"In Easter holidays they fight battles on the water; a shield is hung
upon a pole, fixed in the midst of the stream, a boat is prepared
without oars, to be carried by violence of the water, and in the fore
part thereof standeth a young man, ready to give charge upon the shield
with his lance; if so be he breaketh his lance against the shield, and
doth not fall, he is thought to have performed a worthy deed; if so be,
without breaking his lance, he runneth strongly against the shield, down
he falleth into the water, for the boat is violently forced with the
tide; but on each side of the shield ride two boats, furnished with
young men, which recover him that falleth as soon as they may. Upon the
bridge, wharfs, and houses, by the river's side stand great numbers to
see and laugh thereat....
"When the great fen, or moor, which watereth the walls of the city on
the north side, is frozen, many young men play upon the ice; some,
striding as wide as they may, do slide swiftly; others make themselves
seats of ice, as great as millstones; one sits down, many hand in hand
to draw him, and one slipping on a sudden, all fall together; some tie
bones to their feet and under their heels, and, shoving themselves by a
little picked staff, do slide as swiftly as a bird flieth in the air, or
an arrow out of a crossbow.
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