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BRITISH POPULAR CUSTOMS
PRESENT AND PAST

GEORGE BELL AND SONS, LTD.
LONDON: PORTUGAL ST., KINGSWAY
CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO.
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
BOMBAY: A. H. WHEELER AND CO.

BRITISH
POPULAR CUSTOMS
PRESENT AND PAST

ILLUSTRATING THE SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC
MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE

ARRANGED
ACCORDING TO THE CALENDAR OF THE YEAR

BY THE REV.
T. F. THISELTON DYER, M.A.
PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXON.

LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS, LIMITED
1911

[Reprinted from Stereotype plates.]

PREFACE.

In presenting the following pages to the Public I do not lay claim to any originality, my object simply having been to collect together, into a readable and condensed form, from various sources within my reach, accounts of Customs which, if not already obsolete, are quickly becoming so.

With regard to the general plan of the book, it speaks for itself. It should, however, be stated that the movable feasts are placed under the earliest days on which they can fall.

In conclusion, I would only add that I am much indebted to Mr. James Britten, of the British Museum, for the valuable help and suggestions which he has given me whilst passing the proof-sheets through the Press.

T. F. Thiselton Dyer.

September 15th, 1875.

POPULAR CUSTOMS.

Jan. 1.] NEW YEAR’S DAY.

Jan. 1.]

NEW YEAR’S DAY.

New Year’s Day has always been a time of general rejoicing and festivity, its observance being characterised by many a curious custom and superstitious practice. History tells us how on this day the Druids were accustomed, with much pomp and ceremony, to distribute branches of the sacred mistletoe amongst the people; those precious gifts having the night before been cut from the oak-tree in a forest dedicated to the gods. Among the Saxons of the northern nations the new year was ushered in by friendly gifts, and celebrated with such extraordinary festivity that people actually used to reckon their age by the numbers of annual merry-makings in which they had participated. Fosbroke, in his Encyclopædia of Antiquities, notices the continuation of the Roman practice of interchanging gifts during the middle and later ages; a custom which prevailed especially amongst our kings, queens, and the nobility. According to Matthew Paris, Henry III., following the discreditable example of some of the Roman emperors, even extorted them from his subjects.

In Rymer’s Fœdera (vol. x. p. 387) a list is given of the gifts received by Henry VI. between Christmas Day and February 4th, 1428, consisting of sums of 40s., 20s., 13s. 4d., 10s., 6s. 8d., and 3s. 4d.

In the reign of Henry VII. the reception of the New Year’s gifts presented by the king and queen to each other and by their household and courtiers, was reduced to a solemn formula.

Agnes Strickland, in her Lives of the Queens of England (1864, vol. ii. p. 83), quotes the following extract from a MS. of Henry VII.’s Norroy herald, in possession of Peter Le Neve, Esq.: “On the day of the New Year, when the king came to his foot-sheet, his usher of his chamber-door said to him, ‘Sire, here is a New Year’s gift coming from the queen;’ then the king replied, ‘Let it come in.’ Then the king’s usher let the queen’s messenger come within the yate” (meaning the gate of the railing which surrounded the royal bed, instances of which are familiar to the public in the state bedrooms at Hampton Court to this day, and it is probable that the scene was very similar), “Henry VII. sitting at the foot of the bed in his dressing-gown, the officers of his bed-chamber having turned the top sheet smoothly down to the foot of the bed when the royal personage rose. The queen,[1] in like manner, sat at her foot-sheet, and received the king’s New Year’s gift within the gate of her bed-railing. When this formal exchange of presents had taken place between the king and his consort, they received, seated in the same manner, the New Year’s gifts of their nobles. ‘And,’ adds the herald, assuming the first person, ‘I shall report to the queen’s grace and them that be about her, what rewards are to be given to them that bring her grace New Year’s gifts, for I trow they are not so good as those of the king.’”

[1] Elizabeth of York.

There is in the possession of the Marquis of Bath, Longleat, a manuscript, which contains a list of moneys given to King Henry VIII. in the twenty-fourth year of his reign, as New Year’s gifts. They are from archbishops, bishops, noblemen, doctors, gentlemen, &c. The amount which the king’s grace complacently pocketed on this occasion was 792l. 10s. 10d.—N. &. Q. 4th S. vol. xi. p. 8.

Honest old Latimer, however, says Hone (Every Day Book, 1836, vol. i. p. 7), instead of presenting Henry VIII. with a purse of gold, put into the king’s hand a New Testament, with a leaf conspicuously doubled down at Hebrews xiii. 4, which, on reference, will be found to have been worthy of all acceptation, though not, perhaps, well accepted.

A manuscript roll of the public revenue of the fifth year of Edward VI. has an entry of rewards given on New Year’s Day to the king, officers, and servants, amounting to 155l. 5s., and also of sums given to the servants of those who presented New Year’s gifts to the king.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the custom of presenting New Year’s gifts to the sovereign was carried to an extravagant height. Indeed, Dr. Drake is of opinion that the wardrobe and jewelry of Queen Elizabeth were principally supported by these annual contributions on New Year’s Day. He cites lists of New Year’s gifts presented to her from the original rolls published in her “progresses” by Mr. Nichols; and from these it appears that the presents were made by the great officers of state, peers and peeresses, bishops, knights and their ladies, gentlemen and gentlewomen, physicians and apothecaries, and others of lower grade, down to her Majesty’s dustman. The presents consisted of sums of money, costly articles of ornament for the queen’s person or apartments, caskets studded with precious stones, valuable necklaces, bracelets, gowns, embroidered mantles, smocks, petticoats, looking-glasses, fans, silk stockings, and a great variety of other articles. The largest sum given by any of the temporal lords was 20l.; but the Archbishop of Canterbury gave 40l., the Archbishop of York 30l., and the other spiritual lords, 20l. and 10l. Dr. Drake says, that although Elizabeth made returns to the New Year’s gifts, in plate and other articles, yet she nevertheless took sufficient care that the balance should be in her own favour.

In the reign of James I. the money gifts seem to have been continued for some time, but the ornamental articles presented seem to have been few and of small value. No rolls, nor, indeed, any notices of New Year’s gifts presented to Charles I. seem to have been preserved, though probably there were such. The custom, no doubt, ceased entirely during the Commonwealth, and was never afterwards revived, at least, to any extent worthy of notice. Mr. Nichols mentions that the last remains of the custom at court consisted in placing a crown-piece under the plate of each of the chaplains in waiting on New Year’s Day, and that this custom had ceased early in the nineteenth century.

The New Year’s gifts, says Chambers (Book of Days, vol. i. p. 31), presented by individuals to each other were suited to sex, rank, situation, and circumstances. From Bishop Hall’s Satires (1598), it appears that the usual gift of tenantry in the country to their landlords was a capon; and Cowley, addressing the same class of society says:

“Ye used in the former days to fall
Prostrate to your landlord in his hall,
When with low legs, and in an humble guise,
Ye offer’d up a capon sacrifice
Unto his worship, at a New Year’s tide.”

Ben Jonson, in his Christmas Masque, among other characters introduces “New Year’s gift in a blue coat, serving-man like, with an orange, and a sprig of rosemary on his head, his hat full of brooches, with a collar of gingerbread, his torch-bearer carrying a marchpane, with a bottle of wine on either arm.” An orange stuck with cloves was a common present, and is explained by Lupton, who says that the flavour of the wine is improved, and the wine itself preserved from mouldiness, by an orange or lemon stuck with cloves being hung within the vessel, so as not to touch the liquor.

When pins were first invented, and brought into use about the beginning of the sixteenth century, they were a New Year’s gift very acceptable to ladies, instead of the wooden skewers which they had hitherto used. Sometimes, however, in lieu of pins, they received a composition in money, called pin money, an expression which has been extended to a sum of money secured by a husband on his marriage for the private expenses of his wife.

Gloves, too, were customary New Year’s gifts. They were far more expensive than nowadays, and occasionally a sum of money was given instead, which was called glove money.

A hundred years ago, the Poet Laureate not only wrote a New Year’s ode, by way of salutation to the sovereign and royal family, but those illustrious personages sat in state at St. James’s, and heard it, as it was sung by celebrated vocalists, for whom it had been composed by some expert in music. Now that the Laureate’s song would be worth the listening to, we have none written especially for the New Year. This musical festival has ceased to be.—N. & Q. 4th S. vol. xi. p. 8.

Latterly, New Year’s Day has been celebrated with but little public festivity, the only open joyous demonstration being the sound of merry peals from the church bells, as they ring out the Old and ring in the New Year.

Many persons make a point of wearing new clothes on this day, and consider any omission of the kind unlucky. At court it is one of the twelve Offering Days.—Med. Ævi Kalend. Hampson, 1841, vol. i. p 33.

In the North of England it is considered unlucky for any inmate to go out of the house until some one from without has entered it; and the first foot across the threshold is watched with great anxiety, the good or bad luck of the house during the year, depending on the first comer being a man or a woman.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. xi. p. 244.

