Friars also of the
three wandering orders--Dominicans in black, Carmelites in white
and Franciscans in gray. There was no love lost between the
cloistered monks and the free friars, each looking on the other as
a rival who took from him the oblations of the faithful; so they
passed on the high road as cat passes dog, with eyes askance and
angry faces.
Then besides the men of the church there were the men of trade,
the merchant in dusty broadcloth and Flanders hat riding at the
head of his line of pack-horses. He carried Cornish tin,
Welt-country wool, or Sussex iron if he traded eastward, or if his
head should be turned westward then he bore with him the velvets
of Genoa, the ware of Venice, the wine of France, or the armor of
Italy and Spain. Pilgrims were everywhere, poor people for the
most part, plodding wearily along with trailing feet and bowed
heads, thick staves in their hands and bundles over their
shoulders. Here and there on a gaily caparisoned palfrey, or in
the greater luxury of a horse-litter, some West-country lady might
be seen making her easy way to the shrine of Saint Thomas.
Besides all these a constant stream of strange vagabonds drifted
along the road: minstrels who wandered from fair to fair, a foul
and pestilent crew; jugglers and acrobats, quack doctors and
tooth-drawers, students and beggars, free workmen in search of
better wages, and escaped bondsmen who would welcome any wages at
all.
Pages:
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230