In this way they visited all their customers and
danced before their doors. A pretty usage then observed in the environs
of the metropolis in the month of May. The merry milkmaids set up a
joyous shout as the youth rode by; and many a bright eye followed his
gallant figure till it disappeared. At the Conduit beyond Shoreditch, a
pack of young girls, who were drawing water, suspended their task to
look after him; and so did every buxom country lass he encountered,
whether seated in tilted cart, or on a pillion behind her sturdy sire.
To each salutation addressed to him the young man cordially replied, in
a voice blithe as his looks; and in some cases, where the greeting was
given by an elderly personage, or a cap was respectfully doffed to him,
he uncovered his own proud head, and displayed his handsome features yet
more fully.
So much for the master: now for the man. In his own opinion, at
least--for he was by no means deficient in self-conceit--the latter came
in for an equal share of admiration; and certes, if impudence could help
him to win it, he lacked not the recommendation. Staring most of the
girls out of countenance, he leered at some of them so offensively, that
their male companions shook their fists or whips at him, and sometimes
launched a stone at his head. Equally free was he in the use of his
tongue; and his jests were so scurrilous and so little relished by those
to whom they were addressed, that it was, perhaps, well for him, in some
instances, that the speed at which he rode soon carried him out of
harm's reach.
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