Old English Customs THE FAVERSHAM MOOT HORN. This horn served for the calling of local assemblies at Faversham, Kent, circa 1300. Old Snglish Customs Sxtant at the Present Time An Account of Local Observances^ Festival Customs^ and (Ancient Ceremonies yet Surviving in Great Britain By T. H. T)itchfield, 3U.A., F.S.A. London c K 1896 \v PREFACE I HE object of this work is to describe all the old customs which still linger on in the obscure nooks and corners of our native land, or which have survived the march of progress in our busy city's life. There are many books which treat of ancient customs, and repeat again the stories told by Brand, Hone, and other historians and antiquaries ; but, as far as we are aware, there is no book describing the actual folk-customs yet extant, which may be witnessed to-day by the folk-lorist and lover of rural manners. We have endeavoured to supply this want, and to record only those customs which time has spared. Undoubtedly the decay has been rapid. Many customs have vanished, quietly dying out without giving a sign. The present generation has witnessed the extinc- tion of many observances which our fathers practised and revered, and doubtless the v 286064 Preface progress of decay will continue. We have entered upon a diminished inheritance. Still it is surprising to find how much has been left ; how tenaciously the English race clings to that which habit and usage have estab- lished ; how ancient customs hold sway in the palace, the parliament, the army, the law courts, amongst educated people as well as unlearned rustics ; how they cluster around our social institutions, are enshrined in reli- gious ceremonial, and are preserved by law ; how carefully they have been guarded through the many ages of their existence, and how deeply rooted they are in the affections of the English people. It is really remark- able that at the present day, in spite of ages of education and social enlightenment, in spite of centuries of Christian teach- ing and practice, we have now amongst us many customs which owe their origin to pagan beliefs and the superstitions of our heathen forefathers, and have no other raison d'etre for their existence than the wild legends of Scandinavian mythology. I desire to express my thanks to more than vi Preface sixty correspondents in different parts of the country for the kind aid they have given me in collecting information for this work. It has often been difficult to deter- mine whether during recent years particular customs have become defunct, and the only method of acquiring trustworthy informa- tion has been to communicate with local authorities. I have been fortunate in find- ing able writers, folk-lorists, and antiquaries in all parts of England, who have kindly written to me concerning the customs in their localities, and furnished me with most valuable information. I gratefully preserve their names : Dr. Williamson, Surrey. Miss Banfield, Cornwall. Rev. H. Kingsford, Worcester. V. G. Hewett, Esq., Kent. S. Andrew, Esq., Lancashire. Rev. G. B. Brooks, Bucks. C. J. Billson, Esq., Leicester. Rev. Dr. Lee, Bucks. Rev. W. Norman, Bedford. R. M. Dawkins, Esq., Devon. Mrs. Musters, Notts. W. M. Brookes, Esq., Yorks. vii Preface Rev. E. H. Goddard, Wilts. Rev. J. B. Jones, Cornwall. Rev. W. Poole, Hereford. Rev. A. J. Edwards, Beds. R. P. L. Booker, Esq., Eton College, Professor Rhys, Oxford. Rev. E. Atkinson, Cambridge. Rev. W. H. Sewell, Suffolk. Rev. H. F. Howard, Berks. T. M. Fallow, Esq., Yorks. Rev. J. Moreton, Cornwall. J. BagnalJ, Esq., Stafford. Rev. E. Bradley, Lichfield. W. H. Evans, Esq., Berks. Capt. Dickinson (Army). Major R. Holden (Army). G. F. Alldritt, Esq., Surrey Commander Edye. Capt. Anson, R.N. Rev. C. P. Winter, Wales. Rev. W. C. Box, Northants. Miss Righton, Kent. Rev. Canon Beach (Army). Miss Cornwall, Gloucester. Rev. H. J. Carter, Cambridge. W. Cudworth, Esq., Yorks. Rev. C. V. Goddard, Dorset. Lady Read, Wales. P. Manning, Esq., Oxford. Sir George Birdwood. Rev. W. G. Rutherford, Westminster. Mrs. L. Simonds, Hants, viii Preface E. Armstrong, Esq., Oxford. Rev. Augustin Ley, Hereford. Rev. A. J. M'Caul, London. Rev. J. H. Fleming, Norfolk. Rev. E. C. Bond, Devon. Rev. J. L. Francis, Devon. W. Norbury, Esq., Cheshire. Rev. W. H. Lyon, Dorset. Rev. C. Farrow, Yorks. Rev. E. A. Chichester, Surrey. Rev. G. Parr, Middlesex. Rev. W. H. Connor, Northumberland. Rev. G. B. Vaux, Kent. Rev. A. W. Headlam, Durham. G. E. Dartnell, Esq., Wilts. J. W. Bradley, Stafford. Mrs. Ogle, Cheshire. Rev. J. B. Robins, Oxford. I am of course indebted to Notes and Queries > which has for so many years devoted much of its space to the preserving of the records of ancient customs. The labours of the Folk-Lore Society are well known, and their publications have been very useful to me in the progress of this work. Finally, I have to express my thanks to Mrs. Gomme, who, in conjunction with her husband, the first President of the Folk-Lore Society, has ix Preface done so much for the study of the science of Folk-lore, and who has most kindly assisted me in revising the proof-sheets of this work. For the loan of the illustration of the Faversham Moot Horn I am in- debted to the editor and publisher of Mr. LI. Jewitt's book on Corporation Plate. P. H. D1TCHFIELD. BARKHAM RECTORY, Midsummer -day 1896. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PAGES The decay of old customs Causes of their decline Numerous survivals Not confined to the country Pagan origin Importance of their preservation The calendar 1-7 CHAPTER I Christmas customs Mumming Folk-drama in Devon, Yorks, &c. "Vessel boxes" Carol-singing Fur- mety at Christmas Mistletoe and kissing-bush Plum- pudding Christmas-tree Bell customs at Dewsbury, &c. Boar's-head at Oxford Barring out in Cumber- land Mumping and goodening on St. Thomas' Day Hoodening "Picrous day" Burghead custom St. Stephen's Day and stoning the wren Yule Doos and local cakes Boxing-Day Pantomimes Christmas- cards 8-36 CHAPTER II New Year's Day and first-footing Banffshire custom Wassail bowls New Year's gifts and good wishes Midnight services Queen's College, Oxford Yorks custom Local rhymes and wassailers Quaaltagh in Isle of Man Twelfth Night or Epiphany Plough Monday Wassailing orchards Court custom Hakey Hood Watching animals St. Paul's Day Valentine's Day Islip valentine Customs in Berks and Essex Hurling at St. Ives . . . 37~58 xi Contents CHAPTER III PAGES Lenten customs Shrove Tuesday Pancake-bell Shrov- ing Tossing pancakes at Westminster Devonshire rhymes Welsh survival of thrashing the hen Coquilles at Norwich Football on Shrove Tuesday Mothering Sunday Simnels Care Sunday Palm Sunday and ball-play Fig Sunday Spy Wednesday Maundy Thursday Good Friday and hot cross buns Skipping on Good Friday and marbles Guildford custom Custom at St. Bartholomew's Church, Lon- don Blue-Coat School custom ^Flogging Judas Cornish custom of gathering shellfish St. David's Day 5^-77 CHAPTER IV Easter customs Pace-eggs Clapping for eggs in Wales Pace-egg play Biddenden custom Kentish pudding- pies Hallaton hare-pie and bottle kicking School customs St. Mark's Day and ghosts Custom at St. Mary's, Woolnoth Hocktide at Hungerford All Fools' Day 78-94 CHAPTER V May Day customs Magdalen College, Oxford Sweep at Oxford and Cheltenham Bamptom customs Charlton, Clifton, and Witney, Oxon Edlesborough, Bucks Minehead and Hawick customs Saltash, Cornwall Lancashire, Leicestershire, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Northants customs Old Maypole still standing Gawthorpe, Yorks St. Mary, Cray 95-110 CHAPTER VI Helston Furry dance Rogation-tide and Ganging Week Beating the bounds at Malborough, Lichfield, Oxford, Leicester, and London Royal Oak Day Wilts custom Selkirk Common - Riding "Grovely" Singing custom at Durham . . ui-122 xii Contents CHAPTER VII PACKS Club feasts at Whitsuntide Bampton, Oxon Morris- dancers Irish ' ' death ride " Wakes in Lancashire and Yorks Rush-bearing at Oldham, Ambleside, Grasmere Hay strewing at Braunston, Leicester Horn dance at Abbot Bromley " Flower Sermon " Cornish " feasten " Sunday .... 123-140 CHAPTER VIII Midsummer Eve customs, Pontypridd, Wales Cornish customs Bale-fires Ratby meadow-mowing Reeve houses at Desford Harvest customs Mell-sheaf and Kern-supper Kern-baby The "maiden" Cailleach Devonshire " Knack " " Dumping " Harvest- bell Horn-blowing in Hertfordshire Harvest-songs Sheep-shearing in Dorset Michaelmas goose Biddenham rabbit St. Crispin's Day and the shoe- makers 141-159 CHAPTER IX The Fifth of November Berks songs Beckley and Hed- dington, Oxon Town and Gown at Oxford Harcake or Tharcake, Lancashire Local cakes St. Clement's Day "Souling"on All Soul's Day Allan apples at Penzance Butchers' custom . . . 160-172 CHAPTER X Local customs Gloves in Church of Abbots Ann, Andover Dunmow Flitch Skimmerton-riding in Wilts and Dorset Riding the Stang .... 173-181 xiii Contents CHAPTER XI FACES Holy Wells Scottish superstition Pin-wells Rag-wells Well-dressing in Derbyshire Tissington well-dress- ing Endon, Staffordshire Youlgrave, Derbyshire St. Alkmund's, Derby Wishing-wells Walsing- ham, Norfolk 182-189 CHAPTER XII Marriage customs Orange blossoms Rice-throwing Wedding-ring Bride's veil Shoe-throwing Custom at Stoke Courcy Knutsford custom Chopped straw at weddings Spur-peal Holderness customs Kiss- ing in Somerset Yorkshire Dale customs Races for ribbons Courting customs Taking Day at Crowan Cornish miners' custom Shooting the bride The Sin- eater Funeral customs Passing bell Yorks funeral biscuits Corpse roads Crape on beehives Telling the bees Burying cheeses Wheat at funerals 190-205 CHAPTER XIII Legal customs Clameur de Haro Tynwald Hill and Manx laws Court of pie-powder Court-leets and Court-barons Court of Exchequer Borough-English Gavelkind Court Leet at Dunchurch Heriots Judge's black cap Gray's Inn Curious custom at Royal Courts of Justice 206-219 CHAPTER XIV Civic customs Lord Mayor's show Former splendour of civic processions Livery Companies of London Civic banquets Loving-cup Election of Master of Girdlers' Company Skinners' Company Vintners' Company Swan-upping and the Dyers' Company The salt-cellar of the Innholders' Company Silver cradle Colchester oyster feast Huntingdon and the ox's skull Preston Guild York and Mayoress' chain Freemasons 220-231 XIV Contents CHAPTER xv PACES Bell-ringing customs Dewsbury Pancake-bell Bells as guides Pudding-bell Harvest-bell Gleaning-bell Curfew Passing-bell Eight-hours' bell at Ged- dington, &c. Calling servants at Fulham Palace Auction by candle at Aldermaston, Corby, Warton Market Drayton Coventry and Lady Godiva Pack Monday Fair Rockland Guild Mock Mayors- Statute fairs Gingerbread fairs Town-crier's call Relic of feudalism at Dalton-in-Furness Survival of old charm Colting at Appleby Brixham market custom Raffling for Bibles Witches' obelisk Gipsy custom Ploughing custom .... 232-255 CHAPTER XVI Court customs Epiphany customs Maundy custom Coronation customs Royal births Royal funerals 256-266 CHAPTER XVII Parliamentary customs Searching the House Introduc- ing new member Hat ceremony "Who goes home ? " Royal assent to Bills Ceremony of opening Parliament Installation of Speaker Introduction of new Peers in House of Lords Woolsack . 267-275 CHAPTER XVIII Curious doles Plums at Christmas Dorsetshire custom Gloves for the parson Bread and cheese for all- Scrambling charity Figs and ale Pork and petticoats Old love-feasts Bull-baiting Poor seamen Lamps in London Washing Molly Grime Predilec- tion for colours Tombstone charity Prisoners at Newgate Redeeming English slaves Maid-servants Musical bequest " Lion sermon " Pax cake National events Dancing round John Knill's tomb Dole at Hospital of St. Cross at Winchester . 276-285 XV Contents CHAPTER XIX PAGES Army customs Keys at the Tower Twelfth Lancers and hymn-tunesScotch traditions of the 1st regiment of foot Royal Welsh Fusiliers and St. David's Day Inkerman Day Royal Berks Scots Greys 7th Hussars 8th Hussars Regimental nicknames 1 4th Hussars Coldstream Guards The Buffs Northum- berland Fusiliers Suffolk Regiment Lancastrian Fusiliers Relics of American War Royal Canadians Cheshire regiment 7th Fusiliers Duke of Corn- wall's Light Infantry Black Watch . . 286-298 CHAPTER XX Curious tenures Modern customs Conclusion . 299-308 APPENDIX (i.) Words of Berkshire mumming plays . , . 309-314 (2.) Mummers' play at Islip, Oxon .... 315-319 (3.) Mummers' play at Bampton, Oxon . . . 319-326 (4.) Melodies of the Morris-dancers at Bampton, Oxon 327-331 (5.) The Boar's-head song at Queen's College, Oxford 332-333 XVI Old English Customs INTRODUCTION The decay of old customs Causes of their de- cline Numerous survivals Not confined to the country Pagan origin Importance of their preservation The calendar. MANY writers have mourned over the decay of our ancient customs, which the restlessness of modern life has effectually killed. New manners are ever pushing out the old, and the lover of antiquity may perhaps be pardoned if he prefers the more ancient modes. The death of the old social customs, which added such diversity to the lives of our forefathers, has not tended to promote a reign of happiness and content- ment in our village communities, but rather to render rustic life one continuous round of labour unrelieved by pleasant pastime. The causes of the decline and fall of many old customs are not far to seek, Agri- A Otd;\Rnglish Customs cultural depression has killed many. The deserted farmsteads no longer echo with the sounds of rural revelry; the cheerful log- fires no longer glow in the farmer's kitchen ; the harvest-home song has died away, and " largess " no longer rewards the mummers and morice dancers. When poverty stands at the door, mirth and merriment are afraid to enter. Moreover, the labourer himself has changed ; he has lost his simplicity. His lot is far better than it was fifty years ago, and he no longer takes pleasure in the simple joys that delighted his ancestors in days of yore. Railways and cheap excursions have made him despise the old games and pastimes which once pleased his unenlightened soul. The old labourer has died, and his successor is a very " up-to-date " person, who reads the newspapers and has his ideas upon politics and social questions that would have startled his less cultivated sire. Again, the shriek of the engine has sounded the death-note of many once popular festivals. The railway-trains began to convey large crowds of noisy townsfolk to popular rural gatherings, and converted the simple rustic feasts into pandemoniums of vice and drunken revelry. Hence the authorities were forced to interfere, and to order the discontinuance of the festivals. Such has been the fate of such popular gatherings as the Langwarthby The Survival of Customs Rounds, which once delighted the hearts of the Cumberland folk. In consequence of these causes the decay of many old customs was inevitable. Never- theless they have not all died yet, and it is indeed surprising how many still linger on in the obscure corners of our native land, where railroads and modern culture have not yet penetrated. We will endeavour to record the customs that still remain, the survivals of old-world rural life. We will visit the quaint and quiet streets of rural towns and villages ; hear the rude rhymes of the mummers and " souling " children, and mark their fantastic dress and strange un- couth capers. Handed down from remote antiquity, these verses have been passed on from generation to generation and preserve the record of England's history writ in the memories of her children. Norse legends, that came to our shores with the fierce Vikings, Saxon superstitions, Roman customs, Norman manners, Pagan beliefs, pre-Reforma- tion practices, Tudor triumphs, great events in history, the memory of mighty chiefs and infamous conspirators, are all preserved in our existing customs which time has spared. Popular customs contain the germ of history ; and however rude and uncouth they may be, if we look beneath the surface we find curious and interesting stores of antiquarian 3 Old English Customs lore which well repay the labour of the ex- plorer. Nor are curious customs confined to the country. The court and the palace, the law courts, the Church, Parliament, mili- tary ceremonials, all present interesting fea- tures of customs and observances which time has consecrated and not destroyed. We shall notice many strange tenures of property ; curious bequests which perpetuate the eccen- tricity of the benefactors ; certain manorial customs which have been termed "jocular;" some municipal customs which certainly have their humorous side; and all the odd and fantastic observances which may be witnessed in the streets of our country towns, as well as in the homes of our villagers. In Pagan institutions we must ground many old customs and rites, which, travel- ling to us through an infinite succession of years, have been sadly distorted and disfigured in their progress. Old Paganism died hard, and fought long and stubbornly in its struggle with Christianity. How often do we find the incorporation of some ancient cult and Pagan custom in many observances sanctioned by years of Christian practice? The hot-cross buns on Good Friday, the bonfires on St. John's Eve relics of old Baal worship the hanging of mistletoe, the bringing in of the Yule-log, and countless 4 " Origin of Customs other customs, many of which still survive, are the results of a compromise. The Chris- tian teachers found the people so wedded to their old rights and usages, that it was vain to hope for the complete abandonment of their long-cherished practices. Hence the old Pagan customs were shorn of their idolatry, and transferred to the Christian festivals. Nor is it uncommon to find sur- vivals of old forms of nature-worship, of various cults of hero or demigod, of pro- pitiatory offerings to the spirits of woods and streams, just as we find the old Norse legends of Loki and Heimdal and Sigyn on the Saxon crosses at Gosforth, blended with the triumphs of Christianity over the pros- trate Pagan deities. Sometimes local customs owe their origin to the popular will in some places, and have become part of the local law. In some cases we find that a particular custom, which seems strange and remarkable, is but a variation of some well-ascertained folk custom which once extended over a wide area. Other popular customs are only observed in one particular place, and owe their origin to some ascer- tained historical event. 