A BOOK OF THE BEGINNINGS

NOTES TO SECTION 7

[1] [Brugsch, ZA, 1868, 73.]

[2] [Stevenson, A Ryght Pithy, Pleasaunt and merie Comedie: Intytuled Gammer gurtons Nedle, (1575 ed.), p. 40. 'By gys master cham not sick, but yet chaue a disease. Chad a foule turne now of late, chill tell it you by gigs.']

[3] [Lady Holland, A Memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smith, vol. 1, p. 217. 'In the summer he welcomed Dr. Holland's three children, as if they had been his own, to spend the whole autumn in his house at Combe Florey. While we were there, he was writing one morning in his favourite bay-window, when a pompous little man, in rusty black, was ushered in. "May I ask what procures me the honour of this visit?" said my father. "Oh," said the little man, "I am compounding a history of the distinguished families in Somersetshire, and have called to obtain the Smith arms." "I regret, sir," said my father, "not to be able to contribute to so valuable a work; but the Smiths never had any arms, and have invariably sealed their letters with their thumbs."']

[4] [The pseudonym of Alexander Croucher Schomberg; Ode on Present State of English Poetry?]

[5] [See above note.]

[6] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 99, the 3rd ed. 'Peascod Wooing.' 'Mr. Davy, of Ufford, in Suffolk, informs me that the efficacy of peascods in the affairs of sweethearts is not yet forgotten among our rustic vulgar. The kitchen-maid, when she shells green peas, never omits, if she finds one having nine peas, to lay it on the lintel of the kitchen-door, and the first clown who enters it is infallibly to be her husband, or at least her sweetheart. Anderson mentions a custom in the North, of a nature somewhat similar. A Cumbrian girl, when her lover proves unfaithful to her, is, by way of consolation, rubbed with peas-straw by the neighbouring lads; and when a Cumbrian youth loses his sweetheart, by her marriage with a rival, the same sort of comfort is administered to him by the lasses of the village. "Winter time for shoeing, peascod time for wooing," is an old proverb in a MS.
    In the south of Scotland the superstition about the cod with nine peas in it is equally prevalent; and the present statement will explain a line in a beautiful Scottish pastoral, perhaps little understood:
    "If you meet a bonnie lassie,
    Gie her a kiss and let her gae;
    If you meet a dirty hussey,
    Fie, gae rub her o'er wi' strae!"']

[7] [Ibid., vol. 2., p. 135, the 3rd ed. 'The Marriage Ceremony'. 'In the Sarum Manual there is this remarkable variation in the woman's speech: "to be bonere and buxom in bedde and at borde," &c. Bonaire and buxom are explained in the margin by "meek and obedient." In the York Manual the woman engages to be "buxom" to her husband; and the man takes her "for fairer for fouler, for better for worse."']

[8] [Ibid., vol. 2, p. 167, the 3rd ed. 'Divinations at Weddings.' 'Hutchinson, in his History of Durham, i. 33, speaking of a cross near the ruins of the church in Holy Island, says: "It is now called the Petting Stone. Whenever a marriage is solemnised at the church, after the ceremony the bride is to step upon it; and if she cannot stride to the end thereof, it is said the marriage will prove unfortunate." The etymology there given is too ridiculous to be remembered: it is called petting, lest the bride should take pet with her supper.']

[9] ['Grose, in his Provincial Glossary, explains hob-nob (sometimes pronounced hob-nab) as a north-country word, signifying, At a venture, rashly. He tells us, also, that hob or hub is the north-country name for the back of the chimney. We find the following in his Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue: "Will you hob or nob with me? a question formerly in fashion at polite tables, signifying a request or challenge to drink a glass of wine with the proposer: if the party challenged answered Nob, they were to chuse whether white or red." His explanation of the origin of this custom is extremely improbable.' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 348.
The Editor adds the following note: "This foolish custom is said to have originated in the days of good Queen Bess, thus: When great chimneys were in fashion, there was, at each corner of the hearth or grate, a small elevated projection called the hob, and behind it a seat. In winter time the beer was placed on the hob to warm, and the cold beer was set on a small table, said to have been called the nob; so that the question 'Will you have hob or nob!' seems only to have meant, 'Will you have warm or cold beer?' i.e. beer from the hob, or beer from the nob.']

[10] [Montagu, A Guide to the Study of Heraldry, p. 48. 'Badges were a sort of subsidiary arms, used to commemorate family alliances, or some territorial rights or pretensions. Crests seem to have been purely personal, and to have been chosen mostly for the sake of the gracefulness of their form, or for their formidable and warlike aspect. Thus we see, upon the first introduction of crests, that immense plumes of ostrich or swan feathers, wings, griffons' and Saracens' heads predominated.']

[11] [Skene, Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. 1, p. 273. 'The sluggish animals of Seithin.']

[12] [Quoted in Kent, Sylvan Sketches, London, 1825, p. 24. 'Lightfoot says that, in the Highlands of Scotland, at the birth of an infant, the nurse takes a green stick of Ash, one end of which she puts into the fire, and, while it is burning, receives in a spoon the sap that oozes from the other, which she administers to the child as its first food.' Kent gives no source for the Lightfoot reference. From Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folklore, p. 145.]

[13] ['"The reason," we are told by a modern native authority, "for giving ash-sap to newborn children in the Highlands of Scotland, is, first, because it acts as a powerful astringent; and, secondly, because the ash, in common with the rowan, is supposed to possess the property of resisting the attacks of witches, fairies, and other imps of darkness. Without some precaution of this kind they would change the child, or possibly steal it away altogether. The herd boys in the district of Buchan, in Aberdeenshire, always prefer a herding stick of ash to any other wood, as in throwing at their cattle it is sure not to strike on a vital part, and so kill or injure the animal as a stick of any other kind of wood might do:
    Rowan, ash, and red thread
    Keep the devils frae their speed.
    "It is a common practice with the housewives in the same district to tie a piece of red worsted thread round their cows' tails previous to turning them out to grass for the first time in the spring. It secures their cattle, they say, from an evil eye, from being elfshot by fairies," &c. "Choice Notes," p. 24. Red thread is typical of lightning.' From Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folklore, pp. 146-7.]

[14] [Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folklore, p. 145. 'Amazing toughness of popular tradition! Some thousands of years ago the ancestors of this Highland nurse had known the Fraocinus omus in Arya, or on their long journey thence through Persia, Asia Minor, and the South of Europe, and they had given its honey-like juice, as divine food, to their children; and now their descendant, imitating their practice in the cold North, but totally ignorant of its true meaning, puts the nauseous sap of her native ash into the mouth of her hapless charge, because her mother and her grandmother, and her grandmother's grandmother had done the same thing before her.']

[15] [Source]

[16] ['Shakespeare has also given us a description of Robin Good-fellow in the Midsummer Night's Dream:
    "Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
    Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite,
    Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are you not he,
    That fright the maidens of the villagery,
    Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern,
    And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;
    And sometimes naake the drink to bear no barm;
    Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
    Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
    You do their work, and they shall have good luck."'
From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 512.]

[17] [Rit. ch. 86. Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[18] ['Borlase, in his Antiquities of Cornwall, p. 138, tells us: "Another relic of these Druid fancies and incantations is doubtless the custom of sleeping on stones, on a particular night, in order to be cured of lameness." He observes (Natural History of Cornwall, p. 302): "A very singular manner of curing madness, mentioned by Carew, p. 123, in the parish of Altarnun to place the disordered in mind on the brink of a square pool, filled with water from St. Nun's Well. The patient, having no intimation of what was intended, was, by a sudden blow on the breast, tumbled into the pool, where he was tossed up and down by some persons of superior strength, till, being quite debilitated, his fury forsook him; he was then carried to church, and certain masses sung over him. The Cornish call this immersion Boossenning, from Beuzi or Bidhyzi, in the Cornu-British and Armoric, signifying to dip or drown."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 395.]

[19] [Champollion, Nubian Dictionary?, 209.]

[20] [The Monuments of Upper Egypt, p. 93. 'It is well known that the exploration of this tomb has furnished science with unhoped-for results. For what the traveller now sees of it is merely its skeleton. But the fact is that, although it had been rifled by the early Christians, the tomb, when first discovered, still possessed nearly all that it had ever contained that was not gold or other precious matter. There existed a custom which had especially contributed to enrich the tomb with valuable documents. On certain days in the year, or on the occasion of the death and funeral rites of an Apis, the inhabitants of Memphis came to pay a visit to the god in his burial-place. In memory of this act of piety they left a stela, i.e. a square-shaped stone, rounded at the top, which was let into one of the walls of the tomb, having been previously inscribed with an homage to the god in the name of his visitor and his family. Now these documents, to the number of about five hundred, were found, for the most part, in their original position (see especially the entrance chamber to the N.); and as many of them were dated according to the fashion of the time, that is with the year, month and day of the reigning king, a comparison of these inscribed tablets must necessarily prove of the greatest importance, especially in fixing chronology.']

[21] [Rit. ch. 17. Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[22] [Book of Common Prayer, (1794 ed.), p. 376. 'Then while the earth shall be call upon the Body by some standing by, the Priest shall say, FORASMUCH as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.']

[23] [The History of the Common Law of England, intro. 'And possibly the Grandfather might be the first Collector of them into a Body, and afterwards Edward might add to the Composition, and give it the Denomination of the Common Law, but the Original of it cannot in Truth be referred to either, but is much more ancient, and is as undiscoverable as the Head of Nile: Of which more at large in the following Chapter.']

[24] ['The curfew is commonly believed to have been of Norman origin. A law was made by William the Conqueror that all people should put out their fires and lights at the eight o'clock bell, and go to bed. See Seymour's edit, of Stow's Survey of London, book i. cap. 15. The practice of this custom, we are told, to its full extent, was observed during that and the following reign only. In Bridges's History of Northamptonshire, i. 110, speaking of Byfield church, the author tells us: "A bell is rung here at four in the morning, and at eight in the evening, for which the clerk hath 20s. yearly paid him by the rector." A bell was formerly rung at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, also, at four in the morning.' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 223.]

[25] ['In this instance no particular time is specified, but in Romeo and Juliet, iv. 4, he makes Lord Capulet say:
    "Come, stir, stir, stir, the second cock hath crow'd,
    The curphew bell hath rung, 'tis three o'clock."'
From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 222.]

[26] ['And in King Lear, iii. 4, Edgar exclaims: "This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins at curfew, and walks to the first cock."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 223.]

[27] ['The following occurs in Peshall's History of the City of Oxford, p. 177: "The custom of ringing the bell at Carfax every night at eight o'clock (called Curfew Bell, or Cover-fire Bell), was by order of King Alfred, the restorer of our University, who ordained that all the inhabitants of Oxford should, at the ringing of that bell, cover up their fires and go to bed, which custom is observed to this day, and the bell as constantly rings at eight, as Great Tom tolls at nine. It is also a custom added to the former, after the ringing and tolling this bell, to let the inhabitants know the day of the month by so many tolls." (We are indebted for some of our additions to this article to a very valuable paper on the subject by Mr. Syer Cuming.) From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 221.]

[28] ['Dr. Owen Pughe, the British lexicographer, differing from his martial countrymen, supposes that the custom originated in the Cymhortha, still observed in Wales, in which the farmers reciprocate assistance in ploughing their land, when every one contributes his leek to the common repast. Hampson's Kalend. i. 170.' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 105.
See also ibid., p. 107: 'Owen, in his Cambrian Biography, 1803, p. 86, says: "In consequence of the romances of the middle ages which created the Seven Champions of Christendom, St. David has been dignified with the title of the Patron Saint of Wales: but this rank, however, is hardly known among the people of the Principality, being a title diffused among them from England in modern times. The writer of this account never heard of such a Patron Saint, nor of the Leek as his symbol, until he became acquainted therewith in London." He adds, "The wearing of the Leek on Saint David's Day probably originated from the custom of Cymhortha, or the neighbourly aid practised among farmers, which is of various kinds. In some districts of South Wales, all the neighbours of a small farmer without means appoint a day when they all attend to plough his lands and the like; and at such a time it is a custom for each individual to bring his portion of Leeks, to be used in making pottage for the whole company; and they bring nothing else but the Leeks in particular for the occasion."']

[29] [Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, sc. 1. 'The old quarto reads:
    as by the same comart;
and this is right. Comart signifies a bargain, and carriage of the articles, the covenants entered into to confirm that bargain. Hence we see the common reading makes a tautology.' Warburton's note to vol. 10, p. 176, The Plays of William Shakespeare, London, 1778 ed.]

[30] ['A curious custom, known as the Quaaltagh, is still partially observed in the Isle of Man, and is thus related in Train's history of that island. In almost every parish, on New Year's Day, a party of young men go from house to house singing the verses of which the following is a translation:
    "Again we assemble, a merry new year
    To wish to each one of the family here,
    Whether man, woman, or girl, or boy,
    That long life and happiness all may enjoy.
    May they of potatoes and herrings have plenty,
    With butter and cheese and each other dainty,
    And may their sleep never, by night or by day,
    Disturbed be by even the tooth of a flea,
    Until at the Quaaltagh again we appear
    To wish you, as now, all a happy new year!"
When these lines are repeated at the door, the whole party are invited into the house to partake of the best the family can afford. On these occasions, a person of dark complexion always enters first, as a light-haired male or female is deemed unlucky to be a first-foot or quaaltagh on New Year's morning. The actors of the quaaltagh do not assume fantastic habiliments like the mummers of England or the guisards of Scotland, nor do they appear ever to have been attended by minstrels playing on different kinds of musical instruments. It would be considered a most grievous affair, were the person who first sweeps the floor on New Year's morning to brush the dust to the door, instead of beginning at the door, and sweeping the dust to the hearth, as the good fortune of the family individually would thereby be considered to be swept from the house for that year. On New Year's Eve, in many of the upland cottages, it is yet customary for the housewife, after raking the fire for the night, and just before stepping into bed, to spread the ashes smooth over the floor with the tongs, in the hope of finding in it, next morning, the track of a foot: should the toes of this ominous print point towards the door, then, it is believed, a member of the family will die in the course of that year; but should the heel of the fairy foot point in that direction, then it is as firmly believed that the family will be augmented in the same period. An Hist. and Stat. Acc. of Isle of Man., vol. 2, p. 115.' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 538.]

[31] [Plot, The Natural History of Staffordshire, p. 433. 'That the Lord of the Manor of Essington shall bring a goose every New Year's Day, and drive it round the fire in the Hall at Hilton, at least three times, whilst Jack of Hilton is blowing the fire. Now, Jack of Hilton is a little hollow image of brass of about twelve inches high, kneeling upon his left knee, and holding his right hand upon his head, and his left upon Pego or his veretrum erected (as shown in the figure), having a little hole in the place of the mouth, about the bigness of a great pin's head, and another in the back about two-thirds of an inch diameter, at which last hole it is filled with water, it holding about four pints and a quarter, which, when set to a strong fire, evaporates after the same manner as in an Aolipile, and vents itself at the smaller hole at the mouth in a constant blast, blowing the fire so strongly that it is very audible, and makes a sensible impression in that part of the fire where the blast lights, as I found by experience.'
See illus. in Scott, Phallic Worship, pp. 186-7.]

