<2^ - StKu, TtKj.ii)piov r) tov TiKevraiH 7rpoaiiyopia, SinaTOV yap avrbv axpi vvv Kakovoiv. 8n Si tov Mapnov rrpwrov, »/ rd£ig fKC^Xoi ' tov yap ait iKfivn irhp-ivTov, itcaKsv ttIjitztov sktov Si tov Iktov VOL. I, R 2 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. It may seem strange that Romulus should have made the year begin with winter, and not with spring, which, as the opener of all things, would more naturally seem to be its commencement. To this doubt Ovid has re- turned an ingenious, though perhaps not a very satis- factory answer, through the mouth of his God, Janus: — " The Winter Solstice is the first of the new sun, and the ast of the old ; the year and the sun have the same origin."* It may be permitted to us to doubt whether the office, which Ovid himself has assigned to Janus, would not better account for his being placed at the head of the months; he was the door-keeper of heaven and earth ; f Jupiter himself could not go in or out unless he opened the door for him, and thus he seems naturally enough to have been the porter, opening the gates of time to the k-ai tiov iiWwv (Tug av'iaaa y^povov fjfuv, /itinera St rbv tr ffKorsg. tyyvrtpio Sk Troinaa rbv Kvpiov Kai I'lye/iova rijg pivcrTijg xaiag dwdarig.'' Id. p. 68, WytteribacMi. 86, Reishii. " But they do best, who commence the year with the winter solstice, when the sun, having ceased to advance, turns back, and directs his course again towards us. For then there is a revolution, as it were, in nature, which encreases the time of light, lessens that of darkness, and brings nearer to us the Lord and principle of all moving nature." B 2 4 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. till then obscured by darkness.* To such puerile bab- bling-, it is only necessary to reply that it is far from being certain in what month Christ was born, and in the absence of any better guide we may safely infer that the Christians adapted this sera, as tliey did so many of their customs, from the heathens, without any reasoning upon the matter. Why should they not have done so ? But though in the first instance the Roman mode of computation prevailed, yet this was far from being fixed or general. The New Year has at different times and places commenced on Christinas Day, i. e. the 25th of De- cember j on the Day of the Circumcision, i. e. the 1st of January ; on the Day of the Conception, i. e. the 25th of March ; and on Easter Day, or the day of the Resurrec- tion ; nor was it till a comparatively recent period that a general rule was adopted. By the Anglo-Saxons this month was named Wolfmonat, and Giuli Aftera. The first of these names it received "because people are wont always in that month to be in more danger to be devoured of wolves than in any season else of the year ; for that through the extremity of cold and snow these ravenous creatures could not find of other beasts sufficient to feed upon."f It was called, Giuli Aftera, as being immediately after, or second to, Christ- mas. The derivation of this word will be found in its proper place hereafter, when I shall have occasion to speak of the summer solstice. The principal vegetable productions of this season are the various mosses. The Early Moss may now be ga- thered ; the Yellow Tremella is seen on palings, rotten wood, * " QuOd his ferme diebus novus Sol, ipse Christus, redemptor noster, mundo offuso tenebris, nasccs, illuxit." — Martyrologium .Roman um — Kalendia Januarii. f Verstegan's Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, p. 64, 8vo. London, 1073. THE MONTHS JANUARY. &c. and both the Straight Screw Moss and the Hrjgrometic Moss are in fluctuation. But these are not the only signs of vegetable life independent of the few herbs and greens grown for culinary purposes in the garden ; the Laurestine, the White Butterbur, and the Christmas Rose, all flower at different periods of the month, and about the time of its drawing to a close a single snow-drop may be occasionally seen ; or, if the year be very mild, a primrose will peep out upon a warm bank. Even after the middle of January considerable flocks of fieldfares may be seen ; but, as it yet farther advances, the severity of the season encreases, and the wild quad- rupeds are driven from their accustomed haunts. Hares enter the gardens to browze on the few remaining vege- tables, and the foxes are more than usually bold in plun- dering the hen-roosts. The Circumcision ; New Year's Day. — January 1st. — The festival of the Circumcision is, comparatively speak- ing, of modern date ; no mention of such an observance being made by the antient fathers of the church, nor does it occur in Saint Isidore or any similar writer. Baronius too confirms this notion by observing that this day is indeed called both the Circumcision and the Octave of the Nativity, hut that in the antient manuscripts it has the latter name only.* The New Year has been from time immemorial, what it now is, one of those resting points in life, at which by a happy delusion men persuade themselves the current of things is about to change with them for the better. It is welcomed like a new sovereign, till a very brief expe- rience suffices to teach us that the reign of the one and * " Et Circumcisio Domini, et Nativitatis Octava, dicitur. In antiquis manuscripts nonnunqufi titulo tan turn Octavse Natalis Domini pronotatus hie dies legitur." — Martvrolog. Eomanum — Kalendis Januarii. NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. the advent of the other have made but very little real alteration, or it may even be an alteration for the worse. All this however does not prevent hope from playing the same game as the season comes round again, so that we are perpetually wishing each other " a happy new year!" a custom which existed among the Romans, and may probably boast of a much higher antiquity. We have the fact recorded by Ovid, who in a friendly dialogue between himself and Janus, asks the reason of such an observance, to which the communicative God replies, leaning familiarly on his stick as one disposed for a gossip, — "omens are attached to the commencement of all things ; it is the first sound you hear, the first bird you see, that becomes an omen."* The reason- ing of the deity may not be the most convincing, but the fact of the New Year's salutation is proved by the ques- tion of the poet.f New Year's Day has in all ages, and among all people, been a time of rejoicing. Libanius, the rhetorician, has left us a vivid account of the manner in which it was cele- brated among the Romans, and as the greater part of our New Year's customs have come to us from that source, a brief epitome of his amusing pages will scarcely be thought irrelevant to our present purpose. J He sets out with informing us that all men love holy- days, an assertion which few will be inclined to dispute ; * " Turn Deus incumbens baculo, quem dextra gerebat, Omina priucipiis, inquit, inesse solent. Ad primam voceni timidas advertitis aures, Et primiim visum consulit augur avem." Ovmn Fastl Lib. 1. v. 177. T "At cur loeta tuis dicuntur verba Calendis Et damus alternas accipimusque preces ?" Ovidii Fasti Lib. 1. v. I7. r >. X liifiavlov (to0iotov 'V)i< arciKTwQ Wsra&ffQai, tv rlvi reixtt rtpv )ffe." — "Living in this fashion he ended his life by furious riding, being dashed against a certain sea-wall, which caused him to spit blood. After two years sickness anasarca supervened, and he died." Historiarum Compend: a Georgio Cedreno, Tom. ii. p. 639. * This fact is recorded by Du Cange ; though it is scarcely possible to agree with him in his notion that it was so called from the deacons being saturi, or saoul, i.e. gorged. His words are " Ejusmodi festivitati Festi HypoDiACONORU.M nomen indilum, non quod reverasolisubdia- coni has scelestas choreas ducerent, sed quod hac joculariappellatione nostri indicare voluerint festivitatcm banc fuisse ebriorem clericorum seu diaconorum -, enim evincit id vox Soudiacres, id est, ad literam, saturi diacoiri, quasi diacres saou'-s." See Ducange, sub voce Kalend.i . THE MONTHS JANUARY. 15 its celebration more certain, it being sometimes observed on the Circumcision ■ sometimes on the Epiphany, or in its Octaves;* sometimes on St. Stephen s Day ;\ and sometimes on the \*ith of December, % from which it was also called the December Liberty. There is the same diversity, if we should not rather call it confusion, in the ceremony itself, the various accounts being somewhat inconsistent with each other 5 but the following will perhaps be found upon the whole to present a tolerably correct idea of the festival. It is only necessary to premise that the Abbot of Fools, here spoken of, is by no means to be confounded with the Bishop of Fools who was elected upon Innocents' Day. § The abbot being elected at the time above mentioned, Te Deum is sung, and he is borne home on the shoulders of his companions, the place being especially adorned for the purpose, and where due potations are in readiness. At his entrance all arise, and the wine being drunk, the abbot, or in his absence the praecentor, begins a chaunt, the two opposing chorusses gradually encreasing in loudness and trying to outscream the other, with running accompani- ments of howling, hissing, laughing, mocking, aud clap- ping of hands, at the conclusion of which the janitor makes proclamation ex officio : "De par Mossenhor Labat e sos Cosseliers vos fam assaber que tot horns lo sequa lay on voura anar'ea quo * " Festum Hypodiaconomm, quod vocamus Stullorum, a quibusdam perficitur in Circumcisione, a quibusdam vero in Epiphania, vel in ejus Octavis." Beletus ; De Divin. Offici. Cap. 72. + " Idem Cseremoniale, sub Festo S. Stepheni." Ducange — Ka- lend.e. X " Die 17 Decern bris conveniunt omnes sclafardi et clericuli ut abbatem eligunt." Id. § " Ex eodem Ceremoniali (MS. Eccles. Vivar. an. 1365) Epis- copus stultus, qui ab Abbate distinctus erat, eligebatur in festo S. S. Innocentium eodcni ritu quo abbas Stullorum." Ducange — Kalenda. 1G NEW CU1U0SITIES OF LITERATURE. sus la pena de talhar lo braye. — " that is " Monsignor the Abbot and his Councillors give you to know that all men must follow him wheresoever he goes, on pain of having their breeches cut on ."* Hereupon the abbot and the rest rush out of the house, and parade the city, the former being saluted by all who meet him in his progress. This lasts till the eve of the Nativity, and during the whole time the abbot wears a costume suitable to the part he is playing. From other authors we learn that the excesses went far beyond what is here related by Ducange. According to such accounts, some of the characters were masked, or had their faces bedaubed with paint, either grotesquely or so hideously as to excite terror. In this state they danced into the choir, singing obscene songs, and the deacons and subdeacons took a pleasure in eating pud- dings and sausages upon the altar, under the nose of the officiating priest ; they played too at cards and dice be- fore his face, and placed fragments of old shoes in the holy water that he might be annoyed. Mass being over, they ran and jumpt, and danced about the church, stripping themselves naked, and performing every sort of indecencv ; and afterwards by way of varying their amusements paraded the city in carts, filled with filth, which they flung at the crowds about them. From time to time these savoury vehicles would stop, to give them an op- portunity of exhibiting themselves in lascivious panto- mime, accompanied by songs that were not a jot more decent. "What they were can not be better indicated than by the fact that none but the most licentious of the laity could be found to join in them as actors, however much they might enjoy the show as lookers on ; and it gives us * Ducange. — Kalendco, p. 1664. I suspect that talhar lo braye — literally, to cut oft' the breeches — is an idiomatic phrase, though I can offer nothing certain in regard to it. THE MONTHS JANUARY. 17 a curious insight into the policy of the priesthood that they could thus allow the worst of the rabble to play the part of fools in the costume of monks and nuns.* The Bishop of Fools, when elected, would seem to have had somewhat more of gravity, if not of discretion, in his office. Being - elected, he was carried by the clerks, a bell preceding him to the episcopal mansion, where he was placed in a window with his face towards the city and bestowed his blessing upon the people. Afterwards he celebrated matins, high mass, and vespers, in the cathedral, presiding for three days over the whole in true pontifical fashion, even the usual costume being rigidly observed both by himself and his subordinates. The burlesque in this case was all the richer from its superior pretensions to gravity, though it is cpjite clear that they both equally belonged to the Feast of Fools, which from this would appear to have changed its form considerably according to the time and place in which it was enacted. * " Les uns etoient masquez,ou avec des visages barbouilles,qui faisoi- ent peur, ou qui faisoient rire ; les autres en habits de femmes ou de pantomimes, tels que sont les ministres du theatre. Ilsdansoient dans le choeur en entrant, et chantoient des chansons obscenes. Les dia- cres et les soudiacres prenoient plaisir a. manger des boudins et des saucices sur l'autel, au nez du pretre celebrant; ils jouoient a ses yeux aux cartes et au dez ; ils mettoient dans l'encensoir quelques morceaux de vieilles savates pour lui faire respirer une mauvaise odeur. Apres la messe, chacun couroit, sautoit, et dansoit, par l'eglise avec tant d'impudence, que quelques uns n'avoient pas honte de se porter a toutes sortcs d'indecences, et de se depouiller entierement ; ensuite ils se faisoient trainer par les rues dans des tomberaux pleins d'ordures, ou ils prenoient plaisir d'en jetter a la populace qui s'assembloit autour d'eux. Ils s'arretoient et faisoient de leurs corps des mouvemens et des postures lascives, qu'ils accompagnoient de paroles impudiques. Les plus libertins d'entre les secul'ters se meloient parmi le clerge pour faire aussi quelques personnages de foux ens habits ecclesiastiques de moines et de religieuses." Memoirs pour seiivir a l'IIistoirk dk la Fete pes Foux, parM. Du Tilliot ; p. 5, 4to. Geneve, 1741. 18 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Eve of the Epiphany — January 5th. It would have been strange if the vigil of so ceremonious a day as the Epiphany had been without its peculiar observances and superstitions, and they were probably numerous at one time, although so few fragments have been pre- served to us. The two principal customs that we still find in connection with this festival belong, the first to Herefordshire, the second to Devonshire; and it is likely enough that a closer familiarity with the habits of the rural districts might discover many others. These have been dug out of that antiquarian mine, the Gentleman s Magazine, in which though it can not be denied there is much dross, there is also quite enough of Stirling ore to repay the trouble of working it. " On the eve of Twelfth Day, at the approach of even- ing, the farmers, their friends, servants, &c. all assemble, and near six o'clock all walk together to a field where wheat is growing. The highest part of the ground is always chosen, where twelve small fires and one large one are lighted up. The attendants, headed by the master of the family, pledge the company in old cyder, which circulates freely on these occasions. A circle is formed round the "large fire, when a general shout and hallooing takes place, which you hear answered from all the villages and fields near ; as I have myself counted fifty or sixty fires burning at the same time, which are generally placed on some eminence. This being finished, the company all return to the house, where the good housewife and her maids are preparing a good supper, which on this occasion is very plentiful. A large cake is always provided with a hole in the middle. After supper the company all attend the bailiff (or head of the oxen) to the wain-house, where the following particulars are observed 5 the master at the head of his friends fills the cup (generally strong ale) and stands opposite the first or finest of the oxen ; THE MONTHS JANUARY. 19 (fourteen of which I have often seen tied up in their stalls together;) he then pledges him in a curious toast ; the company then follow his example with all the other oxen, addressing each by their name. This being over, the large cake is produced with much ceremony, and put on the horn of the first ox, through the hole in the cake ; he is then tickled to make him toss his head; if he throws the cake behind, it is the mistress' perquisite ; if before, (in what is termed the boosy*) the bailiff claims this prize. This ended, the company all return to the house, the doors of which are in the meantime locked, and not opened till some joyous songs are sung. On entering, a scene of mirth and jollity commences, and reigns through the house till a late, or rather an early hour the next morning. Cards are introduced and the merry tale goes round. "f This in Herefordshire is called wassailing ; and the fires, as I shall have occasion to show hereafter, are nothing else than the antient emblematic worship of the sun, the custom remaining long after the object of it has been very generally forgotten. In the same way the pledging of the animals in ale or cyder with strange toasts, and the emptying the cups to each other, are plainlyenough borrowed from the libations of the ancients to their rural deities ; and we find the same custom at one time prevailed among the Danes.} * Boosy, — derived from the Anglo-Saxon Bosg,Bosit/, or Bosih, — pro- perly speaking signifies :i stall for cows or oxen ; but in the northern counties, to which the use of the word is now confined, it is more gene- rally applied to the upper part of the stall where the fodder lies. Such is its limited meaning in the text above, where it is spelt in a somewhat uncommon fashion ; I have generally found it written and pronounced, boose. + Gentleman's Magazine, for February, 1791, vol. lxi. p. 116. J " Mox Niordi et Frejae memoria poculis recolebatur, annua ut ipsis contingeret felicitas, frugumque et reliqua? annonas uberrimus proventus." Olai Wormii M onuiienta Danica, lib. i. p. 28. 20 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. The apple trees also come in for their share of honour, as might naturally be expected in a county where cyder was in so much request. In some parts of Devonshire it is the custom for the people " to go after supper into the orchard, with a large milk-pail full of cyder having roasted apples pressed into it. Out of this each person in company takes what is called a clayen cup — i.e. an earthenware cup, full of liquor, and standing under each of the more fruitful apple trees, passing by those that are not good bearers, he addresses it in the following words : Health to thee, Good apple tree ! Well to bear, pocket-fulls, hat-fulls, Peck-fulls, bushel bag fulls. And then drinking up part of the contents, he throws the rest with the fragments of the roasted apple at the tree. — At each cup the company set up a shout.''* In Devonshire a similar custom prevailed, of which the following account is given by another correspondent of the bland Sylvanus Urban, — " On the eve of the Epiphany, the farmer, attended by his workmen, with a large pitcher of cyder, goes to the orchard, and there encircling one of the best among the trees they drink the following toast three several times : Here's to thee, Old apple tree ! Whence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow ! And whence thou mayst bear apples enow ! Hats full, caps full ! Bushel — bushel — sacks full ! And my pockets full too. Huzza !"f After this they return to the house, where they find the * Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 19. t Idem : for May, p. 103. THE MONTUS JANUARY. 21 doors barred, as I have just described in Herefordshire ; only here their admittance is made contingent upon their guessing what is on the spit, " which is generally some nice little thing difficult to be hit on, and is the reward of him who first names it."* Mrs. Bray, however, when speaking of the same custom, " wears her rue with a difference," as poor Ophelia phrases it. According to her, they throw " some of the cyder about the roots of the trees, placing bits of the toast on the branches ; and then forming themselves into a ring, they like the bards of old set up their voices and sing a song."f Twelftij-Day; Epiphany; January 6th. — This is called Twelfth Day because, being the twelfth from the Nativity, it is that on which the Magi came out of Persia and passed through Arabia into Bethlehem+ — rather a round-about way it must be owned — to offer homage to the infant in the manger. Collier, however, has given us one of Alfred's laws, which seems to point at another reason for this appel- lation. He says, "I shall mention one law with relation to holydays, by virtue of which the twelve days after the Nativity of our Saviour are made holydays.' : § There is certainly nothing improbable in the idea that it might thus be named as being the twelfth and finishing day of the festivals. In popular language these Magi are called the Three Kings of Cologne, the first of them being named Melchior, * Idem : Idem. T Description of the Part of Devonshire bordering on the Tamar and the Tavrv. By Mrs. Bray, 8vo. London, 1836. J " Venerunt itaque originaliter ex Persia ; sed in hoc itinere tran- sierunt per Arabiam ; nam a Persia ad Judream via directa est per medium Mesopotamia? ; et dein transmittendo Euphratem juxta Bir per Arabia? partem transeundum erat ad Judseam." Hyde; Historia Religionis Veterum Persarum, p. 370. 4to. Oxonii. 1700. § Collier's Ecclesiastical History of Britain; vol. i — Book iii. Cent. ix. r>. 1C3. 22 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. an aged man with a long beard, who offered gold to our Saviour, as to a king in testimony of his regality 3 the second, Jasper, a beardless youth, who offered frankin- cense, as unto a God, in acknowledgement of his divinity ; the third, Balthazar, a black, or Moor, with a large spread- ing beard, who offered myrrh as to a man, that was ready or fit for his sepulchre, thereby signifying his humanity."* Their skulls, or what is said to be their skulls, are pre- served as reliques at Cologne. Setting aside this idle legend, with the names that are evidently of monkish origin, let us inquire who the Magi really were, and to what country they belonged. Without entering into a disquisition, that must of necessity be tedious, on the etymology of the word, it will be sufficient to observe that by the concurrent testi- mony of all ancient writers the Magi were Persians,! and that in the language of their country neither magia nor magus had the slightest reference to the black art as we now understand it. In that tongue the word Magus meant * Festa Anglo-Roman a, p. 7, — 12mo. London, 1677. T See Hyde ; (Historia Religionis Veterum Persarum, cap. 31 , p. 376), who gives a multitude of authorities for the fact. But at the same time it must not be concealed, that Origen (Origines contra Celsum), and some others, maintained that the Magi were actual necromancers and cultivated an acquaintance with the devil. Hilde- brand (De Diebus Festis ; p. 39), is very diffuse upon this subject. He says, "Magi apud Persas fuere, 1. Theologi, et ut plurimum sacer- dotes Persici et sacrorum antistites. 2. Consiliarii, et tanto loco in aulis regum, ut nemini in Persia regem esse licuerit, quern non magi informassent, teste Cicer. de Divinat. Fuerunt, iii ; Medici et Physici ; et denique Philosop/d, prassertim Mathematics, Astronomi, ct Geneth- liaci (casters of nativities). Hinc versiculi : I lie penes Persas magus est, qui sidera novit, Quique scit herbarum vires cultumque Deorum. Iidem quoque Magi fuerunt in Persia cum Brachmaunibus in India, cum Druidibus Gallorum, et cum Philosophis Gracorum. THE MONTHS JANUARY. 23 a philosopher and a priest, or at all events a philosopher who was particularly addicted to the study of religion j and who besides might be, — if he was not for the most part — a royal counsellor, a physician, an astrologer, and a mathematician. In fact they were the same in Persia, that the Brahmins were in India, the Druids amongst the Gauls, and the Philosophers amongst the Greeks.* We shall therefore the less wonder if we find strong reason for believing that Zoroaster was of their number, and that Pythagoras learnt his philosophy from them. It was reckoned a high honour even for kings and princes to belong to this wise and influential body ; so much so indeed that even Darius, the son of Hystaspes, took care to have it engraved upon his monument that he was a " magicorum doctor," — an archimage or arch magician. Of these magicians, magi, or sophys, there were three classes ; the first, which was the most learned, neither ate nor killed animals ; the second ate of them, but never killed any of the tame kind ; the third devoured every thing they could lay their hands upon.f * " Persarum lingua Magus est, qui nostra sacerdos."" Apuleii Apologia, p. 446, 4to. Parisiis, 1688. Here we have the priestly office distinctly assumed, while in Philo Judaeus we find sufficient testimom r to the philosophical pursuits of the Magi — 'Ev Ueptratg /xiv ro Mdyu>v, oi tci (pvfftwg ipya Stfptvvwfitvoi npbg tiriyvo>aiv d\i}- Otiae, kciO' !j(jvx'iav rag 9tiag dperdg rpaviorspaig i^.(pd(Ternv lepo- (pavT&i'rai -f Knl itpo;Xot Kara rrjv iwi\ioptov hd\iKT0V 6 Ma'yoe. ovtoj fie fisya (cat Gifidnpiov y'tvog tovto Traod Hsptraig vtvopiorai, ware (cat AapeTov rbv 'XarddTzov ETTiypd^cu ro) /xvy'ipaTi irpbg rolg aXXotc, lirt (cat payiKWV ykvoiro Sii)dthe night to his competitors. The unlucky throw was called canicula and chlus* In some parts of France the Bean-King — le Roi de la Feve — is elected by another process. A child is placed under a table where he can see nothing, and the master of the feast holding up a piece of cake demands, whose por- tion it is to be. The child replies according to his own fancy, and this game continues 'till the piece, which con- tains the bean, has been allotted. f A whole court is thus formed, the fool not being forgotten ; and every time either of their majesties is seen to drink, the company are bound to cry out, under pain of a forfeit, " the king (or the queen) drinks." % There is little more to be said of this day except that * " Talorum vero canis damnosus ; senio medius et anceps, siquidem modo lucra, nonnunquam damnum afferebat : is vero quaternarium numerum facit, chius vero ternarium. Venus autem, qua? summum continet numerum, multum lucri affert ; semperque felici exitu ludum terminavit." Alexander ab Ai.exandro — Geniales Dies, lib. iii. cap. xxi- p. 791. f " Celui, qui est le maistre du banquet, a un grand gasteau, dans lequel y a une febue cachee, — gasteau, dy je, que Ton coupe en autant de parts qu'il y a de gens conviez au f'estin. Cela fait en met un petit enfant sous la table, lequel le maistre interroge sous ce nom de Phebe comme si ce fut un qui en 1' innocence de son ange representast une forme d'oracle d'Apollon. A. cit interrogatoire l'enfant respond d'uu mot Latin, Domine ; sur cela le maistre l'adjure de dire a qui il dis- tribuera la portion du gasteau qu'il tient en sa main ; l'enfant le uomme ainsi qu'il luy tombe en la pensee, sans acception de la dignitr des personnes, jusques a ce que la part est donnee a celuy ou est la febue, et par ce moyen il est repute Roy de la compagnie, ancores qu'il fust le moindre. Qu'il n'y ait en ceci beaucoup de l'ancien pa- ganisme, je n'en fais doute. Ce que nous reprcsentons ce jous la est le feste des Saturnales que Ton ceiebroit dedans Rome sur la fin du moisde Decembre et commencement de Janvier." Les Recherches de la France d'Estienne Pasquier, livre iv. chap. ix. p. 375. X Dictionaire Comique, par P. J. Leroux, torn. ii. p. Ail, Roi de la Feve. 3'2 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. it is with many the end of Christmas, though amongst the lower classes the festival is generally considered not to terminate till Candlemas. Still it would seem that these twelve days, — the real Christmas according to ecclesiastical computation, — had something in them peculiarly sacred in the estimation of the vulgar, for they were supposed, if rightly observed, to prefigure the weather for the rest of the year.* St. Distaff's Day ; Rock Day — January 7th. St. Distaff is nothing more than a jocular saint of the people's creation, the rock being a distaff that is held in the hand, from which the wool is spun by twirling a ball below. It would appear from Herrick's little poem on the subject that the men now amused themselves with burning the flax and tow of the women, who in requital dashed pails of water over them. Saint Distaff's Day — or the Morroiv after Twelfth Day. Partly worke and partly play, Ye must on St. Distaff's Day ; From the plough some free your teame, Then come home and fother them. If the maids a spinning goe, Burne the flax and fire the tow ; Bring in pailes of water then, Let the maids bewash the men. Give St. Distaff all the right Then bid Christmas sport good night ; And next morrow every one To his own vocation," + * " Others observe the twelve days of Christmas, to foreshew the weather in all the twelve succeding moneths respectively." Nature's Secrets, by Thomas Will$ford,Tp.l45. London, 1G58. + Herrick's IIespuridks, p. 374. I have omitted two lines of the song, ns being somewhat two coarse for modern refinement. THE MONTHS JANUARY. 3S Plough Monday ; the first Monday after Twelfth Night — This day is more peculiarly the ploughman's holyday, for though Tusser says : " Plough Monday next, after that Twelfthtide is past, Bids out with the plough, the worst husband is last,"* yet it is plain from the custom of the Stot P lough, \ White Plough f X or Fond Plough, i.e. Fool Plough, that the days of merry-making are not yet over. It belongs to the olden times of papal supremacy, and is incidentally noticed by John Bale in his never-ending catalogue of the sins per- taining: to Catholicism. Never did crusader belabour paynim with more right good will than does our stout Bishop of Ossory belabour the papists, his language being always garnished with the choicest flowers of Billingsgate, and indeed it may be said with an energy beyond Billings- gate. $ * Five Hundred Points of Husbandry. t A Stot signifies a young bullock or steer. See Grose's Provin- cial Glossary. J It was called the White Plough " because the gallant young men that compose it appear to be dressed in their shirts, (without coat or waistcoat) upon which great numbers of ribbons, folded into roses, art loosely stitched on. It appears to be a very airy habit at this cold season, but they have on warm waistcoats under it." See Brand, vol. i. p. 280. We have an instance of this name in the Extracts from the Churchwarden's Accompts of Heybridge. '' Item, receyved of the gadryng of the white plowe ........ £0 Is. 3d. Nichol's Illustrations of Antient Manners, &c, p. 1G9. At page 240 we have a similar item, upon which the editor observes, — " Plow- gathering ; but why this was applied to the use of the church I can not say. There is a custom in this neighbourhood" (Wigtoft, Lin- colnshire) 'of the ploughmen parading on Plow-Monday ; but what little they collect is applied wholly to feasting themselves." § The proofs of this assertion are somewhat too coarse for quotation, but they are to be found in all his pamphlets, and they are pretty numerous, being for the most pait published under the assumed name of John Harryson, but sometimes under that of Henrye Stalbrydge. c3 IM NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. In speaking of the ceremonies appertaining to this day, it must be recollected that they varied much according to the time and place in which they were enacted. Some- times the sword dance formed a part of them, and the whole formed a sort of character- pageants, the dancers in strange attire dragging a plough, preceded by music, and accompanied by the Bessy " in the grotesque habit of an old woman, and the fool almost covered with skins, a hairy cap on, and the tail of some animal hanging from his back. The office of one of these characters is to go about rattling a box amongst the spectators of the dance, in which he receives their little donations."* The passage alluded to in the text, as showing the popish origin of Plough Monday, is in a pamphlet with the odd title of Yet a course at the Romysht'foxe, A Dysclosynge or opening of the Marine of synne &;c. It is as follows. — " Than ought my Lorde," (Bonner, bishop of London) '' also to suffre the same selfe ponnyshment for not goynge abought with saynt Nyeolae' clarkes, for not hallowynge pel- grimes to Hierusalem and Rome, for not sensinge the plowghes tipd plowgh mondaye, for not rostynge egges in the palme ashes fyre, and for not syngynge Gaudeamus in the worshypp of hoyle Thomas Becket, with such other lyke, which were sumtyme more laudable ceremonyes, than eyther saturdaye processyon or yet hotye-water-making upon the sondaye, p. 28, 12mo. Zurich, 1543, the x da ye of Declbre. These processioninys seem particularly to have excited the wrath of Bale. In another part of the same work (p. 21.) he says, " he hath not gone processyon upon Saturdayes at even-song, a very haynous offence, and worthy to be judged no lesse than hygh treason agaynst your holye father, Agapitus, popett of Rome, whyche fyrst dreamed it out, and enacted it for a laudyble ceremonye of your whoryshe churche, for Christ knoweth it not. But I marvele sore that ye observe yt upon Saturdayes at nyght at evensonge, he comaundynge yt to be observed upon the sondayes in the mornynge betwixt holie-water-makynge and hygh masse." — There were two popes of the name of Agapitus ; one, a Roman by birth, who was elected to the papal chair in 535 ; and a second, who arrived at the same dignity in 9 IG. It is to the first of these that Bale alludes * Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. i.— p. 278. THE MONTHS JANUARY. 35 In Yorkshire, " the principal characters in this farce are the conductors of the plough, the plough driver with a blown bladder at the end of a stick by way of whip, the fiddler, a huge clown in female attire, and the commander- in-chief Captain Cauf-Tail, dressed out with a cockade and a genuine calf's tail, fantastically crossed with various coloured ribbands. This whimsical hero is also an orator and a dancer, and is ably supported by the manual wit of the plough driver who applies the bladder with great and sounding effect to the heads and shoulders of his team,"* who are ploughmen harnessed in the place of horses or oxen. In some place- the ceremony was of a much more simple nature. A number of men, — often as many as twenty — would be harnessed to a plough and draw it about before the houses and cottages, when if they received the expected gift they would cry out, '~ largess" and go on again ; but if refused at any dwelling they would drive their plough through the pavement and raise up the ground in front of it.f But in other parts women were harnessed to the plough and the ceremony took place on Ash Wednesday, when it had a very different meaning, though it doubtless had the same origin. The maidens selected for the * Costume of Yorkshirk, — Plate xi, p. '29. 4to. London, 1814. This writer says that the Fool Plough is better known in Yorkshire, uiuler the name of Plough Stots. This may be ; but when he would derive the word Stott from the German Stutzb, a prop, he is guilty of an absurdity too manifest to need refutation. ■f See Hutchinson's History of Northumberland, vol. ii. p. 1(5, — Appendix. But in Derbyshire there was yet another variety of the custom, as recorded by Doctor Samuel Pegge, under the fictitious name of T. Row, in the Gentleman's .Magazine for December ,1 702, p. 5G8, vol. xxxii. " On this day the young men yoke themselves and draw a plough about with music ; and one or two persons in antic dresses, like Jack Puddings, go from house to house, to gather money to drink ; if you refuse them they plough up your dunghill. We call them here the Plough-bullocks."— Note. On the Christmas Festivals. 36 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. purpose were such as were supposed to have addicted them- selves too much to dancing throughout the year, and in this guise they were driven into the nearest piece of water, a piper playing all the time as he sat upon the plough. Boemus Aubanus, who records this Franconian mode of treating the women, is much puzzled to account for it, ex- cept it be that the fair transgressors submitted voluntarily to be thus harnessed and ducked, by way of expiating their sins in having been too fond of holy-day making contrary to the express inhibitions of the church.* Another writer tells much the same story with the addi- tion of a whip being used by the driver of this female team, while a man follows the plough with antic ges- tures but grave face, and sows the furrows with sand or ashes. f With these broader scenes our ancestors contrived to slip in something of a moral, much as some writers of comedy contrive to season five acts of intrigue with a mo- ral inference at the end. Well and wisely discourses the author of Tusser Redivivus upon this subject. — " After Christmas (which formerly during the Twelve Days was a time of very little work) every gentleman feasted the * " In die cinerum mirum est quod in plerisque locis agitur. Vir- gine3, quotquot per annum choream frequentaverunt, a juvenibus congregantur, et aratro pro equis advectre (qy. adjectee f) cum tibicine, qui super illud modulans sedet, in fluvium aut lacum trahuntur. Id quare fiat non plane video, nisi cogitem eas per hoc expiare velle quod festis diebus contra ecclesia? pncceptum a levitate sua non abstinuerint ." Okbis Teruaruiu Epitome, lib. iii. cap. xv. p. 237- T " Est ubi se sociant juvenes, tibicine sumpto, Et famulas rapiunt ex sedibus, atque ad aratum Jungunt, quas scutica pellitque ac dirigit unus. Unus item stivam tenet; et tibicen aratri Considet in medio, ridendasque occinit odas. Unus item sequitur satcr ; is vcl spargit arenam, Vel fatuo cinerem qestu vul tuque severe'' Rbgnum Papisticum. T. NaOgeorgo Autore. Lib. iv. p. 144. THE MONTHS JANUARY. 37 farmers, and every farmer their servants and task-men. Plough Monday puts them in mind of their business. In the morning the men and maid-servants strive who shall show their diligence in rising earliest. If the plowman can get his whip, his plough-staff, hatchet, or any thing that he wants in the field, by the fire-side before the maid has got the ketile on, then the maid loses her shrove- tide cock, and it wholly belongs to the men. Thus did our forefathers strive to allure youth to their duty, and pro- vided them innocent mirth as well as labour. On Plough. Monday they have a good supper, and some strong drink."* I have already alluded to the popish origin of Plough- Monday, and in two customs yet to be mentioned we shall see the undeniable proofs of it. The first of these was the plough-light, maintained by the husbandman be- fore some image, t It will perhaps be replied that this was not necessarily connected with the day itself, since for ought that appears to the contrary it may have burnt at other times ; but allowing such to be the case, the same cannot be said of the drawing the plough about the fire upon this day, a custom evidently springing from the same source as the many fire-observances already noticed.} * Tusser Redivivts, p. 79. 8vo. London. 1744. t Bloomfield's History of Norfolk, vol. iv. p. 287. Folio, Lynn. 1775. + It is mentioned in the thirty-fourth chapter of Dives and Pauper (sig. e. ii.) amongst the things prohibited by law — " Ledynge of the plough about the tire as for gode begynnyng <>t the yere that they shulde fare the better alle the yere following &c." But, though the form of the rites might vary, most nations have had their sacred ploughings ; the Greeks, the Persians, and the Chinese had them beyond a question. The Athenians had three sacred ploughings; the first upon the place called Scirus, the earliest record of sowing ; the second in the Rarian plain ; and the third close to the city, called from the yoke of oxen, Buzy- 3S NBW CURIOSITIES OF LI 1EKA1URE. Saint Agnes Day. — January c 21. Saint Agnes, or, as it is more correctly written Hagnes,* — was a Roman young lady, of only thirteen years of age, who had the misfortune as she passed to and fro in her daily visits to school to be seen and admired by the son of the city- prefect, Symphorianus. As she did not choose to return gium, or the Ox- ploughing. — 'AOijvaioi rpiie, apdrovc, upovQ uyovoi, TTpuirov iirl 2/c/pw, tov iraXaioTcirov twv oiropwv V7:6^vi]ua, Sevrepoi' (V Trj 'Papia, rpirov vwo Ttokiv tov KaXovptvov (3ovt$v-/iov. Plutarchi Con jug alia PRiECEPTA. — Opera j torn. vi. p. 514; edit. Reiskii ; 8vo. Lipsiae, 1777. But all forms of lire- worship, however they may be immediately derived, are uniformly found, when traced up to their source, to originate in, or in some way to be connected with, the worship of the sun. Of course I do not pretend to say that in this coun- try we had such observances from the fountain-head; on the contrary they would mostly appear to be the popish corruptions of pagan super- stitions, as an example of which I may notice the Roman-Catholic cere- mony of walking about the city in procession with lighted candles in their hands on the day of the Purification. The proud and dogmatic Inno- cent the Third himself allows that this was borrowed from the customs of the old Romans, who did the same thing in commemoration of Cer< s seeking her daughter Proserpine in the night-time throughout Sicily, and we hardly need look for better authority. (Sermones de Tem- pore; Colonise; 1575 — In Fest. Purif. Sertn. I.) It is also men- tioned by Belethus, and I quote the passage as being moreover illus- trative of another point, — namely, why the second of February is called Candlemas Day. " Quare autem candelaria vocetur aliam authori- tatem non habet, sed potius fluxum est ab antiqua consuetudine ethni- corum sive gentilium. Erat enim antiquitus Romne consuetudo. ut circa hoc tempus in principio Februario urbem lustrarent, earn ambi- endo cum suis processionibus gestantes singuli candelas ardentes, et vocabatur illud amburbale." Divin. Offic. Explicatio, a Joanne Beletho. Cap. 81. p. 347. Other reasons — for there is never any want of reason in these cases — will be found in the proper place under the head of February. * " Agnes beatissima (quam rectius Hagnem appellaveris) cujus passionem Roma? celebratam describit Ambrosius.' — Divi Antomni Chronicarum Opus ; in tres partes divisum — Pais Prima; p. 451, cap. i. De Sanctis Martyribus, sect. 39, Tit. viii ; De Plurib. Martyr. Passis. Folio; Lugd. 151 THE MONTHS JANUARY. 89 his passion, the angry lover caused licr to be thrown into the flames, and, these being extinguished by her prayers, recourse was had, as was usual in all such cases, to the sword, wheu either she forgot to pray, or prayers are naturally of no avail in blunting the edge of steel ; the good sword did its office,* and she was elected into the * These facts are recorded by many writers — " Duodecimo Kal. Februakii. Romas passio Sanctaj Agnetis, virginis, quae sub prae- fecto urbis Symphronio ignibus injecta, sed, iis per orationem ejus extinctis, gladio percussa est.'' Martyrologium Romanum. a C. Baronio Sorano, fol. 60. 4to. Col. Agrip. 1603. — So too in Bede ; " xn. Calend. Feer. Natale beatae Agnetis virginis et martyris, qua* tertio-decimo retatis suae anno in urbe Roma passa est. Haec dum ab scholis revertitur, a praefecti filio adamatur ; quam cum niillii modo sibi associare valuisset. post multa tormenta in guttureejus gla- dio percussa est. Bedjs Martyrologium. — Opera. — Tom. iii. p. 2S1. — Bede calls the prefect Simphorianus ; by Baron the name is written Symphronius, probably by a typical blunder. The story how- ever gains much in the narration of Antoninus, the archbishop of Flo- rence, who has epitomized it from Ambrosius. According to these learned authorities, the Prefect indignant at his son's rejection by the lady, and finding out she was a Christian, gave her the choice of two things; " aut sacrifica diis cum virginibus deae Vestas, aut cum mere- tricibus scortaberis in contubernio lupanaris." — "Either sacrifice to the Gods with the Vestal Virgins, or be a prostitute in the common stews.' To this, Agnes flatly replied that she would do neither the one nor the other, whereupon the prefect commanded her to be stript; but God gave such encrease to her hair that it concealed her better than any gar- ment, and upon entering the house of sin she found an angel of the Lord already there, who spread about the place an excessive light, and had prepared for her a white robe. All, who entered, were astounded and paid adoration to this miraculous refulgence, except the Prefect's son ; he attempted to rush into the midst of it, but instantly fell down and expired. This catastrophe worked so effectually upon the father, that he would fain have liberated her; not however daring to do this, he turned the business over to his deputy, Aspasius, and he committed her to the flames, which instead of touching her divided into two parts and burnt up the people, so that as a last resource he was compelled to plunge a sword into her throat. See the Chronicarum Opus Divi Antonini. Pars Prima, p. 554. — Cap. I ; De Sanctis Martyris. — Tit. viii. De Plurib Martyr, pussis. 40 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. host of Saints, as was made manifest by her appearance on the eighth day after her decease. It was then that her parents, who were praying at her tomb, beheld a choir of virgins all radiant in shining garments, and in the midst of them the blessed Agnes similarly attired, while at her right hand stood a lamb, whiter than snow.* Hence in the pictures of her she is always painted with a lamb ; and yearly also on this day two are offered to her by the Roman women, which are then placed in some rich pas- ture 'till the time comes for sheep-shearing, when they are dipt and their wool woven by some dexterous hand into an archepiscopal pall, or pallium. f If saints and saints' days were not things altogether beyond the pale of human reason, we might wonder how so bitter an enemy to the marriage-state as far as con- cerned herself should ever be induced to reveal to curious maids and bachelors the forms of their future partners in wedlock. Yet so it was — "On St. Agnes night," says Aubrey, " take a row of pins and pull out every one, one after another, saying a pater-noster or our father, sticking a pin in your sleeve, and you will dream of him or her * " Cum octavo die parentes ejus juxta tumulum ipsius vigilarent orando, viderunt chorum virginum fulgidis vestibus radiantem, inter quas viderunt B. Agnetem simili vesle fulgentem, et a dextris ejus agnum stantem nive candidiorem." Antonini Chronic : Opus; loco citato. t " Nam que in ea binos agnos candore nivali Agnetis templi monachae primam super aram, Dum celebrantur sacra Dei cantatur et Agnus, (Ad rem nepe heec cuncta) solent afferre quotannis. Hos dein pontificis mittunt in laeta ministri Pascua, tondendi dum opportuna appetat hora. Candida detonsae miscetur turn altera lanae ; Indeque praegnanti torquentur stamina fuso, Ex quibus arguta texuntur pallia dextra." Regnum Papisticum. a T. Naoyeoryo. Lib. iv. p. 13G. 12mo. Basileae. 1559. THE MONTHS JANUARY. 4 1 you shall marry."* Fasting however, according to some authorities, was a requisite part of the ceremony, or per- haps if* this were observed the pin-sticking might be dis- pensed with : thus in the old comedy of Cupid's Whir- ligig, the alderman's daughter, Nan, tells her friend that she could find in her heart "to pray nine times to the moone, and/«s* three Saint Agnes' Eves so that I might bee sure to have him to my husband. "t So too Burton ; " they'll give any thing to know when they shall be married, how many husbands they shall have by cromnyo- mantial a kinde of divination with onions laid on the altar on Christmass Eve, or by fasting on St. Agnes Eve,§ or * The same superstition was attached also to Saint Anne's, or Saint Anna's night, that is July the 2Gth. "She can stait our Franklin's daughters In her (their) sleep with shrieks and laughters ; And on sweet St Anna's night Feed them with a promised sight Some of husbands, some of lovers, Which an empty dream discovers." Ben Jonson's Masque of the Satyr — Works; vol. vi. p. 472. Upon this, however, Whalley observes, and his note is quoted by Giffard in silence — " the feat it alludes to is sometimes said to be performed upon St. Agnes' night ; and 'tis possible this might have been the original reading." It may perhaps be deemed a confirmation of Whalley's conjecture that Aubrey, when quoting the same passage, observes in a marginal note, " 'tis printed St. Anne's night falsely." — Aubrey's Miscellanies, p. 104, chap. xiii. — Magic, p. 104. 8vo. London. 1G96 f Actus Ter. — Scena prima. Sig. E. 2. 4to. London. 1616. — Andsig. E. 3. Edit. 1630. X From two Greek words, Kpofifivov an union, and /uuvreia, divina- tion. § It is not a little singular that here again we should have the same confusion between St. Anne and St. Agnes, that I hare already noticed ; the edition of the Anatomy op Melancholy published in 1G60 has St. Agr.es: that in 1676 has St. Anne. 42 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. night, who shall be their first husband ; or by Amphito- mantia, by beans in a cake, &c, to burn the same."* St. Paul's Day.— January 25. The conversion of St. Paul, from which this day has its name, is by some writers supposed to have occurred two years after Christ's Ascen- sion^ by others not till seven,} and by others again it is placed in the same year with the crucifixion. § It was on this day that the husbandmen of old used to make prognostics of the weather, and of other matters for the whole year, a custom, which Bourne has laboured to unravel with much laudable gravity. That he failed to do so will surprise no one ; and perhaps it was hardly worth while to inflict some eight or ten pages upon his readers to convince them of the fact.|| Mayster Erra Pater sets to work much more scholarly and wisely, by laying down the infallible rules by which such prognostics maybe made. " A lytell rule of S. Paules daye, otherwyse called the Conver- sation of S. Paule. " The sayenge of Erra Pater to the Husbande man. If that the daye of S. Paule be chearelf Than shall betyde an happy yere. ' * Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. Part 3, Sect. 2. — Memb. 4 •, Subs. 1. + " Conversio sancti Pauli, Apostoli, quee fait secundo ab ascensione Domini anno." Martyrologium Romanum, a Casare Baronio Sorano. Octavo Kalend. Februarii, p. 74. 4to. Col. Agripp. 1603 X " Fuit enim quorundam opinio, sanctu Paulum post septennium ab Ascensione Domini Christo nomen dcdisse ; idque ex Hipjjolyto Thebano Michael Glycas in tertia Annalium parte, et Niceph. Lin. •_'. Cap. 3. Evodii auctoritate confirmare nituntur." Id. p. 75. § " Conversio sancti Pauli, Apostoli, facta est eodem anno quo Christus passus est et Stephanas Iapidatus, anno quidem non natural] seu emergenti," Guliel. Durandi Rationale Divinorum Officio- rum. Lib. vii cap. iv. || Bourne's Antiquitates Vulgares. Chap, xviii. p. 159. TJ An evident misprint for cleare, i. e clear. THE MONTHS JANUARY- 43 Yf it do chaunce to snowe or rayne, Then shall be deare all kynde of grayne. But and the wynde then be a lot'te, Warres shall vexe this Realme full ofte. And yf the Clowdes make darke the skye Both neate and Fowle that yeare shall dye."* If the reader objects to the version of old Erra Pater here is a second given by Willsford.f " If Saint Paul's Day be fair and clear, It does betide a happy year ; But if it chance to snow or rain Then will be dear all kind of grain; If clouds or mist do dark the skie Great store of beasts and birds shall die ; And if the winds do fly aloft Then wars shall vex that kingdom oft." The weather of the whole year thus depending on the humour in which St. Paul might chance to be upon his feast-day, the people made no scruple of showing their resentment if by his wearing cloudy looks at such a time he disappointed their hopes for the season. In many * " The ftronostgraricn for rbrv of (Erra llatrr : a $ehyt tornr hi #rtocrg. a Dortour in Sstronomgc anil ftfjgsgcfte. profitable to ftrpr Ific botme in fjeltfj. Shitr also ytholomnts sagtfi tlje ; samr." No date is affixed to this work, but it is stated to be " Emptintru" tlj mc, Kobcrt fflSagcr, Utocllgnge at the Sggite of &egnt Jjfotw C=ban- grltst in Srgnt ftfartgu's yargshc brsgfce Cfjargnge Crosse. There is however another edition by the same printer, in which the above lines are not given, and in which the three or four last pages differ considerably. A third reprint by Thomas Este varies yet more, omitting much, adding a few things, and giving the substance of many parts in other words. t Nature's Secrets, p. 145. 8 vo. London. 1658. 44 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. parts of Germany tliey dragged his image to the river on these occasions, and there soused him well in effigy.* This notion, however fallacious, must at one time have, been very general, for we not only find it repeatedly men- tioned by our own writers, but we have the evidence of Olaus Wormius for its having existed among the Northern nations. The Latin lines he has quoted on the subject are to the same effect as the prediction in English by Erra Pater.f * " Schenck's Treatise on Images, chap. xii. — as quoted by- Brand, vol. i. page 83. f " Clara dies Pauli bona tempora denotat anni ; Si fuerint venti, designant pradia genti ; Si fuerint nebula;, pereunt animalia quoeque ; Si nix aut pluviae, redduntur tempora cara." Fasti Danici — ab Olao Wormio,?. 111. Lib. ii. cap. 9, sect. 9. A version, somewhat differing from this, but the same in substance, is given by Hearne in his edition of Rob. de Avesbury ; Hist. Eduardi tertii. Minutiee, p. 266. And again we find them in Hospinian (De Festis Christianoram ; p. 38.) with a grave caution that no faith is to be placed in the prognostication— " Ne credas certe, nam fallet regula saepe." 45 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. Divinations in Advent.— Two sorts of divination are practiced at this period by girls desirous of learning the temper of their future husbands. The first mode was by taking from four to eight onions and scratching on each of them the names they most fancied ; these they set in the chimney-corner, and whichever was the first to sprout, that one bore the name of the future help-mate. The next method was by going out at night and drawing a single stick from a wood-stack, but without attempting to pick or choose ; if it turned out straight and even, and without knots, then the husband would be gentle ; if on the contrary it proved knotty and crooked, then the husband would be a churl.* * " Illis divinant etiam inquiruntque diebus Aptse connubio jam lascivseque puellae Nomine de sponsi, quicunque est ille futurus. Quatuor accipiunt crcpas, vel quinque, vel octo, Atque iadunt certuni nomen pra? aliisque cupitum Cuique ; dein propter fornacem ex ordine ponunt ; Et qua? prima suum protrudit csepula germen, Illius haud dubie nomen quoque sponsus habebit. Inquirunt etiam sponsi moresqne animumque, Sol postquani occiduus caelum terrasque reliquit ; Namque struetn lignorum adeunt turn, perque tenebras Fortuito inde sudem casu quaeque extrahit unam, 4G NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Lunar Superstition. — In Wiltshire it is said to be un- lucky to look at the new moon first through a window. As to the man in the moon himself, some have supposed that the idea has arisen from that passage in the book of Numbers, where a man is stoned to death for gathering sticks upon a Sunday.* But indeed by some strange caprice of superstition the moon has had more traditions and observances connected with her than the sun itself, and not improbably because the night, the time of her predominance, is better calculated to create and nourish such fancies than the cheerful day. To name only a few of them. Whoever prays for any thing when the moon is in conjunction with Jupiter and the Dragon's head, will be sure to obtain it.f But though this aphorism would seem to apply equally to either sex, yet of lovers it was more especially the women, who paid their vows to the moon, while men sought similar favours of the sun, a distinction for which no cause has been as- signed, so far as I know, by the learned in such high mysteries.}: In other respects the moon was of doubtful augury, being evil or propitious according to the state in which she was at the time ; thus, wood cut at the full of the moon is affected with blight and rottenness ;§ Quae fierit si recta et nullis horrida nodes Commodus ac comis speratur rite maritus ; Sin vero prava et nodis incommoda duiis Improbulum ac pravum sperant obtingeresponsum." Thom^e Naogeorgi Regnum Papisticum. — Lib. iv. p. 130. l'2mo. 1559. * Numbers. Chap. xv. ver. 32 — 36. T " Qui, Luna, inquit Albumazar, Jovi, conjuncta cum Capite Draconico, supplicaverit, quicquid petierit procul dubio impetrabit." CfcLius Rhodiginus. Lectiones Antiques, p. C45. F. X " Sciibit tamen Pindarus, ex amantibus soli quidein viros vota concipere, lunse autem fanninas." Idem, p. 205. H. § " Succisa ligna in plcnilunio carie conficiuntur, tunc rubigo infestat." Db Admiuandis Facultatibus. Autore D. H. Montuo t POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 47 neither is it good to voyage in the interval between the old and new moon or in an eclipse of that luminary.* Then too different objects are affected by it in different manners ; many things for instance, that encrease with the encreasing moon, cease to grow and become sapless when she wanes ; while on the other hand some roots, such as the onion, germinate with the waning moon, and dry up as she waxes. f Next as to the names and qualities of the moon. It is white because it rules the waters, whose nature it is to become white in concretion.^: It was called Melissa as the presiding deity of generation,^ and Diana herself was named threeformed from the triple aspects of the moon — the horned; the half -moon ; and the full moon. \\ Spayed Bitches. — I believe all over England a spaied bitch is accounted wholesome ; that is to say, they have :\o. 71; Cent. Secunda, p. 40. 12mo. Lugduni. 1556. This is printed with the Memorabilia of Mizaldus, forming the latter part of the volume. * " Silente aut deficiente luna non esse navigandum expertus est Synesius." Idem. No. 73. Cent, ii, p. 40. T " Omnia quae crescente luna gliscunt deficiente contra desinunt exuccaque sunt. Quamquam in quibusdam est antipathia, nam cepe, teste Plutarcho, luna decedente revirescit au congerminat. Inarescit- que eadem adokscente." Idem. No. 68 ; Cent. vi. p. 39. He afterwards adds that the onion is the only one root that acts by lunar antipathies his text not being very consistent with itself. t " Album porro colorem luna? contribuunt quoniam aquis domine- tur is planeta, quarum natura est uti concretione inalbescant. L. C.^uus Khodiginus. Lectiones Antiq. Lib. xxvi. cap. 9, p. 1207. D. § "■ Lunam quoque generationis praesidem, Melissam dixere." C.SLius Rhodiginus, Lib. xxii. cap. 3, p. 1028. F. But the priests of Ceres were also called Melissas. || 4i Quia vero triplicem faciat visitationem Luna— quum surgit in cornua et falcata dicitur — quumque dimidia est — et quum orbe circu- macto— hinc propagatum autumant poeticum commentum de triformi Diana." Id. Lib. xx ; cap. vi ; p. 927. D. 48 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. a strong belief that it keeps away evil spirits from haunt- ing of a bouse ; e. g. among many other instances, at Cranborn in Dorsetshire about 1686 a house was haunted and two tenants successively went away for that reason ; a third came and brought his spaied bitch, and was never troubled.* Charm against Night-hags. " Bring the holy crust of bread, Lay it underneath the head ; 'Tis a certain charm to keep Hags away while children sleep. "i" The Knife-Charm. " Let the superstitious wife Neer the child's heart lay a knife, Point be up, and haft be downe, (While she gossips in the towne ;) This 'mongst other mystick charms Keeps the sleeping child from harms."! Stable-Charm. " Hang up hooks and sheers, to scare Hence the hag that rides the mare 'Till they be all over wet With the mire and the sweat ; This observ'd the mares shall be Of your horses all knot-free. "§ *Aubrey's Remains of Gentilisme, &c. MS. : Bibl. : Lansdown, — folio 130. t Herrick's Hesperides, p. 336. J I d - Idem. § Idem. p. 234. 49 THE MONTHS-FEBRUARY. Verstegan tells us this month was called by our Saxon ancestors, sprout-kele, " by kele meaning the kele-wort, which we now call the colewurt, the greatest potwurt in time long past that our ancestors used, and the broth made therewith was thereof also called kele; for before we borrowed from the French the name of potage and the name of herbs, the one in our own language was called kele, and the other wurt ; and as this kele-wurt, or potage- hearbe, was the chief winter-wurt for the sustenance of the husbandman, so was it the first hearbe that in this moneth began to yield out wholesome young sprouts, and consequently gave thereunto the name of sprout- kele. "* It had also the name of Solmonath, which Bede explains by Pan-cake-month, because in the course of it cakes were offered up by the Pagan Saxons to the sun, and sol, or soul signified " food, or cakes." It is scarcely necessary to add that the Latin Februarius, the origin of our Fe- * Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, p. 64, ed. 1674. D 50 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. bruary, was derived from februa*, an expiatory, or puri- fying sacrifice offered to the Manes, because in that month the Luperci, or priests of Pan, perambulated the city, carrying thongs of goat-skin, with which they scourged the women, and this was received for an expiation. Hence we have the word, though it is now well-nigh obsolete, oi'februation, in the meaning of a purification. February has in general an ill name, and often worse than he deserves, for notwithstanding his thaws and clammy colds he shows some symptoms of the spring, though it must be granted that he is not always a very smiling harbinger. In his train appear many flowers, and all the more charming from their coming at a season that is otherwise somewhat dreary; the Primrose flowers and shows its pale blossoms on every bank ; the double Daisies begin to blow ; the fruitless Strawberry, the Butchers' Broom> the yellow Coltsfoot, will also open; and the Early Whit- low Grass flowers on old walls and the dry sides of fields. Then too, comes the early Cyclomen, but he requires the shelter of a green-house; the Oriental Hyacinth, an in-doors companion ; the Heart's Ease, or Pansie; the Polyanthus ; the Yellow Spring Crocus ; the Old Cloth of Gold Crocus ; the Persian Iris, but he requires shelter ; the Wall Speed- well ; the Field Speedwell ; the Noble Liverwort ; ihe Parti- coloured Crocus ; the Daisy, or Herb-Margaret*; the Offi- cinal Coltsfoot ; the White Willow ; the Brittle Willow ; the Long-leaved Osier: the Ivy-leaved Veronica; the Purple Spring Crocus ; and the Shejiherd's Purse; a goodly catalogue of friends and visitors for so dull a gentleman as February is usually held to be, and one which speaks very fairly for his character. But he has other acquaintance whose tes- * Februa has by some been supposed synonymous with Juno, and the manifest relation between the Februata Juno and the Purificata Virgo Maria is one of the many singular coincidences between Pa- pan and Christian rites. They arc much too numerous to have been the effect of mere accident. THE MONTHS FEBRUARY. 