1 They are frequently very extraordinary, and cause us to wonder how the wit of man ever invented such 1 Presidential address to Folk-Lore Society, by Mr. J. L. Gomme. Old English Customs strange modes of expressing its ideas and feelings. We wonder, too, how they could have been preserved so long amid the many changes of our social life. We have festival customs, ceremonial customs, and sports and games, to which English folk have ever clung with fond affection. The Church has pre- served for us many of our festival customs ; ceremonial customs have been guarded by legal enactments, and become connected with all the chief events in human life. Hence we have a mass of customs associated with all our social institutions which will repay our careful examination and close scrutiny. Existing superstitions, as shown forth by examples of amazing credulity, will find no place in these pages ; we must leave to others to record the cases of modern witchcraft, fortune-telling, planet-ruling, and such won- der-working powers, startling to the philo- sopher of the nineteenth century, who be- lieved that all superstitions had been killed by modern culture and enlightenment. We seek only the ancient customs which survive in town or hamlet, in church or court, where, if our readers will bear us company, we can show to them the strange performance and wild, rude ceremony, and try to discover the origin and meaning of that which we behold. One request I fain would utter : " Villagers and most worthy townsfolk of England, we 6 Origin of Customs know that old customs are dying fast, that old practices are falling into disuse ; let them not die, I would beseech you at least not before these pages are written, lest our good friends whom I shall venture to bring with me to visit you should go away disappointed, and lest hereafter you should mourn the loss of those things which now appear to your enlightened minds of little value or interest/ 1 Most of the local time-honoured customs of Old England are connected with the Church's Calendar. The Church always was the centre of the life of the old village, and the social amusements and holiday observances were associated with the principal feasts and fes- tivals of the Church. Fairs are still held in most places on the festival of the saint to whom the parish church is dedicated. Christ- mas, Easter, Ascension Day, Whitsuntide, still bring with them their accustomed modes of popular celebration. We propose to follow the course that the Calendar lays down for us, and notice all the remarkable observ- ances which have long ago been incorporated in old English life ; and as innocent asso- ciations of a simpler, perhaps a happier time, it would be a pity if ever they were allowed altogether to disappear. CHAPTER I Christmas customs Mumming Folk-drama in Devon, Yorks, Sfc. " Vessel boxes " - Carol- singing Furmety at Christmas Mistletoe and kissing-bush Plum-pudding Christmas-tree Bell customs at Dewsbury, Sfc. Boars-head at Oxford Barring out in Cumberland Mumping and goodening on St. Thomas' Day Hooden- ing " Picrous day " Burghead custom St. Stephen's Day and stoning the wren Yule Doos and local cakes Boxing Day Pantomimes Christmas cards. ALL the old poets sing in praise of the great festival of the Saviour's birth, which, according to Herrick, " sees December turned to May," and makes u the chilling winter's morn smile like a field beset with corn." Sir Walter Scott bewails the decline of the ancient modes of celebrating the festival, and says " England was merry England when Old Christmas brought his sports again ; A Christmas gambol oft would cheer A poor man's heart through all the year." The " Lord of Misrule " has been dead 8 Christmas Customs many years and been decently buried, though when alive he did not always merit that epithet. ThelfuJle^g_isjip_JjDnger drawn in state intoThT^aron'shall, but we have still some fragments of_ancient revels pre- served in__he_rnummers^ curious perform- ance. " Mumming " is supposed to be de- rived from the Danish word mumme^ or momme in Dutch, and signifies to disguise oneself with a mask. Dr. Johnson defines a mwnmePas one~who performs frolics in a personated dress. Modern mummers usually do not wear masks, but they dress themselves up in a strange garb resembling sheep-skins, except that instead of wool they have coloured paper cut into ribbons. The head- gear is elaborately covered with the same material. The dress of the characters is varied to suit their parts. They have frills over the knees in a fashion somewhat similar to that represented in some pictures of the time of Charles II. Their weapons are wooden swords, but " King George " usually sports an iron one fashioned by the village blacksmith. I have repeatedly witnessed the , performance of Berkshire mummers, which / is probably the remnant of some ancient "mystery" play, which time and the memo- ries of old Berkshire folk have considerably altered. There was a celebrated pageant of St. 9 Old English Customs George which existed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and took a foremost place among the miracle-plays of Old England. " St. George and the Dragon " is a well- known legend, to which the mumming play refers in the words " I am St. George, that noble champion bold, And with my trusty sword I won ten thousand pounds in gold ; 'Twas I that fought the fiery dragon, and brought him to the slaughter, And by those means I won the King of Egypt's daughter." The scaley appearance of the dresses is sup- posed to allude to the scales of the dragon, but this interpretation seems fanciful. Then we have a crusading element introduced in the character of " the Turk," and the fierce fight between the Christian knight and " the black Morocco dog." Evidently the Christ- mas mumming play, and the other forms of folk-drama, the Plough Monday and the Pace egg plays, are adapted from divers sources, and are full of interest. 1 It is not surprising that the mumming play has many variants ; indeed, it varies in different parts of the same county, not only in diction, but also in the dramatis per sonce. 1 The subject of the English Folk-Drama has been carefully examined by Mr. T. F. Ordish. Cf. Folk-Lore Journal^ June 1893- IO Mumming Plays The words are doggerel rhymes well suited to the idioms and pronunciation of the speakers. The plot in all the plays is somewhat similar. The first person, who acts the part of " the Greek Chorus," is either Beelzebub, otherwise represented as Father Christmas, or " Molly," a man dressed up as an old woman, who introduces the characters. Then enters " King George," a mighty hero, who boasts of his prowess, and challenges all brave warriors to fight. His challenge is accepted by another mighty hero, who is described in some places as the Turkish knight, at others as the Duke of Northumberland or a French officer. In Devonshire " Lord Nelson " also appears. A vigorous fight takes place between the two champions, in which " King George " is usually victorious, and his opponent falls grievously wounded. Sometimes " King George " is defeated, but he fights again and vanquishes his rival. Great consterna- tion ensues, and a doctor is hastily sum- moned " To cure this man lies bleeding on the ground." The " Doctor " comes, and administers a wonderful pill, which revives the prostrate foeman. The jester, " Jack Vinny," who prefers to be called " Mr. John Vinny," extracts a tooth from the wounded man, 1 1 Old English Customs and thus cures him. They dance together. " Happy Jack," a very melancholy person in tattered garments, sometimes bearing " his family," a number of little dolls, on. his back, enters, and requests some contribu- tions, and with some more rhymes repeated by " Beelzebub " the play ends, and the com- pany sing in turn some modern ditties. Such is the usual plot of a mumming play, subject to the variations which custom has introduced in different parts of the country. At Stoke Gabriel, Devon, the characters are St. George, Lord Nelson, a Frenchman, a Turk, a doctor and his wife, Beelzebub, and Father Christmas. Mighty duels with swords take place, and the Turk and French- man are defeated. At last Lord Nelson is wounded, and the doctor is summoned by the characters singing " Where is a doctor to be found To cure Lord Nelson's deep and deadly wound." In vain the doctor's efforts. Lord Nelson dies, and is carried out ; but he revives be- hind the scenes, and returns unofficially to swell the chorus. Between the duels the champions march up and down and sing. Of St. George and Nelson they say " With his pockets lined with red, And a heart that's ne'er afraid." 12 Mumming Plays But of the Frenchman and the Turk they say " With his pockets lined with blue, And a heart that's never true." The doctor and his wife are comic charac- ters, with masks and absurd dresses ; the wife is played by a boy, and causes great amusement by being rather indecorously rolled about on the floor and kicking. Beelzebub is grotesquely dressed, and Father Christmas wears the conventional garb of snowy whiteness. The other characters wear high pasteboard head-dresses decorated with beads and ribbons, and the rest of their attire is hung with ribbons, and made as gorgeous as possible. A fez adorns the head of the valiant Turk. The actual " Book of Words " of some of these plays may not be without interest, and some examples will be found in the Appendix. In Yorkshire the mummers come round and perform a very short sword-dance, but their mumming is nothing like the elaborate play which we have noticed elsewhere. Near Bradford, bands of men dressed as nigger minstrels, in very fantastic costumes, perambulate the streets playing fifes, con- certinas, kettledrums, and other instruments, and are known by the plain-spoken York- T 3 Old English Customs shire term, " Bletherhead Bands." Some- times they enter the houses on New Year's Eve with besoms in order to " sweep out the old year." In Cornwall the mummers rejoice in the no less uncomplimentary term of " Geese-dancers ; " and in Stafford- shire they are known as the " Guisers." " Billy Beelzebub," the fool of the play performed yearly at Eccleshall, Staffordshire, and Newport, Shropshire, sings a song be- ginning " I am a jovial tinker, And have been all my life, So now I think it's time To seek a fresh young wife. And it's then with a friend will a merry life spend, And I never did yet I vow, With my rink-a-tink-tink, and a sup more drink, I'll make your old kettles cry sound, Sound, sound ! I'll make your old kettles cry sound." * The characters in the Guisers' play are : Open-the-door, Sing Ghiles (probably inten- ded for Sir Guy of Warwick), King George, Noble Soldier, Little Doctor, Black Prince of Paradise, Old Beelzebub, and Little Jack Devil-doubt. The first song of the com- 1 A full account of the Guisers' play, with the words, is given in "Shropshire Folk-Lore," p. 483, and in Folk- Lore Journal, 1886. Mumming Plays pany is tuneful and effective, and the words are " On a bleak and a cold frosty morning, When winter inclement they were scorning, Through the sparkling frost and snow, And a skating we will go. Will you follow ? will you follow ? To the sound of the merry, merry horn ! See how the skates they are glancing, From the right to the left they are dancing, And no danger shall we feel, With our weapons made of steel. Will you follow ? &c. * See how Victoria reigns o'er us ! She has health, she has wealth, to adore us (!) In the merry, merry month of May, All so lively, blithe, and gay. Will you follow? &c." The Sussex mummers are called "Tip- teerers," and their play, which resembles those printed in the Appendix, has appeared in the Folk- Lore Journal}' In Yorkshire, before Christmas, girls, and even women, come round bearing " vessel- boxes," a corruption evidently of " wassail," further changed to " vessel-cups " in the East Riding, and sing the well-known strains of " God rest you, merry gentlemen." At Leeds 1 Cf. Folk- Lore Journal, 1884. 15 Old English Customs they sing "The five joys of Mary," which begins with the verse " The first good joy that Mary had, It was a joy of one, To see her own son, Jesus Christ, To suck at her breast-bone." The " vessel " is a box containing two dolls, representing the Virgin and Child decorated with ribbons, and having a glass lid. At Aberford it is called a Wesley-box, a further corruption of " wassail," and in no way alluding to the father of a distinguished sect. Carol-singing is very general in most parts of England, but few old carols are sung. " Good King Wenceslas," and other modern carols or hymns, have supplanted the ancient traditional ones. The singing of carols is a memorial of the hymn sung by the angels to the shepherds at Bethlehem. In some places the children carry round a doll laid in a box, a rude representation of the Holy Child in his manger-bed. In Worcestershire the carol-singers always end their songs with the following : " I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, Pocket full of money, cellar full of beer, Good fat pig to last you all the year." 16 Christmas Carols In Cambridgeshire (Duxford) the favour- ite carol is the ancient one " God bless you, merry gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay, For remember Christ our Saviour Was born on Christmas Day." Cornish folk have always been famous for their carols. Even the knockers and other underground spirits, who are always heard to be working where there is tin, and who are said to be the ghosts of the Jews who cruci- fied Jesus, in olden times held mass and sang carols on Christmas Eve. 1 Some of the tunes of the modern Cornish carol-singers are very old. Cornish folk, too, are famous for their pies ; giblet-pie is the recognised Christmas dainty. Then they have squab-pie, made of mutton and apples, onions and raisins ; mackerel-pie, maggety-pie, and so many other pies that it is said, " The devil is afraid to come into Cornwall for fear of being baked in a pie." In Yorkshire, furmety, or wheat-corn boiled in milk with spices, is eaten on Christmas^ Eve. The mistletoe is still hung in our 1 houses at Christmas-time, but few connect this instrument of mirth with the wild beliefs of our Norse ancestors. The mistletoe plays 1 Folk-Lore Journal, 1886. I 7 B Old English Customs an important part in Scandinavian mythology, and the custom of hanging branches of this plant is common to all Norse nations. The legend is that Baldur was slain by a mistletoe dart at the instigation of Loki ; and in repara- tion for this injury the plant is dedicated to his mother Frigg, so long as it does not touch the earth, which is Loki's kingdom. Hence the mistletoe is hung from ceilings of our houses ; and the kiss given under it is a sign that it is no longer an instrument of mischief. In the sixteenth century fetes were held in France in honour of the mistletoe. Some contend that kissing under the mistletoe is a dead or dying custom ; others state that all kissing should be abandoned on the ground that it spreads infection. It is perhaps diffi- cult to arrive at any safe conclusion with regard to the prevalence of this particular custom, as those who practise it are not always the most forward in proclaiming their adherence to primitive usages. The old " kissing bunch " is still hung in some of the most old-fashioned cottage houses of Derbyshire and Cornwall two wooden hoops, one passing through the other, decked with evergreens, in the centre of which is hung " a crown " of rosy apples and a sprig of mistletoe. This is hung from the central beam of the living-room, and beneath it there is much kissing and romping. Later on, the 18 Christmas Plum-Pudding carol-singers stand beneath it and sing the familiar strains of " God rest ye, merry gen- tlemen," and " While shepherds watched." / Among the foods peculiar to special sea- sons, none is so common as the plum-pudding at Christmas. " Time immemorial " is the usual period assigned for the introduction of practices about which knowledge is limited, and the date of the invention of Christmas plum-puddings has been relegated to tj*at somewhat vague and indefinite period. 'But the plum-pudding is not older than the early years of the eighteenth century, and appears . to be a " House of Hanover " or " Act of Settlement " dish. The pre-Revolution or Stuart preparation of plums and other in- gredients was a porridge or pottage, and not a pudding, and was made with very strong broth of shin of beef. The searchers of the symbolical interpreta- tions contend that on account of the richness of its ingredients the plum-pudding is em- blematical of the offerings of the Wise Men. The same authorities assert that mince-pies, on account of their shape, are symbolical of the manger-bed of the Infant Saviour. I venture to think that such interpretations should be received with some hesitation. The children still delight in their Christmas- ' tree, which also belongs to no " immemorial time," the first Christmas tree being introduced - Old English Customs to this country by some German merchants who lived at Manchester. The Queen and Prince Albert also celebrated Christmas with its beautiful old German custom ; and the Court having set the fashion, Christmas-trees became general, and have brought endless delights to each succeeding generation of children. In a few remote districts in Cornwall on Christmas Eve children may occasionally be found dancing around painted lighted candles placed in a box of sand. 1 Church towers, too, are sometimes illuminated. Tennor Church tower was made brilliant by a beacon-light a few years ago, and we hope that the custom has been continued. A very interesting custom prevails near Dewsbury. On Christmas Eve, as soon as the last stroke of twelve o'clock has sounded, the age of the year e.g. 1 895 is tolled as on the death of any person. It is called the Old Lad's, or the Devil's, Passing Bell. A carol has been written on this subject : " Toll ! toll ! because thus ends the night, And empire old and vast, An empire of unquestioned right, O'er present and o'er past. Toll! 1 Miss Courtney, "Cornish Customs, "Folk- Lore Journal, 1886. 