Chapter X: Preface (10)

At the village of Holne, situated on one of the spurs of Dartmoor, is a field of about two acres, the property of the parish, and called the Ploy (play) Field. In the centre of this stands a granite pillar (Menhir) six or seven feet high. On May-morning before daybreak the young men of the village used to assemble there, and then proceed to the moor, where they selected a ram lamb (doubtless with the consent of the owner), and after running it down, brought it in triumph to the Ploy Field, fastened it to the pillar, cut its throat, and then roasted it whole, skin, wool, &c. At midday a struggle took place, at the risk of cut hands, for a slice, it being supposed to confer luck for the ensuing year on the fortunate devourer. As an act of gallantry the young men sometimes fought their way through the crowd to get a slice for the chosen amongst the young women, all of whom, in their best dresses, attended the Ram Feast, as it was called. Dancing, wrestling, and other games, assisted by copious libations of cider during the afternoon, prolonged the festivity till midnight.--_N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. vii. p. 353.

In some places it is customary for the children to carry about from house to house two dolls, a large and a small one--beautifully dressed and decorated with flowers. This custom has existed at Torquay from time immemorial.

ESSEX.

At Saffron-Walden, and in the village of Debden, an old May-day song (almost identical with that given under BERKSHIRE, which see) is sung by the little girls, who go about in parties, carrying garlands from door to door.

The garlands which the girls carry are sometimes large and handsome, and a doll is usually placed in the middle, dressed in white, according to certain traditional regulations.--_Illustrated London News_, June 6th, 1857, p. 553.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

In the village of Randwick, hard by the Stroud cloth-mills, at the appointed daybreak, three cheeses were carried upon a litter, festooned and garlanded with blossoms, down to the churchyard, and rolled thrice mystically round the sacred building; being subsequently carried back in the same way upon the litter in triumphal procession, to be cut up on the village-green and distributed piecemeal among the bystanders.--_Household Words_, 1859, vol. xix. p. 515.

In this county the children sing the following song as they dance round the Maypole:

“Round the Maypole, trit-trit-trot!
See what a Maypole we have got;
Fine and gay.
Trip away,
Happy is our new May-day.”--

_Aunt Judy’s Magazine_, 1874, No. xcvii. p. 436.

HAMPSHIRE.

In the village of Burley, one of the most beautiful villages of the New Forest, a maypole is erected, a fête is given to the school-children, and a May-queen is chosen by lot; a floral crown surmounts the pole, and garlands of flowers hang about the shaft.

HERTFORDSHIRE.

At Baldock, in former times, the peasantry were accustomed to make a “my-lord-and-my-lady” in effigy on the first of May. These figures were constructed of rags, pasteboard, old masks, canvas, straw, &c., and were dressed up in the holiday habiliments of their fabricators--“my lady” in the best gown’d, apron, kerchief, and mob cap of the dame, and “my lord” in the Sunday gear of her master. The tiring finished, “the pair” were seated on chairs or joint-stools, placed outside the cottage-door or in the porch, their bosoms ornamented with large bouquets of May flowers. They supported a hat, into which the contributions of the lookers-on were put. Before them, on a table were arranged a mug of ale, a drinking-horn, a pipe, a pair of spectacles, and sometimes a newspaper.

The observance of this usage was exclusively confined to the wives of the labouring poor resident in the town, who were amply compensated for their pains-taking by the contributions, which generally amounted to something considerable. But these were not the only solicitors on May-day; the juveniles of Baldock constructed a garland of hoops transversed, decorated with flowers, ribbons, &c., affixed to the extremity of a staff, by which it was borne, similar to those at Northampton and Lynn.--Hone, _The Year Book_, 1838, p. 1593.

The following amusing account of the manner in which May-day was formerly observed at Hitchin is given by a correspondent of _Every Day Book_, 1826, vol. i. p. 565:

Soon after three o’clock in the morning a large party of the townspeople, and neighbouring labourers parade the town, singing the _Mayer’s Song_. They carry in their hands large branches of May, and they affix a branch either upon or at the side of the doors of nearly every respectable house in the town. Where there are knockers they place their branches within the handles. The larger the branch is that is placed at the door the more honourable to the house, or rather to the servants of the house. If in the course of the year a servant has given offence to any of the mayers, then, instead of a branch of May, a branch of elder, with a bunch of nettles, is affixed to her door: this is considered a great disgrace, and the unfortunate subject of it is exposed to the jeers of her rivals. On May-morning, therefore, the girls look with some anxiety for their May-branch, and rise very early to ascertain their good or ill-fortune. The houses are all thus decorated by four o’clock in the morning. Throughout the day parties of these mayers are seen dancing and frolicking in various parts of the town. The group that I saw to-day, which remained in Bancroft for more than an hour, was composed as follows:--First came two men with their faces blacked, one of them with a birch broom in his hand, and a large artificial hump on his back; the other dressed as a woman, all in rags and tatters, with a large straw bonnet on, and carrying a ladle; these are called “Mad Moll and her husband;” next came two men, one most fantastically dressed with ribbons, and a great variety of gaudy-coloured silk handkerchiefs tied round his arms, from the shoulders to the wrists, and down his thighs and legs to the ancles; he carried a drawn sword in his hand; leaning upon his arm was a youth dressed as a fine lady in white muslin, and profusely bedecked from top to toe with gay ribbons--these were called the “Lord and Lady” of the company; after these followed six or seven couples more, attired much in the same style as the lord and lady, only the men were without the swords. When this group received a satisfactory contribution at any house the music struck up from a violin, clarionet, and fife, accompanied by the long drum, and they began the merry dance. While the dancers were merrily footing it the principal amusement to the populace was caused by the grimaces and clownish tricks of Mad Moll and her husband. When the circle of spectators became so contracted as to interrupt the dancers, then Mad Moll’s husband went to work with his broom, and swept the road-dust, all round the circle, into the faces of the crowd, and when any pretended affronts were offered to his wife, he pursued the offenders, broom in hand; if he could not overtake them, whether they were males or females, he flung his broom at them. These flights and pursuits caused an abundance of merriment.