Opening the Bible on this day is a superstitious practice observed in some parts of the country, and much credit is attached to it. It is usually set about with some little ceremony on the morning, before breakfast, as it must be performed fasting. The Bible is laid on the table unopened, and the parties who wish to consult it are then to open it in succession. They are not at liberty to choose any particular part of the book, but must open it at random. Wherever this may happen to be, the inquirer is to place his finger on any chapter contained in the two open pages, but without any previous perusal or examination. It is believed that the good or ill fortune, the happiness or the misery, of the consulting party, during the ensuing year, will be in some way or other described and foreshown by the contents of the chapter. The custom is called dipping.—Pop. Antiq. Brand, 1849, vol. i. p. 20; N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. xii. p. 303.

It is customary in some places for persons to carry about decorated apples, and present them to their friends. The apples have three skewers of wood stuck into them, so as to form a tripod foundation; and their sides are ornamented with oat grains, while various evergreens and berries adorn the top. A raisin is occasionally fastened on each oat grain, but this is probably an innovation.—N. & Q. 1st S. vol. i. p. 214.

In some parts of the county of Nottingham, on the first day of the New Year, troops of little children might be seen a few years ago, each bearing an orange, an apple, or a nutmeg, sometimes gilded, and stuck with cloves or rosemary, which they were carrying to their friends to ask their blessing; the present thus given was generally carefully reserved.—Jour. of the Archæological Association, 1853, vol. viii. p. 231.

Buckinghamshire.

It appears from a MS. in the British Museum (Status Scholæ Etonensis, A.D. 1560, MS. Brit. Mus. Donat. 4843, fol. 423), that the boys of Eton School used, on the day of the Circumcision, to play for little New Year’s gifts before and after supper; and that boys had a custom on that day, for good luck’s sake, of making verses, and sending them to the provost, masters, &c., as also of presenting them to each other.

Cumberland and Westmoreland.

Early in the morning the common people assemble together, carrying stangs and baskets. Any inhabitant, stranger, or whoever joins not this ruffian tribe in sacrificing to their favourite saint-day, if unfortunate enough to be met by any of the band, is immediately mounted across the stang (if a woman, she is basketed), and carried shoulder high to the nearest public house, where the payment of sixpence immediately liberates the prisoner. None, though ever so industriously inclined, are permitted to follow their respective avocations on that day.—Gent. Mag. 1791, vol. lxi. p. 1169.

Essex.

Formerly the bailiffs of Maldon sent on the first day of the year, to the king’s vice-admiral of Essex a present of oysters and wild fowl. Sir John Bramston notices the arrival of the gift on New Year’s Day (March 26), 1688, in his Autobiography, printed for the Camden Society in 1845.

Herefordshire.

At Bromyard and its neighbourhood, as twelve o’clock on the 31st of December draws near, and the last of the Christmas carols are heard without doors, and a pleasurable excitement is playing on the faces of the family around the last Christmas log within, a rush is made to the nearest spring of water, and whoever is fortunate enough to first bring in the “cream of the well,” as it is termed, and those who first taste of it, have “prospect of good luck through the forthcoming year.” Also, in the early hours of the New Year, after a funeral service has been said over “Old Tom” as the old year is called, at the public-houses and ale and cider stores, the streets are filled with boys and men, singing in the loudest tones possible:

“I wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year,
A pocket full of money,
And a cellar full of beer,
And a good fat pig
To serve you all the year.
Ladies and gentlemen
Sat (sic) by the fire,
Pity we poor boys
Out in the mire.”

The Antiquary, 1873, vol. iii. p. 7.

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.

Lancashire.

Should a female, or a light-haired male, be the first to enter a house on the morning of New Year’s Day, it is supposed to bring bad luck for the whole of the year then commencing. Various precautions are taken to prevent this misfortune: hence many male persons with black or dark hair are in the habit of going from house to house, on that day, to take the New Year in; for which they are treated with liquor, and presented with a small gratuity. So far is the apprehension carried, that some families will not open the door to any one until satisfied by the voice that he is likely to bring the house a year’s good luck by entering it.

The most kindly and charitable woman in a neighbourhood will strongly refuse to give any one a light on the morning of New Year’s Day, as most unlucky to the one who gives it away.—Harland and Wilkinson’s Lancashire Folk-Lore, 1867, p. 214.

Isle of Man.

On this day an old custom, says Train in his History of the Isle of Man (1845, vol. ii. p. 115), is observed called the quaaltagh. In almost every parish throughout the island, a party of young men go from house to house singing the following rhyme:

“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 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 the 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, like these rude performers of the Ancient Mysteries, appear ever to have been attended by minstrels playing on different kinds of musical instruments.

Northumberland.

The following extract, relating to Newcastle-on-Tyne, is taken from the North of England Advertiser of January 4th, 1873:

The children on New Year’s morn are busy begging their New Year’s gifts, saying, “Old Year out, New Year in; please give us my New Year’s gift;” or “A merry Christmas and a happy New Year;” followed by the usual appeal for a present. The first-foot is an important personage. If he should be a dark man, it is a sign of good luck; if a light one not so lucky; but alas! if a woman, the worst luck will befall the household. Similar to the first hearing of the cuckoo, it is of the greatest importance whether or not you have money in your pocket and your cupboard full on New Year’s Day.

Nottinghamshire.

In this county it is considered unlucky to remove anything from a house until something has been brought in, and therefore, early in the morning, each member of the family carries some trifling thing in. In the neighbourhood of Newark, this rhyme is sung:

“Take out, and take in,
Bad luck is sure to begin;
But take in and take out.
Good luck will come about.”

Jour. of Arch. Assoc. 1853, vol. viii. p. 231.

Brand, in his Pop. Antiq. (1849, vol. i. p. 15), alludes to this custom as existing in Lincoln and its neighbourhood. The rhyme he quotes is slightly different from the above:

“Take out, then take in,
Bad luck will begin;
Take in, then take out,
Good luck comes in.”

Oxfordshire.

Pointer, in his Oxoniensis Academia (1749, p. 71), alludes to a custom, observed at Brasenose College, Oxford, of the Bachelors of Arts and Undergraduates belonging to the college going in a body on New Year’s Day to their Principal, and each presenting him with an epistle by way of a New Year’s gift, wishing him a happy New Year.

We learn from the same writer, that it was formerly the practice at Queen’s College to give a needle and thread to the Fellows, being a rebus on their founder’s name, Eglesfield, aiguille in French signifying a needle, and fil a thread (p. 38).

Staffordshire.

A grotesque manorial custom is described as being kept up in the reign of Charles II., in connection with Hilton. There existed in that house a hollow brass image, about a foot high, representing a man kneeling in an indecorous position. It was known all over the country as Jack of Hilton. There were two apertures; one very small at the mouth, another about two-thirds of an inch in diameter at the back, and the interior would hold rather more than four pints of water, which, says Plot (History of Staffordshire, 1686, p. 433), ‘when set to a strong fire, evaporates in the same manner as in an Æolopile, and vents itself 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.’

The custom was this. An obligation lay upon the lord of the adjacent manor of Essington, every New Year’s Day, to bring a goose to Hilton, and drive it three times round the hall-fire, which Jack of Hilton was all the time blowing by the discharge of his steam. He was then to carry the bird into the kitchen and deliver it to the cook; and when it was dressed he was to carry it in a dish to the table of his lord paramount, the lord of Hilton, receiving in return a dish of meat for his own mess.

An annual payment, called Moseley’s Dole, was formerly made by the corporation, consisting of a penny a piece to all the inhabitants of Walsall, and of the adjoining parish of Rushall, which is supposed to have anciently formed part of that of Walsall.

Three persons were employed to make the distribution, who began on New Year’s Day, and went through the parishes, giving a penny to each inmate of every house, whether permanently or accidentally abiding there.

It is stated by Plot (History of Staffordshire), that the earliest mention of this dole is in the 36th Henry VIII., when 7l. 10s. 9d. discharged it. The first trace of it, however, that is found in the documents of the corporation is in 1632, when its amount was 14l. 9s. 4d. The amount increased gradually till 1799, when it was 60l., and until the time of its cessation in 1825, it remained yearly about the same.

There are many traditions respecting the origin of this dole, but they all concur in attributing it to one Thomas Moseley, from whom an estate at Bascott in Warwickshire was derived. The donor, in granting this estate to the Corporation, charged it with the annual payment of nine marks to the Abbot of Hales Owen, “who should keep one mark for his labours in distributing the remaining eight marks, at the obit of the said Thomas Moseley at Walsall, for the souls of the said Thomas and Margary his wife, and others; and this by the oversight of the Vicar of Walsall, and of all the chaplains of the Guild of St. John the Baptist, of the church of Walsall.”

The eight marks above named were no doubt the origin of the dole, and would, before the Reformation, be amply sufficient to supply a penny a piece to all the parishioners, or at least to all who repaired to the church on the obit day, to pray for the donor and his wife—a superstitious custom which caused the estate to be seized by Henry VIII., when he suppressed the monasteries.—History of Staffordshire, White, 1857, p. 645; Old English Customs and Charities, 1842, p. 55.

Sussex.