20 Bell-Customs at Christmas Stretching far from east to west, Ruling over every breast, Each nation, tongue, and caste. Toll ! toll ! because a monarch dies, Whose tyrant statutes ran From Polar snows to Tropic skies, From Gravesend to Japan. Toll! Crowded cities, lonely glens, Oceans, mountains, shores, and fens, All owned him lord of man. Toll ! toll ! because the monarch fought Right fiercely for his own, And utmost craft and valour brought Before he was o'erthrown. Toll! He the lord and man the slave ; His the kingdom and the grave, And all its dim unknown. Joy ! joy ! because a babe is born, Who, after many a toil, The scorner's pride shall laugh to scorn And work the foiler's foil. Joy! God as Man the earth has trod, Therefore man shall be as God, And reap the spoiler's spoil." In many parishes the bells are tolled before midnight on the 3ist of December, and a 21 Old English Customs joyous peal heralds the advent of the New Year. At Kirton-in-Lindsay this custom is as old as 1632, the following entry appearing in the Churchwardens' account-books: " Item, to the ringer of new yeare day morninge xiid." In several places, notably at Woodchester, Gloucestershire ; Norton, near Evesham ; Wells and Leigh, Somerset, a muffled peal is rung on Holy Innocents' Day in com- memoration of the martyrdom of the Babes of Bethlehem. At Norton, after the muffled peal has ceased, the bells are unmuffled, and a joyous peal is rung for the deliverance of the Infant Jesus. -At Queen's College, Oxford, the Boar's- head feast is still celebrated with accustomed ceremonial. The mythical origin of the custom is the story of a student of the College who was attacked by a wild boar while he was diligently studying Aristotle during a walk near Shotover Hill, some five hundred years ago. His book was his only means of defence ; so he thrust the volume down the animal's throat, exclaiming, " Graecum est ! " The boar found Greek very difficult to digest, and died on the spot ; and the head was brought home in triumph by the student. Ever since that date, for five hundred years, a boar's-head has graced the College table at Christmas. The custom is really as old as 22 Boar s-Head Feast heathendom, and the entry of the boarVhead, decked with laurel and rosemary, recalls the sacrifice of the boar to Frigg at the midwinter feast of old Paganism. Every Christmas Day this " right merrie jouste of y e olden tyme" is enacted at Queen's College. A large boar's - head, weighing between sixty and seventy pounds, surmounted by a crown, wreathed with gilded sprays of laurel and bay, mistletoe and rosemary, with small banners surround- ing, is brought into the hall by three bearers, whose entry is announced by trum- pet. A procession of the Provost and Fellows precedes the entry of the boarV head. The bearers are accompanied by the precentor, who chants an old English carol, the Latin refrain being joined in by the company. The following are the words of this ancient ditty : " Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes Domino. The boar's-head in hand bring I, Bedecked with bays and rosemary ; And I pray you, masters, be merry, Qui estis in convivio. The boar's-head, I understand, Is the bravest dish in all the land, When thus bedecked with gay garland : Let us servire cantico. 23 Old English Customs Our steward hath provided this, In honour of the King of Bliss, Which on this day to be served is In Reginensi Atrio. Chorus Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes Domino." There are four versions of this ancient carol. The earliest is called " The Original Carole," taken from " Christmess Carolles, newly em- prynted at London in ye flete strete, at ye sygne of ye sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde. The yere of our Lorde m.d. xxi." The second is the one already quoted. The third is very rare, and is taken from the Balliol MSS., No. 354 ; and the fourth is from the Porkington MSS., a fifteenth -century collection. The origin of this strange custom certainly can be traced to the old Scandinavian Yule fes- tival, when an offering of a boar's-head was always made. However, in support of the mythical story of the student and the boar, there is preserved in the College a picture of a saint having a boar's-head transfixed on a spear, with a mystic inscription, " Cop cot ; " and in Horspeth Church, near which the contest is supposed to have taken place, there is a window containing a representation of the incident. In spite of the schoolmaster and the School Board, the old custom of barring out during 24 Mumping on St. Thomas' Day the Christmas holidays still prevails in Cum- berland. A few years ago the Dalston School Board received a letter from the master, re- questing that the school might close on the Thursday before Christmas instead of the Friday, on the ground that " the old barba- rous custom of barring out " the schoolmaster might no longer be resorted to. If the school were opened on the Friday, the mas- ter was of opinion that the children might possibly be persuaded by outsiders to make an attempt to bar him out, and would then have to suffer a large amount of severe cas- tigation. The school was accordingly closed on the Thursday, much to the regret of the chairman and others, who would like to have witnessed the repetition of so ancient a custom. (Notes and Queries.) The festivals associated with Christmas have some old customs. On St. Thomas' Day (December 21), the custom of mumping is still practised in many places, notably at Hornsea, East Yorks, where the old women perambulate the town and are accustomed to receive small gratuities. The word mumping comes to us from the Dutch, and signifies to mumble or mutter. The beggars on this occasion are usually old people, and toothless age mumbles both food and words ; hence the beggars are called mumpers, and they are said " to go a mumping." In many parts of 2 5 Old English Customs the country it is called " going a-gooding ; " in Cheshire, " going a-Thomasing ; " and in some places in Staffordshire the money col- lected is given to the vicar and church- wardens, who distribute it to the poor aged folk on the Sunday after St. Thomas' Day. The following rhyme for this day is taken from the Bilston Mercury, Staffordshire : " Well a day, well a day, St. Thomas goes too soon away ; Then your gooding we do pray, For the good time will not stay. St. Thomas Grey, St. Thomas Grey, The longest night and the shortest day, Please to remember St. Thomas Day." At Stoulton, Worcester, and at Pole- brooke, Oundle, the custom of going " good- ing" or "Tommying" is kept up, and also at Newington-by-Sittingbourne, Kent, a beau- tiful village, where, amid a setting of orchard and hop-land, old-world manners may well be pleased to dwell. It is there known as goodenin'. The old widows assemble on St. Thomas' Day and proceed to the houses of the gentlemen and farmers, who are requested to " please remember the goodenin'." Gifts of money are bestowed upon the goodeners, who repair to the White Hart Inn and divide the spoil. The derivation of the word is a subject for conjecture. A correspondent 26 Hoodening suggests that it is derived from " goody," the name given to old widows ; while another writer connects goodening or hoodening with Woden or Odin, the presiding deity of the ancient Yuletide rites. 1 The custom also prevails in Hampshire, 2 and until recently at Great Gransden, Huntingdon, where the vicar now receives the alms and gives the old women a tea. Hoodening is a kind of old horse-head mumming once prevalent in Kent, and still exists in some places. Hoodening is ob- served still at Walmer; the young men per-[ ambulate the village, bearing a Hoodening Horse, a rudely cut wooden figure of a horse's-head with movable mouth, having rows of hob-nails for teeth, which opens and shuts by means of a string and closes with a loud sharp snap. It is furnished with a flowing mane, and is worn on the head of a ploughman, who is called the Hoodener. It is suggested that the wooden (pronounced 'ooden or hooden) horse's-head gave the name to hoodening or goodening. We must leave the solution of this difficult derivation to the discretion and judgment of our learned readers. 3 It is evidently con- 1 " Kentish Odds and Ends," in Kentish Express, by A. Moore. 2 " Old Woman's Outlook," Miss Young, p. 280. 3 Hone suggests that it is an ancient relic of a festival ordained to commemorate our Saxon ancestors' landing in the Isle of Thanet. 27 Old English Customs nected with the old Pagan feast held on the Kalends of January in the seventh century, when men used to clothe themselves with the skins of cattle and carry heads of animals. A similar custom prevails at Northwich, Cheshire, on All Souls' Day, when a gang of boys and girls come round at night, reciting verses and singing snatches of songs, accom- panied by a man dressed as a horse. The monster prances and clatters with its hoof when a modest coin is presented to it. Possibly hoodening is a relic of the old hobby-horse dance which once formed one of the leading festivities in the Squire's hall at Christmas. At any rate, hoodening is a very ancient custom, which still lingers amongst us, and attracts the attention of the curious in Old English manners. At Kingscote, Gloucestershire, they have a peculiar kind of Bull Hoodening. Every Christmas, five or six villagers go from house to house with a wassail-bowl, and one per- sonates a bull by crouching on the ground, his body hid by sacking, and his head by a real bull's face, hair, and horns complete. He is commonly called " the Broad," and each verse of the Wassailing-Bowl song is sung, beginning : " Here's a health to Old Broad and to his right eye." The present Rector of Kingscote has 28 Picrous Day known the custom for sixty years, but has never heard of its existence in any other place, and no hint of its origin has been ob- tained. It is probably a survival of the old Pagan feast mentioned above. The following rhyme is uttered at Har- vington, Worcestershire : " Wissal, wassail, through the town, If you've got any apples throw them down ; Up with the stocking and down with the shoe, If you've got no apples, money will do ; The jug is white, and the ale is brown, This is the best house in the town." In some counties corn used for furmety is given away, and this is called in Lincolnshire u mumping wheat." At Saxton, near Tad- caster, Aberford, Sherburn, and other small towns in Yorkshire, the children go round to the farmhouses begging for furmety, singing the old doggrel verses. The second Thursday before Christmas in East Cornwall is observed by the miners as a holiday in honour of one of the reputed discoverers of tin. It is known as Picrous Day, but who this saint or early metal- worker was, history relateth not. There is also a White Thursday in Cornwall, in no way related to the Dominica in albis. It occurs on the last Thursday before Christmas, and tradition records that on this day white 29 Old English Customs tin (i.e.) smelted tin) was first made in Cornwall ; hence its name, Chewidder or White Thursday. (Notes and Queries.} Fishermen are somewhat superstitious folk, and love to preserve their ancient customs. The seamen of Burghead, Elgin, on Yule night meet at the west end of the town, carrying an old barrel, which they proceed to saw in two. The lower half is then nailed to a long spoke of firewood, which serves as a handle. The half barrel is then filled with dry wood saturated with tar, and built up like a pyramid, leaving a hollow to receive a burning peat. Should the bearer stumble or fall, the consequences would be unlucky to the town and to himself. The Claire is thrown down the western side of the hill, and a scramble ensues for the burning brands, which bring good luck, and are carried home and carefully preserved till the following year as a safeguard against all manner of ills. The Claire used to be carried round all the ships in the harbour, but this part of the custom has now been discontinued. (Folk-Lore.) Before the days of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, boys were accustomed in many places, notably Essex, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, to kill wrens, and carry them about on furze bushes from house to house, repeating the words 30 Stoning the Wren " The wren, the wren, the king of the birds, St. Stephen's Day was killed in the furze ; Although he be little his family's great, And so, good people, give us a treat." The origin of the cruel custom is curious. There is a Norse legend of a beautiful siren who bewitched men and lured them into the sea, after the fashion of the Lurlie of Rhineland fame. A charm was obtained to counteract her evil influence and capture the siren, who contrived to escape by assuming the form of a wren. Once every year, presumably on St. Stephen's Day, she was compelled by a power- ful spell to appear in the guise of the bird, and ultimately to be slaughtered by mortal hand. Hence poor wrens are killed in the hope of effecting the destruction of the beautiful siren. The feathers of the birds are plucked and preserved as a prevention from death by shipwreck, and formerly its body was placed in a bier, and buried with much solemnity in a grave in the church- yard, while dirges were sung over its last resting-place. Few wrens are stoned now, and I imagined that the custom had happily died out. However, in the Isle of Man I find that it still lingers, and the " hunting of the wren " is solemnised to a large extent. Numerous " bushes " are borne about by groups of lads chanting a monotonous ditty. They adorn the " bushes " with much taste, 3 1 Old English Customs but a large number are usually minus the wren itself. The bush consists of two hoops crossed, with a wren suspended by the legs in the centre. The usual rhyme is " We hunted the wren for Robin the Bobbin ; We hunted the wren for Jack of the Can ; We hunted the wren for Robin the Bobbin ; We hunted the wren for every one." The boys collect money, and present a feather of the bird to each donor, which is supposed to avert the danger of shipwreck. Afterwards the bird is buried on the seashore (formerly in the churchyard) with much solemnity, and dirges in Manx language are sung over it. (Folk-Lore and Notes and Queries.} A wren-box was sold at Christie's a few years ago, which used to be carried in pro- cession in some parts of Wales on St. Stephen's Day. It is about seven inches square, and has a glass window at one end. Into this box a wren was placed, and it was hoisted on two long poles, and carried round the town by four strong men, who affected to find the burden heavy. Stopping at in- tervals, they sang " ' O where are you going ? ' says milder to melder ; 'O where are you going?' says the younger to the elder. ' O I cannot tell,' says Festel to Fose ; ' We're going to the woods/ said John the Red Nose. We're going, &c. 32 Stoning the Wren ' O what will you do there ? ' says milder to melder ; ' O what will you do there ? ' says the younger to the elder. ' O I do not know,' says Festel to Fose ; 1 To shoot the cutty wren,' says John the Red Nose. To shoot, &c." And so on for eight more verses, taking the form of question and answer, as in the ballad of " Cock Robin," and describing the method of shooting the wren, cutting it up, and finally boiling it. Fanciful interpreters have seen in the stoning of the wren a connection with the stoning of St. Stephen, whose martyrdom occurred on the day of the observance of this barbarous custom. Another legend is that one of St. Stephen's guards was awak- ened by a bird just as his prisoner was about to escape. In Worcestershire St. Stephen's Day is a great occasion for pigeon-shooting. Possibly this may have arisen from the old- world custom of hunting the wren. In the North of England children are still regaled with Yule "doos," which are flat cakes, from six to twelve inches long, roughly cut into the shape of a human figure, raisins being inserted for the eyes and nose. The name is probably derived from dough, and the shape was doubtless originally intended to represent the Infant Saviour with the Virgin Mary. In Cornwall, too, they have 33 c Old English Customs a peculiar cake, a small portion of the dough in the centre of each top being pulled up ; and this small headpiece to the cake is called "The Christmas." The cakes are given away to poor people, and each member of the family has his own special cake. The whole subject of local cakes, feasten and customary, is full of interest ; and at a recent Folk-lore Congress, Mrs. Gomme exhibited a large collection gathered from different parts of Great Britain. There are cakes peculiar to certain towns and villages ; cakes commemorative of special events ; cakes connected with harvest, sowing, births, mar- riages, funerals, and the great Church fes- tivals, and others. It is surprising to learn the amazing number of peculiar forms which local custom has sanctioned and ordained, and the old Yule "doos" were not the least interesting of this remarkable collection. Children of both "larger and smaller growth " still look forward to the Christmas Pantomime, which, in spite of modern de- velopments, maintains its popularity, espe- cially in the provinces. Pantomimes have entirely changed their character since they were first introduced into this country by a dancing - master of Shrewsbury, named Weaver, in 1702. The humours of Grimaldi and his successors, the merry tricks of the 34 Boxing Day clown and the diversions of the harlequinade, have given place to grand spectacular dis- plays and scenic effects which would certainly have astonished our forefathers. However, the Pantomime will probably long continue to hold its place on the list of existing cus- toms of the English people. The day after Christmas is still known as " Boxing Day," and is so called from the " Christmas Boxes " which used to be in circulation at that time. In the British Museum are specimens of "thrift -boxes " small and wide bottles with imitation stoppers, from three to four inches in height, of thin clay, the upper part covered with a green glaze. On one side is a slit for the introduction of money, and as the small presents were collected at Christmas in these money-pots, they were called Christmas boxes. Thus these boxes gave the name to the present itself and to the day when these gifts were commonly made. Christmas gift- books are extensively published now. The first announcement of such a book appeared in the General Advertiser of January 9, 1750, and was published by Mr. J. New- berry at the " Bible and Sun " in St. Paul's Churchyard. It was called " Nurse True- love's Christmas Box ; or, The Golden Play- thing for Little Children, by which they may learn the letters as soon as they can 35 Old English Customs speak, and know how to behave so as to make everybody love them." The sending of Christmas-cards is a very popular custom, which shows no signs of decay. The custom is of very recent growth, the first English Christmas-card being issued from Summerly's Home Treasury Office, 12 Old Bond Street, in j_84fL- The design was drawn by J. C. Horsley, R.A., at the sug- gestion of Sir Henry Cole, K.C.B., repre- senting a merry family party gathered round a table quaffing generous draughts of wine. The sale of a thousand copies of this card was then considered a large circulation. Since those days the custom has become universal. If good wishes could bring us happiness, our cups of joy would indeed be full, and a " Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" would fall to the lot of all, except to the postmen. \ * CHAPTER-^!! New Years Day and Jirst-footing Banjfshire custom Wassail bowls New Years gifts and good wishes Midnight services Queen's Col- lege, Oxford Yorks custom Local rhymes and wassailers Quaaltagh in Isle of Man Twelfth Night or Epiphany Plough Monday Wassail- ing orchards Court custom Haxey Hood Watching animals St. Paul's Day