51 timony is no less favourable. The wood-lark, one of the earliest and sweetest of our songsters, does him homage j and the green wood-pecker is heard in the forest; while the goats play about, and gnats swarm under the sunny hedges. Then too, he has more days of note than any other month in the year. In the very outset there is Candlemas Eve, his birth-day, as we may call it, since it falls upon the first, a time which our forefathers cele- brated with a multitude of pleasing and significant cere- monies. They kindled the yule-brand, and allowed it to burn till sunset, when it was quenched and carefully laid by to teend the Christmas clog, or log, at the next return of the season, " And, where 'tis safely kept, the fiend Can do no mischief there."* The rosemary, the bay, the ivy, the holly, and the mis- letoe, the Christmas decorations of hall and cottage, were now pulled down, when according to the popular super- stition not a branch, nor even a leaf, should be allowed to remain, " For look, how many leaves there be So many goblins you shall see."f In their place, however, the " greener box was up- raised," and Christmas now was positively at an end. Some, indeed, considered this to have been the case on Twelfth Night ; and old Tusser, in his " Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry," strongly contends for it; but then his head was more full of the cart and plough than of regard for old customs : and, like any other mas- ter, he was naturally anxious that the holidays should be ended, and the labourers should get to work again as soon as possible ; and certes, merry-making, however agree- able it may be, will not help to dig the land or sow the grain. But in spite of these wise saws, the truth of * Herrick. t Herrick. d2 52 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. which nobody would contest, human feelings are stronger than human reason, and customs, when they tend to pleasure, will maintain their ground, till they are super- seded — not by privations, but by other forms of amuse- ment. Having therefore tolerated the rites of Candlemas Eve, we may as well put up with those of Candlemas Day. And why was it called Candlemas ? hear how Pope Inno- cent replies to the question, in a sermon upon this festival, quoted in Pagano Papismus —" Because the Gentiles dedi- cated the month of February to the infernal gods, and as at the beginning of it Pluto stole Proserpine ; and her mother, Ceres, sought her in the night with lighted can- dles, so they, in the beginning of this month, walked about the city with lighted candles ; because the holy fathers could not utterly extirpate this custom, they ordained that Christians should carry about candles in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary ; and thus what was done before to the honour of Ceres is now done to the honour of the \ lrgin. There can be little doubt that this is the real origin of the custom, though Butler, upon the authority of St. Ber- nard, states, that the candlebearing at this season had re- ference to Simeon's declaration in the Temple, when the parents brought in the child Jesus, that he was " a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of the people Israel." Few, however, will be inclined to accept this far-fetched derivation when one so much more obvious is at hand. From whatever cause the ceremony originated, it ac- quired many additional rites in the process of time, ac- cording to the manners and habits of those who adopted it. We are told in Dunstan's Concord of Monastic Rules, that " the monks went in surplices to the church for candles, which were to be consecrated, sprinkled with holy water, and censed by the abbot. Every monk took a candle from the sacrist and lighted it. A procession was THE MONTHS FEBRUARY. 53 made, thirds and mass were celebrated, and the candles, after the offering, were presented to the priest. The monks' candles signified the use of them in the parable of the wise virgins." Other authorities tell us that there was on this day a general consecration of all the candles to be burnt in the Catholic churches throughout the whole year ; and it is probable enough that all these customs may have pre- vailed at various times and in different places. It should also be mentioned that from Candlemas the use of tapers at vespers and litanies, which had continued through the whole winter, ceased until the ensuing All-Hallow Mass, which will serve to explain the old English proverb in Hay's Collection — " On Candlemas Day Throw candle and candlestick away." The ceremony of carrying Candlemas candles continued in England, till it was repealed for its Popish tendency by an order in council in the second year of King Edward VI. Still the many and various customs, that grew out of it, could not be extirpated by any legal enactments. They assumed a multitude of forms, the innate significa- tion of which is now as much lost to us as that of the characters upon the Egyptian pyramids. Thus Hone tells us, from the communication of some unnamed individual, of a custom that prevailed in Lynne Regis, and which, so far as he knew, was confined to a single family — " The wood-ashes of the family being sold throughout the year as they were made, the person who purchased them annu- ally sent a present at Candlemas Day of a large candle. When night came, the candle was lighted, and, assisted by its illumination, the inmates regaled themselves with cheering draughts of ale and sippings of punch, or some other animating beverage, until the candle had burnt out. The coming of the Candlemas candle was looked forward 54 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. to by the young ones as an event of some consequence, for of usage they had a sort of right to sit up all night and partake of the refreshments till all retired to rest, the signal for which was the self-extinction of the Candlemas candle." The peculiar merits of this day are not yet exhausted. It was a favourite epoch for drawing prognostics of the weather, it being held on all hands that the second of Fe- bruary ought on no account to be fine ; Aubrey quotes from some forgotten record, " Si sol splendescat Maria purificante Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante." Considering the general state of the weather in Febru- ary, this was prophecying on the safe side of the ques- tion, and we need not be surprized therefore if we find others following in the same track. Bishop Hall informs us in a sermon upon Candlemas, " it hath been an old — I say not how true — note, that hath been wont to be set on this day, that if it be clear and sun-shiny, it portends a hard weather to come ; if cloudy and louring, a mild and gentle season ensuing." And Ray says, " The hind had as lief see his wife on the bier, As that Candlemas Day should be pleasant and clear." In the '•' Country Almanack" again, for 1676, we find a similar doctrine advanced ; " Foul weather is no news ; hail, rain, and snow Are now expected, and esteemed no woe ; Nay, 'tis an omen bad, the yeomen say If Phoebus shows his face the second day" — i.e. of February. But enough of Candlemas Day. Its tapers are burnt THE MONTHS FEBRUARY. 55 out, and the joyful song of the birds, who are beginning to choose their mates, announce that Valentine Day is come, the whole burthen of which seems with us to have fallen on the unlucky postman. He now finds that love is no such light matter, whatever other folks may think, for is he not transformed for the nonce into Cupid's messenger, albeit his blue coat and red collar have nothing very etherial in them ? Saint Valentine ? — all we know of this holy personage is that he was a priest at Rome, where he was martyred about 270, and had in consequence the honour of being assigned a niche in the record of Saints, his post being the 14th of February. Enquiries have been made, but hitherto in vain, to discover what the good bishop had done that should entitle him to have this day above all others appropriated to him. We have only, however, to suppose that his martyrdom took place on the 14th, and the whole mystery is solved, all the other peculiarities of the day being merely accidents, that had nothing to do with his individual character, and which would have as readily attached to any one else, who had met with the good fortune of being sainted at that particular season. The origin of this custom has been sought for in the Lupercalia of the Romans, and with much apparent rea- son, as will be evident when we come to enquire into the old mode of celebrating Valentine's Day, which, as we shall presently see, had but little in common with the mo- dern habit of sending silly letters by the penny post. In ancient Rome a festival was held about the middle of February, called the Lupercalia, in honour of Pan and Juno, whence the latter obtained the epithet of Februata Feb- rualis, and Fabrulla. Upon this occasion the names of young women were put, amidst a variety of ceremonies, into a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed, and so rooted had this, like many other 56 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. customs, become amongst the people, that the pastors of the early Christian church found themselves unable to eradicate it. They therefore, instead of entering into a fruitless struggle, adopted their usual policy on such occa- sions, and since they could not remove what they held to be an unsightly nuisance, they endeavoured, as a skilful architect would do, to convert it into an ornament. Thus they substituted the names of Saints for those of women, a change that would not seem to have been generally, or for any long time, popular, since we read that at a very remote period the custom prevailed of the young men drawing the names of the girls, and that the practice of adopting mates by chance-lots soon grew reciprocal be- tween the sexes. In fact Pan and Juno vacated their seats in favour of Saint Valentine, but the Christian bishop could not escape having much of the heathen ritual fas- tened upon him. We must not, however, imagine that Valentine's Day, any more than Epiphany or Candlemas, was celebrated with one uniform mode of observance ; the customs attendant upon it varied considerably according to the place and period. In many parts of England, and more particularly in London, the person of the opposite sex, who is first met in the morning, not being an in- mate of the house, was taken to be the Valentine, a usage that is noticed by the poet, Gay, " I early rose just at the break of day Before the sun had chas'd the stars away ; A-field I went, amid the morning dew, To milk my kine (for so should housewives do) The first I spied, and the first swain we see In spite of fortune our true love shall be." That the lasses went out to seek for their makes, or mates, i. e. Valentines, is also shown in poor Ophelia's broken snatches of a song ; " Good morrow ! 'tis St. Valentine's day All in the morning betime, THE MONTHS FEBRUARY. 57 And I a maid at your window To be your valentine." In the Gentlemen's Magazine for 1779, a correspond- ent under the name of Kitty Curious, relates an odd cere- mony that she has been witness to in some humble vil- lage in Kent. The girls from five or six to eighteen years old were assembled in a crowd, burning an uncouth effigy, which they called a holly-boy, and which they had stolen from the boys, while in another part of the village the boys were burning what they called an ivy girl, which they had stolen from the girls. The ceremony of each burning was attended with huzzas and other acclama- tions according to the receipt of custom in all such cases. The Monday before Shrove Tuesday was in old times called Collop Monday, " collop" being a term for slices of dried or salted meat, as " steak " signifies a slice of fresh meat. The etymology is too uncertain to make it worth while to quote the different accounts of it, but upon this day it was customary to feast upon eggs and collops, and, as Lent was approaching, our ancestors used to cut up their meat in slices, and preserve it, till the season of fast was over, by salting, or drying it. In some parts the day seemed to have been kept as the vigil, or eve, of Shrove Tuesday, and in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, we are told, the boys went about from door to door, singing thus ; " Shrove-tide is nigh at hand, • And I am come a shroving ; Pray, dame, something, An apple, or a dumpling, Or a piece of truckle * cheese Of your own making, Or a piece of pancake." The observance of this day originated, if we may be- * Brand and Hone, who have both quoted these lines, pass over the truckle-cheese in silence, as if it involved no difficulty ; nor can I offer any certain explanation of the etymology. The epithet truckle, D 5 58 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. lieve Polydore Virgil, in the Roman feasts of Bacchus, and some vestiges of such an origin remain to the present time in the custom that the Eton hoys have of writing verses at this season in praise of the Lybian God. These were composed in all kinds of measures and affixed to the college-doors. Shrove Tuesday, — or Pancake Tuesday, — or Fasting's Even, Fasterns, Fasten, as it is sometimes called from being the vigil of Ash Wednesday, the commencement of the Lent Fast, — is a day of great importance in the ritual calendar. It is said to have got its first, and more ge- neral, appellation from the circumstance of its being a day when every one was bound to confess and be shrove, or shriven, so long as the RoYnan Catholic faith was predo- minant. That none might plead forgetfulness of this ce- remony the great bell was rung at an early hour in every parish, and in after times this ringing was still kept up in some places, though the cause of it ceased with the intro- duction of Protestantism ; it then got the name of the Pancake-Bell, for reasons which we shall see hereafter. Notwithstanding this necessity for confession, Shrove Tuesday with us had all the features of the last day of the Italian carneval. What it was in the old time may be judged from the account given by Taylor, the Water- poet — " Always before Lent there comes waddling a fat, grosse,groome, called Shrove Tuesday, one whose manners shews he is better fed than taught, and indeed he is the only monster for feeding amongst all the dayes of the yeere, for he devoures more flesh in foureteene houres which Hone, for some unexplained reason, prints with a capital T, may possibly have a reference to the round, wheel-shaped form of the cheese, for truckle, though well-nigh obsolete in that sense, was once commonly used for a wheel. However derived, the word is even now familiar both in Wiltshire and Dosetshire for a small, but su- perior kind of cheese. THE MONTHS — FEBRUARY. o9 than this old kingdom doth (or at the least should doe) in sixe weekes after. Such boyling and broyling, such roasting and toasting, such stewing and brewing, such baking, frying, mincing, cutting, carving, devouring, and gorbellied gurmondizing, that a man would thinke people did take in two month's provision at once. "Moreover it is a goodly sight to see how the cookes in great men's kitchins doe frye in their master's suet, that if ever a cooke be worth the eating, it is when Shrove Tuesday is in towne, for he is so stued and larded, basted, and almost over- roasted, that a man may eate every bit of him and never take a surfet. In a word, they are that day extreme cholerike, and too hot for any man to meddle with, being monarchs of the marow-bones, marquesses of the mutton, lords high regents of the spit and the kettle, barons of the gridiron, and sole commanders of the frying-pan. And all this burly burly is for no other purpose than to stop the mouth of this land-wheale, Shrove Tuesday, at whose entrance in the morning all the whole kingdome is in quiet, but by the time the clocke strikes eleven — which by the help of a knavish sexton is commonly be- fore nine, — then there is a bell rung called the Pancakt Bell, the sound whereof makes thousands of people dis- tracted and forgetful either of manner or humanitie. Then there is a thinge cal'd wheaten fiowre, which the sulphory, necromanticke cookes doe mingle with water, egges, spice, and other tragicall, magicall inchantments, and then they put it by little and little into a frying pan of boyling suet, where it makes a confused dismal hissing — like the Lernean snakes in the reeds of Acheron, Stix, or Phlegeton, — until at last by the skill of the cooke it is transformed into the forme of a Flap-Jack, which in our translation is call'd a pancake, which ominous incantation the ignorant people doe devoure very greedily — having for the most part well dined before — but they have no 60 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. sooner swallowed that sweet candied baite, but straight their wits forsake them, and they runne starke mad, assembling in routs and throngs numberlesse of un- governable numbers, with uncivill civill commotions. " Then Tim Tatters — a most valiant villaine — with an ensign made of a piece of a baker's maukin* fixed upon a broome-staffe, he displaies his dreadful colours, and « ailing the ragged regiment together, makes an illiterate oration, stuft with most plentifull want of discretion, the conclusion whereof is, that somewhat they will doe, but what they know not ; untill at last comes marching up another troupe of tatterdemalions, proclayming wars against no matter who, so they may be doing. Then these youths arm'd with cudgels, stones, hammers, rules, trowels, and handsawes, put play-houses to the sacke, and * * * to the spoyle, in the quarrel breaking a thousand quarrehf — of glasse, I meane — making ambitious brick- bats breake their neckes, tumbling from the tops of lofty chimnies, terribly untyling houses, ripping up the bowels of feather beds, to the inriching of upholsters, the profit * Brand, who qiiotes this last paragraph, says that he does not know what to make of it, and Sir H. Ellis, after having twice edited the work, is, according to his general custom on such occasions, as mute as a Pythagorean. There is however no difficulty whatever in the passage. A maukin, or as it is sometimes written, malkin, is explained by Minshew to be " instrumentum quo verruntur furni <-alescentes,'' i.e. an instrument by which ovens are swept out ; and it farther appears from him that the word was used either for a broom or a dishclout. Cotgrave too says "A maulkin to make clean an oven, Patrouille, fourbalet, stroffignolo del forno." Here it means the baker's dishclout, which was fastened to a pole as a flag for the merry rout, and borne aloft by Tim Tatters — i.e. Tatterdemalion — a fanciful, and not inappropriate, designation for the leader of ' the ragged regiment.' " j It is perhaps hardly necessary to remind the reader that this is a pun upon the secondary meaning of the word "quarrel," i.e. a yane of ylass, from the Latin, qitaArinn. THE MONTHS FEBRUARY. 61 of plaisterers and dirt-dawbers, the gaine of glasiers, joyners, carpenters, tylers, and bricklayers j and, which is worse, to the contempt of justice ; for what avails it for a constable with an army of reverend rusty bill-men to command peace to these beastes, for they with their pockets, instead of pistols, well charged with stone-shot, discharge against the image of authority whole volleys as thicke as hayle, which robustious repulse puts the better sort to the worser part, making the band of unscowred halberdiers retyre faster than ever they come on, and shew exceeding discretion in proving tall men of their heeles. Thus, by the unmanerly maners of Shrove Tuesday, con- stables are baffled, punckes are pillaged, panders are plagued, and the chiefe commanders of these valourous villiacoes, for their reward of all this confusion, doe in conclusion purchase the inheritance of a jayle, to the commodity of jailers, and the discommodity to them- selves, with a fearfull expectation that Tiburne shall stoppe their throats, and the hangman take possession of their coates, or that some beadle in bloody characters shall imprint their faults on their shoulders. So much for Shrove Tuesday, Jacke-a-Lent's gentleman usher 5 these have beene his humours in former times, but I have some better hope of reformation in him hereafter and in- deed I wrote this before his coming this yeere 1617, not knowing how hee would behave himselfe ; but tottering betwixt despaire and hope I leave him." With the apprentices of London this season was more particularly a time of revel ; according to Dekker they " take the I awe into their own hands and doe what they liste." s One of their amusements was hunting and beat- ing the poor creatures of the town, and it has been sug- gested from certain passages in the old dramatists that it was the custom at this period of the year for the consta- * '■ Seven Deadly Sins of London." Quarto, 1G06, p. 35. 62 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. bles to search out women of ill fame, and to confine them during Lent, while a still more degenerate class were carted. Evidences of both these habits may be gathered from the following passages. Sensuality says in Microcosmos (Act 5) — " But now welcome a cart, or a Shrove Tuesday's Tragedy." Again, in Nabbes' comedy, called Tottenham Court Road, quarto, London, 1638, p. 6 — " If I doe, I have lesse mercy than prentices at Shrove tide." Still more striking is a passage in a Satyre against Separatists, quarto, London, 1/65 ; and other pas- sages there are, but somewhat too coarse for the delicacy of modern ears, when vice may be tolerated, but must not be named, and we shall therefore content ourselves with merely referring to them for the gratification of the curious. — Second Part of the " Honest Whore," quarto, London, 1630. L. 6. et seq. As to the carting part of the story in the first of the above extracts, though it has been overlooked by Brand and his commentator, to ride in a cart was from very remote times reckoned ignominious ; thus, in the old romance of Launcelot de Lac, we are told " en ce temps la estoit accoutumee que Charette estoit si vil que nul' n'estoit dedans qui tout loz et tout honneur n'eust perdu ; et quant s'invouloit a aucun tollir honneur si le faisoit s'en monter en un charette j car charette servit en ce temps la de ceque pilloris servent orendroit ; ne en chas- cune bonne ville n'en avoit, en ce temps la, que une " — in those days it was the custom to consider the cart so base, that no one could be in it without losing all fame and all honour; and when it was wished to deprive any one of his reputation, he was made to mount in a cart ; for the cart served at that time for what pillories serve now ; nor in those days in each good town was there more than one. Another amusement, if amusement it can be called, THE MONTHS FEBRUARY. 63 and which prevailed both in court and country, was the tying of a cock to a stake, and flinging sticks at the poor bird till it was beaten to death. If well trained it would often elude for a long time the missiles of its persecutors, thereby earning a considerable sum of money for its master ; and, when killed, it was put into a hat, and won a second time by the person, who could strike it out. Erasmus accounts for this cruel folly by observing in an ironical tone that the English eat on Shrove Tuesday " quoddam placentae genus," a certain kind of cake — meaning thereby pancakes — " quo comesto protinus insaniunt et gallos trucidantj" which being devoured they immediately run mad, and kill the cocks. This brutal custom has been variously derived. Some assert that it originated in an old story of the discovery of an adulterous amour by the crowing of a cock, which we need hardly say is utter nonsense ; others have thought that the cock was thus made to suffer, in punishment for Saint Peter's crime in denying his master, which is no less ridiculous, although we have Sir Charles Sedley's authority for it in the following epigram ; " May'st thou be punished for Saint Peter's crime, And on Shrove Tuesday perish in thy prime." A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for July 1783, tells us that he had somewhere heard or read of its being an allusion to the indignities offered to Christ by the Jews before his crucifixion. Cranenstein relates an idle story how "when the Danes were masters of England, and lorded it over the natives of the island, the inhabitants of a certain great city, grown weary of their slavery, had formed a secret conspiracy to murder their masters in one bloody night ; and twelve men had undertaken to enter the town-house by a stratagem, and seizing the arms surprize the guard, which kept it 5 and at which time their fellows upon a signal given were to 64 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. come out of their houses and murder all opposers ; but when they were putting it in execution, the unusual crowing and fluttering of the cocks about the place they attempted to enter at, discovered their design, upon which the Danes became so enraged that they doubled their cruelty and used them with more severity than ever. Soon after they were freed from the Danish yoke, and to revenge themselves on the cocks for the misfortune , they had involved them in, they instituted this custom of knocking them on the head on Shrove Tuesday, the day on which it ^happened. This sport, though at first only practiced in one city, in process of time became a national divertisement, and has conti- nued ever since the Danes first lost this island." Were it worth while to refute this absurd version of the geese that by their cackling saved Rome, it might be replied that the Danes never did lose the island, but kept a fast hold of the prey they had once clutched. But the story, like the others before quoted, is sheer nonsense, although they are one and all gravely nar- rated by Brand, and passed over by Sir Henry Ellis without a comment. On such occasions it is much better to confess our ignorance than to encrease the mass of error by idle con- jectures and yet more idle endeavours to enforce them by a display of reading that leaves the question just where it was. Indeed after all that has been said upon the sub- ject it seems more than probable that it originated in the same passion for brutal amusement, that gave rise to bear-baiting, bull-baiting, and so many sports of the same nature. It should be observed too that the practice was not confined to cocks alone, but extended itself to hens and doves, though this was by no means so ge- neral. Another amusement of the season was what the people THE MONTHS — FEBRUARY. 65 called threshing the fat hen, which is thus explained in Tusser Redivivus. " The hen is hung at a fellow's back, who has also some horse- bells about him ; the rest of the fellow9 are blind-folded, and have boughs in their hands, with which they chase this fellow and his hen about some large court or small enclosure. The fellow with his hen and bells shifting as well as he can, they fol- low the sound, and sometimes hit him and his hen; other times, if he can get behind one of them, they thresh one another well favouredly ; but the jest is, the maids are to blind the fellows, which they do with their aprons, and the cunning baggages will indulge their sweet hearts with a peeping hole, while the others look out as sharp to hin- der it. After this the hen is boiled with bacon, and store of pancakes and fritters are (is) made. She, that is noted for lying a-bed long or any other miscarriage, hath the first pan-cake presented to her, which most commonly falls to the dog's share at last, for no one will own it their due." Other sports of a less brutal nature characterized this day. The game of football was at one time common not only among the London apprentices but in all the Nor- thern counties of England. We are told that even so lately as the end of the eighteenth century the town-waits used to go playing to Alnwick Castle every Shrove Tuesday at two o'clock, p. m. when a football was thrown over the castle-wall for the amusement of the popu- lace. At Chester also the same sport must have once prevailed, for King in his Vale Royal of England (p. 194) says that at the city of Chester in the year 1533 "the offerings of ball and foot-ball were put down, and the silver bell offered to the maior on Shrove Tuesday." In Cumberland there was a custom, according to Hutchinson, which we do not remember to have heard of as occurring elsewhere. He says in his history of 66 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. that country. " Till within the last twenty or thirty years it had been a custom, time out of mind, for the scholars of the free school of Bromfield about the be- ginning of Lent, or, in the more expressive phrase- ology of the country, at Fasting's Even, to bar out the master, i. e. to depose and exclude him from his school, and keep him out for three days. During the period of this expulsion, the doors of the citadel, the school, were strongly barricadoed within ; and the boys, who de- fended it like a beseiged city, were armed in general with bore-tree, or elder pop-guns. The master mean- while made various efforts, both by force and stratagem to regain his lost authority. If he succeeded, heavy tasks were imposed, and the business of the school was re- sumed and submitted to ; but it more commonly hap- pened that he was repulsed and defeated. After three days' siege, terms of capitulation were proposed by the master and accepted by the boys. These terms were summed up in an old formula of Latin Leonine verses stipulating what hours and times should for the year ensuing be allotted to study, and what to relaxation and play. Securities were provided by each side for the due performance of these stipulations, and the paper was then solemnly signed both by master and scholars. The whole was concluded by a festivity, and a treat of cakes and ale furnished by the scholars. " One of the articles, always stipulated for and granted, was the privilege of immediately celebrating certain games of long standing, viz. : foot-ball match and a cock-fight. Captains, as they were called, were then chosen to manage and preside over these games ; one from that part of the parish which lay to the westward of the school ; the other from the east. Cocks and foot- ball players were sought for with great diligence. The party, whose cocks won the most battles, was held as THE MONTHS FEBRUARY. 67 victorious in the cock-pit ; and the prize, a small silver hell, suspended to the button of the victor's hat, and worn for three successive Sundays. After the cock- fight was ended, the foot-ball was thrown down in the church-yard ; and the point, then to be contested, was which party could carry it to the house of his respective captain — to Dundraw perhaps, or West- Newton, a dis- tance of two or three miles, every inch of which ground was keenly disputed. All the honour accruing to the conqueror at foot-ball was that of possessing the ball. Details of these matches were the general topics of conversation among the villagers ; and were dwelt on with hardly less satisfaction than their ancestors enjoyed in relating their feats in the border wars." Before quitting this part of our subject it may be as well to add that the brutal custom of cock-fighting originated with the polished Athenians. ./Elian tells us in his Various History that the Athenians ordained cock- fighting should take place once a year in the public theatre, and he thus gives the origin of the custom : When Themistocles was leading the Greek forces against the Persians, he observed two game-cocks fighting by the way, whereupon he brought the whole army to a halt and addressed them, saying, " these birds are thus pe- rilling themselves, not for their country, nor for their Gods, nor for their ancestral heroes, nor for their children, but merely because neither will allow the superiority of the other."* This pithy speech and example confirmed the courage of his soldiers, and he wished therefore that the thing should be held in perpetual remembrance. However we may feel disposed to doubt this pretty fable as to the actual origin of the custom, it is yet a sufficient testimony that it did at one time exist. But the peculiar feature of Shrove Tuesday was the * jEliani Var. Hist. Lib. 11 — Cap. xxviii. 68 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. frying and eating of pancakes, a practice which Brand would fain derive from a kind of pancake feast that was used in the Greek Church just before Lent. How we were likely to have got it from such a quarter he does no attempt to explain, and the thing seems not a little improbable. It would appear much more likely that this, as well as the other cakes used on the feasts and par- ticular days of the year, was borrowed from a similar sort of offering amongst the Pagans, or else from the shew-bread of the Jews. Why the cake should be made in a pan, rather than baked in the usual way, is a mystery that we do not pretend to unravel. We have already alluded to the old custom of ringing in people to confession on Shrove-tide morning. When the Reformers abolished so much of the antient Roman Catholic rites they found themselves in the same difficulty as the early Christians, who, upon their faith becoming predominant over heathenism, were yet unable to alto- gether eradicate the old Pagan customs ; in this case therefore, as in so many others, they imitated their Roman Catholic predecessors and what they could not entirely get rid of they converted as far as possible to their own purposes. Thus the bell continued to peal as it had been used, but to call people to pancake- eating instead of to confession, an instance of which we have at Newcastle-upon-Tyne where the great bell of Saint Nicholas' church is tolled at twelve o'clock at noon, when the shops are immediately shut up, offices closed, and all kinds of business cease, a little carneval ensuing for the rest of the day. In Leicestershire also, as we learn from Macauley's History and Antiquities of Clay- brook, " a bell rings at noon, which is meant as a signal for the people to begin frying their pancakes.'' In York too they have a similar custom, as appears from a curious old tract, entitled, A Vindication of the Letter THE MONTHS FEBRUARY. C9 out of the North concerning Bishop Lake's Declaration, SfC, wherein the author says " they have for a long time at York had a custom — which now challenges the privilege of a prescription — that all the apprentices, journeymen, and other servants of the town, had the liberty to go into the cathedral, and ring the Pancake- Bell, as we call it in the country, on Shrove Tuesday : and that being a time that a great many came out of the country to see the city (if not their friends) and church, to oblige the ordinary people the minster used to be left open that day to let them go up to see the lanthorn and bells, which were sure to be pretty well exercised, and was thought a more innocent divertisement than being at the ale-house. But Doctor Lake when he came first to reside there, was very much scandalized at this custom, and was resolved he would break it at first dash, although all his brethren of the clergy did dissuade him from it. He was resolved to make the experiment, for which he had like to have paid very dear, for I'le assure you it was very near costing him his life. However he did make such a combustion and mutiny, that I dare say York never remembered, nor saw the like, as many yet living can testify." Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, puts an end for a time to these wild doings, substituting as absurd a fast, in imitation of our Saviour's miraculous absti- nence for forty days. Originally the fast commenced on that which is now the first Sunday in Lent, and ended on Easter Day, but as this left only thirty-six days when the Sundays were deducted (upon the princi- ple that no Sunday can ever be a fast-day,) Pope Gregory added four days from the previous week, beginning with Ash Wsdnesday. The name of Ash Wednesday was derived from the ancient ceremony of blessing ashes at this season, with which the priest signed the 70 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. people on the forehead in the form of a cross, affording them withal this wholesome admonition, "Memento, homo, quod pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris," — remember, O man, that thou art dust, and to dust shalt return. — The ashes thus used were made of the palms consecrated the Sunday twelvemonth before, and this ceremony, though in a modified form, survived the first shock of the Reformation, not being abandoned till about the year 1547-8, when, as Stow tells us, "the Wednesday following, commonly called Ash-Wednesday, the use of giving ashes in the church was also left throughout the whole citie of London." Prior to that time it had formed one of the ordinances of the Re- formed Church. At one period, after this solemn service the people used to renew some of their carneval fooleries, amongst which throwing at the Jack-a-Lent, as they had pre- viously done at the Shrove-tide cock, was one of the principal. This Jack-a-Lent was a puppet, and was likely enough to have been a substitute for the older custom of pelting the Jews with stones, which had at one time prevailed to mark the popular abhorence of their share in the crucifixion. As to the practice itself, our old dramatists abound in allusions to it, but it stands in no need of explanation. The fast obtained its name of lent from the season of the year, in which it was celebrated, lent, or lenten, in the old Saxon signifying "spring," the time when the days began to lengthen — lengthen-tide — which word has been corrupted into lenten, and lent. Using the poet's privilege of ending tragedy with a comic epilogue, I shall now conclude this account of February with Taylor's humorous derivation of the word Lent ; it is in a style that must have delighted Dean Swift had it ever come under his notice. " Now for THE MONTHS FERRUARY. 71 the name and beginning of Lent," he says, "the word Lent doth signify a thing borrowed, for except a thing be borrowed how is it lent ? and being lent, it follows by consequence that it was borrowed. But from whom it was so free of the loan of this Lent, that would be known. "First then you must conceive that the true etimology, or ancient name of this Lent is lantide, which being anagrammatized is Landit, for the chief provision that he is furnished withal being fish, and such sea-faring fare, that except he land it, there will be but cold takings in the fish-markets, for Jack-a-Lent hath no society, affinity, or propinquity with flesh and blood, and by reason of his leanness — as Nymshay, an ancient Utopian philosopher, declares in his treatise of the Antiquity of ginger- bread, (Lib. 7. Pag. 30,000) he should have been a footman." This grave banter fully equals the Dean's deriva- tion of Alexander the Great from all-eggs under the grate, for which, according to him, the world's conqueror had a singular predilection.* * " Alexander the Great was very fond of eggs roasted in hot ashes. As soon as his cooks heard he was come home to dinner or supper, they called aloud to their under-omcers, — all eggs under the grate, which repeated every day at noon and evening, made strangers think it was his real name, and therefore gave him no other, and posterity has been ever since under the same delusion." — Swift's Works, vol. xiv. Nothing came amiss to Swift in the way of a joke, however coarse or foolish ; hut it must be owned that the etymologists are often quite as ridiculous in earnest, as he is here in jest. 7<2 BLOOD BATHS. IN THE EARLY AND MIDDLE AGES. A belief in the cleansing and purifying virtues of human blood, but more especially in regard to lepers, appears to have existed in the remotest times. That it pre- vailed amongst the Egyptians we know from Pliny, and the idea was evidently borrowed from them by Moses, although it became modified in his code, the blood of animals being substituted for that of human beings. The passage in the Roman naturalist is not only conclusive on this point, but it contains some curious matters in regard to the leprosy, which may make it worth while recalling it to the reader's recollection : " Diximus elephantiasin ante Pompeii Magni aetatem non accidisse in Italiam, et ipsam a facie saepius incipien- tem in nare primum veluti lenticula ; mox increscente per totum corpus, maculosa, variis coloribus, et inaequali cute, alibi crassa, alibi tenui, dura alibi, ceu scabie aspera ; ad postremum vero nigrescente, et ad ossa carnes opprimente, intumescentibus digitis in pedibus manibuscme. ^Egypti peculiare hoc malum ; et quum in reges incidisset, populis funebre. Quippe in balineis solia BLOOD RATHS. 73 temperebantur humano sanguine ad medicinam." * It is thus quaintly rendered by old Philemon Holland. " As touching the white leprosie, called Elephantiasis, (according as I have before shewed) it was not seen in Italie before the time of Pompey the Great. This disease also began for the most part in the face ; and namely it tooke the nose first, where it put forth a little specke or pimple no bigger than a small lentill; but soone after as it spread farther and ran over the whole bodie, a man should perceive the skin to be pointed and spotted with divers and sundrie colours, and the same uneven, bearing one higher in one place than another, thicke here but thin there, and hard everywhere, rough also like as if a scurfe or scab overran it, untill in the end it would grow to be blackish, bearing down the flesh flat to the bones, whiles the fingers of the handes and toes of the feet were puffed up and swelled againe. A peculiar malady is this and natural to the Egyptians ; but looke when any of their kings fell into it, Avoe worth the subjects and poore people, 'for then were the tubs and bathing vessels, wherein they sate in the baine, (i.e, bath) filled with men's blood for their cure.' " But the remedial powers of human blood were not supposed to be confined to cases of leprosy alone; it was a medicine of universal application, a fancy which in all probability grew out of some vague notion that the vital principle resided in this fluid. " Sanguinis,'' says Pliny "ipsius hominis, ex quacumque emisso, efficacis- sime anginam Mini tradunt Orpheas et Archelaus ; item ora comitiali morbo lapsorum ; exsurgere enim protinus. Quidam, si pollices pedum pungantur exque his guttue referantur in faciem." t " Orpheus and Archelaus both doe affirme that if the squinansy (i.e. quinsy) be anointed with man or woman's * C. PliniNatur. Hist. Lib.xxviij. c. 5. f Id. Lib. xxviij. c. 10. E 74 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. blood, — it skilleth not out of what veine or part of the bodie it issued — it is an excellent remedie for that dis- ease. The like effect it hath, if their mouths be rubbed with the said blood, who being overtaken with the epi- lepsie, are falne downe, for immediately thereupon they will rise and stand upon their feet. Some write that if the great toes be pricked untill they bleed againe, the drops that come forth worke the like effect in the falling sicknesse, so that the face of the patient be sprink- led or besmeared therewith." But the most singular part of the story, as it seems to us, is the fact that while the Jewish lawgiver imparted a sacrificial virtue to the blood of animals, the Ro- mans should have adopted a belief the very reverse. Ac- cording to the Pagan theory, as handed down to us by Pliny, the blood of horses is venomous, and that of bulls is no better, except at iEgira, a city of Achaia, though why this spot should be an exception to the ge- neral rule he does not inform us. Goat's blood also he denounces, and adds that it is so strong nothing in the world will sharpen the edge of an iron tool sooner, or har- den it when keen, and that it will polish steel better than any file. If however this diversity of opinion be a legitimate cause for wonder, we have still greater reason to be sur- prised at finding that the Christians in the middle ages adopted the Pagan rather than the Jewish belief. The Emperor Constantine, it is true, was restrained from using this revolting remedy in consequence of a vision, and is said to have been cured by baptism, but the use of the blood-bath seems to have been by far too common both in ancient times and in the middle ages. Amidst a mass of fables the germs of truth are sufficiently evident, and in the time of the great leprosy this belief must have given occasion to numberless cruelties, more especially BLOOD BATHS. 75 as children and maidens were the objects of it, a class the least likely to be able to escape from the sacrifice demanded of them. After a time however it received a check from an opinion gradually gaining ground that only the blood of those would be efficacious, who of- fered themselves freely and voluntarily for a beloved sufferer. The idea of quoting poetry in support of historical fact may to many seem ridiculous, but the ballads of ancient times are for the most part modelled upon the customs and feelings of the age in which they were written ; they were songs of the peo- ple and to the people, the records of the world about them, and we feel no hesitation in adducing Armer Hein- rich* — Poor Henry — in proof of the popular notions of the period. It is one of the most beautiful poems of the thirteenth century, and in its simple and antique phraseology strongly reminds us of the old English bal- lads. The outlines of the story are nearly as follow». A Svvabian knight, who possesses wealth, rank, and fame, all in short that can make life desirable, is on the sud- den seized with leprosy. In order to escape the civil death, which was one of the terrible results of this dis- ease, he roams through the world in the hope of some- where finding a remedy, and Montpelier being in those days famous for its physicians, it is there that he first seeks assistance. They pronounce his case to be beyond their art, and he then repairs to Salerno, where he is made acquainted with the apparently hopeless means of cure — namely that he should bathe in the blood of some child, or of some virgin, who shall submit to be a wil- ling sacrifice. Sad at heart, he returns home, with the conviction that such terms of cure leave him no hope, and he therefore prepares himself to sorrow out the re- mainder of his days in solitude. It is now that a girl * Written by Hartman Von dtr Aue. 76 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. only twelve years old, the daughter of a countryman, conceives a passion for the knight while attending upon him, and accidentally hearing of this free-will offering de- termines to become his sacrifice. Henry, struck by the poor creature's attachment, at first refuses to avail himself of it, but her devotion is proof against all persuasions, and they set out together for Salerno.* The fatal catas- trophe, however, is averted by the knight's recovery through other means, and in requital for so much love he gives his hand to the maiden in marriage. The story of Amicus and Amelius is another fable of the same kind ; and there is a similar tale related of Louis XI. having a mind to avoid his approaching death by drinking the blood of young children. This monarch's incessant and puerile dread of death is matter of history, and availing himself of this weakness, his physician, the notorious Jacques Cotier, or Coythier, kept the tyrant in * Salerno, the ancient Salernum, was celebrated so early as the eighth century for its medical institution, which was established by the Bene- dictines. In those dark ages the cures were supposed to be chiefly effected by help of the holy reliques of Saint Matthew, who was the tutelar saint of their monastery, and who thus acquired the credit, which modern heresy would attribute to the healthy situation of the town, for it is sheltered by mountains behind, while it faced the sea I wards the south. In addition to these advantages, the water is remarkable for purity, and the country around is rich in medicinal herbs and plants, of which the monks had no doubt a practical knowledge, though we can hardly allow them the possession of science. Hence it became a custom for invalides of wealth and rank to pilgrimage thither for the recovery of their health, the first we have on record being Adalberon, archbishop of Verdun, whose visit occurred in the year 984. In after times Salerno acquired yet greater celebrity from the concourse of crusaders, who found it a convenient resting-place in their journey to and from the East, and by degrees the practice of medicine assumed a more scientific form, though it was still darkened by a multitude of absurdities. Sprengel in his admirable work — Versuch einer progmatischen Geschichte der Arzneykunde — gives a history of this school and its professors. BLOOD B^TIIS. 77 subjection, getting from him enormous sums, besides causing him to amply provide for his friends and relations. "Jesais bien, lui dit il quelquefois, que vous m'envoyerez comme vous faites d'autres, mais — par un grand serment qu'il jurait— vous ne vivrez point huit jours apres." — " I know well," he would sometimes say, "that you will get rid of me as you have done of others, but " and here he swore a solemn oath — " you will not live eight days afterwards." This incident, as the reader will probably well remember, has been transferred by Sir W. Scott, in Quentin Durward, to Martius Galeotti the astrologer to the same monarch, and who in fact has many other points of resemblance to Coythier. The account given of the last hours of Louis XI. by the historian Gaguin bears sufficient testimony to the fact of the blood-drink, and though the historian has been justly reproached for his excessive credulity on many occa- sions, there seems to be no reason for doubting him here when all he asserts is so consonant to the prejudices of the age and the peculiar character of the monarch. As the whole scene is exceedingly curious in itself, as well as illustrative of our subject, we shall give a free version of a portion of it, which is in old French and the black letter.* " King Louis had no rest from his malady, and felt himself growing weaker and weaker every day, so that the fear of death encreased upon him, for no one was more desirous of life than he was. Nevertheless providing for his end he caused himself to be carried to Amboise, to which place having summoned his son, Charles, he said, My dear son, I am nearer to my end than you imagine ; my disorder incessantly torments me, and no medicine affords any relief. You will reign after me, for the which you will find loyal servants the most essential. Amongst many whose faith and dili- * Gaguin — Croniques de France. Fueillet. ccij, Folio, 1516, *S NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. gence I have experienced I particularly recommend two men to you, that is to say, Oliver le Dain and Jean de Doyat, for of the services of Oliver I have had the greatest use ; take him after me into your service, and allow none of the goods or offices he has acquired from me to be taken from him. Gui Pot* and Bouchage, you will esteem as prudent men and of good counsel. In regard to Philip D'Esquerdes, doubt not he is skilful in all mili- tary matters, and therefore, when the war breaks out, make use of his prudence and moderation. All the others that have dignity and offices from me, I wish that you should confirm and entertain them. Relieve as much as you can the people, whom I have ground down by the necessity of war. Do not trust to your mother, for being of Savoy she has always seemed to me to favour the Burgundians. Otherwise, that is to say as to the rest of her qualities, I have always esteemed her good and virtuous." After having spoken thus, Louis returned to Tours where, thinking to relieve his disorder by music, he ordered all manner of instrumentalists to be brought together, and it is said that they amounted to one hundred and twenty. Amongst them were shepherds, and they played for many days by the king's chamber, that he might not yield to the sleepiness which oppressed him.f But besides this class of people he summoned to him * Guy Pot was the Baily of Vermandois, and D'Esquerdes was a soldier of distinguished conduct and valour. f Pere Daniel in his " Histoire de France," (vol. vii. p. 640) tells us that in addition to these amusements, as the king could no longer go to the chase, of which he was passionately fond, they took the largest rats they could find and hunted them in his chamber with cats for his amusement. The same authority also relates the before- mentioned story of Cotier — whom he calls Coctier — terrifying the king into compliance with all his wishes by swearing that he would not outlive him eight days. But indeed, tyrant as Louis was by nature, he seems to have been kept in abject submission by this man, and his worthy coadjutors, OliTier le Dain and Jean Doiac, or Doyat. BLOOD BATHS. 79 others of a very different kind, men dwelling in soli- tudes and in hermitages, with those who were greatly in the renown of sanctity. Likewise there came to Tours women of excellent devotion, who were commanded to pray to Heaven incessantly, that it would restore health to the king and grant him longer life, so anxious was he not to quit this world. I imagine," says the his- torian, "he foresaw the troubles which the lust of rule would give rise to after his death." Ambassadors now came to Louis from Flanders and Brabant, and his son Charles V. was betrothed to Mar- guerite, the daughter of Maximilian, but his disorder still grew upon him j and in this year, 1443, " implor- ing high and low the aid of God and man, he com- manded that they should bring to Tours the sacred liquor, which it is said was sent from Heaven to anoint King Clovis in his city of Rheims. Besides this he had from the holy chapel at Paris the rod of the high priest Aaron, which many affirm" — the historian himself is modest — " to have been divinely given to Charlemagne. But there was nothing that could put off the appointed hour. Every day he grew worse and worse, and the medicines profited him nothing, though of a strange character, for he vehemently hoped to recover by the human blood which he drank and swallowed from certain children. But he died at Tours" which from the tone of the historian would seem a greater miracle than the idea of such a horrible mode of cure. It may perhaps add little to our faith in the former use of the blood-bath that Klinger has employed it to heighten the horrors of his Faust; but when we find the learned Sprengel giving credit to it, in addition to what has been already said, it seems absurd to deny the existence of a custom the belief in which has been so universal. so MOON-MEN. Much has been written of late years knowingly and unknowingly about the Gypsies 5 but, strange to say, Dek- ker's satirical account of them seems to have escaped observation, though the pamphlet from which the fol- lowing extract is taken is far from being uncommon. Making every reasonable allowance for the exaggera- tions of a professed satirist, — and Dekker like Iago was "nothing if not cynical" — there seems to be no ground for doubting that his picture of the vices and follies of his age was in the main true. As such it is presented to the reader, with the omission only, or softening down, of a few phrases here and there, which were manifestly too coarse for the present taste. "A Moon-Man signifies in English a madman because the moon hath greatest domination, above any other planet, over the bodies of frantic persons. But these Moon-Men, whose images are now to be carved, are neither absolutely mad nor yet perfectly in their wits. Their name they borrow from the moon, because the moon is never in one shape two nights together but wan- ders up and down Heaven like an antic, so these change- MOON-MEN. 81 able stuff companions never tarry one clay in a place but are the only base runagates upon earth. And as in the moon there is a man, that never stirs without a bush of thorns at his back, so these Moon-Men lie under bushes, and are indeed no better than hedge-creepers. They are a people more scattered than Jews, and more hated, beggarly in apparel, barbarous in condition, and beastly in behaviour, and bloody if they meet advantage. A man, that sees them, would swear they had all the yellow jaundice ; or that they were tawny Moors' bastards, for no red-oaker man carries a face of a more filthy com- plexion ; yet are they not born so, neither hath the sun burnt them so, but they are painted so ; yet they are not good painters neither, for they do not make faces, but mar faces. By a bye-name they are called Gypsies ; they call themselves Egyptians ; others in mockery call them Moon-Men. If they be Egyptian, sure I am they never descended from any of the tribes of those people that came out of the land of Egypt ; Ptolemy, King of the Egyptians, I warrant, never called them his subjects, no nor Pharaoh before him. Look, what differ- ence there is between a civil citizen of Dublin and a wild kerne, so much difference there is between one of these counterfeit Egyptians and a true English beggar. An English rogue is just of the same livery. They are com- monly an army about fourscore strong, and they never march with all their bags and baggages together, but like boot-halers * they forage up and down countries, four, five, or six in a company. As the Switzer has his wench and his cock when he goes to the wars, so these vagabonds have their women, with a number of little * A "Boot-haler" is a robber, or plunderer, and is so explained both by Cotgrave and in the Lexicon Tetraglotton. "Butineur" says Cotgrave, " a boot-haler, pillager " — and in the Tetraglotton we have " Boot-haler, Butineur, Predatorc. K 5 82 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. children at their heeles, which young brood of beggars are sometimes carryed — like so many greene geese alive to a market in paires of paniers, or in dossers like fresh fish from Rye that comes on horse-back — if they be but infants, but if they can straddle once, then as well she-rogues as he-rogues are horst, seven or eight upon one jade, strongly pineoned and strangely tied together. "One shire alone, and no more, is sure still at one time to have these Egyptian vermin" — vermin is not exactly Dekker's word — "swarming within it, for like flocks of wild geese they will evermore flye one after another ; let them be scattered worse than the quarters of a traytor are after he's hanged, drawne, and quartered, yet they have a trick, like water cut with a sword, to come together instantly and easily againe ; and this is their policie, which way soever the foremost ranks lead, they stick up small boughs in several places to every village where they passe, which serve as ensigns to wait on the rest. "Their apparell is odd and fantastick, though it be never so full of rents. The men wear scarves of calico, or any other loose stuff, hanging [about] their bodies, like Morice dancers, with bells and other toys, to entice the country people to flock about them to wonder at their fooleries, or rather rank knaveries. The women as ridi- culously attire themselves, and wear rags and patched filthy mantles uppermost when the undergarments are handsome and in fashion. "The battles these outlaws make are many and very bloody. Whosoever falls into their hands never escapes alive, and so cruel they are in these murthers that nothing can satisfy them but the very heart-blood of those whom they kill. And who are they, think you, that thus go to the pot ? — alas ! innocent lambs, sheep, calves, pigs, &c. Poultry-ware are more churlishly handled by them MOON-HEN. than poor prisoners are by keepers in the Counter in the Poultry. A goose coming amongst them learns to be wise, that he will never be goose any more. The bloody tragedies of all these are only acted by the women, who carrying long knives, or skeanes, under their man- tles, do thus play their parts. The stage is some large heath or furze-bush common far from any houses, upon which, casting themselves into a ring, they enclose the murdered till the massacre be finished. If any pas- senger come by, and wondering to see such a conjuring circle kept by hell-hounds, and demand what spirits they raise there, one of the murderers steps to him, poisons him with sweet words, and shifts him off with this lie that one of the women are fallen in labour ; but if any mad Hamlet, hearing this, smells villainy, and rush in by violence to see what the tawny divels are doing, then they excuse the fact, lay the blame upon those that are actors, and perhaps (if they see no remedy) deliver them to an officer to be had to punishment 5 but by the way a rescue is surely laid ; and very valiantly, though very villainously, do they fetch them off and guard them. " The cabins where these land-pirates lodge in the night are the outbarns of farmers and husbandmen, in some poor village or other, who dare not deny them for fear they should ere morning have their thatched houses burning about their ears ; and these barns are both their cookrooms, their supping-parlours, and their bed-cham- bers, for there they dress after a beastly manner whatso- ever they purchased * after a thievish fashion. Some- times they eat venison and have greyhounds that kill it for them, but if they had not, they are hounds themselves and are damnable hunters after flesh. " Upon days of pastime and liberty they spread them- * " Purchased," i. e. stole. 