were called together with the Noise of Trumpets, and danced before the Spectators.

*

From this Custom of the Heathens hath ours undoubtedly come; and tho' for that Reason barely, it need not be laid aside; yet forasmuch as many Country People are of Opinion, That the Observation of this Ceremony is a good Omen, and a Procurer of the Success of the Fruits of the Earth, which is entirely a Piece of Superstition; and because also much Wickedness and Debauchery are committed that Night, to the Scandle of whole Families, and the Dishonour of Religion, there is all the Reason in the World, for laying it aside.

* Sic nos tunc eo anni tempore, cum virent omnia, quasi per hunc modum, fructuum ubertatem ominamur, ac bene precamur. Polyd. Virg. 302.

OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. XXV.

IN the old Calendar of the Romish Church above cited, there is the following Observation on the 30th of April:

"The Boys go out and seek May-Trees*.”

*/ Maii Arbores a Pueris exquiruntur.

Stow

Stow tells us, in his Survey of London,* that in the Month of May, namely, on May-day in the Morning, every Man, except impediment, would walk into the sweet Meddowes and green Woods, there to rejoice their Spirits with the Beauty and Savour of sweet Flowers, and with the Harmony of Birds praising God in their Kinde.

He quotes from Hall an Account of Henry the Eighth's riding a Maying from Greenwich to the high Ground of Shooter's Hill, with Queen Katherine his wife, accompanied with many Lords and Ladies.

He further tells us, "I find also that in the "Month of May, the Citizens of London (of all "Estates) lightly in every Parish, or sometimes

two or three Parishes joining together, had their "several Mayingst, and did fetch in May-Poles "with

* The Mayings, says Mr. Strutt, are in some Sort yet kept up by the Milk-Maids at London, who go about the Streets with their Garlands and Music, dancing: But this tracing is a very imperfect Shadow of the original Sports; for May-Poles were set up in the Streets, with various martial Shews, Morris-dancing, and other Devices, with which, and Revelling and good Cheer, the Day was passed away. At Night they rejoiced and lighted up their Bonfires. English Era, Vol. II. p. 99.

† Mr. Pennant tells us, that on the first of May, in the Highlands of Scotland, the Herdsmen of every Village hold their Bel`tein, a rural Sacrifice: They cut a square Trench in the Ground, leaving the Turf in the Middle; on that they make a Fire of Wood, on which they dress a large Caudle of Eggs, Butter, Oat-meal and Milk, and bring besides the Ingredients of the Caudle, Plenty of Beer and Whiskey; for each of the Company must contribute something. The Rites begin with spilling some of the Caudle on the Ground by Way of Libation: On that every one takes a Cake of Oat-meal, upon which are raised nine square Knobs, each dedicated

"with divers warlike Shews, with good Archers, "Morrice Dancers, and other Devices for Pastime

all the Day long; and towards the Evening they "had Stage-Plaies and Bone-Fires in the Streets." And again he says, "in the Reign of Henry the

Sixth, the Aldermen and Sheriffs of London, be

"ing on May-day at the Bishop of London's Wood, "and having there a worshipful Dinner for them"selves and other Commers, Lydgate the Monk "of Bury sent them, by a Pursivant, a joyful Com"mendation of that Season, beginning thus:

Mighty Flora, Goddess of Fresh Flow❜rs,

"Which clothed hath the Soil in lusty Green,
"Made Buds to spring with her sweet Show'rs,
By Influence of the Sun sheene,

“ To do Pleasance of Intent full cleane,
"Unto the States which now sit here

"Hath Ver sent down her own Daughter dear*.”

P, 83. Mr. Borlase, in his curious Account of the Man

ners

dicated to some particular Being, the supposed Preserver of their Flocks and Herds, or to some particular Animal, the real Destroyer of them: Each Person then turns his Face to the Fire, breaks off a Knob, and flinging it over his Shoulders, says, this I give to thee, preserve thou my Horses; this to thee, preserve thou my Sheep; and so on: After that they use the same Ceremony to the noxious Animals. This I give to thee, O Fox! spare thou my Lambs; this to thee, O hooded Crow' this to thee, O Eagle! When the Ceremony is over they dine on the Caudle, and after the Feast is finished, what is left is hid by two Persons deputed for that Purpose; but on the next Sunday they re-assemble, and finish the Reliques of the first Entertainment. P. 91.

* Browne, in his Britannia's Pastorals, thus describes some of the May Revellings:

As

ners of Cornwal, tells us, "An antient Custom, "still retained by the Cornish, is that of decking "their Doors and Porches on the first of May with

green Sycamore and Hawthorn Boughs, and of "planting Trees, or rather Stumps of Trees, be"fore their Houses: And on May Eve, they from "Towns make Excursions into the Country, and

66

having cut down a tall Elm, brought it into "Town, fitted a straight and taper Pole to the "End of it, and painted the same, erect it in the "most public Places, and on Holidays and Festi"vals adorn it with Flower Garlands, or Insigns "and Streamers." He adds, "This Usage is no

46

thing more than a Gratulation of the Spring "Season; and every House exhibited a proper Sig"nal of its Approach, to testify their universal Joy at the Revival of Vegetation."

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The Author of the Pamphlet, entitled, "The Way to Things by Words, and to Words by

As I have seene the Lady of the May
Set in an Arbour ·

Built by the May-Pole, where the jocund Swaines
Dance with the Maidens to the Bagpipes Straines,
When envious Night commands them to be gone,
Call for the merry Youngsters one by one,
And for their well Performance soone disposes,
To this, a Garland interwove with Roses:
To that, a carved Hooke, or well-wrought Scrip,
Gracing another with her Cherry Lip:
To one her Garter, to another then

A Handkerchief cust o're and o're agen:
And none returneth empty, that hath spent
His Pains to fill their rural Merriments/
So, &c.

P. 122.

"Things,"

1

Things," in his Specimen of an Etimological Vocabulary, considers the May-Pole* in a new and curious Light: We gather from him that our Ancestors held an anniversary Assembly on May-day; the Column of the May (whence our May-Pole) was the great Standard of Justice in the Ey-Commons, or Fields of May. Here it was that the deposed or punished

People, if they saw Cause,
their Governors, their Barons, their Kings.-The
Judge's Bough or Wand (at this Time discontinued,
and only faintly represented by a trifling Nosegay),
and the Staff or Rod of Authority in the Civil and in
the Military (for it was the Mace of Civil Power,
and the Truncheon of the Field Officers) are both
derived from hence.-A Mayor, he says, received
his Name from this May, in the Sense of lawful
Power. The Crown, a Mark of Dignity and Sym-
bol of Power, like the Mace and Sceptre, was also
taken from the May, being Representative of the
Garland or Crown, which when hung on the Top
of the May or Pole, was the great Signal for con-
vening the People.-The Arches of it, which spring
from the Circlet and meet together at the Mound
or round Ball, being necessarily so formed to sus-
pend it on the Top of the Pole.

* Dr. Moresin gives us his Opinion concerning the Origin of this Custom in the following Words: "Maio mense exire in Agros " & cantando viridem frondem reportare, quam in Domibus & "Domorum foribus appendant, aut a Flora lasciviæ Romanæ Dea, aut ab Atheniensibus est." Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 91.

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