Valentine's Day Islip valentine Customs in Berks and Essex Hurling at St. Ives. ONE of the earliest customs that I can recollect is that of first-footing on New Year's Eve, which is commonly practised in the North of England and in Scotland. The first person who enters the house after mid- night is called the first-foot, and is esteemed as a herald of good fortune. In Lancashire this important person must be a dark-com- plexioned man, otherwise superstitious folk believe that ill-luck will befall the house- hold. In some other parts of England a light-complexioned man is considered a more favourable harbinger of good fortune. Indeed, there seems to be a great variety of opinion with regard to the complexion 37 Old English Customs of a "first-foot." In Northumberland a light-haired and flat-footed man is pre- ferred ; in Fife, red hair and a flat foot are to be avoided. Sometimes a man is preferred, sometimes a boy; occasionally women are chosen ; at other places they are strongly objected to. Quot homines tot sententice is certainly true with regard to the appearance and sex of the lucky " first-foot." The person who performs this duty in Durham is bound by custom to bring in a piece of coa], a piece of iron, and a bottle of whisky. To each man of the company he gives a glass, and to each woman a kiss. On these occasions sweetened ale or egg- flip are the prescribed beverages for the drinking of healths when the new year is " brought in." In Banffshire the villagers covered up the peat fire with the ashes and smoothed them down. These were examined in the morning, and if the trace of any re- semblance to the print of a foot with the toes pointing to the door could be detected, it was believed that one of the family would die or leave home during the year. In " Auld Reekie " the custom of first- footing is observed with much enthusiasm. Crowds assemble, as midnight approaches, nigh the old Tron Church, and usher in the new year with much shouting and hand- shaking. Much might be written concerning 38 New Year Customs the New Year customs of Scotland, but we are concerned chiefly in the consideration of English customs, and must not stray across the Border. In ancient days the wassail bowl of spiced ale was carried round from house to house by the village maidens, who sang songs and wished every one " a happy new year." In fact, wassail was heard all over the land, from cot to keep, from mansion to monastery, where the poculum caritatis was passed round with accustomed rejoicings. The loving cup at our civic feasts, the grace cup at our college "gaudies," are the sole relics of this ancient observance. The presentation of New Year's and Christmas cards, and of other more costly gifts to friends at this season, is universally practised, and this practice is as old as the time of the Romans. Hone tells us of a remarkable lawsuit arising out of this custom. A poet was commissioned by a Roman pastry-cook to write some mottoes for the New Year's Day bonbons, and agreed to supply five hundred couplets for six livres. Although the poet's eye with fine frenzy rolled, and the couplets were completed in due course, he did not re- ceive the stipulated reward for his labours. Hence the lawsuit, and we trust the poet obtained due compensation. Crackers were 39 Old English Customs not then invented, but we still have our mottoes, which can thus claim a very re- spectable antiquity. The Church endeavoured to overthrow many old customs on account of the super- stitions connected with them ; and New Year's gifts were objected to because they were originally offered as omens of success for the coming year. Even superstition was supposed to lurk in the benevolent greeting, " A happy new year to you." An old Puri- tan as late as A.D. 1750, in the poem called " The Popish Kingdom," thus describes the sins of his countrymen : "The next to this is New Year's Day, whereon to every friend They costly presents in do bring, and newe yeare's gifts do sende ; These gifts the husband gives his wife, and father eke the childe, And master on his men bestowes the like with favour milde ; And good beginning of the yeare they wishe and wishe again, According to the ancient guise of heathen people vaine." We need not record how universal was the practice ; how Roman citizens gave strencz to each other ; how kings and emperors took toll of their subjects ; how Henry VI. received his New Year's gifts of food and 40 New Year Customs jewels, geese, turkeys, hens, and sweetmeats ; how Queen Elizabeth was gratified by re- ceiving a vast store of offerings, including caskets studded with gems, necklaces, brace- lets, gowns, mantles, smocks, petticoats, mirrors, fans, and a pair of black silk stock- ings, knitted by Mrs. Montague for her royal mistress, who never afterwards wore cloth hose. New Year's Day is still happily ushered in by the giving of presents, and of cards con- veying to us the good wishes of our friends ; and we trust that this practice may long continue. A midnight service is now the most usual manner of ushering in the new year. At Basingstoke it is customary to sing the " Old Hundredth" on the church tower at mid- night, at the close of the service. We be- lieve that these Watch Night Services were first introduced by the Wesleyan Methodists, whose example Churchmen have wisely copied, with much benefit to their congregations. In former days it used to be the fashion for people to exercise their wit by making a rebus out of their name, and they loved to record at once their family and their humour by handing down to posterity the witticism which they had devised. Thus at St. Bartho- lomew's Church, Smithfield, we see a bar stuck in a barrel, which serves to immortalise the family of Barton. The founder of Queen's Old English Customs College, Oxford, Robert de Eglesfield, sought to preserve the memory of his good deeds by a similar device, and directed that on New Year's Day a needle and thread, a rebus on his name, Aiguille et fil (Egles- feld), should be given to each member of the College. This custom is performed every year by the bursar of the College, who, according to ancient usage, adds the whole- some moral, "Take this, and be thrifty." This sage counsel is better than the founder's wit, which can scarcely be said to be as sharp as his needle's point. As the students are away from Oxford on New Year's Day, the Fellows and their guests receive the time- honoured gift. At Skipsea, in Holderness, Yorkshire, the young men gather together at twelve o'clock on New Year's Eve, and, after blackening their faces and otherwise disguising them- selves, they pass through the village, each having a piece of chalk. With this chalk they mark the gates, doors, shutters, and waggons with the date of the new year. It is considered lucky to have one's house so dated, and no attempt is ever made to dis- turb the youths in the execution of their frolic. There are many old rhymes which were sung by the maidens as they carried from door to door a bowl richly decorated with 42 Wassailing evergreens and ribbons, and filled with a compound of ale, roasted apples, and toast, and seasoned with nutmeg and sugar. Here is one from Nottinghamshire, but I know not whether it is still sung : " Good master, at your door Our wassail we begin ; We all are maidens poor, So we pray you let us in, And drink our wassail. All hail, wassail ! Wassail! wassail! And drink our wassail ! l? Halliwell, in his " Popular Rhymes," gives the following, which was sung at Yarmouth, Isle of Wight : 1 " Wassal, wassal, to our town ; The cup is white and the ale is brown ; The cup is made of the ashen tree, And so is the ale of the good barley. Little maid, little maid, turn the pin, Open the door and let us in ; God be here, God be there, I wish you all a happy New Year." At Oldham, in Lancashire, the wassailers still come round with their bunches of ever- greens hung with oranges and apples and 1 Cf. Folk-Lore Journal, 1884, p. 25. 43 Old English Customs coloured ribbons, and sing the following carol : " Here we come a-wassailing Among the leaves so green ; Here we come a-singing, So fair to be seen. For it is in Christmas-time Strangers travel far and near ; So God bless you, and send you A happy new year." Until quite recently, in the same town, a gang of men used to come round " agganow- ing," and sang a strange ditty, which ran something after this fashion : " We're come to give you warning It's New Year's Day a morning, With a hey and a how, And an aggan agganow." Possibly this may be connected with the old Hagmanay or Hogmanay carol which used to be sung in the North Country at this time of year. Brewer derives the word from the Saxon hdlig monath, or holy month, and states that King Haco of Norway fixed the feast of Yule on Christmas Day, the eve of which was called Hogg-night, but the Scots were taught by the French to transfer the feast of Yule to the feast of Noel, and Hogg-night has ever since been the eve of New Year's Day. In the Isle of Man the old custom called the " Quaaltagh " is still partially observed. 44 The i^uaaltagh In almost every district a party of young men go from house to house singing a rhyme in the Manx language, which translated is as follows : " Again we assemble, a merry New Year To wish to each one of the family here, Whether man, woman, or girl, or boy, That long life and happiness all may enjoy. May they of potatoes and herrings have plenty, With butter and cheese and each other dainty, And may their sleep never, by night or by day, Disturbed be by even the tooth of a flea, Until at the Quaaltagh again we appear, To wish you, as now, all a happy New Year." When these lines are repeated at the door, the party are invited into the house and par- take of refreshments. The one who enters first is called the " Quaaltagh," or first-foot, and, as in the northern parts of England, it is essential for good fortune that he should be dark-complexioned. The actors do not assume a fantastic garb like the mummers of England or the guiscards of Scotland, nor are they accompanied by minstrels. As in Banffshire, the housewives in many of the upland cottages, before retiring to bed, spread the ashes smoothly on the hearth, and if in the morning the print of a foot can be detected with the toe pointing towards the door, they believe there will be a death in the family during the year; but if the toe 45 Old English Customs points in a contrary direction, the family will not fail to have an increase. At St. Albans "Pop Ladies" are cried and sold in the streets, and in parts of Wales children go round showing a " calening " and wishing good luck in return for pence or cake. Twelfth Night, or Old Christmas Day, was formerly the appointed time for the observ- ance of many old customs which are now defunct. No longer are kings and queens of rural festivals elected by the lot of the bean and the pea hidden in a cake. St. Dis- taff's Day is no more. We feared that the sounds of rustic revelry had died away when the orchards were wassailed and the ancient rhyme chanted " Here's to thee, old apple-tree, Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow, And whence thou may'st bear apples enow ! Hats full! caps full! Bushel bushel sacks full, And my pockets full too ! Huzza ! " But we are relieved to find that the apple- wassail has not quite passed away. Three years ago the custom prevailed at Duncton, near Petworth, on the South Downs, and on Old Christmas Eve the voices of the younger villagers sang their lays to the apple-trees, the old " Mistletoe Bough" being one of their favourite ditties. The wassail is sup- Orchard Customs posed to help the growth and abundance of apples for cider-making, and " the oldest in- habitant" can recollect that the custom has been kept up for the last fifty years. In " Bygone Days in Devonshire and Corn- wall," published in 1874, the authoress, Mrs. Whitcombe, states that the above rhyme is still repeated by the farmer's family and friends when gathered round the orchard trees, who sprinkle cider over the roots and hang cake on the branches. The custom of firing guns under apple- trees is not entirely defunct in Devonshire. In 1889 the custom prevailed at Cullompton. When the parson was popular, the line " old parson's breeches full," was added to the rhyme quoted above. In Surrey the boys sing the following rhyme under the apple-trees in the Surrey orchards: " Here stands a good apple-tree, Stand fast at root, Bear well at top ; Every little twig Bear an apple big : Every little bough Bear an apple now ; Hats full ! caps full ! Threescore sacks full ! Hullo, boys ! hullo ! " We thought, too, that Plough Monday was dead, and that the ploughmen no longer 47 Old English Customs dragged their ploughs from village to village, dancing while " Bess " rattled her money- box. The money was in pre-Reformation times devoted to the maintenance of the ploughmen's light, which burned before the altar of the Ploughmen's Guild in the chantry of the church. But we are glad to find that Plough Monday is still observed in Cam- bridgeshire, where bands of young men, pro- fusely ornamented with scarves and ribbons, drag wooden ploughs of a primitive descrip- tion along the streets. But " Bess," a man dressed as a woman, no longer forms part of this quaint procession. The custom also pre- vails in Huntingdonshire. At Great Grans- den a party of men decked with ribbons go round the village with a decorated plough, repeating in a shrill monotone " Remember us poor ploughboys, A ploughing we must go ; Hail, rain, blow, or snow, A ploughing we must go." A few years ago the men used to plough up the lawn, or the scrapers and door-steps, if no money was given. The Plough Monday play, one of the few remaining specimens of English folk-drama, still survives. It resembles in some points the Christmas and Easter plays, but has seve- ral distinguishing features. In the Plough 48 Plough Monday Play Monday play there is no St. George, and the principal feature is the sword - dance. In Lincolnshire the actors who drag the plough along are called plough-bullocks ; in Yorks they are known as plough-stotts. The play, as performed recently at Wyverton Hall, Nottinghamshire, is printed in "A Cavalier Stronghold," by Mrs. Musters. "Hopper Joe " carries a basket, as if he were going to sow seeds, in which the spectators place money. The sergeant arrays himself in some old uniform, and the young lady always wears a veil ; Beelzebub has a blackened face, and either a besom of straw or a club with a bladder fastened at the end. The chief feature of the play is the raising to life of the old woman, whom Beelzebub has knocked down, by the doctor, who is always dressed in the smartest modern clothes, with a riding-whip and a top-hat. Sometimes they wear ribbons and rosettes and feathers stuck in their hats, and the brass ornaments of their horses' har- ness hanging down in front. Sometimes they have figures of small horses and ploughs in red and black fastened on their dress. One of the mummers in the Lincolnshire Plough Monday procession usually wears a fox's skin in the form of a hood, and " Bessy " a bullock's tail under her gown, which he holds in his hand when dancing. Plough Monday is also observed in the 49 D Old English Customs City of London, when a special meeting of the Wards takes place, and the Lord Mayor gives a banquet. There is also the interesting ceremony performed every year at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, when, on behalf of the sovereign, gold, frankincense, and myrrh are presented on the altar in remembrance of the gifts of the Magi to the Infant Saviour. 1 At Haxey, in North Lincolnshire, on the Feast of the Epiphany, a curious custom prevails. A roll of canvas tightly corded together, about three inches in diameter and two feet long, is thrown down amidst a crowd of rural revellers, and a violent struggle for its possession takes place. It is called the " Haxey Hood," and tradition states that its originator was a Lady Mowbray, who when riding to church lost her hood, which was blown off by a gale of wind. Twelve labourers rushed to capture the lady's head- gear, and caused her much amusement by their eager endeavours. She was so gratified by their civility that she promised to give a piece of ground, still called the Hoodlands, for the purpose of providing a hood to be thrown up annually on Old Christmas Day, and to be contended for on the same spot where her hood had been blown off. More- over, she ordered that the twelve men should 1 Cf. " Court Customs," infra. 5 Haxey Hood be clothed in scarlet jerkins and velvet caps, but the boggons, as they are called, are now dressed as morris-dancers. Many people flock to take part in this curious contest, and much excitement prevails. The hood is thrown from the old mill, near the spot where the accident happened, and the villagers strive to kick or carry it, after the manner of a football, to their own hamlet. The boggons stand round the field and try to prevent the hood from being taken beyond its boundaries. Should they capture it, it is taken to the chief of the boggons, who throws it again from the mill. Whoever succeeds in conveying it to the cellars of any public-house is rewarded by receiving one shilling. The next day the boggons, or plough -bullocks, go round dragging a small plough, and collect money, crying " Largess," and run races and wrestle in the evening. This is a curious survival of an ancient custom. In Suffolk it has always been usual in farmhouses to have furmety at meals, espe- cially at breakfast, during the period from Christmas to Old Christmas Day. In Leices- tershire special cakes are given to children on the Epiphany feast. In Worcestershire Epiphany or Old Christmas Day is observed much as Christmas Day itself, and during this season bands of musicians go round 5 1 Old English Customs and play at the houses in the neighbour- hood. In the north of Hampshire the old villagers sit up till twelve o'clock on Old Christmas Night, and as soon as they hear the leaves rustling they go to the nearest cow or horse stable to watch the animals stand up and lie down on their other side. The villagers who keep up the custom can no longer explain the meaning of it. The idea of watching the animals arose from the belief that at twelve o'clock on the night of the Nativity oxen knelt in their stalls in honour of the event ; and the rustling of the leaves is connected with the tradition that thorn- trees blossom at midnight to commemorate the Saviour's birth. The same beliefs are current in the neighbourhood of Stoneyhurst, Lancashire, where there are not wanting wit- nesses to the truth of the fact of the midnight blossoming. Cornish folk also believe that sheep turn to the east and bow their heads on Old Christmas Night in memory of the sheep belonging to the shepherds at Beth- lehem. They take it also that as the sheep observe this custom on Old Christmas Night, that must be the actual day of the Nativity, and not December 25th. This maybe com- pared to the old Yorkshire custom of watch- ing the beehives on the new and old Christmas Eve, to determine upon the right Christmas 5 2 Valentine s Day from the humming noise which they suppose the bees will make on the anniversary of the birth of our Saviour. January 24th, St. Paul's Day, is a holiday with the miners of Cornwall, who call it Paul Pitcher Day, from a custom they have of setting up a water pitcher and pelting it with stones until it is broken. A new one is then brought, and carried to the ale-house to be filled with beer. Throwing broken pitchers and other vessels against the door of the houses is also another favourite amuse- ment of Paul Pitcher Eve. Young men perambulate the village, and exclaim as they throw the sherds " St. Paul's Eve, And here's a heave." a St. Valentine's Day, the time-honoured festival of lovers, the theme of poets, has been shorn of its ancient glories, although valentines still adorn the shop-windows on February I4th. The saint was a priest and martyr in Italy in the third century, and why the day of his death should have been selected for the drawing of lots for sweet- hearts and for sending affectionate greetings is not very evident. The custom seems to have originated in France, whence it migrated 1 This is mentioned in Notes and Queries, 1874, and I gather from Miss Courtney's article in Folk-Lore that it still exists. 