84 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. selves in small companies amongst the villages, and when young maids and bachelors — yea sometimes old doting fools that should be beaten * to this world of villainies and forewarn others — do flock about them, they then profess skill in palmistry, and forsooth can tell fortunes, which for the most part are infallibly true, by reason that they work upon rules which are grounded upon certainty ; for one of them will tell you that you shall shortly have some evil luck fall upon you, and within half an hour after you shall have your pocket picked, or your purse cut. These are those Egyptian grasshoppers that eat up the fruits of the earth and destroy the poor corn- fields. To sweep these swarms out of this kingdom there are no other means but the sharpness of the most infa- mous and basest kinds of punishment ,- for if the ugly body of this monster be suffered to grow and fatten itself with mischiefs and disorders, it will have a neck so sinewy and so brawny that the arm of the law will have much ado to strike off the head, sithence every day the members of it encrease, and it gathers new joints and new forces by priggers,f anglers,* cheaters, § yeomen's daughters — that have taken some by-blows, and to avoid shame, fall into their sin — and other servants, both men and maids, that have been pilferers, with all the rest of that damned regiment, marching together in the first army of the BelmanW, who running away from their own * " Beaten," i. e. used, accustomed to. f Thieves. + Pilferers, petty thieves. § Sharpers. || An allusion to another pamphlet of Dekker's, called the " Bel- man of London," in which, to use his own phraseology, he " brings to light the most notorious villanies that are now practiced in the kingdom." Indeed he seems to have taken a strange pleasure in diving into every gutter and fishing up thence all the filth pos- sible. This may certainly have proceeded from a high moral sense and it is charitable to believe so, yet I can hardly help suspecting that there was at least as much love of the subject as love of morality MOON-MEN. 85 colours, which are bad enough, serve under these, being the worst. Lucifer's launceprisades,* that stand aloof to behold the musterings of these hell-hounds, took delight to see them double their files so nimbly, but held it no policy to come near them ; for the divell himself durst scarce have done that. Away therefore he gallops, know- ing that at one time or other they would all come to fetch their pay where it was due." — English Villanies, Eight Se- veral Times Prest to Death by the Printers. Sig. E. 3. in the selection. One is tempted, moreover, to put the same ques- tion in his case, as well as in that of Juvenal, that Mrs. Frail put to her sister, when reproached with her bodkin having been found a t the World's End, " Sister, sister, how came you to find it there ?" * Launcepesado, Launcepresado, or Launceprisade, is explained by Minshew to be "one that commands over ten soldiers, the lowest officer in a band of Footmen." 86 CROSSES. , The use of Crosses was exceedingly various in the olden time ; hence no little confusion has arisen, and there ap- pears to be some reason for concluding that they were not always of the same form or of the same material, but that these varied according to the purpose for which they were designed. They were often employed to mark the spot where any singular instance of God's mercy had been shown ; and yet more frequently as a memorial of the traveller murdered by robbers, or of any one who had met with a violent death, and who, from his rank in life or the peculiar circumstances of the case, excited a more than usual interest. They were also erected where the corpse of any great personage had rested when being carried to the grave, for in those days the dead were pro- digious travellers, and we often find them removing more than once or twice from what in their case would be erro- neously called the final resting place. One object of these rests was that the bystanders and attendants might pray for the soul of the departed. Occasionally Crosses were erected in churchyards, to remind the people of the benefit vouch- safed tous by the Cross of our Saviour ; and in yet earlier CROSSES. S7 times they were raised at most places of public concourse, or at the meeting of three or four highways. At these Crossesit was customary for mendicants to station them- selves, and solicit charity for Christ's sake ; whence they say in the north of England, when a person has been extremely urgent, " he begged like a cripple at a Cross." Penances were very commonly finished at Crosses ; and as this was attended with weeping and the usual marks of contrition, they were commonly called Weeping Ci-osses. To this cir- cumstance many allusions are made in our elder drama- tists, the phrase generally assuming the form, that the person spoken of " would end at Weeping Cross," meaning of course that his conduct would end in vexation and re- pentance. Thus in the old comedy of Eastward Hoe — "My daughter, his ladie, was sent Eastward by land to a castle of his i' the aire (in what region I know not), and, as I heare, was glad to take up her lodging in her coach, she and her two waiting women, her maide, and her mo- ther, like three snailes in a shel, and the coachman a top on 'hem, I thinke. Since, they have all found the way backe againe by Weeping Cross." — Eastward Hoe, Sig. F. 3. 88 ALE-HOUSES. IN THE OLDEN TIME. On no subject is Dekker more vehement than the abuses of ale-houses ; and to judge from his account, this crying evil of our own days existed to the same extent in the time of our forefathers. His satire is curious too from the hints of old customs scattered throughout it, and for which we should in vain seek for an explanation else- where. What follows is the most important part of a whole chapter upon this subject, and in his own words : — "Not to meddle with the acts and statutes of all our former kings, what did King James, anno 1, against these exorbitants ? It was then enacted, that whereas the an- cient, true, and principall use of innes, ale-houses, and victualing houses, was for the receipt, reliefe, and lodg- ing, of way-fayring people, to supply the wants of such as are not able by greater quantities to make their pro- visions of victualls, and not to harbour idle fellowes to consume their money and time in drunkennesse ; it was therefore enacted that for every offence committed by any innekeeper, ale-house keeper, or victualer, they should forfeit ten shillings to the use of the poore. If these for- feits were truely paid, as they are truely made, the poore in some parish would be as merry as the rich. ALE HOUSES. S9 " But now, for all this act, and for all the other sta- tutes for the same purpose established since, how many parishes in England, how many in and about London, especially throughout all the suburbs, doe like ilands swim as it were in hot waters, strong beere, and head- strong ale ! For to such a height is this sinne of drinking growne, that coblers, tinkers, pedlers, porters, all trades, all professions, sit tippling all day, all night, singing, dancing — when they can stand — laughing, cursing, swear- ing, fighting. " A whole street is in some places but a continuous ale- house ; not a shop to be seen between a red lattice and a red lattice ; * no workers but all drinkers ; not a trades- man at his occupation, for every tradesman keeps in that place an ale-house. It is an easier life, a lazier life, a trade more gainful ; no such commings in as those of the tap, insomuch that in most of the suburbian outroads the best men there that command the reste — the Grand Sig- nors of the parish, as constables, head-boroughs, and other officers — are common ale-house keepers ; and he that can lay in most guylesf of beere, and be furnished * That is, between ale-house and ale-house. Every reader of Shak- speare must recollect the way in which Falstaff's page describes the red nose of Bardolph. — " He called me even now, my Lord, through a red lattice, and I could see no part of his face from the window." The indefatigable Malone and Douce have multiplied instances of the use of lattices painted red in ale-houses, and hence it often came to signify the ale-house itself, from its being in a manner peculiar to them. The most explicit instance of this kind, that I remember to have met with, is in " The Christmas Ordinary," by W. R., a Pri- vate Show, as the author calls it, but in fact a sort of Masque. " "Where Red Lattice doth shine, 'Tis an outward sign Good Ale is a Traffic within ; It will drown your woe, And thaw the old snow That grows on a frosty chin." Scene 5. f " Guyles"— i. e. gills. 90 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. with the strongest ale, and headiest liquors, carryes the bucklers away from all his fellowes.* " Now because the fashion of downright blowes in the ignoble schoole of drinking is growne stale, wickedness has invented new sorts of weapons to bewitch men — that love such kind of play — to goe reeling to destruction. In some places they have little Jacks f tipt with silver, and hung with small silver bells — these are called the Gyngle Boys — to ring peales of drunkenness. In other places they have shallow brown bowles, which they call Whiskins. Then you have another brewing, call'd Huff's Ale, at which, because no man must have but a pot at a sitting and so begone, the restraint makes men more eager to come on, so that by this policie one may hvffe it foure or five times a day. " These quaffings hurt thousands, and undoe many poore men, who would all follow their labours, but now live in beggary ; their wives — unlesse they tipple hard too, as for the most part they doe by their evill examples, — starving at home, and their ragged children begging abroad. Then in some places instead of full quarts they have jugs of a pint and a halfe, with long necks embroyd- ered, with froth cans not a wine pint for a penny j demy- cans, of draughts % a piece ; and a device of six earthen pipes, or hollow funnells, all into one, every funnell hold- ing two spoonfulls." English Villanies, bl. 1. sig. J. 3. * It would appear from this allusion, as well as from so many others in the old dramatists, that in the fight with bucklers, the buck- lers themselves were considered the prize of victory. Thus to " give up the bucklers " or to " lay down the bucklers," was to yield, as to " bear away the bucklers" was to win. Steevens in his notes on Shakspeare has accumulated a multitude of illustrative passages. + Jack, or Black Jacks, — pitchers of leather so called. J i. e. containing as much as would be taken off at an ordinary draught. 91 CUPID AND PSYCHE, One of the most beautiful tales of classic romance is that of Cupid and Psyche as narrated in the " Golden Ass of Apuleius." It has been borrowed by romancers of all times and countries, though without ever having been im- proved, and may in a measure be said to be the founda- tion of half the fairy tales. The prohibition of Cupid and the transgression of Psyche have suggested the serpentine vest of Madame D'Aulnoy, to say nothing of " Gracieuse and Percinet," which has evidently been derived from the same source. The whole story has also been beautifully versified by Marino in his poem, "L'Adone," as well as been imitated by Fontaine, and dramatized by Moliere ; at least a dramatic piece upon that subject appears in his works, being the same that was celebrated with so much magnificence at Paris in 16/0, and which according to some was the joint production of Moliere, Corneille, Qui- nault, and Lulli, though the last in all probability had no farther share in it than setting the words to music. But this story has yet earlier imitators, or else it was itself borrowed from the East, for we find something very like it in the "Three Calenders" and in others of the Per- sian Tales. The romancers too laid hands upon a fable 92 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. so much in harmony with this taste, and have left us a striking resemblance to it in the old fabliaux of " Parten- opex de Blois." That the reader, who is unacquainted with the original, may be enabled to judge for himself how far these several assertions are correct, I will now give an abridgment of it, retaining as far as may be the peculiar tone and colouring, though not the precise lan- guage of Apuleius. There was a certain king in the West, who had three daughters, all remarkable for beauty, but the youngest excelled her sisters, as much as they excelled all other women. Such indeed was her loveliness that strangers came from the farthest lands but to look upon her, and having once beheld her incomparable beauty they wor- shipped and reverenced her with divine adorations accord- ing to the olden rites. Hence it happened that the tem- ples of Venus fell into neglect ; Paphos was deserted ; no worshippers visited Cithera ; whereupon the goddess grew indignant, and, resolving to be revenged, she called her son, Cupid, and having shown him where Psyche dwelt, — for so was the maiden called — she passionately entreated him that he would cause her to fall in love with the most wretched object possible. While Venus was thus plotting with her son, poor Psyche, honoured as she was on all hands, yet reaped very little advantage from her beauty. Her two sisters had been long wedded to kings, while no one, noble or ig- noble, offered to marry herself, but all were content rather to admire her as they might have admired a beautiful statue. The maiden was disconsolate ; her father was no less so, and suspecting that some of the Gods were as usual at the bottom of this mischief, he resolved to con- sult the oracle of Apollo at Miletus. The customary sa- crifices being paid, the God, although he was an Ionian, because of the Milesian founder, did yet think proper to CUPID AND PSYCHE. 93 reply in Latin, the substance of his answer being that " Psyche should be placed in mourning weeds upon the top of a high rock, for she must not expect a mortal husband, but a cruel serpent, who flew on wings above the skies, and was the terror of the Gods themselves." Infinite was the grief of the king at this oracle, but as there seemed to be no help for it, he was obliged to sub- mit, and in this he was farthermore encouraged by Psyche herself ; she was not a little curious to see her promised husband, besides that she felt flattered by the enmity of Venus, to whom she attributed this evil, since it was an acknowledgment of her superior beauty. In this frame of mind she was carried to the appointed rock, and there left alone to meet her destiny. And now was seen wonder ; the breezes began to blow gently about her, and lifting her up as it were upon their wings they gently laid her down in the valley below amidst the flowers. Then sleep fell upon her, and when the maiden again awoke it was with a calm and placid mind, and she found that she was sweetly couched in the midst of a pleasant grove, through which ran a stream as clear as crystal. At the farther end, by the fall of the river, was a princely edifice, not builded by the hands of man, but fashioned by divine art. You would judge at the first entry therein that it was the dwelling of some God, for the roof was of citron- wood and ivory supported by pillars of gold, the walls were cased in silver, and the pavement was com- posed of precious stones, forming various pictures, so that blessed, and thrice blessed, were they who might tread upon such a floor. Yea, all around was as bright as day from the glittering of fiery gems that shot forth a splen- dour equal to that of the sun when he is at the highest. Captivated by a scene so brilliant, Psyche did not long hesitate to enter, and her admiration encreased with every moment, when suddenly a gentle voice was heard, saying, 94 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. — " Why, O maiden, do you marvel at these riches ? they are all thine ; wherefore, go you into yon chamber, and repose yourself on the couch, and demand what bath you desire. We, whose voices you hear, are your servants, ready to minister to your wishes, and when you have re- covered from your fatigue a regal feast is prepared for you." Psyche did as the voice said to her, and having bathed and refreshed herself she sate down to a banquet, which was brought in by no hands, but wafted as it were by the wind. Then came the sound of music, but though it seemed as if multitudes played and sang, yet still she saw no one. So too, with the lover who has prepared all these delights for her gratification ; unseen he woos and weds her, and at the dawn of day he again departs with- out her having once looked upon her new husband. And thus it happened for a long time. Custom, as is usual, recommended novelty, and the sound of that sweet invisible voice was the delight of her solitude. In the meantime her parents grew old in sorrow; and the fame of her abduction, spreading far and wide, came at length to the ears of her sisters, who hereupon left their own homes that they might console and comfort their parents. The same night Psyche's invisible husband thus ad- dressed her — " My best and dearest wife, a great danger threatens you whereof I earnestly warn you to beware. Know that your sisters, grieving for your loss and track- ing your footsteps, have now come to the mountain ; but if you should hear their lamentations, take heed you nei- ther answer nor show yourself to them, for if you do, you will cause infinite grief to me, and destruction to your- self." Psyche promised obedience to the bests of her lord and husband, but when he had again departed from her at the break of morning, she began to weary of her solitude and CUPID AND PSYCHE. 95 to lament that she might not see, and converse with, her dear sisters. So great was her trouble that she neither ate, nor drank, nor entered into the bath, but wept bitterly throughout the live-long day, till the hour arrived for her to go to bed. Then came her husband, and rinding her in tears, he tenderly reproached her, saying, " Is it thus you keep your promise, my dear Psyche ? Go to then ; do as you list ; obey the impulse that is leading you to destruction, but when it is too late remember you of my words." But Psyche would not be persuaded, and ceased not from her entreaties till she had wrung from him per- mission to see her sisters. Unwillingly as he yielded this consent, his reluctance it was plain proceeded but from excess of love, for at the same time he permitted her to lavish whatever she pleased of gold and jewels upon her sisters, only cautioning her not to be led by their evil counsels into the attempt to see his form j* if she failed in her obedience as to this, great misfortune would fall upon her, and she would lose him for ever. Psyche, as * It is not a little singular that the same idea should pervade so man)' of the German elf-stories. Thus we find that Hinzelman, the ruck of our Teutonic neighbours, had always a particular aversion to being seen, and this forms the basis of several tales ; but one will be sufficient to show the ^nature of the humorous goblin — A cook who was on terms of great intimacy with him, thought that she might ven- ture to make a request of him, though another might not, and as she felt a strong desire to see Hinzelman bodily whom she heard talking every day, and whom she supplied with meat and drink, she prayed him earnestly to grant her that favour ; but he would not, and said that this was not the right time, but that when it was proper he would let himself be seen by any person. This refusal only stimulated her curiosity, and she pressed him more and more to grant her request. He said she would repent if she would not give up her importunity ; and when all his representations were to no purpose, he at last said to her, " come to-morrow morning before sunrise into the cellar, and carry in each hand a pail full of water, and your request shall be complied with." The maid enquired what the water was for. " That 96 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATL before, was ready enough with her promises, protesting that she would rather undergo a thousand deaths than forfeit his affection, and beseeching as a farther boon that he would allow Zephyrus to fetch her sisters from the mountain into the valley. To this also the enamoured husband assented, and with morning went away as usual. The sisters had now arrived at the summit of the rock, and finding it impossible to go any farther began afresh to lament for Psyche as one who was for ever lost to them, when suddenly she appeared in the valley below and wishing them to be of good cheer, bade Zephyrus waft them gently down to her. Hereupon the West Wind took them upon his wings and laid them beside her on the green-sward. you will learn," answered he; " without it the sight of me might be injurious to you." Next morning the cook was ready at peep of dawn, took in each hand a pail of water, and went down to the cellar. She looked about her without seeing any thing ; but as she cast her eyes on the ground she perceived a tray on which was lying a naked child apparently three years old, and two knives sticking crosswise in his heart, and his whole body streaming with blood. The maid was terrified at this sight to such a degree that she lost her senses and fell in a faint on the ground. The spirit immediately took the water that she had brought with her, and poured it all over her head, by which means she came to herself again. She looked about for the tray, but all had vanished, and she only heard the voice of Hinzelman, who said, " you see now how needful the water was ; if it had not been at hand, you had died here in the cellar. I hope your burning desire to see me is now pretty well cooled." In the same way the beautiful fairy Preussine (Histoire de Me- lusine, three des Chroniques de Poitou, Paris 1698. Dobenek,) stipu- lates with her husband that he shall never visit her in her lyings-in, and when he fails in this condition flies from him with her three daughters. So too, Melusine, when giving her hand to Count Ray- mond, bargains that he shall never desire to see her on a Saturday, and a similar infraction of the word plighted brings with it a similar punishment. CUPID AND PSYCH K. 97 It is needless to relate the joy that followed, or the admiration of the sisters at all the treasures shown to them by the gratified Psyche. When however they had grown weary of wondering, and had moreover satisfied themselves at a princely banquet, they began with female curiosity to enquire about her husband. But Psyche, mindful of his admonitions, pretended that he was a handsome young man, with light hair, who was much addicted to sport amongst the mountains, and, that she might not be caught tripping, turned the discourse by filling their laps with gold and jewels, and again dis- missed them on the wings of Zephyrus. No sooner were the sisters safely landed upon the rock than they began to give vent to the envy that filled their bosoms. "Saw you not," said one, "what was in the house ? what gold ! what jewels ! if her husband be as handsome as she affirms, there is no happiness on earth that can compare to hers ; he may be a god and perhaps make a goddess of her, as already she is served by voices, and commands the winds." To this the other assented, and, taking counsel together, they agreed to destroy her if possible,* but in the meanwhile to conceal from their parents the story of her good fortune. It would be long to relate how, when months had passed, her unseen husband again in the most pathetic terms warned Psyche against her envious sisters, saying that they would never rest till they had caused her to break her vow, but that when she had once looked upon his face, she would never see it again. With tears and sad forebodings he departed in the morning, and scarcely had he gone than the unwelcome guests making their appcar- * Here again it is easy to to detect a family likeness to the story of the envious sisters in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, which has re-appeared with little variation in " Cherry and Fire-Star," and is also to he found iu the Gesta Roinanoruni. F y'r> NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. ance they were welcomed as usual by the innocent Psyche. Then fell the conversation upon her husband, and, forget- ful of the tale she had told before, she now said that he was a merchant, of a "middle age, who was forced by his business to be absent. Upon this the sisters, per- ceiving how she had deceived them, pretended that in their great regard for her they had sought about and discovered her husband was a serpent, who only waited for the time of her delivery to devour both her and her infant ; in confirmation of which they reminded her of the oracle. Poor Psyche was moved by their words, and confessed that she had never seen her husband, who, as he always kept himself invisible, was likely enough to be a monster. This was precisely what they wanted to know, and having got to the bottom of the mystery they now advised her that she should put a knife under her pillow, hide a lamp behind the hangings, and when her husband was fast asleep creep out of bed on bare feet and cut off his head. With this treacherous counsel they took themselves off as quickly as possible, lest they should be detected and punished, and Psyche being left to herself was tormented by a thousand doubts. One moment she will, the next she will not ; now mistrust has the mastery, and then again love and confidence possess her. As usual the worser motive prevails ; her husband sleeps ; she arms herself with the knife, and taking up the lamp approaches the bed, when, O wonder ! — before her lay Cupid, the God of Love, in the light of whose wondrous beauty the flame itself grew brighter and the steel received a keener edge. Overwhelmed with a sweet terror, she sought to hide the knife — even in her own bosom — but it dropt from her hand and she fell upon her knees. With what awe, and love, and admiration, did she gaze upon the sleeper ! And well she might, for his golden locks poured forth ambrosia, and hung down CUPID AND PSYCHE. 99 in waving ringlets about his rosy cheeks and snowy neck ; the dewy pinions upon his shoulders were white like some shining flower, and although the wings were still the soft plumage at their ends shook tremulously with an amorous motion ; the rest of his form was exquisitely fair and delicate, and such as Venus herself could not shame to have brought forth. At the foot of the bed lay his bows and quiver, and the natural curiosity of her sex. being now fully awakened Psyche fell to examining the arrows, when, as she tried the point of one upon her trem- bling finger, it pierced the flesh so that the blood began to flow. Hereupon the weapon produced its wonted effect ; her love, great as it had been before, was now yet more in- flamed ; she gazed on him tenderly, but while her heart beat and her hand trembled, there fell from the lamp a drop of burning oil on his left shoulder and he awoke. Filled with wrath at her transgression he would have fled in silence, but she caught hold of his foot and was borne aloft with him to the clouds, when, from fright and weariness, she again dropped to earth, and the god alighting on a near cypress tree, thus addressed her : " Oh, foolish Psyche, have I not for thee forgotten the hests of my mother Venus, and would you in requital of so much love take away my life ? But thy faithless counsellors shnll dearly abye their machinations. As for thee, thy punishment will be great enough in that I now abandon thee for ever." Stretched upon the earth Psyche followed him with her eyes so long as he was still in sight ; but when she could no longer see him, despair possessed her, and she flung herself into the next river. The gentle stream, however, that loved and feared the god who burns up even water, refused to let her sink, and cast her back again upon the shore. Then Pan, who was sitting close by, teaching the goddess Syrinx the sweetest melodies, or, in yet plainer v 2 ICO NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. language, playing upon pipes formed of reeds, attempted to comfort her, recommending that she should leave off weeping, and rather try to soften Cupid by prayers and service. To this advice Psyche made no answer but by a silent adoration of his divinity, and then pursued her wandering course, till chance brought her to the city where one of her sisters dwelt. There she related what had happened, and, in the hope of punishing her cruelty, with seeming regret added that Cupid in abandoning her had declared he would marry her sister ; at which the envious one betook herself to the rock, and, calling upon the Zephyr, sprang from it in the full hope that he would as usual bear her upon his wings into the valley. But the wind heard her not ; and she fell below, crushed and mangled, and her body was devoured by the beasts of prey and the wild birds of the air. In the same way perished the other sister. In the meantime, while Psyche went on searching for Cupid, he was lying grievously wounded on his mother's bed. Then the white sea-gull, who is always much given to chattering, must needs fly off to Venus, who was bathing in the bosom of the waters, and, having found her, begins to gossip of all that had happened, relating how Cupid had been grievously wounded, and that people began to speak ill of herself and her family; "they say," adds the gull, "that your son keeps bad company in the mountains, while you are revelling and rioting with old Ocean, whereby marriage has become a bed of discord, and love has grown out of fashion." The goddess, stung by these insinuations, demanded who it was that had dared to bewitch her son ; and, being informed that it was Psyche, flew off in a violent rage to the chamber of poor Cupid, whom she loaded with reproaches, threatening to clip his wings for him and take away his bow and arrows. Not a word could the little offender say for himself, but bid his head under the bed-clothes ; and Venus, having CUPID AND PSYCHE. 101 scolded till she was tired, dashed out of the room, when haply she met Juno and Ceres, who, upon learning from her the cause of all this tumult, sought to put in a good word for Cupid ; the fact is, they were both afraid of the urchin, having had some experience of his shafts, and hoped by these means to conciliate him for the future. Venus, however, was much too angry to listen to reason, and set out in quest of Psyche, with the full determination of punishing her to the utmost ; but not succeeding in her search, she flew off to Jupiter to beg the use of herald Mercury for the nonce. This being granted, she ordered Hermes to proclaim far and wide, that whoever discovered Psyche and brought her to Venus — " Shall to-night receive a kiss How or where himself would wish." Upon which promise all the world was in motion, kisses from a goddess not being a thing of every day occurrence. And what was the poor fugitive doing all the time ? she was wandering from place to place, till at length she espied a temple on the brow of a mountain, and thinking that perhaps her lord might dwell there she climbed the steep and entered it, when she found shocks of wheat and barley and various implements of husbandry, but all lying about in the utmost confusion. Then thought Psyche to herself that she would win the favour of the deity, to whom the temple belonged, by putting every thing in order ; and while she was thus employed Ceres made %er appearance. The goddess, as may be imagined, was greatly pleased at this devotion, but she had the fear of Venus before her eyes, and told Psyche how she had lately entered into a treaty of peace and amity with the Cyprian queen, and therefore could not allow her to find sanctuary in the temple. So the poor wanderer resumed her sorrow- ful journey, and went on till she came in sight of a second fane, much richer and more glorious than the first, which 102 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. she found was dedicated to the goddess Juno, to whom she immediately knelt and prayed for aid. But Juno also had her own reasons for not offending Venus, though she hid them under the pretext of love for so near a relation, and of exceeding respect for the law that forbade her harbouring the servant of another deity ; wherefore she begged to be excused, and requested the suppliant would go about her business. Thus repulsed on all sides, Psyche went straight to the house of Venus, when she was seized by an old servant, hight Custom, and dragged before her enraged mistress, who, to say the truth, quite forgot the goddess in her wrath, and railed like any kitchen wench. — "Ha, ha!" quoth she, laughing bitterly, and shaking her head after the manner of angry folks — "you have at last conde- scended to visit your mother-in-law? — or, perhaps, you have come to look after your husband ? Set your heart at rest : I will receive you like a true stepmother. What, ho there i — where are my servants, Anxiety and Sorrow ? let them take this creature and scourge her soundly." Accordingly they took her away and treated her des- piteously ; yet still Venus was not satisfied, but flew upon her like a tigress, tearing her hair and clothes and beating her, protesting all the time that the marriage was illegal, that she had no mind to be a grandmother at her years, and that her son was unworthy of the name. When at length she was weary of this amusement, she bethought herself of a better mode of punishment, and said, " the truth is, you are so abominably ugly that you can only hope to gain favour by being useful ; wherefore you must separate the wheat, barley, millet, and vetches, that are mingled in yonder heap, each from the other, arranging them in several piles, and that before night-fall." Psyche was now left alone j feeling however that to CUPII) AND PSYCHE. 103 accomplish such a task was impossible, she did not make the attempt, but folded her arms and sate down in silent despair. Then came forth the little Emmet, and pitying her sad estate, he called to him all the ants of the land, and in an eloquent speech informed them who Psyche was, and how cruelly she had been treated. More inde- pendent, or more compassionate, than Ceres or Juno, they listened to his words and agreed to do as he desired, wave after wave of the seven-footed race pouring in, and toiling hither and thither to divide the several sorts of grain and put them into proper order. Having accom- plished this, they retired as swiftly as they had come. Late at night Venus returned from the banquet, her hair dropping wine and odours, but seeing her orders fulfilled she was more wrath than ever, and by the morn- ing had bethought herself of anew wile, that she thought full surely must destroy her victim. " Seest thou," she said, " yonder meadows bordered by the river, and the golden-fleeced sheep that feed there without any one to guard them ? I desire that at all hazards you bring me a flock of that golden wool." At this command Psyche arose and went her way, not to do as she had been bidden, but to find a rest from care and sorrow by throwing herself into the water. Then a green reed, the sweet nurse of music, became divinely inspired by the breath of the wind, and spoke to her from the river : — " O Psyche, I pray you pollute not my stream by your death, nor yet venture near those fearful sheep, for so long as the sun shines upon them their nature is fierce to madness, and they butt at all who approach with sharp horns and foreheads as hard as iron. Hide there- fore by me under this green plane-tree till the heat of the day is over, and they have refreshed themselves in the water, when their wildness Avill be abated, and you may 104 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. safely gather the wool that they have left hanging upon the briers.'' And Psyche did as the friendly reed advised, and brought back a quantity of the golden fleece to Venus, who, however, was as far from being satisfied as before. Convinced that Psyche must have been somehow assisted by Cupid, although he was safely locked up in his chamber, she now said, "Seest thou yonder rock from which a black torrent is pouring down, that supplies the Stygian Lake ? go thither, and fill me this crystal urn from the source of the waters." Again Psyche left the presence of her hard task-mis- tress, sure at least of finding an end to all her miseries. Indeed nothing seemed more likely: before her stretched a huge mass of steep ragged rocks, down which the waters rushed, and which it was madness to think of ascending, besides that the source was guarded by dragons, whose eyes never slept, while the waves roared and clamoured, — "away with thee! away! or thou art lost." Poor Psyche was too much terrified at this tremendous scene to lament her hard fate with tears any longer ; she was well-nigh petrified. But just then came sailing by the bird of Jove, and remembering how he had been helped by Cupid in the affair of Ganymede, out of gratitude he thought to serve his bride ; accordingly he came down, took the crystal cup from her, and, dexterously winging his flight between the dragons, contrived to fill it in spite of them. Great was the surprise, and no less the wrath, of Venus when Psyche returned after having again successfully fulfilled her mission. "Truly," quoth she, "you must be a witch, who can obey such commands? But I tell you what, my child ; you must now take this box, wend your way to the shades below, and beg Proserpine to send me enough of her beauty to last for a single day. Say ' OPID AND PSYCHE. 105 that all I had has been wasted away in grieving for my son's sickness ; and mind you make haste back again, for I have to be at a meeting of the gods to-day." Psyche now saw that it was all over with her ; and, considering that if she was to go to the Infernal Region"-. the shortest way thither would be, by throwing herself from a neighbouring tower, she prepared accordingly. But the tower suddenly found a tongue, and admonish- ed her that if she went to Orcus by that road she would never come back again, it being contrary to Pluto's laws for the soul to travel unless in company with the body ; "wherefore,'' said the friendly tower, " go to Lacedaemon, and seek out the hill Tsenaros close by, where you will find a cavern that leads to the palace of Pluto. Mind, however, that you do not go empty- handed, but carry a cake in either hand, made of barley and honey, and a couple of farthings in your mouth. The first you will want to stop the jaws of Cerberus, and the latter to pay old Charon, for dead or living he will ferry no one over the Styx till he has got his fare. When you have gone some way you will meet a lame ass* carrying wood, driven by a fellow who is also lame, and who will ask you to pick up some of the sticks for him, but pass on and say nothing. Next you will come to Charon ; let the covetous old rogue take one of the farthings from your mouth himself, and when you are in his boat you will see an aged spectre floating on the water, who will hold up his mouldering hands and cry to be taken in ; but yield you not to a compassion that is forbidden. The river being passed, you will come upon some old women spinning, f and they also will pray * None of the commentators have been able to explain this, or the following allusion ; they evidently refer to some superstition of which we nowhere else find mention. f The Pares, or Fates. f 5 106 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. of you to help them ; but do nothing of the kind, for all these are snares set for you by Venus, in the hope that you may drop one of your cakes, which if you should do, you will never see the light of day again, since you will have nought left wherewith to bribe the three-headed dog Cerberus upon your return. Arrived at the palace of Proserpine, she will receive you kindly, and invite you to sit and feast with her ; but do you seat yourself on the ground and eat of nothing save brown bread, after which you must tell her the purpose of your coming, and having received her gift for Venus come back directly. Then, as you gave one cake to Cerberus before, so now you must give him the other that he may let you pass freely, and the remaining farthing to Charon. One thing, how- ever, I must particularly caution you against j on no account open the box, or be curious to know what it contains. Up to a certain point Pysche followed the advice of the prophetic tower with great punctuality. She found Tsenarus, passed the ass and his driver in silence, paid the ferryman his fare, took no note of the swimming spectre, fed Cerberus, refused to help the spinners, would eat nothing but brown bread, and came away safely with her box. Once again in the light of day the old curiosity of her sex began to stir within her, and to whisper that she might as well take a little of the beauty for her own use, and thus become more pleasing in the eyes of Cupid ; why should she give it all to Venus, who had treated her so cruelly ? So she opened the box, when lo ! there was nothing visible within it ; but a Stygian sleep — the sleep of death — arose from it, felt though not seen, and invaded all her senses, and she fell to the earth, and lay there a slumbering corse. But the trials of Pysche were destined to have a fairer end than could have been expected. Cupid, who had by I.UP1D AND PSYCHE. 107 this time recovered of his bum, and who could no longer endure the absence of his wife, slipt through his prison- window, and flew on the wings of love to her assistance. Carefully brushing the fatal sleep from her eyes, he enclosed it again in the box, and waking her with tin- blunted end of an arrow, said, " Ah Psyche ! again has thy curiosity well-nigh destroyed thee. But now arise, and fulfil the hests of my mother, and in the meantime I will provide for the rest." While I'ysche, thus encouraged, set out to fullil her mission, Cupid, who feared the anger of his mother, betook himself to the footstool of Jove, and there pleaded his own cause so well, that the god-king granted all he desired, and immediately summoned a general congress of all the deities under a penalty of a thousand pounds to whomsoever should be absent. A fine so heavy produced immediate obedience, and when they were all assembled Jupiter in an excellent speech, full of morals and fine sentiments, enlarged upon the peccadillos of Cupid, to which he said it was high time to put an end by giving him a wife who would look after him. Then, turning to Venus, he added, " and you, my dear daughter, trouble not yourself about the bride being only a mortal ; I will myself take care that the marriage is all right and proper according to the canons of the civil law." Herewith he commanded a splendid banquet to be spread, at which order the countenances of all his guests began visibly to brighten up, and Fysche being fetched to him by Mercury, he held out to her a sparkling goblet of ambrosia, saying at the same time, " Drink and be immortal ; may Cupid never fly from your embraces, but may your nuptials last for ever." This short speech was mightily applauded by all the gods and goddesses, who now sate down to the feast in high good humour. Ganymede ministered the cup to 108 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Jove ; Bacchus served the rest of the company ; Vulcan cooked the supper 5 the Hours crimsoned all around with roses; the Graces scattered perfumes 3 the Muses sang, while Apollo accompanied them on his harp ; Venus, now reconciled to the match, or appearing to be so, danced, as only Venus can dance, to the sweetest music ; Satyrus played the flute, and Paniscus * recited verse to the sound of the pipe. Thus was Pysche lawfully married to Cupid, and their first child was Pleasure. * According to Pliny (Lib. 35. c. xi.) a certain painter, by name Tauriscus, "pictured a little Pan, whom he called Paniscus, in manner of an antick." Cicero, however, tells us that the Panisci were inferior deities who presided over woods and fields. They were in fact little Pans, and were much the same as the Satyrisci, or little Satyrs. :09 THE MONTHS-MARCH. March the bleak ! — March the boisterous! — and what is worse, March who brings that ugly rascal, Quarter Day, in his train — " post equitem sedet atra Cura," — and of all the forms which Care puts on, probably that of Quarter Day is one of the blackest. But neverthe- less March has his good qualities. He is the harbinger of Spring, though a rough one, and his gales, when most furious, are only helping to dry up the excessive moisture of the earth, so that according to the old proverb, " a bushel of March dust is worth a king's ransom.*' This applies particularly to the heavier and more productive lands, which, from their marly nature retain the dew and rains of the preceding months much longer than the lighter soils. In regard to his birth and parentage, he was at one time the year's eldest son, but, somehow January has contrived to snap up his inheritance, although well-nigh the youngest of the family. He was called by the Saxons Rhedmonath, which some have derived from the deity, Rheda, to whom sacrifices were offered in this month ; but others maintain that it comes from the Saxon reed, i.e. council, March being the time when the 110 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Goths usually met in council, previous to their wars and expeditions. It had also the name of Klydmonath, from Klyd, meaning " stormy," an epithet which March may seem to have fairly deserved from its high winds. Finally it was known as Lenct-monat. " The month of March," says Verstegan, "they (the Saxons) called Lenct-monat, that is, according to our new orthography, Length-month, because the days did then first begin in length to exceed the nights. And this month being by our ancestors so called when they received Christianity, and consequently therewith the ancient Christian custom of fasting, they called this chief season of fasting, the fast of Lenct, because of the lenct monat, wherein the most part of the time of fasting always fell ; and hereof it cometh that we now call it Lent, it being rather the fast of Lent, though the former name of Lent-monat be long since lost, and the name of March borrowed instead thereof. '' So far Verstegan j and it is only necessary to add that its present name of March is borrowed from the Romans, with whom it was the first month of the year, and who dedicated it therefore to Mars, as being, in their opinion, the father of their founder Romulus. According to Ovid, the god of war was mightily pleased with this proof of family respect and devotion : — A te principium Romano ducimus anno; Primus de patrio nomine mensis eat ; Vox rata fit, patrioque vocat de nomine mensem; Dicitur luec pietas grata fuisse Deo. It is thus rudely "Englished by W. S." " With thee will we begin our Romane yeare, And our first month thy noble name shall wear. His word's made good ; this month he thus did call, And pleas'd his father very well withall." Ovid's Festivalls, p. 49. By W. S. London, 1639. * I*. Ovidii Nas; Fastorum. Lib. iii. v. 75 THE MONTHS — MAHCH. Ill Without disputing the claim of Mars to stand god- father to this month, or of the Romans, if they liked it, to be his children, there are good astronomical reasons for March being the commencement of the year, while Ja- nuary would seem to have been chosen only from caprice. So thought our ancestors, as well as the Romans, and so too thought the Israelites in obedience to the divine command,* which enjoined that this should be the com- mencement of their sacred year, as their civil year began in September. The change with us is comparatively speaking of recent date, for prior to the September of 1752, our Civil or Legal Year began on the Day of the Annunciation, i.e. on the 25th of March. Now this was coming much nearer to astronomical truth ; but unfor- tunately the so-called Historical year had for a long time begun on the Day of the Circumcision, i.e., the 1st of January ; and to avoid the confusion arising between the two, it was enacted that both should date from the same period. The change, no doubt, removed a cause of some confusion in the calendar, but it was at the expense of much absurdity.f * " And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying ; This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month of the year to you." Exodus, chap. xii. v. I and 2. It is curious to see how closely the Passover of the Jews agrees with the time when the sun crosses or passes over the equator, an event that could hardly have failed to be celebrated with appropriate rites and ceremonies amongst a people bo devoted to astronomy as the- Egyptians, who had educated Moses. t The confusion is indeed manifest, almost too much so to need being pointed out. For example ; in describing the year between the 1st of January and the 25th of March, civilians called each day within that period one year earlier than historians ; while the former wrote— January 7th, 1658. the latter wrote — January 7th, 1659. though both described the 25th of the following March, and all the 112 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Independent of all other considerations, spring appears to be the natural beginning of the year, as winter is the fitting close of it.* This change of season is seen more or less distinctly ensuing months, as being in the year 1659. To prevent the mistakes incident to so complex an arrangement, the doubtful part of each year was usually written in accordance with both modes, by placing two figures at the end ; the upper being the Civil, or Legal year, — and the lower, the Historical ; thus : -co,,, q .a in 8 — Civil vear. l*eby. 3rd. 164 „ „. . J . , J 9 — Historical year. Hence, whenever the year is so written, the lower figure always indicates the year now used in our calendar. While I am upon this subject, the following quotation from Sir H. Nicolas's Notitia Historica will not be altogether out of place in regard to that alteration in the calendar which forms what is usually called the Old and New Style, premising only that it commenced on the 2nd of September, 1752, on which day the Old Style ceased, and the next day, instead of being called the 3rd, became the 14th of September. The cause of the change is thus explained — " The calendar was farther improved by Julius Caesar, who, finding that the sun performed his course in 365| days nearly, gave 365 days to each three years, but to every fourth year 366 days, adding a day before the 6th of the Calends of February, which was then reckoned twice ; and hence from his sextus we have the term, Bissextile or Leap year. But the astronomers concerned in reforming the calendar under Pope Gregory XIII., observing that in four years the Bissextile added 44 minutes more than the real course of the sun, and finding that in 133 years this would cause a difference of a day, directed that in the course of every 400 years there should be three Sextiles retrenched, the years, expressing the centuries, not being leap-years unless divisible by 4. Thus, 1600 and 2000 are bissextile; but 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not. This improvement was adopted in England in 1752 in pursuance of an act of Parliament, in which it was ordered that the day next following the 2nd of September should be accounted the 14th, the omission of the intermediate days causing the difference between the Old Style and the New. By the same act the com- mencement of the Civil year was changed from the 25th of March to the 1st of January." * It is true that the real, or astronomical, spring does not com- TUB MONTHS MARCH. 113 marked, according to the temperature, by the whole of the animal creation. Bats rouse up from their winter sleep ; the wood-cock, the field-fare, and the other bird*, that had hybernated with us on account of our milder climate, now return to the more northern regions; the rooks are all in motion, building or repairing their nests ; the ring-dove coos, the pheasant crows, the throstle sing- on the top of some as yet leafless tree, and the bee is on the wing. In the waters and on the earth the busy stir of life is no less visible 3 the little smelts or sparlings run up the rivers to spawn, and the young lambs make their first appearance in the meadows. In addition to the flowers of the preceding month, we have now the crown imperial, the dog's-tooth violet, narcissus, hyacinth, fritil- laries, scarlet ranunculus, pile-wort, tulip, great snow-drop, and violet perfuming the forest-air with its fragrance. St. David's Day opens the month, taking its appellation from the saint of that name, who flourished in the fifth and sixth ages of the Christian era, and died, it is said, at the age of a hundred and forty years.* Perhaps this longevity ought to be set down amidst the other miracles recorded of St. David. The custom of wearing the leek upon this day, has been variously accounted for. In the Festa Anglo- Romanaf we are told "that the Britons on this day, constantly wear a leak in memory of a notable and famous victory obtained by them over the Saxons, they during the battle having leeks in their hats for their military colours and distinction of themselves, by per- mence till about the 20th or 21st, but so slight a difference can not. affect the question ; spring in the vulgar reckoning begins with tin- month. * Vide Pitt De Tllustribus Avglice Scriptoribus. t 12mo. London, 1678, p. 29. 114 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. suasion of Saint David."* Other accounts add that they were fighting under their King Cadwallo, near a field in which that vegetable was growing, at Hethfield, or Hat- field, Chase, in Yorkshire, a. d. 633. t King James J informs us that the "Welshmen in commemoration of the great fight by the Black Prince of Wales do wear leeks as their chosen ensigns." Owen§ flatly disowns the saint, imagining that the custom arose from the Cymhortha, a neighbourly aid of various kinds afforded by the farmers to any one of their class, who was not able to help himself. The manner of it in some districts was thus ; at an appointed time they all met to assist him in ploughing, or in whatever other agricultural service their help was needed ; on which occasion they each brought with them a portion of leeks to be used in making a general mess of pottage. But not one of these accounts appears to me more satisfactory than the other, and, though it might be difficult to disprove them, it is no less difficult to believe them. There seems, however, to be a glimpse of truth dawning upon us from another quarter. The onion was sacred amongst the Egyptians 3II * Hone quotes the same account from Brady's Claris Calendaria, and is exceedingly wrath with his author for not telling where he found his information. A better proof of the careless way, in which Hone got up his book, and the very small stock of information he brought to his task, could hardly be desired. In Brand's Popular Antiquities, a work familiar to every tyro, there is given under the head of St. David's this identical version of the story, with a reference to the Festa, above quoted. t Britannia Sancta, vol. ii. p. 163. Lewis' History of Britain, p. 215 et seq. Geoffrey of Monmouth, (Eng. Trans.) Book xii. chap. 8 & 9 ; Carte's Hist, of England, vol. i. p. 228. X Royal Apothegms. 12mc. London, 1658. § Cambrian Biography, 8vo. London, 1803, p. 86." II "Allium cepasque," says Pliny, "inter Deos in jurejurando habet Egyptus." The Egyptian in swearing holds the leek and onion amongst the Gods. Nat. Hist. Lib. 19—32. Juvenal also, THE MONTHS MARCH. 115 and, however we may account for it, there is scarcely a rite or ceremony amongst any people without a precedent in one of earlier date. Keeping this fact steadily in view, it would seem probahle that the leek, like the misletoe among the Druids, or the bean amongst the Pythagoreans, had at one time a mystic and religious meaning, and that the custom has survived although its origin has been forgotten. The next day of note is St. Patrick's Day, which falls upon the seventeenth. Though he is held by the Irish to be their patron saint he was either a Scot or a Welsh- man. Butler says he was born, according to his own confession,* " in a village called Bonaven Taberniae, which seems to be the town of Killpatrick, on the mouth of the river Clyd in Scotland, between Dumbriton and Glas- Sat. xv. when holding up the Egyptian superstitions to contempt says, " Porrum et caepe nefas violare et frangere morsu. O sanctas gentes, quibus hsec nascuntur in hortis Numina! " Thus rendered by Gifford ; " 'Tis dangerous here To violate an onion or to stain The sanctity of leeks with tooth profane. O holy nation ! sacrosanct abodes ! Where every garden propagates its Gods." The same thing is mentioned by Prudentius ; " Appone porris religiosas arulas ; Venerare acerbum caepe, mordax allium." Htpitreav(or, Hymn x. v. 258. In plain English "Raise sacred altars to the leek ; worship the sharp onion, the biting garlic." * Butler's Lives of the Fathers, %c. vol. ix. p. 177. edit. Dublin, 1789. Dumbriton, as Butler has it, or Dumbritoun, as it is spelt in the old maps, is the antiquated mode of writing Dumbarton. 116 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. gow;'' while others say that he was born in the vale of Rhos in Pembrokeshire ; and Jones asserts he was of Caernarvonshire, * his original name being Maenwyn. Even the date of his birth is doubtful, nothing being known for certain in this respect except that he was born some time towards the end of the fourteenth cen- tury. The ecclesiastical name of Patriciusf was given to him by Pope Celestine, when he consecrated him a bishop, and sent him over to Ireland for the purpose of bringing the wild natives within the pale of the Church. Upon landing at Wicklow in 433, he immediately commenced his task of preaching and converting; but his hearers took in very ill part this attack upon their old religion and were nigh stoning him to death, when he plucked up a trefoil by the root and asked, " is it not as feasible for the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as for these three leaves thus to grow upon a single stalk?" So persuaded, they tell us, were the Irish by this happy illustration, that they at once renounced their paganism and allowed the good bishop to baptize them on the spot. If such indeed were the case, it must be allowed they had a marvellous proneness to conviction. We fear, however, the legend may be disputed by the incredulous, who happen to recollect that the Druids used the trefoil for medical purposes, and that they held the mystic number, three, in high veneration, deeming the misletoe sacred because its leaves and berries grew in clusters of three, united to one stem.} Not being gifted with the proper degree of faith, such sceptics might be inclined to * Jones' Historical Account of the Welsh Bards. Fol. Lond. 1794, p. 13, note. t Ribadeneira explains this to mean "pere de plusieurs," the father of many, a rather ambiguous cognomen for a single gentleman whether clerical or laic. Tom. i. p. 344. Fol. Paris, 1686. t Valiancy's Grammar of the Irish Language. THE MONTHS — MARCI'. H? infer that the wearing of the shamrock on a particular day, like the Welshman's badge of the leek, was merely the Christian adoption of some forgotten pagan custom,* or else that it proceeded from the regard in which the herb was held for its medicinal properties. The two suppositions are so far from being inconsistent with each other, that they might be considered as cause and effect, this triad of leaves being one reason for attributing to the herb its sanative virtues. In Ireland this day is one of national rejoicing, the saint being in high odour for his numerous miracles, the most useful of which was unquestionably his driving all noxious reptiles out of the country, and forbidding them to return, under penalty it may be presumed of spiritual censure. * It is not a little singular that Spenser, who had such good op- portunities of knowing the truth, should have described the shamrock as being synonymous with the water-cress ; when speaking of the distress, to which the Irish were reduced by the wars in Munster, lie says, " if they found a plot of water-cresses, or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the time." View of the State of Ireland, a. d. 1596, Fol. Dublin, 1633. p. 72. That the Irish used the sham- ruck for food is certain, whatever it may have been. Thus in YTyther's Abuses Stript and Whipt, 8vo. London, 1613, p. 71, " And for my cloathing in a mantle goe, And feed on Sham-roots, as the Irish doe." Again in Sir Henry Piers' Description of Westmeath in Vallancey's Collectanea de rebus Hibernicis, v. i. p. 121, " They have a custom every May-day, which they count their first day of summer, to have to their meal one formal dish, whatever else they have, which some call stir-about or hasty-pudding, that is flour and milk boiled thick ; and this is holden for an argument of the good-wife's good housewifery, that made her corn hold out so well ; for if they can hold out so long with bread they count they can do well enough for what remains of the year till harvest; for then milk becomes plenty ; and butter, new cheese, and curds, and shamrocks, are the food of the meaner sort all this season. 