But they that
were appointed to examine them did not believe them to be any other
than bedlams and mad, or else such as came to put all things into
a confusion in the fair. Therefore they took them and beat them,
and besmeared them with dirt, and then put them into the cage, that
they might be made a spectacle to all the men of the fair.
Behold Vanity Fair! the Pilgrims there
Are chain'd and stand beside:
Even so it was our Lord pass'd here,
And on Mount Calvary died.
{224} There, therefore, they lay for some time, and were made the
objects of any man's sport, or malice, or revenge, the great one of
the fair laughing still at all that befell them. But the men being
patient, and not rendering railing for railing, but contrariwise,
blessing, and good words for bad, and kindness for injuries done,
some men in the fair that were more observing, and less prejudiced
than the rest, began to check and blame the baser sort for their
continual abuses done by them to the men; they, therefore, in
angry manner, let fly at them again, counting them as bad as the
men in the cage, and telling them that they seemed confederates, and
should be made partakers of their misfortunes.
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