53 Old English Customs to Scotland, and thence to England. The first Sunday in Lent was, in ancient times, the usual day for its observance, and that day was generally known as le jour des valen- tines, when the maidens selected their valen- tines as gallants or future husbands. Hence our Valentine's Day is really the " day of valentines," when valentines or gallants were chosen, and is in no way connected with the saint whose feast has been commonly asso- ciated with the festival of lovers. 1 In Leicestershire lozenge-shaped buns, with currants and caraways, called shittles, are given to the old people and children on this day, notably at Glaston and Market Overton (Rutland). The bakers call them " valentine buns." Some very homely rhymes are still sent by rural lovers to their adored ones. From Islip, Oxfordshire, we have the following : " Come, my little sogar dear, Wash your face and curl your hair, And you'll be mine and I'll be thine, And so good-morrow, Valentine. As I sat in my garden chair, I saw two birds fly in the air, And two by two and pair by pair, Which made me think of you, my dear." 1 Cf, a note by F. Chance in Notes and Queries, 7th Series, v., Feb. 1 8, 1888. 54 Valentine s Day It is not necessary to record the ancient customs which prevailed on this day, long since obsolete, when fair maidens refused to open their eyes until their favourite admirers appeared and claimed the privilege of being their valentine for the year, or when a happy youth drew by lot the name of some girl whom he was bound by all the laws of St. Valentine to admire and serve as her gallant lover. The written valentine was of later growth, and many a fate has the following effusion sealed : " The rose is red, the violet blue, The pink is sweet, and so are you. Thou art my love, and I am thine ; I drew thee to my valentine ; The lot was cast, and then I drew, And fortune said it should be you." The boys of Berkshire are more practical, and use the opportunity for collecting small bribes, repeating the following rhyme : " Knock the kittle agin the pan, Gie us a penny if 'e can ; We be ragged an' you be vine, Plaze to gie us a valentine. Up wi* the kittle and down wi' the spout, Gie us a penny an' we'll gie out." The meaning of " we'll gie out " appears to be " we'll stop singing." At the village of High Roding, Essex, the 55 Old English Customs children, according to ancient custom, visit the houses of the residents and sing with great glee the lines " Good morning to your valentine, Curl your locks as I do mine ; Two before and two behind, Good morning to your valentine. I only come but once a year, Pray give me some money as I stand here, A piece of cake or a glass of wine, Good morning to your valentine." Among the gratuities distributed are the usual batch of bright new sixpences, one of which is given to every child in the parish who presents himself or herself at the Ware Farm at eight A.M. on Valentine's Day. The same verses are sung at Duxford, Cam- bridge. In East Anglia it is customary to leave small presents on the doorstep, to ring the bell violently, and then run away. It is not always easy to transplant old customs, and I can well remember the trouble which a Suffolk doctor brought upon himself, who, on removing to a northern county, tried to gain the affections of his new patients by introducing this harmless pleasantry. The natives did not understand the custom, and thought that it might be connected with the first of April. Hurling A remarkable set of verses comes from Northrepps, where the children sing : " Good morrow, Valentine ! How it do Hail ! When Father's pig die, You shall ha' its tail. Good morrow, Valentine ! How thundering Hot ! When Father's pig die, You shall ha' its jot." The jot is the tripe of the pig, considered a delicacy by Norfolk poor people. The annual custom of holding a hurling match continues at St. Ives, Cornwall, and is observed on the Monday after the feast day which falls on Quinquagesima Sunday. It is scarcely necessary to describe the old game of hurling, which resembles a Rugby game of football without the kicking of the ball. The ball is about the size of a cricket-ball, formed of cork or light wood. It is certainly " a play verily both rude and rough," as an old writer aptly describes it. Formerly village fought with village at these annual hurling matches; but probably on account of the severe rivalry and ferocity displayed these contests were discontinued. But at St. Ives one part of a parish plays against another on the sands on the day of the feast. All the 57 Old English Customs Toms, Wills, and Johns are on one side, while those having other Christian names range themselves on the other. At St. Columb the towns-folk contend against the country-folk; at Truro the married men with the unmarried ; and at Helston two streets with all the other streets. This takes place on May 2nd, when the boundaries of the town are perambulated. CHAPTER III Lenten customs Shrove Tuesday Pancake- bell Shroving Tossing pancakes at Westminster Devonshire rhymes Welsh survival of thrash- ing the hen Coquilles at Norwich Football on Shrove Monday Mothering Sunday Simnels Care Sunday Palm Sunday and ball-play Fig Sunday Spy Wednesday Maundy Thursday Good Friday and hot cross buns Skipping on Good Friday and marbles Guildford custom Custom at St. Bartholomew s Church, London Blue-Coat School custom Flogging Judas Cornish custom of gathering shell -Jish St. David's Day. 1 HE season of Lent has many customs which linger on. It is ushered in by Shrove Tuesday, when in ancient times the people flocked to the confessional to be shriven, or shrove, before the great fast commenced. We have nothing in this country which corresponds with the Carnival on the Con- tinent, although something of the same kind of festivity was once practised here, as an old writer testifies : " Some run about the streets attired like monks, and some like kings, Accompanied with pomp and guard, and other stately things ; 59 Old English Customs Some like wild beasts do run abroad in skins that divers be Arrayed, and eke with loathsome shapes, that dread- ful are to see ; They counterfeit both bears and wolves, and lions fierce in sight, : And raging bulls ; some play the cranes, with wings and stilts upright." Our modern carnival is a much less riotous proceeding, and generally resolves itself into eating pancakes. Shrove Tuesday is often called " Pancake Day," and at many places a bell is rung which is called " pancake-bell." This bell formerly called the faithful to the confessional. At Culworth, Northamptonshire, and at Crowle, Lincolnshire, the pancake-bell may still be heard, and also at the pretty village of Church Minshull, Cheshire, and at Morley, near Leeds, the old custom has been observed without intermission for over a hundred years. 1 The children in Berkshire have still their rhymes which they sing on this day, and receive their accustomed bribes. At Purley they say " Knick-knock, pan's hot, I'm come a-shroving ; Bit of bread and a bit of cheese, That's better than nothing. 1 Cf. " Bell Customs." At numerous churches in Leicester- shire and Rutlandshire the bell is rung. 60 Shrove Tuesday Last year's flour's dear That's what makes poor Purley children come shroving here. Hip, hip, hurrah ! Up with the pitcher and down with the pan, Give me a penny and I'll be gone." At Baldon, Oxfordshire, a similar rhyme is sung : " Pit-a-pat, the pan's hot, I be come a-shroving ; Catch a fish afore the net, That's better than nothing. Eggs, lard, and flour's dear, This makes me come a-shroving here." These rhymes have many variants, which need not now be enumerated. They may be heard in various forms in all the Southern, and Midland counties. Sometimes the shrov- ing children have unpleasant ways of signify- ing their displeasure should the accustomed gift be not forthcoming. This they do by throwing stones at the door and singing " Skit- scat, skit-scat, Take this, and take that," or by tying a stone to the door handle. The origin of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday has been much disputed. The fol- lowing suggestion by a learned ecclesiastic of the Roman Church possibly contains the 61 Old English Customs explanation of the custom. "When Lent was kept by a strict abstinence from meat all through the forty days, it was customary to use up all the dripping and lard in the making of pancakes. To consume all, it was usual to call in the apprentice-boys and others about the house, and they were sum- moned by a bell, which was naturally called ' pancake-bell.' " * An interesting survival of " tossing the pancake " exists at Westminster School, and is accompanied with several quaint obser- vances. The cook, bearing a frying-pan with a pancake, is conducted by a verger carrying the silver mace from the college kitchen to- the great schoolroom, when all the boys are assembled. The cook tries to toss the pan- cake over an iron bar which runs across the schoolroom from one wall to another. If the pancake goes clear over, the boys make a rush and try each to catch it whole. The boy who gets it whole receives a guinea from the Dean on showing it in an unbroken con- dition. The cook also receives ten shillings if he does his part properly. Now-a-days, only so many boys join in the struggle for the pancake as there are forms in the school. Each form names a representative. Formerly the whole school made a rush, which was rather a dangerous sport, and very wisely the 1 Notes and Queries, 8th Series, i., March 5, 1892. 62 Shrove 'Tuesday number of competitors for the prize has been limited. From Bridestowe, Devonshire, we have received a few simple rhymes, written by a girl in the village as they are usually sung. The words are : "Lain crock, pancake, fritter for our labour, Dish o' meal, piece of bread, or what you please to give me. I see by the string There's a good thing in ; I see by the latch There's something to catch. Trip a trap tro ! Give me my hump and I'll be go. Nine times, ten times, men come shroving, Pray, dame, something, an apple or a dumpling, Or a piece of chuckle cheese of your own making, Or a piece of pancake of your own baking. Trip a trap tro ! &c." In some parts of Wales there is a custom of casting thin lead figures of birds and ani- mals, which are set up and thrown at by boys with chunks of lead on Shrove Tuesday. Whatever the shape of the figure may be, it is called " a bird." If it is knocked down, it becomes the property of the thrower, but every chunk of lead that fails to knock down a bird is claimed by the owner of the bird. This is probably a survival of the ancient and cruel sport of threshing the hen, thus 63 Old English Customs mentioned by Tusser in his " Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry : " " Come, go to the barn now, my jolly ploughmen, Blindfolded, and speedily thresh the fat hen ; And if you can kill her, then give her thy men, And go ye on fritters and pancakes dine then." Well might a foreign visitor to our shores sagely remark that " the English eat a certain cake on Shrove Tuesday, upon which they immediately run mad and kill their poor cocks." At Norwich a custom prevails of selling at the bakers' and confectioners' shops a small currant-loaf called a " coquille," which the boys also cry in the streets. A notice at the shops runs as follows : " Hot coquilles on Tuesday morning at eight o'clock, and in the afternoon at four o'clock." Probably the word is derived from its shell-like shape (jcoquille = shell) ; but another authority con- nects it with " coquerell " or cock, and sup- poses that the cake was sold when the old sport of throwing at cocks was in vogue on this day. Shrove Tuesday is a day celebrated for its famous football encounters, which are not, like ordinary games, fought out on a level field between goal-posts, but are entirely of another character. At Sedgefield the church clerk and sexton had, according to imme- Football on Shrove Tuesday morial custom, to find a ball to be played for by the trades-folk and villagers on this day. The goal of the former is at the south of the village, that of the latter is a pond at the north end. The ball is put through the bull-ring in the middle of the village. The game always begins at one o'clock, and is fought out for three or four hours with much ferocity. There are no rules of " off- side," or of "no charging or hacking allowed." All is fair in love or war, and also in the old-fashioned football of England and Scot- land. At Chester-le-Street they have an annual match between the " up-street " and " down - street " folk on Shrove Tuesday. The contest takes place in the street, the windows being all carefully barricaded ; and a burn lies in the course of the players, who rush into the water, and enjoy a fine scrim- mage there. At Alnwick the contest used to take place in the street, but the Duke of Northumberland instituted an annual match, which now takes place in " the Pasture " every Shrove Tuesday between the parishioners of the two parishes of St. Michael and St. Paul. The committee receives the ball at the barbi- can of the castle from the porter, and march to the field headed by the Duke's piper, where the contest takes place, after which a fine struggle takes place for the possession of the ball. In Scotland, the streets of Duns 6 S E Old English Customs are enlivened by a game of handball on Fasten E'en. The ball is started in state by the lord of the manor, and the goals are the kirk and the mill. The football on Shrove Tuesday is still played at Dorking in the streets, as in the days of yore. The tradesmen wisely barri- cade their shops, and a collection is made during the morning throughout the streets, nominally to defray the cost of damages. The footballers first parade the streets clad in grotesque costumes, and bands of music accompany the procession. The football is kicked off in the centre of the High Street at two o'clock, and all who wish join in the game. The play is furious and the ball is kicked everywhere, sometimes reaching the fields at the outskirts of the town. During four hours the contest lasts, and towards the end of the struggle there is much excitement and vigorous kicking, extremely dangerous to the limbs of the competitors. The old custom of tolling the pancake-bell during the morning has now been discontinued. " Clipping of churches " was formerly practised in Wiltshire, when the children joined hands round the church, walked round three times, and repeated the lines " Shrove Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, poor Jack went to plough, His mother made pancakes, she scarcely knew how ; 66 Shrove Tuesday She tossed them, she turned them, she made them so black, With soot from the chimney that poisoned poor Jack." This rhyme was current in Shropshire ten years ago, and is probably still existing. In Cornwall all the mischief inherent in human nature used to be called into play on this day. Women rubbed the faces of passers-by with sooty hands; people threw water over everybody they came into contact with ; knockers were wrenched off; gates unhung and carried away ; boys prowled the streets on " Nickanan Night " with clubs, like imps of darkness, beating at doors, and carry- ing off whatever they could seize, and many other pleasant attentions were paid by friendly neighbours in order to keep up old customs and to promote the happiness of mankind ! Happily these have passed away, and the former victims of such pleasantries will not regret their departure. The voice of rural revelry is hushed during \ the first few weeks of Lent, and no popular j customs break the stillness of the spring- time fast until Mid-Lent Sunday is reached. This day has several pleasing associations. It is called " Mothering Sunday," and from early times it has been the custom for chil- dren who were absent from home in service to visit their parents on this day. This prac- 67 Old English Customs tice arose from an ancient ordinance of the Church requiring the priests and people to visit the mother-church of the district on Mothering Sunday, and long ago this eccle- siastical custom became generally associated with the pleasant gathering of families and the renewing of the ties of home life. Her- rick sang of this custom in his beautiful poem " I'll to thee a simnell bring, 'Gainst thou go'st a mothering ; So that when she blesseth thee, Half the blessing thou'lt give me." It is satisfactory to know that this custom of " Merrie England" still prevails in some of the rural parts of Gloucestershire and also in Radnorshire. At Selsby, near Stroud, the servants are accustomed to ask for leave of absence on this day, pleading that it is Mothering Sunday, and a certain cake coated with white and embellished with pink is par- taken of. At Wotton-under-Edge, in the same county, the festival is observed at the " Swan Inn," where cake and wine are pro- vided for all the servants, who are allowed to bring with them their friends and sweet- hearts. In the district of Rossendale Mother- ing Sunday is still the day for the gathering of scattered members of families, and it is customary there to make a " Fag," i.e.) a 68 Mothering Sunday fig-pie, for this special social entertainment. As a family festival the day is observed in Leicestershire, and young people flock home- wards and eat veal and furmety. The day is still observed in Worcester- shire. At Stoulton, children return home for the day, and often bring a present to their parents ; and often families make a point of attending church. Veal is the appointed viand of the day, and consequently it is in great demand. This Sunday is also called Simnel Sunday, so named from the special cakes eaten on that day. The word Simnel is derived from the Latin word simila? signifying fine wheat- flour, and not from the fictitious personages Simon and Nell whom popular tradition has credited with the manufacture of the first Simnel. Even Lambert Simnel, the preten- der, who was by trade a baker, has been credited with the invention. Bury, in Lan- cashire, is the great place for these cakes, which often resemble the largest wedding- cake, and the custom of eating them on this day is prevalent throughout Lancashire. The streets of Bury used to be blocked with stalls, on which were displayed simnels of various sorts, and crowds assembled from all the sur- rounding neighbourhood. Passion Sunday, the second before Easter, 1 Cf. German word Semmel, signifying a roll of best bread. 