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SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF ALL NATIONS
#49 - MEDIEVAL FRANCE
Size: 3" x 5"
Copyrighted: 1893
Lithographer: Kaufmann & Strauss
  
| Reverse - Text |
Left section:
GRIND
YOUR COFFEE AT HOME
Right section: |
| Medieval France. |
| THE
France of medieval times was
characterized by a much more
attractive civilization than any
of its European contemporaries.
Lightness and gayety have ever
been qualities for which the
French have been famed, and these
were joyous times indeed. Even
the peasantry were delighted
spectators of the pageants which
the nobility were so fond of
instituting. The tourney and the
bout were succeeded by the Mime,
and the rude and uncouth combats
that were often marked by the
death of an occasional contestant
made way for more gentle
sports--the knight was supplanted
by the courtier. |
| The
almost invariable vehicle of
conveyance in cities for high
born dames through the narrow
streets was the sedan-chair.
Could there have been devised a
more elegant frame for setting
off grace and beauty? Charming
indeed were these quilted satin
affairs, made of quaintly carved
wood, and carried by stout
men-servants, accompanied
perchance on horse-back, by some
cavalier whose devotion to the
fair inmate might have been
surmised by his ardent
attentions. |
| While
replete with festive gayety and
pleasure this period adhered to
no particular line of sport. We
find tennis, croquet and billiard
favorite games and hunting the
deer was largely indulged in. |
| A
volatile people will dance; and
when grace is given to its
maidens, together with expressive
features and a most pronounced
gift of arraying their dainty
forms in lovely costumes, the
effect of their dancing is most
pleasing. Even the young men of
medieval France knew how to dress
with most exquisite taste, and
almost all the bisque figures
which delight our eyes when we
gaze at them upon our
mantel-shelves will attest this
fact. |
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NOTE: To see non-Arbuckle usage of this
supposedly copyrighted Arbuckle illustration,
click  here.
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