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• iLniBi^^iEir •
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES OF
GREAT BRITAIN.
in THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
POPULAR ANTIQUITIES OF
GREAT BRITAIN
COMPRISING NOTICES OF THE MOVEABLE AND IMMOVEABLE
FEASTS, CUSTOMS, SUPERSTITIONS AND AMUSE
MENTS PAST AND PRESENT.
EDITED FROM THE MATERIALS COLLECTED BY
JOHN BRAND F.S.A.
WITH VERY LARGE CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS
BY W. CAREW HAZLITT.
WSHifl) a /9eta anti Copioua JitBejc.
rOLUME THE SECOND.— CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES.
LONDON
JOHN RUSSELL SMITH
36 SOHO SQUARE
1870
CHISWICK PRESS : PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS
roOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.
Obfervations on Popular Antiquities.
II. Cuftoms and Ceremonies.
Countrp amaltes/
" Come Anthea let us two
Go to feaft, a-s others do.
Tarts and Cuftards, Creams and Cakes,
Are the Junketts ftill at Wakes :
Unto which the tribes refort.
Where the bufinefle is the fport.
Morris-dancers thou (halt fee,
Marian too in pagentrie :
And a Mimick to devife
Many grinning properties.
Players there will be, and thofe,
Bafe in affion as in clothes ;
Yet with ftrutting they will pleale
The incurious villages.
Near the dying of the day.
There will be a Cudgell-play,
When a coxcomb will be broke.
Ere a good word can be fpoke.
But the anger ends all here,
Drencht in ale, or drown'd in Beere.
Happy rufticks, beft content
With the cheapeft merriment :
And poflefle no other feare
Then to want the Wake next yeare." — Herrick.
HE true etymology of Wake is, I believe, given
in an extraft from a metrical Life of St. John
in Dugdale's " Warwickfliire," quoted by Strutt.''
Spelman erred flrangely here.]'
As in the times of Paganifm annual feftivals
were celebrated in honour and memory of their
gods, godefles, and heroes, when the people re-
forted together at their temples and tombs ; and as the Jews conftantly
' Called alfo Feafts of Dedication, Revellings, Rufh-bearings, and in the North
of England, Hoppings.
^ "And ye (hal underftond & know how the E-vyns were fiirft found in old
II. B
2 Country Wakes.
kept their anniverfary feaft of Dedication in remembrance of Judas
Maccabaeus their deliverer ; fo it hath been an ancient cuftom among
the Chriftians of this ifland to keep a feaft every year upon a certain
week or day, in remembrance of the finilhing of the building of their
parifli church, and of the firft folemn dedicating of it to the fervice of
God, and committing it to the protection of fome guardian faint or angel.
At the converfion of the Saxons, fays Bourne, by Auftin the
monk, the Heathen Paganalia were continued among the converts,
with fome regulations, by an order of Gregory I., to Mellitus the
Abbot, who accompanied Auftin in his miffion to this ifland. His
words are to this e.Se.8i : on the Day of Dedication, or the Birth
Day of holy Martyrs, whofe relics are there placed, let the people
make to themfelves booths of the boughs of trees, round about thofe
very churches which had been the temples of idols, and in a religious
way to obferve a feaft : that beafts may no longer be flaughtered by
way of facrifice to the devil but for their own eating and the glory of
God : and that when they are fatisfied they may return thanks to him
who is the giver of all good things.* Such are the foundations of the
Country Wake.
time. In the begynning of holy Churche, it was fo that the pepul cam to the
Chirche with Candellys brennyng and wold wake and coorae with light toward fo
the Chirche in their devocions ; and after they fell to lecherie and fongs, daunces,
harping, piping, and alfo to glotony and finne, and fo turned the holinefle to
curfydnefs : wherfore holy Faders ordenned the pepul to leve that Waking and to
faft the E-vyn. But hit is called Vigilia, that is waking in Englifli, and it is called
E-vyn, for at evyn they were wont to come to Chirche." [Wake is mentioned in
the fame fenfe in the " Promptorium Parvulorum."]
Hall, in his " Triumphs or Rome," alludes as follows to thefe convivial enter
tainments ! " What ftiould I fpeak of our merry Wakes and May Games and
Chriftraafs Triumphs, which you have once feen here and may fee ftill in thofe
under the Roman dition : in all which put together, you may well fay no Greek
can be merrier than they." — triumph of Pleafure, p. 23.
In CoUinfon's " Somerfetftiire," vol. i. Abdick and Bulfton Hundred, p. 64,
fpeaking of Stocklinch, St. Magdalen Parifti, the author fays; "A Reniel is held
here on St. Mary Magdalen's day." The Paganalia or Country Feafts of the
Heathens were or the fame ftamp with this of the Wake. Spelman fays : " Hsc
eadem funt quse apud Ethnicos Paganalia dicebatntur," &c. " Glofs." ut infra.
[As early as the time of King Edgar, according to Wheloe's edition of Bede,
quoted by Brand, great licence prevailed at thefe wakes, and Edgar's 28 th Canon
direfts the obfervance of order and decoinim.]
^ " Glofs." Art. Wak.
* " Ut die Dedicationis, vel Natalitiis Sanftorum Martyrum, quorum illic Reli-
quias ponuntur, tabernacula fibi circa eafdem Ecclefias, quse ex fanis commutatas
funt de ramis arborum faciant," &c. — Bed. lib. . . . cap. 30. In Bridges'
" Northamptonftiire " are very many inftances recorded of the Wake being ftill
kept on or near to the day of the faint to which the church was dedicated.
Braithwaite, defcribing a zealous brother, tells us : " He denounceth an heauie
woe upon all Wakes, Summerings, and Rufh-bearings, preferring that Aft whereby
Pipers were made rogues, by Aft of Parliament, before any in all the ASls and
Monuments:'' — Whimzies, 1631, p. 197. In the fame work, p. 19 (Second
Part), fpeaking of a pedlar the author fays : " A Countrey Rujh-bearing, or Mor-
rice-Paftorall, is his feftivall : if ever hee afpire to plum-porridge, that is the day.
Here the guga-girles gingle it with his neat nifles."
So, alfo, in Braithwaite's " Boulfter Leftuie," 1640, p. 78, we find; "Such an
Country Wakes. 3
[In the " Ancren Riwle" (13th century), there is a curious allu-
fion to the cafe of a lady who was nearly dying unfliriven, becaufe fhe
refufed to confefs, till the laft moment, that fhe had once lent a garment
to another woman to go to a wake.'\
This feaft was at firft regularly kept on that day in every week, on
which the Church was dedicated : but it being obferved and complained
of, that the number of holidays was exceflively increafed, to the detri
ment of civil government and fecular affairs ; and alfo that the great
irregularities and licentioufnefs which had crept into thefe feftivities
by degrees, efpecially in the churches, chapels, and churchyards, were
found highly injurious to piety, virtue, and good manners ; there were
therefore both ftatutes and canons made to regulate and reftrain them :
and by an A& of Convocation pafled by Henry the Eighjth in the year
1536, their number was in fome meafure lefTened.* The Feaft of the
Dedication of every Church was ordered to be kept upon one and the
fame day every where ; that is, on the firft Sunday in Odober ; and
the faint's day to which the church was dedicated entirely laid afide.
This a<£l: is now difregarded ; but probably it arofe from thence that
the Feaft of Wakes was firft put off^ till the Sunday following the
proper day, that the people might not have too many avocations from
their neceffary and domeftic bufinefs.
[Charles I. in his "Book of Sports," 1633, removed the prohibi
tion which had been exercifed againft thefe dedication-feafts. This
tra£l: is little more than a re-ifiue of James the Firft's Book, 1618.]
It appears that in ancient times the parifliioners brought rufhes at
the Feaft of Dedication, wherewith to ftrew the church, and from that
circumftance the feftivity itfelf has obtained the name of Rufh-bearing,
which occurs for a country Wake in a Glofiary to the Lancaftiire
dialeft. In the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill, Lon
don, 1504, is the following article : " Paid for 2 berden ryfshes for
the ftrewyng the newe pewes, 3^." Ibid. 1493, " for 3 burdens of
ruflies for the new pews, ¦^d."
In Newton's " Herball to the Bible," 1587, is the following paf-
fage : " Sedge and ruflies with the which many in the country do ufe
in fummer time to ftrawe their parlors and churches, as well for coole-
nefs as for pleafant fmell." Chambers, and indeed all apartments
ufually inhabited, were formerly ftrewed in this manner. As our
anceftors rarely waflied their floors, difguifes of uncleanlinefs became
one as not a Rufli-bearer or May-morrijh in all that Parifti could fubfift without
him." ¦/. r
Bridges, in his "Northamptonftiire," vol. i. p. 187, fpeaking of the parilh ot
Middleton Chenduit, fays : " It is a Cuftom here to ftrew the Church in fummer
with Hay gathered from fix or feven fwaths in Afh-meadow, which have been
given for this purpofe. The Reftor f^nAs. ftramj in winter." Hentzner in his
" Itinerary," fpeaking of Queen Elizabeth's prefence-chamber at Greenwich, fays,
"The floor, after the Englifh faftiion, was ftrewed with H«y," meaning rufties.
[Copley, in his "Wits, Fits, and Fancies," 1595, has a ftory to this purpofe.]
' This injunftion, fays Borlafe, in his " Account of Cornwall," was never
univerfally complied with, cuftom in this cafe prevailing againft the law ot the
land.
4 Country Wakes.
neceflkry things. It appears that the Englifli ftage was ftrewed with
ruflies. The praftice in private houfes is noticed by Johnfon from
Caius "de Ephemera Britannica."
In Tufler's " Hufljandry " are the following lines :
" The Wake-Day.
" Fil oven ful of flawnes, Ginnie palTe not for fleepe.
To-morrow thy father his wake day will keepe :
Then every wanton may danfe at her will
Both Tomkin with Tomlin, and Jankin with Gil."'
The following entries occur in the Accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill,
1495 : " For bred and wyn and ale to Bowear (a finger) and his co.,
and to the Quere on Dedication Even, and on the morrow, is. v'jd."
1555- " Of ^^^ Sumcyon of our Ladys Day, which is our church
holyday, for drinkyng over-night at Mr. Haywards, at the Kings
Head, with certen of the parifli and certen of the chapel and other
finging men, in wyne, pears, and fugar, and other chargis, viii^. jd.
For a dynner for our Ladys Day, for all the fynging men & fyngyng
children, il. For a pounde and halfe of fugar at dinner, is. vij^. ob.
1557. For garlands for our Ladys Day& for ftrawenge yerbes, ij^. ijd.
For bryngyng down the images to Rome Land and other things to be
burnt." In thefe accounts, " To finging men and children from the
King's chapel and elfewhere," on fome of the grand feftivals, particu
larly the parifli feaft (our Lady's Aflumption), a reward in money and
a feaft are charged in feveral years.
In fimilar Accounts for the parifli of St. Margaret's, Weftminfter,
under 1544, is the following item : " Paid for ruflies againft the Dedi
cation Day, which is always the firft Sunday of Odlober, is. ^d." In
the Accounts of St. Laurence Parifli, Reading, for 1602, quoted by
Coates, we have : " Paid for flowers and rujhes for the churche when
the Queene was in town, xxd."
Carew, who wrote about 1585,^^ tells us that " The Saints Feaft is
kept upon the Dedication Day by every houfeholder of the parifli,
within his own dores, each entertaining fuch forrayne acquaintance, as
will not fayle, when their like turne cometh about, to requite them
with the like kindnefs." But Borlafe informs us that, in his time, it
being very inconvenient, efpecially in harveft time, to obferve the
parifh feaft on the faint's day, they were by the bifhop's fpecial autho
rity transferred to the following Sunday.
Stubbes^ gives us the manner of keeping of Wakes and Feafts in
England. " This is their order therein. Euery Town, Parifh, and
Village, fome at one time of the yere, fome at an other (but fo that
Naogeorgus fays :
reddenti gramine templi
Sternitur omne folum, ramifque virentibus arse."
See Du Cange " Glofs." Art. Juncus.
' "Survey of Cornwall," 1602, p. 69.
' "Anatomic of Abufes," 1583, ed. 1584, p. 96.
Country Wakes. ^
euery one keepe his proper daie affigned and appropriate to it felf which
they call their Wake daie) vfeth to make great preparation and proui-
fion for goode cheare. To the which all their freendes and kinsfolkes
farre and nere are inulted." He adds that there are fuch doings at
them, " in fo muche as the poore men that beare the charges of thefe
Feaftes and WakefTes are the poorer and keepe the worfer houfes a
long tyme after. And no maruaile, for many fpend more at one of
thefe WakefTes then in all the whole yere befides. " Stubbes has been
already mentioned as a Puritan : and confequently one who did not
duly diftinguifh between the inftitution itfelf and the degenerate abufe
of it. Northbrooke^ fays : " Alfo their daunces were fpirituall, reli
gious, and godly, not after our hoppings and leapings, and inter-
minglings men with women, &c. (dauncing every one for his part),
but foberly, grauely," &c. Alfo, " What good doth all that dauncing
of yong women holding vpon mennes armes, that they may hop the
higher ? "
Speght, in his " GlofTary to Chaucer," fays : " It was the manner
in times paft upon feftival evens called Vigiliae, for parifhioners to meet
in their church houfes or church yards, and there to have a drinking
fit for the time. Here they ufed to end many quarrels between
neighbour and neighbour. Hither came the wives in comely man
ner : and they which were of the better fort had their mantles car
ried with them, as well for fhew as to keep them from cold at the
table. Thefe mantles, alfo, many did ufe in the church at morrow-
mafTes and other times."
Borlafe fays, the Parifh Feafts inftituted in commemoration of the
dedication of parochial churches were highly efteemed among the
primitive Chriftians, and originally kept on the faint's day to whofe
memory the church was dedicated. The generofity of the founder
and endower thereof was at the fame time celebrated, and a fervice
compofed fuitable to the occafion. (This is ftill done in the colleges
of Oxford, to the memory of the refpedive founders.) On the eve
of this day prayers were faid and hymns were fung all night in the
church ; and from thefe watchings the feftivals were ftyled Wakes ;
which name ftill continues in many parts of England, though the vigils
have been long abolifhed.^
In the fouthern parts of this nation, fays Bourne, mofl country vil
lages' are wont to obferve fome Sunday in a more particular manner
than the reft, /. e. the Sunday after the day of dedication, or day of
the faint to whom their church was dedicated. Then the inhabitants
deck themfelves in their gaudieft clothes, and have open doors and
fplendid entertainments for the reception and treating of their relations
and friends, who vifit them on that occafion from each neighbouring
town. The morning is fpent for the moft part at church, though not
as that morning was wont to be fpent, not in commemorating the faint
1 <(
Treatife againft Dauncing," 1577, ed. 1843, pp. 151, 166.
' Dugdale's " Warwickfliire," ift edit. p. 515.
' " Antiq. Vulg." chap. xxx.
6 Country Wakes.
or martyr, or in gratefully remembering the builder and endower.
The remaining part of the day is fpent in eating and drinking. 1 "US
alfo they fpend a day or two afterwards in all forts of rural paltimes
and exercifes : fuch as dancing on the green, wreftling, cudgelling, uc.
[In the "Speftator," No. i6i, for Sept. 4, I7"> "^"^ '^^^^^'^
tells us, that " the Squire of the parifti treats the whole company
every year with a hogfhead of ale ; and propofes a Beaver Hat as a
recompenfe to him who gives moft Falls."]
In [Aubrey's " Natural Hiftory of] Wiltfliire," printed in [1847],
we read : " The night before the Day of Dedication of the Church,
certain officers were chofen for gathering the money for charitable
ufes. Old John Waftfield of Langley, was Peter Man at St. Peter's
Chapel there " [and from the fame fource it appears that it was cufto-
mary to fpend the eve of the Dedication-day in fafting and prayer.] ^
Silas Taylor fays, that " in the days of yore, when a Church was to
be built, they watched and prayed on the Vigil of the Dedication, and
took that point of the horizon where the fun arofe for the eaft, which
makes that variation, fo that few ftand true except thofe built between
the two equinoxes. I have experimented fome Churches, and have
found the line to point to that part of the horizon where the fun rifes
on the day of that Saint to whom the church is dedicated."
Great numbers attending at thefe Wakes, by degrees lefs devotion
and reverence were obferved, till, at length, from hawkers and ped
lars coming thither to fell their petty wares, the merchants came alfo
and fet up ftalls and booths in the churchyards : and not only thofe,
fays Spelman, who lived in the parifh to which the church belonged
reforted thither, but others alfo, from all the neighbouring towns and
villages ; and the greater the reputation of the Saint, the greater were
the numbers that flocked together on this occafion. The holding of
thefe Fairs on Sundays was juftly found fault with by the clergy. The
Abbot of Ely, in John's reign, inveighed much againft fo flagrant a
profanation of the Sabbath ; but this irreligious cuftom was not en
tirely abolifhed till the reign of Henry VI. [a period in our hiftory when
a good deal of oppofition to profane amufements was offered by the
Puritan party. It was to pacify this growing feeling that Henry con-
fented temporarily to the fuppreffion of markets and fairs on Sundays
and holy days, in the 23rd year of his reign.]
Hofpinian cites Naogeorgus, in his fourth Book, as drawing a moft
loathfome pifture of the exceffes and obfcenities ufed in his time at
the Feaft of Dedications, and although in this country the fame
element of licentioufnefs had undoubtedly crept into this defcription of
feftival, We find a clergyman, one Rofewell, in a fermon which he pub-
¦ " They hate the laurell, which is the reafon they have no poets amongft them ; fo
as if there be any that feeme to have a fmatchin that generous fcience, he arrives no
higher than the ftyle of a Ballet, ivhereia they ha-ve areafonable facultie j efpecially
at a Wake, nxihen they affemhle themfel'ves together at a toiune-greene , for then they
fing their Ballets, and lay out fuch throats as the country fidlers cannot be heard:^ —
A Strange Metamorphofis of Man, &c. 1634.
Country Wakes. y
lifhed in 17 ii, earneftly oppofed to the difcontinuance of the Wake on
the Eve before the Dedication. When an order [had been] made in
1627 and in 1631, at Exeter and in Somerfetfliire, for the fuppreffion
of the Wakes, both the minifters and the people defired their contin
uance, not only for preferving the memorial of the dedication of their
feveral churches, but for civilizing their parifhioners, compofing differ
ences by the mediation and meeting of friends, increafing of love and
unity by thefe feafts of charity, and for the relief and comfort of the
poor. In the " Statiftical Account of Scotland," ' we read : " Parifh of
Sandwick [Orkney]"—" The people do no work on the 3rd day of
March, in commemoration of the Day on which the Church of
Sandwick was confecrated ; and as the Church was dedicated to St.
Peter, they alfo abftain from working for themfelves on St. Peter's
Day (29th of June) ; but they will work to another perfon who em
ploys them."
In the fame work we are told " St. Serf was confidered as the
tutelar Saint of this place, in honour of whom there was an annual
proceflion on his day, vi%., ift July, early in the morning of which, all
the inhabitants, men and women, young and old, afTembled and carried
green branches through the town, decking the publick places with
flowers, and fpent the reft of the day in feftivity. (The Church was
dedicated not only to the Virgin Mary, but alfo to St. Serf.) The pro
ceflion is ftill continued, though the day is changed from the Saint's
Day to the prefent King's Birth Day."
Hopping is derived from the A.-S. jjoppan, to leap, or dance.
Dancings in the North of England, and I believe [colloquially] in
other parts, are called Hops. The word in its original meaning is pre-
ferved in Grz.k-hopper. The word " Hoppe " occurs in Chaucer, in
the beginning of the "Cokes Tale."
In many villages in the North of England thefe meetings are ftill
kept up, under the name of Hoppings. We fhall hope that the re
joicings on them are ftill reftrained in general within the bounds of in
nocent feftivity ; though it is to be feared they fometimes prove fatal
to the morals of our fwains, and corrupt the innocence of our ruftic
maids. In "A Joco-ferious Difcourfe between a Northumberland Gentle
man and his Tenant" [by George Stuart,] 1686, p. 32, we read : —
" To Horfe-race, Fair, or Hoppin go.
There play our cafts among the whipfters.
Throw for the hammer, lowp for flippers.
And fee the Maids Dance for the Ring,
Or any other pleafant thing ;
for the Pigg, lye for the Whetftone,
Or chufe what fide to lay our betts on."'
' Vol. xvi. p. 460 ; vol. xviii. p. 652.
['' Mr. Brand, at this point, admits a literal deluge of wholly irrelevant matter
on the fubjeft of fharping, cogging, &c.]
8 Country Wakes.
[A contributor to the " Antiquarian Repertory " has prejerved a
part of an old fong, which ufed to be fung in the North at Wakes as
well as at Chriftmas."^ ' • \ u
In the old ballad of" Sack for my Money" {circa 1630) we have :
" The country blades with their own maids,
At every merry meetings.
For ale and cakes at their town wakes,
Which they did give their fweetings,
Upon their friend a crown will fpend
In fack that is fo trufty."
The Lady of the Wake is defcribed in " Witts Recreations " (1640),
in a poem, perhaps by Herrick :
" Feele how my temples ake
For the lady of the wake ;
Her lips are as foft as a medlar,
With her pofies and her points,
And the ribbon on her joynts.
The device of the fields and the pedler."
The following is Googe's account, in his verfion of" Naogeorgus" :]
" The Dedication of the Church is yerely had in minde.
With worfhip paffing Catholicke, and in a wondrous kinde :
From out the fteeple hie is hangde a croflTe and banner fayre,
The pavement of the temple ftiowde with hearbes of pleafant ayre.
The pulpets and the aulters all that in the Church are feene,
And every pewe and piller great, are deckt with boughes of greene :
The tabernacles opned are, and Images are dreft.
But chiefly he that patron is, doth fhine above the reft ;
A horde there ftandes, whereon their bulles and pardons thick they lay.
That given are to every one that keepes this holyday :
The Idoll of the Patron eke, without the doore doth ftande.
And beggeth faft of every man, with pardons in his hande :
Who for bicaufe he lackes his tongue, and hath not yet the fliill
In common peoples languages, when they fpeake well or ill :
He hath his owne interpreter, that alwayes ftandeth by,
And vnto every man that commeth in or out doth cry :
Defiring them the Patrone there, with giftes to have in minde,
And Popiftie pardons for to buie, releafe of Cnnes to finde.
* » • * *
On every fide the neighbours come, and fuch as dwell not nere.
Come of their owne good willes, and fome required to be there.
And every man his weapon hath, their fwordes and launces long.
Their axes curriars, pyftolets, with pykes and darts among.
The yong men in their beft array, and trimmeft maydes appeare.
Both jeafters, roges, and minftrels with their inftruments are heare.
The pedler doth his packe untruflTe, the hoft his pots doth fill,
And on the table breade and drinke doth fet for all that will ;
Nor eyther of them their heape deceyves, for of the others all.
To them th' advauntage of this fealte, and gaine, doth chiefly fall.
The feiTice done, they eyther to the taverne faft doe flie,
Or to their neighbours houfe, whereas they feede unreafonablie :
[' Vol. iv. p. 4S3 i ed. 1808.]
[' Herrick's Works, ed. Hazlitt, Appendix, No. III.]
Country Wakes. g
For fixe or feven courfes they vnto the table bring,
And for their fuppers may compare with any heathen king.
The table taken up, they rife, and all the youth apace.
The minftrell with them called go to fome convenient place :
Where when with bagpipe hoaice, he hath begon his muficke fine.
And vnto fuch as are preparde to daunce hath given figne.
Comes thither ftreight both boys and gyrles, and men that aged bee.
And maryed folkes of middle age, there alfo comes to fee,
Old wrinckled hagges, and youthfull dames, that minde to daunce aloft.
Then fundrie paftimes do begin, and filthie daunces oft ;
When drunkards they do lead the daunce with fray and bloody fight.
That handes, and eares, and head, and face, are torne in wofull plight.
The ftreames of bloud runne downe the armes, and oftentimes is feene
The carkafle of fome ruflSan flaine, is left upon the greene.
Here many, for their lovers fweete, fome daintie thing do buie,
And many to the taverne goe, and drinke for companie,
Whereas they foolifh fongs do fing, and noyfes great do make :
Some in the me.ine while play at cardes, and fome the dice do (hake.
Their cuftome alfo is, the prieft into the houfe to pull ;
Whom when they have, they thinke their game accomplifhed at full ;
He farre in noyfe exceedes them all, and eke in drinking drie
The cuppes, a prince he is, and holdes their heades that fpeewing lie."
King,^ fpeaking of the Inhabitants of Chefter, fays, " touching their
houfekeeping, it is bountiful and comparable with any other Shire in
the Realm : and that is to be feen at their Weddings and Burials, but
chiefly at their Wakes, which they yearly hold (although it be of late
years well laid down.")
Hinde,^ fpeaking of popifh and profane Wakes at Tarum, fays : —
" Popery and Profannes, two fifters in evil, had confented and con-
fpired in this parifh, as in many other places, together to advance their
Idols againft the Arke of God, and to celebrate their folemne Feaftes
of their Popifh Saints, as being the Dii Tutelares, the fpeciall Patrons
and Protestors of their Church and Parifh, by their Wakes and
Vigils, kept in commemoration and honour of them, in all riot and
exceffe of eating and drinking, dalliance and dancing, fporting and
gaming, and other abominable impieties and idolatries."
" In the Northern Counties," fays Hutchinfon,' " thefe holy Feafts
are not yet abolifhed ; and in the county of Durham many are yet
celebrated. They were originally Feafts of dedication in commemo
ration of the confecration of the Church, in imitation of Solomon's
great Convocation at the confecrating the Temple of Jerufalem.
The religious tenor is totally forgotten, and the Sabbath is made a day
of every diffipation and vice which it is poffible to conceive could
crowd upon a villager's manners and rural life. The manner of hold
ing thefe feftivals in former times was under tents and booths erefted
in the Church-yard, where all kinds of diverfions were introduced. In
terludes were there performed, being a fpecies of theatrical performance
confifting of a rehearfal of fome paffages in holy Writ perfonated by
a£lors. This kind of exhibition is fpoken of by travellers, who have
' Vale Royal of Englan-!," p. 20. '^ " Life of Bruen," 1641, p. 89.
' Hiftory of Northumberland," vol. ii. p. 26.
IO Country Wakes.
vifited Jerufalem, where the religious even prefume to exhibit the
Crucifixion and Afcenfion with all their tremendous circumft^nces.
On thefe Celebrations in this country, great Feafts were difplayed, and
vaft abundance of meat and drink."
Gower^ tells us : " I cannot avoid reminding you upon the prefent
occafion that Frumenty makes the principal entertainment of all our
Country Wakes: our common people call it ' Firmitry.' It is an
agreeable compofition of boiled wheat, milk, fpice, and fugar.
[Mr. Wilbraham, in his « Chefliire Glofl'ary," 1836, fays : " At
Appleton, in Chefhire, it was the cuftom at the time of the Wake to
clip and adorn an old hawthorn which till very lately ftood in the
middle of the town. This ceremony is [was] called the Bawming
[Dreffing] of Appleton Thorn."]
Macaulay* obferves that there is a Wake the Sunday next after St.
Peter, to whom the Church is dedicated ; adding : " the people of
this neighbourhood are much attached to the celebration of Wakes ;
and on the annual return of thofe Feftivals, the coufins afiTemble from
all quarters, fill the Church on Sunday, and celebrate Monday with feaft-
ing, with mufick, and with dancing. The fpirit of old Englifh hof-
pitality is confpicuous among the Farmers on thofe occafions ; but with
the lower fort of people, efpecially in manufacSturing villages, the return
of the Wake never fails to produce a week at leaft, of idlenefs, intoxi
cation, and riot ; thefe and other abufes, by which thefe Feftivals are
fo groflly perverted from the original end of their inftitution, render it
highly defirable to all the friends of order, of decency, and of religion,
that they were totally flippreffed."
In Ireland, " on the Patron Day, in moft parifhes, as alfo on the
Feafts of Eafter and Whitfuntide, the more ordinary fort of people
meet near the Alehoufe in the afternoon, on fome convenient fpot of
ground, and dance for the cake; here to be fure the Piper fails not
of diligent attendance. The cake to be danced for is provided at the
charge of the Ale-wife, and is advanced on a board on the top of a
pike, about ten feet high ; this board is round, and from it rifeth a
kind of Garland, befet and tied round with meadow flowers, if it be
early in the fummer: if later, the garland has the addition of Apples,
fet round on pegs, faftened unto it. The whole number of dancers
begin all at once in a large ring, a man and a woman, and dance round
about the bufh (fo is this garland called,) and the piper, as long as
they are able to hold out. They that hold out longeft at the exercife,
win the Cake and Apples, and then the Alewife's trade goes on."^
At the Wake held at the fmall village of St. Kenelm's, co. Salop,
called Kenelm's Wake, or Crab Wake, the inhabitants have a Angular
cuftom of pelting each other with Crabs : and even the Clergyman
feldom efcapes as he goes to, or comes from, the Chapel.*
' " Sketch of the Materials for a Hiftory of Chefhire," p. 10.
" " Hiftory of Claybrook," 1791, p. 93. [Sir H. Ellis refers us to " Nichols'
Leicefterfhire," vol. iv. p. 131.]
' Piers' " Defcription of Weftmeath," 1682, in Vallancey, No. i. p. 123.
* See "Gent. Mag." for Sept. 1797.
tartjeft i^ome.
" Hoacky is brought
Home with hallowin.
Boys with Plumb-Cake
The Cart following." Poor Robin for 1676.
MACROBIUS tells us" that, among the Heathens, the mafters of
families, when they had got in their Harveft, were wont to feaft
with their fervants, who had laboured for them in tilling the ground.
In exaft conformity to this, it is common among Chriftians, when the
fruits of the earth are gathered in and laid in their proper repofitories,
to provide a plentiful fupper for the harveft men and the fervants of the
family. At this entertainment, all are in the modern revolutionary
idea of the word, perfedtly equal. Here is no diftindtion of perfons,
but niafter and fervant fit at the fame table, converfe freely together,
and fpend the remainder of the night in dancing, finging, &c. in the
moft eafy familiarity.
[Durandus^ mentions that it was formerly ufual among the Gentiles
for the fervants, both male and female, to take their mafters' or em
ployers' places after the gathering-in of the Harveft, and ufurp their
authority for a time.]
Bourne thinks the original of both thefe cuftoms is Jewifli, and
cites Hofpinian, who tells us that the Heathens copied this cuftom
of the Jews, and at the end of their Harveft, offered up their firft-
fruits to the gods.* For the Jews rejoiced and feafted at the getting
in of the Harveft.
This feftivity is undoubtedly of the moft remote antiquity. In the
" Roman Calendar," I find the following obfervation on the Eleventh
of June : (The harvefts in Italy are much earlier than with us.) "The
feafon of reapers, and their Cuftom with ruftic pomp."
Hutchinfon, fpeaking of the parifh of Eafington, in Durham,' ob
ferves, " In this part of the country are retained fome ancient cuftoms
evidently derived from the Romans, particularly that of dreffing up a
' Otherwife called Mell Supper, Kern, or Churn Supper, or Feaft of Ingathering.
^ " Saturnal." Die prim. cap. 10.
' " Rationale," lib. vi. c. 86.
¦* Hofpin. "De Orig. Feft. Jud. ; " Stukius "Antiq. Conviv." p. 63. Theophylaft
mentions " Scenopegia, quod celebrant in gratiarum aftlonem propter conveftas
Fruges in Menfe Septembri. Tunc enim gratias agebant Deo, conveftis omnibus
fruftibus, &c." — Theoph. in 7 cap. Joan.
* "Hift. of Durham," vol. ii. p. 583.
12 Harveji Home.
figure of Ceres, during Harveft, which is placed in the field while the.
reapers are labouring, and brought home on the laft evening of reaping,
with mufick and great acclamation. After this a feaft is made, called
the Mell-fupper, from the ancient facrifice of mingling the new
meal." In the " Life of Eugene Aram," [1759,] there is an Effay on " the
Mell Supper, and fliouting the Churn," by that extraordinary man.
Bread, or Cakes, he fays, compofed part of the Hebrew offering, as
appears by Leviticus xxiii. 13; and we gather from Homer, in the
firft Book of his " Iliad," that a cake thrown upon the head of the
viflim was alfo part of the Greek offering to Apollo. Apollo, con
tinues Aram, lofing his divinity on the progrefs of Chriftianity, what
had been anciently offered to the god, the reapers as prudently eat
up themfelves. At laft the ufe of the meal of new corn was neg-
lefted, and the fupper, fo far as meal was concerned, was made
indifferently of old or new corn, as was moft agreeable to the founder.
He adds, as the Harveft was lafl concluded with feveral preparations
of meal, or brought to be ready fo.r the Mell, this term became, in a
tranflated fignification, to mean the lafl of other things ; as when a
horfe came laft in the race, they often fay in the North, he has got the
Mell.
That men in all nations where agriculture flourifhed fhould have
expreffed their joy on this occafion by fome outward ceremonies, has
its foundation in the nature of things. Sowing is hope j reaping,
fruition of the expefted good. To the hufbandman, whom the fear
of wet, blights, &c. had haraffed with great anxiety, the completion of
his wifhes could not fail of imparting an enviable feeling of delight.
Feftivity is but the reflex of inward joy, and it could hardly fail of
being produced on this occafion, which is a temporary fufpenfion of
every care,
[It was cuftomary in Tuffer's day, to give the reapers gloves when
the wheat was thiftly, and Hilman, the author of" Tuffer Redivivus,"
1 7 10, obferves, that the largefs, which feems to have been ufual in
the old writer's time, was ftili a matter of courfe, of which the reapers
did not require to be reminded.]
Stevenfon* thus glances at the cuftoms of Harveft Home. "The
Furmenty Pot welcomes home the Harveft Cart, and the Garland of
Flowers crowns the Captain of the Reapers ; the battle of the field is
now ftoutly fought. The pipe and the tabor are now bufily fet a-
work, and the lad and the lafs will have no lead on their heels. O 'tis
the merry time wherein honeft neighbours make good cheer and God
is glorified in his bleffings on the earth."
[Herrick addreffed to thepoet-earl of Weftmoreland, author of " Otia
Sacra," 1648, a copy of verfes, in which he pleafantly defcribes the
ufages of the Harveft Home. He alludes to the crowning of the
' "The Twelve Moneths," 1661, p. 37 [Auguft. But this work is for the
moft part abftrafted from Breton's " Fantafticks," 1626, without the flighteft
acknowledgment.]
Harveji Home. 13
Hock-Cart, and the other ceremonies obferved after the gathering-in
of the crop.]
The refpeft fhown to fervants at this feafon feems to have fprung
from a grateful fenfe of their good fervices. Every thing depends at
this jundture on their labour and difpatch.^
Morefin tells us,^ that Popery, in imitation of this, brings home her
chaplets of corn, which fhe fufpends on poles, that offerings are
made on the altars of her tutelar gods, while thanks are returned for
the collefted ftores, and prayers are made for future eafe and reft.
Images too of ftraw or ftubble, he adds, are wont to be carried about
on this occafion ; and that in England he himfeif faw the rufties
bringing home in a cart, a figure made of corn, round which men and
women were finging promifcuoufly, preceded by a drum or piper.
Newton,^ under Breaches of the fecond Commandment, cenfures
" the adorning with garlands, or prefenting unto any image of any Saint,
whom thou hafi made fpeciall choife of to be thy patron and advocate,
the firfilings of thy increafe, as Corne «»^ Grains, and other obla
tions." In his "Travels,"* fpeaking of Windfor, Hentzner fays, ",'As we
were returning to our inn we happened to meet fome country people
celebrating their Harveft-home ; their laft load of corn they crown
with flowers, having befides an image richly dreffed, by which perhaps
they would fignify Ceres : this they keep moving about, while men
and women, men and maid-fervants, riding through the ftreets in the
cart, fhout as loud as they can till they arrive at the barn."
" I have feen," fays Hutchinfon,^ " in fome places, an Image ap
parelled in great finery, crowned with flowers, a fheaf of corn placed
under her arm, and a fcycle in her hand, carried out of the village in
the morning of the conclufive reaping day, with mufick and much
clamour of the reapers, into the field, where it ftands fixed on a pole
all day, and when the reaping is done, is brought home in like manner.
This they call the Harveft Queen, and it reprefents the Roman
Ceres." An old woman, who in a cafe of this nature is refpefbable authority,
at a village in Northumberland, informed [Mr. Brand, that in the
firft half of the laft century,] they ufed every where to drefs up fome-
thing, fimilar to the figure above defcribed, at the end of Harveft,
which was called a Harveft Doll, or Kern Baby. This northern
word is plainly a corruption of Corn Baby, or image, as is the Kern
Supper, which we fhall prefently confider, of Corn Supper.^
At Werington in Devonfhire, the clergyman of the parifh informed
' Vacuna, fo called, as it is faid, a njacando, among the ancients, was the name
of the goddefs to whom rufties facrificed at the conclufion of Harveft.
^ "Papatus," p. 173, in f. Vacina.
' " Tryall of a Mans owne Selfe," 1602, p. 54.
¦* 8vo. Strawberry Hill, 1757, p. 79.
^ " Hift. of Northumb." vol. ii. p., 17.
^ In Carew's " Survey of Cornwall," p. 20 nierfo, " an ill kerned or faved Harveft"
occurs.
14 Harveji Home.
[Mr. Brand about 1795] that when a farmer finiflies his reaping, a
fmall quantity of the ears of the laft corn are twifted or tied togettier
into a curious kind of figure, which is brought home with great accla
mations, hung up over the table, and kept till the next year. Ihe
owner would think it extremely unlucky to part with this, which is
called " a Knack." The reapers whoop and hollow " A Knack ! a
Knack ! well cut ! well bound ! well fliocked 1 " and, in fome places,
in a fort of mockery it is added, " Well fcattered on the ground." A
countryman gave [him] a fomewhat different account, as follows :
" When they have cut the corn, the reapers affemble together : a
Knack is made, which one placed in the middle of the company holds
up, crying thrice ' a Knack,' which all the reft repeat : the perfon in
the middle then fays :
' Well cut ! well bound !
Well ftiocked I well faved from the ground.'
he afterwards cries ' Whoop' and his companions hollow as loud as
they can." He applied for one of them. No farmer would part with
that which hung over his table 5 but one was made on purpofe for
him.?^ Purchas,^ fpeaking of the Peruvian fuperftitions, tells us : " In the
fixt moneth they offered a hundred Sheepe of all colours, and then
made a Feaft, bringing Mayz from the fields into the houfe, which
they yet vfe. This Feaft is made, comming from the Farme to the
houfe, faying certaine Songs, and praying that the Mayz may long con-
rinue. They put a quanritie of the Mayz (the beft that groweth in
their Farmes) in a thing which they call Pirua,v/it\i certaine Ceremonies
watching three nights. Then doe they put it in the richeft garment
they haue, and, being thus wrapped and dreffed, they worftiip this
Pirua, holding it in great veneration, and faying, It is the Mother of
the Mayz of their Inheritances, and that by this meanes the Mayz aug
ments and is preferued. In this moneth they make a particular
Sacrifice, and the Witches demand of this Pirua if it hath ftrength
enough to continue vntill the next yeere. And if it anfweres no, then
they Carrie this Maiz to the Farme whence it was taken, to burne and
make another Pirua as before : and this foolifh vanitie ftill continueth."
This Peruvian Pirva, [Mr. Brand was informed by a friend,] bears
a ftrong refemblance to what is called in Kent, an Ivy Girl, which is
a figure compofed of fome of the beft corn the field produces, and
made, as well as they can, into a human fhape ; this is afterwards
curioufly dreffed by the women, and adorned with paper trimmings,
cut to refemble a cap, ruffles, handkerchief, &c. of the fineft lace. It
is brought home with the laft load of corn from the field upon the
waggon, and they fuppofe entitles them to a fupper at the expenfe of
their employers.
' I fhould fuppofe that Morefin alludes to fomething like this when he fays ;
" Et fpiceas papatus (habet) coronas, quas videre eft in doraibus, &c." Papatus,
p. 163, -v. SpiCiE. [See the laft ed. of Nares' " Glofs." art. Knack.]
^ " Pilgrimes," [vol. v.] lib. ix. c. 12. He cites Acofta, lib. vi. c. 3.
Harveji Home. 15
[Clarke in his " Travels," incidentally obferves : " At the Hawkie
(at Cambridge), as it is called, I have feen a Clown dreffed in woman's
clothes, having his face painted, his head decorated with ears of Corn,
and bearing about him other fymbols of Ceres, carried in a Waggon,
with great pomp and loud fhouts, through the ftreets, the horfes being
covered with white fheets -, and when I enquired the meaning of the
ceremony, was anfwered by the people that they were drawing the
Harvest Queen."]
Lord Weftmoreland the poet tells us :
" How the Hock-Cart with all its Gear
Should be trick'd up, and what good chear."
Hockey Cake is that which is diftributed to the people at Harveft-
home. The Hockey Cart is that which brings the laft corn and the
children rejoicing with boughs in their hands, with which the horfes
alfo are attired.'*
In fome parts of Yorkfhire, as a clergyman of that county informed
me, there is given at the end of fhearing or reaping the corn a prize
fheaf to be run for, and when all the corn is got home into the ftack-
yard, an entertainment is given called the Inning Goofe.
[The Rev. Donald McQueen,] in the "Gentleman's Magazine"
for February, 1795, fpeaking of the Ifle of Sky, fays: "In this Hyper
borean country, in every diftricS, there is to be met with a rude ftone
confecrated to Gruagach, or Apollo. The firft who is done with his
reaping, fends a man or a maiden with a bundle of Corn to his next
neighbour, who hath not yet reaped down his Harveft, who when he
has finifhed, difpatches to his own next neighbour, who is behind in
his work, and fo on, until the whole corns are cut down. This Sheaf
is called the Cripple Goat, an Gaobbir Bhacagh, and is at prefent
meant as a brag or affront to the Farmer, for being more remifs, or
later than others in reaping the harveft, for which reafon the bearer of
it muft make as good a pair of heels, for fear of being ill-ufed for his
indifcretion, as he can. Whether the appellation of Cripple Goat
may have any the leaft reference to the Apollonian Altar of Goats
Horns, I fhall not pretend to determine."
A Newfpaper of 1773 fays : "A few days ago a melancholy ac
cident happened near Worcefter at a Harveft Home. As near thirty
perfons were coming from the field in a waggon, it overturned, whereby
great part of the company had one or other of their limbs broken, or
were dangeroufly bruifed, and one young woman was killed on the
fpot." In Braithwaite's " Lancafhire Lovers," 1640, p. 19, the ruftic
lover entices his miftrefs to marriage with promife of many rural
pleafures, among which occurs, "Wee will han a feed-cake at
Faflens;" and in Overbury's " Charafters," 1638, under the charafter
' " Otia Sacra," 1648, p. 173.
^ Salmon's "Survey" (Hertfordftiire), vol. ii. p. 415. .
1 6 Harveji Home.
of a Franklin, we find enumerated the feveral country fports, amongft
which occurs " the Hoky or Seed Cake."
Different places adopt different ceremonies. There is a fport on
this occafion in Hertfordfhire, called " Crying the Mare," (it is the
fame in Shropfhire,) when the reapers tie together the tops of the
laft blades of corn, which is Mare, and ftanding at fome diftance,
throw their fickles at it, and he who cuts the knot, has the prize, with
acclamations and good cheer.^ I was informed of the following
cuftom on this occafion at Hitchin in the fame county, where each
farmer drives furioufly home with the laft load of his corn, while the
people run after him with Bowls full of water in order to throw on it :
this is alfo accompanied with great fhouting.^
In the " Statiftical Account of Scotland," ^ we read, " It was [in
the laft century,] the cuftom to give what was called a Maiden Feafl,
upon the finifhing of the Harveft : and to prepare for which, the laft
handful of Corn reaped in the field was called the [Corn Lady or]
Maiden. This was generally contrived to fall into the hands of one
of the fineft girls in the field, was dreffed up with ribbands, and
brought home in triumph with the mufic of fiddles or bagpipes. A
good dinner was given to the whole band, and the evening fpent in
joviality and dancing, while the fortunate lafs who took the Maiden
was the Queen of the Feaft ; after which this handful of Corn was
dreffed out generally in the form of a Crofs, and hung up with the
date of the year, in fome confpicuous part of the houfe. This cuftom
is now entirely done away, and in its room each fhearer is given bd.
and a loaf of bread. However, fome farmers, when all their Corns
are brought in, give their fervants a dinner and a jovial evening, by
way of Harveft-Home."
In Tuffer's " Hufbandry," 1580, under Auguft, are the following
lines alluding to this feftivity :
" In Harveft time, harveft folke, fervants and all,
Should make, alltogither, good cheere in the hall.
And fill out the black bol of bleith to their fong,
And let them be merie al Harveft time long.
Once ended thy Harveft, let none be begilde,
Pleafe fuch as did pleafe thee, man, woman, and child.
Thus doing, with alway fuche helpe as they can.
Thou winnift the praife of the labouring man."
On which is this note in [Hilman]* " This, the poor labourer thinks,
' Blount tells us farther that " after the Knot is cut, then they cry with a loud
voice three times, 'I have her.' Others anfwer, as many times, ' What have you?'
—'A Mare, a Mare, a Mare.'— ' Whofe is flie,' thrice alfo, — J. B. (naming the
owner three times). — ' Whither will you fend her .?' — ' To J. a Nicks,' (naming
fome neighbour who has not all his corn reaped); then they all fhout three times,
and fo the ceremony ends with good cheer. " In Yorkftiire, upon the like occa
fion they have a Harveft Dame ; in Bedfordfhire, a Jack and a Gill."
^ Thomfon, in his " Seafons," (Autumn,) has left us a beautiful defcription of
this annual feftivity of Harveft Home.
' Vol. xix. p. 550; Parifh of Longforgan, co. Perth.
¦* " Tuffer Redivivus," 1710, edit. 1749, p. 104.
Harveji Home. ly
crowns all, a good fupper muft be provided, and every one that did any
thing towards the Inning muft now have fome reward, as ribbons
laces, rows of pins to boys and giris, if never fo fmall, for their en
couragement ; and, to be fure, plumb-pudding. The men muft now
have fome better than beft dnnk, which, with a little tobacco and
their fcreaming for their largeffes, their bufinefs will foon be done."
In another part of Tuffer's work, under " The Ploughman's Feaft
Days," are thefe lines :
" For all this good feafting, yet art thou not loofe,
Til Ploughman thou giveft his Harveft Home Goofe j
Though goofe go in ftubbie, I paffe not for that,
Let Goofe have a Goofe, be flie lean, be ftie fat."'
On which [Hilman] remarks i^ "The Goofe is forfeited, if they
overthrow during Harveft."
[In Henry IV. 's rime, the French peafants were accuftomed to
regale after the getting in of the Harveft, on what was called a Harvefi
Gofing.'^'\ In Cornwall, it fliould feem, they have " Harveft Dinners ;" and
thefe, too, not given immediately at the end of the Harveft. " The
Harveft Dinners," fays Carew,^ " are held by every wealthy man, or,
as we term it, every good liver, between Michaelmas and Candlemafs,
whereto he inviteth his next neighbours and kinred. And, though it
beare only the name of a dinner, yet the ghefts take their fupper alfo
with them, and confume a great part of the night after in Chriftmas
rule. Neither doth the good cheere wholly expire (though it fome
what decreafe) but with the end of the weeke."
Formerly, it fhould feem, there was a Harvest Home Song.
Kennett* tells us : "Homines de Hedyngton ad curiam Domini fingulis
annis inter feftum S. Michaelis et feftum S. Martini venient cum toto
et pleno Dyteno, ficut haftenus confueverunt." This, he adds, is
finging Harveft Home.
Johnfon tells us, in his " Tour to the Hebrides," that he faw the
Harveft of a fmall field in one of the Weftern Iflands. The ftrokes
of the fickle were timed by the modulation of the Harveft Song, in
which all their voices were united. They accompany, in the High
lands, every adllon which can be done in equal time with an appro
priated ftrain, which has, they fay, not much meaning, but its effects
are regularity and cheerfulnefs. The ancient proceleufmatic fong,
by which the rowers of gallies were animated, may be fuppofed to
have been of this kind. There is now an oar fong ufed by Hebri-
dians. Thus far the learned traveller. I have often obferved at
Newcaftle-upon-Tyne (and I fuppofe it is the fame in other fea-port
towns) that the fail'ors, in heaving their anchors, made ufe of a fimilar
' " Tufler Redivivus," 1710, edit. 1749, p. 81.
[' MaroDes' " Memoires," quoted ia .Seward's " Anecd." vol. iii. p.
' "Survay," 1602, fol. 68.
¦" Glofs. to "Par. Ant'q." -v. Dytenum.
II. c
1 8 Harvefi Home.
kind of fong. In ploughing with oxen in Devonfliire, I obferved a
fong of the fame kind.
In the " Statiftical Account of Scotland,"^ it is faid, " There is one
family on the Cupar-Grange Eftate, which has been there a century.
The former tenant in that family kept a Piper to play to his fhearers
all the time of Harveft, and gave him his Harveft-fee. The floweft
fhearer had always the Drone behind him."
[The Mell-Supper, the entertainment ufual after Harveft, is derived
either from Mehl, farina, or meal, or from the Northern Englifli
mell, a company. On the whole, perhaps, the latter is the more
reafonable etymology.]^
In a Letter [of Auguft 12, 1786, from Pegge to Brand, the former]
fays : The moft obvious interpretation of the term Mell Supper feems
to infinuate that it is the Meal-Supper, from the Teutonic word mehl
(farina). In another Letter, dated Aug. 28th, 1786, he cites
" Cowel's Interpreter," in v. Med-syp. i. e. the reward fupper, as
thinking it may alfo be deduced from that.
[The laft fheaf of the Harveft was called the Mell-Sheaf and, fays
Mr. Atkinfon, " ufed to be formed, on finifhing the reaping, with
much obfervance and care." He adds, that it " was frequently made
of fuch dimenfions as to be a heavy load for a man, and within a few
years comparatively, was propofed as the prize to be won in a race of
old women. In other cafes, it was carefully preferved, and fet up in
fome confpicuous place in the farm-houfe."J
Martin mentions a fingular Harveft fuperftition : fpeaking of the
Orkneys, he fays, " There is one day in Harveft on which the vulgar
abftain from work, becaufe of an ancient and foolifh tradition, that if
they do their work the ridges will bleed." Brand alfo mentions this
in his "Defcription of the Orkney Iflands," 1701.
There was alfo a Churn Supper, or more properly a Kern Supper,
(fo they pronounce it vulgarly in Northumberland,) and a fhouting
the Church, or Kern. This, Aram informs us, was different from
that of the Mell Supper : the former being always provided when all
was fhorn, the latter after all was got in. I fliould have thought that
moft certainly Kern Supper was no more than Corn Supper, had not
Aram afferted that it was called the Churn Supper, becaufe, from im
memorial times, it was cuftomary to produce in a Churn a great
quantity of cream, and to circulate it in cups to each of the ruftic
company, to be eaten with bread.*
In the "Statiftical Account of Scotland," « we read: " The in-
' Vol. xix. p. 348. Par. of Bandothy, co. Perth.
[2 Nares ("Gloflary," ed. 1859, "v- Mell-Supper) fupports Jamiefon ("Etym.
Dift. of the Sc. Lang." 1;. Mell) here.] / rr j ^3
' " Defer, of the Weftern Iflands of Scotland," p. 368.
* This Cuftom, in Aram's time, furvived about Whitby and Scarborough in the
Eaftern parts of Yorkftiire, and round about Gifljurne, &c. in the Weft. In other
places cream has been commuted for ale, and the tankard politely preferred to the
churn. ' Vol. xii. p. 303, Parifli of Moufwald, co. Dumfries.
Harveji Home. in
habitants can now laugh at the fuperftition and credulity of their
Anceftors, who, it is faid, could fwallow down the abfurd nonfenfe of
'a Boon of Shearers,' /. e. Reapers, being turned into large grey
ftones, on account of their kemping, i. e. ftriving Thefe ftones
about twenty years ago, after being blafted with gunpowder, were
ufed in building the farm-houfes then eredling near the fpot, which
had formerly been part of a common."
Armftrongi fays, "Their Harvefts are generally gathered by the
middle of June: and, as the corn ripens, a number of boys and giris
ftation themfelves at the edges of the fields, and on the tops of the
fence-walls, to fright away the fmall birds with their fliouts and cries.
This puts one in mind of Virgil's precept in the firft book of his
Georgicks, ' Et fonitu terrebis aves'
and was a cuftom, I doubt not, among the Roman farmers, from
whom the ancient Minorquins learned it. They alfo ufe, for the
fame purpofe, a fplit Reed ; which makes a horrid rattling, as they
fhake it with their hands."
We learn from Bridges," that : " Within the Liberty of Wark-
worth is Afhe Meadow, divided amongft the neighbouring parifhes
and famed for the following cuftoms obferved in the mowing of it.
The meadow is divided into fifteen portions, anfwering to fifteen lots
which are pieces of wood cut off from an arrow, and marked accord
ing to the landmarks in the field. To each lot are allowed eight
mowers, amounting to one hundred and twenty in the whole. On the
Saturday fevennight after Midfummer Day, thefe portions are laid out
by fix perfons, of whom two are chofen from Warkworth, two from
Overthorp, one from Grimfbury, and one from Nethercote. Thefe
are called Field-men, and have an entertainment provided for them
upon the day of laying out the Meadow, at the appointment of the
Lord of the Manor. As foon as the Meadow is meafured, the man
who provides the feaft, attended by the Hay-ward of Warkworth,
brings into the field three gallons of ale. After this the Meadow is
run, as they term it, or trod, to diftinguifh the lots ; and, when this
is over, the Hay-ward brings into the field a rump of beef, fix penny
loaves, and three gallons of ale, and is allowed a certain portion of
Hay in return, though not of equal value with his provifion. This
Hay-ward, and the Mafter of the feaft, have the name of Crocus-men.
In running the field each man hath a boy allowed to affift him. On
Monday morning lots are drawn, confifting fome of eight fwaths and
others of four. Of thefe the firft and laft carry the garlands. The
two firft lots are of four fwaths, and whilft thefe are mowing the
mowers go double ; and, as foon as thefe are finifhed, the following
orders are read aloud : ' Oyez, Oyez, Oyez, I charge you, under
God, and in his Majefty's name, that you keep the King's peace in
the Lord of the Manor's behalf, according to the Orders and Cuftoms
' '' Hift. of Minorca," 177. ^ " Northamptonftiire," vol. i. p. 219.
20 Harveji Home.
of this Meadow. No man or men fliall go before the two Garlands^
if you do, you fliall pay your P-ny, oj de h-r your fq^the^ ^^
demand, and this fo often as you ^^11 tranigreis. i |
fliall mow above eight fwaths over their lots, before ^ey layjow"
their fcythes and go to breakfaft. No man <?•¦ men, fliall mow any
farther than Monks-holm-Brook, but leave their fc/tbes there and go
to dinner ; according to the cuftom and manner f ^'^/X-f'^an^r's
fave the King!' The dinner, provided by the Lord of the Manor s
tenant, confifls of three cheefecakes, three cakes, and a new-milk-
cheefe The cakes and cheefecakes are of the fize of a winnowing-
fieve ;' and the perfon who brings them is to have three gallons of ale.
The Mafter of the feaft is paid in hay, and is farther allowed to turn
all his cows into the meadow on Saturday morning till eleven o clock;
that by this means giving the more milk the cakes may be made the
bigger. Other like cuftoms are obferved in the mowing of other
meadows in this parifli." , , n/r
To the feftivities of the fame kind muft be referred the Meadow
Verse. In Herrick's " Hefperides,"i we have :
" The meddo^v Verfe, or Ani-verfary, to Mijiris Bridget Loivman.
" Come with the Spring-time forth, fair Maid, and be
This year again the medoivs Deity.
Yet ere ye enter, give us leave to fet
Upon your head this flowry Coronet ;
To make this neat diftinftion from the reft.
You are the Prime, and Princefle of the Feaft :
To which, with filver feet lead you the way.
While fweet-breath Nimphs attend on you this day.
This is your houre ; and beft you may command,
Since you are Lady of this Fairie land.
Full mirth wait on you, and fuch mirth as fliall
Cherrifti the cheek, but make none blufti at all.
The parting Verfe, the feafl there ended.
Loth to depart, but yet at laft, each one
Back muft now go to's habitation :
Not knowing thus much, when we once do fever,.
Whether or no, that we fhall meet here ever."
" If fates do give
Me longer date, and more frefh fprings to live.
Oft as your field fhall her old age renew,
Herrick fhall make the meddoiu-'verfe for you."
To the feftivities of Harveft Home muft be referred the following
popular cuftom among the hop-pickers in Kent, defcribed by Smart,''
and of which he gives an engraved reprefentation in the title-page to
his " Poems." He is defcribing their competitions :
" Who firft may fill
The bellying bin, and cleaneft cull the hops.
Nor ought retards, unlefs invited out
By Sol's declining, and the evening's calm,
' 1648, p. 161. ^ " Hop-Garden," lib. a, 1. 177, (" Poems," 1752).
Harveji Home. 2 1
Leander leads Lsetitia to the feene
Of ftiade and fragrance— Then th'exulting band
Of picker.s, male and female, feize the Fair
Reluftant, and with boifterous force and brute.
By cries unmov'd, they bury her in the bin.
Nor does the youth efcape— him too they feize,
And hi fuch pofture place as beft may ferve
To hide his charmer's blufhes. Then with ftiouts
They rend the echoing air, and from them both
(So cuftom has ordain'd) a Largefs claim."
[The two principal reapers are known in the eaftern counties as
/. ^7"-^ ^"""^ ^"'^ ^"'^y- The former, fays Forby, ufed to be
addreffed as « My Lord." He direcls the operations of his com
panions. There is no other dignity attached to the rank, unlefs it be
the hrft and fecond place refpeftively at the Harveft Home,
The country people in Warwickfliire ufe a fport at their Harveft
Home, where one fits as a judge to try mifdemeanors committed in
Harveft, and the punifliment of the men is, to be laid on a bench and
flapped on the breech with a pair of boots. This they call givins them
the Boots.1 1 b b
Mifs Baker, in her " Northamptonflire Gloffary," 1854, defcribes
this harveft ufage of Boot'ing, where any of the men has mifcondufted
himfeif m the field. The culprit is brought up for trial at the Harveft-
Home feaft, and adjudged to be booted. The booting is alfo defcribed
by Clare the poet in his " Village Minftrel." A long form being
placed in the kitchen, the good workers place themfelves along it in
a row, with their hands laid on each other's backs, fo as to make a
fort of bridge, over which the hog (fo the delinquent is called, and
there may be more than one) has to pafs, running the gauntlet of a
boot legging, with which a fellow baftes him luftily as he fcrambles
over. In Northamptonftiire, according to the teftimony of Mifs Baker,
there is after the harveft what is termed a Largefs, a phrafe in general
ufe, but in a different and lefs fpecial fenfe. It is in fad nothing more
than a voluntary contribution made by the inhabitants of a village
towards the Harveft-fupper, which was ufually held in a barn, and
kept up tolerably late with finging, drinking, and other jollity.
Forby 2 has an account of a Suffolk cuftom, unnoticed by Brand :
" A cuftom exifts amongft harveft-men in Suffolk, which is called
Ten-pounding. In moft reaps there is a fet of rules agreed upon
amongft the reapers before Harveft, by which they are to be governed
during its continuance. The objedl of thefe rules is ufually to prevent
or punifh lofs of time by lazinefs, drunkennefs, &c. ; and to correct
fwearing, lying, or quarrelling amongft themfelves ; or any other kind
of mifbehaviour which might flacken the. exertions, or break the
harmony of the reap. One of the modes of punifhment directed by
thefe rules, is called Ten-pounding, and it is executed in the following
' Steevens' "Shakefpeare," ed. 1793, vol. iii. p. 171.
[' "Vocabulary of Eaft Anglia," 1830, art. Ten-Pqunding.;[
22 The Feaji of Sheep-Shearing.
manner: Upon a breach of any of the rules a ^rt °f drum-head
court-martial is held upon the delinquent ; and if he is found gu Ity
he is inftantly feized, and thrown down flat on his back, home ot tne
party keep his head down, and confine his arms ; whiltt others turn
up his. legs in the air, fo as to exhibit his pofteriors. The perfon who
is to inflia the punifliment then takes a flioe, and with the heel of it
(ftudded as it ufually is with hob-nails) gives him the prefcribed
number of blows upon his breech, according to the fentence. The
reft of the party fit by, with their hats off, to fee that the executioner
does his duty ; and if he fails in this, he undergoes the fame punifli
ment. It fometimes happens, that, from the prevailing ufe of high-
lows, a fhoe is not to be found amongft the company. In this cafe,
the hardeft and heavieft hand of the reap is feleded for the inflrument
of corre£l:ion, and, when it is laid on with hearty good will, it is not
inferior to the flioe. The origin of the term Ten-pounding is not
known ; but it has nothing to do with the number of blows in-
fliaed."]
Cl)e ifeaft of t)l)eep'^^l)eann0»
AUBANUS' tells us, that the paftoral life was anciently ac
counted an honourable one, particulariy among the Jews and
the Romans. Mention occurs in the Old Teftament of the feftive
entertainments of the former on this occafion, particularly in the
fecond Book of Samuel, where Abfalom the King's fon was mafter of
the feaft. Varro may be confulted for the manner of celebrating
this feaft among the latter. In England, particularly in the Southern
parts, for thefe feftivities are not fo common in the North, on the day
they begin to fhear their fheep, they provide a plentiful dinner for the
fhearers and their friends who vifit them on the occafion : a table,
alfo, if the weather permit, is fpread in the open village for the young
people and children. The wafhing and fhearing of fheep is attended
with great mirth and feftivity. Indeed, the value of the covering of
this very ufeful animal muft always have made the fhearing time, in
all paftoral countries, a kind of Harveft-home.
In Tuffer's " Huft)andry," 1580, under "The Ploughman's Feaft
Days," are the following lines :
" Sheep Shearing.
" Wife, make us a dinner, fpare flefh neither corne,
Make wafers and Cakes,'' for our Sheepe muft be fhorne,
' "Antiq. Conviv." p. 62.
^ By the following paflage in Feme's " Glory of Generofitie," p. 71, it fhould
feem that cheefe cakes compofed a principal dainty at the Feaft of Sheep-ftiearing.
Saturday Afternoon. 23
At Sheepe ftiearing, neighbours none other things crave.
But good cheere and welcome like neighbours to have."
There is a beautiful defcription of this feftivity in Dyer's " Fleece,"
at the end of the firft book, and in Thomfon's " Seafons" (Summer).
In Braithwaite's " Lancafliire Lovers," 1640, Camillus the Clown,
courting Doriclea, tells her : " We will have a lufile Cheese-Cake
at our Sheepe Wafh.'^
The expenfe attending thefe feftivities appears to have afforded
matter of complaint. Thus in " Queftions of profitable and pleafant
Concernings, &c. 1594 :" " If it be a Sheep Shearing Feaft, Mafter
Baily can entertaine you with his Bill of Reckonings to his Maifter of
three Sheapherds Wages, fpent on frefh Cates, befides Spices and
Saffron Pottage:'^
In Ireland, " On the firft Sunday in Harveft, viz. in Auguft, they
will be fure to drive their Cattle into fome Pool or River and therein
fwim them : this they obferve as inviolable as if it were a point of
religion, for they think no beaft will live the whole year thro' unlefs
they be thus drenched. I deny not but that fwimming of cattle,
and chiefly in this feafon of the year, is healthful unto them, as the
poet hath obferved :
' Balantemque gregem fluvio merfare falubri.' — ViRG.
In th' healthful flood to plunge the bleating flock.
but precifely to do this on the firft Sunday in Harveft, I look on as not
only fuperftitions but profane."^
^atutDap :^fternoon«
pTT appears by a Council of William, King of Scotland, a.d. 1203,
LJ[_ that it was then determined that Saturday, after the twelfth hour,
fliould be kept holy.*
King Edgar, a.d. 958, made an Ecclefiaftical law that the Sabbath
or Sunday fliould be obferved on Saturday at noon, till the light fliould
appear on Monday morning.*]
Hence, without doubt, was derived the prefent (or more properly
fpeaking, the late) cuftom of fpending a part of Saturday afternoon,
without fervile labour.
" Well vor your paines (if you come to our Sheep Shering Veaft) bum vaith
yous tafte of our Cheese Cake." This is put into the mouth of Columell the
Ploughman. ' Quoted in Steevens's "Shakefpeare," 1793, vol. vii. p. 193.
" Piers' "Defc. of Weft Meath," 1682, in Vallancey, vol. i. p. 121.
[^ Boet. lib. xiii. "De Scot, ex Hofpinian," p. 176.]
[* "Dies Sabbathi ab ipfadiei Saturni horapoltmeridiana tertia, ufque in lunaris
diei diluculum feftus agitator," &c.— Selden, AnaUa. Angl. lib. ii, cap. 6.]
24 Saturday Afternoon.
The religious obfervation of the Saturday afternoon is now entirely
at an end. It were happy if the conclufion of that of Sunday too did
not feem to be approaching.
In 1332, at a Provincial Council, held by Archbifliop Mepham, at
Mayfield, after complaint made, that inftead of fafting upon the vigils,
they ran out to all the exceffes of riot, &c. it was appointed, among
many other things relative to holy-days, that, "The folemnity for
Sunday fhould begin upon Saturday in the evening and not before, to
prevent the mifconftruaion of keeping a Judaical Sabbath."'
[Mr. Johnfon upon this law fays, the Noontide " fignifies three
in the afternoon, according to our prefent account: and this prac
tice, I conceive, continued down to the Reformation. In King
Withfred's time, the Lord's Day did not begin till funfet on the
Saturday. Three in the afternoon was hora nana in the Latin ac
count, and therefore called noon : how it came afterwards to fignifie
mid-day, I can but guefs. The monks by their rules could not eat
their dinner till they had faid their Noon-fong, which was a fervice
regularly to be faid at three o'clock : but they probably anticipated
their devotions and their dinner, by faying their Noon Song imme
diately after their Mid-day Song, and prefently falling on. I wifh they
had never been guilty of a worfe fraud than this. But it may fairly
be fuppofed, that when Mid-day became the time of dining and faying
Noon Song, it was for this reafon called Noon by the Monks, who
were the mafters of the language during the dark ages. In the
* Shepherd's Almanack' JVoon, is mid-day; High Noon, three." ^
The Hallowyng of Saturday afternoon is thus accounted for in
"Dives and Pauper," 1493: "The thridde Precepte, xiv. chap,
Dives. How longe owyth the haliday to be kept and halowyd ?
Pauper. From even to even. Natheleffe fumme begynne fonner to
halow after that the feeft is, and after ufe of the cuntre. But that
men ufe in Saturdaies and vigilies to ryng holy at midday compellith nat
men anon to halowe, but warnythe them of the haliday folowynge,
that they fliulde thynke thereon and fpede theym, and fo difpofe hem
and their occupacions that they might halowe in due tyme."
The following curious extraa is from a MS. volume of Homilies,
in the Epifcopal Library at Durham : " It is writen in the liffe of
Seynt ***** that he was bifi on Efter Eve before None that he made
one to fhave him or the funne went doune. And the fiend afpied
that, and gadirid up his heeris ; and whan this holi man fawe it, he
conjured him and badde him tell him whi he did fo. Thane faid he,
bycaufe y" dideft no reverence to the Sundaie, and therfore this hens
wolle I kepe unto y" day of Dome in reproffe of the. Thane he left
of all his fliavyng and toke the heris of the fiend, and made to brene
hem in his owne hand for penaunce, whiche him thought he was
worthe to fuffre : and bode unfhaven unto Monday. This is faide in
reproffe of hem that worchen at afternone on Saturdayes."
[' See Collier's "Eccl. Hiftory," vol. i. p. 531.]
[^ Johnfon, " Conft." Part i, Ann. 958, 5.]
Saturday Afternoon. 25
There is an order from the Bifhop of Worcefter, given in April,
1450, to the Almoner of Worcefter Cathedral and others, that all per
fons within the jurifdiaion of the diocefe fhould ceafe woodcutting
and difhoneft fports on the days vulgarly called holy-days, under pain of
excommunication.^ In "Articles for the Sexton of Faverfliam," 22 Hen. VIII.2 I find :
" Item, the faid fexton, or his deputy, every Saturday, Saint's even,
and principal fea{is,Jha II ring noon with as many bells as fhall be con
venient to the Saturday, faint's even, and principal feafts," &c.
In " Barten Holiday to the Puritan on his Technogamia," in
" Witts Recreations," 1640, the writer fays :
" 'Tis not my perfon, nor my play,
But my firname. Holiday,
That does off'end thee, thy complaints
Are not againft me, but the Saints."]
Bourne obferves,^ that in his time it was ufual in country villages,
where the politenefs of the age had made no great conqueft, to pay a
greater deference to Saturday afternoon than to any other of the work
ing days of the week.
The firft idea of this ceffation from labour at that time was, that
every one might attend evening prayers as a kind of preparation for
the enfuing Sabbath. The eve of the Jewifh Sabbath is called the
Preparation, Mofes having taught that people to remember the Sab
bath over night.
In a Sermon,* by Henry Mafon, parfon of St. Andrew Underfliaft,
is the following, which fhould feem to prove that at that time Satur
day afternoon was kept holy by fome even in the metropolis.
" For better keeping of which [the Seventh] Day, Mofes com
manded the Jews (Exod. xvi. 23) that the Day before -the Sabbath they
fhould bake what they had to bake ; and feeth what they had to feeth ;
that fo they might have no bufineffe of their own to do, when they
were to keepe God's holy day. And from hence it was that the Jews
called the Sixth Day of the week, the preparation of the Sabbath.
(Matt, xxvii. 62, and Luke xxiii. 54.)
" anfwerably whereunto, and (as I take it) in imitation thereof,
the Chriftian Church hath beene accuftomed to keepe Saterday half
holy-day, that in the afternoon they might ridd by-bufineffes out of the
way, and by the evening fervice might prepare their mindes for the
Lord's Day then enfuing. Which cuftome and ufage of God's
people, as I will not preffe it upon any man's confcience as a necef-
farie dutie ; fo every man will grant mee, that God's people, as well
Chriftian as Jewifh, have thought a time of preparation moft fit for
the well obferving of God's holy day."
[Robert of Brunne (a.d. 1303), treating of the Saturday half holy-
MS. Bodl. 692, fol. 163.]
' Jacob's "Hift. of Faverfliam," p. 172.]
Chap. xii.
"Hearing and Doing the ready Way to BleffednelTe," 1635, p. 537.
26 Saturday Afternoon.
day, and how it was once fpecially kept holy in England in honour of
the Virgin, tells his hearer :
" jif t>ou make karol or play,
[jou halewyft nat (jyn halyday . . ."
Alfo, if he gave a prize for a wreftling-match :
" ?yf 1'°^ ^^^"^ fettyft fwerde eyfier ryng
For to gadyr a wraftlyng,
(le halyday [jOU holdeft noghte
When fwyche bobaunce for {le ys wroghte."
Further, to give a prize to get all the girls together, and fee which
is the prettieft, is extremely wrong:
" jyf |jou ever yn felde, eyfier in toune,
Dedyft flowre gerlande or coroune
To make wommen to gadyr (jere.
To fe whyche Jjat feyrer were ; —
Jjys ys ajens )je coramandement.
And )3e halyday for \t ys flient :
Hyt ys a gaderyng for lecherye.
And ful grete pryde, and herte hye."] '
In Bale's " Yet a Courfe at the Romyfhe Foxe," is the following
'¦'¦Proceffyon upon Saturdayes at Even-fonge." — "Your holye Father
Agapitus, popett of Rome, fyrft dreamed it out and enafted it for a
lawdable ceremonye of your whoryfhe Churche. But I marvele fore
that ye obferve yt upon Saturdayes at nyght at Even-fonge he com-
maundynge yt to bee obferved upon the Sondayes, in the mornynge betwixt
holie water makynge and high maffe." — " Moch is Saturnus beholden
unto yow (whych is one of the olde Goddes) to garnyfhe the goyng out
of hys daye with fo holye an obfervacyon. Joye yt ys of your lyfe as
to remember your olde fryndes. Doubtleffe yt ys a fyne myrye pageant,
and yow worthye to be called a Saturnyane for it.""
With regard to Saturday afternoons, perhaps men who live by
manual labour, and have families to fupport by it, cannot fpend them
better than in following the feveral callings in which they have em
ployed themfelves on the preceding days of the week. For induftry
will be no bad preparation for the Sabbath. Confidered in a political
view, much harm has been done by that prodigal wafte of days, very
falfely called Holy Days in the Church of Rome. They have, how
ever well intended, greatly favoured the caufe of vice and diflipation,
without doing any effential fervice to that of rational religion. Com
plaints appear to have been made in almoft every fynod and council
[' " Handlyng Synne," ed. Furnivall, p. 33, 1. 983 — 1003.]
"' Wheatley tells us, that In the Eaft, the Church thought fit to indulge the
humour of the Judaizing Chriftians fo far, as to obferve the Saturday as a Feftival
Day of Devotion and thereon to meet for the exercife of religious duties, as is
plain from feveral pafiages of the ancients. " Illuftr. of the Common Prayer,"
'7+1, p..i9'-
The Borrowed 'Days. 27
of the licentioufnefs introduced by the keeping of vigils.^ Nor will
the philofopher wonder at this, for it has its foundation in the nature
of things.
Hooker fays : " Holydays were fet apart to be the landmarks to
diftinguifh times."
I find the following homely rhymes upon the feveral days of the
week in " Divers Crab-tree Leaures," 1639, p. 126 :
" You know that Munday is Sundayes brother ;
Tuefday is fuch another ;
Wednefday you muft go to church and pray ;
Thurfday is half-holiday;
On Friday it Is too late to begin to fpin ;
The Saturday is half-holiday agen."
[It is curious enough that we are returning to an obfervance of
Saturday afternoon (1869), not as a religious faft or vigil, but as a
period of relaxation and amufement for our workers.]^
" March faid to Aperill,
I fee three hogs upon a hill j
But lend your three firft days to me.
And I'll be bound to gar them die.
The firft, it fall be wind and weet ;
The next, it fall be fnaw and fleet j
The third. It fall be fie a freeze
Sail gar the birds flick to the trees.
But when the Borrowed Days were gane
The three filly hogs came hiiplln hame."
The Complaynt of Scotland, 1549.
'^r^HERE is a proverb : "April borrows three days of March, and
J_ they are ill. " April is pronounced with an emphafis on the laft
fyllable, fo as to make a kind of jingling rhyme with "ill," the laft
word in the line, I have taken notice of this, becaufe I find in the
' A ftriking inftance of this is recorded by Morefin ; " Et videre contigit Anno
1582, Lugduni in viglllls natalium Domini, depraehenfos in ftupro duos poft mif-
fanti faltare hora inter duodecimam et primam noftis, cum praeter unum aut aliud
altaris lumen, nullum effet in Templo rellquum, &c." — Papatus, p. 177.
[' Philip deThaun, In his " Livre des Creatures," c'lrca a.d. 1121, fays, refpeft-
ing the Latin term Eeriee :
" Mais 90 truoum llfant en eel compoft Gerlant,
Que II hers Sainz Sllveftre, qui de Rume fud meftre,
Feries les apelat, e lur nuns trefturnat.
Pur 50 que criftiens ne crefifant paiens
De fole entenclon ne de male raifun."
Wright's Popular Treatifes on Science, 1841, p. 28.]
28 The Borrowed Days.
Roman Calendar the following obfervations on the 31ft ^ J^^'''j|! '
" The ruftic fable concerning the nature of the month. The ruftic
names of fix days which fliall follow in April, or may be the laft in
March." There is no doubt but that thefe obfervations in the Calendar, and our
proverb, are derived from one common origin ; but for want of more
lights I am unable at prefent to trace them any farther. [The Bor
rowed Days are common to many European countries, and M. Michel
notices in his work on the Bafques, that the idea prevails among that
fingular people.]
The Borrowing Days, as they are called, occur in " The Com
playnt of Scotland." " There eftir i entrit in ane grene foreft, to con-
tempil the tendir 3ong frutes of grene treis, becaufe the borial blaftis
of the thre borouing dais of March e hed chaifKt the fragrant flureife of
evyrie frut-tree far athourt the feildis."^
Thefe days had not efcaped the obfervation of [Sir T. Browne, who,
however, gives no explanation].
In the "Country Almanack" for 1676, among the " remarques
upon April," are the following :
" No bluft'ring blafts from March needs April borrow :
His own oft proves enow to breed us forrow.
Yet If he weep (with us to fympathlfe),
His trickling tears will make us wipe our eyes."
A clergyman in Devonfhire informed [Mr. Brand, about 1795] that
the old farmers in his parifh call[ed] the three firfl days of March
" Blind Days," which were anciently confidered as unlucky ones, and
upon which no farmer would fow any feed. This fuperftition, how
ever, [was even then] wearing out apace. [" The fuperftitious,"
remarks Brockett, in his "North-Country Gloffary," 1846, "will
neither borrow nor lend on any of thefe days, left the article fhould be
employed for evil purpofes."
In the " Stariftical Account of Scotland,"" the minifter of Kirk-
michael, mentioning [in 1791] an old man of the age of 103 years,
fays : " His account of himfeif is, that he was born in the Borrowing
Days of the year that King William came in." A note adds, " that
is on one of the three laft days of March 1688."]
' The " Gloffary" {in verbo) explains "Borrouing days, the three laft days of
March :" and adds, " concerning the origin of the term, the following popular
rhyme is often repeated : ' March borrowit fra Averill
Three days, and they were ill.' "
= Vol. I. p. 57-
29
3Lucfep or ^Inlucftp 2Daj>0,
BOURNE^ obferves, "that among thefe [the Heathens] were
lucky and unlucky Days : fome were Dies atri, and fome Dies
albi. The Jtri were pointed out in their Calendar with a black cha-
raaer, the Jlbi with a white. The former, to denote it a Day of bad
fuccefs, the latter a Day of good. Thus have the Monks, in the dark
unlearned ages of Popery, copy'd after the Heathens, and dream'd
themfelves into the like Superftitions, efteeming one Day more fuc-
cefsful than another." He tells us, alfo, that St. Auftin, upon the
paffage of St. Paul to the Galatians againft obferving Days, and months,
and times, and years, explains it to have this meaning : " The perfons
the Apoftle blames, are thofe who fay, I will not fet forward on my
journey becaufe it is the next day after fuch a time, or becaufe the
moon is fo ; or I'll fet forward, that I may have luck, becaufe fuch is
juft now the pofition of the ftars. I will not traffick this month, be
caufe fuch a ftar prefides, or I will becaufe it does. I fliall plant no
vines this year, becaufe it is Leap Year," &c.
[I find an obfervation on the 13th of December in the " Romifh
Calendar," that on this day prognoftications of the months were drawn
for the whole year. As alfo, that on the day of St. Barnabas, and on
that of St. Simon and St. Jude, a tempeft often arifes. In the
" Schola Curiofitatis,"^ we read: " Multi nolunt opus inchoare die
Martis tanquam infaufto die,"
In the Calendar prefixed to Grafton's " Abridgment," 1565, the
unlucky days, according to the opinion of the aftronomers, are noted,
which I have extraaed as follows : "January i, 2, 4, 5, 10, 15, 17,
29, very unlucky. February 26, 27, 28, unlucky; 8, 10, 17, very
unlucky. March 16, 17, 20, very unlucky. April 7, 8, 10, 20, un
lucky; 16, 21, very unlucky. May 3, 6, unlucky ; 7, 15, 20, very
unlucky. June 10, 22, unlucky; 4, 8, very unlucky. July 15, 21,
very unlucky. Auguft i, 29, 30, unlucky ; 19, 20, very unlucky.
September 2, 4, 21, 23, unlucky ; 6, 7, very unlucky. Oaober 4,
16, 24, unlucky ; 6, very unlucky. November 5, 6, 29, 30, unlucky ;
15, 20, very unlucky. December 15, 22, unlucky ; 6, 7, 9, very un
lucky." In "Erra Pater," 1565, the unlucky days vary from thefe
of Grafton.^
' "Antiq. Vulgar." ch. 18. ' Vol. ii. p. 236.
[' Attheend of an old MS. mentioned in the "Duke de la Valllere's Catalogue,"
i. 44 (Add.), there is a part of a Calendar In which the following unlucky days
are noticed : "Januar. illl. Non. [loth] Dies ater et nefaftus. viii. Id. [25th] Dies
ater et nefaftus. Mar. vi. Non. [loth] non eft bonum nugere [q. nubere .'] Jan.
iiii. Kal. r2nd] Dies ater."
" Sed et circa dies injefta eft animis religlo. Inde dies nefafti, qui AwS^paSfe
Grxcis, quibus Iter, aut aliquid allcujus momenti indipICci, perlculofum exifilma-
tur." — " De quibus diebus fauftis aut infauftis, multa, Hefiodus ii/iipaig, et VIr-
30 Lucky or Unlucky Days.
Thurfday was noted as a fatal day to King Henry VIII. and his
pofterity.^ In " Preceptes," &c., left by Lord Burghley to his Sonne, 1636, p.
36, we read : " Though I think no day amiffe to undertake any good
enterprize or bufineffe in hande, yet have I obferved fome, and no
meane clerks, very cautionarie to forbeare thefe three Mundayes in
the yeare, which I leave to thine owne confideration, either to ufe or
refufe, viz. i. The firft Munday in April, which day Caine was born,
and his brother Abel flaine. 2. The fecond Munday in Auguft, which
day Sodome and Gomorrah were defiroyed. 3. The laft Munday in
December, which day Judas was born, that betrayed our Saviour
Chrift."] The following paffage on this fubjea [which has been already more
than once incidentally introduced,] is taken from Melton's "Aftrolo-
gafter," 1620 ; " Thofe obfervers of time are to be laught at that will
not goe out of their houfe before they have had counfell of their
Almanacke, and will rather have the houfe fall on their heads than
ftirre if they note fome natural effea about the motion of the aire,
which they fuppofe will varie the lucky blafts of the Starres, that will
not marry, nor trafEque, or doe the like, but under forne conftellation.
Thefe, fure, are no Chriftians : becaufe faithfull men ought not to
doubt that the Divine Providence from any part of the world, or from
any time whatfoever, is abfent. Therefore we fhould not impute any
fecular bufineffe to the power of the Starres, but to know that all things
are difpofed by the arbitrement of the King of Kings. The Chriftian
faith is violated when, fo like a pagan and apoftate, any man doth ob
ferve thofe days which are called .^gyptiaci, or the calends of Januarie,
or any moneth, or day, or time, or yeere, eyther to travell, marry, or
to doe any thing in."
Mafon^ enumerates among the fuperftitious of his age " Regarders
of times, as they are which will have one time more lucky then an
other : to be borne at one bower more unfortunate then at another :
to take a journey or any other enterprize in hand, to be more dan
gerous or profperous at one time then at another : as likewife if fuch a
feftival day fall upon fuch a day of the weeke, or fuch like, we fhall have
fuch a yeare following : and many other fuch like vaine fpeculations,
fet downe by our Aftrologians, having neither footing in God's Word,
nor yet natural reafon to fupport them ; but being grounded onely upon
the fuperftitious imagination of man's braine."
Newton ' enquires under " finnes externall and outward " againft
the firft commandment, " whether, for the procuring of any thing
either good or bad, thou haft ufed any unlawfull .meanes, or fuper-
gilius primo Georgicon. Quam fcrupulofam fuperftitionem, fefe illigantera delira
formidine, damnat Apoftolus ad Galatas, 4. Obfervatis dies, et menfes, et tem-
pora, et annos : metuo ne incaffum circa iios me fat'iganjer'im."^ — Pet. Molinsi
Vates, p. I 55.]
[' Stowe's "Annales," ed. 1631, p. 812.]
'^ "Anatomic of Sorcerie," 1612, p. 25.
3 " Tryall of a mans owne felfe," 1602, p. 44.
Lucky or Unlucky Days. 31
ftitious and damnable helps. Of which fort bee the obfervation and
choife of Dayes, of planetarie houres, of motions and courfes of
ftarres, mumbling of prophane praiers, confifting of words both ftrange
and fenfeleffe, adjurations, facrifices, confecrations, and hallowings of
divers thinges, rytes and ceremonies unknowne to the Church of God,
toyifh charaaers and figures, demanding of queftions and aunfweares
of the dead, dealing with damned fpirits, or with any inftruments of
phanaticall divination, as bafons, rings, criftalls, glaffes, roddes, prickes,
numbers, dreames, lots, fortune-tellings, oracles, foothfayings, horo-
fcoping, or marking the houres of nativities, witchcraftes, enchaunt-
ments, and all fuch fuperftitious trumperie :¦ — the enclofing or binding
of fpirits to certaine inftruments, and fuch like devifes of Sathan the
DeviU." Under the fame head he afks, " Whether the apothecarie have
fuperflitioufy obferved or fondly flayed for choise Dayes or houres, or
any other ceremonious rites in gathering his herbs and other fimples for the
making of drougs and receipts."
[Barnabe Googe^ thus tranflates the remarks of Naogeorgus on this
fubjea : — " And firft, betwixt the dayes they make no little difference.
For all be not of vertue like, nor like prehemlnence.
But fome of them Egyptian are, and full of jeopardee.
And fome agalne, befide the reft, both good and luckle bee.
Like difFrence of the nights they make, as if the Almightle King,
That made them all, not gracious were to them In every thing."
Lodge, in his " Wits Miferie," 1596, p. 12, glances as follows at the
fuperftitious obferver of lucky and unlucky times : " He will not eat
his dinner before he hath lookt in his almanacke."
Hall, in his " Charaaers," 1608, fpeaking of the fuperftitious man,
obferves : " If his journey began unawares on the difmal day, he
feares a mifchiefe."]
In the " Book of Knowledge," [which forms, in faa, part of the
"Praaica,"] I find the following" Account of the perillous Dayes of
every Month.""
" In the change of every moon be two Dayes, in the which what
thing foever is begun, late or never, it fhall come to no good end, and
the dayes be full perillous for many things. In January, when the
moon is three or four dayes old. In February, 5 or 7. In March, 6 or
7. In April, 5 or 8. May, 8 or 9. June 5 or 15. July, 3 or 13.
Auguft, 8 or 13. September, 8 or 13. Oaober, 5 or 12. Novem
ber, 5 or 9. In December, 3 or 13.^
"Aftronomers fay, that fix Dayes in the year are perillous of death :
and therefore they forbid men to let blood on them, or take any
drink : that is to fay, January the 3d, July the ift, Oaober the 2d,
the laft of April, Auguft the firft, the laft day going out of December.
' "Popifh KIngdorae," p. 44.
[' Many fuperftitious obfervations on days maybe found in "Praftica Rufti-
corum," 1658.]
32 Lucky or Unlucky Days.
Thefe fix Dayes with great diligence ought to be kept, but namely the
latter three, for all the veins are then full. For then, whether man or
beaft be knit in them within feven dayes, or certainly within fourteen
dayes, he fliall die. And if they take any drinks within fifteene dayes,
they fhall die ; and, if they eat any goofe in thefe three Dayes, within
forty dayes they fhall die ; and, if any child be born in thefe three
latter Dayes, they fhall die a wicked death.
" Aftronomers and Aftrologers fay, that in the beginning of March,
the feventh Night, or the fourteenth Day, let thee bloud of the right
arm ; and in the beginning of April, the eleventh Day, of the left
arm ; and in the end of May, third or fifth Day, on whether arm
thou wilt ; and thus, of all that year, thou fhalt orderly be kept from
the fever, the falling gout, the filler gout, and loffe of thy fight."
It was confidered improper to partake of goofe, to be let blood, or
to take any medicinal draught, on three particular Mondays in the
year, if the days in queftion fell on a Monday, viz., March 22, Auguft
20, and the laft Monday in December.^
The "Schola Salernitana" adds, that the firft of May, and the laft
of April and September were alfo confidered, (improperly), unfuitable
for phlebotomy, and for the ufe of goofe as a diet. The " Schola "
does not fupport the opinion.^
Grofe tells us that many perfons have certain days of the week and
month on which they are particularly fortunate, and others in which
they are as generally unlucky. Thefe days are different to different
perfons. Mr. Aubrey has given feveral inftances of both in divers
perfons. Some days, however, are commonly deemed unlucky :
among others, Friday labours under that opprobrium ; and it is pretty
generally held that no new work or enterprize fhould commence on
that day, Likewife, refpeaing the weather there is this proverb :
" Friday's moon.
Come when it will, it comes too foon."
The Minifter of Logierait,^ in Perthfhire, fays : " In this parifh,
and in the neighbourhood, a variety of fuperftitious praaices ftill
[1793] prevail among the vulgar, which may be in part the remains of
ancient idolatry, or of the corrupted Chriftianity of the Romifh
Church, and partly, perhaps, therefult of the natural hopes and fears
of the human mind in a ftate of fimplicity and ignorance. Lucky and
unlucky Days are by many anxioufly obferved. That Day of the week
upon which the 14th of May happens to fall, for inftance, is efteemed
unlucky through all the remainder of the year ; none marry or begin
any bufinefs upon it. None chufe to marry in January or May ; or
to have their banns proclaimed in the end of one quarter of the year,
and to marry in the beginning of the next. Some things are to be done
before the full moon ; others after. In fevers, the illnefs is expeaed
[' Harl. MS. 1772, fol. 115 'verfo, quoted by Brand elfewhere.]
j-2 it Regimen Sanitatis Salerni," tranfl. by Dr. P. Holland, 1649, Sign. A a 3.]
' " Stat. Ace. of Scotl." vol. v. p. 80.
Lucky or Unlucky Days. 3 ¦^
to be more fevere on Sunday than on the other days of the week ; if
eafier on Sunday, a relapfe is feared."
[The Minifter of Kirkwall and St. Ola, Orkney,* remarks :] " In
many days of the year they will neither go to fea in fearch of fifh, nor
perform any fort of work at home." [This is ftill a common fuper
ftition, and by no means limited to Scotland.]
Again,2 we are told : " There are few fuperftitious ufages among
them. No gentleman, however, of the name of Sinclair, either in
Caniflsay, or throughout Caithnefs, will put on green apparel, or think
of crofling the Ord upon a Monday. They were dreffed in green,
and they croffed the Ord upon a Monday, in their way to the Battle
of Flodden, where they fought and fell in the fervice of their Country,
almoft without leaving a reprefentative of their name behind them.
The Day and the Drefs are accordingly regarded as inaufpicious. If
the Ord muft be got beyond on Monday, the Journey is performed by
fea."^ A refpeaable merchant of the city of London informed [Mr. Brand
about 1790] that no perfon there will begin any bufinefs on a Friday.
Moryfon, in his " Itinerary," 1617, fpeaking of the King of Poland at
the port of Dantzic in 1593, fays : " The next day the king had a good
wind, but before this (as thofe of the Romifh religion are very fuper
ftitious), the king and the queen (being of the houfe of Auftria),
while fometimes they thought Monday, fometimes Friday, to be un
lucky days, had loft many fair winds."
The Spaniards hold Friday to be a very unlucky Day, and never un
dertake any thing of confequence upon it.* Among the Finns who
ever undertakes any bufinefs on a Monday or Friday muft expea very
little fuccefs.' And yet from the following extraa, it fhould feem to
appear that Friday is elfewhere confidered in a different light :
" On Friday the 28th of Zekand, his Majefty (Aurengzebe) per-
' " Stat. Ace. of Scot." vol. vii. p 560.
' Ibid. vol. viii. p. 156. Parifh of Cadifbay, Caithnefs. [Many of thefe be
liefs and fcruples are common to thefe kingdoms and the continent of Europe,
where they flourlfh with equal vigour.]
' Ibid. vol. xiv. p. 541. Parifh of Forglen, BanlFfhIre : " There are happy and
unhappy days for beginning any undertaking. Thus few would choofe to be
married here on Friday, though it is the ordinary day in other quarters of the
Church." Ibid. vol. xv. p. 258. Parifh of Monzle, Perth : "The inhabitants
are ftated to be not entirely free from fuperftition. Lucky and unlucky Days
are ftill attended to, efpecially about the end and beginning of the year. No perfon
will be proclaimed for marriage In the end of one year, or even quarter of the year,
and be married in the beginning of the next." Ibid. vol. xxi. p. 148. "Lucky and
unlucky Days, Dreams, and Omens, are ftill too much obfei-ved by the countiy
people : but in this refpeft the meaneft Chriftian far furpaffes. In ftrength of mind,
Gibbon's all-accomplifhed and philofophic Julian."
*" Voyage en Efpagne par le Marquis de Langle,'' tom. ii. p. 36. [Brockett,
in his " North- Country Gloffary," 1846, has noticed that Buchanan, in the 6th
volume of the " Afiatic Refeaiches," points out that the Burmefe hold this fuper
ftition refpefting the inaufpicious charafter of Friday as well as ourfelves.J
= Tooke's "Ruflia," vol. i. p. 47. See on this fubjeft, Selden " De Jure Nat.
Gen." lib. iii. cap. 17, et Alexand. ab Alexandro " Genial. Dier." lib. iv. t. 20.
II. D
34 Cock-crow.
formed his morning devotions in company with his attendants : after
which, as was frequently his cuftom, he exclaimed, O that my
death may happen on a Friday, for bleffed is he who dieth on that
day.'"'
(Time of the Morning so called.)
" The Cock crows and the mom grows on,
When 'tis decreed I muft be gone."
Hudibras, Canto i. p. iii.
"The Tale
Of horrid Apparition, tall and ghaftly,
That walks at dead of night or takes his ftand
O'er fome new-open'd Grave ; and ftrange to tell
Evanilhes at crowing of the Cock." Blair's Grave.
THE ancients, becaufe the cock gives notice of the approach and
break of day, have, with a propriety equal to any thing in their
mythology, dedicated this bird to Apollo. They have alfo made him
the emblem of watchfulnefs, from the circumftance of his fummoning
men to their bufinefs by his crowing, and have therefore dedicated
him alfo to Mercury. With the lark he may be poetically ftyled the
"Herald of the Morn."
[Allot, in " England's Parnaffus," 1600, printed the two following
lines from Drayton's " Endimion and Phoebe" (1593) :
" And now the Cocke, the mornings trumpeter.
Plaid hunts up for the day-ftarre to appeare :" — Y
The day, civil and political, has been divided into thirteen parts.
The after-midnight and the dead of the night are the moft folemn of
them all, and have, therefore it fhould feem, been appropriated by
ancient fuperftition to the walking of fpirits.
I, After midnight. 2, Cock-crow. 3. The fpace between the
firft cock-crow and break of day. 4. The dawn- of the morning.
5. Morning. 6. Noon. 7. Afternoon. 8. Sunfet. 9. Twilight.
10. Evening. 11. Candle-time. 12. Bed-time. 13. The dead of
the night. The Church of Rome made four noaurnal vigils : the
Eradut Khan's " Memoirs of the Mogul Empire," p. 10.
Gray has imitated our poet :
"The cock's fhrill clarion, or the echoing horn.
No more fhall roufe them from their lowly bed."
Cock-crow. 9 c
conticinium, gallicinium or cock-crow, intempeftum, and ante-
lucinum.i [In the profe "Life of St. Guthlac, Hermit of Crowland," by one
Felix, circa 749, there is the following paffage : " It happened one
night, when it was the time of cock-crowing, and the bleffed man
Guthlac fell to his morning prayers, he was fuddenly entranced in
light flumber— ." I quote from Mr. Goodwin's tranflation of the
Anglo-Saxon original.]
The following is from Chaucer's "Affemble ofFoules," f. 235:
"The tame ruddocke and the coward kite.
The cocke, that horologe is ofThropes lite."
Thus, in the " Merry Devil of Edmonton," 1608 :
"More watchfull than the day-proclayming cocke."
It appears from a paffage in " Romeo and Juliet," that Shakefpeare
means that they were caroufing till three o'clock :
" The fecond cock has crow'd.
The curfew-bell has toll'd ; 'tis three o'clock."
Perhaps Tuffer makes this point clear :
" Cocke croweth at midnight times few above fix.
With paufe to his neighbour to anfwer betwix :
At three aclocke thicker, and then as ye knowe.
Like all In to mattens neere day they doo crowe ;
At midnight, at three, and an hour yer day.
They utter their language as well as they may."
By a paffage in "Macbeth," "we were caroufing till the fecond
cock," it fhould feem to appear as if there were two feparate times of
Cock-crowing. The commentators, however, fay nothing of this.
They explain the paffage as follows : " Till the fecond cock : —
Cock-crowing." So in "King Lear:" "He begins at curfew, and
walks till the firft cock." Which is illuftrated by a paffage in the
"Tvv^elve Merry Jeftes of the Widow Edith," 1525 :
" The time they pas merely til ten of the clok.
Yea, and I fhall not lye, till after the firft cok."
Bourne^ tells us, there is a tradition among the common people
that at the time of Cock- crowing the midnight fpirits forfake thefe
lower regions, and go to their proper places. Hence it is that in the
country villages, where the way of life requires more early labour, the
inhabitants always go cheerfully to work at that time : whereas if they
are called abroad fooner, they are apt to imagine every thing they fee
or hear to be a wandering ghoft. Shakefpeare has given us an excel-
' Durand. " De Nofturnis." There Is a curious difcourfe on the ancient dlvi-
fions of the night and the day in Peck's "Defiderata Curlofa," vol. i. p. 223 etfeg.
' " Antiq. Vulg," chap, vi.
36 Cock-crow.
lent account of this vulgar notion in [a familiar paffage of] his
" Hamlet." 1
Bourne, very ferioufly, examines the faa, whether fpirits roam
about in the night, or are obliged to go away at Cock-crow, The
traditions of all ages appropriate the appearance of fpirits to the night.
The Jews had an opinion that hurtful fpirits walked about in the night.
The fame opinion obtained among the ancient Chriftians, who divided
the night into four watches, called the Evening, Midnight, Cock-
crowing, and the Morning. The opinion that fpirits fly away at
Cock-crow is certainly very ancient, for we find it mentioned by the
Chriftian poet Prudentius, who flouriflied in the beginning of the
fourth century, as a tradition of common belief:
"They fay the wandering powers, that love
The filent darknefs of the night.
At Cock-crowing give o'er to rove.
And all in fear do take their flight.
The approaching falutary morn,
Th' approach divine of hated day,
Makes darknefs to its place return,
And drives the midnight ghofts away.
They know that this an emblem is,
Of what precedes our lafting blifs.
That morn when graves give up their dead
In certain hope to meet their God.""
Caflian, alfo,' who lived in the fame century, mentioning a hoft of
' What follows, in this paflTage, is an exception from the general time of Cock-
crowing: " Some fay, that ever 'galnft that feafon comes.
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated.
This bird of dawning fingeth all night long.
And then, they fay, no Spirit dares ftir abroad;
The nights are wholefome j then no planets ftrike.
No Fairy takes, nor Witch hath power to charm.
So haliow'd and fo gracious Is the time."
[' It feems to be uncertain whofe tranflation this is. See Farmer's note in
Reed's " Shakefpeare," 1803, vol. xviii. p. 24.] "The pious Chanfons, the Hymns
and Carrols which Shakefpeare mentions prefently, were ufually copied from the
elder Chriftian poets."
1 Cafs. " Coll." viii. c. 16. Thus the Ghoft in "Hamlet:"
" But foft, methinks I fcent the morning air —
Brief let me be."
And again, "The Glow-worm fhews the Matin to be near."
Philoftratus, giving an account of the Apparition of Achilles' Shade to Apol-
lonius Tyaneus, fays, that it vanlfhed with a liitle glimmer as foon as the code
crowed. " Vlt. Apol." vol. iv. p. 16. Reed's " Shakefpeare," vol. xviii. p. JJ'
'fhe following is cited 'ib'td. from Spenfer :
" The morning Cock crew loud ;
And at the found it fhrunk in hafte away,
And vanifh'd from our fight."
Cock-crow. 37
devils who had been abroad in the night, fays, that as foon as the morn
approached, they all vanifhed and fled away : which farther evinces
that this was the current opinion of the time.
Bourne tells us he never met with any reafons afligned for the de
parture of fpirits at the Cock-crowing ; " but," he adds, " there have
been produced at that time of Night, things of very memorable worth,
which might perhaps raife the pious credulity of fome men to imagine
that there was fomething more in it than in other times. It was about
the time of Cock-crowing when our Saviour was born, and the Angels
fung the firft Chriftmas Carol to the poor Shepherds in the fields of
Bethlehem. Now it may be prefumed, as the Saviour of the World
was then born, and the heavenly Hoft had then defcended to proclaim
the news, that the Angels of Darknefs would be terrified and con
founded, and immediately fly away : and perhaps this confideration
has partly been the foundation of this opinion." It was alfo about
this time when our Saviour rofe from the dead. " A third reafon is,
that Paffage in the Book of Genefis, where Jacob wreftled with the
Angel for a bleffing ;' where the Angel fays unto him, ' Let me go,
for the day breaketh.' "
Bourne, however, thinks this tradition feems more efpecially to
have arifen from fome particular circumftances attending the time
of Cock-crowing ; and which, as Prudentius, as before cited, feems
to fay, " are an emblem of the approach of the Day of Refur-
reaion." " The circumftances, therefore, of the time of Cock-crowing,"
he adds, " being fo natural a figure and reprefentation of the Morning
of the Refurreaion ; the Night fo fhadowing out the Night of the
Grave ; the third Watch, being, as fome fuppofe, the time our Saviour
will come to Judgment at ; the noife of the Cock awakening fleepy
man, and telling him as it were, the Night is far fpent, the Day is at
hand ; reprefenting fo naturally the voice of the Arch-angel awaken
ing the Dead, and calling up the righteous to everlafting Day; fo
naturally does the time of Cock-crowing fhadow out thefe things,
that probably fome good well-meaning men might have been brought
to believe that the very Devils themfelves, when the Cock crew
and reminded them of them, did fear and tremble, and fliun the
Light." The following very curious "Old Wives Prayer" is found in
Herrick's " Hefperides," p. 205 :
" Holy-rood, come forth and fhield
Us ith' citie, and the field :
Safely guard us, now and aye.
From the blaft that burns by day ;
And thofe founds that us affright
In the dead of darapifti night.
Drive all hurtful Feinds us fro.
By the time the Cocks firft crow."
' Gen. xxxiii.
38 Strewing Churches with Flowers.
Vanes on the tops of fteeples were anciently [as pointed out by
Du Cange] made in the form of a cock (called from hence weather-
cocks), and put up, in papal times, to remind the clergy of watch-
fulnels. , . £ ..u 1
[In "A Help to Difcourfe," firft printed in 1619, the cock
on the top of fteeples is explained to fignify that we fliould
thereby] "remember our finnes, and with Peter feeke and obtaine
mercy : as though without this dumbe Cocke, which many will
not hearken to, untill he crow, the Scriptures were not a fufiicient
latum." „ T , /-.I ¦ 1 >>
A writer, dating Wiftjeach, May 7, in the " St. James s Chronicle,
June loth, 1777, fays, that "the intention of the original Cock-Vane
was derived from the Cock's Crowing when St. Peter had denied his
Lord, meaning by this device to forbid all fchifm in the Church,
which might arife amongft her members by their departing from her
Communion, and denying the eftablifhed principles of her Faith.
But though this invention was, in all probability, of popifli original,
and a Man who often changes his opinion is known by the ap
pellation of a Weather-Cock, I would hint to the advocates for
that unreformed Church, that neither this intention, nor the anti
quity of this little device, can afford any matter for religious argu
ment." Gramaye' ftiows that the manner of adorning the tops of fteeples
with a crofs and a cock, is derived from the Goths, who bore that as
their warlike enfign.*^
on Dap0 of humiliation anD Cf)anWgit)ing-
IN the Parifh Accounts of St. Margaret Weftminfter,' under
1 650- 1, are the following items, [the intereft of two of which is
more than archaeological :]
" Item, paid for Herbs that were ftrewed in the Windows of the
Church, and about the fame, att two feveral! Dales of Humiliation,
3^. lod.
" Item, paid for Herbs that were ftrewed in the Church upon a
daie of Thankfgiving, 2s. 6d.
[' " Hiftoria Brabantiae," p. 14.]
[^ Peter Le Neve's Communication to the Society of Antiquaries. (Minute
Book, Jan. 29, 1723-4.)]
=• Nichols' "Illuftr." 1797.
Cock-fighting. 39
" Item, paid for Hearbs that were ftrewed in the Church on the
24th day of May [1651], being a Day of Humiliarion, 3^.
" Item, paid to the Ringers, for ringing on the 24th of Oaober,
being a Day of Thankfgiving for the Viaorie over the Scotts at
Worcefter, 71.
" Item, paid for Hearbes and Lawrell that were ftrewed in the
Church the fame Day, 8^."
— " Quanquam In media jam morte tenentur,
Non tamen abfiftunt, martemve, iramve remittunt
Magnanimi." Mufie Anglicana, vol. Ii. p. 8g.
MEN have long availed themfelves of the antipathy which one
cock fhows to another, and have encouraged that natural
hatred with arts that may be faid to difgrace human reafon.
Pegge has proved that though the ancient Greeks piqued them
felves on their politenefs, calling all other nations barbarous, yet they
were the authors of this cruel and inhuman mode of diverfion. The
inhabitants of Delos were great lovers of this fport ; and Tanagra, a
city of Boeotia, the Ifle of Rhodes, Chalcisin Euboea, and the country
of Media, were famous for their generous and magnanimous race of
chickens. It appears that the Greeks had fome method of preparing
the birds for battle.
Cock-fighting was an inftitution partly religious and partly political at
Athens, and was continued there for the purpofe of improving the
feeds of valour in the minds of the Athenian youth. But it was after
wards abufed and perverted, both there and in other parts of Greece,
to a common paftime and amufement, without any moral, political, or
religious intention, and as it is now followed and praaifed amongft
us. It appears that the Romans, who borrowed this with many other
things from Greece, ufed quails as well as cocks for fighting. Douce
informs us,^ " Quail combats were well known among the ancients,
and efpecially at Athens. Julius Pollux relates that a circle was made,
in which the birds were placed, and he whofe quail was driven out of
the circle loft the ftake, which was fometimes money, and occafionally
' " Illuftr. of Shakefp." vol. ii. p. 87. [It may be worth noting that George
Wllfon, In his "Commendation of Cocks and Cock-fighting," 1607, endeavours
to fhow that Cock-fighting was before the coming of Chrift. In a MS. Book of
Prayers, executed in the Netherlands at the end of the fifteenth century, one of
the reprefentations intended as ornamental defigns for the volume, is a Cock-fight !]
40 Cock-fighting.
the quails themfelves. Another praaice was to produce one of thefe
Birds, which being firft fmitten or filliped with the middle finger, a
feather was then plucked from its head : if the Quail bore this opera
tion without flinching, his mafter gained the ftake, but loft it if he
ran away. The Chinefe have been always extremely fond of Quail-
fighting, as appears from moft of the accounts of that people, and par
ticularly in Mr. Bell's excellent relation of his *¦ Travels in China,'
where the reader will find much curious matter on the fubjea. See
vol. i. p. 424, edit, in 8vo. We are told by Mr. Marfden that the
Sumatrans likewife ufe thefe Birds in the manner of Game Cocks."
This account is accompanied by a copy from an elegant Chinefe
miniature painting, reprefenting fome ladies engaged at this amufe
ment. Cocks and quails, fitted for the purpofe of engaging one another
to the laft gafp, for diverfion, are frequently compared in the Roman
writers,^ and, with much propriety, to gladiators. The Fathers of
the Church inveigh with great warmth againft the fpeaacles of the
arena, the wanton fhedding of human blood in fport ; one would have
thought that with that of the gladiators, Cock-fighting would alfo
have been difcarded under the mild and humane Genius of Chriftianity.
But, as Pegge obferves, it was referved for this enlightened aera to
praaife it with new and aggravated circumftances of cruelty.
It is probable that Cock-fighting was firft introduced into this
ifland by the Romans ; the bird itfelf was here before Csefar's
arrival.^ Fitzftephen is the firft of our writers that mentions Cock-
fighting, defcribing it as the fport of fchool boys on Shrove-Tuefday.'
The cock-pit, it feems, was the fchool, and the mafter was the
comptroller and direaor of the fport.* From this time, at leaft, the
diverfion, however abfurd and even impious, was continued among
us. It was followed, though difapproved and prohibited in the 39
' Hence Pliny's expreffion " Gallornm, feu Gladiatorum ;'' and that of Colu
mella, " rlxofariiiTi Avium Laniftr," Lanifta being the proper term for the
Mafter of the Gladiators. •
2 "Bell. Gall." v. feft. 12.
" It was alfo a boy's fport at Rome. Miffon, in his "Travels," p. 39, fays:
" Cockfighting is one of the great Englifh Diverfions. They build Amphitheatres
for this purpofe, and perfons of Quality fometimes appear at them. Great Wagers
are laid ; but I'm told that a Man may be damnably bubbled. If he is not very
ftiarp." At p. 304, he tells us: "Cock fighting is a royal pleafure in England.
Their Combats between Bulls and Dogs, Bears and Dogs, and fometimes Bulls
and Bears, are not Battels to death, as thofe of Cocks."
* Fitzftephen's words are : " Praeterea quotannis, die quse dicitur Carnllevaria—
finguli pueri fuos apportant maglftro fuo gallos galllnaceos pugnaces, & totum
illud antemeridianum datur ludo puerorum vacantium fpeftare in fcholis fuorum
pugnas gallorum." — Edit. 1772, p. 74.
In the Statutes of St. Paul's School, a.d. 1518, the following claufe occurs : "I
will they ufe no Cock-fightinge nor ridlnge about of Vlftorye, nor difputingat St.
Bartllemewe, which is but foolifh babling and loffe of time." Knight's Life of
Dean Colet, p. 362.
In the " Statiftical Account of Scotland," vol. iii. p. 378, the minifter of Apple-
crofs, CO. Rofs, fpeaking of the Schoolmafter's perquifites, fays : " he has the Cock
fight dues, which are equal to one Quarter's payment for each Scholar."
Cockfighting. 4 1
Edw. III. ;! alfo in the reign of Henry VIII.^ and in 1569.' It has
been by fome called a royal diverfion, and as every one knows, the
cock-pit at Whitehall was ereaed by a crowned head,* for the more
magnificent celebration of the fport. It was prohibited, however, by
an Aa of March 31, 1654.
Stubbes, in his " Anatomie of Abufes," 1583,= inveighs againft
Cock-fighting, which in his days feems to have been praaifed on the
Sabbath in England :
" Cock fightyng in Ailgna [Anglia'],
" Befides thefe exercifes, they flock thicke and threefolde to the
Cockfightes, an exercife nothing inferiour to the reft, where nothing
is vfed, but fwearing, forfwearing, deceipt, fraud, collufion, cofenage,
flioldyng, railyng, conuitious talkyng, fightyng, brawlying, quarrelyng,
drinkyng, and whoryng, and whiche is worft of all, robbing of one an
other of their goodes, and that not by direa, but indireae meanes and
attempts. And yet to blaunch and fet out thefe mifcheefs withall, (as
though they were vertues,) they haue their appointed dales and fet
houres when thefe deuilries muft be exercifed. They haue houfes
ereaed to that purpofe, Flagges and Enfignes hanged out, to giue
notice of it to others, and proclamation goes out, to proclame the
fame, to the ende that many maie come to the dedication of this
folemne feaft of mifcheefe."
[In a] Copy of Verfes upon two Cocks fighting, by Dr. R. Wild,
the fpirited qualities of the combatants are given in the following
moft brilliant couplet :
"They fcorn the Dunghill; 'tis their only prize
To dig for Pearls within each other's Eyes.""
Our Poet makes his conquered, or dying cock, diaate a will,
fome of the quaint items of which follow :
" Imp. firft of all, let never be forgot,
My body freely I bequeath to th' Pot,
Decently to be boil'd, and for it's Tomb,
Let me be buried in fome hungry womb.
Item, Executors I will have none
But he that on my fide laid Seven to One,
And like a Gentleman that he may live.
To him and to his heirs my Comb I give."'
' Maitland's "Hift. of London," p. loi ; Stowe's "Survey,' 1754, B. 1. p.
302. ' Maitland, p. 1343, 953.
^ Ibid. p. 260.
* Henry VIII. See Maitland, p. 1343. It appears that James I. was re
markably fond of Cock-fighting.
' Edit. 1585, p. 117, i/fr/a.
^ " Compleat Gamefter," edit. 1660, adfinem.
' To cry Coke is in vulgar language fynonymous with crying Peccavi. Coke,
fays Ruddiman, in his Gloflary to Douglas's " Virgil," is the found which Cocks
utter, efpecially when they are beaten, from which Skinner is of opinion they have
42 Cock-fighting.
Bailey tells us that the origin of this fport was derived from the
Athenians on the following occafion : when Themiftocles was march
ing his army againft the Perfians, he, by the way, efpying two cocks
fighting, caufed his army to behold them, and addreffed them as fol
lows : " Behold, thefe do not fight for their houfehold gods, for the
monuments of their anceftors, nor for Glory, nor for Liberty, nor
for the fafety of their children, but only becaufe the one will not give
way unto the other." This fo encouraged the Grecians, that they
fought ftrenuoufly and obtained the viaory over the Perfians ; upon
which Cock-fighting was by a particular law ordained to be annually
praaifed by the Athenians.
[It appears that,]' "In 1763, there was no fuch diverfion
as public Cock-fighting at Edinburgh. In 1783, there were many
public Cock-fighting Matches, or Mains, as they were technically
termed ; and a regular Cock-Pit was built for the accommodation of
this School of Gambling and Cruelty, where every diftinaion of rank
and charaaer is levelled. In 1790, the Cock-pit continued to be
frequented." The Shrove-Tuefday's maffacre of this ufeful and fpirited creature
is now [virtually at an end, as are alfo] thofe monftrous barbarities,
the Battle Royal and Welfli Main.
Pegge defcribes the Welfh Main,^ in order to expofe the cruelty of
it, and fuppofes it peculiar to this kingdom, known neither in China,
nor in Perfia, nor in Malacca, nor among the favage tribes of
America. Suppofe, fays he, fixteen pair of cocks ; of thefe the fix-
teen conquerors are pitted the fecond time — the eight conquerors of
thefe are pitted a third rime — the four of thefe a fourth time — and
the name of Cock. The more modern manner of preparing is thus defcribed
in the " Mufas Anglicanae," 1689, vol. ii. p. 86:
" Nee per agros fcivit dulcefve errare per hortos ;
Ne venere abfumant natas ad prselia vires,
Aut alvo nimium pleni turgente laborent.
Sed rerum prudens penetrall in fede locavit,
Et fallcis circiim virgas dedit ; infuper ipfos
Cortibus Inclufos tenero nutrlmine fovit;
Et panem, mulfumque genufque legumlnis omne,
Atque exorta fua de conjuge prebuit ova,
Ut validas firment vires
Quinetiam criftas ipfis, caudafque fluentes,
Et colli impexas fecuit pulchro ordine plumas;
Ut rapido magis adverfum, quafi veles, in hoftem
Impetu procurrat gallus.
Arma dedit calcl ; chalybemque aptavit acutum
Ad talos, graviore queat quo furgere plaga."
' "Statift. Ace. of Scotl." vol. vi. p. 614.
° " His chief Recreation was Cock-fighting, and which long after, he was not
able to fay whether it did not at leaft border upon what was criminal he is faid to
have been the Champion of the Cock-pit. One Cock particularly he had, called
'Spang [.'Span] Counter,' which came off viftor in a great many battles a la main;
but the Sparks of Streatlem Caftle killed It out of mere Envy : fo there was an
end of Spang Counter and of his Mafter's fport of Cocking ever after." MS.
Life of Alderman Barnes \of Nenucaftle, circa 1680.]
Cock-fighting. 43
laftly, the two conquerors of thefe are pitted a fifth time' — [as if it
had been neceffary to improve upon the inherent cruelty of the ftupid
and deteftable fport, fpurs were introduced, and were at one time in
general ufe.]
Pliny mentions the fpur and calls it Telum, but the gafle is a
mere modern invention, as likewife is the great, and, I fuppofe,
neceffary exaanefs in matching them. The Afiatics, however, ufe
fpurs that aa on each fide like a lancet, and which almoft imme
diately decide the battle. Hence they are never permitted by the
modern cock-fighters.
[Gunning, in his " Reminifcences," under 1 796, obferves in a
note : " Cock-fighting was much in fafhion at this time, and as the
Races of the country towns approached, matches between the gen
tlemen of Cambridge and Suffolk were frequently announced." It
feems that the defaulters at a Cock-pit, like welchers at a horfe-race,
were roughly treated ; for Gunning, fpeaking of a noted hand at the
game, adds : " The laft account that reached the Univerfity was, that
he (the defaulter) was feen in the bafket, at a cock-pit, the ufual punifh
ment for men who made bets which they were unable to pay — ."]
[Mr. Brand relates that in performing] the fervice appropriated to
the Vifitation of the Sick with [a collier,] who died a i^w days after
wards, " to my great aftonifhment I was interrupted by the crowing of
a game cock, hung in a bag over his head. To this exultation an
immediate anfwer was given by another cock concealed in a clofet,
to which the firft replied, and inftantly the laft rejoined. I never re
member to have met with an incident fo truly of the tragi-comical
eaft as this, and could not proceed in the execution of that very
folemn office, till one of the difputants was removed. It had been
induftrioufly hung befide him, it fhould feem, for the fake of company.
He had thus an opportunity of cafting at an objea he had dearly
loved in the days of his health and ftrength, what Gray has well
called " a long lingering look behind."
[In Mr. Brand's time Cock-fighdng ftill continued] to be a
favourite fport of the colliers in the North of England. The
clamorous wants of their families folicited them to go to work in
vain, when a match was heard of. [It is much in vogue even now
(1869) among the vulgar in this country; but it is no longer counte
nanced either legally or focially.^]
' " Ecce decem pono llbras : Quis pignore certat
DImidIo ? hunc alter tranfverfo lumlne fpeftat
Gallorum mores multorum expertus et artes ;
Tecum, inquit, contendam : " Mufa Angl. p. 88.
" Nequicquam jejuni urgent veftigia nati,
Pofcentes lacrymis tenerlfque amplexibus efcam :
VIncIt amor Gallorum, et avitae gloria Gentls." Ib'id. p. 86.
[^ " On Thurfday, at the Birmingham Police-court, John Brown a publican
was fummoned to anfwer the complaint of the police for unlawfully keeping open
44
Cl)e Stamford Bull^runmng.
AT Stamford in Lincolnfliire, an annual fport [ufed to be] cele
brated, called Bull-running : of which the following account is
taken from Butcher :' "It is performed juft the day fix weeks before
Chriftmas. The Butchers of the Town at their own charge againft
the rime, provide the wildeft Bull they can get: This Bull overnight
is had into fome Stable or Barn belonging to the Alderman. The
next morning proclamation is made by the common Bellman of the
Town, round about the fame, that each one fhut up their Shop-doors
and Gates, and that none, upon pain of imprifonment, offer to do any
violence to Strangers, for the preventing whereof (the Town being a
great thoroughfare and then being in Term Time) a Guard is ap
pointed for the pafling of Travellers through the fame (without hurt).
That none have any iron upon their Bull-Clubs or other Staff which
they purfue the Bull with. Which proclamarion made, and the gates
all fhut up, the Bull is turned out of the Alderman's Houfe, and then
hivie fkivy, tag and rag, men, women, and children of all forts and
fizes, with all the dogs in the town promifcuoufly running after him
with their Bull-Clubs fpattering dirt in each other's faces, that one
would think them to be fo many Furies ftarted out of Hell for the
punifhment of Cerberus, as when Thefeus and Perillas conquered the
place (as Ovid defcribes it)
' A ragged Troop of Boys and Girls
Do pellow him with Stones :
With Clubs, with Whips, and many raps.
They part his fkin from Bones.'
and (which is the greater fhame) I have feen both fenatores majorum
Gentium & matrones de eodem gradu, following this Bulling bufinefs.
"I can fay no more of it, but only to fet forth the Antiquity thereof,
(as the Tradition goes), William Earl of Warren, the firft Lord of
this Town, in the time of King John, ftanding upon his Caftle-walls
in Stamford, viewing the fair profpeiSls of the River and Meadow,
under the fame, faw two Bulls a fighting for one Cow ; a Butcher of
his houfe, and afting in the management of a room, for the purpofe of fighting of
cocks, on the 27th of July laft. A deteftlve depofed to having obtained entrance
to the defendant's houfe and to witneffing all the preparations for a cock-fight —
the pit, birds, &c. In the evening he again went to the houfe and found traces of
a fight having taken place, as well as cocks which had evidently been engaged in
combat. For the defence it was alleged that there had neither been fighting nor
intention to fight, and that the birds found trimmed as if for battle had merely
been trimmed for the purpofe of being painted on canvas. The defendant was
ordered to pay a fine of 5/. and cofts." — Daily Neivj for Saturday, Sept, 26,
1868.] ' " Survey of Stamford," 8vo. 1717, p. 76-7.
Nuptial Ufages. 45
the Town, the owner of one of thofe Bulls, with a great Maftiff Dog
accidentally coming by, fet his Dog upon his own Bull, who forced
the fame Bull up into the Town, which no fooner was come within
the fame but all the Butcher's Dogs both great and fmall, follow'd in
purfuit of the Bull, which by this time made ftark mad with the noife of
the people and the fiercenefs of the Dogs, ran over man, woman, and
child, that ftood in the way : this caufed all the Butchers and others
in the Town to rife up as it were in a tumult, making fuch an hideous
noife that the found thereof came into the Caftle unto the ears of Earl
Warren, who prefently thereupon mounted on Horfeback, rid into the
Town to fee the bufinefs, which then appearing (to his humour) very
delightful, he gave all thofe Meadows in which the two Bulls were at
the firft found fighting, (which we now call the Caftle Meadows) per
petually as a Common to the Butchers of the Town, (after the firft
Grafs is eaten) to keep their Cattle in till the time of Slaughter : upon
this condition, that as upon that day on which this fport firft began,
which was (as I faid before) that day fix weeks before Chriftmas, the
Butchers of the Town fhould from time to time yearly for ever, find
a mad Bull for the continuance of that fport."
[In the " Antiquarian Repertory," an account is extraaed from
Plott' of a fimilar Bull-running at Tutbury, in Staffordfhire, which
occafioned much diforder annually, until it was abolifhed by the Duke
of Devonfhire, lay-prior of Tutbury,^ in the laft century. This prac
tice feems to have dated from ancient times, as it was ufual, before the
Diffolution, for the Prior of Tutbury to give the minftrels, who at
tended matins on the feaft of the Affumption, a bull, if they would
convey him on the fide of the river Dove next the town, or, failing the
bull, forty pence, of which a moiety went by cuftom to the lord of
the feaft. I believe that the praaice of Bull-running, and alfo of Bull-
baiting, is univerfally obfolete in this country, and has long been fo.]
iguptial ^fage0.
MOST profufely various have been the different Rites, Cere
monies, and Cuftoms adopted by the feveral Nations of the
Chriftian World, on the performance of that moft facred of inftitutions
by which the Maker of Mankind has direaed us to tranfmit our race.
The inhabitants of this ifland do not appear to have been outdone by
any other people on this occafion. Before we enter upon the difcuf-
' See Plott's "Staffordfhire," p. 439. See alfo Shaw's " Staffordfliire," vol. I.
p. 52, and an elaborate Memoir in " Archasologia," vol. ii. p. 86, where the fubjeft
is confidered by Pegge.
[' Blount's "Fragmenta Antiquitatis," ed. 1815, p. 529, 535-6.]
46 Nuptial Ufages.
fion of thefe, it will be neceffary to confider diftinaiy the feveral cere
monies peculiar to betrothing by a verbal contraa of marriage, and
promifes of love previous to the marriage union.
I. Betrothing Customs.
[" I knit this lady handfaft, and with this hand
The heart that owes this hand, ever binding
By force of this initiating contraft
Both heart and hand In love, faith, loyalty,
Eftate, or what to them belongs."
Wit at Se'veral Weapons, aft v. fc. i.]
There was a remarkable kind of Marriage-contraa among the
ancient Danes called Hand-fefiing.^
In " The Chriften State of Matrimony," 1543, p. 43 verfo, we
read : " Yet in thys thynge alfo muft I warne everye reafonable and
honeft parfon, to beware that in contraayng of Maryage they dyf-
femble not, ner fet forthe any lye. Every man lykewyfe muft efteme
the parfon to whom he is handfajled, none otherwyfe than for his owne
fpoufe, though as yet it be not done in the Church ner in the Streate.
