful mode of speech, and his meek and Christian-like deportment betray the true and gentle knight.

5. The knight is accompanied by his son, a slim, light-haired, curly-headed youth of twenty, the perfect young squire of his day, who is elegantly and even foppishly dressed. He has already made a campaign against the French, and on that occasion, as well as in a tourney, he has borne him well, in the hope of gaining his lady's grace.3 Love deprives him of his sleep, and, like the nightingale, he is overflowing with songs

1 Tabard, an ancient sort of mantle, open at the sides and having wide sleeves reaching to the elbows.

2 Tourney, an entertainment in which gentlemen fought on horseback. Grace, favour.

3