At Hastings, apples, nuts, oranges, &c., as well as money, are thrown out of the windows to be scrambled for by the fisher-boys and men. The custom is not kept up with the spirit of former days.

Warwickshire.

In the city of Coventry a sort of cake known by the name of God-cakes is sent. They are used by all classes, and vary in price from a halfpenny to one pound. They are invariably made in a triangular shape, an inch thick, and filled with a kind of mincemeat. So general is the use of them on the first day of the New Year, that the cheaper sorts are hawked about the streets as hot cross buns are on Good Friday in London. This custom seems peculiar to Coventry.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. ii. p. 229.

Worcestershire.

A belief exists in this county, that if the carol singer who first comes to the door on New Year’s morning be admitted at the front door, conducted through the house, and let out at the back the inmates will have good luck during the year.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. iii. p. 313.

Yorkshire.

The following quaint account of a whimsical custom formerly observed on New Year’s Day is taken from Blount’s Fragmenta Antiquitatis, 1815, p. 555:

Near Hutton Conyers there is a large common, called Hutton Conyers Moor, whereof William Aislabie, Esq., of Studley Royal (lord of the Manor of Hutton Conyers), is lord of the soil, and on which there is a large coney-warren belonging to the lord. The occupiers of messuages and cottages within the several towns of Hutton Conyers, Baldersby, Rainton, Dishforth, and Hewick, have right of estray for their sheep to certain limited boundaries on the common, and each township has a shepherd.

The lord’s shepherd has a pre-eminence of tending his sheep on every part of the common; and wherever he herds the lord’s sheep, the several other shepherds are to give way to him, and give up their hoofing-place so long as he pleases to depasture the lord’s sheep thereon. The lord holds his court the first day in the year, to entitle those several townships to such right of estray; the shepherd of each township attends the court, and does fealty, by bringing to the court a large apple-pie, and a twopenny sweetcake (except the shepherd of Hewick, who compounds by paying sixteen-pence for all, which is drunk as after mentioned,) and a wooden spoon; each pie is cut in two, and divided by the bailiff, one half between the steward, bailiff, and the tenant of the coney-warren before mentioned, and the other half into six parts, and divided amongst the six shepherds of the above mentioned six townships. In the pie brought by the shepherd of Rainton an inner one is made, filled with prunes. The cakes are divided in the same manner. The bailiff of the manor provides furmenty and mustard, and delivers to each shepherd a slice of cheese and a penny roll. The furmenty, well mixed with mustard, is put into an earthen pot, and placed in a hole in the ground, in a garth belonging to the bailiff’s house; to which place the steward of the court, with the bailiff, tenant of the warren, and six shepherds, adjourn with their respective wooden spoons. The bailiff provides spoons for the stewards, the tenant of the warren, and himself. The steward first pays respect to the furmenty, by taking a large spoonful; the bailiff has the next honour, the tenant of the warren next, then the shepherd of Hutton Conyers, and afterwards the other shepherds by regular turns; then each person is served with a glass of ale (paid for by the sixteen-pence brought by the Hewick shepherd), and the health of the lord of the manor is drank; then they adjourn back to the bailiff’s house, and the further business of the court is proceeded with.

Each pie contains about a peck of flour, is about sixteen or eighteen inches diameter, and as large as will go into the mouth of an ordinary oven. The bailiff of the manor measures them with a rule, and takes the diameter; and if they are not of a sufficient capacity, he threatens to return them, and fine the town. If they are large enough, he divides them with a rule and compasses into four equal parts; of which the steward claims one, the warrener another, and the remainder is divided amongst the shepherds. In respect to the furmenty, the top of the dish in which it is put is placed level with the surface of the ground; all persons present are entitled to eat of it, and those who do not, are not deemed loyal to the lord. Every shepherd is obliged to eat of it, and for that purpose is to take a spoon in his pocket to the court; for if any of them neglect to carry a spoon with him he is to lay him down upon his belly, and sup the furmenty, with his face to the pot or dish; at which time it is usual, by way of sport, for some of the bystanders to dip his face into the furmenty; and sometimes a shepherd, for the sake of diversion, will purposely leave his spoon at home.

In the North Riding of Yorkshire, those who have not the common materials for making a fire, generally sit without one on New Year’s Day; for none of their neighbours, although hospitable at other times, will suffer them to light a candle at their fires. If they do, it is believed that one of the family will die within the year.—Gent. Mag. 1811, vol. lxxxi. p. 424.

Subjoined is all that appears to have survived of the Yorkshire Hagmena song:[2]

“To-night it is the New Year’s night, to-morrow is the day,
And we are come for our right and for our ray,
As we used to do in old King Henry’s day
Sing fellows, sing, hag man, ha!

If you go to the bacon-flick, cut me a good bit;
Cut, cut, and low, beware of your maw;
Cut, cut, and round, beware of your thumb,
That me and my merry men may have some.
Sing fellows, sing, hag-man, ha!

If you go to the black ark, bring me ten marks;
Ten marks, ten pound, throw it down upon the ground,
That me and my merry men may have some.
Sing fellows, sing, hag-man, ha!”

Brand’s Pop. Antiq. 1870, vol. i. p. 11.

[2] See ‘[New Year’s Eve].’

SCOTLAND.

In the Memoirs of Lord Langdale by Sir T. D. Hardy, 1852, vol. i. p. 55, occurs the following:

“Being in Scotland, I ought to tell you of Scotch customs; and really they have a charming one on this occasion (i.e. New Year’s Day). Whether it is meant as a farewell ceremony to the old one, or an introduction to the New Year, I can’t tell; but on the 31st of December, almost everybody has a party, either to dine or sup. The company, almost entirely consisting of young people, wait together till twelve o’clock strikes, at which time every one begins to move, and they all fall to work. At what? why, kissing. Each male is successively locked in pure Platonic embrace with each female; and after this grand ceremony, which of course creates infinite fun, they separate and go home. This matter is not at all confined to these, but wherever man meets woman it is the particular privilege of this hour. The common people think it necessary to drink what they call hot-pint, which consists of strong beer, whisky, eggs, &c.; a most horrid composition; as bad, or worse than that infamous mixture called fig-one,[3] which the English people drink on Good Friday.”

[3] Doubtless a misprint for fig-sue. See under [Good Friday].

The letter from which this is an extract is signed Henry Beckersteth, and dated Edinburgh, January 1st, 1802.

Till very few years ago, in Scotland (says a correspondent of Chambers’ Book of Days, vol. i. p. 28), the custom of first-footing was practised on New Year’s morning.

On the approach of twelve o’clock of the last night of the old year, a hot-pint[4] was prepared—that is, a kettle or flagon full of warm, spiced, and sweetened ale, with an infusion of spirits. When the clock had struck the knell of the departed year, each member of the family drank of this mixture, “and good health, and a happy New Year, and many of them, to all the rest,” with a general hand-shaking, and perhaps a dance round the table, with the addition of a song to the tune of Hey tuttie taitie:

“Weel may we a’ be,
Ill may we never see.
Here’s to the king
And the gude companie!” &c.

[4] Called also a het-pint. Time’s Telescope, 1824, p. 3.

The elders of the family would then most probably sally out with the hot kettle, and bearing also a competent provision of buns and short-bread, or bread-and-cheese, with the design of visiting their neighbours, and interchanging with them the same cordial greetings. If they met by the way another party similarly bent whom they knew, they would stop, and give and take sips from their respective kettles. Reaching the friend’s house, they would enter with vociferous good wishes, and soon send the kettle circulating. If they were the first to enter the house since twelve o’clock they were deemed as the first-foot; and as such it was most important for luck to the family in the coming year, that they should make this entry not empty-handed, but with their hands full of cakes, and bread-and-cheese; of which, on the other hand, civility demanded that each individual in the house should partake.

To such an extent did this custom prevail in Edinburgh, in the recollection of persons still living, that according to their account, the principal streets were more thronged between twelve and one in the morning than they usually were at mid-day. Much innocent mirth prevailed, and mutual good feelings were largely promoted. An unlucky circumstance which took place on the 1st January, 1812, proved the means of nearly extinguishing the custom. A small party of reckless boys formed the design of turning the innocent festivities of first-footing to account for purposes of plunder. They kept their counsel well. No sooner had the people come abroad on the principal thoroughfares of the Old Town than these youths sallied out in small bands, and commenced the business which they had undertaken. Their previous agreement was to look out for the white neckcloths, such being the best mark by which they could distinguish in the dark individuals likely to carry any property worthy of being taken. A great number of gentlemen were thus spoiled of their watches and other valuables. The least resistance was resented by the most brutal maltreatment. A policeman and a young man of the rank of a clerk in Leith died of the injuries they had received. An affair so singular, so uncharacteristic of the people among whom it happened, produced a widespread and lasting feeling of surprise. The outrage was expiated by the execution of three of the youthful rioters on the chief scene of their wickedness; but from that time it was observed that the old custom of going about with the hot pint—the ancient wassail—fell off.

There was in Scotland also a first-footing independent of the hot-pint. It was a time for some youthful friend of the family to steal to the door, in the hope of meeting there the young maiden of his fancy, and obtaining the privilege of a kiss as her first-foot. Great was the disappointment on his part, and great the joking among the family, if, through accident or plan, some half-withered aunt or ancient grand-dame came to receive him instead of the blooming Jenny.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 29.

In the south of Scotland, as soon as the clock has struck the midnight hour, one of a family goes to the well as quickly as possible, and carefully skims it; this they call getting the scum or ream (cream) of the well:

“Twall struck—twa neebour hizzies raise,
An’ liltin gaed a sad gate;
The flower o’ the well to our house gaes
An’ I’ll the bonniest lad get.”

The flower of the well signifies the first pail of water, and the girl who is so fortunate as to obtain the prize is supposed to have more than a double chance of obtaining the most accomplished young man in the parish.—Med. Ævi Kalend. vol. i. p. 129.

As soon as the last night of the year sets in, it is the signal with the Strathdown Highlander for the suspension of his usual employment, and he directs his attention to more agreeable callings. The men form into bands, with tethers and axes, and shaping their course to the juniper bushes, they return home laden with mighty loads, which are arranged round the fire to dry until morning. A certain discreet person is despatched to the dead and living ford to draw a pitcher of water in profound silence, without the vessel touching the ground, lest its virtue should be destroyed, and on his return all retire to rest. Early on New Year’s morning the usque-cashrichd, or water from the dead and living ford, is drunk, as a potent charm until next New Year’s Day, against the spells of witchcraft, the malignity of evil eyes, and the activity of all infernal agency. The qualified Highlander then takes a large brush, with which he profusely asperses the occupants of all beds; from whom it is not unusual for him to receive ungrateful remonstrances against ablution. This ended, and the doors and windows being thoroughly closed, and all crevices stopped, he kindles piles of the collected juniper in the different apartments, till the vapour from the burning branches condenses into opaque clouds, and coughing, sneezing, wheezing, gasping, and other demonstrations of suffocation ensue. The operator, aware that the more intense the “smuchdan” the more propitious the solemnity, disregards these indications, and continues, with streaming eyes and averted head, to increase the fumigation, until in his own defence he admits the air to recover the exhausted household and himself. He then treats the horses, cattle, and other bestial stock in the town with the same smothering, to keep them from harm throughout the year. When the gude wife gets up, and having ceased from coughing, has gained sufficient strength to reach the bottle dhu, she administers its comfort to the relief of the sufferers; laughter takes the place of complaint, all the family get up, wash their faces, and receive the visits of their neighbours, who arrive full of congratulations peculiar to the day. Mu nase choil orst, “My Candlemas bond upon you,” is the customary salutation, and means, in plain words, “You owe me a New Year’s gift.” A point of great emulation is, who shall salute the other first, because the one who does so is entitled to a gift from the person saluted. Breakfast, consisting of all procurable luxuries, is then served, the neighbours not engaged are invited to partake, and the day ends in festivity.—Popular Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland, Stewart, 1851.

Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland (1790, vol. i. p. 206), says that on New Year’s Day the Highlanders burn juniper before their cattle.

Forfarshire.

At the commencement of the New Year[5] the opulent burghers of Montrose begin to feast with their friends, and to go a round of visits, which takes up the space of many weeks. Upon such occasions, the gravest is expected to be merry, and to join in a cheerful song.—Stat. Acc. of Scotland, Sinclair, 1793, vol. v. p. 48.

[5] Also at Christmas.

Orkney Isles.

At Lady, companies of men go to the houses of the rich, and awake the family by singing the New Year’s song, in full chorus. When the song is concluded, the family entertain the musicians with ale and bread, and give them a smoked goose or a piece of beef.—Stat. Acc. of Scotland, 1845, vol. xv. p. 142.

At the parishes of Cross, Burness, &c., New Year’s gifts, under the title of “Christmas presents,” are given to maid-servants by their masters.—Stat. Account of Scotland, Sinclair, 1793, vol. vii. p. 488.

HANDSEL MONDAY.

SCOTLAND.

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 especially implying 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, Auld Handsel Monday, i.e. Handsel Monday old style, or the first Monday after the twelfth of the month, is the day usually held. The farmers used to treat the whole of their servants on that morning to a liberal breakfast of roast and boiled, with ale, whisky, and cake, to their utmost contentment, after which the guests went about seeing their friends for the remainder of the day. It was also the day on which any disposed for change gave up their places, and when new servants were engaged. Even now, when most old fashions are much decayed, Auld Handsel Monday continues to be the holiday of the year to the class of farm-labourers in Scotland.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 52.

Co. of Edinburgh.

At Currie the annual fair and Old Handsel Monday are the only periodical holidays for the working classes; on which latter occasion the servants enjoy the pleasure of returning to the bosom of their families, and spending the close of the day with their friends. The early part is generally observed in the less innocent amusement of raffles, and shooting with fire-arms, which, being often old and rusty, as well as wielded by inexperienced hands, have occasioned some disagreeable accidents.—Stat. Acc. of Scotland 1845, vol. i. p. 550.

Jan. 5.] EVE OF THE EPIPHANY.

Jan. 5.]

EVE OF THE EPIPHANY.

Formerly itinerant minstrels used to bear a bowl of spiced wine to the houses of the gentry and others, from whom they expected a hospitable reception, and calling their bowl a wassail-bowl, they drank wassail to their entertainers.

In ancient kalendars is an observation on the 5th day of January, the Vigil of the Epiphany, “Kings created by beans,” and the sixth day is called “Festival of Kings,” with another remark, that “the ceremony of electing kings was continued with feasting for many days.”—Med. Ævi Kalend. vol. i. p. 134.

Devonshire.

At Kingsbridge and Salcombe it was formerly customary for the ciderist, attended by his workmen with a large can or pitcher of cider, guns charged with powder, &c., to repair to the orchard, and there at the foot of one of the best-bearing apple-trees, drink the following toast three times repeated, discharging the fire-arms in conclusion:

“Here’s to thee, old apple tree,
Whence thou may’st bud,
And whence thou may’st blow!
And whence thou may’st bear apples enow!
Hats full! caps full!
Bushel—bushel-sacks full!
And my pockets full too! Huzza!”

The pitcher being emptied, they returned to the house, the doors of which they were certain to find bolted by the females; who, however bad the weather might be, were inexorable to all entreaties to open them, till some one had divined what was on the spit. This was generally not easily thought of, and if edible was the reward of him who first named it. The party were then admitted.—Kingsbridge and Salcombe Historically Depicted, 1819, p. 71. Vide Gent. Mag. 1791, vol. lxi. p. 403.

Brand, on the authority of a Cornishman, relates it also as a custom with the Devonshire people to go after supper into the orchard with a large milk-pan full of cider, having roasted apples pressed into it. Out of this each person in company takes what is called a clome—i.e. earthenware—cup, full of liquor, and standing under each of the more fruitful apple-trees, passing by those that are not good bearers, he addresses them in the following words:

“Health to thee, good apple tree,
Well to bear pocket-fulls, hat-fulls,
Peck-fulls, bushel bag-fulls;”

and then drinking up part of the contents, he throws the rest, with the fragments of the roasted apples, at the tree. At each cup, the company set up a shout.—Pop. Antiq. 1849, vol. i. p. 29.

Herrick thus alludes to this custom and the superstition attached to it:

“Wassail the trees, that they may bear
You many a plum and many a pear;
For more or less fruit they will bring,
As you do give them wassailing.”

Gloucestershire.

In the parish of Pauntley, and the surrounding neighbourhood, the servants of each farmer formerly assembled together in one of the fields that had been sown with wheat. At the end of twelve lands, they made twelve fires in a row with straw, around one of which, much larger than the rest, they drank a cheerful glass of cider to their master’s health, and success to the future harvest; then, returning home, they feasted on cakes soaked in cider, which they claimed as a reward for their past labours in sowing the grain.—Fosbrooke, Hist. of Gloucestershire, 1807, vol. ii. p. 232.

Herefordshire.

At the approach of the evening, 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.[6] 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 seen all 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 with 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, 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.

[6] These fires represented our Lord and the twelve Apostles.

The ox is then tickled, to make him toss his head; if he throw the cake behind, 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 until some joyous songs are sung. On their gaining admittance a scene of mirth ensues, which lasts the greater part of the night.—Gent. Mag. 1791, vol. lxi. p. 116.

Staffordshire.

According to Blount the inhabitants of this county at one time made a fire on the eve of the Epiphany, in memory of the blazing star that conducted the three Magi to the manger at Bethlehem.

Yorkshire.

In the neighbourhood of Leeds, families formerly invited their relations, friends, and neighbours to their houses, for the purpose of playing at cards, and partaking of a supper of which mince pies were an indispensable ingredient. After supper was over the wassail-cup or wassail-bowl was brought in, of which every one partook, by taking with a spoon out of the ale a roasted apple and eating it, and then drinking the healths of the company out of the bowl, wishing them a merry Christmas, and a happy New Year. The festival of Christmas used in this part of the country to be held for twenty days, and some persons extended it even to Candlemas.

The ingredients put into the bowl, viz., ale, sugar, nutmeg, and roasted apples, were usually called lambs’ wool, and the night on which it was drunk was commonly called Wassail Eve.—Gent. Mag. 1784, vol. liv. p. 98.

IRELAND.

In Ireland “on Twelve Eve in Christmas, they use to set up as high as they can a sieve of oats, and in it a dozen of candles set round, and in the centre one larger, all lighted. This in memory of our Saviour and his Apostles, light of the world.”—Sir Henry Piers’ Description of the County of Westmeath, 1682, in Vallancey’s Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, vol. i. No. 1, p. 124.

Jan. 6.] TWELFTH DAY. THE EPIPHANY.

Jan. 6.]

TWELFTH DAY.
THE EPIPHANY.

In its character as a popular festival, Twelfth Day stands only inferior to Christmas. The leading object held in view is to do honour to “the three wise men,” or, as they are more generally denominated, “the three kings.” It is a Christian custom, ancient past memory, and probably suggested by a paean custom, to indulge in a pleasantry called the Election of kings by beans. Some, however, maintain it to have been derived from the custom observed by the Roman children, who, at the end of their saturnalia, drew lots with beans, to see who would be king.

In England in later times, a large cake was made, with a bean or silver penny inserted, and this was called Twelfth-cake. The family and friends being assembled, the cake was divided by lot, and whoever got the piece containing the bean was accepted as the king for the day, and called King of the Bean. It appears also that there was always a queen as well as a king on Twelfth-Night. A writer, speaking of the celebration in the South of England in 1774, says: “After tea a cake is produced with two bowls containing the fortunate chances for the different sexes. The host fills up the tickets, and the whole company, except the king and queen, are to be ministers of state, maids of honour, or ladies of the bed-chamber. Often the host and hostess, more by design than accident, become king and queen. According to Twelfth Day law, each party is to support his character till midnight.”

In the sixteenth century it would appear that some peculiar ceremonies followed the election of the king and queen. Barnaby Googe, in his paraphrase of the curious poem of Naogeorgus, The Popish Kingdom, 1570, states that the king, on being elected, was raised up with great cries to the ceiling, where with chalk he inscribed crosses on the rafters to protect the house against evil spirits.—Book of Days, 1863, vol. i. p. 62. See also Every Day Book, 1827, vol. i. p. 51.

Herrick, the poet of our festivals, has several allusions to the celebration of this day of our ancestors, as may be seen in the subjoined poem:

“TWELFE-NIGHT, OR KING AND QUEENE.

“Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
Where beane’s the king of the sport here;
Besides, we must know,
The pea also
Must revell, as queene, in the court here.

Begin then to chuse
(This night as ye use)
Who shall for the present delight here,
Be a king be the lot,
And who shall not
Be Twelfe-day queene for the night here.

Which knowne, let us make
Joy-sops with the cake;
And let not a man then be seene here.
Who unurg’d will not drinke,
To the base from the brink,
A health to the king and queene here.

Next crowne the bowle full
With gentle lamb’s-wooll;
Adde sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,
With store of ale too;
And thus ye must doe
To make the wassaile a swinger.

Give them to the king
And queene wassailing;
And though with ale ye be whet here;
Yet part ye from hence,
As free from offence,
As when ye innocent met here.”

In the last century Twelfth Night Cards represented ministers, maids of honour, and other attendants of a court, and the characters were to be supported through the night. John Britton, in his Autobiography tells us “he suggested and wrote a series of Twelfth Night characters, to be printed on cards, placed in a bag, and drawn out at parties on the memorable and merry evening of that ancient festival. They were sold in small packets to pastrycooks, and led the way to a custom which annually grew to an extensive trade. For the second year my pen-and-ink characters were accompanied by prints of the different personages by Cruikshank (father of the inimitable George), all of a comic or ludicrous kind.” Such characters are still printed.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 64.

Formerly the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and the Guilds of London, used to go to St. Paul’s on Twelfth Day to hear a sermon. This is mentioned as an old custom in the early part of Queen Elizabeth’s reign.

Twelfth Day and its customs appear to have been observed by royalty almost from time immemorial. At the English court in the eighth year of the reign of Edward III., the majestic title of King of the Bean was conferred upon one of the king’s minstrels, as appears by a Compotus of that date, which states that sixty shillings were given by the king on the day of the Epiphany to Regan, the trumpeter, and his associates, the court minstrels, in the name of the king of the bean.—Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, 1801, p. 255.

The grand state of the sovereign on Twelfth Day, and the manner of keeping festival at court, in the reign of King Henry VII., are set forth in Le Neve’s MS., called The Royalle Book, to the following effect:

As for Twelfth Day, the king must go crowned in his royal robes, kirtle, surcoat, his furred hood about his neck, his mantle with a long train, and his cutlas before him; his armills upon his arms, of gold set full of rich stones; and no temporal man to touch it but the king himself; and the squire for the body must bring it to the king in a fair kerchief, and the king must put them on himself; and he must have his sceptre in his right hand, and the ball with the cross in the left hand, and the crown upon his head. And he must offer that day gold, myrrh, and sense; then must the dean of the chapel send unto the Archbishop of Canterbury by clerk or priest the king’s offering that day; and then must the Archbishop give the next benefice that falleth in his gift to the same messenger. And then the king must change his mantle when he goeth to meat, and take off his hood and lay it about his neck, and clasp it before with a great rich ouche; and this must be of the same colour that he offered in. And the queen in the same form when she is crowned.

The same day that he goeth crowned he ought to go to matins; to which array belongeth his kirtle, surcoat, tabard, and his furred hood slyved over his head, and rolled about his neck; and on his head his cap of estate, and his sword before him.

At even-song he must go in his kirtle and surcoat, and hood laid about his shoulders, and clasp the tippet and hood together before his breast with a great rich ouche, and his hat of estate upon his head.

As for the void on the Twelfth Night, the king and the queen ought to have it in the hall. And as for the wassail, the steward, the treasurer, and the controller, shall come for it with their staves in their hands; the king’s sewer and the queen’s having fair towels about their necks, and dishes in their hands, such as the king and queen shall eat of; the king’s carvers and the queen’s shall come after with chargers or dishes, such as the king or the queen shall eat of, and with towels about their necks. And no man shall bear anything unless sworn for three months. And the steward, treasurer, comptroller, and marshall of the hall shall ordain for all the hall. And, if it be in the great chamber, then shall the chamberlain and ushers ordain, after the above form; and if there be a bishop, his own squire, or else the king’s, such as the officers choose to assign, shall serve him; and so of all the other estates, if they be dukes or earls; and so of duchesses and countesses. And then there must come in the ushers of the chamber, with the pile of cups, the king’s cups and the queen’s, and the bishop’s with the butlers and wine to the cupboard, and then a squire for the body to bear the cup, and another for the queen’s cup, such as is sworn for hire.

The singers [of the chapel] may stand at the one side of the hall, and when the steward cometh in at the hall-door, with the wassail, he must cry thrice “Wassaile,” &c., and then shall the chapel answer it anon with a good song, and thus in likewise, if it please the king to keep the great chamber. And then when the king and queen have done, they will go into the chamber. And there belongeth for the king, two lights with the void, and two lights with the cup; and for the queen as many.—Antiq. Rep. 1807, vol. i. p. 328.

On Twelfth Day, 1563, Mary Queen of Scots celebrated the French pastime of the King of the Bean at Holyrood, but with a queen instead of a king, as more appropriate, in consideration of herself being a female sovereign. The lot fell to the real queen’s attendant, Mary Fleming, and the mistress good-naturedly arrayed the servant in her own robes and jewels, that she might duly sustain the mimic dignity in the festivities of the night. The English resident, Randolph, who was in love with Mary Beton, another of the queen’s maids of honour, wrote in excited terms about this festival to the Earl of Leicester. “Happy was it,” says he, “unto this realm, that her reign endured no longer. Two such sights, in one state, in so good accord, I believe was never seen, as to behold two worthy queens possess, without envy, one kingdom, both upon a day. I leave the rest to your lordship to be judged of. My pen staggereth, my hand faileth, further to write.——The Queen of the Bean was that day in a gown of cloth of silver; her head, her neck, her shoulders, the rest of her whole body, so beset with stones, that more in our whole jewel-house were not to be found. The cheer was great. I never found myself so happy, nor so well treated, until that it came to the point that the old Queen (Mary) herself, to show her mighty power, contrary unto the assurance granted me by the younger Queen (Mary Fleming), drew me into the dance; which part of the play I could with good will have spared unto your lordship as much fitter for the purpose.”—Lives of the Queens of Scotland, Strickland, vol. iv. p. 20.

Down to the time of the Civil Wars, the feast of the Epiphany was observed with great splendour, not only at court, but at the Inns of Court, and the Universities (where it was an old custom to choose the king by the bean in a cake), as well as in private mansions and smaller households. We read, too, of our nobility keeping Twelfth Night by the diversion of blowing up pasteboard castles; letting claret flow like blood out of a stag made of paste; the castle bombarded from a pasteboard ship, with cannon, in the midst of which the company pelted each other with egg-shells filled with rose-water; and large pies were made, filled with live frogs, which hopped and flew out upon some curious person lifting up the lid. Twelfth Night grew to be a court festival, in which gaming was a costly feature. Evelyn tells us that on Twelfth Night, 1662, according to custom, His Majesty (Charles II.) opened the revels of that night by throwing the dice himself in the privy chamber, where was a table set on purpose, and lost his 100l.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 63.

