British Popular Customs, Present and Past / Illustrating the Social and Domestic Manners of the People. Arranged According to the Calendar of the Year.

May 18.] TRINITY MONDAY.

May 18.]

TRINITY MONDAY.

Hampshire.

An annual fair is held on Trinity Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at Southampton. It is opened by the Mayor and bailiffs, with much ceremony, on the preceding Saturday afternoon. The Mayor erects a pole with a large glove fixed to the top of it, near the miller’s house; and the bailiff then takes possession of the fair, as chief magistrate in its precinct during the fair, and invites the Mayor and his suite to a collation in his tent. He appoints a guard of halberdiers who keep the peace by day, and watch the fair by night. During the fair no person can be arrested for debt within its precincts. On the Wednesday at noon, the Mayor dissolves the fair, by taking down the pole and glove, or rather ordering it to be taken down; which at one time was done by the young men of the town, who fired at it with single balls, till it was destroyed, or they were tired of the sport.—Englefield, Walk through Southampton, 1805, p. 75.

Kent.

Deptford Fair originated in trifling pastimes for persons who assembled to see the Master and Brethren of the Trinity House, on their annual visit to the Trinity House, at Deptford. First there were juggling matches; then came a booth or two; afterwards a few shows.—Every Day Book, vol. i. p. 724.

Oxfordshire.

At Kidlington, says Blount (Jocular Tenures, Beckwith’s edition, p. 281), the custom is that on Monday after Whitsun week there is a fat live lamb provided; and the maids of the town, having their thumbs tied behind them, run after it, and she that with her mouth takes and holds the lamb, is declared Lady of the Lamb, which being dressed, with the skin hanging on, is carried on a long pole before the lady and her companions to the green, attended with music, and a Morisco dance of men, and another of women, where the rest of the day is spent in dancing, mirth, and merry glee. The next day the lamb is part baked, boiled, and roasted, for the lady’s feast, where she sits majestically at the upper end of the table, and her companions with her, with music and other attendants, which ends the solemnity.

May 20.] CORPUS CHRISTI EVE.

May 20.]

CORPUS CHRISTI EVE.

In North Wales, at Llanasaph, there is a custom of strewing green herbs and flowers at the doors of houses on Corpus Christi Eve.—Pennant’s Manuscript quoted by Brand, Pop. Antiq. 1849, vol. i. p. 297.

At Caerwis on Thursday after Trinity Sunday, which they call Dudd Son Duw, or Dydd Gwyl Duw, on the Eve before, they strew a sort of fern before their doors, called red yn mair—Pennant’s MS.

May 21.] CORPUS CHRISTI DAY.

May 21.]

CORPUS CHRISTI DAY.

Corpus Christi Day is held on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, to celebrate, as the name indicates, the doctrine of Transubstantiation, and was instituted in the year 1264 by Pope Urban IV.

In olden times the Skinners’ fraternity of Corpus Christi made their procession on this day, having “borne before them more than two hundred torches of wax, costly garnished, burning bright” (or painted and gilded with various devices); and “above two hundred clerks and priests, in surplices and copes, singing,” after which came the officers; “the mayor and aldermen in scarlet, and then the skinners in their best liveries.” A temporary revival of these imposing shows took place in Mary’s days previously to their discontinuance.—Timbs’ Something for Everybody, 1861, p. 84.

Norfolk.

At one time on Corpus Christi Day the crafts or companies of Norwich walked in procession from the common hall, by Cutter Row, and round the market to the hall again. Each company had its banner, on which was painted its patron or guardian saint.—See History of Norwich, 1768, vol. i. p. 175.

Northumberland.

The earliest mention of the religious ceremony of Corpus Christi play and procession in Newcastle-upon-Tyne occurs in the Ordinary of the Coopers’ Company, dated January 20th, 1426; though the great popularity of these exhibitions at York and other places must have induced the clergy, merchants, and incorporated traders of that town, to adopt them long before this time. There can be but little doubt that the several trades strove to outvie each other in the splendour of their exhibitions. The Company of Merchant Adventurers were concerned in the representation of five plays. The hoastmen, drapers, mercers, and boothmen had probably each one.

