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FROM
CIT

ON

Popular Antiquities:

TION

Including the whole of

Mr. BOURNE's
Antiquitates Uulgares,

WITH ADDENDA TO EVERY CHAPTER OF THAT WORK:

AS ALSO

AN APPENDIX,
Containing such Articles on the Subject, as have been omitted by thut Author.

BY JOHN BRAND, A.B.

OF LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD.

Multitudo Vulgi, more magis quam judicio, post alium alius quasi prudentiorem sequitur.'.

SALLUST. ad. CÆS.
Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas,
Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala rides ?

HORAT,

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PRINTED FOR VERNOR, HOOD, AND SHARPE, POULTRY; JAMES
CUNDEE, IVY-LANE ; AND W. BAYNES,

PATERNOSTER-ROW,

1810.

they yielded indeed to Truth; yet they could not be persuaded to relinquish many of their Superstitions, which rather than forego them altogether, they chose to blend and incorporate with their new Faith.

Christian, or rather Papal Rome, borrowed her Rites, Notions, and Ceremonies, in the most luxurious Abundance from ancient and Heathen Rome; and much the greater Number of these flaunting Externals, which Infallibility has adopted, and used as Feathers to adorn her Triple Cap, have been stolen out of the Wings of the dying Eagle.

With regard to the Rites, Sports, &c. of the Common People, I am aware that the morose and bigoted Part of Mankind without distinguishing between the right Use and the abuse of such Entertainments, cavil at and malign them. Yet must such be told that Shows and Sports have been countenanced by the best and wisest of States; and though it cannot be denied that they have been sometimes prostituted to the Purposes of Riot and Debauchery, yet were we to reprobate every thing that has been thus abused, Religion itself could not be retained; perhaps we should be able to keep nothing.

The Common People, confined by daily Labour, seem

* I shall quote here the subsequent curious Thoughts on this Sub- ject: the Puritans are ridiculed in them.

These teach that Dancing is a 'Jezabell,

And Barley break the ready Way to Hell;

The Morrice Idols, Whitsun-ales can be

But prophane Reliques of a Jubilee :

These in a Zeal t'expresse how much they do

The Organs hate, have silenc'd Bagpipes too;
And harmless Maypoles are all rail'd upon,

As if they were the Tow'rs of Babylon.

Randolph's Poems, 1646.

to require their proper Intervals of Relaxation; perhaps it is of the highest political Utility to encourage Innocent Sports and Games among them. The revival of many of these, would, I think, be highly pertinent at this particular Season, when the general Spread of Luxury and Dissipation threatens more than at any preceding Period to extinguish the Character of our boasted national Bravery. For the Observation of an honest old Writer, Stow, (who tells us, speaking of the May-games, MidsummerEve* Rejoicings, &c. antiently used in the Streets of London," which open Pastimes in my Youth being now supprest, worse Practices within Doors are to be feared)" may be with singular propriety adopted on the most transient Survey of our present popular Manners.

66

Mr. Bourne, my predecessor in this Walk, has not, from whatever Cause, done Justice to the Subject he undertook to treat of. Far from having the Vanity to think that I have exhausted it, the utmost of my Pretensions is to the Merit of having endeavoured, by making Additions, to improve it. I think him, however, deserving of no small Share of Praise for his imperfect Attempt, for "much is due to those, who first broke the Way to knowledge, and left only to their Successors the Task of smoothing it."

New Lights have arisen since his Time. The English Antique has become a general and fashionable Study; and the Discoveries of the very respectable Society of

* I call to mind here the pleasing Account Mr. Sterne has left us in his Sentimental Journey, of the Grace-dance after Supper.---I agree with that amiable Writer in thinking that Religion may mix herself in the Dance, and that innocent Cheerfulness is no inconsiderable Part of Devotion; such indeed as cannot fail of being grateful to the Good Being,-it is a silent but eloquent Mode of praising him!

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Antiquaries have rendered the Recesses of Papal and Heathen Antiquities easier of access.

I flatter myself I have turned all these Circumstances in some measure to Advantage. I have gleaned Passages that seemed to throw Light upon the Subject, from a great variety of Volumes, and those written too in several Languages; in the doing of which, if I shall not be found to have deserved the Praise of Judgment, I must at least make Pretensions to the Merit of Industry.

Elegance of Composition will hardly be expected in a Work of this Kind, which stands much less in need of Attic Wit, than of Roman Perseverance and Dutch Assiduity.

own;

I shall offer some Discoveries, which are peculiarly my for there are Customs yet retained here in the North, of which I am persuaded the learned of the Southern Part of the Island have not heard, which is, perhaps, the sole Cause why they have never before been investigated.

In perusing the subsequent Observations, the candid Reader, who has never before considered this neglected Subject, is requested not to be rash in passing Sentence, but to suspend his Judgment, at least, till he has carefully examined all the Evidence; by which Caution I do not wish to have it understood, that our Determinations are thought to be infallible, or that every Decision here is not amenable to an higher Authority. In the mean time Prejudice may be forwarned, and it will apologize for many seemingly trivial Reasons, assigned for the beginning and transmitting of this or that Notion, or Ceremony, to reflect, that what may appear foolish to the en lightened Understandings of Men in the Eighteenth Cen

tury,

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