[32] [Chambers Book of Days, vol. 1, p. 52. 'The first Monday of the year is a great holiday among the peasantry of Scotland, and children generally, as being the day peculiarly devoted in that country to the giving and receiving of presents. It is on this account called Handsel Monday, handsel being in Scotland the equivalent of a Christmas box, but more specially inferring a gift at the commencement of a season or the induing of some new garment. The young people visit their seniors in expectation of tips (the word, but not the action, unknown in the north). Postmen, scavengers, and deliverers of newspapers look for their little annual guerdons. Among the rural population, Aull Hansel Monday, i.e. Handsel Monday old style, or the first Monday after the 12th of the month, is the day usually held.']

[33] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 18, the third ed. 'New Year's Day.' 'Our English nobility, every New Year's tide, still send to the King a purse with gold in it. Reason may be joined to custom to justify the practice; for, as passages are drawn from the first things which are met on the beginning of a day, week, or year, none can be more pleasing than of those things that are given us. We rejoice with our friends after having escaped the dangers that attend every year, and congratulate each other for the future by presents and wishes for the happy continuance of that course which the ancients called Strenarum Commercium. And as, formerly, men used to renew their hospitalities by presents, called Xenia, a name proper enough for our New Year's Gifts, they may be said to serve to renew friendship, which is one of the greatest gifts imparted by Heaven to men: and they who have always assigned some day to those things which they thought good, have also judged it proper to solemnize the Festival of Gifts, and, to show how much they esteemed it, in token of happiness, made it begin the year. The value of the thing given, or, if it is a thing of small worth, its novelty, or the excellency of the work, and the place where it is given, makes it the more acceptable, but above all, the time of giving it, which makes some presents pass for a mark of civility on the beginning of the year, that would appear unsuitable in another season.']

[34] [Ibid., vol. 1, p. 31, the 3rd ed. 'Twelfth Day.' 'The same is done in Herefordshire, under the name of Wassailing, as follows: At the approach of the evening on the vigil of the Twelfth Day, the farmers, with their friends and servants, meet together, and about six o'clock walk out to a field where wheat is growing. In the highest part of the ground, twelve small fires, and one large one, are lighted up. The attendants, headed by the master of the family, pledge the company in old cider, 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 adjacent villages and fields. Sometimes fifty or sixty of these fires may be all seen at once. This being finished, the company return home, where the good housewife and her maids are preparing a good supper. 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: The master, at the head of his friends, fills the cup (generally of strong ale), and stands opposite the first or finest of the oxen. He then pledges him in a curious toast: the company follow his example, with all the other oxen, and addressing each by his name. This being finished, the large cake is produced, and, with much ceremony, put on the horn of the first ox, through the hole above-mentioned. The ox is then tickled, to make him toss his head: if he throw the cake behind, then it is the mistress's perquisite; if before (in what is termed the boosy), the bailiff himself claims the prize. The company then return to the house, the doors of which they find locked, nor will they be opened till some joyous songs are sung. On their gaining admittance, a scene of mirth and jollity ensues, which lasts the greatest part of the night. Gentleman's Magazine, Feb. 1791.']

[35] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 29. 'In many of the small towns they partake of scalded field-peas, and a hare or some other kind of game. The peas are brought to table with the hare, and are scalded in water with the husks on, after which a lump of butter is put in the middle, and they are picked out as they are eaten. The supper concludes with a tharve-cake, a large, flat, oaten cake, baked on a girdle, sometimes with plums in it. Dancing and drinking then occupy the remainder of the evening. Tar barrels are common at all their festivals, and scarcely a town is without them.—Time's Telescope, 1829, p. 11.']

[36] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 505. 'Fool Plough.' 'In the North of England there is a custom used at or about this time, which, as will be seen, was anciently observed also in the beginning of Lent. The Fool-Plough goes about, a pageant that consists of a number of sword-dancers dragging a plough, with music, and one, sometimes two, in very strange attire; 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, in which he is very assiduous, is to go about rattling a box amongst the spectators of the dance, in which he receives their little donations.']

[37] [Walker, 'The Costume of Yorkshire, 4to. 1814, plate xi. gives a representation of the Fool Plough. "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 Caufs tail, dressed out with a cockade and a genuine calf's tail, fantastically crossed with various coloured ribands. 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 on the heads and shoulders of his team." From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 511.]

[38] [Davies, The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, p. 438.]

[39] [ARC, p. 73. From Davies, The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, p. 438.]

[40] [Rit. ch. 17. Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[41] [ARC, p. 44. From Davies, The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, p. 438.]

[42] [Rit. ch. 6. 'Oh Figures! Should this Osiris have been deemed for all the work to be done in Hades, when the evil has dragged a person beneath it. Let me call on you to perform constantly what is to be done there, to plough the fields, to draw waters out of the wells to transport the food of the East to the West. Let me call you to obey the Osiris.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[43] [Rit. ch. 1. 'I am the receiver of the Festival of ploughing the Earth [khebsta] in the land of Suten-Khen [Bubastis].' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[44] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 85. 'In The History and Antiquities of Ludlow, 1822 (pp. 188-189), occurs the following account of a custom formerly observed on this day: "The corporation provide a rope, three inches in thickness, and in length thirty-six yards, which is given out at one of the windows of the Market-House as the clock strikes four, when a large body of the inhabitants divided into two parties one contending for Castle Street and Broad Street wards, and the other for Old Street and Corve Street wards commence an arduous struggle, and as soon as either party gains the victory by pulling the rope beyond the prescribed limits, the pulling ceases, which is, however, renewed by a second, and sometimes by a third contest; the rope being purchased by subscription from the victorious party, and given out again. Without doubt this singular custom is symbolical of some remarkable event, and a remnant of that ancient language of visible signs, which, says a celebrated writer, "imperfectly supplies the want of letters, to perpetuate the remembrance of public or private transactions." The sign, in this instance, has survived the remembrance of the occurrence it was designed to represent, and remains a profound mystery. It has been insinuated that the real occasion of this custom is known to the corporation, but that for some reason or other, they are tenacious of the secret. An obscure tradition attributes this custom to circumstances arising out of the siege of Ludlow by Henry VI., when two parties arose within the town, one supporting the pretensions of the Duke of York, and the other wishing to give admittance to the king; one of the bailiffs is said to have headed the latter party. History relates that, in this contest, many lives were lost, and that the bailiff, heading his party in an attempt to open Dinham Gate, fell a victim there."']

[45] [Rit. ch. 17. 'It is the day of the battle between Horus and Set, when [Set] he puts forth the ropes against Horus, when Horus has [not] taken the gemelli of Set.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[46] [Rit. ch. 39. 'I act peaceably, [oh] Sun! I make the haul of thy rope, oh Sun! The Apophis is overthrown; their cords bind the South, North, East, and West. Their cords are on him.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[47] ['At Westminster School, London, the following is observed to this day. At 11 o'clock A.M. a verger of the Abbey, in his gown, bearing a silver baton, emerges from the college kitchen, followed by the cook of the school, in his white apron, jacket, and cap, and carrying a pancake. On arriving at the school-room door, he announces himself, 'The Cook;' and having entered the school-room, he advances to the bar which separates the upper school from the lower one, twirls the pancake in the pan, and then tosses it over the bar into the upper school, among a crowd of boys, who scramble for the pancake; and he who gets it unbroken, and carries it to the deanery, demands the honorarium of a guinea (sometimes two guineas) from the Abbey funds, though the custom is not mentioned in the Abbey Statutes: the cook also receives two guineas for his performance.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 237.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 80.]

[48] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 167.  'Easter Day.' 'The following is taken from the Antiquarian Repertory, 1780, iii. 44, from the MS. Collection of Aubrey, in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, dated 1678: "The first dish that was brought up to the table on Easter Day was a red-herring riding away on horseback; i.e. a herring ordered by the cook something after the likeness of a man on horseback, set in a corn salad. The custom of eating a gammon of bacon at Easter, which is still kept up in many parts of England, was founded on this, viz. to shew their abhorrence to Judaism at that solemn commemoration of our Lord's Resurrection."' Or in Hazlitt's Dictionary of Faiths and Folklore, p. 344. Aubrey's MS., in the Ashmolean Museum, remains still unpublished.]

[49] [Brand, ibid., vol. 1, p. 68. 'Shrove Tuesday.' 'Among the records of the city of Norwich, mention is made of one John Gladman, "who was ever, and at thys our is a man of sad disposition, and trewe and feythfull to God and to the Kyng, of disporte as hath ben acustomed in ony cite or burgh thorowe alle this reame, on Tuesday in the last ende of Crestemesse [1440,] viz. Fastyngonge Tuesday, made a disport with hys neyghbours, havyng his hors trappyd with tynnsoyle and other nyse disgisy things, corouned as Kyng of Crestemesse, in tokyn that seson should end with the twelve monethes of the yere; aforn hym went yche moneth dysguysed after the seson requiryd, and Lenton clad in white and red heryngs skinns, and his hors trappyd with oystershells after him, in token that sadnesse shuld folowe and an holy tyme, and so rode in divers stretis of the cite with other people with hym disguysed, makyng myrth, disportes, and plays, &c." Bloomfield's Norfolk, ed. 1745, ii. 111.' See also Hazlitt, ibid., p. 546.]

[50] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, pp. 210-1. 'Formerly there existed at Frodsham the following custom: In the walking of the boundaries of the parish the "men of Frodsham" passed, across the brook dividing it from Helsby (then in the adjoining parish of Durham), the Frodsham banner to the "men of Helsby," who in their turn passed over the Helsby banner.']

[51] ['Hasted, in his History of Kent, iii. 380, speaking of Folkstone, says, "there was a singular custom used of long time by the fishermen of this place. They chose eight of the largest and best whitings out of every boat, when they came home from that fishery, and sold them apart from the rest, and out of the money arising from them they made a feast every Christmas Eve, which they called a Rumbald. The master of each boat provided this feast for his own company. These whitings which are of a very large size, and are sold all round the country, as far as Canterbury, are called Rumbald whitings. This custom (which is now left off, though many of the inhabitants still meet socially on a Christmas Eve, and call it Rumbald night) might have been anciently instituted in honour of St. Rumbald, and at first designed as an offering to him for his protection during the fishery."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 515.]

[52] [Pegge, Forme of Curry, p. 12. 'Take Eelys and hilde hem and kerue hem to pecys and do hem to seeþ in water and wyne so þat it be a litel ouer stepid do þerto sawge and ooþer erbis with few oynouns ymynced, whan the Eelis buth soden ynowz do hem in a vessel, take a pyke and kerue it to gobettes and seeþ hym in the same broth do þerto powdour gynger galyngale canel and peper, salt it and cast the Eelys þerto & messe it forth.']

[53] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 95. 'P. Le Neve Foster, Esq., who in 1835 held the rectorial tithes of the parish of Great Witchingham, under a lease from the warden and fellows of New College, Oxford, was bound by a covenant contained therein, to provide and distribute to and amongst the poor inhabitants and parishioners, two seams of peas, containing in all sixteen bushels. The practice has been to give to every person who happens to be in the parish on Ash Wednesday, whether rich or poor, one quart of peas each.—Old English Customs and Charities, 1842, p. 34.']

[54] [Dyer, ibid., p. 94. 'At Felstead the churchwardens distribute, as the gift of Lord Eich, seven barrels of white herrings and three barrels and a half of red on Ash Wednesday, and the six following Sundays, to ninety-two poor householders of the parish, selected by the churchwardens, in shares of eight white herrings and four red a piece. A list is kept of the persons receiving this donation, and they continue to receive it during their lives, unless they misconduct themselves or enter the workhouse.—Old English Customs and Charities, 1842, p. 9.']

[55] [Denham, Narrative of the Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, vol. 3, p. 175. 'The Bornouese in Central Africa have twenty cuts or lines on each side of the face, which are drawn from the corners of the mouth towards the angles of the lower jaw and cheekbone. They have also one cut in the centre of the forehead, six on each arm, six on each leg, four on each breast, and nine on each side, just above the hips. This makes 91 large cuts, and the process is said to be extremely painful on account of the heat and flies.' From Lubbock, The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man, p. 60 of 5th ed.]

[56] [Travels in Brazil in the Years 1817-1820, vol. 2, p. 224. 'Spix and Martius thus describe the ornaments of a Coroado woman: —"On the cheek she had a circle, and over that two strokes; under the nose several marks resembling an M: from the corners of the mouth to the middle of the cheek were two parallel lines, and below them on both sides many straight stripes; below and between her breasts there were some connected segments of circles, and down her arms the figure of a snake was depicted. This beauty wore no ornaments, except a necklace of monkeys' teeth."' From Lubbock, ibid., p. 55 of 5th ed.]

[57] [Travels in Southern Africa in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806. 'The Savage also wears necklaces and rings, bracelets and anklets, armlets and leglets—even, if I may say so, bodylets. Round their bodies, round their necks, round their arms and legs, their fingers, and even their toes, they wear ornaments of all kinds. From their number and weight these must sometimes be very inconvenient. Lichtenstein saw the wife of a Beetuan chief wearing no less than seventy-two brass rings.' From Lubbock, ibid., p. 56 of 5th ed., who gives no p. no.
But see, ibid., vol. 2, p. 311. 'He brought two of his wives with him, who came on purpose to see our camp: he addressed a few words to them, and then left them, together with the men of his train, to amuse themselves, while he retired where he could be quiet. Kok, who was now summoned again to take upon himself the office of interpreter, introduced us in all due form to the ladies. The one was the king's third wife, Makaitschosh, about two-and-twenty: she had regular features, a fine form, and was very pleasing in her whole appearance. The other was the youngest of all the queens, scarcely fifteen years old, with brisk animated eyes, but somewhat of a negro countenance: her name was Marani. The high rank of both might be presumed at first sight from their cloathing: they wore cloaks striped alternately with the skins of the gerboa, and of genet cats, and the eldest had a bunch of grey cats tails fastened to her left shoulder, which hung very ornamentally over the cloak, both before and behind. Over the breast of both was a piece of leather finely tanned, which was fastened with straps over the shoulders, as well as round the body: they had both a profusion of necklaces, made of glass beads, of pieces of cut bone, and little plates of copper: a small part of the body was bare, but from the hips, some way below the knee, hung leather aprons both before and behind, which only, occasionally in walking, allowed the knee to be seen; the legs were wound round with leather, and on the feet were sandals fastened with several leather straps crossed over each other. The lower part of the arm was ornamented with a number of rings, made of giraffe's hair, twined round brass wire. Makaitschosh wore on her left arm, as a token of her rank, no less than seventy-two of these rings, which must have weighed some pounds, and was exceedingly pleased with our taking notice of them and counting them. Her hair was dressed with great care; it was divided into small bunches, which were well rubbed over with the shining ointment, and hung down from the crown of the head, looking like a profusion of silver thread or cord. She invited us to examine it more accurately, and informed us that the hair of the young girls was always kept cut very closely round the face, that it might grow more profusely upon the crown of the head, and that the bunches might fall more gracefully about, than could be the case if the whole hair were suffered to grow.']