118 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Even spiders were included in the general ban ;* nor is it any impeachment of the truth of the record that the pro- hibition has long since ceased to have effect except in the eyes of the faithful, who are gifted with a clearness of vision unfortunately denied to the Sassenach and the unbeliever. Another feature of this day remains to be noticed. In February 1/83, a brotherhood was created by letters patent, under the name of " Knights of the Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick ;" and for the more grace of the new institution the sovereign of the day was to be its head, under whom were fifteen knights companions, while " the lieutenant general, and general governor of Ireland, or the lord deputy, or deputies, or lords justices, or other chief governor or governors for the time being, were to officiate as deputy grand-masters.'' By the statutes of the order the badge is to be of gold, sur- mounted with a wreath of shamrock, in this instance understood to mean trefoil, surrounding a golden circlet, on which is the motto of the brotherhood in letters of the same — quis separabit? — with the date of their foundation, encircling Saint Patrick's cross gules, surmounted with a trefoil vert, each leaf charged with an imperial crown or, upon a field argent. This badge, encircled with rays in form of a silver star of eight points, four greater and four lesser, is directed to be worn on the left side of the outer garment. Mid-lent Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Lent, or that * According to Hone, Ribadeneira when speaking of this miracle says, "it is reported of King's College, Cambridge, that being built of Irish wood no spider doth ever come near it." I do not, myself, remember to have heard such a report in my college-days, but never- theless believe it just as firmly as if I had. In regard to the quotation, Hone must have made some mistake, for nothing of the kind occurs in Ribadeueira's short notice of Si. Patrick. THE MONTHS MARCH. 119 which immediately precedes Palm Sunday ; and was va- riously called, Mothering Sunday, Rose Sunday, Lecture Sunday, Care or Carl Sunday, Passio7i Sunday, and Re- freshment Sunday. The name of Mid-lent speaks for itself, and needs no explanation. Mothering Sunday may involve a question ; yet it seems highly probable that it came in the first instance from the Roman Hilaria,* a festival held by the ancients in honour of the Mother of the Gods. The Catholic Clergy, who could not well get rid of a holiday so firmly established with the multitude, turned it to their own purpose, as they did so many other ancient festivals, and introduced a custom amongst the people of visiting the Mother Church, to make their offerings at the high altar ; which, in some way or other, was supposed to be typical of the Jerusalem above, " the mother of us all." f In process of time, after the Reformation had su- perseded the ancient faith, the oblations brought to the Church were converted into gifts presented by children to their parents; hence some have erroneously derived this designation from the latter custom, in utter ignorance, it would seem, that such affectionate remembrances were but the shadows of an older ceremony. But whatever we * The Hilaria, from which we have got our term of Hilary, took place at the time of the vernal equinox, being the eighth of the kalends of April, and was evidently borrowed from the Egyptians. The Mother of the Gods, the Earth — " quis enim ambigat matrem Deum terram haberi?" — rejoiced in the return of Sol, just as Isis was supposed to mourn or rejoice for Osiris according to the change of season. There is surely deep meaning and much beauty in these religious fables of the old heathens, however they may have been disfigured by the gross additions of popular superstitions. In all of them there breathes a profound spirit of veneration for the One, the Omnipotent, through the medium of his works. For the ceremonies of the day consult Macrobius Saturnaliorum, Lib. 1, Vol. 1, p. 313. Bi- ponti, 1778. t Galat. iv. 26. 120 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. may choose to consider its origin, the thing is beyond all question, as the following instance will show, and hundreds might be given were it at all requisite : — " I happened to reside last year near Chepstow, in Monmouthshire, and there for the first time heard of Mothering Sunday. My enquiries into the origin and meaning of it were fruitless ; but the practice thereabouts was for all servants and apprentices on Mid-Lent Sunday to visit their parents and make them a present of money, a trinket, or some nice eatable; and they are all anxious not to fail in this custom."* It had the title of Refreshment Sunday or Dominica de Panibus, because the miracle of the five loaves in the holy gospel was then explained in the Roman Church, t The name of Rose Sunday, or Dominica de Rosd, was also given to this day — an appellation it received from the Pope's carrying a golden rose in his hand, which he exhibited to the people in the streets as he went to cele- brate the Eucharist, and at his return. J If we may believe Durandus this rose had a twofold signification, according a? it was explained, after the letter, or in the spirit. Taken in its literal meaning it signified that the faithful, who might be supposed worn out by the long fast, were now to indulge themselves, for it was a season which the church allowed and wished to be one of general enjoyment. Three things, therefore, belong to this day; charity after fasting ; joy after sorrow ; and satiety after hunger ; all of which are typified in the qualities of the rose ; cha- rity in its colour; joy in its perfume; and satiety in its flavour; for the rose above all flowers delights by its colour, refreshes by its perfume, and comforts by its * Gentleman's Magazine, Feb. 1784 f Festu Romanorum, p. 36. London, 1677. + Shepherd's Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Vol. 2, p. 100. THE MONTHS MARCH. 121 flavour. In addition to this the rose in the hand of the Ro- man Pontiff signifies the joy of the Israelites when by the grace of Christ they were permitted to return from their Babylonish captivity. And many other reasons there are, equally metaphysical and equally cogent, as to the literal meaning of the ceremony. Next as to its spiritual import. The rose is that flower, which says of itself in the Psalms, " I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valley." It is the flower of flowers, i. e. the holy of holies, all its qualities having a symbolical reference to the superiority of the Church, which they who wish to understand will do well to consult Durandus.* Lcetare Sunday was derived from the first word of the I ntroit, " Lcet are Jerusalem, et conventum facite omnes, qui diligitis earn ; gaudete cum leetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis, ut exultetis et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae."f Rejoice, O Jerusalem, &c. Care or Carl Sunday was one of the most general appellations given to this day, and is that which has occasioned the greatest trouble to antiquarians, who, when they had found the truth, could not keep fast hold of it, but preferred exhausting their ingenuity in a parcel of vain conjectures. In the first place it should be remembered that rites more peculiarly appropriate to Good Friday were used by the Roman Catholics on this day, from which they also called it Passion Sunday ; and, taking this for our guide, we shall have no difficulty in understanding what follows. Amongst the Germans, Good Friday had not unfrequently the name Karr or Carrfreitag, as Passion Week had that of Carwoche, meaning the penalty of a crime, or rather the satisfying of * Rationale Divin. Officia, p. 207. 4to. Venetiis, 1609. f Shepherd's Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, vol. 2, p. 101. G 122 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. an imposed penalty ; * and it might therefore allude either to man's redemption by the Passion of Christ, or to the peculiar fasts and penances which all Christians endured more particularly at this solemn season, to obtain the Church's remission of their sins. The meaning of the word rests upon too good authority to be doubted. Hospinian, De Origine Fest. Christ, (fol. 54) says " Ger- mani banc septimanam — i. e. hebdomadam Passionis — vocant die Karrwochen a vetusto illo Germanico vocabulo, Karr, quo mulctam, sen poenam pro delicto, vel potius satisfactionem pro poena et mulcta nominarunt. Quando enim in foro judiciali reus, pro mulcta. a judice sibi imposita, leeso pro injuria damnove satisfacit, dicimus, "er hat ihm ein abtrag, karr, oder aberwandel gethan." Ab hoc civili usu postea sacrificuli mulctas, quas poenitentibus pro satisfactione delictorum imposuerunt, etiam in Latina lingua Germanico vocabulo nominarunt Carrinas. Alii tamen scribunt Carenam, et a carendo derivant. Est hujus vocabuli frequens usus apud Burckhardum, UVormacia? episcopum circa annum Domini, 1020, lib. 9. et in vetustis indulgentiarum bullis. Fuit igitur carena apud veteres in ecclesia jejunium aliquot dierum in solo pane et aqua. Vocarunt ergo hebdo- madam banc Germani die Karrwochen, quod in ea poenitentiam, hominibus a sacerdote impositam, communiter omnes agerent jeju- niis, vigiliis, &c, pro peccatis ad missis, qua se Deo satisfacere posse false persuasum habebant. Potest tamen pio sensu sic vocari sep- timana hasc; in ea siquidem pro mulcta, a justo Deo humano generi imposita, fdius Dei in cruce morte sua satisfecit, eosque ab aeterna damnatione liberavit. Ob easdem causas quoque dies Dominica? passionis, der Karrfreitag appellatur." Hospinian De Orig. Fest. Christ, p. 54. Fol. Tiguri. 1612. It maybe thus translated— "The Germans called this -week Karrwoche, from that ancient German Avoid, Karr, by which they signified the mulct or penalty for an offence, or rather the satisfaction of the mulct or penalty. For when in our courts of law, the condemned acquits himself to the injured party of the fine imposed upon him by the judge for the wrong done, we say that he has made amends, or given Karr, i. e. satisfaction. From this judicial use of the word, they afterwards called by the name of Carrinas the penance imposed by the priestlings on their penitents in satisfaction of their sins, the German phrase passing even into the Latin language. Others, however, write carenam, and derive itfromcarewf/o. The use of this word is common with Burckhard, THE MONTHS MARCH. 1<23 It was customary on this day to give a dole of beans to the poor, under the name of cartings, a word formed from carr just as dearling is the diminutive of dear ; and even when the nature of the dole was changed, still it preserved the same appellation. Beans, peas, furmety, and what- ever was the peculiar gift of the season, all were called carlings. Some, however, would derive carl, and care or carr, from two different roots, and would persuade us the day is called Carl Sunday because the gifts then made are to the carl or ceorl, i. e. husbandman. But this is too absurd to need refutation. In some parts the word curling would seem to have been corrupted into Whirlin or Whirling. Thus a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1789, p. 491, observes, that "in several villages in the vicinity of Wisbech, in the Isle of Ely, the fifth" — qy. fourth ? — " Sunday in Lent has been for time immemorial commemorated by the name of Whirlin Sunday, when cakes are made by almost every family, and are called from the day whirlin cakes.* the Bishop of Worms, about 1020, and also in the old Indulgences. Carena, therefore, was amongst the old ecclesiastics a fast of some days upon mere bread and water. Hence the Germans called this week, Care-week, because all men performed in it the penance, im- posed by the priests for their acknowledged sins, with fasts, vigils, &c, by which they falsely persuaded themselves they might satisfy God. This week, however, may. be so called in a pious sense ; inasmuch as the Son of God by his death upon the cross satisfied the penalty imposed by the Divine Judge upon the human rate, and freed them from eternal damnation. For the same reasons the day of our Lord's Passion is called Car-Friday." * Brand and his faithful Sancho Panza have fallen here into a strange error. They quote as an instance of whirling cakes, or at least of something to be eaten under the name of whirlin, the follow- ing passage from the Annalia Dubrensia, or Cotswold Games ; " The country wakes and whirlings have appear'd Of late like foreign pastimes." G 2 J L 24 NEW CUKIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Originally beans were amongst the doles given at funerals,* which will account tolerably well for their use upon a day sacred to the passion of Christ. But the custom has, beyond doubt, been borrowed from the ancients, who had some strange notions respecting this kind of pulse. They faneied that in the blossom of the bean they could read the word luctus, or grief, and held that they belonged to the dead, whose soul resided in them. There were, however, many religious uses of beans amongst the Romans. Ovid, when speaking of the offerings made at certain periods to the dead, says, the sacrificer rises with naked feet, and having washed his hands, flings black beans over his shoulder, exclaiming at the same time, " with these beans I redeem myself and mine."t This is repeated nine times without looking behind him, in which case the ghost follows and t "picks them up, though what he does with them the poet has forgotten to tell us. J Surely a cake cannot be called a pastime, however amusing may be the eating of it. Any one but Sir Henry Ellis must at once see that this is an allusion to the Northern game of curling. * " Fabis Romaniscepiusinsacrificiisfuneralibus operati sunt, nee est ea consuetudo abolita alicubi inter Christianos, ubi in eleemosy- nam pro mortuis fabaa distribuuntur." — Moresini Papatus, in voce. f Terque manus puras fontana perluit unda ; Vertitur, et nigras accipit ante fabas, Aversusque jacit; sed dum jacit, " hsec ego mitto ; His," inquit, " redimo meque meosque fabis." Hoc novies dicit, nee respicit. Umbra putatur Colligere, et nullo terga vidente sequi. Fastorum, Lib. v. V. 435, et seq. X Skelton in his Colin Clout gives another example of this custom : " Men call you therefore profanes, Ye pick no shrympes nor planes ; Salt-fish, stock-fish, nor herring, It is not for your wearing. THE MONTHS MARCH. 125 Pliny is exceedingly minute upon this subject, and though what he has said in regard to it must of course be familiar to many, it is yet interesting enough to be repeated in the old translation by Philemon Holland — " Moreover by ancient rites and religious ceremonies at the solemn sacrifice, called Fabaria, the manner was to offer unto certaine Gods and Goddesses beane cakes. This was taken for a strong food, being eaten with a thicke grewell or pottage ; howbeit, men thought that it dulled a man's senses and understanding, yea, and caused troublesome dreams in the night ; in regard of which inconveniences, Pythagoras expressly forbade to eat beans ; but, as some have thought and taught, it was because folks imagined that the soules of such as were departed, had residence therein ; which is the reason also that they be ordinarily used and eaten at the funerals and obsequies of the dead. Varro also affirmeth that tin- great priest, or sacrificer, called the tlamine, abstaineth from beanes both in those respects aforesaid, as also for that there are to be seene in the flower thereof certain letters or characters that shewe heavinesse and signes of deathe. Furthermore there was observed in old time a religious ceremonie in beanes ; for when they had sowed their grounds, their manner was, of all other corne, U< bring backe with them out of the fielde some beanes for good-lucke sake, presaging thereby that their corne would returne home againe unto them ; and these beanes were thereupon called in Latin, Refrivce, or Referivce. Like- wise, in all port-sales, it was thought that if beanes were intermingled with the goods offered to be sold they would beluckie and gainful to the seller. This is certain, that Nor in holy Lenton season Ye will neither beanes nor peason. But ye look to be let loose To a pigge or to a goose." 126 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. of all the fruits of the earth, this only will be full and sound when the moon is croisant, notwithstanding, it were growne and half eaten before." — Plinie's Natural Historie, Book 18, c. 12.* At Newcastle-upon-Tyne, grey peas, steeped for a night in water and fried in butter, were substituted for beans, though for what cause does not appear, unless from being more palatable, or more suitable to the season. * In the Latin, however, it is cap. 30 and not 12. The real cause ■why the Pythagoreans held beans in so much veneration was kept a profound secret both by the philosopher and his disciples, the pride of possessing an exclusive mystery being found sufficient to subdue the usual motives for talking. Jamblichus, in his life of Pythagoras, (cap. 31. p. 393, 8vo. Leipsic 1815,) relates a story of the Lacede- monian Timycha, the wife of Myllius the Crotonian, which equals the savage fortitude of Regulas. — Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, having in vain tried to conciliate the friendship of the Pythagoreans, sent out his soldiers to hunt them down and destroy them, and his emissary succeeded in surprising a small party of them, who imme- diately took to flight. Being perfectly unincumbered they would have escaped their pursuers, but unluckily they came upon a field of beans at that time in full blossom, when, sooner than violate their creed by treading on the sacred legumes, they turned to bay, and fought to defend themselves with sticks and stones. In a short time they were all slaughtered. The soldiers, now returning, chanced to meet Myllius and his wife Timycha, who had been left behind by their friends because the advanced pregnancy of the latter prevented her keeping up with them in their flight. Satisfied with the previous bloodshed the soldiers forbore to harm them, but carried them to Dionysius, and he, having heard the tale and being urged by curi- osity promised them not only their lives but all sorts of reward and honour if they would only explain why their companions had preferred dying to trampling upon the beans. — "And I," said Myllius, " would rather have trod down the beans than reveal the reason of such abstaining." Hereupon Dionysius ordered Myllius to be taken out of his sight, and the torture to be applied to Timycha, imagining that pain and terror would force her to confession. But the heroic woman bit her tongue in half that it might not betray her, and spate it in his face. THE MONTHS MARCH. 1^7 Tlie vestiges of this custom are frequent,* and it would seem that green peas too were often used, for Fos- brooke tells us in his British Monachism, " At Barking Nunnery, the annual store of provisions consisted of malt, wheat, russeaulx (a kind of allowance of corn) and to bake with eels on Shqer Thursday j green pease for Lent, green pease against Midsummer — "t and he adds in a note taken from the Order and Government of a Noble- man's House in the thirteenth volume of the Archeeologia, p. 373, that " if one will have pease soone in the year following, such pease are to be sowenne in the waine of the moone at St. Andro's tide before Christmas." But these doles, at all events in later times, do not appear to have been confined to either peas or beans. Furmety also was a standing -dish, a word derived by metathesis from the Latin, frumentum ; it was made of what in Yorkshire was called, kneed wheat, that is, whole grains first boiled plump and soft, and then put into milk, when the mess was a second time boiled, and after- wards spiced and sweetened. It is also mentioned by a correspondent in the Gentleman's Magazine,! who says, " some things customarily probably refer simply to the idea of feasting or mortification according to the season and occasion. Of these perhaps are Lamb's Wool with * In the Glossary to The Lancashire Dialect, 1775, carlings are thus explained: "peas, boiled on Care Sunday are so called." But, the following account from a correspondent of the bland Sylvanus Urban, when speaking of the Northumberland custom, is yet more complete : " The yeomanry in general steep peas, and afterwards parch them, and eat them in the afternoon, and call them Carlings. This is said by an old author to have taken its rise from the disciples plucking the ears of corn and rubbing them in their hands." Gentleman's Magazine, vol.lvi. a.d. 1786. p. 1. 410. Whoever was the old author alluded to, he must have known very little of Pagan ceremonies. t Vol. ii.p. 127. J For 1783, p. 578. 12S NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Christmas Eve ; Furmety, on Mothering Sunday ; Brag- got, which is a mixture of ale, sugar, and spices, at the Festival of Easter ; and Cross Buns, SafFron-cakes, or Symnels in Passion Week ; though these being, formerly at least, unleavened, may have a retrospect to the unleavened bread of the Jews, in the same manner as Lamb atEaster to the Paschal Lamb." The last remark seems very superflu- ous ; but it is curious to see how soon our ancestors got rid of their mess of peas and beans, and how constantly they celebrated their fasts by eating something nicer than usual. There was yet another custom peculiar to this day, which seems worthy of notice, although it was con- fined, as far as I know to Franconia. It has been thus described : " In the middle of Lent, the youth make an image of straw in the form of Death as he is usually depicted, and this they carry about upon a pole to the neighbouring villages, with much shouting. By some it is received kindly ; they refresh the bearers with milk, peas, and dried pears, the common food of the season, and then send it home again ; but others, deeming it a presage of evil — of death perhaps — repel it from their boundaries with abuse and violence."* The most important saint of this month is St. Cuthbert, whose whole life from infancy was emblazoned in a win- dow of Durham Cathedral, hence called St. Cuthbert's Window. By the nine altars is his tomb, " with most * In medio quadragesimae, quo quidem tempore ad laetitiam nos ecclesia adhortatur, juvenilis in patria mea ex stramine imaginem contexit, quae mortem ipsam (quemadmodum depingitur) imiietur ; inde hasta suspensa in vicinos pagos vociferans portat. Ab aliquibus perhumane suscipitur, et lacte, pisis, siccatisque pyris (quibus turn vulgo vesci solemus) refecta, domu remittitur ; a caiteris, quia mala? rei (ut puta mortis) praenuncia sit, humanitatis nihil praecipit, sed armis et ignominia etiam adfecta. a finibus repellitur."— Orbis Terra- rum Epitome, per Johannem Boemum Aubanum, p. 237, 12mo. Papiae. 1596. THE MONTHS MARCH. 129 curious workmanship of fine and costly green marble, all lined and gilt with gold/'* which was so much frequented and enriched by pilgrims and others, " that it was esteemed one of the most sumptuous monuments in all England." t The top of the shrine was made to move up and down by means of lines to which silver bells were attached, and on St. Cuthbert'sDay in Lent, the cover being lifted, the bells "made such a goodly sound that it stir'd all the people's hearts within the church to repair to it. . , . Also within the said feretory { on both north and south side there were ambries § of fine wainscot, varnished and finely painted, and gilt over with fine little images very beautiful to behold for the reliques belonging to St. Cuthbert to lie in ; and Avhen his shrine was drawn th^ said ambries were opened, that every man that came thither at that time might see the holy reliques therein. "|| But this splendid shrine was forbidden to women. St. Cuthbert it seems was a mysogunist, and would allow no women to come near his tomb, having been sorely scan- dalized during his lifetime by a fair piece of frailty, who finding herself likely to disgrace the king, her father, laid the blame of her seduction to St. Cuthbert — "that solitary young man who dwelleth hereby is he who hath over- come me," said the lady, whereupon the saint in great alarm uttered a fervent prayer, and the earth opened and swallowed her up. The king at this convinced of Cutli- bert's innocence now in turn begged forgiveness, which * Aneient Rites, &c, p. 6. f Idem, p. 8. X A feretory is the sarcophagus in which the body lies, from the Latin feretrum. Vide Ducange, sub voce. § Ambrey is derived by Minshew from the Latin, armorium, " forte quod esset olim prsecipue pro armoru conservatione — perhaps because it was formerly used chiefly to keep arms in." — He explains it. however, to mean a cupboard, and it is likely enough that he may be more correct than Barrett, who derives it from the French, aumoniere. || "Ancient Rites, p. 9. G 5 130 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. the saint granted upon condition that no woman was allowed to approach him for the future. Hence even after his death his faithful disciples would not allow any woman to come near his feretory, last they should dis- turb the sleep of the saint even in the tomb. Lady-Day, or the Day of Annunciation, is only an abridgement of Oar Lady's-Duij, and is peculiarly dedi- cated to the Virgin Mary, from its having been the season when the angel announced to her that she should bring forth a Son.* Its near approach to the vernal equinox, one of the natural divisions of the year, was, it may be supposed, the reason of its being called Quarter Day, since it marks, though not quite correctly, the first of the four quarters. Beyond this, the month has no day requir- ing a particular notice. * St. Luke, chap. 1, v. 31, et seq. 131 LOUISA DE BUDOS. Amongst the many supernatural tales that have emanated from professed ghost-seers, I know of few that in the semblance of truth go beyond old Sully's account of Louisa de Budos. He was so complete a matter-of-fact personage, wore so respectable a beard, and was so stiff, not to say grim, in his outward man, that no one could suppose him guilty of anything in the shape of weakness. The style too is singularly indicative of the man. He believes with a sincerity of spirit that scorns all ornament derived from the imagination, and narrates with so little attempt to convince, that it would be really a want of Christian charity not to give him credit for all he is pleased to advance. The following is the substance of his story, though the version is somewhat of the freest. This is what is related of Louisa de Budos, the lady of the Constable Montmorency, and as it was affirmed by the noble dames then at her mansion. She was convers- ing with them gaily in her cabinet, when one of her women entered in great perturbation, and informed her that a stranger of goodly presence, — saving that he was quite black and of gigantic stature — had just entered the 13*2 NEW CURIOSITIK.S OF LITERATURE. ante-chamber, and desired to speak with her on matters of importance — "What was the nature of his communi- cation?" — he could tell no one but herself. " What was he like ?" — something very strange and awful, and his figure cast no reflection upon the mirrors as he past. The lady was visibly alarmed, as well she might be, at this account ; she turned pale, and it was with infinite difficulty she could so far master her feelings as to desire her abigail to entreat the gentleman, in her name, that he would defer his very agreeable visit till another time. Upon this message being duly conveyed to him, he replied in a tone expressive of any thing but satisfaction, that if the lady would not come to him, he must be under the necessity of going to her, which he apprehended might not prove quite so pleasant. The noble dame seemed to be much of the same opinion ; if she had little fancy for a private interview, she had still less for one in public, and therefore, though with visible reluctance she at length made up her mind to comply with an invitation, which, to say the truth, had very much the nature of a royal request — that is of a com- mand. Who the stranger was, or what passed at the meeting, was never known except by conjecture, and as every one can conjecture for himself it will not be necessary to repeat, even if we knew, all that was imagined upon this occasion. History should only deal with facts. Enough therefore that when the lady returned to her friends she was bathed in tears and seemed half dead with terror. In a few hurried words she assured them that she should never see them more, and scarcely was the sad prophecy spoken than she was seized with the most frightful con- vulsions, to the general alarm of all present. Her face, once so remarkable for beauty, in a few minutes under- went a change that was truly terrific ; the art of the LOUISA DE BUDOS. 133 physicians availed nothing; in three days she died, leaving some suspicious folks to imagine she was poisoned, and the wiser part of the world to believe that she had de- parted by virtue of a previous contract with the arch- fiend himself. Such in substance is the story which Lawes has re- peated in his Memorials, and which, not being able to imitate his laudable gravity, I have therefore told after my own fashion. 134 THE LIFE AND DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. It is wonderful how Paracelsus has so long escaped being made the hero of a romance. He had all the qualifications for such a part, being an inextricable com- pound of credulity and knavishness, vanity and talent, a firm believer in the cabbala, yet an enemy to the estab- lished absurdities of science, and, to the boot of all, a vagabond of the first order, who had visited almost every country, and associated with every class of people, from the learned and the noble, to the most ignorant and humble. Yet justice has hardly been done by any writer to this singular personage. His alchemy and his astro- logy have always stood in the way of a fair estimate of his character, though there seems to be good reason for concluding that in these matters he did but believe with his age, and was only not wiser than the rest of the world in which he lived. Even Philip Melancthon was skilful in casting nativities, holding astrology to be a part of medicine and equally well grounded as the science itself, though he allows that the physicians went rather too far when they derived all changes in the human body from the stars. Nay, even his most violent opponents THE LIFE AND DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. 135 are not free from his errors. The learned and distin- guished Sennert,* while bitterly reproaching him for that he thought to overturn the ancient art of medicine, which he never thoroughly understood, yet allows he had done something in the transmutation of metals. With infinite gravity he relates, on the authority of a certain Franciscan, how Paracelsus made gold out of lead and quicksilver; and as the story may be of some use in the present age, when the precious metal is not too abundant, we shall give it in few words, hoping that whoever makes his for- tune by the experiment will not forget from whom he * Vide Sennerti Op. p. 192. Lugduni, 1676 : which edition con- tains the whole six volumes compressed into one, but -with con- siderable improvements. This eminent scholar and physician was born at Breslaw, the capital of Silesia, on the 25th of November, 1572. His father pursued the humble occupation of a shoemaker, but seems to have given him an excellent education, for we find him at the age of one-and-twenty studying medicine and philosophy at the university of Wittemberg, where he took his degree of Doctor of Physic, and at a year's end was made professor of the same faculty. It is said in his life prefixed to the folio, that he was the first who introduced the study of chemistry into that university, and through- out his works we find him almost as bold in denying the authority of the ancients as Paracelsus himself whom he censured. His heresy on this point gave great offence to the schoolmen, though their out- cries do not appear to have diminished either his practice or his reputation. But he did not rest here : he wrote upon the Nature and Origin of Souls in Brutes—" De Origine et Natura animarum in Brutis;" p. 285, — and as this doctrine fairly led to the conclusion that an immortal spirit was not confined to man alone, he was in consequence accused of blasphemy and impiety, those vague words which have sent so many to the faggot. There is an excellent article in Bayle upon this subject which will save much time and labour to those who are loo indolent to wade through Sennert's own defence of his creed, though it is well worth reading, if it were only to learn what strange fancies can possess themselves of the human brain. Amongst other things he maintained that metals and minerals were formed by intelligent and spiritual beings. He died of the plague at Wittemberg on the 21st of July, 1G37. 136 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. acquired the recipe. Thus then it is : — Paracelsus being one day in want of money, a mishap very common to philosophers of all kinds, he gave a florin to one of his pupils, and desired him to fetch a pound of quicksilver from the chemist's. Having obtained what he required, he flung it into a crucible, and set it upon the fire ; and when the mercury began to emit fumes, he gave a certain globule to the Franciscan, directing him to hold it im- merged in the preparation by means of a pair of forceps, till such time as it should deliquesce. When this took place, he again placed them both upon the stove. They then all quitted the room ; for it seems the devil of gold- making is a modest devil, and objects to work before strangers ; but upon their return, in about half an hour, they found he had faithfully done his duty : the crucible was broken, and the composition transmuted into nearly a pound of the precious metal, for which a neighbouring goldsmith did not hesitate to give an equivalent in coin. What was the precise nature of the globule, the Fran- ciscan never could find out; nor whether his preceptor made it or bought it ; but he describes it as being of moderate size, something like a filbert, and enclosed in red sealing-wax. The birth and parentage of our learned doctor, like those of many other great personages, has been a subject of much controversy. He chose to call himself, or he duly inherited the name of, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim ; * but there were not wanting unbelievers to call in question his claim to this constellation of titles, of which the Bombast seems to have been peculiarly applicable, considering the style of many * Properly Philip Bombast von Hohenheim ; but he added Theo- phrastus and Paracelsus as if he were something more than celsus, — high, or lofty, — para being a favourite prefix of his to express pre- eminence of any quality. THE LIFE AXD DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. 13? of his writings. Haller quotes the authority of a certain Lorenz Zollweger, to prove that he was in reality called Hochener, and that he was born at Einsiedeln, two miles from Zurich, in the canton of Appenzell. Erastus, one of his most bitter opponents,* goes farther. He tells us that he won't believe Paracelsus was born in Helvetia — " vix enim ea regio tale munstrum edidit, — that country could hardly have brought forth such a monster" — though he forgets to explain why Switzerland should not have its monsters as well as other places ; in our days we have seen a Swiss giantess. So vehement is he in his wrath, that he will not even allow the Doctor had a human father : — "Terrae seu Tartar! videtur Alius instar Merlini cujusdam fuisse — he appears to have been the son of the earth, or of Tartarus, like a certain Merlin ;" a supposition, by the way, that must have been rather agreeable than otherwise to one who dealt in necromancy as well as physic. This, however, is not all : "vocat se Eremitam et nobilis vult videri; at in Eremo Helvetio- rum nulli sunt Paracelsi, nulli Hohenhemii, nulli Bom- basti — he calls himself a native of Einsiedeln, and wishes to be thought noble ; but in Helvetic Einsiedeln there are no Paracelsuses, no Hohenheimers, no Bombastes." Now, here the anger of our friend Erastus gets the better of his discretion ; for there certainly was a noble family of that name, as we find one of them recorded by Shenck.f We may therefore set it down with tolerable certainty that he was born where he himself said he was, in the year 1493 ; that his mother was the superintendent of * Erastus, who was a professor of medicine in the university "of Heidelberg, wrote sundry dissertations, to the amount of two quarto volumes, proving, or attempting to prove, that Paracelsus was no better than an impostor ; but, as is evident from the quotations in the text, he was anything but an impartial judge. t Observ. lib. i. p. 15. 138 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. the abbey-hospital at Ensiedeln ; that his father was called Wilhelm Bombast von Hohenheim, and was very nearly related to George Bombast von Hohenheim, the then grand-master of the order of St. John. Worse than these debates respecting the Doctor's birth-place is the next tale that Erastus tells, and which, though it may be false in detail, is unfortunately too true in the principal point, as we know from other authorities — " Hoc in loco narratum mihi est exectos ei testes fuisse a milite dum anseres pasceret. Eunuchum fuisse, cum alia multa, turn facies, indicant ; et cmod, Oporino teste, foeminas prorsus despexit." * By some f it is said that the accident here recorded, and which it is unne- cessary to translate, arose from the bite of a swine ; but the fact, however it may have happened, has not been disputed and dates from a time when he was only three years old. Of the early life of this extraordinary man — extraordinary at least in one sense of the word — we know but little. If any faith is to be given to his own assertions, he had studied for many years at German, Italian, and French, universities, X after having been duly instructed in al- chemy and astrology as well as medicine by his father, for in those days they had all equally the rank of a science ; we have Helmont's authority also as to his diligence under some of the first masters of the age.§ He says of himself, that he had from youth upwards applied him- * For this, and the foregoing, quotation, see " Erasti Disputatio de Medicina nova P. Paracelsi," Pars Prima, p. 237. Basilese. t Helmont says, " Non enim ille Veneri deditus, trivium nempe sus castraverat." Tartari, Hist. p. 222. And Gall, who examined his skull, found the organ of philoprogenitiveness undeveloped. See also Sprengel, vol. iii. p. 445. % Hab also die hohen Schulcn erfahren lange Jahr, bei den Teutschen, bei. den Italischen, bei den Frankreichischen. Die G. Wundartznei — Vorred. § Tart. Hist. p. 222. THE LIFE AND DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. 139 self to the study of medicine, with an eager desire to learn whether it did, or did not, merit the name of a science. In this pursuit he seems to have been greatly disturbed by finding that the patients died in spite of physic ; and he somewhat testily declares that there was not a single doctor who was able to cure a toothache, yet they all nevertheless went richly apparelled, and figured at the courts of princes with rings of gold and precious stones upon their fingers. Hereupon he took a disgust to medi- cine, becoming convinced that it was no more than a deception of the evil spirits to lead men astray — " ein betrugniss von Geistern den Menschen also zu ver- fuhren"* — and resolved to abandon the study of it, when, as good luck would have it, he chanced to stumble upon that passage of the New Testament, wherein Christ says, " they who are whole need not the physician, but they who are sick.'' By some odd process of reasoning — but Paracelsus was at all times a singular logician — he now became convinced that the medical art was neither decep- tive nor diabolic, but on the contrary was a very necessary art to help people out of sickness. Having arrived at this conclusion, although by a rather round-about road, he again set to work in earnest ; and indeed it must be ac- knowledged that he had an inquisitive mind, and a strong love of knowledge, though his enthusiastic and credulous nature was deeply tainted with the chimerical notions of his age. In that boundless spirit of enthusiasm, which formed so prominent a feature of his character, he now set out upon his travels, being no more than twenty years old when he journeyed through all the countries of Europe, east, west, north, and south, after the usual wont of students in those days, casting nativities, practising * " Chirurgische Bucher und Schriften des P. Paracelsi." This is the general title of the whole volume, but the reference is to the preface to the Grosse Wundarznei. 140 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. palmistry, evoking the dead, and trying all sorts of chemical experiments that he had learnt from the miners of various districts. If too we may believe the various accounts that have come down to us, he even extended his visits to Egypt and Muscovy, and when on the confines of the latter he was taken prisoner by the Tartars and carried before their Khan. By some means, not very clearly explained, or indeed not explained at all, he obtained his liberty, and passed over with the Khan's son to Constantinople for the purpose of learning the secret of the Elixir Vita? from Trismolin, who at the time was residing there. Nor did he confine his curious enquiries to the learned, for whom by the bye he never seems to have entertained too much respect, but eagerly sought for information amongst the necromancers, alchymists, old women — the distinction is not very evident — and from the noble and ignoble. The result of all these enquiries and wanderings was that, according to his own account, at the age of twenty-eight he had obtained the philoso- pher's stone from an alchymist, and acquired so great a name by his numerous cures amongst nobles and princes, as well as amongst the poor, that in 1526 he was elected professor of physic and surgery in the university of Basel.* It might, perhaps, however have contributed to his ele- vation, that just at this time the introduction of the reformed religion into Basel f had stript the university of its old teachers, who had left it either for conscience- sake, or from compulsion. The head of Paracelsus seems now to have been com- pletely turned by inordinate vanity. In the November of this year we find him writing to Christopher Clauser, a physician in Zurich, " he should only compare him with * I. Van Helmont, Opera : Hist. Tartari, p. 222 ; and Sprengel, v. iii. p. 432. f Or, as our modern geographers choose to call it, Bale, deriving the name from the French Basle, instead of from the German Basel, THE LIFE AND DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. 141 Hippocrates, Galen, Rasi, and Marsilius Ficinus — that every country produced its eminent physician, whose theories were precisely suited to the land in which he was born. The Archaus,* or genius of Greece, had given birth to Hippocrates 3 the Archaus, or genius of Arabia, to Rasi j the Archaus of Italy, to Ficinus ; and that of Germany had produced him, Paracelsus." With this conceit of his own " ingine," as Ben Jonson would call it, he commenced his lectures by openly burning in his lecture-room the works of Galen and Avicenna. But there must have been both natural talent and acquired knowledge amidst all this bombast and self-conceit, for it is plain he effected many cures, and even attracted the notice of Erasmus, who did not hesitate to consult him upon the state of his health. Even if it be true, as Sprengel affirms, that he had no time to study books deeply, still he had seen much practice, and must in his travels have picked up a vast fund of current information upon medical topics. We should recollect, too, that in his day the lecture - room and conversation with the learned supplied in a great measure the deficiency of books, besides which he had served as an army surgeon for years in a variety of campaigns, and must at least have had a practical knowledge of his art. The great difficulty in estimating his character is to forget his absurd pretensions and to separate the better part of his know- * Paracelsus was amazingly fond of calling old things by new- names, and hence it is not always easy to understand exactly what he means, even supposing him at all times to have understood him- self. In regard to A rckaus, we are told by Sennert, "nihil aliud istud vocabulum significat quam quod in scholiis philosophorum et medicorum facultatem et virtutem naturalem, aut, si mavis, spiritum naturalem, facultatis naturalis ministrum, nominamus— (Sennerti Op. p. 193.) — that word signifies nothing else than what in the schools of philosophy and medicine we call the natural faculty and virtue, or, if you prefer it, the natural spirit, the servant of the natural faculty." 142 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. ledge from the astrological and other chimeras with which it was mingled, besides that he has been made answerable for a multitude of absurd writings, in which he had no share whatever. At all events his fame blazed forth for awhile like some extraordinary meteor, as- tonishing the people while it excited the bitterest hostility amongst his rivals. It was not, however, his empiricism they hated, for they themselves were all more or less empirics, but his greater success, with high and low, rich and poor, besides that he had scoffed at the Dagons of their idolatry, and, though himself in darkness and only introducing a new form of error, had at least shown that their ways were not the ways of truth. While they repeated the dogmas of the old school, and despatched people according to the established laws of medicine, he ventured upon a new path, picked up recipes everywhere and experimented with them upon the human body, killing or curing as the fates would have it. Theirs was a learned ignorance built upon books, and they never killed a patient without being able to quote chapter and verse from the ancients for their misdoings. His was a practical ignorance, and it would be absurd to deny that he often stumbled upon the truth, and effected cures without at all comprehending their rationale. He was like the mechanic, who puts together the finest instruments without understanding the laws of geometry. But un- fortunately for him he had pitched his claims too high, and by pretending to infallibility exposed his title to be shaken at the first breath of ill-success. Other physicians limited their pretensions, and the exact amount of their ignorance therefore was less liable to be detected ; but in his case the system was altogether true or altogether false 3 there could be no medium, no escape ; and hence a few failures, proceeding from the injudicious use of laudanum, were enough to give a mortal blow to his THE LIFE AND DOCTIUNES OK PARACELSUS. 143 reputation. It is likely enough too that these accidents were the more readily believed and magnified from the general offence given by the excessive rudeness of his manners. This was a fault of which nothing could cure him 3 he gloried in it ;* and reproached the courtesy of other physicians as a glaring proof of their want of merit. Intemperance was a yet more serious charge, and we are compelled to believe it true, since it rests upon the authority of Oporinus,t that faithful friend and disciple, who left wife and home to follow him in his wanderings, and was not to be deterred even by the drunkenness and poverty of his preceptor, for poor he often was in spite of the philosopher's stone. According to the account he has left us, and which has not failed to be emoted by all the opponents of Paracelsus, the philosopher and physician spent whole nights in public houses amongst the lowest dregs of the people, not taking off his clothes for weeks together even when he did go to bed, such was his habitual intoxication. Often, too, he would rise in the middle of the night, in a state that might well be called rabid, hacking and hewing about him with his long sword, which on such occasions never left him, and which he boasted to have got from the common exe- cutioner. Poor Oporinus honestly confesses that in the acting of these antics he frequently trembled for his life, as well he might, if the story be as he tells it. How his patients and pupils endured the doctor is the wonder, for it seems he had not the better part of drunkenness, which like the better part of valour is discretion, but would attend both the sick and the lecture-room when in a * Erster Theil der Bucher und Schriften des P. T. Paracelsus. — p. 142. Qrto. Basel. t Oporin, or Oporinus, was a learned printer of Bale, who, like the more celebrated Stephens, wrote as well as printed, and in his day had some reputation for scholarship. 144 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. complete state of inebriety ; nay it was his custom, if he could persuade them to it, to make his invalids partake of these orgies, that he might cure them, as he said, upon a full stomach, a practice that probably did not seem cpiite so outrageous in those times of hard living as it might in the present day. Many instances are related of the easy impudence with which he treated those who invoked his medical aid, and the following, given by Sprengel, is not the least pointed. He tells us, that Paracelsus upon one occasion, after a night of debauchery, being called in to a patient, he went as usual, unconscious of his situa- tion, or indifferent to it, when the first question he asked on entering the room was, whether the sick person had taken anything of late. " Nothing," was the reply, " except the sacrament." Hereupon our Doctor turned upon his heel, exclaiming, "then you don't want me, you have got another physician." But this levity of speech ill accords with his general professions, for though he was accused of Arianism and of being a contemner of church mysteries, yet he made religion the basis of all art, insisting repeatedly as he does in the Occult Philo- sophy, "that the foundation of these and all other arts be laid in the holy Scriptures, upon the doctrine and faith of Christ, which is the most firm and sure foundation, and the chiefe corner-stone, whereupon the three points of this philosophy are grounded."* To be sure this mixing up of religion with every thing did not save him from the censure of his adversaries. It was con- tended that many of his dogmas were impious, and amongst other things, Sennert makes it the ground of heavy accusation against him, that he maintained homunculi might be generated by chemical means only, and that the giants and pigmies of other days had been * Paracelsus of the Supreme Mysteries of Nature — Prologue — By R. Turner. 1G55. THE LIFE AND DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. 145 so called into existence, with a knowledge of things far beyond that of ordinary men. Erastus is even worse, and marshals in array seven distinct dogmas, which he pronounces blasphemous.* He now quarrelled with the magistrates of Bale, who had decided against him in a cause, which he had insti- tuted upon a patient's refusing to pay the fee demanded for curing him of the gout. In consequence of his libels against his judges he was obliged to fly, and for years after led a wandering life, being now settled for a short time in one place, and now in another. His fame, however, visibly declined, and his hitherto faithful fol- lowers began to fall off, a circumstance which was not forgotten by his enemies in their attacks upon him. To these he cavalierly replied, "complaints have been made by some of my runaway servants and pupils, that none of them could stay with me on account of my odd ways. Now mark my answer. The hangman has taken to himself one and twenty of my flock, and helped them off to the other world — Heaven speed them all — how can a man remain with me if the hangman will not let him ? Or what have my odd ways done to them ? if they had avoided the hangman's ways, that would have been the true art." t * Erasti Disp. p. 144, et seq. f Weiter ist auch ein klag ab mir| von meinen verlassnen knechten etlichs theils| und Discipulis auch etlichs theils| das ihr keiner meiner wunderlicher weiss lialben kon bey mir bleibe. Da merc- kent niein antwort. Der Honcker hat mir zu seinon gnaden genommen ein und zwenzig Knecht| und von diser Welt abgethan| Gott held' ihn alien. Wie kan einer bey mir bleiben| so in der Hencker nicht bey mir lassen -will ? oder was hatt ihnen mein vvun- derliche weiss gethan ? hetten sie den Hencker sein weiss geflohen| werdierechte kunst gewesen. Erster Theil der Biichcr und Schri- ften des P. T. Bombast von Hohenhein, Paracehi genannt, p. 143. Basel. 1589. H 146 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. In the same strain he goes on through pages, inveighing alike against doctors, barber- surgeons, apothecaries, ard pupils, all of whom filch his secrets, get possession of his patients, and then complain of his strange humours ; upon which he reasonably enough asks, " solt das ein Lamb machen? — is that likely to make a lamb of one ?" — We should think not ; but the doctors of the present day can best answer the question. Of the remainder of his life we know little, except that it was spent in constant strife with his enemies, whose numbers appear to have increased with his declin- ing reputation. Nor was their enmity confined to words alone, a coin in which our doctor was fully able to repay them, for it seems highly probable that he met with a violent end. Sennert, whom I have so often referred to, and who, though very little known, is full of curious matter, but in an antique garb, notices a report which emanated from Crollius,* of his enemies having taken him off by poison ; he adds, however, that the belief rests upon no sufficient testimony, and that it was much more probable Paracelsus died of drunkenness and gluttony,f from which assumed premises he draws the very ingenious inference, that he could hardly have possessed the philo- sopher's stone, since he was unable to cure himself. He adds too, we know not upon what authority, that for many years before his decease, Paracelsus remained convulsed and contracted, and finally died at the early' age of forty-seven. Sprengel, however, gives from Hessling another version of his death; he says that our philosopher being at a banquet, the servants and other ruffians in the employ of his medical enemies hurled him down from a * Crollius followed close in the footsteps of Paracelsus, and wrote " Four Tractates on Philosophy Reformed and Improved." I have never seen this work except in Pinnell's translation, London, 1657. f D, Sennerti Opera, p. 192. Fol. Lugduni, 1676. THE LIFE AND DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. 14 7 height and broke his neck. In confirmation of this, he observes that Summering found a deep breach in the left temporal bone of Paracelsus, which had penetrated to the bottom of the skull. But who shall say at what time the skull received this damage ? it might have been by some accident long after the flesh had mouldered from the bones. Another report is, that he died in St. Stephen's Hospital at Salzburg, in the year 1541, which would make him forty-eight, instead of forty-seven, at the time of his death, as asserted by Sennert. It is no easy matter to understand either the medical, or the philosophical theories of Paracelsus, partly from his tendency to mysticism, and partly because he chose to give new meanings to old words, so that his works in fact recpiire a peculiar glossary of their own. Take for instance the following. According to his notions, every natural body has a superlunar type or model, after which it has been formed, and the knowledge of this ideal he called, by a strange perversion of terms, Anatomy. In like manner he explains astrum to be the innate or essen- tial power residing in anything, and defines alchemy as the art of drawing out the astrum from the metals. And more there is of the same kind, for the repetition of which our readers would give us few thanks. The first article of his medical and philosophical creed appears to be, so far as we can understand him, that books are of no use, but that physicians must be inspired by heaven, and perfected by practice.* His so-called Emanation System supposes an original man flowing from the Godhead, in whom, through whom, and by whom all things are ; it seems to have been much the same as the Pleroma of the Gnostics and Arians. It was based upon the general harmony of all things in nature, more par- * Ion Franzbsischen Blattern, S. 50J. h 2 148 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. ticularly upon the accordance, of the stars with sublunary objects. The Platonic idea of all things below having been formed after the model of things above was no doubt the origin of his system, but the transition was easy enough, to an enthusiast, from such a notion to that of the models themselves actually existing in the sub- lunary creations. Hence, as Sprengel well observes, his constant comparison of all earthly bodies with the firma- ment and the universe, for in them all the parts of our form are continued, not actually, but virtually and spiri- tually. As a philosopher, the physician recognizes the lower spheres, or the existence of the heavenly intelligences in sublunary matter ; as an astronomer he recognizes the upper spheres, — that is, he discovers the limbs of the human body in the firmament. Every thing that happens on earth, has previously happened above ; and in sleep, heaven reveals to man the mysteries of the Cabbala, without a knowledge of which no one can pretend to be a physician. The first man, Adam, was intimately ac- quainted with it, and hence he knew the signs of all things, and gave to animals their most appropriate names. A principal dogma of this Cabbalistic system was Pantheism. The whole physiological theory of Paracelsus consisted for the most part in the application of the Cabbala* to the explaining of the functions of the body, and here again we have the harmony of single parts with the heavenly intelligences. Yet he does not altogether mean us to understand an original connection between the stars and the human form ; neither the creation of man, * The Hebrew Cabbala signifies tradition ; the Artificial consists in searching for abstruse significations of any word, or words in Scripture ; and the Christian implies a species of magic. It is to the second of these that Paracelsus most frequently alludes, either as a means of knowledge, or for the purpose of contiouling the spirits. THE LIFE AND DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. 149 nor his properties result from the stars, and therefore we must not say, " man takes after Mars, but rather that Mars takes after man, for man is more than Mars and all the planets." He adds too in his usual contradictory manner, " although there were no stars man would still be what he is ;'' while at the same time he would have us believe that the vital power in human beings is an emanation from the stars, and originates in the air. Thus the sun is connected with the heart, the moon with the brain, Jupiter with the liver, Saturn with the spleen, Mercury with the lungs, Mars with the gall, and Venus with the loins. t In another part he thus determines the places of the planets : the sun has influence over the navel and the centre of the belly ; the moon, over the chine; Mercury, over the intestines; Mars, over the face; Jupiter, over the head; Saturn over the extremities. The pulse also is nothing else than the measure of the body's temperature after the manner of the six places held by the planets. Thus, two pulses under the feet belong to Saturn and Jupiter; two in the neck, to Mercury and Venus ; two in the temples, to the Moon and Mercury ; and the pulse connected with the Sun is below the heart. The macrocosm, or great world, has its seven pulses, described by the course of the planets, as their cessation is signitied by the eclipses. In the macrocosm the in- fluence of the Moon and Saturn is shown in the freezing of water, just as the microcosmic moon, the brain, coagulates the Idood. Hence, people of a melancholy temperament, whom Paracelsus chooses to call lunatic, have thick blood. Above all, he will not allow us to talk of a man's having this or that complexion, but we must say, " that is Mars, or that is Venus." So too must the physician know the planets of the microcosm; the meri- + And also with ra alco'ia. 150 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. dian, the zodiac, his east and west, before he can explain the functions, or heal the diseases of the body ; the meaning of which jargon is that he considers the different parts of the microcosm, i. e. the little world of man, as bearing a relation to the planetary world. He then goes on to tell us what is learnt by a constant comparison of the microcosm, and macrocosm, the great advantage of this study being that the scholar needs no preparation, but may dispense with the wicked Greek and Latin- grammars. The human body he held to consist of two parts — the material, and the astral, or spiritual, — a favourite creed with men like Paracelsus, since it enables them to explain the whole theory of apparitions. According to this creed, the spirit and the soul are two very different things, the spirit, he tells us, being "the soul of the soul, as the soul is the spirit of the body."* But it would weary the reader, were we to attempt analyzing the whole body of his medical and philosophical system, while a few of his doctrines will serve to show, not only his own character, but in a great measure the character of the age wherein he lived. Of Crooked People. This is a subject, on which Para- celsus is very much in earnest. Deformed people, he argues, are monsters, and as they could not have been made after God's image, they must have been manufac- tured by the devil. "Moreover," he says, "you must know that God abhors these kind of monsters, and that they are displeasing to him, and that none of them can be saved, seeing that they bear not the image of God ; whence wee can conjecture nothing else, but that they are so formed by the devil, and are made for the devill's service, because no good work was ever done by a monster, * De Pestil. Tractatus Primus. THE LIFE AND DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. 151 but rather all manner of evil], wickednesse, and devilish deceits. For as an executioner marketh his sons in cutting off their ears, putting out their eyes, burning their cheeks, fingers, hands, and cutting off their heads, so doth the devil mark his sons through the imagination of their mothers. Also all men are to be shunned, which abound with, or want any member, or have a double member. For that is a presage of the devill's and a most certaine signe of some occult wickedness and deceit, which follows upon it. Wherefore they seldom die with- out the executioner, or at least from some marke made by him."