Bellevue gazette. [volume] (Bellevue City, N.T. [i.e. Neb.]) 1856-1858, 1857-02-26
MISCELLANEO
Practical Joking in the Middle


Ages.
The castle, or chasel d'Hcsdin, was a
favorite resort of Philip of Burgundy, and
a place of rest to which he retired TO
auuse himself at his leisure. 1t con-
trastcd strangely with the pleasure palace
Of Louis the Eleventh, near Tours, where
the grounds were known to brisle with
various deadly instruments intended to
Ihnaim trespassers. Ilesdin was as full of
pitfalls and trap-doors as a modern thea
ire but they only served to perpctratc
the coarse though harmless Jokes, in
which the fun of the Middle Ages con-
sisted They seem, indeed, to have only
suited the robust and healthy constitutions
of the people of those days. A few cx-
amples, taken from the records of the
castle, may not be unintereslng. A
stranger issuing, for instance, from gal
lery into neighEorng passage, was
startled by the sudden apparition of n
wooden figure, spouting water. A wet
ting and fright were the necessary con-
sequences. But when the Joke was car
ried further, a set Of brushes were put in
notion, and the patient emerged with
white or a black face, as the case might
be. Another still more powerful engine
was one which seized n man and thrashcd
him soundly. In the centre of the great
gallery was a trap. and near it the figure
of a hermit who prophesied. Ladies
were his most frequent victims. They
no sooner felt an interest in the telling of
their fortunes than the ceiling opened aud
poured forth rain; thunder-claps followed
in quick succession, preceded by uppro-
pirate lightning; and as the air grew
colder, snow fell. Taking refuge from
the storm, the patient entered q danger
Gus shelier above a pit-fall leading into a
sack of feathers, from which escnpe at
last was permitted. The castle of Hes
din was full of tricks of this description.
Besides the pitfaIl just described, there
was in the great gallery bridge which
dropped saunterers into the water. In
various places there were engines which
spouted water when they were touched.
Six figures stood in the hall spouiinr
water, and wetling people in various
ways. At the entrance Of gallery
were eight water-iets rushing upwards,
which wctled people passing, and three
small pipes were so fixed close by rs TO
cover them with -four If the panic.
stricken victims rushed Up TO a window
and opened it, up came figure, we,ting
them, and closing the frame. If sppn-
did nissal on a desk caught curious eye,
the person who went to it was either coy
cred wfh soot or dirt A mirror close
at hand betrayed the trick but whiIstthe
victim wondered al the backncss Of his
face, o,t rushed ilour-drcdgcr that made
him white. The most elaborate Of all
these tricks was one combining almost
tvery species Of deception. A figure Of
a man, was made 10 start in the great gal
lery, Frightening people. by talking or
crying. At the noise, the Ioungers in
other rooms rushed in, upon which a num-
Der Of figures, armed with sticks, came
forth, driving every one, pelI-mell, to the
bridge, where they fell, Of course, into
the waicr.-[The Early Flemish Paint
crs.
. i.5- We are apt TO mistake our voca-
ton in looking out of the vav for orcn