“Hoggmaygowyk” was the title of one of their plays, the representing of which, in 1554, cost 4l. 2s. This Company, in 1480, made an act for settling the order of their procession on Corpus Christi Day. In 1586 the offering of Abraham and Isaac was exhibited by the slaters.

By the Ordinary of the goldsmiths, plumbers, glaziers, pewterers, and painters, dated 1436, they were commanded to play at their feast the three Kings of Coleyn. In the books of the fullers and dyers, one of the charges for the play of 1564 is: “Item, for 3 yards of lyn cloth for God’s coat, 3s. 2d. ob.” About the year 1578, the Corpus Christi plays seem to have been on the decline; for the Ordinary of the millers, dated that year, says, “Whensoever the general plaies of the town shall be commanded by the mayor, &c.,” they are to play, “the Antient playe of, &c.” Similar expressions are used in the Ordinary of the house carpenters in 1579, in that of the masons in 1581, and also in that of the joiners in 1589. Weaver, in his Funeral Monuments, says that these plays were finally suppressed in all towns of the kingdom, about the beginning of the reign of James I. The only vestige that remains of the Newcastle Mysteries was preserved by Bourne. It is entitled “Noah’s Ark; or, the Shipwright’s Ancient Play or Dirge,” wherein God, an Angel, Noah and his wife, and the Devil are the characters. Mackenzie, History of Newcastle, 1827, vol. ii. p. 708; Hone’s Ancient Mysteries Described, 1823, p. 213.

Yorkshire.

The play of Corpus Christi was acted in the City of York till the twenty-sixth year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, 1584.

It consisted of a solemn procession, in remembrance of the Sacrament of the Body of Christ; the symbolic representation being borne in a shrine. Every trade in the city was obliged to furnish a pageant at its own expense, and join the procession, and each individual had to personify some particular passage in the Old or New Testament, and to repeat some poetry on the occasion. The whole was preceded by a great number of lighted torches, and a multitude of priests in their proper habits; after which followed the mayor and citizens, surrounded by an immense concourse of spectators. Commencing at the great gate of the priory of the Holy Trinity, they proceeded to the Cathedral Church and thence to St. Leonard’s Hospital, where they left the sacrament. There are several public orders yet remaining in the old register of the city relative to the regulation of this ceremony; and indulgences were granted from the Pope to those who contributed to the relief of the fraternity, or who observed the annual ceremony in the most devout manner, particularly if they personally attended from the country.—Drake’s Eboracum, 1736; Hargrove, History of York, 1818, vol. ii. p. 494.

IRELAND.

Corpus Christi Day was formerly celebrated at Dublin with high veneration. In the Chain-book of the City of Dublin are several entries to that purpose. We are told that there was a grand procession, in which the glovers were to represent Adam and Eve, with an angel bearing a sword before them.

The corrisees (perhaps curriers) were to represent Cain and Abel, with an altar and their offering.

Mariners and vintners, Noah and the persons in his Ark, apparelled in the habit of carpenters and salmon-takers.

The weavers personated Abraham and Isaac, with their offering and altar.

The smiths represented Pharaoh, with his host.

The skinners, the camell with the children of Israel, &c.—See Harris, History of Dublin, 1766, p. 147.

May 22.] COVENTRY SHOW FAIR.

May 22.]

COVENTRY SHOW FAIR.

This celebrated fair, says Brand (Pop. Antiq. 1849, vol. i. p. 286), commences upon Friday in Trinity week, and lasts for eight days. The charter for it was granted by Henry III. in 1218, at the instigation of Randle, Earl of Chester. For many years it was one of the chief marts in the kingdom, and was celebrated for the show designated the Procession of Lady Godiva, of which Brand has given a long account.

