This passage is aptly illustrated by the cut from the tapestry. The same Bodleian manuscript gives us a playful group, reproduced in our cut No. 163, which Strutt believes to be the game called, in more modern times, “frog-in-the-middle.” One of the party, who played frog, sat on the ground, while his comrades surrounded and buffeted him, until he could catch and hold one of them, who then had to take his place. In our cut, the players are females. [Illustration: _No. 162. Shepherds and Shepherdesses._] [Illustration: _No. 163. The Game of Frog-in-the-Middle._] Games of questions and commands, and of forfeits, were also common in mediæval society. Among the poems of Baudouin and Jean de Condé (poets of the thirteenth century), we have a description of a game of this kind. “One time,” we are told, “there was play among ladies and damsels; there were among them both clever and handsome; they took up many games, until, at last, they elected a queen to play at _roy-qui-ne-ment_ (the king who does not lie); she, whom they chose, was clever at commands and at questions:”-- _Une foi ierent en dosnoi_ _Entre dames et damoiselles;_ _De cointes i ot et de belles._ _De plusieurs deduits s’entremistrent,_ _Et tant c’une royne fistrent_ _Pour jouer au_ roy-qui-ne-ment. _Ele s’en savoit finement_ _Entremettre de commander_ _Et de demandes demander._ --Barbazan Fabliaux, tom. i. p. 100. The aim of the questions was, of course, to provoke answers which would excite mirth; and the sequel of the story shows the great want of delicacy which prevailed in mediæval society. Another sort of amusement was furnished, by what may be called games of chance; in which the players, in turn, drew a character at hazard. These characters were generally written in verse, in burlesque and often very coarse language, and several sets of them have been preserved in old manuscripts. They consist of a series of alternate good and bad characters, sometimes only designed for females, but at others for women and men: two of these sets (printed in my “Anecdota Literaria”) were written in England; one, of the thirteenth century, in Anglo-Norman, the other, of the fifteenth century, in English. From these we learn that the game, in England, was called Rageman, or Ragman, and that the verses, describing the characters, were written on a roll called Ragman’s Roll, and had strings attached to them, by which each person drew his or her chance. The English set has a short preface, in which the author addresses himself to the ladies, for whose special use it was compiled:--