69 Old English Customs is also called Care Sunday, according to the old Nottinghamshire rhyme " Care Sunday, care away, Palm Sunday and Easter Day." Why it is so named is a disputed question. Some derive it from the word karr^ signi- fying a satisfaction for a debt, alluding to the satisfaction made by our Saviour ; others connect it with carl or ceorl, meaning a husbandman. 1 At any rate, the custom of eating " carling peas," ?'.., peas fried in butter with vinegar and pepper, exists still in York- shire and Northumberland. Palm Sunday has several interesting customs which commemorate the triumphant entry of our Lord into Jerusalem, when the people took branches of palm-trees and scattered them in the way. In Wiltshire " palms," or branches of willow and hazel, are carried to Martinsell, a hill near Marlborough. A curious game is usually played there on this day, consisting in hitting a ball gradually up the steep slope of the hill to the summit with crooked sticks. A line of boys with bandy or hockey sticks in their hands are ranged on the northern side of the hill, one above the other ; they hit or " pass " a ball up from one boy to the other till it reaches 1 The derivation of c are has been much disputed. Cf. Hamp- son's " Med. CEvi. Kalend.," and Dyer's "Popular Customs." 70 Palm Sunday the last boy, who knocks it to the top, whence it falls to the bottom of the hill and the game recommences. A similar game is played at Roundway Hill. In very many places " palms " are worn on Palm Sunday. In some villages it is known as " Fig Sunday." At Edlesborough, Buck- inghamshire, the children procure figs, and nearly every house has a fig-pudding. For some days beforehand the shop-windows of the neighbouring town of Dunstable are full of figs, and on Palm Sunday crowds go to the top of Dunstable Downs, one of the highest points in the neighbourhood, and eat figs. Nor is this custom confined to Buckinghamshire ; until quite lately people used to assemble on Silbury Hill on the same Sunday and eat figs, and fig-puddings were much in vogue. The custom of observing "Fig Sunday" prevails in the counties of Bedford, Bucks, Hertford, Northampton, Oxford, Wilts, and North Wales. At Kempton, in Hertford- shire, it has long been the custom for the people to eat figs " keep warsel " and make merry with their friends on Palm Sunday. More figs are sold in the shops on the few days previous to the festival than in all the year beside. Probably it is connected with the withering of the barren fig-tree, the account of which immediately follows the Old English Customs narrative of the triumphal entry into Jeru- salem. Amongst the Irish Roman Catholics the Wednesday in Holy Week is known as Spy Wednesday, the spy being Judas, who be- trayed our Lord. 1 The Thursday in Holy Week, commonly called Maundy Thursday, is observed at Court by the presentation of the royal Maundy gifts to poor people. 2 A full account of the ceremony is given in the chapter relating to Court Customs. The word Maundy is derived from the Latin word mandatum? and refers to the command of our Lord to His Apostles to imitate His example in the humility which He showed in washing the feet of His disciples. Good Friday has very many customs con- nected with it which abound in interest. Every one is familiar with the practice of eating hot cross buns on this day, and the well-known rhyme, which has several variants " One a penny, two a penny, Hot cross buns ; If you have no daughters, Give them to your sons ; But if you have none of these merry little elves, Then you may keep them all for yourselves." 1 Notes and Queries. 2 Cf. "Court Customs," p. 257. 8 According to Archdeacon Nares, Maundy is derived from the maund, a corruption of the Saxon rnand, a basket. 72 Hot Cross Buns This custom is as old as the Romans, who were accustomed to present to their gods consecrated bread. Two loaves were dis- covered at Herculaneum marked by a cross. The Romans divided their sacred cakes with lines intersecting each other at right angles, and called the quarters quadra? The cross on the buns eaten on Good Friday now has another meaning. In Worcestershire hot cross buns made on this day are supposed never to become mouldy, and a loaf made and baked on Good Friday, and hung in the kitchen, averts ill-luck, and when grated is an excellent remedy for various illnesses. Much has been written concerning the origin of hot cross buns. The Romans made their sacred cakes in honour of Diana, whose festival was observed soon after the vernal equinox. The original home of the custom, where it is chiefly observed, is Cam- bridgeshire and Hertfordshire. There the old Roman roads the Ickneld Street and the Armynge Street crossed. There stood in Roman times the altar of Diana of the Crossways, to whom the Romans offered their sacred cakes. There, too, the custom of eating hot cross buns is chiefly observed, whereas in many parts of England (e.g., Bath) 1 Northall's " English Folk-Rhymes." Cf. Virgil, &n. bk. vii.; Martial, bk. iii. Epig. 77. 73 Old English Customs they are quite unknown. This is a curious survival of the Roman times. The strange custom of skipping on Good Friday prevails at Brighton, though it is rapidly falling into disuse. Twenty years ago the whole fishing community engaged in this amusement during the whole day. It was generally practised with a long rope, from six to ten grown-up people skipping at one rope. Five years ago an elderly man was observed indulging in this pastime, and the day is known as " Long Rope Day." Playing marbles on Good Friday is also a curious local custom practised in nearly all the Sussex villages by both boys and men. It is considered quite as wrong to omit this solemn duty as to go without the Christmas pudding or to neglect any other imperative observance. No one knows why tfo^play/ marbles on Good Friday. No one knows why the good people of Guildford, Surrey, make a pilgrimage to St. Martha's Hill on Good Friday, where, on one of the most beautiful spots in Surrey, near the old Norman church, crowds collect and pass the time in singing and dancing. The latter have been discontinued during recent years; still many people flock thither, but they are chiefly the old folks who make this pilgrim- age. St. Martha's Church is an old pilgrim church, whither the faithful used to go when 74 Old City Customs they were on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury. Martha's Hill is said to be a corruption of Martyr's Hill, and the visit of the Guildford folk to this spot is, doubtless, a relic of some ancient religious ceremony or pilgrimage. Old customs die hard in the City of Lon- don. In the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, twenty-one aged widows receive on Good Friday the means wherewith to re- member the piety of a nameless benefactor. According to time-honoured custom, they attend service in the parish church, then walk in procession to the long-disused graveyard adjoining, and proceed to pick off a parti- cular tombstone a new sixpence, deposited there by the churchwarden ; and finally, on leaving the scene of this quaint ceremony, are presented with a hot cross bun. Any widow who is incapable through the stiffness of her joints to pick up the coin is not en- titled to receive it. The name of the pious citizen has been lost, as all the records of the period were destroyed in the Great Fire. The fund from which this bequest is derived has unfortunately been diverted, but by the liber- ality of a civic antiquary the custom is pre- served, and the poor widows still receive their sixpence. Another quaint ceremony is re- gularly performed on Good Friday. Three hundred years ago, Peter Symonds, a worthy 75 Old English Customs Londoner of the days of Queen Elizabeth, devised a sum of money to be bestowed on Good Friday to the youngest boys of the Blue-Coat School, in the shape of sixty new pennies and sixty packets of raisins. The children and poor of the City parishes also benefit by the same will, and the money used to be given over the tomb of the donor, until the railway in Liverpool Street effaced the spot. The curious custom of flogging Judas Iscariot, though not an English practice, may be witnessed in any of our ports, if any Portuguese or South American vessels are in the harbour. An effigy is made of the Betrayer, which is ducked in the dock, and then kicked and lashed with knotted ropes, amid the shouts and the singing of a weird, rude chant by the spectators. In the far west an old Cornish custom still survives at St. Constantine. On Good Friday crowds flock to Helford River to gather shellfish (limpets, cockles, &c.). This gathering of shellfish on Good Friday, usually winkles from the sea, was once very pre- valent all over the county. The origin of this custom I dare not attempt to determine. (Folk- Lore. ) March ist is St. David's Day, a festival dear to all patriotic Welshmen. The wear- ing and eating of the leek is a common form 76 St. David's Day of designating the true Taffy. In the chap- ter on army customs we have mentioned some of the quaint ceremonies of the Welsh Fusileers on this day. At Jesus College, Oxford, much frequented by Welshmen, the undergraduates wear leeks, and the Fellows usually have a dinner, at which the guests wear artificial leeks in their button-holes. 77 CHAPTER IV Easter customs Pace eggs Clapping for eggs in Wales Pace-egg play Biddenden custom Kentish pudding-pies Hallaton hare-pie and bottle kicking School customs St. Mark's Day and ghosts Custom at St. Mary's, Woolnoth Hocktide at Hungerford All Fools' Day. 1 HE Feast of the Resurrection is remark- able for the almost universal practice of giving Pace eggs. The word Pace is de- rived from Pasche or Paschal, and we find it under the various forms of pas, pays, pasce, pask, pasch, passhe, and many others. The imagination of some antiquarians has caused them to see in the Paschal egg a symbol or emblem of the Resurrection, and to pronounce the custom to be of Christian origin. But it is far older than Christianity, and is common to Norse nations. In the old sagas the earth was symbolised by an egg ; in the ancient worship of Baal eggs played a part ; and in all probability the Christian teachers, finding that the people were devoted to the custom, diverted from it the old heathen notions and attached to it Christian ideas and beliefs. Egyptians, 78 Pace Eggs Persians, Greeks, and Romans all shared in the symbolical use of eggs, and the Parsees even now distribute red eggs at their spring festival. Old Pace eggs in our own country were hard-boiled and dyed with various colours, with names and " sentiments " imprinted on them. They were dyed with logwood, onion skins, pieces of coloured rags, and furze flowers, and yellow, violet, and pink were the common colours. Now aniline dyes are used. Formerly the eggs were blessed by a priest. In Yorkshire the children roll their highly-coloured eggs against one another in fields and gardens. The lads buy eggs and press them in the streets against each other. In Anglesey, North Wales, the children go from house to house from the Monday to the Saturday during Easter Week, clapping until the door is opened to them. Formerly they used to recite the following lines : " Clap, clap, dau tfy I hogyn bach ar y plwy," the literal meaning of which is, " Clap, clap, (give) two eggs to little lad on parish." The custom is not confined to poor chil- dren, as the children of well-to-do parents join in the practice. 1 When no eggs are forthcoming, each child receives a penny. 1 By the kindness of Lady Read I have in my possession a clapper which was used in the parish of Llanfechall last Easter. 79 Old English Customs In Carnarvonshire the custom is but a memory ; eighty years ago the clerk of the parish used to go round with a basket collecting Easter eggs, accompanied by boys clapping. This custom was not confined to Wales. In Lancashire and Cheshire the custom of Pace-egging is very common. " Please, good dame, an Aister egg," is heard everywhere, but money is now frequently given in place of eggs. At Wilmslow the old rhyme used to be " Please Mr. Please give us an Easter egg. If you do not give us one, Your hen shall lay an addled one, Your cock shall lay a stone." The boys roll the eggs like bowls, and at Preston Park hundreds of people may be seen engaged in rolling eggs down the grassy slope. In Northumberland, when a man asks a woman for an egg, if she refuses, he takes off her boots until she pays a penalty. If a man refuses to give a woman a Pace-egg, she snatches away his cap, and will not restore it until he pays a money forfeit. Easter eggs were in mediaeval times blessed by the priest, and this form of benediction was authorised by Pope Paul V. : " Bless, Lord, we beseech Thee, this Thy creature of 80 Pace Eggs eggs, that it may become a wholesome sus- tenance to Thy faithful servants, eating it in thankfulness to Thee, on account of the resurrection of our Lord." The red dye used to colour the egg was supposed to allude to the blood of the redemption. In connection with Pace-egging there is the Pace-egg or Easter play, which resembles in its main features the Christmas mumming play. In this piece of ancient drama folk- lorists see a relic of old Norse mythology the contest of Thor and Balder, of spring with winter. Beau Slasher is the champion of winter, and his iron head, steel body, and hands and feet made of knuckle-bones, are descriptive of the frost-bound earth. These interpretations seem somewhat fanciful. Biddenden, a quiet and retired Kentish village, presents every Easter the same spectacle on a larger scale that it did on Paschal Sunday about the time of the Nor- man Conquest. At the beginning of the twelfth century there lived in Biddenden two twin-sisters Eliza and Mary Chalkhurst who were the precursors of the Siamese Twins. 1 They were joined together in the 1 One of these cakes is engraved in Ducarel's ' ' Repertory of the Dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester," 1782, p. 137 ; and another pattern is given in Hone's " Every-Day Book," vol. ii. p. 443. Hasted regards the notion that the sisters were joined together as a vulgar tradition arising from the figures on the cakes, and says that their real name was Preston. 8l F Old English Customs back by two ligaments, and after they had passed a joint existence of thirty-five years one of them died. The other was advised to have the cords of unity dissevered, but she refused, saying, "As we came together, so also shall we go together." Six hours afterwards she died. By their will they bequeathed to the churchwardens of the parish certain lands, of which the rents were to be devoted to supplying the poor with doles of bread and cheese every Easter Sunday. The income now amounts to about ^"40. Visitors from neighbouring places flock to the village, which is turned into a kind of fair, after the services in the church have been celebrated by the vicar. There are two distributions under the will of the united sisters. In the first place, a thou- sand hard-baked rolls, each stamped with a representation of the foundresses of the feast, are distributed among visitors who may be in want of refreshment. They are very durable, as they are as hard as wood, and may be kept as curiosities for twenty years. The second distribution consists of loaves and cheese, and is limited to the poor of the village. One of the church- wardens sits at a little window of the work- house, and to each of the poor parishioners who march past in single file he hands a loaf and a large piece of cheese. The 82 Hare- Scramble ceremony finished, many of the visitors attempt to soften their cakes in Kentish ale, and pass the rest of the day in old- world conviviality. Biddenden then resumes its accustomed quietude until the memory of the twin-sisters is again celebrated. The " Kentish men " still eat pudding- pies at Easter, a kind of flat tart with a raised crust to hold a small quantity of custard, with currants sprinkled over its surface. Bands of young folk used to roam the countryside provided with this form of refreshment on the Monday and Tuesday of Easter Week. {Kentish Express.} Another curious observance is the Halla- ton Hare-scramble and Bottle-kicking, which takes place annually on Easter Monday. An eye-witness shall describe the strange scene : " The origin of the custom associ- ated with the hare-pie scramble is lost in the mists of antiquity, and may be a relic of mediaeval times, similar to the old ' Whipping Toms ' in Leicester, put down in I847. 1 At all events, at a remote period a piece of land was bequeathed to the rector, conditionally that he and his successors 1 "Whipping Toms" was a rough pastime which required the aid of an Act of Parliament to suppress it. After a hockey match the young men armed themselves with long cart-whips, and proceeded to whip any one passing through the precincts of Leicester Castle, unless they received a fee from their victim. 