May 25.] THE SHREWSBURY SHOW.

May 25.]

THE SHREWSBURY SHOW.

In the Book of Days (vol. i. pp. 704-708) will be found an interesting and amusing account of the Shrewsbury Show, which appears, from the records of the reign of Henry VI., to have been held time out of mind on the second Monday after Trinity Sunday.

FLITTING DAY.

SCOTLAND.

The 25th of May, as the Whitsunday term (old style), is a great day in Scotland, being that on which, for the most part, people change their residences. The Scotch generally lease their houses by the year, and are thus at every twelve-month’s end able to shift their place of abode. Accordingly, every Candlemas a Scotch family gets an opportunity of considering whether it will, in the language of the country, sit or flit. The landlord or his agent calls to learn the decision on this point; and if “flit” is the resolution, he takes measures by advertising to obtain a new tenant. The two or three days following upon the Purification, therefore, become distinguished by a feathering of the streets with boards projected from the windows, intimating “A House to Let.”—See Book of Days, vol. i. p. 679.

May 29.] RESTORATION OR ROYAL OAK DAY.

May 29.]

RESTORATION OR ROYAL OAK DAY.

In the Diary of John Evelyn (1859, vol. i. p. 373), under the date of May 29th, 1665, is the following statement:—

This was the first anniversary appointed by Act of Parliament to be observed as a day of General Thanksgiving for the miraculous restoration of His Majesty: our vicar preaching on Psalm cxviii., 24, requiring us to be thankful and rejoice, as indeed we had cause.[63]

On this day the chaplain of the House of Commons preached in St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, before “the House,” usually represented by the Speaker, the Sergeant-at-arms, the clerks, and other officers, and some half-dozen members. This observance has been discontinued since 1858.—Timbs’ Something for Everybody, 1861, p. 74.

It is customary, especially in the North of England, for the common people to wear in their hats the leaves of the oak, which are sometimes covered with gold leaf.—Brand, Pop. Antiq., 1849, vol. i. p. 273.

Cornwall.

At Looe, as well as in other districts of East Cornwall, the usage of wearing an oaken leaf on the 29th of May was enforced by spitting at, or “cobbing,” the offender.—Once a Week, September 24th, 1870.

Derbyshire.

On the 29th of May branches of young oak are gathered and put up over the doors of many houses, and a small sprig of the same tree is commonly worn in the button-hole.—Jour. of Arch. Assoc., 1852, vol. viii. p. 206.

Devonshire.

In the vicinity of Starcross the children celebrate this anniversary by carrying about what they call May babies, i.e., little dolls, carefully and neatly dressed, decked with flowers, and laid in boxes somewhat resembling coffins, though such resemblance is not, apparently, the intention of the artists.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. ii. p. 405.

In the Every Day Book (1826, vol. i. p. 718) occurs the following:—

At Tiverton, on the 29th of May, it is customary for a number of young men, dressed in the style of the seventeenth century, and armed with swords, to parade the streets, and gather contributions from the inhabitants. At the head of the procession walks a man called “Oliver,” dressed in black, with his face and hands smeared over with soot and grease, and his body bound by a strong cord, the end of which is held by one of the men to prevent his running too far. After these come another troop, dressed in the same style, each man bearing a large branch of oak; four others, carrying a kind of throne made of oaken boughs, on which a child is seated, bring up the rear. A great deal of merriment is excited among the boys at the pranks of “Master Oliver,” who capers about in a most ludicrous manner. Some of them amuse themselves by casting dirt, whilst others, more mischievously inclined, throw stones at him: but woe betide the young urchin who is caught; his face assumes a most awful appearance from the soot and grease with which “Oliver” begrimes it, whilst his companions, who have been lucky enough to escape his clutches, testify their pleasure by loud shouts. In the evening the whole party have a feast, the expenses of which are defrayed by the collection made in the morning.

Durham.

