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Pia 19: ° 
562 Ancient Games and Pastimes. 
the tournaments. They consisted of single combats. The 
knights who engaged rode at each other armed with 
wooden lances without heads; each tried to unhorse his 
opponent. The excellency of the performance consisted in 
striking the adversary upon the front of his helmet, so as 
to bend him backward from his horse, or break the spear. 
Jousts were inferior in dignity to tournaments but there 
was more scope for the exhibition of individual skill. As 
each knight had a lady to whom he especially devoted 
himself he had more opportunity of distinguishing him- 
self in her eyes than he could have in the confused combats 
of the tournaments, The lists, on the occasion of tourna- 
ments and jousts, were splendidly adorned; platforms were 
erected for the ladies and other spectators, and the pavilions 
decorated with the arms and banners of the barons, &c., 
must have presented a gorgeous spectacle. “Every scenic 
performance of modern times,” says Mr. Hallam, “ must be 
tame in comparison with these animating combats. At a 
tournament the space enclosed within the list was sur- 
rounded by sovereign princes and their noblest barons, by 
knights of established renown, and by all that rank and 
beauty had most distinguished among the fair, Covered 
with steel and known only by their emblazoned shields or 
by the favours of their mistresses, the combatants rushed 
forward to a strife without enmity but not without danger. 
Though their weapons were pointless and sometimes only 
of wood, though they were bound by the laws of the tourna- 
ment to strike only on the strong armour of the trunk, or, 
as it was termed, between the four limbs, these impetuous 
conflicts often terminated in wounds and death. The church 
uttered her excommunications in vain against so wanton an 
exposure to peril, but it was more easy for her to excite 
than to restrain this martial enthusiasm, Victory in a 
tournament was little less glorious and perhaps at the 
moment more exquisitely felt than in the field, sinee no 
battle could assemble such witnesses of valour.” 
Of course the magnificent tournaments and courtly 
jousts were sports that could only be indulged in by the 
rich and noble, indeed, the common people were forbidden 
to take part inthem ; the lower classes had, however, sport 
of their own which bore more or less resemblance to those 
of their superiors, of this kind were tilting at the quintain 
and at the ring. Tilting at the quintain was probably a 
more ancient pastime than the tournament. The quintain 