* Gnomes, spirits, #c. Under this head, our learned doctor informs us with becoming gravity, " under the earth do wander half-men, which possess all temporal things, which they want, or are delighted with. They are vulgarly called gnomes, or inhabitants of the moun- tains 5 but by their proper names they are called Sylphes or Pigmies. They are not spirits as others are, but are compared unto them for the similitude of their arts and industry, which are common to them with the spirits. They have flesh and blood as men, which no real spirit hath."t He then goes on to tell how these gnomes sometimes plague the miners, and at others, being of a capricious nature, do them good service, or warn them thrice by knocking in the same place. This is a sure sign that the miner, who is working there will be des- troyed by the falling in of the earth, or some such accident. According to the general notion, the devil is a wealthy personage, and gives good wages. But this Paracelsus stoutly denies, maintaining that " the devil is the poorest of all creatures, so that there is no creature so miser- * Paracelsus on " The Nature of Things," p. 8. Eng. trans. f Paracelsus of" Occult Philosophy," p. 52. 152 NEW CURIOSITIES OK LITERATURE. able and poore, above or under the earth, or in all the other elements. Neither hath he any money or riches, nor doth he take, or require any bonds from men sealed in their blood. But there are other spirits, which do such things, such as the Sylphes or Pygmies." Unfor- tunately this useful class of acquaintance is lost to us ; they have all gone somehow, and somewhere, but how, or where even our Doctor can not surmise. He says, how- ever, that " the mountain of Venus,* in Italy, was much possessed with these spirits, for Venus herself was a nymph, and that mountain was by a comparison, as her kingdome and paradise -, but she is dead whereby her king- dome ceaseth to be. But where, or in what place is there any mention heard to be made of them as in former time, when Danhauserus and many others entered in unto them? Neither did they invent these fables ; they were of such a nature and condition that they loved all men who loved them, and hated them that hated them. Where- fore they gave arts and riches in abundance to them, who prescribed and bound themselves to them, and they know both our minds and thoughts, whereby it comes to pass that they are easily moved by us, to come to us."f Para- celsus, however, does not recommend his friends to have any thing to do with such dangerous characters notwith- standing their amiability j he mentions these facts only as a point of natural history that people may learn to distin- guish between the devil and these semi-homines, and not in Hamlet's phrase, mistake "a hawk for a handsaw," for, in addition to the other differences pointed out, the gentleman in black has no body, unless when he bor- e This "Mountain of Venus" is often mentioned by the dealers in the supernatural. Tieck in his tale of the " Faithful Eckhart," places him there as a monitor to warn people off such dangerous premises, f Paracelsus of « Occult Philosophy," Eng. trans, p. 57. THE LIFE AND DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. 153 rows one for the nonce from the four elements ; neither does he die, whereas the Pygmies are clearly subject to the rules of mortality. Still it is advisable to be cautious how you enter into any contract with such a capricious and despotic race, who have a wonderful fancy for twist- ing the necks of any one that presumes to thwart them. Men have often been found in this plight, whence ignorant people, knowing nothing of the Pygmies, have laid all the blame upon the devil, though, if he had the inclina- tion, he has not the power to do any thing of the kind. Paracelsus was at least original in his doctrines, and indeed one part of his system consisted in asserting the direct contrary to what was generally believed. If in the common opinion any object was black, he would maintain that it was white, which love for contradicting others is the less to be wondered at as we find him per- petually contradicting himself. Treasure-seeking. — It appears that there are two sorts of hidden treasures, gold namely, — that " is made, coyned, and hid by the nymphes and Sylphes, — "* which he says is very hard to be got at, and metals in their natural state, which are to be found by proceeding as follows : — " first under an influence of the Moone, or Saturne, and when the moon transits Taurus, Capricorne, or Virgo, is a good t time to begin to seeke or digge after treasures. Neither need you use any other ceremonies, nor to draw any other circles, or to use any inchantments whatsoever ; onely those that dig must be of a cheerful minde, free and alienated from any evil thoughts and cogitations, and not to be moved, nor feare any phantasies, visions, or imaginations of the spirits ; although they should cor- porally appeare yet they are onely visions. Therefore those that dig ought to discourse, sing, and be cheere- ful, and not to be affrighted by anything, but to have a * Occult Philosophy, p. 66. H 3 154 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. good courage ; and by no means soever let them keepe silence as some perfidious negromancers have taught. " Now when they come neere to the place where the treasure is that it is almost detected, and do heare many noises, and strange visions and horrible sights are seene, which oftentimes happens to be, it sheweth that the Pygmies and Sylphes are there, who do envy that men should have those treasures, and will not willingly part from them, especially if it be their own, or such as they brought thither. Such treasures are to be left, if the keepers thereof consent not. And although they may be gotten and taken away as a robbery from those keepers, yet they have an art whereby they can change these treasures, in this way gained, into a vile and base matter, as into earth, clay, dung, and such like things as I have seene by examples."* A better mode of keep- ing people honest than this of the Sylphs could hardly have been devised, for who would steal, when the booty was to be so profitless ? Of Tempests. — "The orginal of tempests is certainly nothing else but the appearance of spirits ; and lightning, or coruscation, preceding the presence of them ; whereby it may be certainly known whether those tempests will pass away with or without danger ; and that after this manner is to be understood ; to wit, as a stranger will not enter into any one's house, unless first he speake, so these spirits do not appear unto us without speaking first. But their voice is thunder, which as we see, immediately follows every flash of lightning. The ringing of bells do availe nothing in these cases, although I do not reject them, especially in such tempests as are caused by magi- cians' enchantments, by reason of the spirits by them raised in the air. For the spirits do love silence and quietness, whereby it comes to pass that grate noises, * Occult Philosophy, p. 66. THE LIFE AND DOCTRINES OF PARACELSUS. 155 as the sounds of bells and trumpets do partly diminish of and disperse tempests by them stirred up. But in thunders and haile they do no good, as the monks and sacrificers have to their loss too often found. And for this cause they used ceremonies, wherewith they seduced the vulgar and common people, persuading them that besprinkling places with holy water, as they call it, preserved them safe from thunder and haile ; likewise by burning holy candles, or some palme, or other herb by them sanctified, or with the perfume of frankincense, or myrrhe of these sacrificers they were preserved secure.' Great is the indignation of our philosopher at such monkish tricks, for he had no faith in priests, whatever he might have in old women, and he argues reasonably enough that if these sacrificers wished to drive away the spirits they should use assafcetida and not sweet perfumes. But he has a more effectual remedy — " note," he says "that to place a preservative in the centre of a house, garden, or a field, avayleth not at all ;." it must be placed at the four angles, east, west, north, and south, upon the very obvious principle, that it is safer to stand upon four legs than two, and these said legs or pillars are to be of " mugwort, St. John's wort, perriwinkle, celandine, rue, and many such herbs and roots, especially if they be gathered under the right influence, for that is a main point. Yet better even than these are coral and azoth."* Evestrum and Trarames. — The " Evestrum, or Evester, according to its essence is either mortal or immortal. It is a thing like a shadow on a wall. The shadow riseth and waxeth greater as the body doth, and continueth with it even unto its last matter. The Evestrum takes its beginning at the first generation of everything animate and inanimate, sensible and insensible, and whatsoever * The azoth, I take it, is the azure-stone, or lazurstone, more commonly called Lapis Lazuli. 15(j NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. casteth a shadow, all of them have their Evester. Trarames is the shadow of an invisible essence. It springeth up with the reason and imagination of intel- ligent and brute creatures. The Evester maketh to prophecy ; Trarames giveth sharpnesse of wit. To fore- tell what shall befall a man, beast, tree, &c, is by the shadowyEvester ; but the reason why it should be so is from the Trarame. Some Evesters have a beginning, some have not. Such as have a beginning may be dis- solved, with the surviving eternal." — And much more there is to the same purpose, but as this sort of intellec- tual food is somewhat hard and indigestible, it is as well not to indulge too much in it. It may be supposed that Paracelsus could not broach these wonderful mysteries, without impertinent enquiries being made as to where he got his knowledge. To all such carpers he replies by putting in his turn divers pithy questions, which, if his data were only true, would be sufficiently ingenious. In the tone of a man who feels he has the best of the argument, he demands, " which of your authors or writers taught the bear, when his sight is dimmed by reason of the abundance and superfluity of his blood, to go to a stall of bees, which by their stinging him pierce his skin, and cause an effusion of the super- fluous blood ? what physician prescribed the herb, dittany, to be a medicine for the hart ? or who taught the serpent the virtue of briony and dragon-wort? who taught the dog to take grass for his cordial and purge ? and who prescribed the salt-sea-water to the stork ?" — As Shak- speare's clown says, "I hope here be truths/' and with them I leave Paracelsus to the judgment of my readers. 15; LES GRANDS JOURS. The Grands Jours were a sort of special criminal assizes of two kinds, the one Royal, the other, Signioral; but the latter, though so similar in name, appear to have been very different in their uses from those ordered by the monarch, of which indeed they are but an imi- tation. They were established, in virtue of an ordinance of Roussillon, which forbids the nobles to have two classes of jurisdiction in the same place, and there was a power of appeal from them to the parliament. The right of holding these Signioral courts was also accorded in ancient days by the king to the princes of the blood royal, and sometimes in virtue of a special authority to that effect they were constituted courts of final judgment. The Royal Grands Jours date from the early times of the French monarchy; they were ordinary, but sovereign, tribunals, established by the kings in the form of solemn and especial sessions, and over which they themselves presided to pronounce definitive judgment in all criminal, as well as civil, cases. Under the monarchs of the first and second race, they were composed of a certain number of persons chosen and deputed by the sovereign, much 158 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. as the commissioners, called Missi Dominici* These judges were sent into the remote provinces to enquire into the conduct of the dukes, counts, and other principal nobles, to receive any complaints made against them, and to reform whatever abuses had crept into the adminis- tration of justice or the finances, to the detriment of the public weal. They used formerly to be held at stated periods, and in some respects they bore a resemblance to the assizes. The object of both was the same, but they differed essentially in the extent of their power, the Grands Jours pronouncing judgment without appeal, in addition to which, while the assizes were each attached to its particular jurisdiction, the former, as we have already seen, were an extraordinary tribunal, without any fixed establishment, and were constituted by letters patent sub- mitted to the form of registration. We find it recorded of Louis XII. that he revived them to repress the continued attacks of the nobles upon his authority, commanding by an especial ordinance that they should be held once a year in all the towns and villages where it previously had been the custom to establish them. In a short time however they would * There appears* to have been no difference in the judicial powers of the two, the " Missi Dominici," or Royal Commissioners, being of the same class and having the same objects as the nobles and men of influence deputed to hold the Grands Jours. Du Cange tells us that the Missi Dominici were sent " ut in comitum et judicum pravitates inquirerent," that they should enquire into the corruptions of the magistrates and judges — "in ipsos etiam episcopos et abbates inqui- rebant," they looked after the bishops and abbots — " curabant ut provincice latronibus ac praedatoribus purgarentur," they took care that the provinces should be cleared from thieves and robbers — and finally "'seligebantur ex ditioribus et honoratioribus palatii, ne si pauperiores essent, muneribus corrumperentur," they were chosen from the richest and most respected of the court, lest if they were poor they should be corrupted by presents. J.ES GRANDS JOURS. 159 seem to have fallen again into disuse, the last that were ever held being at Clermont for Auvergne in the end of the year 1665 and the commencement of the year 1666, as also at Limoges for Limousin in 1668, and at Puy-en- Velay for Languedoc. About this period the wars both civil and foreign, which had for thirty years before desolated France, had produced a general state of license wherein the strong universally plundered and oppressed the weak. This evil was not a little aggravated by the marauding habits of the nobles, the difficulty of getting at offenders from the universal absence of good roads, and the general want of strength in the government. The laws were thus in many places reduced to a dead letter, and the most frightful disorder reigned in every department, but more particularly in Auvergne, which being remote from the central power of government could get little aid from the provincial judges. With them bribery and the in- fluence of rank or connexions were unbounded, and under the circumstances just mentioned they might be well called devoid of all responsibility. To such a height had this evil attained, that Louis XIV. at length resolved to interfere, and on the thirty-first of August, 1665, he established a sitting of the Grands Jours at Clermont in Auvergne. The account of their proceedings we owe to the Abbe Flechier, afterwards Bishop of Nismes, who accompanied one of the members, M. de Caumartin, in the capacity of tutor to his son, from whom the father was unwilling to be separated. According to the details afforded by him, this tremendous tribunal struck a wholesome terror into offenders, many of whom preferred being convicted of contumacy to awaiting the probable results of its judgment. Nor had they who remained and appeared any great cause to rejoice in the wisdom of their election. Punishments of all kinds were dealt out with an unsparing hand, and the executions even were 160 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. numerous, proving plainly enough that the social ulcer was both deep and dangerous. But amidst these details we have others of a less gloomy nature, the Abbe amusing himself mightily with the gossip of the town and the awkward manners of the provincials. " When the ladies of the city,'' says the author of the Abstract, " came to visit the commissioners, the Abbe Flechier, who observed every thing with inquisitive eyes, was present, and the manner in which he paints this scene, so novel to him, is exceedingly pleasant. The ladies arrived in troops that they might keep each other in countenance and be less remarked. Their manner of presenting themselves, their awkward and confused air, their arms hanging straight down, or crossed immovably upon the bosom, their costume in which the fashions of the day were carried to excess, as is the habit of provincials when they plume themselves on dressing well, the affec- tation of standing in a circle, according to the rank of their husbands, or the date of their marriage ; nothing, in short that can complete the picture of perfect absur- dity, escapes his observation." Much more there is to the same effect — how the judges gave balls to the ladies, or accompanied them to the theatre, in the even- ing, and the next morning dealt out justice upon all offenders — how the prisons were full and the condem- nations numerous — and how the alarm reached its height when instead of confining themselves, as had been ex- pected, to lay criminals, the judges set about reforming the clergy, and rectifying the abuses that had crept into the chapters and monasteries of both sexes. But even the epitome of these things is much too long for our purpose, and the reader therefore is referred to the works of Flechier himself. 161 THE MONTHS— APRIL. Writers are by no means agreed in their derivation of the Latin name assigned to this month. Ovid stoutly maintains that it was called April from the Greek name of Venus, 'Afpodiri), the deity having been born of apbv f i. e. the sea-foam.* At the same time he notices, al- though with the contempt becoming a descendant of Venus, that there were some who endeavoured to rob the goddess of her just rights by deriving the month from aperire, to open, because at this season the spring un- closes everything, and the prolific earth is open to receive the seeds.f Macrobius gives us a variety of derivations for the word. First he says that as Romulus called the first month of the year March after his father, Mars, so he named the second month April, in honour of the mother of Jineas ; but he admits that some have imagined the founder of Rome to have been influenced by other and more ab- * " Sed Veneris mensem Graio sermone notatum Auguror ; a spumis est Dea dicta maris. Nee tibi sit mirum Graio rem nomine dici, Itala nam tellus Grecia major erat." P. Ovidii Nasonis Fastorum, lib. iv., v. 61. f " Quo non livor abiit ? sunt qui tibi mensis honorem Eripuisse velint, invideantque, Venus. Nam quia Ver aperit tunc omnia, densaque cedit Frigoris asperitas, foetaque terra patet, Aprilem memorant ab aperto tempore dictum, Quern Venus injecta vindicat alma manu." P. Ovid. Nas. Fast., lib. iv.. v. 85—90- 16'2 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. stract considerations, and that as he had given March to the slayer of mankind, so he appropriated April to Venus, that her gentleness might temper his ferocity.* Scaliger, however, denies the authority both of Ovid and Macrobius, and oddly enough chooses to derive April from aper, a wild boar, asserting that the Romans in this only imitated the Greeks, who called February t\apbv vocant, unde orta Venus creditur. Et hanc Romuli fuisse asserunt rationem, ut primum quidem mensem a patre suo, Marte, secundum ab Mnex matre Venere nominaret ; et hi potissimum anni principia servarent, a quibus esset Romani nominis origo ; cum hodie quoque in sacris Martem patrem, Venerem genetricem vocemus. Alii putant Romu- lum, vel altiore prudentia, vel certi numinis providentia, ita primos ordinasse menses, ut cum praecedens Marti esset dicatus, Deo ple- rumque hominum necatori, ut Homerus ait, naturae conscius, — "Apse, Apse jSporoXotye, /iiai(p6v(, Ttixwr)-V Ta — secundus Veneri dicaretur quae vim ejus quasi benefica leniret." — Aur. Macrobm Saturnalurum, lib. i., p. 256, 8vo. Bipont, 1788.— "The second month he called April, as some think with an aspiration, as if Aphril, from the foam, which the Greeks call dtypov, whence Venus is believed to have sprung. And this they assert to have been Romu- lus' reason ; that, as he named the first month from his father, Mars, so he would name the second from Venus, the mother of ^Eneas ; and that these two should chiefly possess the commencement of the year, from whom was the origin of the Roman name ; thus even in the present day we invoke in the sacred rites Mars the father and Venus the mother. Others think it was either from a deeper wisdom, or by some divine providence, Romulus thus ordained the months, that as the preceding one had been dedicated to Mars, the general destroyer of men, as Homer says — 4 Mars ! Mars ! thou homicidal, sanguinary, shaker of walls ! ' so the second should be dedicated to Venus as if by her gentleness to temper his violence." THE MONTHS APRIL. 163 Ovid. The deriving of Aprilis from aperio — of the name of the season from its principal characteristic — has at least a great show of probability. It is to this opinion also that Macrobius inclines, telling us from Cincius and Varro, that the ancient Romans had instituted no particu- lar festival to Venus in April, and how therefore could it have derived its name from her ? He then winds up all from the same authority by saying, " prior to the Vernal Equinox, the skies were clouded, the earth covered with snow, and the rivers closed by ice, all of which became dispersed and broken up by spring, and therefore the month took its name from this general opening up as it were of nature, the trees budding, the streams flowing, and earth disclosing its bosom to receive the seeds."* The same uncertainty seems to prevail in regard to the etymology of the Saxon term for this month, Oster, or Oster Monat. Verstegan says, " they, (the Saxons) called April by the name of Oster-Monat, some think of a goddess, called Goster, whereof I see no great reason, for if it took appellation of such a goddess, a supposed cause of the easterly winds, it seemeth to be somewhat by some miswritten, and should rightly be Oster, and not Goster. The winds indeed by ancient observation were found in this month most commonly to blow from the East, and East in the Teutonic is Ost ; and Ost-End, which rightly in English is East End, hath that name for the Eastern situation thereof, as to the ships it appeareth, which through the narrow seas do come from the West."f Where Verstegan picked up his Goster, is more than I can pretend to say. The G and E being extremely alike in the old black letter, it is possible he may have mis- ' Aur. Macrobie Saturnaliorum, lib. i. cap. xii. p. 257. Varro main- tains that neither the Latin nor Greek name of Venus was known amongst the early Romans. t Verstegan, p. 66, 12mo. London, 1675. 164 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. taken the one for the other and thus have built up his whole theory upon a palpable blunder, for Eoster, or Eastre, is the usual way, in which the name of the god- dess is written. True it is, if we may believe Spelman, that, in some old edition of Bede, Coster is read, and not Eoster; but this certainly is not the general reading of the editions of that author, and I should imagine it is, like the Goster of Verstegan, nothing more than a mere typographical blunder. In the copy now before me * the text is plain enough, — " Eosturmonath, qui nunc Paschalis mensis interpretatur, quondam a Dea illorum, quae Eostre vocabatur, et cui in illo festa celebrabant, nomen habuit" — that is, "Eosturmonath, which is now interpreted tomean the paschal month, formerly had its name from one of their goddesses (i. e. Saxon goddesses) who was called Eostre, and to whom in that month they celebrated festivals." Every thing now denotes the vivifying influence of spring. The birds that had left us during the winter- season begin to return, the woods are alive with their cheerful notes, and the process of nidification commences. The lesser pettychaps, who is the smallest of the willow- wrens, and the wood-wren, the largest of the same tribe, are now seen upon the wing; the bittern begins to boomf in marshy places at even-tide, and the heron sails heavily from one pond to another in search of fish, over * Venerabilis Bedae Opera, vol. ii. p. 68. Folio. Col. Agrippinae # f According to some authorities the bittern begins this booming, lowing, or bumping, as it is variously called, so early as March, or even February, but it always ceases after the breeding season. It is at morning and evening that the bird makes this deep, lowing sound, and often while high in the air, its flight being lofty and spiral. " Those," says Lord Montague, "who have walked in a summer's evening by the sedgy sides of unfrequented rivers, must remember a variety of notes from different water-fowl ; the loud scream of the wild goose, the croaking of the mallard, the whining of the THE MONTHS APRIL. lb'5 a large extent of country ; the swallows make their appearance, though not in numbers ; the wryneck comes back from its winter residence ; the nightingale pours "orth her song, which whether it be sad or cheerful the >oets have not yet been able to decide, Milton,* Virgil, apwing, and the tremulous neighing of the jack-snipe. But of all these sounds there is none so dismally hollow as the booming of the bittern. It is impossible for words to give those, who have not heard this evening call, an adequate idea of its solemnity. It is like the in- terrupted bellowing of a bull, but hollower and louder, and is heard at a mile's distance, as if issuing from some formidable being that re- sided at the bottom of the waters. From the loudness and solem- nity of the note, many have been led to suppose that the bird made use of some external instrument to produce it, and that so small a body could never eject such a quantity of tone. The common peo- ple are of opinion that it thrusts its bill into a reed, that serves as a pipe for swelling the note above its natural pitch, while others ima- gine that the bittern puts its head under water, and then by blow- ing violently produces its boomings. The fact is that the bird is suffi- ciently provided by nature for this call, and it is often heard when there are neither reeds nor water to assist its sonorous invitations. It hides in the sedges by day, and begins to call in the evening, booming six or eight times, and then discontinuing for ten or twenty minutes it resumes the same sound." * Milton, as most readers will recollect, thus addresses the night- ingale ; " Sweet bird that shunn'st the noise of folly, Most musical, most melancholy ! Thee, chantress, oft the woods among, I woo to hear thy evening song." — II Penseroso. Virgil uses the melancholy of the nightingale in an exquisite simile to express the grief of Eurydice for Orpheus ; " Qualis populea mcerens Philomela sub umbra Amissos queritur foetus." — Georg. Lib. iv. v. 511. To be sure in this case the nightingale is supposed to have lost her young, which may account for her sadness without any general disposition to melancholy. And Petrarca, in a sonnet written after the death of Laura, says; " Quel Rossignol, die si soave piagne Forse su6i figli, o sua cara consorte, 166 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. and Petrarch being staunch advocates for the first opinion, while Coleridge insists upon it that her notes are any thing but melancholy ; however this may be, it is requisite to mention in correction of a very common error that the song of the nightingale is not confined to the evening ; the bird about the middle of this month sings both early Di dolcezza empie il cielo e le campagne Con tante note si pietose e scorte."— Sonnetto lxxiv. " The nightingale that oft so sweetly grieves Perchance her young, or fondly cherish' d mate, Whose notes harmonious breathe at Heav'n's gate Whilst earth responds the woe her bosom heaves." S. Woollaston. On the other hand, Chaucer calls the nightingale's song merry ; and Coleridge is eloquent upon the same side of the question. " All is still ! A balmy night, and though the stars be dim, Yet let us think upon the vernal showers That gladden the green earth, and we shall find A pleasure in the dimness of the stars. And hark ! the nightingale begins its song, ' Most musical, most melancholy' bird ! — A melancholy bird ? O, idle thought ! In nature there is nothing melancholy ; But some night-wandering man, whose heart was pierced With the remembrance of a grievous wrong, Or slow distemper, or neglected love, And so, poor wretch, filled all things with himself, And made all gentle sounds tell back the tale Of his own sorrows ; — he and such as he, First nam'd these notes a melancholy strain ; And many a poet echoes the conceit ; And youths and maidens most poetical, Who lose the deepening twilights of the spring In ball-rooms and hot theatres, they still, Full of meek sympathy, must heave those sighs O'er Philomela's pity-pleading strains. My friend, and my friend's sister, we have learnt A different lore ; we may not thus profane THE MONTHS APRIL. 167 and late throughout the day. Nor is our Fauna yet ex- hausted. The red -breast, the throstle, the storm-cock, the blackbird, and the black-cap, join in the general har- mony. The cuckoo also, though he sometimes appears towards the end of March, may also be set down as be- longing to the middle of April ; according to the old Devonshire rhymes, "In the month of April ' He opens his hill ; In the month of May He singeth all day ; In the month of June He alters his tune ; In the month of July Away he doth fly."* In Norfolk they have a sort of rhyming proverb much to the same purpose, but making the bird's sojourn with us a month later ; In April, The cuckoo shows his hill ; In May, He sings both night and day ; In June, He changeth hiS tune ; In July, Away he fly ; In August, Away he must.f In addition to these, partridges are still heard by night ; Nature's sweet voices, always full of love And joyance. 'Tis the merry nightingale That crowds, and hurries, and precipitates, With fast, thick warble his delicious notes, As he were fearful that an April night Would be too short for him to utter forth His love-chant, and disburthen his full soul Of all its music." * Bray's " Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy." f Forster's Perennial Calendar, p. 182 ; but I have taken the liberty 168 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. the bat makes his appearance ; and that singular little creature, the mole-cricket, utters its low, dull, jarring note, continued for a long time without intermission, like the chattering of the fern-owl. It inhabits the sides of canals, and swampy wet soils, in which just below the surface it forms long winding burrows and a chamber neatly smoothed and rounded, of the size of a moderate snuff-box, in which about the middle of May it deposits its eggs to the number of nearly a hundred. The ridges which this insect raises in its subterraneous progress interrupt the evenness of gravel walks ; and the havoc it commits in beds of young cabbages, legumes, and flowers, renders it a very unwelcome guest in a garden.* Still less pleasant visitors about this time are the snakes, snails, earth-worms and beetles. The Flora of April is equally extensive with the Fauna. Among the principal ornaments of the season are the crown-imperial ; the chequered daffodil ; the wall-flower, which, where the plant is old, now begins to blow and continues in flower during the early part of summer, though the younger specimens do not blow till May ; and the garden-hyacinth, and the oriental narcissus which are seen in blossom out of doors. Daffodils also, jonquils, the early sweet-scented tulip, and the anemone begin to of arranging the verse somewhat differently, and more in accordance with the rhymes. He also gives some curious old lines from Heywood in regard to this bird — " In April, the Coocoo can sing her song by rote ; In June, of tune she can not sing a note ; At first, koo-coo, koo-coo, still can she do ; At last, kooke, kooke, kooke; six kookes to one koo." The same authority — that is, Forster — informs us "the cuckoo begins early in the season with the interval of a minor third ; the bird then proceeds to a major third •, next to a fourth, then to a fifth, after which his voice breaks out without attaining a minor sixth." * Vide Forster's Perennial Calendar, p. 198. THK MONTHS APRIL. 1 G9 Mower, while the crowsfeet multiply on all sides, and the dandelion almost turns the meadows into a field of yellow ; the ladies' srnock too and the speedwell are also abundant; and the early flowers, such as the violet and the heart's ease, still continue in full profusion ; but the snow-drop has disappeared, and in its place we have the snow-flake, the graceful cowslip, and in less abundance the bulbous crowfoot, to be soon followed by the harebell, that loves the sides of fields, sloping banks, and shady places, which it renders quite blue with its flowers. Not less beautiful are the trees at this season. The laurel, almond, peach, apricot, nectarine, cherry, and many other fruit-trees blossom on all sides, while the beech, the horse, chestnut, the elm, and the larch open their leaves, and are clothed in a light but glowing green, that in its repose is to the full as pleasing to the eye as the gaudiest of the flowers. Such was April, though of late years it has hardly deserved so fair a character, having like some other folks grown worse as it has grown older. In proportion as winter has been less severe with us, spring and summer have deteriorated, as if nature required the bracing colds of winter to restore her strength after the teeming of the two preceding seasons. All Fool's Day. — The custom of making April fools on the first day of this month is exceedingly old as well as general. Both Maurice and Colonel Pearce have shown that it prevailed in India, and the latter says, that it forms a part oftheHuli Festival. — "During the Hull, when mirth and festivity reign among the Hindoos of every class, one subject of diversion is to send people on errands and expeditions that are to end in disappointment, and raise a laugh at the expense of the person sent. The Huli is always in March, and the last day is the general holiday. I have never yet heard any account of the origin of this i 170 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. English custom ; but it is unquestionably very ancient, and is still kept up even in great towns, though less in them than in the country. With us it is chiefly confined to the lower class of people, but in India high and low join in it; and the late Sourajah Doulah, I am told, was very fond of making Hull fools, though he was a Mus- sulman of the highest rank. They carry the joke here so far as to send letters making appointments in the names of persons, who it is known must be absent from their houses at the time fixed upon ; and the laugh is always in proportion to the trouble given."* Upon this Maurice f has well observed, that the origin of the custom is to be sought in the ancient practices amongst the Eastern people of "■ celebrating with festi- val rites the period of the Vernal Equinox, or the day when the new year of Persia anciently began." But, however derived, the name at least existed among the Romans, for we find the following pertinent passage in Plutarch, — " Why do they call the Quirinalia the Feast of Fools ? was it because this day was given, as Juba writes, to those who were ignorant of their tribe ? or was it because it was permitted to those, who had not sacrificed, like the rest, at the Fornacalia in their tribe, on account of business, travelling, or ignorance, to recover their fes- tival on this occasion."]; Brand is inclined to believe that All Fools' Day is only * Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 334. f Indian Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 71. J YLffaXauov Karaypaft) Pw/iaiKa, 89 — Plut. Op. Tomus ii. p. 115. Qrto. Oxon : 1726. Sir Henry Ellis, who was directed to this passage by the Rev. W. Walter, Fellow of Christ's College, Cam- bridge, calls it " a singular passage. 1 " In what its singularity con- sists I am at a loss to conceive. If there be anything at all out of the way in the business, it is that a writer of so much pretension as Sir Henry should need a finger-post to direct him on the road to Pin- THE MONTHS APRIL. 1*1 a corruption of Old Fools' Day* and that it was meant originally in ridicule of the Druids. He says, "Our epi- thet of Old Fools' — in the Northern and Old English, mild, — does not ill accord with the pictures of Druids trans- mitted to us. The united appearance of age, sanctity, and wisdom, which these ancient priests assumed, doubt- less contributed in no small degree to the deception of the people. The Christian preachers in their labours to undeceive the fettered multitudes would probably spare no pains to pull off the masks from these venerable hypo- crites, and point out to their converts that age was not always synonymous with wisdom, that youth was not the peculiar period of folly, but that together with young ones there were also old (auld) fools." It would be useless to waste any arguments in refuta- tion of such solemn trifling, for which Brand does not offer even the shadow of a reason. The notion, such as it is, was borrowed by him from the " Essay to retrieve the ancient Celtic," as appears by his own previous quo- tation from that author. This custom was not confined to our island. It seems to have prevailed also in Sweden, for we find that Toreen in his Voyage to Suratte, says, " The 1st of April we set sail on board the ship called the Gothic Lion, after the west wind had continued to blow for five months toge- ther at Gothenburgh, and had almost induced us to be- lieve that there is a trade-wind in the Skaggerac Sea. tarch, whom he quotes with as much pomp and circumstance as if he had brought to light some rare manuscript. Still stranger is it that being so directed by his Cambridge friend, he could not manage to give a correct version of his author. Aiu^aXiav, he renders by negligence, instead of business or occupation, to say nothing of the general looseness of his translation which, if words mean any tiling, should be rather called an imitation. * Popular Antiquities, sub voce. I 2 172 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. The wind made April fools of us, for we were forced to return before Skagen, and to anchor at Rifvvefiol."* Amongst the French the custom itself exists, though the name attached to it is changed. With them the per- son imposed upon is called a " poisson d'Avril," which Bellingen explains to be a corruption of Passion, and con- tends that it is a memorial of the Jews' mockery of our Saviour in taking him backwards and forwards from Annas to Caiphas, from Caiphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back again to Pilate. His words are, " Quant au mot de poisson, il a este corrompu, comme une infinite d'autres, par l'ignorance du vulgaire, et la longeur du temps a presque efface la memoire du terme * A voyage to Suratte, China, &c, from the 1st of April 1750 to 26th of June 1752. By Olof Toreen. This voyage, which is detailed in a series of letters, addressed to the celebrated Linnams, is not published separately, but is to be found at the end of Peter Osbeck's " Voyage to China and the East Indies, translated from the German by J. R. Forster, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1771." I am not however without my suspicions that Forster's translation is from'Dominique Blackford's French version, published at Milan in the same year, though I have never seen the original, which is much more likely to be in Swedish than in German, considering that Toreen was a Swede writing to a Swede and for the Swedish public. This quotation is also given in Ellis's edition of Brand, though there is some reason to doubt whether he ever saw the book he pre- tends to cite. His only giving the name of Toreen, without any mention of the work itself would not indeed be conclusive as to this point, but the suspicion almost becomes certainty when we find the extract shamefully garbled, and the only two names of places, that occur, so deformed by misspelling as scarcely to be recognizable, while the voyage is, as I have just mentioned, not published by itself, but as a sort of supplement to Osbeck. The places, I allude to, are Skagen, printed by Sir H. Ellis, Skagen, and Rifwefiol trans- formed by him into Riswopol, and that not only in the old quarto but in the recent 12mo edition, published by Knight ; but indeed the last is the worst of the two ; every page is full of blunders, both typo- graphical and literary. THE MONTHS — APRIJ-. 1/3 original ; car au lieu qu' on dit presentment Poisson on a dit Passion de le commencement ; parceque la passion du Sauveur du Monde est arrivee environ ce temps la, et d'autantque (pie les Juifs firent faire diverses courses h Jesus Christ, pour se moquer de luy et pour luy faire de la peine, le renvoyant d'Annb aCafphe, de Cai'phe a Pilate, de Pilate & Herode, et d'Herode a Pilate, on a pris cette ridicule ou plutot impie contume de faire courir et de renvoyer d'un droit a l'autre ceux desquels on se veut moquer environ ces jours la."* The absurdity of such an explanation will need no comment to those, who re- collect what has been already mentioned of the same cus- tom having existed in India and Rome, ages before the Jews had an opportunity of mocking Christ. But at the same time there seems to be just as little reason for agree- ing with Mr. Donee, when he tells us, " I am convinced that the ancient ceremony of the Feast of Fools has no connection whatever with the custom of making fools on the first of April. The making of April fools, after all the conjectures which have been formed touching its ori- gin, is certainly borrowed by us from the French, and may I think be deduced from this simple analogy. The French call them 2^>oissons d'Avril, i. e. simpletons, or, in other words, silly mackarel, which suffer themselves to be caught in this month. But as with us April is not the season of that fish, we have very properly substituted the word fools. "f How mackerel should be in season with the French, and not with us, Mr. Donee has not thought proper to explain, and we may safely reject this absurdity without * L'Etymologie, ou Explication des Proverbes Francois, par Fleury de Bellingen, p. 34. 8vo. a la Hayc, 1656. See also, Leroux, Diction- naire Comique, Tome i. p. 70. Minshew's Ductor in Linguas ; and Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Anecdotes. Tom. il. p. 97, + Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. i. p. 82, 174 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. any farther argument. It is possible that he maybe right in denying the identity of All Fools' Day with the Feast of Fools ; but it certainly admits of question ; for although the latter was held on the first of November, yet it stands marked in the ancient Romish Calendar as having been removed thither from some other day — " Festum Stulto- rum hunc translatum est/' — " the Feast of Fools was removed hither.' 1 Removals of this kind were far from being uncommon in the Roman Calendar, when, as often happened, any particular day became laden with more Saints than it could conveniently carry. Upon this subject it only remains to notice that in the North, April fools were called April Gouks, gouk, or gowk, which literally means a cuckoo, being commonly used for a term of contempt. Palm Sunday, Dominica Palmarum, Dominica in Ramis Palmarum, Parasceue* or Pascha Floridum, is the sixth and last Sunday in Lent, and the one immediately preceding Easter. It was thus called from the old Roman Catholic custom of carrying palm branches in procession on that day in comemoration of the palms or olives, that the Jews strewed in the way of Christ when he went up to Jerusa- lem, f Strutt, in the third volume of Horda Angel- Cynnan, p. 174, quotes from an old manuscript, "wherefor holi * Parasceue, though sometimes peculiarly applied to this day, is also a general term, for it often signifies the eve or vigil of any other solemn feast, in -which there is a rest from labour : — " interdum etiam," says Hospinian (p. 59 — de Fest. Christ.) " significat vigiliam sive profestum cujuscunque alterius festi solennis, in quo ab omni opere servili quiescendum est." — According to etymology it signifies nothing more than the day of preparation, from the Greek 7rapa), a preparation. f See Festa Anglo-Romana, p. 39, 12mo. London, 1G78 ; Historia Sacra,]}. 151, 8vo. London, 1720 ; Wheatley's Illustration, &c. p. 225, fol. London, 1720 ; Durandi Rationale Divin. Offic. lib. vi. DeBomin. in Ramis Palmarum, p. 215, Qto. Venetiis, 1609. THE MONTHS APRIL. 1/5 Chirche this day makeith solempne processyon, in mynde of the processyon that Cryst made this dey ; but for enche- son* that wee have noone Olyve that bearith greene leaves, therefor we taken Palme, and geven instede of Olyve, and bear it about in processione." Hospinian, however, denies that any mention of this custom occurs till about the year 455, and is extremely indignant with Polydorus for saying that it was instituted by the Apostles.f It had also the name of Dominica Magna, or the Great Lord's Day, because of the " great and many infallible good things that were conferred on the faithful the week ensuing, namely, death abolished, slander, and the tyranny of Satan, removed by the painful and ignominious death of our Saviour. "J Lastly, it was called Capitilavium by the vulgar, be- cause it was a custom on that day to wash the heads of * Encheson is a law term, borrowed from the French, signifying the " cause or reason wherefore any thing is done." See Glossogra- phia, sub voce. f Caruit autem istis nominibus (Pascha Floridum scilicet, et Do- minica in Ramis Palmarum,) longo tempore. Undo credibile est sequentibus aliquot sseculis post natum Christum, nomen cum super- stitione increpisse demum. Mentio ejus primum fit circa annum Domini, 455 ; nam Dominicoe in Ramis Palmarum titulum, sed eum plane nudum, habet quredam homilia Maximi Taurinensis, qui circa haec tempora vixit, in qua illud tantum ex psalmo 21. 'Deus, deus, respice in me' &c. tractat; festi ne verbulo quidem meminit. Unde etiam titulus ille non immeritodiu post additus judicari debet. Me- minit deinde ejus Paulus Diaconus, lib. xxiii. Rom. Rerum circa annum 800. In Constitutione autem eade Festis CaroliM. quae extat, lib. i. cap. 158, nulla ejus fit mentio prorsus. Quocirca mirandum est qua authoritate, im6 qua audacii, Polydorus Dominicam Palma- rum, sicut ut alios dies festos multos, qui diu post apostolorum, tempora demum festivi habiti sunt, ab apostolis institutos et ordinatos esse dicere ausit." Hospinian De Origine Festorum Chnstianorum, p. 55, fol. Tiguri, 1612. J Fest. Ang. Rom. p. 39. 1/6 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. the children, who were to be anointed, lest they should be unclean from the previous observance of Quadragesima.* The boughs used on these occasions were previously blessed by the priest, a solemn ritual being appointed for the purpose. In the Doctrine of the Mass, as quoted by Brand ,f we read that the priest was directed, after the conclusion of the Gospel to array himself in a red cope, and, taking his place upon the third step of the altar, to turn towards the south, palm- flowers and branches of palm being first laid on the altar for the clergy, and upon the altar-step on the south side for others. He is then to recite certain prayers, appropriated to the occasion, and accompanied by crossings and genuflections, duly es- tablished in the rubric, the whole being clearly the inven- tion of monkish times, if we may believe the authority of Hospinian as to the period when the custom originated. \ So far, however, it is easy to understand the policy of the priesthood, who lost no opportunity of impressing scrip- tural events upon the people's minds by connecting them with fasts or holidays. But one cannot help being sur- prised at finding these ceremonies so frequently of a low and ridiculous nature, and calculated above all measure to bring the thing celebrated into contempt. Thus on the present occasion the progress of Christ to Jerusalem was burlesqued, rather than commemorated, by a wooden mage placed upon a wooden ass, which went upon wheels, accompanied by troops of priests, and a con- course of people, bearing palms ; these they threw upon * " Vulgus autem ideo eum diem capitilavium vocat, quia tunc moris erat lavandi capita infantum, qui unguendi sunt, ne forte obser- vatione Quadragesimse sordidati ad unctionem accederent." Sancti Isidori Hispalensis Episc- De Officiis Ecclesine, lib. 1. cap. xxvii. Opera, p. 397. Fol. Col. Agrip. 1617. T " Finito evangelio sequatur," &c. Vide Brand's Popular Anti- quities, Vol. 1, p. 70, 12mo. London, 1841. % Vide supra, p. 128. Note. THE MONTHS APRIL. 1/7 the two images as they passed, and afterwards gathered them up again. " For falsely they beleive that these have force and vertue great Against the rage of winter storms and thunder's flashing heate."* There seems, however, to be some reason for sup- posing that the ceremony in question, though the Roman Catholics have explained it as symbolizing Christ- entry into Jerusalem, may after all be nothing more than the old Pagan custom of carrying Silenus this dav in triumph. Dr. Clark tells us that it is still usual to carry Silenus in procession at Easter, and we have already seen on more than one occasion how fond the old Church was of giving a Christian signification to heathen cere- monies, when they were unable to put them down. As palms were not always, or even often to be procured in this country, the box, the willow, and occasionally the yew, were substituted. As regards the first, Newton in his " Herball for the Bible,"f after mentioning that the box-tree and the palm were often confounded together goes on to say, " this error grew, as I thinke, at the first for that the common people in some countries used to decke their church with the boughs and branches thereof on the Sunday next before Easter, commonly called Palme Sunday ; for at that time of the yeare all other trees, for the most part, are not blowen or bloomed." But indeed we have a much more ancient authority for the use of box-wood on this day. In the Domesday Survey, under Shropshire, vol. i. fol. 252, a tenant is stated to have rendered in payment a bundle of box-twigs on Palm Sun- day — " Terra dimid. car. Unus reddit mdefascem buxi in Die Palmarum." As respects the occasional substitution of the willow for the palm-tree, there is a passage in Stow, which af- * Barnaby Googe's Translation of Naogeorgus. f 8vo. London, 1587, p. 206— as quoted by Brand, vol. 1,'p. 71. i3 1/8 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. fords a good inferential evidence of the fact, though it may not be stated in so many words. This excellent old writer tells us, that " in the weeke before Easter had ye great shewes made for the fetching in of a twisted tree, or with, as they termed it, out of the woodes into the hinge's house, and the like into every man's house of honor or worship.* If however, this should by any be deemed insufficient, there is decisive evidence of the cus- tom in the following lines from Barnaby Googejf " Besides they candles up do light, of vertue like in all, And willow-branches hallow, that they palmes do use to call." Yet more convincing, if any thing can be more so, is what we find in Cole's Adam in Eden, — " The blossoms come forth before any leaves appear, and are in the most nourishing estate usually before Easter, divers gathering them to deck up their houses on Palm Sunday, and there- fore the said flowers are called Palme .''J Lastly as to yew, which, it must be allowed seems a strange substitute for the branches of the Palm-tree. The evidence however is no less direct than in regard to the box and willow, as appears by the previous quotation from Strutt.§ According to the new edition of Brand, this custom ceased in the second year of Edward the Sixth, but no notice of the kind appears either in Wheatley, or in Stow, the two authorities, to which the editor refers. || * Stow's " Survay of London," Small Qrto. 1603.— page 98 ; under the head of " Sportes and Pastimes." t Fol. 42. j As cited by Brand in " Popular Antiquities," Vol. 1. p. 71. 8vo. § As cited in the Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 50. — March 1780, p. 128. || See Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. i. p. 1 1 1. Qrto. Lond. 1313. But, as I have before had occasion to remark, the whole work swarms with errors, every single one that existed in the quarto be- ing faithfully reprinted in the octavo with an abundant increase. Thus the quotation given presently by me from Carew, is in both edi" tions referred to as being at page 1 1 1, instead of 344, besides that it is unnecessarily garbled. THE MONTHS APRIL 1 7 f * While, however, palms retained their sanctity in con- nection with the day, it was usual to preserve pieces of the hallowed wood formed into small crosses, which the devout carried about them in their purses.* In Corn- wall, these crosses had a peculiar application ; Carew says, " Little Colan hath less worth the observation ; un- less you will deride or pity their simplicity, who sought at our Lady Nant's Well there to fore-know what fortune should betide them, which was in this manner — Upon Palm Sunday these idle-headed seekers resorted thither, with a palm-cross in one hand, and an offering in the other j the offering fell to the priest's share ; the cross they threw into the well, which if it swam, the party should outlive that year ; if it sunk, a short-ensuing death was boded ; and perhaps not altogether untruly, while a foolish conceit of this halsening,f might the sooner help it onwards. A contrary practice to the Goddess Juno's lake in Laconia ; for there if the wheaten cakes, cast in upon her festival day, were by the water received, it be- tokened good luck ; if rejected, evil. The like is written by Pausanias, of Inus in Greece ; and by others, touching the offerings thrown into the furnace of Mount Mtnu in Sicily. "J Passion Week; Tenefo'ce. The week succeeding Palm Sunday, or that which immediately precedes Easter, is * Vide " A Dialogue or Familiar Talke, betwene two Neighbours &c," from Roae, by Michael Wodde, 1554, as cited by Brand, vol. i. p. 74, 8vo. Edit. f The adjective halsenbig is explained by Todd in his edition of Johnson's Dictionary to mean tf sounding harshly;" it rather seems to mean " ill-omened," both in the passage quoted, and here in the substantive form, which last he has omitted to notice. He cites from another part of Carew, " this ill-halsening , horny name hath, as Cornuto in Italy, opened a gap to the scoffs of many." The literal meaning of the word is no doubt merely sounding, from the German, Hals, "the throat." + Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 3 14, qrto. London, 1811. 180 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. called Passion Week from the obsolete, but proper meaning of the word Passion,?, e. suffering, in reference to the suffering of Christ upon the Cross. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this week, are the days on which the offices, called Tenebroz, are celebrated, but as a rehearsal of the singing usually took place on the Wednesday immediately previous, that day also came to be considered as belonging to them. The word is de- rived from the Latin, tenebra, i. e. darkness, and, the office is one of the most striking in the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. The appellation of darkness or dark days has been given "because," says an old writer,* " thereby they represent the darkness that attended and accom- panied our Lord's Crucifixion ; and then also that Church extinguish all her lights ; and after some silence, when the whole office is concluded, they make a sudden great noise to represent the rending of the veil of the Temple and the disorder the whole frame of nature was in at the death of her Maker." On this occasion, the principal characters and events of the day were thus symbolized. In a triangular candle- stick were fourteen yellow wax tapers, seven on each side, and a white one at the top. The fourteen yellow candles represented the eleven apostles, the Virgin Mary, and the women that were with her at the crucifixion, while the white taper above was the emblem of Christ. Fourteen psalms were sung, and at the end of each a light was put out, till the whole fourteen were thus extinguished, and the white candle alone was left burning, which was then taken down and hid under the altar. The extinction of the fourteen lights symbolized the flight or mourning of the apostles and the women, and the hiding of the white taper denoted that Christ was in the sepulchre. At this moment of total darkness a noise was made by beating * Fcsta Anglo Rociana, p. 43. THE MONTHS APKIL. 181 the desks and books, and stamping upon the floor, which, as already said, was intended to represent the earth- quake, and the splitting- of rocks at the crucifixion.* Holy Thursday, Shere Thursday, or Maunday Thursday — is the Thursday before Easter. Many etymologies have been given for the word, Shere. In an old homily, quoted in the Weekly Packet of Advice from Rome, we read that the day was so called, " for that in old fathers' days the people would that day shere theyr hedes and clypp they berdes, and pool theyr heedes, and so make them honest ayent Easter Day."f In Junius the word sheer is explained to signify purus, and a writer in the " Gentleman's Maga- zine,"^: who signs himself T. Row, has concluded that it has a reference " to the washing of the disciples' feet, and be tantamount to clean." But to sheere is also the Anglo-Saxon word for " to divide,'' and it is even more likely to allude to the breaking of the bread by Christ, and the division of it amongst his disciples. There is the greater reason for this supposition in that the custom, still retained among us, of a royal dole of alms on that day is clearly a commemoration of the last supper. The only difference is, that in the early ages kings themselves washed the feet of the poor, and that when the first part of the custom became obsolete, they yet condescended to distribute the alius. James the Second was the last who performed this duty, and since his time the doles have been portioned out by an almoner, the number of mendi- cants being regulated by the years of the monarch, so that the poor at least have good reason to pray that the king may live long.§ * For a full account of this office, see Alban Butler's "Moveable Feasts." t As cited by Brand, vol. i. p. 83. % Vol. xlix. p. 349, July, 1779. § A lively account of this ceremony will be found in the Gentle- man's Magazine for April 1731, vol. i. p. 172. And in Le Guide de 18*2 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. There has been scarcely less dispute as to the meaning of the word, Maunday or Maundy. Wheatley, who calls it also Mandate Thursday, or Dies Mandati, tells us that it was so " called from the commandment (Mandatum) which our Saviour gave his Apostles to commemorate the sacra- ment of his supper, which he this day instituted after the celebration of the Passover ; and which was for that rea- son generally received in the evening of the day ; or as others think from that new commandment, which he gave them to love one another, after he had washed their feet in token of the love he bore to them, as is recorded in the second lesson at morning prayer."* Others again will have nothing to do with mandate, or mandatum, but derive it from the French maundier, " to beg,"f while some main- tain with Junius} and Spelman, that the word is derived from the mande, or basket, from which the alms were dis- tributed. But notwithstanding such high authorities, I am inclined to believe with those, who derive the word from mandatum; for in enquiring into its etymology, we must look at the custom, in which it is supposed to have Londres,by R. Colsoni, 8vo. London, 1693, p. 33, we are told " Mais le roy, G. iii. (Guillaume III.) a laisse l'intendance de cette cere- monie a son grand aumonier, ou un eveque du royaume." Queen Elizabeth used actually to wash the people's feet herself, being we may presume a much better Christian than her successors ; but she took care to have the business made as little disagreeable as possible, by having the pauper's feet cleansed and purified beforehand by the yeomen of the laundry with warm water and sweet herbs. Humility can, when it chooses, be so very proud! * " "Wheatley^ Rational Illustration, p. 227. Fol. Lond. 1720. Min- shew maintains the same opinion; he says, it is so called, " quasi dies mandati propter magnum illud mandatum et praceptum quod dis- cipulis suis dedit servator noster de observatione caanae, quam in- stituerat ; dixit enim, ' hoc facite in mei memoriam.' " Minshew's Ductor in Linguas, sub voce, Day. f Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xlix. p. 54. + Vide Junii Etymoloyicon, sub voce. THE MONTHS — APRIL. 