[58] ['It is a ceremony, says Bourne, never omitted among the vulgar, to draw lots, which they term Valentines, on the eve before Valentine Day. The names of a select number of one sex are, by an equal number of the other, put into some vessel; and after that every one draws a name, which, for the present, is called their Valentine, and is looked upon as a good omen of their being man and wife afterwards. He adds, there is a rural tradition, that on this day every bird chooses its mate, and concludes that perhaps the youthful part of the world hath first practised this custom, so common at this season.' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 53, citing Bourne's Antiquities Vulgares.]

[59] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, pp. 112-3. 'The goat has by time-honoured custom been attached to the regiment of the Royal Welsh (23rd) Fusiliers, and the following extract, taken from the Graphic (No. 171, March, 8th, 1873), shows how St. David's Day is observed by the officers and men of this regiment: The drum-major, as well as every man in the regiment, wears a leek in his busby; the goat is dressed with rosettes and ribbons of red and blue. The officers have a party, and the drum-major, accompanied by the goat, marches round the table after dinner, carrying a plate of leeks, of which he offers one to each officer or guest who has never eaten one before, and who is bound to eat it up, standing on his chair, with one foot on the table, while a drummer beats a roll behind his chair. All the toasts given are coupled with the name of St. David, nor is the memory of Toby Purcell forgotten. This worthy was gazetted major of the regiment when it was first raised, and was killed in the Battle of the Boyne.']

[60] ['In Wright's Vocabularies it appears thus: "Hic artascopus, symnylle.' This form was in use during the fifteenth century. In the Dictionarius of John de Garlande, compiled at Paris in the thirteenth century, it appears thus: "Simeneus=placentae=simnels." Such cakes were signed with the figure of Christ, or of the Virgin.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 113.]

[61] [See above quote.]

[62] [Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 115, the 3rd ed. 'Our Popish ancestors celebrated (as it were by anticipation) the funeral of our Lord on this Care Sunday, with many superstitious usages, of which this only, it should seem, has travelled down to us.']

[63] ['Rites, peculiar, it should seem, to Good Friday, were used on this day, which the Church of Rome called, therefore, Passion Sunday. Durand assigns many superstitious reasons to confirm this, but they are too ridiculous to be transcribed. Lloyd tells us, in his Dial of Days, that on the 12th of March, at Rome, they celebrated the Mysteries of Christ and his Passion with great ceremony and much devotion.' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 114.]

[64] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 65.]

[65] [Ibid., ch. 52.]

[66] [Opuscula, p. 128, quoting 1 Cor. 15:36. 'Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.']

[67] [Histories, bk. 2.79. 'The Egyptians adhere to their own national customs, and adopt no foreign usages. Many of these customs are worthy of note: among others their song, the Linus, which is sung under various names not only in Egypt but in Phoenicia, in Cyprus, and in other places; and which seems to be exactly the same as that in use among the Greeks, and by them called Linus. There were very many things in Egypt which filled me with astonishment, and this was one of them. Whence could the Egyptians have got the Linus? It appears to have been sung by them from the very earliest times. For the Linus in Egyptian is called Manerôs; and they told me that Manerôs was the only son of their first king, and that on his untimely death he was honoured by the Egyptians with these dirgelike strains, and in this way they got their first and only melody.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'The customs which they practise are derived from their fathers and they do not acquire others in addition; but besides other customary things among them which are worthy of mention, they have one song, that of Linos, the same who is sung of both in Phenicia and in Cyprus and elsewhere, having however a name different according to the various nations. This song agrees exactly with that which the Hellenes sing calling on the name of Linos, so that besides many other things about which I wonder among those matters which concern Egypt, I wonder especially about this, namely whence they got the song of Linos. It is evident however that they have sung this song from immemorial time, and in the Egyptian tongue Linos is called Maneros. The Egyptians told me that he was the only son of him who first became king of Egypt, and that he died before his time and was honoured with these lamentations by the Egyptians, and that this was their first and only song.' Tr., Macauley.]

[68] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 392. 'All-Hallows Eve.' 'I find the following, which is much to my purpose, in Festa Anglo-Romana, p. 109: "All Souls' Day, Nov. 2d: the custom of Soul Mass cakes, which are a kind of oat cakes, that some of the richer sorts of persons in Lancashire and Herefordshire (among the Papists there) use still to give the poor on this day; and they, in retribution of their charity, hold themselves obliged to say this old couplet:
    'God have your saul,
    Beens and all.'']

[69] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 65.]

[70] [Diodorus, Library, bk. 1.]

[71] [See also Arnobius, Adversus Gentes, 5.7: 'Then Midas, king of Pessinus, wishing to withdraw the youth from so disgraceful an intimacy, resolves to give him his own daughter in marriage, and caused the [gates of the] town to be closed, that no one of evil omen might disturb their marriage joys. But the mother of the gods, knowing the fate of the youth, and that he would live among men in safety [only] so long as he was free from the ties of marriage, that no disaster might occur, enters the closed city raising its walls with her head, which began to be crowned with towers in consequence. Acdestis, bursting with rage because of the boy's being torn from himself, and brought to seek a wife, fills all the guests with frenzied madness: the Phrygians shriek aloud, panic-stricken at the appearance of the gods; a daughter of adulterous Gallus cuts off her breasts; Attis snatches the pipe borne by him who was goading them to frenzy; and he, too, now filled with furious passion, raving franticly [and] tossed about, throws himself down at last, and under a pine tree mutilates himself, saying, Take these Acdestis for which you have stirred up so great and terribly perilous commotions. With the streaming blood his life flies; but the Great Mother of the gods gathers the parts which had been cut off, and throws earth on them, having first covered them, and wrapped them in the garment of the dead. From the blood which had flowed springs a flower, the violet, and with this the tree is girt. Thence the custom began and arose, whereby you even now veil and wreath with flowers the sacred pine. The virgin who had been the bride (whose name, as Valerius the pontifex relates, was Ia) veils the breast of the lifeless [youth] with soft wool, sheds tears with Acdestis, and slays herself. After her death her blood is changed into purple violets. The mother of the gods shed tears also, from which springs an almond tree, signifying the bitterness of death. Then she bears away to her cave the pine tree, beneath which Attis had unmanned himself; and Acdestis joining in her wailings, she beats and wounds her breast, [pacing] round the trunk of the tree now at rest. Jupiter is begged by Acdestis that Attis may be restored to life: he does not permit it. What, however, fate allowed, he readily grants, that his body should not decay, that his hairs should always grow, that the least of his fingers should live, and should be kept ever in motion; content with which favours, [it is said] that Acdestis consecrated the body in Pessinus, [and] honoured it with yearly rites and priestly services.' Trs., Bryce and Campbell.
Smith, Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 3, p. 1434. Unable to trace.]

[72] [Rit. ch. 17. Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[73] [Rit. ch. 84. Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[74] [Lepsius, Denkmaler, vol. 4, p. 51, b.]

[75] ['Youth of Thirty.' Compare Gen. 41:46. 'And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.'
Luke 3:23. 'And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.']

[76] ['"If this does not please, the Saxon sciran signifies dividere, and the name may come from the distribution of alms upon that day; for which see Archaeol. Soc. Antiq., i. 7, seq. Spelman, Gloss, v. Mandatum; and Du Fresne, iv. 400. Please to observe too, that on that day they also washed the altars, so that the term in question may allude to that business. See Collier's Eccles. Hist. ii. 197."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 143.]

[77] [Eaton, Rome in the Nineteenth Century, vol. 3, pp. 144-5. 'What could be a more clear and unequivocal act of fire-worship than this? Now, view this in connection with the fact stated in the following extract from the same work, and how does the one cast light on the other: "With Holy Thursday our miseries began [that is, from crowding]. On this disastrous day we went before nine to the Sistine chapel .... and beheld a procession led by the inferior orders of clergy, followed up by the Cardinals in superb dresses, bearing long wax tapers in their hands, and ending with the Pope himself, who walked beneath a crimson canopy, with his head uncovered, bearing the Host in a box; and this being, as you know, the real flesh and blood of Christ, was carried from the Sistine chapel through the intermediate hall to the Paulina chapel, where it was deposited in the sepulchre prepared to receive it beneath the altar ... I never could learn why Christ was to be buried before He was dead, for, as the crucifixion did not take place till Good Friday, it seems odd to inter Him on Thursday. His body, however, is laid in the sepulchre, in all the churches of Rome, where this rite is practised, on Thursday forenoon, and it remains there till Saturday at mid-day, when, for some reason best known to themselves, He is supposed to rise from the grave amidst the firing of cannon, and blowing of trumpets, and jingling of bells, which have been carefully tied up ever since the dawn of Holy Thursday, lest the devil should get into them." The worship of the cross of fire on Good Friday explains at once the anomaly otherwise so perplexing, that Christ should be buried on Thursday, and rise from the dead on Saturday. If the festival of Holy Week be really, as its rites declare, one of the old festivals of Saturn, the Babylonian fire-god, who, though an infernal god, was yet Phoroneus, the great "Deliverer," it is altogether natural that the god of the Papal idolatry, though called by Christ's name, should rise from the dead on his own day the Dies Saturni, or "Saturn's day." On the day before the Miserere is sung with such overwhelming pathos, that few can listen to it unmoved, and many even swoon with the emotions that are excited. What if this be at bottom only the old song of Linus, of whose very touching and melancholy character Herodotus speaks so strikingly? Certain it is, that much of the pathos of that Miserere depends on the part borne in singing it by the sopranos; and equally certain it is that Semiramis, the wife of him who, historically, was the original of that god whose tragic death was so pathetically celebrated in many countries, enjoys the fame, such as it is, of having been the inventress of the practice from which soprano singing took its rise.' From Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp. 155-6.
Hislop adds, ibid. 'The above account referred to the ceremonies as witnessed by the authoress in 1817 and 1818. It would seem that some change has taken place since then, caused probably by the very attention called by her to the gross anomaly mentioned above; for Count Vlodaisk, formerly a Roman Catholic priest, who visited Rome in 1845, has informed me that in that year the resurrection took place, not at mid-day, but at nine o clock on the evening of Saturday. This may have been intended to make the inconsistency between Roman practice and Scriptural fact appear somewhat less glaring. Still the fact remains, that the resurrection of Christ, as celebrated at Rome, takes place, not on His own day "The Lord's day" but on the day of Saturn, the god of fire!']

[78] [As above note.]

[79] [Also spelt Festyval.]

[80] ['This reason is indeed assigned in the English festival, f. 55. "It is saved of his fader, hyght Epiphanius, and his moder Joanna, &c., and when he was born, &c. they made him Christin, and called hym Nycholas, that was a mannes name; but he kepeth the name of the child, for he chose to kepe vertues, meknes, and simpleness he fasted Wednesday and Friday;  these dayes he would souke but ones of the day, and therwyth held him plesed. Thus he lyved all his lyf in vertues with his childes name, and therefore children doe him worship before all other saints, &c." Liber Festivalis in die S. Nicholai.' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 416, the 3rd ed.]

[81] [From Sharpe, Egyptian Mythology, fig. 23.]

[82] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 128. 'The return of Palm Sunday has, from time immemorial, been observed at Hentland Church in a peculiar manner. The minister and congregation receive from the church-wardens a cake or bun, and, in former times, a cup of beer also. This is consumed within the church, and is supposed to imply a desire on the part of those who partake of it to forgive and forget all animosities, and thus prepare themselves for the festival of Easter.—N. & Q. 3rd S. vol. vii. p. 275.']

[83] [Dyer, ibid., pp. 128-32. 'A curious and quaint custom existed for very many years at Caistor Church, in Lincolnshire, on Palm Sunday, connected with a tenure of property; and in the particulars of sale, circulated in 1845, is the following account of it: "This estate is held subject to the performance, on Palm Sunday in every year, of the ceremony of cracking a whip in Caistor Church, in the said county of Lincoln, which has been regularly and duly performed on Palm Sunday, from time immemorial, in the following manner:
    "The whip is taken every Palm Sunday by a man from Broughton to the parish of Caistor, who, while the minister is reading the first lesson, cracks it three distinct times in the church porch, then folds it neatly up, and retires to a seat. At the commencement of the second lesson, he approaches the minister, and kneeling opposite to him with the whip in his hand, and the purse at the end of it, held perpendicularly over his head, waves it thrice, and continues in a steadfast position throughout the whole of the chapter. The ceremony is then concluded. The whip has a leathern purse tied at the end of it, which ought to contain thirty pieces of silver, said to represent, according to Scripture, "the price of blood." Four pieces of weechelm tree, of different lengths, are affixed to the stock, denoting the different Gospels of the holy Evangelists; the three distinct cracks are typical of St. Peter's denial of his Lord and Master three times; and the waving it over the minister's head as an intended homage to the Blessed Trinity."
    In an article on this subject in the Archaeological Journal (1849, vol. vi. p. 239), the writer says: "I have not been able to trace this custom to its source. It would appear to have prevailed in very primitive times, and yet the circumstance of the custom requiring the more essential part of the ceremony to be performed during the reading of the second lesson is scarcely reconcilable with this idea; but I am induced to think that the custom prevailed long before our present ritual existed, and that it has in this respect been accommodated to the changes which time has effected in the services of the Church. Unfortunately, the title-deeds do not contain the slightest reference to the custom. I have no means of tracing the title beyond 1675. The parish of Broughton is a very large one, and anterior to 1675 belonged, Properly Wych elm (Ulmus montana), with small exceptions, to the Anderson family; but whether Stephen Anderson, the then owner of the manor, and the 2200 acres of land sold in 1845, was owner of the other part of Broughton, which has long been in the possession of Lord Yarborough's ancestors, I cannot say. A partition of the property appears to have been made between the co-heiresses, and the manor and 2200 acres being settled in 1772 by Sir Stephen Anderson, of Eyeworth, on his niece, Frances Elizabeth Stephens, and her issue; upon her death it became the property of her son, Ellys Anderson Stephens, who died in 1844, leaving four daughters and co-heiresses, and who, in 1845, sold the property to a client of mine, Mr. John Coupland, and who afterwards sold the manor and about 600 acres to Lord Yarborough, 982 acres to myself, and other portions to different purchasers, reserving to himself about 200 acres. I cannot make out when this partition (above alluded to) took place. The deed or will by which it was effected would probably refer to the custom and provide for the performance of it, but there is no document with the title deeds tending to show whether the custom was due only in respect of the manor, and 2200 acres, or in respect of Lord Yarborough's portion of the parish as well. The fact of a partition having taken place, rests rather upon tradition than evidence; but supposing it, as I do, to be a fact, it seems strange that the title-deeds should be silent as to the obligation imposed upon the owner of the manor to perform the service by which the whole property was held. The manor and estate sold in 1845, were of the tenure of ancient demesne; a tenure which is very rare at this time of day, at least in this part of the world. Probably a reference to Lord Yarborough's title-deeds would clear up the mystery, or Sir Charles Anderson may have the means of doing so.
    "I may also refer to Sir Culling Eardley as possibly in a position to throw some light on the subject; for it was to him and his ancestors, as lords of the manor of Hundon, in Caistor, to whom this service was due, and for whose use the whip was deposited after the service in the pew of Caistor Church, belonging to the lord of the manor of Hundon. All the versions that I have seen of the custom favour the opinion that it had some reference to the subject of the second lesson for Palm Sunday, which is the 26th chapter of St. Matthew, and if so, it would seem likely to follow, that the principal part of the ceremony took place at the reading of that chapter; but in that case it has clearly undergone some change, because, until the last revision of the Book of Common Prayer, there was no proper second lesson for the morning of Palm Sunday; but the 26th chapter of St. Matthew was part of the Gospel for that day, and had been so from Anglo-Saxon times.
    Perhaps the better opinion is, that this custom, recently discontinued, had been so varied from time to time as to have borne at last little resemblance to what originally took place. I do not suppose at its commencement it was regarded as at all irreverent, or was intended to be otherwise than most decorous, according to the idea of a semi-barbarous age; what it really was at first it is now impossible to conjecture or discover. The explanation suggested in the particulars of sale appears too much in accordance with modern notions to be altogether correct. Some allege a tradition that it was a self-inflicted penance by a former owner of the Broughton estate for killing a boy with such a whip."
    In May, 1836, the following petition was presented to the House of Lords by the lord of the manor against the annual observance of this custom; but without effect:
    "To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled.
    "The petition of the undersigned Sir Culling Eardley Smith, of Bedwell Park, in the county of Hertford, sheweth, that your petitioner is lord of the manor of Hundon, near Caistor, in the county of Lincoln.
    "That the lord of the manor of Broughton, near Brigg, in the same county, yearly, on Palm Sunday, employs a person to perform the following ceremony in the parish church at Caistor, etc.; that the performance of this superstitious ceremony is utterly inconsistent with a place of Christian worship.
    "That it is generally supposed that it is a penance for murder, and that, in the event of the performance being neglected, the lord of the manor of Broughton would be liable to the penalty to the lord of the manor of Hundon.
    "That your petitioner being extremely anxious for the discontinuance of this indecent and absurd practice, applied to the lord of the manor of Broughton for the purpose, who declined entering into any negotiation until the deed should be produced under which the ceremony was instituted, which deed (if it has ever existed) your petitioner is unable to produce.
    "That your petitioner subsequently applied to the Bishop of Lincoln to use his influence to prevent the repetition of the ceremony, and offered to guarantee the churchwardens against any loss in consequence of their refusal to permit it.
    "That your petitioner believes there are no trustees of a dissenting chapel who would permit the minister or officers of their chapel to sanction such a desecration.
    "That the ceremony took place, as usual, on Palm Sunday, in this year.
    "Your petitioner therefore prays that your Lordships will be pleased to ascertain from the bishop of the diocese why the ceremony took place; that, if the existing law enables any ecclesiastical persons to prevent it. the law may be hereafter enforced; and that, if the present law is insufficient, a law may be passed enabling the bishop to interfere for the purpose of saving the national Church from scandal.
    "And your petitioner will ever pray."']

