Chaucer, in the Cook's Tale, thus describes the 'prentice of Cheapside: —
"A prentice dwelt whilom in our cite;
At every bridale would he sing and hoppe;
He loved bet the taverne than the shoppe,
For when ther any riding was in Chepe,
Out of the shoppe thider wold he lepe,
And till that he had all the sight ysein,
And danced wel, he wold not come agen."
Some of the more salient features in the past of Cheapside which present themselves to our view in the gradual unrolling of the panorama of the ten centuries are very varied in their character. We behold a strange intermingling of gorgeous processions in honour of the birth, marriage, and coronation of royal personages, with the pillory, the stocks, and the executioner's block, and the accompanying lopping-off of hands, ears, and heads, and whippings at the cart tail; Lord Mayors' shows, generally more grotesque than refined, and trade guild demonstrations of splendid liveries and floating banners; combined with 'prentices' club frays, and fights between rival trade companies, which seldom ended without bloodshed; tilting at the quintain; tournaments and joustings; alongside with insurrectionary risings and outbursts of religious fanaticism.