The _Mayer’s Song_ is a composition, or rather a medley of great antiquity, and is as follows:--

“Remember us poor mayers all.
And thus do we begin
To lead our lives in righteousness,
Or else we die in sin.

We have been rambling all this night,
And almost all this day,
And now returned back again
We have brought you a branch of May.

A branch of May we have brought you,
And at your door it stands,
It is but a sprout, but it’s well budded out
By the work of our Lord’s hands.

The hedges and trees they are so green,
As green as any leek,
Our Heavenly Father, he watered them
With his heavenly dew so sweet.

The heavenly gates are open wide,
Our paths are beaten plain,
And if a man be not too far gone,
He may return again.

The life of man is but a span,
It flourishes like a flower;
We are here to day, and gone to-morrow,
And are dead in an hour.

The moon shines bright, and the stars give a light
A little before it is day.
So God bless you all, both great and small,
And send you a joyful May.”

HUNTINGDONSHIRE.

In the village of Glatton, May-day is observed by the election of Queen of the May, and the making of the garland.

The garland is of a pyramidal shape, and in this respect resembles the old milk-maid’s garland; it is composed of crown-imperials, tulips, anemones, cowslips, kingcups, daffodils, meadow-orchis, wallflowers, primroses, lilacs, laburnums, and as many roses and bright flowers as the season may have produced. These, with the addition of green boughs, are made into a huge pyramidal nosegay, from the front of which a gaily-dressed doll stares vacantly at her admirers. This doll is intended to represent Flora. From the base of the nosegay hang ribbons, handkerchiefs, pieces of silk, and any other gay-coloured fabric that can be borrowed for the occasion. The garland is carried by the two maids of honour to the May queen who place their hands beneath the nosegay, and allow the gay-coloured streamers to fall towards the ground. The garland is thus some six feet high.

The following song was sung by “the Mayers” on May-day, 1865, in the village of Denton and Chaldecote, when they went round with their “garland”:--

“Here comes us poor Mayers all,
And thus do we begin
To lead our lives in righteousness,
For fear we should die in sin.

To die in sin is a dreadful thing,
To die in sin for nought;
It would have been better for us poor souls
If we had never been born.

Good morning, lords and ladies,
It is the first of May;
I hope you’ll view the garland,
For it looks so very gay.

The cuckoo sings in April,
The cuckoo sings in May,
The cuckoo sings in June,
In July she flies away.

Now take a Bible in your hand,
And read a chapter through;
And when the day of judgment comes
The Lord will think of you.”--

_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. vii. p. 373.

It is the custom at Warboys for certain of the poor of the parish to be allowed to go into Warboys Wood on May-day morning for the purpose of gathering and taking away bundles of sticks. It may possibly be a relic of the old custom of going to a wood in the early morning of May-day for the purpose of gathering May-dew.--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. xii. p. 42.

KENT.

Sir Dudley Diggs, by his will, dated 1638, left the yearly sum of £20 to be paid to two young men and two maids, who on May 19th yearly should run a tye at Old Wives Lees in Chilham and prevail; the money to be paid out of the profits of the land of this part of the manor of Selgrave, which escheated to him after the death of Lady Clive. These lands, being in three pieces, lie in the parishes of Preston and Faversham, and contain about forty acres, all commonly called the _Running Lands_. Two young men and two young maids run at Old Wives Lees in Chilham yearly on May 1st, and the same number at Sheldwich Lees on the Monday following, by way of trial; and the two who prevail at each of those places run for the £10 at _Old Wives Lees_ as above mentioned on May 19th.--Hasted, _History of Kent_, vol ii. p. 787.

At Sevenoaks the children carry their tasteful boughs and garlands from door to door. The boughs consist of a bunch of greenery and wild flowers tied at the end of a stick, which is carried perpendicularly. The garlands are formed of two hoops interlaced cross-wise, and covered with blue and yellow flowers from the woods and hedges. Sometimes the garlands are fastened at the end of a stick carried perpendicularly, and sometimes hanging from the centre of a stick borne horizontally by two children. Either way the effect is pleasing, and fully worth the few pence which the appeal of “May-day, garland-day! please to remember the May-bough!” makes one contribute.--_N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. iii. p. 424.

LANCASHIRE.

