144 JOURNEYS AND MARKETS. 



mayor sat at his court " of the dusty feet." A mixed multitude 

 were engaged in sale or purchase : the nobles securing such 

 articles of luxury as were offered them, or which law and 

 custom assigned to their rank their rich robes of peace, 

 their armour from Milan, their war horses from Spain. The 

 franklin came for materials for his farm, and furniture for 

 his house ; sometimes even to buy rams in order to improve 

 the breed of his flock. The bailiffs of college and monastery 

 were busy in the purchase of clothing. And on holidays and 

 Sundays, some canon, deputed from the neighbouring priory, 

 said mass and preached in the booth assigned for religious 

 worship. 



After the fair was over, the owner of the field in which 

 the gathering took place resumed possession, and found suffi- 

 cient profit for the temporary occupation of his land in the 

 additional fertility which the unclean habits of medieval life 

 had conferred upon the soil. 