— After the Handfaflynge and makyng of the ContraSie y' Church-
goyng and Weddyng fhuld not be differred to longe, left the wickedde
fowe hys ungracious fede in the meane feafon. Into this dyfh hath the
Dyvell put his foote and mengled it wythe many wycked ufes and
couftumes. For in fome places ther is fuch a maner, wel worthy to
be rebuked, that at the Handefasting ther is made a greate feafle and
fuperfuous Bancket, and even the fame night are the two handfajledper-
fonnes brought and layed together, yea, certan wekes afore they go to the
Chyrch." [In 1794,] the Minifter of Efkdalemuir, Dumfries, mentioning an an
nual fair held time out of mind at the meeting of the Black and White
Efks, now entirely laid afide, [reported]'' : " At that Fair it was the
cuftom for the unmarried perfons of both fexes to choofe a companion,
according to their liking, with whom they were to live till that time
next year. This was called Hand-fajling, or hand in fift. If they
were pleafed with each other at that time, then they continued together
for life : if not they feparated, and were free to make another choice
as at the firft. The fruit of the conneaion (if there were any) was
always attached to the difaffeaed perfon. In later times, when this
part of the country belonged to the Abbacy of Melrofe, a Prieft, to
whom they gave the name of Book i'bofom (either becaufe he carried
' It is mentioned in Ray's " Gloflarium Northanhymbricum " in his CoUeftion
of local words. " Hand-faflning, promlflio, qu9e fit ftlpulata manu, five cives fidem
fuam principi fpondeant, five mutuam Inter fe, matrimonium, inlturi, a phrafi fafla
hand, quas notat dextram dextrse jungere." Ihre " Gloffar. Suio-Gothicum," in v.
Ibld.z» 1/. Brollop. Brudkaup.
2 "Statift. Ace. of Scot." vol. xii, p. 615.
Nuptial Ufages. 47
in his bofom a Bible, or perhaps a regifter of the marriages), came
from time to time to confirm the marriages. This place is only a
fmall diftance from the Roman encampment of Caftle-oe'r. May not
the Fair have been firft inftituted when the Romans refided there ?
and may not the ' Hand-fafting ' have taken its rife from their manner
of celebrating Marriage, ex ufu, by which, if a woman, with the con-
fent of her parents, or guardians, lived with a man for a year, without
being abfent three nights, fhe became his wife .'' Perhaps, when
Chriftianity was introduced, the form of Marriage may have been
looked upon as imperfea, without confirmation by a Priefl, and there
fore, one may have been fent from time to time for this purpofe."
In Whitford's " Werke for Houfholders," &c. [firft printed before
1530]' is the following caution on the aboue fubjea : "The ghoftly
ennemy doth deceyue many perfones by the pretence & colour of
matrymony in pryuate & fecrete contradies. For many men whan
they can nat obteyne theyr vnclene defyre of the Woman, wyll promyfe
maryage and thervpon make a contraae promyfe & gyue fayth and
trouth eche vnto other, fayenge '¦Here I take the Margery vnto my wyfe,
& therto I plyght the my trouth.' And fhe agaynevnto him in lyke maner.
And after that done, they fuppofe they maye lawfully vfe theyrvnclene
behauyour, and fomtyme the aae and dede dothe folowe, vnto the
greate offence of god & their owne foules. It is a great ieopardy
therfore to make any fuche contraaes, fpecyally amonge them felfe
fecretely alone without recordes, whiche muft be two at the leefi."
Among the Interrogatories for the Doarine and Manners of Myn-
ifters,^ &c, early in the reign of Elizabeth [No. 28, is] " Whether
they have exhorted yong Folke to abfleyne from privy Contrasts, and
not to marry without the confent of fuch their Parents and Fryends as
have auaority over them ; or no,"
"The antient Frenchmen" [obferves Sir W. Vaughan, 1600,]'
" had a ceremonie, that when they would marrie, the Bridegrome
fhould pare his nayles and fend them unto his new Wife : which done,
they lived together afterwards as man and wife,"
[I collea from a paffage in " Englands Helicon," 1600, that it
was ufual for lovers to wear the rings given to them by their miftreffes
on holidays : " My fongs they be of CInthias prayfe,
I weare her Rings on HoUy-dayes."]
In Field's " A Woman's a Weather-Cock," i6i2,*Scudmore, Aa
ii. fc. I, tells the Prieft who is going to marry his Miftrefs to Count
Fredericke, " She Is contraBed, Sir, nay married
Unto another man, though it want forme :
And fuch ftrange paft'ages and mutuall vowes,
'Twould make your fhort haire ftart through your blacke cap
Should you but heare it."
[' Edit. 1533, fign. e 3.] ° Strype's "Annals," vol. I. Append, p. 57.
" " Golden-Grove," ed. 1608, fign. O 2, 'verfo.
[* Repr. p. 30, Collier's " Suppl. to Dodfley," 1833.]
48 Nuptial Ufages.
[Brand remarks :] " ftrong traces of this remain in our villages in
many parts of the kingdom. I have been more than once affured from
credible authority on Portland Ifland that fomething very like it is ftill
praaifed there very generally, where the inhabitants feldom or never
intermarry with any on the main-land, and where the young women,
feleaing lovers of the fame place (but with what previous rites, cere
monies, or engagements, I could never learn), account it no difgrace
to allow them every favour, and that too from the fulleft confidence
of being made wives, the moment fuch confequences of their ftolen
embraces begin to be too vifible to be any longer concealed. "
It was anciently very cuftomary, among the common fort of people,
to break a piece of gold or filver in token of a verbal contraa of mar
riage and promifes of love: one half whereof was kept by the woman,
while the other part remained with the man.'
Hari. MS. 980, cited by Strutt,' ftates that, " by the Civil Law,
whatfoever is given ex fponfalitia Largitate, betwixt them that are pro-
mifed in Marriage, hath a condition (for the moft part filent) that it
may be had again if Marriage enfue not ; but if the man fliould have
had a Kifs for his money, he fhould lofe one half of that which he
gave. Yet, with the woman it is otherwife, for, kifling or not kiff-
ing, whatfoever fhe gave, fhe may afk and have it again. However,
this extends only to Gloves, Rings, Bracelets, and fuch like fmall
wares." [This is referred to in " Bateman's Tragedy" : " Long they dwelt
not on this theme, before they fell to that of love, renewing their vows
of eternal love and conftancy that nothing but death fhould be able to
fepiarate them : and, to bind it, he broke a piece of gold, giving her the
one half, and keeping the other himfeif: and then with tears and
tender kiffes they parted."
And again, in the " Exeter Garland " :
" A ring of pure gold fhe from her finger took.
And juft in the middle the fame then fhe broke :
Quoth fhe, as a token of love you this take.
And this as a pledge I will keep for your fake."]
Camden fays, that " they [the Irifh] are obferved to prefent their
lovers with Bracelets of women's hair, whether in reference to Venus'
Ceftus or not, I know not."*
In Marfton's " Dutch Courtezan," a pair of lovers are introduced
plighting their troth as follows : " Enter Freeville. Pages with
' The Dialogue between Kitty and Filbert in the " What d'ye call it," by Gay,
is much to our purpofe :
" Yet, Juftlces, permit us, ere we part.
To break this Ninepence as you've broke our heart."
" Filbert (breaking the ninepence) — As this divides, thus are we torn In twain.
" Kitty (joining the pieces) — And as this meets, thus may we meet again."
' " Manners and Cuftoms," vol. iii. p. 153.
' Cough's "Camden," 1789, vol. iii. p. 658.
Nuptial Ufages. 49
Torches. Enter Beatrice above." After fome very impaflioned
converfarion, Beatrice fays : " / give you faith ; and prethee, fince,
poore foule ! I am fo eafie to beleeve thee, make it much more pitty
to deceive me. Weare this f eight favour in my remembrance" (throw-
eth down a ring to him.)
" Frev. Which, when I part from,
Hope, the beft of life, ever part from me !
Graceful Miftreffe, our nuptiall day holds.
" Beatrice. With happy Conftancye a wifhed day. Exit.'''
Of gentlemen's prefents on fimilar occafions, a Lady, in Beaumont
and Fletcher's " Cupid's Revenge," fays :
" Given Earlngs we will wear;
Bracelets of our Lovers hair.
Which they on our arms fliall twift
With their names carv'd, on our wrift."'
In the " Defence of Conny-Catching," [1592] Signat. c 3. verfo,
is the following paffage : " Is there not heere refident about London,
a crew of terryble Hackfters in the habite of gentlemen wel appareled,
and yet fome weare bootes for want of ftockings, with a locke worne
at theyr lefte ear e for their Miflriffe Favour."
The fubfequent is taken from Lodge's " Wit's Miferie," 1596, p.
47 : " When he rides, you fhall know him by his Fan : and, if he
walke abroad, and miffe his Miflres favor about his neck, arme, or th'igh,
he hangs the head like the foldier in the field that is difarmed."^
We gather from Howes's " Additions to Stow's Chronicle," that, in
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, "it was the cuftome for maydes and gen-
tilwomen to give their favorites, as tokens of their love, little Hand
kerchiefs of about three or foure inches fquare, wrought round about,
and with a button or a taffel at each corner, and a little one in the
middle, with filke and threed ; the beft edged with a fmall gold lace,
or twift, which being foulded up in foure croffe foldes, fo as the middle
might be feene, gentlemen and others did ufually weare them in their
hatts, as favours of their loves and miftreffes. Some coft fix pence
apiece, fome twelve pence, and the richeft fixteene pence."
In Sampfon's play of "The Vow-Breaker," 1636, aa i. fc. i,
Miles, a miller, is introduced telling his fweetheart, on going away to
the wars : " Miftrefs Urfula, 'tis not unknowne that I have lov'dyou ;
if I die, it fhall be for your fake, and it fliall be valiantly : / leave an
hand-kercher with you : 'tis wrought with blew Coventry : let me not,
at my returne, fall to my old fong, /he had a clowte of mine fowde with
blew Coventry, and fo hang myfelf at your infidelity."
[' Dyce's B. and F. vol. ii.p. 390.]
= Park, in his " Travels," tells us, " At Banlferibe— a Slatee having feated him
feif upon a mat by the threftiold of his door, a young woman (his intended bride)
brought a little water in a calabafh, and, kneeling down before him, defired him to
wafh his hands : when he had done this, the girl, with a tear of joy fparkling in
her eye, drank the water; this being confidered as the greateft proof of her fidelity
and love,"
II. E
50 Nuptial Ufages,
The fubfequent paffage from Swetnam's " Arraignment of Women,"
1615, points out fome of the vagaries of lovers of that age : " Some
thinke, that if a woman fmile on them flie is prefentlie over head and
eares in love. One muft weare her Glove, another her Garter, another
her Colours of delight." '
[Heath, in his "Houfe of Correaion," 1619, has an epigram
" In Pigmsum," which fhrewdly animadverts upon this folly of the
age. It appears from a paffage in Heywood' s " Fayre Mayde of the
Exchange," 1607, that it was not unufual for lovers to give each
other handkerchiefs, with amorous devices worked in the corners.
It is where Phillis brings the handkerchief to the Cripple of Fan-
church to be fo embroidered. She fays :
" Only this handkercher, a young gentlewoman
WIfh'd me to acquaint you with her mind herein :
In one corner of the fame, place wanton Love,
Drawing his bow, fhooting an amorous dart —
Oppofite againft him an arrow in an heart :
In a third corner pifture forth DIfdain,
A cruel fate unto a loving vein ;
In the fourth draw a fpringing laurel-tree.
Circled about with a ring of poefy."
In " Witt's Recreations," 1640, the annexed paffage belongs to a
piece called " Abroad with the Maids ;" it was written by Herrick:
" Next we will aft how young men wooe ;
And figh, and klffe, as lovers do.
And talk of brides ; and who Ihall make
That wedding-fmock, this bridal-cake ;
That drefs, this fprig, that leafe, this vine;
That fmooth and filken columbine.
This done, we'l draw lots, who fhall buy
And guild the bayes, and rofemary :
What pofies, for our wedding-rings ;
What gloves we'l give and ribbanings."]
Strutt, in his " Manners and Cuftoms," has illuftrated this by an
extraa from the old play of the " Widow." From this it alfo ap
pears that no dry bargain would hold on fuch occafions. For on the
Widow's complaining that Ricardohad artfully drawn her into a verbal
contraa, fhe is afked by one of her fuitors, " Stay, ftay, — you broke
no Gold between you ? " To which fhe anfwers, " We broke no
thing. Sir." And, on his adding, " Nor drank to each other ?" flie
replies, "Not a drop. Sir." Whence he draws this conclufion:
" that the contraa cannot ftand good in Law."
The latter part of the Ceremony feems alluded to in the following
paffage in Middleton's " No Wit like a Woman's" [written before
1626 :] " Ev'n when my lip touch'd the contraBing Cup."
Bowed money appears anciently to have been fent as a token of
' Edit. 1620, pp. 31-2.
Nuptial Ufages. ^i
!?^u^"if?^'^^°" fr""" o"e gelation to another. Thus we read in
The Third Part of Conny-Catching," [by R. Greene, 1592,] fign.
b 2, verfo. " Then taking fourth a bowed Groat, and an olde Pennie
bowed, he gave it her as being fent from her uncle and aunt."
In " The Country Wake," by Dogget, 1696, aa v. fc. i. Hob, who
fancies he is dying, before he makes his laft will and teflimony, as he
rails it, when his Mother defires him to try to fpeak to Mary, " for
ftie IS thy wife, and no other," anfwers, " I know I'm fure to her—
and I do own it before you all ; I afk't her the queftion laft Lammas,
and at AllhoUows'-tide we broke a piece of money ; and if I had liv'd till
laft Sunday we had been aflc'd in the church."
Douce's MS. Notes fay: " Analogous to the Interchangement of
Rings feems the cuftom of breaking a piece of money." An example
of this occurs in Bateman's " Tragedy," a well-known penny hiftory,
[founded on Sampfon's Tragedy of the " Vow Breaker," 1636, where
the incident may be found.]'
We find, in Hudibras,^ that the piece broken between the contraaed
lovers muft have been a crooked one :
" Like Commendation Ninepence crook't.
With to and from my Love It lookt ;"
a circumftance confirmed alfo in the " Connoiffeur," No. 56, with an
additional cuftom, of giving locks of hair woven in a true lover's
knot. " If, in the courfe of their amour, the miftrefs gives the dear
man her hair wove in a true lover's knot, or breaks a crooken nine-
pence with him, ftie thinks herfelf affured of his inviolate fidelity."
This " bent Token " has not been overlooked by Gay : "
" A Ninepence bent,
A Token kind, to Bumklnetis fent."
It appears to have been formerly a cuftom alfo for thofe who were
betrothed to wear fome flower as an external and confpicuous mark of
their mutual engagement : the conceit of choofing fuch fhort-lived
emblems of their plighted loves cannot be thought a very happy one.
That fuch a cuftom however did certainly prevail, we have the tefti
mony of Spenfer:* " Bring Coronations and Sops in Wine
Worn of Paramours."
Sops in wine were a fpecies of flowers among the fmaller kind of
fingle gilli-flowers or Pinks ;^ [and this paffage and cuftom are illuf
trated by the following extraa from Gunning's " Reminifcences of
' Swinburne on " Spoufals," p. 10, fays: " Some Spoufals are contrafted by Signs,
as the giving and receiving a Ring, others by words."
" Part I. Canto i. 1. 48.
' " Paftorals," V. 1. 129.
¦* Shepherd's Calendar for April.
" [Dodoens'" Herbal," by] Lyte, 1578, cited in Johnfon and Steevens's" Shakfp.''
vol. X. p. 319.
52 Nuptial Ufages.
Cambridge," 1854 : " The Dean (of St. Afaph), who appeared very
defirous to clear up the matter, aflied him, amongft other queftions, if
he had never made her any prefents ? He replied that he never had,
but, recolleaing himfeif, added, 'except a very choice bunch of
flowers, which I brought from Chirk Caftle.' " "This explains the
whole matter," faid the Dean ; " in Wales, a man never fends a lady
a bunch of flowers, but as a propofal of marriage, and the lady's
acceptance of them is confidered the ratification." This was in
1788.] In Quaries' " Shepheards Oracles," 1646, p. 63, is the following
paffage : " The Mufick of the Oaten Reeds perfwades
Their hearts to mirth —
And whilft they fport and dance, the love-fick fwains
Compofe Rufh-rings and Myrtleberry chains,
And ftuck with glorious King-cups and their Bonnets
Adorn'd with Lanxir ell flips, chaunt their Love-fonnets,
To ftir the fires and to encreafe the flames.
In the cold hearts of their beloved dames."
A joint ring [was] anciently a common token among betrothed
lovers, [and fuch rings we find from exifting fpecimens to have been
in ufe anriong the Jews.^]
We gather from a paffage in Dryden's "Don Sebaftian," 1690,
that thefe were by no means confined to the lower orders of fociety.
It appears from other paffages in this play that one of thefe rings
was worn by Sebaftian 's father : the other by Almeyda's mother, as
pledges of love. Sebaftian pulls off his, which had been put on his
finger by his dying father : Almeyda does the fame with hers, which
had been given her by her mother at parting : and Alvarez unfcrews
both the rings, and fits one half to the other. In Herrick's " Hef
perides," a " Jimmall Ring "^ [or a Ring of Jimmals,] is mentioned as
a love-token. In Codrington's " Second Part of Youth's Behaviour," 1664, p. 33,
is the following very remarkable paffage : " It is too often feen that
young gentlewomen by gifts are courted to interchange, and to return
the courtefie : Rings indeed and Ribbands are but trifles, but believe
me, that they are not trifles that are aimed at in fuch exchanges : let
them therefore be counfelled that they neither give nor receive any
thing that afterwards may procure their fhame, &c."
In [Braithwaite's] " Whimzies," 1631, the author^ has the fol
lowing paffage : can it allude to the cuftom of interchanging betroth
ing Rings \ " St. Martins Rings and counterfeit Bracelets are com
modities of infinite confequence. They will paffe for current at a
May pole, and purchafe a favor from their May-Marian."
[' " Mifcellanea Graphica," by F. W. Fairholt and T. Wright, 1857, plate x.]
[^ GImmal, i. e. double, from Lat. gemellus. See a long note In Nares, ed. 18591
in 'V.'] See alfo Greenwood's " Englifh Grammar," p. 209, and " Archaeol." vol.
xiv. p. 7.
' " Defcription of a Pedlar," part ii. p. 21,
Nuptial Ufages, 53
In " The Compters Commonwealth," by W, Fenner, i6i7,p. 28,
is the following paffage : " This kindneffe is but like Alchimy, or
Saint Martins Rings, that are faire to the eye and have a rich out-
fide, but if a man fhould breake them afunder and looke into them,
they are nothing but braffe and copper,"
So alfo in "Plaine Percevall the Peace-maker of England [1589],"
we read : " I doubt whether all be gold that gliftereth, fith Saint
Martins Rings be but copper within, though they be gilt without,
fayes the Goldfmith,"
In the Comedy of "Lingua," 1607, aa ii. fc. 4, Anamneftes (Me
mory's Page) is defcribed as having, amongft other things, " a Gimmal
Ring, with one link hanging," Morgan' mentions three triple Gimbal
Rings as borne by the name of Hawberke, in the county of Lei-
cefter. The following remarkable paffage is to be found in Greene's
"Menaphon, [1589]" fign, k 4 b: " 'Twas a good worid when
fuch fimplicitie was ufed, fayes the olde women of our time, when
a Ring of a Rufh would tye as much love together as a Gimmon
of Gold."
To the betrothing contraa under confideration muft be referred, if
I miftake not, and not to the marriage ceremony itfelf (to which
latter, I own, however, the perfon who does not nicely difcriminate
betwixt them will be ftrongly tempted to incline), the well-known
paffage on this fubjea in the laft feene of Shakefpeare's play of
" Twelfth Night," The prieft, who had been privy to all that had
paffed, is charged by Olivia to reveal the circumftances, which he does
[reciting the ceremonies of joining the hands, kifling, and interchanging
rings, as preliminaries which had taken place in the ufual courfe.
The fame drama affords an example of the old Englifh praaice of
lovers plighting their troth in the chantry, in the prefence of the
minifter. It is where Olivia and Sebaftian accompany the prieft
with this objea in view,]
Swinburne 2 tells us : " I do obferve, that in former ages it was not
tolerated to fingle or unmarried perfons to wear Rings, unlefs they
were Judges, Doaors, or Senators, or fuch like honourable perfons :
fo that being deftitute of fuch dignity, it was a note of vanity, lafcivi-
oufnefs, and pride, for them to prefume to wear a Ring, whereby we
may collea how greatly they did honour and reverence the facred
eftate of wedlock in times paft, in permitting the parties affianced to be
adorned with the honourable ornament of the Ring."
[Thiers 3 quotes paffages from three ritualiftic works appofite to
this porrion of the nuptial procefs, as praaifed in France, Both the
Synodal Statutes of Sens, in 1524, and the Evreux Ritual (1621) re
frained from prefcribing betrothal, merely leaving it permiflive and
> " Sphere of Gentry," lib. iii. fol, 21. See alfo Holmes' " Academy of Armory,
&c." 1688, lib. HI. c. 2, p. 20, No. 45.
= " On Spoufals," p. 208.
rs i< Xralte des Superftitions," tom, iv. p. 470-]
54 Nuptial Ufages,
optional; and the fame may be faid of the Provincial Council of
Rheims, in 1583; but all thefe authorities laid down the rule, that,
where the efpoufal was folemnized, the ceremony muft take place
openly and in the church,]
After my moft painful refearches, I can find no proof that in our
ancient ceremony at marriages the man received as well as gave the
ring : nor do I think the cuftom at all exemplified by the quotation
from Lupton's firft book of " Notable Things," The expreffion is
equivocal, and "his Maryage Ring" I fhould think means no more
than the ring ufed at his marriage, that which he gave and which his
wife received : at leaft we are not warranted to interpret it at prefent
any otherwife, till fome paffage can aaually be adduced from the an
cient manufcript rituals to evince that there ever did at marriages take
place fuch " Interchangement of Rings," a cuftom which however
certainly formed one of the moft prominent features of the ancient
betrothing ceremony.^ Yet conceflion muft be made that the bride
groom appears to have had a ring given him as well as the bride in the
Diocefe of Bordeaux in France,^
[Douce, in a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries in January,
1 8 10, drew attention to an unrecorded wedding-ufage, praaifed in this
country as well as in France, and illuftrated his remarks by extradls
from feveral liturgical works. Douce obferves : " The fmall piece of
filver, that accompanies this paper is infcribed Denirs de Foy Povr
Epovser, having on one fide a heart between two hands, and on the
other two fleurs de lis. It does not appear, fo far as I know, to have
found its way into any numifmatic treatife, becaufe it is not in reality
a current piece of money, but only a local or particular token or
fymbol of property. It is, as the infcription imports, a betrothing
penny, given at the marriage ceremony, either as earneft-money, or
for the aaual purchafe of the bride." ' The learned writer proceeds
to demonftrate that the cuftom of buying wives was in vogue not
merely among the ancients, but among our own Saxon forefathers, as
paffages in their laws ferve to eftablifh. But I do not think that Douce
proves more than the delivery of a token in earneft of dower, and of
his betrothing penny there are, to the beft of my knowledge, no Anglo-
Saxon or Englifh examples in exiftence.
But, after all, the token exhibited by Douce before the antiquaries
of London, in 18 10, appears to have been nothing more than an
example of the fefiing-penny, familiar enough in the Northern counties
of England, and no doubt properly identified with the Danifh cuflom
of hiring or binding apprentice with fome fuch token. Fefiing is, of
courfe, a form of fajiing or fafiening. The fafleninge-ring was
[' Mr. Brand at firft adopted Steevens's comment on the paflTages in Shakefpeare's
" Twelfth Night," above cited, but fubfequently confidered that his adhefion had
been too hafty.]'
^ " Rituel de Bourdeaux," pp. 98-9.
[" There is another fort infcribed Denier Tovrnois povr Epovser.—
DoucE.]
Nuptial Ufages. et
fjmilarly the betrothing-ring or, as it is now called, the engaged-ring.
To feft, in the North of England, is to bind as an apprentice. Mr.
Atkinfon, in his highly valuable " Gloffary of the Cleveland Dialea,''
1868, after obferving that the fefting-penny of the North of England
is analogous to the Scandinavian betrothing-penny (fhown by Douce
to have been alfo known in France), adds : " if a fervant who has been
duly hired and received her Hiring or Fefting-Penny, wiflies to cancel
her bargain ... fhe always fends back the Fefting-penny. . . . Two in
ftances of this kind have occurred in this [Danby] parifti in the courfe
of the Spring hiring-rime of the prefent year, 1865."]
In the " Statiftical Account of Scotland,"i 1792, the minifter of
Galfton, in Ayrfhire, informs us of a fingular cuftom there : " When
a young Man wiflies to pay his Addreffes to his Sweetheart, inftead of
going to her Father's, and profeffing his paflion, he goes to a public-
houfe ; and having let the Landlady into the fecret of his attachment, the
objea of his wiflies is immediately fent for, who never almoft refufes
to come. She is entertained with Ale and Whiflsy, or Brandy ; and
the Marriage is concluded on. The fecond day after the Marriage a
Creeling, as it is called, takes place. The young wedded pair, with
their friends, affemble in a convenient fpot. A fmall Creel, or Baflcet,
is prepared for the occafion, into which they put fome flones : the
young Men carry it alternately, and allow themfelves to be caught by
the Maidens, who have a kifs when they fucceed. After a great deal
of innocent mirth and pleafantry, the Creel falls at length to the young
Hufband's fhare, who is obliged to carry it generally for a long time,
none of the young women having compafllon upon him. At laft, his
fair Mate kindly relieves him from his burden ; and her complaifance,
in this particular, is confidered as a proof of her fatisfaaion with the
choice fhe has made. The Creel goes round again ; more merriment
fucceeds ; and all the Company dine together and talk over the feats
of the field." [Ramfay, in his " Poems," 1721, refers to the creeling
ufage, and adds in a note: " 'Tis a Cuftom for the Friends to endea
vour the next day after the Wedding to make the New-married Man
as drunk as poflible."]
" Perhaps the French phrafe, ' Adieu panniers, vendanges font
faites,' may allude to a fimilar Cuftom."
[Mr. Brand] heard a gentleman fay that he was told by Lord
Macartney, that on the day previous to the marriage of the Duke of
York (by proxy) to the Princefs of Pruflia, a whole heap of potfherds
was formed at her Royal Highnefs's door, by perfons coming and
throwing them againft it with confiderable violence, a cuftom which
obtains in Pruflia, with all ranks, on the day before a virgin is mar
ried ; and that during this fingular fpecies of battery the Princefs, every
now and then, came and peeped out at the door,
' Vol. ii. p. 80.
56 Nuptial Ufages.
[2. Flouncing. Bundling. Pitchering.
The cuftom of Flouncing is faid to be peculiar to Guernfey. It is
an entertainment given by the parents of a young couple, when they
are engaged, and the match has received approval. The girl is intro
duced to her hufband's family and friends by her future father-in-law,
and the man fimilarly by hers : after this, they muft keep aloof from
all flirtation, however lengthy the courtfhip may prove. The belief
is, that if either party break faith, the other fide can lay claim to a
moiety of his or her effeas.
Bundling is a vulgar Welfh cuftom before marriage : the betrothed
or engaged pair go to bed in their clothes, and remain together for a
certain time. The mifchievous confequences arifing from fuch a
praaice are fufHciently obvious. It was formerly cuftomary in Cum
berland and Weftmoreland, and produced fimilarly unfortunate and
immoral confequences in the majority of cafes. The ufage was, how
ever, growing obfolete in 1839, when the author of the " W. and C.
Dialea " wrote.
In Craven, there is a cuftom known as Pitchering. The author of
the " Dialea of Craven," 1828, defcribes it thus : " One of the young
inmates of the family takes a fmall pitcher and half fills it with water;
he then goes, attended by his companions, and, prefenting it to the
lover, demands a prefent in money. If he (the lover) is difpofed to
give any thing, he drops his contribution into the pitcher, and they
retire without further moleftation. He is thus made z. free-man, and
can quietly pay his vifits in future, without being fubjea to any fimilar
exaaion. But, if after repeated demands, the lover refufe to pay his
contribution, he is either faluted with the contents of the pitcher> or a
general row enfues, in which the water is fpilled, and the pitcher is
broken."]
[3. Marriage-banns.
The following account of this fubjea is derived from the informa
tion of my friend Mr. Yeowell : ¦
" We learn from Tertullian^ that the Church, in the primitive ages,
was forewarned of marriages. The earlieft exifting canonical ena6f-
ment on the fubjea, in the Englifli Church, is that in the i ith canon
of the fynod of Weftminfter, or London, a.d. 1200, which enacfts
that ' no marriage fhall be contraaed without banns thrice publifhed
in the church, unlefs by the fpecial authority of the bifhop.''
" It is fuppofed by fome that the praaice was introduced into France
as early as the ninth century ; and it is certain that Odo, Bifliop of
Paris, ordered it in 1176. The council of Lateran, in 1 215, pre
fcribed it to the whole Latin Church.
[' " Notes and Queries," 4th S. i. 149-50.]
P "Ad Uxorem," lib. II. cap. 2 and 9, " De Pudlcitia," cap, Iv.]
[' Wllkins, " Concilia Magnas Brltannlae," I. 507.]
Nuptial Ufages. ry
" Before publifhing the banns, it was the cuftom for the curate
anciently to affiance the two perfons to be married in the name of the
Bleffed Trinity ; and the banns were fometimes publiflied at vefpers,
as well as during the time of mafs.''^]
[4. Peascod Wooing.
Heywood, in his " Fayr Mayde of the Exchange," 1607, intro
duces a feene in front of the Cripple of Fanchurch's ftiop, and makes
one of the charaaers fay :
"Now for my true loves handkercher 1 thefe flowers
Are pretty toys, are very pretty toys.
Oh, but methinks the peafcod would do better,
The peafcod and the blofTom wonderful !
But here's the queftion — whether my love, or no,
Will feem content f Ay, there the game doth go ;
And yet I'll pawn my head he will applaud
The peafcod and the flow'r, my pretty choice.
For what Is he, loving a thing in heart.
Loves not the counterfeit, tho' made by Art .?"
Perhaps this is the oldeft allufion to the belief of our anceftors, thi:
the divination by the peafcod was an infallible criterion in love affairs.
Browne, in his " Paftorals," 1614, fays :
" The peafcod greene, oft with no little toyle,
He'd feek for in the fatteft fertil'ft folle.
And rend it from the ftalke to bring it to her.
And in her bofom for acceptance wooe her."
In " As You Like It," Touchftone has thefe obfervations put into
his mouth by the great author : " I remember, when I was in love,
I broke my fword upon a ftone, and bid him take that for coming
anight to Jane Smile : and I remember the kifling of her batiet, and
the cow's dugs that her pretty chopp'd hands had milk'd ; and I re
member the wooing of a peafcod inftead of her ; from whom I took
two cods, and giving her them again, faid, with weeping tears, Wear
thefe for my fake." This fuperftition is alfo illuftrated by Gay, in his
" Paftorals ;" and there are ftill perfons who put faith in its efficacy.
In the North of England and in Scotland, it is, or was, a cuftom to
rub with peaftraw a girl to whom her lover had not been true. In
Devonfhire there is a proverb :
" Winter time for fhoeing ;
Peafcod time for wooing.'"']
' Bingham, "Antiquities," lib. xxli. cap. II. fee. i ; Martene, "De Ant. RIt."
lib. Ii. cap. Ix. art. v. pp. 135-6.
[" If a young woman, while fhe is fhelling peas, meets with a pod of nine,
the firft young man who crofl'es the threftiold afterwaids, Is to be her hufband.]
58 Nuptial Ufages.
5. Ring and Bride-cake.
Among the cuftoms ufed at marriages, thofe of the ring and
bride-cake feem of the moft remote antiquity. Confarreation and
the ringi were ufed anciently as binding ceremonies by the heathens,^
in making agreements, grants, &c. whence they have doubtlefs been
derived to the moft folemn of our engagements.
The ceremony ufed at the folemnization of a marriage was called
confarreation, in token of a moft firm conjunaion between the man
and the wife, with a cake of wheat or barley. This, Blount tells us,
is ftill retained in part, with us, by that which is called the bride-cake
ufed at weddings.
Moffet informs us that " the Englifh, when the Bride comes from
Church, are wont to cafl Wheat upon her Head; and when the Bride
and Bridegroom return home, one prefents them with a Pot of Butter,
as prefaging plenty, and abundance of all good things."'
The conneaion between the bride-cake and wedding is ftrongly
marked in the following cuftom, ftill retained in Yorkfliire, where
the former is cut into little fquare pieces, thrown over the bride
groom's and bride's head, and then put through the ring. The cake
is fometimes broken over the bride's head, and then thrown away
among the crowd to be fcrambled for. This is noted by Aubanus*
in his Defcription of the Rites of Marriage in his country and
time. In the North, flices of the bride-cake are put through the wedding
ring : they are afterwards laid under pillows, at night, to caufe young
perfons to dream of their lovers. Douce pointed out that this cuftom
is not peculiar to the North of England, it feems to prevail generally.
The pieces of the cake muft be drawn nine times through the wed
ding ring. [But it appears that the cake was not neceffarily a wed
ding-cake. This cuftom has already been mentioned in the Notes to
St. Faith's Day.
Aubrey, writing about 1670,^ relates that when he was a boy, it
was ufual for the bride and bridegroom to kifs over the cakes at the
' Morefin! " Papatus," p. 12, who quotes Alexander ab Alexandro, lib. it.
ch. 5.
It is farther obfervable that the joining together of the right hands in the Mar
riage Ceremony, Is from the fame authority. Alex, ab Alexandro, lib ii. cap. 5
[quoted by Morefin].
" Quintus Curtius, lib. i. " De Geft. Alexandri M."
* " Health's Improvement," p. 218. This ceremony of Confarreation has not
been omitted by Morefin ("Papatus," p. 165.) Nor has it been overlooked by
Herrick (" Hefperides," p. 128). See, alfo, Langley's "Polydore Vergil," fol. 9,
'verfo. It was alfo a Hebrew cuftom. See Selden 's " Uxor Hebraica " (" Opera,"
tom. iii. pp. 633, 668).
^ " Perafta re divlna Sponfa ad Sponfi domum deducitur, indeque Panis pro-
jlcltur, qui a pueris certatim rapitur," fol. 68.
[" "MS. Lanfd." 226, fol. 109, wr/o.]
Nuptial Ufages. 59
table. He adds that the cakes were laid, at the end of dinner, one
on another, like the fhew-bread in the old Bible-prints. The bride
groom was expeaed to wait at table on this occafion.]
The following extraa is from an old grant, cited in Du Cange,
V. CoNFARREATio. " Miciacum concedimus et quicquid eft Fifci
noftri intra Fluminum alveos et per fanSiam Confarreationetn et An-
nulum inexceptionaliter tradimus."
The fuppofed heathen origin of our marriage ring^ had well nigh
caufed the abolition of it, during the time of the Commonwealth.
Leo Modena,^ fpeaking of the Jews' contraas and manner of mar
rying, fays that before the writing of the bride's dowry is produced,
and read, " the Bridegroom putteth a Ring upon her Finger, in the
prefence of two Witneffes, which commonly ufe to be the Rabbines,
faying withal unto her : ' Behold, thou art my efpoufed Wife, ac
cording to the Cuftome of Mofes and of Ifrael.' "
Vallancey,' fays that " there is a paffage in Ruth, chap. iv. v. 7,
which gives room to think the Ring was ufed by the Jews as a
Covenant." He adds, that the Vulgate has tranflated Narthick
(which ought to be a ring) a fhoe. " In Irifh Nuirt is an Amulet
worn on the Finger, or Arm, a Ring." Sphaera Solis eft Narthick,
fays Buxtorf in his Chaldee Lexicon.
[Swinburne' writes:] "The firft Inventor of the Ring, as is re
ported, was one Prometheus. The workman which made it was
Tubal-Cain : and Tubal-Cain, by the counfel of our firft parent
Adam, (as my Author telleth me) gave it unto his Son to this end,
that therewith he fhould efpoufe a Wife, like as Abraham delivered
unto his Servant Bracelets and Ear-rings of Gold. The form of the
Ring being circular, that is round and without end, importeth thus
much, that their mutual love and hearty affeSiion fhould roundly flow
from the one to the other as in a Circle, and that continually arid for
ever." In the Hereford, York, and Salifbury Miffals, the ring is direaed
to be put firft upon the thumb, afterwards upon the fecond, then on
the third, and laftly on the fourth finger, where it is to remain, " quia
in illo digito eft quedam vena procedens ufque ad Cor " — [an opinion
exploded by modern anatomy.
The praaice of placing the wedding-ring on the bride's thumb is
mentioned and reprehended by Butler :
" Others were for abolifhing
That Tool of Matrimony, a Ring,
With which th' unfanftifi'd Bridegroom
Is married only to a Thumb. "^']
' See Herrick, p. 72.
'' "Hiftory of the Rites," &c. of the Jews, tranfl. by Chilmead, 1650, p. 176.
^ " CoUeftanea," vol. xiii. p. 98,
¦¦ " On Spoufals," p. 207. He cites Alberic de Rofa " Dift." in nj. Annulus,
[^ "Hudibras," 1678, Part iii. u. 2, ed, 1694, p. 100. In reference to the
ring formerly worn by women as an emblem of widowhood on the thumb, the
6o Nuptial Ufages.
It is very obfervable that none of the above Miffals mentions the
hand, whether right or left, upon which the ring is to be put. This
has been noticed by Selden in his " Uxor Hebraica." ^
The "Hereford Miffal" inquires: " Quaero quse eft ratio ifta,
quare Anulus ponatur in quarto digito cum pollice computato, quam
in fecundo vel tercio ? Ifidorus dicit quod quaedam vena extendit
fe a digito illo ufque ad Cor, et dat intelligere unitatem et perfec-
tionem Amoris." [The fame rubric occurs in the " Sarum Miffal :"—
"ibique (fponfus) dimittat annulum, quia in medico eft quaedam vena
procedens ufque ad cor — "]
" It is," fays Wheatiey, " becaufe from thence there proceeds a
particular Vein to the Heart. This, indeed," he adds, "is now
contradiaed by experience ; but feveral eminent authors, as well
Gentiles as Chriftians, as well Phyficians as Divines, were formerly of
this opinion, and therefore they thought this Finger the propereft to
bear this pledge of love, that from thence it might be conveyed, as it
were, to the Heart."
[But the "Sarum Miffal" lays down, with unmiftakable precifion,
the mode in which the hufband fhall take the ring from the minifter —
with the three firft fingers of the right hand, and while he repeats
after the minifter, " With this ring I thee wed," &c. he is direaed
to hold his wife's right hand in his own left [manu fua ftnijlra tenens
dexteram fponfa). This may rather favour the notion that the ring
was placed on the woman's left hand.]
It appears from Aulus Gellius,^ that the ancient Greeks and moft
of the Romans wore the ring " in eo digito qui eft in manu finiftra
minimo proximus." He adds, on the authority of Appian, that a fmall
nerve runs from this finger to the heart ; and that therefore it was
honoured with the office of bearing the ring, on account of its con
nexion with that mafter mover of the vital funaions.
Macrobius^ affigns the fame reafon : but alfo quotes the opinion of
Ateius Capito, that the right hand was exempt from this office,
becaufe it was much more ufed than the left hand, and therefore the
precious ftones of the rings were liable to be broken : and that the
finger of the left hand was fekaed, which was the leaft ufed.
Lemnius tells us, fpeaking of the ring-finger that " a fmall branch
of the Arterie, and not of the Nerves, as Gellius thought, is ftretched
forth from the Heart unto this Finger, the motion whereof you fhall
perceive evidently in Women with Child and wearied in Travel, and
following paffage from the " Speftator " may be worth giving : " It is common
enough among ordinary people, for a ftale virgin to fet up a ftiop in a place,
where fhe Is not known ; where the large thumb ring, fuppofed to be given
her by her hufband, quickly recommends her to fome wealthy neighbour, who
takes a liking to the jolly widow, that would have overlooked the venerable
fpinfter."] ¦ " Digito quarto, fed non liquet dexterae an finiftrae manus."
° " Noftes," lib. x. c. lo.
' " Saturnal." lib. vii. c. 13. For the ring's having been ufed by the Romans
at their Marriages, confult Juvenal, Sat. vi. v. 27.
Nuptial Ufages. 6i
all Affeas of the Heart, by the touch of your fore finger. I ufe to
raife fuch as are fallen in a Swoond by pinching this Joynt, and by
rubbing the Ring of Gold with a little Saffron, for by this a reftoring
force that is in it, paffeth to the Heart, and refrefheth the Fountain of
Life, unto which this Finger is joyn'd : wherefore it deferved that
honour above the reft, and Antiquity thought fit to compaffe it about
with Gold, Alfo the worth of this Finger that it receives from the
Heart, procured thus much, that the old Phyfitians, from whence alfo
it hath the name of Medicus, would mingle their Medicaments and
Potions with this Finger, for no Venom can ftick upon the very out-
moft part of it, but it will offend a Man, and communicate itfelf to his
Heart." '
The " Britifh Apollo"^ affords, at all events, an utilitarian argu
ment in favour of the fourth finger of the left hand. It fays : " There
is nothing more in this, than that the Cuftom was handed down to
the prefent age from the praaice of our Anceftors, who found the
left Hand more convenient for fuch Ornaments than the right, in that
it's ever lefs employed, for the fame reafon they chofe the fourth
Finger, which is not only lefs ufed than either of the reft, but is more
capable of preferving a Ring from bruifes, having this one quality
peculiar to itfelf, that it cannot be extended but in company with fome
other Finger, whereas the reft may be fingly ftretched to their full
length and ftreightnefs." ^
Many married women are fo rigid, not to fay fuperftitious, in their
notions* concerning their wedding rings, that neither when they
wafh their hands, nor at any other time, will they take it off from
their finger, extending, it fhould feem, the expreffion of " till Death
us do part" even to this golden circlet, the token and pledge of
matrimony. [This feeling ftill remains very prevalent among all
claffes,] It may have originated in the popifh hallowing of this ring, of
which the following form occurs in " The Doarine of the Maffe
Booke," 1554. " The Halowing of the Womans Ring at Wedding.
' Thou Maker and Conferver of Mankinde, Gever of fpiritual Grace
and Graunter of eternal Salvation, Ijor A, fend thy y^ bleffing upon this
Ring,' (Here the Proteftant Tranflator obferves in the margin, ' Is
not here wife geare .¦") that fhe which fhall weare it, maye be armed
wyth the vertue of heavenly defence, and that it maye profit her to eter-
nall Salvation, thorowe Chrifl, &c.
' A Prayer.
^' Halow thou Lord this Ring which we bleffe in thy holye Name :
that what Woman foever fhall weare it, may fiand fafl in thy peace, and
' "Engllfti Tranflat." fol. Lond. 1658, p. 109.
•* 1708, vol. i. No. 18.
^ See alfo Vol. i. No. 3, Supernumerary for June.
* In Jorden's " Difcourfe of the Suffocation of the Mother," 1603, the Author
mentions a whimfical fuperftition relating to the wedding ring, which need not be
repeated.
62 Nuptial Ufages.
continue in thy wyl, and live and grow and waxe old in thy love, and be
multiplied into that length of dales, thorow our Lord, &c.'
" Then let holy Water be fprinkled upon the Ryng."
[The lofs of the wedding-ring was confidered an evil portent even
in the time of Charies I. In the " Autobiography of Sir John
Bramfton," under the date of 163 1, where he defcribes the voyage
over from Dublin to Holyhead, with his father and new ftep-mother,
there is an account of the latter dropping her wedding-ring into the
fea, near the fhore, as they were riding on horfeback along the beach.
The writer fays : " As fnee [his ftep-mother] rode over the fands
behind me, and pulling off her glove, her wedding-ringe fell off, and
funck inftantly. She caufed her man to alight ; fhe fate ftill behind
me, and kept her eye on the place. Direaed her man, but he not
gueffing well, fhe leaped off, faying fhe would not ftirr without her
ringe, it beinge the mofi vnfortunate thinge that could befall any one to
loofe the weddinge ringe." The ring was at laft, after great fearch and
trouble, recovered.]
There is an old proverb on the fubjea of Wedding Rings, which
has no doubt been many a time quoted for the purpofe of encouraging
and haftening the confent of a diffident or timorous miftrefs :
" As your Wedding-Ring wears.
You'll wear off your cares."
Columbiere, fpeaking of Rings, fays : " The Hieroglyphic of the
Ring is very various. Some of the Antients made it to denote Servi
tude, alledging that the Bridegroom was to give it to his Bride, to
denote to her that fhe is to be fubjea to him, which Pythagoras
feemed to confirm, when he prohibited wearing a ftreight Ring, that
is, not to fubmit to over-rigid fervitude."
Rings appear to have been given away formerly at Weddings. In
Wood's "AthenaB,"^ we read in the account of the famous phi
lofopher of Queen Elizabeth's days, Edward Kelley, " Kelley, who was
openly profufe beyond the modeft limits of a fober Philofopher, did
give away in Gold-wire Rings, (or Rings twifted with three gold-
wires,) at the marriage of one of his Maid-Servants, to the value of
4000/." This was in 1589, at Trebona.
In Davifon's " Rapfody,"^ occurs a beautiful fonnet, " Upon fend
ing his Miftreffe a Gold Ring, with this Poefie, Pure and Endleffe,"
and another and later allufion to the emblematical properties of the
Wedding Ring occurs in a " Colkaion of Poems," printed at Dublin
in 1801. [It is difficult to concur with Mr. Brand, who printed this
fecond Sonnet entire, in his opinion, that it is " more beautiful " than
Davifon's.] Woodward, in his Poems, 1730, has the following lines :
" To Phoebe, prefenting her nuith a Ring.
" Accept, fair Maid, this earnejl of my Lo've,
Be this the Type, let this my Paffion prove :
' Vol. i. p. 280. ' Edit, 1 61 1, p. 98.
Nuptial Ufages. 63
Thus may our joy In endlefs Circles run,
Frefli as the Light, and reftlefs as the Sun :
Thus may our Lives be one perpetual round.
Nor Care nor Sorrow ever fhall be found."
[The fuperftition that a wife is a marketable commodity, was en
tertained, to his misfortune, by one Parfon Cheken, or Chicken, in
the reign of Queen Mary, for in his " Diary," Henry Machyn notes
under the year 1553 : " The xxiiij of November, dyd ryd in a cart
Cheken, parfon of Sant Necolas Coldabbay, round abowt London,
for he fold ys wyffto a bowcher."]
This fuperftition ftill prevails among the loweft of our vulgar, that
a man may lawfully fell his wife to another, provided he deliver her
over with a halter about her neck. It is painful to obferve, that
inftances of this occur frequently in our newfpapers, [but it is
becoming of more and more rare occurrence, and may be fecurely
regarded as one of thofe veftiges of barbarous ignorance which are faft
dying out from among us.']
Every one knows that in England, during the time of the Com
monwealth, juftices of peace were empowered to marry people. A
feu d'efprit on this fubjea may be found in Flecknoe's " Diarium,"
1656, p. 83, " On the Juftice of Peace's making Marriages, and the
crying them in the Market,"
[I obferve in the will of Anne Barett, of Bury St. Edmunds, made
in 1504, a curious provifion, by which the teftatrix bequeathed to
Our Lady of Walfingham, her " corall bedys of thrys fyfty, and my
maryeng ryng, w* all thyngys hangyng theron." " I do not underftand
this allufion thoroughly ; but I fuppofe that it may have fome refer
ence to charms at that time worn fufpended from the wedding-ring.
In the will of William Lenthall, the celebrated Speaker of the
Houfe of Commons, made in 1662, the teftator defires that his fon
will wear his mother's wedding-ring about his arm, in remembrance of
her, I prefume he meant, tied to the arm by a ribbon.']
[' Yet In the Daily Telegraph newfpaper for January i8, 1868, there is the fol
lowing extraft : " The Blackburn Standard reports that on Saturday afternoon
laft a mechanic, named Thomas Harland, fold his wife to another man, named
Lomax, for the fum of 20/., and all parties being agreeable to the bargain, Mrs,
Harland has been transferred to her new hufband. The following agreement has
been drawn up and figned by the parties : ' Blackburn, Jan. 11, 1868 : This Is to
certify to all whom it may concern, that I, Thomas Harland, of Blackburn, do
relinquifh all my conjugal rights to my wife, Sarah Ellen Harland, in favour of
Henry Lomax, for the fum of i/. fterllng. As witnefs our hands, &c., Thomas
Harland ; witnefs, Philip Thomas and George Swarbrlck." Harland has fince
announced that he will not be anfwerable for any debts his late wife may
contraft."] [2 "Bury Wills and Inventories," 1850, p. 95.]
[^ "Wills from Doftors' Commons," 1863, p. 118.]
64 Nuptial Ufages,
6. Rush Rings.
A cuftom extremely hurtful to the interefts of morality appears
anciently to have prevailed both in England and other countries, of
marrying with a Rush Ring; chiefly praaifed, however, by defigning
men, for the purpofe of debauching their miftreffes, who fometimes
were fo infatuated as to believe that this mock ceremony was a real
marriage. [This abufe was ftriaiy prohibited by the Conftitutions of
Richard, Bifhop of Salifbury, in 1217. '
It feems, however, that this defcription of ring was in a manner
countenanced by the authorities in civil contraas in France, where the
contraaing parties had been imprudent, and it was thought defirable to
cover the fhame of the families concerned.^] Douce refers Shake
fpeare's expreffion, " Tib's Rufh for Tom's forefinger," which has fo
long puzzled the Commentators, to this cuftom.
7. Bride Favours.
"What pofies for our wedding-rings.
What gloves we'll give, and ribbanings." Herrick.
A knot, among the ancient Northern Nations, feems to have been
the fymbol of love, faith, and friendfhip, pointing out the indiffoluble
tie of affeaion and duty. Thus the ancient Runic infcriptions, as we
gather from Hickes's " Thefaurus," ^ are in the form of a knot.
Hence, among the Northern Englifh and Scots, who ftill retain, in a
great meafure, the language and manners of the ancient Danes, that
curious kind of knot, a mutual prefent between the lover and his
miftrefs, which, being confidered as the emblem of plighted fidelity,
is therefore called a True-love Knot : a name which is not derived, as
one would naturally fuppofe it to be, from the words "True" and
" Love," but from the Danifh verb " Trulofa" fidem do, I plight my
troth, or faith. Thus we read, in the Iflandic Gofpels, the following
paffage in the firft chapter of St. Matthew, which confirms, beyond
a doubt, the fenfe here given : " til einrar Meyar er trulofad var einum
Manne," &c. i. e. to a Virgin efpoufed, that is, who was promifed, or
had engaged herfelf to a man, &c, [and Ifidorus appears to have been
clearly of opinion that this bond was binding and indiffoluble,]*
Browne, in his " Vulgar Errors," fays : " The True-Lover's
Knot is much magnified, and ftill retained in prefents of love among
' Du Cange, " GloflTar." oi. Annulus.
'^ Du Breul, " Theatre des Antiquitez de Paris," 1622, p. 90 ; " Le Voyageur
de Paris," tom. iii. p. 156 ; and compare Thiers, " Tralte des Superftitions," tom.
iii. p. 462,
' " Gramm. Ifland," p. 4. Many of thefe Runic knots are engraved in Sturle-
fon's " Hiftory of Stockholm."
* Selden's " Uxor Hebraica, (Opera, tom. ill. p. 670.)"
Nuptial Ufages. 65
us ; which, though in all points it doth not make out, had, perhaps,
its origin from Nodus Herculanus, or that which was called Hercules
his Knot, refembling the fnaky complication of the Caduceus, or Rod
of Hermes, and in which form the Zone or woollen Girdle of the
bride was faftened, as Turnebus obferves in his ' Adverfaria.' "
Hence, evidently, the bride favours, or the top-knots, at mar
riages, which have been confidered as emblems of the ties of duty and
affeaion between the bride and her fpoufe, have been derived.
Bride favours appear to have been worn by the peafantry of France,
on fimilar occafions, on the arm. In England thefe knots of ribbons
were diftributed in great abundance formerly, even at the marriages of
perfons of the firft diftinaion. They were worn at the hat, (the
gentleman's, I fuppofe,) and confifted of ribbons of various colours.
If I miftake not, white ribbons are the only ones ufed at prefent.
[An elegant madrigal entitied " The True-love's Knot," is printed
in the " Poetical Rapfody," i6ii,and is reproduced entire by Mr.
Brand and his editors, but in truth it does not contain a fyllable of
illuftration, and befides, the Rapfody is fufficiently acceffible.]
I find the following paffage in the "Merry Devil of Edmonton,
1608 : " With pardon. Sir, that name is quite undon.
This True-Love-Knot cancelles both maidc and nun."
Gay, in his paftoral called the " Spell," thus beautifully defcribes
the ruftic manner of knitting the true-love knot :
" As Lubberkin once flept beneath a tree,
I twitch'd his dangling Garter from his knee ;
He wift not when the hempen ftiing I drew ;
Now mine I quickly doff of Inkle blue ;
Together faft I tie the Garters twain.
And, while I knit the Knot, repeat this Strain —
Tln-ee times a True-Love's Knot I tye fecure :
Firm be the Knot, firm may his Love endure."
Another fpecies of knot divination is given in the " Connoiffeur,"
No. 56 , " Whenever I go to lye in a ftrange bed, I always tye my
Garter nine times round the bed-poft, and knit nine Knots in it, and
fay to myfelf: ' This Knot I knit, this Knot I tye.
To fee my Love as he goes by.
In his apparel'd array, as he walks in eveiy day.' " '
Ozell^ fays: "The Favour was a large knot of ribbands, of
feveral colours, gold, filver, carnation, and white. This is worn upon
the hat for fome weeks, [He adds elfewhere : '] " It is ridiculous to
' See Miflbn's " Travels in England, 1696," p. 317 : "Autrefois en France on
donnoit des llvrees de Noces ; quelque Noeud de Ruban que les Conviez portoient
attache fur le bras : mais cela ne fe pratique plus que parmi les paifans. En Angle-
terre on le fait encore chez les plus grands Seigneurs. Ces Rubans s'appellent des
Faveurs," &c.
' Note to his tranflation of MiflTon, p. 350.
* Ibid. Note, p. 351.
II, F
66 Nuptial Ufages.
go to a wedding without new cloaths. If you are in mourning, you
throw it off for fome days, unlefs you are in mourning for fome near
relation that is very lately dead," „ l n rr
In " Paradoxical Affertions and Philofophical Problems, by R, H,
1664, p, 19, we read : " I fliall appeal to any Enarnoreto but newly
married, whether he took not more pleafure in weaving innocent True-
love Knots than in untying the virgin zone, or knitting that more than
Gordian Knot, which none but that invincible Alexander, Death, can
untye ?"
In " The Fifteen Comforts of Marriage," a conference is intro-
duced,! concerning bridal colours in dreffing up the bridal bed by the
Bride-maids — not, fay they, with^^//ow r/^^^K^j, thefe are the emblems
of jealoufy — not with " Fueille mart," that fignifies fading love— but
with true-blue, that fignifies conftancy, and green denotes youth — put
them both together, and there's youthful conftancy. One propofed
bl w and black, that fignifies conftancy till death ; but that was ob-
jeaed to, as thofe colours will never match, Violet was propofed as
fignifying religion ; this was objeaed to as being too grave : and at laft
they concluded to mingle a gold tiffue with grafs-green, which latter
fignifies youthful jollity.
For the Bride's Favours, Top-knots, and Garters, the Bride propofed
Blew, Gold-colour, Popingay-Green, and Limon colour, — objeaed to.
Gold-colour fignifying avarice — Popingay-Green, wantonnefs.
The younger Bride-maid propofed mixtures — Flame-colour — Flefi-
colour — Willow — and Milk-white. The fecond and third were objeded
to, as Flefh-colour fignifies lafcivioufnefs, and Willow forfaken.
It was fettled that Red fignifies juftice, and Sea-green inconftancy.
The milliner, at laft, fixed the colours as follows : for the Favours,
Blue, Red, Peach-colour, and Orange-tawney : for the young ladies'
Top-knots, Flame-colour, ftraw-colour, (fignifying plenty,) Peach-
colour, Grafs-green, and Milk-white : and for the Garters, a perfeft
Yellow, fignifying honour and joy.
To this variety of colours in the bride favours ufed formerly, the
following paffage, wherein Lady Haughty addreffes Morofe, in Jonfon's
" Silent Woman," evidently alludes :
" Let us know your Bride's colours and yours at leaft."
The bride favours have not been omitted in " The Collier's Wed-
ding": " The bllthfome, buckfome country Maids,
With Knots of Ribbands at their heads.
And pinners flutt'ring in the wind.
That fan before and tofs behind," &c.
And, fpeaking of the youth, with the bridegroom, it fays :
" Like ftreamers in the painted flry.
At every breaft the Favours fly."
' Pp. 4+, 47-8.
Nuptial Ufages. 67
8. Bride Maids.
The ufe of bride maids at weddings appears as old as the time of
the Anglo-Saxons : among whom, as Strutt informs us, " the Bride
was led by a Matron, who was called the Bride's Woman, followed by
a company of yoiing Maidens, who were called the Bride's Maids."'
The Bride Maids and Bridegroom Men are both mentioned by the
Author of the " Convivial Antiquities," in his Defcription of the
Rites of Marriages in his Country and Time."
In later times it was among the offices of the bride maids to lead
the bridegroom to church, as it was the duty of the bridegroom's
men to condua the bride thither.
It is ftated in the Account of the Marriage Ceremonials of [Sir]
Philip Herbert and the Lady Sufan, performed at Whitehall in the
reign of James I., that "the Prince and the Duke of Holftein led the
Bride to church."
In Deloney's "Jack of Newbury [1597] " fpeaking of his bride, it is
faid, that " after hee, came the chiefeft maidens of the country, fome
bearing bridecakes, and fome gariands, made of wheat finely gilded,
and fo paffed to the church. She was led to church between two
fweet boys, with bridelaces and rofemary tied about their filken fleeves ;
the one was Sir Thomas Parry, the other Sir Francis Hungerford."
In Field's " A Woman is a Weathercock," aa i. fc. i. on a mar
riage going to be folemnized. Count Fredericke fays : " My bride will
never be readie, I thinke; heer are the other fifiers." Pendant ob
ferves : " Looke you, my lorde ; theres Lucida weares the willow-
garland for you, and will fo go to church, I hear." As Lucida
enters with a willow-garland, fhe fays :
" But fince my fifter he hath made his choife.
This wreath of willow, that begirts my browes.
Shall never leave to be my ornament
Till he be dead, or I be married to him."
In [an Epithalamium by Chriftopher Brooke] in " Englands Heli
con, [1614]" we read :
"Forth, honour'd groome; behold, not farre behind.
Your willing bride, led by tiuo ftrengthleffe boyes.'" ^
This has not been overlooked in the " Collier's Wedding :"
" Two lufty lads, well dreft and ftrong,
Step'd out to lead the Bride along :
And two young Maids, of equal fize.
As foon the Bridegroom's hands furprlze."
' " Manners and Cuftoms," vol. I. p. 76.
' " Antequam eatur ad Templum Jentaculum Sponfae et invltatis apponitur,
Serta atque Corollae diftribuuntur. Poftea certo ordine Virl primum cum Sponfo,
delude Puellae cum Sponfa in Templum procedunt." — Antiquitat. Con'vi'vial. fol. 68.
' Marked in the margin oppofite, " Going to church — bride boyes."
68 Nuptial Ufages.
It was an invariable rule for the men always to depart the room
till the bride was undreffed by her maids and put to bed.
Waldron,! fpeaking of the Manx weddings, fays : " They have
bridemen and brides-maids, who lead the young couple as in England,
only with this difference, that the former have ozier wands in their
hands, as an emblem of fuperiority."
In the " Gentleman's Magazine " for Oaober, 1733, are " Verfes
fent by a young lady, lately married, to a quondam lover, inclofing a
green ribbon noozed: " Dear D.
In Betty loft, confider what you lofe,
And, for the bridal knot, accept this nooze ;
The healing ribbon, dextroufty apply'd,
Will make you bear the lofs of fuch a bride."
g. Bridegroom Men.
Thefe appear anciently to have had the title of Bride-knights.'
Thofe who led the bride to church [by the arms, as if committing an
aa of force,] were always bachelors ; ' but fhe was to be condufled
home by two married perfons. Polydore Vergil* informs us that a
third married man, in coming home from church, preceded the bride,
bearing, inftead of a torch, a veffel of filver or gold.
We read in the account of the Marriage of Jack of Newbury
[1597], where fpeaking of the bride's being led to church, it is
added by the writer that " there was a fair Bride Cup, of Silver gilt,
carried before her, wherein was a goodly Branch of Rofemary, gilded
very fair, and hung about with filken ribbands of all colours."
In "A Pleafant Hiftory of the Firft Founders,'" we read: "At
Rome the manner was that two Children fhould lead the Bride, and
a third bear before her a Torch of White-Thorn in honour of Ceres,
which cuftome was alfo obferved here in England, faving that in place
of the Torch, there was carried before the Bride a Bafonof Gold or
Silver ; a Garland alfo of Corn Eares was fet upon her head, or elfe
¦ "Defcription of the Ifle of Man," Works, p, 169.
" " Paranymphi ejufmodi feu Sponfi amici appellantur etiam uloJ re vi'iujiiiivos
(Matt. ix. 15) filii thalami nuptlalis ; qua de re optime vir prseftantiffimus Hugo
Grotlus. SIngulare habetur et apud nos nomen ejufmodi eorum quos Bride-Knights,
id eft, Miniftros Sponfalitios qui Sponfam deducere folent, appellitamus." Seldeni
"Uxor Hebraica;" Opera, tom. ill. p. 638.
He gives, ibid, a Chapter " de Paranymphis Hebreorum Sponfi Amicis,'in utro-
que Fcedere diftis et In Novo Filiis Thalami nuptialis."
[' Fletcher's " Scornful Lady," 161 6, (Dyce's B. and F. vol. ill. p. 16).]
¦" " In Anglia fervatur ut duo puerl, velut Paranymphi, id eft, Aufpices, quiolim
pro nuptiis celebrandis Aufpicia capicbant, nubentem ad Templum — et inde
domum duo viri deducant, et tertius loco facis, Vasculum aureum, vel argenteum
praeferat." ° 8vo. p. 57.
Nuptial Ufages. 69
fhe bare it on her hand ; or, if that were omitted, Wheat was fcattered
over her head in token of Fruitfulnefs ; as alfo before fhe came to bed
to her Hufband, Fire and Water were given her, which, having power
to purifie and cleanfe, fignified that thereby flie fhould be chaft and
pure in her body. Neither was fhe to ftep over the Threfhold, but
was to be borne over to fignifie that fhe loft her Virginity unwillingly,
with many other fuperftitious Ceremonies, which are too long to re-
hearfe." Morefin relates that to the bachelors and married men who led
the bride to and from church, fhe was wont to prefent cloves for
that fervice during the time of dinner.^
It was part of the bridegroom man's office to put him to bed to the
bride, after having undreffed him.
10. Strewing Herbs, &c. before the Couple on their way
TO Church : with the use of Nosegays.
There was anciently a cuftom at marriages of ftrewing herbs and
flowers, as alfo rufhes, from the houfe or houfes where perfons be
trothed refided, to the church. Herrick^ and Braithwaite^ refer to
this ufage. The latter writes :
" All halle to Hymen and his Marriage Day,
Strew Rufhes and quickly come away ;
Strew Rufties, Maides, and ever as you ftrew.
Think one day, Maydes, like will be done for you."
[Browne, who wrote his "Paftorals" before 1614, evidently, in
the following lines, defcribes fome village wedding in his native
Devon : " As I haue feene vpon a Bridall day
Full many Maids clad in their beft array.
In honour of the Bride come with their Flaflcets
FlU'd full with flowers : others in wicker baflcets
Bring from the Marifti Rufties, to o'er- fpread
The ground, whereon to Church the Louers tread ;
Whilft that the quainteft youth of all the Plaine
Vfliers their way with many a piping ftralne,"]
Every one will call to mind the paffage in Shakefpeare to this pur
pofe : " Our Bridal Floiuers ferve for a buried Corfe,"
Armin's "Hiftory of the Two Maids of Moreclacke," 1609, opens
thus, preparatory to a Wedding : " Enter a MMfirewing Flowers,
" Papatus," [1594] pp. 114. "S- , r , 1-.- 11 " ,^
"Hefperides," 1648, p. 129. ' " Strappado for the Divell, 1615, p. 74-
70 Nuptial Ufages.
and a Serving-man perfuming the door. The Maid fays 'ftrew,
ftrew'— the man, ' the Mufcadine ftays for the Bride at Church.' "
So in Brooke's " Epithalamium."^
" Now bufie Maydens ftrew fweet Flowres."
The ftrewing herbs and flowers on this occafion, as mentioned in
a note upon Barrey's play of "Ram Alley"* to have been prac-
tifed formerly, is ftill kept up in Kent and many other parts of Eng
land. In the drama juft cited, we read: "Enter Adriana, and another
ftrawing hearbes." " Adr. Come ftraw'apace. Lord ftiall I never live.
To walke to Church on flowers ? O 'tis fine.
To fee a Bride trip it to Church fo lightly.
As If her new Choppines would fcorne to bruze
A filly flower !"
In " Oxford Drollery," 1671, p. 118, is a poem ftyled " A Suppo-
fition," in which the cuftom of ftrewing herbs is thus alluded to :
" Suppofe the way ixnth fragrant Herbs were ftrowing.
All things were ready, we to Church were going :
And now fuppofe the Prieft had joyn'd our hands," &c.
[In a volume publifhed more than a century fince, it is faid] : " 'Tis
worthy of remark that fomething like the antient cuftom of ftrewing
the threfhold of a new married Couple with Flowers and Greens, is,
at this day, praaifed in Holland. Among the Feftoons and Foliage,
the Laurel was always moft confpicuous : this denoted, no doubt, that
the Wedding Day is a Day of Triumph."^
With regard to nofegays, called by the vulgar in the North of
England [and elfewhere pretty generally] Pofies, Stephens [in his
"Effayes," 1615,] has a remarkable paffage in his charaaer of A
plaine Country Bridegroom. " He fhews," fays he, " neere affinity
betwixt Marriage and Hanging : and to that purpofe he provides a great
Nofegay, and fliakes hands with every one he meets, as if he were
now preparing for a condemned Man's Voyage." Nofegays occur in
" The Collier's Wedding."
[In the poem of " The Milkmaids," printed in " Wit Reftor'd,"
1658, the milkmaids are reprefented as wearing jet-rings, with poefies
— Tours more then his owne.
In 156 1, one of the officials at the Queen's Bench was put in the
pillory for coming to feveral gentlemen and ladies, and prefenting them
' " England's Helicon," 1614, fign. R i, 'verfo.
'' Dodfley's "O. P." 1780, vol. V. p. 503. ,
^ " Hymen, or an accurate Defcription of the Ceremonies ufed in Marriage in
every Nation of the World," 1760, p. 39. Among the allufions of modern poetry to
this praftice, may be mentioned Geo. Smith's "Paftorals," 1770, and "The
Happy Village," among the Poems of the Rev, Henry Rowe, 1796.
Nuptial Ufages. y\
with nofegays, alleging that he was going to be married. This
epifode refts on the authority of Machyn the Diarift ; but unluckily
the paffage where it is related, is imperfea in the MS,]
In Hacket's " Marriage Prefent," a Wedding Sermon, the author
introduces among Flowers ufed on this occafion, Prim-rofes, Maidens-
blufhes, and Violets. Herrick plays upon the names of flowers fekaed
for this purpofe.i In " Vox Graculi," 1623, "Lady Ver, or the
Spring," is called " The Nofe-gay giver to Weddings."
II. Rosemary and Bays at Weddings.
Rofemary, which was anciently thought to ftrengthen the memory,
was not only carried at funerals, but alfo worn at weddings.^
[It might be difficult to meet with a better illuftration of this than
Herrick's lines : " The Rofemarie Branch.
" Grow for two ends, it matters not at all,
Be't for my Bridall or my Buriall."
The prefentation of a rofemary-branch feems to have been held
equivalent to a wifh for the long life and health of the recipient. In
Tottels Mifcellany, 1557, are fome lines " Of a Rofemary braunche
fente :" "Suche grene to me as you haue fent,
Such grene to you I fende agayn :
A flow'ring hart that wyll not feint.
For drede of hope or lofle of gaine : — "]
In Hacket's " Marriage Prefent," 1607, he thus expatiates on the
ufe of Rofemary at this time. " The lafl of the Flowers is the Rofe
mary, (Rofmarinus, the Rofemary is for married Men) the which by
name, nature, and continued ufe, Man challengeth as properly belong
ing to himfelfe. It overtoppeth all the Flowers in the Garden, boafting
Man's rule. It helpeth the Braine, ftrengtheneth the Memorie, and is
very medicinable for the head. Another property of the Rofemary is,
it affeas the Hart. Let this Ros Marinus, this Flower of Men, En-
figne of your Wifdome, Love, and Loyaltie, be carried not only in
your Hands, but in your Heads and Harts."
In Rowley's " Faire Quarrel," 1617, aa v. fc. i, we read :
" Phis. Your Maifter Is to be married to-day ?
" Trim. Elfe all this Rosemary Is loft."
In Barrey's " Ram Alley," 161 1, fign. F 4, is the following allufion
to this old cuftom :
' "Hefperides," p. 131.
' Reed's " Shakfpeare," 1803, ix. 335; xviii. 295; xx. 121. Alfo Dodfley's
"O. P." 1780, Ix. 370.
72 Nuptial Ufages.
" Know, varlet, I will be wed this morning ;
Thou ftialt not be there, nor once be grac'd
With a peece of Rofemary."
Hacket adds : " Smell fweet, O ye flowers in your native fweetnefs :
be not gilded with the idle arte of man."
Both Rofemary and Bays appear to have been gilded on thefe oc
cafions.^ It appears from a paffage in Stephens's " Charaaer of a plaine
Countrey Bride," that the Bride gave alfo, or wore, or carried, on this
occafion, " gilt Rafes of Ginger." " Guilt Rafes of Ginger, Rofemary,
and Ribbands, be her beft magnificence. She will therefore beftow a
livery, though fhe receives back wages."
In ["The Paffage of our moft drad Soueraigne Lady CJuene Elyza-
beth through the citie of London, &c." 1558,] fign. d 3, is the following
paffage : " How many Nofegayes did her Grace receyve at poore
womens hands ? How oftentimes ftayed fhe her chariot when fhe
faw any fimple body offer to fpeake to her Grace ? A braunch of Rofe
mary given to her Grace, with a fupplication, by a poor woman about
Fleet Bridge, was feene in her chariot till her Grace came to Weft
minfter." In an account of a Wedding, in 1560,*^ "of three fifters together,"
we read : '¦^ fine flowers and Rofemary [were'] flrewed for them coming
home : and fo to the Father's Houfe, where was a great Dinner pre
pared for his faid three Bride-Daughters, with their Bridegrooms and
Company." In the year 1562, July 20, a wedding at St. Olaves,
" a daughter of Mr. Nicolls (who feems to have been the Bridge
Mafter) was married to one Mr. Coke." " At the celebration whereof
were prefent, my Lord Mayor, and all the Aldermen, with many
Ladies, &c. and Mr. Becon, an eminent Divine, preached a Wedding
Sermon. Then all the Company went home to the Bridge Houfe to
Dinner : where was as good cheer as ever was known, with all
manner of Mufick and Dancing all the remainder of the day : and at
night a goodly Supper ; and then followed a Mafque till midnight.
The next day the Wedding was kept at the Bridge Houfe, with great
cheer : and after Supper came in Mafquers. One was in cloth of
gold. The next Mafque confifted of Friars, and the third of Nuns.
And after, they danced by times : and laftly, the Friars and the Nuns
danced together."
In [one of the Diurnals'*] is the following paffage : " Nov. 28.—
That Afternoon Mafter Prin and Mafter Burton came into London,
being met and accompanied with many thoufands of Horfe and Foot,
and rode with Rofemary and Bayes in- their Hands and Hats ; which is
generally efteemed the greateft affront that ever was given to the
Courts of Juftice in England."
' Herrick's " Hefperides,'' pp. 208, 252,
" Strype's edit, of Stow's " Survey," 1754, lib. I. p. 259.
[-3 « j^ Perfeft Diurnall of that memorable Parliament begun at Weftminfter, &c.
Nov. 3rd, 1640," vol. i. p. 8.J
Nuptial Ufages. 73
The Rofemary ufed at Weddings was previoufly dipped, it fhould
feem, in fcented water.
In Dekker's " WonderfuU Yeare," 1603, fignat, e 2 verfo, fpeaking
of a bride, who died of the plague on her wedding day, he fays : " Here
is a ftrange alteration, for the Rofemary that was wafht in fweet water
to fet out the Bridall, is now wet in Teares to furnifh her Buriall."
And in Fletcher's " Scornful Lady," 1616, it is aflced :
" Were the Rofemary Branches dipped ?"
Stephens, as cited above, fays : " He is the fineft fellow in the pa
rifh, and hee that mifinterprets my definition, deferves no Rofemary
nor Rofewater." He adds: "He muft favour of gallantry a little:
though he perfume the table with Rofe-cake : or appropriate Bone-
lace and Coventry-blew:" and is paffing witty in defcribing the fol
lowing trait of our Bridegroom's clownifh civility : " He hath He
raldry enough to place every man by his armes,"
Coles, in his " Adam in Eden," fpeaking of Rofemary fays :
" The Garden Rofemary is called Rofemarinum Coronarium, the
rather becaufe women have been accuftomed to make crowns and
garlands thereof." [The fame author confirms] the obfervation of
Rofemary-, that it " ftrengthens the fenfes and memory."
Parkinfon writes •^ " The B^y-leaves are neceffary both for civil
ufes and for phyfic, yea, both for the fick and for the found, both for
the living and for the dead. It ferveth to adorne the Houfe of God as
well as Man — to crowne or encircle, as with a garland, the heads of
the living, and to fticke and decke forth the bodies of the dead : fo
that, from the cradle to the grave, we have ftill ufe of it, we have ftill
need of it," [Again] : " Rofemary is almoft of as great ufe as Bayes
— as well for civill as phyfical purpofes : for civil ufes, as all doe
know, at Weddings, Funerals, &c, to beftow among friends,"
In " A ftrange Metamorphofis of Man," &c. 1634, it is obferved,
that " hee (the Bay) is fit for halls zndflately roomes, where if there be
a Wedding kept, or fuch Uke feaft, he will be fure to take a place
more eminent then the reft. He is a notable fmell-feaft, and is fo
good a fellow in them, that almoft it is no feaft without him. He is
a great companion with the Rofemary, who is as good a goffip in all
feafts as he is a trencher-man."
In the " Elder Brother," 1637, aa iii. fc 3, in a feene immediately
before a wedding :
" Leiu. Pray take a peece of Rofemary, Mir. I'll wear it
But for the Lady's fake, and none of yours."
In the firft feene of Fletcher's " Woman's Prize," [the ftage-
direaion is : '¦'¦Enter Morofo, Sophocles, and Tranio, with rofemary as
from a wedding."] So in the " Pilgrim," [by Fletcher, 1621:]
" Alph. Well, well, fince wedding will come after wooing,
Gi've me fome Rofemary, and letts be going."
¦ "Paradifus Terreftris," 1629, pp. 426, 598.
74 Nuptial Ufages.
We gather from' Jonfon's " Tale of a Tub," that it was cuftomary
for the Bride Maids, on the Bridegroom's firft appearance in the
morning, to prefent him with a bunch of Rofemary, bound with
ribbons, " Look, an the wenches ha' not found un out, and do
prefent un with a van of Rofemary and Bays enough to vill a bow-
pott, or trim the head of my beft vore horfe : we fhall all ha' Bride
laces, or Points, I zee,"
Similarly to this, in the " Marrow of Complements," 1655, a ruftic
lover tells his miftrefs, that, at their wedding, " Wee'l have Rofemary
and Bayes to vill a bow-pot, and with the zame He trim that vorehead
of my beft vore-horfe,"
In the "Knight of the Burning Peftle," 1613, aa v, fc, i, we
read : " I will have no great ftore of company at the Wedding, a
couple of neighbours and their wives, and we will have a capon in
ftewed broth, with marrow, and a good piece of beef ftuck with
Rofemary." So late as 1698, the old country ufe appears to have been kept up,
of decking the Bridal Bed with fprigs of Rofemary : it is not however
mentioned as being general. ^
12. Garlands at Weddings.
Nuptial Garlands are of the moft remote antiquity. They appear
to have been equally ufed by the Jews and the Heathens.'^
" Among the Romans, when the Marriage Day was come, the
Bride was bound to have a Chaplet of Flowers or Hearbes upon her
Head, and to weare a Girdle of Sheeps Wool about her Middle,
faftned with a True-Loves-Knot, the which her Hufband muft loofe.
Hence rofe the Proverb : He hath undone her Virgin's Girdle : that
is, of a Mayde he hath made her a Woman." ^
Aubanus, in his Defcription of the Rites at Marriages in his
country and time, has not omitted Garlands.*
Among the Anglo-Saxons, after the benediaion in the church,
both the bride and bridegroom were crowned with crowns of flowers,
kept in the church for that purpofe.' In the Eaftern Church the
chaplets ufed on thefe occafions appear to have been bleffed.^
' See " Lex Forcia," 1698, p. 11.
' Seldeni "Uxor Hebraica." Opera, tom. iii. p. 655.
' Vaughan's " Golden Grove," [1600,] ed. 1608. Signat. o 2.
" " Antiq. Conv." fol. 68.
' " Strutt's Manners and Cuftoms," vol. i. p. 76.
^ Selden, ubi fuprd, p. 661. " Coronas tenent a tergo paranymphi, qua
Capitibus Sponforum iterum a Sacerdote non fine benediftione folenni aptantur."
The form is given, p. 667. "Benedic, Domine, Annulum iftum et Coronam
iftam, ut ficut Annulus circumdat digitum hominis et Corona Caput, ita Gratia
Spiritus Sanfti circumdet Sponfum et Sponfam, ut videant Filios et Filias ufque ad
tertiam aut quartam Generationem, &c."
Nuptial Ufages. ye
The nuptial gariands were fometimes made of myrtie,' In Eng
land, in the time of Henry VIII, the bride wore a gariand of corn
ears, fometimes one of flowers,^
In dreffing out Grifild for her marriage in the " Clerk of Oxen-
ford's Tale" in Chaucer, the chaplet is not forgotten : "A Corune
on hire hed they han ydreffed."
In "Dives and Pauper," 1493, "The fixte Precepte," chap. 2, is
the following curious paffage : " Thre Ornamentys longe pryncypaly
to a Wyfe. A Rynge on hir fynger, a Broch on hir brefl, and a
Garland on hir hede. The Ringe betokenethe true Love, as I have
feyd, the Broch betokennethe Clenneffe in Herte and Chaftitye that
fhe oweth to have, the Garlande bytokeneth Gladneffe and the
Dignitye of the Sacrament ofWedlok."
In the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Margaret's Weftminfter,
under 1540, is the following item : " Paid to Alice Lewis, a Gold-
fmiths Wife of London, for a Serclett to marry Maydens in, the 26th
Day of September, 3/. \os."
In Field's "Amends for Ladies," 1618, feene the laft, when the
marriages are agreed upon, there is a ftage direaion to fet Garlands
upon the heads of the Maid and Widow that are to be married.^
Dallaway* tells us that " Marriage is by them (of the Greek Church)
called the Matrimonial Coronation, yrflw the Crowns or Garlands with
which the Parties are decorated, and which they folemnly diffolve on
the eighth Day following." [Brand likewife refers to a French work,'
where it is mentioned that, at the weddings of the poorer fort, a
chaplet or wreath of rofes was cuftomary in France ; but thefe illuf-
trations, even when they are very apt, which is not often, it muft be
owned, the cafe, are only interefting parallel examples.]
[Goffon, in his " Ephemerides of Phialo," 1579, remarks:] "In
fom Countries the Bride is crowned by the Matrons with a Garland
OF Prickles, and fo delivered unto her Hufhandthat hee might know
he hath tied himfeif to a thorny plefure,"
13. Gloves at Weddings.
The giving of gloves at marriages is a cuftom of remote antiquity;
[and the fame may be faid of ante-nuptial gifts of the fame kind — a
cuftom undoubtedly old, yet overlooked by Brand and his editors.
Mr. Halliwell prints* a pofy fuppofed to accompany the prefent of a
' Selden ubi fuprd. " Spicea autem Corona (Interdum florea) Sponfa redimita
caput, prafertim ruri deducitur, 'vel manu ger'it ipfam Coronam." — Polyd. Vergil,
Langley's Tranfl. fol. 9 nierfo.)
^ See alfo Leland, " CoUeft." ed. 1770, no. v. p. 332.
^ In Ihre's " Gloffarium," 1769, nj. Krona, we read: " Sponfarum ornatus
erat Corona gejiamen, qui mos hodleque pleno ufu apud Ruricolas viget."
¦* " Conftantlnople," &c. 1797, p. 375.
* "Les Origines de quelques Coutumes anciennes," 1672, pp. 53, 70.
[' "Popular Rhymes and Nurfery Tales," 1849, p. 250.]
76 Nuptial Ufages,
pair of gloves from a .gendeman to his miftrefs, and notices the
incident in "Much Ado about Nothing," where the Count fends
Hero a pair of perfumed gloves. The pofy runs as follows :
" Love, to thee I fend thefe gloves ;
If you love me.
Leave out the G,
And make a pair of loves."
Felix, in his Anglo-Saxon " Life of St. Guthlac, Hermit of Crow
land," circa a.d. 749, mentions the ufe of gloves as a covering for the
hand in chap, xi.]
Sir Dudley Carleton,^ defcribing to Winwood, in a letter of January,
1604-5, the marriage between Sir Philip Herbert and the Lady Sufan,
fays : " No ceremony was omitted of Bride-Cakes, Points, Garters,
and Gloves."
The bride's gloves are noticed by Stephens : " She hath no rarity
worth obfervance, if her Gloves be not miraculous and fingular : thofe
be the trophy of fome forlorne Sutor, who contents himfeif with a
large Offering, or this glorious fentence, that fhe fhould have bin his
bedfellow." It appears from Selden, that the Belgic cuftom at marriages was
for the prieft to afk of the bridegroom the ring, and, if they could be
had, a pair of red gloves, with three pieces of filver money in them
(arrhae loco) — then putting the gloves into the bridegroom's right hand,
and joining it with that of the bride, the gloves were left, on loofing
their right hands, in that of the bride.^
In Arnold's Chronicle, [1502,] among " the artycles upon
whiche is to inquyre in the vifitacyons of ordynatyes of chyrches,"
we read : "Item, whether the curat refufe to do the folemnyfacyon
of law full matrymonye before he have gyfte of money, hofes, or
gloves." In Jonfon's " Silent Woman," Lady Haughty obferves to Morofe:
" We fee no Enfigns of a Wedding here, no Charaaer of a Bridale ;
where be our Skarves and our Gloves ?"
The cuftom of giving away gloves at weddings occurs in " The
Miferies of inforced Marriage" [by George Wilkins the Elder, 1607,
and in Herrick]. White gloves ftill continue to be prefented to the
guefts on this occafion.
There is fome pleafantry in the [very common notion, and not ex-
clufively vulgar one, as Brand alleged,] that if a woman furprizes a
man fleeping, and can fteal a kifs without waking him, fhe has a right
to demand a pair of gloves. Thus Gay in his Sixth Paftoral :
" CIc'ly, brifk maid, fteps forth before the rout.
And klflT'd with fmacking lip the fnoring lout :
' "Memorials," vol. ii. p, 43, See alfo "Gent. Mag," for Feb, 1787,
' "Uxor Hebraica," Opera, tom. iii, p. 673 : " De More Feterum mittendi Chiro-
thecam in rei fidem cum Nuntio, quem quopiam ablegabant, alibi agetur, vocabatur
id genus Symbolum Jertekn." Ihre's " Gloffarium," 'u. Handske. Du Cange
fays : " Chlrothecam in fignum confenfus dare." " Etiam Rex in fignum fui
Confenfus, fuam ad hoc mittere debet Chlrothecam."
Nuptial Ufages. yy
For Cuftom fays, whoe'er this venture proves.
For fuch a Kifs demands a pair of Gloves,"
A cuftom ftill prevails at maiden affizes, /, e. when no prifoner is
capitally conviaed, to prefent the Judges, &c, with white gloves,^
It fhould feem, by a paffage in Clayell's " Recantation of an ill-led
life," 1628, that anciently this prefent was made by fuch prifoners as
received pardon after condemnation,^
Fuller fays :^ " It paffeth for a generall Report of what was
cuftomary in former times, that the Sheriff of the County ufed to
prefent the Judge with a pair oi white Gloves, at thofe which we call
Mayden- Affizes, viz. when no malefaaor is put to death therein."
Among the lots in " A Lottery prefented before the late Queenes
Maiefty at the Lord Chancellers [Keeper's] houfe, 1601," is, A
Paire of Gloues, with a pofy.*
Can the cuftom oi dropping or fending the Glove, as the fignal of a
challenge have been derived from the circumftance of its being the
cover of the hand, and therefore ^ut for the hand itfelf? The giving
of the hand is well known to intimate that the perfon who does fo
will not deceive, but ftand to his agreement. To "fhake hands upon.
it" would not, it fhould feem, be very delicate in an agreement to
fight, and therefore gloves may, poffibly, have been deputed as fubfti-
tutes. We may, perhaps, trace the fame idea in wedding gloves.
" At Wrexham in Flintfhire," fays Dr. Lort," " on occafion of the
Marriage of the Surgeon and- Apothecary of the place, Auguft 1785,
I faw at the Doors of his own and neighbours' Houfes, throughout
the Street where he lived, large Boughs and Pofts of Trees, that had
been cut down and fixed there, filled with white paper, cut in the
fhape of Women's Gloves, and of white Ribbons."
[Gloves were not lefs common at funerals than at weddings. In
fome cafes, where the family was rich, or at leaft in good circum
ftances, as many as an hundred pairs were given away. In our time, ,
the undertaker provides gloves for the mourners, and the friends of
the departed ufually get kid gloves, the fervants worfted. But only
thofe who are prefent, or are unavoidably abfent, receive any.]
14. Garters at Weddings.
Garters at weddings have been already noticed under the head of
gloves. There was formerly a cuftom in the North of England,^
[' Mr. Brand fuppofed that It was peculiar to the North of England, which is
not the faft.]
" It occurs in his Dedication " to the Impartiall Judges of his Majefties Bench,
my Lord Chiefe Juftice and his other three honourable Affiftants."
^ "Mixt Contempl. on thefe Times," 1660, p. 62.
[' Davifon's " Poetical Rapfodie," 161 1, p. 44, Alfo at p. 44, of ed. 1621, and
in Nicolas's ed. vol. i. p. 7 , This lottery is given rather differently in " Early Poetical
Mifcellanies" (Percy Soc.) The Lord Keeper was Sir T. Egerton.J
[^ Note in Brand's own copy of Brand and Bourne, 1777.]
• From the information of a perfon at Newcaftle-upon-Tyne, who had often
feen it done.
yS Nuptial Ufages.
which will be thought to have bordered very clofely upon indecency,
and ftrongly marks the groffnefs of manners that prevailed among our
anceftors : it was for the young men prefent at a wedding to ftrive
immediately after the ceremony, who could firft pluck off the bride's
garters from her legs. This was done before the very altar. The
bride was generally gartered with ribbons for the occafion. Whoever
were fo fortunate as to be viaors in this fingular fpecies of conteft,
during which the bride was often obliged to fcream out, and was very
frequently thrown down, bore them about the Church in triumph.
[Brand fays :] " A clergyman in Yorkfhire told me, that to pre
vent this very indecent affault, it is ufual for the bride to give garters
out of her bofom. I have fometimes thought this a fragment of
the ancient ceremony of loofening the virgin zone, or girdle, a cuftom
that needs no explanation."' From paffages in different works, it
fhould feem that the ftriving for garters was originally after the bride
had been put to bed,'
In Brooke's "Epithalamium,"' we read :
" Youths ; take his Poynts ; your wonted right :
And Maydens ; take your due, her Garters,"
A Note to [George Stuart's] " Difcourfe between a Northum
berland Gentleman and his Tenant," 1686, p, 24, tells us: "The
Piper at a Wedding has always a piece of the Brides Garter ty'd
about his pipes."
Miffon* fays : "When Bed-time is come, the Bride-Men pull of
the Bride's Garters, which fhe had before unty'd, that they might
hang down and fo prevent a curious Hand from coming too near her
Knee. This done, and the Garters being fafien'd to the Hats of the
Gallants, the Bride Maids carry the Bride into the Bride-Chamber,
where they undrefs her and lay her in Bed." It is the cuftom in
Normandy for the bride to beftow her garter on fome young man as
a favour, or fometimes it is taken from her. In Aylet's Poems,
1654, is a Copy of Verfes "on fight of a moft honorable Lady's
Wedding Garter." I am of opinion that the origin of the Order of
the Garter is to be traced to this nuptial cuftom, anciently common
to both court and country.
Among the lots in the lottery prefented in 1601,'' there occurs :
" A Payre of Garters.
" Though you have Fortunes Garters, you muft be
More ftaid and conftant in your fteps than fhe."
' Compare alfo the " Britifh Apollo," 1710, vol. iii. no. 91.
' "Folly in Print; or a Book of Rhymes," 1664, p. 121 ; Stephens's " Effayes,"
1615, p. 359 ; the old fong of " Arthur of Bradley;" R. Fletcher's "Poems,"
1656, p. 230 ; Ritfon's " Ant. Songs," 1792, p. 297 ; and Herrick's" Hefperides,"
p. 128,
^ " England's Helicon," 1614, fign. R 3.
* "Travels" tranflated by Ozell, p. 352.
[S Davifon's "Rapfody," p. 44, ed, 1611 or 1621.]
Nuptial Ufages. yg
Sir Abraham Ninny, in Field's " A Woman's a Weather-Cocke,"
1612, aa i. fc. I, declares :
" Well, fince I am difdain'd ; off Garters blenv ;
Which fignifies Sir Abram's love was true.
Off Cyprefl"e blacke, for thou befits not me ;
Thou art not Cypreffe of the Cyprefle Tree,
Befitting Lovers : out green Shoe-ftrings, out.
Wither In pocket, fince my Luce doth pout."
Thefe garters, it fhould feem, were ancientiy worn as trophies in
the hats.i 15. Skarves, Points, and Bride-laces,
That Skarves, now confined to funerals, were anciently given at
marriages, has been already noticed in a former feaion, from Ben
Jonfon's " Silent Woman." In the fame author's " Tale of a Tub,"
Turf is introduced as faying on this occafion : " We fhall all ha'
Bride-Laces or Points I zee,"
In the Lottery of 1601,*^ the three following occur, in a Lift of
Prizes for Ladies : A Dozen of Points, A Scarfe, and A Lace.
Herrick, in his " Epithalamie on Sir Clipfeby Crew and his Lady,''
thus cautions the bridegroom's men againft offending the delicacy of
the new-married lady : " We charge ye that no ftrife
(Farther than gentlenefs tends) get place
Among ytjjiri'vingfor her Lace :"
And it was obferved before, in the account of the marriage of Jack
of Newbury, that his Bride was led to Church between two fweet
boys, " with Bride-Laces and Rofemary tied about their filken
Sleeves." In " Obfervations on a Monthes Journey into France," [a MS. in
4to. circa 1626, by an Oxford graduate, according to Mr. Brand,]
is the following paffage : " A Scholler of the Univerfity never dif-
furnifhed fo many of his Freindes to provide for his Jorney, as they
(the French) doe Neighbours, to adorne their Weddings. At my
beinge at Pontoife, I fawe Miftres Bryde returne from the Church.
The day before fhee had beene fomewhat of the condicion of a Kitchen
Wench, but now fo tricked up with Scarfes, Rings and Croffe-
Garters, that you never fawe a Whitfun-Lady better rigged. I fhould
much have applauded the Fellowes fortune, if he could have maryed
the Cloathes; but (God be mercifull to hym) he is chayned to the
Wench ; much joy may they have together, moft peerleffe Couple,
Hymen Hymensei, Hymen, Hymen O Hymenaee !
The Match was now knytt up amongft them. I would have a French
Man marie none but a French Woman."
' "Hudibras," P. i. c. ii. 1. 524. ' Davlfon, ubi fuprd.
8o Nuptial Ufages,
In [the fecond Part of] Dekker's " Honeft Whore," 1 630, fignat.
K 3 verfo, we read : " Looke yee, doe you fee the Bride-laces that
I give at my Wedding will ferve to tye Rofemary to both your Coffins,
when you come from hanging."
16. Bride Knives.
Strange as it may appear, it is however certain that knives were
formerly part of the accoutrements of a bride. This perhaps will
not be diiKcult to account for, if we confider that it anciently formed
part of the drefs for women to wear a knife or knives fheathed and
fufpended from their girdles : a finer and more ornamented pair of
which would very naturally be either purchafed or prefented on the
occafion of a marriage.^
A bride fays to her jealous hufband, in Dekker's " Match me in
London," 1631 :
" See at ray Girdle hang my Wedding Kni'ves !
With thofe difpatch me,"
From a paffage in the " Raigne of Edward the third," 1596, there
appear to have been two of them. ^
So in the Lottery of 160 1, No. xi. is :
" A Pair of Kni'ves.
"Fortune doth give thefe paire of Knives to you,
To cut the thred of Love If't be not trae."
In Field's " A Woman's a Weather-Cocke," aa v. fc. r, Bellafront
[is introduced with a knife hanging at her girdle, with which fhe
threatens to ftab herfelf if her father forces her to marry any other
than Scudmore.]
In Erondel's " French Garden," 1605,^ in a dialogue defcribing a
lady's drefs, the miftrefs thus addreffes her waiting-woman : " Give
me my Girdle, and fee that all the Furniture be at it : looke if my
Cizers, the Pincers, the Pen-knife, the Knife to clofe Letters, with the
Bodkin, the Ear-picker, and the Seale be in the Cafe : where is my
Purfe to weare upon my Gowne," &c.
In Rowlands' " Well met, Goffip : or 'Tis merry when GofHps
meet," [firft printed in 1602]* the Widow fays :
" For this you know, that all the wooing Seafon,
Sutors with gifts continuall feeke to gaine
Their Miftreffe loue — "
The wife anfwers :
' See Douce's Effay on this fubjeft in " Archaeol," vol, xii.
" Reed's " Shakfp." vol. xx. p. 206.
' Edit. 1621, fign, E 6, •verfo.
* Edit. 1675, fign. A 2, 'verfo.
Nuptial Ufages. 8i
" That's very true
In confcience I had twenty paire of gloues
When I was Maid, giuen to that efl^eft ;
Garters, kniues, purfes, girdles, ftore of rings.
And many a hundred dainty pretty things,"
In the " Witch of Edmonton," already quoted. Old Carter tells
his daughter and her fweetheart : " Your Marriage-money fhall be
receiv'd before your Wedding Shooes can be pulled on, Bleffing on
you both,"
So in Dekker's " Match me in London" : " I thinke your Wedding
Shoes have not beene oft unty'd." Down anfwers, " Some three times."
The fubfequent, no lefs curious, I find in Northbrooke's ' " Treatife"
[1577:] "In olde time (we reade) that there was vfually caried
before the mayde when fhe fhoulde be maried and came to dwell in
her hufbandes houfe, a diflaffe charged with Flaxe, and a fpyndle
hanging at it, to the intente fhee might bee myndefull to lyue by hir
labour." In the "Witch of Edmonton," 1658, Somerton fays: "But fee,
the Bridegroom and Bride comes : the new pair of Sheffield Knives
fitted both to one Sheath."
Chaucer's " Miller of Trumpington" is reprefented as wearing a
Sheffield knife :
" A Shefeld thwitel bare he in his Hofe :"
and it is obfervable that all the portraits of Chaucer give him a knife
hanging at his breaft. I have an old print of a female Foreigner
entitled " Forma Pallii Mulieris Clevenfis euntis ad forum," in which
are delineated, as hanging from her girdle, her purfe, her keys, and
two fheathed knives. Among the women's trinkets about 1540, in the
four P's of John Heywood, occur:
" Silkers Swathbonds, Ribands, and Sleeve-laces,
Girdles, Kni'ves, Purfes, and Pin-Cafes ;" '
[17, The Hour appointed for Marriages,
This is not fixed by the Church, but is left entirely to the difcretion
of the parties concerned. It ufually takes place between eight or nine
o'clock in the morning and one in the afternoon ; but noontide is the
moft ufual time for the better fort of weddings. Thefe rites were
formeriy celebrated much earlier, however, even among perfons of the
higheft rank. In the arrangements for the marriage of Catharine of
' Edit. 1579, p, 35 [or Shakefp. Soc. repr. of ed. 1577, p. 58.]
" [This feems to have been a forerunner of the modern chatelaines, which about
thirty years ago, or lefs, were fo favourite an article of ornament among our
country-women, and were made receptacles for trinkets, keys, fciflbrs, &c.] " An
olde Marchant had hanging at his Girdle, a Pouch, a Speftaclecafe, a Punmaid,
a Pen and Inckhorne, and a Hand-kertcher, with many other Trinkets befides :
which a merry Companion feeing, faid, it was like a Haberdafliers ftiop of fmall
wares." — Copley's Wits, Fits, and Fancies, 1595.
n. G
82 Nuptial Ufages.
Arragon to Arthur, Prince of Wales, in 1501, the following paffage
occurs : " Item, that the maryage take begynnynge fomewhat before
ix at the clocke."]^
i8. The Marriage Ceremony, or part of it, performed
anciently in the Church-porch, or Before
the Door of the Church.
Vallancey informs us that the antient Etrufcans always were mar
ried in the ftreets, before the door of the houfe, which was thrown
open at the conclufion of the ceremony ;= [but it is fcarcely fafe, per
haps, to draw analogies between the praaice of a people living in fo
different a climate from our own, and under fuch different condi
tions. As for the early Italians, in fome of their republics it appears
to have been ufual to hear fuits at law in the porch of the houfe ;
but in the Lombard architedlure of the middle ages, the porch en
joyed a prominence which among us it never pofleffed.] All the an
cient miffals mention at the beginning of the nuptial ceremony, the
placing of the man and woman before the door of the church,' and
diredt, towards the conclufion, that here they fhall enter the church as
far as the ftep of the altar.*
Selden' afferts that no where elfe, but before the face of, and at the
door of the church, could the marriage-dower have been lawfully
affigned ; [which may derive fupport from the following paffage :]
" Robert Fitz Roger, in the 6th Ed. I. entered into an engagement
with Robert de Tybetot, to marry, within a limited time, John his fon
and heir, to Hawifia, the daughter of the faid Robert de Tybetot, to
endow her at the Church-door on her Wedding-day with Lands
amounting to the value of one hundred pounds per annum."*
Chaucer alludes to this cuftom in his " Wife of Bath " thus :
" She was a worthy woman all her live,
Hufbands at the Church dore had fhe five."
[In Fletcher's " Scornful Lady," 1616, the Lady fays :
" Were my feet In the door; were ' I John ' faid ; —
If John fliould boaft a favour done by me,
I would not wed that year."]
[' " The traduftion and mariage of the princefl'e " (i 502), fign. A 4 i;er/"o.]
" " CoUeftanea," No. xiii. p. 67.
^ " Mlffale ad Ufum Sarum," 1555. See alfo the Formula in the Appendix to
Hearne's " Hift. and Antiq. of Glaftonb," p, 309.
* The vulgar reafon afligned for the firft part of this praftice, i.e. " that it would
have been indecent to give permlflfion within the church for a man and a woman to
fteep together," is too ridiculous to merit any ferious anfwer.
* " Uxor Hebraica" (Opera, tom. ill. p. 680). '' Neque alibi quam in facie Ec
clefias et ad oftium Ecclefiae, atque ante defponfatlonem in initio Contraftus (ut Juris
Confultus noftri veteresaiunt) fic fundi dos legitime afllignari potuit."
° Brydges' " Northamptonfhire," vol. i. p. 135.
Nuptial Ufages. 83
In a colleaion of prints, illuftrating ancient cuftoms [which Brand
faw] in the library of Douce, there was one that reprefented a marriage
folemnizing at the church door.
In a MS.i cited in the " Hiftory of Shrewfbury," 1779, it is ob
ferved that " the Pride of the Clergy and the Bigotry of the Laity
were fuch, that both rich and poor were married at the Church
Doors." By the Pariiamentary reformation of marriage and other rites under
King Edward the Sixth, the man and woman were firft permitted to come
into the body or middle of the church, ftanding no longer as formerly
at the door : yet [from the fuperfcription of Herrick's poem called
"The Entertainment, or PoRCH-verfe, at the Marriage of Mr. Hen.
Northly," &c.] one would be tempted to think that this cuftom had
furvived the Reformation.
In a miffal of the date of Richard II. 's reign, formerly the property
of Univerfity College in Oxford, in the marriage ceremony, the man
fays : " Ich M. take the N. to my weddid Wyf, to haven and to
holden, for fayrere for fouler, for bettur for wors, for richer for porer,
in fekneffe and in helthe, for thys tyme forward, til dethe us departe,
3if holichirche will it orden, and jerto iche pli3t the my treuthe :" and
on giving the ring : " With this Ring I the wedde and 3is Gold and
Selver Ich the 'r^eve^ and with my Bodi I the worfchepe, and with all
my worldly Catelle I the honoure." The woman fays : " Iche N.
take the M, to my weddid hufbond, to haven and to holden, for
fayrer for fouler, for better for wors, for richer for porer, in fekneffe
and in helthe, to be bonlich and buxum in Bed and at Burde, tyl deth
us departe, fro thys tyme forward, and if holichirche it wol orden, &
3erto Iche pli3t my truthe,"
The variations. of thefe miffals on this head are obfervable. The
Hereford Miffal makes the man fay : " I N, underfynge the N. for my
wedde wyf, for betere for worfe, for richer for porer, yn fekenes & in
helthe, tyl deth us departe as holy Church hath ordeyned, and therto
Y plygth the my trowthe," The woman fays : "IN. underfynge
the N, &c. to be boxum to the tyl deth us departe," &c.
In the " Sarum Manual " there is this remarkable variation in the
woman's fpeech : " to be bonere and buxum in Bedde and at Borde,"
&c. Bonaire and buxum are explained in the margin by " meek and
obedient," In the " York Manual " the woman engages to be " buxom " to
her hufband, and the man takes her " for fairer for fouler, for better
for warfe," &c.
' " Hlftorical Paflages concerning the Clergy In the Papal Times," (" H. of S.'
p. 92, Notes).
" So alfo the "Miflale ad ufum Sarum," 1554, fol. 43.
84 Nuptial Ufages,
19, Drinking Wine in the Church.
This cuftom is enjoined in the Hereford Miffal.* By the Sarum
Miffal it is direaed that the fops immerfed in this wine, as well as the
liquor itfelf, and the cup that contained it, fhould be bleffed by the
prieft.^ The beverage ufed on this occafion was to be drunk by the
bride and bridegroom and the reft of the company.
Lyfons,^ in his account of Wilfdon Parifh, tells us of an " Inventory
of the Goods and Ornaments belonging to Wilfdon Church about
1547 " in which occur " two Mafers that were appointed to remayne
in the church for to drynk yn at Brideales." The pieces of cake, or
wafers, that appear to have been immerfed in the wine on this occa
fion, were properly called fops, and doubtlefs gave name to the flower
termed " fops in wine."
In the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Lawrence's Parifh, Read
ing, 1 56 1,* is the following entry: '•'¦ Bryde-Paft. It. receyved of
John Radleye, vij. viij^." A note fays : " Probably the Wafers,
which, together with fweet Wine, were given after the folemnization
of the Marriage."* See the " Account of the Ceremony of the Mar
riage between the Eleaor Frederick and Elizabeth, eldeft daughter of
James I. on St. Valentine's Day, 1613-14," in Leland. So, at the
marriage of Queen Mary and Philip of Spain [in Winchefter Cathe
dral, 1554,] " Wyne and Sopes were hallowed,"^
In the Workes of John Heiwood,' the following paffage occurs ;
" The Drinke of my Brydecup I fhould have forborne.
Till temperaunce had tempred the tafte beforne.
I fee now, and fhall fee while I am alive
Who wedth or he be wife fhall die or he thrive."
' " Poft Mifi'am, Panis, et VInum, vel aliud bonum potabile in Vafculo profera-
tur, et guftent in nomine Domini, Sacerdote primo ficdicente: ' Dominus vobif-
cum.' "
° " Benedicatur Panis et Vinum vel aliud quid potabile in Vafculo, et guftent in
nomine Domini, Sacerdote dicente ' Dominus vobifcum.' " The form of Benedic
tion ran thus : " Benedic Domine panem iftum et hunc potum et hoc vafculum,
ficut benedixifti quinque panes in Deferto et fex hydrias in Chanaan Galilese, utfint
fani et fobrii atque Immaculati omnes guftantes ex iis," &c.
' " Environs," vol. iii. p, 624. ¦* " Coates's Reading,'' p. 225.
" "CoUeftanea," ed. 1770, no. vi. p. 335. ^ Ib'td. no. iv. p. 400,
' Edit. 1576, fign. B 4. In the " Compleat Vintner," &c. a poem, 1720, p. 17,
it is aflced : " What Prieft can join two Lovers hands,
But Wine muft feal the Marriage-bands ?
As if celeftial Wine was thought
Eflential to the facred Knot,
And that each Bridegroom and his Bride
Believ'd they were not firmly ty'd,
Till Bacchus, with his bleeding tun.
Had finifh'd what the Prieft begun."
Nuptial Ufages. 85
This cuftom too has its traces in Gentilifm. It is of high antiquity
fays Malone, for it fubfifted among our Gothic anceftors.*
In the articles ordained by Henry VII. for the regulation of his
houfehold, " Article for the Marriage of a Princefs," we read : " Then
Pottes of Ypocrice to bee ready, and to be put into the cupps with
Soppe, and to be borne to the Eftates ; and to take a foppe and a
drinke," &c. In Dekker's "Satiro-Maftix," 1602, we read : " And
when we are at Church bring the Wine and Cakes."
Farmer has adduced a line in an old canzonet on a wedding, fet to
mufic by Morley, 1606 : " Sops in Wine, Spice Cakes are a dealing."
The allufions to this cuftom in our old plays are very numerous ;
as in Shakefpeare's " Taming of the Shrew," where Gremio calls for
wine, gives a health, and having quaffed off the Mufcadel, throws the
fops in the fexton's face. In the beginning of Armin's " Hiftory of
the Two Maids of Moreclacke," 1609, the ferving-man, who is per
fuming the door, fays : " The Mufcadine flays for the Bride at Church."
Again, in Fletcher's " Scornful Lady," aa i. fc, i, [there is an allufion
to the Hippocras and Cakes.] In Jonfon's " Magnetic Lady," the
wine drunk on this occafion is called " a Knitting Cup."
The Jews have a cuftom at this day, when a couple are married, to
break the glafs in which the bride and bridegroom have drunk, to ad-
monifh them of mortality.'' This cuftom of nuptial drinking appears
to have prevailed in the Greek Church.'
In Piers' " Defcription of Weftmeath,"* 1682, it is ftated, that
" in their Marriages, efpecially in thofe countries where cattle abound,
the parents and friends on each fide meet on the fide of a hill, or, if
the weather be cold, in fome place of fhelter about mid-way between
both dwellings. If agreement enfue, they drink the Agreement-Bottle,
as they call it, which is a bottie of good Ufquebaugh," (/. e. Whifky,
the Irifh aquavitis, and not what is now underftood by LFfquebaugh,)
" and this goes merrily round. For payment of the portion, which
generally is a determinate number of cows, littie care is taken. Only
the father, or next of kin to the Bride, fends to his neighbours and
friends _/ai mututs viciffitudinis obtentu, and every one gives his cow or
heifer, which is all one in the cafe, and thus the portion is quickly
paid ; neverthelefs, caution is taken from the Bridegroom, on the day
..' " Ingrefl"us domum convivalem Sponfus cum pronubo fuo, fumpto poculo, quod
maritale vocant, ac paucis a Pronubo de mutatovitae genere prefatis. In fignum con-
ftantiae, virtutis, defenfionis et tutelae, propinat Sponfae et fimul Morgennatlcam
(Dotalltinm ob virginitatem) promittit, quod Ipfa grato animo recolens, pari ratione
et modo, paulo poll mutato in uxorium habitum operculo Capitis, ingrefia, poculum
ut noftrates vocant, uxorium leviter delibans, amorem, fidem, diligentiam, et fub-
jeftionem promittit." — Stiernhook De fure Sueorumet Gothorum 'vttujio, 1672, p.
163, quoted by Malone.
^ "Wedding Sermons," 1732, vol. i. p. 29. A wedding fermon was anciently
preached at almoft every marriage of perfons of any confequence.
" " Certe et in Gra;corum ritibus, Compotatio eft in Ecclefia nuptialis, quae Con-
faneationls vicem videtur piasftare." — Seldeni Uxor Hebraica, Opera, tom. iii.
p. 668. [This is a cuftom alfo among the modern Ruffians.]
¦* Vallancey, vol. i. p. 122.
86 Nuptial Ufages.
of delivery, for reftitution of the cattle, in cafe the Bride die childlefs
within a certain day limited by agreement, and in this cafe every man's
own beaft is reftored. Thus care is taken that no man fhall grow rich
by often Marriages. On the day of bringing home, the Bridegroom
and his friends ride out, and meet the Bride and her friends at the
place of treaty. Being come near each other, the cuftom was of old
to eaft fhort darts at the company that attended the Bride, but at fuch
a diftance that feldom any hurt enfued : yet it is not out of the memory
of man that the Lord Hoath on fuch an occafion loft an eye : this
cuftom of cafting darts is now obfolete,"
The following is from the " Gentieman's Magazine " for March,
1767 : " The antient cuftom of feizing wives by force, and carrying
them off, is ftill praaifed in Ireland, A remarkable inftance of which
happened lately in the county of Kilkenny, where a farmer's fon, be
ing refufed a neighbour's daughter of only twelve yearsof age, took an
opportunity of running away with her ; but being purfued and reco
vered by the girl's parents, fhe was brought back and married by her
father to a lad of fourteen. But her former lover, determining to
maintain his priority, procured a party of armed men, and befieged
the houfe of his rival ; and in the conteft the father-in-law was fliot
dead, and feveral of the befiegers were mortally wounded, and forced to
retire without their prize,"
20. The Nuptial Kiss in the Church.
This Nuptial Kifs in the church is enjoined both by the York
Miffal,^ and the Sarum Manual.'' It is exprefsly mentioned in the fol
lowing line from Marfton's " Infatiate Countefs" :
" The KiflTe thou gav'ft me in the Church, here take."
It [was once] cuftomary among perfons of middling rank as well as
the vulgar, in moft parts of England, for the young men prefent at the
marriage ceremony to falute the bride, one by one, the moment it is
concluded.-' This, after officiating in the ceremony [himfeif, Mr,
Brand faw] frequently done,* [But it is now ufual only among the
common people.]
The fubfequent curious particulars, relating to the Nuptial Kifs
' " Accipial Sponfus pacem " (the Pax) " a Sacerdote, et ferat Sponfae, ofculans
eam, et neminem alium, nee ipfe nee ipfa." . ,
' 1 5 S3, Rubrick, fol. 69. " Surgant ambo, Sponfus et Sponfa, et accipiat
Sponfus pacem a Sacerdote, et ferat Sponfae, ofculans eam, et neminem alium, nee
ipfe nee ipfa."
" Reed's " Shakfpeare," vol. xi. p. 142. .
* In " The Collier's Wedding," the bride is introduced as being waylaid, after
the ceremony, at the church ftile, for this purpofe.
Nuptial Ufages. 87
in the Church, &c. are from Randolph's "Letters."! He is fpeak
ing of the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to Lord Darnley :
" She had on her back the great mourning gown of black, with
the great wide mourning hood, &c. The rings, which were 'three,
the middle a rich diamond, were put on her finger. They kneel
together, and many prayers were faid over them ; ftie tarrieth out
the mafs, and he taketh a Kifs, and leaveth her there, and went to
her chamber, whither, within a fpace, ftie followeth, and being required
(according to the folemnity) to eaft off her cares, and leave afide thefe
forrowful garments, and give herfelf to a more pleafant life, after fome
pretty refufal, (more, I believe, for manner fake than grief of heart),
flie fuffereth them that ftood by, every man that could approach, to
take out a pin ; and fo, being committed to her ladies, changed her
garments, but went not to bed : to fignifie to the World that it was
not luft that moved them to marry, but only the neceffity of her
country, not, if God will, to leave it without an heir."
Vaughan, in his " Golden-groue," 1600," fays : " Among the Ro
mans, the future couple fent certain pledges one to another, which,
moft commonly they themfelves afterwards being prefent, would con-
firme with a religious Kiffie."
By a note in Reed's " Shakfpeare " we learn that in dancing, " a
Kifs was antiently the eftablifti'd fee of a lady's partner." So in
Lovel's " Dialogue between Cuftom and Veritie," [1581 :]
" But fome reply, what foole would daunce,
If that when daunce is doone.
He may not have at ladyes lips
That which In daunce he woon,"
This cuftom is ftill prevalent among the country people in many,
perhaps all, parts of the kingdom ; [and Brand here introduces two
or three other illuftrations of this fufficiently well-known ufage, which
have, after all, no bearing on the fubjea.
It feems from the account left us by Guthrie, that in the laft century
the nuptial kifs defcribed by Theocritus in his fifth Idyl as ufual
among his countrymen, that is to fay, the form, where the man takes
the woman by the ears to kifs her, was ftill preferved among the Ruf
fians.'']
21, Care Cloth.
Among the Anglo Saxons the nuptial benediaion was performed
under a veil, or fquare piece of cloth, held at each corner bv a tall
man, over the bridegroom and bride, to conceal her virgin blufhes :
but if the bride was a widow, the veil was efteemed ufelefs,*
' Cited by Andrews In his Continuation of Henry's Hiftory, 1796, p. 148,
Note. ^ Ed. 1608, fign. o 2.
' " Diflert. furies Antiquites de Ruflie," p. 129.
¦* Strutt's " Manners and Cuftoms," vol. i. p. 76.
88 Nuptial Ufages.
According to the S^rum ufe, when there was a marriage before
mafs, the parties kneeled together and had a fine linen cloth (called
the Care Cloth) laid over their heads during the time of mafs, till they
received the benediaion, and then were difmiffed.^
In the Hereford Miffal it is direaed that at a particular prayer, the
married couple fhall proftrate themfelves, while four clerks hold the
pall, /. e. the care cloth over them.^
The rubric in the Sarum Manual is fomewhat different,^
The York Manual alfo differs here,*
[The moft rational explanation of the meaning of C«r*' here is that
fiiggefted in the laft edition of Nares, 1859, making it equivalent to
the Fr. carre. But I am afraid that Palfgrave, 1530, is wrong, as
he and the author of the " Promptorium " (ed. Way, in voce) intend an
altogether different thing when they fpeak of Carde. See Scheller's
Lex. art. Discerpiculum.]
Something like this care cloth is ufed by the modern Jews : from
whom it has probably been derived into the Chriftian Church. [Leo
Modena fays :] " There is a fquare Veftment called Taleth, with
pendants about it, put over the Head of the Bridegroom and the Bnde
together,"* [and Levi*^ feems to fhow that this " fquare veftment," or
canopy, was of velvet.]
In the " Statiftical Account of Scotland," ^ the minifter of Logierait
in Perthfhire fays : " Immediately before the Celebration of the Mar
riage Ceremony, every Knot about the Bride and Bridegroom (Garters,
Shoe-ftrings, Strings of Petticoats, &c.) is carefully loofened. After
leaving the Church, the whole company walk round it, keeping the
Church walls always upon the right hand. The Bridegroom, how
ever, firft retires one way with fome young men to tie the Knots that
were loofened about him ; while the young married woman, in the
fame manner, retires fomewhere elfe to adjuft the diforder of her
Drefs."
' Blount, in 'verbo. ' App. to Hearne's " Glaftonbury," p. 309, etjeq.
' " Profternant fe Sponfus et Sponfa in Oratione ad gradum Altaris, extenfofuper
eos Pallio, quod teneant quatuor Clerici per quatuor cornua in Superpelliceis."
¦* " Mifla dein celebratur, illis genufleftentibus fub Pallio fuper eos extento, quod
teneant duo Clerici in Superpelliceis."
° Selden's " Uxor Hebraica," cap. 15 (Opera, tom. iii. p. 633), treats "de Ve-
laminlbus item quibus obtefti Sponfi."
" See Leo Modena's " Hiftory of the Rites, &c. of the prefent Jews throughout
the World," by Chilmead, 1650, p. 176.
In the Appendix to Hearne's " Hifl. and Antiq, of Glaftonbury," p, 309, is pre
ferved " Formula antiqua nuptias in iis partibus Angliae (occidentallbus nimirum)
qua3 Ecclefias Herefordenfis in ritibus Ecclefiafticis ordine funt ufi, celebrandi." The
Care-Cloth feems to be defcribed in the following paflTage : " Haec Oratio ' S. pro-
piciare Domini^ lemper dicatur fuper Nubentes fub pallio profternentes."
[' "Succinft Ace. of the Rites and Cerem. of the Jews," p. 132.]
» Vol. v. p. 88.
Nuptial Ufages. 89
22. Bride-ale.'
Bride-ale, Bride-bufh, and Bride-ftake are nearly fynonymous terms.
" The expence of a Bride-Ale was probably defrayed by the Rela
tions and Friends of a happy Pair, who were not in circumftances to
bear the Charges of a Wedding Dinner." ^
In the "Chriften State of Matrimony," 1543, fol. 48, verfo, we
read : " When they come home from the Church, then beginneth
exceffe of eatyng and dryncking — and as much is waifted in one daye,
as were fufficient for the two newe maried Folkes halfe a year to lyve
upon." The following is from the Court Rolls of Hales-Owen Borough,
Salop, of the 15th Eliz, :' " Cuflom of Bride-Ale,
"Item, a payne is made that no perfon or perfons that fhall brewe
any Weddyn Ale to fell, fhall not brewe above twelve ftrike of Mault
at the moft, and that the faid perfons fo married fhall not keep nor
have above eight meffe of perfons at his dinner within the burrowe :
and before his brydall daye he fhall keep no unlawfull Games in hys
houfe, nor out of hys houfe, on pain of 20 fhillings."
In Harrifon's " Defcription of Britain " it is remarked : " In feaft
ing alfo the Hufbandmen do exceed after their manner, efpecially at
Bridales, &c. where it is incredible to tell what meat is confumed and
fpent, ech one brings fuch a Difh, or (o manie with him, as his Wife
and he doo confult upon, but alwaies with this confideration, that the
leefer Friend fhall have the better provifion."
Thus it appears that among perfons of inferior rank a contribution
was exprefsly made for the purpofe of affifting the bridegroom and
bride in their new fituation. This cuftom muft have doubtlefs been
often abufed : it breathed however a great deal of philanthropy, and
would naturally help to increafe population by encouraging matrimony.
This cuftom of making prefents at weddings feems alfo to have pre
vailed amongft thofe of the higher order. From the account before
cited of the nuptials of the Lady Sufan with Sir Philip Herbert, in the
reign of James I. it appears that the prefents of plate and other things
given by noblemen were valued at £2500, and that the king gave
£500 for the bride's jointure. His majefty gave her away, and, as his
manner was, archly obferved on the occafion that " if he were unmar
ried he would not give her, but keep her for himfeif."
Bride-ales are mentioned by Puttenham in his " Arte of Poefie :"''
" During the courfe of Queen Elizabeth's Entertainments at Kenil-
' Called alfo Bride-bufti, Bride-ftake, Bidding, and Bride-wain.
' " Archaeol." vol. xii. p. 12.
' Communicated to the "Antiq. Repertory" (vol. iii. p. 24) by Mr. Aftle.
* 4to. Lond. 1589, p. 69. See Warton, " H E. P." 410. ed. vol. iii. p. 129.
90 Nuptial Ufages,
worth Caftle, in 1575, a Bryde-Ale was celebrated with a great
variety of fhews and fports."
From a paffage in Jonfon's "Silent Woman," Andrews' infers
that it feems to have been a general cuftom to make prefents to the
married pair, in proportion to the gay appearance of their wedding.
Newton,'^ fpeaking of rufhes, fays : " Herewith be made manie
pretie imagined Devifes for Bride-Ales, and other Solemnities, as little
Bafkets, Hampers, Paniers, Pitchers, Difhes, Combes, Brufhes,
Stooles, Chaires, Purfes with ftrings. Girdles, and manie fuch other
pretie, curious, and artificiall Conceits, which at fuch times many do
take the paines to make and hang up in the Houfes, as tokens of
good-will to the new married Bride : and after the folemnitie ended,
to beftow abroad for Bride-Gifts or Prefents." In reference to
the rofe, he fays : " At Bride-Ales the Houfes and Chambers were
woont to be ftrawed with thefe odoriferous and fweet Herbes :
to fignifie, that in Wedlocke all penfive fullennes, and lowring
cheer, all wrangling ftrife, jarring, variance, and difcorde, ought to be
utterly excluded and abandoned ; and that, in place thereof, al Mirth,
Pleafantnes, Cheerfulnes, Mildnes, Quietnes, and Love fhould be
maintained, and that in matters paffing betweene the Hufband and the
Wife, all fecrefie fliould be ufed."»
Gough* fays : " At Therfield, as at Braughing, was till lately a fet
of Kitchen Furniture lent to the poor at Weddings."
Hutchinfon,' fpeaking of the parifh of Whitbeck, fays : " Newly
married Peafants beg Corn to fow their firft Crop with, and are
called Cornlaiters,"
Morant, fpeaking of Great Yeldham in Hinckford Hundred, fays:
" A Houfe near the Church, was antiently ufed and appropriated for
dreffing a Dinner for poor Folks when married : and had all Utenfils
and Furniture convenient for that purpofe. It hath fince been con
verted into a School," Again, fpeaking of Matching in Harlow
Half-hundred, he fays : " A Houfe clofe to the Church yard, faid to
be built by one Chimney, was defigned for the entertainment
of poor people on their Wedding Day, It feems to be very antient
but ruinous,"^
' " Continuation of Henrys Hift," p. 529.
= " Herbal for the Bible," 1587, p. 92.
' According to Johnfon, the fecondary fenfe of " Bufli" is a bough of a tree
fixed' up at a door to fhew that liquors are fold there. Hence the well-known pro
verb, "Good Wine needs no Bufh." There is a wedding fermon by Whateley of
Banbury, entitled, " a Bride-Bufh," as is another preached to anew-married couple
at CEfen in Norfolk. See "Wedding Sermons," i2mo, Lond. 1732.
* Edit, of "Camden," 1789, vol. i. p. 341 (Herts).
' " Hift. of Cumberland," vol. i. p. 553. Owen, in his " Welfti Diftionary,"
•v. Cawsa, fays : " It is cuftomary in fome parts of Wales for poor Women newly
married to go to Farmers' Houfes to afk for Cheefe : which is called Cawfa."
Alfo, ibid, in -v. Cymhorth. " The poor people in Wales have a Marriage of
Contribution, to which every Gueft brings a prefent of fome fort of provifion or
money, to enable the new Couple to begin the World."
" " Hift. of Elfex," vol. ii. p. 303, 499.
Nuptial Ufages. 91
A bufh at the end of a ftake or pole was the ancient badge of a
country alehoufe.' Around this Bride-ftake, the guefts were wont to
dance as about a May pole.
Thus Jonfon : " With the Phant'fies of Hey-troU
Troll about the Bridal Bowl,
And divide the broad Bride Cake
Round about the Brides Stake."
[A nuptial feene is introduced into Heywood's "Woman Kilde
with Kindneffe," 1607. Among the fteps in dancing mentioned
there, I obferve the horfe-trick and the crofs-polnt. Thefe two terpfi-
chorean accomplifhments are unnoticed by Strutt, Halliwell, Nares,
and others. The fame drama alludes to the nofegays and bride laces
worn by the country laffes on this occafion in their hats. Thefe
were the fame to which Laneham makes reference in his " Letter
from Kenilworth," 1575.
The following paffage is curious, from its enumeration of feveral
old dances, which were ufual at weddings :
" J. Slime. I come to dance, not to quarrel. Come, what fhall it be .'