Mr. Cuthbert Carlton, of Durham, gives in the Durham Chronicle, of November 29th, 1872, the following account of a curious custom called “Push Penny.” He says: “This custom, which has been discontinued nearly a quarter of a century, is thus referred to in the Derbyshire Times of Saturday last:—‘There is a custom which has been upheld from time immemorial by the Dean and Chapter of Durham on three days in the year—30th of January, 29th of May, and 5th of November, the anniversary of King Charles’ Martyrdom, Royal Oak Day, and Gunpowder Plot, which is known among Durham lads as “push-penny.” On these days the Chapter causes twenty shillings in copper to be scrambled for in the college yard by the juveniles, who never fail to be present.’ The practice observed every 29th of May, and 5th of November, was to throw away within the college thirty shillings in penny pieces. Whether the custom dates from time immemorial, it is difficult to say, but the two last dates would seem only to point to the origin of the custom at the end of the seventeenth, or beginning of the eighteenth centuries, to testify the loyalty of the Dean and Chapter to the Throne, and their appreciation of the happy restoration of the ‘Merry Monarch,’ and the escape of the King and his Parliament on the 5th of November. There was some such custom, however, during the monastic period, when pennies were thrown away to the citizens who were wont to assemble in the vicinity of the Prior’s mansion. At Bishop Auckland the bishop was accustomed to throw away silver pennies at certain times of the year, and it is even said that so much as a peck of copper was in earlier times scattered broad-cast among the people. The Reformation, however, swept these and many other old customs away, but after the Restoration of Charles II., the Dean and Chapter no doubt considered the 29th of May and the 5th of November ought to be kept as days of rejoicing, and as one means of doing so caused one of their officials to throw a bag full of pennies to the people who met in the college. The duty was entrusted to the senior verger of the cathedral. For many years it was the practice for the children of the Blue Coat Schools to attend Divine service in the cathedral, who were drawn up in rank and file in the nave, for the inspection of the prebends, who minutely examined the new scholastic garments of the Blue Coat scholars. This being done they were ushered into the choir, and at the end of the service a regular pell-mell rush was made for the cloister doors, in order to be present at ‘push-penny.’ The scenes on these occasions were almost beyond description. For a few years the custom thus continued, the attendants at ‘push-penny’ gradually diminishing; for twenty-five years, however, it has been discontinued, nor is it likely to be revived.”

At Durham also on the 29th of May, the choir ascend the large tower of the cathedral, and sing anthems from the three sides of it. This is done in remembrance of the monks chanting masses from it in behalf of Queen Philippa, when engaged in the sanguinary battle of Redhills with the Scotch King, David I., 1346. The battle is commonly called the battle of Neville’s Cross, from the beautiful cross erected on the field of victory by the powerful Baron of that name, a fragment of which still remains. The reason given why anthems are only sung from three sides of the tower, not from the fourth, is that a chorister once overbalanced himself, and falling from it was killed.—Times, May 6th, 1875.

Hampshire.

The working men of Basingstoke and other towns in Hampshire arise early on the 29th of May to gather slips of oak with the galls on; these they put in their hats or anywhere about their persons. They also hang pieces to the knockers, latches, or other parts of the house-doors of the wealthy, who take them in to place in their halls, &c. After breakfast these men go round to such houses for beer, &c. Should they not receive anything the following verses should be said:

but fear often prevents them. However, the lads have no fear, and use it freely to any one without an oak-apple or oak leaf on some part of his person, and visible—ill-treating him for his want of loyalty. After noon the loyalty ceases and then if any one be charged with having shig-shag, the following verses are said:

And the one who charges the other with the oak-leaf receives the ill-treatment.—N. & Q. 1st S. vol. xii. p. 100.

Middlesex.

It was the custom, some years ago, to decorate the monument of Richard Penderell (in the churchyard of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London), on the 29th of May, with oak branches; but in proportion to the decay of popularity in kings, this practice has declined.—Canfield, Portraits, Memoirs, and Characters of Remarkable Persons, 1794, p. 186.