In most places it is customary for each driver of a team to decorate his horses with gaudy ribbons on May-day. In Liverpool and Birkenhead, however, where some thousands of men are employed as carters, this May-day dressing has grown into a most imposing institution. Every driver of a team in and around the docks appears to enter into rivalry with his neighbours, and the consequence is that most of the horses are gaily dressed and expensively decorated. The drivers put on their new suits, covered with white linen slops, and sport new whips in honour of the occasion. Some of the embellishments for the horses are of a most costly character; not a few are disposed in most admirable taste; and in several instances they amount to actual art-exhibitions, since the carts are filled with the articles in which their owners deal. Real and artificial flowers are disposed in wreaths and other forms upon different parts of the harness, and brilliant velvet cloths, worked in silver and gold, are thrown over the loins of the horses; and if their owners are of sufficient standing to bear coats-of-arms, these are emblazoned upon the cloths, surrounded with many curious and artistic devices. Not only are the men interested in these displays, but wives and daughters, mistresses and servants, vie with each other as to who shall produce the most gorgeous exhibition. A few years ago the Corporation of Liverpool exhibited no fewer than one hundred and sixty-six horses in the procession, the first cart containing all the implements used by the scavenging department, most artistically arranged. The railway companies, the brewers, the spirit-merchants, and all the principal dock-carriers, &c., send their teams with samples of produce to swell the procession. After parading the principal streets, headed by bands of music and banners, the horses are taken home to their respective stables, and public drinks are given to the carters by the Corporation, the railway companies, and other extensive firms. The Mayor and other members of the Corporation attend these annual feasts, and after the repasts are ended the carters are usually addressed by some popular speaker, and much good advice is frequently given them.--Harland and Wilkinson, _Legends and Traditions of Lancashire_, 1873, p. 96.

In the _Life of Mrs. Pilkington_ (_Gent. Mag._ 1754, vol. xxiv. p. 354) allusion seems made to this custom. The writer says, They took places in the waggon, and quitted London early on May-morning; and it being the custom in this month for the passengers to give the waggoner at every inn a ribbon to adorn his team, she soon discovered the origin of the proverb, “as fine as a horse;” for before they got to the end of their journey the poor beasts were almost blinded by the tawdry party-coloured flowing honours of their heads.

In connection with this custom may be mentioned one practised at Gilmerton, in the parish of Liberton, county of Edinburgh. The carters have friendly societies for the purpose of supporting each other in old age or during ill-health, and with the view partly of securing a day’s recreation, and partly of recruiting their numbers and funds, they have an annual procession. Every man decorates his cart, horse, and ribbons, and a regular procession is made, accompanied by a band of music. To crown all there is an uncouth uproarious race with cart-horses on the public road, which draws forth a crowd of Edinburgh idlers, and all ends in a dinner, for which a fixed sum is paid.--_Stat. Acc. of Scotland_, 1845, vol. i. p. 12.

The maypole of Lostock, a village near Bolton, in Lancashire, is probably the most ancient on record. It is mentioned in a charter by which the town of West Halton was granted to the Abbey of Cockersand, about the reign of King John. The pole, it appears, superseded a cross, and formed one of the landmarks which defined the boundaries, and must therefore have been a permanent and not an annual erection. The words of the charter are, “De Lostockmepull, ubi crux sita fuit recta linea in austro, usque ad crucem-super-le-Tunge.”--Dugd., _Monast. Anglic._ 1830, vol. vi. p. ii. n. ii. p. 906; _Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 238.

LINCOLNSHIRE.

Formerly it was customary in some parts of this county to change servants on May-day.--_Time’s Telescope_, 1823, p. 118.

A peculiar rustic ceremony used annually to be observed at Horncastle towards the close of the last century. On the morning of May-day, when the young people of the neighbourhood assembled to partake in the amusements which ushered in the festival of the month, a train of youths collected themselves at a place called the _May-bank_. From thence with wands enwreathed with cowslips, they walked in procession to the maypole, situated to the west end of the town, and adorned on that morning with every variety in the gifts of Flora. Here, uniting in the wild joy of young enthusiasm, they struck together their wands, and, scattering around the cowslips, testified their thankfulness for that bounty which, widely diffusing its riches, enabled them to return home rejoicing at the promises of the opening year.--Weir, _Sketches of Horncastle_.

Dr. Stukeley, in his _Itinerarium Curiosum_ (1724, p. 29), alluding to this custom, says there is a maypole hill near Horncastle, where probably stood an Hermes in Roman times. The boys annually keep up the festival of the _Floralia_ on May-day, making a procession to this hill with May-gads (as they call them) in their hands. This is a white willow wand, the bark peeled off, tied round with cowslips. At night they have a bonfire, and other merriment, which is really a sacrifice or religious festival.

ISLE OF MAN.

May Day is ushered in with blowing of horns on the mountains, and with a ceremony which, says Waldron, has something in the design of it pretty enough. In almost all the great parishes they choose from among the daughters of the most wealthy farmers a young maid for the _Queen of May_. She is dressed in the gayest and best manner they can, and is attended by about twenty others, who are called maids of honour. She has also a young man, who is her captain, and has under his command a good number of inferior officers. In opposition to her is the Queen of Winter, who is a man dressed in woman’s clothes, with woollen hood, fur-tippets, and loaded with the warmest and heaviest habits one upon another. In the same manner are those, who represent her attendants, drest; nor is she without a captain and troop for her defence. Both being equipt as proper emblems of the Beauty of the Spring and the Deformity of the Winter, they set forth from their respective quarters, the one preceded by violins and flutes, the other with the rough music of the tongs and the cleavers. Both parties march till they meet on a common, and then their trains engage in a mock battle. If the Queen of the Winter’s forces get the better, so as to take the Queen of May prisoner, she is ransomed for as much as pays the expenses of the day. After this ceremony Winter and her company retire, and divert themselves in a barn, and the others remain on the green, where, having danced a considerable time, they conclude the evening with a feast, the queen at one table with her maids, the captain with his troop at another. There are seldom less than fifty or sixty at each board.