83 Old English Customs provided annually two hare-pies, a quantity of ale, and two dozen penny loaves, to be scrambled for on each succeeding Easter Monday at the rising ground called Hare- pie Bank, about a quarter of a mile south of the village. Of course, hares being out of season at this time of the year, pies of mutton, veal, and bacon are substituted. A benevolent rector of the last century made an effort to have the funds applied to a better use ; but the village wags were equal to the occasion, and raised the cry, and chalked on his walls and door, as well as on the church, * No pie, no parson, and a job for the glazier.' Other subsequent efforts alike failed. Easter Monday at Hal- laton is the great carnival of the year. The two benefit societies hold their anniversary at the * Royal Oak' and the 'Fox Inn, 1 and bands accompany the processions to the parish church, where the ' club sermon ' is preached. After dinner at the inns, a deputation is sent to the rectory for the * pies and beer,' and then the procession is formed in the following order : "Two men abreast, carrying two sacks with the pies cut up. " Three men abreast, carrying aloft a bottle each ; two of these are filled with beer ; they are ordinary field wood bottles, but without the usual mouth, iron-hooped all over, with 84 Hare-Scramble a hole left for drinking from ; the third is a dummy. Occasionally a hare is carried, in a sitting posture, mounted on the top of a pole. " The procession increases greatly in num- bers as it approaches Hare-pie Bank, where the pies are pitched out of the sack and scrambled for. The spectators amuse themselves by throwing the contents of the pies at each other. Then follows the well-known ' Hal- laton bottle-kicking.' One of the large bottles containing ale is thrown into the circular hollow on the mound, and the ' Medbourne men/ or other villagers who care to join in the sport, try to wrest the bottle from the Hallatonian grasp. A fierce contest then ensues, in comparison with which a football scrimmage is mere child's play. It is useless to describe the battle that ensues, the Hallatonians striving to kick the bottle to their boundary-line over the brook adjoining the village, while their oppo- nents endeavour to convey it towards the Medbourne boundary. The victors of course claim the contents of the bottle. Then ' the dummy ' is fought for with unabated zest, for the Hallaton people boast that this has never been wrested from them. The third bottle is taken in triumph to the market- cross and its contents drunk with accustomed honours. The bottles are carefully kept 85 Old English Customs from year to year, and those now in use have done duty for more than thirty years." The author of the " Folk-lore of Leicester- shire " in an able paper 2 has shown a connec- tion between the Christian festival of Easter and the worship or sacrifice of hares. Certain evidence of this exists here in England. At Coleshill, Warwickshire, it used to be custo- mary for the young men of the parish to try to catch a hare before ten o'clock on Easter Monday and bring it to the parson ; if they were successful, the parson was bound to give them a calf s-head and a hundred of eggs for their breakfast and a groat in money. The custom of hunting the hare at Leicester on Easter Monday also supports the theory, on which day the mayor and his brethren in their scarlet gowns, attended by their proper officers, used to go to Black-Annis' Bower Close and witness the diversion of hunting a hare. But as unfortunately there was no hare to be hunted, the sport degenerated into trailing a dead cat soaked in aniseed water before a pack of hounds, amidst the shouts of the spectators. This early form of drag- hunting has been long ago abandoned, but an annual fair on the Danes' Hills and the Fosse Road, held on Easter Monday, has 1 "County Folk-lore: Leicestershire and Rutland," by C. J. Billson, 1895. 2 Folk-Lore, December 1892. 86 Hare-Scramble preserved until recent years the traces of the Leicester hare-hunt. The writer, Mr. Billson, brings forward much evidence to prove that " the hare was originally a totem, or divine animal, among the local aborigines, and that the customs at Leicester and Hallaton are relics of the religious procession and annual sacrifice of the god." He also sees in the " bottle- kicking " a relic of the " carrying out Death," which is practised in some form in many European countries. Something is taken to represent Death, a log of wood or a figure of straw; this is carried out of the village and destroyed in some way. This ceremony usually takes place in the spring, signifying the destruction of winter, the symbol of Death. Then on Easter Monday at Ashton-under-Lyne there is the custom of " Riding the Black Lad;" in which case the effigy of a black boy, after being carried round the town and shot at, is finally burned. 1 The whole subject is full of interest, and we refer our readers to Mr. Billson's article, as we are now con- cerned more with the account of existing customs rather than deductions from them. School customs are always full of interest. Many have died, especially at Eton, where one would have imagined they would be scrupu- 1 "Denham Tracts," vol. i., Folk-Lore Society, 1891. 87 Old English Customs lously observed. An ancient usage prevails at Christ's Hospital, London, on Easter Tues- day, when the boys visit the Mansion House, and receive from the Lord Mayor the custo- mary Easter gifts. Coins fresh from the mint are given to the boys : to each Grecian one guinea, to the Junior Grecians half-a-guinea, to the monitors half-a-crown, while the rank and file receive one shilling. Buns are given to each boy, and also a glass of lemonade in- stead of the wine which they received formerly . In a Northern grammar-school the boys used to attend the ceremony of the installation of the Mayor, and were regaled with punch and buns. Moreover, they were obliged to sin against grammar as well as temperance prin- ciples, for they were called upon to drink the toast " Prosperation (sic) To the Corporation." The toast and the punch and the custom have been discontinued during the last twenty years. The Christ's Hospital boys, after the ceremony, accompany the Lord Mayor and the Corporation of the City of London to Christ's Church, Newgate Street, where the Spital sermon is preached. This used to be called the Second Spital Sermon, the first being preached on the Monday; but this has been discontinued. 88 School Customs The old Eton Montem has been dead some years, and was last celebrated in 1 844. It was a procession of the scholars, dressed either in military or fancy costume, to the mons, or Salt-hill, where they levied a tax, called " salt," on all comers. Some relics of this custom are preserved in the observances on the famous Fourth of June, when the members of the Boats, and especially the coxswains, wear extraordinary dresses, said to be captains' and midshipmen's uniforms. The old Montem is supposed to be connected with the boy-bishop, and originally took place on the Feast of St. Nicholas. On the eve of the Feast of St. Mark (April 25th), Yorkshire folk sit and watch in the porches of churches from 1 1 P.M. to i A.M. It is supposed that the ghosts of all who will die during the following year pass into the church. People sometimes say in case of the illness of a neighbour, that he will not recover as his ghost was seen last St. Martin's Eve; and sometimes this supersti- tion has caused death, on account of the terror which the prophecy inspired. (Folk-Lore.} A curious custom is observed at Easter at St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street, London. As the congregation leave the church, an Easter egg, coloured, and with the words " My Redeemer " written on it, is presented to every one. Old English Customs " Heaving " is, we believe, quite extinct. Many men little past middle age can re- member how on Easter Monday the men used to lift the women whom they met thrice above their heads, and the women responded on Easter Tuesday and lifted the men. In spite of many inquiries, we can find no evidence 1 of the continued existence of this custom, which prevailed greatly in the North of England, and also in Wales, War- wickshire, and Shropshire. A fortnight after Easter comes the once famous Hock-tide, a very popular festival in former days, but now little observed. Only in one town have some of the humours of Hock-tide been preserved. Hungerford, Berks, still maintains its ancient and curious customs, which not even the new District and Parish Councils Act has been able to affect. Hungerford is an old-world town, governed, not by a mayor and town-council, like other modern mushroom corporations, but by a high constable, assisted by a port- reeve, bailiff, tything or tutti men, hayward, &c. Moreover, John of Gaunt was the great patron of the town, and gave it a wonderful horn, upon the safe preservation of which the 1 As late as the year 1883 a relic of this custom was observed at Norton, Cheshire, where a man entered a house to "lift" the wife of the owner. The latter objected, and summoned the observer of old customs, who had to pay the costs of the prosecution. 9 Hock-tide in Hungerford rights of the town depend. The proceedings of Hock-tide commence with the watercress supper at the hotel of the " John o' Gaunt," consisting of black broth, welsh rabbit, mac- caroni, and salad, accompanied by bowls of punch. During the meal the affairs of the township are discussed. On Tuesday, " Hockney Day," the proceedings com- mence by the town-crier blowing from the balcony of the town-hall the ancient horn, the gift of John of Gaunt. The Hock-tide Court assemble, the jury is sworn, the names of the free suitors are called over by the town-clerk, and the commoners summoned to " save their commons " for the ensuing year. Various officers are elected, including the water-bailiff, hall-keeper, hayward, ale- tasters, &c. The tything or tutti 1 men visit the residence of the high constable, and are invested with the emblems of office. Their duties consist of calling upon the commoners, and demanding from the men a coin, and from the women a kiss, and pre- senting every person in the house with an orange. Kissing evidently does not al- ways go by favour, especially at Hunger- ford during Hock-tide. The collection of pennies is a simple matter, and a large majority of the ladies usually submit to the 1 So called from their poles, wreathed with tutties or posies of flowers. 9 1 Old English Customs ancient usage of the old town ; but many hide themselves until all danger of a visit from the tutti men is passed, and bolts and bars often check the advances of the favoured official. A luncheon is given by the high constable at the "Three Swans/' during the progress of which the boys and girls of the town scramble for money and oranges thrown to them from the windows. In addition to these remarkable survivals of old customs there is the " Sandin Fee Court," when the list of " Rescients " is read, and regulations made for the feeding of cattle on the marsh. After another dinner the court leet is held, and in the evening the constable's banquet, when his worship sits in a beautiful old carved ebony chair beneath the shade of the famous John o' Gaunt's horn, which is sus- pended between the two tutti poles. The last toast of the evening is " To the memory of John o' Gaunt," which is drunk in solemn silence as the clock strikes the hour of midnight. The Hock-tide proceedings are brought to a close by the constable, feofers, and other officers attending divine service in the parish church. The municipal customs of Hungerford are a curious and interesting survival, and we hope that they may long retain their peculiar usages. The duties of the tything or tutti men remind one of the ancient " gatherings " 92 April Fool's Day once universally practised at Hock-tide, and supposed to be held in memory of the vic- tory of our Saxon forefathers over the Danes. The custom was for the men to traverse the streets with ropes, and stop and bind all the women they met, releasing them on pay- ment of a small ransom. On the Tuesday in Hock-tide the women retaliated and bound the men ; but this custom is now quite obsolete. 1 The spirit of mischief inherent in human nature prevents youths and maidens from forgetting the due observance of All Fools 1 Day (April 1st). Why people should be sent on foolish errands and be made the subjects of harmless jokes on this day, it is difficult to conjecture. Nor is the custom confined to one country. In France the vic- tim is called un poisson d'Avril (an April fish), and in Scotland a gowk or cuckoo; while in India the same practice prevails. It is supposed to be connected with the popular celebration of the advent of the vernal equinox, though some writers have suggested that poisson is a corruption of Passion, and that the mock trial of our Saviour is in some way referred to. Pro- bably it is a remnant of the old New Year's Day festivities, which commenced on March 25th and ended on April ist. To decide 1 Cf. "Old English Sports," by P. H. Ditchfield, p. 42. 93 Old English Customs the vexed question of the origin of All Fools' Day is almost as vain as to hunt the gowk, which, according to the old rhyme, was the fruitless sport assigned to foolish folk : " On the first day of April Hunt the gowk another mile." * Still the ingenuity of mankind is taxed on this day to make April fools until the hour of twelve strikes, when the sport is no longer legitimate. It were well if fools and folly could be confined to this brief period of existence. 1 Dr. Giuseppe Pitri has published a monograph on this sub- ject entitled // Pesce cTAprile (1891), which may well attract the attention of the curious. The learned author states that " there is scarcely any popular tradition of which the origin is so obscure." 94 CHAPTER V May Day customs Magdalen College, Oxford Sweeps at Oxford and Cheltenham Bampton customs Charlton, Clifton, and Witney, Oxon Edlesborough, Bucks Hawick customs Saltash, Cornwall Minehead and Lancashire, Leicester- shire, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Northants cus- toms Old Maypole still standing Gawthorpe, Yorks St. Mary Cray. Jr ROM ancient times May Day has ever been the great rural festival, when the May- pole was erected on every village green and spring was ushered in with all the merriness of simple rustic revelry. In recent times we have witnessed a revival of the crowning of May Queens and of children dancing around Maypoles. The old ceremonies are closely imitated, but they lack the spontaneity of the ancient rural festivals, and we are concerned now with the actual survivals of old customs, rather than any modern imitations of the same. In many old-world villages and towns we find still the old May Day ceremonies lingering on, and some of these we will visit, and describe how the rustics still continue to " usher in the May." At Oxford the custom of singing the May / * 95 Old English Customs Morning Hymn on the summit of the tower of Magdalen College by the choristers is regularly observed. This is said to have taken the place of a requiem mass which in pre-Reformation days was performed on the same spot for the* repose of the soul of Henry VII. The following are the words of the hymn : " Te Deum Patrem colimus, Te laudibus prosequimur, Qui corpus cibo reficis Coelesti mentem gratia. Te adoramus, O Jesu ! Te, Fill unigenite ! Tu, qui non dedignatus es Subire claustra Virginis. Actus in crucem factus es, Irato Deo victima ; Per te, Salvator unice, Vitse spes nobis rediit. Tibi, seterne Spiritus, Cujus afflatu peperit Infantem Deum Maria, Sternum benedicimus. Triune Deus, hominum Salutis Auctor optime, Immensum hoc mysterium Ovanti lingua canimus." About 150 persons are usually present, and as the hour of five strikes the choir com- May Day Customs mence to sing the hymn. In the street and on the bridge a large crowd of spectators assemble, many of whom blow horns and other hideous-sounding instruments, and at the conclusion of the hymn they disperse for the accustomed country-walk. In the same city on May Day garlands are borne along the streets, and a " Jack-in-the- Green," with the accompaniment of about a dozen fantastically dressed men and women, is often seen. This procession is formed by the Sweeps, and consists of the following personages : 1. Jack-in-the-Green. 2. A "Lord" and "Lady," who are dressed in white and decorated with ribbons. The "Lady" carries a ladle, and the " Lord " a frying- pan. 3. A " Fool," dressed as fantastically as possible, who carries a bladder on a string, wherewith to belabour the bystanders. 4. A fiddler. 5. Two or three men who carry money- boxes. 6. A man with shovel and poker, which he uses as musical instruments. The whole party, except the " Lady," have their faces blackened, and are decked with 97 G Old English Customs ribbons and flowers. They sing the follow- ing song : " Please to remember the chimney-sweeps ; Please, kind sir, don't pass us by ; We're old sweeps and want a living, Spare us a copper as in olden time." The chimney-sweeps of Cheltenham also hold high revels on May Day. The dancers have their faces blacked, and their band con- sists of a fiddle and tin-whistle. The centre of the group is formed by a large bush, or hollow cone bedecked with leaves, out of which peers the face of Jack-i'-the-Green. The dresses of the attendants are red, blue, and yellow, and they dance around the bush. The leader of the party is the clown, who wears a tall hat with a flapping crown, and a fantastical dress, and "fancies himself" greatly. There is also a man with a fool's cap, and black figures fastened on his white pinafore, and the representation of a gridiron. Two boys complete the group, one wearing a girl's hat adorned with flowers. They levy contri- butions by holding out iron ladles or spoons, and strike the bystanders with bladders fas- tened to a stick. Their performance consists in dancing and roaring. The Cambridge sweeps evidently used to have a similar festi- val, as the children still go round with a doll, hung in the midst of a hoop wreathed with flowers, singing the ditty May Day Customs " The first of May is garland day, And chimney-sweepers' dancing day ; Curl your locks as I do mine, One before and one behind." At Bampton, Oxon, up to within forty or fifty years ago, a party of children used to go round the town on May Day, dressed in white, with red, white, and blue ribbons (these are now the colours of the Club). A boy, called the " Lord," carried a stick dressed with ribbons and flowers, which was called a " sword," and a collecting-box for pence. Two girls, known as the " Lady " and her " Maid," carried on a stick between them the "garland," which was made of two hoops crossed, and covered with moss, flowers, and ribbons. The " Lady " also carried a " mace," a square piece of board mounted on a short staff, on the top of which were sweet-smelling herbs under a muslin cover, decorated with red, white, and blue ribbons and rosettes. The " Lord " and "Lady" were accompanied by a "Jack-in- the-Green." From time to time the "Lady" sang the following words : " Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a happy May ; Please smell my mace And kiss my face, And then we'll show our garland." 