Northamptonshire.

Formerly all the principal families in the town of Northampton placed a large branch of oak over the door of their houses, or in their balconies, in remembrance of the restoration of Charles II. The oak-boughs are gradually disappearing, but the corporate body still goes in procession to All Saints Church, accompanied by the boys and girls of the different charity schools, each of them having a sprig of oak, with a gilt oak-apple placed in the front of their dress; and should the season be unpropitious, and oak-apples be scarce, small gilded potatoes are substituted. The commemoration of this day has probably been more generally and loyally observed in this town than in many other places, from a feeling of gratitude to that monarch, who munificently contributed 1000 tons of timber out of Whittlewood Forest and remitted the duty of chimney-money in Northampton for seven years, towards the rebuilding of the town after the destructive fire of 1675. The statue of the king, which is placed in the centre of the balustrade on the portico of All Saints’ Church, is always enveloped in oak-boughs on this day.—Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases, vol. ii. p. 68.

Northumberland.

At one time the boys at Newcastle-upon-Tyne had a taunting rhyme, with which they used to insult such persons as they met on this day who had not oak-leaves in their hats:

There was a retort courteous by others, who contemptuously wore plane-tree leaves:

Nottinghamshire.

On Royal Oak Day branches of that tree are carried in procession, and decorate many of the signs of public houses in Nottingham and elsewhere.—Jour. of the Arch. Assoc., 1853, vol. viii. p. 234.

On this day the Notts juveniles not only wear the usual piece of oak-twig, but each young loyalist is armed with a nettle, with which instrument of torture are coerced those unfortunates who are unprovided with “royal oak,” as it is called. Some who are unable to procure it endeavour to avoid the penalty by wearing “dog oak” (maple), but the punishment is always more severe on discovery of the imposition.—N. & Q. 1st S. vol. viii. p. 490.

Worcestershire.

In some parts of this county a garland, similar to the May-day one, is taken about on the 29th of May.—N. & Q. 1st S. vol. x. p. 92.

At Upton-upon-Severn oak-apple day is anxiously looked forward to by old and young. Early in the morning ropes are stretched across the street, upon which are hung garlands, composed of all such flowers as are in bloom. The garlands are also ornamented with coloured ribbons and handkerchiefs, and all the tea-spoons which can be collected are hung in the middle. Maypoles, though less common, and large boughs of oak are pressed into service. Many are the penn’orths of gold leaf sold the day before, with which to gild the oak-apple for the button-hole. A benefit club meets on this day, and walks in procession with band and flags to church, after which they make a progress through the town, with music playing and colours flying, finishing up with a dinner.—Illustrated London News, May 30th, 1857, p. 515.

SCOTLAND.

Riding the Marches.

—The practice of Riding the Marches, says a writer in the Stat. Acc. of Scotland (1845, vol. iii. p. 399), is observed in the parish of Hawick, Roxburghshire. This ancient ceremonial takes place on the last Friday of May (old style), and is considered one of the most important days of the year. The honour of carrying the standard of the town devolves upon the cornet, a young man previously elected for the purpose; and he and the magistrates of the town on horseback, and a large body of the inhabitants and the burgesses, set out in procession for the purpose of riding round the property of the town, and making formal demonstration of their legal rights.

The following are a few stanzas from an ancient song, which is sung by the cornet and his attendants from the roof of an old tenement belonging to the town, and loudly joined in by the surrounding multitudes:—

The ancient feudal system of “the Riding of the Marches” by the burgesses still exists also at Inveresk, once within the fifty years. They appear mounted on horseback, and armed with swords. The seven incorporated trades, each headed by its captain, follow in the train of the magistrates and town-council, the whole cavalcade being preceded by the town officers, with their ancient Brabant spears, and a champion armed cap-a-pie. A gratuity is also allowed to a minstrel, who attends at the succeeding feast, and recites in verse the glories of the pageantry.[65]—Stat. Acc. of Scotland, 1845, vol. i. p. 268.