Rogero ?
Jem, Rogero ! no ! we will dance the beginning of the ivorld.
S'l/ly, I love no dance fo well as John come kifs me notv.
Nich. I that have ere now deferv'd a cuftiion, call for the Cuftiion-dance.
R. Brick. For my part, I like nothing fo well as Tom Tyler.
Jem. No ; we'll have the hunting of the Fox.
J. Slime. The hay; the hay ! there's nothing like the hay —
Nich. I have faid, do fay, and will fay again —
Jem. Every man agree to have it as Nick fays.
All. Content.
Nich. It hath been, it now is, and it ftiall be —
Sijly. What, Mafter Nicholas ? What ?
Nich. Put on your fmock o' Monday.
Jem. So the dance will come cleanly off. Come, for God's fake agree of fome
thing : if you like not that, put it to the muficians ; or let me fpeak for all, and
we'll have Sellengers round."
In Heywood's " Fayre Mayd of the Exchange," 1607, Bernard
enters with news of a wedding in Gracechurch Street, where dancing
is going on :
"Bernard. By Jefu ! the rareft dancing in Chrlftendom.
Botudler. Sweet rafcal, where ? Oh, do not kill my foul
With fuch delays ....
Ber. At a wedding in Gracious Street.
Bonud. Come, come away ; I long to fee the man
In dancing art that does more than I can.
Ber. Than you, fir ? he lives not.
Bonvd. Why, I did underftand thee fo.
Ber. You only excepted, the world befides
Cannot afford more exqulfite dancers
Than are now cap'rlng at that bride-ale houfe."
It feems to have been cuftomary at weddings, in the time of Eliza-
' Dekker's "WonderfuU Yeare," 1603, fign. F.
92 Nuptial Ufages.
beth, for the party, on their return from church, to have an entertain
ment like our breakfaft, when the bride was placed in the centre by
herfelf, in the feat of honour ; but, afterwards, when the gifts were
prefented to the newly-made couple, the man and his wife were feated
fide by fide. I collea fo much from the " Jefte of the Wife Lapped
in Morelles Skin" {circa 1570), where there is this defcription of the
latter part of the ceremony :
" The father and mother fyrft began
To order them in this wife :
The Brydegrome was fet by the Brydes fyde than,
After the countrey guife.
Then the father the fyrft prefent brought.
And prefented them there richly, in fay,
With deedes of his land in a boxe well wrought.
And made them his heyres for aye — "]
The Bride-ale appears to have been called in fome places a Bid
ding, from the circumftance of the bride and bridegroom's bidding, or
inviting the guefts.
A writer in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for May, 1784, men
tions this cuftom in fome parts of South Wales, peculiar, he thinks, to
that country, and ftill praaifed at the marriages of fervants, tradef-
folks, and little farmers, " Before the Wedding an Entertainment is
provided, to which all the Friends of each party are bid or invited,
and to which none fail to bring or fend fome Contribution, from a
Cow or Calf down to Half-a-crown, or a Shilling. An account of
each is kept, and if the young Couple do well, it is expeaed that they
fhould give as much at any future bidding of their generous guefts.
I have frequently known of £50 being thus colleaed, and have heard
oi a Bidding, which produced even a hundred."
In a publication of the laft century' we read : " Welfh Weddings
are frequently preceded, on the evening before the Marriage, by pre
fents of Provifions and articles of Houfehold Furniture, to the Bride
and Bridegroom. On the Wedding-Day, as many as can be col
leaed together accompany them to the Church, and from thence
home, where a Colleaion is made in money from each of the Guefts,
according to their Inclination or Ability ; which fometimes fupplies a
confiderable aid in eftablifhing the newly married couple, and in
enabhng them ' to begin the World,' as they call it, with more com
fort : but it is, at the fame time, confidered as a debt to be repaid
hereafter, if called upon, at any future Wedding of the Contributors,
or of their Friends or their Children, in fimilar circumftances. Some
time previous to thefe Weddings, where they mean to receive Con
tributions, a Herald with a Crook or Wand, adorned with ribbons,
makes the circuit of the neighbourhood, and makes his ' Bidding ' or
Invitation in a prefcribed form. The knight-errant Cavalcade on
horfeback, the Carrying off the Bride, the Refcue, the wordy War in
rythm between the parties, &c. which formerly formed a fingular
Speaacle of mock conteft at the celebration of Nuptials, I believe
' "The Cambrian Regifter," 1796, p. 430.
Nuptial Ufages, 9^
to be now almoft, if not altogether, laid afide every where through
the Principality." ^
The following is from the "Gentleman's Magazine," for 1789 :
" Bidding.
"As we intend entering the Nuptial State, we propofe having a
Bidding on the occafion on Thurfday the 20th day of September, in-
ftant, at our own Houfe on the Parade : where the favour of your
good Company will be highly efteemed ; and whatever Benevolence
you pleafe to confer on us, fhall be gratefully acknowledged and re
taliated on a fimilar occafion by your moft obedient humble fervants,
William Jones, ) Caermarthen,
Ann Davies, j Sept. 4, 1787.
" N.B. The Young Man's Father (Stephen Jones) and the Young
Woman's Aunt (Ann Williams) will be thankfull for all favours con
ferred on them that Day."
Another writer in the "Gentieman's Magazine" for 1784 mentions
a fimilar cuftom in Scotland called Penny Weddings.
In the " Statiftical Account of Scotland,"' we are told, '¦'¦a Penny
Wedding is when the expence of the Marriage entertainment is not
defrayed by the young Couple, or their Relations, but by a Club
among the Guefts. 7Vo hundred people, of both fexes, will fome
times be convened on an occafion of this kind,"
In the fame work,^ under the date of 1799, fpeaking of the time
of " our Fathers," the minifter of Monquhitter obferves: "Shrove
Tuefday, Valentine Eve, the Rood-day, &c, &c, vfere accompanied
by Paftimes and Praaices congenial to the youthful and ignorant
mind. The Market place was to the Peafant what the Drawing-
room is to the Peer, the Theatre of Shew and of Confequence.
The Scene, however, which involved every Amufement and every
Joy of an idle and illiterate age, was the Penny Bridal. When a
Pair were contraaed, they for a ftipulated confideration befpoke their
Wedding at a certain Tavern, and then ranged the Country in every
direaion to folicit Guefts. One, two, and even three hundred would
have convened on thefe occafions, to make merry at their own ex-
pence for two or more days. This feene of feafting, drinking,
dancing, wooing, fighting, &c. was always enjoyed with the highefl
relifh, and, until obliterated by a fimilar feene, furnifhed ample Mate
rials for rural Mirth and rural Scandal. But now the Penny Bridal is
reprobated as an Index of want of Money and of want of Tafle. The
Market-place is generally occupied by people in bufinefs. Athletic
amufements are confined to School-Boys. Dancing taught by itine
rant Mafters, Cards and Converfation, are the Amufements now in
vogue ; and the pleafures of the Table, enlivened by a moderate Glafs,
are frequently enjoyed in a fuitable degree by people of every clafs."
Again,3 it is faid : " Marriages in this place are generally conduaed
' Vol. Iv. p. 86, parifh of Drainy, co. Elgin. " Vol. xxi. p. 146.
' Vol. XV. p. 636, parifh of Avoch, co Rofs.
94 Nuptial Ufages.
in the ftile of Penny Weddings, Littie other fare is provided except
Bread, Ale, and Whifky. The Relatives, who affe r.ble in the morn
ing, are entertained with a dram and a drink gratis. But, after the
ceremony is performed, every Man pays for his drink. The neigh
bours then convene in great numbers. A Fiddler or two, with
perhaps a boy to fcrape on an old violoncello, are engaged. A barn
is allotted for the dancing, and a houfe for drinking. And thus they
make merry for two or three days, till Saturday night. On the Sab
bath, after returning from church, the married Couple give a fort of
Dinner or Entertainment to the prefent friends on both fides. So that
thefe Weddings, on the whole, bring little gain or lofs to the parties."
In Cumberland it had the appellation of a Bride-wain, a term which
will be beft explained by the following extraa from the Gloffary
[1710] to Douglas's Virgil, v. Thig : " There was a Cuftom in the
Highlands and North of Scodand, where new married perfons, who had
no great ftock, or others low in their fortune, brought Carts and Horfes
with them to the Houfes of their Relations and Friends, and received
from them Corn, Meal, Wool, or whatever elfe they could get."
The fubfequent is extraaed from the " Cumberland Packet," a
newlpaper: « Bride Wain.
There let Hymen oft appear
In Saffron robe and Taper clear.
And Pomp and Feaft and Revelry,
With Mafk and antient Pageantry.
" George Hayton, who married Ann, the daughter of Jofeph and
Dinah Collin of Croflley Mill, purpofes having a Bride Wain at his
Houfe at Crofftey near Mary Port on Thurfday May 7th next, (1789)
where he will be happy to fee his Friends and Well-wifhers, for
whofe amufement there will be a Saddle, two Bridles, a pair of Gands
d'amour Gloves, which whoever wins is fure to be married within the
Twelve Months, a Girdle (Ceinture de Venus) poffeffing qualities
not to be defcribed, and many other Articles, Sports, and Paftimes,
too numerous to mention, but which can never prove tedious in the
exhibition, &c."
A fhort time after a match is folemnized, the parties give notice as
above, that on fuch a day they propofe to have a Bride-wain. In
confequence of this, the whole neighbourhood for feveral miles round
aflemble at the bridegroom's houfe, and join in all the various paftimes
of the country. This meeting refembles our wakes and fairs : and
a plate or bowl is fixed in a convenient place, where each of the com
pany contributes in proportion to his inclination and ability, and ac
cording to the degree of refpea the parties are held in : and by this very
laudable cuftom a worthy couple have frequently been benefited at fet-
tihg out in life, with a fupply of money of from ten to fourfcore pounds.
Eden, in "The State of the Poor," 1797,' obferves, "The Cuftom
of a general Feafting at Weddings and Chriftenings is ftill continued
' Vol. i. p. 598.
Nuptial Ufages. 95
in many Villages in Scotiand, in Wales, and in Cumberland: Diftrias,
which, as the refinements of Legiflation and Manners are flow in
reaching them, are moft likely to exhibit Veftiges of Cuftoms de
duced from remote antiquity, or founded on the fimple diaates of
Nature : and indeed it is not fingular, that Marriages, Births, Chrif
tenings, Houfewarmings, &c. fhould be occafions in which people of
all Claffes and all Defcriptions think it right to rejoice and make
merry. In many parts of thefe Diftrias of Great Britain, as well as
in Sweden and Denmark, all fuch inftitutions, now rendered venerable
by long ufe, are religioufly obferved. It would be deemed ominous,
if not impious, to be married, have a Child born, &c. without fome
thing of a Feaft. And long may the cuftom laft : for it neither leads
to drunkennefs and riot, nor is it coftly ; as alas ! is fo commonly the
cafe in convivial Meetings in more favoured regions. On all thefe
occafions, the greateft part of the provifions is contributed by the
Neighbourhood : fome furnifhing the Wheaten Flour for the Paftry ;
others. Barley or Oats for Bread and Cakes; fome. Poultry for Pies;
fome. Milk for the Frumenty ; fome, Eggs ; fome. Bacon ; and fome.
Butter ; and, in fhort, every article neceffary for a plentiful Repaft.
Every Neighbour, how high or low foever, makes it a point to con
tribute fomething.
"At a Daubing (which is the ereaion of a Houfe of Clay,) or at a
Bride Wain, (which is the carrying of a Bride home,) in Cumber
land, many hundreds of perfons are thus brought together, and as it is
the Cuftom alfo, in the latter inftance, to make prefents of money,
one or even two hundred pounds are faid to have been fometimes col-
kaed. A deferving young Couple are thus, by a public and un
equivocal Teftimony of the good will of thofe who beft know them,
encouraged to perfevere in the paths of Propriety : and are alfo enabled
to begin the world with fome advantage. The birth of a Child alfo,
inftead of being thought or fpoken of as bringing on the parents new
and heavy burthens, is thus rendered, as it no doubt always ought to
be, a Comfort and a Bleffing : and in every fenfe, an occafion of re
joicing." " I own," adds this honourable advocate in the caufe of
humanity, " I cannot figure to myfelf a more pleafing, or a more
rational way of rendering fociablenefs and mirth fubfervient to prudence
and virtue."
["Some of the Cumbrians," obferves the compiler of the " Weft
moreland and Cumberland Dialea," 1839, "particularly thofe who
are in poor circumftances, have, on their entrance into the married
ftate, what is called a Bidding, or Bidden-Wedding, [over which
a fort of mafter of the Revels, called a Birler, prefides] and at which
a pecuniary colleaion is made among the company for the purpofe of
fetting the wedded pair forward in the world. It is always attended
with mufic and dancing, and the fiddler, when the contributions begin,
takes care to remind the affembly of their duties by notes imitative of
the following couplet :
' Come, my friends, and freely offer ;
Here's the bride who has no tocher (dowry).'"
96 Nuptial Ufages.
In Cumberland, among the lower, but not pooreft, clafs, the wed
ding entertainment is called the Bride-wain, and confifts of cold pies,
furmety, and ale. " At the clofe of the day," fays the author of the
"Weftmoreland and Cumberiand Dialea," 1839, "the bride and
bridegroom are placed in two chairs, in the open air, or in a large
barn, the bride with a pewter difh on her knee, half covered with a
napkin ; into this difh the company put their offerings, which occa
fionally amount to a confiderable fum."
Brockett notices the Cumberland ufage, by which the friends of a
newly-married couple met together, and ereaed them a cottage, before
feparating. This (he fays) was called clay-daubin.]
" In moft parts of Effex it is a common Cuftom,' [we read,] when
poor people marry, to make a kind of Dog-hanging or Money-gather
ing, which they call a Wedding-Dinner, to which they invite Tag and
Rag, all that will come : where, after Dinner, upon fummons of the
Fidler, who fetteth forth his Voice like a Town-Crier, a Table being
fet forth, and the Bride fet fimperingat the upper end of it: the Bride
groom flanding by with a white Sheet athwart his fhoulders, whilft the
people march up to the Bride, prefent their money and wheel about.
After this offering is over, then is a Pair of Gloves laid upon the
Table, moft monftroufly bedaubed about with Ribbon, which by way
of auaion is fet to fale, at who gives moft, and he whofe hap it is to
have them, fhall withall have a Kifs of the Bride."
In the " Statiftical Account of Scotland,"- parifh of Gargunnock,
CO. Stirling, we read : "It is feldom there are focial Meetings. Mar
riages, Baptifms, Funerals, and the Conclufion of the Harveft, are
almoft the only occafion of Feafting. At thefe times there is much
unneceffary expence. Marriages ufually happen in April and Novem
ber. The Month of May is cautioufly avoided. A principal tenant's
fon or daughter has a crowd of attendants at Marriage, and the En
tertainment lafts for two days at the expence of the Parties. The
Company at large pay for the Mufick."
Waldron,-^ fpeaking of the Manks Wedding Feafts, fays : " Notice
is given to all the Friends and Relations on both fides, tho' they live
ever fo far diftant. Not one of thefe, unlefs detained by ficknefs, fails
coming and bringing fomething towards the Feaft : the neareft of kin,
if they are able, commonly contribute the moft, fo that they have vaft
quantities of Fowls of all forts : I have feen a dozen of Capons in one
platter, and fix or eight fat Geefe in another ; Sheep and Hogs roafted
whole, and Oxen divided but into quarters."*
' " Hiftory of S^ Billy of Billericay, & his Squire Ricardo," (a very admirable
parody on Don Quixote,) chap. ix. 2 Vol. xxiii. p. 122.
' " Defcription of the Ifle of Man," Works, p 169.
' In Ihre's "Gloffarium Suio-Gothicum," 1769, we read: "V. "Brudskal.
Gifiua i Brudjkdlen dicitur de Erano vel munere coUeftitio, quod Sponfae die Nup-
tlarum a Convivis in pateram mittltur, habito antea brevi Sermone a praefente
Sacerdote. Nefcio, an hue qulcquam faciat Tributum illud, quod in Gallia
Sponfae dabatur Efcuellatta diftum, et de quo Du-Frefne in Glofs. Lat."
Ibid. -v. Jul. p. 1005: "Hemkomol, Con'ui'vium quod no'vi Conjuges ix fuis
trdibus injlruunt."
Nuptial Ufages. 97
[Among the entries in the " Privy Purfe Expenfes of Henry VII."
are feveral denoting that Henry was in the habit of making " offer
ings " at the weddings of people whom he liked, or who were in his
fervice. This does not, I think, neceffarily imply that the king was
prefent on all thefe occafions ; but that he adopted that plan of paying
a compliment to the wedded pair.
There are two inftances in the " Privy Purfe Expenfes of the
Princefs Mary," under April, 1537, and April, 1538-9, of the princefs
contributing to the wedding-portions of poor girls. The earlier entry
runs thus : " It'm geven to a pore maydenes mariage by my ladies
grace at the requeft of Mr. .Tyrrell . . . vi]s. v]d." In the fecond cafe,
Mary gave only 3^, 4(3?,]
[Sir W, Vaughan of Merioneth obferves :'] " The Marriage Day
being come, (in fome Shires of England,) the invited Ghefts do
affemble together, and at the very inftant of the Marriage, doe eaft
their Prefents (which they beftowe upon the new-married Folkes) into
a Bafon, Difh, or Cup, which ftandeth upon the Table in the Church,
ready prepared for that purpofe. But this Cuftome is onely put in ufe
amongft them which ftand in need."
[In the " Second Part of Queen Elizabeths Troubles," by T.
Heywood, 1606, the author introduces Lady Ramfey, faying :
" I have known old Hobfon
Sit with his neighbour Gunter, a good man.
In Chrifts Church, morn by morn, to watch poor couples
That come there to be married, and to be
Their common fathers, and give them in the church,
And fome few angels for a dower to boot."
Mead, in one of his letters to Sir Martin Stuteville, giving an
account of the acceffion and marriage of Charles I. fays : " I faw one
of the pieces of money flung about at the marriage. On one fide is
Cupid, holding in one hand Lillies, in the other Rofes. The Motto,
Fundit Amor Lilia mixta Rofis. On the other fide, the piaure of
King and Queene with this, Carolus Mag. et Henrietta Maria Rex
et Regina Magna Britannia."]
The following remarkable paffage occurs in "The Praife of
Muficke," 2 1586 : " I come to Mariages, wherein as our Anceftors,
(I do willingly harp upon this ftring, that our yonger Wits may know
they ftand under correaion of elder Judgements,) did fondly and with
a kind of doting maintaine many Rites and Ceremonies, fome whereof
were either Shadowes or Abodements of a pleafant Life to come, as
the eating of a Quince Peare, to be a preparative of fweete and
delightfull dayes between the maried perfons."
[A prefent of quinces, from a hufband to his bride, is noticed as part
of the wedding entertainment at an Englifh marriage in 1725. The
correfpondent of " Notes and Qaeries," who commented on this
ufage (if fuch it was), obferves, that it is apt to remind one of the
' " Golden Groue," edit. 1608, fign. o 4.
' Afcribed to Dr. Cafe [perhaps not correftly,] fign. F 3.
II. H
98 Nuptial Ufages.
ancient Greek cuftom, that the married couple fhould eat a quince
together. There is no explicit ftatement, however, or even fuggeftion
in the record, from which this gentleman quotes, that the ceremony
was aaually obferved on the occafion to which he refers.]
It appears from Allan Ramfay's " Poems," 1721, p. 120, that it
was a fafhion in Scodand for the friends to affemble in the new-
married couple's houfe, before they had rifen out of the bed, and to
throw them their feveral prefents upon the bed-clothes :
" As fou's the Houfe cou'd pang.
To fee the young Fouk or they raife,
Goffips came in ding dang,
And wi' a fofs aboon the clalth.s.
Ilk ane their Gifts down flang," &c.
Here a note informs us, " They commonly throw their Gifts of
Houfehold Furniture above the Bed-cloaths where the young Folks
are lying." One gives twelve horn fpoons ; another a pair of
tongs, &c.'
[The Bride's Pie fhould alfo be noticed as an important part of the
wedding-feaft, at leaft in fome places or diftrias. It is thus referred
to by Carr, in the " Dialea of Craven," 1828 : " The Bride's pie was
fo effential a difh on the dining-table, after the celebration of the mar
riage, that there was no profpea of happinefs without it. This was
always made round, with a very ftrong cruft, ornamented with various
devices. In the middle of it was a fat laying hen, full of eggs, pro
bably intended as an emblem of fecundity. It was alio garnifhed with
minced and fweet meats. It would have been deemed an ad of
neglea and rudenefs, if any of the party omitted to partake of it."
In conneaion with the prefent fubjea, muft be noticed an ufage
perhaps peculiar to Northamptonfhire, and known as Propping, It is
confined to marriages where the parties are well-known, or people of
ftation, and confifts " in placing pieces of timber or poles round the
' Park in his " Travels Into the Interior of Africa," defcribes a wedding among
the Moors, p. 135 : "April 10, in the evening, the Tabala or large drum was
beat, to announce a Wedding. A great number of people of both fexes afTem
bled. A Woman was beating the drum, and the other Women joining at times
In chorus, by fetting up a fhrill fcream. Mr. Park foon retired, and having been
afleep In his hut, was awakened by an old Woman, who faid fhe had brought him
a Prefent from the Bride. She had a wooden Bowl in her hand ; and before Mr.
Park was recovered from his furprlze, difcharged the contents full in his face.
Finding it to be the fame fort of Holy Water with which a Hottentot prieft is faid
to fprlnkle a new-married couple, he fuppofed it to be a mifchievous frolic, but was
informed it was a nuptial benediftlon from the Bride's own perfon, and which on
fuch occafions is always received by the young, unmarried Moors, as a mark of
diftlnguifhed favour. Such being the cafe, Mr. Park wiped his face, and fent his
acknowledgments to the Lady. The Wedding-drum continued to beat, and the
Women to fing all night. About nine in the morning the Bride was brought in
ftate from her Mother's Tent, attended by a number of Women, who carried hei
Tent, (a prefent from the hufband,) fome bearing up the poles, others holding bjr
the ftring.s, and marched finging until they came to the place appointed for her
refidence, where they pitched the Tent. The Hufband followed with a number of
Men, leading four Bullocks, which they tied to the Tent-ftrings, and having
killed another and diftributed the Beef among the people, the Ceremony clofed."
Nuptial Ufages, 99
houfe and againft the door of the newly-married couple." Baker
adds : " An aaion, in conneaion with this curious praaice, was tried
at Northampton Affizes in 1842. At the marriage of a gentleman at
Bugbrook, fome of the villagers propped his houfe ; and he being
annoyed at the proceedings, fired from a window, and wounded the
plaintiff, fince which time the praaice has been difcontinued in that
village, but is partially obferved in fome others (1854.)"
Wafers and hippocras were cuftomary at weddings and funerals
alike. This fort of refeaion is mentioned in the " Account of the
Coronation of Richard III." 1483, printed in " Excerpta Hiftorica,"
Mr. Halliwell, in a note upon the marriage of the Princefs Elizabeth
to the Eleaor Frederick of Bohemia, in 1613, in his edition of the "Au
tobiography of Sir Simonds D'Ewes," 1845, defcribes the wedding-
ceremonial, quoting Wilfon's "Life and Reign of James I." " Her
veftments were white, the emblem of innocency ; her hair difhevelled,
hanging down her back at length, an ornament of virginity ; a crown
of pure gold upon her head, the cognizance of majefty her
train fupported by twelve young ladies in white garments, fo adorned
with jewels, that her paffage looked like a milky way. She was led
to church by her brother Prince Charles, and the Earl of Northamp
ton." In MS. Lanfdowne, 33, is preferved an account of the expenfes at
the wedding of Mr. William Wentworth, fon of Lord Wentworth,
and Elizabeth Cecil, daughter of the Lord Treafurer Burleigh. The
affair was unufually fumptuous, and lafted three days. A curious letter
on the fubjea of the lady's fortune and jointure is printed by Ellis in
his Third Series.]
23. Winning the Kail.'
This is mentioned in "The Collier's Wedding" :
" Four ruftic Fellows wait the while
To kifs the Bride at the Church-ftile :
Then vig'rous mount their felter'd fteeds —
— To fcourge them going, head and tail.
To win what Country call ' the Kail.' "
The Gloffary to Burns, 1787, defcribes " Broose" (a word
which has the fame meaning with " Kail,") to be " a Race at Country
Weddings, who fhall firft reach the Bridegroom's Houfe on returning
from Church." The meaning of words is every where moft ftrangely
' In Scotland termed Broofe, in Weftmoreland called Riding for the Ribbon.
The race from the church to the bride's door ufed to be formerly on horfeback,
and was called "Riding the hrufe ;" and he who reached the goal firft,- won
the brufe, a fpecies of fpice-broth, otherwife called to'/.— Atkinfon's CU'veland
Gloffary, 1868.]
zoo Nuptial Ufages.
corrupted. " Broofe " was originally, I take it for granted, the name
of the prize on the above occafion, and not of the race itfelf : for who
ever firft reaches the houfe to bring home the good news, wins the
" Kail," i.e. a fmoking prize of fpice broth, which ftands ready pre
pared to reward the viSor in this fingular kind of race.
I know not whether the following paffage is to be referred to this,
or is given only as defcribing the bridegroom's awkwardnefs in fupping
broth. Stephens,' fpeaking of a plain country bridegroom, fays : " Al
though he points out his bravery with Ribbands, yet he hath no vaine
glory ; for he contemnes fine cloathes with dropping pottage in his
bofome." [In the early part of the prefent century, the riding for the broofe
was ftill kept up in North Britain.-]
Macaulay fays -.^ " A Cuftom formerly prevailed in this Parifh and
neighbourhood, of Riding for the Bride-Cake, which took place when
the Bride was brought home to her new habitation. A Pole was
ereaed in the front of the Houfe, three or four yards high, with the
Cake ftuck upon the top of it. On the inftant that the Bride fet out
from her old habitation, a company of young Men ftarted off on
horfeback ; and he who was fortunate enough to reach the Pole firft,
and knock the Cake down with his ftick, had the honour of receiving
it from the hands of a Damfel on the point of a wooden Sword ; and
with this trophy he returned in triumph to meet the Bride and her at
tendants, who, upon their arrival in the village, were met by a party,
whofe office it was to adorn their Horfes' heads with Gariands, and to.
prefent the Bride with a Pofey. The laft Ceremony of this fort that
took place in the parifh of Claybrook was between fixty and feventy
years ago, and was witneffed by a perfon now living in the parifh.
Sometimes the Bride Cake was tried for by perfons on foot, and then
it was called, ' throwing the Quintal,' which was performed with heavy
bars of iron ; thus affording a trial of mufcular ftrength as well as of
gallantry. " This Cuftom has been long difcontinued as well as the other.
The only Cuftom now remaining at Weddings, that tends to recall a
claffical image to the mind, is that of fending to a difappointed Lover
a Gdr/i^w^ made of willow, varioufly ornamented; accompanied, fome
times, with a pair of Gloves, a white Handkerchief, and a Smelling
Bottie." Macaulay mentions that in Minorca [in the eariier part of the
eighteenth century,] a cuftom as old as Theocritus and Virgil was
kept up, i.e. the ceremony of throwing nuts and almonds at weddings,
that the boys might fcramble for them, *
Malkin^ fays : " 111 may it befal the Traveller, who has the mif-
fortune of meeting a Welfh Wedding on the road. He would be in-
cHned to fuppofe that he had fallen in with a company of Lunatics
' " Effayes," edit. 1631, p. 353. [^ " Courier," Jan. 16, 1813.
"Hift. of Claybrook," 1791, p. 130. * " Spargite, Marite, Nuces."— Wr^.
" " Tour in South Wales, Glamorganftiire," p. 67,
Nuptial Ufages. loi
efcaped from their confinement. It is the cuftom of the whole party
who are invited, both Men and Women, to ride full fpeed to the
Church-porch ; and the perfon who arrives there firft has fome privi
lege or diftinaion at the Marriage Feaft. To this important objea all
inferior confiderations give way ; whether the fafety of his Majefty's
fubjeas, who are not going to be married, or their own, be inceffantly
endangered by boifterous, unfkilful, and contentious jockeyfhip. The
Natives, who are acquainted with the Cuftom, and warned againft the
Cavalcade by its vociferous approach, turn afide at refpeaful diftance :
but the Stranger will be fortunate if he efcapes being overthrown by an
onfet, the occafion of which puts out of fight that urbanity fo generally
charaaeriftic of the people."
A refpeaable clergyman informed [Brand], that riding in a narrow lane
near Macclesfield in Chefhire, in the fummer of 1799, he was fuddenly
overtaken (and indeed they had well nigh rode over him) by a nuptial
party at full fpeed, who before they put up at an inn in the town,
where they flopped to take fome refrefhment, defcribed feveral circles
round the market-place, or rode, as it were, feveral rings.
[Mr. Atkinfon, in his "Cleveland Gloffary," 1868, fays, after de
fcribing the race to the Bride-Door for the ribbon, which ufually, as he
obferves, went to the "winner's fweetheart:" "From a MS. I have
been permitted to make ufe of, it appears that much or all of what is
thus defcribed is ftill ' praaifed at St. Helen's, Auckland, and other
villages in Durham, only the handkerchief [or ribbon] is fuppofed to be
a delicate fubftitute for the bride's garter, which ufed to be taken off
as fhe knelt at the altar.' "
It appears that the " Running for the Ribbon " ftill prevails, and
Mr. Atkinfon fpeaks of a tradition that the praaice ufed to be to run
from the gate of the church to the bride's houfe, and for the firft to
have the privilege not only of receiving the garter (before the ribbon
or handkerchief was fubftituted), but of removing it with his own
hands from the lady's leg. This was fometimes, as it may be con
ceived, accomplifhed only by main force : and it is to be fufpeaed,
indeed, that fo coarfe an ufage was at all times very rare among the
more educated claffes.]
This fame kind of conteft is called in Weftmoreland " Riding for the
Ribbon." In "The Weftmorland Dialea," 1790, a country wed
ding is defcribed with no littie humour. The clergyman is reprefented
as chiding the parties for not coming before him nine months fooner.
The ceremony being over, we are told that " Awe raaid haam fearful
wele, an the youngans raaid for th' Ribband, me Cufen Betty banged
awth Lads and gat it for fure."
24. Foot-ball Money.
In the North of England, among the colliers, &c. it is cuftomary
for a party to watch the bridegroom's coming out of church after the
I02 Nuptial Ufages.
ceremony, in order to demand Money for a Foot-Ball, a claim that
admits of no refufal.'
Coles, in his " Diaionary," fpeaks of another kind of Ball Money
given by a new bride to her old playfellows.
It is the cuftom in Normandy for the bride to throw a ball over the
church, which bachelors and married men fcramble for. They then
dance together,^
25, Torches used at Weddings.
At Rome the manner was that two children fhould lead the bride,
and a third bear before her a torch of white thorn, in honour of Ceres.
I have feen foreign prints of marriages, where torches are reprefented
as carried in the proceffion, I know not whether this cuftom ever ob
tained in England, though from the following lines in Herrick 'one
might be tempted to think that it had :
" Upon a Maid that dyed the Day Jhe ixias marryed.
" That Morne which faw me made a Bride,
The Ev'ning witneft that I dy'd.
Thofe holy Lights, luhere'with they guide
Unto the Bed the bafhful Bride,
Serv'd but as Tapers for to burne
And light my Reliques to their Urne.
This Epitaph, which here you fee,
Supply'd the Epithalamie."
Gough,* fpeaking of funeral torches, fays : " The ufe of Torches
was however retained alike in the day-time, as was the cafe at Wed
dings ; whence Propertius, beautifully,
" Viximus infignes inter utramque facem ;"
[which is] illuftrated by Ovid ;*
" 'Et face pro thalami faxmlhi mortis adeft;"
and [the fame poet,*] fpeaking of February, a month fet apart for Pa-
rentalia, or funeral anniverfaries, and therefore not proper for mar
riage, writes : " Conde tuas, Hymenae, faces, etab ignibus atris
Aufer, habent alias mcefta Sepulchra faces."
[According to Sir Thomas Browne,] " The Romans admitted but
five Torches in their Nuptial Solemnities."'
' Thiers' " Tralte des Superftitions," 1704, tom. ill. p. 477 [refers to an analo
gous abufe in France, and defciibes fuch praftlces as " Infblences profcrites."]
' [Mr. Brand] was informed of this by the Abbe de la Rue.
' "Hefperides," p. 194.
¦* " Sepulchr. Mon." ii. Introd.
' "Epift. Cydippes ad Acontlum," 1. 172.
« " Fafti," ii. 1. 561,
' [" Garden of Cyrus,"] or the Quincunx myftically confidered [1658,] p. '9'.
Nuptial Ufages. 102
Swinburne has the following remark : " At their [the gipfies'] Wed
dings they carry Torches, and have Paranymphs to give the Bride away
with many other unufual Rites,'"
Lamps and flambeaux are in ufe at prefent at Japanefe weddings.
" The Nuptial Torch," (fays the author of " Hymen, &c. an Account
of the Marriage Ceremonies of different Nations," p. 149) " ufed by
the Greeks and Romans, has a ftriking conformity to the Flambeaux
of the Japanefe, The moft confiderable difference is, that amongft
the Romans, this Torch was carried before the Bride by one of her
Virgin Attendants; and among the Greeks, that office was performed
by the Bride's Mother." In the Greek Church the bridegroom and
bride enter the church with lighted wax tapers in their hands ; torches
are ufed at Turkifti marriages. ^
26, Music at Weddings.
At the marriages of the Anglo-Saxons, the parties were attended to
church by mufic, ^
In " The Chriften State of Matrimony," 1543, p. 48, we read as
follows: "Early in the mornyng the Weddyng people begynne to
excead in fuperfluous eatyng and drinkyng, wherof they fpytte untyll
the halfe Sermon be done, and when they come to the preachynge,
they are halfe droncke, fome all together, Therfore regard they ney-
ther the prechyng nor prayer, but ftond there only becaufe of the
Cuftome. Such folkes alfo do come to the Church with all manner
of pompe and pride, and gorgioufnes of rayment and jewels. They
come with a great noyfe of Harpes, Lutes, Kyttes, Basens, and
Drommes, wherwyth they trouble the whole Church and hyndre
them in matters pertayninge to God, — And even as they come to the
Churche, yo go they from the Churche agayne, lyght, nyce, in fhameful
pompe and vaine wantoneffe,"
The following is from Veron :¦> " I knewe a Prieft (this is a true
tale that I tell you, and no Lye) whiche when any of his parifhioners
fhould be maryed, woulde take his Backe-pype, and go fetche theym
to the Churche, playnge fweetelye afore them, and then would he laye
his Inftrument handfomely upon the Aultare, tyll he had maryed them
and fayd Maffe, Which thyng being done, he would gentillye bringe
them home agayne with Backe-pype. Was not this Prieft a true
Miniftrell, thynke ye ? for he dyd not conterfayt the Miniftrell, but
was one in dede,"
' " Journey through Calabria," p. 304.
' " Deduftio fequitur In Domum, nee fine Facibus, et Sponfa Matri Sponfi tra-
ditur. Quamprimum vero Sponfa Cubiculum ingreditur, Marltuspede fuo Uxoris
pedem tangit ftatlmque ambo recluduntur." — Selden's Uxor Hebraica (Opera, tom.
ill. p. 686).
^ Strutt's "Manners and Cuftoms," vol. i. p. 76.
¦* " Hunting of Purgatory to Death," 1561, fol. 51 'verfo.
I04 Nuptial Ufages.
Puttenham* fpeaks of " blind Harpers or fuch likeTauerne Minftrels
that give a fit of mirth for a groat, and their matters being for the moft
part Stories of old time, as the Tale of Sir Topas, the Reportes of Bevis
of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke, Adam Bell, and Clymme of the
Clough, and fuch other old Romances, or hiftoricall Rimes, made pur-
pofely for recreation of the common people at Chrftmaffe diners and
Brideales, and in Tauernes and Ale-houfes, and fuch other places of
bafe refort."
In [Deloney's] " Hiftory of Jack of Newbury," [1597,] fpeaking
of his marriage and the bride's going to church, the writer obferves,
"there was a noife of Muficians that play'd all the way before her,"
Dame Sibil Turfe, a charaaer in Jonfon's " Tale of a Tub," is in
troduced reproaching her hufband as follows : " A Clod you fhall be
called, to let no Mufic go afore your Child to Church, to chear her
heart up !" and Scriben, feconding the good old Dame's rebuke, adds :
" She's ith' right. Sir ; for your Wedding Dinner is ftarved without
Mufic,"2 The rejoicing by ringing of bells at marriages of any confequence,
is every where common. On the fifth bell at the church of Kendall
in Weftmorland is the following infcription, alluding to this ufage :
" In Wedlock bands.
All ye who join with hands.
Your hearts unite ;
So fhall our tuneful tongues combine
To laud the nuptial rite."^
In Brooke's " Epithalamium," 16 14, already quoted, we read :
" Now whiles flow Howres doe feed the Times delay,
Confus'd Difcourfe, luith Muficke mixt among.
Fills up the Semy-circle of the Day."
In the margin oppofite is put " Afternoone Muficke."
An old writer has the following on marriage feafts :* " Some can
not be merry without a noife of Fidlers, who fcrape acquaintance at
the firft fight; nor fing, unleffe the Divell himfelfe come in for a part,
and the ditty be made in Hell," &c. He had before faid : " We joy
indeed at Weddings ; but how ? Some pleafe themfelves in breaking
broad, I had almoft faid bawdy Jefts."
Speaking of wedding entertainments, the fame author fays : " Some
drink healths fo long till they loofe it, and (being more heatbenifh in
this than was Ahafuerus at his Feaft) they urge their Companions to
drinke by meafure, out of meafure."
' " Arte of Englifli Poefie," 1589, p. 69.
" This requifite has not been omitted In the " Collier's Wedding " :
" The Pipers wind and take their poft,
And go before to clear the coaft."
' Nicolfon and Burn's "Weftmorland and Cumberland," vol. i. p. 620.
* Griflith's " Bethel, or a Forme for Families," 1634, p. 179.
Nuptial Ufages. 105
Waldron ' tells us that at the marriages of the Manx people, " they
are preceded (to Church) by Mufick, who play all the while before
them the Tune, the Black and the Grey, and no other is ever ufed at
Weddings." He adds, " that when they arrive at the Church-yard,
they walk three times round the Church before they enter it."
27. Sports at Weddings.
Among the Anglo-Saxons,^ after the nuptial feaft, " the remaining
part of the day was fpent by the youth of both fexes in mirth and
dancing, while the graver fort fat down to their drinking bout, in
which they highly delighted." Among the higher ranks there was,
in later times, a wedding fermon, an epithalamium, and at night a
mafijue. It was a general cuftom between the wedding dinner and
fupper to have dancing.^
In " The Chriften State of Matrimony," 1543, fol. 49, we read :
" After the Bancket and Feaft, there begynnethe a vayne, madde, and
unmanerlye fafhion, for the Bryde muft be brought into an open
dauncynge place. Then is there fuch a rennynge, leapynge and
flyngyng amonge them, then is there fuche a lyftynge up and dif-
coverynge of the Damfelles clothes and other Womennes apparell,
that a Man might thynke they were fworne to the Devels Daunce.
Then mufte the poore Bryde kepe foote with al Dauncers and refufe
none, how fcabbed, foule, droncken, rude, and fhameles foever he be.
Then muft fhe oft tymes heare and fe much wyckedneffe and many
an uncomely word ; and that noyfe and romblyng endureth even tyll
Supper." So, in the " Summe of the Holy Scripture," 1547, fignat, H 3
verfo : " Suffer not your Children to go to Weddings or Banckettes ;
for nowe a dales one can learne nothing there but ribaudry and foule
wordes,"* [Brand himfeif notices the mafque, which was reprefented at the
nuptials of Sir Philip Herbert, in the time of James I., and evidently
fuppofed it to be a cuftom peculiar to people of rank.]
The cufhion dance at weddings is thus mentioned in the " Apo
phthegms of King James," 1658, p. 60. A wedding entertainment
is fpoken of, " At laft when the Mafque was ended and Time had
brought in the Supper, the Cufhion led the Dance out of the Parlour
into the Hall," Sec.
In "The Dancing Mafter," 1698, p, 7, is an account of '¦'¦'Joan
Sanderfon or the Ctifhion Dance, an old Round Dance. This Dance
" " Defcription of the Ifle of Man" (Works, fol. edit, p. 1695).
° Strutt's "Manners and Cuftoms," vol. i, p. 76.
" In Herrick's " Hefperides," p. 258, are ten fhort fongs, or rather choral gratu-
latlons, entitled " Connubii Flores, or the Well Wifhes at Weddings." See
" Antiq. Convivial." fol. 68 : " Quas epulas omnes Tripudia atque Saltationes
comitantur. Poftremo Sponfa adrepta ex Saltatlone fubito atque Sponfus In
Thalamum deducuntur."
* Compare alfo Steevens's " Shakefpeare," vol. ii. p. 193, note.
io6 Nuptial Ufages.
is begun by a fingle perfon, (either Man or Woman,) who taking a
Cufhion in his hand, dances about the Room, and at the end of the
Tune he flops and fings. This Dance it will no farther go. The
Mufician anfwers, I pray you, good Sir, why fay youfo? Man. Becaufe
Joan Sanderfon will not come to. Mufick. She mufl come to, and fhe
Ihall come to, and fhe mufl come whether fhe vAll or no. Then he lays
down the Cufhion before a Woman, on which fhe kneels and he
kiffes her, finging, Welcom, Joan Sanderfon, welcom, welcom. Then
fhe rifes, takes up the Cufhion, and both dance, finging, Prinkum-
prank'um is a fine Dance, and fhall we go dance it once again, and once
again, and fhall we go dance it once again ? Then making a flop, the
Woman fings as before. This Dance it will no farther go. Mufick.
I pray you. Madam, why fay you fo ? Woman. Becaufe John Sander
fon will not come to. Mufick. He mufl come to, &c. (as before.) And
fo fhe lays down the Cufhion before a Man, who, kneeling upon it,
falutes her, fhe finging. Welcome, John Sanderfon, &c. Then he taking
up the Cufhion, they take hands and dance round, finging as before,
and thus they do till the whole Company are taken into the Ring.
Then the Cufhion is laid before the firft Man, the Woman finging,
This Dance, &c. (as before,) only inftead of Come to, they fing Go fro:
and, inftead of Welcome John Sanderfon, &c. they fing Farewell John
Sanderfon, farewell, farewell ; and fo they go out, one by one, as they
came in. Note, the Woman is kifs'd by all the Men in the Ring, at
her coming in, and going out, and likewife the Man by the Women."
Northbrooke fays : " In the councell of Laoditia (holden in the
yeare of our Lorde God 364, vnder Pope Liberius) it was decreed
thus : It is not meete for Chriftian Men to daunce at their mariages.
Let them dyne and fuppe grauely, giuing thanks vnto God for the
benefite of marriages. Let the clergie aryfe and go their wayes,
when the players on their inftruments (which ferue for dauncing) doe
begynne to playe, leaft by their prefence they fhoulde feeme to allowe
that wantonneffe." *
In Scott's "Mock-Marriage," a comedy, 1696, p. 50, it is faid:
" You are not fo merry as Men in your condition fhould be ; What!
a Couple of Weddings and not a dance." So, in the ballad called "The
Winchefter Wedding :"
" And now they had din'd, advancing
Into the midtt of the Hall,
The Fidlers ftruck up for dancing,
And Jeremy led up the Brawl.
Sucky, that dancd nvith the Cufhion" &c.
In [Selden's " Table Talk," firft printed in 1689,] under the head
" Excommunication," is an allufion to the cuftom of dancing at wed
dings : " Like the Wench that was to be Married : fhe afked her
Mother, when 'twas done, if fhe fhould go to Bed prefently ? No,
fays her Mother, you muft dine firft. And then to Bed, Mother ?
No, you mufl dance after Dinner. And then to Bed, Mother ? No,
you muft go to Supper," &c.
' " Treatife againft Dicing," &c. (1577) [repr. 1845, p. 172.]
Nuptial Ufages. 107
[At the nuptials of Margaret, fifter of Edward IV. of England, to
Charles Duke of Burgundy, in 1468, the Lord Mayor of London, on
the entry of the Princefs into Cheap, prefented her with a pair of rich
bafins, in each of which were an hundred pounds of gold. The
embarkation of the bride at Margate, on her departure, prefents the
eariieft notice I have found of that now celebrated watering-place.
"TheFryedaye next after theNativite of Saina John Baptiftfhefhippid
at Margate, and ther fhe toke leve of the Kinge and departid.''^
When fhe landed at Sluys, in Holland, fhe was received with great
honour, and the contemporary narrative ftates that " thei gave unto my
ladie xii marke of golde, the whiche is in valewe twoo hundrithe
pounde of Englifhe monneye."^
In the thirty-fixth volume of" Archxologia" will be found an ac
count of the fumptuous and coftly wedding of Richard Polfted, Efq.,
of Albuiy, to Elizabeth, daughter of William More, Efq., of Lofeley,
near Guilford, in 1567, with a lift of all the marriage prefents and
their fenders. Mr. Secretary Cecil, afterwards Lord Burleigh, gave
a doe. The grandeur with which the nuptials of Alderman White were
celebrated, in 1558, appears to have been fomewhat unufual, for after
the ceremony, according to Machyn the diarift, there was a mafque,
with fplendid dreffes and appointments, and much dancing.
Machyn notices a ftill more magnificent affair which was witneffed
at the nuptials of a citizen in 1562; every luxury which could be
procured for money was there, and there were three mafques : one in
cloth of gold, another of friars, and a third of nuns, and at the con
clufion the friars and nuns danced together — a diverfion which would
not have been fanaioned in the previous reign. The celebrated
Thomas Becon preached the wedding-fermon on that occafion.
Thefe mafques at citizens' nuptials about this time appear to have
been in imitation of the fplendid pageants on fcriptural and other fub
jeas introduced long before into the marriage-ceremonials of our kings
and nobility.
Machyn defcribes in his " Diary," under December, 1556, a wed-
ding-fupper, which was given at Henley- upon-Thames, for Mafter
Venor and his wife, at which he and fome other neighbours were
prefent; "and as we wher at foper," fays he, "and or whe had fupt,
ther cam a xij weffells [vifors], with maydens fyngyng with ther wef-
fells, and after cam the cheyff wyffes fyngyng with ther weffells ;
and the gentyll-woman had hordenyd a grett tabull of bankett,
dyflys of fpyffys and frut, as marmelad, gynbred [gingerbread], gele,
comfettj" &c,3]
[' " Archaeologla," vol, 31, p. 327.]
r' Ibid. p. 328. This narrative Is too long to be admitted here, even If It
illuftrated direftly, which is not the cafe, our Englifh weddlng-ufages.J
[^ An odd, but very acceptable prefent Is noticed in the accounts ot Mrs. Joyce
Jeffries, of Hereford, under 1647, as made by her to a bride: "September 5. Paid
the butcher for a fatt weather to prefent this bridewoeman at her wedding day,
6s. 6d." — Archaol. vol. 37, p. 221.]
1 08 Nuptial Ufages.
In Strype's " Annals,''^ anno 1575, among the various fports, &c.
ufed to entertain Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Caftle, he tells us,
"That afternoon (as the relator expreffeth it) in honour of this Kenel-
worth Caftle, and of God and St, Kenelme, (whofe day by the
Kalendar this was,) was a (blemn Country Bridal, with running at
^intin." The Queen ftayed here nineteen days.
It appears from Kennet,^ that the Quintain was anciently a cuf
tomary fport at weddings. He fays it was ufed in his time at Black-
thorne, and at Deddington, in Oxfordfhire.
Blount' bears fimilar teftimony ; he fays : " It is a Game or Sport
ftill in requeft at Marriages, in fome parts of this Nation, fpecially in
Shropfhire : the manner, now corruptly thus ; — a ^intin, Buttrefs, or
thick Plank of Wood, is fet faft in the Ground of the High- way, where
the Bride and Bridegroom are to pafs ; and Poles are provided ; with
which the young Men run a Tilt on horfeback, and he that breaks
moft Poles, and fhews moft aaivity, wins the Garland." [Some
thing of this fort feems intended in the burlefque account of the mar
riage of Tybbe the Reve's daughter, in the " Tournament of Totten
ham," written probably in the fourteenth century.]
" On Off'ham Green," fays Hafted,* " there ftands a ^intin, a
thing now rarely to be met with, being a Machine much ufed in former
times by youth, as well to try their own aaivity, as the fwiftnefs of
their Horfes in running at it. (He gives an engraving of it.) The
Crofs-piece of it is broad at one end, and pierced full of Holes ; and
a Bag of Sand is hung at the other, and fwings round on being moved
with any blow. The paftime was for the youth on horfeback to run
at it as faft as poffible, and hit the broad part in his career with much
force. He that by chance hit it not at all, was treated with loud peals
of derifion ; and he who did hit it, made the beft ufe of his fwiftnefs,
left he fhould have a found blow on his neck from the Bag of Sand,
which inftantly fwang round from the other end of the Quintin.
The great defign of this fport, was to try the agility of the Horfe and
Man, and to break the board, which, whoever did, he was accounted
chief of the day's Sport. It ftands oppofite the dwelling houfe of the
Eftate, which is bound to keep it up." The fame author, fpeaking of
Bobbing parifh, fays : " there was formerly a Quintin in this parifh,
there being ftill a Field in it, called from thence the ^intin-
Field."
' Vol. ii. p. 394.
' " Parochial Antiquities," Glofs. in 'v.
' " Gloftbgraphia," art. Qjjintain.
* " Hiftory of Kent," folio ed. vol. ii, pp. 224, 639.
Nuptial Ufages. 109
28. Divinations at Weddings.
Divination at marriages was praaifed in times of the remoteft anti
quity. Vallancey tells us that in the " Memoirs of the Etrufcan
Academy of Cortona" is the drawing of a piaure found in Hercu-
laneum, reprefenting a marriage. In the front is a forcerefs cafting
the five ftones. The writer of the memoir juftly thinks fhe is
divining. The figure exaaiy c(5rrefponds with the firft and principal
eaft of the Irifh purin : all five are eaft up, and the firft catch is on
the back of the hand. He has copied the drawing : On the back of
the hand ftands one, and the remaining four on the ground, Oppofite
the forcerefs is the matron, attentive to the fuccefs of the eaft. No
marriage ceremony was performed without confulting the druidefs and
her purin. ^
Vallancey adds : " This is now played as a Game by the youths of
both Sexes in Ireland. The Irifh Seic Seona (Shec Shona) was
readily turned into Jack Stones, by an Englifh ear, by which name
this Game is now known by the Englifh in Ireland, It has another
name among the Vulgar, viz. Gobftones,"
Pliny 2 mentions that in his time the circos, a fort of lame hawk,
was accounted a lucky omen at weddings.
In the North, and perhaps all over England, as has been already
noticed, flices of the bride-cake are thrice, fome fay nine times, put
through the wedding-ring, which are afterwards by young perfons laid
under their pillows when they go to bed, for the purpofe of making
them dream of their lovers ; or of exciting prophetic dreams of love
and marriage.
[To break the cake over the head of the bride appears to have been
fometimes ufual in Drayton's time, for that writer, in his " Nimphidia,
or the Court of Fairy," 1627, applies the cuftom, with the licence
habitual to poets, to the fairy Tita :
" Mertilla. But coming back when fhe is wed.
Who breaks the cake above her head ?
Claia. That ftiall Mertilla."]
Thus Smollett :' " A Cake being broken over the head of Mrs.
Tabitha Lifmahago, the Fragments were diftributed among the
Byftanders, according to the Cuftom of the antient Britons, on the
fuppofition that every perfon who ate of this hallowed Cake, fhould
that Night have a Vifion of the Man or Woman whom Heaven de
figned fhould be his or her wedded mate."
The " Speaator" obferves alfo : " The Writer refolved to try his
Fortune, fafted all Day, and that he might be fure of dreaming upon
fomething at night, procured an handfome Slice of Bride Cake, which
he placed very conveniently under his pillow."
' " Aufpices folebant nuptiis intereffe."— 5'ai'f««/, Sat. xii,
» "Nat. Hift," book x, cap, 8,
' "Humphrey Clinker," vol. iii. p. 265, edit, 1771.
up Nuptial Ufages.
The " Connoiffeur " fays : " Coufin Debby was married a littie
while ago, and fhe fent me a piece of Bride-Cake to put under my
pillow, and I had the fweeteft dream : I thought we were going to
be married together."
The following occurs in a poem of the laft century :''¦
" But, Madam, as a Prefent take
This little Paper of Bride-Cake :
Faft any Friday in the year,
When Venus mounts the ftarry fphere,
Thruft this at Night In plUowber,
In morning flumber you will feem
T' enjoy your Lover in a Dream."
In the " St, James's Chronicle," April 16-18, 1799, are fome lines
on the "Wedding Cake,"
For the fun to fhine upon the bride was a good omen.^
It was formerly a cuftom among the noble Germans at weddings for
the bride, when fhe was conduaed to the bride-chamber, to take off
her fhoe, and throw it among the byftanders, which every one ftrove
to catch, and whoever got it, thought it an omen that they themfelves
would fhortly be happily married. ^
There was an ancient fuperftition that for a bride to have good for
tune it was neceffary at her marriage that fhe fhould enter the houfe
under two drawn fwords placed in the manner of a St, Andrew's
Crofs,* In a letter from Carleton to Winwood, of Jan. 1604-5, among
other notices relating to marriages at Court, is "At Night there was
cafting off the Bride's left Hofe, and many other pretty Sorceries,"
Hutchinfon,^ fpeaking of a crofs near the ruins of the church in
Holy Ifland, fays : It is " now called the Petting Stone, Whenever
a Marriage is folemnized at the Church, after the Ceremony, the
Bride is to ftep upon it ; and if fhe cannot ftride to the end thereof, it
is faid the Marriage will prove unfortunate." The etymology there
given is too ridiculous to be remembered : it is called petting, left the
bride fhould take pet with her fupper.
Grofe tells us of a vulgar fuperftition [which is not obfolete] that
holds it unlucky to walk under a ladder, as it may prevent your being
married that year.
[The month of May is generally confidered as an unlucky one for
the celebration of marriage. This is an idea, which has been tranf-
mitted to us by our popifh anceftors, and was borrowed by them from
the ancients. Thus Ovid, in his " Fafti," lib. v. :
" Nee viduse tsedls eadem, nee virginis apta
Tempora. Quse nupfit, non diuturna fuit.
Hac quoque de caufa (fi te proveibia tangunt),
Menfe malas Maio nubere vulgus ait."]
' "The Progrefs of Matrimony,'" 1733, p. 30.
' Herrick's " Hefperides," p. 252. ^ " Antiquitat. Convivial." fol. 229.
' "Delrio DIfquIfit. Magic." p. 494, from Beezlus.
" "Hift. of Durham," vol. i. p. 32.
Nuptial Ufages. 1 1 1
Our rufties retain to this day many fuperftitious notions concerning
the times of the year when it is accounted lucky or otherwife to
marry. It has been remarked in the former volume of this work that
none are ever married on Childermas Day : for whatever caufe, this
is a black day in the calendar of impatient lovers."^ Randle Holme,
too, tells us : " Innocence Day on what Day of the week foever it
lights upon, that Day of the week is by Aftronomers taken to be a
Crofs Day all the year through." '
The following proverb marks another ancient conceit on this
head : " Who marries between the Sickle and the Scythe,
Will never thrive."
We gather from Aubanus, that the heathen Romans were not
without their fuperftitions on this fubjea.^
In the " Roman Calendar," feveral days are marked as unfit for mar
riages," Nuptias non fiunt,"/. ^. "Feb. II, Jun. 2, Nov. 2, Decemb. i."
On the 1 6th of September, it is noted, "•Tobiae facrum. Nuptiarum
Ceremoniae a Nuptiis deduaae, videlicet de Enfe, de Pifce, de Pompa,
et de Pedibus lavandis." On the 24th of January, the Vigil of St.
Paul's Day, there is this fingular reftriaion, " Viri cum Uxoribus
non cubant."
In an almanack for the year 1559, ^Y Lewes Vaughan, " made for
the merydian of Glouceftre," are noted as follow : " the tymes of
Weddinges when it begynneth and endeth." " Jan. 14. Weding
begin. Jan. 21. Weddinge goth out. April 3. Wedding be.
April 29, Wedding goeth out. May 22, Wedding begyn." And in
another almanack for 1655, ''7 Andrew Waterman, Mariner, we have
pointed out to us, in the laft page, the following days as " good to
marry, or contraa a Wife, (for then Women will be fond and loving,)
viz. January 2, 4, 11, 19, and 21. Feb. i, 3, 10, 19, 21. March 3,
5, 12, 20, 23. April 2, 4, 12, 20, and 22. May 2, 4, 12, 20, 23.
June I, 3, II, 19, 21. July I, 3, 19, 19, 21, 31. Auguft 2, 11,
18, 20, 30. Sept, I, 9, 16, 18, 28, Oaob, I, 8, 15, 17, 27, 29,
Nov, 5, II, 13, 22, 25, Decemb, 1, 8, 10, 19, 23, 29,"
Grofe tells us of a fingular fuperftition on this occafion : i.e. that if
' See Aubrey's " Mifcell." ed. 1748, p. 5.
' "Acad, of Armory," &c. 1688, lib. iii. c. iii. p. 131,
' " Tempus quoque Nuptiarum celebrandarum " (fays Stuckius) " certum a vete-
rlbus definltum et conftitutum effe Invenio, Concilil Ilerdenfis, xxxiii. 9, 4. Et
in Decreto Ivonis lib. 6, non opoitet a Septuagefima ufque In Oftavam Pafchae, et
tribus Hebdomadlbus ante Feftivitatem S. Joannis Baptlftae, et ab adventu Domini
ufque poft Epiphaniam, nuptias celebrare. Quod fi faftum fuerit, feparentur." —
Antiquitat, Con'vi'v. p. 72, See alfo the Formula in the Append, to Hearne's
" Hift. and Antiq. of Glaftonbury," p. 309.
I find the following to our purpofe,
" De Tempore prohibiti Matrimonii.
Conjugium Adventus toUit, fed Stella reducit,
Mox Cineres ftrlngunt. Lux pafcha oftava relaxat."
1 1 2 Nuptial Ufages,
in a family, the youngeft daughter fhould chance to be married before
her elder fifters, they muft all dance at her wedding without fhoes :
this will counteraa their ill luck, and procure them hufbands.
In Braithwaite's " Boulfter Leaure," 1640, p. 280, mention oc
curs of an ancient cuftom, " when at any time a Couple were married,
the foale of the Bridegroom's Shoe was to be laid upon the Bride's
Head, implying with what fubjeaion fhe fhould ferve her Hufband."
Notice has been taken of the fuperftition that the bride was not to
ftep over the threfhold in entering the bridegroom's houfe, but was to
be lifted over by her neareft relations.^ She was alfo to knit her fillets
to the door-pofts, and anoint the fides, to avert the mifchievous fafci-
nations of witches.*^ Previous to this, too, fhe was to put on a yellow
veil.^ In the ftatiftical " Account of Scotland," * the minifter of South
Ronaldfay and Burray, Orkney, fays: " No couple chufes to marry
except with a growing Moon, and fome even wifh for a flowing
Tide." Stephens, in his charaaer of "a plaine Countrey Bride,"' fays:
" She takes it by tradition from her Fellow-Goffips, that fhe muft
weepe fhoures upon her Marriage Day : though by the vertue of
muftard and onions, if fhe cannot naturally diffemble."
Tying the Point was another fafcination, illuftrations of which may
be found in Scot's " Difcoverie of Witchcraft," 1584, and elfe
where.* In " The Witch of Edmonton," 1658, young Banks fays : " Un-
girt, unblefs'd, fays the Proverb. But my Girdle fhall ferve a
riding Knit; and a Fig for all the Witches in Chriftendom."
29. Flinging the Stocking.
A Species of Devination ufed at Weddings,
Flinging the Stocking is thus mentioned in a fcarce old book,'
" The Sack Poffet muft be eaten and the Stocking flung, to fee who
can firft hit the Bridegroom on the Nofe."
' See the " Pleafant Hiftory of the Firft Founders," &c. p. 57,
^ Langley, in his fummary of Polydore Vergil, [firft printed in 1546] obferves:
" The Bryde anoynted the pooftes of the Doores with Swynes greafe, becaufe fhe
thought by that meanes to dryve awaye all misfortune, whereof fhe had her name
in Latin ' Uxor ab unguendo.' " [Pennant, in his " Tour in Scotland," obferved a
fimilar clafs of fuperftition. Mr. Brand cited Gefner to fliow that witches were
fuppofed to be able to deprive men of the faculty of generation by means of
toads.] ' Herrick's " Hefperides," p. 57,
¦* Vol. XV, p. 311.
» "Effays," &c. 1615.
" "Fifteen Comforts of Marriage," p. 225; "The Britifli Apollo," 1709.
vol. ii. No 35,
' "The Weft-Country Clothier undone by a Peacock," p. 65.
Nuptial Ufages, i j o
Miffon, in his Travels, tells us of this cuftom, that the young men
took the bride's ftocking, and the girls thofe of the bridegroom : each
of whom, fitting at the foot of the bed, threw the ftocking over
their heads, endeavouring to make it fall upon that of the bride or
her fpoufe: if the bridegroom's ftockings, thrown by the giris, 'fell
upon the bridegroom's head, it was a fign that they themfelves w'ould
foon be married : and a fimilar prognoftic was taken from the falling
of the bride's ftocking, thrown by the young men.
In the " Fifteen Comforts of Marriage," p. 60, the cuftom is re
prefented a littie different. " One of the young Ladies, inftead of
throwing the Stocking at the Bride, flings it full in the Bafon," (which
held the Sack Poffet,) " and then it's time to take the Poffet away ;
which done, they laft kifs round and fo depart."
So, in a little volume printed in the laft century : ^ " The Men take
the Bride's Stockings, and the Women thofe of the Bridegroom :
they then feat themfelves at the bed's feet, and throw the Stockings
over their heads, and whenever one hits the owner of them, it is
looked upon as an Omen that the perfon will be married in a fhort
time ; and though this Ceremony is looked upon as mere play and
foolery, new Marriages are often occafioned by fiich accidents. Mean
time the Poffet is got ready and given to the married Couple, When
they awake in the morning, a Sack-Poffet is alfo given them."
In " A Sing-Song on Clarinda's Wedding," ^ js an account of this
ceremony : " This clutter ore, Clarinda lay
Half-bedded, like the peeping Day
Behind Ollmpus' Cap ;
Whiles at her head each twitt'ring Girle
The fatal Stocking quick did whirle
To know the lucky hap."
So in " Folly in Print," 1667, in the defcription of a wedding, we
read : " But ftill the Stockings are to throw.
Some threw too high, and fome too low.
There's none could hit the mark," &c.
In the " Progrefs of Matrimony," 1733, is another defcription :
" Then come all the younger Folk in.
With Ceremony throw the Stocking ;
Backward, o'er head. In turn they tofs'd it.
Till in Sack-poffet they had loft it.
Th' Intent of flinging thus the Hofe,
Is to hit him or her o' th' Nofe ;
Who hits the mark, thus, o'er left fhoulder,
Muft married be, ere twelve months older.
Deucalion thus, and Pyrrha threw
Behind them ftones, whence Mankind grew ! "
' "Hymen," &c. 1760, p. 174.
' R. Fletcher's " Ex Otio Negotium," 1656, p. 230,
II. I
114 Nuptial Ufages.
Again, in "The Country Wedding," 1735 :*
" Bid the Laffes and Lads to the merry brown bowl.
While Raftiers of Bacon ftiall fmoke on the coal :
Then Roger and Bridget, and Robin and Nan,
Hit 'em each on the Nofe, luith the Hofe if you can."
In the "Britifh Apollo,"^ [it is faid, that this ceremony arofe
from a defire on the part of the company to imprefs on the wedded
couple that " ill or well, the aa was all their own."]
Ramfay' introduces this cuftom.
In the " Britifh Apollo," before quoted. No. 133, is the following
^ery : " Why is the Cuftom obferved for the Bride to be placed in
Bed next the left hand of her Hufband, feeing it is a general ufe in
England for Men to give their Wives the right hand when they
walk together. A. Becaufe it looks more modeft for a Lady to
accept the honour her Hufband does her as an aa of generofity at
his hands, than to take it as her right, fince the Bride goes to bed
firft." [The following paffage from the " Chriften State of Matrimony,"
1543, can fcarcely be faid to be much to the purpofe, yet it was
quoted by Brand, and is curious in itfelf:] " As for Supper, loke how
much fhamelefs and dronken the evenynge is more then the mornynge,
fo much the more vyce, exceffe, and myfnourtoure is ufed at the
Supper. After Supper muft they begynne to pype and daunce agayne
of the new. And though the yonge perfonnes, beyng wery of the
bablynge noyfe and inconvenience, come once towarde theyr reft, yet
canne they have no quietnes : for a man fhall fynde unmannerly and
reftles people that wyll firft go to theyr chambre dore, and there fyng
vicious and naughty Ballades, that the Dyvell maye have his whole
tryumphe nowe to the uttermoft."
It appears to have been a waggifh cuftom at weddings to hang a
bell under the party's bed.*
Throwing the ftocking has not been omitted in " The Collief's
Wedding." " The Stockings throiun, the Company gone.
And Tom and Jenny both alone."
30. Sack-Posset, &c.
Among the Anglo-Saxons, as Strutt informs us,^ at night the bride
was by the women attendants placed in the marriage-bed, and the
' " Gent. Mag." for March, 1785. ° 1708, vol. i. No. 42.
' Poems, 1721, p. 116.
" See Fletcher's "Night Walker," aft i, fc. i. "II oult une rifee de jeunes
homines qui s'etoient expres cachez aupres de fon Lit, comme on a coutume de
faire en pareilles occafions," — Conies d'Owville, tom. i, p, 3,
° " Manners and Cuftoms," vol. i. p. 77,
Nuptial Ufages. ne
bridegroom in the fame manner conduaed by the men, where having
both, with all who were prefent, drunk the marriage health, the com
pany retired. In the old fong of "Arthur of Bradley," we read:
" And then they did foot It and tofs it.
Till the cook had brought up the poffet;
The bride-pye was brought forth,
A thing of mickle worth.
And fo all, at the bed-fide.
Took leave of Arthur and his bride."
The Romifh rituals give the form of bleffing the nuptial bed. We
learn from " Articles ordained by King Henry VII. for the Regula
tion of his Houfehold," that this ceremony was obferved at the
marriage of a princefs. " All men at her coming in to be voided,
except woemen, till fhe be brought to her bedd : and the man, both :
he fitting in his bedd, in his fhirte, with a gowne eaft about him.
Then the bifhoppe with the chaplaines to come in and bleffe the
bedd : then every man to avoide without any drinke, fave the twoe
eftates, if they lifte priviely."^
In the evening of the wedding-day, juft before the company re
tired, the Sack-Poffet was eaten. Of this Poffet the bride and
bridegroom were always to tafte firft.
The cuftom of eating a poffet at going to bed feems to have pre
vailed generally among our anceftors. The Tobacconift, in a book
of Charaaers printed in 1640,^ fays: "And at my going to bed,
this is my poffet," *
Herrick has not overlooked the poffet in his " Hefperides," p. 253 ;
nor is it omitted in the " Collier's Wedding." It is mentioned too
among the bridal rites in the "Hiftory of Jack of Newbury" [1597],
where we are told "the Sack-Pofi!et muft be eaten." In "The
Fifteen Comforts of Marriage," p. 60, it is called " an antient Cuftom
of the Englifli Matrons, who believe that Sack will make a Man
lufty, and Sugar will make him kind."
I find this called the BenediSfion Poffet. In the papal times no new
married couple could go to bed together till the bridal bed had been
bleffed. In a MS. cited by Blakeway,* it is ftated that " the Pride of
the Clergy and the Bigotry of the Laity were fuch that new married
Couples were made to wait till Midnight, after the Marriage Day,
before they would pronounce a Benediaion, unlefs handfomely paid
for it, and they durft not undrefs without it, on pain of excommuni
cation."
' See alfo Hearne's " Hift, and Antiq. of Glaftonb." App. 309.
" " The Wandering Jew telling fortunes to Englifhmen," &c. p. 20. [But this
traft is partly borrowed from one of a fimilar clafs publifhed in 1609.]
^ Skinner derives the word from the French pofer, refidere, to fettle ; becaufe,
when the milk breaks, the cheefy parts, being heavier, fubfide, "Nobis proprie
defignat Lac calidum infufo vino cerevifia, &c, coagulatum." — See ]anii Etymol.
ia 'verbo,
• "Hiftoiical Paffages," &c, ut fuprd ("Hift. of Shrewfl>ury," 1779, p. 92).
1 1 6 Nuptial Ufages.
Miffon' fays: "The Poffet is a kind of Cawdle, a potion made
up of Milk, Wine, Yolks of Eggs, Sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, &c."
He adds : "They never fail to bring them another Sack-Poffet next
morning," The fame writer elfewhere obferves : " The Bride Maids carry the
Bride into the Bed-chamber, where they undrefs her, and lay her in
the Bed. They muft throw away and lofe all the Pins. Woe be to
the Bride if a fingle one is left about her ; nothing will go right.
Woe alfo to the Bride- Maids if they keep one of them, for they will
not be married before Whitfontide." Or as we read in a book of
the laft century :^ " till the Eafter following at fooneft."
A fingular inftance of tantalizing, however incredible it may feem,
was moft certainly praaifed by our anceftors on this feftive occafion,
/. e. fewing up the bride in one of the fheets. Herrick, in his Nup
tial Song on Sir Clipefby Crew and his Lady, is exprefs to this
purpofe : " But fince it muft be done, difpatch and fowe
Up in a Sheet your Bride, and what if fo," &c.
It is mentioned too in the account of the marriage of Sir Philip
Herbert : " At night there ¦^2& fewing into the Sheet,"
[31, The Feudal Mercheta Mulierum,
" Merchet," fays Tomline,^ " was a fine or compofition paid by
inferior tenants to the lord, for liberty to difpofe of their daughters in
marriage. No baron or military tenant could marry his fole daughter
and heir, without fuch leave purchafed from the king, pro maritanda
filid ; and many of our fervile teinants could neither fend their fons to
fchool, nor give their daughters in marriage, without exprefs licence
from their fuperior lord," Freemen were not, it feems, liable to this
mercheta,* at leaft in all cafes, " Mercheta," obferves Whitaker,'
" is certainly Britifh. This term, which has given rife to that fidion
of folly in the beft hiftories of Scotland,^ that the lord had a privilege
to fleep with the bride of his vaffal on her wedding night ... is appa
rently nothing more than the merch-ed of Howel-Dhu, the daughter-
hood, or the fine for the marriage of a daughter." This view is
fupported by the paffage, quoted by Brand himfeif from one of the
Cotton ian MSS.']
' "Travels in England," tranflated by Ozell, p. 352. See Herrick's "Hef
perides," p. 132, and " Humphrey Clinker," vol. iii, p. 265, ed, 1771,
' " Hymen," &c. 1760, p. 173.
[' "Law Diftionary," edit. 1835, in •v.'\
[* Blomefield's "Hift. of Norfolk," vol. iv, p. 221, quoted by Beckwith (edit, of
Blount's " Fragm. Antiq." 181 5, p. 483).]
"= " Hiftory of Manchefter," lib. i. c. 8, feft. -3.]
'" Heft. Boec. lib. Hi. c. 12 ; Spottifw. " Hift." fol 29 ]
[' Vltell, E 5. "Rentale de Tynemuth, faftum A.D. 1378.— Omnes Tenentes
de Tynemouth, cum contigerit, folvent Layrewite Filiabus vel Ancillis fuis et
etiam Merchet pro filiabus fuis maritandis,"]
Nuptial Ufages.
117
32. Morning after the Marriage.
" Among the Anglo-Saxons," * after the marriage, "next Morning
the whole Company came into the Chamber of the new married
Couple, before they arofe, to hear the Huftiand declare the Morning's
Gift, when his Relations became Sureties to the Wife's Relations for
the performance of fuch promifes as were made by the Hufliand."
This was the ancient pin-money, and became the feparate property of
the wife alone.
Owen 2 explains that word as "fignifying a Garment or Cloke with a
veil, prefented by the Huftiand to his Bride on the Morning after Mar
riage : and, in a wider fenfe the fetdement he has made on her of
goods and chattels adequate to her rank. In more modern times
there is a Cuftom fimilar to this in Pruffia. There the Huflsand may
(is obliged if he has found her a Virgin) prefent to his Bride the Mor-
gengabe or Gift on the Morning after Marriage, even though he fliould
have married a Widow."
The cuftom of awaking a couple the morning after the marriage
with a concert of mufic is of old ftanding.
[According to Donne's " Epithalamium," at the marriage of the
Princefs Elizabeth of England and Frederic of Bohemia, 1613, there
was a particular hour, at which it was ufual to wake the bride :
" Othres neer you fhall whifperinge fpeake.
And wagers lay at whofe fide day will breake,
And win by obferuinge then whofe hand it is.
That opens firft [a curtain,] hers or his :
This wilbe try'd to morrow after Nyne,
Till w^'i howre we thy day enlarge, O Valentine." '
The ballad of " The Bride's Good Morrow " is inferted in Mr.
Collier's " Roxburghe Ballads," 1847, and in Munday's "John A
Kent and John A Cumber," is a paffage which happily illuftrates
this, portion of the fubjea. It is where Turnop and his companions
ferenade Marian and Sidanen, and afterwards do the fame to the two
bridegrooms. Tom Tabrer fays : " Well, then tune all ; for it
drawes toward day ; and if we wake not the bryde, why, then, it is
woorth nothing." In 1557-8, William Pickering obtained licence to
print a ballad entitied " A Ryfe and Wake." This was evidently a
bride's good morrow, and perhaps the prototype of the compofition
found in the Roxburghe colleaion.]
In Carieton's account of the nuptials of Sir Philip Herbert, it is
ftated that " they were lodged in the Council Chamber, where the
King gave them a Reveille Matin before they were up."
' Strutt's "Mann, and Cufloms," vol. i. p 77,
'' " Welfti Dift." 'voce Cowyll.
[' This extraft is from an early MS. copy of Donne's " Epithalamium," now
before me. It is contained in a MS. volume of poems by Donne and others, of
which I have given fome notices in " Notes and Queries," 4th fer. ii,]
ii8 Nuptial Ufages.
Of fuch a Reveille Matin, as ufed on the marriages of refpeflable
merchants of London in his time, Hogarth has left us a curious repre
fentation in one of his prints of the " Idle and Induftrious Appren
tice." So, in the "Comforts of Wooing:" "Next morning, come
the Fidlers and fcrape him a wicked Reveillez. The Drums rattie,
the Shaumes tote, the Trumpets found tan ta ra ra ra, and the whole
Street rings with the benediaions and good wifhes of Fidlers, Drum
mers, Pipers, and Trumpetters. You may fafely fay now the Wed
ding's proclaimed."
Miffon,! fpeaking of the Reveillez on the morning after a wedding,
fays : " If the Drums and Fiddles have notice of it, they will be fure
to be with them by Day-break, making a horrible racket, till they
have got the pence," Gay, in his " Trivia," has cenfured the ufe of
the drum in this concert.
" In North Wales," fays Pennant, " on the Sunday after Marriage,
the Company who were at it, come to Church, i. e. the Friends and
Relations of the Party make the moft fplendid appearance, difturb the
Church, and ftrive who fhall place the Bride and Groom in the moft
honourable Seat. After Service is over, the Men, with Fidlers before
them, go into all the Ale-houfes in the Town."
In the "Monthly Magazine" for 1798, p. 417, we read: "It is
cuftomary, in Country Churches, when a Couple has been newly
married, for the Singers to chaunt, on the following Sunday, a par
ticular Pfalm, thence called the Wedding Pfalm, in which are thefe
words, ' Oh well is thee, and happy fhalt thou be,' "
33, DuNMow Flitch of Bacon.^
A cuftom formerly prevailed, and [is ftill occafionally] obferved, at
Dunmow in Effex, of giving a flitch of bacon to any married man or
woman, who would fwear that neither of them, in a year and a day,
either fleeping or waking, repented of their marriage,
[Blount] attributes the origin of this ceremony to an inftitution of
the Lord Fitzwalter, in the reign of Henry III, who ordered that
" whatever married man did not repent of his marriage, or quarrel
with his wife in a year and a day after it, fhould go to his priory, and
demand the bacon, on his fwearing to the truth, kneeling on two
ftones in the Church-yard," The form and ceremony of the claim,
as made in 1701, by William Parfley of Much Eafton, in the County
of Effex, butcher, and Jane his wife, are detailed in the fame work.'
[It is to be colleaed from a MS. in the College of Arms,' written
by Sir Richard St. George, Garter, about 1640, that this notable ufage
' "Travels in England," tranflated by Ozell, p. 352.
= Dugdale, " Mon. Angl." vol. ii. p. 79. See alio Morant's "Effex," vol. u.
p. 429. ,, ,.
P Inferted in Dugdale's " Monafticon," and again in " Antiq. Repert. edit,
1807, vol. iii. p. 341-4.]
Nuptial Ufages. 119
originated either in Robert Fitzwater, a favourite of Henry II., or in
one of his fucceffors in the lordfhip of Dunmow and its Priory. It is
faid of this Fitzwater, by the writer of the MS., that " he betooke him
feif in his latter dayes to prayers and deeds of Charity . . . and reedified
the decayed priorie of Dunmow, ... in which Priorie arofe a Cuftome
begune and inftituted either by him or fome other of his fucceffors.
... I have enquired of the manner of yt, and can learne no more but
that yt continued untill the Diffolution of that houfe as alfo the
Abbey," St. George proceeds to fay, that in his time two hard-
pointed ftones were to be feen in the churchyard, on which the
claimant was required to take the oath kneeling humbly in the prefence
of the prior, convent, and people ; which procefs, together with the
length and elaborate charaaer of the declaration exaaed, " with folemn
finging" into the bargain, feems to have brought St, George to the
conclufion that the " partie or Pilgrim for Bacon," as he terms him,
had rather a " painful pilgrimage." We are to infer, from Garter's
account, that it was at that time confidered fufficient for the hufband
to attend ; and he acquaints us that, after the endurance of the folemn
ordeal, he was, if his claim were admitted, carried in triumph through
the town, with his flitch before him. The quantity given does not
feem to have been ftriaiy uniform, for Garter fays, " I find that fome
had a gammon and others a fleeke, or a flitch," The earlieft record
of the prefentation of the flitch appears to be in 7 Edw, IV,, when
Stephen Samuel, of Ayrton, in Effex, claimed and obtained his gam
mon, on fatisfying the ufual conditions. In 23 Hen. VI., Richard
Wright, of Badbourgh, near Norwich, was fimilarly awarded the
palm of conjugal harmony ; but in his cafe it was only a flitch.
Again, in 1510, 2 Hen. VIII,, Thomas Lefuller, of Cogfhall, Effex,
was allowed the full gammon. But on what ground this variation was
made, we do not learn.^
Inftead of one claimant, namely, the hufband, it became cuftomary,
it appears, at a later date, for both the man and the woman to attend,
and a large oak chair was preferved in Dunmow Church in the pre
fent century, in which the fortunate couple were inftalled, io foon as
the def ifion in their favour was made known. It is probably ftill to
be feen ; at any rate an engraved view of it is given in the " Anti
quarian Repertory." 2 It is there defcribed as " undoubtedly of great
antiquity, probably the oflicial chair of the prior, or that of the lord of
the manor."]
The fingular oath adminiftered to them ran thus [according to
Dugdale : " You fliall fwear by the Cuftom of our ConfeflSon,
That you never made any Nuptial Tranfgreffion,
Since you were married to your wife,
By houfehold brawles, or contentious ftrife ;
[' Thefe inftances, all prior to the Difiblution, are introduced by Garter Into
the MS. account jprinted as aforefaid. Brand's text was here, as in fo many other
places, extremely faulty a.nA jejune. 1
[' Vol. iii. p. 197, edit. 1807.]
120 Nuptial Ufages.
Or otherwife in bed or board
Offended each other in deed or word ;
Or fince the Parifli Clerk faid Amen,
Wifhed yourfelves unmarried agen.
Or in a twelvemonth and a day
Repented not in thought any way,
But continued true and in defire.
As when you joined hands in the Holy Quire.
If to thefe conditions without all fear
Of your own accord you will freely fwear,
A Gammon of Bacon you fliall receive.
And beare it Hence with Love and Good Leave ;
For this is our Cuftom in Dunmow well known,
Though the Sport be ours, the Bacon's your own."
It is fcarcely neceffary to obferve, that the preceding lines have
every mark of being a modern local verfion of the more ancient
formula, now apparently not preferved. Dugdale, however, thought
them worth printing in his "Monafticon,"]
The parties were to take this oath before the prior and convent and
the whole town, humbly kneeling in the churchyard upon the two
hard pointed ftones, which have been juft noticed. They were after
wards taken upon men's fhoulders, and carried, firft, about the priory
churchyard, and after through the town, with all the friars and brethren,
and all the townsfolk, young and old, following them with fhouts and
acclamations, with their bacon before them.^
[Brand defcribes] a large print, entitled " An exaa perfpeaive View
of Dunmow, late the Priory in the County of Effex, with a reprefenta
tion of the Ceremony and Proceffion in that Mannor, on Thurfday the
20th of June, 1751, when Thomas Shapefhaft of the Parifh ofWea-
thersfield in the County aforefaid. Weaver, and Ann his Wife, came to
demand, and did aaually receive a Gammon of Bacon, having firft
kneeled down upon two bare ftones within the Church Doore and
taken the Oath, &c. N,B, Before the Diffolution of Monafteries it
does not appear, by fearching the moft antient Records, to have been
demanded above three times, and, including this, juft as often fince,
" Taken on the fpot and engraved by David Ogborne," ^
The Author of "Piers Ploughman" (1362) and Chaucer in his
" Wife of Bath's Prologue," ' refer to the Dunmow flitch, A fimilar
ufage exifted at Whichnovre in Staffordfhire,^ [with the addition of
a prefent of corn. According to the " Contes d'Eutrapel," cited by
Tyrwhitt, it was a Breton ufage, prevailing at Sainte Helaine, near
Rennes. But Dr, Bell, in his erudite refearches into Shakefpeare's
" Puck " has fhown that the ufage has alfo a German counterpart ; and
' Blount's "Jocular Tenures," by Beckwith, [1815, p. 519-23.]
' "The Gent. Mag." vol. xxi. p. 282, calls him "John Shakeflianks, luool-
comber." ' [" I fette hem fo on werke, by my fay.
That many a night they fongen weylaway.
The bacoun was nought fet for hem, I tiowe,
That fom men fecche in Effex at Donmowe."]
[< Plot's " Staffordfliire," p. 440.]
Nuptial Ufages. 12 1
I am inclined certainly to acquiefe in the line of argument, which
feems to fecure for the idea in its origin a Teutonic fource.i
We alfo find a reference to the ufage in a MS, which is fuppofed
to have been written not much more than half a century after the
death of Chaucer :2
" I can fynd no man now that wille enquere.
The parfyte wais unto Dunmow ;
For they repent hem within a yere,
And many within a weke, and fonner, men trow ;
That cawfith the weis to be rowgh and over grow,
That no man may fynd path or gap.
The world Is turnyd to another fliap."]
[The honeymoon does not feem to have been obferved of old, and
no ftated time was underftood to elapfe between the nuptials and the
reception ^of friends at home by the married couple. Thomas Copley,
Efq. of Gatton, county Surrey, in a letter to Sir Thomas Cawarden'
July 1 8th, 1558, fays that he was going to be married on the Sunday
following, and that on the Wednefday he fliould be happy to fee Sir
Thomas at Gatton, "at w'^'" daie I thynke we fliall come home."
In the « Wright's Chaft Wife," a poem fuppofed by Mr. Furnivall
to have been written about 1462, it is faid of the Wright and his
magical rofe garland :
" Of thys chaplett hym was iuWe fayne.
And of hys wyfe, was nott to layne ;
He weddyd her iuWe fone.
And ladde her home wyth folempnite.
And hyld her brydlle dayes thre.
Whan they home come."
This poem is laid in a humble fphere of life ; and even now it is
not ufual for working folks to remain more than a few days away after
the marriage.
At Whichenovre, a lefs rigorous oath was exaaed. The following
is the form which held 10 Edw. III. and which was fworn on a book
laid above the flitch. In that year Sir Philip de Somerville was Lord
of the Manor :
" Here ye. Sir Philippe de Somervile, Lord of Whichenovre, mayn-
teyner and gyver of this Baconne ; that I A. fithe I wedded B my
wife, and fythe I hadd hyr in my kepyng, and at my wylle by a yere
and a day, after our Mariage, I wold not have chaunged for none
other, farer ne fowler, rycher ne pourer, ne for none other defcended
of greater lynage, flepyng ne waking, at noo tyme. And yf the feyd
B. were fole, and I fole, I would take her to be my Wyfe, before all
the Wymen of the worlde, of what condiciones foever they be, good
or evylle, as helpe me God ond hys Seyntys ; and this flefh and all
fleflies." It feems that no religious diftinaions were obferved, but that the
flitch was open to all comers, who had lived in a ftate of abfolute
content and felicity a year and a day from the date of their union. It
[' "Shakefpeare's Puck," vol. I. p. 15, et feqq.l
[° MS. Laud, 416, apud "Reliquiae Antiqucc," vol. ii. p. 29.]
122 Nuptial Ufages.
was alfo ftipulated that it was to hang up in the hall of the Manor-
houfe, " redy arrayede all times of the yere, bott in Lent."]
34. CUCKOLDOM.
•• Here is Maryone Marchauntes at AUgate,
Her Hufljode dwells at y» fygne of y" Cokoldes Pate."
Ceck Lorels Bote.
" It is faid, — Many a man knows no end of his goods: right: many a man has
good horns, and knows no end of them. Well, that is the dowiy of his Wife ;
'tis none of his own getting. Horns ? Even fo : — Poor men alone ? — No, no ;
the nobleft Deer hath them as huge as the rafcal." — As You Like It, aft iii. fc. 3.
" On Dr. Cuckold,
" Who fo famous was of late.
He was 'with finger pointed at :
What cannot learning do, and fingle ftate ?
" Being married, he fo famous grew.
As he was pointed at nuith tixio ;
What cannot learning and a Wife now do ?"
Flecknoe's DiflinaOT, 1656.
Under the head of Marriage Cuftoms naturally falls the confidera
tion of the vulgar faying that " a Hujband wears Horns," or is a Cornute,
when his wife proves falfe to him ; as alfo that of the meaning of the
word Cuckold, which has for many ages been the popular indication
of the fame kind of infamy. In one of Greene's pieces* is the follow
ing witticifm on this head : " Hee that was hit with the Home was
pincht at the heart,"
Again : " Let him dub her hufband Knight of the forked Order."
So in " Othello," 1622 : " O curfe of Marriage I
— 'Tis Deftiny, unfhunnable like Death,
Even then this forked plague is fated to us,
When we do quicken." — Aft iii. fc, 3,
In " The Englifh Fortune Teller," » the author, fpeaking of a
wanton's hufband, fays : " He is the vranton wenches game amongft
themfelves, and Wagges fport to poynt at with two fingers."
Bulwer* fays : "To prefent the Index and Eare-finger (/, e. the
fore and little finger) wagging, with the Thumb applied unto the
Temples is their expreffion who would fcornfuUy reprove any. The
fame Gefture, if you take away the motion, is ufed, in our nimble-
fingered times, to call one Cuckold, and to prefent the Badge of Cuck-
oldry, that mentall and imaginary Horn ; feeming to cry, ' O man of
happy note, whom Fortune meaning highly to promote, hath ftucke
on thy forehead the earneft penny of fucceeding good lucke."
The following paffage occurs in "The Home' exalted," 1661 :
" Horns are fignified by the throwing out the little andfore-finger when
we point at fuch whom we tacitly called Cuckolds,"
' " Dlfputatlon betweene a Hee Conny-catcher and a Shee Conny-catcher," &c.
159*) f'gn- E ^ and 3,
' 1609, fign. F, ' " Chirologia," 1644, p. 181.
Nuptial Ufages, 1 2 ¦?
In the print of " a Skimmington," * engraved by Hogarth, for " Hu
dibras," we obferve a tailor's wife employed in this manner to denote
her own, but, as fhe thinks, her hufband's infamy.
Winftanley* fays : " The Italians, when they intend to feoff or
difgrace one, ufe to put their Thumb between two of their Fingers,
and fay ' Ecco, la fico;' which is counted a Difgrace anfwerable to
our Englifh Cuftom of making Horns to the Man whom we fufpea to
be a Cuckold," [Winftanley traces its origin to the probably apocry
phal legend of the barbarous treatment of Beatrice, confort of Frederic
Barbaroffa, in 11 61, by the Milanefe :] " They placed her on a Mule,
with her face towards the Tail, which flie was compelled to ufe in
ftead of a bridle : and when they had thus fhewn her to all the Town,
they brought her to a Gate, and kicked her out. To avenge this
wrong, the Emperor befieged and forced the Town, and adjudged all
the people to die, fave fuch as would undergo this Ranfome, Be
tween the Buttocks of a fkittifti Mule a bunch of Figs was faftened ;
and fuch as would live muft, with their hands bound behind, run after
the Mule, till, with their Teeth, they had fnatched out one or more of
the Figs, This Condition, befides the hazard of many a found kick,
was, by moft, accepted and performed,"
Dickenfon, in " Greene in Conceipt," 1598, ufes this exprefEon of
a cornute : " but certainely, beleeved, that Cjiraldo his mailer was as
foundly armde for the heade, as either Capricorne, or the ftouteft
horned figne in the Zodiacke."
It is well known that the word horn in the facred writings denotes
fortitude and vigour of mind ;^ and that in the clafKcs, perfonal courage
(metaphorically from the pufhing of horned animals) is intimated by
horns,* Whence then are we to deduce a very ancient cuftom which has
prevailed almoft univerfally of faying that the unhappy hufbands of
falfe women wear horns, or are cornutes ? it may be faid almoft uni
verfally, for, we are told that even among the Indians it was the
higheft indignity that could be offered them even to point at a horn.
In Spain it is a crime as much punifhable by the laws to put up
Horns againft a neighbour's houfe, as to have written a libel againft
him, [It was an offence alfo in the eye of the law among the Vene
tians, and a doge's fon was feverely punifhed on this account in the
fourteenth century.]^
There is a fingular paffage upon this fubjea,' which I fhall give,
and leave, too, without comment, as I find it. The hiftorians are
fpeaking of the monument of Thomas the firft Lord Wharton, in the
' See 'infra. " " Hlftorical Rarities," p. 76.
^ " His Horn fhall be exalted," " The Horn of my falvation," &c. &c.
* " Namque in malos afperrimus
Parata toUo Cornua." — Horat. Epod.
" Jam feror In pugnas & nondum Cornua fumpfi." — Ovid De Ebrietate,
° [Hazlitt's "Venet. Repub." vol. Hi p. 376.]
" Nicolfon and Burn's " Hiftory of Weftmoreland and Cumberland," vol i.
p. 540,
124 Nuptial Ufages.
church of Kirby Stephen in Weftmoreland, the creft of whofe arms
was a bull's head :
"The Confideration of Horns, generally ufed upon tiie Creft,
feemeth to account for what hath hitherto by no author or other per
fon ever been accounted for ; namely the connexion betwixt Horns
and Cuckolds, The notion of Cuckolds wearing Horns prevails
through all the modern European Languages, and is of four or five
hundred years ftanding. The particular eftimation of Badges and
diftinaion of Arms began in the time of the Crufades, being then more
efpecially neceffary to diftinguifh the feveral Nations of which the
Armies were compofed. Horns upon the Creft, according to that of
Silius Italicus, ' Caffide cornigera dependens Infula.'
were ereaed in terrorem : and a fter the Hufband had been abfent
three or four years, and came home in his regimental accoutre
ments, it might be no impoflible fuppofition that the Man who wore
the Horns was a Cuckold. And this accounts, alfo, why no author
at that time, when the droll notion was ftarted, hath ventured to ex
plain the Connexion : for, woe be to the Man in thofe days that
fhould have made a joke of the Holy War ; which, indeed, in confider
ation of the expence of blood and treafure attending it, was a very
ferious affair."
There is a great parade of learning on the fubjea of this very fe
rious jeft in " The Paradife of Pleafant Queftions," 1661.*
In Varchi's " Blazon of Jealoufie," 1615, [Tofte, the tranflator,
tells in a note] a very different ftory of a fwan. " The Tale of the
SwANNE- about Windfor, finding a ftrange Cocke with his mate, and
how farre he fwam after the other to kill it, and then, returning backe,
flew his Hen alfo, (this being a certaine truth, & not many yeers
done vpon this our Thames) is fo well knowne to many Gentlemen,
and to moft Watermen of this Riuer, as it were needleffe to vfe any
more words about the fame."
PanciroUus derives it from a cuftom of the Emperor Andronicus,
who ufed to hang up in a frolic, in the porticoes of the Forum, the
flag's horns he had taken in hunting, intending, as he fays, by this
new kind of infignia, to denote at once the manners of the city, the
lafcivioufnefs of the wives he had debauched, and the fize of the
animals he had made his prey, and that from hence the farcafm fpread
abroad that the hufband of an adulterous wife bare horns.
I cannot fatisfy myfelf with this account, for what Andronicus did
feems to have been only a continuation, not the origin of this cuftom.
In "Titus Andronicus," [1594,] aa ii. fc. 3, the following
occurs : " Under your patience, gentle emperefs,
'Tis thought you have a goodly gift in horning.
Jove fhield your hufband from his hounds to day I
'Tis pity, they fhould take him for a Stag."
" "Elyfius jucundarum Quasftionum Campus," Bruxellae, 1661, fee "The Re-
folver of Curiofities of Nature," 1635, p. 11 1.
Nuptial Ufages, i2c
The following is extraaed from the " Gentleman's Magazine " for
December, 1786 : " I know not how far back the Idea of giving his
head this ornament may be traced, but it may be met with in Artemi-
dorus (Lib. ii.) and I believe we muft have recourfe to a Greek
Epigram for an illuftration :
K6(Voy A(WaX9Ela5 h j/yvjj EtTTl XEpff . '
Shakefpeare and Ben Jonfon feem both to have confidered the
horns in this light : " Well, he may fleep in fecurity, for he hath the
Horn of Abundance, and the lightnefs of his Wife fhines through it:
and yet he cannot fee, though he has his own Lanthorn to light
him." 2 ^
"What! never figh.
Be of good cheer, man, for thou art a Cuckold.
'Tis done, 'tis done ! nay, when fuch flowing ftore.
Plenty itfelf, falls in my wife's lap.
The Cornu Copise will be mine, I know." '
In "The Home exalted," 166 1, I find feveral conjeaures on the
fubjea, but fuch light and fuperficial ones as I think ought not to be
much depended upon.
Armftrong * fays, the inhabitants [of Minorca] bear hatred to the
fight and name of a horn : " for they never mention it but in
anger, and then they curfe with it, faying Cuerno, as they would
Diablo." The following is an extraa from Hentzner's " Travels in Eng
land," 1598 : " Upon taking the air down the river (from London),
on the left hand lies Ratcliffe, a confiderable fuburb. On the oppofite
fhore is fixed a long pole, with ram's-horns upon it, the intention of
which was vulgarly faid to be a refleaion upon wilful and contented
cuckolds." Grofe mentions a fair called Horn-Fair, held at Charlton, in Kent,
on St. Luke's Day, the i8th of Oaober. It confifts of a riotous mob,
who, after a printed fummons difperfed through the adjacent towns,
meet at Cuckold's Point, near Deptford, and march from thence in
proceflion through that town and Greenwich to Charlton, with horns
of different kinds upon their heads ; and at the fair there are fold
ram's-horns, and every fort of toy made of horn ; even the ginger
bread figures have horns.
A fermon is preached at Charlton church on the fair day. Tradi
tion attributes the origin of this licentious fair to King John, who,
being deteaed in an adulterous amour, compounded for his crime by
' " Anthol." lib. ii,
' "Hen, IV." Part 11. aft 1. fc. 4. Steevens ("Reed's Shakfpeare," vol. xii. p.
29) on the above paffage in the Second Part of Henry IV. has fome additional
illuftrations. ' "Everie Man In his Humor," i6oo, aft iii. fc. 6.
' " Hiftory of Minorca," 1756, 2nd edit, p. 170,
126 Nuptial Ufages.
granting to the injured hufljand all the land from Charlton to Cuckold's
Point, and eftablifhed the fair as a tenure.
It appears that it was the fafliion in William Fuller's* time to go
to Horn Fair dreffed in women's clothes. " I remember being there
upon Horn Fair day, / was dreffed in my land-lady's befl gown, and other
women s attire, and to Horn Fair we went, and as we were coming
back by water, all the cloaths were fpoiled by dirty water, &c., that
was flung on us in an inundation, for which 1 was obliged to prefent
her with two guineas, to make atonement for the damage fuftained," &c.
In an extraa from an old newfpaper, I find it was formerly a
cuftom for a proceffion to go from fome of the inns in Bifhopfgate
Street, in which were a king, a queen, a miller, a councillor, &c., and
a great number of others, with horns in their hats, to Chariton, where
they went round the church three times, &c. So many indecencies
were committed upon this occafion on Blackheath (as the whipping
of females with furze, &c,), that it gave rife to the proverb of " all is
fair at Horn Fair,"
Lyfons in his " Environs,"'^ fays, the burlefque procefKon has been
difcontinued fince the year 1768, [Grofe has noticed two cuftoms
evidently conneaed (as Brand thought) with our prefent fubjeft.
One is the Making a Freeman of Highgate, and the other, the
Hoifting, a procefs, to which foldiers were fubjeaed on returning to
barracks for the firft time after being married.]
[It appears that, in the parifh of St. Clement Danes]' " There was
formerly a good cuftom of Saddling the Spit, which, for reafons well
known at Weftminfter, is now laid afide : fo that Wives, whofe
Hufbands are fea-faring perfons, or who are otherwife abfent from
them, have lodged here ever fince very quietly."
[Skelton ufes the term " knight of the common hall" in relation to
a perfon in this predicament. He is fpeaking of " la belle Ifolde," the
wife of King Mark : " Some fay fhe was lyght.
And made her hufband knyghte
Of the common hal
What cuckoldes men cal — "
In "Tarltons Newes out of Purgatory," 1590, we have "The
Tale of the Three Cuckolds, of their Impreffes and Mottoes."
Cuckold's Point, below Rotherhithe [Redriffe] was anciently
known as Cuckold's Haven. In " Tarlton's Jefts," firft publiflied
probably about 1590, we are told, " How Tarlton landed at Cuckolds
hauen," " whereupon one gaue him this theame next day :
' Tarlton, tell mee, for fayne would I know.
If thou wert landed at Cuckold's-hauen, or no ?'
' "Whole Life of Mr. William Fuller," 1703, p. 122.
' Vol, iv, p, 325,
5 "New View of London and Weflminfter," 171 j, p, a6.
Nuptial Ufages. 127
Tarlton anfwered thus :
' Yes, fir, I take 't In no fcorne.
For many land there, yet miffe of the home.' "
In the play of " Timon," edited by Mr. Dyce, aa i. fc. 2, Eutra-
pelus fays to Abyffus : " Di'ft euer heare a cuckowe of a note more
inaufpicious?" In the fame drama, aa ii. fc, 5, Timon himfeif is
made to fay, in allufion to horns :
" A common badge to men of cache degree.
How many hange their heades downe, leafte they fplitte
The figne pofts with their homes — "
Guilpin, in his " Skialetheia," 1598, fays :
" For let Severus heare
A cuckow fing in June, he fweats for feare — "
Why the writer choofes June, I do not know; the proverbial fines
run : " In April,
The cuckoo fhows his bill ;
In May,
He fings all day;
In June,
He alters his tune ;
In July,
Away he'll fly ;
Come Auguft,
Away he muft."
In " Polimanteia," 1595, we read: "the Nightingall and the Cuckow
both grow hoarfe at the rifing oi {Syrius) the Dogge-ftarre."
There is the following curious epigram in " Witts Recreations :"
" To Feftus.
" Feftus th' art old, and yet wouldft maryed be :
Ere thou do fo, this counfel take of me :
Look Into Lillies Grammar, there thou'lt find,
Cornu a horn, a word ftill undeclin'd."
In the " Sack- full of Newes," 1640, in one of the tales, it is faid:
" So the poore man was cruelly beaten, and made a Summers Bird
neverthelefs," The expreflion Summer Bird, however, occurs in the " Schole
Houfe of Women," 1541 :
" And all to the end fome other knave
Shall dub her hufband a fummer bird — "]
35, The Skimmington.
There ufed formerly to be a kind of ignominious proceflion in the
North of England, called " Riding the Stang," when, as the Gloffary
to Douglas's Virgil [17 10] informs us, one is made to ride on a pole
for his neighbour's wife's fault.
128 Nuptial Ufages.
This cuftom [even in Brand's time, was growing into difufe, for]
at the affizes at Durham, in 1 793, " Thomas Jamefon, Matthew Mar-
rington, Geo. Ball, Jos, Rowntree, Simon Emmerfon, Robert Parkin,
and Frances Wardell, for violently affiaulting Nicholas Lowes, of
Bifhop Wearmouth, and carrying him on a Stang, were fentenced to
be imprifoned two years in Durham Gaol, and find fureties for their
good behaviour for three years,"*
It appears from Ramfay's "Poems," 1721, that riding the ftang
was ufed in Scotiand, A Note fays : " The riding of the Stang on a
woman that hath beat her hufband is, as I have defcribed it, by one's
riding upon a fting, or a long piece of wood, carried by two others on
their fhoulders, where, like a herauld, he proclaims the woman's
name, and the manner of her unnatural aaion,"
In one of George Houfnagle's " Views in Seville," dated 1593, is
a curious reprefentation of riding the ftang, or " flcimmington," as
then praaifed in that country. The patient cuckold rides on a mule,
hand-fhackled, and having on an amazing large pair of antlers, which
are twifted about with herbs, with four little flags at the top, and
three bells. The vixen rides on another mule, and feems to be
belabouring her hufband with a crabbed ftick; her face is entirely
covered with her long hair. Behind her, on foot, follows a trumpeter,
holding in his left hand a trumpet, and in his right a baftinado, or
large ftrap, feemingly of leather, with which he beats her as they go
along. The paffengers, or fpeaators, are each holding up at them two
fingers like fnail's horns. In the reference, this proceflion is ftyled in
Spanifh " Execution de Juftitia de los Cornudos patientes." [A fome
what fimilar chaftizement was infliaed in Spain on thofe married
people who difgrace themfelves ; the wife, by infidelity, and the
hufband by collufion and derivation of profit from her fhame.]
Callender obferves, fays Jamiefon in his Diaionary, that, in
the North, riding the ftang, " is a mark of the higheft infamy."
" The perfon," he fubjoins, " who has been thus treated, feldom
recovers his honour in the opinion of his neighbours. When they
cannot lay hold of the culprit himfeif, they put fome young fellow on
the flang, or pole, who proclaims that it is not on his own account
that he is thus treated, but on that of another perfon, whom he
names. "'^ " I am informed," Jamiefon adds, " that in Lothian, and
perhaps in other counties, the man who had debauched his neigh
bour's wife was formerly forced to ride the Stang." Here we have
evidently the remains of a very ancient cuftom. The Goths were
wont to erea what they called Nidflaeng, or the pole of infamy, with
the moft dire imprecations againft the perfon who was thought to
deferve this punifliment ; Ifl. Nidflog. He who was fubjeaed to
' The word Stang, fays RSy, is ftill ufed in fome colleges in Cambridge : to
ftang fcholars in Chrlftmas-time being to caufe them to ride on a colt-ftaff, or pole,
for miffing chapel. It is derived from the Iflandic Staung, hafta. " Staung
Eboracenfibus eft Lignum ablongum. Contus bajulorum." — Hickes.
'' "Ane. Scot. Poems," pp. 154-5.
Nuptial Ufages. 129
this difhonour was called Niding, to which the Englifh word infamous
moft nearly correfponds ; for he could not make oath in any caufe.
The celebrated Iflandic bard, Egill Skallagrim, having performed this
tremendous ceremony at the expenfe of Eric Bloddox, King of Nor
way, who, as he fuppofed, had highly injured him, Eric foon after
became hated by all, and was obliged to fly from his dominions.* The
form of imprecation is quoted by Callender.
There is the following paffage on this fubjea in the " Coftume of
Yorkftiire," 1814, where a plate illuftrates the "Riding of the
Stang :" " This ancient provincial cuftom is ftill occafionally obferved
in fome parts of Yorkfhire, though by no means fo frequently as it
was formerly. It is no doubt intended to expofe and ridicule any
violent quarrel between man and wife, and more particularly in in
ftances where the pufillanimous hufband has fuffered himfeif to be
beaten by his virago of a partner. A cafe of this defcription is here
reprefented, and a party of boys, affuming the ofBce of public cenfors,
are riding the ftang. This is a pole, fupported on the fhoulders of
two or more of the lads, acrofs which one of them is mounted,
beating an old kettle or pan with a ftick. He at the fame time
repeats a fpeech, or what they term a nominy, which, for the fake of
detailing the whole ceremony is here fubjoined :
'With a ran, tan, tan
On my old tin can,
Mrs. and her good man.
She bang'd him, fhe bang'd him.
For fpending a penny when he ftood in need.
She up with a three-footed ftool ;
She ftruck him fo hard, and fhe cut fo deep,
Till the blood run down like a new ftuck fheep ! ' "
It may be added, that the cuftom of " riding the Stang " feems alfo
to have been known in Scandinavia : for Seren gives flong-heflen as
fignifying the rod, or roddle-horfe,
" To ride," or " riding Skimmington," is, according to Grofe, a
ludicrous cavalcade in ridicule of a man beaten by his wife : it confifts
of a man riding behind a woman with his face to the horfe's tail,
holding a diftaff in his hand, at which he feems to work, the woman
all the while beating him with a ladle : a fmock difplayed on a ftaff is
carried before them, as an emblematical ftandard, denoting female
fuperiority: they are accompanied by what is called rough mufic,
that is, frying-pans, bull's-horns, marrow-bones and cleavers, &c., a
proceffion admirably defcribed by Butier in his " Hudibras,'"^
In " Divers Crab-tree Leaures," &c, 1639, a cut reprefenting a
woman beating her hufband with a ladle, is called " Skimmington and
her Hufband," This cut is repeated in a chapter, entitied " Skim-
' V. 01, Lex Run. 'vo, nijd.
[' This -is illuftrated by Hogarth In his print of" Y^ Skimmmgton. ]
II. K
130 Nuptial Ufages.
mington's LeSfure to her Hufband, which is the errand Scold," with
fome verfes wherein occur the following pithy lines :
" But all ftiall not ferve thee,
For have at thy pate.
My Ladle of the Crab-tree
Shall teach thee to cogge and to prate,"
Bagford feems to have heard of an old ftatute made hereupon:* In
atraa of the laft century,- is the following account of a fkimmington,
" There is another Cuftom in England, which is very extraordinary :
a Woman carries fomething in the fhape of a Man, crowned with a
huge pair of Horns, a drum goes before and a vaft crowd follows,
making a ftrange mufic with Tongs, Gridirons, and Kettles, This
burlefque Ceremony was the invention of a Woman, who thereby
vindicated the charaaer of a Neighbour of hers, who had ftoutly
beaten her Hufband for being fo fancy as to accufe his Wife of being
unfaithful to his bed. The Figure with Horns requires no expla
nation, it is obvious to every body that it reprefents the Hufband."
Miffon' fays : " I have fometimes met in the Streets of London a
Woman carrying a Figure of Straw reprefenting a Man, crown'd
with very ample Horns, preceded by a Drum, and followed by a
Mob, making a moft grating noife with Tongs, Grid-irons, Frying-
pans, and Sauce-pans, I afked what was the meaning of all this ;
they told me that a Woman had given her Hufband a found beating,
for accufing her of making him a Cuckold, and that upon fuch oc
cafions fome kind Neighbour of the poor innocent injur d Creature
generally performed this Ceremony."
The following paffage is taken from King's " Mifcellany Poems :'"
" When the young people ride the Skimmington,
There is a general trembling in a Town,
Not only he for whom the perfon rides
Suffers, but they fweep other doors befides ;
And by that Hieroglyphic does appear
That the good Woman is the Mafter there,"
Hence feemingly it was part of the ceremony to fweep before the
door of the perfon whom they intended to fatirize — and if they ftopped
at any other door and fwept there too, it was a pretty broad hint that
there were more fkimmingtons, /, e. flirews, in the town than one.
In Gloucefterfhire this is alfo called "a Skimmington."
[Brand mentions that Douce had] a curious print, entitled, "An
exaa Reprefentation of the humorous Proceflion of the Richmond
Wedding of Abram Kendrick and Mary Wefturn 17**." Two
Grenadiers go firft, then the flag with a crown on it is carried after
them : four men with hand-bells follow : then two men, one carrying
' Letter relating to the antiquities of London, printed in the firft volume of
Leland's "CoUeftanea," p. Ixxvi.
' "Hymen," &c. 1760, p. 177.
'' "Travels in England," by Ozell, p. 129.
* " Works," 1776, vol. iii. p. 256.
Nuptial Ufages, 1 3 i
a block-head, having a hat and wig on ii, and a pair of horns, the other
bearing a ladle : the pipe and tabor, hautboy, and fiddle : then the
bridegroom in a chair, and attendants with hollyhock flowers; and
afterward the bride with her attendants carrying alfo hollyhock flowers.
Bride maids and bride men clofe the proceffion.
In Strype's Stow,* we read: "1562. Shrove Monday, at Charing-
Crofs was a Man carried of four Men : and before him a Bagpipe
playing, a Shawm, and a Drum beating, and twenty Links burning
about him. The caufe was, his next neighbour's wife beat her Huf
band: it being fo ordered that the next fhould ride about the place to
expofe her."
In Lupton's " Too good to be true," 1580, p. 50, Siuqila fa^s :
"In fome places with us, if a Woman beat her Hufband, the Man
that dwelleth next unto hir fhall ride on a Cowlftaffe ; and there is al
the punifhment fhe is like to have." Omen obferves: "That is
rather an uncomly cuftome than a good order, for he that is in faint-
neffe, is undecently ufed, and the unruly offendor is excufed thereby.
If this be all the punifhment your Wives have that beate their fimple
hufbandes, it is rather a boldning than a difcouraging of fome bolde
and fhameleffe Dames, to beate their fimple hufbandes, to make their
next neyghbors (whom they fpite) to ride on a Cowle ftaffe, rather
rejoifing and flearing at the riding of their neighbours, than forrowing
or repenting for beating of their hufbands."
[In the background of Hogarth's fignboard of "The Man Loaded
with Mifchief," is an inn called "The Cuckold's Fortune." The
fign of the " Cockoldes Pate " is alluded to in " Cock Lorels Bote."
In the time of Charles II. there was a favourite country dance known
as " Cuckolds all a-row."]
36. Of the Word Cuckold.
I know not how this word, which is generally derived from cucu-
lus, a cuckoo, has happened to be given to the injured hufband, for
it feems more properly to belong to the adulterer, the cuckoo being
well known to be a bird that depofits its eggs in other birds' nefts.
The Romans (eemed to have ufed cuculus in its proper fenfe as
the adulterer, calling with equal propriety the cuckold himfeif " Car-
ruca," or hedge-fparrow, which bird is well known to adopt the
other's fpurious offspring.
[Richardfon and Worcefter, in their Diaionaries, endorfe Tooke's
etymology of cuckold, which feems, after all, to be the correa one,
namely, cucol, from the Italian cucolo, a cuckoo ; the word fhould be
cucol, as in fome of our old writers, and not cucold (or cuckold), and
we get the word from the paft participle of the Englifh verb formed
from the Italian fubftantive : cucolo, cucol, cucol'd.]
Johnfon, in his Diaionary, fays : " The Cuckow is faid to fuck
' Book i. p. 258.
132 Nuptial Ufages,
the Eggs of other Birds, and lay her own to be hatched in their place ;
from which praaice it was ufual to alarm a Hufband at the approach
of an Adulterer by calling ' Cuckoo,' which by miftake was in time
applied to the Hufband."
[He was vulgarly fuppofed to fuck them to make his voice clear, as
in the old ryhme : " He fucks little birds' eggs.
To make his voice clear ;
And when he fings Cuckoo,
The fummer is near."']
Pennant, in his "Zoology," 1776, fpeaking of the cuckoo, fays :
" His note is fo uniform, that his name in all languages feems to have
been derived from it, and in all other Countries it is ufed in the fame
reproachful fenfe. The Reproach feems to arife from this Bird
making ufe of the bed or neft of another to depofit its Eggs in ;
leaving the care of its young to a wrong parent ; but Juvenal, [in his
6th Satire] with more juftice, gives the infamy to the Bird in whofe
neft the fuppofititious Eggs were layed,
' Tu tibi tunc Curruca places.' "
I find the following in Hill's " Naturall and Artificiall Conclufions,"
1581 : "A very eafie and merry conceit to keep off Fleas from your
Beds or Chambers. Plinie reporteth that if, when you firft hear the
Cuckow, you mark well where your right Foot ftandeth, and take up
of that earth, the Fleas will by no means breed, either in your Houfe
or Chamber, where any of the fame earth is thrown or fcattered."
So, M, Thiers,* " La premiere fois qu'on entend le Coucou, cerner
la Terre qui eft fous le pied droit de celuy qui I'entend, & la repandre
dans les Maifons afin d'enchafler les puces."^
The cuckoo has been long confidered as a bird of omen. Gay, in
his " Shepherd's Week," in the fourth Paftoral [defcribes the popular
dread of hearing the firft fong of the cuckoo in the fpring, and the
ufage of taking off the fhoe of the left foot.]
Greene, in " A Quip for an upftart Courtier," 1592, calls a cuckoo
the cuckold's quirifter : " It was juft at that time when the Cuckoulds
quirrifter began to bewray Aprill, Gentlemen, with his never chaunged
notes," From the fubfequent paffage in Greene's " Quip," 1592, it fhould
feem that lavender was fomehow or other vulgarly confidered as
emblematical of cuckoldom : " There was loyal lavender, but that was
[' The following item is from the "Morning Poft "of May 17, 1 8 2 1 : "A fingular
cuftom prevails in Shropfhire at this period of the year, which is peculiar to that
county. As foon as the firft cuckoo has been heard, all the labouring claffes leave
work, If in the middle of the day, and the time is devoted to mirth and jollity over
what Is called the cuckoo ale."]
2 "Tralte des Superftitions," tom. i. p. 322.
' To the fame purpofe is a paffage from Caelli Calcagnlni " Encomium Pu-
licis," in a work entitled " Differtatlonum ludicrarum & Amoenitatum Scriptores
Varii," 1644, p. 81.
Nuptial Ufages. 133
full of cuckow fpittes, to fhow that women's light thoughts make their
hufbands heavy heads."
The following paffage is in " Plaine Percevall, the Peace-maker of
England :" " You fay true, Sal fapit omnia ; and fervice without fait,
by the rite of England, is acuckold's fee if he claim it."
Steevens, commenting on the mention of columbine in " Hamlet,"
fays: "From [Cutwode's] 'Caltha Poetarum,' 1599, it fhould feem
as if this flower was the emblem of cuckoldom :
' The blue cornuted columbine,
Like to the crooked horns of Acheloy.' "
"Columbine," fays another of the commentators, S. W., "was an
emblem of cuckoldom, on account of the horns of its neaaria, which
are remarkable in this plant."* A third commentator, Holt White,
fays : " The columbine was emblematical of forfaken lovers :
' The columbine, in tawny often taken,
Is then afcrlb'd to fuch as are forfaken.' " ^
Among the witticifms on cuckolds that occur in our old plays, muft
not be omitted the following in " Ram Alley," i6ii :
" Why, my good father, what fliould you do with a wife ?
Would you be crefted? Will you needs thruft your head
In one of Vulcan's helmets ? Will you perforce
Weare a city cap and a court feather?"
Chaucer, in his " Profopopeia of Jealoufie," brings her in with a
garland of gold yellow, and a cuckoo fitting on her fift.
[There is a fong in Ritfon's colleaion^ in which a jealous wife is
reprefented as putting on her yellow hofe.
Butler, in his " Hudibras," informs us for what a fingular purpofe
carvers ufed formerly to invoke the names of cuckolds.* [This allu
fion arofe, according to a paffage in the 59th No. of the " Britifh
Apollo," from the dexterity of one Thomas Web, carver to the Lord
Mayor, in Charles the Firft's time, and his fame in a lefs favourable
refpea. Whence came the proverb. Think of a cuckold, addreffed to
one who cannot carve the joint before him.]
Notwithftanding this, it is ftill fuppofed that the word Cuculus
gave fome rife to the name of cuckold, though the cuckoo lays in
others' nefts ; yet the etymology may ftill hold, for lawyers tell us that
the honours and difgrace of man and wife are reciprocal : fo that what
the one hath, the other partakes of it. Thus then the lubricity of the
woman is thrown upon the man, and her difhonefty thought his dif
honour : who, being the head of the wife, and thus abufed by her, he
gains the name of cuckold from cuckoo.
See Aquilegia, in LInnasus's " Genera," p. 684.
Browne's " Britannia's Paftorals," 1. ii. 161 3.
' "Antient Songs," 1792, p. 112.
[* There are references to this in " Wit and Mirth Improved" and " Batt upon
Batt," 1694, both quoted by Nafti in his Notes to Butler.]
134 Nuptial Ufages,
In "Paradoxical Affertions," by R[obert] H[eath?] 1664, it is faid:
" Since Plautus wittily, and with more reafon calls the Adulterer, and
not him whofe Wife is adulterated, Cuculum, the Cuckold, becaufe
he begets Children on others Wives, which the credulous Father be
lieves his own : why fhould not he then tliat corrupts another Man's
Wife be rather called the Cuckow, for he fits and fings merrily whilft
his Eggs are hatched by his neighbours' Hens V
Douce, however, fays : " That the word Cuculus was a term
of reproach amongft the antients there is not the leaft doubt, and that
it was ufed in the fenfe of our Cuckold is equally clear. Plautus
has fo introduced it on more than one occafion. In his Afinaria
he makes a woman thus fpeak of her hufband :
" Ac etiam cubat Cuculus, furge, Amator, i domum ;"
and again : " Cano caplte te Cuculum Uxor domum ex luftrls rapit." '
And yet in another place,^ where Pfeudolus fays to Callidorus " Quid
fles, Cucule ?" the above fenfe is out of the queftion, and it is to be
taken merely as a term of reproach. Horace certainly ufes the word
as it is explained by Pliny in the paffage already given, and the con
clufion there drawn appears to be that which beft reconciles the
more modern fenfe of the term, being likewife fupported by a note in
the Variorum Horace [from " Hiftoria Mirabilium," by CaryftiuS"].
The application of the above paffage to our ufe of the word
cuckold, as conneaed with the cuckoo, is, that the hufband, timid,
and incapable of proteaing his honour, like that bird, is called by its
name, and thus converted into an objea of contempt and derifion.
In the "Athenian Oracle"^ it is remarked of Cuckoldry, "The
Romans were honourable, and yet Pompey, Caefar, Auguftus,
Lucullus, Cato and others had this fate, but not its infamy and
fcandal." The following fingular paffage is in Greene's " Quip for an
Vpftart Covrtier," 1592. " Queftioning," fays he, "why thefe
Women were fo cholericke, he, like a fkofing fellow, pointed to a
bufh of netties : Mary (quoth hee) al thefe women that you heare
brawling, frowning, and fcolding thus, have feverally p , , . on this
bufli of nettles ; and the vertue of them is to force a woman that
waters them to be as peevifh for a whole day, and as wafpifh as if
fhee had bene flung in the brow with a hornet."
[Park, in his Travels, has left an account of the barbarous cruelty
which at that time was exercifed at Color, a large town in the
interior of Africa, upon women who had been conviaed of infidelity.
There is a very curious letter from Fleetwood, Recorder of Lon
don, to Lord Burghley, July i8th, 1583, on the fubjea of a clandef-
tine and illegal marriage-ceremony, which had juft then recently
occurred. He tells the ftory as follows : " Abraham of Abraham, a gen-
' " Afinaria," aft v. fc. z. ' " Pfeudolus," aft I. fc. i . ' Vol. ii. p. 359.
Nuptial Ufages. 135
tilman of a hundred pound land in com[itatu]Lanc[aftriae]puthisdawgh-
ter and heire unto my lady Gerrard of the Brenne. Sir Thomas and
my lady being here in London, one Dwelles, a fenfer nere Cicell howfe,
and his wiff, by indirea meanes, being of kyn to the girle, dyd invite
all my Lady's children and gentilwomen unto a breakfaft. They cam
thether, and at theire commyng the yowthes and fervingmen were
caried up to the ffens fkolle. My Lady's dowghters and gentilwomen
muft nedes play at the cardes, will they nill they. The girie Abra
ham, by the wift' of the howfe, was conveyghed in to a chamber,
and fhut the dowre after her and there left her. The girle found in
the chamber iiij. or v. tall men. She knew theym not. And yme-
diatiie the Girle fell into a great ffeare feyng them to compaffe her
about. Then began an old prieft to read upon a booke, his words fhe
underftood not, faving thefe words, ' I Henry take the Suzane to my
wedded wiff.' This done they charged the wenche never to difcover
this to any body lyving, and fo fent her downe to her fellowes,"
Under the Saxon and Langobardic laws, fays Sir H, Ellis in his
" Original Letters Illuftrative of Englifh Hiftory," 1825, the cuftom
was equally enforced of a widow not marrying again till a year had
elapfed from the death of her firft hufband.. He adds : " The notice
of a forfeiture of property on this account occurs once in the ' Domef-
day Survey.' " In a Letter of Edward IV, in 1477 to Dr. Legh, his
ambaffador in Scotland, relating to the propofed Scotifh intermarriages,
the king fays : " Forfomoch alfo as aftre the old ufaiges of this our
Royaume noon eflat ne perfon honnorable communeth of mariage within
the yere of their doole, we therffor as yit can not convenientely fpeke
in this matier,"
In the Year-book of xxx Edward I, a cafe at law is defcribed,
in the courfe of which it was elicited that, in Cornwall, it was then a
manorial cuftom where a bondwoman married out of the manor
where fhe was refeant, that fhe fhould find furety to the lord of the
faid manor to return to it after the death of her hufband, if he pre-
deceafed her. It was alfo laid down, at the fame time, that where a
bondwoman, or neyfe, married a freeman, the aa of marriage merely
enfranchifed her during the lifetime of her hufband, but when fhe
married the lord of the manor, fhe was thereby enfranchifed for ever.
An old woman in the Ifle of Thanet adopted an odd method, fo
recently as 1850, of fignifying her difapproval of her nephew's choice
of a wife. She pronounced an anathema on the newly married pair at
the church-gate, procured a new broom, fwept her houfe with it, and
then hung it over the door. This was intended to be equivalent to
cutting off with a fhilling.
An ufege conneaed with marriage, and alfo with the broom, and of
which the origin and fignificance do not appear to be very obvious,
exifted fome years ago, it feems, in fome parts of England. A man,
when his wife left home for a fhort time, hung out a broom from
one of the windows. Now a broom hung from the maft of a fhip
has a very different meaning from the one that muft have been here
intended — that the miftrefs of the eftablifhment was away.
136 Childbearing, Churching, and
A correfpondent of "Notes and Queries"* fent the following ac
count in 1857 to that valuable mifcellany. " A month or two back,
a family, on leaving one of the Channel Iflands, prefented to a gar
dener (it is uncertain whether an inhabitant of the ifland or no) fome
pet doves, the conveyance of them to England being likely to prove
troublefome. A iesN days afterwards the man brought them back,
ftating that he ivas engaged to be married, and the poffeflion of the birds
might be (as he had been informed) an obftacle to the courfe of true
love running fmooth." This was put in the fhape of a query, but no
anfwer appeared,
Michael Woode, in his " Dialogue between two Neighbours," 1554,
fays : " if a wife were weary of her huibznd, fhe offered Otes at Poules,
at London, to St. Uncumber." St, Uncumber is not even mentioned
by Hone, the " Book of Days," or the " Anniverfary Calendar,"
Sir H. Nicolas, in his " Chronology of Hiftory," has alfo overiooked
him,]
Cl)tlt)'beanng, Cl)urcl)ing, and
Ctjriflenmg Cuflom0.