99 Old English Customs After the words " kiss my face," it was the " Lord's " duty to kiss the " Lady," and then to hand round his money-box. This custom has been almost discontinued on May Day for many years past, but is kept up, without the Jack-in-the-Green, at the Club Feast on Whit-Monday. At Charlton-on-Otmoor, Oxon, on May morning a procession used to start from the vicarage, headed by two men carrying a large garland of flowers on a stick. With them went six morris-dancers, a fool or " Squire," who carried a bladder and a money-box, and a man who played the pipe and tabour. At the end of the day, after the dancing was over, the garland was taken to the church, and hung up on the rood-screen in place of _the rood, where it was left till the next May Day, when it was taken down and redressed. The procession and dancing has been given up since 1857, but the garland is still dressed every May Day, and put upon the screen. At Witney they still have a Jack-in-the- Green, a man enclosed in a bower made in the shape of a pyramid about ten feet high. He is accompanied by various attendants, one bearing a drum or a triangle, and another a large silver ladle for the reception of the monies of the spectators. At Clifton, near Deddington, Oxon, a number of boys and girls go round with a 100 May Day Customs garland, carried between two of them on a stick, and sing the following song : " Good morning, ladies and gentlemen ; I wish you a happy day ; I'm come to show my garland, Because it's the First of May. A bunch of May I have brought you, And at your door it stands ; It is but a spray, but it's well spread about, 'Tis the work of our God's hands. 1 And now I've sung my little short song, No longer can I stay ; God bless you all, both great and small, And grant you a very happy May." On May Day, at Spelsbury, the school children go in procession, with a garland carried on a stick between two of them. They choose a " Lord " and a " Lady," who are dressed in white, with coloured ribbons ; the rest carry " maces" z>., sticks dressed in ribbons and flowers. The following song is sung : " Hail ! all hail ! the merry month of May ! I'm come to show my garland, Because it's the First of May. 1 At Warborough, Oxon, they sing this verse : " The streets are very dirty, My shoes are very thin ; But I've got a little pocket To put my money in." IOI Old English Customs Hail ! all hail ! away to the woods away, And to the fields and lanes so gay. Hail ! all hail ! " At the end of the song, the " Lord " gene- rally kisses the "Lady," and contributions in money are asked of the bystanders. The children at Wheatley, Oxon, sing a very sweet little May Day song, which is worthy of record : " Spring is coming, spring is coming ; Birdies, build your nest ; Weave together straw and feather, Doing each your best. Spring is coming, spring is coming, Flowers are coming too ; Pansies, lilies, daffodilies, Now are coming through. Spring is coming, spring is coming, All around is fair ; Shimmer and quiver on the river, Joy is everywhere. We wish you a happy May." At Edlesborough, Bucks, the girls dress up a doll, sometimes with a small doll in its lap, with many ribbons and flowers, and carry it about in a small chair. This is evidently intended to represent the Virgin and Child. The church is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin ; possibly there may be some connec- 102 May Day Customs tion between the custom and the patron saint of the parish. A similar custom, almost defunct, prevails at Brightwalton, Berks, where the Virgin and Child, in the guise of the Queen of the May, with a doll in a basjcet, is borne round the parish. A rude custom prevails at Minehead on May Day. The men fashion a cardboard ship, about ten feet long, with sails trimmed with flags and ribbons. This is carried on a man's shoulders, his head coming through a hole in the deck of the ship. To the end of the ship is fastened a cow's tail. The men then run about and frighten the people into giving them money, threatening to beat them with the cow's tail. The origin of this cus- tom is said to date from the beginning of the eighteenth century, when a ship was sunk ofF Dunster, and all hands lost. Only a cow was found, which provided a tail wherewith to grace the ceremony of the "Hobby Ship." In Hawick a few of the young people still go a-Maying, and rub their faces in the morn- ing dew, whereby they secure twelve months of rosy cheeks ; but year by year the number of the devotees of " May Morning " are be- coming less, and probably the next generation will know little of the secrets of how rosy cheeks were sought for on early May mornings, and perhaps seek less simple and wholesome ways for producing the much-desired bloom. 103 Old English Customs Mrs. Pepys knew the virtues of May-dew, as we gather from her husband's diary : "My wife away to Woolwich in order to a little ayre, and to lie there to-night, and so to gather May-dew to-morrow morning, which Mrs. Turner hath taught her is the only thing in the world to wash her face with." A very curious May Day custom is ob- served at Saltash, Cornwall, on the first three days of May. The children gather all the old kettles, scuttles, tea-trays, pails, and other discarded vessels, and link them with cords. In the evenings all these vessels are dragged in noisy trail, with much vocal shouting, in and out of all the nooks and corners of the parish. The sanction of long-established custom secures the tolerance of the town authori- ties and the public; but the origin of the custom is shrouded in mystery. Probably it is a survival of a heathen rite, intended to scare away demons from the homes and pro- perties of the inhabitants. No alms are asked, and no reason given for the three evenings' noisy proceedings ; and there is an air of mystery about the ceremony well according with the theory of a demon-driv- ing rite. Garlands are also carried round the parish by the children on May Morning. The eve of May Day at Oldham is known as Mischief Night, when it was the custom 104 May Day Customs for the people to play all manner of tricks on their neighbours. My informant remembers to have seen a thatched house in a village near Oldham adorned with mops, rakes, brushes, on the tops of which were stuck mugs, tubs, pails, or anything portable up to a five-barred gate. Sometimes companies would stay up all night playing and singing in order to welcome the incoming May. In most of the Lancashire towns the carters decorate their horses with ribbons, rosettes, and flowers. In Bolton prizes are given for the finest team of horses, and the most tastefully adorned, and the same cus- tom prevails in other towns. Lancashire folk dearly love a procession. At the school feasts, the children, dressed in their best finery, always march round the parish. On May Day the gaily-decked horses are paraded through the principal streets, with bands of music, and the Mayor and Corporation usually attend the function, which has many practical uses. In Cornwall, once the home of the Mayers, the Maypole no longer exists. At High Town, St. Mary's, Scilly, one is erected every year, and the girls dance round it decked with garlands and wreaths. May Day is ushered in at Penzance by the discordant blowing of large tin horns. At daybreak the boys assemble and perambulate the town 105 Old English Customs blowing their horns and collecting money for a feast. In Polperro the people go into the country and gather the whitethorn blossoms or narrow- leaved elm. Later on the boys sally forth with buckets and other vessels full of water, and " dip " all who do not wear " the May." They sing as their warrant for their conduct " The first of May Is Dipping Day." At Padstow the day is called Hobby- Horse Day. A hobby-horse is carried through the streets to Traitor's Pool, where it is made to drink. The head is dipped in the water and the spectators are sprinkled. The procession returns home, singing a song to commemorate the tradition that the French, having landed in the bay, mistook a party of mummers in red cloaks for soldiers, hastily fled to their boats and sailed away. In Leicestershire the observance of May Day is still kept up, and girls come round bearing a small Maypole tastefully decorated with flowers. The Gloucestershire children sing as follows : " Round the Maypole, trit, trit, trot ! See what a garland we have got ; Fine and gay, Trip away, Happy is our new May Day." 1 06 May Day Customs At Watford, Herts, the girls go about the streets, dressed in white, with gay ribbons and sashes of various colours. They carry a "garland," two hoops, decked with flowers. Their song begins as follows : " Here begins the merry month of May, The bright time of the year, When Christ our Saviour died for us, Who loved us so dear. So dear, so dear, Christ loved us, And all our sins to save ; We'd better leave off our wickedness And turn to the Lord again. My song is done, I must be gone, No longer can I stay ; God bless you all, both great and small, I wish you a merry month of May." Girls with garlands are seen at Great Grans- den, Huntingdonshire, but the old May Lord and May Lady who once flourished here are now dead. At Duxford, Cambridgeshire, the children bring their garlands and dolls, and sing : " First and second and third of May Are chimney-sweepers' dancing days ; Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a happy May, I've come to show my garlands Because it is May Day." A perfect garland of song adorns this 107 Old English Customs bright rural festival, and a volume of the verses sung on May Day might be written. We will conclude our May Day songs with the words of Mayers in Northamptonshire, at Denton and Chaldecote : " Here come up poor players all, and thus do we begin To lead our lives of righteousness, for fear we die in sin. To die in sin is dreadful, to go where sinners mourn, 'Twould have been better for our souls if we had ne'er been born. Good morning, lords and ladies ! it is the First of May; I hope you'll view the garland, for it looks so very gay. The cuckoo sings in April, the cuckoo sings in May, The cuckoo sings in June, in July it flies away. Now take a Bible in your hand and read a chapter through, And when the day of judgment comes, the Lord will think of you." The hand of the Puritans is evident in this curious medley, who altered the old May songs and took away from them much of their light-heartedness. But, as we have already seen, many of the old merry verses survived, and are still repeated in the old villages of England. The original Maypole still stands in many villages. At Orwell, near Cambridge, it stood till, in 1 869, it was destroyed by a storm, and has not since been replaced. There is a fine one at Wellow, near Ollerton, Northamp- 108 May Day Customs tonshire; at Redmire, near Bolton Castle, Yorkshire ; at Hemswell, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire ; at Welford, Gloucestershire ; at Donnington, Shropshire ; and at Preston Brockhurst, in the same county. The May- pole may still be seen at Gawthorpe, York- shire, where the ancient customs are kept up, although marred by the invasion of factories and the absence of all the sylvan beauties of the country. Long streets of hideous cottages and mill chimneys belching forth their clouds of smoke are not in keeping with the celebration of the Arcadia of the First of May. But still the May Queen rides on horseback surrounded by her sponsors, electors, and attendants, and the Maypole is reared and danced around as in the good old days. At Polebrooke, Oundle, the children elect a May Queen and parade the village, the May Queen at the head of the procession, attended by two girls carrying dressed dolls placed in a bower of green and flowers. They sing the following words : " May is come, we spy the traces Of her fingers in the flowers, Boys and girls with smiling faces Come and seek her through the bowers. Catch young May, Make her stay, Dance around her bright and gay." 109 Old English Customs One of the most successful revivals of the May Day festivities takes place at St. Mary Cray, Kent. There the old festival rites are celebrated amid beautiful surroundings, and thousands assemble to watch Maypole dances and attend the coronation of the fair May Queen. There have been so many revivals of the old May Day customs, that it is not vain to hope that ere long each village may again have its Maypole and its May Queen, and the hearts of the rustic youths and maidens be rejoiced by the quaint observances of this old-time festival. no CHAPTER VI Helston Furry dance Rogation-tide and Ganging Week Beating the bounds at Malborough, Lich- Jield, Oxford, Leicester, and London Royal Oak Day Wilts custom Selkirk Common -Riding " Gravely " Singing custom at Durham. ON May 8th, at Helston, Cornwall, there remains a most curious and interesting sur- vival of an ancient Celtic custom, which is known as the Furry Dance. From time immemorial this festival has been held, and there seems no sign of decaying vitality. The origin of the festival is disputed. Some attribute it to the vision of a fiery dragon over Helston in remote ages, when the in- habitants naturally were grievously alarmed ; and the Furry dance was subsequently in- stituted, with the accompaniment of flowers and branches, as a token of rejoicing for the disappearance of the monster. Others say it is a festival in honour of the Roman goddess Flora; whilst still others claim that it is connected with the Feast of St. Michael, in memory of the cessation of a great plague which raged in the seventh century, St. Michael being the patron saint of Helston. in Old English Customs A legend narrates that he once encountered the Devil, who was playing with a block of granite known as Hell's Stone, having been originally placed at the mouth of the infernal regions. The Devil was worsted in the com- bat, and took to flight, dropping the stone into the yard of the Angel Inn, where it remained until the end of the last century as a witness of the truth of the story. This stone naturally gave the name to the town. On May 8th, a procession of thirty or forty couples is formed at the Market-house, and, preceded by a band, goes through the town dancing a quaint country-dance to the Celtic Furry tune. The parties are composed of gentlemen and ladies of the county families in the neighbourhood, and the peculiarity of the ceremony is that they dance in and out of all the houses, going in at the front door and out at the back, and returning vice versa. It is a strange processional dance, in no way resembling the old Maypole circular dance of the Merrie England of our forefathers. The words of the old Furry song, set to a quaint and original melody, are curious, and run as follows : " Robin Hood and Little John, They both are gone to the fair, O ; And we to the merry greenwood, To see what they do there, O. 112 Helston Furry Dance And for to chase, O, To chase the buck and doe, With Hal-an-tow, Jolly rumble, O. ( Chorus} And we were up as soon as any day, O, And for to fetch the summer home, The summer and the May, O ; For the summer is a come, O, And winter is a go, O. Where are those Spaniards That made so great a boast, O ? They shall eat the grey goose feather, And we will eat the roast, O. And every land, O, The land that ere we go, With Hal-an-tow, Jolly rumble, O. (Chorus as before.") As for St. George, O, St. George he was a knight, O ; Of all the kings in Christendom, King George is the right, O. In every land, O, The land that ere we go, With Hal-an-tow, Jolly rumble, O. (Chorus) God bless Aunt Mary Moses, With all her power and might, O ; And send us peace in Merry England Both day and night, O." 113 H Old English Customs The figure of the dance is simple. To the first half of the tune the couples dance hand in hand ; at the second the first gentle- man turns the second lady, and the second gentleman the first lady. This change is made all down the set. i Whether the word Furry is derived from I Flora or from fer^ a fair or merrymaking, \ or from the Greek , " to bear," or from the Cornish furrier, a thief, alluding to the spoils of the greenwood brought home to deck their festival, I must leave to the in- genuity of the curious. The modern festival is utilised by the inhabitants of Helston as an occasion for holding horse, dog, and poultry shows, and also a Home Mission bazaar ; but it still remains one of the most curious and interesting gatherings in the kingdom. Formerly any one found at work on this day was seized, set astride on a pole, jolted away on men's shoulders amidst a thousand huzzas, and at last sentenced to leap over a part of the river, so wide that the task was impossible without the performer being im- mersed. He could, however, gain his liberty by a small contribution towards the entertain- ments of the day. The boys of the Grammar School were not forgotten, and a holiday was demanded for them by the revellers. The children used to " fade " (a Cornish word 114 Beating the Bounds signifying "to go") into the country, and return with their heads decorated with flowers and oak-leaves. Latterly all the ancient cus- toms connected with the day have not been strictly observed, but the old Furry dance is still kept up with accustomed vigour. The week in which Rogation-tide and Ascension Day fall is sometimes known as Gang Week, so named from the custom of ganging or beating the bounds of the parishes. This custom was once universally practised. In the " Book of Homilies " there is a special " Exhortation to be spoken to such parishes when they use their perambulation in Roga- tion Week, for the oversight of the bounds and limits of their town." The words of the homily are worth quoting, and state that " we have occasion given us in our walks to- day to consider the old ancient bounds and limits belonging to our township, and to other our neighbours bordering about us, to the intent that we should be content with our own, and not contentiously strive for others', to the breach of charity, by any encroaching one upon another, or claiming one of the other, further than that in ancient right and custom our forefathers have peace- fully laid out unto us for our commodity and comfort." Lawyers' deeds and the Ord- nance Survey maps have rendered it well-nigh impossible to be guilty of the encroaching Old English Customs of which the homily speaks, but in several places the custom of beating the bounds is still kept up. At Malborough, Devonshire, the practice is observed with all due formality ; the mayor and town-councillors invariably perambulate the town and traverse its boundaries. A few years ago the mayor himself was thoroughly ducked during his progress, in order to ensure his remembering a certain bit of the river boundary. In many places boys were beaten or ducked at certain spots, in order to impress their memories with the details of the parish bounds ; but it is not often that so important and dignified an official as a mayor receives such a painful aid to memory. In beating the bounds of the city of Oxford it is necessary for the mayor and corporation to take a boat and go on the river. A few years ago we read that