June.]

PAIGNTON FAIR.

June.]

PAIGNTON FAIR.
Devonshire.

A correspondent of N. & Q. (1st S. vol. viii. p. 66) quotes from an old newspaper (June 7th, 1809) the following account of Paignton Fair, held at Exeter. At this fair, says the writer, the ancient custom of drawing through the town a plum-pudding of immense size, and afterwards of distributing it to the populace, was revived on Tuesday last. The ingredients which composed this enormous pudding were—four hundred pounds of flour, one hundred and seventy pounds of beef suet, one hundred and forty pounds of raisins, and two hundred and forty eggs. It was kept constantly boiling in a brewer’s copper from Saturday morning to the Tuesday following, when it was placed on a car, decorated with ribbons, evergreens, &c., and drawn along the streets by eight oxen.

SCOTLAND.

A solemn festival in the Scotch Metropolis is ordained by the Statutes of George Heriot’s Hospital (cap. ii.) in the following words: “But especially upon the first Monday in June, every year, shall be kept a solemn commemoration and thanksgiving unto God, in this form which followeth: In the morning, about eight of the clock of that day, the lord provost, all the ministers, magistrates, and ordinary Council of the city of Edinburgh, shall assemble themselves in the Committee-chamber of the said hospital; from thence, all the scholars and officers of the said hospital going before them two-by-two, they shall go, with all the solemnity that may be, to the Grey-Friars’ Church of the said city, where they shall hear a sermon preached by one of the said ministers, every one yearly in their courses, according to the antiquity of their ministry in the said city.” On this occasion the statue of the founder is fancifully decorated with flowers. Each of the boys receives a new suit of clothes; their relations and friends assemble, and the citizens, old and young, being admitted to view the hospital, the gaiety of the scene is highly gratifying.—Every Day Book, vol. ii. p. 747.

June 1.]

Wiltshire.

June 1.]

Wiltshire.

Lord Viscount Palmerston, in 1734, by deed, gave for thrashers of Charlton about an acre of land in Rushall Field, the rent whereof was to be applied annually to give them a dinner wherewith to commemorate Stephen Duck the poet, who was originally a thrasher of Charlton. The parish of Rushall was afterwards inclosed, and by the award date, 12th January, 1804, a piece of arable land, measuring one acre and fifteen poles, was awarded in a different part of Rushall Field. The land is now called Duck’s Acre, and let at a rent of £2 9s. 9d. per annum. The land tax, amounting to 3s. per annum, was reduced by a subscription raised in the parish.

The rent is paid for a dinner, which is annually given on the 1st June, to the thrashers of this parish.—Old English Customs and Charities, p. 169.

June 9.]

IRELAND.

June 9.]

IRELAND.

Clonmany, Co. Donegal.

The titular saint of this parish is Columbkill. The 9th of June is his festival day, and formerly on this day many of the inhabitants drove down their cattle to the beach, and swam them in that part of the sea into which runs the water of St. Columb’s Well—Mason’s Stat. Acc. of Ireland, 1814, vol. i. p. 185.

June 11.] ST. BARNABAS’ DAY.

June 11.]

ST. BARNABAS’ DAY.

On the feast of St. Barnabas it seems to have been usual to decorate some churches with garlands of flowers. Brand (1849, vol. i. 293) quotes the following disbursements from the Churchwardens’, Accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill, London, in the reigns of Edward IV. and Henry VII.:—

“For Rose garlondis and Woodrove garlondis on St Barnabe’s Daye, xj^d.

“Item, for two doss’ (dozen?) di bocse (box) garlands for prestes and clerkes on St. Barnabe Daye, j^s. x^d.”

Cumberland.

