The wassail-bowl had gone freely about, and the company--Hobbe Adamson,
Hobbe of the Leghes, William the Arrowsmith, Jack the Woodman, Jack the
Hind, John the Slater, Roger the Baxter, with many others, together with
divers widows of those who owed service to their lord, clad in their
holiday costume--black hoods and brown jackets and petticoats--were all
intent upon their pastimes, well charged with fun and frolic. Their
mirth was, however, generally kept within the bounds of decency and
moderation by a personage of great importance, called the Lord of
Misrule, who, though not intolerant of a few coarse and practical jokes
upon occasion, was yet, in some measure, bound to preserve order and
decorum on pain of being degraded from his office. To punish the
refractory, a pair of stone hand-stocks was commonly used, having
digit-holes for every size, from the paws of the ploughman to the taper
fingers of my lady's maiden. This instrument was in the especial keeping
of the dread marshal of these festivities.
The custom of heriotship, or a fine payable on the death of the
landholder to the feudal lord, was then in most cases rigorously
exacted.
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