I. Lady in the Straw,
IT is ftated,* that when the queen of King Henry VII, took her
chamber in order to her delivery, " the Erles of Shrewfbury
and of Kente hyld the Towelles, whan the Quene toke her Rightes ;'
and the Torches ware holden by Knightes. When fhe was comen
into hir great Chambre, fhe ftode undre hir Cloth of Eftate: then
there was ordeyned a Voide of Efpices and fwet Wyne : that doone,
my Lorde, the Quenes Chamberlain, in very goode wordes defired in
the Ouenes name, the pepul there prefent to pray God to fende hir
the goode Oure : and fo fhe departed to her inner Chambre."
In Bonner's Injunaions at his Vifitation from September 3rd,
1554, ^° oaober 8th, 1555, we read : " A mydwyfe (of the diocefe
and jurifdiaion of London) fhal not ufe or exercife any witchecrafte,
charnies, forcerye, invocations or praiers, other then fuche as be
allowable and may ftand with the lawes and ordinances of the Catho-
like Churche."
In Articles to be enquired in the Vifitacyon, i Eliz. 1559, the follow
ing occurs : " Item, whether you knowe anye that doe ufe charmes,
forcery, enchauntmentes, invocations, circles, witchecraftes, fouth-
' 2nd S. vol. Iv. p. 25. ' Strutt (" Manners and Cuftoms," vol. HI. p. i57)-
'In the "Examination of the Maffe," [circd 1550], fignat. B 8, we read:
" Yf the Mafl'e and the Supper of y« Lord be al one thyng, the Rightes, the
Houfell, the Sacramente of Chriftes bodye and bloude, and the Supper of the Lord
are all one thyng."
Chrifiening Cuftoms. i 37
fayinge, or any lyke craftes or imaginacions invented by the Devyl,
zridi fpecially in the tyme of womens travayle.''
In John Bale's " Comedye concernynge thre Lawes of Nature
Mofes, and Chrift," 1538, Idolatry fays :
" Yea, but now ych am a flie
And a good Mydwyfe perde,
Yonge chyldren can I charme.
With whyfperynges and whyfshynges.
With croflynges and with kyflynges.
With blafynges' and with bleffynges.
That fpretes do them no harme."
In the fame comedy Hypocryfy is introduced mentioning the fol
lowing charms againft barrennefs :
" In Parys we have the mantell of Saynt Lewes,
Which women feke moch, for helpe of their barrennes :
For be it ones layed upon a wommanys bellye.
She go thens with chylde, the myracles are feene there daylye.
And as for Lyons, there Is the length of our Lorde
In a great pyller. She that will with a coorde
Be faft bound to it, and take foche chaunce as fall.
Shall fure have chylde, for within it is hollo we all."
[From a MS. once in the poffeflion of Peter Le Neve, Norroy,
containing an account of Ceremonies and Services at the Court of
Henry VII.,^ the following direaions to be obferved at the lying-in
of the queen appear : —
" Item, as for the delyverance of the Quene, it muft be knowene
in what chambre fhe fhalbe delyvered by the grace of God : And
that chambre muft be hangid, fo that fhe may haue light, w"" rlche
arras, rooffe, fides, and windowes and all, except one windowe whereby
fhe may haue light, when it pleffithe hir : w' a rialle bedde there in :
The flore mufte be laid w' carpets over and over ; and there muft be
ordined a faire pallet w' all the ftuf longinge y''to, w' a riche fparvere
hanginge ouer ; and there mufte be fet a cupbord faire coueryd w' fute
of the fame that the chambre is hangid w'. And when it pleffithe the
Quene to take hir chambre, fhe fhalbe brought thedur w' lords and
ladys of eftat, and to be brought vnto the chapelle or the chirche, and
there to reffaue hir Godde ; and then to com in to the gret chambre,
and there to take fpice & wyne vnder the clothe of eftat ; and that done,
ij of the gretefte eftats to led hir into hyr chambre, where fhe fliall
be delyuerid, and they to take there leue of the Quene ; then all the
ladys & gentille women to go in w' hir, and no man after to come
in to the chambre faue women ; and women to be incid ; al maner
of officers, butlers, panters, fewers, and all maner officers fliall bring
y" al maner things that them fhall nede to the gret chambre dore, and
the women officers to reffaue it."]
From a MS. formerly in the colleaion of Herbert, dated 1475, I
tranfcribe the following charm, or more properly charea, to be bound
[' Brand refers to Morefini "Papatus," p. 72.]
[^ "Antiq. Repert," ed. 1807, i. 304-5.]
138 Child-bearing, Churching, and
to the thigh of a lying-in woman : " For woman that travelyth of
chylde, bynd thys wryt to her thye : In nomine Patris y^ et Filii ?Jh
et Spiritus Sanai y^ Amen. ?J^ Per virtutem Domini fint medicina
mei pia crux et paffio Chrifti. y^, Vulnera quinque Domini fint
medicina mei, ?j*. Sanaa Maria peperit Chriftum. y^. Sanaa
Anna peperit Mariam. y^, Sanaa Elizabet peperit Johannem, y^.
Sanaa Cecilia peperit Remigium. ^J^. Arepo tenet opera rotas.* 4<-
Chriftus vincit. y^. Chriftus regnat. y^ Chriftus dixit Lazare
veni foras. Hp. Chriftus imperat. y^. Chriftus te vocat. ^
Mundus te gaudet. ?J<. Lex te defiderat. y^ Deus ultionum
Dominus. ^. Deus preliorum Dominus libera famulam tuam N.
y^ Dextra Domini fecit virtutem. a. g. I. a. y^ Alpha ?ff et Q. y^.
Anna peperit Mariam, y^ Elizabet precurforem, y^ Maria Dominum
noftrum Jefum Chriftum, fine dolore et trifticia. O infans five vivus
five mortuus exi foras y^ Chriftus te vocat ad lucem. y^. Agyos.
y^ Agyos. ?Jf Agyos. hjn Cjiriftus vincit. y^ Chriftus imperat. y^
Chriftus regnat. y^ Sanaus ^ Sanaus y^ Sanaus y^ Dominus
Deus. hjt Chriftus qui es, qui eras, t^ et qui venturus es. ^
Amen, bhurnon y^ bliaaono y^ Chriftus Nazarenus >^ Rex
Judeorum fill Dei y^ miferere mei y^ Amen." ^
It fhould feem that the expreffion of " the lady in the ftraw,"
meant to fignify the lady who is brought to bed, is derived from the
circumftance that all beds were anciently ftuffed with ftraw, fo that
it is fynonymous with faying " the lady in bed," or that is confined
to her bed.^ It appears that even fo late as King Henry the Eighth's
time there were direaions for certain perfons to examine every
night theflraw of the King's bed, that no daggers might be concealed
therein. In " Plaine Percevall, the Peace-maker of England" [1589], we
find an expreffion which ftrongly marks the general ufe of ftraw in
beds during that reign : " Thefe high-flying Sparks will light on the
Heads of us all, and kindle in our Bed-Straw."
In [an old book of receipts*] we read, " How, and wherewith, the
Child-bed Woman's Bed ought to be furnifhed. A large Boulfter,
made of linnen Cloth, muft he fluffed with Straw, and be fpread on
the ground, that her upper part may lye higher than her lower; on
this the woman may lye, fo that fhe may feem to lean and bow,
rather than to lye drawing up her feet unto her that fhe may receive
no hurt."
' SATOR
AREPOTENETOPERA ROTAS.
' Cited by Strutt, vol. iii. p. 157.
" In the old Herbals we find defcriptions of a herb entitled " The Ladies
Bed-Straiv." ' " A Rich Clofet of Phyfical Secrets, &c. [circd, 1640]," p. 9.
Chriftening Cuftoms. 139
Lemnius* tells us, that "the Jewel called Mutes, found in an
Eagle's neft, that has rings with littie ftones within it, being applied to
the Thigh of one that is in labour, makes a fpeedy and eafy delivery ;
which thing I have found true by experiment."
Lupton^ fpeaks of '¦'¦ jEtites, called the Eagles ftone, tyed to the
left arm or fide ; it brings this benefit to Women with child, that
they fhall not be delivered before their time : befides that, it brings
love between the Man and the Wife : and if a Woman have a
painfull Travail in the Birth of her Child, this ftone tyed to her
Thigh, brings an eafy and light Birth."
Elfewhere he fays : " Let the Woman that travels with her Child,
(is in her labour,) be girded with the fkin that a Serpent or Snake
cafts off, and then fhe will quickly be delivered."
The following is from Copley's " Wits, Fits, and Fancies," 1595 :
" A Gentlewoman in extremitie of Labour fware that if it pleafed
God fhe might efcape Death for that once, fhe would never in all her
life after hazard herfelfe to the like daunger againe ; but being at laft
fafely delivered, fhe then faid to one of the Midwives, ' So, now
put out the holy Candle, and keepe it till the next time.' " ^
[In the "Marriage of Wit and Wifdom," circd 1570, Indulgence
fays to Wit : — " Well, yet before the goeft, hold heare
My bleffing in a clout ;
Well fare the mother at a neede.
Stand to thy tackling ftout."
The firft allufion to this old belief and ufage is, fo far as I know,
in Heywood's "Dialogue," originally printed as early as 1546. The
paffage is as follows in the edition of 1562 ;
" Ye haue had of me all that I might make.
And be a man neuer fo greedy to wyn,
He can haue no more of the foxe but the fkyn.
Well (quoth he) if ye lift to bring It out,
Te can geue rneyour bleffyng in a clout,"
The only other example of this ufage which 1 can find occurs in
Lovelace :
' Engl, tranfl. 1658, p. 270.
" " Notable Things," lib. ii. p. 52.
° " I remember once that In the dead time of the night there came a Country-
Fellow to my Uncle in a great hafte, Intreating him to give order for knocking the
Bells, his Wife being in Labour, (a thing ufual in Spain,) my good Curate then
wal^d me out of a found fleep, faying. Rife, Pedro, Inftantly, and ring the Bells for
Child-birth quickly, quickly. I got up immediately, and as Fools have good
memories, I retained the words quickly, quickly, and knocked the Bells fo nimbly,
that the Inhabitants of the Town really believed it had been for Fire."--'ra^
Lucky Idiot, tranfl. from Quevedo, 1734, p. 13. Several French (or foreign)
cuftoms of Child-birth are noticed in the " Tralte des Superftitions " of M. Thiers,
vol. I.' p. 320-34.
140 Child-bearing, Churching, and
" To a Lady 'with Child that afti'd an old Shirt.'
" And why an honour'd ragged Shirt, that ftiows
Like tatter'd Enfigns, all its bodies blows ?
Should It be fwathed In a veft fo dire.
It were enough to fet the Child on fire.
But fince to Ladies 't hath a Cuftome been
Linnen to fend, that tra'vail and lye in;
To the nine Sempftreffes, my former Friends,
I fu'd but they had nought but fhreds and ends.
At laft, the joUi'ft of the three times three,
Rent th' apron from her Smock, and gave It me.
'Twas foft and gentle, fubtly fpun, no doubt ;
Pardon my boldnefs. Madam ; Here's the Clout."
But Davies of Hereford feems to allude to the ufage, where, in
his " Scourge of Folly," (16 11), he gives the proverb :
" God-fathers oft give their bleffings in a clout."
In the " Privy Purfe Expenfes of Henry VIII." under 1530-1,
are two entries of fums paid " in reward" to perfons who brought
" Relick water" to the King. It does not feem to be very intelligible
what was meant by this. Hone, in his " Every-day Book," enume
rates a lift of relics, in which occur : " A tear which our Lord fhed
over Lazarus ; it was preferved by an angel, who gave it in a phial
to Mary Magdalene," and a " phial of the fweat of St. Michael, when
he contended with Satan." But perhaps the water offered to Henry's
acceptance was merely holy water, additionally confecrated by the
immerfion of certain relics in it. The firft entry in the book of
Expenfes ftands thus: " Itm the fame daye (18 Aug. 1530,) to
Roger for bringing a glaffe of Relike water fro Wyndefor to hampton-
courte xii5. ;" and on the 22nd July, 1531, the Abbot of
Weftminfter received 2Qs. for bringing relic water to the King at
Chertfey.] A note in Nichols's " Leicefterfhire " informs us that " upon the
diffolution of the Monafteries at Leicefter, a multitude of falfe
miracles and fuperftitious relicks were deteaed. Amongft the reft.
Our Ladies Girdle fhewn in eleven feveral places, and her Milk in
eight ; the Penknife of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and a Piece of his
Shirt, much reverenced by big-bellied women."
Under December, 1502, in the Privy Purfe Expenfes of Eliza
beth of York, there is this entry : " — to a monke that brought our
Lady gyrdelle to the Quene in rewarde . . . v]s. \]\]d." — upon which
the editor notes : " Probably one of the numerous relicks, with which
the monafteries and abbeys then abounded, and which might have
been brought to the Queen for her to put on when in labour, as it
was a common praaice for women in this fituation to wear bleffed
girdles." It appears that lying-in women were alfo accuftomed
fometimes to wrap round them under fimilar circumftances a long
fcroll, containing the Magnificat written upon it,
[' Poems (1659), sdit. 1864, p. 183. The term clout is ftill in ufe in this old
fenfe, hut diaper is the more conventional phrafe.]
Chriftening Cuftoms. 141
It appears from Strype's Annals,* under 1567, that then mid-
wives took an oath, inter alia, not to " fuffer any other Bodies Child
to be fet, brought, or laid before any Woman delivered of Child in
the place of her natural Child, fo far forth as I can know and under
ftand. Alfo I will not ufe any kind of Sorcery^ or Incantation in the
time of the Travail of any Woman."
Henry 3 tells us, that " amongft the antient Britons, when a Birth
was attended with any difficulty, they put certain Girdles made for
that purpofe, about the Women in labour, which they imagined
gave immediate and effeaual relief. Such Girdles were kept with
care, till very lately, in many families in the Highlands of Scotiand.
They were impreffed with feveral myftical figures ; and the ceremony
of binding them about the Woman's waifl was accompanied with
words and geftures, which fhewed the cuflom to have been of great
antiquity, and to have come originally from the Druids."
[A paffage in one of the " Towneley Myfteries " points to a very
curious, yet very common fuperftition in this, as well as in other
countries, in former times — the power of evil fpirits to produce de
formity upon a child at its birth. The hour of midnight was looked
upon by our forefathers as the feafon when this fpecies of forcery
was generally accomplifhed. The paffage referred to above is as
follows : " Tercius Paftor. I know hym by the eeie marke :
that Is a good tokyn.
Mak, I telle you, fyrs, hark : hys noys was
broken.
Sythen told me a clerk, that he was forfpokyn.
Primus Paftor, This is a falfe work. I wold
fayn be wrokyn :
Gett wepyn.
Uxor. He 'was takyn 'with an elfex
I faw it myfelf.
When the clokftroke t'welf,
Was he forfhapyn,"
Pecock, in his " Repreffor of Over-much Blaming of the Clergy,"
obferves : " Sum other vntrewe opinioun of men is that iij
fiftris (whiche ben fpirits) comen to the cradilis of infantis, for to fette
to the babe what fchal bifalle to him." Thefe are, of courfe, the
Three Weird Sifters, or Parca.
The unufual tendernefs for women in childbed is pleafantly illuf
trated by an ordinance of Henry V., publifhed for the information of
his army abroad, to the eSeSt that any Englifh foldier found robbing
a woman fo fituated fhould forfeit all his goods and hold his life at
the King's mercy.
' Vol. I. p. 537.
¦" In " Sylva, or the Wood," p. 130, we read that "a few years ago, in this
fame village, the women in labour ufed to drinke the urine of their hufbands, who
were all the while ftationed, as I have feen the Cows in St. James's Park, and
ftraining themfelves to give as much as they can."
' " Hiftory of Britain," vol. i. p. 459.
142 Child-bearing, Churching, and
Thomas Thacker, in a letter to Thomas Cromwell, written
about 1538, refers to "the Image of Seint Moodwyn of Burton upon
Trent, with hir red kowe and hir ftaff, which wymen laboryng of
child in thofe parties were njery defirous to have with them to leane upon
and to walke with yt."
Ralph Sadler, in a letter to Cromwell, without date, but about
1532-3, afking him to ftand fponfor for his newly-born child, fays :
*' I wold alfo be right glad to have Mr. Richards v^^^, or my lady
Wefton to be the godmother. Ther is a certen fuperflycious opynyon
and vfage amongft women, which is, that in cafe a woman go with
c\f\\Ae fhe may chryflen no other mannes childe as long as fhe is in that
cafe : and therfore not knowing whether Mr. Rychards wyf be with
childe or not, I do name my lady Wefton."
It is a common expreffion, when a lady pays vifits to her neigh
bours after her confinement, to fay, that fhe comes to fcatter her mice;
the origin of the phrafe is not fo clear ; but the meaning is, that the
perfon whom ftie thus vifits is thought to be fo placed in a fair way of
being the next to fall into a fimilar predicament.]
2. Groaning Cake and Cheese.
" For a Nurfe, the Child to dandle.
Sugar, Sope, Spic'd Pots, and Candle,
A Groaning Chair, and eke a Cradle. —
Blanckets of a feveral fcantling
Therein for to wrap the bantling :
S'weetmeats from Comfit-maker's trade
When the Chllds a Chriftian made —
Pincufhions and other fuch knacks
A Child-bed Woman always lacks.
Caudles, Grewels, coftly Jellies, &c." —
Poor Robin for 1676.
Againft the time of the good wife's delivery, it [ufed to be] every
where the cuftom for the hufband to provide a large cheefe and a
cake. Thefe, from time immemorial, have been the objeas of ancient
fuperftition. It is cuftomary at Oxford to cut the cheefe (called in the north of
England, in allufion to the mother's complaints at her delivery, " the
Groaning Cheefe") in the middle when the child is born, and fo by
degrees form it into a large kind of ring, through which the child
muft be paffed on the day of the chriftening.
It was not unufual to preferve for many years, I know not for what
fuperftitious intent, pieces of " the Groaning Cake." Thus I read
in Gayton :* " And hath a piece of the Groaning Cake (as they call
it) which fhe kept religioufly with her Good Friday Bun, full forty
years un-mouldy and un-moufe-eaten."
" Feftivous Notes on Don Qjjixote," 1654, p. 17.
i A
Chriftening Cuftoms. \ 43
Miffon* fays : " The Cuftom here is not to make great Feafts
at the Birth of their Children. They drink a Glafs of Wine, and
eat a Bit of a certain Cake, which is feldom made but upon thefe
occafions." In other places the firft cut of the fick wife's cheefe (fo alfo they
call the Groaning Cheefe) is to be divided into littie pieces and toffed
in the Midwife's fmock, to caufe young women to dream of their
lovers. Slices of the firft cut of the Groaning Cheefe are in the north
of England laid under the pillows of young perfons for the above
purpofe. In "The Vow-Breaker," 1636, in a feene where is difcovered " a
Bed covered with white, enter Prattle, Magpy, Long-tongue, Barren
with a child, Anne in bed;" Boote fays, " Neece bring the groaning
Cheece, and all requifites, I muft fupply the Father's place, and bid
God-fathers." In " Seven Dialogues " [from Erafmus], by W. Burton, 1606, in
that of the Woman in Child-bed occurs the following paffage :
" Eut. By chaunce / (paffing by thefe Houfes) fawe the Crowe, or
the Ring of the Doore bound about with a white linnen Cloth, and I
marvelled what the reafon of it fliould be. Fab. Are you fuch a
ftranger in this Countrey that you doe not know the reafon of that ?
doe not you knowe that it is a Signe that there is a Woman lying in
where that is ?"
[So, in an old account of Holland :]^ " Where the Woman lies in
the Ringle of the Door does pennance, and is lapped about with Linnen,
either to fliew you that loud knocking may wake the Child, or elfe
that for a month the Ring is not to be run at : but if the Child be
dead there is thruft out a Nofegay tied to a ftick's end ; perhaps for
an Emblem of the Life of Man, which may wither as foon as born ;
or elfe to let you know, that though thefe fade upon their gathering,
yet from the fame ftock the next year a new fhoot may fpring."
Bartholinus informs us that the Danifh women, before they put
the new-born infant into the cradle, place there, or over the door, as
amulets, to prevent the evil fpirit from hurting the child, garlick,
fait, bread, and fteel, or fome cutting inftrument made of that
metal.'' In Scotiand, children dying unbaptized (called Tarans) were fup
pofed to wander in woods and folitudes, lamenting their hard fate,
and were faid to be often feen.* In the north of England it is thought
' "Travels in England," tranfl. by Ozell, p. 35.
'' " A Voyage to Holland, &c.," by an Engllfti Gentleman, 1691, p, 23.
' "Century of rare Anatomical Hiftories," p. 19.
' Pennant's "Tour in Scotland," 1769, p. 157. It was thought that fairies
could only change their weakly and ftarveling elves for the more robuft offspring
of men before Baptifm, whence the above cuftom in the Highlands. One of the
methods of difcovering whether a child belongs to the fairies or not. Is printed In
a book entitled " A Pleafant Treatife of Witchcraft." See Grofe's Account. _
The word Changeling, in its modern acceptation, implies one almoft an idiot.
144 Child-bearing, Churching, and
very unlucky to go over their graves. It is vulgariy called going
over " unchriftened ground."
[That an unbaptized infant cannot die, is a belief ftill entertained
in Lancafhire; but the authors of "Lancafhire Folk-Lore," 1867,
do not appear to have been aware, that the fuperftition is a very
ancient and wide-fpread one, and that this defcription of fpirit was
known as the Latewich.]
In the highlands of Scotland, as Pennant informs us, children are
watched till the chriftening is over, left they fhould be ftolen or
changed by the fairies. This belief was entertained by the ancients.*
Something like this obtained in England. Gregory^ mentions " an
ordinarie Superftition of the old Wives, who dare not intruft a
Childe in a Cradle by itfelf alone without a Candle." This he at
tributes to their fear of Night-Hags.
In the " Gentle Shepherd," Bauldy defcribing Maufe as a witch,
fays of her : " At midnight hours o'er the Kirk-yard fhe raves.
And howks unchriften'd Weans out of their Graves."'
To this notion Shakfpeare alludes when he makes Henry IV.,
fpeaking of Hotfpur, in comparifon with his own profligate fon, fay as
follows : " O that it could be prov'd
That fome night-tripping Fairy had exchang'd.
In Cradle-cloaths our Children where they lay,
And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet !
Then would I have his Harry, and he mine."
Spenfer has the like thought in the firft book of the " Faery
Oueene :" " From thence a Fairy thee unweeting reft
There as thou flep'ft in tender fwadling band.
And her bafe Elfin brood there for the left.
Such men do Changelings call, fo chang'd by Fairy theft."
Pennant,* fpeaking of " the Fairy Oak," of which alfo he exhibits a
portrait, relates [1796] this curious circumftance refpeaing it : " In this
very century, a poor Cottager, who lived near the fpot, had a Child
who grew uncommonly peevifh ; the parents attributed this to the
Fairies, and imagined that it was a Changeling. They took the
Child, put it in a Cradle, and left it all night beneath the Tree, in
hopes that the tylwydd teg, or Fairy family, or the Fairy folk, would
evincing what was once the popular creed on this fubjeft, for as all the fairy
children were a little backward of their tongue and feemingly Idiots, therefore
ftunted and idiotlcal children were fuppofed changelings. This fuperftition has
not efcaped the learned Morefin : " Papatus credit albatas Mulleres, et id genus
Larvas, pueros integros auferre, aliofque fuggerere monftruofos, et debiles multis
partibus ; aut ad Baptifterium cum aliis commutaie, aut ad Templi introltum." —
Papatus, p. 139.
' Bartholinus "De Puerperio Veterum," lib. vi, p, 157.
^ " Pofthuma," 1649, p. 97.
= Aft ii. fc. 2. * " Hiftory of Whiteford," p. 5.
Chriftening Cuftoms. 14^
reftore their own before morning. When morning came, they found
the Child perfeaiy quiet, fo went away with it, quite confirmed in
their belief."
Waldron* tells us: "The old ftory of Infants being changed in
their Cradles, is here in fuch credit, that Mothers are in continual
terrors at the thoughts of it. I was prevailed upon myfelf to go and
fee a Child, who, they told me, was one of thefe Changelings, and
indeed muft own was not a little furprized as well as fhocked at the
fight. Nothing under Heaven could have a more beautiful face : but
tho' between five and fix years old, and feemingly healthy, he was fo
fer from being able to walk or ftand, that he could not fo much as
move any one joint : his limbs were vaftly long for his age, but
fmaller than an Infant's of fix months : his complexion was perfeaiy
delicate, and he had the fineft hair in the world : he never fpoke nor
cryed, eat fcarce any thing, and was very feldom feen to fmile ; but if
any one called him a Fairy-Elf he would frown, and fix his eyes fo
earneftly on thofe who faid it, as if he would look them through.
His Mother, or at leaft his fuppofed Mother, being very poor, fre
quently went out a Chairing, and left him a whole day together : the
neighbours out of curiofity, have often looked in at the window to fee
how he behaved when alone, which, whenever they did, they were fure
to find him laughing, and in the utmoft delight. This made them
judge that he was not without Company more pleafing to him than
any mortal's could be ; and what made this conjeaure feem the more
reafonable, was, that if he were left ever fo dirty, the Woman, at her
return, faw him with a clean face, and his hair combed with the utmoft
exaanefs and nicety."
He alfo mentions " Another Woman, who, being great with Child,
and expeaing every moment the good hour, as fhe lay awake one
night in her bed, fhe faw feven or eight little Women come into her
Chamber, one of whom had an Infant in her arms. They were fol
lowed by a Man of the fame fize, in the habit of a Minifter." A
mock Chriftening enfued, and " they baptized the Infant by the name
of Joan, which made her know fhe was pregnant of a Girl, as it
proved a ie-vi days after, when fhe was delivered."
In a Proclamation, dated i6th November, 30 Henry VIII., among
many "laudable ceremonies and rytes" enjoined to be retained, is
the following : " Ceremonies ufed at purification of women delivered
of chylde, and offerynge of theyr cryfomes."
¦ In " A Parte of a Regifter" [1593,] in a lift of " groffe poyntes of
Poperie, evident to all men," is enumerated the following: "The
Churching of women with this pfalme, that the funne and moone fhall
not burne them :" as is alfo, " The offeringe of the woman at hir
Churching." Lupton^ fays: "If a man be the firft that a woman meets after
file comes out of the church, when fhe is newly churched, it fignifies
' "Defcription of the Ifle of Man," Works, p. i2«.
=¦ Firft book of "Notable Things," [i579>] ^d. 1660.
II,
146 Child-bearing, Churching, and
that her next child will be a boy ; if flie meet a woman, then a
wench is likely to be her next child. This is credibly reported to
me to be true."
It appears ancientiy to have been cuftomary to give a large enter
tainment at the churching, and previous to that at the chriftening.
[This was formeriy, and until the early part of the prefent century
at leaft, if not ftill, known as the Vpfitting, or Getting-up. Fletcher,
in the " Woman Hater," 1607, makes Valore fay to Gondarino:
" Farewell, my lord ; I was entreated
To invite your worflilp to a lady's upfitting — "
which Cotgrave feems to have confounded with the churching itfelf,
whereas it is rather the celebration of the mother's recovery from her
lying-in.] On a paffage in his " Hiftory of Craven," where Mafter John
Norton " gate leave of my old Lord to have half a Stagg for his
Wife's Churching," Whitaker obferves in a note : " Hence it ap
pears that Thankfgivings after Child-Birth were anciently celebrated
with feafting."* He adds: "For this Cuftom I have a ftill older
authority : ' In ii''"'* Hogfheveds Vini albi empt' apud Ebor. erga puri-
ficationem Dominae, tam poft partum Mag'ri mei nuper de Clifford,
quam poft partum Mag'ri mei nunc de Clifford. . . Ixvix. vu.]d.'"^
Harrifon, in his " Defcription of Britain," complains of the excef-
five feafting, as well at other feftive meetings, as at " Purifications of
Women."
In Deloney's " Thomas of Reading," 1632, fignat. h iii. we read :
" Suttons Wife of Salifbury, which had lately bin delivered of a
Sonne, againft her going to Church prepared great cheare : at what
time Simons Wife of Southampton came thither, and io did divers
others of the Clothiers Wives, onely to make merry at this Churching-
Feaft." In "The Batchellor's Banquet," 1603 [attributed to Dekker,] the
lady (a 3) is introduced telling her hufband : " You willed me (I
was fent for) to go to Miftrefs M. Churching, and when I came
thither I found great Cheer and no fmall company of Wives." And at
c 2, the lady is afked : "Ifl had ever a new Gown to be churched in."
Among Shipman's Poems,^ is one dated 1667, and entitled, " The
Churching Feafl,— to S' Clifford Clifton/«r a fat Doe."
[Herrick, however, where he fpeaks of the churching ceremony,
omits reference to this entertainment.]*
An effayift in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for May, 1732, ob
ferves ; " Among the women there is the groaning chair, in which the
matron fits to receive vifits of congratulation. This is a kind of
" Hiftory of Craven," p. 220.
" Compotus Tho. Dom. Clifford, a» i 5 Hen. VI."
8vo. 1683, p. 123.
"Hefperides," 1648, p. 339.
Chriftening Cuftoms, 147
female ovation due to every good woman who goes through ftjch emi
nent perils in the fervice of her country."
In the " Statiftical Account of Scotland,"* it is faid : " It was moft
unhappy for a woman, after bringing forth a child, to offer a vifit, or
for her neighbours to receive it, till fhe had been duly churched.
How ftrongly did this enforce gratitude to the Supreme Being for a
fafe delivery ! On the day when fuch a woman was churched, every
family, favoured with a call, were bound to fet meat and drink before
her : and when they omitted to do fo, they and theirs were to be loaded
with her hunger. What was this, but an obligation on all who had it
in their power to do the needful to prevent a feeble woman from
fainting for want ? "
[It is confidered lucky for the mother before fhe goes down ftairs
after her confinement, to afcend one ftep, and back, and I believe that
it is confidered fufficient by the learned, if the lady lifts her foot, and
lays it for a moment on a ftool or other fimilar objea.
In Scotiand (Edinburgh), a piece of filver, an egg, and fome bread
prefented to a child on entering a houfe for the firft time, are fuppofed
to bring luck. That a horfe-fhoe nailed to the maft of a fifhing-
fmack will protea it againft the weather, is alfo a piece of Scotifh
folk-lore. Among the Forfarfhire fifhermen, the portent of the hare
croffing the path, which in many other places is regarded as unlucky,
has fufficient influence to deter any one from going out.]
3. Christening Customs,
[The following order for the chriftening of a prince or princefs
of England was eftablifhed (or confirmed) in the reign of Henry
VII. :2
" — ffor the criftynynge off the prince or a princefe, the chirche
or the chapelle dore where the criftynynge fhalbe, the dore muft be
hangid roof and fides all w' clothe of golde and carpets well vndyre
the feet; then the font muft be fet on hight, y' the pepill may fee the
cnftenynge, and preffe not to ny ; and the font muft be hangid withe
a riche fele, and overlaid about w' carpets on the greces (fteps) and
oy'' places ; and the font muft be hangide all about w' clothe of golde,
and laid w'in withe fmall lyn clothe ; and the chirche mufte be hangid
all about the fides w' arras ; and the highe auaer mufte be araid in
the rechefte wife, well carpetted afor the auaer ; then in the fide of
the chirche be fides the font muft be hangid a travers, and a feyre of
coles well brynt or they com there, withe fumidory eaft y'in for the
eyre, and a faire chauffure w' water bafyn of filver ; Alfo yt mufte be
ordined that the goffepes be neghe loggid againfte the Quenes de-
lyverans ; and when God fendithe tym that the prince be borne, then
' Vol. xxi. p. 147, parifti of Monquhitter.
P " Antiq. Repert." ed, 1807, vol. i. p. 305-]
148 Child-bearing, Churching, and
the goffapeS to be redy to go w' the child to the chirche, and a duches
to here the cufyne afore it on her fhulder on a kerchef of fmall reynes :
and if it be a prince, an erie to here his trayne ; and it be a princefe,
a counteffe to here the trayne : And then y' mufte be born afore it to
the chirche ij cc torches, xxiiij of them about the child, and the oy'
dele borne w' yomen afore it ; and when yey com to the chirche, the
torches to ftand alle about the font, as ny the walles as they may :
Then muft the fargiant of the pantry be redy at the chirche dore w'
a towelle about his neke, w'.a faire fait fellere of gold in his hand,
w' fait y'in ; then the fergiant of the ewery to be there w' bafyn and
ewere for the goffepes to wefche w' ; and the fergiant of the fpicery
and 2 butlers to be y' redy w' fpice and wyne, that when the prince is
criftenyde, the goffepes and oy' eftats may take fpice and wyne, and a
bifchope to cryftyn the child : and when y" child is baptizede, all the
torches to be lightide, and then to be born vp the highe auaere ; and
there to be confermyde ; and then fpice and wyne to be takyne, and
the void to be hade ; and there the yefts to be gevyne and the yefts
takene, to erles, barrons, and baronetts ; and they to here them afore
the child to the Quenes chambre dore .... And if it be a princefe,
then the yefts to be borne of ladys, and they to bere yem to the
Quene." A curious reprefentation of the proceflion at the chriftening of
Prince Arthur, eldeft fon of Henry VlL, is given from a drawing in
outline in the "Antiquarian Repertory,"* with an account of the
ceremony from an old MS,
On the 17th of December, 1566, James, the fon of Mary, Queen
of Scots, was baptized according to the rites of the Popifh Church,
at Edinburgh. Queen Elizabeth had been afked to become one of the
fponfors, and fent the Earl of Bedford with a gold font as a prefent.
The prince was held up by the Countefs of Argyll in the behalf of
the Englifh queen ; after the baptifm had been folemnized, the names
and the titles of the royal infant were proclaimed to the found of
trumpets, Grindal, writing from London to Henry Bullinger, Feb,
8, 1567, fays : " Her [Mary's] eldeft fon was baptized in December
laft, after the popifh manner, by fome mitred pfeudo-bifhop ; but two
only could be found out of the whole nobility of that kingdom, who
thought proper to be prefent at the chriftening. The reft only accom
panied the infant, both in going and returning, as far as the door of the
chapel," =]
Strype in his "Annals," a,d. 1559, informs us that "on the 27th
of oaober that year, the Prince of Sweden, the Lord Robert and the
Lady Marchionefs of Northampton, ftood fureties at the chriftening
of Sir Thomas Chamberlaynes fon, who was baptifed at St, Benet's
church, at Pauls Wharf The church was hung with cloth of arras;
and, after the chriftening, were brought wafers, comfits, and divers
[' 2nd edit. vol. i. p. 353.]
['" " Zurich Letters," Parker Soc. ift feries, p 182.]'
Chriftening Cuftoms, 149
banquetting difhes, and hypocras and Mufcadine wine, to entertain the
guefts," In Stow's "Chronicle," by Howes, 1631, fpeaking of the life and
reign of King James, he obferves : " At this time, and for many yeares
before, it was not the ufe and cuftome (as now it is) for godfathers
and godmothers generally to give plate at the baptifme of children (as
fpoones, cupps, and fuch like), but onely to give chriftening fhirts, with
little handsandcuffs, wrought either with filke or blew threed, the beft
of them, for chiefe perfons weare, edged with a fmall lace of blacke
filke and gold, the higheft price of which for great men's children was
feldom above a noble, and the common fort, two, three, or foure, and
five fhillings a piece,"
It was anciently the cuftom for the fponfors at chriftenings to offer
gilt fpoons as prefents to the child : thefe fpoons were called Apoftle
fpoons, becaufe the figures of the twelve Apoftles were chafed or
carved on the tops of the handles. Opulent fponfors gave the whole
twelve. Thofe in middling circumftances gave four ; and the poorer
fort contented themfelves with the gift of one, exhibiting the figure of
any faint in honour of whom the child received its name. It is in
allufion to this cuftom that when Cranmer profeffes to be unworthy of
being fponfor to the young Princefs, Shakefpeare makes the King reply,
" Come, come, my lord, you'd fpare your fpoons," In the year 1560,
we find entered in the books of the Stationers' Company : " A fpoyne,
the gyfte of Mafter Reginold Wolfe, all gylte, with the pyaure of St.
John." Ben Jonfon, alfo, in his " Bartholomew Fair," mentions
^oons of this kind : " And all this for the hope of a couple of Apoflle
fpoons and a cup to eat caudle in." So, in Middleton's " Chafte Maid
in Cheapfide," 1620 : " Second Goffip. What has he given her ? What
is it, Goffip ? — Third Gos. A faire high-ftanding cup and two great
poflle fpoons, one of them gilt," Again, in Davenant's " Wits,"
1636 : " My pendants, carcanets, and rings.
My chriftening caudle-cup and fpoons,
Are diffolved into that lump."
Again, in the " Noble Gentieman," by Beaumont and Fletcher :
" I'll be a goflip. Bewford,
I have an odd Apoftle fpoon."
Shiprnan, in his " Goflips," is pleafant on the failure of the old
cuftom of giving Apoflle Spoons, &c, at chriftenings :
" Efpecially fince Goflips now
Eat more at Cbriftnlngs, than beftow.
Formerly, when they us'd to troul
Gilt Bowls of Sack, they gave the Bowl ;
T'wo Spoons at leaft ; an Ufe ill kept ;
'Tis well now if our own be left."
Morefin informs us of a remarkable cuftom, which he hinifelf was
an eye-witnefs of in Scotiand. They take, fays he, on their return
150 Child-bearing, Churching, and
from church, the newly-baptized infant, and vibrate it three or four
times gentiy over a flame, faying, and repeating it thrice, " Let the
Flame confume thee now or never." *
Borlafe writes :^ " The fame luftration, by carrying of fire, is per
formed round about women after child-bearing, and round about
children before they are chriflened, as an effeaual means to preferve
both the mother and infant from the power of evil fpirits."
It is very obfervable here, that there was a feaft at Athens, kept by
private families, called Amphidromia, on the fifth day after the birth
of the child, when it was the cuftom for the goffips to run round the
fire with the infant in their arms, and then, having delivered it to
the nurfe, they were entertained with feafting and dancing.
We read : * " About children's necks the wild Irifh hung the be
ginning of St. John's Gofpel, a crooked nail of an horfe-fhoe, or a
piece of a wolves-fkin, and both the fucking child and nurfe were
girt with girdles finely plated with woman's hair : fo far they wan
dered into the ways of errour, in making thefe arms the ftrength of
their healths." . . . . " Of the fame people Solinus affirmeth, that
they are fo given to war, that the mother, at the birth of a man
child, feedeth the firft meat into her infant's mouth upon the point
of her hufband's fword, and with heatbenifh imprecations wiflies
that it may dye no otherwife then in war, or by fword." Giraldus
Cambrenfis faith, " At the baptizing of the infants of the wild Irifli,
their manner was not to dip their right arms into the water, that fo as
they thought they might give a more deep and incurable blow."
Here is a proof that the whole body of the child was ancientiy com
monly immerfed in the baptifmal font. Camden* relates, in addition
to this, that, "if a child is at any time out of order, they fprinkle it
with the ftaleft urine they can get." Pennant informs us, that in
the Highlands midwives gave new-born babes a fmall fpoonful of earth
and whifky, as the firft food they take.
In the " Statiftical Account of Scotland,"^ we read that the in
habitants " would confider it as an unhappy omen, were they by any
means difappointed in getting themfelves married, or their children
baptized, on the very day which they had previoufly fixed in their
mind for that purpofe."
Again,' parifh of Kilfinan, Argylefhire, we read : " There is one
pernicious praaice that prevails much in this parifh, which took its
rife from this fource, which is, that of carrying their children out to
baptifm on the firft or fecond day after birth. Many of them,
although they had it in their option to have their children baptized
in their own houfes, by waiting one day, prefer carrying them feven
' "Papatus," p. 72.
' Quoting (in his " Account of Cornwall ") Martin's " Defcription of the
Weftern Iflands," p. 117.
^ "Memorable Things noted in the Defcription of the World," p. 111-13.
* Gough's edit, of" Britannia," 1789, vol. ill. p. 658.
' Vol. vii. p, 560, pariflies of Kirkwall and St. Ola.
• Vol. xiv. p. 261.
Chriftening Cuftoms, 1 5 1
or eight miles to church in the worft weather in December or
January, by which folly they too often facrifice the lives of their
infants to the phantom of fuperftition."
Again :* the minifter of the parifhes of South Ronaldfay and Bur-
ray, Orkney, fays: "Within thefe laft feven years [/. e. circa 1790],
the Minifter has been twice interrupted in adminifiering Baptifm to
a female child, before the male child, who was baptized immediately
after. When the fervice was over, he was gravely told he had done
very wrong, for, as the female child was firft baptized, fhe would, on
her coming to the years of difcretion, moft certainly have a ftrong
beard, and the boy would have none." Laftly:^ the minifter of
Logierait, Perthfhire, fays : " When a child was baptized privately,
it was, not long fince, cuftomary to put the child upon a clean bafket,
having a cloth previoufly fpread over it, with bread and cheefe put
into the cloth ; and thus to move the bafket three times fucceflively
round the iron crook, which hangs over the fire, from the roof of
the houfe, for the purpofe of fupporting the pots when water is boiled,
or viauals are prepared. This might be anciently intended to coun
teraa the malignant arts which witches and evil fpirits were imagined
to praaife againft new-born infants."
[The font was ufually covered, and the cover was made faft with
a lock, in order to guard againft malignant influences.' There was
more reafon in the praaice which formerly prevailed of fecuring the
poor-boxes in the churches with locks and keys, and even iron-plates,
not propter fortilegia, but to guard the donations of the charitable
againft common-place depredators.]
Grofe tells us there is a fuperftition that a child who does not cry
when fprinkled in baptifm will not live. He has added another idea
equally well founded, that children prematurely wife are not long-
lived, that is, rarely reach maturity ; a notion which we find quoted
by Shakefjieare, and put into the mouth of Richard III.
Bulwer remarks* that " There is a tradition our midwives have
concerning children borne open-handed, that fuch will prove of a
bountiful difpofition and frank-handed." The following occurs in
the fecond part of Dekker's "Honeft Whore," 1630: "I am the
moft wretched fellow : fure fome left-handed priefl chriflened me, I
am fo unlucky."
[Herrick names a cruft of holy bread laid under the head of a
fleeping child as a charm againft hags, and a knife placed near the
child's heart, with the point Upward, as a charm againft peril in
general.] It appears to have been anciently the cuftom at chriftening enter
tainments, for the guefts not only to eat as much as they pleafed, but
' Vohxv. p. 311. "Vol. V. p. 83.
' "Archaeologla," vol. x. p. 207-8, where "Gent. Mag." vol. xliv. p. 500
and vol. xiv. p. 13 are cited. The paffage requiring this proteftion to fonts is
curious : " Fontes baptifmales ivih fera claufi teneantur propter fortilegia."
" Chirologia," p. 62.
152 Child-^ bearing. Churching, and
alfo, for the ladies, at leaft, to carry away as much as they liked in -
their pockets. In Strype's " Stow " accounts are given of two great
chriftenings, in 1561 and 1562. After the firft was "a fplendid ban
quet at home ;" and the other, we read, " was concluded with a great
banquet, confifting of wafers and hypocras, French, Gafcoign, and
Rheiiifli wines, with great plenty, and all their fervants had a banquet
in the hall with divers difhes."
The following Scotifh modern fuperftitions refpeaing new-born
children are enumerated by Roffe :*
" Gryte was the care, and tut'ry that was ha'en,
Baith night and day about the bony Weeane,
The Jizzen-bed wi' rantry leaves was fain'd.
And fik like things as the auld Grannies kend,
Jeans paps 'wi' fa't and iwater 'waflien clean.
Reed that her milk get wrang, fan it was green.
Neift the firft hippen to the green was flung.
And thereat feeful words baith faid and fung.
A clear brunt coal wi' the het Tongs was ta'en
Frae out the Ingle-mids fu' clear and clean.
And throw the corfybelly letten fa.
For fear the weeane ftiould be ta'en awa ;
Dowing and growing, was the daily pray'r.
And Nory was brought up wi' unco care."
Waldron,^ fpeaking of the Manks' chriftenings, fays : " The whole
country round are invited to them ; and, after having baptized the
child, which they always do in the church, let them live ever fo
diftant from it, they return to the houfe, and fpend the whole day, and
good part of the night, in feafting."
Cowell'' fays: "It was a good old cuftom for godfathers and
godmothers, every time their godchildren afked them blefling, to give
them a cake, which was a gods-kichell ; it is ftill a proverbial faying
in fome countries, ' Afk me a bleflSng, and I will give you fome plum-
cake.'"* Hutchinfon' tells us that children in Northumberland, when firft
fent abroad in the arms of the nurfe to vifit a neighbour, are prefented
with an egg, fait, and fine bread.
He obferves that " the Egg was a facred emblem, and feems a gift
well adapted to infancy." Bryant fays, " An Egg, containing in it the
elements of life, was thought no improper emblem of the ark, in which
were preferved the rudiments of the future world : hence in the Dio-
nufiaca and in other Myfteries, one part of the noaurnal ceremony
confifted in the confecration of an Egg. By this, as we are informed
by Porphyry, was fignified the World. It feeins to have been a
favourite fymbol, and very antient, and we find it adopted among
' " Helenore, or the Fortunate Shepherdefs," 1778, p. 12.
' " Defcription of the Ifle of Man," Works, p. 170.
^ " Law Diftionary," 'voce KiCheCl.
{' See, for a fingular notion about children's bread and butter, Petri Molinsl
" Vates," p. 154.]
¦' " Northumberland," vol. ii. p. 4 adfinem, and p. 1 3.
Chriftening Cuftoms, ir-i
many nations. It was faid by the Perfians of Orofmafdes, that he
formed Mankind and inclofed them in an Egg, Cakes and Salt were
ufed in religious rites by the antients. The Jews probably adopted
their appropriation from the Egyptians : ' And if thou bring an obla
tion of a Meat-offering baken in the oven, it fhall be unleavened
Cakes of fine flour,' &c, Levit, ii. 4. — ' With all thine offerings thou
flialt offer Salt.'"
At the chriftening entertainments of many of the poorer fort of
people in the North of England (who are fo unfortunate as to provide
more mouths than they can with convenience find meat for) great
colleaions are oftentimes made by the guefts, and fuch as will far
more than defray the expenfes of the feaft of which they have been
partaking. There was an ancient cuftom called Bid-ale, or Bidder-ale, from
the Saxon word bibban to pray or fupplicate, when any honeft man,
decayed in his eftate, was fet up again by the liberal benevolence and
contributions of friends at a feaft, to which thofe friends were bid, or
invited. It was moft ufed in the Weft of England, and in fome
counties called a Help-ale.
It is cuftomary in the North alfo for the midwife, &c. to provide two
flices, one of bread and the other of cheefe, which are prefented to the
firft perfon they meet in the proceflion to church at a chriftening. The
perfon who receives this homely prefent muft give the child in return
three different things, wifhing it at the fame time health and beauty.
The gentieman who informed [Brand] of this, happening once to fall
in the way of fuch a party, and to receive the above prefent, was at a
lofs how to make the triple return, till he bethought himfeif of laying
upon the child which was held out to him, a fhilling, a halfpenny, and
a pinch of fnuff. When they meet more than one perfon together,
it is ufual to fingle out the neareft to the woman that carries the
child. In Braithwaite's " Whimzies," 1631, fpeaking of a yealous (jealous)
neighbour, the author fays : " Store of bifket, wafers, and careawayes,
hee beftowes at his childs chriftning, yet are his cares nothing leffned ;
he is perfwaded that he may eate his part of this babe, and never breake
his faft."
There is a fingular cuftom prevailing in the country of the Lefgins,
one of the feventeen Tartarian nations. " Whenever the Ufmei, or
Chief, has a fon, he is carried round from village to village, and alter
nately fuckled by every woman who has a child at her breaft, till he
is weaned. This cuftom by eftablifliing a kind of brotherhood be
tween the Prince and his fubjeas, Angularly endears them to each
other."' J . S )'
Among fuperftitions relating to children, the following is cited by
Bourne,^ from Bingham on St. Auftin : " If when two friends are
" Europ. Mag." for June, 1801, p. 408.
"Antiq, Vulg." ch, 18.
154 Child-bearing, Churching, and
talking together a Stone, or a Dog, or a Child, happens to come be
tween them, they tread the Stone to pieces as the divider of their
friendfhip, and this is tolerable in comparifon of beating an innocent
Child that comes between them. But it is more pleafant that fome
times the Children's quarrel is revenged by the dogs : for many times
they are fo fuperftitious as to dare to beat the Dog that comes between
them, who turning again upon him that fmites him, fends him from
feeking a vain remedy, to feek a real phyfician indeed."
In Shipman's " Goffips," 1666,* we read :
" Since friends are fcarce, and neighbours many.
Who will lend mouths, but not a penny,
/ (If you grant not a fupply)
Muft e'en provide a chrifome pye."
With refpea to the " Crifome Pye " [already mentioned in the quo
tation from Shipman's " Goffips," 1666,] it is well known that" Cri
fome [fays Blount] fignifies properly the white cloth, which is fet by the
Minifter of Baptifm upon the head of a Child newly anointed with
Chrifm (a kind of hallowed ointment ufed by Roman Catholics in the
Sacrament of Baptifm and for certain other unaions, compofed of
oyl and balm) after his Baptifm, Now it is vulgarly taken for the
white cloth put about or upon a Child newly chriftened, in token of
his Baptifm ; wherewith the women ufed to ftirowd the Child, if
dying within the month ; otherwife it is ufually brought to Church at
the Day of Purification,'"^
Stevenfon,^ fpeaking of the month of Auguft, obferves : " The new
Wheat makes the Goffips Cake, and the Bride-Cup is carryed above the
heads of the whole parifh,"
In Strype,* it is faid to be enjoined that, " to avoid contention, let
the curate have the value of the Chrifome, not under the value of
4^, and above as they can agree, and as the ftate of the parents may
require." In an account of Dunton Church, in Barnftable Hundred," is the
following remark : " Here has been a cuftom, time out of mind at
the churching of a woman, for her to give a white Cambrick Hand
kerchief to the Minifter as an offering. This is obferved by Mr.
Lewis in his ' Hiftory of the Ifle of Thanet,' where the fame cuftom
is kept up."
In the Chichefter Articles of Inquiry, 1639, occurs the paffage:
" Doth the Woman who is to be churched ufe the antient accuf
tomed habit in fuch cafes, with a white vail or kerchiefe upon her
head?" Under " Natal or Natalitious Gifts," Blount obferves that " among
the Grecians, the fifth Day after the Child's birth, the neighbours fent
"Poems," 1683, p. 113.
Blount's " Gloffographia," in 'voce,
" The Twelve Moneths," 1661, p. 37.
Utfupra, p. 148, A.D. 1560.
Morant's "Effex," vol. i. p, 219,
Chriftening Cuftoms. ire
in Gifts, or fmall Tokens ; from which cuftom, that among Chriftians
of the Godfathers fending gifts to the baptized infant, is thought to
have flown : and that alfo of the neighbours fending gifts to the
mother of it, as is ftill ufed in North Wales,"
In a traa of the laft century* it is faid : " The Godmother, hear
ing when the Child's to be coated, brings it a gilt Coral, a filver Spoon,
and Porringer, and a brave new Tankard of the fame metal. The
Godfather comes too, the one with a whole piece of flower'd filk, the
other with a fet of gilt Spoons, the gifts of Lord Mayors at feveral
times." [Queen Elizabeth ftood fponfor in perfon or by proxy for a great
number of the children of her courtiers and favourites, and fome of
her predeceffors had done the fame to a certain extent. In the Privy
Purfe Expenfes of our eariy kings are many entries, fhowing that
where they did not honour the ceremony with their prefence, they
fent a fuitable perfon to reprefent them, and a gift.
At the chriftening of Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I., in
1630, the Duchefs of Richmond, who ftood proxy for the queen-
mother of France, prefented a jewel valued at /^yooo or j^8ooo, and
gave the melch, or wet-nurfe, a chain of rubies of the eftimated worth
of ^200.
In the " Autobiography of Sir John Bramfton," there is a reference
to an ufage, which is not noticed by Mr. Brand or by Sir Henry
Ellis. Sir John relates how, after the death of King Edward VI., in
1553, Rofe, a daughter of Sir William Lock, in the time of her firft
hufband, Anthony Hickman, fled ultimately to Antwerp from the per-
fecution of Mary's government, they being Proteftants. Mr. and
Mrs. Hickman took two children abroad with them, and while they
remained at Antwerp, fhe had a third, which fhe caufed to be bap
tized in the houfe according to the rites of the Reformed Church.
" The fafhion was," writes the author of thefe memoirs, " to hange a
peece oflawne out at the window where a child was to be baptifed ; and
her houfe havinge two dores into two ftreetes, fhe hunge lawne out
at each doore, foe the neighbours of each fide, thinckinge the child was
caried out at the other dore, inquired no farther."]
There was formerly a cuftom of having Sermons at Chriflenings.
I had the honour of prefenting to the Earl of Leicefter one preached
at the baptifm of Theophilus Earl of Huntingdon.
The well-known toy, with bells, &c. and a piece of Coral at the
end, which is generally fufpended from the necks of infants to aflSft
them in cutting their teeth, is with the greateft probability fuppofed
to have had its origin in an ancient fuperftition, which confidered coral
as an amulet or defenfative againft fafcination : for this we have the
authority of Pliny. 2 It was thought too to preferve and faften the
teeth in men.
' "The Fifteen Comforts of Wooing," &c. p. 162.
' " Arufpices religiofum Coralli geftamen amollendls periculis arbitrantur : et
Surculi Infantile alligati tutelam habere creduntur."
I 56 Chriftening Cuftoms.
Scot, in his " Difcovery of Witchcraft," 1584,* fays : " The Coral
preferveth fuch as bear it from fafcination or bewitching, and in this
refpea they are hanged about children's necks. But from whence
that fuperftition is derived, or who invented the lye I know not : but
I fee how ready the people are to give credit thereunto by the multi
tude of corrals that were employed."
Steevens- informs us that there appears to have been an old fuper
ftition that coral would change its colour and look pale when the
wearer of it was fick. So in the [play of " The] Three Ladies of
London," 1584:
" You may fay Jet will take up a ftraw, Amber will make one fat.
Coral 'will look pale 'when you be fick, and Chryftal will ftanch blood."
In Bartholomeus " de Proprietatibus Rerum," ^ we read : " Wytches
tell, that this ftone {Coral) withftondeth lyghtenynge. — It putteth of
lyghtnyng, whiriewynde, tempefte and ftormes fro fhyppes and houfes
that it is in. — The Red [Corall] helpeth ayenft the fendes gyle and fcorne,
and ayenft divers wonderous doyng, and multiplieth fruite and fpedeth
begynnyng and ending of caufes and of nedes."
Coles, in his " Adam in Eden," fpeaking of coral, fays : " It
helpeth Children to breed their teeth, their gums being rubbed there
with ; and to that purpofe they have it faftened at the ends of their
mantles." And Plat, in his "Jewel-Houfe of Art and Nature,"
1594, fays, "Coral is good to be hanged about Children's necks, as
well to rub their gums, as to preferve them from the falling ficknefs :
it hath alfo fome fpecial fimpathy with nature, for the beft Coral being
worn about the neck, will turn pale and wan, if the party that wears
it be fick, and comes to its former colour again, as they recover
health." In Erondel's "French Garden," edit, 1621, fignat. h 2, in a
dialogue relative to the drefs of a child, we have another proof of
the long continuance of this cuftom : " You need not yet give him
his Corall with the fmall golden Chayne, for I beleeve it is better to
let him fleepe untill the afternoone,"
In " A fhort Defcription of Antichrift," &c. 1554, is this paffage :
" I note all their Popifhe traditions of Confirmacion of yonge Children
with oynting of oyle and creame, and with a Ragge knitte aboute the
necke of the yonge Babe," &c.
[Wafers and hippocras wine were the cuftomary refrefhment ferved
up after the return from a chriftening, as appears from the cafe of
Alderman White's child in 1559, when the Marquis of Winchefter,
Lord Treafurer, ftood as one of the fponfors. The fame entertain
ment was alfo very ufual (with other dainties) at weddings about the
fame period.] ' Ed. 1665, p. 166. ' Reed's " Shakefpeare," vol. vii. p. 308.
' Edit. 1536, fol. 229.
^S7
[Bifliopptng,
THIS is what is now generally known as Confirmation, a term
which was not underftood in eariy times. In the Privy Purfe
Expenfes of the Princefs Mary, under December, 1536, we have:
" Itin Payed for the fafcion of a Tablet geven to my lady Carowes
[Carew's] Dought' beeng my ladyes goddoughter at the byfhoppyng
. . . y]s."]
Dr. Rimbault, in "A Littie Book of Songs and Ballads," 185 1,
has printed from a colleaion of mufic with the words, publifhed about
1530, an ancient lullaby fong, which commences with this ftanza :
" By by, lullaby,
Rockyd I my chyld :
In a dream late as I lay,
Methought I heard a mayden fay
And fpak thes wordys mylde :
My lytll fone with the I play.
And ever flie fong by lullaby,
Thus rockyd flie hyr chyld.
By by Lullaby,
Rockid I my child, by by."]
Cu(iom0 at 2Deatl)0.
The Passing Bell.
Called also the Soul [or Sauncing] Bell.
[" Ring out your belles, let mourning fliewes be fpread.
For Loue is dead." — Englands Helicon, 1 600.]
" Make me a ftraine fpeake groaning like a Bell,
That towles departing Soules."
— Marfton's Works, 1633, fign. D 5 'verfo.
[" Hark, hark I what noife is this ; a Paffing Bell,
That doth our own fate In an others tell."
— Sparke's Scintillula Altaris, 1652.
THE following claufe in the " Advertifements for due Order," &c.
1565, is much to our purpofe :
"Item, that when anye Chriftian Bodie is in paffing, that the Bell be
tolled, and that the Curate be fpeciallie called for to comforte the ficke
perfon; and after the time of his paffmge, to ringe no more but one
158 Cuftoms at Deaths.
fhorte peale ; and one before the Buriall, and another fhort peale after
the Buriall."*
In Catholic times, here, it has been cuftomary to toll the Paffing
Bell at all hours of the night as well as by day : as the fubfequent ex
traa from the Churchwardens' Accounts for the parifli of Wol-
church,^ 1526, proves : " Item, the Clerke to have for tollynge of the
paffynge Belle, for Manne, Womanne, or Childes, if it be in the day,
iiij^. Item, if it be in the Night, for the fame, viij<^,"
The following is a paffage in Stubbes' " Anatomie of Abufes,"'
1583, He is relating the dreadful end of a fwearer in Lincolnfhire :
" At the laft the people perceiving his ende to approche, caufed the Bell
to tolle ; who hearing the Bell toll for him rufhed up in his Bed very
vehemently." There is a paffage in Shakefpeare's " Henry the Fourth," which
proves that our poet has not been a more accurate obferver of nature
than of the manners and cuftoms of his time :
" And his Tongue
Sounds ever after as a fullen Bell
Remember'd knolling a departing Friend,"
The word " Paffing," as ufed here, fignifies clearly the fame as
" departing," that is, paflfing from life to death. So that even from
the name we may gather that it was the intention in tolling a pafling
bell to pray for the perfon dying, and who was not yet dead.
Douce was inclined to think that the pafling bell was originally in
tended to drive away any demon that might feek to take poffeflion of
the foul of the deceafed. In the cuts to thofe Horae which contain
the Service of the Dead, feveral devils are waiting for this purpofe in
the chamber of the dying man, to whom the prieft is adminiftering
extreme unaion.* He adds: " It is to be hoped that this ridiculous
cuftom will never be revived, which has moft probably been the Caufe
of fending many a good Soul to the other world before its time: nor
can the praaice of tolling Bells for the dead be defended upon any
principle of Common Senfe, Prayers for the Dead being contrary to
the Articles of our Religion."
Caffalion has this taunt againft the Proteftants : " Though," fays
he, " the Englifh now deny that Prayers are of any fervice to the dead,
yet I could meet with no other account of this Ceremony than that it
was a Cuftom of the old Church of England, /. e. the Church of
Rome." 5
Among the many objeaions of the Brownifts, it is laid to the charge
of the Church of England, that though we deny the doarine of Pur-
' " His gowned Brothers follow him, and bring him to his long home. Aftiort
peale clofeth up his Funeral Pile." — Whimzies, 1631, p. 64. See ibid. p. 206.
^ Harl. MS. 2256, quoted by Strutt, " Mann, and Cuft." vol iii. p. 172.
' Ed. 1585, p. 76.
* He refers to the Schol. in Theocrit. Idyll. Ii. v. 36.
» Caffal. " De Vet, Sac, Chrift. Rit. p. 241. Bourne, " Antiq. Vulg." ch.i.
Cuftoms at Deaths. irg
gatory and teach the contrary, yet how well our praaice fuits with it
may be confidered in our ringing of hallowed bells for the foul.^
Wheatiey, in his " Illuftration of the Book of Common Prayer,"
1741, apologizes for our retaining this ceremony : " Our Church," fays
he, " in imitation of the Saints in former ages, calls on the Minifter and
others, who are at hand, to aflift their Brother in his laft extremity.
In order to this flie direas that when any one is paffing out of this
Life, a Bell fhould be tolled," &c. It is called from thence the
Paffing Bell,
I find the following in the York Articles (any year till 1640) :
" Whether doth your Clark or Sexton, when any one is paffing out of
this Life, negleif to toll a Bell, having notice thereof : or, the party
being dead, doth he fuffer any more ringing than one fhort Peale, and,
before his Burial one, and after the fame another ? " Inquiry is alfo
direaed to be made, " whether at the death of any there be any fuper-
flitious ringing ? "
" The Pafling Bell," fays Grofe, " was antientiy rung for two pur
pofes : one to befpeak the Prayers of all good Chriftians, for a Soul
juft departing ; the other, to drive away the evil Spirits who ftood at
the Bed's foot, and about the Houfe, ready to feize their prey, or at
leaft to moleft and terrify the Soul in its paffage : but by the ringing
of that Bell (for Durandus informs us Evil Spirits are much afraid of
Bells,) they were kept aloof; and the Soul, like a hunted Hare, gained
the ftart, or had what is by Sportfmen called Law,°
" Hence, perhaps, exclufive of the additional Labour, was occa
fioned the high price demanded for tolling the greateft Bell of the
Church ; for that, being louder, the Evil Spirits muft go farther off
to be clear of its found, by which the poor Soul got fo much more
the ftart of them : befides, being heard farther off, it would like-
wife procure the dying man a greater number of Prayers, This
diflike of Spirits to Bells is mentioned in the Golden Legend."
Bourne tells that it was a cuftom with feveral religious families at
Newcaftle-upon-Tyne, to ufe prayers, as for a foul departing, at the
tolling of the Pafling Bell. There is a proverb :
" When thou doft hear a Toll or Knell,
Then think upon thy Paffing Bell,"
In Heywood's " Rape of Lucrece," [firft printed in 1608], Valerius
fays : " Nay if he be dying, as I could wifh he were, I'le ring out his
funer all peale, and this it is :
" Come lift and harke,
The Bell doth towle,
For fome but now
Departing Soule.
' See Blftiop Hall's " Apology againft the Brownifts." " We call them," fays
the Bifliop, 'ibid, p. 568, " Soul Bells, for that they fignify the departure of the
Soul, notforthat they help the paffage of the Soul." — Bourne.
' "Rationale," lib, c. xxli, feft. 6.
] 6o Cuftoms at Deaths.
And was not that
Some ominous fowle.
The Batt, the Night-
Crow, or Skreech-Owle,
To thefe I heare
The wild Woolfe howle
In this black night
That feems to flcowle.
All thefe my black-
Booke ftiall in-rowle.
For hark, ftill, ftill.
The Bell doth towle.
For fome but no'W
Departing So'wle."
As for the title of " Soul Bell," if that bell is fo called, which
they toll after a perfon's breath is out, and mean by it that it is a call
upon us to pray for the foul of the deceafed perfon, I know not how the
Church of England can be defended againft the charge of thofe who,
in this inftance, would feem to tax us with praying for the dead.
[In "The Sheepheards defcription of Loue," by Sir W. Raleigh, in
" Englands Helicon," 1600, are the following lines, in which the Paf
fing Bell is termed the Sauncing Bell :
" Milibeus, Sheepheard, whats Loue, I pray thee tell f
Fauftus, It' Is that Fountalne, and that Well,
Where pleafure and repentance dwell.
It is perhaps that fauncing bell.
That toules all into heauen or hell.
And this is Loue as I heard tell."
In an anonymous traa of 1604, it is called the Saunce Bell, where
Signior Stramazoon fays : " Stoote, the mad Butchir, fqueakes fhriller
then the Saunce Bell at Weftminfter."]^
Bourne confiders the cuftom as old as the ufe of bells themfelves
in Chriftian churches, /, e. about the feventh century. He thinks
the cuftom originated in the Roman Catholic idea of the prevalency
of prayers for the dead, Bede, fpeaking of the death of the Abbefs
of St. Hilda, tells us, that one of the fifters of a diftant monaftery, as
fhe was fleeping,^ thought fhe heard the well-known found of that
bell which called them to prayers, when any of them had departed
this life. The abbefs had no fooner heard this, than flieraifed all the.
fifters and called them into the church, where fhe exhorted them to
pray ferventiy, and fing a requiem for the foul of their mother.
The fame author contends that this bell, contrary to the prefent
cuftom, fhould be tolled before the perfon's departure, that good men
might give him their prayers, adding, that, if they do no good to the
departing finner, they at leaft evince the difinterefted charity of the
perfon that prefers them.
[' " The Meeting of Gallants at an Ordinary, or the Walkes in Powles," repr
1841, p. 15.]
'' Bed, " Eccles. Hift." lib. Iv. cap. 23.
Cuftoms at Deaths, \ 6 1
In Hooper's " Funeral Oration," 1549," occurs this fingular paffage :
" Theyr Remedyes be folyflie and to be mocked at, as the Ryngynge
of Belles, to eafe the payne of the dead wythe other :" as if the purpofe
of tolling the Pafling Bell had been intended to give an eafy paffage to
the dying perfon.
The following paffage is from Veron :2 " //¦ they fljoulde tolle theyr
Belles (as they did in good Kynge Edwardes dayes) when any bodye is
drawing to his Ende and departinge out of this Worlde, for to caufe
all menne to praye unto God for him, that of his accuftomed Good-
neffeand Mercye, he fhould vouchfafe to receave him unto his Mercye,
forgevinge him all his Sinnes : Their ringinge fliuld have better ap
pearance and fhould be more conformable to the aunciente Catholicke
Churche." In Birrel's " Diary,"' is the following curious entry : " 1566. The
25 of oaober, vord came to the Toune of Edinburghe, frome the
Queine, y' her Majeftie wes deadly feike, and defyrit y' Bells to be
runge, and all y" peopill to refort to y'= kirk to pray for her, for fhe
wes fo feike that none lipned her Life."
In Copley's " Wits, Fits, and Fancies," 1595,* we find that the
Pafling Bell was antientiy rung while the perfon was dying. " A
Gentieman lying very ficke abed, heard a Pafling Bell ring out, and
faid unto his Phyfition, tell me (Maifter Doaor) is yonder Muficke for
my Dancing?"
Again, concerning " The ringing out at the Burial," is this anec
dote : " A rich Churle and a Begger were buried, at one time, in the
fame Church-yard, and the Belles rung out amaine for the Mifer :
Now, the wife-acre his Son and Executor, to the ende the Worlde
might not thinke that all that ringing was for the begger, but for his
father, hyred a Trumpetter to ftand all the ringing-while in the Belfrie,
and betweene every peale to found his Trumpet, and proclaime
aloude and fay : Sirres, this next Peale is not for R. but for Maifter
N. his father."
The following paffage is in Dekker's " Strange Horfe-Race," 1613.
Speaking of " rich curmudgeons" lying fick, he fays : " Their fonnes
and heires curfing as faft (as the mothers pray) until the great capon-
bell ring out." If this does not mean the Pafling Bell, I cannot ex
plain it.'
In the Chichefter Articles of Enquiry, 1638, under the head of
Vifitation of the Sicke and Perfons at the point of Death, we read :
" In the meane-time is there a paffmg-bell tolled, that they who are
within the hearing of it may be moved in their private Devotions to
recommend the flate of the departing Soule into the hands of their Re-
' '550j 8vo. fign. c 3.
' "Hunting of Purgatory to Death," 1561, fol. 60.
' " Fragm. of Scotifli Hiftory," 1796.
' Edit. 1614, p. 195-6.
['Mr. Halliwell cites this paffage for the term, and explains it fimilarly, but
furnifties no corroborative evidence.— (virc.4. DiB. 1847, in 'voce.'')]
II. M
1 62 Cuftoms at Deaths,
deemer, a duty which all Chriflians are bound to, out of a fellow-feeling
of their common Mortality."
Fuller writes :' "Hearing a Paffing-Bell, I prayed that the fick
Man might have, through Chrift, a fafe Voyage to his long Home.
Afterwards I underftood that the Party was dead fome hours before;
and, it feems in fome places of London, the Tolling of the Bell is but
a preface of courfe to the ringing it out. Bells are better filent than
thus telling Lyes. What is this but giving a falfe Alarme to Men's
Devotions, to make them to be ready armed with their Prayers for
the affiftance of fuch who have already fought the good fight, yea and
gotten the Conqueft ? Not to fay that Men's Charity herein may be
fufpeaed of Superftition in praying for the Dead."
Zouch^ fays : " The Soul-bell was tolled before the departure of a
perfon out of Life, as a fignal for good Men to offer up their prayers
for the dying. Hence the abufe commenced of praying for the dead.^
He is citing Donne's Letter to Wotton in verfe '.
" And thicken on you now, as prayers afcend
To Heaven on troops at a good Man's Pafling Bell."
[We read in Camden :] " When a perfon is at the point of death,
juft before he expires, certain .Women Mourners, ftanding in the
Crofs-ways, fpread their hands, and call him with cries adapted to the
purpofe, and endeavour to flop the departing foul, reminding it of the
advantages it enjoys in goods, wives, perfon, reputation, kindred,
friends, and horfes : afking why it will go, and where, and to whom,
and upbraiding it with ingratitude, and laftly, complaining that the
departing Spirit will be transformed into thofe forms which appear at
night and in the dark : and after it has quitted the Body, they bewail
it with bowlings and clapping of hands. They follow the funeral with
fuch a noife, that one would think there was an end both of living and
dead. The moft violent in thefe lamentations are the Nurfes,
Daughters, and Miftreffes. They make as much lamentation for
thofe flain in battle, as for thofe who die in their beds, though they
efteem it the eafieft Death to die fighting or robbing ; but they vent
every reproach againft their enemies, and cherifh a lafting deadly hatred
againft all their kindred," *
[The minifter of Nigg, co, Kincardine, reported in 1793, of the
people thereabout] : = " On the fudden Death of their Relations, or
fear of it, by the Sea turning dangerous, the Fiftier people, efpecially
the Females, exprefs their forrow by Exclamation of Voice and Gefture
of Body, like the Eaftern Nations, and thofe in an early State of
Civilization."
' " Good Thoughts in Worfe Times," 1647, p. 2.
' Walton's " Lives," ed. 1796, p. 144.
' " Durandi Rationale," " Aliquo moriente Campanae debentpulfari,ut Populus
hoc audlens oret pro Illo."
¦* Brit, [Ireland] edit, 1789, vol. ill. p. 668.
' "Statift. Ace. of Scotl," vol. viii. p. 213.
Cuftoms at Deaths. 163
Bourne fays, the cuftom was held to be popifh and fuperftitious
during the Grand Rebellion, for in a veftry book belonging to the
chapel of All Saints, in Newcaftle-upon-Tyne, it is obfervable that
the tolling of the bell is not mentioned in the parifh from the year
1643 till 1655, when the church by this and fuch like means having
been brought in dilapidations, through want of money, it was at a
Veftry, held January 21, that year, ordered to be tolled again.'
I find the following in the Worcefter Articles of Vifitation,
1662: "Doth the parifh clerk or fexton take care to admonifh the
living, by tolling of a paffing-bell of any that are dying, thereby to
meditate of their own deaths, and to commend the other's weak con
dition to the mercy of God ?" In fimilar Articles for the Diocefe of
St. David in the fame year, I read as follows : " Doth the parifti clerk,
or fexton, when any perfon is paffing out of this life, upon notice
being given him thereof, toll a Bell, as hath been accuftomed, that the
neighbours may thereby be warned to recommend the dying perfon to
the grace and favour of God ? "
The "Britifli Apollo "= informs us that "The Paffing Peal was
conftituted, at firft, to be rung when the party was dying, to give
notice to the religious people of the neighbourhood to pray for his
foul ; and therefore properly called the Paffing Peal." There feems
to be nothing intended at prefent by tolling the Pafling Bell, but to
inform the neighbourhood 6f any perfon's death.
Pennant' fays : [that in the laft century the Paffing Bell was
punftually founded.] " I mention this," [he fays] " becaufe idle niceties
have, in great towns, often caufed the difufe. It originated before the
Reformation, to give notice to the prieft to do the laft duty of extreme
unftion to the departing perfon, in cafe he had no other admonition.
The canon (67) allows one fhort peal after death, one other before
the funeral, and one other after the funeral. The fecond is ftill in
ufe, and is a fingle bell folemnly tolled. The third is a merry peal,
rung at the requeft of the relations ; as if, Scythian like, they rejoiced
at the efcape of the departed out of this troublefome World." He
adds : " Bell-Corn is a fmall perquifite belonging to . the clerk of
certain parifhes. I cannot learn the origin."
I cannot agree with Bourne in thinking that the ceremony of
tolling a bell on this occafion was as ancient as the ufe of bells, which
were firft intended as fignals to convene the people to their public
devotions. It has more probably been an after-invention of fuperfti
tion. Thus praying for the dying was improved upon into praying
for the dead.
The Minifter of Borrowftownefs, Linlithgow, reported in 1796:*
" At the burials of the poor people, a cuftom, almoft obfolete in
other parts of Scotiand, is continued here. The beadle perambulates
' " Antiq. Vulg." ch. I.
' For Oft. 1709, vol. ii. no. 7.
' " Hift. of Whiteford and Holywell," pp. 99-100.
* "Statift. Ace. of Scotl." vol. xviii. p. 489.
164 Cuftoms at Deaths,
the ftreets with a Bell, and intimates the death of the individual in the
following language : ' All brethren and fifters, I let ye to wit, there is
a brother {or fifler) departed at the pleafure of the Almighty, (here he
lifts his hat,) called All thofe that come to the burial, come at
of clock. The corpfe is at .' He alfo walks before the
corpfe to the church-yard, ringing his Bell."
Durandus * tells us, that, " when any one is dying, Bells muft be
tolled, that the people may put up their prayers : twice for a woman
and thrice for a man : if for a Clergyman, as many times as he had
Orders, and at the conclufion a peal on all the Bells, to diftinguifh the
quality of the perfon for whom the people are to put up their prayers.
A Bell, too, muft be rung while the corpfe is conduaed to church,
and during the bringing it out of the church to the grave." This
feems to account for a cuftom ftill preferved in the North of England,
of making numeral diftinaions at the conclufion of this ceremony :
/. e, nine knells for a man, fix for a woman, and three for a child, which
are undoubtedly the veftiges of this ancient injunaion of popery.
DiflinSiion of rank is preferved in the North of England, in the
tolling of the Soul Bell. A high fee annexed excludes the common
people and appropriates to the death of perfons of confequence the
tolling of the great bell in each church on this occafion. There too,
as Durandus, above cited, orders, a be His tolled, and fometimes chimes
are rung, a little before the burial, and while they are conduaing the
corpfe to church. They chime, or ring, too, at fome places, while
the grave is filling up.
Till the middle of the laft century, a perfon called the Bell-man
of the Dead, went about the ftreets of Paris, dreffed in a deacon's
robe, ornamented with deaths' heads, bones, and tears, ringing a Bell,
and exclaiming, " Awake, you that fleep ! and pray to God for the
dead ! " This cuftom prevailed ftill longer in fome of the Provinces,
where they permitted even the trivial parody, " Prenez vos femmes
embraffer les." ^
In an old Englifli Homily for Trinity Sunday,^ occurs: "The
fourme of the Trinity, was founded in Manne, that was Adam our
forefadir, of earth oon perfonne, and Eve of Adam the fecunde per-
fone : and of them both was the third perfone. At the deth of a
manne three Bellis fhuldebe ronge, as his knyll, in worfcheppe of the
Trinetee, and for a womanne, who was the fecunde perfone of the
Trinetee, two Bellis fhould be rungen."
[The following is a defcription of a Funeral or Dead Peale :*] " It
being cuftomary not only in this City of London, upon the death of
any perfon that is a Member of any of the honourable Societies of
Ringers therein, (but likewife in j moft Countries and Towns m
England, not only upon the death of a Ringer, but likewife of any
' "Rationale," lib. i. c. iv. p. 13.
= " Voyageur a Paris," torn, i. p, 72, cited by Douce.
' Cited by Strutt " M. and C." vol, ill, p. 176.
[¦* " Campanologia, or the Art of Ringing," ed. 1753, p. 200.]
Cuftoms at Deaths. 165
young Man or Woman,) at the Funeral of every fuch perfon to ring
a Peal; whichPeal ought to be different from thofe for mirth and re
creation, (as the mufick at the Funeral of any Mafter of Mufick, or
the Ceremony at the Funeral of any perfon belonging to military
difcipline,) and may be performed two different ways : the one is by
ringing the Bells round at a fet pull, thereby keeping them up fo as to
delay their ftriking, that there may be the diftance of three notes at
leaft, (according to the true compafs of ringing upon other occafions,)
between Bell and Bell ; and having gone round one whole pull every
Bell, (except the Tenor,) to fet and ftand ; whilft the Tenor rings
one pull in the fame compafs as before ; and this is to be done whilft the
perfon deceafed is bringing to the ground ; and after he is interred, to
ring a fhort Peal of round ringing, or Changes in true time and com
pafs, and fo conclude. The other way is call'd buffeting the Bells,
that is, by tying pieces of Leather, old Hat, or any other thing that is
pretty thick, round the ball of the clapper of each Bell, and then by
ringing them as before is fhewn, they make a mofl doleful and mournful
found: concluding with a fhort Peal after the Funeral is over, (the
clappers being clear as at other times :) which way of buffeting is moft
praftis'd in this City of London."
The peal of the church-bell, prefcribed by the Canonifts, was
thought indifpenfable to the tranflation of the foul of a dead perfon,
and as an unbaptized infant could not receive this rite, the parents
were haunted by the fear, that the foul of the departed would not quit
the body, [It is fcarcely neceffary to remind the reader of the almoft
invariable craving which perfons in articulo mortis manifeft for abund
ance of frefh air, and for a place near the open window. The motive
is obvious enough, and can have no affinity with the cuftom which
prevailed very widely at one time of throwing the window and door
open, immediately after death, that the liberated foul might properly
pafs. In the will of John Hales, of Eton, " the ever-memorable," proved
in March, 1666, there is a paffage, in which he fays that he defires to
be buried " the next evening fong after he fhall die," in a plain
fimple manner, " without Sermon or ringing of Bells, Commenfations,
Compotations, or fuch like folemnities."
2. Embalming.
This was a very common praaice in this country in Catholic times,
and remains fo abroad to this day. In one of the moft interefting
of our early romances, " The Squyr of Low Degre," there is a
defcription of the manner in which the daughter of the King of Hun
gary buried and embalmed the body (as flie fuppofed) of her lover the
fquire, but in reality that of the falfe fteward :
" Into the chamber ftie dyd hym here ;
His bowels foone ftie dyd out drawe.
And buryed them in goddes lawe.
1 66 Cuftoms at Deaths.
She fered that body with fpecery.
With wyrgin waxe and commendiy ;
And clofed hym In a mafer tre.
And fet on hym lockes thre.
She put him in a marble ftone.
With quaynt gyuues many one.
And fet hym at hir beddeftiead.
And euery day flie kyft that dead." '
Some embalmed remains were difcovered at Bury St. Edmunds in
1772, which, on examination, were found to be in as perfeaiy found a
condition as an Egyptian mummy. Even the brain, the colour of the
eyes and hair, the fhape of the features, every thing, had remained
through hundreds of years inacceffible to decompofing influences,]^
3, Watching with the Dead,'
The word Lake-wake is plainly derived from the Anglo-Saxon
lie or lice, a corpfe, and wsecce, a wake, vigil, or watching. It is
ufed in this fenfe by Chaucer in his " Knight's Tale " :
" Shall not be told by me
How that Arcite Is brent to aftien cold,
Ne how that there the LIche-Wake was yhold
All that night long,"
Thus alfo we read :* " Proper Like Wakes (Scotifh) are the Meet
ings of the Friends of the deceafed, a night or nights before the
Burial." They were wont, fays Bourne, to fit by the corpfe from the time of
death till its exportation to the grave, either in the houfe it died in, or
in the church itfelf. To prove this he cites St. Auftin, concerning
the watching the dead body of his mother Monica ; and Gregory
Turon. concerning that of St. Ambrofe, whofe body was carried into
the church the fame hour he died.
Jamiefon fays :•"' " This antient cuftom moft probably originated
from a filly fuperftition with refpea to the danger of a corpfe being
carried off by fome of the agents of the invifible World, or expofed to
the ominous liberties of brute animals. But, in itfelf, it is certainly a
decent and proper one ; becaufe of the poffibility of the perfon, con
fidered as dead, being only in a fwoon. Whatever was the original
defign, the lik-wake feems to have very early degenerated into a feene
of feftivity extremely incongruous to the melancholy occafion."
E' " Rem. of the Early Popular Poetry of England," vol. ii. p. 49]
'' "Antiq. Repert." ed. 1808, vol. Iii. pp. 351-2.]
Called in the North of England the Lake-wake. [It Is otherwife known as
the Lich-wake, Like-wake, and Late-wake. — Atkinfon's Cle-veland Gloff. 1868, p.
327-8.] ¦* Ruddlman's Glofs. to Douglas's " JEne'iAf 17 10, in 'v. Walkin.
^ " Etymolog. Dift." 'v. Lyk-waik.
Cuftoms at Deaths. 167
Pennant, in defcribing Highland ceremonies, fays : " The Late
Wake is a Ceremony ufed at Funerals. The Evening after the death
of any perfon, the Relations or Friends of the deceafed meet at the
Houfe attended by a Bag-pipe or Fiddle : the neareft of kin, be it
wife, fon, or daughter, opens a melancholy Ball, dancing, and greet
ing, i.e. crying violently at the fame time; and this continues till
day-light, but with fuch Gambols and Frolicks among the younger
part of the Company, that the lofs which occafioned them is often
more than fupplied by the confequences of that night. If the Corps
remain unburied for two nights the fame rites are renewed. Thus,
Scythian like they rejoice at the deliverance of their Friends out of
this Life of Mifery." He tells us in the fame place that " the Cora-
nich or finging at Funerals is ftill in ufe in fome places. The Songs
are generally in praife of the deceafed, or a recital of the valiant deeds
of their anceftors." ^
" In North Wales," fays the fame gentleman (fpeaking of the man
ners of the 1 8th century), "the Night before a dead body is to be
interred, the friends and neighbours of the deceafed refort to the
Houfe the corpfe is in, each bringing with him fome fmall prefent of
Bread, Meat, Drink, (if the family be fomething poor ;) but more
efpecially Candles, whatever the Family be : and this Night is called
wyl nos, whereby the country people feem to mean a Watching Night,
Their going to fuch a Houfe, they fay is, / wilior corph, i, e. to watch
the corpfe ; but wylo fignifies to weep and lament, and fo wyl nos may
be a night of lamentation : while they ftay together on that night they
are either finging Pfalms, or reading fome part of the Holy Scriptures,
"Whenever any body comes into a Room where a dead Body lyes,
efpecially the wyl nos and the day of its Interment, the firft thing he
does, he falls on his knees by the Corps, and fays the Lord's Prayer."
In "The Irifh Hudibras," 1689, is an [exaggerated] defcription of
what is called in the margin '¦'An Iri/h Wake."-
That watching with the corpfe was an ancient cuftom every where
praaifed, numerous paffages from ecclefiaftical writers might be cited
to prove, could there be any doubt of the antiquity of a cuftom,
which, owing its origin to the tendereft affeaions of human nature,
has perhaps on that account been ufed from the infancy of time.
In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for Auguft, 1771, it is faid of a
giri who was killed by lightning in Ireland, that " fhe could not be
waked within doors, an expreffion which is explained as alluding to a
cuftom among the Irifh of drefling their dead in their beft cloaths, to
receive as many Vifitors as pleafe to fee them ; and this is called
keeping their Wake. The Corpfe of this Giri, it feems, was fo
offenfive, that this Ceremony could not be performed within doors."
Hutchinfon,' fpeaking of the parifli of Whitbeck [in Cumberiand,]
' "Tour in Scotland," 1769, p. 112.
[' An account of the wake, lefs overcharged, is to be found, as Sir H. Ellis
pointed out. In the Gloffary to Mifs Edgeworth's " Caftle Rackrent." See alfo
the " Survey of the South of Ireland," p. 210]
' " Cumberland," vol. I. p. 553.
1 68 Cuftoms at Deaths.
fays : " People always keep wake with the dead," [and we learn from
another fource^] " that the Late Wake [was in the laft century] a
praaice common in many parts of Scotland, and not yet exploded
[in Aberdeenfhire] of people fitting up all night with the dead corps,
in the chamber of the deceafed." Again, ^ we read: "It was cuf
tomary for [the folks at Campfie, co. Stirling] to have at leaft two
Lyke-Wakes (the Corpfe being kept two nights before the Inter
ment) where the young Neighbours watched the Corpfe, being merry
or forrowful, according to the fituation or rank of the deceafed."
Waldron^ fays that "When a perfon [in the Ifle of Man] dies,
feveral of his acquaintance come to fit up with him, which they call
the Wake. The Clerk of the Parifh is obliged to fing a Pfalm, in
which all the Company join ; and after that they begin fome paftime
to divert themfelves, having ftrong beer and tobacco allowed them in
great plenty. This is a Cuftom borrowed from the Irifh, as indeed
are many others much in fafhion with them."
[In Jamiefon's* time, the Lik-Wake was] retained in Sweden,
where it was called Wakfluga, from wak-a to watch, and perhaps
fluga, a room, an apartment, or cottage. Ihre* obferves, that " although
thefe Wakes fhould be dedicated to the contemplation of our mortality,
they have been generally paffed in plays and compotations, whence
they were prohibited in public Edias."
Durandus cites one of the ancient councils, in which it is obferved
that pfalms were wont to be fung, not only when the corpfe was con
duaed to church, but that the ancients watched on the night before
the burial, and fpent the vigil in finging pfalms.*
It appears that among the primitive Chriftians the corpfe was fome
times kept four days. Pelagia, in Gregory of Tours, requefts of
her fon, that he would not bury her before the fourth day.
The abufe of this vigil, or Lake Wake is of pretty old ftanding.
The loth Canon at the provincial Synod held in London temp. Edw.
III.' "endeavours to prevent the diforders committed at people's
Watching a Corps before Burial. Here the Synod takes notice that
the defign of people's meeting together upon fuch occafions, was to
join their prayers for the benefit of the dead perfon ; that this antient
and ferviceable ufage was overgrown with Superftition and turned
into a convenience for theft and debauchery : therefore, for a remedy
againft this diforder, 'tis decreed, that, upon the death of any perfon,
none fhould be allowed to watch before the Corpfe in a private Houfe,
excepting near Relations and Friends of the deceafed, and fuch as
' " Statiftical Account of Scotland," vol. v. p. 435.
^ Ibid. vol. XV. p. 372.
^ "Defcription of the Ifle of Man," Works, p. 170.
' " Etymolog.. Dift." f. Lyk-waik.
* " Gloffar. Suio-Goth," a/. Wake.
, !, ^'- pf^gOT in the epiftle treating of the death of his fifter Macrina, fays :
Cum igitur nofturna Pervigllatio, ut In Martyrum celebrltate canendis Pfalmis
pertefta effet, et Crepufculum advenifl'et," &c.
' Colliei-'s " Ecclef.aft. Hiftory," vol. i p 546
Cuftoms at Deaths. \ 69
offered to repeat a fet number of Pfalms for the benefit of his Soul,"
The penalty annexed is excommunication. This is alfo mentioned
in Becon's " Reliques of Rome," [1563] and comprized in the cata
logue of crimes that were anciently curfed with bell, book, and
candle. Bourne complains of the fport, drinking, and lewdnefs ufed at thefe
Lake Wakes in his time. [Even in Brand's day, they ftill continued]
to refemble too much the ancient Bacchanalian orgies.
4, Laying Out or Streeking the Body,
Durandus gives a pretty exaa account of fome of the ceremonies
ufed at laying out the body, as they [were, in the laft century, and
are, for the moft part, ftill] praaifed in the North of England, where
the laying out is called ftreeking.i He mentions the clofing of the
eyes and lips, the decent wafhing, drefling, and wrapping up in a
winding flieet or linen fhroud : of which fhroud Prudentius [in his
"Hymnus ad Exequias Defuna,"] thus fpeaks [in Beaumont's tranf
lation :] " The cuftome is to fpread abroad
White linens, grac'd with fplendour pure,"
Gough'^ fays : " Funeral Ceremonies in Orkney are much the fame
as in Scotiand. The Corpfe is laid out after being ftretcht on a
Board till it is cofiined for burial. I know not for what reafon they
lock up all the Cats of the Houfe, and cover all the Looking Glaffes
as foon as any perfon dies ; nor can they give any folid reafon." It
by no means feems difficult to affign a reafon for locking up the cats
on the occafion ; it is obvioufly to prevent their making any depreda
tions upon the corpfe, which it is known they would attempt to do if
not prevented.
[The Scots ufed to believe that] " It difturbed the Ghoft of the
dead, and was fatal to the living, if a Tear was allowed to fall on a
Winding Sheet. What was the intention of this, but to prevent the
effeas of a Wild or Frantic Sorrow .'' If a Cat was permitted to leap
over a Corpfe, it portended Misfortune. The meaning of this was to
prevent that carnivorous Animal from coming near the Body of the
deceafed, left, when the Watchers were afleep, it fhould endeavour to
prey upon it, &c."^ Thefe notions appear to have been called in
Scotland " Frets."
In Copley's " Wits, Fits, and Fancies," 1595,* is the following,
alluding to the praaice of laying out, or ftreeking the body : " One
' Anglo-Saxon pcjiecan, extendere. A ftreeking board is that on which they
ftretch out and compofe the limbs of the dead body. See Durandus "Rationale,"
pp. 224-5.
' "Sep. Mon." vol. ii. Introd. ccv. citing Lowe's MS. Hiftory of Orkney.
¦ ' " Statift. Ace. of Scotland," vol. xxi. p. 147, parifli of Monquhitter.
* Edit. 1614, p. 126.
lyo Cuftoms at Deaths,
faid to a little Child, whofe Father died that Morning, and was laydout
in a Coffin in the Kitchen, Alas ! my prety Child, thy Father is now
in heaven : the Child anfwered. Nay, that he is not : for he is yet in
the Kitchen."
Laying out the corpfe is an office always performed by women,
who claim the linen, &c. about the perfon of the deceafed at the time
of performing the ceremony. It would be thought very unlucky to
the friends of the perfon departed, were they to keep back any portion
of what is thus found, Thefe women give this away in their turn by
fmall divifions ; and they who can obtain any part of it, think it an
omen or prefage of future good fortune to them or theirs.
The face-cloth too is of great antiquity, Strutt tells us that " after the
clofing of the Eyes, &c, a Linen Cloth was put over the Face of the
deceafed. Thus we are told that Henry the fourth, in his laft illnefs,
feeming to be dead, his Chamberiain covered his face with a Linen
Cloth.'" Miffon- mentions, under the head of funerals,* " the wafhing the
Body thoroughly clean, and fhaving it, if it be a man, and his beard
be grown during his ficknefs,"
Stafford^ fays : " I am fo great an Enemie to Ceremonies, as that I
would onelie wifli to have that one Ceremonie at my Buriall, which I
had at my Birth ; I mean, fwadling : and yet I am indifferent for
that too,"
We have the very coffin of the prefent age defcribed in Durandus."
Loculus is a box or cheft. Thus in old regifters I find coffins called
kifts, /. q. chefts.^
The interefts of our woollen manufaaures have interfered with
this ancient rite in England. Miffon, fpeaking of funerals in England,
fays :^" There is an Aa of Pariiament [1678]^ which ordains that
the Dead fhall be buried in a Woollen ftuff, which is a kind of a thin
Bays, which they call Flannel ; nor is it lawful to ufe the leaft needle
ful of thread or Silk. (The intention of this Aa is, for the encou
ragement of the Woollen Manufaaure.) This Shift is always white;
but there are different forts of it as to finenefs, and confequently of
different prices. To make thefe dreffes is a particular Trade, and
there are many that fell nothing elfe." The Shirt, for a Man "has
commonly a Sleeve purfled about the wrifts, and the flit of the Shirt,
down the breaft, done in the fame manner. This fhould be at leaft
' " Engl. JEy3.,'' p. 105 (Manners and Cuftoms).
= " Travels," p. 80.
' " NIobe," 1 61 1, p. 162.
" " Corpus lotum et findone obvolutum, ac Loculo conditum, Veteres in coena-
culls, feu Trlcllnlis exponebant," p. 225.
^ Gough's " Sep. Mon." vol. II. Introd.
« "Travels," pp. 88-90,
[' " An Aft for Burying in Woollen." There was a great outcry againft it at
the time on the part of the " good wives." In the Churchwardens' Accounts of
Minchinhampton, co. Gloiicefter, for 1678, occurs this item ; "Paid for a booke
to enter y' burialls in 'woolen, 2J."]
Cuftoms at Deaths. i y \
half a foot longer than the Body, that the feet of the deceafed may be
wrapped in it, as in a Bag. Upon the head they put a Cap, which
they faften with a very broad chin-cloth ; with Gloves on the hands,
and a cravat round the neck, all of Woollen, The Women have a
kind of head-drefs with a Fore-head cloth," He adds, "that the
Body may ly the fofter, fome put a lay of bran, about four inches
thick, at the bottom of the coffin. The coffin is fometimes very
magnificent. The Body is vifited to fee that it is buryed in flannel,
and that nothing about it is fowed with Thread, They let it lye three
or four days,"
5. Setting Salt or Candles upon the Dead Body,
" Ah hopelefs lafting Flames ! like thofe that burn
To light the dead, and warm th' unfruitful urn."
Pope's Eloifa to Abelard.
It [was] cuftomary [in Brand's] day in fome parts of Northumber
land, to fet a pewter plate, containing a little fait, upon the corpfe, A
candle, too, was fometimes y^/ upon the body, in like manner. In [the
York] Articles [any year till 1640] I find the following curious item :
" Whether at the Death of any, there be any fuperftitious burning of
Candles over the Corps in the Day after it be light."''-
[The Devil abhors] fait, fays Morefin, [which] is the emblem of
eternity and immortality. It is not liable to putrefaaion itfelf, and it
preferves things that are feafoned with it from decay, ^ Confidered in
reference to this fymbolical explication, how beautiful is that expreffion :
"Ye are the Salt of the Earth !" Scot, in his "Difcoverie," 1584,
cites Bodin, as telHng us that " the Devil loveth no Salt in his Meat,
for that is a fign of Eternity, and ufed by God's commandriient in all
Sacrifices," Douce fays, the cuftom of putting a plate of fait upon corpfes is
ftill retained in many parts of England, and particularly in Leicefter
fhire, but it is not done for the reafon here given. The pewter plate
and fait are laid on the corpfe with an intent to hinder air from getting
into the bowels and fwelling up the belly, fo as to occafion either a
burfting, or, at leaft, a difficulty in clofing the coffin. ^
Campbell* mentions this cuftom as obtaining in Ireland, and fays,
that the plate of fait is placed over the heart. It fhould feem as if he
had feen Morefin's remark, by his fuppofing that they confider the fait
as the emblem of the incorruptible part. " The Body itfelf," fays he,
" being the Type of Corruption."
' By the blank left in the date of this traft after the 3 there appear to have been
as many copies ordered to be printed at once as would laft till the year 1640. The
laft figure to be filled up occafionally In writing.
' "Papatus," p. 154.
' See "Gent. Mag." for 1785, vol. Iv. pp. 603, 760.
' "Survey of the South of Ireland," 1777, p. 210.
172 Cuftoms at Deaths.
Pennant, in his " Tour in Scotland," tells us, that on the death of
a highlander, the corpfe being ftretched on a board, and covered with
a coarfe linen wrapper, the friends lay on the breaft of the deceafed a
wooden platter, containing a fmall quantity of fait and earth, feparate
and unmixed. The earth an emblem of the corruptible body ; the
fait an emblem of the immortal fpirit. All fire is extinguifhed where
a corpfe is kept : and it is reckoned fo ominous for a dog or cat to pafs
over it, that the poor animal is killed without mercy.
From the following paffage in Braithwaite's " Boulfter Leaure,"
1640, the corpfe appears anciently to have been ftuck with flowers :
" Marry another, before thofe Flowers that fluck his Corpfe be withered."
Herrick fays : " The Body's fait the Soule is, which when gone,
The flefti foone fucks in putrlfaftlon."
In the fame work is a copy of verfes " To Perilla," abounding with
tender allufions to the funeral cuftoms of his time.
Morefin gives us alfo his conjeaure on the ufe of the candle upon this
occafion : " It was an Egyptian Hieroglyphic for Life, meant to exprefs
here the ardent defire of having had the Life of the deceafed pro
longed,"! We read 2 that when any of the fick among [the Jews] have de
parted, the corpfe is taken and laid on the ground, and a pillow put
under its head ; and the hands and feet are laid out even, and the body
is covered over with a black cloth, and a light is fet at its head.
It appears from Scogin's " Jefts," 1626,' that in Henry the Eighth's
time it was the cuftom to fet two burning candles over the dead body. The
paffage is curious, as illuftrative of more cuftoms than one : " On
Maundy-Thurfday, Scogin faid to his chamber- fellow, we wil make
our maundy, and eate and drink with advantage. Be it, faid the
fcholar. On Maundy-thurfday at night they made fuch cheere that
the Scholler was drunke. Scogin then pulled off all the Schollers
clothes, and laid him ftark naked on the rufhes, and fet a forme over
him, and fpread a coverlet over it, zr\Afet up two tallow candles in can-
dleflicks over him, one at his head, the other at his feet, and ran from
chamber to chamber, and told the fellowes of that place that his
chamber-fellow was dead : and they afked of Scogin if he died of the
peftilence ? Scogin faid : no, I pray you go up, and pray for his
foule ; and fo they did. And when the fcholler had flept his firft
fleepe, he began to turne himfelfe, and eaft downe the forme and the
candles. The fellowes of the houfe feeing that Scogin did run firft
out of the chamber, they and all that were in the chamber, one run
ning and tumbling down on anothers neck, were afraid. The fchol
ler, feeing them run fo faft out of the chamber, followed them ftarke
naked ; and the fellowes feeing him runne after them Hke a ghoft,
' "Papatus," pp. 26, 89.
' Levi's " Account of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Modern Jews," p. 163.
[^ " Old Englifli Jert-Books," vol. ii. p. 55.]
Cuftoms at Deaths. 173
fome ran into their chambers, and fome ran into one corner, and fome
into another. Scogin ran into the chamber to fee that the candles
jhould doe no harme, and at laft fetcht up his chamber-fellow, which
ran about naked like a madman, and brought him to bed ; for which
matter Scogin had rebuke."
In the " Life of Henrietta Maria," 1669, p. 3, we read : " On the
25th of June 1 610, fhe was carried with her Brother to perform the
Ceremony of cafling Holy-tvater on the Corps of her dead Father (Henry
the Fourth of France,) who was buried the 28th following."
6. Following the Corpse to the Grave' with Evergreens
AND Psalmody.
" Non convenit enim eum quem humlliter vivere decet, pompof e fepellrl,
nifi vellt, et id fruftra, cadaveri mortuo majores honores deberi quam cor-
pori vivo." — Will of A'rchbiftiop Wareham, 1530 ]
Bourne tells us- that the heathens followed the corpfe to the grave,
becaufe it prefented to them what would fhortly follow, how they
themfelves fhould be fo carried out to be depofited in the grave.'
[Dunbar, in his " Teftament of Andro Kennedy," has parodied fome
of the rites which, in his day (he died about 1515), were obferved at
the interment of the dead. But the old Scotifh Makar had lefs fym-
pathy than the Southerners with this clafs of folemnity, for he belonged
to a church, which treated the burial-fervice lightly enough. In the
Genevan " Forme of prayers," 1584, occurs "The maner of Buriall,"
in which there is the following direaion : " The corps is reverentlie
brought to the grave, accompanied with the Congregation, without
any further ceremonies : which being buried, the Minifter, if he be
prefent, and required, goeth to the Church, if it be not farr off, and
maketh fome comfortable exhortation to the people, touching death and
refurreaion." Even the " comfortable exhortation " is ftruck out in
the Middleborough Book, 1587.]
In Langley's abridgment of Polydore Vergil, 1546, we read :
" In Burials the old Rite was that the ded Corps was borne afore,
and the people folowed after, as one fhould faie we fhall dye
and folowe after hym, as their lafte woordes to the Coarfe did pre-
tende. For thei ufed too faie, when it was buried, on this wife, fare
well, wee come after thee, and of the folowyng of the multitude thei
were called Exequies."
In Articles to be enquired of within the Archdeaconry of Yorke
[1640,] I find the following : " Whether at the death of any there
be praying for the dead at Croffes, or places where Crofles have been, in
the way to the Church."
' Graves were anciently called Pyttes. See Strutt's " Manners and Cuftoms,"
vol. Iii. p. 172.
' " Antiq. Vulg." chap. Iii.
" Alex. ab. Alexand. lib. ill. p. 67 ; Polyd. Verg. lib. vi. c. 10, p. 405-
174 Cuftoms at Deaths,
Miffon,» fpeaking of funerals, fays : " They let the body lye three
or four days, as well to give the dead perfon an opportunity of coming
to life again, if his foul has not quite left his body, as to prepare
mourning, and the Ceremonies of the Funeral. They fend the
Beadle with a lift of fuch Friends and Relations as they have a mind
to invite ; and fometimes they have printed Tickets which they leave
at their Houfes. A little before the Company is fet in order for
the march," he continues, "they lay the Body into the CoflSn, upon
two ftools, in a room, where all that pleafe may go and fee it ; then
they take off the top of the Coffin, and remove from off the Face a
little fquare piece of Flannel, made on purpofe to cover it, and not
faftened to any thing. Being ready to move, one or more Beadles
march firft, each carrying a long Staff, at the end of which is a great
Apple, or knob of filver. The Body comes juft after the Minifter or
Minifters attended by the Clerk. The Relations in clofe mourning,
and all the Guefts, two and two, make up the reft of the pro
ceffion." Macaulay- obferves: "At the Funeral of a Yeoman, or Farmer,
the Clergyman generally leads the van in the proceffion, in his canoni
cal habiliments ; and the Relations follow the Corpfe, two and two,
of each fex, in the order of proximity, linked in each others' arms.
At the Funeral of a young Man it is cuftomary to have fix young
Women, clad in white, as Pall-bearers ; and the fame number of
young Men, with white Gloves and Hat-bands, at the Funeral of a
young Woman. But thefe ufages are not fo univerfally prevalent as
they were in the days of our Fathers."
Gough' fays: "In Flintftiire it is cuftomary to fay the Lord's
Prayer on bringing the Corpfe out of the Houfe."
At South Shields, co. Durham, the bidders, i. e. the inviters to a
funeral, never ufe the rapper of the door when they go about, but
always knock with a key, which they carry with them for that pur
pofe. I know not whether this cuftom be retained any where elfe.
The following form of inviting to burials by the public bellman of
the town [was, in Brand's time,] in ufe at Hexham, Northumberland:
" Bleffed are the dead which die in the Lord. Jofeph Dixon is de
parted, fon of Chriftopher Dixon was. Their Company is defired
to-morrow at five o'clock, and at fix he is to be bu — ri — ed. For
him and all faithful people give God moft hearty Thanks."
Grofe fays : " If you meet a funeral Proceffion, or one paffes by
you, always take off your Hat : this keeps all Evil Spirits attending
the Body in good humour, [but this, though very ufual abroad, is very
rarely praaifed here, at leaft in large towns.]"
There is a moft concife epitaph on a ftone that covers the body of
one of the fellows of St. John's College, Oxford, in the anti-chapel
there. It is '¦'¦ Pneivit," he is gone before.
[The neceffity of inviting bees to the funeral of their late owner,
' "Travels," p. 90. ^ "Hiftory of Claybrook," 1791, p. 131.
' "Sep. Mon." vol. ii. p. cciv.
Cuftoms at Deaths. \y e
having previoufly apprifed them of his deceafe, and of clothing the
hive in mourning, is a very common and familiar fuperftition ftill, or
at leaft very recentiy, cherifhed in many parts of England. The cor-
refpondents of " Notes and Queries " have contributed to affemble
very numerous examples of its exiftence. The bees are thought to
have a prefcience of the death of their mafter ; but formal notice of
the event, and a fummons or requeft to ferve his fucceffor, are thought
to be effential to the prefervation and welfare of the infeas.]
Bourne further remarks, that as the form of proceffion is an em
blem of our dying fhortiy after our friend, fo the carrying in our hands
of ivy, fprigs of laurel, rofemary, or other evergreens, is an emblem
of the foul's immortality.
Many inftances of the ufe of rofemary at funerals are to be colleaed
from old writers. In the fecond part of Dekker's " Honeft Whore,"
1630, fignat. c 2 verfo, is the following paffage : " My Winding-fheete
was taken out of Lavender to be ftucke with Rofemary." In Shirley's
"Wedding," 1633, fignat. g 4 verfo, feene " A Table fet forth with
two Tapers : Servants placing Ewe, Bayes, and Rofemary" &c.
It appears* that "at the Funeral of Robert Lockier, (who was fhot
for mutiny April 27th or 28 th, 1649, *^^ manner of whofe Funeral
was moft remarkable, eonfidering the perfon to be in no higher quality
than a private Trooper, for the late King had not half fo many to
attend his Corps,) the Corps was adorned with bundles of Rofemary on
each fide, one half of each wasflained in blood, and the Sword of the
deceafed with them."
Miffon^ fays, when the Funeral Proceffion is ready to fet out,
" they nail up the Coffin, and a Servant prefents the Company with
Sprigs of Rofemary : every one takes a Sprig and carries it in his hand
till the Body is put into the Grave, at which time they all throw in their
Sprigs after it."
In Hogarth's " Harlot's Progrefs," at the Proftitute's Funeral, there
are fprigs of rofemary, and Gay, in his " Paftorals," has this paffage :
" To ftiew their love, the Neighbours far and near,
Follow'd with wiftful look the Damfel's Bier :
Sprigg'd Rofemary the Lads and Laffes bore.
While difmally the Parfon walk'd before."
[In Lancaftiire, it is ftill ufual in fome diftrias for each mourner to
carry with him to the place of interment a fprig of box provided for the
purpofe, and eaft it, before leaving, into the grave of the departed.^]
It is doubtful whether the cyprefs was meant by the ancients, to be
an emblem of an immortal ftate, or of annihilation after death ; fince
the properties of the tree apply, happily enough, to each. The cyprefs
was ufed on funeral occafions, fay the commentators, "vel quia cariem
non fentit, ad gloriae immortalitatem fignificandam ; vel quia femel
excifa, non renafcitur, ad mortem exprimendam;"* but, inftead of that,
' " Perfeft Diurnall," April 30th to May 7th, 1649. = " Travels," p. 91.
[' "Notes and Queries," Dec. 26, 1868.]
* Vide Servius in " JEn," Hi. 1. 64, and the Delphin edit, on the fame paffage.
176 Cuftoms at Deaths,
the ancient Chriftians ufed the things before mentioned, and depofited
them under the corpfe in the grave, to fignify that they who die in
Chrift, do not ceafe to live ; for though, as to the body, they die to
the world, yet, as to their fouls, they live and revive to God. And as
the carrying of thefe evergreens is an emblem of the foul's immor
tality, fo it is alfo of the refurreaion of the body : for as thefe herbs
are not entirely plucked up, but only eut down, and will, at the
returning feafon, revive and fpring up again ; fo the body, like them,
is but cut down for a while, and will rife and fhoot up again at the
refurreaion. For in the language of the evangelical prophet, our
bones fhall flourifh like an herb. The reader converfant with the
claflies wiU call to mind here the beautiful thought in the Idylliuni
on Bion by Mofchus : though the fine fpirit of it will evaporate when
we apply it to the Chriftian doarine of the refurreaion. The anti-
thefis will be deftroyed,'
The cyprefs, however, appears to have been retained to later times.
Coles ^ fays : " Cypreffe Garlands are of great account at Funeralls
amongft the gentiler fort, but Rofemary and Bayes are ufed by the
Commons both at Funeralls and Weddings. They are all Plants
which fade not a good while after they are gathered, and ufed (as I
conceive) to intimate unto us that the remembrance of the prefent
Solemnity might not dye prefently, but be kept in minde for many
yeares," The fine, " And Cyprefs which doth Biers adorn,"
is cited in Poole's "Englifh Parnaffus," 1657. Spenfer mentions
"The Afpin, good for Staves, the Cyprefs funerall."
Dekker, in his "WonderfuU Yeare," 1603, ^'g"at- c 3 verfo,
defcribes a charnell-houfe pavement, " inftead of greene Rufhes,
ftrewde with blafted Rofemary, wither'd Hysicinthes, fatall Cipreffe,
and Ewe, thickly mingled with heapes of dead Mens bones." He
fays, fignat. d 2 verfo, " Rofemary, which had wont to be fold for
twelve pence an armefull, went now" (on account of the Plague,)
" at fix fhillings a handfull."
In "The Exequies," by Stanley,^ we read :
" Yet ftrew
Upon my difmall Grave,
Such offerings as you have,
Forfaken Cypreffe, and fad Ewe,
For kinder Flowers can take no Birth
Or growth from fuch unhappy Earth."
In "The Marrow of Complements," &c. 1655, '^ " A Mayden's Song
' Mofchi " Idyll," iii. 1. 100,
' " Introduftion to the Knowledge of Plants," p. 64.
' Stanley's " Poems," 1651, p. 54.
Cuftoms at Deaths. lyy
for her/dead Lover," in which cyprefs and yew are particularly men
tioned \% funeral plants :
" Come you whofe Loves are dead.
And, whilft I fing,
Weepe and wring
Every hand, and every head
Bind with Cypreffe, ^^ndfad E'we,
Ribbands black, and Candles blue j
For him that was of Men moft true.
" Come with heavy moaning.
And on his Grave
Let him have
Saciifice of SIghes and Groaning,
Let him have faire Flowers enough.
White, and Purple, Green, and Yellow, .
For him that was of Men moft true."
[" In the cafe of an unmarried female," fays the author of the
"Cleveland Gloffary," 1868, "the cuftom, until recently, was to
carry a Garland, compofed of two circular hoops croffing each other,
dreffed with white paper cut into flowers or leaves, or in the form of
a wreath of parti-coloured ribbons, having a white glove in the centre
infcribed with the name, or initials, and age of the deceafed. This
gariand was laid on the coffin during its paffage from the church to
the grave, and afterwards, at leaft in fome cafes, fufpended from the
ceiling of the church. In the chancels at Hinderwell and Robin
Hood's Bay fome of thefe garlands were ftill in being only a {ew years
fince."] [In the time of Durandus] coals, holy water, and frankineenfe,
were, in fome places, put into the grave. The holy water was to
drive away the devils ; the frankineenfe to counteraa the ill fmells of
the body," 1
In "The Fatall Dowry," 1632, aa ii. fc, i, are fome curious
thoughts on this fubjea : fpoken at the funeral of a marfhal in the
army, who died in debt, on account of which the corpfe was arrefted :
" What weepe ye, Souldiers .'
The Jaylors and the Creditors do weepe ;
Be thefe thy Bodies balme : thefe and thy 'vertue
Keepe thy Fame e'ver odoriferous —
Whilft the great, proud, rich, undeferving Man
Shall quickly, both In bone and name confume.
Though wrapt in lead, fpice, feare-cloth, and perfume.
— This is a facrifice our Showre ftiall crowne
His Sepulcher with Oli've, Myrrh, and Bayes,
The Plants of Peace, of Sorro'w, FiBorie."
Herbs and flowers appear to have been fometimes ufed at funerals
with the fame intention as evergreens. In the Account of the Funeral
' Durandi "Rationale," lib. vii. cap. 35, 38.
II, N
178 Cuftoms at Deaths.
Expences of Sir John Rudftone, Mayor of London, 1531, I ifind the
following article : " For Yerbys at the Bewryal £,0 i o,"» ; So, in
a fong in " Wit's Interpreter," 1655, we read :
" Shrouded ftie is from top to toe
With Lillies which all o'er her grow,
Inftead of Bays and Rofemary,"
GriflJth,'^ fpeaking of a woman's attire, fays : " By her Habit, you
may give a neere gueffe at her Heart, If, (like a Coffin,) fhee be
crowned with Gariands, znA fluck zvith gay and gaudy Flowers, it is
certaine there is fomewhat dead within." Browne, in his " Urne
Burial," p. 56, fays, that " in ftrewing their tombs, the Romans affefled
the Rofe, the Greeks Amaranthus and Myrtie."
To the remarks which have been already made on evergreens ufed
at funerals may be added, that the planting of yew trees in church
yards feems to derive its origin from ancient funeral rites : in which,
Browne conjeaures, from its perpetual verdure, it was ufed as an
emblem of the refurreaion. He obferves farther that the Chriftian
cuftom of decking the coffin with bay is a moft elegant emblem. It
is faid that this tree, when feemingly dead, will revive from the root,
and its dry leaves refume their wonted verdure.
The yew is called by Shakefpeare, in his " Richard the Second,"
1597, the double fatal yew, becaufe the leaves of the yew are poifon,
and the wood is employed for inftruments of death. On this Steevens
obferves, that " from fome of the antient Statutes it appears that every
Englifhman, while Archery was praaifed, was obliged to keep in his
Houfe either a Bow of Yew or fome other wood. It fhould feem,
therefore, that Yews were not only planted- in Church Yards to de
fend the Churches from the Wind, but on account of their ufe in
making Bows ; while by the benefit of being fecured in enclofed
places, their poifonous quality was kept from doing mifchief to
Cattie.'" Barrington* calls the above the laft ftatute of the reign of Edw. I.,
and obferves on the paffage, " that Trees in a Church Yard were often
planted to fkreen the Church from the Wind ; that, low as Churches
were built at this time, the thick foliage of the Yew anfwered this
purpofe better than any other Tree. I have been informed, accord
ingly, that the Yew Trees in the Church Yard of Gyflin, near Con
way, having been lately felled, the Roof of the Church hath fuffered
exceffively." On the ftatute 22 Edw. IV., ch. 4, which declares
' Strutt's "Manners and Cuftoms," vol. iii. p, 170,
• "Bethel, or a Forme for Families," 1634, p. 261.
' Reed's " Shakfpeare," vol, xi. p, 94. In " Magna Carta," &c, iimo, Lond.
1556 : — "Secunda Pars veterum Statutorum," fignat. e 5, I find the ftatute, "i*^'
Redor profternet Arbor es in Cemiter'to."
* " Obfervations on the Statutes," p. 191.
Cuftoms at Deaths. lyg
that the price of a yew bow is not to exceed 3^ . ^., he further ob
ferves : " I fhould imagine that the planting Yews in Church Yards,
being places fenced from Cattle, arofe, at leaft in many inftances, from
an attention to the material from which the beft Bows are made ; nor
do we hear of fuch Trees being planted in the Church Yards of other
parts of Europe." It appears by 4 Hen. V, ch, 3, that the wood of
which the beft arrows were made was the afh, [But from the aa 6
Henry VIII. c. 13, it feems to be inferible that at that time bows were
made of elm or any " other wode of eafy pryce."] There is a ftatute
fo late as the 8th Eliz. e. 10, which relates to bowyers, each of whom
is always to have in his houfe fifty bows made of elm, witch, hazel,
or afh.
[Wood, in his " Bow Man's Glory," 1682, has republiftied fome
of the ftatutes relating to archery; but the eariieft which he gives is
of the 29 Hen. VIII. A remarkably curious traa is printed by Wood
in the fame volume, called " A Remembrance of the Worthy Show
and Shooting of the Duke of Shoreditch (a man named Barlow,
whom Henry VIII. jocularly fo entitied) and his Affoeiates, Sec.
1583." But the particulars it gives feem to belong rather to the
pages of Strutt.]
Drayton, in his " Polyolbion," fays :
" All made of Spanifti Yew, their Bows are wondrous ftrong."
[On which there is this note :] By 5 Edw. IV. ch. 4 (Irifh Statutes),
"every Englifhman is obliged to have a Bow in his Houfe of his
own length, either of Yew, Wych, Hafel, Afh, or Awburn, probably
Alder." In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for Dec, 1779, A. B. mentions
the two reafons already affigned for the planting of yew trees in
churchyards : but he confiders the flow growth of thefe trees as an
objeflion to the idea of their proteaing the church from ftorms ; and
the rarity of their occurrence (it being very uncommon to meet with
more than one or two in the fame place), an indication that they
could not have been much cultivated for the purpofes of archery.
He adds, " I cannot find any Statute or Proclamation that direas the
cultivation of the Yew Tree in any place whatever." By different
extraas from our old ftatutes, he continues, " it appears that we de
pended principally upon imported Bow-ftaves for our beft Bows ;
which one would think needed not to have been the cafe, if our
Church Yards had been well ftocked with Yew Trees." "The
Englifli Yew," moreover, " was of an inferior goodnefs ;" and that
our brave countrymen were forced to have recourfe to foreign mate
rials, appears from the following prices fettled in "An Aa of
Bowyers," 8 Eliz. : " Bows meet for Men's fhooting, being out-
landtjh Tew of the befl fort, not over the price of 6s. 8d. ; Bows
meet for men's fhooting, of the fecond fort, 3^, 4</. ; bows fbr
men, of a coarfer fort, called livery bows, 2s. ; bows being Englifij
Tfew, 2s,"
i8o Cuftoms at Deaths.
" Gerard," he fays, " mentions their growing in Church Yards
where they have been planted. Evelyn only fays, that the propaga
tion of them has been forborne fince the ufe of Bows has been laid
afide," A writer, J, O,,^ diflikes all the reafons afligned for planting yew
trees in churchyards, except their gloomy afpeif, and their noxious
quality. The firft intended to add folemnity to the confecrated ground,
the other to preferve it from the ravages of cattie. To countenance
his firft reafon, he quotes Dryden, who calls the ye^ff the mourner yew,
and Virgil, who calls it the baneful yew ; and to make it ftill more
fitting for the place, adds the magic ufe which Shakefpeare makes of
it in Macbeth : " Liver of blafpheming Jew,
Gall of Goats, and Slips of Yew
Sllver'd in the Moon's Eclipfe,"
He adds, " the great Dramatift's opinion of its noxious properties
is evident from Hecate's anfwer to the aerial Spirit :
" With new fall'n Dew,
From Church Yard Ye'w,
I will but 'noint.
And then I'll mount," &c.
A fourth writer in the fame work, for January, 1781, fays: "We
read in the Antiquities of Greece and Rome, that the Branches of
the Cyprefs and Yew were the ufual fignals to denote a Houfe in
mourning," Gough/ fpeaking of the figns of death in houfes among the ancients,
notices branches of pine and cyprefs, on the authority of Euripides,
Suetonius and Virgil,^ He fays, in a note, " Will it be thought a
far-fetcht conjeaure that Yew Trees in Church Yards fupply the
place of Cyprus round Tombs, where Ovid, Trift. Ill, xiii. 2r, fays
they were placed,
Warner,* fpeaking of Brokenhurft Church [Hants], fays: "The
church-yard exhibits two examples of enormous vegetation, A large
Oak, apparentiy coeval with the mound on which it grows, meafuring
five and twenty feet in girth ; and a ftraight majeftie Yew Tree,
On the latter, the Axe has committed fad depredations ; defpoiling it
of five or fix huge branches, a circumftance that doubtlefs has taken
greatiy from its antient dignity. Still, however, it is a noble Tree,
meafuring in girth fifteen feet, and in height upwards of fixty, I
fhould think it might lay claim to an antiquity, nearly equal to its
venerable neighbour. The New-foreft, and Brockenhurft in par
ticular (as we learn from its name), being formerly fo famous for
the produaion of Yews, it might be a matter of wonder that fo few
' "Gent. Mag." for Feb. 1780, p. 183.
° " Sep. Mon." Introd. vol. Ii. p. 5.
' Euripides, "Hecuba," 191-2; Suetonius, " Life of Auguftus;" Virg. j^neid,
xi. 31.
* " Remarks relating to the S. W. Parts of Hampfti.," 1793, vol, i. p. 95.
Cuftoms at Deaths. i8i
remained to the prefent day, did we not reeollea that the old Englifh
Yeomanry were fupplied from this Tree with thofe excellent bows,
which rendered them the beft and moft dreaded archers in Europe.
This conftant and univerfal demand for Yew, produced in time fuch
a fcarcity, that recourfe was had to foreign countries for a fupply : and
the importation of them was enjoined, by exprefs aas of parliament
paffed for that purpofe.'
The Yew is now become the funereal tree ; and the fame honours
are paid to it by the poets of the prefent age, as the Cyprefs enjoyed
from the bards of antiquity."
Grofe^ obferves that " Yew at length became fo fcarce (as I have
hinted in a preceding note) that to prevent a too great confumption
of it, bowyers were direaed to make four bows of Witch-Hazle, Afh
or Elm, to one of Yew. And no perfon under feventeen, unlefs
poffeffed of moveables worth forty marks, or the fon of parents having
an eftate of ten pounds per annum, might fhoot in a Yew Bow."
" Here," fays [Macpherfon, in his Offianic poems, which of courfe
merely illuftrate the old Scotifh ufage] fpeaking of two departed lovers,
"refts their du ft, CuthuUin ! Thefe lonely Yews fprang from their
tomb, and fhade them from the ftorm !"
White, in his " Hiftory of Selborne," remarks : " Deborah, Rebe-
kah's Nurfe, (Gen. xxxv. 8.) was buried under an Oak ; the moft
honourable place of Interment, probably, next to the Cave of Maeh-
pelah (Gen. xxiii. 9), which feems to have been appropriated to the
Remains of the patriarchal Family alone. In the South of England,
every Church Yard, almoft, has its Tree, and fome two ; but in the
North, we underftand, few are to be found."*
In a printed account of the parifh of Burton (Prefton Patrick)
Weftmoreland,^ we read : " Mr. Maebel takes notice of a Yew
Tree in the Chapel Yard, which he fays was very old and decayed
(1692); which fhews, he obferves, the antiquity of the Chapel. The
Yew Tree is there yet, which fhews alfo the longevity of that fpecies
of wood. Thefe Yew Trees in Church and Chapel Yards feem to
have been intended originally for the ufe of Archery. But this is
only matter of conjeaure : Antiquity having not furnifhed any account
(fo far as we have been able to find) of the defign of this kind of
Plantation." [A gentieman affured Brand] that he remembered to have read in a
Book of Churchwardens' Accounts in the pofleffion of Mr. Littieton,
' Stat. Edw. IV, c. 2 ; I Rich. III. c. ii.
^ Stat. 13th Edw. I. II. c. 6 ; 3rd Hen. VIII. c. 3.
[' "Military Antiquities,"' vol. i. p. 142. See alfo Ducange "Glofs." Art.
Arbores Sacr.]
* Upon looking Into Wotton's "Leges Wallicae," 1730, p. 262, I find the
following : " Taxus SanBi llbram valet ;" with the fubfequent note. " Sana'i]
Sanfto nempe alicul dicata, Dubritio v. gr. vel Teliao, quales apud Wallos in
tidnieterlls etiamnum frequentes vlfuntur."
' Nicholfon and Burn's " Weftm. and Cumb." vol. I. p. 242.
1 82 Cuftoms at Deaths.
of Bridgnorth, Salop, an account of a yew tree being ordered to be
planted in the churchyard /ar reverence fake.
One may aflc thofe who favour the opinion that yews were planted
in churchyards for making bows, and as being there fenced from the
cattie, are not all plantation grounds fenced from cattle ? and whence
is it that there are ufually but one yew tree, or two at the moft, in
each churchyard ?
Browne, in his " Urneburiall," tells us that among the antients, " the
Funerall Pyre confifted of fweet fuell, Cypreffe, Firre, Larix, Yewe,
and Trees perpetually verdant," And he aflcs, or rather obferves,
" Whether the planting of Tewe in Church Yards holds its original
from antient funerall rites, or as an embleme of Refurreaion from its
perpetual verdure, may alfo admit conjeaure."
Lyfons* notices feveral Yew Trees of enormous growth in the
counties of Berks and Bucks ; particularly one at Wyrardifliury in
the latter county, which, at fix feet from the ground, meafures thirty
feet five inches in girth. There is a yew tree of vaft bulk at Ifley in
Oxfordfhire, fuppofed to be coeval with the church ; which is known
to have been ereaed in the twelfth century. Others of great age
may be feen in various parts of England.
[The parifhioners of Fortingal, county Perth,^ reckoned among their
curiofities in the laft century a yew tree in the churchyard fifty-two
feet in circumference, and the minifter of Dunfcore, co. Dumfries,
reported in 1792, that in one corner of the churchyard there] " grew
a large Yew Tree, which was confumed in the heart. Three Men
have ftood in it at once ; but it was overturned by the wind this
feafon," ^
It appears that* " in Lord Hopetoun's Garden at Ormiftoun Hall,
there was a remarkable Yew Tree. About the twentieth part of an
Englifh Acre was covered by it. [The minifter of the parifh of
Ormiftoun thus defcribed it in 1792] : " the diameter of the Ground
overfpread by its branches is fifty-three feet. Its trunk eleven feet in
circumference. From the beft information it cannot be under two
hundred years old. It feems rather more probable to be between
three hundred and four hundred years old." Again :^ "Two Yew
Trees at Ballikinrain, Killearn, co. Stirling, at a diftance like one
Tree, cover an area of eighteen yards diameter." And laftly:^
" There is a Yew Tree in the Garden of Broich, Kippen, co.
Perth and Stirling. The Circumference of the Circle overfpread by
the lower branches is a hundred and forty feet. It is fuppofed to be
two hundred or three hundred years old." [This was of courfe in
the laft century.]
[' "Magna Brit." vol. i. pp. 254, 578, 643, 1681,]
" " Statift. Ace, of Scotl." vol, ii. p. 453,
' Ibid, vol. iii. p. 144,
* Ibid, vol, iv. p, 172; Par. of Ormiftoun, E. Lothian,
° Ibid. vol. xvi. p. Ill,
' Ibid. vol. xxiii. p. 328.
Cuftoms at Deaths. i g i
The fong in Shakefpeare's " Twelfth Night," aa ii. fc. 4, com
mencing, " Come away, come away. Death," mentions the cuftom
oi flicking Tew in the Shroud.
There is another fong in the " Maid's Tragedy," by Beaumont
and Fletcher, 16 19, beginning,
" Lay a Garland on my hearfe,
Of the difmal Yew,"
which forms an appropriate illuftration of this fubjea.
In Poole's "Englifli Parnaffus," 1657, the Yew has the epithets
of "wariick, difmal, fatal, mortal, venemous, unhappy, verdant
deadly, dreadful," annexed to it: thefe are all from old Englifh
poets. Chaucer, in his " Affemblie of Foules," calls it " the fhooter
Ewe." The Yew tree is thus mentioned in " Loves Feftivall at
Lufts Funerall," at the end of Braithwaite's " Boulfter Leaure "
1640: " The Screch Oute frights us not, nor th' towling-Bell
Summons our vadlng-ftartling Ghofts to Hell.
Tombs, forlorne Charnels, unfrequented Caves,
The fatall 'E,'WE,fadfociale to Gra'ves,
Prefent no figures to our dying eyes
'Caufe Vertue was our gole, her praife our prize."
In Gayton's "Art of Longevity," 1659, P- S^j is the following
paffage alluding to St. Paul's Churchyard having been turned into an
herb market :
" The Ewe, fad Box, and Cyprefs (folemn Trees)
Once Church-yard guefts (till burial rites did ceafe)
Give place to Sallads," &c.
A credible perfon, who was born and brought up in a village in
Suffolk, informed [Mr. Brand] that when he was a boy, it was cuf
tomary there to eut fprigs and boughs of yew trees, to ftrew on the
graves, &c., at ruftic funerals. Coles gives an account^ of " the
Leaves of Yew Trees poifoning a Clergyman's Cowes that eat them,
who feeing fome Boyes breaking Boughs from the Tew Tree in the
Church Tard, thought himfelfe much injured. To prevent the like
Trefpaffes, he fent one prefently to cut downe the Tree and to bring
It into his back yard." Two of the cows feeding upon the leaves,
died in a few hours afterwards, and Coles remarks that the clergyman
had a juft reward.
Bourne cites Gregory' as obferving, that it was cuftomary among
the ancient Jews, as they returned from the grave, to pluck up the
grafs two or three times, and then throw it behind them, faying thefe
words of the Pfalmift, " They fliall flourifli out of the city, like grafs
upon the earth," which they did to fliow that the body, though dead,
fliould fpring up again as the grafs.
[' See alfo Herrick's "Hefperides," 1648, p. 27.]
* "Introd, to the Knowl. of Plants," 1656, p. 59.
' " Pofthuma," 1649, c, 26.
1 84 Ciftoms at Deaths.
In "The Burnynge of Paules Church," 1561, we read:' "In
burials we do not affemble a number of prieftes to fwepe Purgatorye,
or bye forgivenes of Synnes, of them whiche have no authoritye to
fell, but accordinge to Saint Jeroms example we followe. At the
death of Fabiola, fais he, the people of Ro. were gathered to the
Solemnite of the Buriall, Pfalmes were fonge, and Alleluia founding
oute on height, did fhake the gildet Cclinges of the Temple, Here
was one Companye of yonge menne and there another which did
finge the prayfes and worthy dedes of the Woman. And no mervaile if
men rejoyce of her Salvation, of whofe Converfion th' angelles in
heaven be glad. Thus Jerom ufed burialls,"
Various are the proofs of the ancient cuftom of carrying out the
dead with pfalmody in the primitive church : in imitation of which it
is ftill cuftomary in many parts of this nation, to carry out the dead
with finging of pfalms and hymns of triumph ; to fhow that they have
ended their fpiritual warfare, that they have finifhed their courfe with
joy, and are become conquerors. This exultation, as it were, for the
conqueft of their deceafed friend over hell, fin, and death, was the
great ceremony ufed in all funeral proceffions among the ancient
Chriftians, Collinfon," fpeaking of two very large yew trees in the church
yard of Afhill, the author obferves in a note, that " our Forefathers
were particularly careful in preferving this funereal Tree, whofe
branches it was ufual for Mourners to carry in folemn proceffion to the
Grave, and afterwards" (as has been already noticed) " to depofit
therein under the Bodies of their departed friends."
Levi^ fays, that among the modern Jews, " the Corpfe is carried
forward to the grave and interred by fome of the Society ; and as
they go forth from the Burying-Ground, they pluck fome Grafs and
fay, 'They fhall fpring forth from the city, as the Grafs of the
Earth :' meaning at the Day of the Refurreaion,"
Bourne* cites Socrates telling us "that when the Body of Babylas
the Martyr, was removed by the order of Julian the Apoftate, the
Chriftians, with their Women and Children, rejoiced and fung
Pfalms all the way as they bore the Corps from Dauphne to Antioch,
Thus was Paula buried at Bethlehem, and thus did St, Anthony
bury Paul the Hermite," Stopford'* fays : " The Heathens fang
their dead to their Graves or places of Burial," And Macrobius^
affirms, that this cuftom was according to the Inftitutions of feveral
Nations, and grounded upon this reafon, becaufe they believed that
Souls after death returned to the original of mufical fweetnefs, that is
' 8vo. 1563, fign. G 6 'verfo.
¦ ' " Somerfetfliire, Hundred of Abdick and Bulfton," p. 13,
' " Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews," p. 169
* " Antiq. Vulg." ch. 3.
° " Pagano-papifmus," p. 282, citing Alex, ab Alexandro. "Gen. Dier."
lib. iii. cap. 7.
" " In Somn. Scipionis," lib. ii. cap. 3.
Cuftoms at Deaths. 185
Heaven: and therefore in this Life every Soul is taken with muficall
founds, &c." Other reafons are affigned by Kirkman,i and feveral
authorities urged for this cuftom.
I find the following paffage in Dickenfon's " Greene in Conceipt,"
1598, p, 43 : " It is a Cuftome ftill in ufe with Chriftians, to attend
the funerall of their deceafed Friendes, with whole Chantries of choyce
(^ire-men, finging folemnly before them : but behinde followes a
Troope all clad in blacke, which argues mourning : much have I
marveled at this Ceremony, deeming it fome hidden paradox, con
founding thus in one things fo oppofite as thefe fignes of joy and
forrowe," Pennant fays, " there is a Cuftom [in North Wales] of finging
Pfalms on the way as the Corps is carried to Church."
Waldron,^ fpeaking of the Manks burials, fays : " The Proceffion
of carrying the Corps to the Grave is in this mannfer : when they come
within a quarter of a Mile of the Church, they are met by the parfon,
who walks before them finging a Pfalm, all the Company joining
with him. In every Church Yard there is a Crofs round which
thw go three times before they enter the Church,"
In " Cymbeline," aa iv. fc. 2, Arviragus, fpeaking of the appa
rently dead body of Imogen, difguifed in men's clothes, fays :
" And let u.^, Polydore, yf«j' h'lm to the ground.
As once our Mother ; ufe like Note and Words,
Save that Euriphile muft be Fidele."
Gough' tells us that mufic and finging made a part of funerals,
Macrobius affigns as a reafon that it implied the foul's return to the
origin of harmony or heaven. Hyginus underftands it to mean a
fignal of a decent difpofal of the dead, and that they came fairly by their
death, as the tolling bell among Chriftians."
In [a book fuppofed to be by Dr. Cafe] * the author fays : " I wil
end with death, tlie end of all mortality, which though it be the dif
folution of Nature and parting of the Soul from the Body, terrible in
itfelf to flefh and blood, and amplified with a number of difpleafant
and uncomfortable Accidents, as the fhaving of the head, howling,
mourning apparel. Funeral Boughes ofTeu, Box, Cipreffie, and the Uke,
yet we fhall find by reforting to Antiquities, that Musick hath had a
fhare amongfl them, as being unfeafonable at no time."
A modern writer on Ireland ^ tells us : " It is the cuftom of this
" De Funeribus Roman." lib. Ii. cap. 4. The following paffage Is curious on
the fubjeft of finging pfalms before the corpfe : " Cantilena feralis per Antlphonas
in pompa funebri et Fano debacchata hinc eft. Inter Graecos demortui cadavere
depofito in inferiori domus aula ad portam, et peraftis casterls Ceremoniis, Cantorea
funerales accedunt et flfwov canunt, quibus per intervalla refpondebant domefticae
lervje, cum afliftentium corona, neque folum domi, fed ufque ad Sepulchrum prae-
cedebant feretrum ita canentes." Guichard. lib. II. cap. 2. " Funeral." apud
Morifini "Papatum," &c. p. 32.
" "Defcription of the Ifle of Man," (Works, fol. p. 170).
' "Sep. Mon." vol. Ii. Introd. p. vii.
* "The Pralie of Muficke," 1586, fign. F 3 tverfo,
' "Survey of the South of Ireland," pp. 206, 209.
i86 Cuftoms at Deaths.
country to condua their dead to the grave in all the parade they can
difplay ; and as they pafs through any town, or meet any remarkable
perfon, they fet up their howl. The conclamatio among the Romans
coincides with the Irifli cry. The <¦ Mulieres praeficae ' exaaiy cor-
refpond with the women who lead the Irifli band, and who make an
outcry too outrageous for real grief.
' Ut qui condufti plorant in funere, dicunt
Et faciunt prope plura dolentibus ex animo.' "
That this cuftom was Phoenician we may learn from Virgil, who
was very correa in the coftume of his charaaers. The conclamatio
over the Phcenician Dido, as defcribed by him, is fimilar to the Irifli
cry: " Lamentis gemituque et foemineo ululatu
Tefta fremunt."
The very word ululatus," or " hulluloo," and the Greek word of
the fame import, have all a ftrong affinity to each other.
Rich, in his " Irifli Hubbub," 1616, writes : " Stan[ny]hurft in
his Hiftory of Ireland, [1584], maketh this report of his Countreymen:
they follow the dead Corps to the Ground, with howling and barba
rous Outcries, pitifull in appearance, whereof (as he fuppofeth) grew
this Proverb, ' to weep Irifh.' Myfelfe am partly of his opinion, that
(indeede) to weepe Irifli, is to weep at pleafure, without either caufe
or greefe, when it is an ufuall matter amongft them, upon the buriall
of their Dead, to hire a Company of Women, that for fome fmall
recompence given them, they will follow the corps, and furnifh out
the cry with fuch howling and barbarous outcries, that hee that fhould
but heare them, and did not know the Ceremony, would rather thinke
they did fing than weep. And yet in Dublin itfelfe, there is not a
Corps carried to the Buriall, which is not followed with this kinde of
Mourners, which you fhall heare by their howling and their hollow
ing, but never fee them to fhed any Tears. Such a kinde of Lamen
tation," he adds, it is " as in the Judgement of any Man that fhould
but heare, and did not know their Cuftome, would think it to bee
fome prodigious prefagement, prognofticating fome unlucky or ill
fucceffe, as they ufe to attribute to the howling of Doggs, to the
croaking of Ravens, and the fhrieking of Owles, fitter for Infidels and
Barbarians, than to bee in ufe and cuftome among Chriftians."^ [In
the early part of the laft century, this fafhion and tafte for howling
at Irifh funerals ftill prevailed, nor is the praaice even now difcon
tinued.] ' "The Comical Pilgrim's Pilgrimage into Ireland," 1723, p. 92. This cuftom
is alfo alluded to In King's " Art of Cookery," (Works, 1776, vol. iii. p. 87),
and in the Irlfti "Hudibras," 1689, p. 31. The author of the "Philofophical
Survey of the South of Ireland," fays, p. 207 : " It was formerly ufual to have a
Bard to write the Elegy of the deceafed, which contained an enumeration of his
good qualities, his genealogy, his riches, &c. the burden being, ' O why did he
die?'"
Cuftoms at Deaths. 1 87
The following is from [a Paper by the third Lord Chefterfield :]'
" When the lower fort of Irifh, in the moft uncivilized parts of Ireland,
attend the Funeral of a deceafed friend or neighbour, before they give
the laft parting Howl, they expoftulate with the dead Body, and
reproach him with having died, notwithftanding that he had an excel
lent Wife, a Milch Cow, feven fine Children, and a competency of
Potatoes." Piers, in his " Defcription of Weft Meath," 1682,^ obferves : In
Ireland " at Funerals they have their Wakes, which as now they
celebrate, were more befitting Heathens than Chriftians. They fit
up commonly in a barn or large Room, and are entertained with Beer
and Tobacco. The Lights are fet up on a Table over the Dead ;
they fpend moft of the Night in obfcene Stories and bawdye Songs,
untill the Hour comes for the exercife of their Devotions ; then the
prieft calls on them to fall to their prayers for the Soul of the dead,
which they perform by repetition of Aves and Paters on their Beads,
and clofe the whole with a ' De profundis,' and then immediately to
the Story or Song again, till another Hour of Prayer comes. Thus is
the whole Night fpent till day. When the time of Burial comes, all
the Women run out like mad, and now the feene is altered, nothing
heard but wretched Exclamations, howling and clapping of hands, enough
to deftroy their own and others fenfe of hearing : and this was of old
the heatbenifh cuftom as [Virgil] hath- obferved [in Dryden's tranfla
tion :] ' The gaping croud around the body ftand.
All weep his Fate,
And haften to perform the Fun'ral ftate.'
" This they fail not to do, efpecially if the deceafed were of good
parentage, or of wealth and repute, or a Landlord, &c. and think it a
great honour to the dead to keep all this coyl, and fome have been fo
vain as to hire thefe kind of Mourners to attend their dead ; and yet
they do not by all this attain the end they feem to aim at, which is to
be thought to mourn for the dead ; for the Poet hath well obferved,
'Fortiter ille dolet, qui fine tefle dolet.'
" At fome ftages, where commonly they meet with great heaps of
Stones in the way, the Corpfe is laid down and the prieft or priefts
and all the learned fall again to their Aves and Paters, &c. During
this office all is quiet and hufhed. But this done, the Corpfe is
raifed, and with it the Out-cry again. But that done, and while the
Corpfe is laying down and the earth throwing on, is the laft and moft
vehement feene of this formal Grief; and all this perhaps but to earn
a Groat, and from this Egyptian cuftom they are to be weaned. In
fome parts of Connaught, if the party deceafed were of good note,
they will fend to the Wake hogfheads of excellent ftale beer and wine
from all parts, with other provifions, as beef, &c. to help the expence
' "The World," No. 24. ' " Vallancey, Colleft." vol. i. p. 124.
1 88 Cuftoms at Deaths.
at the Funeral, and oftentimes more is fent in than can well be
fpent."! [" Uncovered coffins of wainfcot," obferves Mr. Atkinfon, in the
" Cleveland Gloffary," 1868, "were common fome years ago, with
the initials and figures of the name and age ftudded on the lid in brafs-
headed nails ; but cofliins covered with black cloth are now commonly
feen. The coflSn is almoft never borne on the fhoulders, but either
fufpended by means of towels paffed under it, or on fhort ftaves pro
vided for the purpofe by the undertakers, and which were euftomarily,
in paft days, eaft into the grave before beginning to fill it up. The
author faw one of thefe bearing ftaves dug out when re-digging an old
grave in Auguft, 1863. Men are ufually borne by men, women by
women, and children by boys and giris according to fex. Women
who have died in childbirth have white fheets thrown over their
coffins," " Other peculiarities in the condua of a Cleveland funeral," fays
the fame gentieman, "are yet (1868) or have been till lately, that
when the corpfe of an unmarried female is carried to the churchyard,
the bearers are all fingle, and ufually young women dreffed in a kind
of uniform, in fome places all in white, in other in black dreffes with
white fliawls and white ftraw bonnets trimmed with white. The
fervers [the young women who wait at the arval-fupper] alfo always
precede the coffin, as it approaches the churchyard, fometimes in
white, more ufually in black with a broad white ribbon worn fcarf-
wife over one fhoulder, and croffing over the black fhawl ; or elfe
with knots or rofettes of white on the breaft,"]
Gough fays : " The Women of Picardy have a cuftom of calling
the deceafed by his name, as he is carried to the Grave.^ So do the
Indians, and expoftulate with him for dying. Xaips was a common
and affeaing parting exclamation at the Grave,"
Howling at funerals appears to have been of general ufe in the
Papal times from the following paffage in Veron,' where fpeaking of
St. Chryfoftom, he fays : " No mention at al doth he make of that
manner of finginge or rather unfemely howling that your Papifls ufe
for the Salvation of theyr dead, therby, under a pretence of godlineffe,
picking the purfes of the pore fimple and ignorant people."
Stafford* obferves : " It is a wonder to fee the childifh whining we
now-adayes ufe at the funeralls of our Friends. If we could houlthera
back againe, our Lamentations were to fome purpofe ; but as they
are, they are vaine, and in vain,"
Braithwaite,' fpeaking of the death of " a Zealous Brother,"
fays : " Some Mourners hee hath of his owne, who howle not fo
much that hee fhould leave them, as that nothing is left them."
' Compare alfo Cotgrave's "Englifli Treafury of Wit and Language," p. 35,
and " Memorable Things noted In the Defcription of the World," p. 1 5.
^ "Incert. des Signes de la Mort," p. 180.
' " Hunting of Purgatory to Death," 1561, fol. 37 'verfo,
* " Meditations and Refolutions," 1612, p. 16.
"¦ " Whimzies," 1631, p. 207.
Cuftoms at Deaths. i8o
[A common funeral at Avoch, in Rofshire, in the laft century, is
thus defcribed :]i " the Corpfe is preceded by the parifli Officer tolling
a Hand-Bell. The Pall or Mort Cloth is of plain black velvet, with
out any decoration, except a fringe. An immenfe crowd of both
Sexes attend ; and the Lamentations of the Women, in fome cafes,
on feeing a beloved Relative put into the Grave, would almoft pierce
a heart of ftone,"
Park, in his " Travels," relates that among the Moors, a child
died in one of the tents, " and the Mother and the Relations im
mediately began the Death-Howl. They were joined by a number
of female Vifitors, who came on purpofe to affift at this melancholy
Concert, I had no opportunity of feeing the Burial, which is gene
rally performed fecretiy in the dufk of the Eveningi^fand frequently at
only a few yards diftance from the Tent, Over the Grave they plant
one particular Shrub ; and no ftranger is allowed to pluck a leaf, or
even to touch it." Speaking elfewhere of the Negroes, he fays :
" When a perfon of confequence dies, the Relations and Neghbours
meet together and manifeft their forrow by loud bowlings."
The ancient Chriftians, to teftify their abhorrence of Heathen rites,
rejeaed the Pagan cuftom of burning the dead, depofiting the inani
mate body entire in the ground. Thus I found at Rutchefter, one
of the Stations upon the Roman Wall in Northumberland, a fepulchre
hewn out of the living rock, wherein Leland fays Paulinus who con
verted the Northumbrians to Chriftianity was interred.
[The whole fubjea of cremation is ably taken up and treated in the
thirty-feventh volume of the Archaeologla by William Michael Wylie,
Efq. Mr. Wylie fhows that the burning of the dead was commonly
put in praaice in this country in early times ; and he obferves : " The
recent refearches of Mr. Akerman, in a Keltic cemetery at Bright-
hampton in Oxfordfhire, difclofed a great number of examples of
cremation, unmixed with inhumation.^
In North's " Foreft of Varieties," 1645, at p. 80, is preferved the
following Requiem, at the Entertainment of Lady Rich, who died.
Auguft 24th, 1638 :
" Who 'ere you are. Patron fubordinate.
Unto this Houfe of Prayer, and doe extend
Your Eare and Care to what we pray and lend j
May this place ftand for ever confecrate :
And may this ground and you propitious be
To this once powerful, now potential duft,
Concredlted to your fraternal tnift.
Till Friends, Souls, Bodies meet eternally.
And thou her tutelary Angel, who
Wer't happy Guardian to fo faire a charge,
O leave not now part of thy care at large,
But tender it as thou wer't wont to do.
' " Statift. Ace. of Scotl." vol. xv. p. 636.
[^ This paper was read March 25, 1858.]
I go Cuftoms at Deaths.
Time, common Father, join with Mother-Earth,
And though you all confound, and ftie convert.
Favour this Relique of divine Defert,
Depofited for a ne're dying Birth.
Saint, Church, Earth, Angel, Time, prove truly kind
As ftie to you, to this bequeft confign'd."
In "Batt upon Batt," 1694, we find a notice of what is called
Stirrup Verfe at the Grave, p. 12 :
" Muft Megg, the wife of Batt, aged eightie
Deceas'd November thirteenth, feventy three.
Be eaft, like common Duft, Into the Pit,
Without one Line of Monumental Wit .?
One^eath's head Diftich, or Mortality-Staff
With Senfe enough for Church-yard Epitaph ?
No Stirrup-Verfe at Gra've before She go ?
Batt does not ufe to part at Tavern fo,"
Browne, in his " Urne-burial" obferves, that "the Cuftom or
carrying the Corpfe as it were out of the World with its feet forward,
is not inconfonant to Reafon, as contrary to the native pofture of
Man, and his produaion firft into it."
" In Scotiand," [obferves the Rev, John Black,] ^ " it is the Cuftom
of the Relations of the deceafed themfelves to let down the Corpfe
into the Grave, by mourning Cords, faftened to the handles of the
Coffin : the Chief-Mourner ftanding at the head, and the reft of the
Relations arranged according to their propinquity. When the Coffin
is let down and adjufted in the Grave, the Mourners firft, and then
all the furrounding multitude, uncover their heads: there is no Funeral
Service read: no Oration delivered: but that folemn paufe, for about
the fpace of ten minutes, when every one is fuppofed to be meditating
on Death and Immortality, always ftruck my heart in the moft awful
manner: never more than on the occafion here alluded to. The
found of the Cord, when it fell on the Coffin, ftill feems to vibrate on
my Ear."
[In Aubrey's " Remains of Gentilifm and Judaifm," inferted in
"Anecdotes and Traditions," 1839, is an account of the vulgar belief
which formerly prevailed of the fouls of the dead going over Whitney
Moor, and the author gives a fong, which down to 1624 ufed to be
fung at funerals there, like a Predica.']
This fong, with one or two trifling variations, is printed under the
title of " A Lyke- Wake Dirge," in Scott's " Minftrelfy of the Scottifli
Border."
r' Poems, 1799, p. 10, note upon a line in his " Elegy on his Mother."]
« [But fee Atkinfon's " Cleveland Gloffary," 1868, p. 595, for a differing ver
fion and for notices of others.]
Cuftoms at Deaths. 1 9 1
7. Arvals.
Thefe funeral entertainments are of very old date. Cecrops is faid
to have inftituted them for the purpofe of renewing decayed friendfhip
amongft old friends, &c. Morefin^ tells us that in England in his
time they were fo profufe on this occafion, that it coft lefs to portion
off a daughter, than to bury a dead wife. Thefe burial feafts are ftill
[1869] kept up in the North of England, and are there called arvals
or arvils.'^ The bread diftributed on thefe occafions is called arvil
bread. The cuftom feems borrowed from the ancients, amongft whom
many examples of it are colleaed by Hornman.'
Gough* fays : " An Entertainment or Supper, which the Greeks
called 'U.epi&eiTcvov, and Cicero Circompotatio, made a part of a Funeral,
whence our praaice of giving Wine and Cake among the rich, and
Ale among the poor."
The ancients had feveral kinds of fuppers made in honour of the
deceafed. Firft, that which was laid upon the funeral pile, fuch as
we find in the 23rd Book of Homer, and the 6th .iSineis of Virgil,
in Catullus (Ep. I v.) and Ovid (Fafti ii.) Secondly, the fupper given to
the friends and relations at their return from the funeral ; as in the
24th Book of Homer's Ilias, in honour of Heaor. This kind of
fupper is mentioned in Lucian's Treatife of Grief, and Cicero's
third Book of Laws. Thirdly, the Silicernium, a fupper laid at
the Sepulchre, called 'EKaruf hmvov. Others will have it to be a
meeting of the very old relations, who went in a very folemn manner
after the funeral, and took their leaves one of the other, as if they
were never to meet again. The fourth was czWei Epulum Novendiale.
Juvenal, in his fifth Satire, mentions the ccena feralis, which was
intended to appeafe the ghofts of the dead, and confifted of milk,
honey, water, wine, olives, and ftrewed flowers. The modern arvals,
however, are intended to appeafe the appetites of the living, who have
upon thefe occafions fuperfeded the manes of the dead. An allufion
to thefe feafts occurs in " Hamlet," 1602, where, fpeaking of his
mother's marriage, Hamlet fays :' The funeral bak'd meats
Did coldly furnlfli forth the marriage-tables."
Upon which Steevens noted : It was anciently the general cuftom
to give a cold entertainment to mourners at a funeral. In diftant
' " Papatus," &c, p. 44.
» This word occurs in " The Praife of Yorkftiire Ale :"
« Come, bring my Jerkin, Tibb, I'll to the Anrll,
Yon man's ded feny fcoun, it makes me marvill,"— P, 5*-
' " De Miraculis Mortuorum," cap. 36.
* " Sep, Mon, of Great Britain," vol. ii. Introd. vi.
192 Cuftoms at Deaths.
counties this praaice is continued among the yeomanry. So Dicken
fon, in "Greene in Conceipt," 1598 : " His corpes was with funerall
pompe conveyed to the church and there folemnly entered, nothing
omitted which neceffitie or cuftom could claime : a fermon, a banquet,
and like obfervations." Again, in " Syr Degore " [circd 1500]:
" A great feafte would he holde
Upon his quenes mornynge day.
That was buryed In an abbay."
[Mr. Atkinfon notices a fpecial kind of bread formerly made at
Whitby, for ufe at the arval-fuppers ; he defcribes it as " a thin, light,
fweet cake," It has occurred to me that the game of hot cockles, of
which Aubrey has left us a tolerably full defcription, originated in the
praaice of kneading one of thefe funeral loaves, as the rhyme with
which the giris ufed to accompany the fuppofed moulding of cockle-
bread, begins — " My dame is fick and gonne to bed.
And lie go mould my cockle-bread — "
And it is not an unreafonable fuppofition that, in courfe of time, the
reafon of the thing was loft, and the praaice degenerated into a ftupid
and indelicate female fport.
In conneaion with the fubjea of " funeral baked meats," Henry
Machyn notes in his moft valuable Diary, under 1552-3, March 22 :
" The fame day, wyche was the xxij day of marche, was bered mafter
John Heth, dwellynge in Fanchyrche Strett, and ther whent a-ffor
hym a C, Childeryn of Grey freres, boys and gyrlles, ij and iij
together, and he gayff [left] them fhurts and fmokes, and gyrdulls, and
moketors, and after they had wy[ne'] and fygs and good alle, and ther
wher [was'] a grett dener; and ther wher the cumpene of Panters, and
the Clarkes, and ys cumpony had xx^, to make mere with-alle at the
tavarne." At the obfequies of Francis, Earl of Shrewfbury, in 1560, the
funeral banquet confifted of 320 meffes, each mefs containing eight
difhes. In the firft funeral which he feems to have witneffed after the
acceflion of Queen Elizabeth, and the return to Proteftantifm,
Machyn is rather minute in his defcription. He fays: "Ther was
a gret compene of pepull, ij and ij together, and nodur (neither) preft
nor clarke, the nuw [new] prychers in ther gowne lyke leymen, nodur
nor fayhyng tyll they cam to the grave, and a-for fhe was pute into
the grayff a collea in Englys, and then put in-to the grayff, and after
took fome heythe [earth] and cafte yt on the corfe, and red a thynge
, , , . for the fam, and contenent [incontinentiy] eaft the heth in-to
the grave, and contenent red the pyftyll of fant Poll to the Steffelo-
nians [Theffalonians] the . . . chapter, and after that they fong pater-
nofter in Englys, boyth prychers and odur, and [ ] of a nuw
faflyon, and after on of them whent in-to the pulpytt and mad a fer
mon." This narrative, in fpite of its uncouth phrafeology and ortho
graphy, feemed worth tranfcribing, as being the earlieft account we
Cuftoms at Deaths. 193
have of a funeral rite fubfequently to the re-eftablifhment of the
reformed faith.]
Hutchinfon' thus mentions the Arvel Dinner : " On the deceafe
of any perfon poffeffed of valuable effeas, the friends and neighbours
of the Family are invited to dinner on the Day of Interment, which
is called the Arthel or Arvel Dinner. Arthel is a Britifh word, and
is frequentiy more correaiy written Arddelw. In Wales it is written
Arddel, and fignifies, according to Dr. Davifes Diaionary, affierere, to
avouch. This Cuftom feems of very diftant Antiquity, and was a
folemn Feftival, made at the time of publicly expofing the corps, to
exculpate the Heir and thofe entitled to the poffeflions of the deceafed,
from Fines and Muias to the Lord of the Manor, and from all aceu-
fation of having ufed violence ; fo that the perfons then convoked
might avouch that the perfon died fairly and without fuffering any
perfonal injury. The dead were thus exhibited by antient Nations,
and perhaps the Cuftom was introduced here by the Romans."
It was cuftomary, in the Chriftian burials of the Anglo-Saxons, to
leave the head and fhoulders of the corps uncovered till the time of
burial, that relations, &c. might take a laft view of their deceafed
friend. To this day we yet retain (in our way) this old cuftom,
leaving the coffin of the deceafed unfcrewed till the time of burial.^
Among Smith's Extraas from the Berkeley MSS. [printed in 1821,]
the following occurs : " From the time of the death of Maurice
the fourth Lord Berkeley, which happened June 8, 1368, untill his
interment, the Reeve of his Manor of Hinton fpent three quarters
and feaven bufhells of beanes in fatting one hundred geefe towards his
funerall, and divers other Reeves of other Manors the like, in geefe,
duckes, and other pultry. "
In Strype's edition of Stow^ we read: "Margaret Atkinfon,
widow, by her will, Oaober 18, 1544, orders that the next Sunday
after her Burial there be provided two dozen of bread, a kilderkin of
ale, two gammons of bacon, three fhoulders of mutton, and two
couple of rabbits. Defiring all the parifh, as well rich as poor, to
take part thereof; and a table to befet in the midfl of the church, with
every thing neeeffary thereto."
At the funeral of Sir John Grefham, Knight, Mercer, [1556,] the
church and ftreets were all hung with black, and arms, great ftore.
A fermon was preached by the Archdeacon of Canterbury, " and after,
all the company came home to as great a dinner as had been feen for a fifh
day, for all that came. For nothing was lacking."*
Again: At the funeral of Thomas Percy, 1561, late flcinner to
' " Northumberland," vol. Ii. p. 20. Kennet in his MS. Gloffary defines Ar'vel
Bread, " Bread diftributed at Funerals, which Mr. Nicholfon derives from Sax.
ApFull, /liaj, religiofusj more probably from Sax. yjip, ynpe, hareditas. yppe boc
the laft 'OVill, which nominates the heir, and difpoies the inheritance. Yppe fteol
fides hereditaria, Idand. Arffar h^ereditas. Goth. Arh'ia. h.eres. Arh'i hareditas,"
' Strutt's "Manners and Cuftoms," vol. i. p. 66.
' 1720, book I. p. 259. ' Ibid.
II. O
194 Cuftoms at Deaths,
Queen Mary, he was " attended to his burial in Saint Mary Alder-
mary church, with twenty black gowns and coats, twenty clerks
finging, &e. The Floor ftrewed with ruflies for the chief mourners.
Mr. Crowley preached. Afterwards was a great dole of money ; and
then all went home to a dinner. The company of Skinners, to their
Hall, to dine together. At this Funeral, all the mourners offered :
and fo did the faid company."^
A.D, 1562, at the funeral of Sir Humphrey Brown, Knight, Lord
Chief Juftice, Dee, 15, Mr, Reneger made the fermon, "and after,
they went home to a great dinner. The church was hung with black,
and arms. The helmet and creft were offered (on the Altar), and
after that his target ; after that his fword ; then his coat-armour ; then
his ftandard was offered, and his penon : and after all, the mourners,
and judges, and ferjeants of the law, and fervants, offered,"^
Waldron^ fays : " As to their Funerals, they give no invitation, but
every body that had any acquaintance with the deceafed comes, either
on foot or horfeback. I have feen fometimes, at a Manks Burial,
upwards of an hundred horfemen, and twice the number on foot : all
thefe are entertained at long tables, fpread with all forts of cold provi
fion, and rum and brandy flies about at a lavifh rate."
Miffon," under the head of funerals, fays : " Before they fet out,
and after they return, it is ufual to prefent the guefts with fomething
to drink, either red or white wine, boiled with fugar and cinnamon,
or fome other fuch liquor. Every one drinks two or three cups.
Butler, the keeper of a tavern, (the Crown and Sceptre in St. Mar
tin's Street,) told me that there was a tun of red port wine drank at
his wife's Burial, befides mull'd white wine. Note, no men ever go
to womens Burials, nor the women to mens, fo that there were none
but women at the drinking of Butler's wine."
In the Minute Book of the Society of Antiquaries of London,
July 21, 1725,* we read: "Mr. Anderfon gave the Society an ac
count of the manner of a Highland Lord's Funeral. The body is
put into a litter between two horfes, and, attended by the whole clan,
is brought to the place of Burial in the churchyard. The neareft
relations dig the grave, the neighbours having fet out the ground, fo
that it may not encroach on the graves of others. While this is per
forming, fome hired women, for that purpofe, lament the dead, fetting
forth his genealogy and noble exploits. After the body is interred, a
hundred black cattie, and two or three hundred flieep, are killed for
the entertainment of the company."
[Speaking of Scotifh manners in the i8th century,]^ it is faid:
" The defire of what is called a decent Funeral, i, e. one to which all
the inhabitants of the diftria are invited, and at which every part of
the ufual entertainment is given, is one of the ftrongeft in the poor.
' Strype's edition of Stow, 1720, book I. p. 259. ' Ibid.
' " Defcription of the Ifle of Man," Works, p, 170.
* Travels, p. 91, » Vol. i. p. 169.
" "Stat. Ace. of Scotl." vol. vi. p. 487, parifti of Kincardine, co Perth.
Cuftoms at Deaths, 1 9 r
The expence of it amounts nearly to two pounds. This fum, there
fore, every perfon in mean circumftances is anxious to lay up, and he
will not fpare it, unlefs reduced to the greateft extremity."
Again: "Complaints occur againft the expenfive mode of condua
ing Burials in the parifh of Dunlop, in Ayrefhire. It is pointed out
as an objea of taxation." ^
In the fame publication,'' parifh of Lochbroom, co. Rofs, " At
their Burials and Marriages," we are told, the inhabitants " too much
adhere to the folly of their anceftors. On thefe occafions they have
a cuftom of feafting a great number of their friends and neighbours,
and this often at an expence which proves greatly to the prejudice of
poor orphans and young people : although thefe feafts are feldom pro-
dudive pf any quarrels or irregularities among them."
And, under parifh of Campfie,^ co, Stirling, we read : " It was
cuftomary, till within thefe few years, when any head of a family died,
to invite the whole parifh : they were ferved on boards in the barn,
where a prayer was pronounced before and after the fervice, which
duty was moft religioufly obferved. The entertainment confifted of
the following parts : firft, there was a Drink of Ale, then a Dram,
then a piece of Short-bread, then another dram of fome other fpecies
of liquor, then a piece of Currant-bread, and a third Dram, either of
fpirits or wine, which was followed by Loaves and Cheefe, Pipes and
Tobacco. This was the old Funeral Entertainment in the parifli of
Campfie, and was ftiled their Service : and fometimes this was repeated,
and was then ftiled a Double Service ; and it was fure of being re
peated at the Dredgy. A Funeral coft, at leaft, a hundred pounds
Scots, to any family who followed the old courfe. The moft aaive
young man was pointed out to the office of Server ; and, in thofe days,
while the manners were fimple, and at the fame time ferious, it was no
fmall honour to be a Server at a Burial. However diftant any part
of the parifh was from the place of Interment, it was cuftomary for
the attendants to carry the corpfe on hand fpokes. The mode of in
vitation to the Entertainment was, by fome fpecial meffenger ; which
was ftiled bidding to the Burial, the form being nearly in the follow
ing words : ' You are defired to come to fuch-a-one's Burial to
morrow, againft ten hours.' No perfon was invited by letter ; and,
though invited againft ten of the clock, the corpfe never was interred
till the evening : time not being fo much valued in thofe days."
The minifter*of Gargunnock, CO. Stirling, reported, [1796 :] " The
manner of conduaing Funerals in the Country needs much amend
ment. From the death to the Interment, the Houfe is thronged by
Night and Day, and the Converfation is often very unfuitable to the
occafion. The whole parifh is invited at 10 o'clock in the forenoon
of the day of the Funeral, but it is foon enough to attend at 3 o'clock
in the Afternoon. Every one is entertained with a variety of Meats
and Drinks. Not a few return to the Dirge, and fometimes forget
' " Statiftical Account of Scotland," vol. ix. p. s-tS- ° ^^''^- "^°'- ^- P' +69-
' Ib'id, vol. XV. p. 372. ¦¦ Ib'id. vol. xxiii. p. 123.
1 96 Cuftoms at Deaths,
what they have been doing and where they are. Attempts have been
lately made to provide a remedy for this evil ; but old Cuftoms are not
eafily abolifhed,"
The minifter of Carmunnock, co, Lanark, tells us : * " We muft
mention a Cuftom, which ftill prevails, and which certainly ought to
be abolifhed. It is ufual, in this Parifh, as in many other parts of
Scotland, when a death has taken place, to invite on fuch occafions
the greater part of the Country round, and though called to attend at
an early hour in the forenoon, yet it is generally towards evening,
before they think of carrying forth the Corpfe to the Churchyard for
Interment. While, on thefe occafions, the good Folks are affembled,
though they never run into excefs, yet no fmall expence is incurred
by the family : who often vie with thofe around them, in giving, as
they call it, an honourable burial to their deceafed friend. Such a
Cuftom is attended with many evils, and frequently involves in debt,
or reduces to poverty many Families otherwife frugal and induftrious,
by this piece of ufelefs parade, and ill-judged expence."
In his " Whimfies," 1631, p, 89, fpeaking of a Launderer, Braith
waite fays : " So much fhe hath referv'd out of all the labours of her
life, as will buy fome fmall portion of diet Bread, Comfits, and
burnt Claret, to welcome in her Neighbours now at her departing, of
whofe coft they never fo freely tafted while flie was fiving,"^
Again, in defcribing a jealous neighbour, he concludes with ob
ferving : " Meate for \\\s funerall pye is fhred, fome few ceremonial
teares on his funerall pile are fhed ; but the wormes are fcarce entred
his fhroud, his corpfe flowers not fully dead, till this Jealous Earth-
worme is forgot, and another more amorous, but leffe jealous mounted
his bed."
[Jorevin, whofe travels to England were publiflied in 1672] fpeak
ing of a lord's burial at Shrewfbury, which his hoft procured him a
fight of, tells us ; " The Relations and Friends being affembled in the
houfe of the defuna, the minifter advanced into the middle of the
Chamber, where, before the company, he made a funeral oration, re
prefenting the great aaions of the deceafed, his virtues, his qualities,
his tities of nobility, and thofe of the whole family, &c. It is to be
remarked that during this oratio'n, there ftood upon the Coffin a large
pot of wine, out of which every one drank to the health of the deceafed.
This being finifhed, fix men took up the corps, and carried it on
their fhoulders to the church."*
"Statiftical Account of Scotland," vol. xxiii. p. 174.
" In Northern Cuftoms Duty was expreft
To Friends departed by their Fun'ral Feaft.
Tho' I've confiilted Hollingftiead and Stow,
I find it very diflicult to know
Who to refrefti th' Attendants to the Grave,
Burnt Claret firft, or Naples-BIflcet gave."
King's Art of Cookery, p. 65.
" Antiq. Repert." [edit. 1808, vol, iv. p. 549, et feq.'\
Cuftoms at Deaths. \ gy
A writer in the " Gentieman's Magazine " for March, 1780, fays :
*' Our ancient Funerals, as well as fome modern ones, were clofed
with Merry Makings, at leaft equal to the preceding forrow, moft of
the Teftators direaing, among other things, FiSfuals and Drink to be
diflributed at their Exequies ; one in particular, I remember, orders a
fum of money for a drinking for his Soul,"
Another writer, apparently defcribing the manners of Yorkfliire, in
the volume for July 1798, fays : " At Funerals, on which occafions a
large party is generally invited, the Attendant who ferves the Company
with Ale or Wine has upon the handle of the Tankard a piece of
Lemon-Peel, and alfo upon her left arm a clean white Napkin. I
believe thefe Cuftoms are invariably obferved. From what caufe they
originated, fome ingenious Correfpondent may be able to inform me."
By the following extraa [from the Obituary of Richard Smyth,']
Wafers appear to have been ufed at funeral entertainments : " 1671-2,
[January 2. Mr. Cornelius Bee, bookfeller in Littie Brittain, died
hora xi° ante merid. his 2 eldeft daughters M" Norwood and M"
Fletcher, widdows, executrixes ; buried Jan. 4 at Great St. Bartholo
mew's, w^ut a fermon, w"'out wine or waffers, only gloves and
rofmary, &c."]
In Lord North's "Foreft of Varieties," 1645, 's the following:
" Nor are all Banquets (no more than Mufick) ordained for merry
humors, /ow? being ufed even at Funeralls."
In " Pleafant Remarks on the Humors of Mankind,"^ we read :
" 'Tis common in England for Prentices, when they are out of their
time, to make an entertainment, and call it the Burial of their Wives."
[This remains a common expreffion.] Again : " How like Epicurifts
do fome perfons drink at a Funeral, as if they were met there to
be merry, and make it a matter of rejoycing that they have got rid of
their Friends and Relations."
[In the North of England, upon thefe occafions, a particular fort
of loaf, called arvel-bread is diftributed among the poor.'
"At the funerals of the rich in former days," fays the compiler of
the "Whitby Gloffary" (quoted by Atkinfon, in his "Cleveland
Gloffary," 1868), " it was here a cuftom to hand burnt wine to the
company in a filver flagon, out of which every one drank. This
cordial feems to have been a heated preparation of port wine with
fpices- and fugar. And if any remained, it was fent round in the
flagon to the houfes of friends for diftribution."]
Flecknoe,* fpeaking of " a curious Glutton," obferves : " In fine,
he thinks of nothing elfe, as long as he lives, and when he dyes, onely
regrets that Funeral Feafts are quite left off, elfe he fhould have the
pleafure of one Feaft more, (in imagination at leaft,) even after death ;
which he can't endure to hear of, onely becaufe they fay there is no
eating nor drinking in the other Worid."
' [Camd. Soc. ed. p. 93.!
''Pp. 62,83.
' [Brockett's " North Country Gloffary," edit. 1825, p. 7.]
¦" " .^Enigmatical Charafters," edit. 1665, p. 14.
198 Cuftoms at Deaths.
Books, by way of funeral tokens, ufed to be given away at the
burials of the better fort in England. In my Colleaion of Portraits
[notes Mr. Brand] I have one of John Bunyan, taken from before an
old edition of his works, which I bought at Ware, in Hertfordfliire.
It is thus infcribed on the back in MS. " Funeral Token in remem
brance of Mr. Hen. Plomer, who departed this life Oa. 2, 1696,
being 79 years of age, and is defigned to put us that are alive in mind
of our great change. Mr. Daniel Clerk the elder his book, Oa. 23,
1696," [A writer in the "Athenian Oracle,"' confiders that "a
Book would be a far more convenient, more durable, and more
valuable prefent, than what are generally given, and more profitably
preferve the Memory of a deceafed Friend,"]
8, Sin Eaters,
" Within the Memory of our Fathers," [remarks Bagford,'] " in
Shropfhire, in thofe villages adjoyning to Wales, when a perfon dyed,
there was notice given to an old Sire, (for fo they called him), who
prefently repaired to the place where the deceafed lay, and ftood
before the door of the houfe, when fome of the Family came out and
furniflied him with a Cricket, on which he fat down facing the door.
Then they gave him a Groat, which he put in his pocket ; a Cruft
of Bread, which he eat ; and a full howle of Ale, which he drank off
at a draught. After this, he got up from the Cricket and pronounced,
with a compofed gefture, the eafe and refl of the Soul departed, for
which he would pawn his own Soul This I had from the ingenious
John Aubrey, Efq, who made a Colleaion of curious Obfervations,
which I have feen, and is now remaining in the hands of Mr, Churchill,
the bookfeller.' How can a Man think otherwife of this, than that
it proceeded from the ancient Heathens ?"
" In the County of Hereford," fays Aubrey," " was an old Cuftome
at Funeralls to hire poor People, who were to take upon them the
Sinnes of the Party deceafed. One of them, (he was a long, leane,
ugly, lamentable poor Rafkal,) I remember lived in a Cottage on
Roffe high-way. The manner was, that when the Corps was brought
out of the Houfe, and layd on the Biere, a Loafe of Bread was
brought out, and delivered to the Sinne Eater, over the Corps, as
alfo a Mazar Bowie, of Maple, full of Beer, (which he was to drink
up,) and Sixpence in money : in confideration whereof he took upon
him, ipfofaSio, all the Sinnes of the defuna, and freed him or her
from walking after they were dead. This cuftome alludes, methinks,
fomething to the Scape-Goat in the old Lawe, Levit, chap, xvi. v, 21,
22, ' And Aaron fhall lay both his hands on the head of the live
' Vol. ill. p. 114.
' Letter before cited, [1714], In Leland's " Colleft." ed. Hearne, p. Ixxvi.
^ His " Remains of Gentilifm and Judaifm"(?)
* " Remains of Gentilifm and Judaifm," In MS. Lanfd. 226, fol. 116.
Cuftoms at Deaths. 1 99
Goate, and confeffe over him all the iniquities of the Children of
Ifrael, and all their tranfgreflions in all their fins, putting them upon
the head of the Goat, and fhall fend him away by the hand of a fit
man into the Wildernefs. And the Goat fhall bear upon him all
their iniquities unto a Land not inhabited : and he fhall let the Goat
goe into the Wildernefs,'
" This Cuftome, (though rarely ufed in our dayes) yet by fome
people was obferved even in the ftriaeft time of the Prefbyterian Go
vernment, as at Dynder; {volens nolens the Parfon of the Parifh,) the
kindred of a Woman deceafed there had this Ceremonie punaually
performed, according to her Will : and, alfo, the like was done at the
City of Hereford in thofe times, where a Woman kept, many yeares
before her death, a Mazard Bowie for the Sinne-Eater ; and the like
in other places in this Countie : as alfo in Brecon.' I believe this
Cuftom was heretofore ufed all over Wales,"
In another page, Aubrey fays: "a.d. 1686, This Cuftom is
ufed to this day in North Wales:" where milk feems to have been
the fubftitute for beer,
Kennet, in whofe poffeffion Aubrey's MS, appears to have been,
has added this Note, " It feems a remainder of this Cuftom which
lately obtained at Amerfden, in the county of Oxford, where at the
burial of every Corpfe, one Cake and one Flaggon of Ale, juft after
the interment, were brought to the Minifter in the Church Porch."
[Some years ago, a gentleman, writing in the "Athenaeum," ob
ferved : " I can tell you of a fancy that fome people have in the
wilder parts of Craven, that if the mark of a dead perfon (the body,
however, not being cold) be put to a will, it is valid in law. A few
years ago, a cafe of this nature occurred. A farmer had omitted to
make his will ; he died, and before the body was cold, a will was pre
pared by fome relative (of courfe in his own favour), and a mark,
purporting to be that of the deceafed, was made by putting the pen
into the hand of the dead man, and fo making his mark to the will.
The body of the man was not then cold. The will was contefted by
fome parties, and, I believe, proceeded to a trial at law : when the
circumftance of the belief of the parties came out in evidence."]
9. Mortuaries.
The payment of mortuaries is of great antiquity. It was anciently
done by leading or driving a horfe or cow, &c. before the corps of the
deceafed at his funeral. It was confidered as a gift left by a man at
his death, by way of recompenfe for all failures in the payment of
tithes and oblations, and called a corfe prefent. It is mentioned in the
National Council of Enfham about the year 1006.^
' "E.g. at Llanggors, where Mr. Gwin, the Minifter, about 1640, could not
hinder the performance of this ancient Cuftome."
' Collier's " Ecclefiaft. Hiftory," vol. i. p. 487.
200 Cufloms at Deaths.
Mortuaries were called by our Saxon Anceftors Saul j-ceat [Soul
fl)ot, or payment, Y " Offeringes at Burialles" are condemned in a lift
of " Groffe Poyntes of Poperie, evident to all Men," in " A Parte of
a Regifter," &c. [circd 1593-]
[It was on mortuaries, and on an annual poll-tax of three hens
which he received from the population of a particular diftria that
the Bifhop of Olivolo, one of the old Venetian Sees, almoft wholly
relied for his income ; and on the former account, he was jocularly
called the Bifhop of the Dead.^]
10, Torches and Lights at Funerals.
[It was pretended at the time, as appears from a letter addreffed to
Secretary Cromwell by a Frenchman, that on the day before the ex
ecution of Anne Boleyn, the tapers round the tomb of Katherine of
Arragon " kendeld of them felfs," and that after matins, at Deo
Gratias, " the faid tapers quenched of them felfs."]
The cuftom of ufing torches and lights at funerals, or in funeral
proceffions, appears to have been of long ftanding.^ Gregory tells us
that " the Funeral Tapers, however thought of by fome, are of
harmeleffe import. Their meaning is to fliew, that the departed
Soules are not quite put out, but, having walked here as the Children
of Light, are now gone to walk before God in the light of the
living,"* Strutt tells us the burning of torches was very honourable. To
have a great many was a fpecial mark of efteem in the perfon who
made the funeral to the deceafed. By the will of William de
' See a curious account of 'them in Dugdale's " Hift. of Warwlcklhlre," ift
edit. p. 679. See alfo, Cowel's " Interpreter in "voce," and Selden's " Hiftory of
Tithes," p. 287.
' Hazlitt's "Venetian Republic," vol. i. p. 117.J
' Durand. " de Ritibus," p. 228.
' " Pofthuma," 1649, p, 112. See alfo Gough's "Sep. Mon," Introd. vol, ii,
p. vii. " All Funerals," fays Adam, in his " Roman Antiquities," p. 476, " ufed
antiently to be folemnized in the night time with Torches, that they might not
fall in the way of Maglftrates and Priefts, who were fuppofed to be violated by
feeing a Corpfe, fo that they could not perform facred rites, t'll they were purified
by an expiatory facrifice, Serv. in Virg. xl. 143 ;. Donat. Ter. And. i, 1,81, Thus,
to diminifti the expenfes of Funerals, it was ordained by Demetrius Phalereus at
Athens, Cic, de Legg. ii. 26, according to an ancient law, which feems to have
fallen into defuetude, Demofth. adv. Macartatura, p, 666. Hence FuNUS, a
Funeral from funes accenfi, Ifid, xi. 2, xx. 10, or funalia,funales cerei, cerex faces,
vel candeU, Torches, Candles, or Tapers, originally made of fmall ropes or cords,
{funes ve\ funiculi,) covered with wax or tallow, {fe'vum ve\ febum,) Serv, ibid, et
JEn, i. 727; Val, Max. ill. 6. 4; Varr. de vlt. pop, R.
" But in after ages, public Funerals (funera indi^i'vd) were celebrated in the day
time, at an early hour in the forenoon, as it is thought from Plutarch, in Syll. with
Torches alfo, Serv. in Virg. JEn. vi. 224. Tacit. Ann. iii. 4. Private or ordinary
Funerals (Jacita) were always at night, Feft. in Vespilones."
Cuftoms at Deaths, 201
Montacute, Earl of Saliflsury, executed April 29, 1397,^ "Twenty-
four door people, cloathed in black gowns and red hoods, are ordered
to attend the Funeral, each carrying a lighted Torch of eight pounds
weight;" and from the account given by Stow^ of Sir John Grefham's
funeral in 1556, it appears that he " had four dozen of great Staff
Torches and a dozen of great long Torches,"
In the Churchwardens' Accounts of St, Margaret's, Weftminfter,
under 1460-1 is the following article : " Item rec' de Joh'e Braddyns
die fepultur' Robti Thorp gen' p, iiii. Tor' \]s, vn]d.'" on which
Pegge obferves : " Little was done in thefe ages of grofs Popery
without Lights. Thefe Torches coft is, 8d, apiece ; but we find
them of various prices, according, as we may fuppofe, to their fize.
The Churchwardens appear to have provided them, and confequently
they were an article of profit to the Church," The Editor' adds :
"Thefe Torches, it is conceived, were made of wax, which in ordi
nary cafes were let out by the Church, and charged to the Party ac
cording to the confumption at the moment. This appears in the York
Churchwardens' Accompts, where Wax is charged."
Ibid. a.d. 15 19:
" Item, Mr. Hall, the Curate, for iv. Torches, and for the beft
Lights, at the Buryal of Mr. Henry Vued, my Lord Cardinal's Ser
vant, vjj. VJi^."
In the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Lawrence Parifh, Read
ing, are the following articles:* "a. d. 1502. It. rec. of waft of
Torchis at the berying of fir John Hide, Vicar of Sonyng, ijs. v]d."
*' A. D. 1503. It. rec. for waft of Torchys at the burying of John
Long, maift' of the Gram' Scole, v]s. viij^," "a. d. 1504, It, rec,
of the fame Margaret," (late the wife of Thomas Piatt,) " for waft of
Torchis at the yer mind of the feid Thomas, xxd,"
Veron' fays : " If the Chriftians fhould bury their dead in the
nighte time, or if they fhould burne their bodies, as the Painims did,
they might well ufe Torches as well as the Painims without any juft
reprehenfion and blame." He obferves [a little further on], " More
over it is not to be doubted but that the auncient Byfhops and
Minifters of the Church did bryng in this manner of bearinge of
Torches, and of finginge in Funerals, not for thentent and purpofe
that the Painimes did ufe it, nor yet for to confirme their fuperftitious
abufes and errours, but rather for to abolifhe them. For they did fee
that it was an hard thing to pluck thofe old and inveterate Cuftomes
from the hartes of them that had been noufelled in them from their
youth. They did forfee that if they had buried their dead without
fom honeft ceremonies, as the worlde did then take them, it had bene
yet more harde to put away thofe olde rotten errors from them that
' " Manners and Cuftoms," vol. ii. p. io8.
' "Stow," by Strype, 1720, Book I. p. 258 9.
' Nichols' "Illuftr." 1797, p. 243.
* Coates's " Hiftory of Reading," p. 215.
° ^'Hunting of Purgatory to death," 1561, fol. 40, •verfo, and fol. 45, 47,
202 Cuftoms at Deaths,
were altogether wedded unto them," Our author tells us: "Chri-
foftome, likening fhe deade whome they followed with burnynge
Torches unto Wreftlers and Runners, had a refpea unto the cuftomes
and fafhions of Grekeland, beyng a Greeke himcelfe, among whiche
there was a certain kind of running, after this maner. The firfte
did beare a Torche, being lighted, in his hand, which being weary,
he did deliver unto him that followeth next after him. He againe,
that had received the Torche, if he chaunced to be wery, did the
like : and fo all the refidue that followeth in order ;" hence " among
the Grekes and Latines to geve the Lampe or Torche unto another,
hath beene taken for to put other in his place, after that one is werye
and hath perfourmed his courfe," He concludes : " This may very
wel be applyed unto them, that departe out of this world,"
Again, at folio 151, he fays : " Singinge, bearinge of Lightes, and
other like Ceremonies as were ufed in their Buringes and Funeralles,
were ordeyned, or rather permitted and fuffred by y^ auncient Bifhoppes
and Paftours, for to abolifh, put downe, and dryve awai the fuperfti
tion and ydolatri y' the heathen and paynymes ufed about their dead :
and not for anye opinion y' they had, y' fuch thinges could profite
the Soules departed, as it doth manifeftly appear by their owne
writinges."^ Monfieur Jorevin, before cited, defcribing a lord's burial near
Shrewfbury, fpeaking of fix men taking up the corps and carrying it
on their fhoulders to the church, fays " it was covered with a large
Cloth, which the four neareft Relations held each by a corner with
one hand, and in the other carried a bough ;" (this muft have been a
branch of rofemary :) " the other Relations and Friends had in one
hand a Flambeau, and in the other a Bough, marching thus through
the Street, without finging or faying any Prayer, till they came to the
Church," After the burial fervice, he adds, the clergyman, " having
his bough in his hand like the reft of the Congregation, threw it on
the dead Body when it was put into the Grave, as did all the Relations,
extinguifhing their Flambeaux in the Earth with which the Corps was
to be covered. This finifhed, every one retired to his home without
farther ceremony, "^
' The following is the epitaph of the great Bude at St, Genevieve, Paris:
" Que n'a-ton plus en Torches dependu,
Suivant la mode accoutumee en Sainte ?
Afin qu'il foit par Vobfcur entendu
Que des Fran9ois la lumiere eft eteinte."
' " Antiq. Repert." vol. iv. p. 585,
Cuftoms at Deaths, 203
II. Funeral Sermons.
Funeral Sermons are of great antiquity.^ This cuftom ufed to be
very general in England.^ [Mr. Brand fays :] I know no where that
it is retained at prefent, except upon Portiand Ifland, Dorfetfhire, where
the minifter has half-a-guinea for every fermon he preaches, by which
he raifes annually a very confiderable fum. This fpecies of luxury
in grief is very common there, and indeed, as it conveys the idea of
pofthumous honour, all are defirous of procuring it even for the
youngeft of their children as weU as their deceafed friends. The fee
is nearly the fame as that mentioned by Gay in his Dirge :
"Twenty good Shillings in a Rag I laid.
Be Ten the Parfon's for his Sermon paid."
In " The Burnynge of Paules Church,"' 1 561, we read : " Gregory
Nazanzene hais his Funerall Sermons and Orations in the commen-
dacion of the party departed ; fo hais Ambrofe for Theodofius and
Valentinian the Emperours, for his brother Statirus," &c.
Miffon' fays: "The common praaice is to carry the Corpfe
into the body of the Church, where they fet it down upon two
Trefl'els, while either a Funeral Sermon is preached, containing an
Elogium upon the deceafed, or certain Prayers faid, adapted to the
occafion. If the Body is not buried in the Church, they carry it to
the Church Yard, where it is interred, (after the Minifter has per
formed the Service which may be feen in the Book of Common
Prayer,) in the prefence of the Guefts, who are round the Grave,
and do not leave it till the earth is thrown in upon it. Then they re
turn home in the fame order that they came." It is ftill [1869] a
cuftom for the Ordinary of Newgate to preach a funeral fermon
before each execution,'
Gough^ fays: "From Funeral Orations over Chriftian Martyrs
have followed Funeral Sermons for eminent Chriftians of all denomi
nations, whether founded in efteem, or fanaioned by fafhion, or
fecured by reward. Our anceftors, before the Reformation, took
efpecial care to fecure the repofe and well-being of their Souls, by
Maffes and other deeds of piety and charity. After that event was
fuppofed to have difpelled the gloom of Superftition, and done away
the painful doarine of Purgatory, they became more folicitous to
' Durand. p. 236.
' In Cotgrave's "Treafuiy of Wit and Language," p, 35, we read :
" In all this Sermon I have heard little commendations
Of our dear Brother departed : rich men doe not go
To the Pit-hole without Complement ofChriftian Buriall."
' 8vo. 1563, fign. G 6 'verfo.
' "Travels in England," tranfl. by Ozell, p. 93.
" See Braithwaite's " Whimzies," 1631, p. 70.
° " Sep. Mon." vol. ii. Introd. p. xi.
204 Cuftoms at Deaths.
have their memories embalmed, and the example of their good works
held forth to pofterity. Texts were left to be preached from, and
fometimes money to pay for fuch preaching. Gratitude founded
commemorative Sermons as well as commemorative Dinners for Bene-
faaors." Even fuch an infamous charaaer as Madam Crefwell had her
funeral fermon. She defired by will to have a fermon preached at
her funeral, for which the preacher was to have ten pounds ; but
upon this exprefs condition, that he was to fay nothing but what was
well of her. A preacher was, with fome difficulty, found, who
undertook the tafk. He, after a fermon preached on the general
fubjea of mortality, and the good ufes to be made of it, concluded
with faying, " By the will of the deceafed it is expeaed that I fhould
mention her, and fay nothing but what was well of her. All that I
fhall fay of her, therefore, is this : fhe was born well, fhe lived well,
and fhe died well; for fhe was born with the name of Creffwell, fhe
lived in Clerkenwell, and fhe died in Bridewell."
Grainger quotes Fuller^ for this: "When one was to preach the
funeral fermon of a moft vicious and generally hated perfon, all won
dered what he would fay in his praife; the preacher's friends fearing,
his foes hoping, that, for his fee, he would force his confcience to
flattery. For one thing, faid the minifter, this man is to be fpoken
well of by all; and, for another thing, he is to be fpoken ill of by
none. The firft is, becaufe God made him ; the fecond, becaufe he
is dead,"
12. Black Used in Mourning at Funerals.
Durandus mentions black as anciently in ufe at funerals, which St.
Cyprian feems to have inveighed againft as the indication of forrow,
on an event which to the Chriftian was matter of joy.*^
Gough' gives us numerous references to the claffics to prove that
the colour of mourning garments has, in moft inftances, been black
from the earlieft antiquity. [Polydore Vergil alfo has a paffage to this
effea:] " Plutarch writeth that the Women in their Mournyng laied a
parte all purple, golde, and fumptuous Apparell, and were clothed
bothe they and their kinsfolk in white Apparel, like as then the ded
Body was wrapped in white Clothes. 7'he white coloure was thought
fitteft for the ded, becaufe it is clere, pure, and fincer, and leafte
defiled. Of this Ceremonie, as I take it, the French Quenes toke
occafion, after the death of their houfebandes the Kynges, to weare
onely white Clothyng, and, if there bee any fuche Widdowe, flie is
commonly called the White Quene,"
' " Appeal of Injured Innocence," part iii. p. 75.
' Durand. "de Rit," p. 225. Cyprian's words are: "Cum fciamus fratres
noftros accerfione dominica de Seculo liberatos, non amitti fed prsmitti, ncnfunt
nobis hie accipienda atra 'veftes, quando illi ibi indumenta alba jam fumpferint."
' " Sep. Mon." vol. ii. Introd. p. xx.
Cuftoms at Deaths, 205
[A writer in the " Gorgious Gallery of Gallant Inventions," 1578,
defcribing the death of Pyramus and Thifbe, fays :
"And mulberies in figne of woe, from white to blacke turnde were."]
So in " Romeo and Juliet," 1597 :
" All things, that we ordained feftival.
Turn from their office to black Funeral j
Our Inftruments, to melancholy Bells ;
Our Wedding cheer, to a fad burial feaft ;
Our folemn Hymns to fullen Dirges change ;
Our bridal Flowers ferve for a burled Corfe,
And all things change them to their contraries."
Granger, however, tells us, " it is recorded that Anne Boleyn wore
yellow Mourning for Catharine of Arragon." For his authority he
refers to Walpole's " Anecdotes of Painting," The fame circum
ftance is found in Hall's " Chronicle," with the addition of Henry's
wearing white mourning for Anne Boleyn,' [Yellow is the ufual
mourning colour in fome countries, as much as white and black are in
Europe, White and black not being colours at all in ftrianefs, may
be confidered as occupying the fame neutral pofition ; but, as Brand
prefently obferves, the former is ufed only at the obfequies of un
married perfons (and not always then) and very young children,]
Crimfon would have been a much more fuitable colour, [In the
laft century, a writer from Galfton, co. Ayr, informs us that it was
ufual^] " for even the Women to attend Funerals in the Village, dreft
in black or red cloaks." [Women, and even ladies, fometimes follow
the dead, efpecially (in the former cafe) among the poor, and in the
latter, where the deceafed is a child. At the obfequies of a perfon of
high rank, it often happens that, where the funeral takes place (as
indeed it ufually does) in the country, one or two of the neareft female
relatives claim the right of accompanying the remains. The fame
thing is occafionally witneffed in large towns, and among the middle
claffes I believe that the cuftom is growing more and more common.]
In Hill's Book on Dreams, fignat. m i, is the following paffage :
" To a ficke perfon to have or weare on white Garments doothe
promyfe death, for that dead Bodyes bee caryed floor th in white Clothes.
And to weare on a blacke Garmente, it doothe promyfe, for the more
parte, healthe to a ficke perfon, for that not dead perfonnes, but fuche
as mourne for the deade, do ufe to be clothed in Blacke." At the
funerals of unmarried perfons of both fexes, as well as infants, the
fcarves, hatbands, and gloves given as mourning are white.
It is ftated that^ "Black is the fitteft emblem of that forrow and
grief the mind is fuppofed to be clouded with ; and, as Death is the
privation of Life, and Black a privation of Light, 'tis very probable
[' The Bretons formerly employed yellow for this purpofe, and even now. In
Lower Brittany, faff"ron is recognized.]
' " Statift. Ace. of Scotland," vol. ii, p. 80.
' " Athenian Oracle," Suppl. p. 301.
2o6 Cuftoms at Deaths.
this colour has been chofen to denote fadnefs, upon that account ;
and accordingly this colour has, for Mourning, been preferred by
moft people throughout Europe, The Syrians, Cappadocians, and
Armenians ufe Sky-colour, to denote the place they wifh the dead to
be in, i.e. the Heavens: the Egyptians yellow, or fillemot, to fhew
that as Herbs being faded become yellow, fo Death is the end of
human hope : and the Ethiopians grey, becaufe it refembles the colour
of the Earth, which receives the dead,"
[A writer of the early part of this century ' has remarked:] "In
fuch obfcure parts of the Kingdom antient Cuftoms are frequently
retained. The common people of this parifh tie a dirty Cloth about
their heads when they appear as chief Mourners at a Funeral. The
fame cuftom likewife prevails in different places,"
In England it was formerly the fafhion to mourn a year for very
near relations. Thus Pope :
" Grieve for an hour perhaps, then mourn a year."
Dupre tells us^ that the ancient Romans employed certain perfons,
named Defignatores, clothed in black, to invite people to funerals, and
to carry the coffin. There are perfons in our days who wear the fame
cloathing, and ferve the fame office. The Romans, faith Marolles,
had, in their ceremonies, liaors, dreffed in black, who did the office
of our mourners.
13, Pall and Under-bearers,
Something, inftead of the Pall ufed at prefent to cover the coffin,
appears by Durandus to have been of great antiquity.' The fame
writer informs us,"" in many quotations from the ancient Chriftian
writers, that thofe of the higheft orders of clergy, thought it no
reproach to their dignity, in ancient times, to carry the bier, and that
at the funeral of Paula, bifhops were what in modern language we call
under bearers. How different an idea of this office prevails in our
times. Walton,' fpeaking of Herbert's ordination, tells us : " at which
time the reverend Dr. Humphrey Henchman, now Lord Bifhop of
London, tells me, he laid his hand on Mr. Herbert's head, and (alas !)
within lefs than three years, leant his fhoulder to carry his dear friend to
his Grave."
[In Ceremonies and Services at Court in the reign of Henry
VII. there is a reference to the manner in which the body of Henry V.
' Archaeol. vol. xii. p. 100 (Notices relating to Llanvetherlne, co. Monmouth).
" " Conformity," p, 181.
' Durand. p. 225.
* Ib'id, p, 227, From him it appears, too, that the corpfe was carried ftioulder-
height, as the term now Is,
^ "Life of Mr. George Herbert,'' 1670, p. 70.
Cuftoms at Deaths. 207
was brought over to England from France in 1422 : " In conveynge
over of King Henry V"'. out of France into Englond," the narrative
informs us, " his courfers were trappid w' trappers of party coloures :
one fid wasblewe velwet embrodured w' antilopes drawenge iij. iuillis ;
the toy"' fid was grene velwet embrowdered withe antelopes fittinge on
ftires w' long flours fpringinge betwene the homes ; the trap[p]ers
aftur, by the comandment of kinge Henry the VI"', were fent to the
Veftry of Weftm'; and of every coloure was mad a cope, a chefabille,
and ij tenacles ; and the gefereys of one coloure was of the clothe of
oy'' coloure." ^
Braithwaite^ mentions that it was the funaion of the gentieman of
the horfe to lead the earl's charger caparifoned in black velvet after
the body, and that thefe trappings remained the official's perquifites.]
Miffon^ fays: "The parifh has always three or four mortuary
cloths of different prices (the handfomeft is hired out at five or fix
crowns), to furnifh thofe who are at the charge of the interment.
Thefe cloths, which they call palls, are fome of black velvet, others
of cloth with an edge of white linen or filk a foot broad or thereabouts.
For a bachelor or maid, or for a woman that dies in childbed, the pall
is white. This is fpread over the coffin, and is fo broad that the fix or
eight meri in black clothes that carry the body (upon their fhoulders)
are quite hid beneath it to their waift ; and the corners and fides of it
hang down low enough to be borne by thofe (fix friends, men or
women, according to the occafion) who, according to cuftom, are in
vited for that purpofe. They generally give black or white gloves,
and black crape hatbands, to thofe that carry the pall ; fometimes,
alfo, white filk fcarves."
In the " Irifh Hudibras," 1689, is given the following defcription
of the burial of an Irifh piper :
" They mounted him upon a bier.
Through which the wattles did appear.
Like ribs on either fide made faft.
With a white velvet (I. e blanket) over eaft :
So poor Macftiane, God reft his ftioul,
Was after put him in a hole ;
In which, with many fighs and fcrleches.
They throw his troufes and his breeches ;
The tatter'd brogue was after throw.
With a new heel-piece on the toe ;
[' Many other curious and Important particulars relative to funeral ceremonies
maybe gathered from the fame paper ("Antiq. Repert." ed. 1 807, vol. i. p. 311.)
At the obfequies of Catherine of Arragon, the divorced wife of King Henry
Vin.four knights bore the canopy, fix knights fupported the pall, and fix barons or
other noblemen were appointed to aflift. The paper communicated from an
original MS. in the Chapter Houfe, Weftminfter, to the fixteenth volume of
" Archaeologla," contains very explicit particulars refpeaing this ceremony, the
furniture of the funeral-car, the number of mourners, their drefs, the etiquette to
be obferved on the occafion, and other Interefting details.]
[' " Rules for the Government of the Houfe of an Earle (about 1640) " ' Mif
cellanea Antiq. Anglicana," 1821, p. 16.]
' Travels, p. 91,
2o8 Cuftoms at Deaths.
And ftockins fine as friez to feel.
Worn out with praying at the heel ;
And In his mouth, 'galnft he took wherry,
Dropt a 'white groat to pay the ferry.
Thus did they make this laft hard ftiift.
To furnlfli him for a dead lift."
[Kennett ^ acquaints us that :] " At the burial of the Dead, it was a
Cuftom for the furviving friends to offer liberally at the Altar for the
pious ufe of the prieft, and the good eftate of the foul of the deceafed.
This pious Cuftom does ftill obtain in North Wales, where at the
Rails which decently defend the Communion Table, I have feen a
fmall tablet or flat-board, conveniently fixt, to receive the money,
which at every Funeral is offered by the furviving friends, according
to their own ability, and the quality of the party deceafed. Which
feems a providential augmentation to fome of thofe poor Churches,"
Browne,' fpeaking of the ancient heathens, fays : " Their laft Va-
lediaion thrice uttered by the Attendants was alfo very folemn ;
' Vale, Vale, Vale, nos te ordine quo Natura permittet fequemur :'
and fomevvhat anfwered by Chriftians, who thought it too littie,
if they threw not the earth thrice upon the enterred Body,"
Pennant, in his " Tours in Wales," informs us that " at thefe words
' we commit the Body to the ground,' the Minifter holds the Spade
and throws in the firft fpadeful of Earth."
He adds : " At Skiv'og, from the Park to the Church / have
feen the Bier carried by the next of kin, Hufiand, Brothers, and Father
in law. All along from the Houfe to the Church Yard at every
Crofs-way, the Bier is laid down, and the Lord's Prayer rehearfed, and
fo when they firft come into the Church Yard, before any of the
Verfes appointed in the Service be faid. There is a Cuftom of ringing a
littie Bell before the Corps, from the Houfe to the Church Yard.
(Dymerchion.) Some particular places are called refting-places.
" Skyvi'og. When a Corps is carried to Church from any part of
the Town, the Bearers take care to carry it fo that the Corps may be
on their right hand, though the way be nearer and it be lefs trouble to
go on the other fide ; nor will they bring the Corps through any other
way than the South gate.
" If it fliould happen to rain while the Corps is carried to Church,
it is reckoned to bode well to the deceafed, whofe Bier is wet with
the dew of Heaven. At Church the Evening Service is read, with
the Office of Burial. The Minifter goes to the Altar, and there fays
the Lord's Prayer, with one of the Prayers appointed to be read at the
Grave : after which the Congregation offer upon the Altar, or on a
little Board for that purpofe fixed to the Rails of the Altar, their bene
volence to the officiating Minifter. A friend of the deceafed is ap
pointed to ftand at the Altar, obferving who gives, and how much.
When all have given, he courtts the Money with the Minifter, and
' "Par. Antiq," Glofs. art. Oblationes Funerales.
' " Urne-buriall," 1658, p. 56.
Cuftoms at Deaths. 209
fignifies the Sum to the Congregation, thanking them all for their
good will."
[In Sutherlandfhire, in the laft century, a contemporary fays :']
" The Friends of the deceafed, and Neighbours of the Village, who
come to witnefs the Interment, are drawn up in rank and file, by an
old Serjeant, or fome veteran who has been in the Army, and who
attends to maintain order, and give as they term it here, the word of
relief. Upon his crying Relief! the four under the bier prepare to
leave their ftations, and make room for other four, that inftantly fuc
ceed. This progreffion is obferved at the interval of every five
minutes, tiU the whole attendants come in regularly, and, if the dif
tance requires it, there is a fecond, a third, or a fourth round of fuch
evolutions gone through. When the perfons prefent are not inflamed
with liquor, there is a profound filence generally obferved, from the
time the Corpfe has been taken up till the interment is over,"
In another part of the fame defcription ^ we read : " Country
Burials are not well regulated. The Company are invited at 11
o'clock forenoon, but they are probably not all arrived at 2. Till of
late a Pipe and Tobacco was provided for every one of the Company ;
but this Cuftom is entirely laid afide."
Undertakers now provide the palls. For men, black filk fcarves
are fometimes given, fometimes they are of black fatin.
14. Doles and Invitations to the Poor.
[It was formerly cuftomary for a fum of money to be given to cer
tain perfons or inftitutions, with whom or which the deceafed had been
conneaed. This ufage is illuftrated by a document inferted among the
" Egerton Papers," being the memoranda relating to the will of
one of the Rokeby family, who died in 1600. Among the items are
gifts of fums of money to the principals of Lincoln's Inn, Furnival's
Inn, and Thavis' Inn, for drink to be fupplied to the members of
thofe focieties in honour of the occafion. This cuftom of funeral liba
tions is ftill not uncommon in the country.
By his will made in 1639, Francis Pynner, of Bury St. Edmunds,
direded that out of certain rents and revenues accruing from his pro
perty, from and after the Michaelmas following his deceafe, forty poor
parifliioners of St. Mary's, Bury, fhould, on coming to the church, be
entitled to a twopenny wheaten loaf on the laft Friday in every month
throughout the year, for ever.]
Doles were ufed at funerals, as we learn from St. Chryfoftom, to
procure reft to the foul of the deceafed, that he might find his Judge
propitious.^
[' "Statift. Ace, of Scot." vol. iii, p, 525.]
' lUd, vol. vii. p, 622, Dundonald Parifli, Ayrfliire.
' MoWov it Ti jitra ravra irtpriTag KoKeZg ; iva eic avawavaiv a-jriKQi] iva iXtw axn '
l'KaaTtiv,—Homilia xxxi. in Matthei, cap, non.
210 Cuftoms at Deaths,
The giving of a dole, and the inviting of the poor ' on this occa
fion, are fynonymous terms. There are fome ftrong figurative ex-
preffions on this fubjea in St, Ambrofe's Funeral Oration on Saty-
rus, cited by Durandus, Speaking of thofe who mourned on the
occafion, he fays : " The poor alfo fhed their tears ; precious and
fruitful tears, that waflied away the fins of the deceafed. They let
fall floods of redeeming tears." From fuch paffages as the above
in the firft Chriftian writers, literally underftood, the Romanifts
may have derived their fuperftitious doarine of praying for the
dead. By the will of William de Montacute, Earl of Salifbury (1397),
he direas " that twenty-five fhillings fhould be daily diftributed among
three hundred poor people from the time of his death to the arrival of
his Body at the Conventual Church of Buftlefham, in which it was to
be depofited." =
Strutt tells us that Sir Robert Knolles, in the eighth year of Henry
IV. died at his manor in Norfolk, and his dead body was brought in a
fitter to London with great pomp and much torch-light, and it was
huried in the White Friars Church, " where was done for him a
folemn Obfequie, with a great Feafte and lyberal Dole to the poore."
This cuftom, fays Strutt, of giving a funeral feaft to the chief
mourners, was univerfally praaifed all over the Kingdom, as well as
giving alms to the poor, in proportion to the quality and finances of
the deceafed. ^
In "Dives and Pauper," 1493, we read: ^'^ Dives. What feyft
thou of them that wole no folemnyte have in their buryinge, but be
putt in erthe anon, and that that fhulde be fpent aboute the buriyng
they bydde that it fhulde be yoven to the pore folke blynde and
lame ? — Pauper. Comonly in fuch prive buriynges ben ful fmalk
doles and lytel almes yoven, and in folemne buriynges been grete doles
and moche almeffe yoven, for moche pore people come thanne ta feke
almeffie. But whanne it is done prively, fewe wytte therof, and fewe
come to axe almeffe ! for they wote nat whanne ne where, ne whom
they fhulde axe it. And therefore I leve fikerly that fumme fals exe-
cutoures that wolde kepe all to themfelf biganne firfte this errour
and this folye, that wolden make themfelf riche with ded mennys
godes, and nat dele to the pore after dedes wylle, as nowe all falfe
executoures ufe by cuftome."
Among the Articles of Expence at the Funeral of Sir John Rudftone,
Mayor of London, 1531, given by Strutt,* we find the following
charges :
' " Preterea convocabantur et invitabantur necdum Sacerdotes et Religiofi, fed et
egeni pauperes." — Durandus. Had Pope an eye to this in ordering by will poor
men to fupport his pall ?
"^ Warner's " Remarks relating to the S. W. Parts of Hamp." vol. ii.p. 73,
' " Manners and Cuftoms," vol. ii. p, 209. See a curious account 01 doles in
Dt, Ducarel's " Tour through Normandy," fol, edit, p. 81.
¦* "Man, and Cuft," vol, iii. p, 169. Ennelling is the receiving of extreme
un£tion.
Cuftoms at Deaths. 2 1 1
£, s, d
" Item, to the preifts at his ennelling .,.,090
To poor folke in almys 150
22 Days to 6 poor folke 020
26 Days to a poor folke 00 8,"
Hutchinfon,' fpeaking of Efkdale chapelry, fays : " Wakes and
Doles are cuftomary ; and weddings, chriftenings, and Funerals, are
always attended by the Neighbours, fometimes to the amount of a
hundred people. The popular diverfions are hunting and cock-
fighting," Nichols,^ fpeaking of Stathern in Framland Hundred, fays : " In
1790, there were 432 Inhabitants ; the number taken by the laft per
fon who carried about Bread, which was given for dole at a Funeral ;
a Cii^om formerly common throughout this part of England, though
now fallen much into difufe, " " The praaice was fometimes to be
queath it by Will ; but, whether fo fpecified or not, the ceremony was
feldom omitted. On fuch occafions a fmall Loaf was fent to every
perfon, without any diftinaion of age or circumftances, and not to re
ceive it was a mark of particular difrefpea."
Pennant' fays : " Offerings at Funerals are kept up here [White
ford,] and I believe, in all the Welfh Churches."
The fame writer obferves : " In North Wales, pence and half
pence, (in lieu of little rolls of Bread) which were heretofore, and by
fome ftill are, given on thefe occafions, are now diftributed to the
poor, who flock in great numbers to the houfe of the dead before the
corpfe Is brought out. When the corpfe is brought out of the houfe,
layd upon the bier and covered, before it be taken up, the next of kin
to the deceafed, widow, mother, daughter or coufin, (never done by a
man) gives over the corps to one of the pooreft Neighbours three 2d.
or four 3</. white Loaves of Bread, or a Cheefe with a piece of money
ftuck in it, and then a new wooden Cup of Drink, which fome will
require the poor perfon who receives it immediately to drinka littie of
When this is done, the Minifter, if prefent, fays the Lord's Prayer,
and then they fet forward for Church. The things mentioned above
as given to a poor Body, are brought upon a large Difh, over the
Corpfe, and the poor Body returns thanks for them, and bleffes God
for the happinefs of his Friend and Neighbour deceafed." This
cuftom is evidently a remain of the Sin-Eating.
In the laft century,* it appears that at Glafgow large donations at
funerals were made to the poor, " which are never lefs than £5, and
never exceeded ten Guineas, in which cafe the Bells of the City are
tolled." "The auncient Fathers,"' writes Veron, "being veri defirous to
" Cumberland," vol. i, p. 579.
' "Leicefterfliire," vol. ii. part i, p. 357. Lyfons' " Environs," vol. iii. p. 341.
' " Hiftory of Whiteford Parifli," p. 99.
I "Statift. Ace. of Scotl." vol, v, p, 523.
" Huntyngof Purgatory," &c, 1561, fol. 106.
2 1 2 Cuftoms at Deaths.
move their audience unto charitye and almofe dedes, did exhorte them
to refrefh the poore and to give almofes in the Funeralles, & Yeares
Myndes of their Frendes & Kynnesfolkfs, in ftedde of the bankettes
that the paynymes & Heathen were wont to make at fuche doinges,
and in ftedde of the Meates that they did bring to their Sepulchres and
Graves;" [Machyn, the Diarift, relates that after the interment of Sir John
Rainford, Kt, on the 20th September, 1559, there was a grand dinner
propofed for the mourners, at which the widow, however, did not ftiow
herfelf. When the party had left, her ladyfhip came down, and had
her dinner — four eggs and a difh of butter.
At the funeral pf Lady Cicily Mansfield, in 1558, Lady Petre was
chief mourner.
The infant fon of Sir Simonds D'Ewes, who died in March, 1629-
30, was carried to the burial-place in his father's private carriagV]
[15. Game, Wild-fowl, and Pigeon Feathers,
There is a well-known article of popular belief in fome diftrifts,
particularly in the eaftern counties, that the prefence oi game-feathers
in a feather bed will prolong the agonies of death. There is a curious
paper on this fubjea, by Mr, Albert Way, in the fourth volume of
" Notes and Queries," ift feries.
The fame idea is entertained in fome parts of Yorkfhire with regard
to pigeon's feathers, and in Cumberland refpeaing thofe of the turkey.
The objeaion to game feathers is widely prevalent, occurring in
Derby fhire, and in feveral parts of Wales, and I hardly think that the
fuperftition can be explained on the utilitarian theory propounded by
the writer in the " Athenaeum," " that none of thefe feathers are fit
for ufe, being too hard and fharp in the barrel."]
It is impoffible, according to Grofe, for a perfon to die, while
refting on a pillow ftuffed with the feathers of a dove ; but he will
ftruggle with Death in the moft exquifite torture. The pillows of
dying perfons are therefore taken away, fays he, when they appear in
great agonies, left they may have pigeons' feathers in them. [A
more ridiculous or degrading fuperftition can fcarcely be imagined,
and as to the removal of the pillow from under the head of a dying
perfon, it is almoft always followed by fuffocation. Nurfes, when
they are not carefully watched, will fnatch this fupport away fuddenly,
to accelerate the refult, and fave trouble.
The " Britifh Apollo " very properly charaaerizes this as an
" old woman's ftory," and adds :] " But the fcent of Pigeon's Fea
thers is fo ftrong, that they are not fit to make Beds with, infomuch
that the offence of their fmell may be faid (like other ftrong fmells) to
revive any Body dying, and if troubled with hyfteric Fits. But as
common praaice, by reafon of the naufeoufnefs of the fmell, has in
troduced a difufe of Pigeons' Feathers to make Beds, fo no experience
doth or hath ever given us any example of the reality of the hOi"
Church-yards, 2 1 3
[In the Ifle of Man, obferves Train,* " When a perfon dies, the
corpfe is laid on what is called a.flraightening-board; a trencher, with
fait in it, and a lighted candle, are placed on the breaft, and the bed,
on which the ftraightening-board beating the corpfe refts, is generally
ftrewed with ftrong-fcented flowers."
In fome places abroad, it is cuftomary to fet out the departed per
fon's toilette, and go through many of the fame forms which he or
fhe obferved in life. In the Ifland of Madeira, they are in the habit
of clofing the chamber of death during a twelvemonth after the
event.]
Cl)urcl)^garti0.
" Oft in the lone Church "Vard at Night I've feen
By gllmpfe of Moon-ftiine, checqu'ring thro' the Trees,
The School-boy, with his Satchel in his hand,
Whiftling aloud to bear his courage up,
And, lightly tripping o'er the long flat ftones
(With Netties flclrted, and with Mofs o'ergrown,)
That tell in homely phrafe who lie below.
Sudden he ftarts ! and hears, or thinks he hears,
The found of fomething purring at his heels :
Full faft he flies, and dares not look behind him.
Till, out of Breath, he overtakes his fellows ;
Who gather round, and wonder at the Tale
Of horrid Apparition, tall and ghaftly.
That walks at dead of Night, or takes his ftand,
O'er fome new open'd Grave ; and (ftrange to tell !)
Evaniflies at crowing of the Cock." — Blair's Gra've.
IT having been a current opinion in the times of heathenifm, that
places of burial were frequently haunted with fpeares and appa
ritions, it is eafy to imagine that the opinion has been tranfmitted from
them, among the ignorant and unlearned, throughout all the ages of
Chriftianity to this prefent day. The ancients befieved that the
ghofts of departed perfons came out of their tombs and fepulchres, and
wandered about the place where their remains lay buried. Thus Virgil
tells us, that Moeris could call the ghofts out of their fepulchres ; ^ and
Ovid, that ghofts came Jout of their fepulchres and wandered about : ^
and Clemens Alexandrinus, in his " Admonitions to the Gentiles," up
braids them with the gods they worfhipped ; which, fays he, are wont
to appear at tombs and fepulchres, and which are nothing but fading
fpeiftres and airy forms.^
' " Hift. and Statift. Ace." vol. ii. p. 136.
' " Moerin faepe animis imis excire Sepulchris,
vidi." Virg. Bucol. viii, 1. 98.
" Nunc animae tenues — Sepulchris — errant," Ovid, Fafti.
' " Admonit. ad Gent." p. 37, Mede obferves from a paflage of this fame an-
214 Church-yards.
We learn from Morefin,' that churchyards were ufed for the pur
pofes of interment in order to remove fuperftition. Burial was in
ancient times without the walls of cities and towns. Licurgus, he
tells us, firft introduced grave ftones within the walls, and as it were
brought home the ghofts to the very doors. Thus we compel horfes,
that are apt to ftarde, to make the neareft approaches we can to the
objeas at which they have taken the alarm.
Strutt tells us,- " that before the time of Chriftianity it was held
unlawful to bury the dead within the Cities, but they ufed to carry
them out into the Fields hard by, and there depofited them. Towards
the end of the fixth Century, Auguftine obtained of king Ethelbert, a
Temple of Idols, (where the King ufed to worfhip before his con
verfion) and made a Burying Place of it ; but St. Cuthbert afterwards
obtained leave to haye Yards made to the Churches, proper for the
receprion of the dead."
In the Suffolk Articles of Enquiry, 1638, we read ; " Have any
Playes, Feafls, Banquets, Suppers.,^ Church Ales, Drinkings, Temporal
Courts or Leets, Lay furies, Muflers, Exercife of Dauncing, Stoole
ball. Foot ball, or the like, or any other prophane ufage been fuffered
to be kept in your Church, Chappell, or Church Yard ?"
Churchyards are certainly as littie frequented by apparitions and
ghofts as other places, and therefore it is a weaknefs to be afraid of
paffing through them. Superftition, however, will always attend igno
rance ; and the night,' as fhe continues to be the mother of dews,
will alfo never fail of being the fruitful parent of chimerical fears.
So Dryden : " When the Sun lets. Shadows that ftiew'd at Noon
But fmall, appear moft long and terrible."
There is a fingular fuperftition refpeaing the burial in that pan of
the churchyard which lies north of the church, that ftill pervades
many of the inland parts and northern diftrias of this kingdom, though
every idea of it has been eradicated in the vicinity of the metropolis.
It is that that is the part appropriated for the interment of unbaptized'
infants, of perfons excommunicated, or that have been executed, or
that have laid violent hands upon themfelves.
In "Martins Months Mind," 1589, we read: " He died excm-
municate, and they might not therefore burie him in Chriftian Buriall,
and his Will was not to come there in any wife. His Bodie fhould
not be buried in any Church, (efpeciallye Catbedrall, which ever be
cient father, That the Heathens fuppofed the prefence and power of Dsenioa* (for
fo the Greeks called the Souk of Men departed) at their Coffins and Sepulchres :
as the' there always remained fome natural tie between the deceafed and their
Relifls, — Bourne, chap. vii.
' " Papatus," p. 40.
" Mann, and Cuft." vol, i. p. 69.
' " Now it is the Time of Night,
That the Graves, all gaping « ide,
Ev'rr one lets forth hii Sprite
In the Church-way path to glide." — Shakefpeare,
Church-yards. 2 1 5
detefted,) Chappell, nor Church Yard ; for they have been pro-
phaned with Superftition, He would not be laid Eafl and Wefl,
(for he ever went againft the haire,) but North and South: I thinke
becaufe ' Ab Aquilone omne malum,' and the South wind ever brings
corruption with it."
" Chriftians," fays Laurence,^ " diftlnguifhed their Oratories into
an Atrium, a Church Yard ; a Sandum, a Church ; a Sanaum
SanSorum, a Chancell. They did conceive a greater degree of
Sanaitie in one of them, than in another, and in one place of them
than another. Churchyards they thought profained by Sports, the whole
circuit both before and after Chrift was privileged for refuge, none
out of the Communion of the Kirke permitted to lie there, any con
fecrate Ground preferred for Interment before that which was not
confecrat, and that in an higher efteem which was in an higher de
gree of Confecration, and that in the higheft which was neereft the
Altar." Benjamin Rhodes, fteward to one of the earls of Elgin, requefted,
it feems,- "to be interred in the open Church Yard, on the North fide
{to croffe the received fuperflition, as he thought, of the conftant choice of
the South fide^ near the new Chappel." Rhodes was interred in
Maiden Church in Bedfordfhire.
Gilbert White, fpeaking of Selborne Church Yard, obferves :
"Confidering the fize of the Church, and the extent of the Parifh,
the Church Yard is very fcanty ; and efpecially as all wifh to be
buried on the South fide, which is become fuch a Mafs of Mortality,
that no perfon can be there interred without difturbing or difplacing
the Bones of his Anceftors. There is reafon to fuppofe that it
once was larger, and extended to what is now the Vicarage Court and
Garden. At the Eaft end are a few Graves ; yet none, till very lately,
m the Nwth fide ; but as two or three Families of beft repute have
begun to bury in that quarter, prejudice may wear out by degrees,
and their example be followed by the reft of the neighbourhood."
CuUum' fays : " There is a great partiality here, to burying on the
South and Eaft fides of the Church Yard. About twenty years ago,
when I firft became Reaor, and obferved how thofe fides (particu
larly the South), were crowded with Graves, I prevailed upon a few
perfons to bury their friends on the North, which was entirely vacant ;
but the example was not followed as I hoped it would : and they con
tinue to bury on the South, where a Corpfe is rarely interred without
difhirbing the bones of its Anceftors.
" This partiality may perhaps at firft have partly arifen from the
antient Cuftom of praying for the dead ; for as the ufual approach to
this and moft Country Churches is by the South, it was natural for
' " Sermon preached before the King, &c,," p. 9, cited in " The Canterburian's
Self-conviSion, &c.," 1640, p. 83, note,
' " Life and Death of Mr. Benjamin Rhodes," &c., by P. Samwaies, his lord-
fhip's chaplain, 1657, p. 27,
* " Hiftory and Antiquities of Hawfted, Suffolk," 1784 (Bibl. Top. Brit. No.
xxiii.)
2 1 6 Church-yards.
burials to be on that fide, that thofe who were going to divine fervice
might, in their way, by the fight of the graves of their friends, be put
in mind to offer up a prayer for the welfare of their fouls ; and even
now, fince the cuftom of praying for the dead is abolifhed, the fame
obvious fituation of Graves may excite fome tender recolkaion in
thofe who view them, and filently implore ' the paffing tribute of a
figh.' That this motive has its influence, may be concluded from the
Graves that appear on the North fide of the Church Yard, when the
approach to the Church happens to be that way ; of this there are
fome few inftances in this neighbourhood."
Pennant, in allufion to Whiteford Church,^ fays : " I ftep into the
Church Yard and figh over the number of departed which fill the
inevitable retreat. In no diftant time the North fide, like thofe of all
other Welfh Churches, was through fome Superftition, to be occupied
only by perfons executed, or by Suicides. It is now nearly as much
crowded as the other parts.''
He adds, that, in North Wales none but excommunicated, or very
poor and friendlefs people, are buried on the North fide of the Church
Yard, In the Cambrian Regifter,^ is the following very appofite paffage
refpeaing church-yards in Wales. " In Country Church Tards the
Relations of the deceafed crowd them into that part which is South of
the Church ; the North fide, in their Opinion, being unhallowed Ground,
fit only to he the Dormitory offlill born Infants and Suicides. For an
example to his neighbours, and as well to efcape the barbarities of the
Sextons, the Writer of the above Account ordered himfeif to be buried
on the North fide of the Church Tard. But as he was accounted an
Infidel when alive, his Neighbours could not think it creditable to
affociate with him when dead. His duft, therefore, is likely to pafs a
folitary retirement, and for ages to remain undifturbed by the hands of
Men." ^ ^
In the Trial of Robert Fitzgerald, Efq., and others, for the murder
of Patrick Randal M'Donnel, Efq. [in Ireland in 1786,] we read:
" The body of Mr. Fitzgerald, immediately after execution, was car
ried to the ruins of Turlagh Houfe, and was waked in a Stable adjoin
ing, with a iew Candles placed about it. On the next day it was
carried to the Church Yard of Turlagh, where he was huried on what
is generally termed the wrong side of the Church, in his cloaths,
without a Coffin."*
Morefin fays that in Popifh burying grounds, thofe who were re
puted good Chriftians lay towards the South and Eaft ; others, who
had fuffered capital punifliment, laid violent hands on themfelves, or
' " Hift. of Whiteford and Hollywell," p. 102.
' 1796. P: 374, notes.
^ In " Paradoxical Affertions," &c., by R. H., 1664, we read :
" Coelo tegitur, qui non habet urnam.
" Doubtlefs that Man's Bones in the Vorth Church Yard reft in more quiet than
his that lies entomb'd in the Chancel."
Church-yards. 2 1 7
the like, were buried towards the North : a cuftom that had formeriy
been of frequent ufe in Scotland,^
From what has been already quoted from " Martins Months Mind,"
it fhould appear too that there was fomething honourable or difhonour
able in the pofition of the Graves: the common and honourable direc
tion is from Eafl to Wefl, the difhonourable one from North to
South. Hearne had fuch correa notions on this head, that he left orders
for his Grave to be made ftraight by a Compafs, due Eafl and Wefl :
in confequence of which his monument, which I have often feen, is
placed in a direaion not parallel with any of the other Graves. Its
being placed feemingly awry, gives it a very remarkable appearance.
Craven Ord, Efq. informed Brand that " at the Eaft end of the
Chancel, in the Church Yard, of Fornham All Saints, near Bury,
Suffolk, is the coffin-fhaped Monument of Henrietta Maria Corn-
wallis, who died in 1707. It ftands North and South, and the Parifh
tradition fays that fhe ordered that pofition of it as a mark of penitence
and humiliation."^
" As to the pofition in the Grave, though we decline," fays Browne
in his " Urne-burial," " the religious confideration, yet in coemeterial
and narrower burying places, to avoid confufion and crofs-pofition,
a certain pofture were to be admitted. The Perfians lay North and
South ; the Megarians and Phoenicians placed their heads to the Eaft :
the Athenians, fome think, towards the Weft, which Chriftians ftill
retain : and Bede will have it to be the pofture of our Saviour. That
Chriftians buried their dead on their backs, or in a fupine pofition,
feems agreeable to profound fleep and the common pofture of dying ;
contrary alfo to the moft natural way of Birth ; not unlike our pen
dulous pofture in the doubtful ftate of the womb. Diogenes was
fingular, who preferred a prone fituation in the Grave; and fome
Chriftians like neither, (Ruffians, &c,) who decline the figure of reft,
and make choice of an erea pofture," [One of Mr. Brand's lady-
correfpondents feems to have thought that if fhe died an old maid,
fhe would have to lie in her grave with her face downwards.]
In the Ely Articles of Enquiry, (with fome Direaions inter
mingled), 1662, it is afked, " When Graves are digged, are they made
fix foot deep, (at the leaft,) and Eaft and Weft ?"
In "Cymbeline," act iv. fc. 2, Guiderius, fpeaking of the difguifed
and (fuppofed) dead Imogen, fays : " Nay, Cadwal, we mufl lay his
head to the Eafl; my Father has a reafon for't." There is a pajffage
in the grave-digger's feene in " Hamlet," aa v. fc. i :
— " Make her GT3.ve ftraight "
' "Papatus," p. 157.
' I find in "Durandus," lib. vii. De OiEcio Mortuorum, cap. 3S-39j the fol
lowing : " Debet autem quis fic fepellrl, ut capite ad occ'identem pofito, pedes dirigat
adOr'teiitem,'m <\ws. quafi ipfa pofitione orat : et innuit quod promptus eft, ut de
occafu feftinet ad ortum : de Mundo ad Seculum."
2 1 8 Church-yards.
[where the meaning oi flraight is nr\6o\ihteA\y forthwith, though by
Ibme of the commentators it has been otherwife explained.]
Arnot,' fpeaking of St. Leonard Hill, fays, " In a Northern part of
it," (he mentioned before that part of it was the Quakers' Burying-
ground,) " Children who have died without receiving Baptifm, and
Men who have fallen by their own hand, ufe to be interred."^
Elfewhere,* we read : " The cuftom of dancing in the Church-yard
at their Feafts and Revels is univerfal in Radnorftiire, and very com
mon in other parts of the Principality. Indeed this folemn abode is
rendered a kind of Circus for every fport and exercife. The young
Men play at Fives and Tennis againft the wall of the Church. It is
not however to be underftood that they literally dance over the Graves
of their progenitors. This amufement takes place on the North fide
of the Church-yard, where it is the cuflom not to bury. It is rather
lingular, however, that the affociation of the place, furrounded by
memorials of mortality, fhould not deaden the impulfes of joy in
minds, in other refpefls not infenfible to the fuggeftions of vulgar
fuperftition." Again, under Aberedwy, " In this Church Yard are two uncom
monly large Yew Trees, evidentiy of great age, but in unimpaired
luxuriance and prefervation, under the fhade of which an intelligent
Clergyman of the neighbourhood informed me that he had frequently
feen fixty couple dancing at Aberedwy Feaft on the 14th of June.
The boughs of the two trees intertwine, and afford ample fpace for
the evolutions of fo numerous a company within their ample covering."
In " The Defcription of the Ifles of Scotland," " by J. Monney-
penny, under the Ifland of Rona is the following paffage : " There is
in this Ifland a Chapel dedicated to Saint Ronan : wherein (as aged
men report) there is alwayes a Spade wherewith when as any is dead,
they find the place of his Grave marked."
Gough* fays: "It is the cuftom at this day all over Wales to
ftrew the graves both within and without the church, with green
herbs, branches of box, flowers, rufhes, and flags, for one year; after
which, fuch as can afford it lay down aflone. Mr, Grofe calls this a
filthy cuftom, becaufe he happened to fee fome of the flowers dead
and turned to dung, and fome bones and bits of coffins fcattered about
in Ewenny church, Glamorganfhire. The common Welfh graves
are curioufly matted round with fingle or double matting, and ftuck
' " Hiftory of Edinburgh," p. 252.
° " Infantumque Animae flentes in limine primo :
Quos dulcis 'Vitae exfortis ; et ab ubere raptos,
Abftulit atra dies, et' funere merfit acerbo. —
Proxima delude tenent msefti loca, qui fibi letum
Infontes peperere manu, lucemque perofi
Projecere Animas." — f^irg. Mn. 1. vi. 427.
' Malkin's " Scenery, Antiquities and Biography of South Wales,'' 1804, p.
261. ' For an account of this book, fee Gough's " Topography," vol, ii. p. 568,
' " Sep. Mon." vol. ii, Introd. p. 294.
Church-yards. 2 1 9
with flowers, box, or laurel, which are frequently renewed," Pepys,
in his "Memoirs," vol, i. p. 139, mentions a churchyard near South
ampton, where, in the year 1662, the graves were " accuftomed to
be all fowed with fage,"
[The minifter of Kilfinichen and Kilviceven, co. Argyll, writing
in the laft century, fays :]' The inhabitants " are by no means fuper
ftitious, yet they ftill retain fome opinions handed down by their
anceftors, perhaps from the time of the Druids, It is believed by
them that the Spirit of the laft perfon that was buried watches round
the Church Yard till another is buried, to whom he delivers his
charge." In the fame work,'' it is faid, " in one divifion of this County, where
it was believed that the Ghoft of the perfon laft buried kept the Gate
of the Church Yard till relieved by the next viaim of Death, a
fingular feene occurred, when two Burials were to take place in one
Church Yard on the fame day. Both parties ftaggered forward as
faft as poffible to confign their refpeaive friend in the firft place to
the duft. If they met at the Gate, the dead were thrown down till
the living decided by blows whofe ghoft fhould be condemned to
porter it."
The following is an extraa from the old Regifter-book of Chrift
Church, Hants.: "April 14, 1604. Chriftian Steevens, the wife of
Thomas Steevens, was buried in child-birth, and buried by women, for
fhe was a Papifhe." ^
In " The Living Librarie," ¦* we read : " Who would beleeve
without fuperftition, (if experience did not make it credible,) that
moft commonly all the Bees die in their Hives, if the Mafler or Mif
treffe of the Houfe chance to die, except the Hives be prefently removed
into fome other place. And yet I know this hath hapned to folke no
way ftained with fuperftition." A vulgar prejudice prevails in many
places of England that when bees remove or go away from their
hives, the owner of them will die foon after, A clergyman in Devon
fhire inforrned Mr. Brand, about 1790, that when a Devonian makes
a purchafe of bees, the payment is never made in money, but in
things, (corn for inftance,) to the value of the fum agreed upon. And
the bees are never removed but on a Good Friday.*
' "Statift. Ace. of Scot." vol iv. p. 210. ^ Vol. xxi. p. 144.
' Warner's " Remarks relating to the S.W. Parts of Hampftiire," vol ii, p. 130.
* Engliftied by John MoUe, Efq., 1621, p. 283.
¦' I found the following in the " Argus," a London newfpaper, Sept. 1 3, 1790.
" A fuperftitious cuftom prevails at every Funeral in Devonfliire, of turning round
the Bee-hives that belonged to the deceafed, if he had any, and that at the moment
the Corpfe is carrying out of the Houfe. At a Funeral fome time fince atCullompton,
of a rich old Farmer, a laughable circumftance of this ibrt occurred : for juft as
the Corpfe was placed in the Herfe, and the horfemen, to a large number, were drawn
up in order for the proceffion of the Funeral, a perfon called out, ' Turn the Bees,'
when a Servant who had no knowledge of fuch a Cuftom, inftead of turning the
Hives about, lifted them up, and then laid them down on their fides. The Bees,
thus haftily invaded, inftantly attacked and faftened on the Horfes and their
Riders. It was in vain they galloped off, the Bees as precipitately followed, and
2 2 o Church-yards .
2. The Custom of Laying Flat Stones in our Churches
AND Church Yards over the Graves,
The cuftom of laying flat ftones in our churches and church-yards
over the graves of the better fort of perfons, on which are infcribed epi
taphs containing the name, age, charaaer, &c, of the deceafed, has
been tranfmitted from very ancient times, as appears from the writings
of Cicero and others,*
[In the poet Mafon's time, it appears to have been ufual to whiten
the head and footftones of graves at Chriftmas, Eafter, and Whit
funtide ; but of courfe the cuftom was one which would vary ex
ceedingly. I do not exaaiy know the origin of the phrafe, to mark
vjith a white flone, employed in allufion to a lucky or aufpicious
day in one of Hazlitt's Effays,]
3. Garlands in Country Churches and Strewing Flowers
ON THE Graves.
[" Let my bier
Be borne by virgins, that ftiall fing by courfe
The truth of maids and perjuries of men."
Beaum. and FI. Maids Tragedy, 1619.]
" Some fay no evil thing that walks by night.
In Fog or Fire, by Lake, or Moorlfti Fen,
Blue meager Hag, or ftubborn unlaid Ghoft,
That breaks his magic chains at Curfeu time.
No Goblin, or fwart Faery of the Mine,
Hath hurtful power o'er true Virginity." Milton's Comus, 1637.
It is ftill the cuftom in many country churches to hang a gariand
of flowers over the feats of deceafed virgins, in token, fays Bourne, of
efteem and love, and as an emblem of their reward in the heavenly
Church. It was ufual in the primitive Chriftian Church to place crowns
of flowers at the heads of deceafed virgins:* for this we have the autho
rity of Damafcen, Gregory Nyffen, St, Jerom, and St. Auftin.
In Yorkfhire, [it feems to have been ufual,] when a virgin died in a
village, one, neareft to her in fize, and age, and refemblance, carried
the garland before the corpfe in the funeral proceffion, which was
afterwards hung up in the church. This was fometimes compofed
entirely of white paper, and at others, the flowers, &c. cut out upon
it were coloured.
There appeared in the "Morning Chronicle" for Sept. 25th,
left their flings as marks of their indignation. A general Confufion took place,
attended with lofs of Hats, Wigs, &c. and the Corpfe during the conflict was left
unattended ; nor was it till after a confiderable time that the Funeral Attendants
could be rallied, in order to proceed to the interment of their deceafed friend."
• Cicero " de Legibus," xi. See alfo Morefini " Papatus," &c. p, 86 ; Malkin's
"Scenery, Antiquities, and Biography of South Wales," 1804, p. 604, and
Mafon's " Elegy in Neath Churchyard," quoted by Malkin
" Cafs. "de Vet. Sac. Chrifti," p. 334.
Church-yards. 2 2 1
1792, an elegiac ode by Mifs Seward, whereto in reference to Eyam
in Derbyfliire, the following note was fubjoined : " The antient
cuftom of hanging a Garland of white Rofes made of writing paper,
and a. pair of white Gloves, over the Pew of the unmarried Villagers
who die in the flower of their age, prevails to this day in the village
of Eyam, and in moft other Villages and littie Towns in the Peak."
Nichols,* fpeaking of Waltham in Framland Hundred, fays: "In
this Church, under every arch, a Garland is fufpended ; one of which is
euftomarily placed there whenever any young unmarried Woman dies."
It appears that on June 4th, 1747, a letter was read by the Secretary
to the Society of Antiquaries " from Mr, Edward Steel of Bromley,
concerning the Cuftom of burying the dead, efpecially Bachelors and
Maidens, with Garlands of Flowers, &c. ufed formerly in feveral
parts of this Kingdom."
Coles,' probably fpeaking ot the metropolis only, fays :" It is not
very long fince the Cuftome of fetting up Garlands in Churches hath
been left off with us."
The following legend, intended to honour the Virgin Mother, [was
confidered by Brand worth inferting, and I have retained it :"] " Eat
ing fome Dates with an old Man, but a credulous Chriftian, he faid :
' that the Letter O remained upon the Stone of a Date for a remem
brance that our bleffed Lady, the Virgin, with her divine Babe in her
arms, refting herfelf at the foot of a Palm-tree, (which inclined her
branches and offered a Clufter of Dates to her Creatour,) our Lady
plucked fome of the Dates and eating them, fatisfied with the tafte
and flavour, cryed out in amazement. Oh ! how fweet they are !
This exclamation engraved the Letter O, the firft word of her Speech,
upon the Date Stone, which being very hard, better preferved it.' "
In the earlieft ages of Chriftianity, virginity was honoured, out of
deference moft likely to the Virgin Mother, with almoft divine ado
ration, and there is but little doubt but that the origin of nunneries is
clofely conneaed with that of the virgin gariand.
" In North Wales," as Pennant informs us, " when they blefs
another, they are very apt to join to the bleffing of God, the bleffing
of white Mary."
In the Papal times in England, fometimes," the form of a laft teftament
ran thus: "Commendo Animam meam Deo, beatae Mariae, et omnibus
Sanais." I faw in the churches of Wolfingham and Stanhope, Durham,
fpecimens of thofe gariands : the form of a woman's glove, cut in white
paper, hung in the centre of each of them. Douce faw a fimilar
inftance in the church at Bolton in Craven, in 1783. At Skipton,
too, the like cuftom ftill prevailed [in Brand's time.] In 1794, Sir
H. Ellis ftates that he faw gariands of white paper hanging up in a
church no farther from the metropolis than Paul's Cray in Kent.
Dr. Lort obferved in Auguft, 1785, that " At Grey's-foot Church,
between Wrexham and Chefter, were Gariands, or rather Shields,
' " Leicefterfliire," vol, ii, pt, i. p. 382.
' "Introduftion to the Knowledge of Plants," (1656), p. 64,
' " Short Relation of the River Nile," 1672, p. 87.
22 2 Church-yards.
fixed againft the pillars, finely decorated with artificial Flowers and
cut gilt paper."
[Thefe are mentioned in the " Dialea of Craven," 1828, as com
mon ornaments of the churches in that deanery. ' They are "made
of flowers, or of variegated coloured paper, faftened to fmall fticks,
croffing each other at the top, and fixed at the bottom by a fimilar
hoop, which was alfo covered with paper. From the top were fuf
pended two papers, cut in the form of gloves, on which the name and
age of the deceafed virgin were written. One of thefe votive gariands
was folemnly borne before the corpfe by two girls, who placed it on
the coffin in the church during the fervice. Thence it was conveyed
in the fame manner to the grave, and afterwards was carefully de
pofited on the, fcreen dividing the quoir from the nave either as an em
blem of virgin purity, or of the guilt and uncertainty of human life."
I do not obferve that any of our writers on popular antiquities has
noticed the indication of virginity, which Browne mentions as ap
parentiy a matterof current belief in this country at the time he wrote
his " Paftorals :"
" There is a weed vpon whofe head growes Downe ;
So'w-thiftle 'tis ycleep'd, whofe downy wreath,
If any one can blow off at a breath,
We deeme her for a Maid — "
In " Syr Gyles Goofecappe Knight," a comedy, 1606, fign. a 4
verfo, a different text is, of courfe jocularly, propofed :
" Will He anfwere for her, becaufe I know her Ladifhip to be a
perfea maide indeede.
Bullaker. How canft thou know that ?
Will, Paffing perfeaiy I warrant ye.
lacke. By meafuring her necke twice, and trying if it will come
about hir forehead, and flyp ouer her nofe."
There is ftill a common faying, that twice round the wrift (in a
woman) once round the neck, and twice round the neck once round
the waift.]
The following occurs in Marfton's " Dutch Courtezan :"
" I was afraid, I'faith, that I ftiould ha feene a Garland on this beauties herfe." ^
A writer in the "Antiquarian Repertory "'^ fays: "that in this
nation, as well as others, by the abundant zeal of our Anceftors
' The author of "The Comical Pilgrim's Pilgrimage into Ireland," 1723,
fays: "When a Virgin dies, a Garland, made of all forts of Flowers and fweet
Herbs, is carried by a young Woman on her head, before the Coffin, from which
hang down two black Ribbons, fignifying our mortal ftate, and two white, as an
emblem of purity and innocence. The ends thereof are held by four young Maids,
before whom a Baflcet full of Herbs and Flowers is fupported by two other Maids,
who ftrew them along the Streets to the place of Burial : then, after the deceafed,
follow all her relations and acquaintance."
The following is copied from the " Argus," Aug. 5, 1790. " Dublin, July 31 :
Sunday being St, James's Day, the Votaries of St, James's Church Vard attended
in confiderable crowds at the Shrines pf their departed Friends, and paid the ufual
tributary honours of paper Gloves and Garlands of Flowers on their Graves."
' Vol. Iv. p, 239,
Church-yards. 223
Virginity was held in great eftimation : infomuch that thofe who died
in that ftate were rewarded at their death with a Gariand or Crown on
their heads, denoting their triumphant viaory over the lufts of the
flefh. Nay, this honour was extended even to a Widow who had
never enjoyed but one Hufband, Thefe Garlands, or Crowns, were
moft artificially wrought in filagree work, with gold and filver wire,
in refemblance of myrtie, with which plant the Funebrial Gariands of
the Antients were always compofed, whofe leaves were faftened to
Hoops of larger iron wire, and they were lined with cloth of filver.
" Befides thefe Crowns, the Antients had alfo their depofitory
Garlands, the ufe of which continued till of late years, and may per
haps ftiU in fome parts of England. Thefe Gariands, at the Funerals
of the deceafed, were carried folemnly before the Corpfe by two
Maids, and afterwards hung up in fome confpicuous place within the
Church, and were made in the following manner ; viz. the lower rim
or circlet was a broad Hoop of wood, whereunto was fixed at the
fides thereof part of two other Hoops, croffing each other at the top
at right angles, which formed the upper part, being about one-third
longer than the width. Thefe Hoops were wholly covered with
artificial Flowers of paper, dyed Horn,^ and Silk, and more or lefs
beautiful according to the fkill or ingenuity of the performer. In the
vacancy of the infide from the top hung white paper cut in form of
Gloves, whereon was written the deceafed's name, age, &c., together
with long flips of various coloured paper or ribbons : thefe were many
times intermixed with gilded or painted empty fhells of blown eggs, as
farther ornaments, or it may be as emblems of bubbles, or [the] bit-
ternefs of this life : while other Garlands had only a folitary Hour-glafs
hanging therein, as a more fignificant fymbol of mortality."
There is a paffage in Shakfpeare's " Hamlet," aa v, fc, i :
" Yet here ftie is allow'd her virgin crants,"
upon which Johnfon fays, " I have been informed by an anonymous
correfpondent, that Crants is the German word for Garlands, and I
fuppofe it was retained by us from the Saxons, To carry Garlands
before the bier of a Maiden, and to hang them over her Grave, is ftill
the praaice in rural parifhes." -
In " The Life and lamented Death of Mrs, Sufannah Perwich,"
1661, we have the rites of a virgin lady's funeral minutely defcribed :
¦"The Herfe, covered with velvet, was carried by fix fervant Maidens
of the Family, all in white. The Sheet was held up by fix of thofe
Gentiewomen in the School that had moft acquaintance with her, in
mourning habit, with white Scarfs and Gloves. A rich coftly Garland
ofgumwork adorned with Banners and Scutcheons, was borne imme
diately before the Herfe by two proper young Ladies, that entirely
' " Our Garlands in the Winter, and at P'irgin's Funerals, are they not made of
Horns?" — The Horn exalted, 1661. The Speaker is an Italian,
' Reed's " Shakefp," 1803, vol, xviii. p, 336. " Krans, ^^r/azw. Ifl. & Belg. id.
Germ, krantz. Helvigius natum putat a iwfajvi; ; alii a cranium j Wachterus a C. B,
crthnn, rotundus, quum circular! figura caput ambiat."— Ihre, Glofs. Suio-Goth.
tom. i. p. II 56.
224 Church-yards.
loved her. Her Father and Mother, with other near relations and
their children, followed next the Herfe, in due order, all in mourning:
the kindred next to them, after whom came the whole School of Gentie
women, and then perfons of chief rank from the neighbourhood and
from the City of London, all in white Gloves, both Men, Women,
Children, and Servants, having been firfl ferved with Wine. The
Herfe being fet down (in Hackney Church) with the Garland upon
it the Rev. Dr. Spurftow preached her Funeral Sermon. This done,
the rich Coffin, anointed with fweet odors, was put down into the
Grave in the middle alley of the faid Church," &c. Her father, it
feems, kept a great boarding fchool for young ladies at Hackney.
In the Ely Articles of Enquiry, 1662, p. 7, I read as follows:
" Are any Garlands and other ordinary Funeral Enfigns fuffred to
hang where they hinder the profpeEl, or until they grow foul and dufly,
withered and rotten ?"
Thefe garlands are thus defcribed by Gay :
" To her fweet mem'ry flow'ry Garlands ftrung.
On her now empty feat aloft were hung."
Wax appears to have been ufed in the formation of thefe gariands
from the fubfequent paffage in Hyll's book on Dreams : " A Garlande
of Waxe (to dream of) fignifyeth evill to all perfonnes, but efpeciallye
to the Sicke, for as muche as it is commonly e occupy ed aboute Burialls,"
Gough ' has the following paffage : " The antients ufed to crown
the deceafed with Flowers, in token of the fhortnefs of life ; and the
praaice is ftill retained in fome places in regard to young Women and
Children, The Roman Ritual recommends it in regard of thofe who
die foon after Baptifm, in token of purity and virginity. It ftill ob
tains in Holland and parts of Germany. The primitive Chriftians
buried young Women with flowers, and Martyrs with the inftruments
of their martyrdom. I have feen frefh Flowers put into the Cofiins
of Children and young Girls."
The cuftom of ftrewing flowers upon the graves of departed friends,*
which has been already incidentally noticed, is alfo derived from a
cuftom of the ancient Church. St. Ambrofe has thefe words : " I
will not fprinkle his Grave with Flowers, but pour on his Spirit the
odour of Chrift. Let others fcatter bafkets of Flowers : Chrift is our
Lilly, :md with this I will confecrate his Relicks.'" And St, Jerome
tells us : " Whilft other Hufbands ftrewed Violets, Rofes, Lillies,
and purple Flowers upon the Graves of their Wives, and comforted
' " Sep, Mon," vol, ii. introd. p, 5, " Cum igitur Infans vel, Puer baptlzatus,
defunftus fuerit ante ufum Rationis, induitur juxta aetatem, et imponitur et Corona
de fioribus, feu de herbis aromaticis et odoriferis, in fignum integritatis Carnis et
Firginitatis " " Ordo Baptizandi, &c. pro Anglia, Hibernia, et Scotia," 1626,
p. 97.
* Pennant fays that in North Wales " the people kneel and fay the Loid's
Prayer on the Graves of their dead Friends for fome Sundays after their interment :
and this is done generally upon their firft coming to Church, and, after that, they
drefs the Grave with Flowers. Llanvechan."
' Orat. Funebr. de Obitu Valentin.
Church-yards . 2 2 C
themfelves with fuch like offices, Pammachius bedewed her afties and
venerable bones with the balfam of Alms," ^
Durandus tells us that the ancient Chriftians, after the funeral, ufed
to fcatter flowers on the tomb.^ There is a great deal of learning in
Morefin upon this fubjea,^ It appears from Pliny's " Natural Hif-
tory,"^ from Cicero in his " Oration on Lucius Plancus," and from
Virgil's fixth .(Eneid, that this was a funeral rite among the Hea
thens, They ufed alfo to fcatter them on the unburied corpfe.
Gay defcribes thus the ftrewing of flowers upon the graves :
" Upon her Grave the Rofemary they threw,
The Daify, Butter'd-flow'r, and Endive blue."
He adds the cuftom, ftill ufed in the fouth of England of fencing
the graves writh ofiers, &c. ; and glances at clerical economy, for
which there is oftentimes too much occafion, in the laft two lines :
" With wicker rods we fenced her Tomb around.
To ward from Man and Beaft the haliow'd ground.
Left her new Grave the Parfon's Cattle raze.
For both his Horfe and Cow the Church Yard graze."
[Mr. Brand has here inferted fome notes from "Malkin's Works"
on South Wales," which, though perhaps of no great authority, I
fcarcely like to difturb] : " The Bed on which the Corpfe lies is
always ftrewed with Flowers, and the fame cuftom is obferved after
it is laid in the Coffin, They bury much eariier than we do in
England ; feldom later than the third day, and very frequentiy on the
fecond, " The habit of filling the Bed, the Coffin, and the Room, with
fweet-fcented Flowers, though originating probably in delicacy as well
as affeaion, muft of courfe have a ftrong tendency to expedite the
progrefs of decay. It is an invariable praaice, both by day and night,
to watch a Corpfe ; and fo firm a hold has this fuppofed duty gained
on their imaginations, that probably there is no inftance upon record
of a Family fb unfeeling and abandoned as to leave a dead Body in
the Room by itfelf, for a fingle minute, in the interval between the
fJeath and Burial. Such a violation of decency would be remem
bered for generations.
" The hofpitality of the Country is not lefs remarkable on melan
choly than on joyful occafions. The invitations to a Funeral are
very general and extenfive, and the refrefhments are not light and
taken ftanding, but fubftantial and prolonged. Any deficiency in the
fupply of Ale would be as feverely cenfured on this occafion as at a
Feftival,
' " Epift. ad Pammachium de Obitu Uxoris." ^ Durand. p. 237.
" Papatus," p. 156. This writer obferves, at p. 61 : "Flores et Serta, edufto
Cadavere, certatim injiciebant Athenienfes. Guichard. Lib, II. cap. 3. Funeral.
Retinent Papani morem."
"Scenery, Antiquities, and Biography of South Wales," 1804 (Glamorgan-
226 Church-yards,
" The Grave of the deceafed is conftantly overfpread with plucked
Flowers for a Week or two after the Funeral. The planting of
Graves with Flowers is confined to the Villages and the poorer people.
It is perhaps a prettier cuftom. It is very common to drefs the Graves
on Whitfunday and other Feftivals, when Flowers are to be procured :
and the frequency of this obfervance is a good deal affeaed by the
refpea in which the deceafed was held. My Father-in-law's Grave
in Cowbridge Church has been ftrewed by his furviving Servants,
every Sunday Morning, for thefe twenty years. It is ufual for a
Family not to appear at Church till what is called the Month's end,
when they go in a body, and then are confidered as having returned
to the common offices of life.