Hesket, an extensive parish in this county, is noted for the singular circumstance of the Court of Inglewood Forest (in the precincts of which it is wholly included) being held in it annually, on St. Barnabas’ Day, in the open air. The suitors assemble by the highway-side, at a place only marked by an ancient thorn, where the annual dues to the lord of the forest, compositions for improvements, &c., are paid; and a jury for the whole jurisdiction chosen from among the inhabitants of twenty mesne manors who attended on this spot.—Britton and Brayley, Beauties of England and Wales, 1802, vol. iii. p. 171.

June 15.] ST. VITUS’ DAY.

June 15.]

ST. VITUS’ DAY.

On St. Vitus’ Day, says Hazlitt (Brand’s Pop. Antiq. 1870, vol. i. p. 166), the Skinners’ Company, accompanied by girls strewing herbs in their path, and by Bluecoat boys placed by their patronage on the foundation of Christ’s Hospital, march in procession from Dowgate Hill, where their hall is, to St. Antholin’s Church, in Watling Street, to hear service.[66] The sermon, says Hampson (in his Med. Ævi Kalend. vol. i. p. 296), for which the chaplain (who is usually a member of the company, educated at Christ’s Hospital or Tunbridge) receives two guineas, has probably arisen out of a pious bequest for the purpose.

June 23.] MIDSUMMER EVE—St. JOHN’S EVE.

June 23.]

MIDSUMMER EVE—St. JOHN’S EVE.

On this eve people were in former times accustomed to go into the woods, and break down branches of the trees, which they brought to their homes, and planted over their doors, amidst great demonstrations of joy, to make good the scripture prophecy respecting the Baptist, that many should rejoice in his birth. This custom was at one time universal in England.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 815.

It was a popular superstition that if any unmarried woman fasted on Midsummer Eve, and at midnight laid a clean cloth with bread, cheese, and ale, and then sat down as if going to eat, the street door being left open, the person whom she was afterwards to marry would come into the room and drink to her by bowing; and after filling the glass would leave it on the table, and, making another bow, retire.—Grose.

The same writer also tells us that any person fasting on Midsummer Eve, and sitting in the church porch, will at midnight see the spirits of the persons of that parish who will die that year come and knock at the church door, in the order and succession in which they will die.

The fern was a most important object of popular superstition at this season. It was supposed at one time to have neither flower nor seed, the seed which lay on the back of the leaf being so small as to escape the sight of the hasty observer. Hence, probably, proceeding on the fantastic doctrine of signatures, our ancestors derived the notion that those who could obtain and wear this invisible seed would be themselves invisible, a belief of which innumerable instances may be found in our old dramatists.—Soane’s Book of the Months.—See Brand’s Pop. Antiq., 1849, vol. i. p. 314.

People also gathered on this night the rose, St. John’s wort, vervain, trefoil, and rue, all of which were thought to have magical properties. They set the orpine in clay upon pieces of slate or potsherd in their houses, calling it a Midsummer-man. As the stalk was found next morning to incline to the right or left, the anxious maiden knew whether her lover would prove true to her or not. Young men sought also for pieces of coal, but in reality certain hard, black, dead roots, often found under the living mugwort, designing to place these under their pillows, that they might dream of themselves.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 816.

In addition to the superstitious customs already mentioned there was the Dumb Cake:[67]

and the third must put it under each of their pillows, but not a word must be spoken all the time. This being done, the diviners are sure to dream of the man they love. There was the divination by hemp-seed,[68] which consisted of a person sowing hemp-seed, saying at the same time,

The lover was sure then to make his appearance.—Soane’s Book of the Months.

Towards night, materials for a fire were collected in a public place and kindled. To this the name of bonfire was given, a term of which the most rational explanation seems to be that it was composed of contributions collected as boons or gifts of social and charitable feeling. Around this fire the people danced with almost frantic mirth, the men and boys occasionally jumping through it, not to show their agility, but as a compliance with ancient custom.[69]—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 86.

In the reign of Henry VII. these fires were patronised by the Court, and numerous entries appear in the “Privy purse Expenses” of that monarch, by which he either defrayed the charges, or rewarded the firemen. A few are subjoined, as examples of the whole: