asked, (with the Butler's Compliment to Vellum in the Haunted House) if it were not to be too ludicrous upon a solemn Subject; "I fancy, Master Doctor, could make a Riddle."

you

For the Pasche, vulgò Paste, or Easter Eggs, with which Children entertain themselves here in the North at this Season, and of which Mr. Bourne has taken no Notice, see the Appendix, in Verbo Pasche or Paste Eggs.

CHAP. XXIV.

Of Easter Holy-Days: A Time of Relaxation from Labour: How observed in the dark Ages of Popery: That our Customs at this Time, are sprung from theirs.

ON the Holy-Days of Easter, it is customary for Work to cease, and Servants to be at Liberty: Which is a resemblance of the Practice of the primitive Church, which set apart the whole Week after Easter, for to praise and glorifie GOD, for our SAVIOUR's Resurrection : In which * Time all servile Labour ceas'd, that Servants as well as others might be present at the Devotions of the Season. But other Customs so frequently observed at this Time, such as public Showes, Gamings, Horse-Races, &c. were forbidden, as being foreign to the Holiness of this Season.

In after Ages, when the Church fell into Corruption, and the Substance of Religion

*Servos autem & ancillas ac omnes, qui nostro servitio sunt addicti, profecto ab omni servitutis severitate e03 hoc temlaxare debemus. Ut libere & secure omnes possint

pore ad audiendum divinum officium convenire, & communicare. Belith. Cap. 117.

decay'd

decay'd into the Shadow of Ceremonies, the usual Prayers and Praises of the Season, were either much neglected, or but superficially observed. For Belithus, a Ritualist of those Times tells us * That it was customary in some Churches, for the Bishops and Arch-Bishops themselves to play with the inferior Clergy, even at Hand-Ball; and this also, as Durandus witnesseth,+ even on Easter-Day itself. This was called the Liberty of December, because that formerly, it was customary among the Heathens in that Month to indulge their Servants with a certain Time of Liberty; when they were on the Level with their Masters, and feasted and banqueted with them.

Why they should play at Hand Ball at this Time rather than any other Game, I have not been able to find out; but I suppose it will be readily granted, that this Custom of so playing, was the Original of our present Recreations and Diversions on Easter Holy

* Sunt enim nonnullæ ecclesiæ, in quibus usitatum est, ut vel etiam episcopi & archiepiscopi in cænobiis cum suis ludant subditis, ita ut etiam ad lusum pilæ demittant, &c.

C. 120.

+ In quibusdam locis hac die. Vid. Pasch. &c. Durand. Lib. 6. Cap. 86.

Atque hæc quidem, Libertas ideo dicta est Decembrica &c. Belith. ibid.

Days, and in particular of playing at HandBall for a* Tanzy-Cake, which at this Season, is generally practised; and I would hope practised with Harmlessness and Innocence. For when the common Devotions of the Day are over, there is nothing sinful in lawful Recreation. But for the Governors of Churches to descend to such Childish Exercises, and that even on the Great Sunday of the Year, was not only unbecoming their Gravity and Reservedness, but was also a down-right breach of the fourth Commandment. But these were Ages of Ignorance and Darkness, when the World was taught for the Doctrines of GOD, the Commandments of Men.

* Vid. Seld. Table Talk of Christmas,

OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. XXIV.

Festa dies quoties rediit, concessaque ritè
Otia, purpureoque rubentes lumine soles,

Invitant.

Mons Catherinæ, p. 1.

By the Law concerning Holidays, mentioned before in the Observations on Chapter 17th, and made in the Time of King Alfred the Great, it was appointed that the Week after Easter should

be

be kept holy. Collier's Ecclesiastical Hist. Vol. I. P. 163.

Fitzstephen tells us of an Easter Holiday Amusement used in his Time at London, "they fight Battels, says he, on the Water, a Shield is hanged upon a Pole, fixed in the Midst of the Stream;

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a Boat is prepared without Oars, to be carried by "violence of the Water, and in the Forepart there"of standeth a young Man, ready to give Charge

upon the Shield with his Lance.-If so be he "break his Lance against the Shield, and do not "fall, he is thought to have performed a worthy

Deed, if so be without breaking his Launce, he "runneth strongly again the Shield, down he falleth

into the Water, for the Boat is violently forced "with the Tide: but on each Side of the Shield "ride two Boats, furnished with young Men, "which recover him that falleth as soon as they may. Upon the Bridge, Wharfs and Houses by

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"the River's Side, stand great numbers to see and laugh thereat." Stow, p. 76.

Mr. Bourne confesses himself to be entirely igno rant of the Reasons why they play at Hand Ball*

at

* Erasmus speaking of the Proverb "Mea est Pila," that is, "I've got the Ball;" tells us that it signifies, "I have obtained "the Victory. I am Master of my Wishes."-The Romanists certainly erected a Standard on Easter Day, in Token of our Lord Victory, but it would perhaps be indulging Fancy too far, to suppose that the Bishops and Governors of Churches, who used to condescend to play at Hand-Ball at this Time, did it in a mystical Way, and with reference to the triumphal Joy of the Season.

T 4

Certain