183 originated, not as the custom is, but as it was. In olden times, when kings used to wash the feet of beggars, the words uttered by Christ and his apostles were sung for an antiphon," mandatum novum do vobis," &c 5* a new com- mandment I give unto you — and what is more probable than that the whole ceremony should take its name from so prominent a feature ? The absurdity of deriving the name of the day from a word expressive of a small bas- ket seems to have struck some of those, who have re- fused credence to the more obvious etymology 5 and they have shifted their position, maintaining that maunde, in process of time, came to signify an alms, and hence the day had its name. Unquestionably, such a meaning was subsequently attached to the word ; but they have not been able to show that this was an original signification, and far less have they proved that the term Maundy was a name given to the custom when first established, which would be the case if their derivation were the true one. The earliest instance of the use of the word in this sense, that I am aware of, is in Wits, Fits, and Fancies, 4to.b. 1. p. 82 (quoted by Brand,) where the kinsman of a merchant who is making his will, enquires jestingly of the lawyer, ' what saith my uncle now ? doth he now make his Maun- dies ?" but this in my mind is conclusive of the point in dis- pute the very contrary way, the question of the heir ex- pectant evidently being no more than a mere facetious al- lusion, as if the dying man were doling out the alms cus- tomary on a Maundy Thursday ; nothing I think can be plainer than that it never was a general term for alms, though sometimes we find it used in that sense, but still allusively to an alms-giver. Indeed charity may be said to be the peculiar feature of the day, no doubt because it was now that Christ more particularly enjoined the prac- * St. John, chap. xiii. v. 34. 184 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. tice of it to his disciples. Hence it was the custom in all Roman Catholic countries for the people, drest in their best, to visit several churches at this season saying a short prayer in each, and giving alms to the numerous beggars that were in waiting. This was called performing the stations.* Good Friday. — The Friday before Easter Sunday. It was also called by the Saxons Long Friday,t perhaps from the long fasts and offices used by them at that time, for there appears no other reason. The epithet of good it is said to have obtained because the good work of man's redemption was then consummated, and on account of the benefits thence derived to us. The hot cross-buns, that are in such common use amongst all classes, have by some been derived from the eulogiu, or consecrated loaves of the Greek Church, though one would suppose that this was the very last quarter to which the Latins would have gone for any custom. The buns, marked with the cross, were, I should imagine, but a sort of lay-sacrament, and eaten as much in commemoration of our Saviour as the consecrated bread itself, being manifestly no more than another form of the bread that was at one time given in alms to people at the churches. Bishop Bonner tells us " that the gevyng of holy bread is to put us in remembrance of unitie, and that all Christen people be one mysticall body of Christ, like as the bread is made of many grains and yet but one loafe, and that the sayd holy bread is to put us also in remembrance of the houselU and the receyvyng * See Gentleman's Magazine, vol. li p. 500. f Wheatley's Rational Illustration, p. 229. + Housel was the old English name for the sacrament from the time of St. Augustine till the Reformation, when the word sacrament was substituted for it. But sacrament does not altogether supply the place'of the term thus rejected ; it denotes a sacred sign, whereas housel TUB MONTHS — APRH,. 185 of the moste blessed body and blood of our Saviour Jesu Christ."* As to the word, bun, it is likely enough to be a cor- ruption of boun,\ the original name for sacrificial cakes, and which the Greeks transmuted into fiovc, by changing the final nu into sigma. The proper word, however, flow, re- appeared in the accusative case, according to the usual mode of Greek inflection. Another custom of this day, but which was abolished by the convocation under Henry the Eighth, in 1536, is the creeping to the cross upon the knees and kissing it. Bishop Bonner in the work just quoted, says, "that the creepyng to the crosse on good fryday signifieth an hum- blyng of ourselves to Christe before the Crosse, and that the kissyng of it signifieth a memory of our redemp- tion."! Even kings and queens were not exempted from this idle ceremony, though they contrived to take the humility as much as possible out of it. In the Earl of Northum- berland's Household Book§ we read, amongst a multitude of items — " Item, My Lorde useth and aecustometh yerely when his Lordschip is at home to caus to be dely- veride for the Offerings of my Lordi's Sone and Heire the Lord Percy upon the sayd Good Friday when he crepith the Crosse ij d." In a note upon this, the editor quotes the following curious passage from an ancient Book of the Ceremonial of the Kings of England — implies a victim of sacrifice, and we find Bede employing the word victim to denote the sacrifice of the Mass. Consult upon this sub- ject Dr. Lingard's admirable " History and Antiquities of the Anglo- Saxon Church," vol. i. p.' 15. * Bonner's Injunctions, $c. Sig. A. 1. Qto. 1555. bl. 1. f Vide Bryant's Mythology. X Bomier's Injunctions. Sig A. ij. § Page 334. 8vo. London, 1770. 186 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. "Firste, the Kinge to come to the Chappell or Closset withe the Lords and Noblemen waytinge upon him, with- out any sword borne before hime as that day. And ther to tarrie in his travers * until the Byshope and theDeane have brought in the Crucifixe out of the Vestrie, and layd it upon the Cushion before the highe Alter. And then the Usher to lay a carpett for the Kinge to creepe to the Crosse upon. . . . And thus done the Queene shall come downe out of her Clossett or Traverse, into the Chappell with La. and Gentlewomen waytinge upon her, and creepe to the Crosse ; and then goe agayne to her Clossett or Traverse. And then the La. to creep to the Crosse likewise ; And the Lords and Noblemen likewise. "f From the same authority we learn that our sapient monarchs used to hallow rings on this day for curing the cramp, the ceremonial of which is set down with infinite pomp and circumstance. Hospinian makes these rings work a yet higher miracle, and relates that they were preservatives against the falling-sickness, deducing the custom from one, which had long been preserved with great veneration in Westminster Abbey, having been brought from Jerusalem to one of the Ed wards. X Easter Eve — used to have in the old Roman Catholic- times a variety of ceremonies that have long since been exploded. The fires were quenched in all the churches, § * Travers is a "small room," or "cabinet." T Northumberland Household Book, Notes, p. 436. \ Hospinian De Origine Fcstorum Christianorum. Fol. Tiguri 1612. Fol. 61, 2d p. § Here again, as Calius Rhodiginus well observes, is a manifest imitation of the Pagan rites of Vesta. His words are, "quod vero scitu dignum est, nostraeque religioni consentaneum, mense Martio quotannis innovabatur ignis in templo Vestrc, quod in Fastis canit Ovidius. Addc quod arcana fieri novus ignis in acde Dicitur, et vires flamma refecta capit." THE MONTHS APKIL. 187 and kindled anew from the flint, which being hallowed by the priest every one would take home a brand to be lighted, when occasion required, as a preservative against tempests. A large taper, called the Paschal Taper, was consecrated and incensed, and allowed to burn night and day as a sign that Christ had conquered hell, after which it was plunged into the holy water, always consecrated at this season, with a view to its lasting till the return of Easter.-' But in some churches it would seem that light was communicated in a different manner. f An artificial serpent was borne upon a rod, a candle with the new flame being affixed upon its head, from which the Paschal taper and all the other church candles were lighted. This serpent was regarded as a type of that which was set up by Moses in the desert to heal those bitten by that reptile. J Other customs of a yet more absurd description pre- vailed at one time in this country. Such was the building of an imitation of the holy sepulchre on the anniversary of the crucifixion and placing the host in it, with a person set to watch for that night and the next. Early in the morning of the third day this consecrated wafer Ludov. Caelii Rhodigini Lection. Antiq. Libri Triginta, fol. 1599; lib. xv. c. 14. — "It is worthy of notice, and agreeable to our reli- gion, that every year in the month of March the fire was renewed in the temple of Vesta ; as Ovid sings in his Fasti,—' Add that new fire is said to be made in the secret temple and the renewed flame ac- quires strength.' " * Barnaly Googe's Kaogcorgus. And in Coate's History of Read- ing, Quarto, 1803, p. 131, under "Churchwarden's Accounts" is the following entry, anno 1559 — " Paid for makynge of the Pasuall and the Funte Taper, 5s : 8d." These Pascal tapers were of enormous size, and one of them used in Westminster Abbey in 1557 is slated by tbe same authority to have weighed 300 pounds. t Vide Durandi Rat. Div. Off. Lib. vi. Cap. 89.— sec. 12- p. 251. % Numbers, chap. xxi. v. 7, et seq. 188 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. was taken out, when Christ was said to have arisen. In Coate's work, just mentioned, we find one Roger J3rock playing 1 the part of watchman, for which he was paid eightpence, as appears by the record, and a note is appended to the account stating that, " this was a cere- mony used in churches in remembrance of the soldiers watching the sepulchre of our Saviour."* This custom was kept up so late as the two first years of Queen Eliza- beth in some churches,f for it was not all that had the privilege. J Easter-Day ; Asturday ; Paschal Sabbath ; Eucharist ; Godde's Sunday. — The term Easter is derived, as some say, from the Saxon oster, " to rise," this being the day of Christ's rising from the dead. But as the month appears to have had its name of Easter long before the introduction of Christianity we must look to some other source for the origin of the term; and where does it seem so visible as in the word Eostre, (the Saxon God- dess,) a corruption in all likelihood of Astarte,§ the name under which the Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, and the most ancient nations of the East worshipped the moon, in like manner as they adored the sun under the name of Baal. Another derivation of the word remains to be noticed, for which I remember no authority but that which I am about to give from one of the Cotton manuscripts; — * An account of this ceremony, as practised at Rouen in France and at Durham with us, is given in the J'ctitsta Monumenta of the Antiquarian Society ; vol. iii. Letterpress to plate xxxi. p. 3. f Idem, pp. 3 and 4. J In tiie Monumenta Paderbornensia, p. 134, an old charter runs thus, " Has auteni parochise omnia jura parocliialia habebunt nisi quod cruccm diebus dominicis et in solemnitatibus non ferent — in Parascevc sepulturam crucitixi non facient." § This Astarte is the Ashtaroth of Scripture- TJ1K MONTHS APRIL. 189 «' Gode men and worn men/' os ye knowe alle well, this day is called in some place asturday, in some place pasch- day, in some place goddus sounday. Hit is callde as- turday, as kandulmasse day of kandulles, and palme sounday of palmcs, (Tor wolnoz in uclie place hit is the maner this day for to done fvre onte of the houce at the asturf that hath bene alle the wyntur brente wit fuyre and blaknd wit smoke, hyt schal this day bene arayed wit grene rusches and swete floures strowde alle aboute schewyng a heyghe ensaumpul to alle men and worn- men that ryzte os thei machen clene the houce wi th- ine bering owtc the fvre and strawing there flowres ; rvzte so ze schulde clanson the houce of zoure sowle.''^ In plain English the monk would call it hearth-day, because hearths were then cleaned and strewed with flowers ; but few 1 imagine will be inclined to put much faith in such an etymology, and I have only recorded it upon the obvious principle that every thing ought in fairness to be quoted that seems to make against one's own opinions. At the same time I do not at all question that Easter-day was called Asturday ; the monk, though blundering in his etymology, could hardly be mistaken as to a simple fact, which must have been known to all his audience as well as to himself; but 1 hold this very circumstance as helping to confirm my theory. Astur is evidently but another form of Easter or Astarte, and has nothing to do here with a fire-place, though that is * This is the usual form which prefaces all these homilies ; they are supposed to be addressed by the officiating priest to the people. T Astur or astre, signifies a hearth. See Spelman, sub voce. % MS. Cotton. Claudius, A. 2, fol. 58— in a tract that has for its title " Tractatus, qui vocatur Festial. per frera J oh em (i.e. fratrem Johannem) Mirkus compositus, canonicum regulare M.onasterii de Lulshult. Anglice conscribitur, et ad festarum unamquemque re- peritur ibi homelia ex legendis plcrumque consortiata." 190 NSW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. one meaning of the word, and a meaning which might lead ns to infer that the goddess had her name from fire, or light. This conjecture is much strengthened when we reflect that the ancient Germans worshipped a deity under the name of Herthus, or Hertus, who though called by Tacitus, in his Germany, the Mother of the Earth, seems in all likelihood to have been the same god- dess afterwards corrupted by the Anglo-Saxons into Astur and Eostre ; and it should also be borne in mind that the word hearth has been generally derived from the Ice- landic hyr, i.e'fire. I think myself therefore borne out in this deduction of the two from the same origin. It would be too presumptuous to affect for a moment to give anything like a decided opinion upon a subject so buried in the darkness of remote antiquity, yet I can not help suspecting that the Greek d ffri )p may have come from the same now-unknown source, as in like manner did our own word, star, the traces of both being quite evi- dent in the Persian. The conclusion therefore in my mind is that the Saxon Easter, or Eoster, the Greek dorrip the English star, and the Hebrew Ashtaroth, have all come from the same long-forgotten original — perhaps Phoenician — signifying fire, and that the goddess Eostre was the Saxon Diana, in whom they worshipped that milder principle of the vivifying power which was adored in summer as proceeding from her brother, Bel. Right or wrong, this conjecture will sufficiently account for the Goddess Eostre being worshipped at the vernal equinox. The name of Paschal would seem to be strangely given to the day of the resurrection, but it has been thus ex- plained by the old writer of the Fcsta Anglo - Romana. "Tig called Pascha, a Passover, not in memory of the Angel's transit in Egypt — the Jewish Passover being a holy action appointed by God in the killing and eating of a lamb, partly that the Church of the Jews might re- THE MONTHS APRIL. 191 member the benefits God conferred upon them in pass, ing over the bouses, and not smiting them,* — but our feast is celebrated in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ, tho' we still retain the name of Pascha not only because the lamb that was killed by the Jews of old in their Passover was a true type of the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus, which was sacrificed for man's salva- tion, but because at that very time he passed to his Father from this world — Pasach signifies transitio, a passage, from pasach, transire, i.e. to pass — or because then was made a passage from an old to a new life."f — The explanation does not throw much light upon the subject. Eucharist is from a compound Greek word, which may, as Minshewj explains it, refer to the thanks to be especially given on this occasion ; or, as is not unlikely, to the benefit conferred on the participators of the body and blood of our Saviour, This day is always the first Sunday subsequent to the first full moon, which happens on, or next after, the 21st of March ; but if the full moon happens on a Sunday, then Easter Day is the Sunday fol- lowing. It used to be characterized by a belief amongst the people that the sun danced in joy of the occasion, and many were accustomed to rise early for the sake of wit- nessing this phenomenon ; perhaps those, who saw the beams quivering upon the surface of a stream shaken by the wind, might persuade themselves they had been suc- cessful. This superstition is not, I believe, quite extinct even now in some of the more unenlightened parts of the country. In the times of Roman Catholic predominance, the church celebrated the day with many pageants that * Exodus, c. xii. v. ] 1. t Fbsta Anglo Rom. p. 44. + Ductor in Linguas ; sub voce. 192 new curios itiks of literature. differed little from those of the theatre, except in being less amusing and less rational. Amongst other follies we are told, that as on the previous evenings the watch- ing of the sepulchre had been acted, so upon this day the resurrection was represented. The form of the cere- mony varied as to details in different places, though sub- stantially the same in all countries. Fosbrooke's ac- count of the way in which it was practised amongst us is perhaps the most simple. " Then during a religious service four monks robed themselves, one of whom in an alb,* as if he had somewhat to do, came stealingly to the tomb, and there, holding a palm branch, sat still till the responsary was ended ; when the three others carry- ing censers in their hands came up to him step by step as if looking for something. As soon as he saw them ap- proach, he began singing in a soft voice (dulcisone) ' whom seek ye ?' — to which was replied by the three others in chorus, ' Jesus of Nazareth.' — This was an- swered by the other, 'he is not here; he is risen.' — At which the three last, turning to the choir, cried, 'Alleluia! the Lord is risen.' The other then as if calling them back sang, ' Come and see the place,' " — and then rising, raised the cloth, shewed them the place without the cross, and linen clothes in which it was wrapped. Upon this they laid down their censers, took the clothes, extended them to show that the Lord was risen, and singing an autiphone placed them upon the altar. ''f * i.e. a white surplice, but differing from that now in use by its be- ing worn close at the wrist like the lawn sleeves of a bishop. t Fosbrooke's British Monavhism, p. 65, qrto. Lond. 1817. Hone, in his usual blundering way, has given an account, which he cites as being from Fosbrooke, who according to him quotes from Du Cange ; but in fact his tale does not relate to Durham but to Rouen, and is to be found no doubt in Du Cange, though his in- formant forgot to tell him it was under the head Sepulchri Officium THE MONTHS APRIL. 193 It was customary also at this time for the bishops and archbishops to play at dice or ball with their subordi- nates, and to lay aside all the pomp and distance belong- ing to their station, a manifest imitation of the Satur- nalia. Moreover, the whole body of the ecclesiastics were now wont to shave the head and beard, to bathe and to indue the white stole ; and to each of these actions was supposed to attach a spiritual type, — the use of the bath signifying that the soul should in like manner be purified ; the shaving, that our vices should be laid aside ; while the white vestments might refer either to the appearance of the angels, or to a firm expectation of the robe of immortality ; or it might allude to the seve- rity of penance being over.* Above all, it was requi site that no one on Easter Day should eat anything that had not been blessed by the priest, or at least without first making the sign of the cross over it 5 for the devil just then was held to be particularly on the watch for souls.f Durand gives a lamentable instance of the fatal conse- quences arising from the neglect of this precaution, and Ecclesiasticum, without which notice the reference to Du Cange is about as useful as a direction would be " to a small village somewhere in Europe." In this version, if we may so call it, the three priests wore head-dresses to represent the three Marys, namely, Mary Mag- dalen, Mary of Bethany, and Mary of Nairn ; or, in the words of the old manuscript, from which Du Cange quotes, " tres diaconi canonici induti dalmaticis et amictis, habentes super capita sua ad similitudinem mulierum &c." — i.e. " three deacons clad in dalmatics and amices, and wearing upon their heads after the fashion of wo- men, &c." In Durandus again the ceremony appears to have some variations, two of the apostles St. John and St. Peter being added to the performers. Vide Durandi Rationale Divin. Officior lib. vi. cap. 87, p. 247. * Vide Durandi Rat. Div. Offic. lib.vi. cap 86, p. 245. t Durand. Rat. Div. Offic. ut supra. K 194 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. of which he was himself an eye-witness.* Two devils got possession of a young girl and tormented her for three years, a miracle which I may add is often renewed in our own days, but with this especial difference, that, when the devil now possesses a woman, he does not torment herself but others. However, on this occasion a cun- ning exorcist drove the fiends out at last, having pre- viously made them confess that they had been lying perdu in a melon which the girl had incautiously eaten without first making the sign of the cross. Many similar absurdities were practised upon this day, the growth of a rude age, and which the judicious reader will as little think of imputing to Catholicism, as of condemning the Protestant faith for the ravings of the Minister Anabaptists or for the follies of Joanna South- cott and her disciples. A variety of sports characterised the Easter holidays among the people. In Lancashire, Staffordshire, War- wickshire, and some other counties, the custom of heaving or lifting prevailed ; the men heaving or lifting the women in a chair on Easter Monday, and the women doing the same by the men on the Tuesday following. At the end of the ceremony, the person lifted was duly- kissed by his lifters and obliged to pay a forfeit. Some- times this took place within, but more frequently out of, doors ; the custom in some places being to place the victim upright in a chair, while in others he was laid horizontally on the bearers' hands, and raised above their heads. At another period, or perhaps at a different part of the country, the men took the buckles on Monday from the shoes of the women, who the next day re- turned the compliment, a forfeit having to be paid in either case for the redemption of the plundered article. t * Durandi Rat. Div. Offic. lib vi. cap. 86, p. 245 k t Brand's Pop. Antiq., vol. i., p. 103, THE MONTHS APRIL. 19") We are told, moreover, by Durandus,* that in many places it was the custom on the second day after Easter for the women to beat their husbands, and on the third, for the husbands to beat their wives. At Coleshill, in the county of Warwick, there is a custom, that if the young men of the town can catch a hare and bring it to the parson of the parish before ten o'clock, the parson is bound to give them a calf 's head and a hundred of eggs for their breakfast, and a groat in money. t The game of quintain, too, was in olden times played upon the water, according to Fitz-Stephens, as quoted by Stow at the end of his Survay of London — "In the Easter holydays they have a sort of naval fight. A shield being strongly fastened to a pole in the middle of the river, a youth prepared to strike it with a lance, stands in the prow of a boat, which is impelled by the stream and oars. If he break the lance against the shield and continues firm, he has succeeded ; if the lance strikes strongly and remains whole, he is flung into the river ; the boat, impelled by its own motion, passes on. Never- theless, two boats are stationed near the shield, in which are several young men to pick up the striker upon his fall into the river, or as soon as he rises again upon the * " Inplerisque etregionibus mulieres secundadie post paschaver- berant maritos suos; die vero tertia, mariti uxorcs suos." — Durandi Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, lib. vi. ch. 86-9, p. 245. 4to. 1609. f Blount's Fragmenta Antiquitatis, &c. j " In feriis paschalibus ludunt quasi prrelia navalia ; in arborc siquidem mediamne scuto fortiter innexo, navicula remo ct raptu fluminis cita in prora stantem habct juvenem, scutum illud lancea percussurum, qui si scuto illi lanceam illidens frangat earn et immotus persislat, liabet propositum, voti compos est ; si vero lancea integra. fortiter percusserit, in profluentem amnem dejicitur. Navis motu suo acta prseterit. Sunt tamen Line inde secus scutum dux K 2 196 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Cakes made of flour, eggs, and tansies, whence they de- rived the tame of tansays, or tansy-cakes, were eaten about this time, the bitter herb being considered a great purifier of the blood, and very necessary after the long fish-diet. These cakes were often made the prizes at games of foot- hall, races, &c* Hock, or Hoke, Day or Tide. — The derivations of this word are so numerous, and at the same time so uncer- tain, that it is not worth while to trouble the reader with them. According to Douce, it fell upon the second Tuesday after Easter, while ancient writers say it was celebrated on the quindena Paschae. The custom of the day was for both men and women to hold a rope across the road, barring the way, and pulling to them the passers by, who were obliged to pay a toll, which was supposed to be appropriated to pious uses. St. George of Cappadocia, the hero of our nursery tales, in conjunction with the dragon, claims the 23rd of April. Many of the miracles attributed to him were rejected by the Council of Nice who in his case seem to have been troubled with an unusual access of dis- cretion ; for after all they were not out of the usual order ; it was only pretended that he could neither be drowned, nor crushed by the imposition of enormous weights, nor burned by red-hot iron or boiling lead, nor be destroyed by being confined in a brazen bull heated to a white heat, all of which things Hospinian pronounces to be suspici- ous and unworthy of a martyr, f He is too fastidious. naves stationarise et in eis juvenes plurimi ut eripiant percussorem flumine absorptum cum primo emersus comparet, vel summa rursus cum bullit in unda." — Stephanides, in Stow's Survay, p. 577. * De Orig. Fest. Christ, p. 79. t Authorities for this may be found in many works. See Leu-is' Presbyterian Eloquence, p. 17. Brand's Pop. Antiq., &c. THE MONTHS APRIL. 197 In former times it was the custom for people of fashion to wear blue coats on St. George's day ; be- cause, as some will have it, of the abundant flowering of bluebells in the fields about that season ; or, according to many, because blue was the national colour, as Saint George was the national saint ; and, therefore, the one was appropriate to the other. St. Mark's Day or Eve — was observed, not as a fast, but as a day of abstinence, which in the Church of Rome meant very different things.* - On fast-days it allowed but one meal in four-and-twenty hours ; while on days of abstinence, provided the people abstained from flesh and made but a moderate meal, they were indulged in a collation at night. The reason of this privation, origi- nally ordained by Saint George the Great, the Apostle of England, was that they might imitate Saint Mark's disciples, the first Christians of Alexandria, who under his guidance were eminent for piety and fasting.t Many allusions are made to this by old writers ; and Davies tells us that " upon St. Mark's Day after Easter, whieh was commonly fasted throughout all the country, and no flesh eaten upon it, the friars with the monks had solemn procession and went to the Bow, or Bough, Church with the procession, and had very solemn service there and one of the monks did make a sermon to all the people of the parish that came thither."} Nor was the day without its superstitions. Brand was informed by a clergyman of Yorkshire, that it was a custom of the peo- ple of that county to " sit and watch in the church porch on St. Mark's Eve from eleven o'clock at night till one in the morning. The third year — for this must * Wheatley, Rational Illustration, p. 201, fol. Lond. 1720. f Ibid. p. 202. X Ancient Rites, fyc. of the Church of Durham, published by J. D. of Kidwelly, p. 156, l2mo. London, 1672. 198 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. be done thrice — they are supposed to see the ghosts of all those, who are to die the next year, pass by into the church."* Hone gives a long account of a similar custom prevailing in Northamptonshire, but his unsup- ported authority is hardly a sufficient voucher for such details. f Brand also states, that it was at one time a custom to bless the corn upon this day. * Pop. Antiq., vol. i. p. 115. t.Every Day Book, vol. i. p. 523. 199 THE BURNING CLIFF AT HOLWORTH. HoLWORTn Cliff is situated on Ringstead Bay, six miles east of Weymouth, and constitutes a bulwark between the farm of that name and the sea. It should be under- stood, however, that the Burning Cliff is not an original formation, but an union of fragments detached by natural causes from the two principal elevations of the parent rock. These are composed of distinct substances ; and it is to their combination, acting chemically, that the present phenomenon has by many been attriuted. It is now upwards of thirty years since the combustible materials began to separate from the main cliff, and most probably from the same causes that have formed the whole line of the undercliff at the back of the Isle of Wight, a phenomenon which is there known under the name of a landslip. In this case nearly three more years elapsed before the whole mass had finally settled below ; and much the same time passed before the first symptoms of the phenomenon showed themselves in the form of a vapour hovering above the loose surface. Dense ex- halations shortly afterwards succeeded; and finally in March, 1827, slight flames were seen issuing here and there from any chance cracks or crevices in the soil. The general curiosity soon becoming excited by these appearances, the ground was dug up and laid open, when it was found that most of the scattered streams of smoke they had observed must have arisen from rain filtering 200 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. through the chinks in the earth upon the hot substance below. An attempt was then made to bore as near as possible to the largest apertures, but the calcareous frag- ments threw such obstacles in the way of the labourers that it was speedily abandoned. Towards the end of April, however, it was resolved to try a second experiment, when on the first day their ef- forts only elicited the appearance of a few sparks. On the second they were more successful, the workmen sud- denly coming upon a vast body of fire that resembled a smelter's furnace ; but when they had dragged out a quantity of this ignited matter, they were obliged to desist by the heat and effluvia it emitted, and left it exposed on the ground, where it continued to burn till the following morning. From this time the appearances of smoke and fire con- tinued to increase with little intermission, till about the fifth of September the ground opened in three places, eastward of the original fissure. These crevices were of some magnitude, and, the outer coating of mould being re- moved, vivid fire was seen amidst the interstices of the lime-stone. In a few days the earth cracked open in seven more places, from each of which a thick smoke poured forth, while the heat proceeding from the fissures was so intense as in a few minutes to ignite any in- flammable matter that was applied to them. By the first of October the fire had so much extended its sphere of action that the surface of red hot stone in one of the apertures occupied a space full three feet square ; and the entire limit of the smoking crevices, which at first was limited to about six feet, had now spread in length from east to west, till it reached very nearly a hundred feet. It would seem that after this time no excavations of any magnitude were made, the inhabitants of Weymouth THE BURNING CLIFF AT HOLWORTH. 201 being wiser than the old lady who destroyed the goose to learn the mystery of its laying golden eggs. It is likely enough that the cause of the fire was not very deeply seated, and had they dug much lower they would have destroyed their phenomenon altogether. The mag- nates of Weymouth adopted a much better course ; the\ cut away an angular projection of the hill, that stood between the town and their new Vesuvius, so that at night-fall they could enjoy the sight in all its glory with- out the trouble of going to seek it. As if to reward their prudent forbearance, smoke was soon observed to issue from this point also, and in a short time afterwards, flames burst forth at intervals, and almost to the same extent as at the original fissure. And here it may be necessary to enter into some ex- planation for the benefit of those who have never been at Weymouth. At first the Burning Cliff lay upon an elevation of about eighty-five feet from the beach, but it was chiefly on a sort of shelf half way up the southern side that the flames made their appearance. During the spring tides in the latter part of 1827 and in the commencement of the year following, when the water rose to an unusual height and was followed by neap-tides almost equal to them, immense masses slid down at intervals with a terrific uproar j the position of the apertures was thus gradually altered so as to present an arch-like form, the extremities having sunk full thirty feet below their former level. In this state for awhile the mass rested, till at length in the middle of February, the whole being saturated and softened by high tides and heavy rains, it sank down within ten feet of the level of the beach, and there lay like a heap of smoking ruins. The two principal cliffs stand, one to the north, and the other to the north-east, of the mass that has thus been dissevered from the parent rock. Of these the k 3 «20<2 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. former consists of a dark mould, strongly impregnated with bitumen ; the latter is mostly composed of chalk, Hint, and limestone. In the various strata below may be found the Cornu Ammonis, pyrites, or fire-stones, and a grey stony concretion, studded thickly with small shells. The inflammable material would seem to consist, in a great degree, of Fossile Wood — Lignum Fossile — which in its burning emits a most nauseous stench, yet does not affect the eyes, and is even sometimes used by the poorer classes for fuel. It may also be mentioned, though totally unconnected with the combustion or its causes, that a vertebral bone, supposed to have formed part of the skeleton of an ichthyosaurus, has been found amongst the other matters, a little way below the surface. On a level with the burning apertures, and only a short distance inland, is a pond, from which a small stream runs; but, though so near to the seat of the fire, it has not the slightest taste or smell of sulphur, whence it may be inferred that the combustible materials are confined to a very narrow limit. Various hypotheses have been suggested in explanation of this phenomenon. Many, with more imagination than philosophy, have maintained that the first ignition of the soil arose from a flash of lightning skimming over a surface that was previously charged with inflammable matter ; while others have attributed it to the agency of frost. The most rational theory is that which sup- poses the flame was spontaneously generated by the union of the gasses produced from the matter of the two cliffs, saturated as they were with salt water, and receiving a current of external air through the numerous clefts and fissures. With so obvious and sufficient a cause it would be useless to seek any farther. 203 NATURAL PHENOMENON IN CORN- WALL. In the parish of Saint Austle there is a singular pheno- menon, which seems to have mightily puzzled the wits of the good neighbourhood, and in earlier times would certainly have given rise to some legend of Robin Good- fellow, or of hidden treasures. In the present day folks having grown wiser, or less imaginative, are contented to wonder at what they cannot comprehend. The phenomenon in question is the appearance of a light near the turnpike road at Hill-Head, about three quarters of a mile west of the town. In the summer it is not often visible, dry weather being most probably in- compatible with the causes of the meteor ; but in the winter, and more particularly in the months of November and December, scarcely a dark night passes, in which it may not be seen. Its appearance is that of a small flame, of a yellowish hue, and for the most part station- ary j even when moving, it wanders very little from its usual spot, but alternately rises and descends over the same place. As it has existed from time immemorial, it has at length become so familiar to the people of the vicinity as to excite no attention, but at one period many 204 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. attempts were made to discover its cause and nature, though without success. On approaching the spot where according to previous observation it should be, the flame invariably became invisible to the enquirer, even while remaining perfectly luminous to those who watched it at a distance. A level was then taken during its appearance, by which the curious were guided in their researches, and still the phenomenon was pronounced to be as great a mystery as ever. There can be little doubt, however, notwithstanding its stationary character, that it was neither more nor less than a Will-o'-the-Wisp, and pro- duced by the same causes, even though the soil was not actually marshy. 205 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. Devonshire. — If a man or woman has been injured by a scald or burn then shall the charmer place her hand gently on her heart, and in a soft voice shall say — " Three angels came from the north, east, and west ; One Drought fire, another brought ice, And the third brought the Holy Ghost ; So out, fire ; and in frost ; In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." It is supposed, however, by the lower orders, who put great faith in the charm, that it would lose all its efficacy if it were once to get into a printed book. To prevent so grievous a mishap, the secret is orally handed down from one to another, the most legitimate and approved way being, that it should be communicated by a man to a woman, and by a woman to a man. But this last rule is not always attended to, nor is the virtue of the charm held to be affected even though it were imparted without the opposition of the sexes. Many other old superstitions are still to be found amongst the lower classes of the Devonians, who a few years since clung with remarkable tenacity to the feelings and customs of their forefathers. The cuckoo with them 206 NEW CUKIOSITIKS OF LITERATURE. was, and 1 believe still is, an ominous bird ; and to hear him for the first time on the left hand is a marvellous sign of ill luck. They imagine too that the King's Evil may be cured by kissing seven virgins, daughters of the same mother, for seven days consecutively. But the most curious of their general superstitions is that of the Glass Rod, which they set up in their houses and wipe clean every morning, under the idea that all diseases from malaria, as well as other contagious maladies will gather about the rod innoxiously. It is twisted, in the form of a walking stick, and is from four to eight feet long. They can seldom be persuaded to sell it, and if it gets broken they augur that misfortune will ere long befall some one in the cottage where it has been set up. Others of their superstitions are peculiar to certain families. Such for instance is the popular legend attached to the family of the Oxenhams at Newhouse, according to which every decease amongst its members is prognos- ticated by the appearance of a white-breasted bird, that flutters awhile about the bed of the sick person, and then suddenly disappears. This is particularly noticed by Howell in his "Familiar Letters," in which maybe found the following monumental inscription. " Here lies John Oxenham, a goodly young man, in whose chamber, as he was struggling with the pangs of death, a bird with a white breast was seen fluttering about his bed, and so vanished." The same circumstance is related of his sister, Mary, and of two or three others of the family. Cheshire. — A superstition, not very dissimilar to the above, still obtains amongst the peasantry about Brereton. Adjoining to Brereton, the seat of the family of that name, there is a pool wherein the trunks of trees are seen to swim for certain days together, before the death of any heir of that house ; and after the heir is dead, they sink, and are never more seen 'till the next occasion of the same POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. '-207 kind.* But in truth this kind of forewarnings appear to have been very common ; Burton tells us^that, " diverse ancient families in England are forvvarned of their deaths by oaks bearing strange leaves."! Surrey. (Oral) .\ — On the high road between Buckland and Reigate the devil is popularly believed to amuse him- self with dancing, sometimes in the shape of a dog, and at others in that of a donkey. Contrary to the received notion that all spirits, and particularly evil spirits, dread the water, the site of these terpsichorean exhibitions is a bridge, which crosses a little rill, and every effort made to dislodge him has hitherto proved ineffectual. He has been shot at repeatedly, but his Satanic Majesty turned out as might have been expected altogether bullet-proof. One old fellow, who was bolder than his neighbours, then ventured near enough to run a pitch-fork through him, but still he danced on as merrily as ever, steel evidently producing no more effect than ball and powder had done. Some unbelievers, however, who have a wonderful pro- pensity for explaining everything by natural causes, have hinted at the presence of marshy grounds in the neigh- bourhood as being likely enough to have originated cer- tain meteoric illusions, which by the usual process of ex- aggeration might grow into a dancing devil. It can not be denied that as great miracles have been built upon no better foundations ; but for all that the people choose to believe their own eye-sight, and will not give up their Buckland Hag, as they call this apparition, iet philosophy say what it pleases. Surrey and Kent (Oral). — In both these counties every * See Burton's Admirable Curiosities, p. 24, 12mo. London. 1737. t Id. p. 31. + These superstitions, which are marked Oral, have been picked up by myself amongst the peasantry ; the reader therefore must judge for himself how far it may be right to put his faith in them. 208 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. falling star is supposed to prognosticate a new birth, though it does not appear that the child so announced has any particular gifts or privileges beyond less ceremonious visitors. Amongst the alchemists of the olden times, these fallen stars were called Nostock,* and were sup- posed to be a kind of jelly or slime, such as is often found during summer in the fields and meadows. The French, however, according to Pluquet, imagine that shooting stars announce death. f A still more singular superstition in these parts is the connection which the people imagine to exist between bees and their departed owners. When the master or mistress, of a house dies, the survivor must go to the hive, and, knocking thrice, cry out, " Brownie, brownie, wake up ; Your master (or mistress) is dead." If this information is not duly given, the bees them- selves will die shortly after, but whether from grief, or the anger of the departed spirit, is not very evident. It was in the parish of Cudham that I picked up the cus- tom, but I was given to understand that it was general throughout the two counties. In Norfolk also and Suffolk a custom somewhat similar prevails. When the master or the mistress dies, due notice of the fact is communi- cated to the bees by tying a piece of black crape about the hives, and if this be not done they are sure to die, ac- cording to the popular belief in those parts. Yorkshire.^ (Oral.) — People, who have the good fortune to live in a street of Richmond, called New-biggin, have the privilege, whatever it may be worth, of learning with- out the doctor's certificate when Death is about to come * Vide Glossary to " Paracelsus on the Nature of Things." Eng. Trans- f Contes Populaires, Prejuges, Proverbes, &c, p. 41. 8vo. Rouen. 1834. POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 209 for them. In that street, — and in that only — a white rahbit never fails to make his appearance in the dusk of the evening when any one of the inhabitants is about to die. It is not twenty years ago since the doomed, or rather dooming, rabbit appeared to the wife of a brazier by the name of Hayward, who had always been a heretic in such matters. His death convinced his neighbours how much he had been in error. Lancashire. — On Pendle Hill, Clithero, stands Malkin Tower, that in 1633 was much celebrated as being the re- sort of witches ; and at one time seventeen poor wretches were condemned for having held meetings there with the devil, though upon subsequent scrutiny the verdict was set aside and they had the good fortune to escape the hangman's clutches. A witness swore he saw them go into a barn and pull at six ropes, down which fell smoking flesh, butter in lumps, and milk as it were flying from the said ropes, all falling into six basons placed beneath.* On the top of this hill, which is extensive and some- what fenny, stand two large cairns about a mile distant from each other. Pennant conjectures that they were the ruins of some ancient speculce, or beacon-towers, erected by Agricola after the conquest of the country. Cornwall. — Mines are discovered by certain flint-stones, round and smooth, lying on the ground; but if we may believe the popular report, there is a more easy way, and that is by dreams, through which it is said works of great value have been found. Thus, in King Edward's time a gentlewoman, heiress to one Tresonliard, dreamed a handsome man told her that in such a tenement of her land she should find tin enough to enrich herself and her posterity. Her husband upon trial found a tin- work there, which in four years was worth to him almost four thou- sand pounds. And also one Taprel of Saint Neots by a * See Webster on Witchcraft, p. 277. <210 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. dream of his daughter was wished to such a place, which he farmed, and found a tin-work that made him a rich man * — which stories, if true," adds Burton with great naivete, " much credit women's dreams." Midsummer Men. — This is an old name for the orpyne plant, or lesser house-leek. It grows abundantly on rocks and old walls, covering them with its little flowers in much profusion. Some of the sorts are small and yellow ; others, white ; and others again purple. An old writert thus speaks of the superstition connected with them — " She would never go to bed on Midsummer Eve with- out sticking up in her room the well-known plant, called Midsummer Men, as the bending of the leaves to the right or the left would never fail to tell her whether her lover was true or false. I likewise stuck up two Midsummer Men, one for myself and one for him. Now if his had died away, we should never have come together, but I as- sure you his blowed and turned to mine." Waff— Whiff— Swarth (Oral) .—These are all names for the same thing, namely the Scotch wraith, and the Irish fetch. In Durham and Northumberland the two first of these terms are used to express the death-token 3 swarth, is, I believe, peculiar to Cumberland. It means the eidolon, or spectre, of any one about to die, and maybe seen either by himself or others. In this last-named county it is a custom amongst the peasants to have a branch of the rowan-tree— pronounced rawn — hung up in their cottages as a spell against witches. Thunder. — Aubrey tells us that it was the custom to in- voke St. Barbara against thunder. According to the same unquestionable authority in all such matters, " they * Burton's Admirable Curiosities, p. 29. f I have in vain searched for his name, having in my memoranda made an erroneous reference to Peele's Merry Jests. The passage is probably to be found somewhere in Dekker. POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 211 did ring the great bell at Malmsbury Abbey, called St. Adelm's Bell, to drive away thunder and lightning. The like is yet used at the abbey of St. Germain's in Paris where they ring the great bell then." Chaucer in speak- ing of the " great hostesse" has an allusion, not over deli- cate, to this custom ; and a more modern writer* says, "the tongue of the baptized bell made the ears of the affrighted demons ring with, Raphael, sancta Maria, ora pro nobis. These prayers," he adds, " are on the bells at St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall." Fairy Darts. — "What that is, which the Irish call uidacl orchcl I do not perfectly understand, only that in English we term it a fairy dart, and the one passing by this name, which was shown me not long agoe, was so shaped as in the margent ; the matterial of it I could not ghess, nor could others tell me what it was ; but it was extreame hard and something brittle, the colour pale while having some resemblance to flint. It was so curiously wrought that I could not imagin by what art it might be done, having about the edges of it very small and round studs or prickles much like those that are about a lobster's claws. 'Twas found sticking in turf, and produced by one as a proof of the power fairies have to strike man or beast with some occult wound or distemper. And I have with my own eyes observed in a cow, which was said to be elf- shott, that towards her hind-quarter on one side of her the hide flagged inwards, and was sunck into a hole, which the cow-herd, who undertook the cure of her, said was the hole, which the dart made through the flesh and bowells notwithstanding the skin or hide remained sound * Hogg in his " Fabulous History of Cornwall," a most amusing work, but unluckily it is by no means to be trusted, for it not only treats of fables, but is too often fabulous. 212 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. and entire without any hole in it ; and withall showed ine there was no such hole on the other side opposite, that I might not suppose it to be naturall. The cure he used, as near as I remember, was ****** poured down her throat together with a certain hearb thrust into her jaws after it. This notable cow-chirurgeon was very secret in this other part of the cure and much wary lest I should know it, but a little of it happening to fall after him in the administration was found and shown me, which I per- ceived to be no other than ragg-wort, whereby the beast recovered. " And lately I was told of a woman, who, some years agoe having a cow which was said to be elf-shot and died from her, there was found in the flesh of her, (being given to poore people for meat) a piece of a fairy dart, as they supposed it to be, which the woman keeps to this day, and makes use of as an amulett, which hath a medi- cinall virtue, as for other cows, so especially for the safe and sure bringing to bed of women. I have not yet found this woman, though I sought for her to the end only I might see that piece of dart." — Part of a Letter from Mr. J. K. fol. 24. M.S. Ayscough Catalogue, 4811. * The remedy is too gross for repetition. 213 BAYLE AND HIS IMITATORS* The " Historical and Critical Dictionary " of Bayle is more interesting as a magazine of opinions than as a col- lection of facts, though even in this last respect it is not without very great value. It is a continuation of Moreri, and they who possess the former book on account of its historical matter, ought not to be without the work of his industrious predecessor. Bayle's critical castigations of Moreri are generally passed over by modern readers, as is the case with most personal satires, scarcely even ex- cepting those of Dryden, Pope, or Churchill, the force of the venom dying with the object of it. The spirit of acrimony, thank Heaven, is seldom, if ever, immortal. No antiquarian ever wasted more time and learning in settling the day and hour, whereon the foundation stone of an obscure parish church was laid, than Bayle has thrown away in correcting the petty chronological errors of Moreri. The most interesting conclusion from this feature of the " Historical and Critical Dictionary" is that patience of investigation and minuteness of knowledge may exist in a mind, which is rich in imagination, and * It may be necessary to observe that this appeared in a Magazine, of which I was the editor a few years ago. 214 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. elegant in taste. But in parts also where he does not at all clash with Moreri, Bayle is exceedingly deficient in narrative matter. He omits, too, the lives of innumerable great characters of other nations ; and often introduces people of no importance, merely for the sake of finding a vehicle in which some of his particular opinions may travel from his study into the world. It is not a work of systematic biography. There is for instance a life of Dante, but there are no notices of Petrarca and Ariosto. His omission of the lover of Laura is singular, for he had described with wonderful minuteness the real passion of Abelard and Heloise ; and the case of Petrarca was a con- venient opportunity for speculating on Platonic affection. The opinions in the dictionary are more numerous and interesting than the facts, for the author was a man of wonderful intellectual powers ; he reflected deeply, and like the few men, the homines centenarii, who have done so, he found in his own mind all the germs of thought. Yet his borrowed knowledge was immense ; a steady ap- plication and a retentive memory soon made him master of the facts, and a mind pliable to every shape readily associated itself with the opinions of former times. There are few of the subjects of religion, philosophy, and con- duct that he has not examined, and always as it would seem with a perfect indifference to the issue of the in- vestigation. He has none of those feelings of ardent love for his species, none of those longings after im- mortality, of which, as parts of the nature of man, no philosopher with all his assumption of impartiality ought to divest himself. No wonder that he is an advocate for unbounded toleration of opinion, for no man tried so severely the patience of society. Jeremy Taylor, in his " Liberty of Prophecying," had professed indulgence to all those who acknowledged the truth of the Apostles' Creed, although they differed on theological subjects not BAYLE AND HIS IMITATORS. 215 mentioned in that symbol ; John Locke, in his "Treatises on Toleration," excuses all variations of religious opinion except the errors of Popery; but Bayle's liberality of tolerance was without a limit. The circumstances of their lives, and their particular sentiments on some im- portant subjects, naturally enough conducted them all to their respective conclusions on this subject. But to return to the topic of the Pyrhonism of the Dictionary. No cause of heresy ever falls to the ground for want of ingenious support. The author states with firmness and strength the tenets of the Manicheans and the Spinozists ; his replies show the folly of the religion of the one and of the philosophy of the other ; but still he gives the mind no opinions to rest upon, for the futility of human reason is the conclusion to which all his argu- ments lead us. He does not allow himself even to repose on those probabilities, with which 'the academies of old were satisfied, much less would he acknowledge the wis- dom of the schoolmen's practice of deciding as well as discussing. The dread of penal inflictions on himself for his indifference as to religion was obviously on the mind of Bayle, when writing most of his dictionary. He oc- casionally appeals to the Scriptures as if he were a faith- ful son of the Church ; but his religious quotations are introduced so coldly, and with so little power, that the reader is continually reminded of those brief moral sen- tences which a novelist often thinks it decent should con- clude a glowing description of voluptuousness. Bayle was as intimately acquainted with the historians and poels as with the philosophers of antiquity; and perhaps no author quotes with so much propriety. Horace seems to have been his favourite classic, for there was much similarity of taste between them, both being gay, good- humoured, witty, and elegant. In spite, however, of his intellectual polish, no man's imagination is more riotous 216 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. and prurient than that of Bayle. He is never so happy as when the task is to explain and describe an affair of love. Page after page of his work is full of arguments, suppositions, learned references to Ovid, Tibullus, Fetro- nius, and Catullus ; and the reader, while disgusted at his author's immorality, is astonished at his genius and learn- ing. This part of the subject is exceedingly remarkable, for it is agreed on all hands that Bayle was only a specu- lator in the amorous science. W r hat the Anatomy of Melancholy was to the wits of Queen Anne's reign, the Dictionnaire Historique et Critique was to the beaux esprits of France during the last cen- tury. Voltaire had so superficial an acquaintance with the classical languages that he could not of himself mas- ter the systems of ancient philosophy ; nor did the pur- suit of drawing-room applause at Paris leave this crea- ture of vanity leisure for study or contemplation.* Books, however, were to be composed, for wit was fashionable ; and a new jest, whether oral or written was occasionally necessary to dissipate the ennui of courts or to soften a monarch's frown. Infidelity, however, and im- morality were the great subjects which were to be the foundation of every work. The marriages between the * The hatred that this shallow Frenchman bore to Shakspeare — for shallow he was with all his wit — led him to adopt a system of meanness and falsehood that must stamp him with eternal infamy in the mind of every honest man. Having first pillaged the poet and drest himself up in the spoil, he afterwards attempted to de- stroy his reputation, just as the high-way robber of old used to knock his victim on the head lest he should at any time bear witness against him. I subjoin a reference to a few of his letters illustrative of this topic, as many may like to see what this idol of the French can bring forward in disparagement of Shakspeare, who would have very reasonable objections to wading through his vo- luminous writings. See the Letter to the Duke of Choiseul, Lett. 288, vol. 60, p. 512.— To Horace Walpole, Lett. 287, vol. 60. p. 505._To H. Pancoucke, Lett. 224, vol. 60, p. 377. BAYLE AND HIS IMITATORS. 21* French royal families and the princely houses of Italy had introduced into France those principles of infidelity which the exclusive love of classical literature had given birth to in Italy at the revival of letters. These prin- ciples were eagerly received and strongly supported in France because they suited well with the dissoluteness of the court. The powerful intellects of other times had only looked for applause from kindred minds 5 but the wits of the court of Louis the Fourteenth had no higher or better ambition than such fame as would be bestowed by the approbation of the great vulgar. In the one case literature dictated opinions, and men of wisdom taught the world, which then was contented to yield the proper place to merit ; in the other case books were merely the echo of the prevailing taste ; they were written to support it, and as it was corrupt and frivolous to a degree know- ledge made no progress. By his cleverness and brilliancy Voltaire rose to be the head of those who thus degraded letters by following in the court-train and feeding all its follies. The light, thin soil of his mind could not afford subsistence to the tree of knowledge, which in his case put forth a few showy blossoms, but never ripened into fruit. Ideas must be sought somewhere, and Bayle's Dictionary was the fashionable work during Voltaire's youth. It was true that Le Clerc, and Jurien, and Jacquelot, had shown the superiority of truth over scep- ticism, but the wits admired the elegance of Bayle, while the ladies were delighted with his tales of gallantry, and in those days the ladies of France reigned with despotic sway over literature as well as over love. The apostle of scepticism therefore drew his principal weapons from the Dictionary, and his natural wit accpuired a keener edge by communing thus closely with that of Bayle. He amplified his master's pointed sentences into ela- borate systems, and by means of a lively fancy and a L 218 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. remarkable facility of diction persuaded the world that his infidelity was the creation of his own genius. But a more illustrious disciple of Bayle was one of our own countrymen, the elegant and accomplished Gibbon. From resolving to write the history of the city of Rome, the idea gradually expanded into the noble project of writing the History of the Decline and Fall of the whole Roman Empire. Much of this subject had already been traced in outline. Le Beau had given the French nation a history of the Lower Empire, in con" tinuation of Crevier's History of the Roman Emperors. Every great man has had numerous biographers, and libraries were crowded with church annals. To read and study all the original authors on the events and opinions of more than twelve hundred busy years was a task be- yond the industry of Gibbon, although he was keen and sagacious, and perhaps as learned as any gentleman-au- thor can be, who spends his mornings in his library. He benefited very considerably by those writers of modern times who had devoted years to the investigation of par- ticular parts of his grand subject, and of the numerous topics, which he has chosen to introduce as episodes. He had the skill of making other persons' learning appear to be his own, and, it is plain, only consulted original authorities upon points of moment, to which he knew the attention of the world would be more particularly directed. His occasional criticisms on Lardner make the uninformed reader suppose that his learning even sur- passed that of the illustrious champion of dissent, while, in realitv, it was Lardner who furnished him with most of his facts concerning the early Christians, though, by comparing Lardner's statements with those of Tillemont, Dupin and Fleury, he might occasionally discover dif- ferences, and be enabled to give critical decisions between the combatants. In all literary opinions. Gibbon was a BAYLE A.VD HIS IMITATORS. 