[84] [HM, July, 1817.]

[85] [History of Devon?]

[86] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 327. 'It is customary on this day to dress out stools with a cushion of flowers. A layer of clay is placed on the stool, and therein is stuck, with great regularity, an arrangement of all kinds of flowers, so close as to form a beautiful cushion. These are exhibited at the doors of houses in the villages, and at the ends of streets and cross lanes of larger towns, where the attendants beg money from passengers to enable them to have an evening fete and dancing.
    This custom is evidently derived from the "Ludi Compitalii" of the Romans; this appellation was taken from the compita, or cross lanes, where they were instituted and celebrated by the multitude assembled before the building of Rome. It was the feast of the lares, or household gods, who presided as well over houses as streets.—Hutchinson's History of Northumberland.']

[87] [L'Ancre, Tableau de l'inconstance des mauvais anges et demons, p. 209. 'La seconde c'ell a fauts, comme noz artisans fontes villeset villages, par les rues et par les champs: et ces deux sont en rond. Et la troisiesme ell auffi le dos tourne, mais se tenant tous en long, et, sans se deprendre des mains, ils s'approchent de si pres qu'ils se touchent, et se rencontrent dos a dos, un homme avec une femme: et a certaine cadence ils se choquent et frapent inpudemment cul centre cul. Mais auffi il nous sut dit que le Diable bizarre ne les failoit pas tous mettrc rangement le dos tourne vers la couronne de la dance, comme communement dist tout le monde: ains l'un ayant le dos tourne, et l'autre non: et ainfi tout a suite jusqu'a la fin de la dance. .... Or elles dancent au son du petit tabourin et de la flufte, et parfois avec ce long instrument qui'ls portent sur le col, puis s'allongeant jusqu'aupres de la ceinture, ils le batent avec un petit baston: parfois avec un violon. Mais ce ne font les seuls instrumens du Sabbat, car nous avons apprins de plusieurs qu'on y oyt toute forte d'instrumens, avec une telle harmonic qu'il n'y a concert au monde qui le puiffe efgaler.
    "The second is with jumping, as our working men practrise in towns and villages, along the streets and fields; and these two are in round. The third is also with the back turned, but all holding together in length, and, without disengaging hands, they approach so near as to touch, and meet back to back, a man with a woman; and at a certain cadence they push and strike together immodestly their two posteriors. And it was also told us that the devil, in his strange humours, did not cause them all to be placed in order, with their backs turned towards the crown of the dance, as is commonly said by everybody; but one having the back turned, and the other not, and so on to the end of the dance .... They dance to the found of the tabor and flute, and sometimes with the long instrument they carry at the neck, and thence stretching to near the girdle, which they beat with a little stick; sometimes with a violin (fiddle). But these are not the only instruments of the Sabbath, for we have learnt from many of them that all forts of instruments are seen there, with such harmony that their is no concert in the world to be compared to it."' From Knight, Discourse on the Worship of Priapus, p. 241.]

[88] ['At one time a custom was observed at Birmingham, on the Easter Monday, called "Clipping the Church." This ceremony was performed amid crowds of people and shouts of joy, by the children of the different charity schools, who at a certain hour flocked together for the purpose. The first comers placed themselves hand in hand with their backs against the Church, and were joined by their companions, who gradually increased in number, till at last the chain was of sufficient length completely to surround the sacred edifice. As soon as the hand of the last of the train had grasped that of the first, the party broke up, and walked in procession to the other Church (for in those days Birmingham boasted but of two), where the ceremony was repeated.—Every Day Book, vol. i. p. 431.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 176.]

[89] ['It was with the view, no doubt, of carrying out this decree that the calendar was, a few years after, readjusted by Dionysius. This decree could not be carried out all at once. About the end of the sixth century, the first decisive attempt was made to enforce the observance of the new calendar. It was in Britain that the first attempt was made in this way; (GlESELER, vol. i. p. 54.) and here the attempt met with vigorous resistance. The difference, in point of time, betwixt the Christian Pasch, as observed in Britain by the native Christians, and the Pagan Easter enforced by Rome, at the time of its enforcement, was a whole month; (CUMMIANUS, quoted by Archbishop USSHER, Sylloge, p. 34.) and it was only by violence and bloodshed, at last, that the Festival of the Anglo-Saxon or Chaldean goddess came to supersede that which had been held in honour of Christ.
    Note: Those who have been brought up in the observance of Christmas and Easter, and who yet abhor from their hearts all Papal and Pagan idolatry alike, may perhaps feel as if there were something "untoward" in the revelations given above in regard to the origin of these festivals. But a moment's reflection will suffice entirely to banish such a feeling. They will see, that if the account I have given be true, it is of no use to ignore it. A few of the facts stated in these pages are already known to Infidel and Socinian writers of no mean mark, both in this country and on the Continent, and these are using them in such a way as to undermine the faith of the young and uninformed in regard to the very vitals of the Christian faith. Surely, then, it must be of the last consequence, that the truth should be set forth in its own native light, even though it may somewhat run counter to preconceived opinions, especially when that truth, justly considered, tends so much at once to strengthen the rising youth against the seductions of Popery, and to confirm them in the faith once delivered to the Saints. If a heathen could say, "Socrates I love, and Plato I love, but I love truth more," surely a truly Christian mind will not display less magnanimity. Is there not much, even in the aspect of the times, that ought to prompt the earnest inquiry, if the occasion has not arisen, when efforts, and strenuous efforts, should be made to purge out of the National Establishment in the south those observances, and everything else that has flowed in upon it from Babylon's golden cup? There are men of noble minds in the Church of Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, who have felt the power of His blood, and known the comfort of His Spirit. Let them, in their closets, and on their knees, ask the question, at their God and at their own consciences, if they ought not to bestir themselves in right earnest, and labour with all their might till such a consummation be effected. Then, indeed, would England's Church be the grand bulwark of the Reformation then would her sons speak with her enemies in the gate then would she appear in the face of all Christendom, "clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners." If, however, nothing effectual shall be done to stay the plague that is spreading in her, the result must be disastrous, not only to herself, but to the whole empire.' From Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 107.]

[90] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 161, the 3rd ed. 'The day before Easter Day is in some parts called "Holy Saturday."
    On the evening of this day, in the middle districts of Ireland, great preparations are made for the finishing of Lent. Many a fat hen and dainty piece of bacon is put into the pot, by the cotter's wife, about eight or nine o'clock, and woe be to the person who should taste it before the cock crows. At twelve is heard the clapping of hands, and the joyous laugh, mixed with an Irish phrase which signifies "out with the Lent:" all is merriment for a few hours, when they retire, and rise about four o'clock to see the sun dance in honour of the Resurrection. This ignorant custom is not confined to the humble labourer and his family, but is scrupulously observed by many highly respectable and wealthy families, different members of whom I have heard assert positively that they had seen the sun dance on Easter morning.'
Hone, Every Day Book, (3 vol. ed.), vol. 1, p. 422. 'Dancing of the Sun. (As above paragraph.)
    It is inquired in Dunton's "Athenian Oracle," "Why does the sun at his rising play more on Easter-day than Whit-Sunday?" The question is answered thus: "The matter of fact is an old, weak, superstitious error, and the sun neither plays nor works on Easter-day more than any other. It is true, it may sometimes happen to shine brighter that morning than any other; but, if it does, it is purely accidental. In some parts of England they call it the lamb-playing, which they look for, as soon as the sun rises, in some clear or spring water, and is nothing but the pretty reflection it makes from the water, which they may find at any time, if the sun rises clear, and they themselves early, and unprejudiced with fancy." The folly is kept up by the fact, that no one can view the sun steadily at any hour, and those who choose to look at it, or at its reflection in water, see it apparently move, as they would on any other day. Brand points out an allusion to this vulgar notion in an old ballad:
    But, Dick, she dances such away!
    No sun upon an Easter day
    Is half so fine a sight.
Again, from the "British Apollo," a presumed question to the sun himself upon the subject, elicits a suitable answer:
    Q. Old wives, Phoebus, say
    That on Easter-day
    To the music o' th' spheres you do caper;
    Is the fact, sir, be me
    Pray let's the cause know,
    When you have any room in your paper.
    A. The old wives get merry
    With spic'd ale or sherry,
    On Easter, which makes them romance;
    And whilst in a rout
    Their brains whirl about,
    They fancy we caper and dance.
A bit of smoked glass, such as boys use to view an eclipse with, would put this matter steady to every eye but that of wilful self-deception, which, after all, superstition always chooses to see through.']

[91] [Rit. ch. 15. 'I do not dance like thy form, oh Sun! not being the Great Ruler borne along in the river of millions and billions of moments.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[92] [Rit. ch. 15. 'Thou hast traversed the heaven, thou hast perambulated the earth, thou hast followed above in yellow, thou hast lodged dancing.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[93] [Rit. ch. 44. 'The Eye of Horus takes me, Apheru dandles me, I am hidden by [or from] ye, oh Incorruptible!' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[94] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 168. 'Two farms lying in the township of Swinton, and which belong to Earl Fitzwilliain, every year change their parish. For one year, from Easter Day at twelve at noon till next Easter Day at the same hour, they lie in the parish of Mexbrough, and then till Easter Day following at the same Lour, they are in the parish of Wath-upon-Dearne, and so alternately.—Blount's Ancient Tenures of Land.']

[95] [Ibid., p. 168. 'Cole in his Hist. of Filey (1828, p. 136) mentions a similar custom as practised in that place. He says, the young men seize the shoes of the females, collecting as many as they can, and, on the following day, the girls retaliate by getting the men's hats, which are to be redeemed on a subsequent evening, when both parties assemble at one of the inns, and partake of a rural repast.—Gent. Mag. 1790, vol. ix. p. 719.']

[96] [Ibid., pp. 188-90. 'The following remarks are taken from Book of Days vol. I. p. 499: The meaning of the word hoke or hock seems to be totally unknown, and none of the derivations yet proposed seem to be deserving of our consideration. The custom may be traced, by its name at least, as far back as the thirteenth century, and appears to have prevailed in all parts of England, but it became obsolete early in the last century. At Coventry, which was a great place for pageantry, there was a play or pageant attached to the ceremony, which, under the title of "The old Coventry play of Hock Tuesday," was performed before Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Kenilworth, in July 1575. It represented a series of combats between the English and Danish forces, in which twice the Danes had the better, but at last, by the arrival of the Saxon women to assist their countrymen, the Danes were overcome, and many of them were led captive in triumph by the women. Queen Elizabeth laughed well at this play, and is said to have been so much pleased with it that she gave the actors two bucks and five marks in money. The usual performance of this play had been suppressed in Coventry soon after the Reformation, on account of the scenes of riot which it occasioned.
    It will be seen that this Coventry play was founded on the statement which had found a place in some of our chronicles as far back as the fourteenth century, that these games of hock-tide were intended to commemorate the massacre of the Danes on St. Brice's Day, 1002; while others, alleging the fact that St. Brice's Day is the 13th of November, suppose it to commemorate the rejoicings which followed the death of Hardicanute, and the accession of Edward the Confessor, when the country was delivered from Danish tyranny. Others, however, and probably with more reason, think that these are both erroneous explanations; and this opinion is strongly supported by the fact that Hock Tuesday is not a fixed day, but a movable festival, and dependent on the great Anglo-Saxon pagan festival of Easter, like the similar ceremony of heaving, still practised on the borders of Wales on Easter Monday and Tuesday. Such old pagan ceremonies were preserved among the Anglo-Saxons long after they became Christians, but their real meaning was gradually forgotten, and stories and legends, like this of the Danes, afterwards invented to explain them. It may also be regarded as a confirmation of the belief that this festival is the representation of some feast connected with the pagan superstitions of our Saxon forefathers, that the money which was collected was given to the church, and was usually applied to the reparation of the church buildings. We can hardly understand why a collection of money should be thus made in commemoration of the overthrow of the Danish influence, but we can easily imagine how, when the festival was continued by the Saxons as Christians, what had been an offering to some one of the pagan gods might be turned into an offering to the church. The entries on this subject in the old churchwardens' registers of many of our parishes not only show how generally the custom prevailed, but to what an extent the middle classes of society took part in it.
    In Reading these entries go back to a rather remote date, and mention collections by men as well as women, while they seem to show that there the women "hocked," as the phrase was, on the Monday, and the men on the Tuesday.']

