Norbury, a lean, silent
man, had been to those parts before, and sat his horse with a
rigid neck; but the two young squires gazed eagerly to right or
left, and plucked each other's sleeves to call attention to the
many strange things on every side of them.
"See to the brave stalls!" cried Alleyne. "See to the noble
armor set forth, and the costly taffeta--and oh, Ford, see to
where the scrivener sits with the pigments and the ink-horns, and
the rolls of sheepskin as white as the Beaulieu napery! Saw man
ever the like before?"
"Nay, man, there are finer stalls in Cheapside," answered Ford,
whose father had taken him to London on occasion of one of the
Smithfield joustings. "I have seen a silversmith's booth there
which would serve to buy either side of this street. But mark
these houses, Alleyne, how they thrust forth upon the top. And
see to the coats-of-arms at every window, and banner or pensil on
the roof."
"And the churches!" cried Alleyne. "The Priory at Christ church
was a noble pile, but it was cold and bare, methinks, by one of
these, with their frettings, and their carvings, and their
traceries, as though some great ivy-plant of stone had curled and
wantoned over the walls.
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