Cumberland.

In Cumberland, and other northern parts of England, on Twelfth Night, which finishes the Christmas holidays, the rustics meet together in a large room. They begin dancing at seven o’clock, and finish at twelve, when they sit down to lobscouse and ponsondie; the former is made of beef, potatoes, and onions, fried together; and in ponsondie we recognise the wassail or waes-hael of ale, boiled with sugar and nutmeg, into which are put roasted apples; the anciently admired lambs’-wool. The feast is paid for by subscription; two women are chosen, who with two wooden bowls placed one within the other, so as to leave an opening and a space between them, go round to the female part of the society in succession, and what one puts into the uppermost bowl the attendant collectress slips into the bowl beneath it. All are expected to contribute something, but not more than a shilling, and they are best esteemed who give most. The men choose two from themselves and follow the same custom, except that as the gentlemen are not supposed to be so fair in their dealings as the ladies, one of the collectors is furnished with pen, ink, and paper, to set down the subscription as soon as received.—Time’s Telescope, 1825, p. 13.

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.—Ibid. 1829, p. 11.

Derbyshire.

The morris-dancers who go about from village to village about Twelfth Day, have their fool, their Maid Marian (generally a man dressed in woman’s clothes, and called “the fool’s wife,”) and sometimes the hobby-horse; they are dressed up in ribbons and tinsel, but the bells are usually discarded.—Jour. of Arch. Assoc. 1852, vol. vii. p. 201.

Dorsetshire.

The rector of Piddle Hinton gives away on Old Christmas Day a pound of bread, a pint of ale, and a mince pie, to every poor person in the parish. This distribution is regularly made by the rector to upwards of three hundred persons.—Edwards, Old English Customs and Charities, 1842, p. 6.

Lincolnshire.

Anciently the Mowbrays had great possessions in and about the Isle of Axholme, and a seat, at which they principally resided, and were considered the greatest folks in that part of the country. It so happened that on Old Christmas Day, while a young lady (the daughter of the then Mowbray) was riding over the Meeres to the church by an old road (at that time the principal one across the village) a gale of wind blew off her hood. Twelve farming men who were working in the fields saw the occurrence, and ran to gather up the hood, and in such earnest were they that the lady took so much amusement at the scene she forbade her own attendants joining in the pursuit. The hood being captured, and replaced on the lady’s head, she expressed her obligation to the men, giving them each some money, and promised a piece of land (to be vested in certain persons in trust) to throw up a hood annually on Old Christmas Day.[7] She also ordered that the twelve men engaged to contest the race for the hood should be clothed (pro temp.) in scarlet jerkins and velvet caps: the hood to be thrown in the same place as the one where she lost hers. The custom is yet followed; and though the Meeres on which she was riding has long ago been brought into a state of cultivation, and the road through been diverted, yet an old mill stands in the field where the road passed through, and is pointed out as the place where the original scene took place, and the hood is usually thrown up from this mill. There is generally a great concourse of people from the neighbouring villages who also take part in the proceedings; and when the hood is thrown up by the chief of the boggons, or by the officials, it becomes the object of the villagers to get the hood to their own village, by throwing or kicking it, similar to the foot-ball. The other eleven men, called boggons, being stationed at the comers and sides of the field to prevent, if possible, its being thrown out of the field; and should it chance to fall into any of their hands it is “boggoned,” and forthwith returned to the chief, who again throws it up from the mill as before. Whoever is fortunate enough to get it out of the field, tries to get it to his village, and usually takes it to the public house he is accustomed to frequent, and the landlord regales him with hot ale and rum.

[7] The quantity of land given by Lady Mowbray was forty acres, known by the name of the Hoodlands.

The game usually continues until dusk, and is frequently attended by broken shins and bruised heads. The next day is occupied by the boggons going round the villages, singing as waits, who are regaled with hot furmenty; from some they get coppers given them, and from others a small measure of wheat, according to the means of the donor. The day after that they assume the character of plough bullocks, and at a certain part of West Woodside they “smoke the fool;” that is, straw is collected by those who like, and piled on a heap, a rope being tied or slung over the branches of the tree next the pile of straw; the other end of the rope is fastened round the waist of the “fool,” and he is drawn up, and fire is put to the straw, the “fool” being swung to and fro through the smoke, until he is well nigh choked; after which he goes round with his cap, and collects whatever the spectator thinks proper to give. The performance is then at an end until the following year. See N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. v. p. 94. Peek’s History of Axholme, 1815, vol. i. p. 277.

In the History of Lincolnshire (vol. ii. p. 214) is the following account of this custom, differing but little from the notice already given. At Haxey, Old Twelfth Day is devoted to throwing the hood, an amusement, which according to tradition, was instituted by one of the Mowbrays. A roll of canvas, tightly corded together, from four to six pounds in weight, is taken to an open field, and contended for by the rustics. An individual appointed casts it from him, and the first person who can convey it into the cellars of any public house receives the reward of one shilling, paid by the plough-bullocks or boggins. A new hood being furnished when the others are carried off, the contest usually continues till dark. The next day the plough-bullocks or boggins go round the town collecting alms, and crying “Largess.” They are dressed like morris-dancers, and are yoked to and drag a small plough. They have their farmer, and a fool called Billy Buck, dressed like a harlequin, with whom the boys make sport. The day is concluded by the bullocks running with the plough round the cross on the green; and the man that can throw the other down, and convey the plough into the cellar of a public house, receives one shilling for his agility.—See N. & Q. 4th S. vol. ix. p. 158.

Middlesex.

In London on Twelfth Night, in former days, boys assembled round the inviting shops of the pastrycooks, and dexterously nailed the coat-tails of spectators who ventured near enough to the bottoms of the window frames, or pinned them strongly together by their clothes. Sometimes eight or ten persons found themselves thus connected. The dexterity and force of the nail-driving was so quick and sure that a single blow seldom failed of doing the business effectually.—Withdrawal of the nail without a proper instrument was out of the question, and consequently, the person nailed was forced either to leave part of his coat as a cognisance of his attachment, or quit the spot with a hole in it. At every nailing and pinning shouts of laughter arose from the perpetrators, yet it often happened to one who turned and smiled at the duress of another, that he also found himself nailed. Efforts at extrication increased mirth; nor was the presence of a constable, who was usually employed to attend and preserve free “ingress, egress, and regress,” sufficiently awful to deter the offender.—Every Day Book, vol. i. p. 50.

A curious custom of mediæval origin is observed at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, on the festival of the Epiphany. After the reading of the sentence at the offertory, “Let your light so shine before men,” &c., while the organ plays, two members of her Majesty’s household, wearing the royal livery, descend from the royal pew and advance to the altar rails, preceded by the usher, where they present to one of the two officiating clergymen a red bag, edged with gold lace or braid, which is received in an offertory basin, and then reverently placed on the altar. This bag or purse is understood to contain the Queen’s offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, in commemoration of the gifts of the Magi to the infant Saviour.—Echo, Jan. 7th, 1869.

In the Lady’s Mag. for 1760, is the following:

Sunday Jan. 6th, being Twelfth Day, and a collar and offering day at St. James’, his Majesty, preceded by the heralds, pursuivants, &c., and the knights of the Garter, Thistle, and Bath, in the collars of their respective orders, went to the Royal Chapel at St. James’, and offered gold, myrrh, and frankincense, in imitation of the Eastern Magi offering to our Saviour.

Isle of Man.

In this island there is not a barn unoccupied on the whole twelve days after Christmas, every parish hiring fiddlers at the public charge. On Twelfth Day the fiddler lays his head in the lap of some one of the wenches, and the mainstyr fiddler asks who such a maid, or such a maid, naming all the girls one after another, shall marry, to which he answers according to his own whim, or agreeable to the intimacies he has taken notice of during the time of merriment, and whatever he says is absolutely depended on as an oracle; and if he happen to couple two people who have an aversion to each other, tears and vexation succeed the mirth; this they call “cutting off the fiddler’s head,” for after this he is dead for a whole year.—Waldron’s Description of the Isle of Man, 1859, p. 156.

Somersetshire.

A friend of mine, says Mr. C. W. Bingham in N. & Q. (3rd S. vol. ix. p. 33), met a girl on Old Christmas Day, in a village of North Somerset, who told him that she was going to see the Christmas thorn in blossom. He accompanied her to an orchard, where he found a tree, propagated from the celebrated Glastonbury thorn, and gathered from it several sprigs in blossom. Afterwards the girl’s mother informed him that it had been formerly the custom for the youth of both sexes to assemble under the tree at midnight on Christmas Eve, in order to hear the bursting of the buds into flower, and she added, “As they comed out, you could hear ’um haffer.”