[97] [Egyptian Saloon, British Museum, 573.]

[98] [Champollion.
See Pierret, 'Kab-t' in Vocabulaire Hieroglyphique. Unable to trace.]

[99] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 414. 'Cockle-Bread.' 'This singular game is thus described by Aubrey and Kennett: "Young wenches have a wanton sport which they call moulding of cockle-bread, viz. they get upon a table-board, and then gather up their knees as high as they can, and then they wobble to and fro, as if they were kneading of dough, and say these words:
    "My dame is sick, and gone to bed,
    And I'll go mould my cockle-bread!
    Up with my heels and down with my head,
    And this is the way to mould cockle-bread."
Aubrey, Remaines, p. 43. 'In Oxfordshire the maids, when they have put themselves into the fit posture, say thus:
    My granny is sick, and now is dead,
    And wee'l goe mould some cockle-bread.
    Up w^th my heels, and down w^th my head,
    And this is the way to mould cocklebread. [W. K.]
I did imagine nothing to have been in this but meer Wantonnesse of Youth—rigidas prurigine vulvae. Juven. Sat. 6 [129.] But I find in Burchardus, in his Methodus Confitendi on the VII. Commandement, one of ye articles of interrogating a young Woman is, if she did ever subigere panem clunibus, and then bake it, and give it to one that she loved to eate: ut in majorem modum exardesceret amor? So here I find it to be a relique of Naturall Magick, an unlawfull Philtrum. 'Tis a poeticall expression, to kisse like cockles:
    "The Sea nymphes that see us shall envy our bliss,
    Wee'll teach them to love, and {like the} Cockles to kiss."
An old filthy Rhythme used by base people, viz.:
    "When I was a young Maid, and wash't my Mothers Dishes,
    I putt my finger in my [—] and pluck't-out little Fishes."'
See also BB 1:185.]

[100] [Brand, ibid., vol. 2, p. 414. 'Here we have a difficult passage in a well-known early dramatist explained by the evidence of an uneducated rustic girl; and such instances illustrate the use of collecting the quickly vanishing fragments of our provincial customs and language. The Westmoreland version runs thus:
    "My grandy's seeke,
    And like to dee,
    And I'll make her
    Some cockelty bread, cockelty bread,
    And I'll make her
    Some cockelty bread."']

[101] [See note below.]

[102] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 165. 'Hasted, in his History of Kent (1798, vol. vii. p. 138), states that, in the parish of Biddenden there is an endowment of old but unknown date for making a distribution of cakes among the poor every Easter Day in the afternoon. The source of the benefaction consists in twenty acres of land, in five parcels, commonly called the Bread and Cheese Lands. Practically, in Mr. Hasted's time, six hundred cakes were thus disposed of, being given to persons who attended service, while two hundred and seventy loaves of three and a half pounds weight each, with a pound and a half of cheese, were given in addition to such as were parishioners.
    The cakes distributed on this occasion were impressed with the figures of two females side by side, and close together.* Amongst the country people it was believed that these figures represented two maidens named Preston, who had left the endowments; and they further alleged that the ladies were twins, who were born in bodily union, that is, joined side to side, as represented on the cakes; who lived nearly thirty years in this connection, when at length one of them died, necessarily causing the death of the other in a few hours. It is thought by the Biddenden people that the figures on the cakes are meant as a memorial of this natural prodigy, as well as of the charitable disposition of the two ladies. Mr. Hasted, however, ascertained that the cakes had only been printed in this manner within the preceding fifty years, and concluded more rationally that the figures were meant to represent two widows, "as the general objects of a charitable benefaction."
    If Mr. Hasted's account of the Biddenden cakes be the true one, the story of the conjoined twins though not inferring a thing impossible or unexampled must be set down as one of those cases, of which we find so many in the legends of the common people, where a tale is invented to account for certain appearances, after the real meaning of the appearance was lost.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 427; see Britton and Brayley, Beauties of England and Wales, 1803, vol. viii. p. 208; Old English Customs and Charities, 1842, p. 60.
    * An engraving of one of these cakes will be found in the Every Day Book, 1827, vol. ii. p. 443.']

[103] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 86. 'At Bury St. Edmund's on Shrove Tuesday, Easter Monday, and the Whitsuntide festivals, twelve old women side off for a game at trap-and-ball, which is kept up with the greatest spirit and vigour until sunset. Afterwards they retire to their homes, where—
    "Voice, fiddle, or flute,
    No longer is mute,"
and close the day with apportioned mirth and merriment.—Every Day Book, vol. i. p. 430.']

[104] [Grimm, Deutsch Mythologie, p. 604. 'First we find the Lex Visigoth. vi. 2, 3 provides against the 'malifici et immissores tempestatum, qui quibusdam incantationibus grandinem in vineas messesque mittere perhibentur.' Then Charles the Great in his Capit. of 789 cap. 64 (Pertz 3, 64): 'ut nec cauculatores et incantatores, nec tempestarii vel obligatores non fiant, et ubicunque sunt, emendentur vel damnentur.' Soon after that king's death, about the beginning of Lewis the Pious's reign, bp. Agobard (d. 840) wrote 'Contra insulsam vulgi opinionem de grandine et tonitruis.' From this treatise, following Baluz's edit. of the works of Agobard, I take a few passages.
    1, 145: In his regionibus pene omnes homines, nobiles et ignobiles, urbani et rustici, senes et juvenes, putant grandines et tonitrua hominum libitu posse fieri. Dicunt enim, mox ut audierint tonitrua et viderint fulgura: 'aura levatitia est.' Interrogati vero, quid sit aura levatitia? alii cum verecundia, parum remordente conscientia, alii autem confidenter, ut imperitorum moris esse solet, confirmant incantationibus hominum qui dicuntur tempestarii, esse levatam, et ideo dici levatitiam auram.
    1, 146: Plerosque autem vidimus et audivimus tanta dementia obrutos, tanta stultitia alienatos, ut credant et dicant, quandam esse regionem quae dicatur Magonia, ex qua naves veniant in nubibus, in quibus fruges quae grandinibus decidunt et tempestatibus pereunt, vehantur in eandem regionem, ipsis videlicet nautis aëreis dantibus pretia tempestariis, et accipientibus frumenta vel ceteras fruges. Ex his item tam profunda stultitia excoecatis, ut hoc posse fieri credant, vidimus plures in quodam conventu hominum exhibere vinctos quatuor homines, tres viros et unam feminam, quasi qui de ipsis navibus ceciderint: quos scilicet, per aliquot dies in vinculis detentos, tandem collecto conventu hominum exhibuerunt, ut dixi, in nostra praesentia, tanquam lapidandos. Sed tamen vincente veritate post multam ratiocinationem, ipsi qui eos exhibuerant secundum propheticum illud confusi sunt, sicut confunditur fur quando deprehenditur.
    1, 153: Nam et hoc quidam dicunt, nosse se tales tempestarios, qui dispersam grandinem et late per regionem decidentem faciant unum in locum fluminis aut silvae infructuosae, aut super unam, ut ajunt, cupam, sub qua ipse lateat, defluere. Frequenter certe audivimus a multis dici quod talia nossent in certis locis facta, sed necdum audivimus, ut aliquis se haec vidisse testaretur.
    1, 158: Qui, mox ut audiunt tonitrua vel cum levi flatu venti, dicunt 'levatitia aura est,' et maledicunt dicentes: 'maledicta lingua illa et arefiat et jam praecisa esse debebat, quae hos facit!'
    1, 159: Nostris quoque temporibus videmus aliquando, collectis messibus et vindemiis, propter siccitatem agricolas seminare nom posse. Quare non obtinetis apud tempestarios vestros, ut mittant auras levatitias, quibus terra inrigetur, et postea seminare possitis?
    1, 161: Isti autem, contra quos sermo est, ostendunt nobis homunculos, a sanctitate, justitia et sapientia alienos, a fide et veritate nudos, odibiles etiam proximis, a quibus dicunt vehementissimos imbres, sonantia aquae tonitrua et levatitias auras posse fieri.
    1, 162: In tantum malum istud jam adolevit, ut in plerisque locis sint homines miserrimi, qui dicant, se non equidem nosse immittere tempestates, sed nosse tamen defendere a tempestate habitatores loci. His habent statutum, quantum de frugibus suis donent, et appellant hoc canonicum. Many are backward in tithes and alms, canonicum autem, quem dicunt, suis defensoribus (a quibus se defendi credunt a tempestate) nullo praedicante, nullo admonente vel exhortante, sponte persolvunt, diabolo inliciente. Denique in talibus ex parte magnam spem habent vitae suae, quasi per illos vivant (see Suppl.).
    It was natural for driving hail-clouds to be likened to a ship sailing across the sky; we know our gods were provided with cars and ships, and we saw at p. 332 that the very Edda bestows on a cloud the name of vindflot. But when the tempest-men by their spells call the air-ship to them or draw it on, they are servants and assistants rather than originators of the storm. The real lord of the weather takes the corn lodged by the hail into the ship with him, and remunerates the conjurors, who might be called his priests. The Christian people said: 'these conjurors sell the grain to the aëronaut, and he carries it away.' But what mythic country can Magonia mean? It is not known whether Agobard was born in Germany or Gaul, though his name is enough to show his Frankish or Burgundian extraction; just as little can we tell whether he composed the treatise at Lyons, or previously at some other place. The name Magonia itself seems to take us to some region where Latin was spoken, if we may rely on its referring to magus and a magic land.' Or the Eng. ed., Teutonic Mythology, ch. 20.]

[105] [Otia Imperial, (1856 ed.), prima decisio, xv, p. 3. 'Accedit adhuc aliud in ea region e mira bilius. Est castrum in comitatu Claudii Castriae, Bristoldum nomine, opulentum et civibus ditissimis complantatum. Hic portus est; quo transitur a majori Britannia in Hiberniam. Uno tempore in Hiberniam cum illius loci indigena navigasset; domi relictis uxore et filiis; post emensa diutinae navigationis curricula cum in remotis Oceani partibus navis decurreret, civls memoratus cum nautis ad epulandum consedit circiter lioram tertiam. Cumque finita mensa civis cultellum ad spondam nayis ablueret, subito de manu lapsus; eadem hora per fenestram domus ipsius civis in culmine patentem^ quam lucernariam Angli nominant^ ad mensam coram uxore civis positam cultellus defigitur, cujus rei novitate tacta mulier obstupuit, et notum sibi pridem cultellum reponens, longo post tempore viro redeunte didicit, casum et diem navigationis cum die receptionis concordare. Quis ergo ex publicato facti hujus testimonio mare super nostram habitationem in aere vel super aerem positam dubitabit?']

[106] [Histoire Abrégé de Differentes Cultes, vol. 2, pp. 256-7. 'Quelquefois ces pains ou miches ont le formes du sexe féminin: tels sont ceux que l'on fabrique á Clermont en Auvergne et ail-leurs.']

[107] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 191. 'Some singular Hocktide customs observed at Hungerford are thus described in the Standard of April 14th, 1874: These customs are connected with the Charter for holding by the Commons the rights of fishing, shooting, and pasturage of cattle on the lands and property bequeathed to the town by John O' Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. The proceedings commenced on Friday evening with a supper, at which the fare was macaroni, Welsh rare-bits, watercress, salad, and punch. To-day John O' Gaunt's Day known in the town as "Tuth" Day, the more important business of the season is transacted at the Town Hall, from the window of which the town-crier blows the famous old horn, which has done service on these occasions for many long years. The tything or "tuth" men thereupon proceed to the high constable's residence, to receive their "tuth" poles, which are usually decorated with ribbons and flowers. The first business of these officials, who are generally tradesmen of the borough, is to visit the various schools and ask a holiday for the children; then to call at each house and demand a toll from the gentlemen, and a kiss from the ladies, and distribute oranges ad libitum throughout the day, in expectation of which a troop of children follow them through the streets, which are for several hours kept alive by the joyous shouts and huzzas. The high constable is elected at the annual court held to-day, and one of the curious customs is the sending out by that officer's wife of a bountiful supply of cheesecakes among the ladies of the place.']

[108] ['"On Ascension Day," says Hawkins, in his History of Music, ii. 112, "it is the custom of the inhabitants of parishes, with their officers, to perambulate in order to perpetuate the memory of their boundaries, and to impress the remembrance thereof in the minds of young persons, especially boys; to invite boys, therefore, to attend to this business, some little gratuities were found necessary; accordingly it was the custom, at the commencement of the procession, to distribute to each a willow-wand, and at the end thereof a handful of points, which were looked on by them as honorary rewards long after they ceased to be useful, and were called Tags."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 205.]

[109] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, pp. 205-6. 'On Monday in Rogation week was formerly held in the town of Shaftesbury or Shastou a festival called the Bezant, a festival so ancient that no authentic record of its origin exists.
    The borough of Shaftesbury stands upon the brow of a lofty hill, and until lately, owing to its situation, was so deficient in water that its inhabitants were indebted for a supply of this necessary article of life to the little hamlet of Enmore Green, which lies in the valley below. From two or three wells or tanks, situate in the village, the water with which the town was provided was carried up the then precipitous road, on the backs of horses and donkeys, and sold from door to door.
    The Bezant was an acknowledgment on the part of the mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough to the lord of the manor of Mitcombe, of which. Enmore Green forms a part, for the permission to use this privilege; no charter or deed, however, exists among their archives, as to the commencement of the custom, neither are there any records of interest connected with its observances beyond the details of the expenses incurred from year to year. On the morning of Rogation Monday, the mayor and aldermen accompanied by a lord and lady appointed for the occasion, and by their mace-bearers carrying the Bezant, went in procession to Enmore Green.
    The lord and lady performed at intervals, as they passed along a traditional kind of dance to the sound of violins; the steward of the manor meeting them at the green, the mayor offered for his acceptance, as the representative of his lord, the Bezant, a calf's head, uncooked, a gallon of ale, and two penny loaves, with a pair of gloves edged with gold lace, and gave permission to use the wells, as of old, for another year. The steward, having accepted the gifts, retaining all for his own use, except the Bezant, which he graciously gave back, accorded the privilege, and the ceremony ended.
    The Bezant, which gives its name to the festival is somewhat difficult to describe.* It consisted of a sort of trophy, constructed of ribbons, flowers, and peacock's feathers, fastened to a frame, about four feet high, round which were hung jewels, coins, medals, and other things of more or less value, lent for the purpose by persons interested in the matter; and many traditions prevailed of the exceeding value to which in earlier times it sometimes reached, and of the active part which persons of the highest rank in the neighbourhood took in its annual celebration.
    Latterly, however, the festival sadly degenerated, and in the year 1830, the town and the manor passing into the hands of the same proprietor, it ceased altogether, and is now one of those many observances which are numbered with the past. If this had not happened, however, the necessity for it no longer exists. The ancient borough is no longer indebted to the lord of the manor for its water, for, through the liberality of the Marquis of Westminster, its present owner, the town is bountifully supplied with the purest water from an artesian well sunk at his expense.—The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 585; Hutchins, History of Dorset, 1803, vol. ii. p. 425.
    * Bezant being the name of an ancient gold coin, the ceremony probably took its name from such a piece of money being originally tendered to the lord of the minor.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 585.']