" It is a very antient and general praaice in Glamorgan to plant
Flowers on the Graves ; fo that many Church Yards have fomething
like the fplendour of a rich and various parterre. Befides this it is
ufual to ftrew the Graves with Flowers and Ever-greens, within the
Church as well as out of it, thrice at leaft every year, on the fame
principle of delicate refpea as the Stones are whitened.
" No Flowers or Ever-greens are permitted to be planted on Graves
but fuch as are fweet-fcented : the Pink and Polyanthus, Sweet Wil
liams, Gilliflowers, and Carnations, Mignionette, Thyme, Hyffop,
Camomile, and Rofemary, make up the pious decoration of this con
fecrated Garden.
" Turnfoles, Pionies, the African Marigold, the Anemony, and
many others I could mention, though beautiful, are never planted on
Graves, becaufe they are not fweet-fcented. It is to be obferved,
however, that this tender Cuftom is fometimes converted into an
inftrument of fatire ; fo that where perfons have been diftlnguifhed
for their pride, vanity, or any other unpopular quality, the neighbours
whom they may have offended plant thefe alfo by ftealth upon their
Graves. " The white Rofe is always planted on a Virgin's Tomb. The
red Rofe is appropriated to the Grave of any perfon diftlnguifhed for
goodnefs, and efpecially benevolence of charaaer.
" In the Eafter week moft generally the Graves are newly dreffed,
and manured with frefh earth, when fuch Flowers or Ever-greens as
may be wanted or wifhed for are planted. In the Whitfuntide Holi
days, or rather the precediiig week, the Graves are again looked after,
weeded, and otherwife drefled, or if neceffary, planted again. It is a
very common faying of fuch perfons as employ themfelves in thus
planting and dreffing the Graves of their Friends, that they are culti
vating their own freeholds. This work the neareft Relations of the
deceafed always do with their own hands, and never by fervants or
hired perfons. Should a neighbour affift, he or fhe never takes, never
expeas, and indeed is never infulted by the offer of -any reward, by
thofe who are acquainted with the ancient cuftoms.
" The vulgar and illiberal prejudice againft old Maids and old
Bachelors fubfifts among the Welfh in a very difgraceful degree, fo
that their Graves have not unfrequentiy been planted by fome fatirical
Church-yards. 227
neighbours, not only with Rue, but with Thiftles, Netties, Henbane,
and other noxious weeds.
"When a young unmarried perfon dies, his or her ways to the
Grave are alfo ftrewed with fweet Flowers and Ever-greens ; and on
fuch occafions it is the ufual phrafe, that thofe perfons are going to
their nuptial Beds, not to their Graves. There feems to be a remark
able coincidence between thefe people and the antient Greeks, with
refpea to the avoiding of ill-omened words. None ever moleft the
Flowers that grow on Graves ; for it is deemed a kind of facrilege
to do fo. A Relation or Friend will occafionally take a Pink, if it
can be fpared, or a fprig of Thyme, from the Grave of a beloved or
refpeaed perfon, to wear it in remembrance ; but they never take
much, left they fhould deface the growth oq the Grave. This cuftom
prevails principally in the moft retired Villages; and I have been
affured, that in fuch Villages where the right of grazing the Church
Yard has been enforced, the praaice has alienated the affeaions of
very great numbers from the Clergymen and their Churches ; fo that
many have become Diffenters for the Angularly uncommon reafon
that they may bury their Friends in Diffenting Burying-grounds, plant
their Graves with Flowers, and keep them clean and neat, without
any danger of their being cropt.
" The natives of the Principality pride themfelves much on thefe
antient ornaments [the yews] of their Church Yards ; and it is nearly
as general a cuftom in Brecknockfhire, to decorate the Graves of the
deceafed with flips either of Bay or Yew, ftuck in the green turf, for
an emblem of pious remembrance, as it is in Glamorganfhire to pay
a tribute of fimilar import, in the cultivation of fweet-fcented Flowers
on the fame fpot."
Gough 1 fays: "The Tombs were decked with Flowers, particu
larly Rofes and Lilies. The Greeks ufed the Amaranth and the
Polianthus, one fpecies of which refembles the Hyacinth, Parfley,
Myrtie. The Romans added fillets or bandeaux of wool. The pri
mitive Chriftians reprobated thefe as impertinent praaices ; but in
Prudentius's time they had adopted them, and they obtain in a degree
in fome parts of our own country, as the Garland hung up in fome
Village Churches in Cambridgefhire, and other Counties, after the
Funeral of a young Woman, and the inclofure of Rofes round Graves
in the Welch Church Yards, teftify." ^
He adds ^ : " Aubrey takes notice of a cuftom of planting Rofe
Trees on the Graves of Lovers by the furvivors, at Oakley, Surrey,
which may be a remain of Roman manners among us ; it being in
praaice among them and the Greeks to have Rofes yearly ftrewed on
' "Sep. Mon. Introd." vol. ii. p, xviii.
[' " I faw a Beggar put into an open Coffin, with an abundance of Bay leaves,
Rofemary, fweet Bryar, and Floures, who was a drunken rogue, and his wife
worfe, yet ftie cried at the putting of him 'm."— Letter of a Pri'vate Chriflian to the
Lady Confideration, 1655, p, 5.]
^ Gough, p. cciv.
228 Church-yards.
their Graves, as Bifhop Gibfon* remarks from two infcriptions at
Ravenna and Milan. The praaice in Propertius^ of burying the
dead in Rofes is common among our country people ; and to it Ana-
creon feems to allude, in his 53rd Ode, where he fays, po'Joi' nupoK;
Bifhop Gibfon is alfo cited as an authority for this praaice by Strutt.'
[A work* cited by Mr. Brand introduces us to a further parallel
between our own ufages and thofe of the ancients.]
Friar Laurence in " Romeo and Juliet" fays :
" Dry up your tears, and ftick your Rofemary
On this fair Corfe."
Of Paris, the intended hufband of Juliet, who, to all appearance,
died on her wedding-day, it is faid, in the language of Shakfpeare,
" He came with Flowers to ftrew his Ladies Grave," when he pro
voked, and met his fate by the hand of Romeo. Overbury, in his
" Charaaers," defcribing the " faire and happy Milk-maid," fays :
" Thus lives fhe, and all her care is that fhe may die in the Spring
time, to have flore of Flowers flucke upon her Winding-fheet."
[A writer in the "Britifli Apollo" is of opinion that the ufe of
rofemary at funerals proceeded in the firft inftance from its fuppofed
properties as a difinfeaant,^
The cuftom of placing fait on the dead body is faid to be prevalent
in Ireland with a difference. There they place fnuff in the fame
manner, and each of the mourners is expedted to take a pinch."]
Pennant, in his " Tour in Scotland," remarks a fingular Cuftom in
many parts of North Britain, of painting, on the Doors and Window-
fhutters, white tadpole-like figures, on a black ground, defigned to
exprefs the Tears of the Country for the lofs of any perfon of diftinaion.
Nothing feems wanting to render this mode of expreffing forrow com
pletely ridiculous, but the fubjoining of a "N,B. Thefe are Tears,"
I faw a door that led into a Family Vault in Kelfo Churchyard in 1785,
which was painted over in the above manner with very large ones.
' Kirkman " De Funeribus Romanor." p. 498, " Virgil [in Dryden's verfion]
defcribing Anchlfes grieving for Marcellus, makes him fay :
' Full Canlfters of fragrant Lilies bring,
MIx'd with the purple Rofes of the Spring :
Let me with fun'ral Flow'rs his Body ftrow.
This Gift which Parents to their Children owe.
This unavailing Gift, at leaft I may beftow.'
The Graves of Glamorganftiire, decorated with Flowers and Herbs, at once gratify
the Relations of the departed and pleafe the Obferver."
° " Eleg." vol. i, p. 17,
' " Mann, and Cuftoms, Anglo-Saxon Era," vol, i. p, 69. [See alfo Bray's
" Surrey," vol. ii. p. 165. I do not find that the cuftom is at prefent retained. —
Ellis, 1813.]
' " The Female Mentor," 1798, vol. ii, pp. 205-6.
^ 1708, vol. i. No. 73.
229
" IV flNNYNG Days," fays Blount, " from the Saxon Eemynbe,'
WX. Days which our anceftors called their Monthes Mind, their
Years Mind, and the like, being the Days whereon their Souls, (after
their deaths), were had in fpecial remembrance,and fome Office or Ob
fequies faid for them : as Obits, Dirges, &c. This word is ftill retained
in Lancafhire ; but elfewhere they are more commonly called Anni
verfary Days. The common expreffion of ' having a Month's Mind,'
implying a longing defire, is evidentiy derived from hence," ^
The following is in Peck :- " By faying they have a Month's Mind
to it, they antiently muft undoubtedly mean, that, if they had what
they fo much longed for, it would, (hyperbolically fpeaking,) do them
as much good (they thought) as they believed a Month's Mind, or
Service faid once a Month, (could they afford to have it,) would bene
fit their fouls after their deceafe," [But this expreffion, which was
originally fpecial and ftria, being applied to the maffes or other funeral
fervices performed in remembrance of the departed, acquired the
general meaning of a commemoration, as in the cafe of Robert Tofte's
"Alba, or the Month's Mind of a Melancholy Lover," 1598.]
We read in " Fabian's Chronicle " that " In 1439 died Sir Roberde
Chichely, Grocer, and twice Mayor of London, the which wylled in
his Teftament that upon his Mynde Day a good and competent
Dyner fhould be ordayned to xxiiii, C, pore Men, and that of houf
holders of the Citee, yf they myght be founde. And over that was xx
pounde deftributed among them, which- was to every Man two pence,"
Fabyan the hiftorian himfeif, alfo, in his will, gives direaions for
his Month's Mind : " At whiche tyme of burying, and alfo the
Monethis Mynde, I will that myne Executrice doo caufe to be carried
from London ,xii, newe Torches, there beyng redy made, to burn in
the tymes of the faid burying and Monet hes Minde : and alfo that they
do purvay for .iiii. Tapers of .iii, lb, evry pece, to brenne about the
Corps and Herfe for the forefaid .ii. feafons, whiche Torches and
Tapers to be beftowed as hereafter flialbe devifed ; which .iiij. Tapers
I will be holden at every tyme by foure poore men, to the whiche I
will that to everyche of theym be geven for their labours at either of
the faide .ij, tymes .iii].d. to afmany as been weddid men : and if any
of theym happen to be unmarried, than they to have but .iij.^, a pece,
and in lyke maner I will that the Torche berers be orderid," In
another part of his will he fays : " Alfo I will, that if I deceffe at my
tenemente of Halftedis, that myn Executrice doo purvay ayenft my
burying competent brede, ale, and chefe, for all comers to the pariflie
Churche, and ayenft the Moneths Mynde I will be ordeyned, at the
faid Churche, competent brede, ale, pieces of beffe and moton, and
' i.e. the Mind, y. Myndyng Days, Bede, "Hift. Eccl." lib. iv. c. 30, Com-
memorationis Dies.
' "Defiderata Curlofa," vol. i. p. 230.
230 Month' s-Mind.
roft rybbys of beffe, as fhalbe thought nedefull by the difcrecion of
myn Executrice, for all comers to the faid obfequy, over and above
brede, ale, and chefe, for the comers unto the dirige over night. And
furthermore I will that my faid Executrice doo purvay ayenft the faid
Moneths Mynde ,xxiiij, peces of beffe and moton, and .xxiiij. treen
platers and .xxiiij. treen fponys ; the whiche peces of flefhe with the
faid platers and fpoonys, w'- .xxiiij.^. of filuer, I will be geven unto
.xxiiij, poore perfones of the faid parifshe of Theydon Garnon, if w'in
that parifhe fo many may be founde : for lake whereof, I will the
.xxiiij. peces of flefti and .i].s. in money, w' the forefaid platers and
fponys be geven unto fuche poore perfones as may be found in the
parifshes of Theydon at Mount, and Theydon Boys, after the difcre
cion of myn Executors ; and if my faid Monethes Mynde fall in Lent,
or upon a fyfshe day, than I will that the faid .xxiiij. peces of fleflie
be altered unto faltfyche or ftokfyfhe, unwatered, and unfodeyn, and
that every piece of beef or moton, faltfyfhe or ftokfyfh, be well in
value of a peny or a peny at the leeft ; and that noo dyner be purveyed
for at hom but for my houfehold and kynnysfolks : and I will that my
Knyll be rongyn at my Monethes Mynde after the guyfe of London.
Alfo I will that myn Executrice doo affemble upon the faid day of
Moneths Mynde .xii. of the poreft menys childern of the forefaid
parifshe, and after the Maffe is ended and other obferuances, the faid
Childern to be ordered about my Grave, and there knelyng, to fay for
my foule and all Criften foules, ' De profundis,' as many of them as
can, and the refidue to fay a Pater nofter, and an Ave oonly ; to the
which .xij. childern I will be geven .xiij.^. that is to meane, to that
childe that beginneth ' De profundis ' and faith the preces, ij.^. and to
eueryche of the other ].d." ^
" I fhulde fpeake nothing," fays Veron,*^ " in the mean feafon, of
the coftly feaftes and bankettes that are commonly made unto the
prieftes (whiche come to fuche doinges from all partes, as Ravens do
to a deade Carkafe,) in their buryinges, moneths mindes and yeares
myndes." The following is an extraa from the " Will of Thomas Windfor,
Efq.," 1479: " Item, I will that I have brennyng at my Burying and
Funeral Service, four Tapers and twenty-two Torches of wax, every
Taper to conteyn the weight of ten pounds, and every Torch fixteen
pounds, which 1 will that twenty-four very poor Men, and well dif
pofed, fhall hold as well at the tyme of my burying as at my Moneths
Minde. Item, I will that after my Moneths Minde be done, the faid
four Tapers be delivered to the Churchwardens, &c. And that there
be a hundred Children within the age of fixteen years to be at my
Moneths Minde, to fay for my foul. That againft my Moneths
Minde, the Candles bren before the rude in the Parifh Church. Alfo
that at my Moneths Minde my Executors provide twenty Priefts to
finge Placebo, Dirige, &c." ¦
' Fabyan's " Chron," new edit. Pref, pp, ^
' " Hunting of Purgatory," 1561, fol, 36.
' See "Gent. Mag, for 1793," vol. Ixiii, p.
Pref, pp, 4-6, 1191.
Funeral Rings. 231
[Some of thefe month's minds appear to have been conduaed with
great folemnity and at very confiderable coft, Anne Barneys, in a
letter to Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal, about 1536, fpeaks of one where
there were as many as a hundred priefts in attendance.]
In the " Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Mary at Hill, London,
17 & 19 Edw, IV.," are the following articles :
" P"* to Sir I. Philips for keepyng the Morrow Mafs at 6 o'clock
upon feryall days, each quarter v..f."
" To the Par. Prieft to remember in the pulpit the foul of R. Bliet,
who gave v'ys. vajd, to the Church works, ij.^."
In the " Accounts of St. Margaret, Weftminfter," we read :
" Item, at the Monyth Mynde of Lady Elizabeth Countefs of Ox
ford, for four Tapers, viij*^."
Under the year 153 1, is,
" Item, for mette for the theff that ftalle the Pyx. iii]d,"
And, in IJ32 :
" Item,'receJved for iiii. Torches of the black Guard, viij^."
On thefe occafions the word "Mind" fignified Remembrance:
and the expreffion a " Month's Mind," a " Year's Mind," &c. meant
that on that Day, Month, or Year after rtie party '.s deceafe, fome
folemn fervice for the good of his foul fhould be celebrated.
"In Ireland," writes Sir Henry Piers, 1682,^ " after the day of in
terment of a great perfonage, they count four weeks ; and that day
four weeks, all Priefts and Friars, and all Gentry, far and near, are
invited to a great Feaft (ufually termed the Month's Mind) ; the
preparation to this Feaft are Maffes, faid in all parts of the Houfe at
once, for the Soul of the departed ; if the Room be large, you fhall
have three or four Priefts together celebrating in the feveral corners
thereof; the Maffes done, they proceed to their Feaftings ; and after
all, every Prieft and Friar is difcharged with his largefs."
[Perhaps this fubjea ought not to be difmiffed without a paffing
reference to the rather revolting praaice of deftroying the remains of
executed convias by means of quick lime, partly no doubt in confe
quence of the law, which direas that fuch perfons fhall be buried
within the precinas of the gaol at which the execution occurred. It
is well known, that the body of Ritfon the antiquary, by his own ex
prefs defire, underwent this barbarous form of combuftion, which all
the ingenuity of the author of " Urn-Burial " could not reconcile
with Chriftian ideas,]
[funeral iatngsf*
THE praftice of offering rings at funerals is referred to or rather is
introduced as an incident in Sir Amadas. The fame romance
affords one of the eariieft Englifli examples, perhaps, on record, and
' " Defer, of Weft Meath," apud Vallancey, Colleft. vol, i. p. 126.
232 Bowing towards the Altar.
probably the only one in romantic fiaion, of the body of a dead man
being feized for debt, and not being releafed for interment, till the
means of redemption were found.
Anne of Cleves, who furvived Henry VIII. feveral years, left by
her will very numerous bequefts, and among them we meet with
feveral mourning-rings of various value to be diftributed among her
friends and dependants.
By the will of Lady Anne Drury, of Hardwicke, Suffolk, who died
in 1 62 1, in the poffeffion of confiderable property, rings were to be
given to all her brothers' wives, to her brothers themfelves, to her
two brothers-in-law, and to fuch of her friends as the executors thought
fit. This lady was the fifter of Sir Edmund Bacon, Knt.,of the
Suffolk family of that name.
Mr. Wright, in "Mifcellanea Graphica," 1857, defcribes a gold
enamelled mourning ring, " formed of two fkeletons, who fupport a
fmall farcophagus. The fkeletons are covered with white enamel,
and the lid of the farcophagus is alfo enamelled, and has a Maltefe
crofs in red on a black ground ftudded with gilt hearts, and when
removed difplays another fkeleton."]
BotDing totoarDs tfte :^ltar or Com-'
munion Cable on aBntenng: t&e C&urc&.
THIS cuftom, which was prevalent when Bourne wrote,' he de
duces from the ancient praaice of the Church of worfhipping to
wards the eaft.2 This, fays he, they did, that by fo worfhipping they
might lift up their minds to God, who is called the Light, and theCreator
of Light, therefore turning, fays St. Auftin,^ our faces to the eaft, from
whence the day fprings, that we might be reminded of turning to a
more excellent nature, namely the l^ord. As alfo, that as man was
driven out of Paradife, which is towards the eaft, he ought to look
that way, which is an emblem of his defire to return thither. St.
Damafcen^ therefore tells us that becaufe the Scripture fays that God
planted Paradife in Eden towards the eaft, where he placed the man
which he had formed, whom he punifhed u ith banifhment upon his
tranfgreffion, and made him dwell over againft Paradife in the weftern
part, we therefore pray (fays he) being in queft of our ancient country,
and, as it were, panting after it, do worfhip God that way. Comber
' " Antiq. Vulgares," chap. v.
^ " The maner of turnyng our faces Into the Eafte when wee praie, is taken of
the old Ethnikes, whiche as Apuleius remembreth, ufed to loke Eaftwarde and
falute the Sonne : we take it in a Cuftom to put us in remembraunce that Chrifte
is the fonne of Righteoufnes, that difclofeth all Secretes."— Langley's "Polydore
Virgil," fol. 100, 'verfo,
^ " De Sermone Domini In Mont." lib. ii. cap. 5.
* Lib. il'. c. 14. Orthod. Fid.
Bowing towards the Altar. 233
fays, " fome antient authors tell us that the old Inhabitants of Attica
buried thus before the Days of Solon, who, as they report, convinced
the Athenians that the Ifland of Salamis did of right belong to them
by fhewing them dead bodies looking that way, and Sepulchres turned
towards the Eaft, as they ufed to bury."" And the Scholiaft upon
Thucydides fays, it was the manner of all the Greeks to bury their
dead thus. Again, it was ufed when they were baptized : they firft
turned their faces to the weft, and fo renounced the Devil, and then
to the eaft, and made their covenant with Chrift. Laftly, thofe of
the ancient Church prayed that way, believing that our Saviour would
come to Judgment from that quarter of the Heavens, St. Damafcen
afferting that when he afcended into Heaven, he was taken up eaft-
ward, and that his Difciples worfhipped him that way ; and therefore
chiefly it was, that in the ancient Church they prayed with their faces
to the eaft.
Hence it is that at this day many perfons turn their faces to that
quarter of the world at the repetition of the Creed. But what fpeaks
it to have been the univerfal opinion of the Church, is the ancient
cuftom of burying corpfes with the feet to the eaft and head to the
weft, continued to this day by the Church of England. Gregory tells
us, that the holy men of Jerufalem held a tradition generally received
from the ancients that our Saviour himfeif was buried with his face
and feet towards the eaft. Bourne quotes Bede^ as his authority for
faying, " that as the holy Women entered at the Eaftern part into
the circular Houfe hewn out in the Rock, they faw the Angel fitting
at the South part of the place, where the body of Jefus had lain, /, e.
at his right hand : for undoubtedly his Body, having its face upwards
and the head to the Weft, muft have its right hand to the South,"
I find the following in " A Light fhining out of Darknes, or Occa-
fional Queries," 1659, P- -^^ '• " This reafon likewife the Common
people give for their being buryed with their feet towards the Eaft,
fo that they may be in a fitter pofture to meet the Sun of Righteouf-
nefs when he fhall appear with healing in his wings, viz, at the Refur
reaion." The fubfequent remark is found at p. 30, " Whether it be
not a pretty foundation for the Oxford Doaors to ftand booted and
fpurred in the Act ? becaufe there is mention made in the Scripture
oi'^emgfhod with the preparation of the Gofpel?" " 'Tis in the main
allowed," fays Selden, " that the Heathens did, in general, look to
wards the Eaft, when they prayed, even from the earlieft Ages of the
World," 3
In this enlightened age it is almoft fuperfluous to obferve that bow
ing towards the altar is a veftige of the ancient Ceremonial Law,
One* who has left a fevere fatire on the retainers of thofe forms
and ceremonies that lean towards popifh fuperftition, tells us: "Ifl
¦' Dlog. Laert. " Vlt. Solon," &c, ' " In Die Sanft, Pafchas," tom. vii.
' See Afplln's " Alkibla ; a Difquifitlon upon worftiipping towards the Eaft,"
T728-31, quoted by Ellis.
' Hickeringill's " Ceremony Monger," p. 15.
234 Bowing towards the Altar.
were a Papift or Anthropo-morphite, who believes that God is en
throned in the Eaft like a grave old King, I profefs I would bow ane
cringe as well as any limber-ham of them all, and pay my adoratior
to that point of the Compafs (the Eaft) : but if men believe that tht
Holy One who inhabits Eternity, is alfo omniprefent, why do noi
they make correfpondent Ceremonies of adoration to every point ol
the Compafs ?"
Conceffioii muft be made by every advocate for manly and rational
worfhip, that there is nothing more in the Eaft,' than in the belfry at
the Weft end, or in the body of the Church, We wonder, therefore,
however this cuftom was retained by Proteftants, The cringes and
bowings of the Roman Catholics to the altar is in adoration of the
corporal prefence, their wafer God, whom their fancies have feated
and enthroned in this quarter of the Eaft.
Mede tells us, that what reverential guife, ceremony, or worfhip
they ufed at their ingrefs into churches, in the ages next to the apoftles
(and fome he believes they did) is wholly buried in filence and oblivion.
The Jews ufed to bow themfelves towards the mercy-feat. The
Chriftians, after them, in the Greek and Oriental churches, have,
time out of mind, and without any known beginning, ufed to bow in
Hke manner. They do it at this day.
Among the charges brought by Peter Smart, in 1628, againft Bifliop
Cofens are the following :
" Fifthly. He hath brought in a new Cuftome of bowing the Body
downe to the ground before the Altar (on which he hath fet Candle-
fticks, Bafons, and Croffes, Crucifixes, and Tapers which ftand there
for a dumbe fhew) : hee hath taught and enjoyned all fuch as come
neere the Altar to cringe and bow unto it : he hath commanded the
Chorefters to make low leggs unto it, when they goe to light the
Tapers that are on it in the Winter nights ; and in their returne from
it, hee hath enjoined them to make low leggs unto it againe, going
backewards with their faces towards the Eaft, till they are out of the
Inclofure where they ufually ftand.
"Sixthly. Hee enjoynes all them that come to the Catbedrall
Church to pray with their Faces towards the Eaft, fcoulding and
brawling with them, even in time of divine Service, which refufe to
doe it, and bidding them either to pray towards the Eaft, or to be
packing out of the Church, fo devoted is hee to this Eafterne Super
ftition." In the " Lincoln Articles of Enquiry," 1641, the following occurs:
" Do you know of any Parfon, Vicar, or Curate that hath introduced
any offenfive Rites or Ceremonies into the Church, not eftabliflied by
the Lawes of the Land ; as namely, that make three Courtefies towards
the Communion Table, that call the faid Table an Altar, that enjoyne
the people at their comming into the Church to bow towards the Eafl,
or towards the Communion-Table ? "
Durandi "Rationale," p. 226.
Bowing towards the Altar. 235
We are informed by Crofton' that "The late Archbishop Laud
was the firfl that ever framed a Canon for bowing to, towards, or before
the Communion Table." This flirewd writer adds : " For which,
Reafon will require fome Symbol of divine Nature and Prefence.
Its being an holy Inftrument of divine Service, being of no more
force for the Altar, than for the Tongs, or Snuffers of the Taber
nacle, or Aaron's Breeches under the Law, or for Surplices, Organs,
Chalices, Patens, and Canonical Coates and Girdles, which are made
Inftruments of Holy Service, by our Altar- Adorers ; and if on that
reafon they muft be bowed unto, we fhall abound in cringing not only
in every Church, but in every Street. On Maundy Thurfday, 1636,
Mrs. Charnock, &c. went to fee the King's Chapel, where they faw
an Altar, with Tapers and other Furniture on it, and a Crucifix over
it : and prefentiy came Dr, Brown one of his Majefties Chaplaines,
and his Curate, into the Chappel, and turning themfelves towards the
Altar, bowed three times ; and then performing fome private devotion
departed : and immediately came two feminarie Priefts and did as the
Doaor and his Curate had done before them."
[Mr. Brand tells us that he obferved this praaice in College Chapels
at Oxford. But, in 1813, Sir H. Ellis remarks:] "The praaice of
bowing to the Altar, the Editor believes, is now entirely left off at
Oxford. That of turning to it at the repetition of the Creed is
pretty generally retained : and certainly has its ufe, in contributing
very often to recall the wandering thoughts of thofe who attend the
Chapel Service."
An old writer,^ fpeaking of a proud woman, fays : " Shee likes
ftanding at the Creed, not becaufe the Church commands it, but be-
. caufe her gay Cloathes are more fpeaable," And in a traa^ by
T[homas] F[ord,] is the following: ".Like that notorious Pick
pocket, that whilfl (according to the Cuftome) every one held up their
hands at rehearflng the Creed, he by a device had a falfe Hand, which
he held up like the reft, whilft his true one was fafe in other mens
pockets." The author of a curious littie old work writes,* that " It is a
Cuftom in Poland, that when in the Churches the Gofpel is reading,
the Nobility and Gentry of that Country draw out their Swords, to
fignify that they are ready to defend the fame, if any dare oppugn it.
The fame Reafon queftionlefs gave beginning to our Cuftom of ftand
ing up at the Creed, whereby we exprefs how prepared and refolute
we are to maintain it, although in the late times of Rebellion, fome
tender Confciences, holding it to be a Relique of ?opery, being more
nice than wife, did undifcreetly refufe the fame,"
' " Altar- Worftiip, or Bowing to the Communion Table confidered," 1661,
pp. 60, 116,
" Browne's " Map of the MIcrocofme," 1642, fign. H 2.
' "The Times Anatomized in feverall Charafters," by Thomas Ford, 1647,
fign, c 4 'verfo.
' "A New Help to Difcourfe," 3rd edit. 1684, p. 36.
236 Bowing towards the Altar.
[In a Compendious Bulk of Godly Sanges, &c., printed before
1578, is] the following paffage, which has been intended, no doubt,
as an argument againft tranfubftantiation :
[" Glue God be tranfubflantiall
In breid with Hoc eft corpus meum,
Quhy war ^e fa vnnaturall
As tak him in jour teith, and fla him ?"]
In Heath's " Epigrammes," 1610, I find the following:
" In Tranfubftantiatores.
The Cannibals eate Men with greedlneflfe ;
And Tranfubftantiators do no lefle :
No lefle ? Nay more ; and that farre more by ods ;
Thofe eat Man's flelh, thefe ravine upon Gods,"
Thus hath fuperftition made the moft awful myfteries of our faith
the fubjeas of ridicule,
Morefin' tells us, that altars in Papal Rome were placed towards
the eaft, in imitation of ancient and heathen Rome, Thus we read
in Virgil's Eleventh j^lneid :
" Illi ad furgentem converfi lumina Solem
Dant fruges manlbus falfas,"
An early, but unknown authority,^ reprobates a cuftom then preva
lent for the audience to fit in churches with their hats on, " Thine
own Children [the writer fays] even glory in their Shame, when not
as Mafters, but as Scholars, not as Teachers, but as Difciples, they fit
covered at their 'mofl folemn holy Meetings, without difference of place,
degree, age, feafon, or of any perfonal relation whatfoever. Although
we have known fome, and thofe not a few, who have prefumed to fit
covered in the prefence of God at fuch a time as this ; but when a
great perfon hath come into the Affembly, have honoured him with the
uncovering of the head, as though civill refpea towards a mortall prince
were to be expreffed by more evident figns of fubmiffion from the
outward man than religious worfhip towards the immortal God."
He tells us, however, that they were uncovered when they fang the
Pfalms,^ " When the Minifter prayeth or praifeth God in the Words
of the Pfalmift, as he frequently doth ; at which time every one
almoft is vailed, who, notwithftanding, prefently condemn themfelves
in this very thing which they allow, forafmuch as they all uncover
the head when the fame Pfalmes are fung by them, only changed into
Meeter, and that perchance for the worfe," Our author concludes
this head with obferving, properly enough, that " we cannot imagine
' " Papatus," p. 117. [Mr. Brand rather Inconfiderately introduced here a long
extraft from this work, almoft exclufively Illuftrative of foreign or claffical ufages
and opinions.]
' "England's Faithful Reprover and Monitour," 1653, pp. 48, 50.
' So, in "A Charafter of England," 1659, p. 13 ; "I have beheld a whole
Congregation fitting on their * * * » 'with their hats on, at the reading of the
Pfalms, and yet bare headed 'when they fing them."
Bowing towards the Altar. 237
leffe, than that this covering of the head in the Congregation, where
Infirmity or Sicknefs doth not plead for it, tendeth to the difhonour of
Jefus Chrift, whofe Servants we profefs ourfelves to be, efpecially at
this Time, and to the contempt of his Meffenger reprefenting the
Oflice and Perfon of Chrift before our Eyes."'
The cuftom of rufties in marking the outiines of their fhoes on
the tops of their church fteeples, and engraving their names in the
areas has been by Mr. Smart in his poem on " The Hop-Garden "
very fenfibly referred to motives of vanity ,2 As is the following, in
the fubfequent lines, to the pride of office :
" With pride of Heart the Churchwarden furveys
High o'er the Belfry, girt with Birds and Flow'rs,
His ftory wrote In capitals: "Twas I
That bought the Font ; and I repair'd the Pews.' "
Hutton, fpeaiking of St, Bartholomew's Chapel, Birmingham, ob
ferves : " The Chancel hath this fingular difference from others, that
it veres toward the North, Whether the Projeaor committed an
error I leave to the Critics. It was the general praaice of the pagan
Church to fix their Altar, upon which they facrificed, in the Eaft,
towards the rifing Sun, the objea of worfhip. The Chriftian Church,
in the time of the Romans, immediately fucceeded the Pagan, and
fcrupuloufly adopted the fame method ; which has been ftriaiy
adhered to,"''
Gilbert White* fays, in fpeaking of his church : " I have all along
talked of the Eaft and Weft end, as if the Chancel ftood exaaiy true
to thofe points of the Compafs ; but this is by no means the cafe, for
the fabrick bears fo much to the North of the Eaft, that the four
corners of the Tower, and not the four fides, ftand to the four Car
dinal points. The beft method of accounting for this deviation
feems to be, that the workmen, who probably were employed in
the longeft Davs, endeavoured to fet the Chancels to the rifing of
the Sun,"
[' There is a cuftom at Tenterden, in Kent, a borough-town, of which I
fcarcely know the origin, but which, I underftand. Is obferved every Sunday.
Two men, one carrying a gold mace, the other a filver one, and both quaintly
attired in the old ftyle, precede the Mayor of Tenterden into church, efcort his
worftiip to his pew, and at the conclufion of the fervice, repeat the ceremony by
condufting him back to his carriage. It may not be Improper to add, that In the
parifli of St. Stephen, Hacklngton, in the fame county, It was formerly ufual for
every perfon to pay twopence to the minifter as an offering at the Communion,
and a penny towards the purchafe of wine for the Sacrament.]
^ Book ii. 1, 165.
' "Hiftory of Birmingham,'' p. 113.
* " Hiftory of Selborne," p. 323.
238
r T T is well known that before the prefent principles of horology
X were eftablifhed, a clock was nothing more than a piece of
ftriking. machinery, moved firft by hydraulic preffure, and afterwards
by the aaion of a bell. Hence in German, Anglo-Saxon, French, and
other languages, the fame word ftood, and ftill ftands, for a bell and for
a clock,]' The ancients had fome fort of bells. I find the word " Tintinna-
bula," which we ufually render bells, in Martial, Juvenal, and Sue
tonius. The Romans appear to have been fummoned by thefe, of
whatever fize or form they were, to their hot baths, and to the bufi
nefs of public places.^
Durandus would have thought it a proftitution of the facred uten
fils, had he heard them rung, as I have often done, with the greateft
impropriety, on winning a long main at cock-fighting. He would,
perhaps, have talked in another ftrain, and have reprefented thefe
aerial enemies as lending their affiftance to ring them.*
On the ringing of bells to drive away fpirits, much may be col
leaed from Magius "de Tintinnabulis."*
The fmall bells which are feen in ancient reprefentations of her
mitages were moft probably intended to drive away evil fpirits. St.
Anthony ftood in particular need of fuch affiftance.
The large kind of bells, now ufed in churches, are faid to have
been invented by Paulinus, Bifhop of Nola, in Campania, whence the
Campana of the lower Latinity, about the 400th year of the Chriftian
aera. Two hundred years afterwards they appear to have been in
general ufe in churches, Mr. Bingham, however, thinks this a
vulgar error ;° [and at the fame time he] informs us of an invention
before bells for convening religious affemblies in monafteries : it was
[' Hazlitt's " Venetian Hiftory," i860, vol. iv. p. 344 6.]
^ See fome curious particulars upon the fubjeft of bells in Spelman 's " Hiftory
of Sacrilege," p. 284, etfeg. I find the following monklfli rhymes on bells in
"A Helpe to Difcourfe," edit. 1633, p, 63 :
" En ego Campana, nunquam denuntio vana,
Laudo Deum verum, Plebem voco, congrego Clerum,
Defunftos plango, vivos voco, fulmina frango.
Vox mea, vox vitas, voco vos ad facra venite.
Sanftos coUaudo, tonitrua fugo, funera claudo,
Funera plango, fulgura frango, Sabbatha pango :
Exclto lentos, diffipo ventos, paco cruentos."
_ There were no clocks in England in King Alfred's time. He is faid to have
meajjured his time by wax candles, marked with circular lines to diftinguifli the
hour. ' "Statift. Ace. of Scot." vol. X. p. 511.
* See Swinburne's " Travels in the Two Sicilies," vol. i. p. 98,
* "Antiq, of the Chriftian Church," vol, i. p, 316,
Bells. 239
going by turns to every one's cell, and with the knock of a ham
mer calling the monks to church. This inftrument was called the
Night Signal and the Wakening Mallet, In many of the colleges at
Oxford, the Bible-clerk knocks at every room door with a key to waken
the ftudents in the morning, before he begins to ring the chapel bell,
A veftige, it fhould feem, of the ancient monaftic cuftom.
The Jews ufed trumpets for bells. The Turks do not permit the
ufe of them at all : the Greek church under their dominion ftill fol
lows their old cuftom of ufing wooden boards, or iron plates full of
holes, which they hold in their hands and knock with a hammer or
mallet, to call the people together to church,' China has been re
markably famous for its bells. Father Le Comte tells us, that at
Pekin there are feven bells, each of which weighs one hundred and
twenty thoufand pounds.
Baronius*^ informs us that Pope John XIII,, in 968, confecrated a
very large new eaft bell in the Lateran Church, and gave it the name
of John. This is the firft inftance I meet with of what has been
fince called " the baptizing of bells," a fuperftition which the reader
may find ridiculed in the " Beehiue of the Romifh Church," 1579,
The veftiges of this cuftom may be°yet traced in England, in Tom oi
Lincoln, and Great Tom at Chrift-Church in Oxford,
[" The following ceremonies," obferves Mr, Tanfwell, " were
formerly ufed at the baptifm of bells : — i, the bell muft be firft bap
tized before it may be hung in the fteeple ; 2, the bell muft be
baptized by a bifhop or his deputy ; 3, in the baptifm of the bell there
is ufed holy water, oil, fait, cream, &c. ; 4, the bell muft have god
fathers, and they muft be perfons of high rank ; 5, the bell muft be
wafhed by the hand of a bifhop ; 6, the bell muft be folemnly croffed
by the bifhop ; 7, the bell muft be anointed by the bifhop ; 8, the
bell muft be wafhed and anointed in the name of the Trinity ; 9, at
the baptifm of the bell they pray literally for the bell. The following
is part of the curious prayers ufed at the above ceremony :
"'Lord, grant that whatfoever this holy bell, thus wafhed and baptized
and bleffed, fhall found, all deceits of Satan, all danger of whirlwind,
thunder, and lightning, and tempefts, may be drfven away, and that
devotion may increafe in Chriftian men when they hear it. O Lord,
pour upon it thy heavenly bleffing, that when it founds in thy people's
ears they may adore thee ; may their faith and devotion increafe ; the
devil be afraid and tremble, and fly at the found of it. O Lord,
fanaion it by thy Holy Spirit, that the fiery darts of the devil may be
made to fly backwards at the found thereof, that it may deliver us
from the danger of wind, thunder, &c., and grant. Lord, that all that
come to the church at the found of it may be free from all tempta
tions of the devil.' "^]
' See Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church. He vvas an eye-witnefs of
this remarkable cuftom, which Durandus tells us was retained in the Romifti
church on the three laft days of the week preceding Eafter, — Rationale, ubi fuprd,
^ Baronii " Annal," a.d. 968, p. 871.
[' "Hiftory of Lambeth," 1858, p. 105.]
240 Bells.
In the Churchwardens' Accounts of St, Laurence's Parifh, Read
ing, anno 14 Hen, VlL' is the following article: "It, payed for
halowing of the Bell named Harry, v]s. y'nfd. and ovir that Sir Willm
Symys, Richard Clech, and Maiftres Smyth, beyng Godfaders and
Godmoder at the Confecracyon of the fame Bell, and beryng all oth'
cofts to the Suffrygan."
Pennant, fpeaking of St. Wenefride's Well, (in Flintfhire,) fays :
" A Bell belonging to the Church was alfo chriftened in honour of
her, I cannot learn the names of the Goffips, who, as ufual, were
doubtlefs rich perfons. On the Ceremony they all laid hold of the
Rope ; beftowed a name on the Bell ; and the Prieft, fprinkling it
with holy water, baptized it in the name of the Father, &c, &c ; he
then cloathed it with a fine garment. After this the Goffips gave a
grand feaft, and made great prefents, which the Prieft received in
behalf of the Bell, Thus bleffed it was endowed with great powers ;
allayed (on being rung) all ftorms ; diverted the Thunder-bolt ; drove
away evil Spirits, Thefe confecrated Bells were always infcribed."^
Egelrick, Abbot of Croyland, about the time of King Edgar, eaft a
ring of fix bells, to all which he gave names, as Bartholomew, Beth-
helm, Turketul, &c. The Hiftorian tells us his predeceffor Turketul
had led the way in this fancy ,^
The cuftom of rejoicing with bells on high feftivals, Chriftmas
Day, &c, is derived to us from the times of popery,* The ringing
of bells on the arrival of emperors, bifhops, abbots, &c, at places under
their own jurifdiaion was alfo an old cuftom.* Whence we feem to
have derived the modern compliment of welcoming perfons of confe
quence by a cheerful peal,
Hering^advifes that "the Bells in Cities and Townes be rung
often, and the great Ordnance difcharged ; thereby the aire is purified,"
[Ringing the bells backwards was anciently a praaice to which the
authorities of towns, &c. reforted as a fign of diftrefs, or as an alarm to
the people.'^ The cuftom has efcaped the notice of our popular anti
quaries, Cleveland, in his " Poems," 1669, employs the term meta-
' Coates' "Hift. of Reading," p. 214.
- The infcription on that in queftion ran thus :
" Sanfta Wenefreda, Deo hoc commendare memento,
Ut pietate fua nos fervet ab hofte craento."
And a little lower was another addrefs,
" Protege prece pia quos convoco, Virgo Maria."
' " Hiftoria Ingulphi : Rerum Anglicar, Script. Vet." tom. i. fol. 1684, p. 53.
* Collier's " Ecclefiaftical Hiftory," vol. i. p, 198. Durandus tells us, "In feftis
quae ad gratiam pertinent, Campanae tumultuofius tinnlunt et prolixius concrepant."
— Rationale, llb.i. cap. 4, p, 12.
= " Mon. Ang," tom. iii. p. 164; Matth. Paris, an. 1245, p, 463, &c.
« " Certaine Rules, Direftions, or Advertifments for this Time of peftilentiall
Contagion," 1625.
[' " Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of England," vol. ii. p. 153, note]
Bells, 241
phorically. It was alfo the ufage in fome diftrias of Italy, and in other
parts of the Continent, to ring the churchbells backward, when a fire
broke out, in order to fummon affiftance, as every one on fuch an oc
cafion was formerly, and is indeed ftill in many places (particulariy in
Switzerland) bound to lend his aid. That the praaice is of confider
able antiquity may be inferred from the faa that it is mentioned in the
"Gefta Romanorum,"' and in the old ballad-poem of " Adam Bel,
Clym of the Clough," &c. when the outlaws came to Carlifle to releafe
Cloudefley, it is faid :
" There was many an oute home in Carlyll blowen.
And the belles bace'warde did they ringe.""]
At Newcaftle-upon-Tyne, the tolling of the great bell of St. Ni
cholas' Church there has been from ancient times a fignal for the
burgeffes to convene on guild-days, or on the days of ekaing ma
glftrates. It begins at nine o'clock in the morning, and with little or no inter-
miffion continues to toll till three o'clock, when they begin to elea
the mayor, &c. Its beginning fo early was doubtiefs intended to call
together the feveral companies to their refpeaive meeting-houfes, in
order to choofe the former and latter ekaors, &c. A popular notion
prevails that it is for the old mayor's dying, as they call his going out of
ofiice : the tolling as it were of his paffing bell.
Ruffhead,^ fpeaking of the folc-mote comitatus, or fhire-mote, and
the folc-mote civitatis, vel burgi, or burg-mote, fays : " Befides thefe
annual Meetings, if any fudden contingency happened, it was the duty
of the Aldermen of Cities and Boroughs to ring the Bell called in
Englifli Mot-bell, in order to bring together the people to the Burg-
mote," &c, [The mot-bell is mentioned in the laws of Edward the
Confeffor,] [In the Churchwardens' Account of Waltham,' 34 Hen. VIII. there
is this :] " Item, paid for the ringing at the Prince his coming, a
Penny." In fimilar accounts for St. Laurence's Parifh, Reading, is the
following article under 15 14, " It, payd for a Galon of Ale, for the
Ryngers, at the death of the Kyng of Scots, ij^,"*
[Du Cange quotes an authority" to fhow that in the time of
Charies IV, of France, 1378, the ringing of bells was recognized as a
royal falutation, and Kennett^ feems to eftablifh that in this country it
ufed, in the fifteenth century at leaft, to be looked upon as an affront
to a bifliop if the bells were not fet in motion on his approach to any
town within his diocefe.
[' Old Englifti verfions of the "Gefta Romanorum," ed. Madden, No. 18.]
° Preface to the " Statutes at Large," See [Tomllne's Law Dift. 'v. Mote-
Bell (edit. 1835).]
' Fuller's " Hiftory of Waltham Abbey," a. d, 1542.
* Coates's " Hift, of Reading," p, 218.
P Continuator Nangii, An. 1378, cited in " Glofs." utfupra.]
P Kennett MS. a.d. 1444, Keg, Alnewic. Epifc Line, quoted by Ellis.]
II. R
242 Bells.
Mr. Tanfwell' has furnifhed the following extraas from the
Churchwardens' Books of Lambeth :
" 1579. Payd for making the great clapper to a fmithe in White
Chapel, it waying xxxi. lb. et dim. at vid. the pounde,
15^. (jd.
1598. Item, the olde great belle that was broken in the time of Roger
Wynflo, Rychard Sharpe, and John Lucas, churchwardens,
in 1598, did contain in weighte xiiii. cwt. one quarter, and
xxii. lb.
1623. Payd for ryngynge when the Prince came from Spayne, 12s.
1630. June 27. — To the ryngers the day the Prince was baptized, y,
1633. oaober 15. — Payd for ryngynge on the Duke's birthday, "js,
1705. Ap. 10. — Gave the ringers when the fiege of Gibraltar was
raifed, 15^."]
The little carnival on Pancake Tuefday commences by the fame
fignal. A bell, ufually called the thief and reever ^ bell, proclaims the
two annual fairs of Newcaftle. A bell is rung at fix every morning,
except Sundays and holidays, with a view, it fhould feem, of calling up
the artizans to their daily employment. The inhabitants retain alfo a
veftige of the old Norman curfew at eight in the evening.
Pefhall^ fays : "The Cuftom of ringing the [Curfew] Bell at Carfax
ievery night at eight o'clock, was by order of King Alfred, the reftorer
of our Univerfity, who ordained that all the inhabitants of Oxford
ftiould, at the ringing of that Bell, cover up their fires and go to bed,
which Cuftom is obferved to this day, and the Bell as conftantly rings
at eight as Great Tom tolls at nine. It is alfo a Cuftom, added to the
former, after the ringing and tolling this Bell, to let the Inhabitants
know the day of the Month by fo many Tolls." [A fimilar praaice
prevailed in parts of North Wales till very recentiy.]
The curfew is commonly believed to have been of Norman origin.
A law was made by William the Conqueror that all people fhould put
out their fires and lights at the eight o'clock bell, and go to bed.^ The
praaice of this cuftom, we are told, to its full extent, was obferved
during that and the following reign only, Thomfon has inimitably
defcribed its tyranny.
In the fecond mayoralty of Sir Henry Colet, Knt, (father of Dean
Colet,) A, D, 1495, and under his direaion, the folemn charge was
given to the queft of wardmote in every ward, as it ftands printed
in the Cuftumary of London : " Alfo yf ther be anye paryfhe Clerke
that ryngeth Curfewe after the Curfewe be ronge at Bowe Chyrche, or
Saint Brydes Churche, or Saint Gyles without Cripelgat, all fuche to
be prefented,"^
In the Faverfliam Articles, 22 Hen, VIII.« we read : " Imprimis,
the Sexton, or his fufficient deputy, fhall lye in the Church-fteeple ;
[' "Hift. of Lambeth," 1858, p. 108.]
^ Reever, or reaver, i.e. bereaver, fpoiler. ' " Hift. of Oxford," p, 177-
' See Stow's "Survey," 1754, b. I. c. 15.
* Knight's " Life of Dean Colet," p. 6,
* Preferved in Jacob's Hiftory of that town, p, 172.
Bells. 243
and at eight o'clock every night fhall ring the Curfewe by the fpace of
a quarter of an hour, with fuch Bell as of old time hath been accuf
tomed." The following is an extraa from the Churchwardens' and Cham
berlain's Accounts of Kingfton-upon-Thames : " 1651. For ringing
the Curfew Bell for one Year, £1 10 0."'
[From "A C, Mery Talys," 1526, we fee that, in the time of
Henry VIII, it was the duty of the fexton to ring the curfew-bell.
When the laft edition of Brand's work appeared (1848), the curfew
was ftill rung at Haftings from Michaelmas till Lady-day ; but the
bell-ringing, which may be heard in London and elfewhere is as often
as not affignable to teftamentary cuftoms and bequefts. By the will
of a mercer of London, named Donne, depofited in the Huftings
Court, the tenor bell of Bow Church, Cheapfide, ufed long to be rung
every day at fix o'clock in the morning and eight in the evening.]
I find, however, in " The Merry Devil of Edmonton," 1608, that
the curfew was fometimes rung at nine o'clock ; thus the fexton fays :
" Well, 'tis nine a'clocke, 'tis time to ring Curfew."
Shakefpeare, in " King Lear," aa iii, fc. 4, has fixed the curfew at
a different time :
Edgar, " This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet : He begins at Curfew, and
walks to the firft Cock,"^
Bridges,' fpeaking of Byfield church, tells us : " A Bell is rung here
at four in the morning, and at eight in the evening, for which the
Clerk hath 2Qs. yearly, paid him by the Reaor," Hutchins,* fpeak
ing of Mapouder Church, mentions land given " to find a Man to
ring the Morning and Curfeu Bell throughout the year," Alfo,
under Ibberton, is mentioned one acre given for ringing the eight
o'clock bell, and £4 for ringing the morning bell. Macaulay' fays :
"The Cuftom of ringing Curfew, which is ftill kept up at Clay
brook, has probably obtained without intermiffion fince the days of
the Norman Conqueror."
We find the Covrefeu mentioned as a common and approved regu
lation [on the Continent.] It was ufed in moft of the monafteries
and towns of the North of Europe, the intent being merely to prevent
the accidents of fires. All the common houfes confifted at this time
of timber. Mofcow, therefore, being built with this material, gene
rally fuffers once in twenty years. That this happened equally in
London, Fitzftephen proves.* The Saxon Chronicle alfo makes fre-
' Lyfons' " Environs," vol. i. p. 232,
" See Grey's "Notes on Shakefpeare," vol. ii. p. 281. [It Is to be added that
lefs ftrefs Is perhaps to be laid on paflages in fome of our old dramas than Brand
and others have Imagined. Befides Shakefpeare, in the paflage juft cited from
"Lear," 1608, does not mention the hour at all.]
" Hift. of Northamptonftiire," vol. i. p. no.
* "Dorfet," vol. ii. p. 267, = " Hift. of Claybrook," 1791, p. 128.
' "Solae peftes Lundonlse funt Stultorum Immodica potatio, et frequens Incen-
dium."
244
Bells.
quent mention of towns being burned, which might be expeaed for
the fame reafon, the Saxon term for building being 3eti]jmbjii])an. An
other writer adds :' " The cuftom of covering up their Fires about
funfet in Summer, and about eight at night in Winter, at the ringing
of a Bell called the Couvre-feu or Curfew Bell, is fuppofed by fome
to have been introduced by William I, and impofed upon the Englifh
as a badge of fervitude. But this opinion doth not feem to be well
founded. For there is fufficient evidence that the fame Cuftom pre
vailed in France, Spain, Italy, Scotland, and probably in all the
Countries of Europe, in this period ; and was intended as a precau
tion againft Fires, which were then very frequent and very fatal, when
fo many Houfes were built of wood,"
Barrington^ tells us that " Curfew is written Curphour in a Scotifh
Poem, written before 1568,^ It is obferved in the annotations on thefe
poems, that by Aa 144, Pari, 13, Jam. I, this bell was to be rung in
boroughs at nine in the evening ; and that the hour was afterwards
changed to ten, at the folicitation of the Wife of James Stewart, the
favourite of James the fixth.
There [was] a narrow ftreet in Perth [in the laft century] ftill called
Couvre-Feu-Row, leading weft to the Black Friars, where the Couvre
Feu Bell gave warning to the inhabitants to cover their fires and go
to reft when the clock ftruck ten.*
At Ripon, at nine o'clock every evening, a man [ufed to blow] a
large horn at the market crofs and then at the mayor's door.'
A bell was formerly rung at Newcaftle-upon-Tyne, alfo, at four in
the morning. The bells there are muffled on the 30th January
every year. For this praaice of muffling I find no precedent of an
tiquity. Their found is by this means peculiarly plaintive. The in
habitants of that town were particularly loyal during the parliamentary
wars in the grand rebellion, which may account for the ufe of this
cuftom, which probably began at the Reftoration.
Miffon in his " Travels," fays : " Ringing of Bells is one of their
great delights, efpecially in the Country. They have a particular way
of doing this ; but their Chimes cannot be reckoned fo much as of
the fame kind with thofe of Holland and the Low Countries,"
[The Minifter of Inverkeithing, co. Fife, reported in 1794, as fol
lows :] " In this Parifh is the Caftle of Rofyth, almoft oppofite to
Hopeton Houfe, It is built upon rock, and furrounded by the fea at
full tide. Upon the South fide, near the door, is this infcription,
pretty entire and legible :
" In dev time drav yis Cord y'= Bel to clink
Qvhais mery voce varnis to Meat and Drink."
Dates about the building, 1561 and 1639. Yet "it cannot now be
afcertained by whom it was built, or at what time."
' Henry's " Hift. of Britain," vol. iii. p, 567.
' " Obfervations on the Statutes," p. 153.
5 Inferted in Halles's " Ancient Scotifti Poems," 1770.
¦* " Mufes Threnodie," repr, of 1638, note, p. 89.
' "Gent, Mag." for Aug. 1790.
Bells.
245
[Mr, Hariand and Mr, Wilkinfon, in their work on " Lancafhire
Folklore," 1867, have devoted a chapter to this fubjea, and as the
work is fo acceffible, it would be a wafte of fpace and time to repro
duce here any of their obfervations or refearches,]
In the account we have of the gifts made by St, Dunftan to Malmef-
bury Abbey, it appears that bells were not very common in that age,
for he fays the liberality of that prelate confifted chiefly in fuch things
as were then wonderful and ftrange in England, among which he
reckons the large bells and organs he gave them. An old bell at
Canterbury took twenty-four men to ring it ; another required thirty-
two men ad fonandum. The nobleft peal of ten bells, without excep
tion, in England, whether tone or tune be confidered, is faid to be in
St. Margaret's Church, Leicefter. When a full peal was rung, the
ringers were faid pulfare Clafficum.
Bells were a great objea of fuperftition among our anceftors ;
each of them was reprefented to have its peculiar name and virtues,
and many are faid to have retained great affeaion for the churches to
which they belonged, and where they were confecrated. When a
bell was removed from its original and favourite fituation, it was fome
times fuppofed to take a nightly trip to its old place of refidence, un
lefs exercifed in the evening, and fecured with a chain or rope.'
In Googe's tranflation of Naogeorgus, we have the following
lines on the fubjea :
" If that the thunder chaunce to rore, and ftormie tempeft ftiake,
A wonder is It for to fee the Wretches how they quake,
Howe that no fayth at all they have, nor truft in any thing,
The Clarke doth all the Belles forthwith at once In Steeple ring :
With wond'rous found and deeper farre, than he was wont before.
Till In the loftie heavens darke, the thunder bray no more.
For In thefe chriftned Belles they thinke, doth lie fuch powre and might
As able is the Tempeft great, and ftorme to vanqulfti quight.
I fawe my felf at Numburg once, a Towne in Toring coaft,
A Bell that with this title bolde hirfelf did proudly boaft :
By name I Mary called am, with Sound I put to flight
The Thunder-crackes and hurtfuU Stormes, and every wicked Spright.
Such things when as thefe Belles can do, no wonder certainlie
It Is, If that the Papiftes to their tolling alwayes flie.
When halle, or any raging Storme, or Tempeft comes in fight.
Or Thunder Boltes, or Lightning fierce, that eveiy place doth fmight."^
In 1464, is a charge in the Churchwardens' Accounts of Sandwich
for bread and drink for " ryngers in the gret Thunderyng." In
"The Burnynge of Paules Church in London," 1561,^ we find enu
merated, among other Popifh fuperftitions : " ringinge the hallowed
Belle in great Tempefles or Lightninges."
Aubrey* fays : " At Paris when it begins to thunder and lighten,
' See Warner's " Topographical Remarks on the S. W. Parts of Hampftiire,"
vol. ii.p. 162,
[" In 1783, Frederic II. of Pruffia prohibited the ringing of bells on fuch occa
fions — Ne'ws-letter of Nov. 3, 1783, cited by Brand.]
' 8vo. 1563, fign. a I, ¦" " Mifcellanies," p. 148.
246 SanSiuaries, or Pardon-Lands,
they do prefentiy ring out the great Bell at the Abbey of St. Germain,
which they do believe makes It ceafe. The like was wont to be done
heretofore in Wiltfliire. When it thundered and lightened, they did
ring St. Adelm's Bell at Malmefbury Abbey. The curious do fay
that the ringing of Bells exceedingly difturbs Spirits," Our fore
fathers, however, did not entirely truft to the ringing of bells for the
difperfion of tempefts, for in 1313 a crofs, full of reliques of divers
faints, was fet on St, Paul's fteeple, to preferve from all danger of
tempefts.
[i^Doptton*
SEVERAL of our fbvereigns adopted children offered to them,
and then contributed towards their maintenance, but did not
neceffarily, or indeed ufually, remove them from their parents' roof.
Very numerous illuftrations of this cuftom might be afforded. In the
" Privy Purfe Expenfes of Elizabeth of York," May, 1502, we have,
for inftance, this entry : " Item the xij"" day of May to Mawde
Hamond for keping of hire child geven to the ^ene for half a yere
ended at Eftre laft paft, . . . viijj."
Sanctuaries, or i^artiomllantis?,
THE privileges enjoyed by fugitives from the arm of the law to
the precinSs of Whitefriars, or Alsatia, are made familiar to us
by two works of fiaion, Scott's "Fortunes of Nigel " and Ainfworth's
" Whitefriars." The ground round Holyrood Houfe, Edinburgh,
ftill (1868) retains the ancient right of fecuring the refidents within
certain limits from arreft for civil procefs, but does not proteft
criminal delinquents. Befides thefe places of refuge, there were at
various periods of our hiftory, others both in London and the Pro
vinces, Sir H, Ellis notices, efpecially, that the fite of Paris Garden
was originally " a fanauary ground of the great Houfe of St, John,
at Clerkenwell."' Among the provincial fanauaries, may be men
tioned that at Coots, near Loughborough, in Leicefterfhire, which
is particularly referred to in a letter from the Marquis of Dorfet to
his nephew Thomas Arundel, Feb, 19, 1528-9, printed by Ellis,
There was another at Beaulieu, Hants,
In the i6th volume of "Archaeologla" is a lift of perfons who
' " Orig, Lett." 3rd feries, ift vol. p. 147.
Hangman's Wages, 247
fought fanauary at Beverley, in the reigns of Edward IV,, Henry
VII., and Henry VIII., from Hari. MS, 4292,
To thefe, of courfe, we have to add the fanauary in the cloifters
of Weftminfter, to which the poet Skelton fled, to fliield himfeif
from the retribution of Wolfey,
IN the " Year Book of Edw. I." 1302, it is laid down, that,
in cafes of acquittal of a charge of manflaughter, the prifoner
was obliged to pay a fee to the juftices' clerk in the form of a pair
of gloves, befides the fee to the marfhal. A good deal of interefting
and authentic information under this head may be found in Pegge's
"Curialia," 1818, to which, the work being fo acceffible, it would be
ufelefs to do more than refer the reader. At the fame time. It may
not be wholly out of place to mention that a few particulars, not in
Pegge, are colleaed in the twenty-fifth chapter of the " Venetian
Hiftory," i860.
ifree aaiarren.
As far back as the reign of Henry II. , the citizens of London
had the right of free warren in Middlefex, Hertfordfliire, the
Chiltern country, and in Kent, as far as the Cray. This right was
probably renewed in 1226, in which year Stow erroneoufly places its
original conceffion. A limitation on the primitive liberty of hunting,
fowling, &c, feems to have been made in the reign of Henry VI.,
when the parks, from which the venifon was to be taken, were fpeci
fied by the lords of the council. In the time of Elizabeth, the right
had been formally commuted for a yeariy warrant from the govern
ment upon the keepers of certain parks within the county of Middle
fex, for the delivery of bucks to the mayor and aldermen.
i^angman's? Mages*
IN a Letter to Edward King, Efq., Prefident of the Society of
Antiquaries, Dr, Pegge has entered with fome minutenefs and
care into this queftion, and into the origin of the old, but now obfolete,
248 Oaths, InterjeBions, &c.
praaice of prefenting the public executioner with thirteenpence half
penny (the Scotifh mark, minus two placks) as his wages for perform
ing the unenviable tafk. Pegge's paper ought to be read as it ftands,
without curtailment. But it is certainly ftrange that Brand and his
editor fhould, both of them, have overlooked this point, which was
worth at leafi a reference to the place, where it is difcuffed. It is
generally known, that the hangman is ex officio the fheriff's deputy,
and that, in default of a perfon to execute the office, the fheriff him
feif would even now be obliged to aa. It is obfervable, as regards the
wages of the executioner, that, by Halifax Law, no man could be
punifhed capitally for a theft not exceeding thirteenpence halfpenny :
the coincidence is curious ; but it may be nothing more than a coin
cidence.
Benefit of Clergp*
THIS privilege is well known to have been abolifhed by 7 & 8
Geo. IV. Before that time, it appears that a felon could plead
benefit of clergy, and be faved by what was aptly enough termed the
neck-verfe, which was very ufually the miferere mei of Pfalm 51, but
was at the judge's difcretion. At a period when capital punifhment
was infliaed on what would now be confidered terribly flight grounds,
fuch a means of evafion was perhaps not improperly connived at. In
our old jeft-books, however, the praaice was one of the themes
fekaed for derifion and fatire. Machyn, the diarift, points to a pro
vifion in this obfolete ufage, which I do not fee noticed elfewhere.
He tells us that, on the 8th March, 1559-60, an old man, who was a
prieft, was hanged for cutting a purfe, " but," adds Machyn, " he was
burnt in the hand afore, or elles ys boke would have faved hym."
In the " Year Book of 30 Edw. I." it feems to be intimated that,
in order to claim benefit of clergy, a technical denial of the charge
was then confidered abfolutely an effential condition.
€>atl)s, gnterjettions, fc«
MR. TYLER has devoted a volume to this fubjea ; but I do not
find, that he has entered much at large into the queftion in
fome of its more curious afpeas. It is a branch of the prefent in
quiry, which Brand himfeif completely overlooked. Tomline, in his
" Law Diaionary," 1835, has an ufeful paper on this matter, and
Mr. Hampfon, in his " Origines Patriciae," 1846, quoting the
Swedifh.faga of "Beowulf" in its Anglo-Saxon paraphrafe, has fome
Oaths, InterjeBions, &c. 249
interefting remarks on the ancient Saxon [Northern .?] ufage of fwear
ing fealty on the fword, which was called the Wapentake [weapon-
touching], a term now only underftood in its topographical accepta
tion. Warton has thrown together fome of the moft remarkable oaths
in the " Canterbury Tales " of Chaucer : " The Host fwears by my
father' s foul, by the precious corpus madrian, by St. Paul's bell, by God's
bones, by Chriffs nails and blood, by St. Damian, by St. Runian, and
by Corpus Domini : Sir Thopas, by ale and bread : Arcites, by my pan
(or head) : Thefeus, by mighty Mars the red : The Carpenter's Wife,
by Saint Thomas of Kent : The Smith, by Chrifl' s foot: The Cam
bridge fcholar, by my father s kin, by my crown, for God's benes, or
benifon, and by St. Cuthbert : Sir John of Boundis, by Saint Martin :
Ganjelyn the cook, by God's book, arid by my hats (or neck) : Gamelyn's
brother, by St. Richere, and by Chriflis ore : A Frankeleyn, by Saint
James of Galicia : A Porter, by Gods beard: The Maifter Outlawe,
by the good Rood: The Man of Law, Depardeux : The Merchant, by
St. Thomas of Inde : The Somnour, by God's arms two : The Rioter,
by God's digne bones : The Hoft, again, by your father's kin, by arms,
blood, and bones : The Monk, by my porthofe (or breviary) and by God
and St. Martin."
Oaths were adminiftered formerly, not on the Bible or Teftament,
as now, but on the Book of Sequences, or Tropery, corruptly Toper.
" Be the Rode of Chefter," is an affeveration ufed by the author
of "An Alliterative Poem on the Depofition of Richard II," written,
it feems, at the beginning of the fifteenth century.
In " Ralph Roifter Doifter," Roifter Doifter exclaims : " By the
Armes of Caleys, it is none of myne." At that time Calais was in
the hands of the Englifh, who retained it till 5 Mary. In the fame
play. We find, "by the croffe of my fword," "by cots precious pot-
fticke," and other forms, fome unufual and a few fantaftic.
There are alfo fome eccentric and fcarce forms of adjuration in
" The Marriage of Wit and Wifdom," an old interlude, fuch as " By
the brains of a black-pudding," and " By the guts of a crab-loufe."
In Heywood's " Edward IV." 1600, Hobs the tanner fwears " by
the meg-holly," and " by the moufe-foot ;" alfo, " by my holidame,"
"Gods blue baulkin," "by my feckins." In the fame play, the
Widow Norton is made to ufe (jocofely) the expreffion — " Clubs and
clouted fhoes ! " interjeaionally.
The ftatute 3 James I., againft profane fwearing, while it led to
evafions even more profane than the original oaths, feems to have
made fafhionable a feries of whimfical and innocuous affeverations, fuch
as thofe we find in Heywood's " Fayre Mayde of the Exchange,"
1607: " Bonu. By this hand, thou ftialt go with me.
Crip. By this leg, I will not,
Bo'W. A lame oath ! never ftand to that.
Crip. By this crutch, but I will."
In "Mery Tales and Quicke Anfweres," 1567, there is this:
250 Oaths, InterjeBions, &c.
" Cockes armes (quod the bayllye), my pourffe is pycked, and my
moneye is gone." Cockes armes is of courfe a corruption of God's
alms = Goi's charity, or love; which Brown, in his "Paftorals,"
1 6 14, calls a dunghill oath :
" With that the Miller laughing brufti'd his cloathes.
And fwore by Cocke and other dung-hill oathes,"
Skelton ufes the expreffion in his interlude entitied " Magnifi
cence," printed probably in 1530, In his "Chriftian Admonitions
againfl Curfing and Swearing," [1629,] a broadfide, Taylor the water-
poet denounces the fyftem of profane fwearing, which in his time
had come to a rank growth in England, . But Richard Whitford, a
Brother of Sion, who wrote a century before Taylor, makes the fame
charge againft his countrymen iii his "Werke for Houfholders,"
1530- In "Orpheus Caledonius," 1733, is inferted a fong with the tide,
" There's my Thumb," and the laft ftanza runs :
" Deareft Maid, nay, do not fly me.
Let your Pride no more deny me :
Never doubt your faithful Willie ;
There's my Thumb, I'll ne'er beguile ye."
Scott has borrowed this idea of fubftituting the thumb for the
fingers, where Rob Roy addreffes exaaiy the fame words to Baillie
Nicol Jarvie,
When we come to interjeitions. Brand himfeif fays in a note inci
dentally, " Perhaps it will be thought no uninterefting article in this
littie Code of Vulgar Antiquities to mention a well-known interjeaion
ufed by the country people to their Horfes, when yoked to a cart, &c.
Heit or Heck ! I find this ufed in the days of Chaucer :'
' Thay feigh a cart, that chargid was with hay,
Which that a carter drop forth In his way,
Deep was the way, for which the carte ftood :
This carter fmoot and cryde as he wer wood,
' Hayt, brok ; hayt, fcot ;' what fpare ye for the ftoones !'
The name of Brok is ftill too in common ufe amongft farmers' draught
Oxen. A learned friend fays. The exclamation 'Geho, Geho,'
which carmen ufe to their horfes is not peculiar to this country, as I
have heard it ufed in France," In the " Maaatio Abel," one of the
Towneley feries of Myfteries, there are fome curious interjeaional
forms of this clafs. But, in "John Bon and Maft Perfon [1548],"
we get the form ree who inftead of gee wo. Hobs, the tanner, in
Heywood's " Edward IV," 1600, fays of his mare, " Why, man,
Brock my mare, knows ha and ree, and will ftand when I cry ho.'
[' Mr. Brand quoted from Tyrwhitt's " Chaucer ;" the above has been taken
from Bell's edition which, though not all that could be defired, is at leaft a fupe
rior text.]
[' As to the meaning of the term brock, fee Halliwell's " Archaic Diftionary,"
Houfe Warming. 251
In "The Cold Yeare, 1614! A Deepe Snow, &c," printed in
1615, we find : " After the Collier they [the team] ran, who cryed.
Hey, and Hoe, and Ree, and Gee ; but none of his carterly Rethoricke
was able to ftay them,"
Serjeants' IRings*
UNDER their refpeaive heads, enough has already been faid of
Funeral Rings and Wedding Rings ; but Serjeants' Rings were
thought to deferve a corner. It is ftill ufual for the Serjeants-at-law,
upon creation, to prefent to the judges a ring, with a pofy or motto.
The late Mr, Commiffioner Fonblanque was prefent, when the fub
jea of the pofy for one of thefe rings happened to be in difcuffion,
and was afked, what was his opinion of To Wit ? " Yes," he play
fully and wittily replied, " that would do very well ; — but you fhould
turn it into Latin — Scilicet I "
Prynne, by his will made in 1669, bequeathed, among other things,
to his dear fifter, Katherine Clerke, his "beft ferjeant's ring."'
i^oufe JKKarmtng,
THIS is to the prefent day a well-underftood expreffion for the
entertainment which it is ufual to give on removal to a new
houfe, or eftablifhment of a houfehold. The phrafe occurs in a letter
from Fleetwood, Recorder of London, to Lord Burleigh, July 30,
1577 : " Upon Tuefday we had little or no bufines, faving that the
Shoemakers of London, having builded a faire and a newe Hall, made
a royall feaft for theire frends, which they call their houfe-w arming."
It would not be difficult to accumulate inftances of the ufe of the
term in later correfpondence ; but I do not happen to have met with
any earlier example,
1847, ad'vocem. Forby, in his " Vocabulary," fays that^^-^o means go-ftop, and
ge-iuo, go-go. In faft, when a driver wifties his horfe to ftop, he ftiould fay ho !
and when he defires him to proceed, 'WO ! The two words are at prefent confufed,
Ge—go feems to prefent itfelf in a reduplicated form in ge-ge, the nurfery name for
a horfe.] [' "Wills from Doftors' Commons," 1863, p. 125.]
252
Botimin latDing^
MR, COUCH, of Bodmin, one of our beft-informed Cornifh
antiquaries, has permitted me to introduce here a full account
of this littie-underftood fubjea, communicated by him fome years ago
to the " Journal of the Penzance Society" :
" Whilft the material remains of the Paft with which our County
abounds, have occupied many an able pen and pencil, the curious
memorials of old forms of faith and modes of life, hardly lefs ancient
and fully as interefting, have been fingularly negleaed bv the Cornifli
Antiquary. Modified in the courfe of their long defcent, until but
faint traces of their origin and intention remain, there is frequently
enough left unaltered to fhew that they are in their form as old as
thofe relics which the ever-during granite has preferved to us. It is
quite time, however, that a record fhould be made of them, fince the
rapid fluauations and changes of the laft fifty years have done more
to alter and efface them than many previous centuries of ftagnation,
or of very gradual progrefs.
" I fhall begin with a Feftival of which the remembrance lingers
only among people paft middle-age, and which is never likely to be
revived. It was kept at Bodmin on the Sunday and Monday after St,
Thomas a Becket's Day, July 7, A puncheon of beer having been
brewed in the previous Oaober, and duly bottled in anticipation of
the time, two or more young men who were entrufted with the chief
management of the affair, and who reprefented ' the wardens ' of
Carew's church-ales, went round the town attended by a band of
drums and fifes or other inftruments. The Crier faluted each houfe
with ; ' To the people of this houfe, a profperous morning, long life,
health, and a merry riding ! ' The Muficians then ftruck up the
Riding Tune, a quick and infpiriting meafure, faid by fome to be as
old as the Feaft itfelf The houfeholder was folicited to tafte the
Riding ale, which was carried round in bafkets. A bottie was ufually
taken in, and it was acknowledged by fuch a fum as the means or
humour of the townfman permitted, to be fpent on the public feftivi
ties of the feafon. Next morning, a Proceffion was formed, (all who
could afford to ride mounted on horfe or afs), firft to the Priory, to
receive two large garlands of flowers fixed on ftaves, and then in due
order through the principal ftreets to the Town-end, where the Games
were formally opened. The fports, which lafted two days, were of
the ordinary fort ; wreftling, foot-racing, jumping in facks, &c. It is
worthy of remark that a fecond or inferior brewing, from the fame
wort, was drunk at a minor merry-making at Whitfuntide. This
defcription of the ceremony has been obtained from thofe who took
part in its lateft celebration.
" No one who compares this account of the Riding with Carew's
Bodmin Riding. 253
defcription of Church-ales, can doubt that the two were originally
identical in their meaning. That the cuftom of keeping Church-ales
on a Sunday was a common one, appears from a Sermon preached
by William Kethe, at Blandford Forum, in 1570; and in which he
tells us that his holyday ' the multitude call their revelyng day, which
day is fpent in bull-beatings, beare-beatings, bowlings, dicying,' &c.
" In the accounts which are preferved relative to the building' of
Bodmin parifh church, ' the ftewards of the Ridyng-Gild ' are men
tioned as contributors.-
"In an Order, dated Nov. 15, 1583, regulating the bufinefs of
fhoemakers, (a clafs which feems for ages to have been more than
ufually numerous in Bodmin), it is direaed by the Mayor and the
mafters of the occupation, ' that at the Rydyng every mafter and
journeyman fhall give their attendance to the fteward, and likewife
bring him to the church, upon pain of 12'' for every mafter, and b"^
for every journeyman, for every fuch default, to the difcretion of the
mafters of the occupation.' ^
" Polwhele gives an imperfea account of the Bodmin Riding. He
is inclined to deduce it from the Floralia of Roman times ; and he
thinks that the Goddefs Flora was, in later ages, fuperfeded by St.
Thomas of Canterbury, at whofe fhrine the garlands of flowers were
prefented. " I have heard an opinion that the Feaft was in celebration of the
reftitution of St. Petrock's bones, which were ftolen from the Priory
of Bodmin about the year 1177, and carried to the Abbey of St.
Mevennus in Brittany, but were reftored at the powerful Interceffion
of Henry II.
" Heath, who confounds the Riding with the Halgaver Games,
fays, without giving any authority, that ' this carnival is faid to be as
old as the Saxons.'
" Several attempts have been made to refufcitate this feftival ; but
it is now hopeleffly dead. I have a deprecatory Pamphlet, dated 1825,
entitied : ' A Letter to a Friend, relative to the approaching Games
commonly called Bodmin Riding.'
" At this bright feafon, when field and wood put orr their gayeft
green, and even tonguelefs things feem full of praife and thankfulnefs,
it is not ftrange that the heart of man fhould be moved to joy and
thankfgiving, even though the gratitude due to the Giver of all good
may often be mifdireaed. The feaft of the Summer Solftice, modi
fied by circumftances of time and place, but almoft univerfally ob
ferved, is probably as old as the gratitude which the feafon's profufion
naturally infpires ; fo that, inftead of deriving our Midfummer Games
from the Floral feftivities of the Romans, we fhould more rightly
confider them as fimilar in meaning and coeval in origin,
" I have heard fome doubts exprefl'ed as to the antiquity of the
Siuery, re-building,
Lyfons' " Mag. Brit." vol. iii. (Cornwall) p. 35.
3
" Bod. Reg." p. 323.
254 Bodmin Riding.
Riding Tune (appended to this account) ; and I have afked the opinion
of William Sandys, Efq., F,S,A., a well-known Antiquary, and an
excellent authority on fuch a fubjea. He fays : ' It ftruck me as
having a fimilarity to fome tunes of the laft century, or perhaps the
end of the 17th, and of which there are examples in ' The Dancing
Mafter,' of which fo many editions were publifhed, although now
not common. The tune, therefore, does not appear to be of very
high antiquity; but, at the fame time, there is fomething about it
which might induce one to fuppofe it might be founded on an older
tune.' Mr, Sandys kindly fubmitted it to Mr, Chappell, Author of
the excellent work on the Popular Mufic of England ; and his opinion
on fuch a point is efpecially valuable, Mr. Chappell confiders it not
more than thirty or forty years old, and founded on ' The Fall of
Paris,' ' But even if this were fo,' fays Mr. Sandys, ' the Fall of
Paris is founded on, and almoft identical with, the celebrated French
revolutionary air ' Ca ira,' which is more than feventy years old.'
I have direa proof of its being in ufe at this feftival for a century
paft, " Heath (and almoft all our Guide-books follow him), makes the
Bodmin Riding identical with the Halgaver Sports ; but with infuffi-
cient reafon. He fays : ' A carnival is kept every year, about the
middle of July, on Halgaver Moor, near Bodmin, reforted to by thou
fands of people ; the fports and paftimes of which were fo well liked
by King Charles II., when he touched there in his way to Scilly, that
he became a brother of the jovial fociety,''
" The MM. Lyfons doubt the ftory of Charles's participation in
thefe Games, fince the time of the Prince's journey to Scilly does not
accord with the period of the feftival,
" I know of no author, befides Carew, who makes independent
mention of the Halgaver fports ; and, from the account in the Survey,
it would feem that Halgaver was the feene of perennial jokes ; nor is
it anywhere faid that its ufages and immunities were confined to any
feafon. The Bodmin Riding is evidently quite diftina ; though pro
bably, at a time of great merry-making in the neighbourhood of the
Moor, the 'ungracious pranks' may have been more than ufually rife.
No remembrance of Halgaver Court exifts among people now refident
in the neighbourhood.
" ' Now and then,' fays Carew, ' they extend this merriment with
the largeft, to the prejudice of over-credulous people, perfuading
them to fight with a dragon lurking in Halgaver, or to fee fome
ftrange matter there, which concludeth at laft with a training them
into the mire,'
"This alfo is an interefting illuftration of the focial life of our fore
fathers. It was a cuftom, which the exiftence of good parifh maps
now renders lefs neceffary, on one of the days of Rogation week to
make a yearly renewal of the ancient landmarks.
'Defcription of Cornwall," p. 445.
T^he Bicker -rade. 255
' Our fathers us'd in reverent proceffions
(With zealous prayers and with praifeful cheere).
To walke their parlfti-limits once a yeare :
And well-knowne maikes (which facrileglous hands
Now cut or breake) fo bord'red out their lands.
That ev'ry one diftlnftly knew his owne,
And many brawles, now rife, were then unknowne.''
"In this Proceffion, when clergy and people went round to beat
the bounds of the parifli, praying here and there at certain wonted
fpots, (frequently marked by a Crofs), it was ufual to drag round an
effigy of a Dragon, reprefenting the Spirit of Evil, The Dragon
lifually came to fome ignominious end ; and the place where he
finifhed his career is ftill known in many places by the name of
Dragon Rock, Dragon Well, Dragon Pit. An excavation called
• Dragon Pit ' ftill exifts on Halgaver Moor,"
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Cl)e Biefeerratie/
THIS is a praaice among reapers in fome parts. A correfpondent
of " Notes and Queries " defcribed it, fo far as its indelicate
charaaer would allow, in the columns of that periodical in 1857,
' WIther's " Emblemes," 1634.
' This article ftiould have been introduced under " Harveft Cuftoms," but was
accidentally miflaid.
256 Drinking Cuftoms.
The writer feems to confider the cuftom as belonging chiefly to Ber-
wickfliire. At the harveft-dinner, " each band-wun, confifting of fix
fhearers and a bandfler, had the ufe of a bicker (a fmall round wooden
veffel, compofed oiflaves or flaps, and neatiy bound with willow girths
or girds) ; fometimes more than one bicker was ufed by the bandwun.
After the dinner repaft was finifhed, any of the men of the boun, who
felt difpofed to inflia on any female the bicker-rade, extended her upon
her back on the ground, and reclining upon her commenced a feries
of operations, which are too indelicate to be minutely defcribed." It
feems, further, that refiftance was ufelefs, and that ferious injuries
were fometimes fuffered by the viaims of this barbarous procefs. It
has probably become entirely obfolete by this time : it was nearly fo a
dozen years ago.]
SDrtnfetng Cul!om0.
I. Pledging,
THE word pledge is, [according to Blount,] derived from the
French " pleige," a furety, or gage, [Howell, in a very excel
lent and long letter to the Earl of Clare about 1650, obferves: "The
word pleiger is alfo to drink after one is drunk to ; whereas the firft
true fenfe of the word was, that if the Party drunk to was not difpofed
to drink himfeif, he would put another for a Pledge to do it for him,
elfe the Party who began would take it ill,"]
In Shakfpeare's " Timon of Athens," ail i, fc, 5, is the following
paffage : "Ifl
Were a huge man, I ftiould fear to drink at meals.
Left they ftiould fpy my Wind pipe's dangerous Notes ;
Great Men ftiould drink 'with Harnefs on their throats :"
[In 1553, during Wyatt's rebellion, the ferjeants and other lawyers
in Weftminfter Hall pleaded in harnefs,'
" Such great drinkers," fays Strutt, " were the Danes, (who were
in England in the time of Edgar,) and fo much did their bad examples
prevail with the Englifh, that He, by the advice of Dunftan, arch-
bifhop of Canterbury, put down many Ale-houfes, fuffering only one to
be in a Village, or fmall Town : and he alfo further ordained that [gold
or filver] Pins or Nails fhould be faftened into the drinking Cups and
Horns, at ftated diftances, [that no one for fhame's fake might drink
beyond thefe or oblige his fellow to do fo.]"^ This was to prevent
the pernicious cuftom of drinking,
' Grey's " Hudibras," vol, ii, p, 170.
^ William of Malmefbury in " Scriptores poft Bedam," quoted by Strutt, and
Henry's " Hift. of Great Britain," 4to, ed. vol. ii, p. 539. The latter author
quotes Pontopldon, " Gefta et Veftigia Danorum," tom. ii. p. 209.
Drinking Cuftoms. 257
Strutt confirms the former of thefe opinions in the following words :
" The old manner of pledging each other when they drank, was thus :
the perfon who was going to drink, afked any one of the Company
who fat next him, whether he would pledge him, on which he anfwer
ing that he would, held up his Knife or Sword, to guard him whilft
he drank ; for while a man is drinking he neceffarily is in an unguarded
pofture, expofed to the treacherous ftroke of fome hidden or fecret
enemy," Which law feems to have given occafion to a cuftom which was
afterwards called Pin-drinking, or nick the Pin, and which is thus ex
plained in Cocker's Diaionary : " An old way of drinking exaaiy to
a pin in the midft of a wooden cup, which being fomewhat difficult,
occafioned much drunkennefs : fo a law was made that Priefts, Monks,
and Friars, fhould not drink to or at the Pins." It is certainly difficult
to fay what law this was, unlefs it has been confounded with that of
King Edgar. I find the cuftom differently alluded to in " Gazophy-
lacium Anglicanum," 1689, where the expreffion " He is on a merry
Pin," is faid to have arifen " from a way of drinking in a Cup in
which a pin was ftuck, and he that could drink to the Pin, /. e. neither
under nor over it, was to have the Wager."
Barrington' fays that it was anciently the cuftom for a perfon fwearing
fealty " to hold his hands joined together, between thofe of his lord ; the
reafon for which feems to have been that fome Lord had been affaffinated
under pretence of paying homage ; but, while the Tenant's hands con
tinued in this attitude, it was impoffible for him to make fuch an attempt.
I take the fame reafon to have occafioned the Ceremony ftill adhered
to by the Scholars in Queen's College at Oxford, who wait upon the
Fellows placing their Thumbs upon the Table ; which, as I have
been informed, ftill continues in fome parts of Germany, whilft the
fuperior drinks the health of the inferior. The fufpicion that Men
formerly had of attempts upon their Lives on fuch occafions is well
known, from the common account with regard to the origin of
pledging." He fays, " The Speculum Regale advifes the Courtier,
when he is in the King's prefence, to pull off his Cloak ; and one of
the reafons- given is, that he fhews by this means that he hath no con
cealed weapons to make an attempt upon the King's Life."
In Nafli's " Pierce Pennileffe," 1592, we read : " You do me the
difgrace, if you doo not pledge me as much as I drinke to you."
Heywood^ has the following line :
" I drinke (Quoth ffie,) Quoth he, I 'will not pledge."
Plat^ gives a Recipe to prevent Drunkennefs, " for the help of fuch
modeft Drinkers, as only in Company are drawn, or rather forced to
pledge in full Bolls fuch quaffing Companions as they would be loth to
offend, and will require reafon at their hands, as they term it." Over-
" Obfervations on the Statutes," 1775, p. 206.
Works, 1562, edit. 1598, fign, F 4.
"Jewel-Houfe of Art and Nature," 1594, p. 59-
S
258 Drinking Cuftoms.
bury, in his " Charaaers," fpeaking of a ferving-man, fays : " He never
drinks but double, for he muft be pledged ; nor commonly without fome
fhort Sentence nothing to the purpofe : and feldom abftains till he
comes to a thirft," Another old writer' has the following paffage :
" Truely I thinke hereupon comes the name oi good fellow, quafi goad
fellow, becaufe he forceth and goads his fellowes forward to be drunke
with his perfuafive Termes as I dranke to you pray pledge me, you
difhon6ur me, you difgrace mee, and with fuch like words, doth urge
his Conforts forward to be drunke, as Oxen being prickt with Goads,
are compel'd and forced to draw the waine,"
Barnaby Rich,^ defcribing the mode of drinking healths in his time,
tells us : " He that beginneth the Health, hath his prefcribed Orders :
firft uncovering his head, hee takes a full Cup in his hand, and fetiing
his Countenance with a grave afpea, hee craves for audience: Silence
being once obtained, hee beginnes to breath out the name, peradven
ture of fome honourable perfonage, that is worthy of a better regard,
than to have his name polluted amongft a Company of Drunkards :
but his health is drunke to, and hee that pledgeth mufl likewife off with
his Cap, kifli his Fingers, and bowing himfelfe in figne of a reverent
acceptance. When the Leader fees his follower thus prepared : he
foups up his broath, turnes the bottom of the Cup upward, and in
Oftentation of his Dexteritie, gives the Cup a phillip, to make it cry
Twango. And thus the firft Scene is aaed. The Cup being newly
replenifhed to the breadth of an haire, he that is the pledger, muft now
beginne his part, and thus it goes round throughout the whole Com
pany, provided alwaies by a Cannon fet downe by the Founder, there
muft be three at the leafi ftill uncovered, till the Health hath had the
full paffage : which is no fooner ended, but another begins againe."
In the fecond part of Dekker's " Honeft Whore," 1630, fignat. i
verfo, is the following :
" Will you fall on your Maribones and pledge this Health, 'tis to my Miftris ?"
So in Marmion's " Antiquary," aa ii. :
" Drank to your Health whole Nights in Hlppocrafe,
Upon my Knees, with more Religion
Than e're I faid my prayers, which Heaven forgive me."
Pledging is again mentioned in aa iv. " To our noble Duke's Health,
I can drink no leffe, not a drop leffe ; and you his Servants will pledge
me, I am fure."
[Heywood^ informs us that] " Divers authors report of Alexander,
that, caroufing one day with twenty perfons in his Company, hee
dranke healths to every man round, and pledged them feverally againe:
and as he was to rife, Cafifthenes, the Sophift, coming into the Ban
quetting Houfe, the king offered him a deepe quaffing-bowle, which
he modeftly refufed, for which, being taxed by one there prefent, hee
' Young's "Englands Bane,'' 1617, fign. E.
' " The Irifti Hubbub," 1616, ed. 1619, p. 24.
' " Philocothonifta," 1635, p. ij.
Drinking Cuftoms, 259
faid aloud, I defire not. Oh Alexander, to receive a pledge from thee
by taking which I fhall be prefently inforced to inquire for a Phv-
fition." ^
But the cuftom is faid to have firft taken its rife from the death of
Edward the Martyr, who was by the contrivance of Elfrida, his ftep-
mother, treacheroufly ftabbed in the back as he was drinking.
[In the tale of " King Edward and the Shepherd," printed by
Hartfliorne, 1829, in his "Ancient Metrical Tales," the pledging
words employed are paffilodion and berafrynde, which are evidently of
the fame buriefque charaaer as the conjuring phrafes introduced into
the " King and the Hermit," and, at a later period, into Mariowe's
"Fauftus," written before 1593.
In the " Maner of the tryumphes at Caleys & Bullen," 1532,
Henry VIII. and the French king are defcribed as drinking to each
other : " And than they dyd lyght of theyr horfes & dranke eche to
other/ the frenfshe kyng dranke fyrft to our kynge/ & whan they
had dronke/ they embraced eche other agayn w great loue/" Francis I.
drank before his gueft in this cafe, perhaps, in order to prove that there
was no foul play.]
Strutt's authority was William of Malmefbury, and he obferves
from the delineation he gives us (and it muft be noted that his plates,
being copies of ancient illuminated manufcripts, are of unqueftionable
authority,) that it feems perfeaiy well to agree with the reported
cuftom ; the middle figure is addreffing himfeif to his companion,
who feems to tell him that he pledges him, holding up his knife in
token of his readinefs to affift and protea him. After all, I cannot
help hazarding an opinion that the expreffion meant no more than
that if you took your cup or glafs I pledged myfelf to you that I would
follow your example. The common ellipfis, " to," is wanting. Thus
we fay, " I'll give you," inftead of " I'll give to you ;" " I'll pledge
you," " I'll pledge to you." But I offer this with great deference to
the eftablifhed opinions on the fubjea.
There is a remarkable paffage in one of the fermons of Samuel
Ward of Ipfwicb, 1627: "My Saviour began to mee in a bitter Cup,
and Jhall I not pledge him ;" i. e. drink the fame.
Feltham,' defcribing a Dutch feaft, tells us : " At thofe times it
goes hard with a Stranger, all in curtefie will be drinking to him, and
all that do fo he mufl pledge: till he doth, the fill'd Cups circle round
his Trencher, from whence they are not taken away till emptyed."
The following paffage occurs in Rowlands's " Humors Ordinarie,"
[1600] : " Tom Is no more like thee then Chalks like Cheefe
To pledge a health, or to drink up-fe frieze :
Fill him a beaker, he will never flinch, &c," ^
" Brief Charafter of the Low Countries," 1652, p. 57,
[' Vpfe frieze, which puzzled Brand, was the Friefland beer, which was com
monly drunk In England in the feventeenth century. It is often mentioned in
old plays and trafts.]
26o Drinking Cuftoms.
In Braithwaite's " Times Curtaine drawne," 1621,' is the fubfe
quent paffage : " I was conjured by my kiffing friend
To pledge him but an Health, and then depart.
Which if I did, If'de ever have his heart,
I gave aflent ; the Health, fi've Senfes were,
(Though fcarce one Senfe did 'twixt us both appeare)
Which as he drunk I pledg'd ; both pledg'd and dmnk.
Seeing him now full charg'd, behinde I ftirunke, &c."
[At Chriftmas, 1623, the gentiemen of the Middle Temple, ac
cording to one of the Harleian MSS., quoted in the " Life of Sir
Simonds D'Ewes," drank a health to the Princefs Elizabeth who,
, with her hufband the King of Bohemia, was then in great ftraits ; and
ftood up one after the other, their cup in one hand, and their fword
in the other, and pledged her, fwearing to die in her fervice, which is
faid to have greatly offended James I,]
In Young's "England's Bane," 161 7, are fome curious paffages
concerning the then cuftoms of drinking : " I myfelfe have feen and
(to my Grief of Confcience) may now fay have in prefence, yea, and
amongft others been an Aaor in the bufineffe, when upon our knees,
after healthes to many private Punkes, a Health have been drunke to all
the Whoores in the world." Again : " He is a Man of no Fafhion that
cannot drinke Supernaculum, caroufe the Hunters Hoop, quaffe Vpfey-
freefe Croffe, bowfe in Per moyfauntfmPimlico, in Crambo, with Healthes,
Gloves, Numpes, Frolicks, and a thoufand fuch domineering Inventions,*
as by the Bell, by the Cards, by the Dye, by the Dozen, by the Tard,
and fo by meafure we drink out of meafure. — There are in London
drinking Schooles : fo that Drunkennefe is profeffed with us as a
llberall Arte and Science." Again : " I have feene a Company
amongft the very Woods and Forrefts," (He fpeaks of the New
Foreft and Windfor Foreft) "drinking for a Muggle. Sixe deter
mined to trie their ftrengths who could drinke moft Glaffes for the
Muggle. The firft drinkes a Glaffe of a pint, the fecond two, the
next three, and fo every one multiplieth till the laft taketh fixe. Then
the firft beginneth againe and taketh feven, and in this manner they
drinke thrice a peece round, every Man taking a Glaffe more then his
fellow, fo that hee that dranke leaft, which was the firft, drank one
and twentie pints, and the fixth Man thirty-fix." Our author ob
ferves, " Before we were acquainted with the lingering Wars of the
Low-Countries, Drunkennes was held in the higheft degree of hatred
that might be amongft us."
' " Ebrius experiens, or the Drunkard's Humour," fignat. M 3.
' [Mr. Brand thpught it fingular that a part of this ftiould have been borrowed
from Nafli's " Pierce Pennilefle," 1592: " Nowe he is nobody that cannot drinke
Supernagulum, caroufe' the Hunters Hoope, quaffe Upfe freze Crofle, with Healths,
Gloves, Mumpes, Polockes, and a thoufand fuch domineering Inventions;" but
it was not at all fingular : for Young borro'wed all he could from other authors.
Some remarkable anecdotes of this clafs are given alfo by Ward of Ipfwich, in his
"Woe to Drunkards," 1622, 8vo.]
Drinking Cuftoms. 261
Robert Harris fpeaks ' of drinking as a fort of profeffion at this
time : " There is (they fay) an Art of Drinking now, and in the
World it is become a great profeffion. There are Degrees and Titles,
given under the names of Roaring Boyes, damned Crew, &c. There
are Lawes and Ceremonies to be obferved both by the Firfts and
Seconds, &c. There is a drinking by the foot, by the yard, &c, a
drinking by the douzens, by the fcores. Sec. for the Wager, for the
Viaory, Man againfl Man, Houfe againfl Houfe, Town againfl Town,
and how not ? There are alfo Terms of Art, fetched from Hell, (for
the better diftinguifhing of the praaitioners ;) one is coloured, another
is fixt, a third is gone to the dogs, a fourth is well to live," Sec.
In the body of the fermon, he mentions " the ftrange faucineffe of
bafe Vermine, in toffng the Name of his moft excellent Majefly in
their foaming mouthes, and in dareing to make that a fhooing home
to' draw on drink, by drinking healths to him," He adds elfewhere
explanatorily : " I doe not fpeake of thofe Beafts that muft be
anfwered and have right done them, in the fame meafure, geflure,
courfe, &c, but of fuch onely as leave you to your meafure (You will
keepe a turne and your time in pledging) is it any hurt to pledge
fuch? How pledge them? You miftake if you thinke that we
fpeake againft any true civility. If thou luft to pledge the Lords
prophets in woes, pledge good Fellowes in their Meafures and Chal
lenges : If not fo, learne ftill to fhape a peremptory anfwer to an un
reafonable demand. Say — / will pray for the Kings health, and drinke
for mine owne." He ufes "fomewhat whitled," and "buckt with
drink" as terms expreffing the different degrees of drunkennefs.
In another (well-known) work,' I find a fingular paffage, which I
confefs I do not thoroughly underftand, concerning the then modes of
drinking. He is defcribing a drinking bout of female goffips : " Dif^
patching a lufty Rummer of Rhenlfh to little Periwig, who paffed it
inftantly to Steepen Malten, and fhe conveigh'd with much agility to
Daplufee, who made bold to ftretch the Counteffes Gowne into a pledge,
and cover and come, which was the only plaufible mode of drinking
they delighted in : This was precifely obferv'd by the other three,
that their moiftned braines gave leave for their glibb'd Tongues to
chat liberally,"
Herrick writes : '
" Remember us in Cups fiill crown'd.
And let our Citie-health go round.
Quite through the young Maids and the Men,
To the ninth Number, if not tenne ;
Untill the fired Chefnuts leape
For Joy, to fee the Fruits ye reape.
From the plumpe Challice and the Cup
That tempts till it be tojfed up."
Dedication to the " Drankard's Cup," (Works, 1653).
Gayton's "Feftivous Notes upon Don Qubtote," 1654, p. 234.
"Hefperides," p. 146,
262 Drinking Cuftoms.
[The fubjoined paffage ' feems to be nothing more than an allitera
tion intended to convey a complete devotion to beer — he wants
nothing but the ale-tap and toaft till he is laid under the turf:]
" Call me the fonne of Beere, and then confine
Me to the Tap, the Toft, the Turfe ; let Wine
Ne'er fcine upon me."
In " Folly in Print," 1667, in a catch made before the King's
coming to Worcefter with the Scotifh army, is fomething to the
purpofe : " Each man upon his back
Shall fwallow his Sack,
This Health will endure no ffirinking ;
The reft ftiall dance round
Him that lyes on the ground ;
Fore me this Is. excellent drinking."
A bad hufband is fomewhere ^ defcribed as " a paffionate Lover of
Morning-Draughts, which he generally continues till Dinner-Time ;
a rigid Exaaer of Num-Groats and Colleaor General of Foys ^ and
Biberidge,* He admires the prudence of that Apothegm, Lets drink
firfl: and would rather fell 20 per cent, to lofs than make a Dry-
Bargain," It appears from Allan Ramfay ,° that in Scotiand, of thofe " wha
had heen fow Yeftreen," i, e. drunk the night before, " payment of
the Drunken Groat is very peremptorily demanded by the Common
people, next morning : but if they frankly confefs the debt due, they
are paffed for two-pence."
Ramfay alfo mentions as in ufe among the Scots, " Hy jinks," " a
' "Hefperides," p. 87.
' Charafter of " A Bad Huftiand," at the end of " England's Jefts Refin'd and
Enlarged," 1687.
' Eden, in his "State of the Poor," 1797, vol. i, p, 560, gives us the following
paflage from Ferguflbn's " Farmer's Ingle :"
" On fome Feaft Day, the wee-things hulk it braw.
Shall heeze her heart up wi' a filent Joy,
Fu' cadgie that her head was up, and faw
Her ain fpun cleething on a darling Oy,
Carelefs tho' Death ftiould make the Feaft her Foy,"
After explaining Oy in a Note to fignify Grand-child, from the Gaelic Ogha,
he tells us " A Foy is the feaft a perfon, 'who is about to lea've a place, gi'ues to his
Friends before his departure. The metaphorical application of the Word in the
above paflage is eminently beautiful and happy."
¦* "Beverage, Be'verege, or Be'veridge, reward, confequence, 'Tis a Word
now in ufe for a Refrefliment between Dinner and Supper ; and we ufe the word
when any one pays for 'wearing ne'w clothes," &c. Hearne's Gloflary to Robert
of Gloucefter's Chronicle in 'v. [It is at prefent (1869) employed in the general
fenfe of any liquid refreffiment.]
Grofe fays, " There is a kind of Beverage called ' Foot-Ale' required from one
entering on a new occupation." [A perfon in this pofition is even now, in many
bufineries, expefted to pay h'ls footing, as it is called, in kind,]
' "Poems," ed. 1721, p. 120.
Drinking Cuftoms, 263
drunken Game, or new projea to drink and be rich ; thus, the Quaft'
or Cup is filled to the Brim, then one of the Company takes a pair of
Dice, and after crying Hy-jinks, he throws them out : the number he
cafts up points out the perfon muft drink, he who threw, beginning
at himfeif Number One, and fo round till the number of the perfons
agree with that of the Dice, (which may fall upon himfeif if the
number be within twelve;) then he fets the Dice to him, or bids him
take them : He on whom they fall is obliged to drink, or pay a fmall
forfeiture in money; then throws, and fo on : but if he forgets to cry
Hy-jinks he pays a forfeiture into the Bank, Now he on whom it
falls to drink, if there be any thing in Bank worth drawing, gets it all
if he drinks. Then, with a great deal of caution he empties his Cup,
fweeps up the Money, and orders the Cup to be filled again, and then
throws; for, if he err in the articles, he lofes the privilege of drawing
the Money, The articles are (i) Drink, (2) Draw. (3) Fill.
(4) Cry Hy-jinks. (5) Count juft. (6) Chufe your doublet Man,
viz. when two equal Numbers of the Dice are thrown, the perfon
whom you chufe muft pay a double of the common forfeiture, and fo
muft you when the Dice is in his hand. A rare Projea this," adds
honefi Allan, " and no bubble, I can affure you ; for a covetous
Fellow may fave Money, and get himfeif as drunk as he can defire in
lefs than an Hour's time."'
Douce's MS. Notes fay : " It was the cuftom in Beaumont and
Fletcher's time, for the young Gallants to ftab themfelves in the Arms
or elfewhere, in order to drink the healths of their Miftreffes, or to
write their names in their own blood."
So, in a fong to a Scotifh tune,^ the following lines occur :
3. " I ftab' d mine arm to drink her health.
The more fool I, the more fool I," &c.
And 4. " I will no more her fervant be
The wifer I, the wifer I,
Nor pledge her health upon my knee," Sec.
I beg the reader's candid examination of the fubfequent paffages :^
" Yea every Cup is faft t'others wedg'd.
They alwaies double drink, they muft be pledg'd.
He that begins, how many fo'er theybe.
Looks that each one do drink as much as he."
' He mentions, ibid, p, 30, a fet of drinkers called Facers, who, he fays, "were
a Club of fair Drinkers who inclined rather to fpend a Shilling on Ale than Two
pence for Meat. They had their name from a Rule they obferved of obliging
themfelves to throw all they left in the Cup in their own faces : Wherefore, to
fave their Face and their Cloaths, they prudently fuck'd the Liquor clean out."
Jamiefon notices Whigmeleerie as the name of a ridiculous game which was oc
cafionally ufed in Angus at a drinking Club, A Pin was ftuck in the centre
of a circle, from which there were as many radii as there were perfons in the
company, with the name of each perfon at the radius oppofite to him. On the pin
an Index was placed, and moved round by every one In his turn ; and at whatfo
ever perfon's radius it ftopped, he was obliged to drink off his glafs. Whigmeleeries
are " whims, fancies, crotchets."
' "Oxford Drollery," 1671, p. 124.
' Rigbie's "Drunkard's Profpeftive, or Burning Glafle," 1656, p. 7.
264 Drinking Cuftoms.
" Oh, how they'll wind men in, do what they can,
By drinking Healths, firft unto fuch a Man,
Then unto fuch a Woman. Then they'll fend
An Health to each Mans MIftrefle or his Friend ;
Then to their Kindreds or their Parents deare.
They needs muft have the other Jug of Beere,
Then to their Captains and Commanders ftout.
Who for to pledge they think none ftiall ftand out,
Laft to the King and Queen, they'll have a crufe.
Whom for to pledge they think none dare refufe."
In the firft quotation the author's meaning feems to be this : a
man in company, not contented with taking what he chufes, binds
another to drink the fame quantity that he does. In the laft, one
propofes a health which another pledges to honour by drinking to it
an equal quantity with him that propofed it,'
Heywood fays : ^ " Of Drinking Cups divers and fundry forts we
have; fome of Elme, fome of Box, fome of Maple, fome of Holly,
&c. Mazers, broad-mouth'd Difhes, Noggins, Whifkins, Piggins,
Crinzes, Ale-bowles, Waffell-bowles, Court-difhes, Tankards, Kannes,
from a pottle to a pint, from a pint to a gill. Other Botties we have
of Leather, but they moft ufed amongft the Shepheards and Harveft-
people of the Countrey : fmall Jacks wee have in many Ale-houfes of
the Citie and fuburbs, tip't with filver, befides the great Black Jacks
and Bombards at the Court, which when the Frenchmen firft faw,
they reported, at their returne into their Countrey, that the Engfilhmen
ufed to drinke out of their Bootes : we have befides. Cups made of
Homes of beafts, of Cocker-nuts, of Goords, of the Eggs of Eftriches,
others made of the Shells of divers Fifhes brought from the Indies
and other places, and fhining Uke Mother of Pearle, Come to plate,
every Taverne can afford you flat Bowles, French Bowles, Prounet
Cups, Beare Bowles, Beakers ; and private Houfeholders in the Citie,
when they make a Feaft to entertaine their Friends, can furnifh their
Cupbords with Flagons, Tankards, Beere-cups, Wine-bowles, fome
white, fome percell guilt, fome guilt all over, fome with covers, others
without, of fundry fhapes and qualities. . . . There is now profeft an
eighth liberal art or fcience, call'd Ars Bibendi, i. e. the Art of Drink
ing.^ The ftudents or profeffors thereof call a greene garland, or painted
hoope hang'd out, a colledge : a figne where there is a lodging, mans-
meate, and horfe-meate, an inne of court, an hall, or an hoftle : where
nothing is fold but ale and tobacco, a grammar fchoole : a red or blew
' Pafquler, in his " Recherches," p. 501, mentions that Mary, Queen of Scots,
previoufly to her execution, drank to all her attendants, defiring them to pledge
her. See what the fame author has faid in p. 785 of his work concerning this
cuftom. See alfo the "Fabliaux" of M. Le Grand, tom. i, p. 119, and his
•' Hiftoire de la Vie privee des Francois," tom. ill, p. 270. The cuftom of pledging
is to be found in the ancient romance of " Ogler le Danois," where Charlemagne
pledges himfeif for Ogler. See TreflTan, " Corps d'Extraits des Romans de
Chevalerle," tom. ii, p. 77,
" " Philocothonifta," 1635, p. 45.
' A notion borrowed feemingly from Fulwell's " Eighth Liberal Science, or
Ars Adulandi," 1576.]
Drinking Cuftoms, 265
lattice, that they terme a free fchoole, for all commers, . . . The
bookes which they ftuddy, and whofe leaves they fo often turne over,
are, for the moft part, three of the old tranflations and three of the
new. Thofe of the old tranflation : i. The Tankard. 2. The Black
Jacke. 3. The Quart-pot rib'd, or Thorondell. Thofe of the new
be thefe : i. The Jugge. 2. The Beaker. 3. The double or fingle Can,
or Black Pot." Among the proper phrafes belonging to the library,
occur, "to drinke upfe-phreefe, fupernaculum, to fwallow a flap-
dragon, or a raw egge — to fee that no leffe than three at once be bare
to a health. . . . Many of our nation have ufed the Lowe-countrey-
warres fo long, that though they have left their money and clothes
behind, yet they have brought home their habit of drinking." At
p. 60, he gives the following phrafes then in ufe for being drunk.
" He is foxt, hee is flawed, he is fluftered, hee is futtle, cupfhot, cut
in the leg or backe, hee hath feene the French king, he hath fwallowed
an haire or a taverne-token, hee hath whipt the cat, he hath been at
the fcriveners and learn'd to make indentures, hee hath bit his grannam,
or is bit by a barne-weefell, with an hundred fuch-hke adages and
fentences."
2. Healths or Toasts.
" 'Twas ufual then the Banquet to prolong.
By Mufick's charm, and fome delightful Song :
Where every Youth in pleafing accents ftrove
To tell the Stratagems and Cares of Love.
How fome fuccefsful were, how others croft :
Then to the fparkling Glafs would gi've his Toaft:
Whofe bloom did moft in his opinion fliine.
To reli/h both the Mufick and the Wine," King's Art of Cookery.
The Greeks and Romans ufed at their meals to make libations,
pour out, and even drink wine, in honour of the gods. The claffical
writings abound with proofs of this. The Greek and Roman writers
have alfo tranfmitted to us accounts of the grateful cuftom of drinking
to the health of our benefaaors and of our acquaintances.
" Pro te, fortiffime, vota
Publica fufcipimus : Bacchi tibi fumimus hauftus."
It appears that the men of gallantry among the Romans ufed to
take off as many glaffes to their refpeaive miftreffes as there were
letters in the name of each,' Thus Martial :
" Six cups to Naevia's health go quickly round,
And be With fe'ven the fair Juflina's crown'd,"
' How exceedingly fimilar to our modern cuftom of faying to each of the com
pany in turn, " Give us a Lady to toaft," is the following :
" Da puere ab fummo, age tu interibi ab infimo da Suavium." Plauti Afinaria.
266 Drinking Cuftoms.
Hence, no doubt, our cuftom of toafting, or drinking healths, a cere
mony which Prynne, in his " Healthes Sickneffe," inveighs againft
in language moft ftrongly tinaured with enthufiaftic fury. This ex
traordinary man, who, though he drank no healths, yet appears to
have been intoxicated with the fumes of a moft fanatical fpirit, and
whom the three Anticyrae could not, it fhould feem, have reduced to
a ftate of mental fobriety, concludes his " Addrefs to the Chriftian
Reader" thus: "The unfained well-wifher of thy fpiritual and cor
poral, though the oppugner of thy pocular and pot-emptying Health,
William Prynne."
Braithwaite' fays : " Thefe Cups proceed either in order or out of
order. In order, when no perfon tranfgreffeth or drinkes out of courfe,
but the Cup goes round according to their manner of fitting : and this
we call an Health Cup, becaufe in our wifhing or confirming of any
one's health, bare-headed and ftanding, it is performed by all the Com
pany. It is drunke without order, when the courfe or method of order
is not obferved, and that the Cup paffeth on to whomfoever we fhall
appoint." Again : " Some joyne two Cups one upon another and
drinke them together," In the Preface to the work quoted, keeping
a public-houfe is called " the known Trade of the Ivy Bufh, or Red
Lettice."^ In the " Tatler," No. 24, is an account of the origin of the word
toaft, in its prefent fenfe, ftating that it had its rife from an accident at
Bath in the reign of Charles II, : " It happened that on a pubfick day
a celebrated beauty of thofe times was in the Crofs Bath, and one of
the crowd of her admirers took a Glafs of the Water in which the fair
one ftood, and drank her Health to the company. There was in the
place a gay fellow, half fuddled, who offered to jump in, and fwore,
though he liked not the liquor, he would have the Toaft, He was
oppofed in his refolutlon ; yet this whim gave foundation to the pre
fent honour which is done to the Lady we mention in our liquor, who
has ever fince been called a Toaft," [Though unable to controvert
this account, I am by no means fatisfied with it.
Ward of Ipfwich ^ ftrenuoufly, but vainly exhorted his countrymen
to abandon] " that foolifh and vicious Cuftome, as Ambrofe and Bafil
' " Laws of Drinking," 1617, p. 9.
° The following Is a curious epigram of Owen on this fubjeft ;
" Quo tibi potarum plus eft in ventre Salutum,
Hoc minus epotis, hlfce Salutis habes.
Una Salus fanis, nuUam potare Salutem,
Non eft in pota vera Salute falus." Part I. lib. ii. Ep. 42.
"561. Health.
" Even from my heart much Health I wifti.
No Health I'll wafti with drink.
Health 'w'tfh'd, not 'wa/h'd, in 'words, not 'wine.
To be the beft I think." — Witts Recreat. 1667.
3 (c \yoe to Drunkards," 1622 (Works, 1636, p. 553).
Drinking Cuftoms. 267
call it, of drinking Healths, and making that a facrifice to God for the
health of others, which is rather a facrifice to the DeviU, and a bane
of their owne." It appears from the fame writer, that it was a
cuftom to drink Healths at that time upon their bare knees. The
author is fpeaking of pot-wits and fpirits of the buttery, " who never
bared their knees to drinke Healthes, nor ever needed to whet their
wits with Wine, or arme their courage with Pot-harneffe," In Mar
mion's " Antiquary," aa iv, is the following paffage : " Why they
are as jovial as twenty Beggars, drink their whole Cups, fixe Glaffes at
a Health." Miffon has fome curious remarks on the manner of drink
ing healths in England in his time.' [An author who wrote at about
the fame period, alludes to a cuftom at the Old Crown Inn, at Ware,
by which every one coming to fee the great bed there preferved, was
expeaed to drink " a fmall can of beer," and to repeat fome health,
but the gentleman unluckily forgot what this was,]-
When the lady in "Hudibras"' is endeavouring to perfuade her
lover to whip himfeif for her fake, fhe ufes the following words, which
intimate a different origin for the cuftom of toafting :
" It Is an eafier way to make
Love by, than that which many take.
Who would not rather fuffer whipping,
Than f'wallo'W Toafts of Bits of Ribbin ? "
In the " Cheimonopegnion, or a Winter Song," by Raphael Tho-
rius,* the following paffages occur :
" Caft wood upon the fire, thy loyns gird round
With warmer clothes, and let the Tofts abound
In clofe array, embattel'd on the hearth."
So
again ;
" And tell their hard adventures by the fire,
While their friends hear, and hear, and more defire,
And all the time the crackling Chefnuts roaft.
And each Man hath his Cup, and each his Toaft,"
From thefe paffages it fliould feem that the faying " Who gives a
Toafl?" is fynonymous with " Whofe turn is it to take up his Cup
and propofe a Health ?" It was the praaice to put Toafl into Ale with
Nutmeg and Sugar. This appears from "Wine, Beere, Ale, and
Tobacco, contending for fuperiority," [1630, of which a later edition
has a frontifpiece, reprefenting three women and a man playing with
three dice,]
In Fulwell's " Like will to Uke, quoth the Deulll to the Collier,"
1568, is a fong beginning
" Troll the Bole, and drink to me, and troll the Bole agaln-a.
And put a bro'wne Toft in the Pot, for Philip Flemmings braln-a."
' " Travels," p. 67,
'¦' " A Journey from London to Scarborough," 173+, P- 4-
' Part II. canto t.
* Attheend of Haufted's tranfl. of "Hymnus Tabaci," i65i,pp. .i, 7.
268 Drinking Cuftoms,
The word "Toft" occurs in Wither,'
" Will he will drinke, yet but a draught at moft
That muft be fpiced with a Nut-bro'wne Toft,"
In drinking toafts, the ladies have a modeft cuftom of excufing
themfelves, thus elegantly defcribed by Goldfmith in his " Deferted
Village :" " Nor the coy Maid, half willing to be preft,
Shall kifs the Cup to pafs it to the reft." ^
The following paffage fhows plainly the etymology of "Tofs-pot :"
it is extraaed from " The Schoolemafter, or Teacher of Table
Philofophie," 1576, Book iv, chap, 35. " Of merry Jefts of Preach
ing Friers :" " A certaine Frier toffng the Pot, and drinking very often
at the table, was reprehended by the Priour," &c.
I find the following anagram on a toaft in " The New Help to
Difcourfe," 1684: « TOAST,
Anagram
A SOTT.
Expofition.
A Toaft is like a Sot ; or, what is moft
Comparative, a Sot is like a Toaft ;
For when their fubftances in liquor fink.
Both properly are faid to be in drink."
Brown, Bifhop of Cork, being a violent Tory, wrote a book to
prove that drinking memories was a fpecies of idolatry, in order to
abolifh a cuftom then prevalent among the Whigs of Ireland of
drinking the glorious memory of King WiUiam the Third. But, in
ftead of cooling, he only inflamed the rage for the toaft, to which they
afterwards tacked the following rider, " And a f * * * for the Bifhop of
Cork,"^ [In the laft century, or the earlier part of it at leaft, they had a
cuftom at Edinburgh oi faving the Ladies, as it was termed] " after
St. Cecilia's Concert, by Gentlemen drinking immoderately to fave a
favourite Lady, as his Toafl," [But it is added, this] " has been for
fome years given up. Indeed they got no thanks for their ab
furd ity."*
[I do not know what inference is to be drawn from a paffage in the
' " Abufes ftript and whipt," 161 3, p, 174.
' In the "Canting Vocabulary," "Who tofts now?" is rendered "Who
chriftens the Health ?" and " an old Toft" is explained to mean " a pert pleafant
old Fellow."
^ " Survey of the South of Ireland," p, 421, The BIftiop's work was entitled
" Of drinking in remembrance of the Dead ;" 8vo. Lond, 1715, where, in p. 54,
he aflerts that " an Health is no other than a. liquid Sacrifice in the conftant fenfe
and praftice of the Heathen," And at p, 97, he tells us of a curious "Return
given by the great Lord Bacon to fuch as preffed him to drink the King's Health ;"
namely, that " he would drink for his own health, and pray for the King's."
* "Statiftical Account of Scotland" (account of Edinburgh, 1763, 1783,
1791-2), vol. vi. p. 617,
Drinking Cuftoms. zbg
"Towneley Myfteries" here fubjoined, unlefs it is that it was formerly
ufual for the commoner fort of people, before a caroufe, to kifs each
other, as a mark of good fellowfhip :
" Secundus Paftor. Yit a botelle here is.
Tercius Paftor. That is welle fpoken ;
By my thryft we muft kys —
Secundus Paftor. That had I foigoten."]
3. Supernaculum.
To iririk fupernaculum was an ancient cuftom not only in England,
but alfo in feveral other parts of Europe, of emptying the cup or
glafs, and then pouring the drop or two that remained at the bottom
upon the perfon's nail that drank it, to ftiow that he was no flincher.'
Tom Brown- mentions a parfon who had forgot even to drink over
his right Thumb. This may allude to fupernaculum. The " Britifh
Apollo " offers the fubjoined folution :
" When mortals, with Wine,
Make their faces to flilne,
'Tis to look like Apollo in lufter ;
And, circulatory.
To follow his glory,
Which over the left Thumb they muft. Sir,"
In "The Winchefter Wedding,"^ is another allufion to fuper
naculum : " Then Phillip began her Health,
And turn' d a Beer-Glafs on his Thumb;
But Jenkin was reckon'd for drinking
The beft in Chrlftendom,"
4. [The Bridling Cast.
This feems to have been rather more common in Scotland than
among the Southerners ; it was the cup of drink offered to a vifitor,
at the gate, after mounting to depart. Skelton refers to it in the
"Bowge of Courte," printed before 1500 :
" What, loo, man, fee here of dyce a bale !
A brydelynge cafte for that Is in thy male."
Weber fays, in a note to his edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, " A
bridling caft was probably fimilar to what is at prefent in Scotiand,
[' See "Engliffi Proverbs and Proverbial Phrafes," 1869, art. make a pearl on
pur nail, and "Notes and Queries," 4th S. vol. i. pp. 460, 559. Alfo a little
volume quoted by Brand, himfeif, " De Supernaculo Anglorum," 1746, p. 8,
' " Letters from the Dead to the Living," vol. ii, p, 178.
' Ritfon's "Antient Songs," 1792, p. 297.
270 Drinking Cuftoms.
and particularly in the Highlands, called the door-drink, which is often
adminiftered after the gueft is feated upon his horfe, or while the horfe
is bridling," In Fletcher's " Scornful Lady," 1616, Young Love-
lefs fays : " Let's have a bridling caft before you go —
Fill 's a new ftoop."]
5, Buzza, to Buzza One,'
Grofe explains this as fignifying to challenge a perfon to pour out
all the wine in the bottle into his glafs, undertaking to drink it, fhould
it prove more than the glafs would hold.'^ It is commonly faid to one
who hefitates to empty a bottle that is nearly out.
That it is good to be drunk once a month, fays the author of the
" Vulgar Errors," is a common flattery of fenfuality, fupporting itfelf
upon phyfic and the healthful effeas of inebriation. It is a ftriking
inftance of " the doing ill," as we fay, " that good may come out of
it." It may happen that inebriation, by caufing vomiting, may cleanfe
the ftomach, &c. ; but it feems a very dangerous kind of dofe, and of
which the " repetatur hauftus," too quickly repeated, will prove that
men may pervert that which Nature intended for a cordial into the
moft baneful of all poifons. It has been vulgarly called "giving a
fillip to Nature." [But it is at the prefent time a not uncommon
maxim among phyficians that occafional indulgence is rather beneficial
to the fyftem than the reverfe.]
In the " Statiftical Account of Scotiand,"' the minifter of Kirk-
michael tells us : " In extraordinary cafes of diftrefs, we have a cuftom
which deferves to be taken notice of; and that is, when any of the
lower people happen to be reduced by fickneffes, loffes, or misfortunes
of any kind, a friend is fent to as many of their neighbours as they
think needful, to invite them to what they call a drinking. This
drinking confifts in a little fmall beer, with a bit of bread and cheefe,
and fometimes a fmall glafs of brandy or whifky, previoufly provided
by the needy perfons or their friends. The guefts convene at the
time appointed, and after colkaing a fhilling a-piece, and fometimes
more, they divert themfelves for about a couple of hours with mufic
and dancing, and then go home. Such as cannot attend themfelves,
' I know nothing of the meaning of this word. I have been told that it is a
college expreffion ; and contains a threat, in the way of pleafantry, to black the
perfon's face with a burnt cork, ftiould he flinch or fail to empty the bottle. Poffibly
it may have been derived from the German " hvizzen," fordes auferre, q. d. "Off
with the Lees at bottom."
' Bumpers are of great antiquity. Thus Paulus Warnefridus is cited in Du
Gauge's " Gloffary," telling us, in lib. v. " De Geftis Langobard." cap. i, " Cum-
que II qui diverfi generis potlones el a Rege deferebant, de verbo Regis eum roga-
rent, ut totam fialam biberet, ille in honorem Regis fe totam bibere promittens,
parum aquae libabat de argenteo Calice." Vide Martial, lib, i. Ep. 72 ; lib. viii.
51, &c.
' Vol. i. p. 59.
Drinking Cuftoms, 271
ufually fend their charitable contribution by any neighbour that choofes
to go, Thefe meetings fometimes produce five, fix, and feven pounds
to the needy perfon or family." In the fame work,' it is faid, under
the parifh of Gargunnock, co, Stirling : " There is one prevailing
cuftom among our country people, which is fometimes produaive of
much evil. Everything is bought and fold over a bottle. The people
who go to the fair in the full poffeflion of their faculties, do not
always tranfaa their bufinefs, or return to their homes, in the fame
ftate." [This, however, was in the laft century.]
6. Under the Rose,
The vulgar faying " Under the Rofe," is ftated to have taken its
rife from convivial entertainments, where it was an ancient cuftom to
wear chaplets of rofes about the head, on which occafions, when
perfons defired to confine their words to the company prefent, that
they " might go no farther," they commonly faid " they are fpoken
under the Rofe," The Germans have hence a cuftom of defcribing
a rofe in the ceiling over the table. [The rofe is a very ufual central
ornament for modern reception rooms, A correfpondent of " Notes
and Queries " obferves that, at Lullingftone Caftle, in Kent, there is
a reprefentation of a rofe nearly two feet in diameter, with the follow
ing infcription round it :
" Kentlfti true blue.
Take this as a token.
That what is faid here.
Under the Rofe is fpoken."]
In "Lingua," 1607, aa ii, fc. i, Appetitus fays: "Crown me no
Crowns but Bacchus' Crown of Rofes."
Nazianzen, according to Sir Thomas Browne, feems to imply, in
the following verfes, that the rofe, from a natural property, has been
made the (ymbol of filence :
"Utque latet Rofa vern'a.fuo putamine claufa.
Sic Os vincla ferat, validifque arftetur habenis,
Indicatque fuis prolixa filentia labris."
Lemnius and others have traced this faying to another origin. The
rofe, fay they, was the flower of Venus, which Cupid confecrated to
Harpocrates, the God of Silence ; and it was therefore the emblem
of it, to conceal the myfteries of Venus.
It is obfervable that it was anciently a fafhion to ftick a rofe in the
ear. At Kirtiing, in Cambridgefhire, [at one time] the magnificent
refidence of the Norths, there [ufed to be] a juvenile portrait, (fup
pofed to be of Queen Elizabeth,) with a red rofe fticking in her ear,
Newton 2 fays : " I will heere adde a common Countrey Cuflome that
is ufed to be done with the Rofe. When pleafaunt and merry com
panions doe friendly meete together to make goode cheere, as foone
' Vol. xviii. p. 123, ' " Herball to the Bible,' 1587, p. 223-4.
272 Drinking Cuftoms.
as their Feaft or Banket is ended, they give faithfull promife mutually
one to another, that whatfoever hath been merrily fpoken by any in
that affembly, fhould be wrapped up in filence, and not to be carried
out of the Doores, For the Affurance and Performance whereof,
the tearme which they ufe, is, that all things there faide muft be taken
as fpoken under the Rofe.
" Whereupon they ufe in their Parlours and Dining Roomes to hang
Roses over their Tables, to put the Companie in memorie of Secrecie,
and not rafhly or indifcreetly to clatter and blab out what they heare,
Likewife, if they chaunce to fhew any Tricks of wanton, unfhame-
faft, immodeft, or irreverent behaviour either by word or deed, they
protefting that all ¦w?iS fpoken under the Rofe, do give a ftrait charge
and pafs a Covenant of Silence and Secrecy with the hearers, that the
fame fhall not be blowne abroad, nor tatled in the Streetes among
any others,"
So Peacham : ' "In many places as well in England as in the Low
Countries, they have over their Tables a Rofe painted, and what is
fpoken under the Rofe muft not be revealed. The Reafon is this ; the
Rofe being facred to Venus, whofe amorous and ftolen Sports, that
they might never be revealed, her fonne Cupid would needes dedicate
to Harpocrates the God of Silence,"
7, Hob or Nob.
Grofe, in his " Gloffary," explains Hob-Nob (fometimes pronounced
Hab-Nab) as a North Country word, fignifying " At a venture,"
"raflily." He tells us, alfo, that Hob or Hub is the North Country name for
the back of the chimney. We find the following in his " Diaionary
of the Vulgar Tongue :" " ' Will you hob or nab with me?' a Queftion
formerly In fafhion at polite Tables, fignifying a Requeft or Challenge
to drink a Glafs of Wine with the propofer : if the party challenged
anfwered Nob, they were to chufe whether white or red." His ex
planation of the origin of this cuftom is extremely improbable.'
The expofition modeftly hinted at by Reed,^ feems much more
confonant with truth. It occurs in a note upon that paffage in
" Twelfth Night," where a charaaer fpeaking of a duellift fays,
" His incenfement at this moment is fo implacable, that fatisfaftion
' "The Truth of our Times," 1638, p. 173.
^ Steevens thinks the word derived from hap ne hap. Mafon aflcs in a note,
" Is not this the original of our hob nob, or challenge to drink a Glafs of Wine at
dinner ? The phrafe occurs in Ben Jonfon's ' Tale of a Tub :'
' I put it
Even to your Worfliip's bitterment hub nab
I fliall have a chance o' the dice for't, I hope.' "
And Malone adds a paffage from Holinftied : " The Citizens in their rage hot
habbe or nabbe, at random."
' Edit, of Shakefpeare, vol. v, p. 369.
Drinking Cujioms. 273
can be none but by pangs of death, and fepulchre : hob, nob, is his
word; give't or take't." In Anglo-Saxon, habban is to have, and
nasbban to want. May it not therefore be explained in this fenfe, as
fignifying, " Do you chufe a Glafs of Wine, or would you rather let
it alone ? "
An even earlier author' has the following paffage :
" Where Wooers hoppe in and out, long time may bryng
Him that hoppeth beft, at laft to have the Ryng.
I hoppyng without for a Ringe of a Rufti,
And while I at length debate and beate the Buftie,
There fliall fteppe in other Men, and catche the Burdes,
And by long time loft In many vaine wurdes,
Betwene theie two Wives, make Slouth fpeede confounde
While betweene two Stooles my tayle goe to the grounde.
By this, fens we fee Slouth muft breede a fcab,
Beft fticke to the tone out of hand, hab or nab."
In Harrington's " Epigrams," book iv, ep, 91, we read :
" Not of Jack Straw, with his rebellious Crew,
That fet King, Realme, and Lawes at hab or nab.
Whom London's worthy Malor fo bravely flew
With dudgeon Dagger's honourable ftab."
In " The New Courtier," a ballad, preferved in [" Le Prince
'Amour," 1660,] we find hab nab thus introduced :
" I write not of Religion
For (to tell you truly) we have none.
If any me to queftion call.
With Pen or Sword, Hab nab's the word.
Have at all,"
It is faid of the quack aftrologer : " He writes of the Weather
hab nab, and as the Toy takes him, chequers the Year with foul and
fair, "2
M, Jorevin, who was here in Charles II, 's time,^ fpeaking of Wor
cefter, and the Stag Inn there, obferves : " According to the cuftom
of the country, the landladies fup with ftrangers and paffengers, and
if they have daughters, they are alfo of the company, to entertain the
guefts at table with pleafant conceits, where they drink as much as
the men. But what is to me the moft difgufting in all this is, that
when one drinks the health of any perfon in company, the cuftom of
the Country does not permit you to drink more than half the cup,
which is filled up, and prefented to him or her whofe health you have
drank." The following paffage is curious :* " Now to drink all out every
Man : (Drinking and Carrowfing) which is a Fafhion as little in ufe
' "Workes of John Heywoode," 1566, fignat. a 4.
" " Charafter of a Quack Aftrologer," 1673, fign. C 3 'verfa.
" "Antiquarian Repertory," ed. 1808, vol. iv. p. 563.
[• John della Cafe, Archblftiop of Ravenna's " Galateo," tranflated by Robert
Peterfon, 1576, fign. <^2.]
II. T
274 Tavern Signs,
amongft us, as ye terme itfelfe is barbarous and ftrange : I meane, Ick
bring you, is fure a foule thing of itfelfe, and in our Countrie fo coldly
accepted yet, that we muft not go about to bring it in for a fafhion.
If a Man doe quaffe or carroufe unto you, you may honeftly fay nay
to pledge him, and geveing him thankes, confeffe your weakneffe, that
you are not able to beare it : or elfe to doe him a pleafure, you may for
curtefie fake tafte it : and then fet downe the Cup to them that will,
and charge yourfelfe no further. And although this, Ick bring you, as
I have heard many learned Men fay, hath beene an auncient Cuftome
in Greece : and that the Grecians doe much commend a good man of
that time, Socrates by name, for that hee fat out one whole night
long, drinking a Vie with another good man, Ariftophanes ; and yet
the next morning, in the breake of the Daye, without any reft uppon
his drinking, made fuch a cunning Geometrical Inftrument, that there
was no maner of faulte to be found in the fame : bycaufe the drinking
of Wine after this forte in a Vie, in fuch exceflie and wafte, is a
fhrewde Affault to trie the ftrength of him that quaffes fo luftily,"
Evelyn,' fpeaking of taverns, fays, " Your L. will not believe
me that the Ladies of greateft quality fuffer themfelves to be treated
in one of thefe Taverns, but you will be more aftonifht when I affure
you that they drink their crowned Cups roundly, ftrain healths through
their Smocks, daunce after the Fiddle, kifs freely, and term it an
honourable Treat. [There is] a fort of perfea Debauchees, who
ftile themfelves He£iori, that in their mad and unheard of revels,
pierce their Veins to quaff their own blood, which fome of them have
drank to that excefs, that they died of the Intemperance. ... I don't
remember, my Lord, ever to have known (or very rarely,) a Health
drank in France, no, not the Kings ; and if we fay a voire Sante,
Monfieur, it neither expeas pledge or ceremony. 'Tis here fo the
Cuftome to drink to every one at the Table, that by the time a
Gentieman has done his duty to the whole Company, he is ready to
fall afleep, whereas with us, we falute the whole Table with a fingle
Glafs onely."
B
Catjern t)tgn0.
The Ale Stake, or Bufti,
ANSLEY, in his " Treatife on the Pride and Abufe of Women,"
circd 1550, fays :
" For lyke as the jolye ale houfe
Is alwayes knowen by the good ale ftake,
So are proud Jelots fone perceeved to.
By theyr proude foly, and wanton gate."]
' " Charafter of England," 1659, pp. 34, 6, 7.
Tavern Signs, 27c
Sir Thomas Browne is of opinion that the human faces defcribed
in alehoufe figns, in coats of arms, &c. for the fun and moon, are
reliques of Paganifm, and that thefe vifages originally implied Apollo
and Diana. Butier aflcs a fhrewd queftion on this head, which I do
not remember to have feen folved :
" Tell me but what's the nat'ral caufe.
Why on a Sign no Painter draws
The FuU Moon ever, but the half?" '
There is a well known proverb, " Good Wine needs no bufli ;" i.e.
nothing to point out where it is to be fold. The fubfequent paffage
[in Rowlands' "Good Newes and Bad Newes," 1622,] feems to
prove that anciently tavern keepers kept both a bufh and a fign : a
hoft is fpeaking : " I rather will take down my Bufh and Sign
Then live by means of riotous expence."
[In the fame author's "Knave of Harts," 1612, " the drunken
knave" exclaims :
" What claret's this } the very worft In towne :
Your taverne-bufti deferves a pulling downe."]
Dickenfon, in his "Greene in Conceipt," 1598, has it: "Good
Wine needes no Ivie Bufh,"
In "England's Parnaffus," 1600, the firft line of the addrefs to the
reader runs thus : " I hang no Ivie out to fell my Wine :" and in
Braithwaite's " Strappado for the Divell," 1615, there Is a dedication
to Bacchus, "fole Soveraigne of the Ivy-Bufh, prime founder of Red-
Lettices," &c.
In Dekker's " Wonderful Yeare," 1603, fignat. f, we read :
"Spied a Bufh at the ende of a Pole (the auncient Badge of a
Countrey Ale-Houfe)."
[Sir William Vaughan of Merioneth, in his " Golden Grove,"
1600, fays :]* " Like as an Ivy-Bufh put forth at a Vintrie, is not the
caufe of the Wine, but, a Signe that Wine is to hee fold there; fb,
likewife, if we fee fmoke appearing in a Chimney, wee know that Fire
is there, albeit the Smoke is not the Caufe of the Fire."
[Elfewhere we find :] " Nay if the Houfe be not worth an Ivie-
Bufh, let him have his tooles about him ; Nutmegs, Rofemary,
Tobacco, with other the appurtenances, and he knowes how of
puddle-ale to make a Cup of Englifh Wine."^
The following [may fhow] that anciently putting up boughs upon
any thing was an indication that it was to be fold, which if I do not
much miftake, is alfo the reafon why an old befom (which is a fort
oi dried bufh) is put up at the top-maft head of a fhip or boat when fhe
is to be fold.
1 u 1
' Hudibras," p. ii. c. iii. [This part of the fubjeft is treated much more at
large in the " Hiftory of Signboards," 1867.]
' Ed. 1608, fign. B b 'verfo.
' Harris's " Drunkard's Cup," p. 299.
276 Tavern Signs.
Nafh, fpeaking of the head dreffes of London ladies, fays : " Even
as Angels are painted in Church Windowes, with glorious golden
fronts, befette with Sunne-beames, fo befet they their foreheads on
either fide with glorious borrowed gleamy bufhes ; which rightly in
terpreted, fhould fignifie beauty to fell, fince a Bufh is not elfe hanged
forth, but to invite men to buy. And in Italy, when they fette any
Beafl to fale, they crowne his head with Garlands, and bedeck it with
gaudy bloffoms, as full as ever it may flick." '
" — in olde time" [it is faid in a curious traa] " fuch as folde horfes
were wont to put flowers or boughes upon their heads, to reveale
that they were vendible," ^
[But the following paffages fhow that ribbons were, as at prefent,
alfo ufual :5] " As Horfe-Courfers their Horfes fet to fale.
Wish Ribonds on their foreheads and their tail;
So all our Poets' Gallantry now-a-days
Is in the Prologues and Epilogues of their Plays,"
Another old author, fpeaking of " Itch of piaure in the Front,"
fays : " This fets off the Pamphlet in a Country Fair, as the Horfe
fells the better for the ribbon, wherewith a Jockey tyes up his Tail,"*
Coles' fays : " Box and Ivy laft long green, and therefore Vintners
make their Garlands thereof: though perhaps Ivy is the rather ufed,
becaufe of the antipathy between it and wine."
Poor Robin [is made fomewhere to fay :]
" Some Alehoufes upon the Road I saw,
And fome with Bufhes fhe'w'tng they Wine diddra'w" *
By the following paffage in [Braithwaite's] " Whimzies," it fhould
feem that figns in ale-houfes fucceeded birch-poles. The author is
defcribing a painter, " Hee beftowes his pencile on an aged peece of
decayed Canvas in a footy Alehoufe, where Mother- Red- cap muft be
fet out in her colours. Here hee and his barmy Hofteffe draw both
together, but not in like nature ; fhe in ale, he in oyle : but her com-
moditie goes better downe, which he meanes to have his full fhare of,
when his worke is done. If fhe afpire to the conceite of a figne, and
defire to have her birch-pole pulled downe, hee will fupply her with
one,"' In Scotiand a Wifp of Straw upon a Pole is, or was heretofore the
indication of an ale houfe. [The phrafe occurs in Dunbar's " Tefta
ment of Andro Kennedy."]
' " Chrift's Tears over Jerufalem," 1593, edit. 161 3, p. 145.
= "The Man in the Moone telling Fortunes to Engliftimen," &c, 1609, fign.
3- " Flecknoe's " Epigrams," p. 74,
* " Charafter of a Quack Aftrologer," 1673, fign, c 3,
* " Introd, to the Knowl. of Plants," 1656, p. 65,
* "Poor Robin's Perambulation from Saffron- Walden to London," 1678
. 16,
' i63i,pait ii. pp. 14, 15.
Tavern Signs. 277
The Checquers, at this time a common fign of a public houfe, was
originally intended, I fliould fuppofe, for a kind of draught-board,
called Tables, and fliowed that there that game might be played.'
From their colour which was red, and the fimilarity to a lattice, it
was corruptly called the Red Lettuce, which word is frequently ufed
by ancient writers to fignify an ale-houfe.^ Thus in " The Drunk
ard's Profpeaive," &c. by Jofeph Rigbie, 1656, p, 6 :
" The Tap-Houfe fits them for a Jaile,
The Jaile to th' Gibbet fends them without faile.
For thofe that through a Lattice fang of late
You oft find crying through an Iron Grate."
In confirmation of the above hypothefis I fubjoin a curious paffage
from Gayton:' "Mine Hoft's policy for the drawing Guefts to his
Houfe and keeping them when he had them, is farre more ingenious
than our duller ways of Billiards, Kettie Pins, Noddy Boards, Tables,
Truncks, Shovel Boards, Fox and Geefe, or the like. He taught his'
Bullies to drink {more Romano) according to the number of the Letters
on the errant Ladies name :
' C\oA.ia.fex Cyath'is, feptem Juftlna bibatur: '
the pledge fo followed in Dulcinea del Tobofo would make a houfe
quickly turn round,"
In Marfton's " Antonio and Melida," we read : " as well knowen
by my wit, as an Ale-houfe by a Red Lattice."
So in Marmion's " Fine Companion," " A Waterman's Widow at
the fign of the Red Lattice in Southwark," Again, in Arden, of
Faverfham, 1592 :
— " his Sign pulled down, and his lattice born away."
Again, in " The Miferies of inforc'd Marriage," 1607 :
— " 'tis reafon to the Red Lattice, enemy to the Sign-poft."
Hence, fays Steevens, the prefent Checquers,*
In Shakefpeare's " Henry IV." p. ii, Falftaff's Page, fpeaking of
Bardolph, fays, " He called me even now, my lord, through a Red
Lattice, and I could fee no part of his face from the window,"
' [It was related to Mr. Brand "by a very noble perfonage" that the chequers
reprefented the arms of the ancient Earls of Warenne and Surrey, who enjoyed the
right of llcenfing taverns at an early date. But the kind of defign or decoration,
which we find here, was familiar to the inhabitants of Pompeii, and was probably
known even in this country long before the earldom of Warenne and Surrey rofe
into exiftence. It feems to have derived its name from the abacus or table (fo
called) which was employed in the calculations connefted with the public accounts,
and thence became the common fign of the money-changers (including fuch Inn
keepers as followed the vocation concurrently with their own.)]
" Antiq. Repert." vol, i. p. 50,
' " Feft. Notes on Don Quixote," 1654, p, 340.
' See a View of the left hand ftreet of Pompeii (No, 9), prefented by Sir William
Hamilton, (together with feveral others, equally curious,) to the Society of Anti
quaries.
278 Tavern Signs.
This defignation of an Ale-Houfe is not altogether loft, though the
original meaning of the word is, the fign being converted into a green
lettuce ; of which an inftance occurs in Brownlow-ftreet, Holborn,
In the laft Will and Teftament of Lawrence Lucifer, the old
Batchiler of Limbo, at the end of the " Blacke Booke," 1604, is the
following paffage : " Watched fometimes ten houres together in an
ale-houfe, ever and anon peeping forth, and fampling thy nofe with
the Red Lattice," '
In Flecknoe's "Charaaers," 1658,*^ fpeaking "of your fanatick
Reformers," he obferves, " As for the Signs, they have pretty well
begun their Reformation already, changing the Sign of the Salutation
of the Angel and our Lady, into the Souldier and Citizen, and the
Katherine Wheel into the Cat and Wheel ; fo as there only wants
their making the Dragon to kill St, George, and The Devil to tweak
St. Dunftan by the nofe, to make the Reformation compleat. Such
ridiculous work they make of their Reformation, and fo zealous are
they againft all Mirth and Jollity, as they would pluck down the Sign
of the Cat and Fiddle too, if it durft but play fo loud as they might
hear it," There is a Letter in the " Gentleman's Magazine " for
September, 1770, on the Original of Signs denoting Trades,
In a traa already cited ^ thefe expreffions occur :
" Going ftill nearer London, I did come
In little fpace of time to Newington.
Now as I paft along I caft my Eye on
The Signs of Cock and Pie, and Bull and Lion."
Compare the " Britifh Apollo," 1710*:
" I'm amaz'd at the Signs,
As I pafs through the town :
To fee the odd mixture,
A Magpye and Cro'wn,
The Whale and the Cromi,
The Razor and Hen,
The Leg and fev'n Stars,
The Bible and S'wan,
The Ax and the Bottle,
The Tun and the Lute,
The Eagle and Child,
The Sho'vel and Boot."
In a poem,' written about the fame time, we read :
" Without, there hangs a noble Sign,
Where golden Grapes in Image ftiine —
To crown the Bufti, a little punch
Gut Bacchus dangling of a Bunch,
Sits loftily enthron'd upon
What's call'd (in Miniature) a Tun."
' Reed's" Shakefpeare,'' vol. v. p. 83.
' Edit. 1665, p. 84.
¦' "Poor Robin's Perambulation," &c. 1678, p. 22.
¦* Vol. iii. No. 34.
'¦ " The Compleat Vintner," 1720, p. 36. See alfo p. 38.
Tobacco in Ale-houfes. 279
" In London," fays Steevens, " we have ftill the Sign of the Bull
and Gate, which exhibits but an odd combination of Images, It was
originally (as I learn from the titie-page of an old Play) the Bullogne
Gate, i.e. one of the Gates of Bullogne : defigned perhaps as a com
pliment to Henry VIII, who took that place in 1544, The Bullogne
Mouth, now the Bull and Mouth, had probably the fame origin, i.e.
the Mouth of the Harbour of Bullogne,"' To thefe may be added
the Bell and Savage, i.e. the " Belle Sauvage," who was once to be
fhown there.
The three Blue Balls prefixed to the doors and windows of Pawn
brokers' Shops, (by the vulgar humoroufly enough faid to indicate
that it is two to one that the things pledged are ever redeemed) were
in reality [the arms of the Medici family, a branch of whom, with
many other Lombard houfes, fettied in London at an early date, and
concentrated themfelves chiefly in a quarter which was called after
them Lombard- ftreet,]
Cobacco in ;^le-!)oufe0.
A Tobacconift,
" All dainty Meats I do defie.
Which feed Men fat as Swine :
He is a fiugal Man Indeed
That on a Leaf can dine.
He needs no Napkin for his hands
His fingers ends to wipe.
That keeps his Kitchen In a Box,
And roaft Meat in a Pipe." Witts Recreations.
" Hail, Indian Plant, to antient Times unknown,
A modern truly thou, of all our own ;
If through the Tube thy Virtues be convey'd.
The old Man's Solace, and the Student's aid I
Thou dear Concomitant of Nappy Ale,
Thou fweet prolonger of a harmlefs Tale ;
Or if, when pulverlz'd In fmart Rappee,
Thou'lt reach Sir Fopling's Brain, if Brain there be ;
He ffiines In Dedications, Poems, Plays,
Soars in Pindaricks, and aft'erts the Bays ;
Thus doft thou every Tafte and Genius hit,
In Smoak, thou'rt Wifdom y and in i'«a^thou'rt Wit,"
The London Medley, 1 731, p. 8.
[' " Henry VIII. having taken the town of Bullogne, in France, the gates of
which he brought to Hardes, in Kent, where they are ftill remaining, the flatterers
of that reign highly magnified this aftion, which, Portobello-like, became a popular
fubjeft for Signs, and the Port or Harbour of Bullogne, called Bullogne Mouth,
was accordingly fet up at a noted inn in Holborn." — Antiq, Repert. ed. 1807,
vol, ii, p. 396.]
28o Tobacco in Ale-houfes.
A FOREIGN weed, which has made fo many Engliftimen, efpe
cially of the common fort, become its flaves, muft not be
omitted in our catalogue of popular antiquities. It is faid to have been
firft brought into England by Captain [afterwards Sir Richard Grinvil]
and Sir Francis Drake about the year 1586.
Ale-houfes are at prefent licenfed to deal in tobacco : but it was
not fo from the beginning ; for fo great an incentive was it thought to
drunkennefs, that it was ftriaiy forbidden to be taken in any ale
houfe in the time of James I.
[There] is an ale-houfe licence [extant, which was perhaps circd
1630] granted by fix Kentifti juftices of the peace : at the bottom the
following item occurs :
" Item, you fhall not utter, nor willingly fuffer to be utter'd, drunke,
or taken, any Tobacco within your Houfe, Celler, or other place
thereunto belonging," '
An ironical encomium on, and ferious inveaive againft tobacco
occurs in Burton •.'^ " Tobacco, divine, rare, fuper excellent Tobacco,
which goes farre beyond all their Panaceas, potable Gold, and Philo-
fophers Stones, a fovereign Remedy to all difeafes, A good Vomit, I
confeffe, a vertuous Herbe, if it be well qualified, opportunely taken,
and medicinally ufed, but as it is commonly ufed by moft men, which
take it as Tinkers do Ale, 'tis a plague, a mifchiefe, a violent purger
of goods, lands, health, hellifh devililh and damnd Tobacco, theruine
and overthrow of Body and Soule."
James I, " profeffed that were he to invite the Devil to a din
ner, he fhould have thefe three Difhes : i, a Pig; 2. a poll of Ling
and Muftard ; and 3. a Pipe of Tobacco for digefture,"'
In Haufted's verfion of the" Hymnus Tabaci " of Thorius, 1651,
we meet with the ftrongeft inveaive againft tobacco :
" Let it be damn'd to Hell, and call'd from thence,
Proferpine's Wine, the Furies frankineenfe.
The Devil's Addle Eggs, or elfe to thefe
A facrifice grim Pluto to appeafe,
A deadly Weed, which Its beginning had
From the foam of Cerberus, when the Cur was mad,"
James I, who was a great opponent of the Devil, and even wrote
a book [on Demonology,] made a formidable attack alfo upon this
" Invention of Satan," in *' A Counterblafte to Tobacco," 1604,''
[' Handb. of E. E, Lit, art. Trades.]
^ " Anat, of Mel." 1621, p. 452, ' " Apothegmes," 1658, p. 4,
' How widely different the ftrains of the fubfequent Parody [hy Hawkins
Browne] on the ftyle of Ambrofe Phillips :
" Little Tube of Mighty Pow'r,
Charmer of an idle Hour,
Objeft of my warm Defire,
Lip of Wax and Eye of File :
And thy fnowy taper Waift,
With my finger gently brac'd ;
And thy pretty fwelling Creft,
With my little Stopper preft," &c.
Barbers' Signs. 281
His majefty in the courfe of his work informs us, " that fome of the
Gentry of the Land beftowed (at that time) three, tome four hundred
Pounds a Teere upon this precious ftink I " An incredible fum, efpe
cially when we confider the value of money in his time. They could
not furely have been fterllng, but Scotifh pounds.
He concludes this bitter Blafl of his, his fulphureous inveaive
againft this tranfmarine Weed, with the following peroration : " Have
you not reafon then to be afhamed and to forbear this filthy Novelty,
fo bafely grounded, fo foolifhly received, and fo groflly miftaken in
the right ufe thereof ! In your abufe thereof finning, againft God,
harming yourfelves, both in perfons and goods, and taking alfo thereby
(look to it ye that take Snuff in profufion !) the Marks and Notes of
Vanity upon you ; by the Cuftom thereof making yourfelves to be
wondered at by all foreign civil Nations, and by all Strangers that
come among you, to be fcorned and contemned ; a Cuftom loathfome
to the Eye, hateful to the Nofe, harmful to the Brain, dangerous to
the Lungs, and in the black ftinking Fume thereof, neareft refembling
the horrible Stygian Smoke of the Pit that is bottomlefs."
If even this fmaU fpecimen of our learned monarch's oratory,
which feems well adapted to the underftanding of old women, does
not prevail upon them all to break in pieces their tobacco-pipes and
forego fmoking, it will perhaps be impoffible to fay what can. The
fubjea, as his majefty well obferves, is fmoke, and no doubt many of
his readers will think the arguments of our royal author no more than
the fumes of an idle brain, and it may be added, too, of an empty
head !
An extraordinary account of a Buckinghamfhire parfon [the Rev,
W, Breedon, minifter at Thornton] who abandoned himfeif to the ufe of
tobacco, maybe found in Lilly's "Hiftory of his Life and Times,"
THE Sign of a Barber's Shop being fingular, has attraaed much
notice. It is generally diftlnguifhed by a long Pole, [with
coloured bandages depiaed on it,] inftead of a fign. The true inten
tion of that party-coloured ftaff, if it is explained correaiy in the
" Antiquarian Repertory," was to fhow that the mafter of the fhop
praaifed furgery, and could breathe a vein as well as mow a beard :
fuch a ftaff being to this day, by every village praaitioner, put into
the hand of a patient undergoing the operations of phlebotomy. The
white band, which encompaffes the ftaff, was meant to reprefent the
fillet thus elegantly twined about it. In confirmation of this opinion
the reader may be referred to the cut of the barber's fhop in
Comenii " Orbis piaus," where the patient under phlebotomy is repre
fented with a pole or ftaff in his hand. And that this is a very
antient praaice appears from an illumination in a miffal of the time
of Edward I.
282 Barbers' Signs.
I find the following odd paffage in Gayton : ' " The Barber hath a
long pole elevated ; and at the end of it a Labell, wherein is, in a fair
text hand written this word Money. Now the Pole fignifies itfelf,
which joined to the written word makes Pole-money. There's the
Rebus, that Cut-bert i? no-body without Pole-money,"
[In a femi-facetious publication of the early part of the laft century,
there is a folution of this cuftom, which has, perhaps, more humour
than weight :^ " In antient Rome, when men lov'd fighting,
And wounds and fears took much delight in,
Man-menders then had noble pay,
Which we call Surgeons to this day,
'Twas order'd that a huge long Pole,
With Bafon deck'd, fliould grace the Hole
To guide the wounded, who unlopt
Could walk, on Stumps the others hopt : —
But, when they ended all their Wars,
And Men grew out of love with fears.
Their Trade decaying ; to keep fwimming.
They joyn'd the other Trade of trimming ;
And on their Poles to publiffi either
Thus twifted both their Trades together."
The fubfequent is from Greene's " Quip for an upftart Courtier,"
1592 : " Barber, .... when you come to poore Cloth-breeches, you
either cut his beard at your owne pleafure, or elfe, in difdaine, afke him
if he will be trimd with Chrifts cut, round like the halfe of a Holland
Cheefe, mocking both Chrift and us " ' —
In "Wits, Fits, and Fancies," 1595,''' we read: "A Gentleman
gave a Gentlewoman a fine twifted bracelet of Sllke and Golde, and
feeing it the next day upon another Gentlewomans wrift, faid, it was
like a Barber's Gir die, foone flipt from one fide to another."
In " Meafure for Meafure," the author has written : —
— " the ftrong Statutes
Stand like the Forfeits in a Barbers Shop,
As much in mock as mark ; " '
' " Feft. Notes on Don Quixote," 1654, p. iii.
^ "The Brltifti Apollo," 1708, vol. i. no. 3.
= [Repr, 1867, p, 34.]
* Edit, 1 614, p. 177.
' On which Warburton obferves, " Barbers' Shops were, at all times, the refort
of idle people : ' Tonstrlna erat quasdam : hie folebamus fere
Plerumque eam opperiri,'
which Donatus calls aptafedes otiofis. Formerly with us the better fort of people
went to the Barber's (hop to be trimmed ; who then praftlfed the under parts of
Surgery ; fo that he had occafion for numerous inftruments which lay there ready
for ufe ; and the idle people, with whom his ftiop was generally crouded, would
be perpetually handling and mifufing them. To remedy which, I fuppofe, there
was placed up againft the wall a table of Forfeitures, adapted to every offence of
this kind ; which it is not likely would long preferve its authority." [Dr. Henley
adds :] " I perfeftly remember to have feen them " [the lift of forfeits] " in Devon-
Barbers' Signs. 283
[« The Barbers Chaire," fays Gabriel Harvey,' " is the verie
Royall-Exchange of newes. Barbers the head of all Trades," He
adds, a fittie further on : " If they be happie, whom pleafure, profit,
and honor make happie, then Barbers with great facilitie attaine to
happines , . , . if at home and at worke, they are in pleafing con
ference; if idle, they paffe that time in life-delighting mufique."]
Stephanus- ridicules the " groffe Ignorance" of the Barbers:
"This puts me in minde of a Barber who after he had cupped
me (as the Phyfitian had prefcribed) to turne away a Catarrhe,
aflsed me if I would he facrificed. Sacrificed, faid I ? did the Phifition
tell you any fuch thing ? No (quoth he) but I have facrificed many,
who have bene the better for it. Then mufing a littie with myfelfe I
told him. Surely, Sir, you miftake yourfelf, you meane fcarified. O
Sir, by your favour, (quoth he) I have ever heard it called Sacrificing,
and as for fcarifying I never heard of it before. In a word I could
by no means perfwade him, but that it was the Barbers Office to
facrifice Men. Since which time I never faw any Man in a Barbers
hands, but th?it facrificing Barber came to my mind."
[Rowlands, in his "Paire of Spy-Knaues" {circa 1612) defcribes the
humours of " A Fantaftical Knaue," and piaures him giving direc
tions to his fervant :
" Firft to my Barber, at his Bafon figne.
Bid him be heere to-morrow about nine : — "]
Lord Thurlow, in his Speech for poftponing the further reading of
the Surgeon's Incorporation Bill, July 17th, 1797, to that day three
months, in the Houfe of Peers, ftated " that by a ftatute ftill in force,
the barbers and furgeons were each to ufe a pole. The barbers
were to have theirs blue and white, ftriped, with no other appendage ;
but the furgeons', which was the fame in other refpeas, was likewife
to have a galley-pot and a red rag, to denote the particular nature
of their vocation."
Gay, in his fable of the Goat without a Beard, thus defcribes a
barber's fliop : " His Pole with pewter Bafons hung.
Black rotten Teeth in order ftrung,
(hire (printed like King Charles's Rules) though I cannot recoUeft the contents."
Steevens adds : " It was formerly part of a barber's occupation to pick the Teeth
and Ears, So [in the " Trimming of Thomas Naftie, Gentleman," 1597, Gabriel
Harvey fays to his antagonift, who taunted him (Harvey) with being the fon of a
barber ; " for thoughe (as I am a cirurgian) I coulde picke your teeth for the other
ftinkinge breath, yet this I durft not meddle with ;" and] In " Herod and Anti-
pater," 1622, Tryphon, the barber, enters with a cafe of inftruments, to each of
which he addreffes himfeif feparately :
" Toothpick, dear tooth-pick : ear-pick, both of you
Have been her fweet Companions! " &c.
[' " The Trimming of Thomas Naftie,'' 1597, fign. B 4 •verfo.]
' " World of Wonders," tranfl. by R. C. 1607, p. 125.
284 sports and Games.
Rang'd Cups, that in the Window ftood,
Lin'd with red Rags to look like blood.
Did well his threefold Trade explain.
Who ftiav'd, drew Teeth, and breath'd a Vein.'
[Currorp 55ote0 on certain] t)ports
anD <!Dame0.
[" Herlotes walkes thurghe many tonnes
Wyth fpeckede mantels and bordouns ;
And ate ilke mannes houfe ga );ai inne,
{"are )jai hope oght for to wynne.
Bote « herlotes ' mene calles comonlye
Alle }>at hauntes herlottrye :
Herlotes falles to ftande on Tpe flore.
And play fome tyme ate ):e fpore,
Atte jje beyne, and ate ]>e eate, —
A foule play holde I {jate, —
And Jjare agayne may {lai noght be
Whene mene byddes Jjaim for Jialre fe,
ffor \)e rewele of fiaire relygyoune
Es fwylke, thurgh (jaire profeffyoune ;
Jiis es a poynte of Jjaire reule like tyme.
To lykene mene (jare Jjai come, in ryme.
jhyte haunte Jiai oft other Tapes ;
Some ledes beres, and fome ledes apes
(?at mas fautes and folace (Jat fees ;
Alle Yi{e are bote foly and nycetees."
William of Naffyngton, Myrrour of Lyfe (14th cent.),
" Alfo ufe not to pley at the dice ne at the tablis,
Ne none maner gamys uppon the holidais ;
Ufe no tavernys where be jeftis and fablis,
Syngyng of lewde balettes, rondelettes, or virolais ;
Nor erly in mornyng to fecche home frefch mais.
For yt makyth maydins to ftomble and falle in the breirs.
And afterward they telle her councele to the freirs,"
MS. Laud 416 {circa 1460) apud Rel. Antiq, vol. Ii, p, 27.
" Thei hauke, thei hunt, thei card, they dyce, they paflyme in theyr pre
lacies with galaunte gentlemen, with theyr daunfinge minyons, and with
theyr freflie companions, fo that ploughinge is fet a fyde." — Latimer's
Sermon of the Plough, 1548.]
TTN a fine MS, in the Bodleian, cited by Strutt, and after him by
X Brand, there is a feries of reprefentations of themore popular
games then (1343) in favour. It is remarkable that among them are
to be found many of the amufements ftill in fafhion among the old or
young, fuch as top-fpinning, cock-fighting, chefs, bowls, dice, &c,
while others have completely difappeared,]
Miffon' fays : " Befides the Sports and Diverfions common to moft
other European Nations, as Tennis, Billiards, Chefs, Tick-tack,
Dancing, Plays, &c, the Englifh have fome which are particular to
' " Travels in England," p. 304.
sports and Games, 285
them, or at leaft which they love and ufe more than any other
people," [In a volume of Homilies of the 14th century,' there is a ftrong
illuftration of the ungovernable propenfity among our countrymen
and countrywomen for enjoying themfelves in ways, which were not
in all cafes highly proper. The Homily fays : " ]ier is an o\er lepre
of yonge folk : fat jjei ben moche fmyttid with now a dales / and fis
is veyn iaxightre, and Idul wordis, and many o^per vayn lapis : J)^ t feelden
or newer Jsei ku«nen ftynte from hem / fei taken noon heede of goddis
word, fei re«nen to enterludes with gret delljt : ;»he, fat is more
reufe, to ftru»zpetis daunce / fe preeft for hem mai ftonde alone in jje
chirche, but fe harlot in fe clepyng fhal be hirid for good money : to
tellen hem fablis of lofengerie / but to fuch mzner folk : crift feif ful
fharpeli fefe wordis, / wo to j;ou fat now lawen : for ye fhuln wepe
ful fore her-aftir/" This notice concurs with what a later writer
obferves refpeaing the defertion of the churches and the devotion of
the people to frivolous and wicked amufements.
By the Statute 6 Hen. iv, c. 4, labourers and fervants playing at un
lawful games were made liable to imprifonment for fix days, and any
magiftrate or other officer negfeaing to take cognizance of fuch
offences was fubjea to a penalty, '^
By the ftatute 17 Edw, IV. c, 3, this earlier enaament was con
firmed as follows : " Laborers and feruauntys that vfe dyfe and other
fych games fhall haue imprifonment of ,vi, dayes," and it was alfo
provided, that " noo gouerner of howfe, tenement or gardeyn fuffer
wyllyngly any perfon to occupy to playe at the claffe keyles, halfe
bowie, handyn handout or quekbourd vpon payn of imprifonmet by
,iii, yerys," &c.
By II Hen, VII. c. 2, and 19 Hen. VII. c. 12, it was laid down
that " no apprentyce nor feruaiit of hufbandry, laborer nor feruaiit
artificer play at the tablys, tenyfe, dyfe, cardys, bowlys, nor at none
other vnlawfull game owt of the tyme of Cryftmas but for mete and
drynke, and in cryftmas to playe onely in the dwellyng howfe of his
mayfter or in the prefence of hys mayfter."
Humphrey Roberts, in his " Complaint for Reformation," 1572,
reprefents that his countrymen " vpon the Sabaoth Day reforte rather
to Bearebayting, Bulbaytlng, Daticing, Fenceplaying, and fuche lyke
vayn Exercifes then to the Church."
Roberts adds : " — in London, other Cyties, and in the Countrey
Townes alfo, there are many other places of concourfe of people :
As Dicyng houfes. Bowling Aleys, Fencyng Scooles, yea Tauerns
and Ale-houfes : wherin are fuch a nomber of Ruffians and Cutters
(as they call them :) that thofe places are become yonge Helles, fuche
is their wickedneffe. So that the tender Yonglynges, beynge come
of good Houfes : and all others (once vfynge fuche places,) are, as it
were, tranflated, or chaunged, into Monflers."]
[' Harl. MS. 2276, fol. 37, I am indebted to my friend Mr. F. J. Furnivall
for this extraft.]
[" Raftell's " Grete Abbregement," 1534, fol. 1S6-7.]
286 Sports and Games,
In Erondel's " French Garden," 1605, the tities of the follow
ing games occur : " Trompe — Dice — Tables — Lurch — Draughts —
Perforce — Pleafant — Blowing — Queen's Game — Cheffie," There is
added : " The Maydens did play at Purpofes — at Sales — to thinke —
at Wonders — at States — at Vertues — at Anfwers, fo that we could
come no fooner," &c.
In the dedication to " Mihil Mumchance, his difcoverie of the Art
of Cheating in falfe Dice play [circd 1590]" we read, "making the
divel to daunce in the bottome of your purfes, and to turne your
Angels out of their houfes like bad Tenants," In the fame traa,
" Novum, Haffiard, and Swift-foot-paffiage," occur as Games.
" Julius Pollux," (obferves Cornelius Scriblerus) " defcribes the
Omilla, or Chuck-farthing; tho' fome will have our modern Chuck-
farthing to be nearer the Aphetinda of the Ancients. He alfo men
tions the Bafilinda, or King I am; and Myinda, or Hoopers-hide.
But the Chytindra defcribed by the fame author is certainly not our
Hot-cockle ; for that was by pinching and not by ftriking ; tho' there
are good authors who affirm the Rathapygifmus to be yet nearer
the modern Hot-cockles, My fon Martin may ufe either of them
indifferently, they being equally antique. Building of Houfes, and
Riding upon Sticks, have been ufed by Children in all ages ; Mdificare
cafas, equitare in arundine longa. Yet I much doubt whether the
riding upon Sticks did not come into ufe after the Age of the Cen
taurs. There is one Play which fhews the gravity of ancient Educa
tion, called the Acinetinda, in which Children contended who could
longeft fland flill. This we have fuffered to perifh entirely ; and it
I might be allowed to guefs, it was certainly firft loft among the
French. I will permit my Son to play at Apodidafcinda, which can
be no other than our Pufs in a Corner.
"Julius Pollux, in his ninth Book, fpeaks of the Melolonthe, or the
Kite; but I queftion whether the Kite of antiquity was the fame
with ours ; and though the O^ruroKOTrla, or ^uail-fighting, is what is
moft taken notice of, they had doubtlefs Cock-matches alfo, as is evi
dent from certain antient Gems and Relievo's. In a word, let my
fon Martin difport himfeif at any Game truly antique, except one
which was invented by a People among the Thracians, who hung up
one of their Companions in a Rope, and gave him a Knife to cut
himfeif down ; which if he failed in, he was fuffered to hang till he
was dead ; and this was only reckoned a fort of joke. I am utterly
againft this as barbarous and cruel."' [It may be here noticed that
Hollar, the eminent engraver, publifhed in 1647, in 410. " Paidopoe-
gnlon, five puerorum ludentium fchemata varia, piaorum ufui aptata."
[Sir John Bramfton, in his "Autobiography," mentions a boy's
fport which was in vogue in Effex, if not elfewhere, in his time.
He fays that, greatly to the annoyance of the owners, the country-
' See Pope's " Works," vol. vi. pp. 114, 115. Dr. Arbuthnot ufed to fay, that
notwithftanding all the boafts of the fafe conveyance of tradition, it was no where
preferved pure and uncorrupt but amongft fchool-boys ; wliofe games and plays
are delivered down invariably the fame from one generation to another.
sports and Games, 287
lads (himfeif included) ufed to catch their pigeons in the winter in an
ingenious trap or, as he calls it, a thrap, " with corne under a dore,
which wee tooke off the hinges and propt it with a ftick, to which
we faftened a line, which wee putt through a latice in a lower rome,
where one held the line, and we were out of fight ; and when the
pidgeons were under the dore, we gave a pull, and the ftick comeing
away, the dore fell on the pidgeons, foe we culled at a pull a dofen or
more at a fall, and foe wee did often."
Some of the undermentioned games, quoted here from Rowlands'
" Letting of Hvmors Blood," &c. 161 1, are overlooked not only by
Brand, but by Strutt and Hone :
" Man, I dare challenge thee to throw the Sledge,
To lumpe, or leape ouer Ditch or Hedge ;
To Wraftle, play at Stoole-ball, or to Runne ;
To pich the Bar, or to ftioote off a Gunne :
To play at Logget.s, Nine boles, or Ten-plnnes;
To try It out at Foot-ball by the fliinnes.
At Ticktacke, Irifti, Noddy, Maw, and Ruffe :
At hot-cockles. Leap-frog, or Bllndman-buffe :
To drinke halfe Pots, or deale at the whole Can :
To play at Bafe, or Pen and Inck-horne fir Ihan :
To daunce the Mirris, play at Barly- breake :
At all exployts a man may thinke or fpeake.
At Shoue-groat, Venter-poynt, or Croffe & pile,
At Beftirow him thats laft at yonder Stile :
At leaping ore a Midfommer Bone-fier :
Or at the drawing Dunne out of the myer,"
Several games of the middle of the 17th century are enumerated
in "Wit Reftor'd," 1658:
" Here's childrens bawbles and mens too.
To play with for delight.
Here's round-heads when turn'd every way
At length will ftand upright.
Here's dice, and boxes if you pleafe
To play at in and Inn,
Here is a fett of kettle pinns
With bowle at them to rowle :
And if you like fuch trundling fport
Here is my ladyes hole.
Here's ftiaddow ribbon 'd of all forts.
As various as your mind.
And here's a windmill like your felfe
Will turne with eveiy wind.
And beer's a church of the fame ftuff
Cutt out in the new faftiion,"]
The effayift in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for February, 1738,
fays, that before the troubles, " Crofs-Purpofes was the Game played
at by Children of all parties. Upon the death of Charies I, the ridi
cule of the times turned againft Monarchy ; which during the Com
monwealth was burlefqued by every Child in Great Britain, who fet
himfeif up in mock Majefty, and played at ^eflions and Commands;
as, for inftance. King I am, fays one Boy ; another anfwers, / am your
¦Man ; then his Majefty demands. What Service he will do him ; to
288 Sports and Games,
which the obfequious Courtier replies. The befl andworfl, and all lean.
During all Oliver's time, the chief Diverfion was, The Parfon hath loft
hisfudling Cap : which needs no explanation. At the Reftoration fuc
ceeded Love-Games, as / love my Love with an A: a Flower and a
Lady; and I am a lufty wooer, — changed in the latter end of this
reign, as well as all King James lid's, to'' I am come to torment you,'
At the Revolution, when all people recovered their liberty, the
Children played promifcuoufly at what Game they liked befl — the
moft favourite one, however, was Piffs in the Corner. Every body
knows that in this play, four Boys or Girls poft themfelves at the four
corners of a Room, and a fifth in the middle, who keeps himfeif upon
the watch to flip into one of the corner places, whilft the prefent
poffeffors are endeavouring to fupplant one another. This was in
tended to ridicule the fcrambling for places — too much in fafhion
amongft the Children of England, both fpiritual and temporal,"
The fame writer tells us that " in Queen Mary's reign, Tag was all
the play : where the Ladfaves himfeif by the touching of cold Iron — by
this it was intended to fhew the feverity of the Church of Rome. In
later times this Play has been altered amongft Children of quality, by
touching of Gold inftead of Iron," He adds, " Queen Elizabeth her
felf is believed to have invented the Play I am a Spanifh Merchant;
and Burleigh's Children were the firft who played at it. In this
Play, if any one offers to fale what he hath not his hand upon or
touches, he forfeits, — meant as an inftruaion to Traders not to give
credit to the Spaniards. The Play of Commerce fucceeded, and was
in fafhion during all her reign."
The game of Pofl and Pair is thus noticed in " Scogin's Jefts,"
ed. 1626: "On a certaine time, Scogin went to his Scholler, the
aforefaid Parfon, to dine with him on a Sunday ; and this aforefaid
Prieft or Parfon all the night before had beene at Cards playing at the
Poft." In the new edition of Nares' " Gloffary," the game is
defcribed. According to Earle, in his " Micro-cofmographie," 1628,
it could be played with a dozen counters.]
Strutt' gives us, from Harl. MS. 2057, an enumeration of " Aun-
tient Cuftoms in Games ufed by Boys and Girles, merrily fett out in
verfe ;" [but this is nothing more than an incorrea or corrupt copy
of a paffage in " the Letting of Hvmors Blood in the Head Vaine,"
by S. Rowlands, 1600, already partially quoted,^]
[A generation before Pope, wrote Edward Chamberiayne, who in
his " Anglias Notitia," 1676, enumerates what were at that time the
principal recreations and exercifes both of the upper and lower claffes
of fociety in this country :
" For variety of Divertifements, Sports, and Recreations, no Nation
doth excel the Englifh,
" The King hath abroad, his Forefts, Chafes, and Parks, full of
variety of Game; for Hunting Red and Fallow Deer, Foxes, Otters;
' " Manners and Cuftoms," vol. Hi. p. 147.
[' Ed, 161 1, fign, c 6 •verfo.']
sports and Games. 289
Hawking, his Paddock Courfes, Horfe-Races, &c, and at home.
Tennis, Pelmel, Billiard, Enterludes, Balls, Ballets, Mafks, &c.
The Nobility and Gentry have their Parks, Warrens, Decoys,
Paddock-Courfes, Horfe-Races, Huntings, Courfing, Fifhing, Fowl
ing, Hawking, Setting-Dogs, Tumblers, Lurchers, Duck-hunting,
Cockfighting, Guns for Birding, Low-Bells, Bat-Fowling ; Angling,
Nets, Tennis, Bowling, Billiards Tables, Chefs, Draughts, Cards,
Dice, Catches, Queftions, Purpofes, Stage-Plays, Mafks, Balls,
Dancing, Singing, all forts of Mufical Inftruments, &c. The Citi
zens and Peafants have, Hand-Ball, Foot-Ball, Skittles, or Nine-Pins,
Shovel-Board, Stow-Ball, Goffe, Trol-Madams, Cudgels, Bear-bait
ing, Bull-baiting, Bow and Arrow, Throwing at Cocks, Shuttiecock,
Bowling, Quoits, Leaping, Wreftling, Pitching the Bar, and Ringing
of Bells, a Recreation ufed in no other Countrey of the World,
" Amongft thefe. Cock-fighting feems to all Forreigners, too
childifh and unfuitable for the Gentry, and for the Common People;
Bull-baiting, and Bear-baiting, feem too cruel ; and for the Citizens,
Foot-Ball, and Throwing at Cocks, very uncivil, rude, and barbarous
within the City."]
I, All-hid,
There was an old fport among children, called in Shakefpeare's
" Hamlet," " Hide Fox and all after," which if I miftake not is the
fame game that elfewhere occurs under the name of " All-hid ;"
which as Steevens tells us is alluded to in Decker's " Satiromaftix :"
" Our unhandfome-faced Poet does play at Bo-peep with your Grace,
and cries All-hid, as boys do,"
In " A Curtaine Leaure," 1637, P- 206, is the following paffage :
" A Sport called All-hid, which is a mere Children's paftime."
2. Archery.
[By 6 Hen. VIII. cap. 13, it was ordered: "That non Shote 1
any crofebow nor hand gon excepte he haue poffeffyons to the yerely
valew of ccc, marke or els lycence from hensforth by the kynges
placard vnder payn of ,x Ii, y° one halfe to the kynge and the other
halfe to hym that wyll few for hit / and y" forfetour of the fame
crofljow or handgonne to hym that wyll feafe hit by accyon of det / and
y' non kepe any crofebowe or hand gonne in his houfe on payne of
Iprifonment & of forfetour to the kynge .x Ii, , . prouydyd alway that
this aae extend not to crofebow makers / nor to dwellers i wallyd
townes within vii. myle of the fee / and other holders on the fee coftes
or marchis for agayns Scotlad / kepyng crofebowes for theyr de-
fece / nor to no marchaiites hauyng crofebowes & handgonnys to (el
bnly / nor to non hoft loggyng any ma bryngyng them in to his houfe,
but the forfetur to be onely vpon the brynger,"
But the regulations conneaed with the praaice of archery con-
II, u
290 sports and Games.
ftantly underwent alteration or modification. The common " Abridg
ments of the Statutes " contain much highly curious matter under this,
as under other, heads. It is fufficiently remarkable that by the aa,
12 Edw, IV, c, 2 (1472), each Venetian merchant, importing wine
into England, was required to give in with each butt " four good
bowftaves," under the penalty of a fine of bs. 8d, for each default.'
By 19 Hen, VII, c, 2, all bowftaves of the length of fix feet and
a half were admitted into England free of duty.
The price of a bow, by 22 Edw. IV. c. 4, was not to exceed 3;. ^li.
under pain of 20^. fine to the feller.
" Formerly," fays Mr. Tanfwell,^ " Lambeth was celebrated for
Game of all forts, but principally in the neighbourhood of Brixton,
In the 5th of Elizabeth a licenfe was granted to Andrew Perne, D.D.,
Dean of Ely (who refided at Stockwell), 'to appoint one of his fer
vants, by fpecial name, to fhoot with any crofs-bow, hand-gonne,
hacquebut, or demy-hack, at all manner of dead-marks, at all manner
of crows, rooks, cormorants, kytes, puttocks, and fuch-like, buftards,
wyld fwans, barnacles, and all manner of fea-fowls and fen-fowls, wild
doves, fmall birds, teals, coots, ducks, and all manner of deare, red,
fallow, and roo.' In the reign of James I., Alexander Glover re
ceived, as ' Keeper of the game about Lambeth and Clapham, 12^.
per diem, and 26s. Sd. per annum for his livery;' in all £36 lOs,"
Sir T. Elyot, in his " Governor," 1531, terms fhooting with or in
a long bow " principall of all other exercifes," and he adds, " in mine
opinion, none may bee compared with fhooting in the long bowe, &
that for fundry vtilities, y' come theroff, wherein it incomparably ex-
celleth all other exercife. For in drawing of a bowe, eafy and con
gruent to his ftrength, he that fhooteth, doth moderately exercife his
armes, & the other parte of his body : and if his bowe be bigger, he
muft adde too more ftrength wherin is no leffe valiant exercife then in
any other. In fhooting at buttes, or broade arrowe markes, is a
mediocritie of exercife of the lower partes of the bodye and legges,
by going a little diftaunce a meafurable pafe. At couers or pryckes, it
is at his pleafure that fhoteth, howe fafte or foftly he lifteth to goo,
and yet is the praife of the fhooter, neyther more ne leffe, for as farre
or nigh the marke is his arrow, whan he goeth foftly, as when he
runneth." No one requires to be told, that a few years after the appearance of
Elyot's " Governor," the learned Afcham devoted an entire treatife to
this peculiarly national fubjea. His " Toxophilus " was publiflied in
1545, and is ftill juftly celebrated and admired.]
Among the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Laurence Parifh,
Reading, 1549, is the following entry -.^
[' Hazlitt's " Venetian Republic," vol. iv, p. 241 , This demand was enlarged
I Richard III. c. 11, in the cafe, at any rate, of Malvoifin or Tyre wine, with
every butt of which ten bowftaves were to be reckoned in, under pain of 13J. 4^,]
[» " Hiftory of Lambeth," 1858, p. 15.]
' Coates' " Hiftory of Reading," p. 223.
sports and Games. 291
" Paid to Will'm Watlynton, for that the p'iflie was indetted to
hym for makyng of the Butts, xxxvis."
Ibid. St, Mary's Parifh, 1566 : "Itm, for the makyng of the Butts,
Vl\]S." Ibid. 1622 : " Paid to two Laborers to playne the Grounde where
the Buttes fhould be, \s. v}d."
1629 : " Paid towards the Butts mending, ijx. wjd."
Among the Accounts of St. Giles's Parifli, 1566, we have : " Itm,
for carrying of Turfes for the Butts, xvj^."'
1605 : " Three Labourers, two days Work aboute the Butts.
\\\]S." " Carrying ix load of Turfes for the Butts, \]s,"
" For two pieces of Timber to faften on the Railes of the Butts,
iiij^." 1621 : "The parifhioners did agree that the Churchwardens and
Conftables fhould fett up a payre of Butts called fhooting Butts, in
fuch place as they fhould think moft convenient in St. Giles Parifti,
which Butts coft xivj. xj^,"
[Queen Elizabeth was fond of this fport, and indulged in it, as
Henry Machyn the Diarift informs us, during her vifit to Lord
Arundel at Nonfuch, in the autumn of 1559, " The v day of
Auguft," fays Adachyn, " the Queens grace removyd from Eltham
unto Non-fhyche, my lord of Arundells, and ther her grace had as
gret chere evere nyght and bankettes as ever was fene , . ,
On monday the Quens grace ftod at herftandyng in the further
park, and there was corfe after — ," Upon which Mr. Nichols quotes
the late Mr, Hunter's " New Illuftrations of Shakefpeare," to ftiew
that fhooting with the crofs-bow was a favourite amufement then and
afterwards among ladies of rank. But this faa had been already
fufficiently demonftrated by Strutt, who has fhown that, in England,
women excelled and delighted in the ufe of the common bow and
crofs-bow from a very early date. The fubjea of archery belongs
rather to the hiftorian of the national Sports and Paftimes, than to
the mere chronicler and illuftrator of our cuftoms and fuperftitions.]
With the hiftory of this exercife as a military art we have no con
cern here. Fitzftephen, who wrote in the reign of Henry IL, notices
it among the fummer paftimes of the London youth : and the re
peated ftatutes from the 13th to the i6th century enforcing the ufe of
the bow, ufually ordered the leifure time upon holidays to be paffed in
its exercife,
" In the fixteenth Century we meet with heavy complaints," fays
Strutt,^ " refpeaing the difufe of the long-bow, and efpecially in the
vicinity of London," Stow informs us that before his time it had
been cuftomary at Bartholomew-tide for the Lord Mayor, with the
Sheriffs and Aldermen, to go into the fields at Finfbury, where the
citizens were affembled, and fhoot at the ftandard with broad and
' Coates' " Hiftory of Reading," pp. 379-80,
^ " Sports and Paftimes," 1810, p. 43.
292 sports and Games.
flight arrows for games ; and this exercife was continued for feveral
days : but in his time it was praaifed only one afternoon, three or
four days after the feftival of Saint Bartholomew. Stow died in
1605. After the reign of Charles I., archery appears to have fallen into
difrepute. Davenant, in a mock poem, entitled " The long Vaca
tion in London," defcribes the attorneys and proaors as making
matches in Finfhury Fields :
" With Loynes in canvas bow-cafe tied.
Where Arrows ftick with mickle pride ;
Like Ghofts of Adam Bell and Clymme ;
Sol fets for fear they'll ftioot at him !"
A correfpondent of the " Gentleman's Magazine " for Auguft
1731, notices the ancient cuftom among the Harrow boys, of fhoot
ing annually for a filver arrow of the value of £3 ; this diverfion, he
ftates, was the gift of the founder of the fchool, John Lyon, Efq.
About 1753, a fociety of archers appears to have been eftablifhed
in the Metropolis, who ereaed targets on the fame fpot during the
Eafter and Whitfun holidays, when the beft fhooter was ftyled captain,
and the fecond lieutenant for the enfuing year. Of the original mem
bers of this fociety, there were only two remaining when Barrington
compiled his Obfervations [on the Statutes] in the " ArchEeologia," It
is now incorporated in the Archer's Divifion of the Artillery Company.
In the latter half of the laft century, the tafte remained dormant;
but of late years it has exhibited fymptoms of new vitafity, and archery-
clubs are eftablifhed (1869) in almoft every part of the country. The
bow, however, has ceafed for ever to be a weapon of offence. It has
been refigned entirely to the ladles, who form themfelves into Tox-
ophilite affociations.]
[3. Balloon,
This was played with an inflated ball of leather, which was ftruck
by the arm, the latter being proteaed by a bracer of wood. In
" Eaft ward Hoe," 1605, Sir Petronel Flafti is reprefented as having a
match at balloon with my lord Whackam for four crowns. Donne
alfo mentions it :
" 'Tis ten a clock and paft ; all whom the mues,
Baloun, tennis, diet, or the ftews
Had all the morning held, now the fecond
Time made ready, that day, in flocks are found."
And in a writer of fomewhat later date, it is coupled with feveral
other diverfions of the period : " alfo Riding the Great Horfe, Run
ning at a Ring, Tilts and Tournaments, are Noble exercifes as well
as healthy, and becoming his [the gentieman's] grandeur. In like
manner, Balon, ^intan. Stop-ball, Pitching of a Bar, Cafling of a
Weight, are healthy and laudable."]'
[' " The Gentleman's Companion," 1676, p. 136-7.]
sports and Games. 293
4. Barley-break.
The following defcription of Bariey Break, written by Sir Philip
Sidney, is taken from the Song of Lamon in the " Arcadia," where
he relates the paffion of Claius and Strephon for the beautiful
Urania : — " She went abroad, thereby.
At Barley Brake her fweet, fwift foot to try,
• « » »
A field they goe, where many Lookers be.
* *
Then Couples three be ftreight allotted there
They of both ends, the middle two doo flie ; '
The two that In mid-place Hell called were
Muft ftriue with waiting foot and watching eye.
To catch of them, and them to Hell to beare.
That they, afwell as they Hell may fupplye ;
Like fome which feeke to falue their blotted name
With others blot, till all doe tafte of Shame.
There may you fee, foon as the middle two
Doe coupled towards either couple make,
They falfe and fearfull do their hands vndoe ;
Brother his brother, friend doth friend forfake.
Heeding himfelfe, cares not how Fellow doe.
But if a ftranger mutuall helpe doth take :
As periur'd cowards In aduerfitie.
With Sight of feare from friends to fremb'd doe file."
[Another defcription of the fport from a later publication' muft not
be omitted. It has been already given in the " Britifli Bibliographer,"
but as a copy of the original traa lies before me, I cannot refift the
temptation of tranfcribing it :
" To Barley-breake they roundly then 'gan fall :
Raimon, Euphema had vnto his mate :
For by a lot he won her from them all :
Wherefore young Streton doth his fortune hate.
But yet ere long he ran and caught her out.
And on the backe a gentle fall he gaue her.
It is a fault which iealous eyes fpie out,
A maide to klffe before her iealous father.
Old Elpin fmiles, but yet he frets within,
Euphema faith, ftie was vniuftly caft.
She ftriues, he holds, his hand goes out, and in :
She cries. Away, and yet ftie holds him faft.
Till fentence giuen by another maid.
That ftie was caught according to the law :
The voice whereof this clulll quarrell ftaid.
And to his make each lufty lad 'gan draw.
[' "Barley-breake, or, A Warning for Wantons." By W. N, 1607,]
294 Sports and Games.
Euphema now with Streton is in hell :
(For fo the middle roome is alwaies cald)
He would for euer, if he might, there dwell ;
He holds it bllffe with her to be inthrald.
The other run, and in their running change :
Streton 'gan catch, and then let goe his hold,
Euphema, like a Doe, doth fwiftly range.
Yet taketh none, although full well flie could.
And winkes on Streton, he on her "gan fmile.
And faine would whifper fomething in her eare.
She knew his mind, and bid him vfe a wile.
As ftie ran by him, fo that none did heare.
Some other paftimes then they would begin ;
And to locke hands one doth them all affummon.
Varietie is good in euery thing.
Excepting onely Gods and earthly women — "
This is all that concerns the immediate fubjea, and it is indifferent
en(JUgh. But I was reluaant to mifs the opportunity of illuftrating
the particular cuftom to the utmoft praaicable extent.
A later and greater poet, Drayton, introduces fairies playing at
this : " At Barly-breake they play
Merrily all the day.
At night themfelues they lay
Vpon the foft leaues — "
This was perhaps rather a ftretch of poetic licence.]
Suckling alfo has given the following defcription of this paftime
with allegorical perfonages :
" Love, Reafon, Hate did once befpeak
Three Mates to play at Barley-break.
Love Folly took ; and Reafon Fancy ;
And Hate conforts with Pride, fo dance they :
Love coupled laft, and fo it fell
That Love and Folly were in Hell.
The break ; and Love would Reafon meet.
But Hate was nimbler on her feet ;
Fancy looks for Pride, and thither
Hies, and they two hug together ;
Yet this new coupling ftill doth tell
That Love and Folly were in Hell.
The reft do break again, and Pride
Hath now got Reafon on her Side ;
Hate and Fancy meet, and ftand
Untouch'd by Love in Folly's hand ;
Folly was dull, but Love ran well.
So Love and Folly were in Hell." '
' See the Works of Maffinger, ed, 1779, vol, i. p. 167, whence thefe extrafls
are quoted. Bariy-break is feveral times alluded to in Maflinger's Plays.
sports and Games. 295
In Holiday's " Marriages of the Arts," 1618, fign, l 2, this fport is
introduced. The fubfequent is from Herrick, p, 34 :
" Barly-Break ; or, Laft in Hell,
We two are laft in Hell : v^hat may we feare
To be tormented, or kept Prirners here :
Alas ! If kifling be of Plagues the worft.
We'll wifti, In Hell we had been laft and firft."
Jamiefon, in his " Etymological Diaionary," calls this " A Game
generally played by young people in a corn-yard. Hence called Barla-
bracks about the Stacks, S. B." {i.e. in the North of Scotiand.) "One
ftack is fixed on as the dule or goal ; and one perfon is appointed to
catch the reft of the Company who run out from the dule. He does
not leave it till they are all out of his fight. Then he fets off to catch
them. Any one, who is taken, cannot run out again with his former
Affoeiates, being accounted a prifoner ; but is obliged to affift his cap
tor in purfuing the reft. When all are taken, the game is finifhed ;
and he, who was firft taken, is bound to aa as catcher in the" next
game. This innocent fport feems to be almoft entirely forgotten in
the South of S. It is alfo falling into defuetude in the North." He
adds, " Perhaps from barley and break, q. breaking of the parley : be
caufe, after a certain time allowed for fettling preliminaries, on a cry
being given, it is the bufinefs of one to catch as many prifoners as he
can. Did we fuppofe it to be allied to burlaw, this game might be
viewed as originally meant as a fportive reprefentation of the punifh
ment of thofe who broke the laws of the boors," *
5. Blindman's Buff.
This fport is found among the illuminations of the Miffal, cited by
Strutt in his " Manners and Cuftoms." Gay fays concerning it :
" As once I play'd at Blindman' s-Buff, it hap't.
About my Eyes the To'wel thick 'was 'wrapf
I mifj'd the S'wains, andfeiz'd on Blouzelind,
True fpeaks that antient Proverb, ' Love is blind.' "
Jamiefon, in his Diaionary, gives us a very curious account of this
game, which in Scotiand appears to have been called belly-blind.
In the Suio-Gothic, it appears this game is called blind-boc, i. e. blind
goat ; and, in German, blind kuhe, q. blind cow. The French call
this game Cligne-muffit from cligner, to wink, and muffie hidden ; alfo,
Colin-maillard, equivalent to " Collin the buffoon." " This game,"
fays Jamiefon, " was not unknown to the Greeks. They called it
>ioM,a^ia-lx,os, from HoT^a^t^co, impingo. It is thus defined : Ludi genus.
[' See Mr, Corfer's " CoUeftanea Anglo-poetica," part iii. p. 64, and the
authorities there cited.]
296 sports and Games,
quo hie quidem manlbus expanfis oculos fuos tegit, ille vero poftquam
percuffit, quxrit num verberarit ; Pollux ap. Scapul, It was alfo ufed
among the Romans,"
" We are told that the great Guftavus Adolphus, at the very time
that he proved the fcourge of the houfe of Auftria, and when he was
in the midft of his triumphs, uf^d in private to amufe himfeif in play
ing at Blindman's Buff with his Colonels.^
" In addition to what has formerly been faid," Jamiefon adds, under
BLIND harie, " (another name for Blindman' s-buff in Scotiand) it
may be obferved that this Sport in Ifl. is defignated kraekis-blinda.
Verelius fuppofes that the Oftrogoths had introduced this Game into
Italy ; where it is called giuoco della cieca, or the play of the Blind."
Chacke-blynd Man and Jockie-blind-man are other Scotifh appella
tions for the fame game.
6. Blow-Point,
Blow-point appears to have been another childifh game, [Proaer,
in his book " Of the Knowledge and Conduae of Warres," 1578, ob
ferves : " Lycurgus, the politique Prince, amonge his Lawes and
cuftomes, whiche hee eftablifhed theare (in Lacedasmon) ordayned
that all fpare tyme fhoulde be expended in vertuous exercifes, and
principallye in the noble praayfes of Armes, to gett honour, and fo-
ueraynetye of the enemyes, cleane cuttinge of vnthriftye waftfull ryott,
abandoninge delycate nyceneffe, and banyfhinge idle, and chyldifhe
Games, as Commen Cardeplaye, Cayles, Coytes, Slyde-bourde,
Bowles, and Blowepoynt, which weare throwen oute of the commen-
wealthe. From whence alfo bee dyfcarded and expelled, langlers,
lefters, luglers, Puppetplayers, Pypers, and fuche like vnprofitable
perfons, in fteade of which weare mayntayned menne of valure, fre-
quentynge, and exercifynge aaiuitye of wraftelinge, dartynge, throw-
Inge the Barre, the fledge, vfinge the weapons of Warre," &c,]
Marmlon, in his " Antiquary," 1641, aa i, fays : " I have heard of
a Nobleman that has been drunk with a Tinker, and a Magnifico that
has plaid at Blow-point."
So, in " Lingua," 1607, aa iii, fc. 2, Anamneftes introduces Me
mory as telling " how he plaid at Blowe-point with Jupiter when he
was in his fide-coats,"
[7, Bowls,
A fair account of this diverfion is given in Strutt's "Sports and
Paftimes." Our anceftors purfued it with peculiar ardour and de
light, and it is ftill a favourite amufement. Stow feems to fay that, in
' " Cela paffolt " (fay the authors of the " Dia. Trev.") " pour une galanterie
admirable, 'vo, Colin-Maillard,"
sports and Games. 297
his time, the open ground about London was being gradually built
upon, and that the archers encroached on the bowling alleys In the
Privy Purfe Expenfes of the Princefs Mary, under April, ic-jS-o
there IS this highly curious entry : " Itifl payed for a Brekefafte lofle
at Boiling by my lady maryes gee, . , , x^,"
It is rather diflicult to determine whether the game, which was to
confole the Princefs of Hungary in her defpondency was the fame as
our bowls : if fo, it was furely an indifferent prefcription. In the
" Squyr of Lowe Degre," " who loved the king's daughter of Hungre "
a romance mentioned by Chaucer, the following paffage is found :
" An himdreth Knightes truly tolde
Shall play with bowles In alayes colde.
Your difeafe to driue awaie,"
In the contemporary narrative of the marriage of Catherine of
Arragon to Prince Arthur of England, in 1501, mention occurs of
galleries and other buildings fitted up in the royal gardens :— '/ In the
lougher ende of this gardeyn both pleafaut gallerys, and houfis of plea-
lure to difporte inn, at cheffe, tables, dife, cardes, bylys ; bowling aleys
butts for archers, and goodly tenes plays — " ' '
The beft defcription of bowls is furnifhed by Taylor the water-poet
in his" Wit and Mirth," 1629 :2 "This wife game of Bowling,"
fays he, " doth make the fathers furpaffe their children in apifli toyes
and delicate dog-trickes. As firft for the poftures : firft, handle your
Bowie : fecondly, aduance your Bowie ; thirdly, charge your Bowie :
fourthly, ayme your Bowie : fifthly, difcharge your Bowie : fixthlyj
plye your Bowie : in which laft pofture of plying your Bowie you
fhall percelue many varieties and diuifions, as wringing of the necke,
lifting vp of the flioulders, clapping of the hands, lying downe of one
fide, running after the Bowie, making long dutifull fcrapes and legs
(fometimes bareheaded), with entreating him to flee, flee, flee : and
though the Bowler bee a gentleman, yet there hee may meet with
attendant rookes that fometimes will bee his betters fix to foure or two
to one. . . , A bowler, although the Allye or marke bee but thirty
or forty paces, yet fometimes I haue heard the Bowler cry, Rub, rub,
rub, and fweare and lye that hee was gone an hundred miles, when the
bowle hath beene fhort of the blocke two yards. The marke which
they ayme at hath fundry names and epithites, as a Blocke, a Jacke,
and a Miftris," Perhaps the foregoing paffage may ferve to elucidate
the rather obfcure title (as it has been regarded) of " Freeman's Epi
grams," 1614— "Rubbe And a Great Caft."
What was termed the Half-Bowl is mentioned in a traa of 1580.
" It was my chance," fays the writer, " to be at John Crokes, where
there is a bowling alley of the half bowle, whether doth repaire many
merchants and fundry gentiemen, and in a Chamber above divers
were at play," The Half-Bowl was fufficiently celebrated to induce
[' " Antiq. Repert." ed. 1807, vol. ii. p. 316.]
P See alfo "A Defcription of a Bowling-Alley" in the " Compleat Gamefter,"
1674.]
298 sports and Games.
Francis Coules, the popular bookfeller of Charles the Firft and Second's
times, to adopt it as part of\a% fign, which formed a rather fingular
compound — "The Lamb and the Half-Bowl." In an edition of the
" Hiftory of Tom a Lincoln," 1655, however, the imprint bears the
latter only.
Braithwaite, in his " Rules for the Government of the Houfe of an
Earle," {circa 1640) defcribes it as one of the duties of the gardener,
" to make faire bowling alleys, well banked, and foaled ; which being
well kepte In many howfes are very profitable to the gardiners."
It appears alfo from a paffage in the drama of " Wit at Several
Weapons"' that the fmall ball, which is now called the jack, was
fometimes known as the miflrefs.
" The Bowling Green Houfe at Putney" obferves a writer in
1 76 1, "is pleafantly fituated, and affords a fine profpea. It is now
turned into one of thofe fafhionable Summer Breakfafting-places,
which level aU Diftinaion, and mingle the Sexes together in Com
pany."}-
8. Boxing.
Miffon,' fpeaking of fports and diverfions, fays : " Anything that
looks like Fighting is delicious to an Englifhman. If two littie Boys
quarrel in the Street, the Paffengers ftop, make a ring round them in
a moment, and fet them againft one another, that they may come to
fifticuffs. When 'tis come to a Fight, each pulls off his neckcloth
and his waiftcoat, and gives them to hold to the Standers-by ; (fome
will ftrip themfelves naked quite to their waftes ;) then they begin to
brandifh their fifts in the air ; the blows are alm'd all at the Face,
they kick one another's fhins, they tug one another by the hair, &c.
He that has got the other down, may give him one blow or two be
fore he rifes, but no more ; and let the Boy get up ever fo often, the
other is oblig'd to box him again as often as he requires it. During the
fight, the Ring of by-ftanders encourage the Combatants with great
delight of heart, and never part them while they fight according to the
Rules : and thefe by-ftanders are not only other Boys, Porters, and
Rabble, but all forts of Men of Fafhion ; fome thruftlng by the Mob,
that they may fee plain, others getting upon Stalls ; and all would
hire places if Scaffolds could be built in a moment. The Father and
Mother of the Boys let them fight on as well as the reft, and hearten
him that gives ground or has the worft. Thefe Combats are lefs fre
quent among grown Men than Children, but they are not rare. If a
Coachman has a difpute about his Fare with a Gentieman that has
hired him, and the Gentleman offers to fight him to decide the Quarrel,
the Coachman confents with all his heart : the Gentieman pulls off
his Sword, lays it in fome Shop, with his Cane, Gloves, and Cravat,
[' Dyce's " Beaum. and FI." vol. iv. p. 12,]
[° "Tour through the whole Ifl. of Gr. Brit." vol. i. p. 249.]
^ "Travels," p. 304.
sports and Games, 299
and boxes in the fame manner as I have defcrib'd above. If the
Coachman is foundly drubb'd, which happens almoft always, (a Gen
tieman feldom expofes himfeif to fuch a battie without he is fure he's
ftrongeft) that goes for payment ; but if he is the Beator, the Beatee
muft pay the Money about which they quarrell'd, I once faw the
late Duke of Grafton at fifticuffs, in the open Street,^ with fuch a
Fellow, whom he lamb'd moft horribly. In France we punifh fuch
rafcals with our Cane, and fometimes with the flat of our Sword : but
in England this is never praais'd ; they ufe neither Sword nor Stick
againft a Man that is unarm'd : and if an unfortunate Stranger (for
an Englifhman would never take it into his head) fhould draw his
Sword upon one that had none, he'd have a hundred people upon
him in a moment, that would, perhaps, lay him fo flat that he would
hardly ever get up again till the Refurreaion."
9, Buckler-Play.
[The following order was made by the Government of James Lin
1609 :]
" That all Plaies, Bear-baitings, Games, Singing of Ballads,
Buckler-play, or fuch hke caufes of Affemblies of People be utterly
prohibited, and the parties offending feverely punifhed by any Alder
man or Juftice of the Peace,"
Miffon ° fays : " Within thefe few years you fhould often fee a fort
of Gladiators marching thro' the Streets, in their Shirts to the Wafte,
their Sleeves tuck'd up, fword In hand, and preceded by a Drum, to
gather Speaators. They gave fo much a head to fee the Fight, which
was with cutting Swords, and a kind of Buckler for defence. The
Edge of the Sword was a little blunted, and the Care of the Prize
fighters was not fo much to avoid wounding one another, as to avoid
doing it dangeroufly : neverthelefs, as they were obliged to fight 'till
fome blood was fhed, without which nobody would give a Farthing
for the Show, they were fometimes forc'd to play a little ruffly. I
once faw a much deeper and longer Cut given than was intended.
Thefe Fights are become very rare within thefe eight or ten years.
Apprentices, and all Boys of that degree, are never without their
cudgels, with which they fight fomething like the Fellows before-
mention'd, only that the Cudgel is nothing but a Stick ; and that a
litde Wicker Baflcet, which covers the handle of the Stick, like the
Guard of a Spanifh Sword, ferves the Combatant inftead of defenfive
Arms,"
' " In the very wideft part of the Strand, The Duke of Grafton was big and
extremely robuft. He had hid his blue Ribband before he took the Coach, fo that
the Coachman did not know him,"
' "Travels," p. 297.
3 CO sports and Games.
10. Bull and Bear-baiting.
Fitzftephen mentions the baiting of bulls with dogs as a diverfion of
the London youths on holidays in his time.'
Hentzner [who vifited England in Elizabeth's reign] '^ fays : " There
is a place built in the form of a Theatre, which ferves for the baiting
of Bulls and Bears ; they are faftened behind, and then worried by
great Englifh bull-dogs ; but not without great rifque to the Dogs,
from the horns of the one and the teeth of the other : and it fome
times happens they are killed on the fpot. Frefh ones are immedi
ately fupplied in the places of thofe that are wounded, or tired. To
this Entertainment there often follows that of whipping a blinded
Bear, which is performed by five or fix men, ftanding circularly, with
whips, which they exercife upon him without any mercy, as he can
not efcape from them becaufe of his chain. He defends himfeif with
all his force and fkill, throwing down all who come within his reach,
and are not quite aaive enough to get out of it, and tearing the
Whips out of their hands and breaking them. At thefe Speaacles,
and every where elfe, the Englifh are conftantly fmoking Tobacco."
Gilpin, in his " Life of Cranmer," tells us : " Bear-baiting, brutal
as it was, was by no means an Amufement of the lower people only.
An odd incident furnifhes us with the proof of this. An important
controverfial Manufcript was fent by Archbifhop Cranmer acrofs the
Thames, The perfon entrufted bade his Waterman keep off from
the tumult occafioned by baiting a Bear on the river, before the King ;
he rowed however too near, and the perfecuted animal overfet the
Boat by trying to board it. The Manufcript, loft in the confufion,
floated away, and fell into the hands of a Prieft, who, by being told
that it belonged to a Privy-Counfellor, was terrified from making ufe
of it, which might have been fatal to the Head of the Reformed party,"
In a Proclamation " to avoyd the abhominable place called the
Stewes," dated April 13, 37 Hen. 8, we read as follows: "Finallieto
th' intent all refort fhould be efchued to the faid place, the Kings Ma
jeftie ftraightlie chargeth and comaundeth that from the feaft of Eafter
next enfuing, there fhall noe Beare-baiting be ufed in that Rowe, or
in any place on that fide the Bridge called London Bridge, whereby
the accuftomed Affemblies may be in that place cleerely abolifhed and
extina, upon like paine as well to them that keepe the Beares and
Dogges, whych have byn ufed to that purpofe, as to all fuch as wiU
refort to fee the fame."^
' "Defcrlpt. of London," [" Antiq. Repert." edit. 1808, vol. i.] In Miffon's
"Travels," pp. 24-26, are fome remarks on the manner of Bull-baiting as it
was praftlfed In the time of William III,
The ancient law of the market direfting that no man ftiould bait any bull, bear,
or horfe In the open ftreets in the metropolis, has been already quoted,
[" " Itlneiarlum," tranfl. into Englifti, 1757. The firft edition in Latin appeared
abroad in 1612, 4to.]
^ The fubfequent extraft from the fame proclamation will be thought curious:
" Furthermore his Majeftie ftraightlie chargeth and commandeth that all fuch
Houfeholders as, under the name of Baudes, have kept the notable and marked
sports and Games. 301
In Vaughan's "Golden Grove," 1600,' we are told: "Famous
is that example which chanced neere London, a.d. 1583, on the
13th Daye of Januarie being Sunday, at Paris Garden, where there
met together (as they were wont^) an infinite number of people to fee
the Beare-bayting, without any regard to that high Day, But, in the
middeft of their Sports, all the Scaffolds and Galleries fodainely fell
downe, in fuch wife that two hundred perfons were crufhed well nigh
to death, befides eight that were killed forthwith."
In Laneham's " Letter from Kenilworth," 1575, we have the fol
lowing curious piaure of a bear-baiting, in a letter to Mr. Martin, a
mercer of London : " Well, fyr, the Bearz wear brought foorth intoo
the Coourt, the Dogs fet too them, too argu the points eeuen face to
face ; they had learnd counfell allfo a both partz : what may they be
coounted parciall that are retaind but a to fyde ? I ween no. Very
feers both ton and toother & eager in argument : if the dog in
pleadyng woold pluk the bear by the throte, the bear with trauers
woould claw him again by the fkalp ; confefs & a lift, but a voyd a
coold not that waz bound too the bar : And hiz coounfell tolld him
that it coold bee too him no pollecy in pleading. Thearfore thus with
fending & proouing, with plucking & tugging, fkratting & byting, by
plain tooth & nayll a to fide & toother, fuch exfpes of blood & leather
waz thear between them, az a moonths licking I ween wyl not
recoouer ; and yet remain az far oout az euer they wear,
" It was a Sport very pleazaunt of theez beaftz ; to fee the bear
with his pink nyez leering after hiz enmiez approoch, the nimblenefs
& wayt of y' dog to take hiz auauntage, and the fors & experiens
of the bear agayn to auoyd the affauts : if he war bitten in one place,
hoow he woold pynch in an oother to get free : that If he wear taken
onez, then what fhyft, with byting, with clawyng, with rooring, tofs-
ing & tumbling, he woold wcork too wynd hym felf from them :
and when he waz lofe, to fhake his earz twyfe or thryfe wyth the blud
and the flauer aboout his fiznamy, waz a matter of a goodly releef,"'
Houfes, and knowne Hofteries, for the faid evill difpofed perfons, that is to faie,
fuch Houftiolders as do inhablte the Houfes 'whited and painted, 'with Signes
on thefront,for a token of the faid Houfes, ftiall avoyd with bagge and baggage,
before the feaft of Eafter next comyng, upon paine of like punifliment, at the
Kings Majefties Will and Pleafure,"
' Edit, 1608, fign, P, 6 'verfo.
' See alfo [Field's "Gods Judgments ftiewed at Paris Garden, 13 Jan. 1583,
&c," 1583, 8vo. and] Stubbes' "Anatomie of Abufes," 1585, p. 118, where is a
relation of the fame accident, In " The Life of the reverend Father Bennet of
Canfilde," Douay, 1623, p, 11, is the following paffage: " E'ven Sunday is a day
defigned for beare bayting and e'ven the howre oftheyre (the Proteftants) Ser'vice
is allotted to if, and indeede the Tyme is as well fpent at the one as at the other."
R. R. was at leaft an honeft Catholic; he does not content himfeif with equivocal
glances at the erroneous Creed, but fpeaks out plainly.
' See Nichols's " Progreffes of Queen Elizabeth," vol, i, " Her Majefty," fays
Rowland White, in the Sidney Papers, " this Day appoints a Frenchman to doe
feates upon a rope in the Conduit Court. To-morrow ftie hath commanded the
beares, the bull, and the ape to be bayted In the Tilt-yard."— Andrews's Co»ri»afl-
tiott of Hemy's Hiftory, 1796,^, 532,
302 sports and Games,
[M.Michel, in "Le Pays Bafque," 1857, 8vo., traces back this
diverfion in that country to the year 1385, during the reign of
Charles II. of Spain. There is no want of material for the hiftory of
the fport on the other fide of the Pyrenees fubfequently to that date.
Moft of the Spanifh princes appear to have encouraged it by their
countenance and fupport.
II. Camp.
This game is at leaft as old as 30 Henry VI., in a deed of which
year it is alluded to. It Is another of the very numerous fports which
efcaped the refearch not only of Brand, but of Strutt. Tuffer fays :
" In meadow or pafture (to grow the more fine)
Let campers be camping in any of thine ;
Which if ye do fuffer when low is the fpring,
You gain to yourfelf a commodious thing,"
It was a fchool-boy's game : the following defcription is from
Forby's " Vocabulary," 1830, The writer fays, that in his time
two kinds of camp were recognifed : rough-play and civil play, " In
the latter there is no boxing. But the following is a general defcrip
tion of it as it was of old, and in fome places ftill continues. Two
goals are pitched at the diftance of 120 yards from each other. In a
line with each are ranged the combatarits : for fuch they truly are.
The number on each fide is equal ; not always the fame, but very
commonly twelve. They ought to be uniformly dreffed in light
flannel jackets, diftlnguifhed by colours. The ball Is depofited exaaiy
in the mid-way. The fign or word is given by an umpire. The two
fides, as they are called, rufh forward. The fturdieft and moft aaive
of each encounter thofe of the other. The conteft for the ball begins,
and never ends without black eyes and bloody nofes, broken heads or
fhins, and fome ferious mifchiefs. If the ball can be carried, kicked,
or thrown to one of the goals, in fpite of all the refiftance of the other
party, it is reckoned for one towards the game ; which has fometimes
been known to laft two or three hours. But the exertion and fatigue
of this is exceffive. . . . The prizes are commonly hats, gloves, fhoes,
or fmall fums of money. Ray fays that In his time it prevailed mofl
in Norfolk, Suffolk and Effex, To Sir Thomas Browne, who came
among us from another kingdom of the Oaarchy, it was new ; and
he puts the word camp (or as he fpells it kamp) into his fmall colleaion
of Norfolk words,"]
12. Casting of Stones.
This is a Welfh cuftom, praaifed as they throw the blackfmith's
ftone in fome parts of England, There is a fimilar game in the north
of England called Long Bullets. The prize is to him that throws the
ball furtheft in the feweft throws.
sports and Games. 303
[13, Cat in Barrel,
" This is a fport which was common in the laft century at Kelfo on
the Tweed, A large concourfe of men, women and chfldren affem
bled in a field about half a mile from the town, and a cat having been
put into a barrel ftuffed full of foot, was fufpended on a crofs-beam
between two high poles, A certain number of the whip-men, or
hufbandmen, who took part In this favage and unmanly amufement,
then kept ftriking, as they rode to and fro on horfeback, the barrel in
which the unfortunate animal was confined, until at laft, under the
heavy blows of their clubs and mallets, it broke and allowed the cat
to drop. The viaim was then feized and tortured to death," ^
14. Cat or Kit-Cat.
In " The Captain," by Fletcher, written (and probably performed)
before 16 13, the cat-flicks, with which this game is played, are men
tioned. The fport itfelf, which is ftill In vogue, is fufficiently defcribed
by Strutt.
Lenton, in the " Young Gallants Whirligigg," 1629, defcribes the
young gallant (perhaps from perfonal experience), when he has reached
the age for ftudy, as preferring light literature to Littleton and Coke,
and adds : " Inftead of that
Perhaps hee's playing of a game at Cat."
Poor Robin thus refers to it in his " Almanac " for 1709 :
" Thus harmlefs country lads and laffes
In mirth the time away fo paffes ;
Here men at foot-ball they do fall ;
There boys at cat and trap-ball.
Whilft Tom and Doll afide are flank.
Tumbling and kiffing on a bank ;
Will pairs with Kate, Robin with Mary,
Andrew with Sufan, Frank with Sarah.
In harmlefs mirth pafs time away.
No wanton thoughts leads them aftray.
But harmlefs are as birds in May."
Moor thus mentions this : " A game played by boys ; eafier to
play than to defcribe. Three fmall holes are made In the ground
triangularly, about twenty feet apart, to mark the pofition of as many
boys, who each holds a fmall ftick, about two feet long. Three other
boys of the adverfe fide pitch fucceffively a piece of ftick, a littie
bigger than one's thumb called cat, to be ftruck by thofe holding the
fticks. On its being ftruck, the boys run from hole to hole, dipping
the ends of their fticks in as they pafs, and counting one, two, three,
[' "A Defcription of Kelfo," 1789.]
304 sports and Games.
&c. as they do fo, up to thirty-one, which is game. Or the greater
number of holes gained in the innings may indicate the winners, as at
cricket. If the cat be ftruck and caught, the ftriking party is out,
and another of his fidefmen takes his place, if the fet be ftrong enough
to admit of it. If there be only fix players, it may be previoufly agreed
that three put outs fhall end the Innings. Another mode of putting
out is to throw the cat home, after being ftruck, and placing or pitch
ing It Into an unoccupied hole, while the in-party are running. A
certain number of miffes (not ftriking the cat) may be agreed on to be
equivalent to a put out. The game may be played by two, placed
as at cricket, or hy four, or I believe more."]
15. Cat and Dog.
Jamiefon tells us this is the name of an ancient fport ufed in Angus
and Lothian. " The following Account," he adds, " is given of it.
" Three play at this Game, who are provided with Clubs. They
cut out two holes, each about a foot in diameter, and feven inches in
depth. The diftance between them is about twenty-fix feet. One
ftands at each hole with a club. Thefe clubs are called Dogs. A
piece of wood of about four inches long, and one inch in diameter,
called a Cat, is thrown from the one hole towards the other, by a
third perfon. The objea is, to prevent the Cat from getting into
the hole. Every time that it enters the hole, he who has the Club,
at that hole, lofes the club, and he who threw the Cat gets poffeffion
both of the Club and of the hole, while the former poffeffor Is obliged
to take charge of the Cat. If the Cat he ftruck, he who ftrikes it
changes place with the perfon who holds the other club ; and as often
as thefe pofitions are changed, one is counted as won in the game, by
the two who hold the Clubs, and who are viewed as partners,
" This is not unhke the Stool-ball defcribed by Strutt,^ but it more
nearly refembles Club-ball, an antient Englifh game.^ It feems to be
an early form of Cricket,"
In the "Life of the Scotch Rogue," 1722, p. 7, the following
fports occur : " I was but a forry proficient in Learning : being readier
at Cat and Doug, Cappy Hole, riding the Hurley Hacket, playing at
Kyles and Dams, Spang-Bodle, Wreftling, and Foot-ball, and (fuch
other Sports as we ufe in our Country,) than at my Book," " Cappy-
Hole," is alfo mentioned in the Notes to [" Ancient Scotifh Poems"
from the Bannatyne MS, 1770,] p, 251, where Play at the Trulis
likewife occurs. This laft is fuppofed to refemble T. totum, which is
like a fpindle, Troull is fpindle.
16. Cent-foot.
[This was a game of cards. Roger, fecond Lord North of Kyrt-
' "Sports and Paftimes," p. 76. ' Ibid. p. 83.
sports and Games. 305
ling, who died in 1600, and who feems to have been an ardent and
unlucky gambler, mentions in his " Houfehold Book " for 1575-6
having loft I5r. at Saint — probably this game of cent— on May 15,
1576. But ly. was nothing to a man who frequentiy parted with
20/. or 30/. at one fitting. One cannot help fufpeaing that it was
owing to his extravagance that the family eftate fell fliortly afterwards
into fuch hopelefs decay. The game is referred to alfo] by Braith
waite :" " Playes at Cent-foot purpofely to difcover the pregnancy of
her Conceit." [Is this not the fame as Foote-Saunt, mentioned by
Goffon in his " Schoole of Abufe," 1579 ^
17. Cherry Pit.
Cherry Pit is a play wherein they pitch cherry-ftones into a little
jiole. It is noticed in Herrick's " Hefperides," 1648. [But the eariieft
allufion to the fport Is probably that found in the interlude of " The
Worlde and the Chylde," 1522 :
" I can playe at the chery pytte.
And I can wyftell you a fytte,
Syres, in a whylowe ryne,"
It is alfo mentioned by Skelton In " Speke Parot," written about)
1520,] [18. Cock's-Odin.'^
Cock's-Odin was, from its name, probably a traditionary game
handed down from Danifh times ; for of the Danes there are many
memorials fcattered all over the Border, The play Itfelf, however,
throws no light upon any recognifable circumftance of their cruel
invafions. It confifted merely of one boy fent forth to conceal him
feif within a certain range, and, after due law, the reft fet out like fo
many hounds to difcover and catch him if they could. What Odin
could have to do with the fugitive I cannot conjeaure ; and whether
the cock's viaorious crow can be emblematical of triumph, is only a
fpeculation worthy of a moft Inveterate Dryafduft. Of the fame ftamp
may be a fuggeftion concerning three fpots within a couple of miles of
the feene of this game and Set-a-foot, viz., a fine farm. Wooden — qy,
Woden, not Wood Den ; Edenham — qy. Odenham, not a hamlet on
the Eden rivulet ; and may not the Trow Crags, a rocky ravine
through which the Tweed rufhes, derive their titie from Thor? a
"very fitting godfather to fuch crags !
19. Cock-Throwing.
An account of this may be found under Shrove Tuesday.]
[' "Barnabje Itinerarium " (1638), fign. h z, and "Boulfter Lefture," 1640,
p. 163.]
[' I am indebted to Bushey-HeaTH In Notes and Siueries for Auguft ift, 1S68,
3o6 Sports and Games,
20. CoCKALL.
In Levinus Lemnius, we read : " The Antients ufed to play at
CocKALL or cafting of Huckle Bones,i which is done with fmooth
Sheeps bones. The Dutch call them Pickelen, wherewith our young
Maids that are not yet ripe ufe to play for a Hufband, and young
married folks defpife thefe as foon as they are married. But young
Men ufe to contend one with another with a kind of bone taken forth
of Oxe-feet. The Dutch call them Coten, and they play with thefe
at a fet time of the Year. Moreover Cockals which the Dutch
call Teellngs are different from Dice, for they are fquare with four
fides, and Dice have fix. Cockals are ufed by Maids amongft us,
and do no wayes wafte any ones Eftate, For either they paffe away
the time with them, or if they have time to be idle they play for fome
fmall matter, as for Chefnuts, Filberds, Pins, Buttons, and fome fuch
Juncats." In Polydore Vergile,^ we have another defcription of this game :
" There is a Game alfo that Is played with the pofterne bone in the
hynder foote of a Sheepe, Oxe, Gote, fallowe or redde Dere, whiche
in Latin is called Talus. It hath foure Chaunces, the Ace point, that
is named Canis, or Canicula, was one of the fides, he that caft it leyed
doune a peny or fo muche as the Gamers were agreed on, the other
fide was called Venus, that fignlfieth feven. He that caft the Chaunce
wan fixe and all that was layd doune for the caftyng of Canis. The
two other fides were called Chlus and Senlo. He that did throwe
Chius wan three. And he that caft Senio gained four. This Game
(as I take it) is ufed of Children in Northfolke, and they cal it the
Chaunce Bone ; they playe with three or foure of thofe Bones toge
ther ; it is either the fame or very lyke to It."^
[Herrick feems to fpeak of Cockall as a children's fport, played
with points and pins.*] [21. Cockle-Bread.
There is fo full an account of this in Mr. Thoms' " Anecdotes
and Traditions," 1839, from Aubrey's " Remains of Gentilifme and
Judaifm {circa 1670)," that I cannot do better than refer to it. I
may add here that there are varying verfions of the lines which the
giris repeat. Taylor, the Water-poet, has a curious notice of Cockle-
Bread in his " Great Eater of Kent," 1630.
' " Engl. Tranfl." 1658, p. 368. In " The Sanftuarle of Salvation," &c. from
the Latin of Levinus Lemnius, by Henry Kinder, p, 144, we read, thefe bones are
called " Huckle-Bones, or Coytes."
'' Langley's Abrldgm. fol, i,
' For further information relating to this game, as played by the ancients, the
reader may confult Joannis Meurfii " Ludlbunda, five de Ludis Grsecorum," 1625,
p. 7, V. ASTPAFAAIZMOI : and Dan. Souteril " Palamedes," p. 81, but more par
ticularly " I Tali ed altri Strumenti lufori degli antlchi Romani difcritti " da
Francefco de' Ficoroni, 1734.
' " Hefperides," p. 102.
sports and Games. 307
22. Cross and Pile, or, Heads or Tails.
This is the modern game of Toft. It was known, it appears, in
Edward Ii.'s time, and formed a favourite diverfion of that prince,
who won and loft money at it, as is to be colleaed from entries
among his privy purfe expenfes :
" Item paid to the King himfeif to play at Crofs and Pile by the
hands of Richard de Mereworth, the receiver of the Treafury, 12 pence,
" Item paid there to Henry, the King's Barber, for money which
he lent to the King to play at Crofs and Pile . , . • 5^.
" Item paid there to Peres Barnard Uflier of the King's Chamber
money which he lent to the King, and which he loft at Crofs and
Pile to monfieur Robert Wattewylle , , eightpence."
23. Cross Ruff.
This is a fpecies of Ruff, a game at cards. There was Ruff{c\. v.),
Double-Ruff zrxA Crofs-Ruff. The laft is quoted in " Poor Robin's
Almanac for 1693" :
" Chriftmas to hungry ftomachs gives relief.
With mutton, pork, pies, pafties, and roaft beef;
And men at cards fpend many idle hours.
At loadum, whiflc, crofs-ruff, put, and all-fours."]
24, Curcuddoch, Curcuddie,
" To dance Curcuddie or Curcuddoch," (fays Jamiefon in his Dic
tionary) " is a phrafe ufed in Scotland to denote a play among
Children in which they fit on their houghs, and hop round in a circular
form. "Many of thefe old terms," Dr, Jamiefon adds, " which now are
almoft entirely confined to the mouths of children, may be overlooked
as nonfenfical or merely arbitrary. But the moft of them', we are
perfuaded, are as regularly formed as any other in the Language,
" The firft fyllable of this Word is undoubtedly the verb curr, to
fit on the houghs or hams. The fecond may be from Teut. kudde,
a flock ; kudd-en, coire, convenire, congregari, aggregari ; kudde-wijs,
gregatim, catervatim, q, ' to curr together,'
" The fame Game is called Harry Hurcheon in the North of Scot
land, either from the refemblance of one in this pofition to a hurcheon,
or hedge-hog, fquatting under a bufh ; or from the Belg, hurk-en, to
fquat, to hurkle."
[25. Double Hand.
Taylor, the Water-poet, In his " Great Eater of Kent," 1630, fays :
" I have known a great man very expert on the Jewe-harpe, a rich
3o8 Sports and Games.
heire excellent at Noddy, a juftice of the peace fkilful at Quoytes, a
Merchants Wife a quicke gamefter at Irifh (efpecially when fhe came
to bearing of men) that fhe wolde feldome miffe entring, Monfieur
le Ferr, a Frenchman, was the firft inventor of the admirable game of
Double-hand, Hot-Cockles ; and Gregorie Dawfon, an Englifhman,
devifed the unmatchable myftery of Blindman buffe."
[26. Dun's i' the Mire.
Mr. Dyce^ quotes Gifford ^ for this. " Dun is in the mire," fays
the latter, " is a Chriftmas gambol, at which I have often played. A
log of wood is brought into the midft of the room : this is Dun (the
cart-horfe), and a cry is raifed that he is ftuck in the mire. Two of
the company advance, either with or without ropes, to draw him out.
After repeated attempts, they find themfelves unable to do it, and call
for more afliftance. The game continues, tUl all the company take
part In it, when Dun is extricated of courfe ; and the merriment arifes
from the awkward and affeaed efforts of the rufties to lift the log, and
from fundry arch contrivances to let the ends of it fall on one another's
toes." Dun's in the Mire hence, no doubt, became a proverbial ex
preffion.] In [Rowlands' " Humors Ordinarie," 1600,] I find it enumerated
among other paftimes :
" At Shoue-groat, Venter-poynt, or Croffe & Pile . . ,
At leaping ore a Midfommer Bone-fier,
Or at the dra'wing Dunne out of the myer." '
So in " The Dutchefs of Suffolke," 1631, fignat, e 3 :
" Well done, my Mafters, lend 's your hands,
Dra-w Dun out of the Ditch,
Draw, pull, helpe all, fo, fo, well done." " They pull him out."
They had fhoved Bifhop Bonner into a well, and were pulling him out.
We find this game noticed at leaft as early as Chaucer's time, in
the " Manciples Prologue " :
"Then gan our hofte to jape and to play
And fayd ; fires, what ? Dun is in the Mire,"
27, Draw Gloves,
There was a fport entitied " Draw-Gloves," of which, however, I
find no defcription. The following^^a d'efprit is found in Herrick :¦*
[' Edit, of Beaumont and Fletcher, vol. I. p. 71, note.']
(' Edit, of Ben Jonfon, 1816, vol, vii, p. 283,]
[' Edit. 161 1, fign, c 7,]
' "Hefperides," 1648, p. lit.
sports and Games, ^09
Dra'w Glo'ves.
" At Draw-Gloves we'l play.
And prethee let's lay
A Wager, and let it be this ;
Who firft to the Summe
Of twenty fliall come,
Shall have for his winning a Kiffe." '
.J?!^ "Witts Recreations," in a poem headed "Abroad with the
Maids," there is the following :
" Come fit we under yonder tree.
Where merry as the maids we'l be.
And as on primrofes we fit,
We'l venter (If we can) at wit :
If not, at draw-gloves we will play ;
So fpend fome minutes of the day;
Or elfe fpin out the threed of fands.
Playing at queftions and commands,"]
28, Duck and Drake.
Butier'' makes it one of the important qualifications of his conjurer
to tell
" What figur'd Slates are beft to make,
On watry furface Duck or Drake." '
[29. Epping Forest Stag-hunt.
The "Chelmsford Chronicle" of April 15, 1805, contained a
notice to the following effea :
" On Monday laft Epping Foreft was enlivened, according to
ancient cuftom, with the celebrated flag hunt. The road from
Whitechapel to the ' Bald-faced Stag,' on the Foreft, was covered
with Cockney fportfmen, chiefly dreffed in the coftume of the chace, viz,
fcarlet frock, black jockey cap, new boots, and buckfkin breeches. By
ten o'clock the affemblage of civic hunters, mounted on all forts and
fliapes, could not fall fhort of 1,200, There were numberiefs Dianas
alfo of the chace, from Rotherhithe, the Minories, &c,, fome in riding
habits, mounted on titups, and others by the fides of their mothers, in
gigs, tax-carts, and other vehicles appropriate to the fports of the field.
The Saffron Walden ftag-hounds made their joyful appearance about
[' That audacious plagiary, Henry Bold, in his " Wit a Sporting," 1657, has
appropriated this, in common with many other things, without a fyllable of ac
knowledgment] ' " Hudibras," part ii. canto iii.
' I find the following elegant defcription of this Sport in an ancient church
writer, which evinces its high antiquity : " Pueros videmus certatim geftlentes,
teftarum in mare jaculationibus ludere. Is lufus eft, teftam teretem, jaftatlone
Fluftuum Isevigatam, legere de lltore : eam teftam piano fitu digitis comprehenfam,
inclinem ipfum atque humilem, quantum poteft, fuper undas iirotare : ut illud jacu-
lum vel dorfum maris raderet, vel enataret, dum leni impetu labitur: vel fummis
fluftibus tonfis emicaret, emergeret, dum affiduo faltu fublevatur. Is fe in pueris
viftorem ferebat, cujus tefta et procurreret longius, et frequentius exfiliret." — Minur
cius Felix, 1712, p. 28.
3IO Sports and Games.
half after ten, but without any of the Mellilhes or Bofanquets, who
were more knowing fportfmen than to rifque either themfelves, or their
horfes, in fo defperate a burfl ! The huntfman having capped their half-
crowns, the horn blew juft before twelve, as a fignal forthe old fat one-
eyed flag (kept for the day) being enlarged from the cart. He made a
bound of feveral yards, over the heads of fome pedeftrians, at firft
ftarting — when fuch a clatter commenced, as the days of Nimrod never
knew. Some of the fcarlet jackets were fprawling in the high road
a few minutes after flarting — fo that a lamentable return oi maimed !
miffing! thrown! and thrown-out ! may naturally be fuppofed,"
30, Faring.
This is mentioned as a popular game at cards, or dice, or both, in
the "Englifh Courtier and the Countrey Gentleman," 1586,]
31. Foot-Ball,
[Chamberlain, in a letter to Carleton, March 5, 1600-1,' fays:
" You may do well, if you have any idle time, to play the good fellow
and come and fee our matches at football, for that and bowling wilbe
our beft intertainment."]
Miffon fays : ^ "In Winter Foot-BaU is a ufeful and charming Ex
ercife, It is a Leather Ball about as big as one's Head, fiU'd with
Wind. This Is klck'd about from one to t'other In the Streets, by
him that can get at it, and that is all the art of it." [Fuller particulars
may be found in Strutt.] [32. Fox IN THE Hole.
This is a game mentioned by Herrick in his " New Yeares Gift fent
to Sir Simeon Steward," preferved among the " Hefperides," 1648.]
33. Golf' (corruptly Goff, or Gauff*) or Handball.
Strutt confiders this as one of the moft ancient games played with
the ball that require the affiftance of a club or bat. " In the reign of
Edward the third, the Latin name Cambuca was applied to this paftime,
and it derived the denomination, no doubt, from the crooked club or
bat with which it was played ; the bat was alfo called a bandy from Its
being bent, and hence the game Itfelf is frequently written In Englifh
bandy ball.
[' "Letters written during the Reign of Q^ Elizabeth," Camd. Soc. i86i,p.
70. In the" Gentleman's Companion," 1676, p, 136, mention is made of a game
called Stop-ball.]
' "Travels," p. 307.
[' From Keltic goll, the hand, which, curioufly enough, degenerated in the
courfe of time into a mere vulgarifm, like our modern phrafe pa'w.]
[¦" " Gentleman's Companion," 1676, p. 136,]
sports and Games. 3 1 1
" It fhould feem that Goff was a fafliionable Game among the
Nobility at the commencement of the feventeenth Century, and it
was one of the exercifes with which Prince Henry, eldeft fon to
James the firft, occafionally amufed himfeif, as we learn from the fol
lowing Anecdote recorded by a perfon who was prefent : ' At another
time playing at Goff, a play not unlike to pale-maiUe, whilft his fchool-
mafter flood talking with another and marked not his highnefs warn
ing him to ftand further off, the prince thinking he had gone afide,
lifted up his goff-club to ftrike the ball ; mean tyme one ftanding by
faid to him. Beware that you hit not mafter Newton, wherewith he
drawing back his hand, faid, Had I done fo, I had but paid my debts.' "
Jamiefon derives Golf from the Dutch kolfz Club. Wachter de
rives it from klopp-en to ftrike.
Golf and foot-ball appear to have been prohibited in Scotland by
James II. In 1457 » ^""^ again in 1491, by James IV. ThebaU ufed
at this game was ftuffed very hard with feathers. Northbrooke, a
native of Devonfhire, fpeaks of it as a favourite amufenjent in that
county in the reign of Elizabeth. His treatife againft dicing and other
profanities appeared in 1577, Strutt fays that this game is much prac-
tifed in the North of England ; and Jamiefon, that it is a common
game in Scotland.^ It Is ftill (1869) much played.
Prince Henry, who died in 16 12, is faid by Sir Simonds D'Ewes to
have been " rather addiaed to martial ftudies and exercifes, than to
goff, tennis, or other boys' play."
A writer in the " Book of Days " afcribes to this fport, of which he
gives a very good account, the origin of the common phrafe, getting
into a fcrape, which is, in faa, one of the principal incidents of the
diverfion. This etymology may be correa ; the expreffion Itfelf was
ufed at leaft as far back as the time of George III, In its prefent fenfe,
M, Berjeau,^ who refers to two curious works on the game, both
publiflied in the laft century, feems to confider that Golf refembled
" the prefent fafhionable game of croquet," The faa is, that the
game was fufceptible of modifications, according to circumftances, or
the opportunities of thofe playing at it. In the French Rules printed
at Paris in 17 17, it is faid that the club and ball were both to be made
of the root of the box-tree.]
34, GoosE Riding.
A goofe, whofe neck is greafed, being fufpended by the legs to a
' Strutt's " Sports and Paftimes," p, 8, Jamiefon's "Etym. Dift." 2« 'voce.
In the " Gent. Mag." for February, 1795, mention is made ot Shinty Match, „.
game alfo peculiar to North Britain, fomething fimilar to the Go^.
Jamiefon calls " shinty an inferior fpecies of Go// generally played at by young
people." He adds : " In London, this game is called Hackie. It feems to be the
fame which is defignated Not in Glouceft. ; the name being borrowed from the Ball,
which is ' made of a knotty piece of wood, Grofe.' "
' "Book- Worm," vol. iii. p. I73-4-]
3 1 2 sports and Games.
cord tied to two trees or high pofts, a number of men on horfeback
riding full-fpeed attempt to pull off the head, which if they accom-
plifh they win the goofe. This has been praaifed in Derbyfhire
within the memory of perfons now living.
Douce fays, his worthy friend Mr, Lumifden informed him that
when young he remembered the fport of "riding the goofe " at Edin
burgh, A bar was placed acrofs the road, to which a goofe, whofe
neck had been previoufly greafed, was tied. At this the candidates, as
before mentioned, plucked.^
[35. Gioco (or Guoco) D'Amore.
This feems to have been fome game of hazard of a more than
ufually fpeculative kind, and to have been introduced into this country
from Italy, as its name implies, Howell, In a letter to Sir Thomas
Lake, of July 3, 1629, fays : "I have fhewed Sir Kenelm Digby hoth
our Tranflations of Martial's 'Vitam quse faciunt beatiorem,' &c.
and to tell you true, he adjudged yours the better ; fo I fhall pay the
Wager In the place appolnted,_and try whether I can recover myfelf
at Gioco d'amore, which the Italian faith is a Play to cozen the
Devil."]
36. Handy-Dandy.
[By far the moft copious and fatisfaaory account of this ancient
Englifh game is to be found in Mr, Halliwell's " Popular Rhymes and
Nurfery Tales," 1849, ^^ which I muft beg to refer the reader. The
earlieft allufion to it yet difcovered is the paffage in " Piers Plough
man," cited by Mr. Halliwell.
Browne, in the fifth Song of " Britannia's Paftorals," 1614, de
fcribes it as a boy's game :
" Who fo hath feene young Lads (to fport themfelues.
Run in a low ebbe to the fandy flielues :
' In "Newmarket: or an Eflay on the Turf," 1771, vol. ii. p. 174, we read:
" In the Northern part of England it is no unufual diverfion to tie a Rope acrofs
a ftreet and let it fwing about the diftance of ten yards from the ground. To the
middle of this a living Cock Is tied by the legs. As he fwings in the Air, a fet of
young people ride one after another, full fpeed, under the rope, and rifing in their
ftlrrups, catch at the Animal's head, which is clofe clipped and well foaped in order
to elude the grafp. Now he who is able to keepe his feat in his faddle and his hold
of the Bird's head, fo as to carry It off in his hand, bears away the palm, and be
comes the noble Hero of the day," A print of this barbarous cuftom may be feen
in the " Trionfi, &c, della Venetia ;" fee alfo Meneftrler, " Traite des Tournois,"
p. 346. In PauUinus " de Candore," p. 264, we read : " In Dania, tempore
quadragefimali Belgae ruftici in Infula Amack, Anferem, (candidum ego vidi,)
firne alllgatum, inque fublimi pendentem, habent, ad quem citatis Equis certatim
properant, quique caput ei prlus abruperlt, viftor evafit," Concerning the praftice
of fwarming up a pole after a goofe placed at top, fee Sauval, " Antiquites de
Paris," tom. ii, p. 696. [At the prefent day a leg of mutton or a pig is frequently
icrambled for in the fame manner at fairs and regattas.]
sports and Games. 313
Where ferioufly they worke in digging wels,
Or building childifli forts of Cockle-ftiels ;
Or liquid water each to other bandy;
Or with the Pibbles play at handy- dandy—"]
Cornelius Scriblerus, In forbidding certain fports to his fon Martin
till he Is better informed of their antiquity, fays : " Neither Crofs and
Pile, nor Ducks and Drakes, are quite fo ancient as Handy-Dandy,
tho' Macrobius and St, Auguftine take notice of the firft, and
Minutius Foelix defcribes the latter ; but Handy-dandy is mentioned
by Ariftotie, Plato, and Ariftophanes." ^ He adds,^ " The play which
the Italians call Cinque and the French Mourre is extremely antient :
It was played by Hymen and Cupid at the marriage of Pfyche, and
was termed by the Latins ' digitis micare.' "
[37. Hockey,
This is a game played with a ball and fticks. Several perfons may
partake In the recreation, and the fport confifts In driving the ball in
different direaions, each player being provided with a ftick, with
which, by the exercife of a good deal of agility and quicknefs of eye,
he may fucceed in outftrlpplng his competitors, and bringing the ball
to the appointed goal. Hockey has, of late years, rather declined in
popularity ; but it was a favourite diverfion twenty years ago.]
38. HoT-CoCKLES.
The humorous writer in the " Gentieman's Magazine" for February
1773, already quoted, fays: ^^Hot-Cockles and more Sacks to the Mill
were certainly invented in the higheft times of Ignorance and Super
ftition, when the Laity were hood-winked, and a parcel of Monks
were faddling their backs and baftinadoeing them. "
Cornelius Scriblerus fays : " The Chytrindra defcribed by Julius
Pollux Is certainly not our Hot-Cockle ; for that was by pinching,
and not by ftriking : tho' there are good authors who affirm the
Rathapygifmus to be yet nearer the modern Hot-Cockles. My fon
Martin may ufe either of them indifferently, they being equally
antique."''' [This account might be rendered much more copious without any
dlfiiculty, by importing hither extraas from Mr. Thoms' " Anec
dotes and Traditions," 1839 ; but I preferred to direa the attention
of the reader to that interefting and readily acceffible volume.]
• Pope's Works, vol, vi. p, 115- ° ^''''^- P- "6-
' Ibid, vol, vi. p. 116.
2 1 4 Sports and Games,
39. Hunt the Slipper.
This game is noticed by Rogers In the " Pleafures of Memory,"
1-35- " Twas here 'we chafd the Slipper by its found."
[It is a holiday game which is ftill [1869] in vogue, and is played
by children of various growths, fitting on the carpet in a circle.]
40. Hunting the Ram.
" It was an antient cuftom," fays Huggett,i " for the butcher of the
College to give on the efeaion Saturday a Ram to be hunted by the
fcholars ; but, by reafon (as I have heard) of the Ram's crofling the
Thames, and running through Windfor market-place with the fcholars
after It, where fome mifchief was done, as alfo by long courfes In that
hot feafon, the health of fome of the fcholars being thereby thought
endangered, about thirty years ago the Ram was ham-ftrung, and,
after the fpeech, was with large clubs knocked on the head in the
ftable-yard. But this carrying a fhew of barbarity in it, the cuftom
was entirely left off in the eleaion of 1747 ; but the Ram, as ufual,
Is ferved up In pafties at the high table.
" Browne Willis would derive this cuftom from what is (or was)
ufed in the manor of Eaft Wrotham, Norfolk (the reaory and, I
believe, the manor of which belongs to this College) where the lord of
the manor' after the Harveft gave half an acre of barley and a ram to
the tenants thereof The which ram, if they caught it, was their
own ; if not, it was for the lord again."
In the " Gentieman's Magazine," for Auguft 1731, is the follow
ing : " Monday, Auguft 2, was the ekaion at Eton College, when
the fcholars, according to cuftom, hunted a ram, by which the Provoft
and Fellows hold a manor." [Even in Beckwith's time, however,
this ufage had been given up.
[41. In and In,
This game is referred to in Fletcher's play of the " Chances,"
written prior to 1625. There Don Frederick fays :
"Tis ftrange
I cannot meet him ; fure, he has encounter'd
Some light o' love or other, and there means
To play at in-and-in for this night — "
' MSS. Coll. for the Hiftory of Windfor and Eton College, 9 vols, folio
(Br. Mus,)
[' Blount's " Fragmenta Antiquitatis," ed, 1S15, p. 495.]
sports and Games. 3 1 5
Of courfe the allufion here Is playful or facetious. Perhaps thefe
double meanings were in fome favour. In Nevfle's fcurrilous traa,
" Newes from the New Exchange," 1650, the author, fpeaking of
Lady Sands, fays ; " She out drinkes a Dutch-man, outvies a Courtefan,
and is good at all Games, but loves none like In and In." In-and-in alfo
occurs as a popular recreation in Lenton's " Young Gallants Whirli
gig," 1629, " In-and-in," fays the " Compleat Gamefter," 1680,
(quoted hy Mr, Dyce in a note), " is a Game very much ufed at an
Ordinary, and may be play'd by two or three, each having a Box in
his hand. It is play'd with four dice,"
42, Irish,
This was a fpecies of tables or backgammon, which was a very old
game in this country, Fletcher, In the " Scornful Lady," 1616,
makes the lady fay : " I would have vex'd you
More than a tir'd poft-horfe, and been longer bearing.
Than ever after-game at Irifti was — "
Upon which Mr. Dyce obferves : " See the ' Compleat Gamefter,'
where we are informed that It requires a great deal of fkill to play It
(Irifh) well, efpecially the After-game — bearing, a term of the game,
was frequently, as in the prefent paffage, ufed with a quibble — "
Shirley mentions Irijh in his play of " St. Patrick for Ireland," 1640,
and Hall, In his " Horae vaclvae," 1646, obferves : "The Inconftancy
of Irifh fitly reprefents the changeableneffe of humane occurrences,
fince it ever ftands fo fickle that one malignant throw can quite ruine
a never fo well-built game. Art hath here a great fway, by reafon if
one cannot well ftand the firft affault, hee may fafely retire back to
an after game." From a paffage in the " Honeft Man's Fortune "
(1613), it may be inferred that in Beaumont and Fletcher's day,
there were two kinds of Irifh, for there we hear of " two- hand
Irifli," 43, JUEGO DE CaNAS, OR SpORTING WITH CaNES.
This, as a note in the " Diary" of Henry Machyn Informs us, was
an amufement introduced by the Spaniards, who were very numerous
in London In the reign of Mary. Machyn mentions the paftime as
one of the entertainments prepared at the marriage of Lord Strange
to the Earl of Cumberland's daughter in February, 1554-5. But the
faa is, that the fport is as ancient as the twelfth century, and was
known In Italy, at leaft, as early as the reign of our Richard I.
Strutt prints an anecdote illuftrative of this from Hoveden. In the
particular inftance recorded by Machyn, the cane play was not Intro
duced till after fupper, and was then carried on by torchlight.
Francis Yoxley, writing to Sir W. Cecfl from the Court, 12th
oa. 1554, fays: "Uppon Thurfday next, there flialbe in Smith-
field Giuoco di Canne : where the King and Quene wolbe— "
3 1 6 Sports and Games.
Mr. John Gough Nichols, the accomplifhed editor of Machyn, has
illuftrated his entry refpeaing the Cane-game by an interefting note.
It is poffible, however, that the fport was not much ufed In England
till the reign of Henry VIII., and there may be no fpeclfic record of
it ever having been praaifed before 1518 ; but that it was known in
this country at a much earlier date feems, at all events, open to y-
gument. 44. King of the Castle,
This is ftill (1869) a not uncommon fport among children in the
ftreet and the young generally. One of the company affumes the
right of occupying a certain fpot, generally elevated, and if a mound
of earth, fo much the better, and drives his companions off with
" I am the King of the Caftle :
Get out, you dirty rafcal I"
till one of the rafcals fucceeds In dethroning the monarch, and ufurps
his place. It is far from impoffible that this game may really be of
fome antiquity, and may have originated in fome political fource.
45, Kit-Cat-Cannio.
This Is defcribed by Moor : " A fedentary game, played by two
with flate and pencil, or pencil and paper, like kit-cat, eafier learned
than defcribed. It is won by the party who can firft get three marks
(o's or X 's) in a line ; the marks being made alternately by the
players o or x in one of the nine fpots equidiftant in three rows,
when complete. He who begins has the advantage, as he can con
trive to get his mark in the middle,"
46, Leap-Candle,
" The young girls about Oxford (notes Aubrey) have a fport called
Leap-Candle, for which they fet a candle in the middle of the room in
a candleftick, and then draw up their coats in the form of breeches,
and dance over the candle back and forth, with thefe words :
' The Taylor of Blfiter he has but one eye.
He cannot cut a pair of gren Galligafliins, if he were to try,'"
This fport in other parts is called dancing the Candle Rufh.^
[' " Remains of Gentilifm and Judaifm " (j:ircd 1 670) in Thoms' " Anecd.
and Traditions," p. 96,]
sports and Games, 3 1 y
ifl. [Level Coil,
This is the name of a game mentioned by our old play-writers,
and by Gifford is fuppofed to have been fomething like the modern
child's fport called catch-corner (or pufs-in-the-corner) " in which
each of the parties ftrives to fupplant and win the place of the other.
In Coles's Diaionary, it is derived from the Italian levar il culo ; but
whatever may be thought of this etymology, the diverfion appears to
have been a rather riotous one, and the phrafe hence obtained a figu
rative fenfe, which ftill furvives In the colloquial phrafe coil,"']
48. Loggats.
Steevens fays, " This is a Game played in feveral parts of England
even at this time, A Stake is fixed into the Ground ; thofe who
play, throw loggats at It, and he that Is neareft the Stake wins. I
have feen It played in different Counties at their Sheep-fhearing Feafts,
where the winner was entitled to a black Fleece, which he afterwards
prefented to the Farmer's Maid to fpin for the purpofe of making
a petticoat, and on condition that fhe knelt down on the Fleece to be
kiffed by all the Rufties prefent."
Malone fays, " Loggeting in the fields is mentioned forthe firft time
among other new and crafty games and plays. In the ftatute of 33 Hen.
VIII. c. 9. Not being mentioned in former aas againft unlawful
games, it was probably not praaifed long before the ftatute of Henry
the eighth was made."
"A Loggat-ground," (fays Blount, another of the Commentators
on Shakefpeare,) " like a fklttle-ground. Is ftrewed with afhes, but is
more extenfive. A Bowl much larger than the jack of the game of
Bowls Is thrown firft. The pins, which I believe are called loggats,
are much thinner, and lighter at one extremity than the other. The
bowl being firft thrown, the players take the pins up by the thinner
and lighter end, and fling them towards the bowl, and in fuch a
manner that the pins may once turn round in the air, and flide with
the thinner extremity foremoft towards the bowl. The pins are
about one or two-and-twenty inches long." ^
49. Lurch.
A reference to this may be found under Ticktack.]
[' In the laft edition of the " Glofl'ary of Nares " (1859), a more particular de
fcription of le'vel-coil occurs, fo that it feemed unneceflary to enter into further
detail here. But I muft add, that, unlefs I derive a very wrong inference from a
perufal of the article' In Nares, there were two games (as indeed Giff'ord feems to
have partly fufpefted),one called le'vel-coil, the other, U'vel-fece, which were quite
dlftlnft.] " Reed's "Shakefp." iSot, vol. xviii. p. 3»fi-
3 1 8 Sports and Games.
50. Marbles
Had no doubt their origin in Bowls : and received their name
from the fubftance of which the bowls were formerly made. Taw is
the more common name of this play in England.
Rogers notices Marbles In his " Pleafures of Memory," I. 137 :
" On yon gray ftone that fronts the Chancel-door
Worn fmooth by bufy feet, now feen no more,
Each eve we ftiot the Marble through the ring."
Notwithftanding Dr, Cornelius Scrlblerus's Injunaions con
cerning playthings of " primitive and fimple Antiquity," we are told
"he yet condefcended to allow Martinus the ufe of fome few
modern Play-things ; fuch as might prove of any benefit to his mind,
by inftilling an early notion of the Sciences, For example, he found
that Marbles taught him Percuffton and the Laws of Motion ; Nut-
crakers the ufe of the Leaver ; Swinging on the ends of a Board the
Balance ; Bottiefcrews the Vice ; Whirligigs the Axis and Peri-
trochia ; Bird-Cages the Pulley ; and Tops the centrifugal motion."
Bob Cherry was thought ufeful and inftruaive, as it taught, " at
once, two noble virtues, Patience and Conftancy ; the firft in ad
hering to the purfuit of one end, the latter in bearing difappoint-
ment."'
51. Maw, or Mack,^ a Game at Cards.
In the Houfehold-Book of Roger, fecond Lord North, under 1575,
occurs this entry : " Aug. 6. Loft at Maw w"" the Queen, xxviij"."
The next item is, " Loft at Primerow " (apparently alfo with Queen
Elizabeth), " xxxiij"," On November 2 following, his lordfhip loft to
her majefiy " at play," £32, and on the 22nd February, 1575-6,
.£70. He was with Ehzabeth at Kenilworth, and there fhe won ^£50
more of him !
It feems that in the later years of Elizabeth's reign. Maw, from
having been a vulgar country game, grew into favour and fafhion at
Court, for in a traa printed in 1580,' it is faid : " Mafter Rich. Drake,
a gentleman well bearing himfelfe alwayes, . . . advifed M. Hall as
his friende . . . fpecially for the giving fignes of hys game at Mawe, a
play at cardes growne out of the country, from the meaneft, into
credite at the courte with the greateft." What follows prefentiy is
curious : " In truth, quoth Hall, yefternight he trode on my foote, I
being at Mawe at Miftreffe Arundels, the old and honorable ordinary
' Pope's Works, vol. vi, p. 117.
[2 " Engl. Courtier and Countrey Gentl." 1586, fign. h 3 'verfo,]
^ A letter fent by F. A, touching a quarell between Arthur Hall and Mel-
chlfedech Mallerle, to his very friend L. B, &c. (158°), repr. in "Mifcellanea
Antiqiia Anglicana," 18 16.]
sports and Games. ^ 1 0
table, as I may terme it, of England ; but what he ment thereby I
know not, I thinke no evil."
In the comedy of " Patient Griffil," 1603, a ftage direaion fays :
" A drunken feaft : they quarrel and grow drunk, and pocket up the
meat : the dealing of cans, like a fet at mawe."
In the "True Tragedie of Richard the Third," 1594, a citizen,
fpeaking of Lord Haftings, fays : " He is as good as the afe of hearts
at maw." Randolph thus alludes to it in his (pofthumous) poems,
i6?8 :
•^ " Hiflrio may
At Ma'w, or Gleek, or at Primero play.
Still Madam goes to ftake — "
Among the Huth broadfides, is one in proie,flne ulla notd, entitied,
" The Groome-porters Lawes at Mawe, to be obferved for fulfilling
the due order of the game." Thefe laws are fixteen In number.^]
52. Meritot.^
Speght, in his " Gloffary to Chaucer," fays : Meritot, in Chaucer,
a fport ufed by children by fwinging themfelves In bell-ropes, or fuch
like, till they are giddy. In Latin it is called Ofcillum, and is thus
defcribed by an old writer : " Ofcillum eft genus ludi, fcilicet cum
funis dependitur de Trabe, in quo pueri & puellag fedentes impelluntur
hue et illuc."'
This fport is defcribed as follows by Gay :
" On two near Elms the flacken'd Cord I hung.
Now high, now low, my Blouzalinda fwung."
So Rogers : * " Soar'd in the Swing, half-pleaf'd and half afraid,
Thro' Sifter Elms that wav'd their Summer-ftiade."
53. Muss.
In Shakefpeare, the ancient puerile fport called Mufs is thus men
tioned : Ant. " When I cry'd. Ho !
Like Boys unto a Mufs, Kings would ftart forth.
And cry, your Will !" *
Mufs, in this fenfe, is ufed by Jonfon,^
[' The duties of the Groom-porter are defined at large in the " Antiquarian
Repertory," ed, 1807, vol. ii. p. 201. Taylor the Water-poet facetioufly fays of
his hero, Nicholas Wood, of Harrietfliam, the Great Eater of Kent (1630) : " Hee
Is no Gamefter, neither at Dice, or Cards, yet there is not a Man within forty
miles of his head, that can play with him at ma'w,"]
' Called Shuggy-Shew in the North of England. It is our modern fwing.
' In Mercurialis "de Arte Gymnaftica," p, 216, there is an engraving of this
exercife, * " Pleafures of Memory," 1. 77,
' " Anthony and Cleopatra," aft I. fc. 11.
' " Magnetic Lady," aft iv. fc. 3.
¦7 20 Sports and Games,
Rabelais mentions a Mufs among Gargantua's Games.
[54, My Sow HAS Pigged.
Taylor the Water-poet refers to this in his "Motto," 162 1 ; it is
thus fpoken of in " Poor Robin's Almanac" for 1734 : " The lawyers
play at beggar my neighbour ; the new-marry'd young couples play at
put ; the doaors and furgeons at thruft out rotten, but If they meet
with a man that is fo eat up with the pox that he is all compoPd of
that fort of metal, they thruft out all together ; the farmers play at
My Sow's pigg'd; the fchoolmafters play at queftions and commands ;
and becaufe every man ought to mind his bufinefs, he that plays moft
at all forts of gaming, commonly at laft plays a game at hide and feek,
and cares not to leave off till he has got the rubbers." Mr. Halliwell
fays : " The following diftich is ufed in this game :
' Higgory, diggory, digg'd.
My fow has pigg'd,'"]''
55, Nine Men's Morris, or Merrils.
The following Is the account of this game given by Dr, Farmer in
a note to Shakefpeare : '
" The nine Men's Morris is fiU'd up with mud,"
" In that part of Warwickfhlre where Shakefpeare was educated,
and the neighbouring parts of Northamptonfhire, the ftiepherds and
other boys dig up the turf with their knives to reprefent a fort of imper
fea chefs-board. It confifts of a fquare, fomtimes only a foot diameter,
fometimes three or four yards. Within this is another fquare, every fide
of which is parallel to the external fquare ; and thefe fquares are joined
by lines drawn from each corner of both fquares, and the middle of
each line. One party, or player, has wooden pegs, the other ftones,
which they move in fuch a manner as to take up each other's men, as
they are called, and the area of the Inner fquare is called the pound,
in which the men taken up are impounded. Thefe figures are by the
country people called Nine Men's Morris, or Merrils; and are fo
called becaufe each party has nine men. Thefe figures are always
cut upon the green turf, or leys, as they are called, or upon the grafs
' Book 1. cap. 22. And in another place, book iii. cap. 40. Grey's "Notes on
Shakefp." vol. ii, p, 208, "That the Game of the Mufle is honeft, heahhful,
ancient, and lawful; a Mufcho Inventore, de quo Cod. de petit. Haered. 1. Si poft
Motum.'''
[' "Popular Rhymes and Nurfery Tales," 1849, p. 114.]
" " Midfummer Night's Dream," aft ii. fc. 2.
sports and Games. 321
at the end o^ ploughed lands, and in rainy feafons never fail to be
choaked up With mud."
Alchorne rehiarks : " Nine Men's Morris Is a Game ftill played
by the fhepherds, cow-keepers, &c. In the midland Counties, as fol
lows : A figure (of fquares, one within another,) is made on the
ground by cutting out the turf; and two perfons take each nine ftones,
which they place by turns in the angles, and afterwards move alter
nately, as at Chefs or Draughts, He who can play three in a ftraight
line may then take off any one of his adverfary's, where he pleafes,
till one, having loft all his men, lofes the game,"
Mr, Tollett writes : " In Cotgrave, under the article Merelles, Is
the following explanation : ' Le leu des Merelles, The boylfh
game called Merits, or five-penny morris : played here moft com
monly with ftones, but in France with pawnes, or men made on pur
pofe, and tearmed Merelles.' Thefe might originally have been black,
and hence call Morris, or Merelles, as we yet term a black cherry a
morello, and a fmall black cherry a merry, perhaps from Maurus a
Moor, or rather from Morum a Mulberry."
An account of this game is given by Douce. ^
" This Game was fometimes called the Nine Men's Merrils, from
Merelles, or Mereaux, an ancient French word for the jettons, or
counters, with which it was played. The other term, Morris, Is
probably a corruption fuggefted by the fort of dance which, in the
progrefs of the Game, the counters performed. In the French
Merelles each party had three counters only, which were to be placed
in a line in order to win the game. It appears to have been the
Tremerel mentioned in old fabliau."^
" Dr. Hyde thinks the Morris, or Merrils, was known during the
time that the Normans continued in poffeffion of England, and that
the name was afterwards corrupted Into Three Men's Morals, or Nine
Men's Morals. If this be true, the converfion of Morrals into
Morris, a term fo very familiar to the country-people, was extremely
natural. The Doaor adds, that It was likewife called Nine-penny or
Nine-pin Miracle, Three-penny Morris, Fivcpenny Morris, Nine-penny
Morris, or Three-pin, Five-pin, and Nine-pin Morris, all corruptions
oi Three pin, &c. Merels."^
Douce adds : " The Jeu de Merelles was alfo a Table-game. A
reprefentation of two monkies engaged at this amufement may be feen
in a German edition of Petrarch ' de Remedio utrlufque Fortunae,'
b. i. ch. 26. The cuts to this book were done in 1520."*
[A writer in Willis's "Current Notes" for November, 1853, has
the following account of the game : " There can be but little doubt
that it is the fame game as that commonly known In the South of
England under the name of Moriners or Mariners. It Is played by
' "Illuftrations of Shakfpeare," vol. i, p. 184,
' See Le Grand, " Fabliaux et Contes," tom, ii. p. 208.
' Hyde's " Hift! Nederludii," p, 202. See alfo Strutt's " Sports and Paftimes,'
p. 236,
* Reed's "Shakfp." 1803, vol, Iv, p. 358-
II. Y
322 Sports and Games.
two perfons with nine men each on a figure . . . generally on a board
with the lines cut in It, and holes at the angles for pegs by way of
men. The players take turns to 'pitch' their men, that is, to place
them in the holes In fuch a way as to get, if poffible, three in a line,
or 'row.' After they are all pitched, the players move alternately,
the one whofe turn It is fhifting any one of his men to the next hole
(If unoccupied) from the one It is then on, along a line. Whenever
either player fucceeds in making a ' row ' of his own men, whether
during the pitching or fubfequent play, he is entitled to take off any
one of his adverfary's, which is not proteaed by being in a row, and
the game is loft by the perfon whofe number of men is firft reduced
by this procefs below three."
Mifs Baker, in her "Northamptonfhire Gloffary," 1854, notices the
Shepherd's Hey, Race, Ring, or Run (as it is varloufly called), a fport
enjoyed by the lower claffes annually at Boughton-Green Fair, four
miles from Northampton. " A green-fward circle," the writer fays,
*' of confiderable fize, has been funk about a foot below the furface
of the green, as far back as memory can trace. A mazy path, rather
more than a foot in width, is formed within by a trench, three or four
inches wide, cut on each fide of it ; and the trial of fkill confifts in
running the maze from the outfide to the fmall circle In a given time,
without crofling the boundaries of the path."
At Saffron-Walden, there was within a year or fo of the prefent
time, the remains of a ground which had been cut in the turf for this
purpofe ; but the marks of the morris-dancers' knives were fcarcely
jifcernible.]
56. Nine Holes.
I find the following in Herrick : '
Upon Rafpe. Epig.
" Rafpe playes at Nine-holes ; and 'tis known he gets
Many a teafter by his game, and bets :
But of his gettings there's but little fign ;
When one hole waftes more than he gets by nine."
57. Nine Pins [or Skittles].
Urquhart of Cromarty obferves : ^ " They may likewife be faid to
ufe their king as the players at Nine Pins do the middle kyle, which
they call the king, at whofe fall alone they aim, the fooner to obtain
the gaining of their prize."
Poor Robin, in his Almanack for 1695, in his obfervations on
the fpring quarter, fays : " In this Quarter are very much praaifed
the commendable exercifes oi Nine-pins, Pigeon-holes, Stool-baU, and
Barley-break, by reafon Eafter Holydays, Whitfon Holydays, and May
Day, do fall In this Quarter." [But, in the Almanack for 1707,
the game is introduced under the name oifkittles :
' "Hefperides," 1648, p. 178.
' "Difcovery of a moft Exquifite Jewel," &c. 1651, p. 237, &c.
sports and Games. 323
" Ladies for pleafure now refort
Unto Hide Park and Totnam Court ;
People to Moorfields flock in flioles.
At nine-pins and at pigeon-holes.
The country lafl'es paftime make
At ftool-ball and at barley-break ;
And young men they pafs time away
At wreftling and at foot-ball play.
And every one, in their own way.
As merry are as birds in May,"
58, Not, or Knot,
This is a game played In Gloucefterfhire, between two fides, each
of whom is armed with bats, and endeavour to drive a ball in oppofite
direaions. It is apt to become a violent and dangerous amufement.
59. NovEM Quinque.
This is mentioned as a game at cards or dice in the " Englifh
Courtier and the Countrey Gentleman," 1586.]
60, Pall Mall.^
In Erondel's " French Garden," 1605,2 in a dialogue, the lady fays,
" If one had P aille-mails, it were good to play in this alley, for it is of
a reafonable good length, ftraight, and even." And a note in the
margin informs us : "A Paille-Mal Is a wooden hammer fet to the
end of a long ftaffe to ftrike a boule with, at which game noblemen
and gentlemen in France doe play much."
[My friend, Mr. H. B, Wheatiey, kindly drew up for me the fol
lowing defcription :
Pall Mall {Italian, palamagllo; French, palemaille) was a popular
game in the fixteenth and feventeenth centuries, and few large towns
were without a mall or prepared ground where It could be played. It
was Introduced into England In the reign of James I. who names it
among other exercifes as fuited for his fon Henry, who was afterwards
Prince of Wales.^
Unfortunately no rules of the game have come down to us, fo that
we cannot tell how many players were required, or how many ftrokes
were allowed before the ball paffed fuccefsfully under one of the hoops,
but from old diaionaries and drawings we are able to gather the fol
lowing particulars : A long alley was prepared for the game by being
made fmooth, and then furrounded by a low wooden border, which
was marked fo as to fliow the pofition of the balls. Each player had
a mallet and a round box-wood ball,* and his objea was to drive his
ball through a high and narrow hoop called " The Pafs, of which
[' Chamberlain ("Angliae Notitia," 1676, p. 52) fpe^s it Pelmel?\,
' Ed. 1621, fign. N 5 -verfo. , ,, r-. u n-jw,,,,,, "l
[» « Bafilic^n Doron," book iii.] [* Cotgrave's " French Diftionary. ]
[5 Phillips's " Englifti Diftionary."]
324 sports and Games.
there were two, one at each end of the mall. Force and fkill were
both required In the player, who had to make the ball fkate along the
ground with great fpeed, and yet to be careful that he did not ftrike it
in fuch a manner as to raife it from the ground.
In the reigns of James I. and Charles I,, pall-mall was played in a
portion of St, James's Fields, adjoining the Park, and the fite of the
ftreet is ftill called Pall Mall. Charles II, was particularly fond of the
game, and at his Reftoration, as feveral houfes were built and others
planned in the old pall-mall, he had one of the avenues in St, James's
Park prepared for a new mall. It was one man's bufinefs to keep
the place In perfea order, and as a part of his duty was to cover
the ground with powdered cockle-fhells, he was called the cockle-
ftrewer,^ Wafler, In his poem on St, James's Park, thus defcribes with glow
ing terms the dexterity of Charles II, in the game :
" Here a well-poliflied mall gives us joy.
To fee our prince his matchlefs force imploy.
Np fooner had he touch'd the flying ball.
But 'tis already more than half the mall :
And fuch a fury from his arm has got
As from a fmoaking culverin 'twere ftiot."]
61. Pearie.
Jamiefon defines Pearie, " that inftrument of play ufed by boys in
Scotiand, which in England is called a peg-top," It feems to have
been named from Its exaa refemblance to a pear. The humming-top
of England Is In Scotland denominated a French Pearie, probably as
having been originally imported from France,
[62. Penny-Prick,
For a notice of this game with counters, I may refer to the notes
to "The Englifli Courtier and the Country Gentleman," 1586,']
63, Piccadilly
Is mentioned as a game In Flecknoe's " Epigrams," p, 90 :
" And their lands to coyn they diftil ye.
And then with the money
You fee how they run ye
To loofe it at Piccadilly."
There was alfo a fpecies of ruff fo called. In the " Honeftie of this
Age," by Barnaby Rich, 16 14, p, 25, is the following paffage : " But
he that fome forty or fifty yeares fithens fhould have aflced a pickadilly,
I wonder who could have underftood him, or could have told what a
pickadilly had been, fifh or flefh."
[' Pepys' "Diary," May 15, 1663.]
[= "Three Inedited Trafts," Roxb. Library, 1868.]
sports and Games, 325
[64. Pigeon-holes,
Our anceftors had a game fo termed : it refembled our own bagatelle.
" There was," fays Mr. Hafliwell, " a machine with arches for the
balls to run through," as In faa in the modern game, if people choofe
to play it fo. Poor Robin for 1738 refers to pigeon-holes: "In
this quarter the commendable exercife oi n\r\e-pir\s, pigeon-holes, ftool-
ball, and barley-break are much praaifed, by reafon Eafter-holldays,
Whltfun-holidays, and May-day fall In this quarter ; befides the land
lords holiday, which makes more mirth than any of the holidays
aforefaid." He mentions it again in 1740.
65. Pope Julius's Game.
This was a game, at which four, and poffibly more, perfons could
play. It is mentioned in the Privy Purfe Expenfes of Henry VIII.
and apparently nowhere elfe : therefore the precife nature of the g^me
cannot be determined. It feems to have been unknown to Strutt,
Brand, Douce, Nares, and all other antiquaries. In the King's Ex
penfes for 1532 are four references to money loft at it by Henry ; the
earlieft is in thefe terms : " Itiil the xx daye [November] delived to
the kingf grace at Stone whiche his grace lofte at pope Julius game
to my lady marques, in Bryan, and maifter Wefton .... xii//. vi.f.
\ii]d," So that, at any rate, it was a coftly novelty ; and during the
fame month " the king's grace " loft upward of £30 more at this
diverfion. We do not hear of him playing any more ; but that may
arife from the abfence of accounts,
66. The Popinjay, or Parrot.
This was an improvement on cock-throwing, and was of early date,
as it is mentioned by Stow' in a patent or privilege granted to the
Fraternity of St. George 29 Hen. VIII. The old chronicler, or his
editor Strype, mifprints the word, defcribing It as " the Game of the
Propinjay."]
67. Pricking at the Belt, or Girdle ; called also
Fast and Loose.
A cheating game, of which the following is a defcription : " A
leathern Belt Is made up into a number of Intricate folds, and placed
edgewlfe upon a table. One of the folds Is made to refemble the
middle of the Girdle, fo that whoever fliall thruft a flcewer Into It
would think he held It faft to the table : whereas, when he has fo
done, the perfon with whom he plays may take hold of both ends and
draw it away." It appears to have been a game much praaifed by
the gipfies in the time of Shakefpeare.^ [It is ftill in vogue.]
[' " Survey," ed. 1720, vol, i. p, 250.]
^ Reed's " Shakfpeare," 1803, vol. xvii. p. 230.
326 sports and Games.
[68. Pricking in the Old Hat.
It appears from a communication by Mr. W. Kelly to " Current
Notes " for June, 1854, that the Chamberlain's Accounts for the
•Borough of Leicefter for 1 749-50 have the following entry : " Paid
for profecutlng one Richardfon, and others by [for ?] pricking at a
game called Pricking in the Old Hat, bs. lod." Unlefs this amufe
ment refembled the preceding, and was an outgrowth from it, I can
not undertake a folution of the myftery involved in this reglftration.]
69. Prison Bars.^
The game of " the Country Bafe " is mentioned in the " Faery
Queene," 1590, and by Shakefpeare in " Cymbeline." Alfo in [Chet-
tle's] tragedy of "Hoffman," 163 1 ;
" I'll run a little courfe
' At Bafe, or Barley-brake."
Again, in [Brome's] "Antipodes," 1640 :
" My men can run at Bafe."
Again, in the thirtieth fong of Drayton's " Polyolbion :"
" At Hood-wink, Barley-brake, at Tick, or Prifon Bafe."
[70. Push-pin.
" This," obferves Strutt, " is a very filly fport, being nothing more
than fimply pufhing one pin acrofs another." VV'here Strutt obtained
his information, I do not know ; but from a coarfe allufion In the
Epigrams of Richard Middleton, 1608, it might be fuppofed to have
been of a fomewhat different nature.
71. Put,
This is a game at cards, and is thus referred to in " The Riddle," a
copy of verfes inferted in " Rump Songs,"*^ 1662 :
" Shall 's have a Game at Put, to paflTe away the time,
Expeft no foul play, though I do play the Knave,
I have a King at hand, yea that I have ;
Cards, be ye true, then the Game is mine."
72. The Quintain,^ Whintain, or Quintal.
This is fuppofed to have been a Roman amufement, and to have
been left by them In this country. In Kennett's time, it was a wed-
• 'Vulgarly called Prifon Bafe. [= Edit, 1662, p. 49. J
[' The Quintain feems to have been praftlfed by moft nations in Europe. See
an account of it in Menage, " Dift," in f, ; fee alfo Le Grand, " Fabl." tom, ii.
sports and Games. 327'
dlng-fport in Oxfordftiire (a county full of Roman remains) ; but,
when Blount wrote his " Gloffographia," they had it alfo at Shropftiire
marriages ; and Aubrey {circa 1670) defcribes it as in general ufe on
fuch occafions before the Civil Wars. The quintain is introduced
into the profe hiftory of Merlin. In the account of the Tournament
at Logres, It is faid : " After mete was the quyntayne reyfed, and ther
at bourded the yonge bachelers." It does not exaaiy appear what
kind of quintain Is here Intended, but it was probably the Pel, of which
a defcription may be read in Strutt.
We know that the game or exercife was well known to Fitzftephen
and Matthew Paris, the latter of whom expreflly aUudes to it under
the year 1253 by the name ^intena. This was In the time of
Henry III., fubfequently to the date at which Fitzftephen flouriflied
and wrote.
The Englifh, in Fitzftephen's time, ufed to be fond of the water-
quintain, it appears, as a paftime in the Eafter holidays. He fays :
"They fight battels on the water. A fliield Is buoyed upon a pole
fixed in the midft of the ftream. A boat Is prepared without oars,
to be carried by violence of the water, and in the forepart thereof
ftandeth a young man ready to give charge upon the fhield with his
lance. If fo be he break his lance againft the fliield, and do not fall,
he is thought to have performed a worthy deed. If fo be that with
out breaking his launce he runneth ftrongly againft the fhield, down
he falleth into the water, for the boat is violently forced with the
tide; but on each fide of the fhield ride two boats furnifhed with
young men, which recover him that falleth as foon as they may.
Upon the bridge, wharfs, and houfes, by the river fide, ftand great
numbers to fee and laugh thereat." ^ Henry '^ thus defcribes another
kind of quintain : " A ftrong poft was fixed in the ground, with a
piece of wood, which turned upon a fpindle, on the top of it. Atone
end of this piece of wood a bag of fand was fufpended, and at the
other end a board was nailed. Againft this board they tilted with
fpears, which made the piece of wood turn quickly on the fpindle, and
the bag of fand ftrike the riders on the back with great force. If they
did not make their efcape by the fwiftnefs of their horfes."
Owen's defcription of the quintain as played at weddings feems to
indicate a much milder diverfion than that form of it ufually prac-
tifed. He fays :^ " A Pole is fixt in the Ground, with fticks fet about
it, which the Bridegroom and his Company take up, and try their
Strength and Aaivity in breaking them upon the Pole."
p. 214; Ducange and Spelman, "Glofs,;" Matt, Paris, ed, 1640, "Glofs.;"
Dugdale's " Warwickfti," p, 1 66 ; Cowell's " Interpr." in -v. ; Plot's " Oxfordfti."
p. 200-1 ; and " Archsol," vol, i, p, 305. A defcription of the military quintain
may be feen in Pluvinel (" L'Inftruftion du Roy fur I'exerclfede monter a cheval,"
p, 217), and a fingular fpecimen of the fport occurs in Treflani (" Corps d Ex-
traits de Romans," tom, ii, p. 30).] r -l. % . j
[' See Stowe's "Survey," ed. 1720, book i. p. 249, where a woodcut ot the kind
of quintain defcribed by Henry {infra) will be found.]
' " Hift, of Brit," vol, iii. p. S94"
' "Welfti Dift," f. Sluintan.
328 sports and Games.
The quintain was one of the fports praaifed by the Cornifli men
in July, on Halgaver Moor, near Bodmin. The method of playing
at it as defcribed in a newfpaper of 1789 is exaaiy correfpondent with
that employed by our countrymen in Stow's time — ^and in Fitz
ftephen's. Surely there is no fpecies of confervatifm fo ftubborn as the con-
fervatlfm of popular amufements !]
73. Races.
Miffon* fays : " The Englifh Nobility take great delight in Horfe-
Races. The moft famous are ufually at Newmarket ; and there you
are fure to fee a great many perfons of the firft quality, and almoft all
the gentlemen of the neighbourhood. It is pretty common for them
to lay wagers of Two Thoufand pounds fterllng upon one race. I
have feen a horfe, that after having run twenty miles In fifty-five
minutes, upon ground lefs even than that where the Races are run at
Newmarket, and won the wager for his mafter, would have been able
to run a-new without taking breath, if he that had loft durft have
ventured again. There are alfo Races run by men."
In Hinde's "Life of John Bruen," 1641, p. 104, the author
recommends " unto many of our Gentlemen, and to many of inferior
rank, that they would make an exchange of their Foot Races and
Horfe Races," &c.
[74, Rifling,
This is one of the amufements of our forefathers, which Strutt,
Hone, and others appear to have overlooked. It is thus mentioned
(without being defcribed) In a letter from the Common Serjeant of
London to Sir W. Cecil, Sept. 4, 1569 : " — At my nowe comynge
thither [to Weftminfter] M"' Staunton and others of th' inhabitants
of the faid Cytie [of Weftminfter] gave me to underftande that there
was a greate diforder in or near Long Acre, by reafon of certain
Games that were proclaymed there to be exercifed, wheare indede
theare was none ufed but one onlle Game, called Riflinge, by which
they faide diverfe perfons weare fpoyled and utterlle undon. Wher-
uppon I comaunded M" Cobbrande the highe Conftable of the faide
Cytie and Lyberties (taking with hym fuche number of petit Con
ftables and others as to his difcreflSon fholde feme mete, and fendlnge
before worde to the conftable of S' Gyles in the feildes to mete hym
theare) to goe thither, and not onlle to apprehende all perfones that
fholde be founde theare ufinge the fame game, but alfo them that kepte
the fame games Wheruppon the Keper of the fame Games
was broughte before me, but none of them that played theare : and
' " Travels," p. 231,
sports and Games. 329
yet one of my owne Servants, whom I fent pryvylie thither for that
purpofe, did fee that game of Ryfllnge In ufe theare at that tyme."]
75. The Ring.
Miffon,' fpeaking of Hyde Park, " at the end of one of the fuburbs
of London," fays : " Here the people of fafhion take the diverfion of
the Ring. In a pretty high place, which lies very open, they have
furrounded a circumference of two or three hundred paces diameter
with a forry kind of balluftrade, or rather with poles placed upon
ftakes, but three foot from the ground ; and the Coaches drive round
and round this. When they have turn'd for fome time round one
way, they face about and turn t'other : fo rowls the World."
In the "Statiftical Account of Scotiand,'"' Parifti of Dunkeld,
Perthfhire, we have an account of another diverfion with this name.
" To prevent that intemperance," the writer fays, " to which focial
meetings in fuch fituations are fometimes prone, they fpend the even
ing in fome public competition of dexterity or flcill. Of thefe, Riding
at the Ring (an amufement of antient and warlike origin,) is the chief.
Two perpendicular pofts are ereaed on this occafion, with a crofs-
beam, from which is fufpended a fmall ring : the competitors are on
horfeback, each having a pointed rod in his hand ; and he who, at full
gallop, paffing betwixt the pofts, carries away the ring on his rod,
gains the prize."
76, Rounders.
This fport, which has fallen into difufe of late years, was formerly
a very popular fchoolboy's amufement. It was played with a ball
and a fhort, ftout ftick, a fpecies of apology for a bat, and was of the
fame genus as cricket, but lefs afpiring and not fo hazardous ; it was
chiefly confined to the younger lads, who ftill lacked the neceffary
fkill and ftrength foj the more ambitious game.
It Is poflible that this is the game which, under the name of
Rownes (Rounds) is mentioned in the " Englifh Courtier and the
Country Gentleman," 1586.]
77. Ruff [or Colchester Trump]. ^
There appears by a paffage in Heath's " Houfe of Correaion,"
1619, to have been an ancient game called Ruffe: "A fwaggerer
Is one that plays at Ruffe, from whence he tooke the denomination of
a Ruffyn," &c,
[Heywood, in " A Woman Kilde with Kindneffe," 1607, men
tions double ruff.]
' "Travels," p. 126. ' Vol. xx, p. 433.
P "Englifti Courtier and Cuntiey Gentleman," 1586, fign. H 3 'verfo.]
.,.,0 sports and Games.
78. Running the Figure of Eight.
This fport is ftill followed by boys, and Is alluded to by Shakefpeare
in his " Midfummer Night's Dream" in the line :
" And the quaint Mazes in the wanton Green." '
[79. Scales.
Rice, in his " Inueaiue againfte Vices taken for Vertue," 1579,
mentions this twice, but gives no further explanation.]
80. Scotch and English.
Hutton, in his "Hiftory of the Roman Wall,"^ after an account
of the inceffant irruptions upon each other's lands between the inha
bitants of the Englifh and Scotifh borders, in ancient times, and before
the union of the two kingdoms, obferves, " The lively impreffion,
however, of former fcenes did not wear out with the praaice ; for
the Children of this day, upon the Englifli Border, keep up the re
membrance by a common play called Scotch and Englifh or the Raid,
i. e. Inroad,"
" The Boys of the Village chufe two Captains out of their body,
each nominates, alternately, one out of the littie tribe. They then
divide into two parties, ftrip, and depofit their Clothes, called Wad, in
two heaps, each upon their own ground, which Is divided by a Stone,
as a boundary between the two Kingdoms. Each then invades the
other's territories : the Englifh crying ' Here's a leap into thy Land,
dry-bellied Scot.' He who can, plunders the other fide. If one is
caught in the enemies jurifdiaion, he becomes a prifoner, and cannot
be releafed except by his own party. Thus one fide will fometimes
take all the Men and property of the other." t
This feems to be the fame game with that defcribed by Jamiefon,
in his "Etymological Diaionary," v. Wadds. In the Gloffary to
Sibbald's " Chronicle of Scotifli Poetry," Wadds is defined " A
youthful Amufement, wherein much ufe is made of pledges." Wad,
a pledge, fays Jamiefon, Is the fame with the vadium oi lower Lati
nity. 81. ScOTCH-HoPPERS.
In " Poor Robin's Almanack for 1677," in his verfes to the reader,
on the back of the title-page, our ftar-gazer profeffes to fhow
"The time when School-boys ftiould play at Scotch-hoppers,"
Reed's " Shakefpeare," vol. iv. p. 359. " 8vo. 1804, p. 104.
sports and Games, 3 3 i
[The fame periodical for 1707 fays: "Lawyers and Phyfitians
have littie to do this month, and therefore they may (if they will) play
at Scotch-hoppers, Some men put their hands into peoples pockets
open, and extraa It clutch'd, of that beware. But counfel without a
cure, is a body without a foul." And again, in 1740 : " The fifth
houfe tells ye when it is the moft convenient time for an old man to
play at Scotch-hoppers amongft the boys."
82. Scrambling for Nuts, &c.
To fcramble for nuts feems, from a paffage in Drayton's " Nim
phidia," 1627, to have been a paftime with our anceftors. It is ftill a
favourite one among fchoolboys, who are not particular as to the kind
of fruit, nuts or apples.] 83. See-Saw.
Gay defcribes the well-known fport of See-Saw thus :
" Acrofs the fallen Oak the plank I laid.
And myfelf polf'd againft the tott'ring Maid ;
High leap'd the plank, adown Buxoma fell," &c.
[Douce feems to have thought that this was identical with the
old game of Riding the Wild Mare, which is referred to in the " Knight
of the Burning Peftle," written in 1610 or 161 1: "Sweetheart, i'
faith, rn have Ralph come and do fome of his gambols. He'll ride
the wild mare, gentlemen, 'twould do your hearts good to fee him."
84. Set-a-Foot.i
Set-a-foot [a flight variety of Scotch and Englifti] furvived the
Union a hundred years, and was played at during the early years of
the prefent century. It confifted of a heroic contention, Imbued with
all the nationality of ftill older days. The fignal for the war was
chaunted as by bards —
" Set-a-foot on Scotifti ground,
Englifti, if ye dare."
And forthwith the two bodies of eight, ten, twelve, or even more
fchoolboys were arranged on either fide, the one reprefenting the Scotch
and the other Englifh forces : and, be it faid in honour of thefe re
prefentations, they fought for the viaory of their accepted caufe as
earneftly as if the battle were real :
" No flackneis was there found.
And many a gallant fchoolfellow
Lay panting on the ground."
P "Notes and Queries," Aug. i, 1868. The writer does not appear tp have
perceived the identity of the two fports.]
332 Sports and Games.
The field was thus ordered. The green fward, divided by any
flight natural hollow, was chofen. If poffible ; if not, a conventional
line was drawn, and the combatants confronted each other acrofs the
imaginary border. In a heap, perhaps a hundred or two hundred
yards behind each, was piled a booty of hats, coats, vefts, and other
clothing and chattels, which ftood in the ftead of property to be
harried or cattle to be lifted. The game was played by raids to feize
and carry off thefe depofits ; as whenever the flore was exhaufted,
the nationality was beaten. The races and the ftruggles to achieve
this viaory were full of excitement. Sometimes one, fwlft of foot,
would rufli alone Into the exploit ; fometimes two or three, to dif-
traa the adverfary, without leaving their own fide defencelefs, or
expofed to Inroad. Then the chafe ; the efcape of the invader with
his plunder ; or being obliged to throw it down for perfonal fafety ;
or being captured, and fent back with it, there to ftand, chapfallen
and taunted, until one of his comrades could run In and touch him ;
when his reftoration to the ranks was the refult, though perhaps his
ranfomer was made prifoner in his* ftead. And fo the war was
carried on, fo long as a rag was left to the pillager ; and it" was a
fight to fee occafionally, near the clofe, the awful condition of the
lofing fide of the combatants. Almoft every ftitch of raiment was
gradually devoted to the exigences of the battle, and depofit after de
pofit was harried till every article, fhoes, ftockings, braces, &c. was
" won away," and many of their difcomfited wearers at laft fuc-
cumbed to their fate with nothing to cover their nakednefs but
troufers and fhirt. I am not fure that even the laft was not fome
times ftaked on the iffue, fo enthufiaftic was Set-a-foot.
85. Shittle, or Shuttle Cock
Is as old as the fourteenth century. Skelton has the expreffion, " Not
worth a fhyttle cocke," Strutt, In his " Sports and Paftimes," flluftrates
it by a drawing of that period lent to him by Douce. Armin, in the
" Two Maids of More-Clacke," 1609, fays : " To play at fhuttle-
cock methinkes is the game now." It was a favourite amufement
with Prince Henry, who died in 1612. In his " Horas Vacivas,"
1646, Hall obferves : "Shlttie-Cock requires a nimble arme, with a
quick and waking eye ; 'twere fit for ftudents, and not fo vehement as
that waving of a Stoole, fo commended by Leffius." The game is
now known as Battledoor and Shuttle-Cock, and is almoft exclufively
a juvenile recreation, though it is fometimes played by grown-up per
fons in the country on wet in-door days.
86. Shoeing the Wild Mare.
From fcattered notices in feveral old works, I collea that this
was a diverfion among our anceftors, more particularly intended for
the young, and that the Wild Mare was fimply a youth fo called, who
was allowed a certain ftart, and who was purfued by his companions,
sports and Games. 333
with the objea of being fhoed, if he did not fucceed in outftripping
them. The only allufion, pure and fimple, to this paftime is, I be
lieve, in Breton's " Fantafticks," 1626, where he fpeaks of the youth
"fhewing their agility in fhooing the Wild Mare ;" but in Skelton's
" Elynour Rumming," and in the " Frere and the Boye," occur refer
ences to what muft have been a popular air or ballad founded on the
game, and Ravenfcroft, in his " Melifmata," 161 1, has a paffage
mentioning Away the Mare (juft as it is mentioned in the two earlier
places) : " Heigh ho, away the Mare,
Let vs fet afide all care,"
Herrick, in his "New Yeares Gift Sent to Sir Simeon Steward," ^
feems, however, to fet the matter at reft, and to fhow that the con
jeaure as to the charaaer of the fport, juft hazarded, is likely to be
correa : " but here a jolly
Verfe crown'd with yvie and with holly;
That tels of winters tales and mirth.
That milk-maids make about the hearth.
Of Chriftmas fports, the waifel-boule.
That toft up after Fox-i'-th' hole ;
Of Bllnd-man-buffe, and of the care
That young men ha-ve to fiiooe the Mare"
Of courfe, the nurfery game mentioned by Mr, Halliwell - is en
tirely different from this adult paftime. The former appears to be
known in Denmark ; it is played with the toes. There is more than
one verfion in our own language ; the following is printed by Mr.
Halliwell : " Shoe the colt, ftioe !
Shoe the wild mare !
Put a fack on her back.
See If ftie'U bear.
If ftie'll bear.
We'll give her fome grains ;
If ftie won't bear.
We'll dafli out her brains."]
87. Shooting the Black Lad.
Douce's MSS. notes fay : " They have a cuftom at Afliton-under-
Lyne, on the fixteenth of April, of fliootlng the Black Lad on horfe
back. It Is faid to have arifen from there having been formerly a
black Knight [Sir Ralph of Afliton ?] who refided m thefe parts, hold
ing the people in vaffalage, and ufing them with great feverity.
' « Hefperides," ed. 1823, vol. 1. P- 176-
[» " Popular Rhymes and Nurfery Tales, 1849, p. loi.J
334 Sports and Games.
88. Shove-Groat.
Slide-Thrift, or Shove-Groat, is one of the games prohibited by
ftatute 33 Hen. VIII. It has been already noticed from Rowlands'
" Humors Ordinarie," i6oo.
A fhove-groat fhilling is mentioned In Shakefpeare's " Second
Part of King Henry IV." and Is fuppofed by Steevens to have been a
piece of pollfhed metal made ufe of in the play of fhovel-board.*
Douce, however, has fhown that fhove-groat and fhovel-board were
different games. The former was invented in the reign of Henry
VIII. for in the ftatute above alluded to It is called a new game. It
was alfo known by the feveral appellations of Slide-groat, Slide-boardy
Slide-thrift, and Slip-thrift.^
[A writer in Willis's *' Current Notes" for April, 1853, %*•
" In the 13th year of Henry VIII. the Benchers of the Temple made
an order ' that none of the Society within this houfe fhall exercife
the play of fhoffe-grotte or flyp-grotte upon pain of fix-fhillings and
eightpence.' " This game was otherwife called Shove-halfpenny : the
mode of playing It Is explained in " Current Notes" for June, 1853 ;
and in the number for July, 1853, '^ ^ ^°"g paper, well worth read
ing, on the fubjea.
A correfpondent of " Current Notes," writing from New York
in 1852, thus defcribes this game: "It is played on a table or
board about 40 feet long and 18 Inches wide. It is made of clean
white pine without knots, and fine fand Is fifted aU over, to enable the
players to fhovel their pieces along. On each fide of the board there
are narrow troughs or gutters, to catch the pieces if they fly off,
which they frequently do. The game is played by two perfons, who
have each four pieces, numbered i to 4. The pieces are of brafs,
exaaiy the fize and form of half-pound flat weights. A line is
marked acrofs the board, about half a foot from the ferther extremity,
and the art is to difcharge the piece from the hand with juft fufficient
force to go beyond the line, which counts fo many ; but If the piece
lies half off and half on the farther end, It counts double. But to do
that requires great fkill and long praaice. The players play off their
pieces alternately, and the chief effort is to knock the antagonift's
piece from the table."]
89. Shuffle Board,
Or fhovel board [a form oi fhove-groat,] is ftill played. Douce, about
forty years ago, heard a man afk another to go Into an ale-houfe in the
Broad Sanauary, Weftminfter, to play at It. In honeft Ifaak Walton's
time, a fhovel board was probably to be found in every public houfe.
' Reed's " Shakfp." 1803, vol. xii. p. 96.
» " Illuftr. of Shakfp," vol, i. p. 454.
sports and Games. 335
[90, Silver Games.
Humphrey Roberts, of King's Langley, In his " Complaint for Re
formation," 1572, fays : " I may fpeake of one notable Abufe, whiche
among y^ reft is fo much praaifed, y' It Is made in a maner lawfull
for Chriftians to breake and violate y' comaHdementes of God : & It is
called a Slluer game. Thefe Siluer games are becom fuch fnares, & as It
wer baits to catch men : y' It feemeth vnto me Satha to {fic) becom a
coning Goldfmyth," Roberts, In a defcription which occupies feveral
pages, proceeds to draw a piaure of the profanation of the Sundays
by thefe filver games, and the defertion of the churches. The exaa
nature of the game fo defignated he does not, however, difclofe, but
leaves us to conjeaure that they were amufements of a more or lefs
frivolous charaaer, chiefly confined to the country, for he draws a
diftinaion between them and the " vayne deuices and fond exer
cifes " of great towns and cities, fuch as bull-baiting, and " many fuch
vnfruitefull paftimes, tendyng to no c5mody tie for y" commonwealth :
for which purpofe Paryfsh Garden is a place." Lyfons, in an ex
traa from a " Chapel-Warden's Account of 1634," ^ notices a pay
ment of I IS. Sd, " for the Silver Games," but omits to explain what
they were. [91. Slam.
In " Witts Recreations," 1640, is the epigram :
" On Tuck.
At poft and pair, or ftam, Tom Tuck would play.
This ChriftmaflTe, but his want therewith, fays nay."
92. Slip-Thrift.
This is a game mentioned in a traa by Richard Rice ;" he does not
defcribe what its precife charaaer was, nor have I met with a fecond
notice of it. Rice fays, that man was made In God's image, and
that his gifts might not die with him his Creator fent him into Para
dife, " What to dooe there ?" Inquires our author. " To Bowie, or
to plaie at Dife, or Cardes, Penipricke, or fiipthrift ? " He tells us
elfewhere that the game was played with pafed-groats. Rice alfo men
tions fhort-thr ift, perhaps another form of it, Slipthrift itfelf may be
identical with flidethrift, referred to above and in the " Englifli Cour
tier and the Countrey Gentleman," 1586,
93. Span-Counter,
This Is mentioned as a youthful fport in " The Firft part of King
Henry VI." 1594 :
f Prefent Work, vol. i, p. i6o.]
[» "An Inueftiue againfte vices taken for vertue," 1579. "g"- ^ 3, wr/o.J
336 sports and Games,
" Cade, But doeft thou heare Stafford tefl the King, that for his
fathers fake, in whofe time boyes plaide at fpanne-counter with French
Crownes, I am content that hee fhall be king as long as he Hues."
Strutt fays that this is like marbles, — except that counters are ufed in it.
94. Spell and Knor,^ Trap-ball, [or Trap-bat].
Mr. Atkinfon ^ obferves : " The probability is that the game is a
lineal defcendant from the Ball-play of the old Danes, or Northmen
and Icelanders. The game Is called Spell and Knor, and the word
Spell has come to be underftood as the defignation of the peculiar
kind of trap ufed In it. But furely ' Spell and Knor ' is a corruption
of Spell a' Knor '=the play at ball. The objea in the game is to
exceed one's competitors in the diftance to which the ball is driven.
On the liberation of the fpring of the trap or Spell, the ball, pre
vioufly whitened all over with chalk. Is ftruck in mid-air with the
Tribbit-ftick, and the place at which it falls, being noted by the
lookers-out, the diftance from the trap is meafured in fpaces of
twenty yards each, or Scores. There is one day in the year — Shrove
Tuefday — when it is euftomarily praaifed, not quite exclufively.
The Tribbit-ftick is elfewhere called Primflick, Gelftick, Buckflick,
Tribbit, Trevit, &c." Spell and Norr (or Nurr) Is not peculiar, how
ever, to the North, for in the " Worcefterfhlre Chronicle " for Septem
ber, 1847, we read: "Before the commons were taken In, the
children of the poor had ample fpace wherein to recreate themfelves
at cricket, nurr, or any other diverfion ; but now they are driven from
every green fpot, and In Bromfgrove here, the nailor boys, from the
force of circumftances, have taken poffeffion of the turnpike-road to
play the before-mentioned games, to the ferious inconvenience of the
paffengers, one of whom, a woman, was yefterday knocked down by
a nurr, which ftruck her in the head. Surely it would be an aa of
humanity on the part of thofe who have been moft benefited by the
inclofing of the common to afford the children of the poor of this parifh
a fmall fpace of ground for the purpofes of health and amufement."]
95. Spinny wye
Is the name of a game among children at Newcaftle-upon-Tyne.
I fufpea this is nearly the fame with " Hide and Seek." " I fpye, is
the ufual exclamation at a childifh game called ' Hie, fpy, hie.' "
[96. Spurn-Point.
This fport, which feems to have been a defcription of nine-pins, is
thus referred to in the ballad of the " Common Cries of London," by
W. Turner, publifhed about 1600 :
[' Otherwife called Spell a' Knor, and in Lincolnfliire, Nur-fpell. In all thefe
cafes, fpell is, of courfe, the German y^jf/, play,]
[' " Gloflary of the Cleveland Dialeft," 1868, pp, 299, 542].
sports and Games. 337
" Come, let us leave this boyes play,
And idle piittle prat.
And let us go to nine holes.
To fpurn-point, or to cat,"
97. Stool-Ball.
So particular an account of this was given under Eafler Holidays,
that it is unneceffary to do more than refer to that feaion,
98, Swans,
Swan-upping (corruptiy Hopping,) ought to have found a place in
Strutt's " Sports and Paftimes ; " it is defcribed and ifluftrated, how
ever, by Hone in his " Every-Day Book," and fome papers on the
fubjea win be found in Mr, Kempe's "Lofeley MSS." 1836.
Several books, according to a letter printed in the latter volume, were at
one time extant, containing orders under this head, and Hone has
inferted a reprint of one of thefe in 'his entertaining Mifcellany,
Swan-upping was, among our anceftors, a very favourite fport, not
unattended by rifk ; for the birds feldom fubmitted to the procefs
without a ftruggle, which occafionally coft the captor a ducking.
99, Tables or Backgammon.
This is a very ancient paftime, and is ftill in vogue under the latter
defignation. Arden, of Feverfham, was playing with his murderer at
tables, when he was affaffinated at a preconcerted fignal ; this memo
rable tragedy was enaaed in the reign of Edward VI. ; and a full
account of it may be found in the pages of Holinfhed. Howell, in a
letter to Mafter G. Stone, In 1635, fays: "Tho' you have learnt
Baggamon, you muft not forget Irifh, which is a ferious and folid
Game." Robert of Brunne in 1303 denounces play at Chefs and Tables, firft,
by men generally on holy-days at the tavern, which he calls " the de-
vylys knyfe," (It flays thee, either foul or life) :
" ?yf {jou euere wyf; iogeloure,
Wy}; hafadoure or wy); rotoure,
Hauntyft tauerne, or were to any pere
To playe at \e ches or at {"e tablere.
Specially before \e noun
Whan Goddys feruyfe owf" to be doun ;
Hyt ys a^ens f^e comaundement
And holy cherches afent."
Secondly, by the rich flothful man at home :
" ^yf hyt be nat ban redy, hys dyner.
Take furfJe )je chefle or >e tabler ;
So ftial he pley tyl hyt be none
And Goddys feruyfe be al done."']
[' " Handlyng Synne," edited by F. J. Furnivall, Efq. for the Roxburghe Club,
1862, 4to. lines 1040-7,4307-10,]
II. z
338 sports and Games.
100, Tappie Tousie.
Of this fport among children Jamiefon gives the following account:
" One, taking hold of another by the forelock of his hair, fays to him,
' Tappie, Tappie toufie, will ye be my man ?' If the other anfwers in
the affirmative, the firft fays, *• Come to me then, come to me then ;'
giving him a fmart pull towards him by the lock which he holds in
his hand. If the one who is afked anfwers in the negative, the
other gives him a pufh backward, faying, * Gae fra me then, gae fra
me then,'
" The literal meaning of the terms is obvious. The perfon afked
is called Tappie-toufie, q, difhevelled head, from Tap and Toufie. It
may be obferved, however, that the Suio-Gothic tap fignifies a lock
or tuft of hair,'
" But the thing that principally deferves our attention is the mean
ing of this play. Like fome other childifh fports, it evidently retains
a fingular veftige of very ancient manners. It indeed reprefents the
mode in which one received another as his bondman.
" ' The thride kind of nativitie, or bondage, is quhen ane frie man,
to the end he may have the menteinance of ane great and potent man,
randers himfeif to be his bond-man In his court, be the haire of his
forehead; and gif he thereafter withdrawes himfelfe, and flees away
fra his maifter, or denyes to him his nativitie: his maifter may prove
him to be his bond-man, be ane affife, before the Juftice ; chaliengand
him, that he, fic ane day, fic ane yeare, compeirid in his court, and
there yeilded himfelfe to him to be his flave and bond-man. And
quhen any Man is adjudged and decerned to be native or bond-man
to any maifter ; the maifter may take him be the nofe, and reduce him
to his former flaverie,"^
" This form, of rendering one's felf by the hair of the head, feems
to have had a monkifh origin. The heatbenifh rite of confecrating
the hair, or fhaving the head, was eariy adopted among Chriftians,
either as an aa of pretended devotion, or when a perfon dedicated
himfeif to fome particular Saint, or entered into any religious order.
Hence it feems to have been adopted as a civil token of fervitude.
Thus thofe who entered into the monaftic life, were faid capillos po-
nere, and per capillos fe tradere. In the fifth century Clovis com
mitted himfeif to St. Germer by the hair of his head.^ Thofe who
thus devoted themfelves were called the fervants of God, or of any
particular Saint.
" This then being ufed as a fymbol of fervitude, we perceive the
reafon why it came to be viewed as fo great an indignity to be laid
hold of by the hair. He who did fo claimed the perfon as his pro
perty. Therefore, to feize, or to drag one by the hair, comprehendere,
or trahere per capillos, was accounted an offence equal to that of
' //a^rta/i/i, floccus capillorum ; Ihre, p. 857.
' " Quon. Attach," c. Ivi. s. 7.
' " Vlt. S. Germer," ap. Carpentier, vo. Capilli.
sports and Games. •j^.Q
charging another with falfehood, and even with ftriking him. The
oft'ender, according to the Frific laws, was fined In two Shillings ;
according to thofe of Burgundy, alfo, in two ; but if both hands were
employed, in four,' According to the laws of Saxony, the fine
amounted to an hundred and twenty fhillings,^ Some other ftatutes
made it punifhable by Death," ^
[lOi, Thread-my-Needle.
This was a children's game, A certain number ftood in a row
with joined hands, and ran between each other, without letting go
their hold. Poor Robin has it in his Almanac for 1738: "The
fummer quarter follows fpring as clofe as girls do one another, when
playing at thread-my-needle, they tread upon each other's heels."]
102. Tick-Tack,
[This game at tables is the fame as the later trick-fnack, fays Mr. H.
B, Wheatiey. "Dia. of Reduplicated Words," p. 87. His firft quo
tation is from Bullein's " Dialogue," 1573 : " In this lande I did fee
an ape plaie at ticke-tacke, and after at Irifhe on the tables, with one of
that lande." The game is alfo mentioned (with others) in " The Eng
lifh Courtier and the Cuntrey Gentleman," 1586 : "In fowle weather,
we fend for fome honeft neighbours, if happely wee bee without wiues,
alone at home (as feldome we are) and with them we play at Dice,
and Cardes, fortlng our felues accordinge to the number of Players,
and their fkill, fome In Ticktacke, fome Lurche, fome to Irifh game,
or Dublets."] Shakefpeare has a game of tick-tack in " Meafure for
Meafure," aa i. ic. iii.
In Hall's " Horae Vacivas," 1646, are the following obfervations
on the game of Tick-Tack. " Tick-Tack fets a Man's intentions on
their guard. Errors in this and War can be but once amended,"
[For trick-track, Mr, Wheatiey (" Dia," p. 93) quotes Shadwell's
"True Widow," 1679, Urquhart's " Rabelais," p. 74 (ed. 1750),
and "Memoirs of P, H, Bruce," p, 65.
[103. Tom Tidler's Ground.
There ufed to be a fchoolboy's game fo called, when I was a child.
One boy reprefented Tom Tidier (whoever he may have been), and
feveral others made It their objea to invade his territory, a fmall
piece of ground, chalked round or otherwife diftlnguifhed, crying,
"I am on Tom Tidler's Ground, picking up Gold and Silver!"
Tom Tidler's part confifted in endeavouring to catch the marauders.
There was, perhaps, fome origin for this fport which can no longer
be traced,
Tom Tidier feems to have been a perfon of fome celebrity in the
" Leg, Fris," ap, LIndenbrog, tit. xxii. s. 64, " Leg. Burgund." tit. v. a. 4.
"Leg. Sax," cap. i. s. 7, 'Md, • ' " Du Cange,". col. 243.
T^o Sports and Games,
beginning of the laft century at leaft, for Mr. Halliwell notices a rhyme
entitled "Tom Tidler's on the Friar's ground," as occurring in a ballad
publifhed about 1720,
104, Touch.
This is alfo a childifh or fchoolboy's game. Several play at it. One
boy endeavours to touch one of his playmates, and they do their beft
to efcape him. The moment he fucceeds, he exclaims. Touch, or
Touch He ; the boy touched is obliged to take his place, and the game
begins over again,] 105. Tray-Trip.
Grofe fays this was an ancient game, like Scotifh Hop, played on a
pavement, marked out with chalk into different compartments, [It
is mentioned without any explanation of its precife nature, further
than that it was a popular game with cards or dice, or both, in the
" Englifh Courtier and the Cuntrey Gentieman," 1586; and in the
Percy MS, " Loofe Songs," p, 68, we find " ffuU oft ftiee and 1
within the buttery playd att tray-trippe of a dye." Mr. Thomas
Wright, in his " Provincial Diaionary," notes Trip-Trap as a game
peculiar to the North of England, alfo called Trip — the fame, no
doubt, as our Tray-Trip.
106. Trundling the Hoop,
Shooting with bows and arrows, and fwimming on bladders, occur
among the puerile fports delineated in the Miffal feen by Strutt in
the poffeffion of Mr. Ives,
The hoop is alfo noticed by Charlotte Smith in her " Rural
Walks : " " Sweet age of bleft delufion I blooming Boys,
Ah ! revel long in Childhood's thoughtlefs joys ;
With light and pliant fpirits, that can ftoop
To follow, fportively, the rolling Hoop;
To watch the fleeping Top, with gay delight,
Or mark, with raptur'd gaze, the failing Kite : '
Or eagerly purfuing Pleafure's call.
Can find it center'd In the bounding Ball ! "
[107. Troule-in-Madame, or Trunks.
This fport is alluded to in " The Chriftmas Prince," 1607 :
" Why fay you not that Munday well be drunke.
Keeps all vnruly wakes, & playes at Trunkes."
It is alfo referred to In Halliwell's " Diaionary," and in " Poor
Robin" for 1715: "After dinner (for you muft not have too long
intermiffions) to your fack again, typire, toplre, and tropire, and for
recreations to fuch liquor, billiards, kettle-pins, noddy-boards, tables,
' Paper Windmills are feen in the hands of the younger fort of children in Mr.
Ives's Mifl'al.
sports and Games. -^41
trunks, fhovel-boards, fox and geefe, and thofe two excellent games
at cards, one and thirty, and drive knaves out of town,"]
io8. Weapon Shawing,
The minifter of Kincardine ' fays : " Nigh to the Church there is
an Alley, walled in, and terminating in a large Semi-circle, appro
priated to that antient military exercife and difcipline known by the
name of Weapon-fhawing."
109. [Whip-her-Jenny, or One-and-Thirty,
This Is a game overlooked by Strutt and Brand ; the following re
ference to it is made In Taylor's " Wit and Mirth," 1629 : " An
unhappy Boy, that kept his fathers fheepe in the country, did vfe to
carry a paire of Cards in his pocket, and meeting with boyes as good
as himfeif, would fall to Cards at the Cambrian game of whip-her-
ginny, or Englifh one and thirty ; at which fport hee would fome dayes
lofe a fheepe or two," One-and-thirty is alluded to elfewhere (fee above,
1. 6 ;) and Mr. HalHwell, In his "Archaic Diaionary," fpeaks of it, on
the authority of Taylor in another place, as a kind of vingt-et-un. ]
1 10, Whipping the Top, or Whirligig."''
It is faid in fome of the voyages, I think It is in Hawkefworth's,
that the top Is weU known among the Indians, fome of whom pointed
to our failors, who feemed to wonder at feeing it amongft them, that
in order to make it fpin they fhould lafh It with a whip.
The following mention of whipping the top occurs in Perfius's
third Satire : " Neu quis callidior buxum torquere flagello," '
Thus alfo in Virgil's feventh Mneid :
" As young Striplings whip the Top for fport,-
On the fmooth pavement of an empty Court ;
The wooden Engine whirls and flies about,
Admir'd with clamours of the beardlefs Rout.
They lafli aloud, each other they provoke,
And lend their little fouls at ev'ry ftroke."
[Dionyfius Cato recommends the top as a harmlefs amufement In
contraft to dice-play. In which there was hazard and fpeculation,
" Trocho lude," he fays, " aleas fuge," which the " Luytel Caton" in
the Vernon MS, ab, 1375, a.d., tranflates " Take a toppe, ?if >ou wold
pleye, and notasbehafardrye" (leaf3io, coh i). „ . ,
In Sir Thomas More's "Workes," I557, are fome allegorical
Willis! i64ris a woodcut, illuftrating the title, of a committee-man balancing
himfeif on a top.] ^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^.^^.^^ ^^p ^^^^ ^^^^
And drive her giddy till ftie fall Meep."-Dryden.
242 sports and Games.
verfes on the ages of man, in which Childhood is reprefented as a boy
whipping a top. The boy is made to fay :
" A toppe can I fet, and dryue in its kynde."]
Playing with tops is found among the illuminations of Mr, Ives's
Miffal. Cornelius Scriblerus fays : " I would not have Martin as yet to
fcourge a Top, till I am better informed whether the Trochus which
was recommended by Cato be really our prefent Top, or rather the
Hoop which the Boys drive with a ftick," '
To fleep like a town top is a proverbial expreffion, [The more
ufual expreffion at prefent is to fieep like a top.] A top is faid to fleep
when it turns round with great velocity, and makes a fmooth hum
ming noife. The following cuftom is now laid afide ; a large top
was formerly kept in every village, to be whipped in frofty weather,
that the peafants might be kept warm by exercife, and out of mif
chief, while they could not work."
In [a curious little vvork of the laft century] ^ we read : " Another
tells 'em of a projea he has to make Town Tops fpin without an
Eel-fkin, as if he bore malice to the School-boys."
Lemnius [remarks :] * " Young youth do merrily exercife them
felves in Whipping Top, and to make it run fwiftly about, that it
cannot be feen, and will deceive the fight, and that in Winter to catch
themfelves a heat."
Poor Robin, in his Almanack for 1677, tells us, in "The
Fanatick's Chronology," it was then " 1804 years fince the firft in
vention of Town-Tops."
[ill. Whistles, Rattles, &c.
In " The Pedlar's Lamentation," an early ballad, whiftles are
mentioned as children's toys :
" Exchange then a groat for fome pretty toy,
Come, buy this fine whiftle for your little boy — "
Cornelius Scriblerus is made to obferve : " Play was invented as a
remedy againft Hunger. It is therefore wifely contrived by Nature,
that Children as they have the keeneft Appetites, are moft addiaed
to Plays.
" To fpeak firft of the Whiftle, as It Is the firft of all Play-things.
I will have it exaaiy to correfpond with the ancient Fiftula, and ac
cordingly to be corr\^oiei. feptem paribus disjunila cicutis.
" I heartily wifh a diligent fearch may be made after the true Cre-
pitaculum, or Rattle of the Ancients, for that (as Archytas Terentinus
' Pope's " Works," vol. vi. p. 115.
' Reed's " Shakefp." vol. v. p. 248.
' " The Fifteen Comforts of Marriage," p. 143.
' Englifti Tranfl. 1658, p. 369.
sports and Games. ^ . ,,
was of opinion,) kept the Children from breaking Earthenware, The
?Jti. ^^Vl -^'^^ "^T "'¦" """^ ^' ^" ^he fafer for the modern
Ratties ; which IS an evident proof how far their Crepitacula exceedS
112, White and Black,
In 2 and 3 Philip and Mary (1555), c. ix. an aa of Pariiament
was paffed "to make voyde dyvers Lycences of Houfes wher"
lawfull Games bee ufed." Here we find mention of fome diverfion
¦lacke ^ " • ¦ " - '
tennis, dice-play, and fo forth,']
lawtuii i^ames bee ufed." Here we find mention of fome diverfion
deferibed as " White & Blacke, Making & Marryng," appa ntTy
independent of the recreations previoufly enumerated, fuch as bowfin/
tennis, dice-olav. and in fnri-li n ' ""-luig.
113. Wrestling.
[This is no__t the proper place for entering into the nice diftinaions
between the various fehools of wreftling in Cornwall, Cumberiand
Nottinghamfliire, &c. It is well known that the differences in prac
tice are confiderable.
In 1303, Robert of Brunne notices the praaice of living a fword
or ring as a prize for wreftling, but fays it muft not°be done on a
holyday : '" Jyf Pou euer fettyft fwerde eyper ryng
For to gadyr a wraftlyng,
pe holyday pou holdeft noghte
Whan fwyche bobaunce for pe ys wroghte.
Cuntek pere comyp, or owper bobaunce ;
And fum men flayn, or loft purghe chaunce."
Handlyng Synne, 1. 990-5.
He afterwards warns men againft getting up wreftlings in order to
gain praife for it (1, 3690-2), and alfo (I, 8999) fays that " karolles,
wreaftlynges, or fomour games," are not to be held in the church or
churchyard. Myrc, too, warns his hearers againft " fchotnge, wrafte-
lynge, and open play, and goynge to }e ale on holydaye " (" Inftruc-
tions for Parifli Priefts," p, 31, 1, 997-8; Early Engl, Text Soc.
1868. Chaucer fays of the Miller, in the Prologue to the Canter
bury Tales, " At wraftlynge he wolde bere awey the ram," — a change
of prize from the fword and ring noticed above.
In the " Tale of the Bafyn," it is faid of the parfon :
" He harpys and gytryns and fyngs well ther-too,
He wreftels and lepis, and cafts the fton alfo — "
In the "Governor," 1531, Sir T. Elyot obferves: "Wraftlyng
is a verye good exercife In the beginning of youth, fo that it bee with
one that is equall in ftrength or fome what vnder, and that the place
be foft, that in falling their bodies be not brufed. There be diuers
manners of wraftlyngs : but the beft, as wel for health of body, as for
exercife of ftrength, is, when laying mutually their hands one ouer
an others neck, with the other hande they holde faft each other by
[' "Statutes of the Realm," 2 & 3 P. & M. Record Comm. ed.]
344 Sports and Games.
the arm, and clafping their legs together, they Inforce themfelues with
ftrength and agilytle, to throw downe each other, which is alfo praifed
by Galen."
Again, in the " Maner of the tryumphe at Caleys and Bullen
[1532,]" It is faid: "And that day there was a great wraftelynge
bytwene englyfshmen & frenfshmen before bothe y' kynges/ the
frenfshe kyng had none but preeftes that wrafteled/ whiche were -
bygge men & ftronge/ they were bretherne/ but they had mooft
faUes," Browne, In the fifth fong of " Britannia's Paftorals," 1614,
writes :
" As when the gallant youth which liue vpon
The Wefterne Downes of lonely Albion;
Meeting, fome feftiuall to folemnize,
Choofe out two, flcil'd in wraftling exercife.
Who ftrongly, at the wrift or coller cling,
Whilft arme In arme the people make a Ring."]
The Minifter of Monquhitter [reported in 1799 :]' " People who
are not regularly and profitably employed, rejoice in a holiday as the
means of throwing off that languor which opprefles the mind, and of
exerting their aaive powers. So it was with our Fathers, They
frequentiy met to exert their ftrength in Wreftling, in Cafting the
Hammer, and in Throwing the Stone, their agility at Foot-Ball, and
their dexterity at Colts and Penny-Stone,"
Miffon^ fays " Wreftling is one of the diverfions of the Englifh,
efpecially in the Northern Counties,"
l^opular jBottce0 concerning CarDis*'
[T3 ICE has a curious paffage on this fubjea : " Is the wale [to attain
Xv godlinefs] " he inquires, " by plaiyng, and fportyng, or refting
of the wearie bones, with the bones of a paire of Dice, or with a paire
of Cardes (otherwife nowe called the bookes of life) and though it be
fpoken but in ieftyng, yet is it not altogether for naught, for the nature
of fome Is to refte more in theim, and are more at quiete with the
Ace, Kyng, Queene, or varlet of Spades, then thei can be with a
fpade to digge or delue honeftly after Goddes preceptes for their
hiryng : yea, and delighte quietlier in the Ace, Kyng, Queene, or
Varlette of the Hartes, then thei dooe in the booke of life,*"]
In fome parts of the north of England a pack of cards is called to
this day, as it is in Shakefpeare's plays, a deck oi cards.
' " Statift, Ace. of Scotl." vol. xxi, p, 145,
' "Travels," p. 306. See Parkyns' "Inn Play," 2nd ed. 1717.
[' It may be well to point out that fince Brand and Ellis wrote, feveral im
portant works on this fubjeft have appeared, particularly Mr. Slngel•'.^ " Refearches"
in 1816, and Mr, Chatto's ftill more valuable work In 1848.]
[* " An Inuefliue againft Vices taken for Vertue," 1579, fign. B 4.]
Popular Notices concerning Cards, 34;
In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for January, 1791, are feveral
queries on cards. The writer informs us that " the common people
in a great part of Yorkfliire Invariably call diamonds picks. This I
take," he fays, "to be from the French word piques, fpades ; but
cannot account for Its being corruptly applied by them to the other
fult." The true reafon, however, is to be gathered from the refem-
lilance the diamond bears to a mill-pick, as fufils are fometimes called
In heraldry.
Hall 1 [of Cambridge] fays : « For Cardes, the Philologie of them
IS not for an effay. A Man's fancy would be fum'd up in Cribbidge ;
Gleeke requires a vigilant memory [and a long purfe ;] Maw, a preg
nant agility ; Pichet, a various invention ; Primero, a dextrous kinde
of raflineffe, &c." [In Gayton's " Notes on Don Quixote," 1654,
is the following : " A lady once requeftlng a gentleman to play at
gleeke, was refufed, but civilly, and upon three reafons : the firft
whereof, madam, faid the gentleman, is, I have no money. Her
ladyfliip knew that was fo materiall and fufficient, that ftie defired
him to keep the other two reafons to himfeif" ^
Urquhart ^ of Cromarty obferves : " Verily, I think they make ufe
of Kings, as we do of Card-Kings in playing at the Hundred ; any
one whereof, if there be appearance of a better Game without him,
(and that the exchange of him for another incoming Card is fike to
conduce more for drawing of the Stake,) is by good Gamefters with
out any ceremony difcarded."
[Warton, In a note to Lyndfay's Works, obferves : " In our
author's Tragedie of Cardinal Betoun, a foliloquy fpoken by the car
dinal, he is made to declare that he played with the King [James IV.]
for three thoufand crowns of gold In one night, at cartis and dice."
They (cards) are alfo mentioned In an old anonymous Scotifh poem
of Covetice.* Cards are mentioned in a ftatute of Henry the Seventh,^
that is, in 1496. Ducange cites two Greek writers, who mention
card-playing as one of the games of modern Greece, at leaft before
the year 1498.^ It feems highly probable that the Arabians, fo famous
for their ingenuity, more efpecially in what related to numbers and
calculation, were the inventors of cards, which they communicated to
the Conftantinopolitan Greeks.
" Benediaus Abbas has preferved a very curious edia, which
fhews the ftate of gaming in the Chriftian army commanded by Richard
the Firft King of England, and Philip of France, during the Crufade
in the year 1190. No perfon in the army is permitted to play at any
fort of game for money, except Knights and Clergymen ; who in one
whole day and night, fhall not, each, lofe more than twenty fhillings,
on pain of lofing one hundred fhillings to the archbifhops of the army.
' "Horse Vacivse," 1646, p. 150,
[^ See Herrick's Epigram at p. 281 of the " Poems."]
' " The Difcovery of a moft exquifite Jewel," 1651, p, 237.
¦* Dalrymple's "Ane, Sc, Poems," 168.
* II Hen. VII. cap. Ii.
' " Glofs. Gr." tom. ii. v. xaptia, p. 1734.
346 Popular Notices concerning Cards.
The two Kings may play for what they pleafe, but their attendants
not for more than twenty fhillings, Otherwife, they are to be whipped
naked through the army for three days — "
Sir T, Elyot, in his " Governor," 1531, has fome remarks on this
fubjea, which, as illuftrating the ftate of feeling in Henry VIIL's
time, may be worth a place here : " I fuppofe there Is not a more
playne figure of idleneffe, then playing at dice. For befides, that
therin is no manner of exercife of the body or minde, they which play
thereat, muft feeme to haue no portion of witte or cunnyng, if they
will be called fayre players, or in fome company auoyde the ftabbe of
a dagger, if they bee taken with any craftie conueyance."
In "The Common Cries of London," a ballad by W. Turner,
there Is a curious paffage feeming to fliow that the ftreet-hawkers
ufed fometimes to carry dice in their pockets either for amufement, or
for the purpofe of praaifing on fome inexperienced cuftomer :
" Ripe, cherry ripe I
The coftermonger cries ;
Pippins fine or pears !
Another after hies,
With baflcet on his head.
His living to advance.
And In his purfe a pair of dice,
For to play at mumchance."
Lord Worcefter includes in his "Century of Inventions," 1663,
two which may be thought to have been as well omitted. They refer
to cheating tricks with cards and dice. " White Silk," fays his lord
fhip, " knotted in the fingers of a Pair of white Gloves, and fo con
trived without fufpicion, that playing at Primero at Cards, one may
without clogging his memory keep reckoning of all Sixes, Sevens and
Aces which he hath difcarded." Again, the writer fays : " A moft
dexterous Dicing Box, with holes tranfparent, after the ufual fafhion,
with a Device fo dexterous, that with a knock of it againft the Table
the four good Dice are faftened, and it loofeneth four falfe Dice made
fit for his purpofe."
In a Ms. fong purporting to proceed from a lady of honour In
Queen Efizabeth's days, the fuppofed fpeaker, enumerating her
virtues and claims to refpeaful remembrance, fays :
" I never bought cantharldes.
Ingredient good in PaflTett,
Nor e'ver ftript me to my ftayes
To playy' Punt att Bajfett."]
Macham has been incidentally noticed as an Irifh game at cards in
a former feaion [and under Sports I have introduced (perhaps a
littie irregularly) the old game oi Maw.
Whetftone, In his "Mirour for Mageftrates of Cities," 1584,
writes: "On a time I heard a diftemperate dicer fodenly fwear that
he faithfully beleeued that dice were firft made of the bones of a witch,
cards of her fkin, in which there hath ever fithence remained an in-
chantment, that whofoever once taketh delight in either, he fhall never
have power utterly to leave them."]
347
t)pott0 of ^atlor0.
/^ ROSE mentions among the Sports of Sailors the following :
I. Ambassador,
"A trick to duck fome ignorant fellow or landfman, frequently played
on board fhips in the warm latitudes. It is thus managed : a large
tub is filled with water, and two ftools placed on each fide of it.
Over the whole is thrown a tarpawlin, or old fall : this Is kept tight
by two perfons, who are to reprefent the King and Queen of a foreign
country, and are feated on the ftools. The perfon Intended to be
ducked plays the Ambaffador, and after repeating a ridiculous fpeech
diaated to him, is led In great form up to the Throne, and feated
between the King and Queen, who rifing fuddenly as foon as he is
feated, he falls backwards into the tub of water."
2. King Arthur.
" A Game ufed at fea, when near the Line, or in a hot latitude. It
is performed thus : a Man who is to reprefent King Arthur, ridlculoufly
dreffed, having a large wig, made out of oakum, or fome old fwabs, is
feated on the fide, or over a large veffel of water. Every perfon in
his turn is to be ceremonioufly introduced to him, and to pour a bucket
of water over him, crying. Hail, King Arthur I If, during this cere
mony, the perfon Introduced laughs or fmiles,) to which his Majefty
endeavours to excite him, by all forts of ridiculous gefticulations,) he
changes place with, and then becomes King Arthur, till relieved by
fome brother Tar, who has as little command over his mufcles as
himfeif"
3, To Run the Hoop.
" An ancient marine cuftom. Four or more boys, having their left
hands tied faft to an iron hoop, and each of them a rope, called a
nettle, in their right, being naked to the waift, wait the fignal to begin ;
this being made by a ftroke with a cat of nine tails, given by the boat-
fwaln to one of the boys, he ftrikes the boy before him, and every one
does the fame. At firft the blows are but gently adminiftered ; but
each, irritated by the ftrokes from the boy behind him, at length lays
it on in earneft. This was anciently praaifed when the fliip was
wind-bound." In another part of his " Diaionary," Grofe has given us the deft-
348 Fairs.
nitlon of " Cob, or Cobbing ; a punifhment ufed by the Seamen for
petty offences, or irregularities, among themfelves : It confifts In baf-
tonadolng the offender on the pofteriors with a cobbing ftick, or pipe
ftaff; the number ufually inflidted is a dozen. At the firft ftroke the
executioner repeats the word watch, on which all perfons prefent are
to take off their hats, on pain of like punifhment : the lafl: ftroke Is
always given as hard as poffible, and is called the Purfe. Afhore,
among Soldiers, where this punifhment is fometimes adopted. Watch
and the Purfe are not included In the number, but given over and
above, or, in the vulgar phrafe, free gratis for nothing. This piece of
difcipline Is alfo infliaed in Ireland, by the School-boys on perfons
coming into the School without taking off their hats ; it Is there called
School-butter,"
jTairs.
" How Pedlars' Stalls with glitt'ring Toys are laid,
The various Fairings of the Countiy Maid,
Long filken Laces hang upon the twine.
And rows of Pins and amber Bracelets ftiine.
Here the tight Lafs, Knives, Combs and Sclflars fpies.
And looks on Thimbles with defiring eyes.
The Mountebank now treads the Stage, and fells
His Pills, his Balfams, and his Ague-Spells ;
Now o'er and o'er the nimble Tumbler fprings.
And on the rope the vent'rous Maiden fwings ;
Jack Pudding in his party-colour'd jacket,
Toffes the Glove, and jokes at every Packet ;
Here Raree-Shows are feen, and Punch's feats.
And Pockets pick'd in Crouds, and various Cheats."
Gay's Sixth Paftoral.
" Next morn, I ween, the Village charter'd Fair,
A day that's ne'er forgot throughout the 'iTear :
Soon as the Lark expands her auburn fan.
Foretelling day, before the day began,
Then ' Jehu Ball ' re-echoes down the Lane,
Crack goes the Whip, and rattling founds the Chain,
With tinkling Bells the ftately Beaft grown proud.
Champs on the Bit, and neighing roars aloud.
The Bridles dotted o'er with many a Flow'r,
The fix-team'd Waggon forms a leafy bow'r.
Young Damon whiftTed to Dorinda's Song,
The Fiddle tuneful play'd the time along.
At length arriv'd, the Statute fills the Fair,
Dorcas and Lydia, Bella too was there :
Favours and Gauzes, variegated gay.
Punch loudly fqueaks, the Drum proclaims the Play.
The Pole high rear'd, the Dance, the Gambol fliew'd
Mirth and Diverfion to the gaping Crowd :
Sam with broad fmile, and Poll with dimpled face,
Revers'd the Apron, fliews ftie wants a place.
The Race in Sacks, the Quoit, the circling Reel,
While Prue more thoughtful buys a fpinning Wheel.
Fairs.
349
The grinning Andrew, perch'd on Folly's Stool,
Proves th' artificial, not the natural Fool :
For Hodge declares he thinks, devoid of Art,
He muft be wife, who afts fo well his part I"
H. Rowe's Poems, 1796.
A FAIR is a greater kind of market, granted to any town by pri
vilege, for the more fpeedy and commodious providing of fuch
things as the place ftands In need of Fairs are generally kept once or
twice in a year. Proclamation Is to be made how long they are to
continue, and no perfon Is allowed to fell any goods after the time of
the fair is ended, on forfeiture of double their value.
Warton tells us, that before flourifhing towns were eftablifhed, and
the neceffarles of life, from the convenience of communication and
the increafe of provincial civility, could be procured in various places,
goods and commodities of every kind were chiefly fold at fairs : to
thefe, as to one univerfal mart, the people reforted periodically, and
fupplied moft of their wants for the enfuing year.
The difplay of merchandize and thp conflux of cuftomers, at thefe
principal and almoft only emporia of domeftic commerce, were pro
digious : and they were, therefore, often held on open and extenfive
plains, Eden^ tells us In a note : " In Gloucefterfhire, Oxfordfhire, Wilt-
fhire, and Berkfhire, Servants continue to attend the Mopp or Statute,
as it is called, (/, e. Michaelmas Fair,) in order to be hired [for a
year]. Each perfon has a Badge, or external Mark, expreffive of his
occupation, A Carter exhibits a piece of Whip-cord tied to his Hat:
a Cow-herd has a lock of Cow-hair In his : and the Dairy-Maid has
the fame defcrlptive mark attached to her breaft. So in the North of
England, at the Spring hiring-term, the Servants to be hired, who are
almoft always perfons to be employed in hufbandry, are to be diftln
guifhed from others, who attend the market, by their wearing a large
Pofle, or Bouquet of Flowers at their breafts : which is no unapt emblem
of their calling. Even in London, Bricklayers, and other Houfe-
labourers, carry their refpeaive implements to the places where they
ftand for hire : for which purpofe they affemble in great numbers in
Cheapfide and at Charing-Crofs, every morning, at five or fix o'clock.
So, in old Rome, there were particular fpots In which Servants applied
for hire. Tn Tufco vico, ibi funt Homines qui ipfi fe venditent.'
— Plauti Curculio, aa Iv,"
Plott, fpeaking of the Statutes for hiring Servants, fays : [in his
" Hiftory of Oxfordftiire,"] that at Banbury they called them the
Mop, He fays that at Bloxham the carters ftood with their whips in
one place, and the fliepherds with their crooks in another ; but the
maids, as far as he could obferve, ftood promifcuoufly. He adds that
this cuftom feems as old as our Saviour, and refers to Matth. xx, 3.
In the [laft century, in the parifli of Wamphray, in Scotiand,^ it
' " State of the Poor," 1797, vol. i. p. 32.
" " Statift. Ace. of Scotl." vol. xxi. p. 457.
350 Fairs.
feems that hiring fairs ufed to be much frequented. " Thofe," it is
faid] " who are to hire, wear a green Sprig in their Hat : and it is very
feldom that Servants will hire in any other place,"
One of the chief fairs was that of St, Giles's Hill or IDown,
near Winchefter : the Conqueror inftituted and gave it as a kind of
revenue to the Bifliop of Winchefter. It was at firft for three days,
but afterwards, by Henry III., prolonged to fixteen days. Its jurif
diaion extended feven miles round, and comprehended even South
ampton, then a capital and trading town. Merchants who fold wares
at that time within that circuit forfeited them to the bifhop. Officers
were placed at a confiderable diftance, at bridges and other avenues
of accefs to the fair, to exaa toll of all merchandize paffing that way.
In the mean time, all fhops In the city of Winchefter were fhut, A
court, cafled the Pavilion, compofed of the bifhop's jufticiaries and
other officers, had power to try caufes of various forts for feven miles
round. The bifhop had a toll of every load or parcel of goods paffing
through the gates of the city. On St. Giles's Eve the mayor, bailiffs,
and citizens of Winchefter delivered the keys of the four gates to
the bifhop's officers. Many and extraordinary were the privileges
granted to the bifhop on this occafion, all tending to obftrua trade
and to opprefs the people. Numerous foreign merchants frequented
this fair; and feveral ftreets were formed in it, affigned to the fale of
different commodities. The furrounding monafteries had fhops or
houfes in thefe ftreets, ufed only at the fair ; which they held under
the bifliop, and often let by leafe for a term of years. Different counties
had their different ftations. In the Revenue Roll of William of
Waynflete, An. 1471, this fair appears to have greatiy decayed ; in
which, among othe- proofs, a diftria of the fair Is mentioned as
being unoccupied . " Ubi Homines Cornubiae ftare folebant."
[Robert of Brunne, in 1303, notices that fairs difappeared in a
night. He likens to their fhort exiftence ill-gotten wealth :
" Here mayft )j0u fe, euyl wunne );yng,
Wy)3 eyre ftial neuer make gode endyngj
Namly (:= efpecially) wy[i Fynge of holy cherche
Shalt );ou neuer fpede wel to werche,
Jjat mayft jjou fe by parfones eyres :
Hyt fare)j wy(j hem as Ao\>e wyji |jefe feyres;
Now ys \ie feyre byggede weyl.
And on Jje morne ys l^er neuer a deyl.
Ryche trefoure now furjje men leye,
And on J>e toufjer day hyt ys alle aweye."']
It appears from the " Northumberland Houfehold Book," 1512,
that the ftores of his lordfhip's houfe at Wrefille, for the whole year,
were laid In from fairs. [From the ancient fabliau of the " Merchant
turned Monk," and from other fources, we gather that the fame was
the cafe in France, if not in other continental countries, at this early
period. Braithwaite, in defcribing what ought to be the qualifications of the
[ ' " Handlyng Synne," ed. Furnivall, p. 292, 1. 9436 — 9446,]
Fairs. ofi
chief officers of an earl, writes : > " They muft be able to ludge, not
onely of the prices, but of the goodnes of all kindes of corne, Cattell,
and other houfehold provifions ; and the better to enable themfelves
therto, are oftentimes to ride to Fayres and great markets, and ther
to have conference with Graziers and purveiors, being men of witt
and experience — "
By the ftatute of 2 Edw, III. c, 13, It was ordered that "A cry
fhalbe made at the begynnyng of euery feyre how longe it fhall indure
& that none fhall fell after vpon payne to be greuoufly punyfshed
agaynft the Kynge." The authority of the proprietor or lord of the
fair was only co-exlftent in duration with the fair itfelf; merchants
continuing to trade after the legal conclufion of the fair were amerced
in double the value of the goods fo fold ; nothing but the neceffarles of
life were to be on fale on feaft-days and Sundays ; except only " fore
fonday in the heruyft ;" the Londoners were permitted to attend all
fairs under pain often pounds' fine to the hinderer or hinderers.]
The articles are " Wine, Wax, Beiffes, Multons, Wheite, & Malt,"
This proves that fairs ftill continued to be the principal marts for pur-
chafing neceffarles in large quantities, which now are fupplied by fre
quent trading towns : and the mention of beiffes and multons (which
are failed oxen and fheep), fhows that at fo late a period they knew
littie of breeding cattie.
In the accounts of the priories of Maxtoke in Warwickfliire, and
of Bicefter in Oxfordfhire, in the time of Henry VI. , the monks ap
pear to have laid in yearly ftores of various, yet common neceffarles,
at the Fair of Sturbridge," in Cambridgefhire, at leaft one hundred
miles diftant from either monaftery. Bale ^ mentions " the Bakers
Boyes crye, betwixte hys two Bread Panners in Sturbridge fayre.
By and beare awaye, fleale and runne awaye. Sec."
It may feem furprifing that their own neighbourhood, including the
cities of Oxford and Coventry, could not fupply them with commo
dities neither rare nor coftly : which they thus fetched at a confider
able expenfe of carriage. It is a rubric In fome of the monaftic rules,
" De euntibus ad Nundinas ;" /. e. concerning thofe who go to fairs.*
Fofbrooke^ tells us, " much quarrelling and fighting fometimes
attended the monaftic fairs, held in the church-yard : and Henry^ ob
ferves from Muratori, that, "When a Fair was held [in Italy] within
the precinas of a Cathedral or Monaftery, it was not uncommon to
[' "Some Rules and Orders for the Government of the Houfe of an Earle"
(circa 1640), apud " Mifcell. Antiq. Angl." 1821.]
" " Expofitas late Cami prope Flumina merces,
DIvitlafque loci, vicofque, hominumque labores,
Sparfaque per virldes paflim magalia campos."
—Nundina Sturbrigienfes, 1709.
[See an interefting account of Stourbridge fair In Mr. Thorold Rogers's " Hiftory
of Agriculture and Prices in England," 1866, voh i. p. 141-4-]
' " Declaration of Bonner's Articles," fol, 21b.
* Warton's ",Eng. Poet," vol. i, p, 279, 4to, ed,
" "Britifti Monachlfm," vol. ii. p. 217.
° " Hift. of Gr. Britain," vol. iv. p. 205.
352 Fairs.
oblige every Man to take an oath at the gate, before he was admitted,
that he would neither lie, nor fteal, nor cheat, while he continued in the
Fair." [But it feems that great complaint was made as early as the
reign of Henry VI, of the irregularities and diforderly proceedings at
our Englifh fairs, efpecially on feftivals, fuch as Sunday, Good Friday,
Afcenfion-day, and fo forth, and in 23 Hen. VI, we find a petition
fubmitted to that monarch for the fuppreffion of fairs throughout the
country on holydays fet apart for the fervice of the Church, including
the Sabbath itfelf The .petitioners required the fulfilment of their
prayer from after the next Michaelmas then enfuing in perpetuity ;
but the king declined. In his refponfe, to make more than a partial
and temporary conceffion,^
Of this attendance at fairs on the Sabbath, Humphrey Roberts of
King's Langley fpeaks in his " Complaint for Reformation," 1572 :
" Leaue therfore," he fays, "your carefull toyle and labours vpon
the Saboth day : as cartyng, carying of fackes & packes, byinge and
fellyng: yea keping of faiers and markets — "]
In the Churchwardens' Accounts of St, Laurence Parifh, Reading,
a,d, 1499, is the following article :^
" Receypt.
" It. Rec, at the Payer for a ftonding in the Church-Porch, \\\]d."
By " Advertifements partly for due order in the publique adminiftra-
tlon of Common Prayers," &c,, 25 Jan, 7 Eliz, it was enjoined, "that
in all Faires and Common Markets, falling uppon the Sunday, there be
no fhewing of any Wares before the Service be done."
Two annual fairs held on the Town Moor at Newcaftle upon
Tyne are called Lammas and St, Luke's Fairs, from the days on
which they begin. Bourne, in his hiftory of that town, tells us, that
the tofls, booths, ftallage, pickage,^ and courts of pie-powder (dufty
foot) to each of thefe fairs, were reckoned communibus annis, at
twelve pounds, in the time of Oliver Cromwell. The records of the
monafteries there are many of them loft, otherwife they would doubt
lefs have furnifhed fome particulars relative to the inftitution and
ancient cuftoms of the fairs at that place,
[In a traa entitled, " Bartholomew Faire or variety of fancies,
where you may find A faire of wares, and all to pleafe your mind,"
1641, occurs this account :]
" Bartholomew Faire begins on the twenty-fourth day of Auguft,
and is then of fo vaft an extent, that it is contained in no leffe than
four feveral parifhes, namely Chrift Church, Great and Littie St,
Bartholomewes, and St. Sepulchres. Hither refort people of all forts
and conditions. Chrift Church Cloifters are now hung full of piaures.
It Is remarkable and worth your obfervation to beholde and heare the
ftrange fights and confufed noife in the Faire, Here, a Knave in a
[' " Antiq, Repert," ed, 1807, vol. iii. pp. 444-5.]
= Coates' " Hift. of Reading," p. 214.
' Pitching-pence were paid in fairs and markets for every bag of corn, &c. See
Coles' "Diflionary."
P'"''-'- 353
Fooles Coate, with a trumpet founding, or on a drumme beating,
invites you to fee his puppets : there, a rogue like a wild woodman,
or in an antick fhape like an Incubus, defires your company to view
his motion : on the other fide. Hocus Pocus, with three Yards of
Tape, or Ribbin, in's hand, fhewing his Art of Legerdemaine, to the
admiration and aftonifhment of a company of Cockoloaches, Amongft
thefe, you fhall fee a gray Goofe-Cap, (as wife as the reft,) with a what
do ye lacke, In his mouth, ftand In his boothe, fhaking a Rattie, or
fcraping on a Fiddle, with which Children are fo taken, that they
prefentile cry out for thefe fopperies : and all thefe together make fuch
a diftraaed noife, that you would thinck Babell were not comparable
to It. Here there are alfo your Gamefters in aaion : fome turning of
a Whimfey, others throwing for pewter, who can quickly diffolve a
round Shilling Into a Three Halfepeny Saucer, Long Lane at this
time looks very faire, and puts out her beft cloaths, with the wrong
fide outward, fo turn'd for their better turning off: and Cloth Faire
is now in great requeft : well fare the Alehoufes therein, yet better
may a Man fare, (but at a dearer rate,) in the Pig-Market, alias Pafty-
Nooke, or Pye-Corner, where Pigges are al houres of the Day on the
StaUs piping hot, and would cry, (if they could fpeak,) ' come eate
me,' The fat greafy Hofteffe In thefe Houfes inftruas Nick Froth,
her Tapfter, to afke a Shilling more for a pig's head of a Woman big
with Child, in regard of her longing, then of another ordinary cumer.
Some of your Cutpurfes are in fee with cheating Coftermongers, who
have a Trick, now and then, to throw downe a Bafket of refuge
peares, which prove Choake-peares to thofe that fhall loofe their Hats
or Cloaks in ftriving who fhall gather fafteft.
Now farewell to the Faire : you who are wife,
Preferve your Purfes, whilft you pleafe your Eyes." '
In " Whimzies," defcribing " a zealous Brother," Braithwaite '
fays : " No feafon through all the yeere accounts hee more fubjea to
abhomination than Bartholomew faire : their Drums, Hobbihorfes,
Rattles, Babies, lewtrumps, nay Pigs and all, are wholly ludaicall."
The roafted pigs at St. Bartholomew's Fair are alfo noticed in " Poor
Robin's Almanack" for 1677. "Poor Robin" for 1695 has this
paffage : " It alfo tells Farmers what manner of Wife they fliall
choofe, not one trickt up with Ribbens and Knots like a Bartholomew
Baby, for fuch an one will prove a Holy-day Wife, all play and no
work. And he who with fuch kind of Wife is fped.
Better to have one made of Ginger-Bread."
In Nabbes' " Totenham Court," 1638, p. 47, is the following : " I
have pack't her up in't, like a Bartholmew-babie in a boxe. I
warrant you for hurting her."
' See alfo Andrews's Contin. of Henry's "Hift. of Great Britain," 410.
p. 86.
' "Whimzies," 1631, p. 200.
II. A A
354 F^i^^-
Gayton ' fays : — " (As if there were not Pigg enough)
Old Bartholmew with Purgatory Fire,
Deftroyes the Babe of many a doubtfiill Sire."
And fpeaking of plums, he adds :
" If eaten, as we ufe at Barthol'mew Tide,
Hand over Head, that's without care or guide,
There is a patient fure."
On Thurfday, the 17th of July, 1651, the Parliament paffed a
refolutlon, " That the Fair ufually held and kept yearly at St, James's,
within the Liberty of the City of Weftminfter, on or about the 25 th
day of July, be forborn this year ; and that no fair be kept or held
there by any perfon or perfons whatfoever, until the Parliament fhall
take further order."
[In 17 1 1, an attempt was made without fuccefs to extend the
duration of the fair to fourteen days, and a traa was publifhed and
fpecially addreffed by the author to the civic authorities, to oppofe and
denounce the projea. Two years before, a pamphlet had appeared,
giving reafons for the fuppreffion of May-Fair, held annually in Brook-
field, Weftminfter.2]
"Multitudes of the Booths ereaed In this Fair," we are there
told, " are not for trade and merchandice, but for mufick, fhowes,
drinking, gaming, raffling, lotteries, ftage-plays, and drolls. It is a
very unhappy circumftance of this Fair that it begins with the prime
beauty of the year ; in which many innocent perfons incline to walk
into the fields and out-parts of the city to divert themfelves, as they
very lawfully may." This fair was granted by King James II. in
the fourth year of his reign, to commence on the firft of May, and
continue fifteen days after it, yearly, for ever.
Gay, in his fable of the " Two Monkeys," thus defcribes South
wark Fair: " The Tumbler whirles the flip-flap round.
With Sommerfets he fliakes the ground ;
The Cord beneath the Dancer fprings ;
Aloft in air the Vaulter fwings,
Diftorted now, now prone depends.
Now through his twifted arms afcends ;
The Croud in wonder and delight,
With clapping hands applaud the fight."
[On St. Bartholomew's Day, during the fair, wreftling- matches
appear to have been held at Clerkenwell. Machyn the diarift notes
the attendance of the Lord Mayor and other civic dignitaries at the
match held on the 24th Auguft, 1559. It feems that it was alfo
cuftomary to have fhootlng-matches at or about the fame feafon in
Finfbury-fields. Heywood, in his " Apology for Aaors," 161 2, quotes Stowe for
the faa that a play on the Creation was performed anciently by the
' "Art of Longevity," 1659, p. 3,
P See Hone's " Every-day Book," vol. i. p. 572.]
Fairs, 355
Skinners at Clerkenwell, " in place whereof, in thefe latter daies," ob
ferves Heywood, " the wraftling and fuch other paftimes haue bene
kept, and is ftifl held about Bartholmew-tide,"
Rimbault, in his "Book of Songs and Ballads," 1851, has printed
from rare mufical works two or three ballads Illuftrative of the old
ufages and fcenes at Bartholomew Fair, The entertainments appear,
from all accounts, to have been of the moft various defcription, with
a view, doubtiefs, to the fatisfaaion of every tafte. The puppet-
fliows and drolls Included St, George and the Dragon, Guy of War
wick, Judith and Holofernes, Dives and Lazarus, Punchinello, The
Devil and the Pope, and The Whore of Babylon.
Ladles werd fond of attending Bartholomew Fair, In a little
work printed In 1688, It is obferved : " Some Women are for merry-
meetings, as Beffus was for Duels ; they are ingaged in a Circle of
Idlenefs, where they turn round for the whole Ifear, without the in
terruption of a ferious hour, they know all the Players names & are
Intimately acquainted with all the Booths In Bartholomew-Fair," i]
Shaw,^ fpeaking of Wolverhampton and the Proceffioners there,
fays : " Another cuftom (now likewife difcontinued) was the annual
Proceffion, on the 9th of July (the Eve of the great Fair), of men
in antique armour, preceded by muficians playing the Fair-tune, and
followed by the fteward of the Deanry Manor, the peace-officers, and
many of the principal inhabitants. Tradition fays the ceremony
originated at the time when Wolverhampton was a great emporium
of wool, and reforted to by merchants of the ftaple from all parts of
England. The neceffity of an armed force to keep peace and order
during the Fair, (which is faid to have lafted fourteen days, but the
charter fays only eight,) is not Improbable. This cuftom of Walking
the Fair (as it was called) with the armed Proceffion, &c. was firft
omitted about the year 1789."
Courts were granted at fairs, to take notice of all manner of caufes
and diforders committed upon the place called pie-powder, becaufe
juftice was done to any Injured perfon, before the duft of the fair was
off his feet.^
Barrington, in his " Obfervations on the Statutes," obferves that,
" In the Burrow Laws of Scotiand, an alien merchant is called Pied-
puldreaux, and likewife ane Farand-man, or a man who frequents
Fairs. The Court of Pipowder is, therefore, to determine difputes
between thofe who refort to Fairs and thefe kind of Pedlars who
generally attend them. Pled pulderaux, in old French, fignifies a
[' "The Lady's New- Year's Gift: Or, Advice to a Daughter," 1688, p. 157.]
' " Staff'ordftiire," vol. ii. part i, p. 163.
' Or rather, perhaps, the Court of Pie Powder means the Court ot Pedlars.
See the fubfequent evidences : " Gif ane ftranger merchand travelland throw the
Realme, havand na land, nor refidence, nor dwelling within the fchirefdome hot
vaigand fra ane place to ane other, quha therefore is called Pied Puldreux, or dulti-
fute," &c. Regiam Majeftatem, 1609.
So chap. cxl. ib'id, " Anend ane Fairand-man or Duftifute.
So again in the table, ib'id, " Duftlefute (ane pedder) or cremar, quha hes na
certaine dwelling-place, quhere he may dicht the duft from his feet," &c.
356 Fairs.
Pedlar, who gets his livelihood by vending his goods where he can,
without any certain or fixed refidence."
Pie-powder is from the French " Poudre des piez," duft of the feet.'
It is cuftomary at aU fairs to prefent fairings, which are gifts,
bought at thefe annual markets.
This cuftom prevailed In the days of Chaucer, as appears by the
fubfequent paffage In the " Wife of Bathes Prologue " [Bell's ed.]
where fhe boafts of having managed her feveral hufbands fo well :
" I governed hem fo well after my lawe
That eche of hem ful blisful was, and fawe '
To bringe me gay thinges fro the faire.
They were ful glad," &c.
And In " Rufticae Nundinae," 1730:
" Ad fua quifque redlt ; feftlvis Daphnen Amyntas
Exonerat Zenlis, dandoque aftringit Amores,"
[The anonymous author of the " Dialea of Leeds," 1862, notices
the great fair which was anciently held at Lee-Fair, a village in the
parifh of Woodkirk (a cell of Black canons to Noftal Priory), and
which terminated on St. Bartholomew's Day. This fair was not
only for purpofes of buying and felling, barter and exchange, but
fcholaftlc exercifes and difputations were held there. It Is fuppofed
that It was a chartered inftitution, allowed^ to Noftal as a privilege
and fource of revenue.
The laft day of the fair, when the goods are packed and paid for, is
known in the Weft of England as Pack-an-Penny Day. At leaft, it
was fo in Jennings' time,]
Grofe mentions " Mumble a Sparrow : a cruel fport praaifed at
Wakes and Fairs in the following manner : a cock-fparrow, whofe
wings are clipped. Is put Into the crown of a hat ; a man, having his
arms tied behind him, attempts to bite off the fparrow's head, but is
generally obliged to defift, by the many pecks and pinches he receives
from the enraged bird."
[At Hereford Midfummer Fair, in 1640, there was, it feems, a
fellow, a fecond Bankes, who exhibited a dancing-horfe ; for in the
Account Book of Mrs, Joyce Jeffries under this year occurs a pay
ment to him.'
Speaking of the performance of the " Recruiting Officer," in
which Eftcourt filled the part of Serjeant Kite, the " Tatier " of
May 26, 1709, obferves : "There is not, in my humble opinion, the
humour hit in Serjeant Kite ; but it is admirably fupplied by his adiion.
If I have fklU to judge, that man Is an excellent acftor ; but the crowd
of the audience are fitter for reprefentations at May-fair, than a
theatre-royal."] One or two other fports at fairs have been already noticed in the
Account of Wakes.
' " Archaeol." vol. i. p. 190. ' Glad, or joyful.
j-3 « Archaeol." vol. xxxvii, p. 200.]
Fairs. 357
Drake teUs us,' that " St. Luke's Day is known In York by the
name of Whip-Dog-Day, from a ftrange cuftom that fchool-boys ufe
here of whipping all the dogs that are feen in the ftreets that day.
Whence this uncommon perfecution took its rife is uncertain : yet,
though it is certainly very old, I am not of opinion, with fome, that
it is as ancient as the Romans. The tradition that I have heard of
its origin feems very probable, that In times of popery, a prieft cele
brating mafs at this Feftival in fome church in "York, unfortunately
dropped the Pax after confecration : which was fnatched up fuddenly
and fwallowed by a dog that lay under the altar table. The profana
tion of this high myftery occafioned the death of the dog, and a per
fecution began, and has fince continued, on this day, to be feverely
carried on againft his whole tribe in our city." He tells us that " A
Fair is always kept In Mickle Gate (York) on St. Luke's Day, for
all forts of fmall wares. It is commonly called Difh Fair, from the
great quantity of wooden difhes, ladles, &c, brought to it. There is
an old cuftom ufed at this Fair of bearing a wooden ladle In a fling on
two ftangs about It, carried by four fturdy labourers, and each labourer
was formerly fupported by another. This, without doubt, is a ridicule
on the meannefs of the wares brought to this Fair, fmall benefit ac
cruing to the labourers at It. Held by Charter Jan. 25, an. Reg.
Regis, Hen. vn. 17."
[A fair was formerly held at Brlftol on St. James's Day, and It Is
related by the author of Tarlton's " Jefts," 161 1, that that celebrated
comedian and his fellow-players went down to perform there on one
occafion while the theatres were clofed in London. Probably it was
at the fame time that they vifited Gloucefter, and other places men
tioned in the " Jefts." The players feem alfo to have been engaged
at private houfes in the country to give entertainments.
St. James's Fair, held at Weftminfter on the 25th July, was, in
the year 1560, fo largely attended, that a pig was not to be had there,
we are told by Machyn the diarift, "for mony." And he adds that
the ale-wives could get nothing to eat or drink till three in the after
noon, and " the chefe went very well away for id. p. the pounde."
Mr. Hafliwell, in his notes to " Ludus Coventris," 1841, has
quoted an extraa from a Ihowman's biU of the feventeenth century,
preferved in Hari. MS., 5931, where It ftates that, "At Crawley's
fhow at the Golden Lion, near St. George's Church, during the time
of Southwark-Fair, will be prefented the whole ftory of the old
creation of the world, or Paradice Loft, yet newly reviv'd, with the
addition of Noah's flood." The charaaer of the performances at
Bartholomew Fair, a littie later on, feems to have been fingularly hete
rogeneous ; for Strutt quotes a bill of the beginning of the eighteenth
century, which announces that, " at Heatly's booth, over againft the
Crofs-Daggers, will be prefented a- littie opera, called The old crea
tion of the world, newly reviv'd, w/?^ the addition of the glorious battle
obtained over the French and Spaniards by his Grace the Duke of
" Eboracum," p. 219.
358 Fairs.
Marlborough," During the reign of George II., the clafs of enter
tainment changed fomewhat, if we are to judge from the contents of
the " Stroler's Pacquet Opened," 1741, which purports to be a col
leaion of the drolls played at Southwark and other fairs at that time.
Thefe pieces, fufficiently contemptible in their conftruaion, were, in
moft cafes, formed out of old dramas.
The Univerfity of Cambridge enjoyed certain vefted interefts in
Sturbridge Fair from a very early date. In the draft of a paper pre
pared in 1589 by the Government of Queen Elizabeth with a view
to the renewal of this and other rights held by the town and univerfity
by prefcription, there are fome interefting particulars, which it is un
neceffary to reproduce here, fince they are given at length in the
" Egerton Papers."
This is alfo known as St. Audry's Fair, and // is faid that the word
tawdry' takes its origin from the flimfy goods which were offered for
fale at this place — an etymology for which I am not going to vouch
any more than for that which explains Stourbridge itfelf to fignify St.
Audry's Bridge. A haberdafher was lately, and may be ftill, refiding
at Cambridge, who had in his poffeffion a licence to hold a booth In
this fair.
The Cry was proclaimed at Stourbridge before the commencement
of each year's fair ; this recited all the conditions on which the fair
was held, and enumerated the various regulations in force for its
management, and for the keeping of the king's or queen's peace.
The document, as it ufed to be read, is printed at length in Gutch's
" Colkaanea Curiofa."
At Stourbridge Fair, book auaions were ancientiy held. Dixon,
in his "Canidia, or the Witches," 1683, fays :
" A fire licking a Child's Hair
Was to be feen at Sturbridge fair.
With a lambent flame, all over a fweating mare."
And the fame writer alfo fpeaks of —
" Women-dancers, Puppet-players
At Bartholomew and Sturbridge fairs."
Machyn, in his " Diary," mentions that on St, Peter's Day (June
29), 1557, a fmall fair, for the fale of wool and other like commodities,
was held in the churchyard of St, Margaret's, in the City of London.
A correfpondent of "Notes and Queries,"' defcribes the pompous
ceremonial which attended the opening of Greenock Fair, which
was difcontinued about 18 14,
Among the attendants at fairs in the olden time, the Iharpers and
pickpockets muftered pretty ftrongly. In the ballad of " Ragged and
Torn and True," It is faid :
" The pick-pockets in a throng,
At a market or a faire,
Will try whofe purfe is ftrong.
That they may the money ftiare."
[' ift Series, vol. ix. p. 242.]
Fairs, 359
The pickpockets and cutpurfes did not fpare any one. In " A
Caveat for Cut-purfes," a ballad of the time of Charies I., there Is
the following illuftration :
" The Players do tell you, in Bartholmew Faire,
What fecret confumptions and rafcals you are ;
For one of their Aftors, it feems, had the fate
By fome of your trade to be fleeced of late."
The reputation of Barnwell Fair does not feem to have been very
good in Heywood's time, for in his " If you Know not me," &c.
1605, that writer makes Hobfon fay :
" Bones a me, knave, thou'rt welcome. What's the news
At bawdy Barnwell, and at Stourbridge fair ? "
Cherry-fairs were often formerly, and may be ftill Indeed, held in the
cherry-orchards ; they were fcenes of confiderable licence. There are
not many allufions to them In old writers or records ; but in the ftory
of " How the Wife Man Taught his Son," the tranfitory nature of
man's life is not inelegantiy likened to one of thefe fcenes of temporary
buftie and gaiety : " And fo, fone, thys worldys wele
Hyt fayrth but as a chery fayre."
And the fame fimlle occurs In one of Hoccleve's pieces.'
A fair is ufually held at Reading at the prefent day (1868) on Can
dlemas Day for cattle and horfes ; but of late the day for holding it
has not always been very rigidly obferved.]
Ray has preferved two old Englifh proverbs that relate to fairs :
" Men fpeak of the fair as things went with them there ;" as alfo,
" To come a day after the fair." The firft feems intended to rhyme.
[The fecond is ftifl perfeaiy common.]
Bailey tefls us, that in ancient times amongft Chriftians, upon any
extraordinary folemnity, particularly the anniverfary dedication of a
church, tradefmen ufed to bring and feU their wares even in the
churchyards, efpecially upon the feftival of the dedication ; as at
Weftrrtinfter, on St. Peter's Day ; at London, on St. Bartholomew's ;
at Durham, on St, Cuthbert's Day, &c. ; but riots and difturbances
often happening, by reafon of the numbers affembled together, privi
leges were by royal charter granted, for various caufes, to particular
places, towns, and places of ftrength, where magiftrates prefided, to
keep the people in order,
[According to Olaus Magnus, the ancient Northern nations held
annual ice fairs. Froft fairs and blanket fairs have been known on
the Thames. The laft great froft fair among us was in 1814.]^
I gathered from a newfpaper that there is an annual fair held in the
Broad-gate at Lincoln on the 14th September, cafled Fool's Fair, for
the fale of cattie, fo called, on that authority, as follows : " King
William and his Queen having vifited Lincoln, while on their tour
through the Kingdom, made the citizens an offer to ferve them in any
[' See Dyce's "Skelton," voh ii. p. 85.]
[= See " Old Ballads Illuftrating the Great Froft of 1683-4" (Percy Soc.) ; and
"Handbook of Early Englifti Lit." Art, Frosts.]
360 The hong Hundred.
manner they liked beft. They aflced for a Fair, though it was harveft,
when few people can attend it, and though the town had no trade nor
any manufaaure. The King fmfled, and granted their requeft ; ob
ferving, that it was a humble one Indeed."
[We are told' that In the laft century a praaice ftill continued at
Dundonald, In Ayrfhire] " of kindling a large Fire, or Tawnle as it
is ufually termed, of wood, upon fome eminence, and making merry
around it, upon the Eve of the Wednefday of Marymafs Fair in
Irvine (which begins on the third Monday of Auguft and continues
the whole week). As moft Fair Days In this country were formerly
popifh holidays, and their Eves were ufually fpent In religious cere
monies and in diverfions, it has been fuppofed that Tawnles were firft
lighted up by our Catholic fathers, though fome derive their origin
from the Druidical times."
[From the fame fource ^ we learn that Chrift's Kirk May Fair,
Kenethmont, Aberdeenfhire] " was kept on the Green, and in the
night ; hence it was by the people called Sleepy-market. About
[feventy] or [eighty] years ago, the proprietor changed it from night
to day ; but fo ftrong was the prepoffeffion of the people In favour of
the old cuftom, that, rather than comply with the alteration, they
chofe to neglea it altogether,"
[The fame account,^ fpeaking of Marykirk, co. Kincardine, fays :]
" On the outfide of the church, ftrongly fixed to the wall, are the
foggs, Thefe were made ufe of, where the weekly market and an
nual Fair ftood, to confine and punifh thofe who had broken the
peace, or ufed too much freedom with the property of others. The
Stocks were ufed for the feet, and the Joggs for the neck of the
offender, in which he was confined, at leaft, during the time of the
Fair." Though the worthy minifter who drew up this account has
omitted the etymology of Joggs, I fhould think It a very obvious one
— -from Jugum, a yoke.
WE learn from Hickes's "Thefaurus," that the Norwegians and
Iflandic people ufed a method of numbering peculiar to them
felves, by the addition of the words Tolfraedr, Tolfraed, or Tolfraet
(whence our word twelve), which made ten fignify twelve ; a hun
dred, a hundred and twenty ; a thoufand, a thoufand two hundred ; &c.
The reafon of this was, that the nations above named had two decads
or tens : a leffer, which they ufed In common with other nations,
confifting often units ; and a greater, containing twelve (tolf) units.
Hence, by the addition of the word Tolfraedr, or Tolfraed, the hun-
I n.
Statiftical Account of Scotland," vol. vii. p. 622.
Ibid. vol. xiii. p. 77. - Ibid. vol. xviii. p. 611.
God's Penny, 361
dred contained not ten times ten, but ten ^times twelve, that Is a
hundred and twenty.
The Doaor obferves that this Tolfraedic mode of computation by
the greater decads, or tens, which contain twelve units, is ftill re
tained amongft us in reckoning certain things by the number twelve,
which the Swedes cafl dufin, the French douzaln, and we dozen.
And I am Informed, he adds, by merchants, &c., that In the number,
weight, and meafure of many things, the hundred among us ftill con
fifts of that greater tolfraedic hundred which is compofed of ten times
twelve.' Hence then without doubt is derived to us the prefent mode of
reckoning many things by fix fcore to the hundred.
By the ftatute, 25 Hen. VIII. c. 13, no perfon fhafl have above
two thoufand fheep on his lands ; and the twelfth feaion (after re
citing that the hundred in every county be not alike, fome reckoning
by the great hundred, or fix fcore, and others by five fcore,) declares
that the number two thoufand fhall be accounted ten hundred for
every thoufand, after the number of the great hundred, and not after
the lefs hundred, fo that every thoufand fhall contain twelve hundred
after the lefs number of the hundred.
Percy obferves, upon the Northumberland Houfehold Book, " It
will be neceflary to premife here, that the antient modes of Computa
tion are retained in this Book : according to which it is only in money
that the hundred confifts of five fcore : in all other Articles the Enu
merations are made by the old Teutonic hundred of fix Score, or a
hundred and twenty." [In the laft century, a man died at Parton
in Scotland^] aged above ninety, who, about eight months before his
death, got a complete fet of new teeth, which he employed till near
his laft breath to excellent purpofe. He was four times married, had
children by all his wives, and, at the baptifm of his laft child, which
happened not a year before his death, with an air of complacency ex
preffed his thankfulnefs to his Maker for having " at laft fent him the
ded Score," i.e. twenty-one,^
I
[(t5oD'0 pennp, or earnefl^monep.^
N the " Heir of Llnne," printed by Percy, there is the following
ftanza : " Then John he did him to record draw.
And John he caft him a gods-pennie;
But for every pounde that John agreed.
The lande, I wis, was well worth three,"
' Arngrim Jonas in Crymogaea, five rerum Ifland. lib. 1, cap. viii. Gram. Ifl.
P- +3
» "Statift, Ace, of Scotl." vol, i. p. 187,
[ » Mr. Atkinfon, " Cleveland Glofl'ary," 1868, p, 225, fays : " God's penny.
Earneft money, given to a fervant on concluding the hiring compaa : euftomarily
half-a cro--wH,"]
362 Obfolete Vulgar Punifhment s.
Upon which Percy notes : [" Godfpennie,] i.e. earneft-money ; from
the French ' Denier a Dieu.' At this day [1794,] when applica
tion is made to the Dean and Chapter of Carlifle to accept an ex
change of the tenant under one of their leafes, a piece of filver is
prefented by the new tenant, which is ftiU cafled a God's Penny."]
€)bColete Bulgar i^umftments.
I. Cucking-Stool.'
THE Cucking-Stool was an engine invented for the punifhment
of fcoldsand unquiet women, by ducking them in the water, after
having placed them In a ftool or chair fixed at the end of a long pole,
by which they were immerged in fome muddy or ftinking pond.
Blount tells us that fome think it a corruption from Ducking Stool,
but that others derive it from Choaklng Stool. Though of the mofl
remote antiquity, it is now, it fhould feem, totally dlfufed.
At a court of the manor of Edgeware, anno 1552, the inhabitants
were prefented for not having a Tumbrel and Cucking-Stool.* This
looks as if the punifhments were different.
An effayift in the " Gentieman's Magazine," for May, 1732, obferves
that " The Stools of Infamy are the Ducking Stool and the Stool of
Repentance. The firft was invented for taming female Shrews. The
Stool of Repentance is an ecclefiaftical engine, of popifh extraaion,
for the punifhment of Fornication and other Immoralities, whereby
the Delinquent publicly takes fhame to himfeif, and receives a folemn
reprimand from the Minifter of the Parifh." Blount finds it called
" le Goging Stole."' He fays it was in ufe even in the Saxon time,
when it was called bcealpinj-j-cole, and defcribed to be " Cathedra
in qua rixofae mulieres fedentes aquis demergebantur." It was a
punifhment infliaed alfo antiently upon brewers and bakers tranf-
greffing the laws.*
In the " Promptorium Parvulorum,"^ '¦'¦Efyn, or Cujckyn," is inter-
' Called alfo a Tumbrel, Tribuch, and Trebuchet ; alfo a Thewe,»
^ See Lyfons' " Envir," vol, ii. p. 244,
^ Cod, MS. de Legibus, Statutis, & Confuetudlnlbus liberi Burgi Villae de
Mountgomery a tempore Hen. 2 fol. 12 'verfo.
[* See alfo Henry's " Hift, of Gt. Britain," vol, i. p, 214.]
' Ed, Way, 1865, p. 143.
* See Cowel in -v. ex Carta Joh, regis, dat. 11 Jun. anno regni 1. It is called
thewe in Lambarde's " EIrenarchia," lib, i. c. 12. The following extraa from
Cowel, in 1/, Thew, (with the extraa juft quoted from Lyfons feems to prove this :
" Georgius Grey Comes Cantii clamat in maner. de Buftiton & Ayton punire de-
llnquentes contra Aflifam Panis et Cervifiae, per tres vices per amerciamenta, &
quarta vice Piftores per Pilloriam, Braciatores per Tumbrellam, & Rixatrices per
The--we, hoc eft, ponere eas fuper fcabellum vocat. a Cuciing Stool. PI. in Itin.
apud Ceftr. 14. Hen. VII."
Obfolete Vulgar Punifhments. 363
preted hyflercorifo: and in the " Domefday Survey," in the account
of the City of Chefter,"' we read: "Vir five muller falfam men-
furam in civltate faclens deprehenfus, Iiii, folid. emendab', Simfliter
malam cervifiam faclens, aut in Cathedra ponebatur Stercoris, aut
iiii. folid, dab' prepofitis."
There is an order of the Corporation of Shrewfbury, 1669, that
"A Ducking Stool be ereaed, for the punifliment of afl Scolds." ^
Lyfons' gives us a curious extraa from the Churchwardens' and
Chamberlain's Accounts at Klngfton-upon-Thames, in 1572, which
contains a bill of expenfes for making one of thefe cucking ftools,
which, he fays, muft have been much in ufe formerly, as there are
frequent entries of money paid for its repair. He adds that this
arbitrary attempt at laying an embargo upon the female tongue has
long fince been laid afide, [Some additional particulars, Ifluftrating
this obfolete ufage, but to the fame purport, were printed in Willis's
" Current Notes" for January and April, 1854.]
Borlafe * teUs us that : " Among the punifhments infliaed in Corn
wall, of old time, was that of the cocking-flool, a feat of Infamy where
ftrumpets and fcolds, with bare foot and head, were condemned
to abide the derifion of thofe that paffed by, for fuch time as the
baiUffs of manors, which had the prlvUege of fuch jurifdiaion, did
appoint," Morant,' fpeaking of Canuden, in the hundred of Rochford, men
tions " Cuckingftole Croft, as given for the maintenance of a light
in this church ; as appears by inquifition, 10 Eliz,"
In Skene's " Regiam Majeftatem,"^ this punifhment occurs as
having been ufed anciently in Scotland : fpeaking of Browfters, i.e.
" Wemen quha brewes aill to be fauld," It is faid, " gif fhe makes gude
all, that is fufficient. Bot gif fhe makes evill afl, contrair to the ufe
and confuetude of the burgh, and is con via thereof, fhe fall pay ane
unlaw of aucht fhflllnges, or fal fuffer the juftice of the burgh, that
Is, fhe fall be put upon the cock-flule, and the alll fall be diftributed to
the pure folke,"
Thefe ftools feem to have been In common ufe when [Miffon,^ the
' Vol, i. fol. 262 'verfo.
' See Blakeway's '\Hift." 1779, p. i?*-
£ '¦ d.
"1572. The making of the Cucking Stool .080
Iron work for the fame 030
Timber for the fame 076
3 Brafl'es for the fame and three Wheels o 4 10."
' "Environs," vol. i. p. 233.
* "Natural Hiftory ot Cornwall," p. 303,
» "Hift, of Efl"ex," vol. i. p. 317. " Under " Burrow Lawes," ch. 69.
' " La maniere de punir les Femmes querelleufes et debauchees eft an"ez plaifante
en Angfeterre. On attache une Chaife a bras a I'extremlte de deux Eipeces de
Solives, longues de douze ou quinze pieds et dans un eloignement parallele, en
forte que ces deux pieces de bois embrafl'ent par leur deux bouts voifins, la chaife
qui eft entre deux, & qui y eft attachee par la cote comme avec un eflieu, de telle
maniere, qu'elle a du Jeu, et qu'elle demeure toujours dans I'etat naturel & hori-
364 Obfolete Vulgar Punifhments.
French travefler, vifited this country, and] when Gay wrote his
Paftorals : they are thus defcribed by the latter,'
" I'll fpeed me to the Pond, where the high Stool
On the long Plank hangs o'er the muddy Pool,
That Stool, the dread of ev'ry fcolding Quean," &c.
Braithwaite,^ fpeaking of a Xantippean, fays : " He (her hufband)
vowes therefore to bring her in all difgrace to the Cucking-floole ;
and fhee vowes againe to bring him, with all contempt, to the ftoole
of repentance,"
In one of the jeft-books,' there is the following anecdote : " Some
Gentlemen travelling, and coming near to a Town, faw an old Woman
fpinning near the Ducking Stool : one, to make the Company merry,
afked the good Woman what that Chair was made for ? Said fhe,
you know what it is. Indeed, faid he, not I, unlefs it be the Chair
you ufe to fpin in. No, no, faid fhe, you know It to be otherwife :
have you not heard that it is the Cradle your good Mother hath often
layn in." *
The ftool Is reprefented in a cut annexed to the " Dumps," de
figned and engraved by Louis du Guernier, and alfo In the frontifpiece
of " The old Woman of Ratcllff Highway."
[A certificate of the punifhment of an incorrigible fcold by ducking,
dated 1673, ^"'^ addreffed by the churchwardens of Waddington, co,
York, to Thomas Parker, Efq,, of Browfholme, hereditary bow-
bearer of Bofland Foreft under the Duke of Buccleuch, is to be feen
in " Current Notes" for December, 1855,
2, The Scolding Cart,
This was fomewhat fimilar to the cucklng-ftool, but was furnifhed
with wheels.
From one paffage of Machyn's " Diary," under 1562-3, it would
feem that fcolds were occafionally made, as a punifhment, to ride in
a cart through the ftreets, with a diftaff in their hands.
In the Notes to this Diary, 1848, Mr. Nichols defcribes a cu
rious penalty (curious from its indlreanefs) impofed in the pre-
fontal auquel une Chaife doit etie afin qu'on puifl'e s'afleoir defliis, foit qu'on
I'eleve, foit qu'on I'abaiflre. On dreffe un poteau fur le bord d'un Etang ou d'une
Riviere, & fur ce poteau on pofe piefque en equlllbre, la double piece de bois a une
des extremitez de laquelle la Chaife fe trouve au defl'us de I'eau. On met la Femme
dans cette Chaife et on la plonge ainfi autant de fois qu'il a ete ordonne, pour
rafFraichir un peu fa chaleur Immoderee." See Ozell's Tranflation, p. 65.
' " Dumps," vol. I, p. 105.
^ " Whimzies," 1631, p. 182.
3 " New Help to Difcourfe," 1684, p, 216.
* In " MIfcellaneous Poems," &c., by Benjamin Weft, of Weedon-Beck,
Northamptonftiire, 8vo. 1780, is preferved a copy of verfes, faid to have been
written near fixty years ago, entitled " The Ducking Stool," A Note informs
us, " To the honour of the fair Sex in the neighbourhood of R***y, this machine
has been taken down (as ufelefs) feveral years."
Obfolete Vulgar Punifhments. 365
fence of a member of the Camden Society on a termagant. " About
1790 one of the members of the Camden Society," he teUs us, " wit
neffed a proceffion of villagers on their way to the houfe of a neigh
bouring farmer, in the parifti of Hurft [Berkfhire,] who was faid to
have beaten his wife. The ferenaders, confifting of perfons of afl ages
and denominations, were wefl fupplied with kettles, tin cans, cover
lids, hand-bells, pokers and tongs, and cows' horns, and drawing up
In front of the farm, commenced a moft horrible din, fhow^ing at leaft
that the ceremony was known by the name oi rough mufic ? After
fome time, the party quietly difperfed, apparently quite fatisfied with
the meafure of punifhment infliaed by them on the delinquent."
The paffage in Machyn himfeif, on which Mr. Nichols's illuftration
was founded. Is as follows: " The xxlj day of Feybruary [1562-3,]
was ShroyfK-monday, at Charyng croffe ther was a man cared of iiij
men, and a-for hym a bagpype playng, a fha[w]me and a drum play-
hyng, and a xx lynkes bornyng a-bowtt hym, becaufe ys next neybors
wyff ded bett here hofband ; ther for yt is ordered that ys next naybor
fhall ryd a-bowtt the plafe." It might be difficult to produce a fecond
example of the highly edifying cuftom here exhibited. Truly a ftrange
method of dealing out juftice, and of punlfhing by proxy !]
3. Branks.'
" They have an artifice at Newcaftle under Lyme and Walfall," fays
Plott,^ " for correaing of fcolds, which It does too, fo effeaually and fo
very fafely, that I look upon It as much to be preferred to the cucking
ftoole, which not only endangers the health of the party, but alfo gives
the tongue liberty 'twixt every dipp ; to neither of which this is at
all liable : it being fuch a bridle for the tongue as not only quite de
prives them of fpeech, but brings fhame for the tranfgreffion and
humility thereupon before 'tis taken off: which being put upon the
offender by order of the magiftrate, and faftened with a padlock behind,
fhe is led round the town by an officer, to her fhame, nor Is It taken
off till after the party begins to fhew all external fignes imaginable of
humUiation and amendment."
In a plate annexed, he gives a reprefentation of a pair of branks.
They ftill preferve a pair in the Town Court at Newcaftle-upon-
Tyne, where the fame cuftom once prevailed.'
[A fufler defcription of the brank occurs in Wiflis's "Current
Notes" for May, 1854, where feveral engravings accompany and
Illuftrate the letter-prefs. The writer fays : " It may be defcribed as
an Iron fkeleton helmet, having a gag of the fame metal, that by being
protruded into the mouth of an Inveterate brawler, effeaually branked
that unruly member, the tongue. As an Inftrument of confiderable
' Another punifliment for fcolding women.
' "Hiftory of StaflFordftiire," p, 389,
' See Gardiner's " England's Grievance," 1656, and Brand's " Hiftory," vol,
i 192.
366 Obfolete Vulgar Punifhments.
antiquity, at a time when the gag, the rack, and the axe were the
ratio ultima Roma, it has doubtlefs been employed, not unfrequentiy,
for purpofes of great cruelty, though in moft examples, the gag was
not purpofely defigned to wound the mouth, but fimply to reftrain
or prefs down the tongue. Several of thefe Inftruments are yet extant,
though their ufe is now, thanks to more confiderate civflization, be
come obfolete The earlieft ufe of the brank in England is not
antecedent to the reign of Charles I." A curious variety of this old
mode of penance is noticed in the fame mifcellany for Oaober, 1854.]
4. Drunkard's Cloak.
It appears from Gardiner's work juft cited, that in the time of the
Commonwealth, the magiftrates of Newcaftle punifhed fcolds with
the branks, and drunkards by making them carry a tub, with holes in
the fides for the arms to pafs through, called the drunkard's cloak,
through the ftreets of that town.'
5. PiLLIWINKES OR PyREWINKES.
The plUlwlnkes will be noticed prefently as a torture formerly ufed
in Scotland for fufpeaed witches.^
' Brand's " Hiftory of Newcaftle," vol. ii. p. 192.
" On the fubjea of the Pillory, fee Douce's " Illuftrations of Shakfpeare,"
vol. i. p. 146. " At Pavia a fingular Cuftom prevails,
To protea the poor Debtor from Bailiff's and Jails :
He difcharges his Score without paying a jot,
By feating himfeif on a &.orve,fans culotte.
There folemnly fwearing, as honeft Men ought.
That he's poorer than Job, when reduced to a groat :
Yet this naked Truth with fuch ftigma difgraces.
That the Rogue, as on Nettles fits, making wry faces."
— Epiftles addreffed to Rob, Jephfon, Efq., 1794, p. 46.
END OF VOLUME THE SECOND.
CHISWICK PRESS : — PRINTED BY WHlTTINGHAM AND WILKINS,
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.