Jennings, and after him Halliwell, give this word haffer for to crackle, to patter, to make repeated loud noises.

Staffordshire.

At Paget’s Bromley a curious custom went out in the seventeenth century. A man came along the village with a mock horse fastened to him, with which he danced, at the same time making a snapping noise with a bow and arrow. He was attended by half a dozen fellow-villagers, wearing mock deers’ heads, and displaying the arms of the several landlords of the town. This party danced the Hays, and other country dances, to music, amidst the sympathy and applause of the multitude. There was also a huge pot of ale with cakes, by general contribution of the village, out of the very surplus of which “they not only repaired their church, but kept their poor too; which charges,” quoth Dr. Plot, “are not now, perhaps, so cheerfully borne.”—Plot’s Nat. Hist. of Staffordshire, 1680, p. 434.

Westmoreland.

Twelfth Night, or Holly Night, was formerly celebrated at Brough, by carrying through the town a holly-tree with torches attached to its branches. The procession set out at 8 o’clock in the evening preceded by music, and stopped at the town-bridge, and again at the cross, where it was greeted each time with shouts of applause. Many of the inhabitants carried lighted branches as flambeaux; and rockets, squibs, &c., were discharged on the joyful occasion. After the tree had been carried about, and the torches were sufficiently burnt, it was placed in the middle of the town, when it was again cheered by the surrounding crowd, and then was thrown among them. The spectators at once divided into two parties, one of which endeavoured to take the tree to one of the inns, and the other to a rival inn. The innkeeper whose party triumphed was expected to treat his partisans liberally.—Hone’s Table Book, 1838, p. 26; Handbook for the Lakes, Murray, 1866, p. 113.

WALES.

In some parts of Pembrokeshire, the following practice is observed. A wren is secured in a small house made of wood, with door and windows, the latter glazed. Pieces of ribbon of various colours are fixed to the ridge of the roof outside. Sometimes several wrens are brought in the same cage, and oftentimes a stable-lantern, decorated as above mentioned, serves for the wren’s-house. The proprietors of this establishment go round to the principal houses in their neighbourhood: where, accompanying themselves with some musical instrument, they announce their arrival by singing the ‘Song of the Wren.’ The wren’s visit is a source of much amusement to children and servants, and the wren’s men, or lads, are usually invited to have a draught from the cellar, and receive a present in money. The ‘Song of the Wren’ is generally encored, and the proprietors very commonly commence high life below stairs, dancing with the maid-servants, and saluting them under the kissing bush, where there is one. The following is the ‘Song of the Wren:’

“Joy, health, love, and peace,
Be to you in this place.
By your leave we will sing,
Concerning our king:
Our king is well drest;
In silks of the best;
With his ribbons so rare,
No king can compare.
In his coach he does ride,
With a great deal of pride;
And with four footmen
To wait upon him.
We were four at watch,
And all nigh of a match;
And with powder and ball
We fired at his hall.
We have travell’d many miles,
Over hedges and stiles,
To find you this king,
Which we now to you bring.
Now Christmas is past,
Twelfth Day is the last.
Th’ Old Year bids adieu;
Great joy to the New.”

It would appear from the ninth line of the song that the wren at one time used to occupy a coach, or that her house was placed upon wheels.—N. & Q. 3rd S. vol. v. p. 109.

Jan. 7.] ST. DISTAFF’S DAY.—ROCK DAY.

Jan. 7.]

ST. DISTAFF’S DAY.—ROCK DAY.

The day after Twelfth Day was called Rock Day[8] and St. Distaff’s Day, because on that day women resumed their spinning, which had been interrupted by the sports of Christmas; for our ancestors, it seems, returned to their work in a very leisurely manner. From Herrick’s Hesperides (p. 374) we learn that the men, in boisterous merriment, burned the women’s flax, and that they in retaliation dashed pails of water upon the men:

“Partly work, and partly play
Ye must on St. Distaff’s Day:
From the plough soone free your teame,
Then home and fother them;
If the maides a spinning goe,
Burn the flax and fire the tow.

****

Bring in pails of water, then
Let the maides bewash the men;
Give St. Distaff all the night,
Then bid Christmas sport good night;
Then next morning, every one
To his own vocation.”

Med. Ævi Kalend. vol. i. p. 138.

[8] See ‘Things not generally known,’ by John Timbs, 1859, pp. 1-6.

PLOUGH MONDAY.

This was the name of a rustic festival, held the first Monday after Twelfth Day, formerly of great account in England, bearing in its first aspect, like St. Distaff’s Day, reference to the resumption of labour after the Christmas holidays. In Catholic times, the ploughmen kept lights burning before certain images in churches to obtain a blessing on their work; and they were accustomed on this day to go about in procession, gathering money for the support of these plough lights, as they were called. The Reformation put out the lights, but it could not extinguish the festival. The peasantry contrived to go about in procession, collecting money, though only to be spent in conviviality in the public-house. It was at no remote date a very gay and rather pleasant-looking affair. A plough was dressed up with ribbons and other decorations—the Fool plough. Thirty or forty stalwart swains, with their shirts over their jackets, and their shoulders and hats flaming with ribbons, dragged it along from house to house, preceded by one in the dress of an old woman, but much bedizened, bearing the name of Bessy. There was also a fool, in fantastic attire. In some parts of the country morris-dancers attended the procession; occasionally, too, some reproduction of the ancient Scandinavian sword-dance added to the means of persuading money out of the pockets of the lieges.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 94.

In Tusser’s Five Hundred Points of Husbandry, under the account of the Ploughman’s Feast Days, are the following lines:

“Plough Munday, next after that twelf-tide is past,
Bids out with the plough: the worst husband is last.
If plowman get hatchet or whip to the skrene,
Maids loseth their cocke, if no water be seen.”

Which are thus explained in Tusser Redivivus (1744, p. 79): “After Christmas (which formerly, during the twelve days, was a time of very little work), every gentleman feasted the farmers, and every farmer their servants and task-men. Plough Monday puts them in mind of their business. In the morning, the men and the maid-servants strive who shall show their diligence in rising earliest. If the ploughman can get his whip, his ploughstaff, hatchet, or anything that he wants in the field, by the fireside, before the maid hath got her kettle on, then the maid loseth her shrove-tide cock, and it wholly belongs to the men. Thus did our forefathers strive to allure youth to their duty, and provided them with innocent mirth as well as labour. On this Plough Monday they have a good supper and some strong drink.” See also Every Day Book, 1826, vol. i. p. 71.

In the British Apollo (fol. 1710, ii. 92), to an inquiry why the first Monday after Twelfth Day is called Plough Monday, answer is given: “Plough Monday is a country phrase, and only used by peasants, because they generally used to meet together at some neighbourhood over a cup of ale, and feast themselves, as well as wish themselves a plentiful harvest from the great corn sown (as they call wheat and rye), as also to wish a God-speed to the plough as soon as they begin to break the ground, to sow barley, and other corn, which they at that time make a holiday to themselves as a finishing stroke after Christmas, which is their master’s holiday time, as ’prentices in many places make it the same, appropriated by consent to revel among themselves.”

Formerly the following custom prevailed in the northern counties of England on Plough Monday. If a ploughman came to the kitchen-hatch, and could cry, “Cock in the pot,” before the maid could cry “Cock on the dunghill,” he was entitled to a cock for Shrove Tuesday.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. i. p. 386.

Cambridgeshire.

Plough Monday is observed at Cambridge by parties going about the town variously dressed in ribbons, etc.; some with a female among them, some with a man in women’s clothes, some with a plough: they dance and collect money which is afterwards spent in a feast.—Time’s Telescope, 1816, p. 3.

Derbyshire.

On Plough Monday the “Plough bullocks” are occasionally seen; they consist of a number of young men from various farmhouses, who are dressed up in ribbons, their shirts (for they wear no coats or waistcoats) literally covered with rosettes of various colours and their hats bound with ribbons, and decorated with every kind of ornament that comes in their way; these young men yoke themselves to a plough, which they draw about, preceded by a band of music, from house to house, collecting money. They are accompanied by the Fool and Bessy; the Fool being dressed in the skin of a calf, with the tail hanging down behind, and Bessy generally a young man in female attire. The Fool carries an inflated bladder tied to the end of a long stick, by way of whip, which he does not fail to apply pretty soundly to the heads and shoulders of his team. When anything is given a cry of “Largess!” is raised, and a dance performed round the plough. If a refusal to their application for money is made they not unfrequently plough up the pathway, door-stone, or any other portion of the premises they happen to be near.—Jour. of Arch. Assoc. 1852, vol. vii. p. 202.

Huntingdonshire.

Plough Monday is observed in this county. The mummers are called “Plough-Witchers,” and their ceremony, “Plough-Witching.”—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. ix. p. 381.

Leicestershire.

Macaulay (History of Claybrook, 1791, p. 128,) says: On Plough Monday I have taken notice of an annual display of morris-dancers at Claybrook, who come from the neighbouring villages of Sapcote and Sharnford.

Lincolnshire.