[110] ['Pennant's account of this rural sacrifice is more minute. He tells us in his Tour in Scotland, p. 90, that, on the 1st of May, in the Highlands of Scotland, the herdsmen of every village hold their Bel-tein. "They cut a square trench in the ground, leaving the turf in the middle; on that they make a fire of wood, on which they dress a large caudle of eggs, butter, oatmeal, and milk, and bring, besides the ingredients of the caudle, plenty of beer and whisky: for each of the company must contribute something. The rites begin with spilling some of the caudle on the ground, by way of libation: on that, every one takes a cake of oatmeal, upon which are raised nine square knobs, each dedicated to some particular being, the supposed preserver of their flocks and herds, or to some particular animal, the real destroyer of them. Each person then turns his face to the fire, breaks off a knob, and, flinging it over his shoulders, says: 'This I give to thee, preserve thou my horses.' 'This to thee, preserve thou my sheep'; and so on. After that they use the same ceremony to the noxious animals. When the ceremony is over, they dine on the caudle; and, after the feast is finished, what is left is hid by two persons deputed for that purpose; but on the next Sunday they reassemble, and finish the reliques of the first entertainment."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 226.]

[111] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 246. 'May Day is ushered in with blowing of horns on the mountains, and with a ceremony which, says Waldron, has something in the design of it pretty enough. In almost all the great parishes they choose from among the daughters of the most wealthy farmers a young maid for the Queen of May. She is dressed in the gayest and best manner they can, and is attended by about twenty others, who are called maids of honour. She has also a young man, who is her captain, and has under his command a good number of inferior officers. In opposition to her is the Queen of Winter, who is a man dressed in woman's clothes, with woollen hood, fur-tippets, and loaded with the warmest and heaviest habits one upon another. In the same manner are those, who represent her attendants, drest; nor is she without a captain and troop for her defence. Both being equipt as proper emblems of the Beauty of the Spring and the Deformity of the Winter, they set forth from their respective quarters, the one preceded by violins and flutes, the other with the rough music of the tongs and the cleavers. Both parties march till they meet on a common, and then their trains engage in a mock battle. If the Queen of the Winter's forces get the better, so as to take the Queen of May prisoner, she is ransomed for as much as pays the expenses of the day. After this ceremony Winter and her company retire, and divert themselves in a barn, and the others remain on the green, where, having danced a considerable time, they conclude the evening with a feast, the queen at one table with her maids, the captain with his troop at another. There are seldom less than fifty or sixty at each board.
    For the seizure of her Majesty's person that of one of her slippers was substituted more recently, which was in like manner ransomed to defray the expenses of the pageant. The procession of the Summer—which was subsequently composed of little girls, and called the Maceboard*—outlived that of its rival, the Winter, some years, and now, like many other remnants of antiquity, has fallen into disuse.—Train, History of the Isle of Man, 1845, vol. ii. p. 118; Waldron, Description of the Isle of Man, p. 154.
    * The maceboard (probably a corruption of May-sports) went from door to door inquiring if the inmates would buy the queen's favour, which was composed of a small piece of ribbon.']

[112] [History of Kent, vol. 2, p. 284. See note below.]

[113] ['"There was, till of late years," says the same writer, "a singular, though a very ancient, custom kept up, of electing a Deputy to the Dumb Borsholder of Chart, as it was called, claiming liberty over fifteen houses in the precinct of Pizein-well; every householder of which was formerly obliged to pay the keeper of this Borsholder one penny yearly. This Dumb Borsholder was always first called at the Court-Leet holden for the hundred of Twyford, when its keeper, who was yearly appointed by that court, held it up to his call, with a neckcloth or handkerchief put through the iron ring fixed at the top, and answered for it. This Borsholder of Chart, and the Court-Leet, has been discontinued about fifty years: and the Borsholder, who is put in by the Quarter Sessions for Watringbury, claims over the whole parish. This Dumb Borsholder is made of wood, about three feet and half an inch long, with an iron ring at the top, and four more by the sides, near the bottom, where it has a square iron spike fixed, four inches and a half long, to fix it in the ground, or, on occasion, to break open doors, &c., which used to be done, without a warrant of any justice, on suspicion of goods having been unlawfully come by and concealed in any of these fifteen houses. It is not easy at this distance of time, to ascertain the origin of this dumb officer. Perhaps it might have been made use of as a badge or ensign by the office of the market here. The last person who acted as deputy to it was one Thomas Clampard, a blacksmith, whose heirs have it now in their possession."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 221.]

[114] [A Perambulation of Kent, (1826 ed.), p. 19. 'Thus much therefore I thought good, now at the first to open, the more at large, because it may serve generally for all shyres, and shall heereafter deliver me from often repetition of one thing. Where, by the way, (least I might seeme to have forgotten the shyre that I have presently in hand) it is to be noted, that that which in the west countrey was at that time (and yet is) called a tithing, is in Kent termed a borow, of the Saxon worde ..., which signifieth a pledge, or a suretie: and the chiefe of these pledges, which the westernmen call a tithingman, they of Kent name a borsholder, of the Saxon wordes ...., that is to say, the most auncient, or elder of the pledges: which thing being understood, the matter will come all to one end, and I may now go forward.']

[115] [Rit. ch. 48. 'I come forth with, or by, justification against my accusers. I pass from the heaven, I have passed through the earth, I have crossed the earth at the feet of the Spirits, a substitute, because I am prepared with millions of his charms, I eat with my mouth, I evacuate. I am the greatest of all the Gods of the Gate. I have done the same, firm in conduct.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[116] [Rit. ch. 147. 'I have come, I have chased away evil from my father Osiris, I have slashed his accusers in the bend of the great Void.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[117] [Rit. ch. 147. '... He washes his face in the water [basin] of the Sun, the day of the festival of the Adjustment of the Year.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[118] [Rit. ch. 147. Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[119] ['At Helston the day used to be ushered in very early in the morning by the music of drums and kettles, and other pleasant sounds, the accompaniments of a song:
    "Robin Hood and Little John,
    They both are gone to the fair, O;
    And we will to the merry greenwood,
    To see what they do there, O.
    And for to chase, O,
    To chase the buck and doe
    With Hal-an-tow,
    Jolly rumble, O.
    And we were up as soon as any day, O
    And for to fetch the summer home,
    The summer and the may, O,
    For the summer is a come, O,
    And winter is a go, O.
    Where are those Spaniards
    That make so great a boast, O?
    They shall eat the grey goose-feather,
    And we will eat the roast, O.
    In every land, O,
    The land that ere we go,
    With Hal-an-tow, &c.,
    And we were up, &c.
    As for St. George, O,
    St. George he was a knight, O,
    Of all the kings in Christendom,
    King George is the right, O.
    In every land, O,
    The land that ere we go
    With Hal-an-tow, &c.
    God bless Aunt Mary Moses,
    With all her power and might, O;
    And send us peace in merry England,
    Both day and night, O."
It was a general holiday: so strict, indeed, used the observance of this jubilee to be held that if any person chanced to be found at work, he was instantly seized, set astride on a pole, and hurried on men's shoulders to the river, where he was sentenced to leap over a wide space, which if he failed in attempting he of course fell into the water. There was always, however, a ready compromise of compounding for a leap. About nine o'clock the revellers appeared before the grammar-school, and demanded a holiday for the school-boys, after which they collected money from house to house. They then used to fade into the country (fade being an old English word for to go), and about the middle of the day returned with flowers and oak-branches in their hats and caps, and spent the rest of the day until dusk in dancing through the streets to the sound of the fiddle, playing a particular tune; and threaded the houses as they chose claiming a right to go through any person's house, in at one door and out of the other. In the afternoon the ladies and gentlemen visited some farmhouse in the neighbourhood; whence, after regaling themselves with syllabubs, they returned, after the fashion of the vulgar, to the town, dancing as briskly the fade-dance, and entering the houses as unceremoniously. In later times a select party only made their progress through the streets very late in the evening, and having quickly vanished from the scene, reappeared in the ballroom. Here meeting their friends, they went through the usual routine of dancing till supper; after which they all padded it out of the room, breaking off by degrees to their respective houses. At present this custom is fast falling into disuse, and the day is only celebrated by a few of the lower classes.
    Murray, in his Handbook for Cornwall, 1865, p. 301, says that the furry festival is in commemoration of the following curious legend: A block of granite, which for many years had lain in the yard of the Angel Inn, was in the year 1783 broken up and used as a part of the building materials for the assembly-room. This stone, says the legend, was originally placed at the mouth of hell, from which it was one day carried away by the devil as he issued forth in a frolicsome mood on an excursion into Cornwall. Here he traversed the country, playing with his pebble; but it chanced that St. Michael (who figures conspicuously in the town arms and is the patron saint of the town) crossed his path; a combat immediately ensued, and the devil, being worsted, dropped the Hell's stone in his flight; hence the name of the town.''' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 277.]

[120] [See note below.]

[121] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, pp. 302, 305. 'In the Every Day Book (1826, vol. i. p. 718) occurs the following:
    At Tiverton, on the 29th of May, it is customary for a number of young men, dressed in the style of the seventeenth century, and armed with swords, to parade the streets, and gather contributions from the inhabitants. At the head of the procession walks a man called "Oliver," dressed in black, with his face and hands smeared over with soot and grease, and his body bound by a strong cord, the end of which is held by one of the men to prevent his running too far. After these come another troop, dressed in the same style, each man bearing a large branch of oak; four others, carrying a kind of throne made of oaken boughs, on which a child is seated, bring up the rear. A great deal of merriment is excited among the boys at the pranks of "Master Oliver," who capers about in a most ludicrous manner. Some of them amuse themselves by casting dirt, whilst others, more mischievously inclined, throw stones at him: but woe betide the young urchin who is caught; his face assumes a most awful appearance from the soot and grease with which "Oliver" begrimes it, whilst his companions, who have been lucky enough to escape his clutches, testify their pleasure by loud shouts. In the evening the whole party have a feast, the expenses of which are defrayed by the collection made in the morning.
    The working men of Basingstoke and other towns in Hampshire arise early on the 29th of May to gather slips of oak with the galls on; these they put in their hats or anywhere about their persons. They also hang pieces to the knockers, latches, or other parts of the house-doors of the wealthy, who take them in to place in their halls, &c. After breakfast these men go round to such houses for beer, &c.
    Should they not receive anything the following verses should be said:
    "Shig-shag, penny a rag
    [Bang his head in Croommell's bag],
    All up in a bundle."
but fear often prevents them. However, the lads have no fear, and use it freely to any one without an oak-apple or oak-leaf on some part of his person, and visible ill-treating him for his want of loyalty. After noon the loyalty ceases and then if any one be charged with having shig-shag, the following verses are said:
    "Shig-shag's gone past,
    You're the biggest fool at last;
    When shig-shag comes again,
    You'll be the biggest fool then."
And the one who charges the other with the oak-leaf receives the ill-treatment.—N. & Q. 1st S. vol. xii. p. 100.']

[122] [Researches in the South of Ireland, p. 233. 'On the eve of St. John's Day, and some other festivals, a broom stick dressed up as a figure, and called a Bredogue, is borne about in the twilight from one cabin to another, and suddenly pushed in at the door. The alarm or surprize occasioned by this feat produces some mirth.']

[123] ['On this day a tent is erected on the summit of the Tynwald Hill (called also Cronk-y-Keeillown, i.e., St. John's Church Hill, a mound said to have been originally brought from each of the seventeen parishes of the island), and preparations are made for the reception of the officers of state, according to ancient custom. Early in the morning the Governor proceeds from Castletown under a military escort to St. John's Chapel, situated a few hundred yards to the eastward of the Tynwald Hill. Here he is received by the Bishop, the Council, the clergy, and the keys, and all attend Divine service in the chapel, the Government chaplain officiating. This ended, they march in a procession from the chapel to the mount, the military formed in line on each side of the green turf walk. The clergy take the lead, next comes the Vicar-General, and the two Deemsters, then the bearer of the sword of state in front of the Governor, who is succeeded by the Clerk of the Rolls, the twenty-four keys, and the captains of the different parishes. The ceremony of the Tynwald Hill is thus stated in the Lex Scripta of the Isle of Man, as given for law to Sir John Stanley, in 1417:
    "This is the constitution of old time, how yee should be governed on the Tinwald day. First you shall come thither in your royal array, as a king ought to do by the prerogatives and royalties of the land of Mann, and upon the hill of Tinwald sitt in a chair covered with a royal cloath and quishions, and your visage in the east, and your sword before you, holden with the point upward. Your Barrens in the third degree sitting beside you, and your beneficed men and your Deemsters before you sitting, and your clarke, your knight, esquires, and yeomen about you in the third degree, and the worthiest men in your land to be called in before your Deemsters, if you will ask anything of them, and to hear the government of your land and your will; and the Commons to stand without the circle of the hill, with three clearkes in their surplices, and your Deemsters shall call the coroner of Glanfaba, and he shall call in all the coroners of Man, and their yardes in their hands, with their weapons upon them, either sword or axe; and the moares, that is to witt, of every sheading; then the chief coroner, that is, the coroner of Glanfaba, shall make affence upon pain of life or lyme, that no man make a disturbance or stirr in the time Tinwald, or any murmur, or rising in the King's presence, upon pain of hanging and drawing and then to proceed in your matters whatsoever you have to doe, in felonie or treason, or other matters that touch the government of your land of Manne."—Cumming's History of the Isle of Man, 1848, pp. 185, 186.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 325.]

[124] [See note above.]

[125] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 335. 'In an old account of Gisborough, in Cleveland, and the adjoining coast, printed in the Antiquarian Repertory (1808, vol. iii. p. 304) from an ancient MS. in the Cotton Library (marked Julius F. C., fol. 455), speaking of the fishermen, it is stated that "Upon St. Peter's Daye they invite their friends and kinsfolk to a festyvall kept after their fashion with a free hearte, and noe shew of niggardnesse; that daye their boates are dressed curiously for the shewe, their mastes are painted, and certain rytes observed amongst them, with sprinkling their prowes with good liquor, sold with them at a groate the quarte, which custom or superstition, suckt from their auncestors, even contynueth down unto this present tyme."
    The feast day of Nun-Monkton is kept on St. Peter's Day, and is followed by the "Little Feast Day," and a merry time extending over a week. On the Saturday evening preceding the 29th a company of the villagers, headed by all the fiddlers and players on other instruments that could be mustered at one time went in procession across the great common to "May-pole Hill," where there is an old sycamore (the pole being near it) for the purpose of "rising Peter," who had been buried under the tree. This effigy of St. Peter, a rude one of wood, carved no one professed to know when and in these later times clothed in a ridiculous fashion, was removed in its box-coffin to the neighbourhood of the public-house, there to be exposed to view, and, with as little delay as possible, conveyed to some out-building, where it was stowed away and thought no more about till the first Saturday after the feast day (or the second if the 29th had occurred at the back end of a week), when it was taken back in procession again, and re-interred with all honour which concluding ceremony was called "Buryin' Peter." In this way did St. Peter preside over his own feast. On the evening of the first day of the feast, two young men went round the village with large baskets for the purpose of collecting tarts, cheese-cakes, and eggs for mulled ale all being consumed after the two ceremonies above indicated. This last good custom is not done away with yet, suppers and, afterwards, dancing in a barn being the order while the feast lasts.—N & Q. 4th S. vol. 1, p, 361.']

[126] ['The stranger who chances to attend Divine service in Farnborough parish church on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Peter, has his attention arrested by the floor of the porch being strewed with reeds. By an abstract of the will of George Dalton, Gent., of Farnborough, dated December 3rd, 1556, set forth on a mural tablet in the interior of the church, he learns that this gentleman settled a perpetual annuity of 13s. 4d. chargeable upon his lands at Tuppendence: 10s. to the preacher of a sermon on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Peter, and 3s. 4d. to the poor. Local traditional lore affirms that Mr. Daltou was saved from drowning by reeds, and that the annual sermon and odd manner of decorating the porch are commemorative of the event. This day is called by the inhabitants of the village, Reed Day or Flag Day.—Maidstone Gazette, 1859.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 332.]

[127] [Sharp, A Dissertation on the Pageants or Dramatic Mysteries Anciently Performed at Coventry, p. 187.]

[128] ['At Diss, it is customary for the juvenile populace, on the Thursday before the third Friday in September (on which latter day a fair and session for hiring servants are held), to mark and disfigure each other's dresses with white chalk, pleading a prescriptive right to be mischievous on "Chalk-Back Day."—N. & Q. 1st. S. vol. iv. p. 501.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 370.]

[129] ['Whitsunday is observed as a Scarlet Day in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.—Kalendar of the English Church, 1865, p. 73.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 278.]

[130] ['A custom exists amongst harvest-men in Suffolk, which is called Ten-pounding. In most reaps there is a set of rules agreed upon amongst the reapers before harvest, by which they are to be governed during its continuance. The object of these rules is usually to prevent or punish loss of time by laziness, drunkenness, &c.; and to correct swearing, lying, or quarrelling amongst themselves; or any other kind of misbehaviour which might slacken the exertions, or break the harmony of the reap. One of the modes of punishment directed by these rules, is called Ten-pounding, and it is executed in the following manner: Upon a breach of any of the rules, a sort of drum-head court-martial is held upon the delinquent; and if he is found guilty he is instantly seized, and thrown down flat on his back. Some of the party keep his head down, and confine his arms; whilst others turn up his legs in the air, so as to exhibit his posteriors. The person who is to inflict the punishment then takes a shoe, and with the heel of it (studded as it usually is with hob-nails) gives him the prescribed number of blows upon his breech, according to the sentence. The rest of the party sit by, with their hats off, to see that the executioner does his duty; and if he fails in this, he undergoes the same punishment. It sometimes happens, that, from the prevailing use of highlows, a shoe is not to be found amongst the company. In this case, the hardest and heaviest hand of the reap is selected for the instrument of correction, and, when it is laid on with hearty good will, it is not inferior to the shoe. The origin of the term Ten-pounding is not known; but it has nothing to do with the number of blows inflicted.—Forby's Vocabulary, vol. ii.' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 23.]

[131] ['Owen, in his Welsh Dictionary, voce Cyniver, mentions "A play in which the youth of both sexes seek for an even-leaved sprig of the ash; and the first of either sex that finds one calls out Cyniver, and is answered by the first of the other that succeeds; and these two, if the omen fails not, are to be joined in wedlock." From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 379.]

[132] [Davies, The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, p. 187.]

[133] ['This festival, called by the islanders Sauin, was formerly observed in the Isle of Man by kindling of fires with all the accompanying ceremonies, to prevent the baneful influence of fairies and witches. The island was perambulated at night by young men who stuck up at the door of every dwelling-house, a rhyme in Manks, beginning:
    "Noght oie howney hop-dy-naw,
    This is Hollantide Eve," &c.
On Hollantide Eve, boys go round the town shouting out doggrel, of which the following is an extract:
    "This is old Hollantide night;
    The moon shines fair and bright;
    I went to the well
    And drank my fill;
    On the way coming back
    I met a pole-cat;
    The cat began to grin
    And I began to run;
    Where did you run to?
    I ran to Scotland;
    What were they doing there?
    Baking bannocks and roasting coliops.
    If you are going to give us anything, give us it soon,
    Or we'll be away by the light of the moon!"
For some peculiar reason, potatoes, parsnips, and fish, pounded together and mixed with butter, form always the evening meal.—Train, History of the Isle of Man, 1845, vol. ii. p. 123.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 396.]

[134] ['Martin tells us that the inhabitants of St. Kilda, on the festival of All Saints, baked "a large cake in the form of a triangle, furrowed round, and which was to be all eaten that night." The same, or a custom nearly similar, seems to have prevailed in different parts of England. The same writer, speaking of the Isle of Lewis, p. 28, says, "The inhabitants of this island had an ancient custom to sacrifice to a sea god, call'd Shony, at Hallow-tide, in the manner following: the inhabitants round the island came to the church of St. Mulvay, having each man his provision along with him; every family furnish'd a peck of malt, and this was brewed into ale: one of their number was picked out to wade into the sea, up to the middle, and carrying a cup of ale in his hand, standing still in that posture, cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Shony, I give you this cup of ale, hoping that you'll be so kind as to send us plenty of sea-ware for enriching our ground the ensuing year;' and so threw the cup of ale into the sea. This was performed in the night time. At his return to land they all went to church, where there was a candle burning upon the altar: and then standing silent for a little time, one of them gave a signal, at which the candle was put out, and immediately all of them went to the fields, where they fell a drinking their ale, and spent the remainder of the night in dancing and singing, &c." He adds, "the ministers in Lewis told me they spent several years before they could persuade the vulgar natives to abandon this ridiculous piece of superstition."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 392.]

[135] [Gill, Myths and Songs from the South Pacific, pp. 157-9. 'Many months might elapse ere the projected departure of the ghosts took place. This weary interval was spent in dances and in revisiting their former homes, where the living dwell affectionately remembered by the dead. At night-fall they would wander amongst the trees and plantations nearest to these dwellings, sometimes venturing to peep inside. As a rule, these ghosts were well-disposed to their own living relatives; but often became vindictive if a pet child was ill-treated by a step-mother or other relatives, etc.
    Sometimes wearied with these wanderings, the ghosts huddled together in the Red-cave, the stony base of which is constantly laved by the waves of the Pacific, rolling in with terrific violence from the east. Or, if it so pleased their fancy, they clambered up the open, lawn-like place above the cave, out of reach of the billows and foam of the ocean (now a favourite resting-place for fishermen, where they cook and eat part of their finny spoil). This open grassy space, so renowned in their songs and myths concerning the dead, is known as "One-ma-kenu-kenu" = The smooth spot, or the well-weeded spot. A coarse species of grass covers the sandy soil, pleasingly contrasting with the utter barrenness beyond, where Desolation seems to be enthroned. The precise period for final departure was fixed by the leader of the band. But if no distinguished person was amongst them, they must of course wait on until such a leader was obtained. Thus in the beautiful classic laments for Vera, he is represented as the chosen captain of the dead, as his uncle Nagara ruled over the living about 125 years ago. The chief of this disconsolate throng resolves to depart Messages are sent to collect those stray ghosts who may yet be lingering near their ancient haunts. With many tears and last lingering looks they assemble at the Red-cave, or on the grassy lawn above it, intently watching the rising of the sun. At the first streak of dawn the entire band take their departure to meet the rising sun. This done, they follow in his train as nearly as may be: he in the heavens above, they at first on the ocean beneath, but afterwards over the rocks and stones (always avoiding the interior of the island), until late in the afternoon of the appointed day they are all assembled at Vairorongo, facing the setting sun. "Vairorongo" means "Kongo's sacred stream." It is a little rivulet rushing out of the stones at the marae of Rongo, where in the olden time only the priests and kings might bathe.
    At last the congregated throng, whose eyes are fixed upon the setting sun, feel that the moment has come when they must for ever depart from the cherished scenes of earth despite the tears and solicitations of relatives, who are frequently represented as chasing their loved ones over rocks and across fearful precipices, round half the island. The sun now sinks in the ocean, leaving a golden track; the entire band of ghosts take a last farewell, and following their earthly leader, flit over the ocean in the train of the Sun-god Ra, but not like him destined to reappear on the morrow. The ghostly train enter Avaiki through the very aperture by which the Sun-god descends in order to lighten up for a time those dark subterranean regions. This view is expressed in the beautiful myth of Vehini. After the crowd of spirits had taken their departure, a solitary laggard might sometimes be left behind arriving at the appointed rendezvous only in time to see the long annual train disappear with the glowing sun. The unhappy ghost must wait till a new troop be formed for the following winter, its only amusement being "to dance the dance of the tiitii, or starved!" or to "toss pebbles in the air" through the weary months that intervene.
    The point of departure for spirit-land is called a "reinga vaerua." There are three on Mangaia, all facing the setting sun. The boundary of the Mission premises at Oneroa is marked on one side by a bluff rock standing out by itself like a giant facing the west. It was believed that the spirits of those buried in that grand repository of the dead "Auraka," at the proper season left its gloomy, winding subterranean passages and divided themselves into two bands: the majority starting from "Araia" and lodging on the fatal bua tree; some those issuing from "Kauava" going in mournful procession to the projecting rock alluded to, thence leapt one by one to a second and much smaller block of stone resting on the inner edge of the reef, and thence again to the outer and extreme edge of the reef on which the surf ceaselessly beats. From this point they take their final departure to the shades in the track of the sun. At Atua-koro, on the north-west coast of the island, are two great stones very similarly placed by the hand of nature. This was considered to be an arrangement for the convenience of ghosts on that part of the island. Like the former these stones are known as "Reinga vaerua," i.e. Leafing-flace-of-souh! These are but trifling modifications of the highly poetical representation of disembodied spirits, NOT the slain, being impelled to follow in the train of the setting sun to spirit-land.' See full text here.]

[136] [Rit. ch. 3. 'The blessed Osiris has come from their corner doing all thy work ordered. Oh Workmen of the Sun, by day and by night! the Osiris lives after he dies like the Sun daily; for [as] the Sun died, and was born yesterday, [so] the Osiris is born.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[137] [Source.]

[138] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 17.
Herodotus, Histories, bk. 2, 78. 'In social meetings among the rich, when the banquet is ended, a servant carries round to the several guests a coffin, in which there is a wooden image of a corpse, carved and painted to resemble nature as nearly as possible, about a cubit or two cubits in length. As he shows it to each guest in turn, the servant says, "Gaze here, and drink and be merry; for when you die, such will you be."' Tr., Rawlinson.
'In the entertainments of the rich among them, when they have finished eating, a man bears round a wooden figure of a dead body in a coffin, made as like the reality as may be both by painting and carving, and measuring about a cubit or two cubits each way; and this he shows to each of those who are drinking together, saying: "When thou lookest upon this, drink and be merry, for thou shalt be such as this when thou art dead."' Tr., Macauley.]

[139] ['Every tenant of the Manor of Writtell, upon St. Leonard's Day, pays to the lord for everything under a year old a half-penny, for every yearling pig a penny, and for every hog above a year old twopence, for the privilege of pawnage in the lord's woods: and this payment is called Avage or Avisage.—Blount's Law Dictionary, 1717.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 416.]

[140] ['Dugdale, in his Antiquities of Warwickshire (1730, vol. i. p. 4), says: There is a certain rent due unto the lord of the Hundred of Knightlow, called Wroth money or Warth money or Swarff penny, probably the same with Ward penny. This rent must be paid every Martinmas Day, in the morning, at Knightlow Cross, before the sun riseth: the party paying it must go thrice about the cross, and say "The Wrath money," and then lay it in the hole of the said cross before good witness, for if it be not duly performed the forfeiture is thirty shillings and a white bull.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 420.]

[141] [Egyptian Saloon, British Museum, 254.]

[142] ['The charter for Exeter Lammas Fair is perpetuated by a glove of immense size, stuffed and carried through the city on a very long pole, decorated with ribbons, flowers, &c., and attended with music, parish beadles, and the mobility. It is afterwards placed on the top of the Guildhall, and then the fair commences; on the taking down of the glove the fair terminates.—Every Day Book, vol. ii. p. 1059.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 348.]

[143] ['Tander and Tandrew are the names given to the festival of St. Andrew, of which they are corruptions. The anniversary of this saint is, or rather was, kept by the lacemakers as a day of festivity and merry-making; but since the use of pillow-lace has in a great measure given place to that of the loom, this holiday has been less and less observed. The day in former times was one of unbridled licence: village "scholards" barred out their master; the lace schools were deserted; and drinking and feasting prevailed to a riotous extent. Towards evening the villagers used to become suddenly smitten with a violent taste for masquerading. Women might be seen walking about in male attire, while men and boys clothed in female dress visited each other's cottages, drinking hot "eldern wine," the staple beverage of the season. Then commenced the mumming.—Sternberg, Dialect and Folk Lore of Northamptonshire, 1851, p. 183; A. E. Baker, Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases, 1854, vol. ii. p. 326.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 430.]

[144] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 414, the 3rd ed. 'St. Andrew's Day.' 'Googe, in the translation of Naogorus, probably alludes to some such homely dishes of Scotland for which the place has been long celebrated. The use of singed sheep's heads, boiled or baked, so frequent in this village, is supposed to have arisen from the practice of slaughtering the sheep fed on the neighbouring hill for the market, removing the carcases to town, and leaving the heads, &c., to be consumed in the place. Singed sheep's heads are borne in the procession before the Scots in London, on St. Andrew's day.']

[145] [Chambers, Book of Days, vol. 2, p. 636. 'The commencement of the ecclesiastical year is regulated by the feast of St Andrew, the nearest Sunday to which, whether before or after, constitutes the first Sunday in Advent, or the period of four weeks which heralds the approach of Christmas. St Andrew's Day is thus sometimes the first, and sometimes the last festival in the Christian year.']

[146] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 400, the 3rd ed. 'Martinmas.' '"Almost no beef, and very little mutton, was formerly used by the common people; generally no more than a sheep or two, which were killed about Martinmass, and salted up for the provision of the family during the year." Ibid. xvi. 460, parishes of Sandwick and Stromness, Orkney, we read: "In a part of the parish of Sandwick, every family that has a herd of swine, kills a sow on the 17th day of December, and thence it is called Sow-day. There is no tradition as to the origin of this practice."']