219 Frenchman ; and it is only from the circumstance of most Englishmen possessing but a very slight ac- quaintance with French literature that he was ever thought to be an original writer. No man borrowed so freely as Gibbon from the French compilers of memoirs, and it may with truth be said, that, while reading the Decline and Fall, we are often only being amused with an elegant version of the Abbe Bleterie, Petit de la Croix, and other authors of the same description. The very sum and substance of the papers in the Transactions of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres are to be found in the Decline and Fall. Even those, who may not be able to trace the historian's elegant plagiarisms, must yet be aware that the idiom of his work is much more French than English, and that his style is by no means a fitting object of imitation. In the last century infidelity was a fashionable qualification amongst men of literature, an assumed badge that distinguished know- ledge from ignorance, and not an honest conviction. In the case of Gibbon, Bayle supplied all the quibbles and sophistries on the subject of religion, and these appear, sometimes in the text of the Decline and Fall when they are dressed up in all the pomp of history, and sometimes in the notes when they are sharpened into epigrams- But Gibbon was a man of cold temperament, and al- together wanted that enthusiasm in scepticism which dis- tinguished his master. There are fanatical sceptics, and superstitious atheists, and it is often an even point which is the worst, the bigotry of unbelief, or the bigotry of religion. While Bayle was a Pyrhonist in all things, his disciple was satisfied with endeavouring to destroy the Christian religion. Both the master and the scholar laboured with incessant diligence to show that the Chris- tians had always been poor, timid, pitiable beings ; and that in the multitude of theological opinions truth was l 2 9,9.0 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. not to be found. It was from the same source that Gibbon drew most of his materials for attacking morals, for a leading characteristic of the Dictionary is licenti- ousness, although there is much difference in their way of management. Bayle speaks of love with the curiosity of a natural philosopher and the elegance of a lettered mind. Gibbon shows the brutality, and not the mental sensibility, of the passion ; but when he happens to throw round his subject the graces of elegant fiction, those graces are always borrowed from the curious disquisitions in Bayle. To Voltaire also the historian is largely indebted, and they who have waded through these voluminous authors must easily remember moments when they have been struck with identity both of thought and diction. To establish the truth of this assertion it would be requisite to give examples far beyond my limits, and perhaps as far beyond the patience of most readers. Judgments of this nature are the slowly formed results of long and pa- tient study, the conclusions being often more a matter of feeling than the single consequence of any particular instance of similitude. But if Bayle has turned half-thinkers into free-thinkers, he has also helped to enlighten men of real talent. When Tonson, the bookseller, used to wait on Addison for his Spectators, he always found Bayle lying open upon the table. Johnson was accustomed to praise the Dictionary for the account given in it of the biographical part of literature, yet Addison was pious, and Johnson was both pious and learned, and either extracted the honey from the fiovver while he left behind the poison. It would have been well for D'Israeli, when tracing the literary character, if he had followed their example, for he would have drawn more substantial information from Bayle than from Gassendi's Life of Pieresa, or the many obscure authors, — obscure because thev are worthless, — whom he is so fond BAYLE AM) HIS IMITATORS. 2'2 1 of following, fiayle traced conduct to its motives, and would have guided Mr. D'Israeli to the reasons as well as to the facts of his several subjects. Rousseau is the hero of Mr. D'Israeli's pages, and men of letters are exceed- ingly obliged to a writer, who draws the literary character from the life of a madman ; yet surely Plotinus,* as described by Bayle, would have been a better figure in his picture, if he was resolved that eccentricity should stand for wisdom. The Platonic philosopher was at least a good man, while the contributor to impiety to the Foundling Hospital at Paris seems to have been the very opposite. * Plotinus flourished in the third century, and belonged to the Pla- tonic school of philosophy, his whole life being spent in a visionary attempt to make the mind independent of the body and to elevate man as nearly as possible to the Deity. The Calvinistic spirit of modern times is but another form of the same folly, which neglects the real and the sensible for a dreamy something, which exists but in the imaginations of religious enthusiasts, who fancy they are wor- shipping the Creator by contempt of his gifts. To such an ex- tent did Plotinus carry this doctrine, that he professed himself ashamed of being lodged in a body, having so profound a contempt for everything material in him that he would never suffer his picture to be drawn. How childish does all this seem by the side of the Ba- conian philosophy, the most inestimable gift that was ever bestowed by man upon his fellow-creatures. 222 THE MONTHS— MAY. May was called by our Saxon ancestors Tri-milki, because in that month they began to milk their kine three times in the day.* Every year on this day met the folkmote of our Saxon ancestors — the annual parliament, as it is explained by Spelman, or convention of the bishops, thanes, alder- men, and freemen, in which the laymen having first sworn to defend one another and conjointly with the king maintain the laws of the realm, then proceeded to consult of the common safety. The modern name of the month is from the Latin Maius, or Majus, which itself has been variously derived, and occa- sioned much dispute, as Macrobius tells us, amongst the Roman writers. According to one account it was called Majus from Majorcs, the elders, just as the month of June had its name from Juniores, the younger, these appella- tions having been respectively given in honour of the two great masses into which Romulus had divided the Roman people, — namely the elders and the juniors, — * Vcrstegari's Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, p. 66. London, 1673. THE MONTHS MAY. 223 the one being appointed to maintain the republic by their counsels, and the other by their arms. Cincius however imagines that the name was derived from Maia, whom he calls the wife of Vulcan, while Piso contends that the goddess in question was called Majesta, and not Maia, whom others call the mother of Mercury. Some again derive it from Jupiter, called Majus from his Majesty ; and not a few have maintained that the Maia, to whom sacrifices were made in May, was the Earth, so named from its magnitude, as in the sacred rites she is called Mater Magna, the Great Mother. The plain inference from all these argumentary suppositions is that neither Varro, nor Cincius, nor Macrobius, nor any of the authors cited by him, knew a jot more of the matter than ourselves.* It may now he said to be spring to the feelings as * " Majum Romulus tertium posuit, de cujus nomine inter auctores lata dissensio est ; nam Fulvius Nobilior in Fastis, quos in sede Herculis Musarum posuit, Romulum dicit, postquam populum in majores junioresque divisit, ut altera pars consilio, altera armis rem- publicam tueretur, in honorem utriusque partis hunc Majum, sequen- tem Juniicm, vocasse. Sunt qui hunc mensem ad nostras fastos a Tusculanis transisse commemorant ; apud quos nunc quoque vocatur Beits Majus, qui est Jupiter, a magnitudine scilicet ac majestate dictus. Cincius mensem nominatum putat a Maja, quam Vulcani dicit uxorem ; argumentoque utitur, quod flamen Vulcanalis Kalen- dis Majis huic deac rem divinam facit. Sed Piso uxorem Vulcani Majestam, non Majarn dicit vocari. Contendunt alii Majam, Mer- curii matrem, mensi nomen dedisse, hinc maxime probantes quod hoc mense mereatorcs omnes Majae pariter Mercurioque sacrificant. Affirmant quidam, quibus Cornelius Labco consentit, hanc Majam, cui mense Majo res divina celebratur, tcrram esse, hoc adcptum nomen a magnitudine sicut et Mater Magna in sacris vocatur." — Macrob'U Saturnal, lib. i. cap. xii. If however we may believe the authorities, cited by the learned Vossius (Z>e Origine et Progressu Idolatriee, lib. i. cap. xii. p. 37, folio), the Bona Dea was addicted to drunkenness, and upon one oc- 224 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. well as according to the strict letter of the almanac. The garden begins to put on its gayest robe of* flowers ; the male orchis with its purple pyramids ; narcissi of various sorts ; the garden- squill ; the narrow-leaved peony, beautiful, but short lived, in its blowing; the globe-flower ; Solomons seal; the lily of the valley ,• the asphodel; the monkey -poppy ; ground ivy; the fleur-de-lis ; the speedivell ; the creeping crowsfoot ; the wall hawkweed ; and many others — til], towards the end of the month, the list of them would require a volume.* casion got well whipt for draining a flask in the temple against her husband's knowledge. " Sed quam male tanta pudicitia, a Varrone memorata, convenit cum ejus ebrietate, de qua sic ex Sexto Clodio scribit Arnobius in sexto ; — Faunam igitur Fatuam, Bona quoe di- citur Dea, transeamus; quam myrteis csesam virgis, quod marito nesciente, seriam meri ebiberit plenam, Sextus Clodius indicat sexto de diis Graecorum." * The following is a brief index to the Vernal Flora. Common Peony. Yellow Asphodel. Slender-leaved Peony. Columbine. Crimson Peony. Great Star of Bethlehem. Dwarf Peony. Peruvian Squill. Tulip in many varieties. Yellow Azalea. Welsh Poppy. Scarlet Azalea. Pale Poppy. Purple Goatsbeard. European Globeflower. Yellow Goatsbeard. Asiatic Globeflower. Motherwort. Bachelor's Buttons. Great Leopard's Bane. Lurid Iris. Lesser Leopard's Bane. Hock Gilliflower. Female Orchis. In the fields we have the following. Meadow Lychnis. Stichwort. Campion Lychnis. Yellow Water-Lily. Mousear Scorpion-Grass. White Water-Lily. Our Lady's-Smock. Harebell. Bitter Lady's Smock. Bulbous Crowfoot. Hedge Geranium. Creeping Crowfoot. Ki,llock - Upright Meadow Crowfoot. Charlock. Rough Crowfoot. The five last-mentioned flowers absolutely carpet the fields with yellow- THE MONTHS MAY. 225 In regard to the Fauna, little can be added except that the swallows and martins begin to be common ; the nightingales now sing both night and day ; glow-worms may be occasionally seen in the evening ; the green May- bug, burnished with gold, and the brown cock-chafer are abundant j and generally the birds are in full song. The festival of May-day has existed in this country, though its form has often changed, from the earliest times j and we find abundant traces of it both in our poets and old chroniclers.* Toilet imagines that it origi- nally came from our Gothic ancestors ; and certainly, if that is to be taken for a proof, the Swedes and Goths wel- comed the first of May with songs and dance, and many rustic sports ;f but there is only a general, not a parti- * Thus Shakspeare in Henry VIII. act v. scene iii. " 'Tis as much impossible To scatter them as 'tis to make them sleep On a May-morning." So too Chaucer in his Court of Love. + In Olaus Magnus we read " Postquam Septetrionales populi communiter a principio Octobris ad finem Aprilis asperrimas hyemes et longissimas noctes, saevosque flatus, pruinas, nives, caligines, tem- pestates, immensaque frigora, et reliquas saevientium elementorum mutationes, quasi concessa solatia alacriter transierant, mos est diversus in gentibus illis remotissime distantibus, nempe quod redeuntem solis splendorem singulari tripudio, praecipue versus Polum Arcticum habi- tantes, excipere soleant. Qui enim montosa sublimioraque loca in- colunt mutuis conviviis gaudia multiplicantes exultant, eo quod uberior redit venatio et piscatura." Olaus Magnus de Gentium Sep- tentrionalium Conditionibus, lib. xv. cap. viii. et seq. p. 571. The author then goes on to detail a custom, which has nothing whatever to do with May-day in England. " Alius ritus est ut primo die Maii, sole perTaurum agente cursum, dupliccs a magistratibus urbiurri constituantur robustorum juvenum et virorum equestres turmse seu cohortes, tanquam ad durum aliquem conflictum progreesura, quarum altera sorte deputato duce dirigitur, qui hyemis titulo et habitu, variis indutus pellibus, hastisque focalibus armatus, globatas nives et enis- le 3 226 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. cular, likeness between our May-day festivities and those of our Gothic ancestors. Others again have sought for the origin of our customs in the Floralia, or rather in the Maiuma of the Romans, which were established at a later period under the Emperor Claudius, and differed perhaps but little from the former, except in being more decent.* tatas glacies spargens ut frigora prolonget, obequitat victoriosus, eoque duriorem se simulat et efficit, quo ab vaporariis stirise glaciales de- pendere videntur. Rursumque alterius cohortis praefectus aestatis, Comes Florialis appellatus, virentibus arborum frondibus, foliisque et floribus (difficulter repertis) vestitus, eestialibus indumentis parum se- curis, ex campo cum ducet hyemali, licet separato loco et ordine, ci- vitates ingrediuntur, hastisque edito spectaculo publico, quod sestas hyemem exuperet, experiuntur." The substance of all which in brief is, that it was a custom among the Southern Swedes on the first of May, for two parties of youths to take upon them respectively the cha- racters of winter and summer. The one clad in furs flung about ice and snow in order to prolong the winter, while the other was led on by their Captain Florio, who was lightly dressed, with boughs and leaves, and then commenced a battle between them, which of course ended in summer being the victor. * The festival of the Maiuma originated probably at Ostia, a city on the sea-coast at the mouth of the Tiber, where the goddess Flora seems to have been more particularly worshipped, from her supposed power of calming the sea and rendering the winds mild and favour- able. It is thus described by Suidas : " Uavi'jyvpig ijysro iv ry Po')/ty Kara rov McL'iov fii\va. T>)v napdXiov Kara\apf3dvovTig ttoXiv, T))v \f.yojiivt]v "Oariav, o't ra TrpuiTa ri/g Foj/.iijq TtX&vrtg, r)$vira9tiv ijviixovro iv toiq OaXarrioig vdaaiv d\\»y\owg £/(/3d\- \ovrfC- "OOiv Kal Muifov/idc. 6 rijg roiavrrjg top-r\g tzaipog dvo- fia'CtTo." (Suidas, p. 2375, sub voce Maioiifiag, folio. Oxonii, 1834.) That is, "Maiumas was a Roman festival held in the month of May, when the heads of the city, going off to the sea-town called Ostia, gave themselves up to pleasure, and amused themselves with throwing each other into the sea. Hence the time of that festival was called Maiuma." This festival was celebrated with much splendour, both in ban- quets and in offerings, as we are told by the Emperor Julian, in THE MONTHS MAY. But though it may at tirst seem probable that our May-games may have come immediately from the Floralia, or Maiuma of the Romans,* there can be little question that their final origin must be sought in other countries, and his satirical address, the Misope-gon, to the people of Antioch, and in time it appears to have degenerated so deeply into licentiousness that it was suppressed, so far as laws could suppress it, in the reign of Con- stantine, together with the feasts of Pan and Bacchus. Under the united rule of Arcadius and Honorius, it was restored, though with caution, the imperial mandate declaring, " dementia? nostra? placuit ut Maiuma? provincialibus lcetitia reddatur ; ita tamen ut servetur honestas, et verecundia castis moribus perseveret." Imp. Cod. lib. xi. tit. 45. The admonition, however, in regard to decency and sobriety, does not seem to have produced any very desirable effect upon the minds of the people, for in the same reign it was once more forbidden on the plea of licentiousness by a rescript to the prefect Aurelian, which is still extant in the Theodosian Code, (lib. xv. tit. vi.) It is, how- ever, plain, that though the Maiuma might be condemned by the edicts of emperors and the fuiminations of saints — Chrysostom had particularly distinguished himself in this holy war against the popu- lar amusement — still it could not be entirely repressed, for in the year 1573, we find the Council of Milan indulging in a furious tirade against the abomination of raising Maypoles, a pretty decisive evi- dence that the Maiuma had not been extirpated. But neither were the Roman clergy of the lGth century more successful than their predecessors had been ; the detested Maypole was not to be put down, but has descended to our own days. * It may be as well, now I am upon this subject, to mention that the Romans had an absurd tradition of their May-games, their Flo- ralia, or Larentalia, (Laurentalia) as they called them, having been derived from a prostitute named Flora or Larentia. The tale was this : — It chanced one day, in the reign of Ancus, that the keeper of Hercules' temple, finding the time hang heavy on his hands for want of occupation, took it into his head to challenge the god to a game of dice — the loser to pay the penalty of a good supper and to supply his victor with what Peele or Decker would have called a croshabell. Hercules being, we may suppose, in a good humour, accepted this challenge from his door-keeper, and won the game as might have been expected, -whereupon he received his reward in meal and malt, and 228 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. far remoter periods. Maurice* says, and I have no doubt truly, that our May-day festival is but a repetition of the phallic festivals of India and Egypt, which in those coun- tries took place upon the sun entering Taurus, to cele- brate nature's renewed fertility. 4>a\\oc in Greek signifies a pole, in addition to its more important meaning, of which this is the type ; and in the precession of the equinoxes and the changes of the calendar we shall find an easy solution of any apparent inconsistencies arising from the difference of seasons. For obvious reasons I can do no more than hint at these mysteries, which besides would require a volume for their full discussion. That the May festival has come down to us from the Druids, who themselves had it from India, is proved by many striking facts and coincidences, and by none more than the vestiges of the God, Bel,f the Apollo or Orus of other nations. The Druids celebrated his worship on the first of May, by lighting immense fires in honour of him upon the various earns, % and hence the day is called the possession of Larentia. But Hercules, though he might not have played upon the square, was yet in the main a liberal fellow, and the next morning, after the manner of gods and fairies, he bestowed a boon upon the lady, — it was, that the first person she met when returning home should prove of great advantage to her. And so it happened ; for she met a rich man, by name Carucius, who was so smitten by her beauty, that he married her, and upon his death bequeathed to her the whole of his immense wealth. This she eventually left to the Roman people, in requital of which act of munificence King Ancus bestowed upon her a handsome funeral, ordered sacrifices to be offered to her manes, and a festival to be dedicated to Jove, because the ancients believed that the soul was given by him, and returned to him after death. This story will be found in the first book of the Saturnalia of Macrobius, vol. i. p. 241. Edit. Biponti, 1788. * Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. i. p. 87. + Bel was variously called Beal, Bealan, Belus, Belenus, and Bael. % Toland's History of the Druids, p. 115. 8vo. Montrose. THE MONTHS — MAY. by the aboriginal Irish and the Scotch Highlanders — both remnants of the Celtic stock — la Bealtine, Bealtaine, or Beltixe, that is, the day of Belen's fire ; for, in the Cornish, which is a Celtic dialect, we find that tan* is fire, and to tine, signifies to light the fire. The Irish still re- tain the Phenician custom of lighting fires at short distances, and making the cattle pass between them.* Fathers too, taking their children in their arms, jump or run through them, thus passing the latter, as it were, through the flames, the very practice so expressly con- demned in Scripture.f But even this custom ap- pears to have been only a substitute for the atrocious sacrifice of children, as practiced by the elder Phoenicians. The God, Saturn — that is, Moloch — was represented by a statue bent slightly forward, and so placed that the least weight was sufficient to alter its position. Into the arms of this idol the priest gave the child to be sacrificed, when, its balance being thus destroyed, it flung, or rather dropt, the victim into a fiery furnace that blazed below. - If other proof were wanting of Eastern origin, we might find them in the fact that Britain was called by the earlier inhabitants the Island of Beli,§ and that Bel had also the name of Hu, a word which we see again occurring in the Huli festival of India. || f Higgin's Celtic Druids, chap. v. sect. 23. p. 181. t " And made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abomination of the heathen." 2 Kings, xvi. 3. t There is an able article on this subject in the British and Foreign Quarterly Review for April, 1844, No. xxxiii. p. 61. § Thus in one of the Welsh Triads, a collection of aphorisms, supposed to be of great antiquity, we read : "sincerely 1 worship thee, Beli, giver of good, and Maiihogan the king, who preserves the honours of Bel, the istoid of Beli." Davies" Celtic Researches, p. 191, 8vo. London, 1806. I! For an account of the Huli festival, see Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 334. 230 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. When Christianity found its way into Britain, the same mode would seem to have been adopted in regard to the May-games by the wise liberality of the first missionaries, that we see them employing in so many other cases. Con- ceding to the prejudices of the people, they did not attempt to root out long- established characters, but invested them with another character, as bees close in with wax the noxi- ous substance they are unable to remove. Thus in process of time the festival was not only diverted from its original intention, but even the meaning of its various symbols was forgotten. It degenerated into a mere holiday, and as such long continued to be the delight of all ages and of all classes, from kings and queens upon the throne to the peasant in his cottage.* But amusement and crime seem in the minds of some people to be very nearly allied, and we find Stubbes, that admirable specimen of his tribe, actually foaming at the mouth when descanting on the real or imaginary enormities of May-day. "Against Maie, Whitsondaie, or some other tyme of the yeare, every parishe, towne, or village, assemble themselves together, bothe men, women, and children, olde and yonge, even all indifferently ; and either goyng all to- gether, or devyding themselves into companies, they goe, some to the wootles and groves, some to the hilles and mountaines, some to one place, some to an other, where they spende all the night in pleasant pastymes ; and in the mornyng they returne, bringing with them birch bowes and braunches of trees to deck their assemblies * Thus in Chaucer's Courte of Love, "And forth goth al the courte both most and lest To fetche the flouris fresh, and braunch, and blome, And namely hawthorn brought both page and grome." v. 1432. Henry the Eighth and Queen Katherine, as we shall see presently, used to go a-maying. TOE MONTHS MAY. 231 withall. And no marvailej for there is a great lord present amongst them as superintendent and lorde over their pastymes and sportes ; namely Sathan, prince of hell. But their cheefest Jewell they bring from thence is their Mate poole, which they bringe home with greate veneration, as thus : They have twentie or fourtie yoke of oxen, every oxe havyng a sweete nosegaie of flowers tyed on the tippe of his homes ; and these oxen drawe home this Maie poole — this stinking idoll rather — which is covered all over with flowers and herbes bounde rounde aboute with stringes, from the top to the bottome, and sometyme painted with variable colours, with twoo or three hundred me, women, and children followyng it with greate devotion. And thus beyng reared up, with handkercheifes and flagges streamyng on the toppe, they strawe the grounde aboute, binde greene boughes about it, sett up sommer haulles, bowers, and arbours hard by- it. And then fall they to banquet and feast, to leape and daunce aboute it, as y heathen people did at the dedication of their idolles, whereof this is a perfect patterne, or rather the thyng itself. I have heard it credibly reported, — and that viva voce — by men of great gravitie, credite, and reputation, that of fourtie, threescore, or a hundred ma ides goyng to the woode over night, there have scarcely the third parte of them returned home againe undefined. "* It is curious enough to contrast the effusions of this rabid fanatic with the pleasing picture of the same custom left to us by Stowe. "In the moneth of May," says the cheerful old man, " namely on May-day in the morning, every man, except impediment, would walke into the sweete meadows and greene woods, there to rejoyce their spirites with the beauty and savour of * Anatomie of Abuses, folio 54. 12mo. London, 1585. 232 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. sweete flowers, and with the harmony of birds praysing God in their kind ; and for example hereof Edward Hall hath noted that K. Henry the Eight, as in the 3 of his reigne and divers other years, so namely on the seventh of his reigne on May-day in the morning with Queene Katheren his wife, accompanied with many Lords and Ladies, rode a Maying from Greenwitch to the high ground of Shooter's hill, where as they passed by the way they espied a company of tall yeomen clothed all in Greene, with greene whoodes and with bowes and arrowes to the number of 100. One being their chieftaine was called Robin Hoode, who required the king and his companie to stay and see his men shoote, whereunto the king graunting, Robin Hoode whistled, and all the 200 archers shot off losing all at once ; and when he whistled againe, they likewise shot againe : their arrowes whistled by craft of the head, so that the noyse was strange and loiule, which greatly delighted the king, queene, and their companie.''* It may seem strange that Robin Hood should be so prominent a figure in a festival, which originated long before he was born, since we first find mention of him and his forest companions in the reign of King John, while the Floral games of England, as we have seen, had their rise with the Druids, whose connection with the East we have elsewhere noticed. But this knot may be untied without much difficulty. The sports of Robin Hood were no doubt first instituted for the en- couragement of archery, and there is little to surprize us if a recreation, so especially connected with summer and the forest, was celebrated in the opening of the year — the opening that is so far as it related to rural sports and pleasures. By degrees it would naturally * Stoic's Survey of London, p. 99, 4to. 1603. TIIK MONTHS MAY. 233 enough become blended with the festival already exist- ing-, and in a short time from its superior attractions it would become the principal feature of it ; for, as we shall presently see, a May-day festival consisted of va- rious sports, derived from different sources, and having no bond of union beyond a common relation to the season. In the earlier periods it had ever been the custom to elect a Lord and Lady of the May, who in all likelihood presided over the sports, the Lady being unquestionably a descendant of the Goddess Flora, while the Lord was the addition of after times ; the giving to her such an associate was the natural result of her ceasing to be worshipped as a deity. But in the sixteenth century the names of Robin Hood and his companions had become exceedingly popular, the ballads, which recounted their exploits, being for ever in the mouths of the people, while archery was the delight of all classes ; men besides were still too much accustomed to acts of violence to regard lawlessness as any very grievous moral offence, although they might visit it with punishment ; a depredator there- fore of the Robin Hood species, who was brave, generous, and skilful almost to a miracle in the use of the national weapon, was looked upon not so much as a criminal as a gallant enemy, who was to be destroyed if possible, but who was not the less a subject of admiration ; and hence by a process intelligible enough, though we are no longer able to trace the details, Robin Hood became the Lord, and Maid Marian the Lady of the May while their companions grouped about them, and helped to give a sort of rude dramatic character to the festival. Clear as this theory is — as clear as any theory can be that will not admit of positive proof — it has been dis- puted. Mr. Douce says, " the introduction of Robin 234 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Hood into the celebration of May probably suggested the addition of a king or lord of May.''* One would think that common sense alone, without any help from research, was sufficient to show the fallacy of such a notion ; but to set the question beyond all doubt we have mention of a king in the popular sports long be- fore the time of Robin Hood's introduction. t It is in the same spirit that he observes of Maid Marian, " none of the materials that constitute the more authentic history of Robin Hood, prove the existence of such a character in the shape of his mistress." I must confess I do not understand what he means by " more authentic records." The whole life of Robin Hood, as we have it, J is a mere legendary tradition, the theme of plays and ballads, and though Maid Marian is never mentioned in the latter, it is surely quite enough that we find her recorded in the two old plays of The death and downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington, written before 1600, and also in other dramatic compositions about the same period. But Mr. Douce, though a man of much research, was not particularly remarkable for clearness or length of vision. At the same time, it must in common fairness be re- marked that Warton, a high authority, seems to have en- tertained something of the same idea, for he observes * Douce's Illustrations of Shakespeare, vol ii. p. 454. T Thus we find that a strict command was given in the Synod at Worcester, a.d. 1240. Can. 38, " ne intersint ludis inhonestis, nee sustineant ludos fieri do Rege et Regina." KenneWs Parochial Antiquities — Glossary — sub voce Arietum Levatio, 4to. Oxford. 1695. + Of course it will be understood that my remark is limited to the life and doings of the merry outlaw, and not to Robin Hood as Earl of Huntington, for whom the antiquarians have made out a pedigree, which I have no doubt is as true as half the pedigrees in England. THE MONTHS J1AY. 285 that the name of Marian might have been suggested by a French Pastoral Drama of the eleventh or twelfth century, in which Robin and Marian, a shepherd and shepherdess, are the principal characters. This piece, called Le Jeu de Berger et de la Bergere, was highly popular amongst the French, and it must he admitted that there is something startling in the juxta-position of the two names, but here all likeness ends ; there is no- thing else in common to the French Pastoral and the English May-games. J am inclined therefore to think that the coincidence is merely accidental. But however this may be, it would appear as if with the decline of archery this part of the May -games de- clined also and became a merely grotesque exhibition. Marian, the queen, or Lady of the May, degenerated into Malkin, and was personated by a clown ; many of the characters dropt off — Friar Tuck does not appear after the time of Elizabeth — and the game, now a mere bur- lesque, was not confined to May-day, but was transferred to Whitsuntide, and bride-ales, and other festivals. The next class of May-day festivals to be considered is the Morris-dance, of which Robin Hood and his com- panions often, but not always, nor of necessity, formed the principal characters. It is generally supposed to be of Moorish origin, and to be derived to us from Spain. Hence its name. And in confirmation of this opinion we are told by Junius, that at one time the dancers blackened their faces to resemble Moors.* Strutt in- deed, thinks differently ; but his arguments, which are not very strong in themselves, seem to be altogether set aside by the fact of the word, Morris, being applied in * " Faeiem plerumque inficiunt fuligine, et peregrimim vestium cultum assumunt, qui ludicris talibus indulgent, ut Mauri esse videantur, aut e longius remota patria credantur advolasse." F. Junii Etymologicum Anglicanum, sub voce. 236 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. the same way by other nations to express a dance, that both English and foreign glossaries alike ascribe to the Moors. That the dance is not exactly the same with us as the fandango, the real Morisco, can by no means be considered as invalidating this argument, for similar de- viations from originals have taken place in other borrow- ed amusements. Mr. Douce well exemplifies this by the alterations made in the games of chess and cards, both of which, it is generally agreed, were invented in India or China. Some again would derive this dance from the Pyrrhica Saltatio of the Romans, the military dance of their Salii, or priests of Mars, which in all probability originated with the Greeks. That the Pyrrhica saltatio has de- scended to modern times is beyond all question. We have it, or had it, a few years since, amongst ourselves under the name of the sword dance, and it still exists in France as the dance of fools or Mattachins, " who were habited in short jackets with gilt paper helmets, long streamers tied to their shoulders, and bells to their legs ; they carried in their hands a sword and buckler, with which they made a clashing noise, and performed various quick and sprightly evolutions."* But, notwith- standing some points of similarity, the sword-dance and the morris-dance are not the same, and their names as well as character denote their respective origin. From whatever source the Morris-dance may have been derived, it would seem to have been first brought into England about the time of Edward the Third, when John of Gaunt returned from Spain. The principal characters of it generally, though not always, were Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Scarlet, Stokesley, Little John, the Hobby Horse, the Bavian or Fool, Tom the * Douce's Illustrations of Shakespeare, vol. ii. p. 435. THE MONTHS MAY. 237 Piper, with his pipe and tabor, the Dragon, of which last we have no mention before the time of the fanatic Stubbes,* — that is not before 1585. But it must be dis- tinctly understood that the number of characters varied much at different times and places — so much so indeed that it is impossible to give anything like an accurate account of all the changes. " Sometimes,'"' says Douce, " we have a Lady of the May simply, with a Friar Tuck ; in later times a Maid Marian remained without even a Robin Hood or a Friar ;" and the hobby-horse was often omitted ;t either from design or accident, even * Stubbes is bad enough of all conscience, but he had plenty of fanatics to keep him in countenancj, as absurd and as sour-faced to the full as he could be. Thus Fetherstone (Dialogue agaynst light, leivde, and lascivious dancing : 1582, 12mo. sig. D. 7.) as quoted by the indefatigable Douce, says, " The abuses, which are committed in your May-games are infinite. The first whereof is this, that you doe use to attyre in woman's apparrell whom you doe most commonly call May-marrions, whereby you infringe that straight commande- ment, whiche is given in Deut. xxii. 5, that men must not put on women's apparrell for feare of enormities. Nay, I myself, have seene in a May -game, a troupe, the greater part whereof hath been men, and yet have they been attyred so like unto women, that theyr faces being hitlde (as they were indeede) a mane coulde not discerne them from women. The second abuse, which of all other is the greatest, is this, that it hath been toulde that your morris-dancers have daunced naked in nettes ; what greater entisement unto naught- iness could have been devised ? The third abuse is that you (because you will loose no tyme) doe use commonly to runne into woodes in the night time, amongst maidens, to fet bowes, in so muche, as I have hearde, of tenne maidens, which went to fet May, nine of them came home with childe." The good old times, as some choose to call them, -were no doubt exceedingly profligate, but they can scarcely have been so bad as represented by the fanatic cotemporaries. t Clod. They should be morris-dancers by their gingle, but they have no napkins. Cockrel. No, nor a hobby-horse. Clod. Oh, he's often forgotten, that's no rule; but there is no Maid Marian nor Friar amongst them, which is the sorer mark. 238 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. when Maid Marian, the Friar, and the Bavian or fool were continued in it. Other figures also occasionally mingled with them, as appears from Tollett's window, such as Flemings, Spaniards, a Morisco, &c. ; but there is too much uncertainty as to the actual meaning of these figures to warrant our drawing any conclusions. In regard to the costume of these characters, that also varied, and seems in some instances to have followed the fashion of the day. Fortunately we are able to give a very good general idea of it from the account Mr. Tol- lett has left us of a stained or painted window,* which appears from time immemorial to have ornamented a room in his house at Betley in Staffordshire, but to which there belongs no tradition. Maid Marian. — Golden crown on her head ; in her left hand, a flower, seemingly a pink, as the emblem of summer; purple coif ; surcoat, blue ; cuffs, white ; skirts of her robe, yellow ; sleeves, carnation ; stomacher, red, with a yellow lace in cross bars. Friar Tuck. — Full clerical tonsure ; in his right hand chaplet of white and red beads ; corded red girdle, orna- mented with a golden twist and tassel of the same ; russet habit, denoting him to be of the Franciscan order, or one of the grey friars, so called from the colour of Cockrel. Nor a fool that I see. B. Jonsorts Gijisies Metamorphosed, vol. vii. p. 3.07, GifFord's edition. And again : " But see the hobby-horse is forgot. Fool, it must be your lot To supply his want with faces And some other buffoon graces." The Satyr — Id. vol. vi. p. 483. * This account will be found at full length in the appendix to Shakesjjeare's Henry IV. part i. Steeven's ed. 1803. THE MONTHS MAY. 239 their garments ; stockings, red ; a wallet, hanging from his girdle, for the reception of provisions. The Fool. — In his hand the bauble, which is yellow ; on his head a coxcomb-hood with ass' ears, the top of the hood rising into the form of a cock's neck and head, with a bell at the latter ; it is blue, guarded or edged with yellow at its scalloped bottom ; doublet, red, striped across, or raved, with a deeper red, and edged with yellow ; girdle, yellow ; left side hose, yellow, with a red shoe ; right side hose, blue, soled with red leather. Tom Piper. — Bonnet, red, faced or turned up with yellow j doublet, blue; sleeves, blue, turned up with yellow, something like muffetees at his wrists; over his doublet a red garment like a short cloak with arm-holes, and with a yellow cape ; hose, red, and garnished across and perpendicularly on the thighs with a narrow yellow lace. The Hobby-horse. — It is hardly necessary to explain that the hobby-horse was represented by a man equip- ped with as much pasteboard as was sufficient to form the head and hinder parts of a horse, the quadrupedal defects being concealed by a long mantle or foot-cloth that nearly touched the ground ; the man's legs stood for those of the horse, while his own were represented by two stuffed legs fastened at the sides ; but this mo- dern sort of centaur may still be seen upon the stage in various burlesques, and must therefore be familiar to most of our readers. Its appearance in ancient times may be thus described : The colour of the horse was a reddish white, like the blossom of a peach-tree ; in the horse's mouth was a ladle,* ornamented with a ribbon, * In later times, it would seem that the fool held the ladle; thus in Nashe's old play of Summer's Last Will and Testament — •' Pier goes in, and fetcheth out the Hobby-horse and the morris daunce, ivho [daunce about. '240 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. to receive the spectators' pecuniary donations ; crimson foot- cloth fretted with gold ; golden bit ; purple bridle with a golden tassel, and studded with gold : the rider's mantel purple, with a golden border latticed with purple; crown of gold; purple cap with a red feather ; coat, or doublet, yellow on the right side, and red on the left with buttons.* He was evidently a juggler, and played off legerdemain tricks, for the amusement of the popu- lace, as appears by the sword in his cheeks in this paint- ing, and also by many scattered hints in the old drama- tists, more particularly Ben Jonson. In later times — that is to say, about the reign of Henry the Eighth — the Morris-dancers wore dresses of gilt leather and silver paper, and sometimes coats of white, spangled fustian, with streamers fluttering from the sleeves.t They had garters also about the knees, to which bells were attached, and carried purses at their girdles. Sometimes too they had bells on each leg to the number of twenty or forty, and sometimes they jingled them in the hands. The allusions to such customs are frequent in our old writers for the stage. It was also usual for the characters to decorate their hats with a nosegay, or with the herb, thrift, formerly called our Lady's cushion. Thus Soto, in Women Pleased, says, when re- buking one of his subordinates for coming before him unmorriced, " Where are your bells then ? Your rings, your ribons, friend, and your clean napkin ? Your nosegay in your hat ? "J " Ver. About, about, lively, put your horse to it, reyne him harder, jerke him with your wand, sit fast, sit fast, man ; foole, hold up your ladle there." Sig. B 2. * Of all the figures in Tollett's window, this is the only one that has buttons upon it. T See Donee's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 473. % Beaumont and Fletcher's Women Pleased, act iv. scene 1. THE MONTHS MAY. 241 And Green in his Quip for an Upstart Courtier says, " they wore beesoms of thrift in their hats like forehorses, or the lusty gallant in a Morrice-daunce."* We have already hinted at the remoter origin of the May-pole, as explained by Maurice in his Indian antiqui- ties. It must not however be concealed that the ingenious though somewhat fanciful Cleland has given to it a very different source and meaning. In his opinion the May- pole was nothing more than the standard of justice erected in the centre of the area, or market-place, which in those days was only a quick-set inclosure of trees felled and disposed of in the best way for defence. " In the vacation times there was nothing added to this May-pole. But when the days consecrated to justice came on, the decla- ration was made by hanging a garland on it. The word Term, expressive of the solemn circling of the May-pole, has at least as good a claim to be the real derivative as the Latin terminus, which is so much fitter to signify the shutting up courts instead of opening them ; rather in a negative sense, the end of a vacation, than the affirmative beginning of a public act."f It certainly seems to strengthen this theory that dances made an essential part of all religious ceremonies in the Druid times, but still I must believe with Maurice that the May-games were originally a phallic festival. The May-pole was made sometimes of oak,| at others * Sig. B. 2. t The Way to Things by Words, (published without the author's name.) 3vo. London, 1766". % " The tall young oak is cut down for a Maypole, and the frolic fry of the town prevent (i.e. anticipate) the rising sun ; and with joy in their faces, and boughs in their hands, they inarch belore it to the place of erection."— The Twelve Moneths, by M. Stevenson,— May — p. 22, 4to. 1661. VOL. I. m 2¥l NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURF. of elm,* and at others again of birch,f painted yellow and black in spiral lines, % and ornamented at the top with a flag.§ In sonne parts of the country it was suffered to stand untouched the whole year round. || At Oxford, and the custom does not seem to have been confined to that place, Aubrey tells us, " the boys doe blow cowshorns and hollow canes all night ; and on May- day the young maids of every parish carry about their parish garlands of flowers, which afterwards they hang up in their churches."^! Hearne derives this blowing of horns ** from a custom they held amongst the Greeks and Romans, as well as amongst the Jews, of using the horn for a drinking cup, and in proof thereof gives sundry quotations from Homer, Nonnus, and the scholiasts on Nicander. All this learning is wasted to very little pur- pose ; the mere fact of its being a cheap instrument of noise, to be procured with very little trouble, would suf- ficiently account for the use of it without going to the Greeks and Romans. Some classes, such as the milkmaids and the chimney- * " From towns they made excursions on May-eve into the country, cut down a tall elm, bring it into town with rejoicings, and having fitted a straight taper pole to the end of it. and painted it, erect it in the most public part, and upon holidays and festivals dress it with garlands of flowers, or ensigns and streamers." — Borlase's Natural History of Cornwall, p. 294. Folio. Oxford, 1758. T In his Welsh Dictionary, Owen explains Bedwen by " a birch tree ; also a May -pole, because it was always made of birch." X See Tollett's account of his window, fig. 8, in Jonson and Steeven's Shakspeare, at the end of Henry IV. part 1. § Lodge, in his Wit's Miserie, (p. 27, 4to. London, 1596,) when describing Usury says, " like the flag in the top of a Maypole." ]| Bourne^s Antiquitates Vulyares, p. 201, 8vo. Newcastle, 1725. T Aubrey s Gentilisme and Judaisme, folio 108, MS. Brit. Mus. ** See Preface to Hearne 's Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, vol. i. p. 18. 8vo. London, 1724. THE MONTHS MAY. 243 sweepers, have in particular assumed this day for a dis- tinctive festival ; or, what is more likely, they continued to celebrate it long after it fell into disuse with their neighbours. The first of these have in most parts dis- continued their peculiar mayings, though Strutt, who wrote little more than seventy years ago, says,* "the mayings are in some sorte yet kept up by the milk-maids at London, who go about the streets with their garlands and music dancing." Misson too, but he is of yet earlier date, has described the same thing, and more minutely — " On the first of May," he observes, " and the five and six days following, all the pretty young country girls that serve the town with milk, dress themselves up very neatly, and borrow abundance of silver plate, whereof they make a pyramid, which they adorn with ribbands and flowers, and carry upon their heads instead of common milk-pails. In this equipage, accompany 'd by some of their fellow milk-maids and a bagpipe or fiddle, they go from door to door, dancing before the houses of their customers, in the midst of boys and girls, that follow them in troops, and everybody gives them something."! The plate here alluded to, was in many, — I believe, in most — instances borrowed from some pawnbroker at so much per hour, and always under bond from responsible housekeepers for its safe return. In this way the same plate and garland would be let out to different parties in the course of the day, one set hiring them from ten till one, and another from one o'clock to six. Those who could not afford this display, had recourse to a custom much more simple and beautiful. A cow, selected no doubt for the superiority of her personal attractions, was tricked out for the occasion as fine as flowers and ribbons of all * Strutt's View of the Mamiers, &c, vol. ii. p. 99. t Missoti's Travels, translated by Ozell,p. 307, 8vo. London, 1719. m 2 '244 NEW CURIOSITIES OF EITKRATURE. colours could make her ; they were twined 1 about her horns, her neck, her tail, and even garlanded the rope by which she was led, while a net, with similar ornaments interwoven, was flung across her back, as though she had been a lady's palfrey. In this state Bessy was paraded along in triumph by a pretty country girl, quite as gay as herself with flowers and ribbons, the mistress marching at her side in like fashion. Nor is it many years since this primitive and pleasing show might have been wit- nessed within the sound of the old abbey-bells. Many superstitions belong to May-day in practice that do not appear to have any necessary, or natural connection with it. Thus the month itself is held to be unlucky for the solemnization of marriage, an idea probably derived to us through Popish times from the ancient Romans.* To bathe the face in dew that lies upon the morning grass will on this particular day be as beneficial as the bath of beauty in the fairy tales. f Divinations also of various kinds are practised. In Northumberland they fish with a ladle for a wedding-ring, that has been dropt into a bowl of syllabub, the object being to prognosticate who shall first be married. J It would seem too that a species of di- vination was practised with snails. This was done by strewing the hearth with white embers, placing a snail upon them, and from the lines traced by the creature in * So Ovid, a master in such matters, affirms : " Nee viduae ttedis eadem, nee virginis apta Tempora ; qua) nupsit, non diuturna fuit. Hac quoque de causa, si te proverbia tangunt, Mense malas Maio nubere vulgus ait." Fastorum, lib. v. ver. 486—490. \ Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. i. p. 126. 12mo. edit. London, 1841. X Hutchinson's Northumberland, vol. ii.p. 14, of Ancient Customs — at the eud of the volume. THE MONTHS MAY. 245 its progress imagining some letter which was to correspond with the initials of the "secret love."* Haythorn, or white thorn, gathered now is an infallible safe-guard against witches, as we are told by that inde- fatigable discoverer of witchcraft, Reginald Scot.f "And now to be delivered from witches themselves, they hang in their entries an hearbe called pentaphyllon, cinque-fole, also an olive branch, also frankincense, myrrh, valerian, verven, palm, antirchmon,+ &c, also hay-thorne, otherwise called white-thorne,§ gathered on Maie-daie." Finally, in regard to this branch of our subject, a superstition re- mains to be noticed, peculiar, as I believe, to the Isle of Lewis, one of the Western Islands of Scotland. " The natives in the village of Barvas retain an ancient custom of sending a man very early to cross Barvas river, every first day of May, to prevent any females crossing it first ; for that, they say, would hinder the salmon from coming into the river all the year round. They pretend to have learned this from a foreign sailor, who was shipwrecked * Gay's Shepherd's Week, 4th Pastoral. f Discoverie of Witchcraft. By Reginald Scot, cap. xviii. p. 268. 4to. London, 1584. t Although the word is so printed in both editions, I have no doubt whatever of its being a typographical blunder, for antirrhinon, some- times called anarrhinun, or lychnis agria,Anglice the herb calves' snout or snap-dragon ; in French mufle de veau \ and in Greek cynocepha- lion. Pliny describes it as having no root — he could have been no very correct observer — of a hyacinthine flower, and the seed like a calf's snout. Magicians, he adds, have a high opinion of this herb, deeming that whoever wears it about the arm is safe from all poison, and evil charms, while to be anointed with it renders the person beau- tiful. In the first of the two qualities attributed to it, we see the cause of the superstition recorded by Scot. § This by a typographical blunder is printed uhitehorne in the quarto of 1584, but it is corrected in the folio. 246 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. on that coast a long time ago. This observation they maintain o be true from experience."* Had the fanatics endeavoured to cure the people of these and the like superstitious follies they might have done some good, and would certainly have deserved some credit. But in this respect they were to the full as blind as their neighbours, and all the overflowing of their gall, which was not a little, was directed solely to put down an amusement, which they considered, and with reason,as op- posed to their own religious traffic ; it is not till the mind becomes completely soured and weaned from every thing like pleasure that it is fitted to receive their gloomy tenets. Hence, the jealous hatred borne by the fanatics of all ages towards the popular sports and pastimes, from the time of Lactantiusf to those of Stubbes, or of Thomas Hall, the pastor, as he calls himself, of King's Norton — it should have been Hog's Norton, for a verier swine never wallowed in the mire of bigotry. In his Funebria Flora, or the Downfall of May-games, \ he brings twenty argu- * Martin' s Description of Western Islands of Scotland, p. 7 8vo. London, 1716. f Lactantius, who flourished at the end of the third, and the begin- ning of the fourth century, and therefore might have known better, adopted the idle legend of Flora having been a prostitute, and dog- matizes upon this subject with his usual bitterness, " Celebrantur," he says, " illi ludi cum omni lascivia, convenienter memoriae meretricis, nam prceter verborum licentiam, quibus obscaenitas omnis effunditur, exuuntur etiam vestibus, populo flagitante, meretrices, quse tunc mi- marum funguntur officio, et in conspectu populi usque ad satietotem impudicorum luminum cum pudendis motibus detinentur." Lactantii Institutionum, lib. i. — De Falsa Re!igio?ie. As a father of the Church, Lactantius must have been both pious and modest ; it follows as a matter of course ; but without making any particular pretensions to either of these qualities, I should be ashamed to translate his modest}' into English. t Quarto. London, 1660. THE MONTHS MAY. 2-17 ments in the form of theses against poor Flora, with ;i brief dissertation upon each, and ends by trying her be- fore a packed jury of his own Puritans, who as a matter of course bring her in guilty, when the parson, as judge, thus pronounces sentence : "Flora, thou hast been in- dited by the name of Flora for bringing in abundance of misrule and disorder into church and state ; thou hast been found guilty, and art condemned both by God and man, by scriptures, fathers, councils, by learned and pious divines, both old and new, and therefore 1 adjudge thee to perpetual banishment."* There was perhaps no great harm in these impotent railings, and they at least show that the attempts of the parliament about eighteen years before to put down May- games had not been able to root out this festival from the affections of the people, f In the words of Macbeth, * Funebria Floree, p. 30. t " And because," says tins precious enactment, " the prophan- ation of the Lord's day hath been heretofore greatly occasioned by May-poles, (a heathenish vanity generally abused to superstition and wickedness) the Lords and Commons do further order and ordain that all and singular May-poles, that are or shall be erected, shall be taken down and removed by the constables, borsholders, tything- men, petty constables and churchwardens of the parishes," — mercy on us ! what an army to put down a poor May-pole ! — " where the same be ; and that no May-pole shall be hereafter set up, erected, or suffered to be within this kingdom of England or dominion of "Wales. " And it is further ordained that if any of the said officers shall neglect to do their office in the premises within one week after no- tice of this ordinance, every of them for such neglect shall forfeit five shillings of lawful moneys ; and so from week to week, weekly five shillings, more afterwards 'till the said May-pole shall be removed." The act then goes on to denounce the King's declaration : — "And it is further ordained by the said Lords and Commons that the King's declaration concerning observing of wakes, and use of ex- ercise and recreation upon the Lord's Day ; the book intituled The King's Majesties Declaration to his subjects concerning lawfult 2 t8 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. they had " scotched the snake, not killed it," and with the restoration of the Stuarts the May-pole was also restored. And yet the Parliament in the time of the great Civil War had been strenuous in their endeavours to put down amusements of every kind, and to make Sunday a day of mourning. They had forbidden travelling on the Sabbath under heavy fines, or the crying or selling of fruits and herbs, or even the dressing of meat at inns except in a moderate way, and had even set their veto upon the ringing of bells, so far as it could be considered an amusement. To crown all, parents and masters were made responsible for the strict conformity with this act sports to be used ; and all other books and pamphlets that have been or shall be written, printed, or published, against the morality of the fourth commandment, or of the Lord's Day, or to countenance the prophanation thereof, be cnlled in, seized, suppressed, and publiquely burnt by the justices of peace, &c. April 6, anno 1644." — A Collec- tion of Acts and Ordinances by Henry Scobell, folio Lond. 1658, cap. xxxvii. p. 68. This however is but a renewal of hostilities against the popular sports ; in the year previous they had ordered that King Charles' " JBooke of Sports " should be burnt by the common hangman as appears by the following broadside : — " Die Veneris 5° Maii 1643. " It is this day ordered by the Lords and Commons in Parliament, that the Booke concerning the enjoyning and tollerating of Sports upon the Lord's Day be forthwith burned by the hand of the com- mon hangman in Cheape-side and other usuall places. And to this purpose the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex respectively are hereby required to be assistants to the effectuall execution of this order, and see the said books burnt accordingly •, and all persons who have any of the said oks in their houses are hereby required forthwith to deliver them to one of the Sheriffes of London to be burnt according to this order. John Browne, Cler. Pari. Henry Elsynge, Cler. P. D. Com. The Sheriffes of London and Middlesex have assiyned Wednesday next the 10M of this instant May, at twelve of the clock, for the THE MONTHS — 51 AY. '249 of those under their control, provided they were not more than fourteen years old.* putting in execution of the foresaid Ordinance, and therefore doe require all persons that have any of the Bookes therein mentioned to briny them in by that time, that they ?nay be burned accordingly. John Langham. Thomas Andrews. LONDON : Printed for Thomas Underbill In Great Wood-street, May 9th, 1643." This rare broadside is to be found in the British Museum with the press-mark 669. f.7 12 I hardly know whether it is necessary to add that a borsholder mentioned in the first of these enactments is a ty thing -man — " Tenne tythings," says Spenser, " make an hundred; and five make a /a/fa or wapentake ; of which tenne each one was bound for another ; and the eldest or best of them, whom they called the tythingman or borsolder, that is the eldest pledge, became surety for all the rest." * "No person, or persons whatsoever shall publickly cry, shew forth, or expose to sale, any wares, merchandizes, fruit, htrbs, goods or chattels whatsoever upon the Lord's Day. No person, or persons whatsoever shall, without reasonable cause for the same, travel, carry burthens, or do any worldly labours, or work whatsoever upon that day, or any part thereof. "No person, or persons, shall hereafter upon the Lord's day use, exercise, keep, maintain, or be present at any Wrestlings, Shooting, Bowling, Kinging of Bells for Pleasure or Pastime, Masque, Wake, otherwise called Feasts, Church-ale, Dancing, Games, Sport or Pastime whatsoever. "Nothing in this ordinance shall extend to the prohibiting of the dressing of meat in private families, or the dressing and sale of victuals in a moderate way in innes or victualling houses for the use of such as can not otherwise be provided for." April 6, 1644. — Scobell's Collection, cap. xxxvii. p. 69. These saints moreover were pleased to allow milk to be cried be- fore nine and after four from the 10th of September to the 10th of March ; and before eight and after five from the 10th of March to the 10th of September. M 3 250 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. In addition to the sports and pastimes already de- scribed, there prevails in the North of England a custom of making fools on the 1st of May similar to that more generally practised on the 1st of April. So at least says a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine,* who tells us, that " U. P. K. spells May-goslings is an expression used by boys at play, as an insult to the losing party. U. P. K- is up-pick, up with your pin or peg, the mark of the goal. An additional punishment was thus j the winner made a hole in the ground with his heel, into which a peg about three inches long was driven, its top being below the surface ; the loser with his hands tied behind him was to pull it up with his teeth, the boys buffetting him with their hats, and calling out, Up-peck, you May-gosling ; or, U. P. K. gosling in May. A May gosling on the 1st of May is made with as much eagerness in the North of England, as an April noddy (noodle) or fool, on the 1st of April." About eighty years ago the great May-fair was held near Piccadilly on a spot which still retains the name of May-fair. Carter, the antiquarian, writing of it in 1816, says it then still existed in much the same state it had done fifty years before, and as his account is full of curious interest I shall give it at some length. — ''May- fair exists in much the same state as at the above period ; for instance, Shepherd's Market,* and houses surround- * For April, 1791, vol. lxi. p. 327. f Shepherd's Market was thus called not from sheep being bought and sold there, but from the name of the builder, Shep- heard, who in 1733 obtained a grant from the government for estab- lishing on that spot a market for live cattle, (see Gentleman's Maga- zine for March, 1738, vol. viii. p. 164. It must, however, have fallen into neglect in the course of time, for in the same work for January 1750, p. 40, we are told " the market was opened at May-fair for all sorts of caltle as at Smithfield." THE MONTHS MAY. 251 ing it on the north and east sides, with White -horse- street, Shepherd's-court, Sun-court, Market-court : west- wards, an open space extending to Tyburn (now Park- lane) now built upon in Chapel-street, Shepherd's-street, Market-street, Hertford-street, &c. ; southwards, the noted Ducking-pond, house and gardens, since built up- on, in a large Riding-school, Carrington-street, &c. The Market-house consisted of two stories ; first story, a long and cross aisle for butcher's shops, externally, other shops connected with culinary purposes ; second story, used as a theatre at fair time for dramatic performances) Below the butchers gave place to toymen and ginger- bread bakers. At present, the upper story is unflored the lower ditto nearly deserted by the butchers, and their shops occupied by needy pedling dealers in small wares; in truth, a most deplorable contrast to what was once such a point of allurement. In the areas encompassing the market-building were booths for jugglers, prize- fighters, both at cudgels and back-sword, boxing-matches, and wild beasts. The sports not under cover were mountebanks, fire-eaters, ass-racing, sausage-tables, dice ditto, up-and-downs, merry-go-rounds, bull-baiting, grin- ning for a hat, running for a shift, hasty-pudding eaters, eel-divers, and an infinite variety of other similar pas- times. Among the extraordinary and wonderful delights of the happy spot, take the following few items, which still hold place within my mind, though I can not affirm they all occurred at one precise season. The account may be relied on as I was born and passed my youthful days in the vicinity, in Piccadilly (Carter's statuary) two doors from the south end of White-horse -street, since rebuilt and occupied at present by Lady Pulteney. " Ducking-pond, with a large commodious house, good disposure of walks, arbours, alcoves ; and in an area be- 25*2 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. fore the house an extensive bason of water, otherwise Ducking pond, for the recreation of lovers of that polite and humane sport. Persons who came with their dogs paid a trifling fee for admission, being considered" the chief patrons and supporters of the pond ; others, who visited the place as mere spectators, paid a double fee. A duck was put into the pond by the master of the hunt, the several dogs were then let loose to seize the bird. For a long time they made the attempt in vain ; for, when they came near the devoted victim, she dived under water, and eluded their remorseless fangs. Here consisted the extreme felicity of the interesting scene. At length some dog more expert than the rest, caught the feathered prize ami bore it away amidst the loudest acclamations to his most fortunate and envied master. This diversion was held in such high repute about the reign of Charles II. that he and many of his prime nobility did not disdain to be present, and partake with their dogs of the elegant entertainment. In Mrs. Behn's play of ' Sir Patient Fancy,' (written at the above period) a Sir Credulous Easy talks about a cobler, his dog-tutor, and his expecta- tion of soon becoming the ' Duke of Ducking Pond.' " Mountebanks' Stage. — One was erected opposite the Three Jolly Butchers' public-house, on the east side of the market area, now the King's Arms. Here Wood- ward, the inimitable comedian and harlequin, made his first appearance as Merry Andrew ; from these humble boards he soon afterwards found his way to Covent Gar- den Theatre. " Beheading of Puppets. — In a coal-shed attached to a grocer's shop one of these mock executions was exposed to the attending crowd. A shutter was fixed horizontally, on the edge of which, after many previous ceremonies, a puppet laid its head, and another puppet then instantly THE MONTHS — MAY. 253 chopped it off with an axe. In a circular stair-case win- dow at the north end of Sun-court, a similar performance took place by another set of puppets. The condemned puppet bowed its head to the sill, which as above was soon decapitated. In these representations the late pu- nishment of the Scotch chieftain, Lord Lovat, was alluded to, in order to gratify the feelings of southern loyalty at the expense of that farther north. " Strong Women. — In a fore one-pair room, on the west side of Sun-court, a Frenchman submitted to the curious the astonishing strength of his wife. A blacksmith's anvil being procured from White-horse-street, with three of the men, they brought it up and placed it on the floor. The woman was short, but most beautifully and delicately formed, and of a most lovely countenance. She first let down her hair, a light auburn, of a length descending to her knees, which she twisted round the projecting part of the anvil, and then with seeming ease lifted the ponderous weight some inches from the floor. After this a bed was laid in the middle of the room, when reclining on her back, and uncovering her bosom, the husband ordered the smiths to place thereon the anvil, and forge upon it a horse-shoe. This they obeyed, by taking from the fire a red-hot piece of iron, and with their forging ham- mers completing the shoe with the same might and in- difference as when in the shop at their constant labour. The prostrate fair one appeared to endure this with the utmost composure, talking and singing during the whole process ; then with an effort, which to the bye-standers seemed like some supernatural trial, cast the anvil from off her body, jumping up at the same moment with ex- treme gaiety, without the least discomposure of her dress or person. "That no trick or collusion could possibly be practised <254 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. on the occasion was obvious from the following evidence. The audience stood promiscuously about the room, among whom were one family and friends, the smiths utter strangers to the Frenchman, but known to us, therefore the several efforts of strength must have pro- ceeded from the natural and surprising power this foreign dame was possessed of. She next put her naked foot on a red-hot salamander, without receiving the least injury ; but this is a feat familiar to us at this time. " Tiddy-Doll. — The celebrated vendor of gingerbread, who, from his eccentricity of character and extensive dealings in his way, was always hailed as the king of itinerant tradesmen. In his person he was tall, well-made, and his features handsome. He affected to dress like a person of rank, wearing a white gold-laced suit of cloaths, laced ruffled shirt, laced hat and feather, white silk stockings, with the addition of a fine white apron. Among his harangues to gain customers, take this specimen: ' Mary, Mary, where are you now, Mary? I live when at home in the second house in Little Ball- street, two steps under ground, with a wiscum, riscum, and a why not. Walk in, ladies and gentlemen ; my shop is on the second floor backwards, with a brass knocker at the door. Here is your nice gingerbread, your spice gin- gerbread ; it will melt in your mouth like a red-hot brick- bat, and tumble in your inside like Punch and his wheel- barrow.' This address he ever finished by singing the following fragment of some popular ballad ; Ti-tid-dy ti-ti, ti-tid-dy, ti-ti, Ti-tid-dy, ti-ti, tid-dy did-dy, dol-lol, Ti-tid-dy, ti-tid-dy, ti-ti Tid-dy tid-dy dol. " Hence the nickname of Tiddy-Dol. In Hogarth's print of the execution of the Idle Prentice at Tyburn, Tiddy-Dol THE MONTHS MAY. 255 is seen holding up a gingerbread cake with his left hand, his right being within his coat, and addressing the mob in his usual way, 'Mary, Mary, &c.' His costume agrees with the aforesaid description. For many years (and perhaps at present) allusions were made to his name ; as thus — 'you are so fine (to a person dressed out of charac- ter) you look like Tiddy-doll — you are as tawdry as Tiddy- doll — you are quite Tiddy-doll/ &c. " Soon after this, Lord Coventry occupied the house, corner of Engine-street,* Piccadilly, (built by Sir Henry Hunlocke, Bart., on the site of a large ancient inn, called the Greyhound); he being annoyed with the unceasing uproar night and day during the fair — the whole month of May — procured, I know not by what means, the entire abolition of this festival of Misrule and disorder."! The last paragraph in Carter's reminiscence forms a pretty comment on the maxim " that every man may do what he pleases with hisown,"and proves that it is confined to the possessors of lands and fine houses. The people were to be debarred from their amusements — amusements that had dated from anticpiity — because it suited Lord Coventry to take up his abode in their neighbour- hood. Various other parts of London seems to have been particularly connected with the May-games. Thus Stow, when writing of Ealdgate Ward, now called Aldgate Ward, * Engine-street still retains its name. It is situated in Piccadilly between White-horse-street and Down-street, and leads into Brick- street, which latter was, as I have been told, a notorious abode some fifty years ago, of thieves and prostitutes ; whence any bad character in the neighbourhood was usually styled a Brickaderian. A celebrated prize-fighter who, from the small-pox marks in his face, had obtained the soubriquet of Crumpet, was among the notorieties of this street. t Gentleman's Magazine, vol. Ixxxvi. p. 228. March, 181G. 256 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Leadenhall Street, tells us, " at the north-west corner of this ward, in the said high street, standeth the fair and beautiful parish church of St. Andrew the Apostle, with an addition, to be known from other churches of that name, of the hnape or undershaft, and so called St. Andrew Undershaft, because that of old time every year — on May-day in the morning — it was used that an high or long shaft, or Maypole, was set up there in the midst of the street before the south door of the said church. Which shaft, when it was set on end, and fixed in the ground, was higher than the church-steeple. This shaft was not raised since Evil May-day — so called of an in- surrection made by prentices and other young persons against aliens in the year 1517— hut the said shaft was laid along over the doors, and under the pentises of one row of houses, and Alley Gate, called after the shaft, Shaft Alley. It was there I say hanged, on iron hooks, many years till the third of King Edward VI., that one Sir Stephen, curate of St. Katharine, Christ Church, preaching at Paul's Cross, said there that this shaft was made an idol, by naming the church of St. Andrew with the addition of under that shaft ; he persuaded, therefore, that the names of churches might be altered 5 also that the names of days in the week might be changed, the fish-days to be kept any days except Fridays and Satur- days ; and the Lent, any time save only betwixt Shrove- tide and Easter. I have oft times seen this man, forsak- ing the pulpit of his said parish church, preach out of a hieh elm-tree in the midst of the churchyard j and then entering the church, forsaking the altar, to have sung his high mass in English upon a tomb of the dead to- wards the north. I heard his sermon at Paul's Cross, and I saw the effect that followed ; for in the afternoon of that present Sunday, the neighbours and tenants of the THE MONTHS MAY. '257 said bridge,* over whose doors the said shaft had lain, after they had dined, to make themselves strong, gathered more help, and with great labour raising the shaft from the hooks, (wherein it had rested two and thirty years), they sawed it in pieces, every man taking for his share so much as had lain over his door and stall, the length of his house ; and they of the Alley divided amongst them so much as had laid over their alley gate. Thus was this idol — as he, poor man, termed it — mangled, and after burned." t Little Drury also was, at one time, celebrated for its May-pole. It stood at the north end, and was erected by John Clarges, a smith and farrier in the Savoy, to com- memorate his daughter's good fortune in having married General Monk, at a time when he was only a private gen- tleman, and thus after the restoration becoming Duchess of Albemarle. | These curious particulars respecting the family would, in all probability, have been forgotten, with many better things, but for a dispute among them- selves, which brought every thing out in a court of jus- tice, and left it upon the record. A correspondent in the Gentleman's Magazine, gives the following account of it. " I have in my possession minutes of a trial upon an action of trespass between William Sherwin, plaintiff, and Sir Walter Clarges, Bart., and others, defendants, at the King's Bench Bar, at Westminster, 15th November, I'OO. The plaintiff, as heir and representative of Thomas Monk, Esq., elder brother of George, Duke of Albemarle, claimed the manor of Sutton, in co. York, and other lands in Newton, Eaton Bridge, and Shipton, as heir-at- * That is of Rochester Bridge, of which, he had before said, it was a possession. t Stoiv's London, by Strype, vol. i. book ii. p. 65. J Gentleman's Magazine for January 1792, vol. lxii. p. IH. 258 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. law to the said duke, against the defendant, devisee under the will of Duke Christopher, his only child, who died in 1689 ; S.P." (i.e. sine prole, without offspring.) " Upon this trial some very curious particulars came out, re- specting the family of Anne, wife of George, created Duke of Albemarle. It appeared that she was daughter of John Clarges, a farrier in the Savoy, and farrier to Colonel Monk. In 163<2, she was married in the church of St. Laurence Pountney, to Thomas Ratford, son of Tho- mas Ratford, late a farrier, servant to Prince Charles, and resident in the Mews. She had a daughter, who was born in 1634, and died in 1638. Her husband and she lived at the Three Spanish Gipsies, in the New Exchange, and sold wash-balls, powder, gloves, and such things, and she taught girls plain work. About 1647, she being a sempstress to Colonel Monk, used to carry him linen. In 1648 her father and mother died. In 1649 she and her husband fell out and parted. But no certificate from any parish register appears reciting his burial. In 1652 she was married in the church of St. George, Southwark, to General George Monk, and in the following year was delivered of a son, Christopher, (afterwards the second and last Duke of Albemarle above mentioned), who was suckled by Honours Mills, who sold apples, herbs, oisters, &c. One of the plaintiff's witnesses swore that ' a little before the sickness,' (i.e., the plague), 'Thomas Ratford demanded and received of him the sum of twenty shil- lings, that his wife saw Ratford again after the sickness, and a second time after the duke and duchess were dead.' A woman swore that she saw him ' the day his wife, then called Duchess of Albemarle, was put into her coffin, which was after the death of the duke,' her second hus- band, who died 3rd January, 1669-70. And a third wit- ness swore that he saw Ratford about July, 1660. In THE MONTHS — MAY. "259 opposition to this evidence it was alleged that ' all along during the lives of Duke George and Duke Christopher this matter was never questioned — ' that the latter was universally received as only son of the former — and that ' this matter had been thrice before tried at the bar of the King's Bench, and the defendant bad had three ver- dicts.' A witness swore that he owed Ratford five or six pounds, which he had never demanded. And a man, who had ' married a cousin of the Duke of Albemarle, had been told by his wife that Ratford died five or six years before the duke married.' Lord Chief Justice Holt told the jury, * if you are certain that Duke Christopher was born while Thomas Ratford was living, you must find for the plaintiff. If you believe he was born after Ratford was dead, or that nothing appears what became of him after Duke George married his wife, you must find for the defendant.' A verdict was given for the defendant, who was only son to Sir Thomas Charges, Knt., brother to the illustrious duchess in question, was created a baronet, October 30th, 1674, and was ancestor to the baronets of his name."* Another celebrated May-pole was erected in the Strand, near Catharine Street, which was first raised in 1661, to celebrate the restoration of Charles II. The writer of an old pamphlet, published at the time, thus describes it : " Let me declare to you the manner in generall of that stately cedar erected in the Strand, 134 feet high, com- monly called the May-pole, upon the cost.of the parishners there adjacent, and the gracious consent of his Sacred Majesty, with the illustrious prince, the Duke of York. "This tree was a most choice and remarkable piece ; 'twas made below bridge, and brought in two parts up to Scotland Yard, near the king's palace, and from thence * Gentleman's Magazine for October, 1793, vol. lxiii. p. 886. 260 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. it was conveyed, April the 14th, to the Strand, to be erected. " It was brought with a streamer flourishing before it, drums beating all the way, and other sorts of music 3 it was supposed to be so long that landmen (as carpenters) could not possibly raise it ; Prince James, the Duke of York, Lord High Admirall of England, commanded twelve seamen off aboord to come and officiate the business, whereupon they came and brought their cables, pullies, and other tacklins, with six great anchors ; after this was brought three crowns, bore by three men bare-headed, and a streamer displaying all the way before them, drums beating, and other musick playing ; numerous multitudes of people thronging the streets, with great shouts and acclamations all day long. "The Maypole then being joyned together, and hoopt about with bands of iron, the crown and vane with the king's armes richly gilded was placed on the end of it. This being done, the trumpets did sound, and in four hours' space it was advanced upright, after which being established fast in the ground, six drums did beat, and the trumpets did sound again, great shouts and acclama- tions the people gave, that it did ring throughout all the whole Strand ; after that came a Morice dance, finely deckt with purple scarfs in their half shirts, with a taber and pipe, the ancient musick, and danced round about the Maypole ; after that, danced the rounds of their liberty. Upon the top of this famous standard is likewise set up a royal purple streamer ; about the middle of it is placed four crowns more, with the king's arms likewise ; there is also a garland set upon it, of various colours, of delicate rich favours, under which is to be placed three great lanthorns, to remain for three honours ; that is, one for Prince James, Duke of York, Lord High Admirall of THE MONTHS MAY. 261 England ; the other for the vice-admiral] ; and the third for the rear-admiral ; these are to give light in dark nights, and to continue so long as the pole stands, which will be a perpetual honour to seamen. It is placed, as near hand as they could guess, in the very same pit where the former stood, hut far more glorious, bigger and higher than ever any one that stood before it ; and the seamen themselves do confess that it could not be built higher, nor there is not such a one in Europe beside, which highly doth please his Majesty, and the illustrious Prince, Duke of York. Little children did much rejoice, and antient people did clap their hands, saying, golden dayes began to appear. I question not but 'twill ring like melodious musicke throughout every county in Eng- land when they read this story, being exactly pen'd."* How or when the chimney-sweepers contrived to in- trude their sooty persons into the company of the gay and graceful Flora upon her high festival is more than I am able to tell ; but that they form the most conspicu- ous portion of a May-day festival must be familiar to every one. Perhaps I should rather speak of this in the past tense, for though the custom still maintains a linger- ing existence, it will probably be numbered in a few years amongst the things that have been. A time therefore may come when a slight record of it will be read with curi- osity. The festival lasts three days, when the chimney-sweep- ers' apprentices assemble in parties, the number of each varying from six to twenty or more according to circum- stances, and generally accompanied by a drum. All how- ever have certain common characteristics. First, there is * The Cities Loyalty Diplayed, 4to. London, 16G1, p. 4. It is a thin pamphlet, of five pages only, and though exceedingly scarce, is to be found in the British Museum, under the head London. Of)<2 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. the Jack in the Green, a large hollow cone of hoops or basket-work, about six feet high, and sometimes more, so completely covered with ivy, holly, flowers, and ribbons, that the person carrying it is altogether hidden except his feet ; I have little doubt that this is nothing else than the old triangular garland, which we so often find suspended upon the May-pole, only fallen, Darius-like, "from its high estate," and now become loco-motive upon the irround. Next comes the Lord of the May, always the tallest of the apprentices, his face half washed, and whole painted, or daubed rather with Dutch pink ; he has on a cocked hat, fringed with red or yellow feathers ; his coat is of a mongrel breed or fashion, being like a livery, like a military coat, like a court-dress, and yet having a distinct character of its own ; and in the breast of this he sticks a mighty nosegay ; his waistcoat is glorious with much lace ; his frill is of most unusual magnitude ; his breeks— many thanks to the Scotch for so decorous a word — his breeks are satin with paste knee-buckles ; his stockings are of silk with figured clocks ; his feet, seldom of very small dimensions, are cased in dancing- pumps, wherein he wears immense buckles : to his well- powdered hair is appended a bag with a rosette ; in his right hand he carries a cane or stick with refulgent metal-knob, his sceptre, " the attribute to awe and majesty ;" and in his left he has a handkerchief — at onetime white, though now of a dingy yellow — which he holds in a rather ni- mini pimini way by the corner. Next comes the Lady of the May, sometimes personated by a strapping dam- sel, but more frequently by a young sooterkin in female attire, as fine as he or she can possibly be made by the help of foil, ribbons, and flowers ; if Flora was really the doubtful character that some have painted her, the ap- pearance of her representative could not have been in THE MONTHS — MAY. 263 better keeping 5 in her right hand she bears a brass ladle ; and in her left, the usual emblem of gentility, a dirty pocket-handkerchief. Sometimes too there is a clown in the regular costume of modern pantomime, but this, I fear, must be considered as a very illegitimate practice. All the rest are more or less gaily equipped ; sometimes their heads are garlanded with flowers, and, when this is not the case, their hats are profusely ornamented with foil and coloured papers ; so too their jackets, while their grimy legs, and no less grimy faces, are daubed very artisti- cally with Dutch pink, mixed with stripes or patches of white chalk, and the same sort of decoration is extended even to their shovels. In this guise they parade the streets, when suddenly they stop, Jack in the Green begins to dance, my lord and lady caper likewise, and the younger sooterkins follow the ex- ample, to the music of their little wooden shovels, on which they keep up a rapping with their brushes. The dance being ended, the two principals respectively bow and courtesy to each other with the greatest politeness, and a general attack is commenced upon the liberality of the spectators. My Lord, hat in hand, bows graciously to any window from which he can catch the glimpse of a curious face ; my Lady presents her ladle to them ; and the subordinate fry of sooterkins hold up their shovels in a manner not to be mistaken. Sometimes a very fair day's work is done in this manner ; but the masters are rapa- cious enough to claim for themselves the lion's share of all that is thus obtained, the entire receipt of the two first hoi yd ays being in most cases their allotted portion. Throughout the different counties there has prevailed a considerable variety in the celebration of the May-games, although always the same in spirit and intention. In Cornwall they are called the Furry, a word variously de- 26i NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERAJURE. rived from Flora — from the old Cornish term, fer, a fair or jubilee — and from the root of the Greek verb , because on that day the people carry flowers. The second de- rivation which emanated from Polwhele,* is not alone the most plausible, but the only one of the three that carries with it a shadow of reason. At Helston this festival takes place on the 8th, when the season is ushered in with drums, kettles, and other music, as accompaniments to the Furry Song, which how- ever is so full of modern allusions as to be hardly worth repeating. The observance of the holy-day is so strictly insisted upon by the natives that if any one be found at work he is instantly seized, set astride on a pole, hurried off on men's shoulders to the river, and compelled to leap over it at a place especially chosen for its width, and thus affording the culprit a fair chance of a good ducking. He is, however, allowed to compound for the leap if he pleases. " About nine o'clock the revellers appear before the grammar-school, and demand a holiday for the school- boys, after which they collect from house to house more money than is now-a-day collected on a brief from the Tweed to the Land's End. They then fade into the country— -fade being an old English word for go, — and about the middle of the day return with flowers and oak- branches in their hats and caps, from which till the dusk they dance hand in hand through the streets to the sound of the fiddle, playing a particular tune ; and thread the houses as they list, claiming a right to go through any person's house, in at one door, and out at the other. In the afternoon the ladies and gentlemen used to visit some farm-house in the neighbourhood, whence, having regaled themselves with syllabubs they returned, after the fashion of the vulgar, dancing as briskly the fade-dance, and en- * History of Cornwall, vol. i. p. 41, 4to. Falmouth, 1803. THE MONTHS MAY 2C5 teringthe houses as unceremoniously. At present a select party only make their progress through the street very late in the evening, when they quickly vanish from the view, reappearing in the ball-room."* A correspondent of Hone's gives a somewhat different account of the Cornish festivities on this occasion. — " It is," he says, "an annual custom on May-eve for a number of young men and women to assemble at a public-house and sit up till the clock strikes twelve, when they go round the town with violins, drums, and other instru- ments, and by sound of music call upon others who had previously settled to join them. As soon as the party is formed, they proceed to different farm-houses, within four or five miles of the neighbourhood, where they are ex- pected as regularly as May morning comes ; and they there partake of a beverage called junket, made of raw- milk and rennet, or running, as it is there called, sweetened with sugar and a little cream added. After this they take tea and heavy country cake, composed of flour, cream, sugar, and currants; next, rum and milk; and then a dance. After thus regaling, they gather the May. While some are breaking down the boughs, others sit and make the May-music. This is done by cutting a circle through the bark at certain distances from the bottom of the May branches ; then by gently and regularly tapping the bark all round, from the cut circle to the end, the bark be- comes loosened, and slips away whole from the wood, and a hole being cut in the pipe it is easily formed to emit a sound when blown through and becomes a whistle.f The gathering and the May-music being finished they then * Polwhele's History of Cornwall, vol. i. p. 42. + This bark-whistle, so laboriously described by Hone's correspon dent, must, I should think, be familiar to every school-boj. It is usually made from willow. vol. i., N L 1G6 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. bring home the May by five or six o'clock in the morning, with the band playing, and their whistles blowing. After dancing through the town they go to their respective em- ployments. Although May-day should fall on a Sunday, they observe the same practice in all respects, with the omission of dancing in the town.* On the first Sunday after May-flay it is a custom with families at Penzance to visit Rose-hill, Poltier, and other adjacent villages by way of recreation. These pleasure- parties usually consist of two or three families together. They carry flour and other materials with them to make the heavy-cake, just described, at the pleasant farm-dairies, * In regard to the celebration of May-day though it fell upon a Sunday, such also was the custom in the time of James the First, the king only stipulating that the games should not be during the hours of divine service, and — which does not seem quite so reasonable — that no one should participate in them who had not been to church. In all other respects his view of the matter affords so excellent a lesson and rebuke to the bigots of our own time that I can not forbear giving a brief extract from it. " This prohibition barreth the common and meaner sort from using such exercises as may make their bodies more able for warre, when wee or our successors shall have occasion to use them. And in place thereof sets up filthy tiplings and drunkennesse and breeds a number of idle and discontented speeches in their ale- houses. For when shall the common people have leave to exercise if not upon the Sundayes and holydaies, seeing they must apply their labour and win their living in all working daies ? " The king then goes on to say " our pleasure is that after divine service our good people be not disturbed, letted, or discouraged from any lawful recreation, such as dancing, either men or women ; archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any other such harmlesse re- creation, nor from having of Maygames, Whitson-Ales, and Morris- dances, and the setting up of Maypoles And that women shall have leave to carry rushes to the church for the decoring of it, ac- cording to the old custome." The King's Declaration concerning lawful Spirts. London, 1633. THE MONTHS MAY. 26'7 which are always open for their reception. " Nor do they forget to take tea, sugar, rum, and other comfortable things for their refreshment, which by paying a trifle for baking, and for the niceties awaiting their consumption, contents the farmers for the house-room and pleasure they afford their welcome visitants. Here the young ones find delicious junkets, with sour milk, cut in diamonds, which is eaten with sugar and cream. New-made cake, refreshing tea and exhilirating punch satisfy the stomach, cheer the spirits, and assist the walk home in the evening. These pleasure-takings are never made before May-day ; but the first Sunday that succeeds it, and the leisure of every other afternoon is open to the frugal enjoyment ; and among neighbourly families and kind friends the en- joyment is frequent."* Inventio Crucis; Holy-Rood Day; Holy-Cross Day, — May 3d. — This day takes its first name, Inventio Crucis, i. e. Discovery of the Cross, from its being the anniversary of the finding of the real cross by Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great. Accord- ing to the legend, told by Ambrosius, Theodoretus, and other veracious historians of the church, the good lady in 326 took it into her head to make a pilgrimage to Pales- tine, she being then very near eighty years of age.f Her first visit is to Golgotha, when she is seized with a fancy — Ambrosius calls it a divine inspiration — for seeing the * This lamely-written account, which might have come from the pen of a school-boy, occurs in Hone's Every Day Book, vol. i.p. 5bl ; but indeed Hone and his contributors generally wrote in the most childish style that can be imagined. I have given it for the sake of the facts which are sufficiently interesting. + ITpd y&p 6\iys tijq TtXtvTijc. rrjv cnro?r]^iav ravrtjv liroirjaaro 6ydor)KovTHTie. Sk to rsp/xa rs (Ha KurttXijrpiv. B. Theodoreti Ecclcsias. Hist. lib. i. cap. xvii. p. 794. torn. iii, iivo. Halae, 1771. N 2 2()8 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. true cross, and is exceedingly wrath with the devil for having hid it; for it seems he had put it into the head of his heathen friends to build a temple to Venus on the ground where Christ was buried, and to erect a statue to Jupiter on the place of his resurrection. All this was sufficiently provoking to an empress who was not used to be thwarted in any of her fancies; " here," says the pious pilgrim, " is the battle-ground, but where is the victory ? I seek the standard of salvation, but find it not ; shall I sit in royalty, and the cross of the Lord in dust ? shall I dwell in gilded palaces, and the triumph of Christ is in ruins ? I see what you have been doing, Satan, that the sword which smote you might be hidden." * But how was the sable gentleman to be defeated? Eusebius says that she was helped out of this difficulty by a vision, a resource common to poets and ecclesiastical historians; but other authorities more modestly state that she had recourse to a council of old women — male as well as female — of Jerusalem, who agreed that if she could discover the sepulchre she would be sure to find also the instruments of punishment, it being always the custom among the Jews to make a great hole near the place where the body of any criminal was buried, and to throw into it whatever belonged to the execution, for they held such objects too detestable to be kept in sight. Thus advised, she ordered the fane to be pulled down, and was rewarded for her pious zeal by finding three crosses, the * " Accessit ad Golgotha, etait; 'ecce locus pugna3, ubi est victoria? quaere vexillum salutis, et non invenio. Ego.' inquit, ' in regnis, et crux Domini in pulvere ? ego in aureis, et in ruinis Christi trium- phus ? . . . . Video quid egeris, diabole, ut gladius quo peremtus es, obstrueretur.' " Sancti Ambrosii Opera, torn. vii. p. 38, sect. 43 and 44. — De Obitu 'iheodosu Oratio. I am sorry to be forced to add that Erasmus declares this amusing oration is spurious. THK MONTHS MAY. \LC>9 nails employed in the crucifixion, and the" title, or label, which had once been affixed to the real cross. But now came another difficulty ; the title having been separated by decay or accident, how was she to distinguish the cross of Christ from those of the two thieves? This would have puzzled most people, but it did not puzzle the inspired bishop, Macarius, who on being- consulted recommended that all three should be taken to a lady of rank then lying ill, and their powers severally tested in her cure. Two were tried without effect, but the third restored the patient to perfect health, and was conse- quently pronounced to be the genuine. Great, hereupon, was the delight of the poor old empress. Part of the nails she manufactured into a helmet for her son, as a sure guard against hostile weapons, part she did into his horse's bridle, both for his soul's health and in fulfilment of the oracle of Zechariah.* Another portion she des- tined for the palace, and the rest she enclosed in a silver case made especially for the purpose, and presented to the bishop as a memorial for posterity. In conclusion — without which all the rest would have gone for nothing with the pious — she built a splendid church upon the ruins of the heathen temple.t Holy Rood Day, the name sometimes given to the third of May, takes its rise from the same circumstance, the rood, as Fuller informs us, being an image of Christ on the cross, made generally of wood, and erected in a * Zechariah, chap. xiv. v. 20. f Iheodoreti Ecclesiastica Historia, lib. i. cap. xvii. I presume it is from the same source that the Rev. Alban Butler has drawn the account given by him in his Lives of the Fathers, (vol. vi. p. 45,) but he has omitted all mention of the talismanic helmet — why, I can not imagine, that little incident being so exceedingly characteristic of the good empress. '270 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. loft for that purpose, just over the passage out of the church into the chancel."* The next day of importance in this month is the 8th — the Apparition of St. Michael — held sacred by the Catholics on account of the three apparitions, or appear- ances, of St. Michael. The first was on Mount Garganus, now called Mount St. Angelo, a lofty hill and promontory of Apulia, which advances into the Adriatic Sea. A herdsman, having lost his ox, and after a long search finding it in the mouth of a cavern, flung a dart at the animal, when the weapon rebounded upon him and wounded him. Terrified at this miracle, he consulted his bishop, who ordered a three days' fast, and the latter, being afterwards visited by St. Michael in person, was informed by him that he had wounded the herdsman by way of letting them know that he was the patron-saint of the city. A second apparition was when the Neapolitans, who were then Pagans, waged war against the Christian people of Sipentum, a city of Apulia. In this case also the then bishop ordained a three days' fast, the usual episcopal panacea for all evils, and commanded moreover that the people should pray to Saint Michael for assistance. They of course obeyed these injunctions, and in the night-time the bishop was rewarded for his advice by a familiar visit from St. Michael, with a promise that his flock should have the victory. Most faithfully, too, did the saint keep his word, for the next day, when the opposing armies met, Mount Garganus was shaken with repeated thunders, the air was darkened, and the heathens, terrified out of their wits by these prodigies, fled as fast as they could to Naples. * History of Waltham Abbey, p. 16. — See his works, folio. Lond. 1G55. Ad finem. THE MONTHS MAY. c 2? 1 A third appearance was at Koine in the time of Gregory the Great. The pontiff was praying against a pestilence, when he saw an angel upon the mount of Adrian, with a hloody sword in his hand, which he then sheathed, whence the supplicant inferred that his prayers had been granted, and in consequence he built a chapel on the spot in honour of all the angels.* There would, however, seem to be some little difficulty in understanding why the day should be particularly dedicated to St. Michael, a difficulty which Durandus endeavours to get over by many ingenious ar- guments, his principal one being that St. Michael was the guardian of Paradise, f and therefore more especially en- titled to such an honour. Rogation Sunday. The fifth Sunday after Easter. It took its name from preceding the Rogation Days, that is the three days before Holy Thursday, Rogation being a term generally used to denote processional supplications ; the reason of the word being more specifically applied to the days in question was this : — About the year 550, the city of Vienne, (in Dauphine,) was much troubled with earth- quakes and the irruption of wild beasts, whereupon Mamertus, the bishop of the diocese, obtained permis- sion from the senate to ordain processional supplications on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, before the As- cension.} * Hospinian De Festis Christ, fol. 85. f Durandi Rat. Divin. Offic. lib. vii. cap. 12. X " Dum civitas Viennensium crebro terra motu subrueretur et bestiarium desolaretur incursu, sanctus Mamertus, ejus civitatis epis- copus, eas dicitur pro malis qua; pra?missimus ordinasse." Haiti/red, Stral. c. '28. d. De Rebus Ecclesiast. I give the passage, as quoted by Bourne, having only taken the liberty of reading dicitur for legitur, a manifest misprint, which as a matter of course, Sir Henry Ellis, who quotes from him, has retained, with the addition — also of course — of another typographical blunder — De Rep. Ecclesiast. See also Sticp- Q~2 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITER ATURK. It is not easy to say when or how these rogations became mixed up with the parochial perambulations, but there cannot be the least doubt that the latter have been derived to us from the limes of the Romans. It is only a Christian form of the Terminalia, established by Nuina Pompilius, in honour of the God Terminus, the guardian of Helds and landmarks, and maintainer of peace amongst mankind.* Even the Reformation did not sweep away this useful custom j it only modified the observance ; and we find Elizabeth ordering that " the curate, at certain and con- venient places, shall admonish the people to give thanks in the beholding God's benefits, for the increase and abun- dance of his fruits upon the face of the earth, with the saying of the 103d psalm, at which time the minister shall inculcate these, or such sentences — ' cursed be he which translateth the bounds and dolesf of his neigh- bours.' "| The week, in which these days fell, was also called herd's " Elucidation of Common Prayer" vol. ii. p. 127, who, how- ever, in the earlier edition of his work mistook this " civitas Vien. nensium," for Vienna, the capital of Austria. In the second edition of vol. ii. the error is corrected. * Spelman, in his Glossary under the head Perambidatio, says, " refert Plutarchus in Problem xiii. Numam Pompilium cum finitimis agri terminis constituisse et in ipsis finibus Terminum, Deum, quasi tinium praasidem amicitiocque ac pacis custodem posuisse. Hinc festa ei dicata quae Terminalia nuncupantur, quorum vice nos quotannis ex vetustissima. consuetudine parochiarum terminos lustramus, — Sax- onibus ganpdagas, hodiernis processiones et Rogationes appellatas. T Dole means a boundary-stone. Todd derives it from the Saxon dcelan, to divide ; but I should rather fancy it was the Celtic dol, a stone, which we find in the compound word dolman, i.e. the Stone of the Men, another name for the cromlech. t Bourne's Antiq. vol. i. p. '207. THK MONTHS MAY. '2/ .> Cross-ioeek, " because in ancient times, when the priests went into the fields, the cross was carried before them.' In the north it was, and I believe still is, called gang-week, from the provincial word gang, a descendant from the Anglo-Saxon gang-days already noticed. Lastly, it was termed Grass-week, in some of the inns of court, be- cause the commons then consisted mostly of sallads and green vegetables. There is a superstitious observance appertaining to. this week peculiar to Kent, but which I believe may be found, with modifications, in Devonshire also. Hasted, who sometimes condescended to relieve his antiquarian details by scraps of this kind, informs us " there is an odd custom used in these parts, about Keston and Wick- ham, in Rogation week ; at which time a number of young men meet together for the purpose, and with a most hideous noise run into the orchards, and incircling each tree, pronounce these words : Stand fast root, bear well top, God send us a youlingf sop ! Every twig, apple big ; Every bough, apple enow. For which incantation the confused rabble expect a gra- tuity in money, or drink, which is no less welcome. But if they are disappointed of both, they with great so- lemnity anathematize the owners and trees with alto- gether as insignificant a curse. It seems highly probable that this custom has arisen from the ancient one of per- ambulation among the heathens, when they made their * Bourne's Antiq. Vulg. p. 285, note. t I hardly know whether it may be necessary to explain to anj' one that this youling, or yuling sop is an allusion to the roasted crab- apple, which is put into the wassail bowl at Christmas, the ale thus prepared forming the well-known drink called lambs-wool. 2J4 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. prayers to the Gods for the use and blessing of the fruits coming up, with thanksgivings for those of the preceding year. And as the heathens supplicated /Eolus, God of the winds, for his favourable blasts ; so in this custom, they still retain his name with a very small variation, this ceremony being called youling, and the word is often used in their invocations.''* I doubt much however the word youling having any thing to do with the God iEolus. It is derived, in my opinion, from the Indian huly, a spring festival ; for though in more modern times Yule has been restricted to mean a Christmas feast, yet with the Druids it was also applied to those that were cele- brated in the month of May. We shall find, too, that the word, under various modifications of the original root, runs through the Gothic, Danish, Welsh, and other languages, and always more or less distinctly signify- ing a rejoicing or festival-making This is clearly its meaning amongst the people ot Kent in the ceremony just described. Ascension Eve. This, though not noticed amongst Pro- testants, is held by the more rigid Catholics to be a par- ticular occasion for alms-giving, for, as Durandus tells us,t the previous fasts are of no avail without works of charity ; " if," says he, quoting St. Gregory, " you wish your prayer to rise to Heaven, you must lend it two wings — fasting and alms-giving." * Hasted's History of Kent, vol. i. p. 109. *h " Quia vero jejunium quo preemissum est non sufficit sine operibus miser icordiae, ideo in vigilia Ascensionis, qua? est tertia dies rogati- on um, ecclesia nionet ad opera misericordise. . . . Dicit enim Gregor. ' Si vis orationem tuam ad caelum volare, fac ei duas alas, scilicet je- junium et eleemosynam. ' '' Gut. Burundi, Rat. Div. Offic. lib. vi. cap. ciii. p. 2o0. THE MONTHS MAY. 2/5 Ascension- Day, or Holy Thursday. This, as the name sufficiently implies, is the anniversary of Christ s Ascension, but there is no peculiar mention of this festi- val amongst the elder writers on such subjects. It is celebrated on the fortieth day after the passover, because Christ ascended into Heaven on the fortieth day after his resurrection.* A few trifling observances still cling to it in some parts, the relicks of our forefathers' superstitions. Thus we are told by a writer in the Gentleman's Maga- zine, when speaking of superstitions prevalent in the neighbourhood of Exeter, "that the figure of a lamb actually appears in the east on the morning of Ascension- Day is the popular persuasion. And so deeply is it rooted that it hath frequently resisted (even in intelligent minds) the force of the strongest argument." t Reginald Scot also mentions two superstitions as con- nected with this day, but without localizing them — " in some countries," he says, "they run out of the doors in time of tempest, blessing themselves with a cheese, whereupon there was a cross made with a rope's end upon Ascension-Day — Item, to hang an egg, laid on Ascension- Day in the roof of the house preserveth the same from all hurts."| In conclusion it should not be forgotten that the cus- tom of parochial perambulations has amongst us been chiefly confined to this day ; but such deviations from the original observance are too common to excite the least surprise. * " Apud vetustiores authores festi Ascensionis Christi peculiaris mentio nulla fit, sed comprehendunt illud sub Quinquaginta illis festis diebus post Pascha." Hospinian De Festis Christianorum, p. 86. + Gentleman's Mat/azine, for August 1787, vol. lvii. p. 718, note. X The Discovert/ of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot, p. 152, folio, Lond. 1665. ^?6 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. Pentecost : Whitsuntide. This term was anciently used with two very different meanings ; first, as denoting the whole fifty days from Easter to Whitsuntide, i.e. the Pas- chal solemnity, which in early times was one continued festival in commemoration of Christ's resurrection ; and secondly, as signifying that particular day on which the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles. In this more restricted sense it was called Pentecost because it was the fiftieth day from the Passover; and Whitsunday, i.e. White-Sunday, either metaphorically from the light which then diffused itself amongst the apostles ; or, — and this seems more probable — from its being one of the two principal seasons of public baptism, when the baptized wore white garments, or chrisoms, in token of the spi- ritual purity they received at the font, and their pro- mised whiteness of life for the future. It must not, how- ever be concealed that Wheatley mentions a curious letter of Gerard Langbain's upon this subject, giving a very different meaning to the word. From his account it would seem, that Langbain, who was a perfect glutton of Bod- leian manuscripts, stumbled upon one, which in substance states, " that it was a custom among our ancestors upon this day to give all the milk of their ewes and kine to the poor for the love of God, in order to qualify them- selves to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which milk being then— as it is still in some counties, — called White- meat, &c. therefore this day from that custom took the name of Whitsunday."* Wheatley's account is as follows— <; The letter I have is in manu- script, but seems to be a transcript of a printed letter of Langbain, dated from Oxford on Whitsun-Eve, 1650, and writ in answer to a friend that had enquired of him the original of the word, Whitsun- tide, in which after he had hinted at some other opinions he gives the above-mentioned account in the following words.—" Extat illic (in Bodleiana) MS. hoc titulo, De Sotcnmitatibus Sanctorum Feriandis. TUB MONTHS MAY. 277 This (lay also, like those immediately preceding it, had its peculiar superstition. Amongst other things it was believed that whatever was asked of Heaven on Whit- sunday would be infallibly granted, a notable instance of which we have in the Echo of a certain fanatic,* who called himself Arise Evans, and who tells us, " hearing some say that whatsoever one did ask of God upon Whit- sunday morning at the instant when the sun arose and play'd, God would grant it him ; having a charitable beliefe of the report, being willing to try all the ways possible to obtain my petition, I arose betimes on Whit- sunday morning, and went up a hill, at a place called Gole Ron/no, to see the sun arise — Gole Ronnw in Eng- Author est anonymus, qui de Festo Pentecostes agens hoc habet : ' Judaei quatuor prsecipua celebrant solemnia ; Pascha, Pentecosten, Scenopegiam, Encaenia. Nos autem duo de illis celebramus, Pascha et Pentecosten, sed alia ratione. Illi celebrant Pentecosten, quia tunc legem perceperunt; nos autem ideo, quia tunc Spiritus Sanctus missus est discipulis. Illi susceperunt tabulis lapideis extrinsecus scripta, ad designandam eorum duritiem, quoniam usque ad spiritualem intel- lectum liters non pert'ngebant ; sed Spiritus Sanctus datus est sexaginta duobus discipulis in corde, digito Dei spiritualem intellectum intus dedicante. Ideoque Dies intellectus dicitur Witsonenday, vel item Vitsonenday ; quia proedecessores nostri omne lac ovium et vaccarum suarum solebant dare pauperibus illo die, pro Dei amore, ut puriores efficirentur ad recipiendum Donum Spiritus Sancti.' — Quocum, fere ad verbum, consentit manuscriptus alter hoc titulo Doctrina quomodo Curatus possit sanctorum vitas per annum populo denunciare. Et certe quod de lacte vaccarum rei'ert, illud percog- nitum habeo, in agro Hamptoniensi (an et alibi nescio) decimas lacti- ciniorum venire vulgo sub hoc nomine, The Whites of Kine ; apud Leicestrense* etiam Lacticinia vulgariter dicuntur WhitemeaV — Wheat ley's Rational Illustration of Common Prayer, p. 211, Folio j Lond. 17'20. *' An Echo to the voice from Heaven, or a narration of the life and manner of the special calling and visions of Arise Evans. 12rno. Blackfriars, 1652, p. 9. 2?8 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. lish is, they will give light — and seeing the sun at its rising skip, play, dance, and turn about like a wheel, I fell down upon my knees." At this particular season were used to be celebrated the so-called Mint sun-ales. Of the meaning and deriv- ation of this word I shall speak presently ; the sport, or feast is thus described by Rudder.* "Two persons are chosen previous to the meeting, to be lord and lady of the yulef who dress as suitably as they can to the cha- racters they assume. A large empty barn, or some such building, is provided for the lord's hall, and fitted up with seats to accommodate the company. Here they as- semble to dance and to regale in the best manner their circumstances and the place will afford, and each young fellow treats his girl with a ribband or favour. The lord and lady honour the hall with their presence, attended by the steward, sword bearer, purse-bearer, and mace- bearer, with their several badges or ensigns of office. They have likewise a page, or train-bearer, and a jester drest in a party-coloured jacket, whose ribaldry and ges- ticulation contribute not a little to the entertainment of some part of the company. The lord's music, consisting generally of a pipe and tabor is employed to conduct the dance. All these figures, handsomely represented in basso-relievo, stand in the north wall of the nave of Cirencester church, which vouches sufficiently for the antiquity of the custom. Some people think it a com- memoration of the ancient drink-lean, a day of festivity formerly observed by the tenants and vassals of the lord of the fee within his manor, the memory of which, on * History of Gloucestershire, p. 23. Folio, Cirencester. 1779. t Yule, i.e. the festival. This affords a sufficient proof of what I have stated above, — that the word, yule, was not originally restricted to Christmas, but meant a festival generally. THE MONTHS MAY. c Z7 l J account of the jollity of those meetings, the people have thus preserved ever since. It may notwithstanding have its rise in Druidism,* as on these occasions they always erect a May-pole, which is an eminent sign of it. I shall just remark that the mace is made of silk finely plaited with ribbands on the top., and filled with spices and perfume for such of the company to smell to as desire it. Does not this afford some light towards dis- covering the original use, and account for the name of the mace, now carried in ostentation before the steward of the court on court days, and before the chief magis- trate in corporations ; as the presenting of spices by great men at their entertainments was a very ancient practice." From what Aubrey says, these Whitsun-ales supplied the place of poor-rates, which did not exist at all in his time ; but indeed there is something so delightful in his picture of the general happiness of the lower classes in the age immediately preceding his own — mixed up, it must be owned, with more questionable matters, — that I can not resist the temptation of transcribing it: "No younger brothers then were by the custom and constitution of the realm to betake themselves to trades, but were church- men or retainers, and servants to great men, rid good horses, now and then took a purse, and their blood, that was bred of the good tables of their masters, was upon every occasion freely let out in their quarrels ; it was then too common among their masters to have feuds with one another ; and their servants at market, or where they met * May ! — unquestionably it had. It would be hard indeed to find any popular festival that did not spring from some ancient religious observance, and Druidism being the earliest known form of religion in England, to what other source can we refer them ? That Druidism itself was borrowed from the east is another matter. "280 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. in that slashing age, did commonly bang one another's bucklers. Then an esquire when he rode to town, was attended by eight or ten men in blue coats with badges. The lords — then lords in deed as well as title — lived in their countries like petty kings,— had jura regalia belong- ing to their seignories, had their castle and boroughs, and sent burgesses to the Lower House 5 had gallows within their liberties, where they could try, condemn, draw and hang ; never went to London but in parliament- time, or once a year to do their homage and duty to the king. The lords of manors kept good houses in their countries, did eat in their Gothick halls at the high table- in Scotland still the architecture of a lord's house is thus, viz. a great open hall, a kitchen and buttery, a parlour, over which a chamber for my lord and lady ; all the rest lye in common, viz. the men-servants in the hall, the women in a common room, or oriele, the folk at the side tables — oriele is an ear, but here it signifies a little room at the upper end of the hall, where stands a square or round table, perhaps in the old times was an oratory ; in every old Gothick hall is one. The meat was served up by ivatch-words. Jacks are but an invention of the other age ; the poor boys did turn the spits, and licked the dripping-pan, and grew to be huge, lusty knaves. The beds of the servants and retainers were in the great halls, as now in the guard-chamber, &c. The hearth was com- monly in the middle, as at most colleges, whence the saying, Round about our Coal-fire. Here in the halls were the mummings, cob-loaf stealing, and great number of old Christmas plays performed. Every baron and gentle- man of estate kept great horses for a man at arms. Lords had their armories to furnish some hundreds of men. The halls of justices of the peace were dreadful to behold ; the skreens were garnish'd with corslets and THE MONTHS — MAY. 281 helmets gaping with open mouth, with coats of mail, lances, pikes, halberts, brown bills, batterdashers, bucklers, and the modern calivers and petronils (in King Charles the First's time) turned into muskets and pistols. Then were entails in fashion, a good prop for monarchy. Destroy- ing of manours began temp. Henry VIII. but now common ; whereby the mean people live lawless, nobody to govern them, they care for no body, having no depend- ance on any body. By this method, and by the selling of the church lands, is the ballance of the government quite altered and put into the hands of the common people. No ale-houses, nor yet inns, were there then, unless upon great roads. When they had a mind to drink they went to the fryaries ; and when they travell'd, they had enter- tainment at the religious houses for three days, if occasion so long requir'd. The meeting of the gentry was not then at tipling houses, but in the fields or forests, with their hawks and hounds, with their bugle-horns in silken bor- dries.* This part (north of Wiltshire) very much abound- ed with forests and parks. Thus were good spirits kept up, and good horses and hides made ; whereas now the gentry of the nation are so effeminated by coaches, they are so far from managing great horses, that they know not how to ride hunting-horses, besides the spoiling of several trades dependant. In the last age every yeoman almost kept a sparrow-hawk ; and it was a divertisement for young gentlewomen to manage sparrow-hawks and merlins. " In King Henry the Eighth's time one Dame Julianf * Borderies, i.e. baldricks, or girdles; but I do not remember having ever met with the word so spelt before. t- This, I presume, alludes to a work by Juliana Berners, or Barnes, prioress of Sopwell, near St. Albans. If so, Aubrey is not quite cor- rect in his account of it, for it is only the portion, called the Gestvs 282 NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. writ the art of hawking which is in English verse, which is in Wilton library. This country was then a lovely champain, as that about Sheeston and Cots-wold ; very few enclosures unless near houses. In my remembrance much hath been enclos'd, and every year more and more is taken in. Anciently the leghs — now corruptly called slaights — i. e. pastures, were noble large grounds. Then were a world of labouring people maintained by the plough, as yet in Northamptonshire, &c. There were no rates for the poor in my grandfather s days ; but for Kingston St. Michael (no small parish) the church- ale at Whitsuntide did the business. In every parish is, or was, a church-house, to which belong' 'd spits, crocks, &;C, utensils for dressing provi- sion. Here the housekeepers met arid were merry, and gave their charity. The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at butts &c, the ancients sit- ting gravely by and looking on. All things were civil and without scandal. This church-ale is doubtless derived from the aycnrai or love-feasts, mention'd in the New Tes- tament. Mr. A. Wood assures me that there were no alms-houses, at least they were very scarce, before the Reformation ; that over against Christ Church, Oxon, is one of the ancientest. In every church was a poor man's box, but I never remember'd the use of it ; nay, there was one at great inns, as I remember it was before the wars. Before the Reformation, at their vigils or revels, they sate up all night fasting and praying. The night before the day of the dedication of the church, certain officers were chosen for gathering the money for charitable OF Venery, that is in verse. It is a black-letter volume printed by Wynkyn