A correspondent of the Book of Days, vol. i. p. 94, giving the following interesting account as to how Plough Monday was, in days gone by, celebrated in the county, says:—Rude though it was, the Plough procession threw a life into the dreary scenery of winter, as it came winding along the quiet rutted lanes, on its way from one village to another; for the ploughmen from many a surrounding hamlet and lonely farmhouse united in the celebration of Plough Monday. It was nothing unusual for at least a score of the “sons of the soil” to yoke themselves with ropes to the plough, having put on clean smock frocks in honour of the day. There was no limit to the number who joined in the morris-dance, and were partners with “Bessy,” who carried the money-box; and all these had ribbons in their hats, and pinned about them wherever there was room to display a bunch. Many a hardworking country Molly lent a helping hand in decorating out her Johnny for Plough Monday, and finished him with an admiring exclamation of “Lawks, John! thou does look smart, surely.” Some also wore small bunches of corn in their hats, from which the wheat was soon shaken out by the ungainly jumping which they called dancing. Occasionally, if the winter was severe, the procession was joined by threshers carrying their flails, reapers bearing their sickles, and carters with their long whips, which they were cracking to add to the noise, while even the smith and the miller were among the number, for the one sharpened the ploughshares and the other ground the corn; and Bessy rattled his box, and danced so high that he showed his worsted stockings and corduroy breeches; and very often, if there was a thaw, tucked up his gown skirts under his waistcoat, and shook the bonnet off his head, and disarranged the long ringlets that ought to have concealed his whiskers. For Bessy is to the procession of Plough Monday what the leading figurante is to an opera or ballet, and dances about as gracefully as the hippopotami described by Dr. Livingstone. But their rough antics were the cause of much laughter, and rarely do we ever remember hearing any coarse jest that would call up the angry blush to a modest cheek.

No doubt they were called “plough-bullocks,” through drawing the plough, as bullocks were formerly used, and are still yoked to the plough in some parts of the country. The rubbishing verses they recited are not worth preserving, beyond the line, which graces many a public-house sign, “God speed the plough.” At the large farmhouse, besides money they obtained refreshment, and through the quantity of ale they thus drank during the day managed to get what they called “their load by night.” Even the poorest cottagers dropped a few pence into Bessy’s box.

But the great event of the day was when they came before some house which bore signs that the owner was well-to-do in the world, and nothing was given to them. Bessy rattled his box, and the ploughmen danced, while the country lads blew the bullocks’ horns, or shouted with all their might; but if there was still no sign, no coming forth of either bread-and-cheese or ale, then the word was given, the ploughshare driven into the ground before the door or window, the whole twenty men yoked pulling like one, and in a minute or two the ground before the house was as brown, barren, and ridgy as a newly-ploughed field. But this was rarely done, for everybody gave something, and were it but little the men never murmured, though they might talk about the stinginess of the giver afterwards amongst themselves, more especially if the party was what they called “well off in the world.” We are not aware that the ploughmen were ever summoned to answer for such a breach of the law, for they believe, to use their own expressive language, “they can stand by it, and no law in the world can touch ’em, ’cause it’s an old charter;” and we are sure it would spoil their “folly to be wise.”

One of the mummers generally wears a fox’s skin in the form of a hood; but beyond the laughter the tail that hangs down his back awakens by its motion as he dances, we are at a loss to find a meaning. Bessy formerly wore a bullock’s tail behind, under his gown, and which he held in his hand while dancing, but that appendage has not been worn of late.

Norfolk.

Hone’s Year Book, p. 29, gives a quotation from a Briefe Relation, &c., 1646, wherein the writer says, that the Monday after Twelfth Day is called “Plowlick Monday” by the husbandmen in Norfolk, “because on that day they doe first begin to plough.”

Northamptonshire.

In the northern and eastern parts of the county Plough Monday is more noticed than in the neighbourhood of Northampton. The pageant varies in different places; sometimes five persons precede the plough, which is drawn by a number of boys with their faces blackened and reddled. Formerly, when the pageant was of a more important character than now, the plough was drawn by oxen decorated with ribbons. The one who walks first in the procession is styled the Master, and is grotesquely attired, having on a large wig; two are gaily bedizened in women’s clothes; and two others have large hunches on their backs, on which is sewed the knave of hearts. These two are called Red Jacks, or fools. Each of the five carries a besom, and one of them a box, which he rattles assiduously among the spectators to obtain their donations, which are spent at night in conviviality and jollification. In some instances they plough up the soil in front of the houses of such persons as refuse their contributions. Before the inclosure of open fields, there was another custom in connection with the day. When the ploughman returned from his labours in the evening, the servant-maid used to meet him with a jug of toast and ale; and if he could succeed in throwing his plough-hatchet into the house before she reached the door, he was entitled to a cock to throw at Shrovetide; but if she was able to present him with the toast and ale first, then she gained the cock. (See [page 38].)—Baker’s Northamptonshire Words and Phrases, 1854, ii. 1257.

Yorkshire.

On the Monday after Twelfth Day, says Clarkson (Hist. of Richmond, 1821, p. 293), a number of young men from the country, yoked to a plough, drag it about the streets, begging money, in allusion to the labours of the plough having ceased in that severe weather. In like manner the watermen in London, when the Thames is covered with ice in hard frosts, haul a boat about the streets, to show that they are deprived of the means of earning their livelihood.

Jan. 10.]

Oxfordshire.

Jan. 10.]

Oxfordshire.

Pointer, in his Oxoniensis Academia (1749, p. 96), alludes to a practice observed at St. John’s and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford, of having a speech spoken on this day, in laudem Laudi Archiepiscopi.

Jan. 12.]

SCOTLAND.

Jan. 12.]

SCOTLAND.

This day is observed by the people of Halkirk, as New Year’s Day, a time when servants are too apt to spend their hard-earned penny in drink and other equally useless purposes.—Stat. Acc. of Scotland, 1845, vol. xv. p. 75.

Jan. 13.] ST. HILARY’S DAY.

Jan. 13.]

ST. HILARY’S DAY.

St. Hilary is memorable in the annals of Richmond, in the county of York, as on the anniversary of his festival the mayor is chosen for the ensuing year, which causes it to be observed as a jubilee-day among the friends, and those concerned in corporation matters.

St. Hilary likewise gives name to one of the four seasons of the year when the courts of justice are opened.—Clarkson’s Hist. of Richmond, 1821, p. 293.

Jan. 14.] MALLARD NIGHT.

Jan. 14.]

MALLARD NIGHT.

Oxfordshire.

This day was formerly celebrated in All Souls College, Oxford, in commemoration of the discovery of a very large mallard or drake in a drain, when digging for the foundation of the college; and though this observance no longer exists, yet on one of the college “gaudies” there is sung in memory of the occurrence a very old song called “The swapping, swapping mallard.”

“THE MERRY OLD SONG OF THE ALL SOULS MALLARD.

“Griffin, bustard, turkey, capon,
Let other hungry mortals gape on;
And on the bones their stomach fall hard,
But let All Souls’ men have their Mallard.

Oh! by the blood of King Edward,[9]
Oh! by the blood of King Edward,
It was a swapping, swapping Mallard.

The Romans once admired a gander
More than they did their chief commander;
Because he saved, if some don’t fool us,
The place that’s called th’ ‘head of Tolus.’

Oh! by the blood of King Edward, &c.

The poets feign Jove turned a swan,
But let them prove it if they can;
As for our proof, ’tis not at all hard,
For it was a swapping, swapping Mallard.

Oh! by the blood of King Edward, &c.

Therefore let us sing and dance a galliard,
To the remembrance of the Mallard;
And as the Mallard dives in pool,
Let us dabble, dive, and duck in bowl.

Oh! by the blood of King Edward,
Oh! by the blood of King Edward,
It was a swapping, swapping Mallard.”

[9] The allusion to King Edward is surely an anachronism, as King Henry VI. was reigning at the time of the foundation of the college.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 114.

When Pointer wrote his Oxoniensis Academia (1749), he committed a grave offence by insinuating that this immortalised mallard was no other than a goose. The insinuation produced a reply from Dr. Buckler, replete with irresistible irony; but Pointer met a partisan in Mr. Bilson, chaplain of All Souls, who issued a folio sheet entitled ‘Proposals for printing by subscription the History of the Mallardians,’ with the figure of a cat prefixed, said to have been found starved in the college library.—Hist. of Co. of Oxford, 1852, p. 144.

Jan. 17.] SEPTUAGESIMA.

Jan. 17.]

SEPTUAGESIMA.

Septuagesima occurs between this day and February the 22nd, according as the Paschal full moon falls. It was formerly distinguished by a strange ceremony, denominated the Funeral of Alleluia. On the Saturday of Septuagesima, at nones, the choristers assembled in the great vestiary of the cathedral, and there arranged the ceremony. Having finished the last benedicamus, they advanced with crosses, torches, holy waters, and incense, carrying a turf in the manner of a coffin, passed through the choir, and went howling to the cloister as far as the place of interment; and then having sprinkled the water and censed the place, returned by the same road.—Fosbroke’s British Monachism, 1843, p. 56.

Jan. 20.] ST. AGNES’ EVE.

Jan. 20.]