[147] [Histories, bk. 2. 47. 'The pig is regarded among them as an unclean animal, so much so that if a man in passing accidentally touch a pig, he instantly hurries to the river, and plunges in with all his clothes on. Hence, too, the swineherds, notwithstanding that they are of pure Egyptian blood, are forbidden to enter into any of the temples, which are open to all other Egyptians; and further, no one will give his daughter in marriage to a swineherd, or take a wife from among them, so that the swineherds are forced to intermarry among themselves. They do not offer swine in sacrifice to any of their gods, excepting Bacchus and the Moon, whom they honour in this way at the same time, sacrificing pigs to both of them at the same full moon, and afterwards eating of the flesh. There is a reason alleged by them for their detestation of swine at all other seasons, and their use of them at this festival, with which I am well acquainted, but which I do not think it proper to mention. The following is the mode in which they sacrifice the swine to the Moon: As soon as the victim is slain, the tip of the tail, the spleen, and the caul are put together, and having been covered with all the fat that has been found in the animal's belly, are straightway burnt. The remainder of the flesh is eaten on the same day that the sacrifice is offered, which is the day of the full moon: at any other time they would not so much as taste it. The poorer sort, who cannot afford live pigs, form pigs of dough, which they bake and offer in sacrifice.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'The pig is accounted by the Egyptians an abominable animal; and first, if any of them in passing by touch a pig, he goes into the river and dips himself forthwith in the water together with his garments; and then too swineherds, though they be native Egyptians, unlike all others do not enter any of the temples in Egypt, nor is anyone willing to give his daughter in marriage to one of them or to take a wife from among them; but the swineherds both give in marriage to one another and take from one another. Now to the other gods the Egyptians do not think it right to sacrifice swine; but to the Moon and to Dionysos alone at the same time and on the same full-moon they sacrifice swine, and then eat their flesh: and as to the reason why, when they abominate swine at all their other feasts, they sacrifice them at this, there is a story told by the Egyptians; and this story I know, but it is not a seemly one for me to tell. Now the sacrifice of the swine to the Moon is performed as follows: When the priest has slain the victim, he puts together the end of the tail and the spleen and the caul, and covers them up with the whole of the fat of the animal which is about the paunch, and then he offers them with fire; and the rest of the flesh they eat on that day of full moon upon which they have held the sacrifice, but on any day after this they will not taste of it: the poor however among them by reason of the scantiness of their means shape pigs of dough and having baked them they offer these as a sacrifice.' Tr., Macauley.]

[148] ['Mart, according to Skinner, is a fair. Methinks it a contraction of Market. These cattle are usually bought at a kind of cow fair, or mart, at this time. Had it not been the general name for a fair, one might have been tempted to suppose it a contraction of Martin, the name of the saint whose day is commemorated. This word occurs in 'the Lawes and Constitutions of Burghs made be King David the 1st at the New Castell upon the Water of Tyne,' in the Regiam Majestatem, 1609, "Chap. 70, of buchers and selling of flesh. 2. The fleshours shall serve the burgessis all the time of the slauchter of Nairts; that is, fra Michaelmes to Zule, in preparing of their flesh and in preparing of their flesh and in laying in of their lardner."' Skene, from Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 400.]

[149] [Plutarch, Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 13.]

[150] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 60, the 3rd ed. 'St Valentine'. 'In Oxfordshire the children go about collecting pence, singing:
    "Good morrow, Valentine,
    First 'tis yours, then 'tis mine,
    So please give me a Valentine."']

[151] [Brand, ibid., vol. 1, p. 150, the 3rd ed. 'Good Friday'. 'Hospinian tells us that the kings of England had a custom of hallowing rings, with much ceremony, on Good Friday, the wearers of which will not be afflicted with the falling sickness. He adds, that the custom took its rise from a ring which had been long preserved, with great veneration, in Westminster Abbey, and was supposed to have great efficacy against the cramp and falling sickness, when touched by those who were afflicted with either of those disorders. This ring is reported to have been brought to King Edward by some persons coming from Jerusalem, and which he himself had long before given privately to a poor person, who had asked alms of him for the love he bare to St. John the Evangelist.' Brand gives no ref.]

[152] ['Train, in his History of the Isle of Man (1845, vol. ii. p. 127), says, that the fiddlers go round from house to house, in the latter part of the night for two or three weeks before Christmas, playing a tune called the Andisop. On their way they stop' before particular houses, wish the inmates individually "good morning," call the hour, then report the state of the weather, and after playing an air, move on to the next halting-place.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 431.]

[153] [Dictionary of Archaic Words, (1874), vol. 1, p. 433. 'HAPPER. To crackle; to patter. West.'
Halliwell distinctly has 'happer' not 'haffer.' M. errs here. This paragraph therefore loses its significance.]

[154] ['Troutbeck, in his State of the Stilly Isles (1796, p. 172), gives the following account of how Christmas was celebrated in his time. The young people, he says, exercise a sort of gallantry among themselves, which they call goose-dancing, when the maidens are dressed up for young men and the young men for maidens. In the day time they dance about the streets in masquerade, vying with each other who can appear the most uncouth. In the evenings they visit their neighbours in companies, where they dance and make their jokes upon what has happened in the islands. By this sort of sport according to yearly custom and toleration, there is a spirit of wit and drollery kept up among the people. The maidens, who are sometimes dressed up for sea captains and other officers, display their alluring graces to the ladies, who are young men equipped for that purpose; and the ladies exert their talents to them in courtly addresses, their hangers are sometimes drawn, &c., after which, and other pieces of drollery, the scene shifts to music and dancing, which being over they are treated with liquor and then go to the next house of entertainment.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 479.]

[155] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 414, the 3rd ed. 'Christmas.' 'At Ramsgate, in Kent, they commenced the festivities of Christmas by a curious procession. A party of young people procured the head of a dead horse, which was affixed to a pole about four feet in length; a string was affixed to the lower jaw; a horse-cloth was also attached to the whole, under which one of the party got, and by frequently pulling the string, kept up a loud snapping noise, and was accompanied by the rest of the party, grotesquely habited, with hand-bells. They thus proceeded from house to house, ringing their bells, and singing carols and songs. They were commonly offered refreshments or money. This custom was provincially called going a hodening, and the figure above described a hoden or wooden horse. It is now discontinued, but the singing of carols at Christmas is still called hodening.']

[156] ['Aubrey, in the Remains of Gentilisme, MS. Lansd. 226, says: "On St. Stephen's Day the farrier came constantly and blouded all our cart-horses."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 533.]

[157] ['In Tusser's Five Hundred Points of Husbandry, under December, are the following lines:
    "Yer Christmas be passed, let horsse be let blood,
    For manie a purpose it dooth them much good:
    The day of S. Steeven old fathers did use;
    If that do mislike thee, some other day chuse."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 533.]

[158] ['Popular Tales of Ireland,' RC, 4, 193. 'In this conception is to be sought the key to the meaning of the obscure name Beltene (May). The theory that the first element is the lame of an old solar- or fire-god has many adherents yet, not by any means confined to the class of the superficial and half-educated. As hinted above, the editor has here only space to state conclusions, and will eave detailed inquiry for another occasion. The following however would seem to be the true explanation. First, the Northern antiquaries seem to have been quite accurate in seeing a representative of the world-tree in the May-tree, or May-pole, and the Christmas tree. It will be noticed that the Félire reference occurs in the period of the great spring solar celebration. The usage yet survives n Galway, Donegal, Westmeath and elsewhere of planting a May-Tree or May-Bush [Crann-Bealtaine, Dos-Bealtaine] on the dunghill or before the farmhouse door, and eventually throwing it into the bonefire. The name of the festival, La Beltene, was the same as La Bile-tenidh (or Bele-tenidh), day of the Fire-Tree, and came from the bonefire and May-tree usage.']

[159] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 318, the 3rd ed., note 2. 'Midsummer Eve.' 'The boundary of each tin-mine in Cornwall is marked by a long pole, with a bush at the top of it. These on St. John's Day are crowned with flowers.']

[160] ['In the neighbourhood of Ross, it is deemed most unfortunate for a woman to enter the house first, and therefore an inquiry is generally made whether a male has previously been there. It is customary for the peasantry to send about on this day a small pyramid, made of leaves, apples, nuts, &c.—Fosbroke, Sketches of Ross, 1822, p. 58.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 7 (or Sketches of Ross, p. 70, 1821 ed).]

[161] ['At Huddersfield the children carry about a "wessel-bob," or large bunch of evergreens hung with oranges and apples, and coloured ribbons, singing the following carol:
    "Here we come a wassailing
    Among the leaves so green,
    Here we come a wandering
    So fair to be seen.
        Chorus.
    For it is in Christmas time
    Strangers travel far and near,
    So God bless you and send you a happy New year.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 483.]

[162] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 484. 'Some years ago it was the custom in Leeds, and the neighbourhood, for children to go from house to house singing and carrying what they called a "wesley-bob." This they kept veiled in a cloth till they came to a house door, when they uncovered it.
    The wesley-bob was made of holly and evergreens, like a bower, inside were placed a couple of dolls, adorned with ribbons, and the whole affair was borne upon a stick. Whilst the wesley-bob was being displayed, a song or ditty was sung.
    At Aberford, near Leeds, two dolls are carried about in boxes in a similar way, and such an affair here is called a wesley-box.—N. & Q. 3rd S. vol. vi. p. 494.']

[163] [Ibid., p. 464. 'There is a very pretty custom, now nearly obsolete, of bearing the "vessel," or, more properly, the wassail-cup, at Christmas. This consists of a box containing two dolls, dressed up to represent the Virgin and the Infant Christ, decorated with ribbons and surrounded by flowers and apples; the box has usually a glass lid, is covered over by a white napkin, and carried from door to door on the arms of a woman; on the top, or in the box, a china bason is placed, and the bearer on reaching a house, uncovered the box and sung the carol known as the "Seven Joys of the Virgin." The carrying of the "vessel-cup " is a fortuitous speculation, as it is considered so unlucky to send any one away unrequited, that few can be found whose temerity is so great as to deter them from giving some halfpence to the singer.']

[164] [Ibid., p. 493. 'In Bedfordshire there formerly existed a custom of the poor begging the broken victuals the day after Christmas Day.—Time's Telescope, 1822, p. 298.']

[165] ['Hogmanay is the universal popular name in Scotland for the last day of the year. It is a day of high festival among young and old but particularly the young, who do not regard any of the rest of the Daft Days with half so much interest. It is still customary, in retired and primitive towns, for the children of the poorer class of people to get themselves on that morning swaddled in a great sheet, doubled up in front, so as to form a vast pocket, and then to go along the streets in little bands, calling at the doors of the wealthier classes for an expected dole of oaten bread. Each child gets one quadrant section of oat-cake (sometimes, in the case of particular cases, improved by an addition of cheese), and this is called their hogmanay. In expectation of the large demands thus made upon them, the housewives busy themselves for several days beforehand in preparing a suitable quantity of cakes. The children, on coming to the door, cry "Hogmanay!" which is in itself a sufficient announcement of their demands; but there are other exclamations, which either are or might be used for the same purpose. One of these is:
    "Hogmanay,
    Trollolay,
    Give us of your white bread, and none of your grey!"
    What is precisely meant by the word hogmanay, or by the still more inexplicable trollolay, has been a subject fertile in dispute to Scottish antiquaries, as the reader will find by an inspection of the Archceologia Scotica. A suggestion of the late Professor Robison of Edinburgh seems the best, that the word hogmanay was derived from Au qui menez, ("To the misletoe go"), which mummers formerly cried in France at Christmas.' From Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 505.]

[166] [Lepsius, Denkmaler, vol. 2, p. 28.]

[167] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 14, the 3rd ed. 'New Year's Day.' 'In Scotland, upon the last day of the old year, the children go about from door to door asking for bread and cheese, which they call Nog-Money, in these words:
    "Get up, gude wife, and binno sweir (i.e. be not lazy)
    And deal your cakes and cheese while you are here;
    For the time will come when ye'll be dead,
    And neither need your cheese nor bread."']

[168] [Dyer, British Popular Customs, p. 469. 'Christmas festivities are well observed in Derbyshire; mummers or guisers go from house to house, and perform a play of St. George. They are dressed up in character and decorated with ribbands, tinsel, and other finery, and on being admitted into the house commence their performance by St. George announcing himself by beginning his oration:
    "I am St. George, the noble champion bold,
    And with my glittering sword
    I've won three crowns of gold;
    It's I who fought the fiery dragon,
    And brought it to the slaughter;
    And so I won fair Sabra,
    The king of Egypt's daughter.
    Seven have I won, but married none,
    And bear my glory all alone,
    With my Sword in my hand,
    Who dare against me stand?
    I swear I'll cut him down
    With my victorious brand."
    A champion is soon found in the person of Slasher, who, accepts the challenge. St. George then replies in a neat speech, when they sing, shake hands, and fight with their wooden swords, and Slasher is slain. The King then enters, saying: "I am the King of England, the greatest man alive," and after walking round the dead body, calls for, "Sir Guy, one of the chiefest men in the world's wonder," who shows his wonderful courage and prowess in calling for a doctor. The doctor, on making his appearance, gives a long and quaint account of his birth, parentage, education, and travels, whilst perambulating around the fallen Slasher, and ends his oration by saying:
    "Here take a little out of my bottle,
    And put it down thy throttle."
The drunk man is thus cured, and having received the advice of, "Rise, Jack, and fight again, the play is ended."—Jour. of the Arch. Assoc. 1852, vol. vii. p. 206.']

[169] [Ibid., p. 461. 'These were amusements derived from the Saturnalia, and so called from the Danish Mumme, or Dutch Momme, disguise in a mask. Christmas was the grand scene of mumming, and some mummers were disguised like bears, others like unicorns, bringing presents. Those who could not procure masks rubbed their faces with soot, or painted them. In the Christmas mummeries the chief aim was to surprise by the oddity of the masques and singularity and splendour of the dresses. Everything was out of nature and propriety. They were often attended with an exhibition of gorgeous machinery.—Fosbroke's Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, 1840, p. 669; see Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, 1801, pp. 124, 189, 190; also N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. X. pp. 464, 465, vol. XI. p. 271, vol. XII. p. 407; 3rd S. vol. I. p. 66, vol. IV. p. 486.']

[170] [Eisenlohr, 'Annals of Rameses III: Great Harris Papyrus,' RP, 8, 5. See p. 19, pl. 53, line 12.]

[171] [Rit. ch. 17. See Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]

[172] ['And in Marston's play, called the Dutch Courtezan, we read: "Yet all will scarce make me so high as one of the gyant's stilts that stalks before my Lord Maior's pageants."' From Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 323. Act 3, sc. 1, line 110—said by Crispinella. See Marston's Works, vol. 2, p. 147, ed. J. O. Halliwell, London, 1856.]

[173] [Bancroft, The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America, vol. 3, p. 145. 'There are dim Aleutian traditions of certain religious night-dances held in the month of December. Wooden idols, or figures of some kind, were made for the occasion, and carried from island to island with many esoteric ceremonies. Then was to be seen a marvellous sight. The men and women were put far apart; in the middle of each party a wooden figure was set up; certain great wooden masks or blinders were put on each person, so contrived that the wearer could see nothing outside a little circle round his feet. Then every one stripped, and there upon the snow, under the moonlight, in the bitter Arctic night, danced naked before the image say rather before the god, for as they danced a kugan descended and entered into the wooden figure. Woe to him or to her whose drift-wood mask fell, or was lifted, in the whirl of that awful dance; the stare of the Gorgon was not more fatal than a glance of the demon that possessed the idol; and for any one to look on one of the opposite sex, however it came about, he might be even counted as one dead. When the dance was over, the idols and the masks were broken and cast away.']

[174] [Massey's own words.]