For the seizure of her Majesty’s person that of one of her slippers was substituted more recently, which was in like manner ransomed to defray the expenses of the pageant. The procession of the _Summer_--which was subsequently composed of little girls, and called the _Maceboard_[47]--outlived that of its rival, the _Winter_, some years, and now, like many other remnants of antiquity, has fallen into disuse.--Train, _History of the Isle of Man_, 1845, vol. ii. p. 118; Waldron, _Description of the Isle of Man_, p. 154.

[47] The _maceboard_ (probably a corruption of May sports) went from
door to door inquiring if the inmates would buy the queen’s favour,
which was composed of a small piece of ribbon.

MIDDLESEX.

London boasted several maypoles before the days of Puritanism. Many parishes vied with each other in the height and adornment of their own. One famed pole stood in Basing Lane, near St. Paul’s Cathedral, and was in the time of Stow kept in the hostelry called Gerard’s Hall. “In the high-roofed hall of this house,” says he, “sometime stood a large fir pole, which reached to the roof thereof--a pole of forty feet long and fifteen inches about, fabled to be the justing staff of Gerard the Giant.” A carved wooden figure of this giant, pole in hand, stood over the gate of this old inn until March 1852, when the whole building was demolished for city improvements.--_Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 576. See _Every Day Book_, vol. ii. p. 612.

A maypole was annually erected on May-day morning in Leadenhall Street, then called Cornhill, before the south door of the church known as that of St. Andrew the Apostle; and, in order to distinguish this church from others dedicated to the same saint, it was termed in consequence St. Andrew’s-Under-Shaft.[48] On the 1st May, 1517 (9th of Henry VIII.), a violent tumult occurred in the city, and this pole was not raised afterwards.[49] The inhabitants had long regarded with much jealousy the numerous foreigners who about that time took up their abode in London[50] and practised various trades, to the great injury, as was then thought, of the citizens, and on the 28th of April a quarrel took place between some of the London apprentices--at that time a powerful body--and two or three foreigners whom they met in the street, when blows were exchanged. This disturbance, however, was quickly quelled, but a rumour suddenly became general, although none knew on what grounds, that on the ensuing May-day, taking advantage of the sports and pastimes which were expected, all foreigners then in the city would be slain. In consequence of this various precautions were adopted by the authorities with a view to prevent if possible any contemplated outrage, and all men were commanded to stay in their houses. Notwithstanding this injunction, on the evening before May-day two striplings were found in Cheapside “playing at the bucklers,” and having been commanded to desist, the cry of “’Prentices, ’prentices, bats and clubs!” the usual gathering words at that period, was heard through the streets, and many hundreds of persons, armed with clubs and other weapons, assembled from all quarters, broke open the prisons, destroyed many houses occupied by foreigners, and committed other excesses. After some exertions on the part of the city authorities,[51] nearly three hundred of the rioters were captured. A commission was appointed to inquire into the insurrection, and a great number of the prisoners were condemned to die, but with the exception of one John Lincolne, who was hung, they were all ultimately pardoned. After this circumstance, which acquired for the day on which it happened the title of “Evil May-day,” and induced those in power to discountenance sports which led to large congregations, the Cornhill shaft was hung on a range of hooks under the “pentises[52]” of a neighbouring row of houses, where it remained till 1549. In that year, one Sir Stephen, curate of St. Catherine Cree, in a sermon which he preached at Paul’s Cross, persuaded the people that this pole had been made into an idol by naming the church of St. Andrew with the addition of Under that Shaft; and so worked upon them, that in the afternoon of the same day, “after they had dined,” the inhabitants with great labour raised the pole off the hooks on which it had rested thirty-two years, and each man sawing off for himself a piece equal to the length of his house, it was quickly demolished and burned.--Godwin and Britton, _Churches of London_, 1839; Brayley, _Londiniana_, 1829, vol. iii. p. 223; Hall’s _Chronicle_, 1517.

[48] This pole, when it was fixed in the ground, was higher than the
church steeple; and it is to this that Chaucer the poet refers when he
says, speaking of a vain boaster, that he bears his head “as he would
bear the great shaft of Cornhill.”--Stow’s _Survey_, B. ii. p. 65;
Godwin and Britton, _Churches of London_, 1839.

[49] Pennant, _London_ (5th edition, p. 587), says this shaft gave
rise to the insurrection. Godwin and Britton deny this was the case.

[50] Hall, in his _Chronicle_, says these foreigners “compassed the
citie rounde aboute, in Southwarke, in Westminster, Temple Barre,
Holborne, Sayncte Martynes, Sayncte John’s Strete, Algate, Toure Hyll,
and Sainct Katherines.”

[51] Cholmondeley, constable of the Tower, discharged some guns into
the streets, while the Earls of Shrewsbury and Surrey, collecting the
gentlemen of the Inns of Court, restrained the violence of the
populace.--Lyttleton, _History of England_, vol. ii. p. 167.

[52] Of the pent-house, or shelving roof projecting from the main
wall, by which the shops at that period were ordinarily protected,
many examples, Godwin and Britton say, existed in their time.

Brayley in his _Londiniana_ (vol. iv. p. 318) says, nearly opposite to Craven Buildings is a low public-house, bearing the sign of the _Cock and Pye_ (a contraction for the Cock and Magpye), which two centuries ago was almost the only dwelling in the eastern part of Drury Lane, except the mansion of the Drewries. Hither the youths and maidens of the metropolis, who, in social revelry on May-day threaded the jocund dance around the maypole in the Strand, were accustomed to resort for cakes and ale and other refreshments.

_May Fair._--This saturnalia was held by a grant of the Abbot of Westminster, “with revelry for fourteen days.” It took place annually, commencing on the first of May. The locality was anciently called Brook Field, the site of which is now covered with Curzon Street, Hertford Street, and Chesterfield House. Frequent allusions to the fair are found in plays and pamphlets of Charles II.’s time, and hand-bills and advertisements of the reign of James II. and his successors are in existence.

May Fair was granted by James II., in the fourth year of his reign, to Sir John Coell and his heirs for ever, in trust for Henry Lord Dover, and his heirs for ever. Before 1704 the ground became much built upon, as we learn from the old rate-books, and in November 1708 the gentlemen of the grand jury for the county of Middlesex and the city of Westminster made presentment of the fair, in terms of abhorrence, as a “vile and riotous assembly.” The Queen listened to a petition from the bench of justices for Middlesex, and a royal proclamation, dated April 28th, 1709, prohibiting the fair (at least as far as the amusements were concerned), was the result. It was, however, soon revived “as of old,” and, we are told, was much patronised “by the nobility and gentry.” It had also its attractions for the ruder class of holiday-makers, as we learn from the following copy of a hand-bill formerly in the Upcott Collection, dated 1748:

“_May Fair._--At the Ducking Pond on Monday next, the 27th inst., Mr. Hooton’s dog Nero (ten years old, with hardly a tooth in his head to hold a duck, but well known for his goodness to all that have seen him hunt), hunts six ducks for a guinea against the bitch called the Flying Spaniel, from the Ducking Pond on the other side of the water, which has beat all she has hunted against, excepting Mr. Hooton’s Good Blood. To begin at two o’clock.

“Mr. Hooton begs his customers won’t take it amiss to pay twopence admittance at the gate, and take a ticket, which will be allowed as cash in their reckoning; no person admitted without a ticket, that such as are not liked may be kept out.

“_Note_--Right Lincoln ale.”

Mr. Morley, in his _History of Bartholomew Fair_ (1859, p. 103), after noticing the presentment of the grand jury in 1708 and the prohibition of May Fair, tells us that the fair was revived, and “finally abolished in the reign of George II. after a peace-officer had been killed in the attempt to quell a riot.” The statement, however, of the fair having been finally abolished in the reign of George II. is perfectly gratuitous on the part of the historian of “Bartlemy,” as it existed until near the end of another reign. Carter the antiquary wrote an account of it in 1816, and he says that a few years previously it was much in the same state as it had been for fifty years. This description, full of curious interest, was communicated to the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for March 1816 (vol. lxxxvi. p. 228). It has been reprinted in Hone’s _Every Day Book_, 1826, vol. i. p. 572; See Soane’s _New Curiosities of Literature_, 1867, vol i. p. 250, &c.; _N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. x. p. 358.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

On the morning of May-day the girls from the neighbouring villages of Kingsthorpe, &c., bring into Northampton their garlands, which they exhibit from house to house (to show, as the inhabitants say, what flowers are in season), and usually receive a trifle from each house.

The skeleton of the garland is formed of two hoops of osier or hazel crossing each other at right angles, affixed to a staff about five feet long, by which it is carried; the hoops are twined with flowers and ribbons so that no part of them is visible. In the centre is placed one, two, or three dolls, according to the size of the garland and the means of the youthful exhibitors. Great emulation is excited amongst them, and they vie with each other in collecting the choicest flowers, and adorning the dolls in the gayest attire; ribbon streamers of the varied colours of the rainbow, the lacemakers adding their spangled bobbins, decorate the whole. The garlands are carried from house to house concealed from view by a large pocket-handkerchief, and in some villages it is customary to inquire if the inmates would like to see the Queen of the May.

Wherever the young people receive a satisfactory contribution they chant their simple ditties, which conclude with wishing the inhabitants of the house “a joyful May,” or “a merry month of May.” The verses sung by the Dallington children are entirely different from those of any other village, and are here subjoined:--

“The flowers are blooming everywhere,
O’er every hill and dale;
And oh! how beautiful they are,
How sweetly do they smell!

Go forth, my child, and laugh and play,
And let your cheerful voice,
With birds, and brooks, and merry May,
Cry out, Rejoice! rejoice!”

When the Mayers have collected all the money they can obtain, they return to their homes, and regale themselves, concluding the day with a merry dance round the garland.--_Every Day Book_, 1826, vol. ii. p. 615; _Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases_, 1854, vol. ii. p. 421.

Clare, “the Peasant Poet” of Northampton, in one of his MS. ballads, describes the manner in which May-day is observed in his native village, Helpstone, near Peterborough, and the neighbourhood. His delightful ballad is printed by Miss Baker in her work already quoted (vol. ii. p. 423).

“How beautiful May and its morning comes in!
The songs of the maidens, you hear them begin
To sing the old ballads while cowslips they pull,
While the dew of the morning fills many pipes full.

The closes are spangled with cowslips like gold,
Girls cram in their aprons what baskets can’t hold;
And still gather on to the heat of the day,
Till force often throws the last handful away.

Then beneath an old hawthorn they sit, one and all,
And make the May-garlands, and round _cuck_ a ball
Of cowslips and blossoms so showy and sweet,
And laugh when they think of the swains they shall meet.

Then to finish the garland they trudge away home,
And beg from each garden the flowers then in bloom;
Then beneath the old eldern, beside the old wall,
They set out to make it, maid, misses and all.

The ribbons the ploughmen bought maids at the fair
Are sure to be seen in a garland so fair;
And dolls from the children they dress up and take,
While children laugh loud at the show they will make.

Then they take round the garland to show at each door,
With kerchief to hide the fine flowers cover’d o’er;
At cottages also, when willing to pay,
The maidens their much-admired garland display.

Then at _duck-under-water_[53] adown the long road
They run with their dresses all flying abroad;
And ribbons all colours, how sweet they appear!
May seems to begin the life of the year.

Then the garland on ropes is hung high over all,
One end to a tree, and one hooked to a wall;
When they _cuck_ the ball over till day is nigh gone,
And then tea and cakes and the dancing comes on.

And then, lawk! what laughing and dancing is there,
While the fiddler makes faces within the arm-chair;
And then comes the _cushion_,[54] the girls they all shriek,
And fly to the door from the old fiddler’s squeak.

But the doors they are fastened, so all must kneel down,
And take the rude kiss from the unmannerly clown.
Thus the May games are ended, to their houses they roam,
With the sweetheart she chooses each maiden goes home.”

[53] Duck-under-the-water. A game in which the players run, two and
two, in rapid succession, under a handkerchief held up aloft by two
persons standing apart with extended arms. Formerly in this northern
part of Northamptonshire even married women on May-day played at this
game under the garland, which was extended from chimney to chimney
across the village street.--_Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and
Phrases_, 1854, vol. i. p. 204.

[54] The cushion dance appears to be of some antiquity: it is thus
mentioned by Selden in his _Table Talk_, under “King of
England”:--“The court of England is much altered. At a solemn dancing,
first you have the great measures, then the Corrantoes and the
Galliards, and this is kept up with ceremony; at length to French-more
[Frenchmore] and the cushion dance, and then all the company
dance--lord and groom, lady and kitchen maid, no distinction. So in
our court in Queen Elizabeth’s time gravity and state were kept up. In
King James’ time things were very pretty well. But in King Charles’
time there was nothing but Frenchmore and the cushion-dance, omnium
gatherum, tolly polly, hoite come toite.” In Playford’s _Dancing
Master_ (1698, p. 7) it is described as follows:--“This dance is begun
by a single person (either man or woman), who, taking a cushion in
hand, dances about the room, and at the end of the tune stops and
sings, ‘This dance it will no further go;’ the musician answers, ‘I
pray you, good sir, why say you so?’ _Man._ ‘Because Jean Sanderson
will not come to.’ _Musician._ ‘She must come to, and she shall come
to, and she must whether she will or no.’ Then he lays down the
cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses her,
singing, ‘Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome.’ Then she rises,
takes up the cushion, and both dance, singing, ‘Prinkum prankum is a
fine dance, and shall we go dance it once again?’ Then making a stop,
the woman sings as before, ‘This dance it will no further go.’
_Musician._ ‘I pray you, madam, why say you so?’ _Woman._ ‘Because
John Sanderson will not come to.’ _Musician._ ‘He must come to,’ &c.
(as before). And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who,
kneeling upon it, salutes her, she singing ‘Welcome, John Sanderson,’
&c. Then he taking up the cushion, they dance round, singing as
before, and thus they do till the whole company are taken into the
ring. Then the cushion is laid before the first man, the woman singing
‘This dance,’ &c. (as before), only instead of ‘not come to,’ they
sing, ‘go fro;’ and instead of ‘Welcome, John Sanderson,’ ‘Farewell,
farewell;’ and so they go out one by one as they came in.”

This dance was well known in Holland in the early part of the
seventeenth century, and an interesting engraving of it may be seen in
the ‘Emblems of John de Brunnes,’ Amst. 1624.--Nares’ _Glossary_
(Halliwell and Wright), 1859, vol. i. p. 219.

A native of Fotheringhay, Mr. W. C. Peach, relates that he was formerly accustomed to go into the fields over-night and very early on May-day to gather cowslips, primroses, wood-anemones, blue bells, &c., to make the garlands. The garland, if possible, was hung in the centre of the street on a rope stretched from house to house. Then was made the trial of skill in tossing balls (small white leather ones) through the framework of the garland, to effect which was a triumph. Speaking of the May-bush (a large tree selected for being tall, straight, full of branches, and if possible flowers), Mr. W. C. Peach says, “I have been looking out for a pretty bush days before the time, and if hawthorn and in blossom, then it was glorious. I have seen them ten or twelve feet high, and many in circumference, and they required a stalwart arm to carry and put them into a hole in the ground before the front door, where they were wedged on each side so as to appear growing. Flowers were then thrown over the bush and around it, and strewn as well before the door. Pretty little branches of whitethorn, adorned with the best flowers procurable, were occasionally put up, unperceived by others if possible, against the bed-room of the favourite lass, to show the esteem in which she was held, and the girls accordingly were early on the alert to witness the respective favours allotted them. Elder, crab-tree, nettles, thistles, sloes, &c., marked the different degrees of respect in which some of them were held.”--_Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases_, vol. ii. p. 427.

At Nassington they carry garlands about, and beg for money; in the evening they tie them across the street from chimney to chimney, and dance under them. Formerly married women used to amuse themselves by playing under them at the game of Duck-under-the-water.[55]--_Ibid._ p. 428.

[55] See note on page 252.

At Nassington a curious pasture custom also takes place on May-day. There is a large tract of meadow-land lying on the side of the river Nen, which the inhabitants of the village have the right of pasturing cows upon.[56] The pasture season commences on May-day, and on the evening preceding a rail is put across the entrance to the pasture, which the cows must leap to get into. Much rivalry takes place on this occasion. The lads watch through the night and the dawning of May-day, the lasses with their cows being ready at the proper moment to see which cow shall leap the rail first into the meadow, and the cow which does this is led round the village in the afternoon, her horns decorated with ribbons, &c. Degradation only awaits the hindmost cow, she has to carry elder, nettles, and thistles as her badge, and the lass who milks her has to bear the gibes and jeers of the villagers.--_Glossary, &c._, p. 428.

[56] _Vide_ Bridge’s _Hist. of Co. of Northampton_, 1791, vol. ii. p.
468.

At Morton-Pinkeney the following song is sung by the children on May-morning:--

“I have a little purse in my pocket,
All fixed with a silver pin;
And all that it wants is a more little silver
To line it well within.
The clock strikes one, I must be gone,
Or else it will be day;
Good morning to you, my pretty fair maid,
I wish you the merriment of May.”--

_Ibid._ p. 426.

At Polebrook, on the last few days of April, the Queen of May and her attendants gather what flowers they can from the surrounding meadows, and call at the houses of the principal inhabitants to beg flowers, the gift or the loan of ribbons, handkerchiefs, dolls, &c., with which to form their garland. This being arranged on hoops, the young maidens assemble on May-morning, and carry it round the village, preceded by a fiddler; and the following quaint song--very similar to the one used at Hitchin, and thought from its phraseology to have been written in the time of the Puritans--is sung by the Queen and her company at the different houses, and a gratuity is solicited.

“Remember us poor mayers all,
For now we do begin
To lead our lives in righteousness,
For fear we die in sin.

To die in sin is a serious thing,
To go where sinners mourn;
’Twould have been better for our poor souls
If we had ne’er been born.

Now we’ve been travelling all the night,
And best part of this day;
And now we’re returning back again,
And have brought you a branch of May.

A branch of May, which looks so gay,
Before your door to stand;
’Tis but a sprout, but ’tis well spread out,
The work of our Lord’s hand.

Arise, arise, you pretty fair maid,
Out of your drowsy dream,
And step into your dairy-house
For a sup of your sweet cream.

O, for a sup of your sweet cream,
Or a jug of your own beer;
And if we tarry in the town,
We’ll call another year.

Now take the Bible in your hand,
And read a chapter through,
And when the day of judgment comes,
The Lord will think of you.

Repent, repent, ye wicked men,
Repent before you die;
There’s no repentance in the grave,
When in the ground you lie.

But now my song is almost done,
I’ve got no more to say;
God bless you all, both great and small,
I wish you a joyful May.”

The garland is afterwards suspended by ropes from the school-house to an opposite tree, and the mayers and other children amuse themselves by throwing balls over it. With the money collected tea and cakes are provided for the joyous party. The Queen of the May takes her seat at the head of the tea-table, under a bower composed of branches of may and blackthorn; a wreath of flowers is placed on her head, and she is hailed “Lady of the May.” The attendants wait round her, the party of mayers seat themselves at a long table below, and the evening concludes with mirth and merriment.--_Glossary, &c._, p. 424.

NORTHUMBERLAND

The young people of both sexes go out early in the morning to gather the flowering thorn and the dew off the grass, which they bring home with music and acclamations; and having dressed a pole on the town-green with garlands, dance around it. A syllabub is also prepared for the May-feast, which is made of warm milk from the cow, sweet cakes, and wine; and a kind of divination is practised by fishing with a ladle for a wedding-ring which is dropped into it for the purpose of prognosticating who shall be first married.--Hutchinson, _Hist. of Northumberland_, 1778, vol. ii., Appendix, p. 14.

At Newcastle-upon-Tyne it was formerly usual on May-mornings for the young girls to sing these lines in the streets, at the same time gathering flowers:--

“Rise up, maidens, fie for shame!
For I’ve been four long miles from hame,
I’ve been gathering my garlands gay,
Rise up, fair maids, and take in your May!”--

Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 219.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

The May-day customs observed in this county are in many respects similar to those of other counties, but Nottinghamshire has the honour of being the parent of most of the happy sports which characterise this joyous period of the year, from the fact of most of the May-day games having had their origin in the world famous Robin Hood, whose existence and renown are so intimately connected with this district. His connection with “Merry Sherwood” and the Sheriff of Nottingham have been universal themes for centuries; and these and the “Miller of Mansfield” and the “Wise Men of Gotham” have done more towards making this county famous than all the rest of the ballads and popular literature put together. Maypoles and morris-dances were formerly very general, and the characters of Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, and the Hobby-horse were well sustained. The maypoles were sometimes very elegantly ornamented, and surmounted by flags and streamers of various colours. One was not many years ago remaining by Hucknall Folkard, and at the top were portions of the ironwork and decorations still in being. The morris-dance was unquestionably one of the most popular of the many games incident to this season, and was very generally prevalent throughout this county, and many are the ballads dedicated to its observance. The following is of 1614:--

“It was my hap of late by chance
To meet a country morris-dance,
When, chiefest of them all the foole
Plaid with a ladle and a toole;
When every younker shak’t his hels,
And fine Maid Marian with her smoile,
Showed how a rascal plaid the voile,
And when the hobby horse did wihy,
Then all the wenches gave a tihy,” &c.

May-day, although a day of general holiday and rejoicing, is nevertheless considered, as is the whole of the month, unlucky for marriage, and few are celebrated on this day; more weddings being hastened, so as to be over before this day, than postponed until June. This does not apply to divinations for future partners, for in some parts of the county it is usual to prepare a sweet mixture on the first of May, composed of new milk, cakes, wine, and spice, and for the assembled company to fish with a ladle for a ring and a sixpence, which have been dropped into the bowl; the young man who gains the ring and the young woman the sixpence being supposed to be intended for each other.--_Jour. of Arch. Assoc._ 1853, vol. viii. p. 234.

OXFORDSHIRE.

Previous to the Reformation a requiem mass is said to have been performed every May-morning at an early hour on the top of Magdalen tower, Oxford, for the repose of the soul of Henry VII., who had honoured that college with a visit in 1486-7. The choristers continue to execute in the same place, at five o’clock in the morning of the same day, certain pieces of choir-music, for which service the rectory of Slimbridge in Gloucestershire pays the yearly sum of £10. The ceremony has encouraged the notion that Henry contributed to the erection of the tower, but his only recorded act of favour to the college is the confirmation of its claim to the rectory charged with the annual payment.

The following hymn is sung on the occasion of this ceremony:

“Te Deum Patrem colimus,
Te laudibus prosequimur,
Qui corpus cibo reficis
Cœlesti mentem gratia.

Te adoramus, O Jesu!
Te, Fili unigenite!
Te, qui non dedignatus es
Subire claustra Virginis.

Actus in crucem factus es,
Irato Deo victima;
Per te, Salvator unice,
Vitæ spes nobis rediit.

Tibi, æterne Spiritus,
Cujus afflatu peperit
Infantem Deum Maria,
Æternum benedicimus!

Triune Deus, hominum
Salutis Auctor optime,
Immensum hoc mysterium
Ovanti lingua canimus.”

A correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_2nd S._ vii. p. 446) thinks this hymn was composed by Dr. Thomas Smith, a very learned fellow of Magdalen College, soon after the Restoration, and that it was not sung till about the middle of the last century.[57]--Akerman, _History of Oxford_, vol. i. p. 251; Wade, _Walks in Oxford_, 1817, vol. i. p. 132.

[57] Whilst making some researches in the library of Christchurch,
Oxford, Dr. Rimbault discovered what appeared to him to be the first
draft of the hymn in question. It has the following note:--“This hymn
is sung every day in Magdalen College Hall, Oxon, dinner and supper,
throughout the year for the after-grace, by the chaplain, clerks, and
choristers there. Composed by Dr. Benjamin Rogers, Doctor of Musicke,
of the University of Oxon, 1685.” It has been popularly supposed, says
Dr. Rimbault, to be the Hymnus Eucharisticus, written by Dr. Nathaniel
Ingelo, and sung at the civic feast at Guildhall on the 5th of July,
1660, while the King and the other exalted personages were at dinner;
but this is a mistake, for the words of Ingelo’s hymn, very different
from the Magdalen hymn, still exist, and are to be found in Wood’s
Collection in the Ashmolean Museum.

Dr. Rimbault, in a communication to the _Illustrated London News_ (May 17th, 1856), speaking of this custom, says:--In the year of our Lord God 1501, the “most Christian” King Henry VII. gave to St. Mary Magdalen College the advowsons of the churches of Slimbridge, county of Gloucester, and Fyndon, county of Sussex, together with one acre of land in each parish. In gratitude for this benefaction, the college was accustomed, during the lifetime of their royal benefactor, to celebrate a service in honour of the Holy Trinity, with the collect still used on Trinity Sunday, and the prayer, “Almighty and everlasting God, we are taught by Thy Holy Word that the hearts of kings,” &c.; and after the death of the king to commemorate him in the usual manner. The commemoration service ordered in the time of Queen Elizabeth is still performed on the 1st of May, and the Latin hymn in honour of the Holy Trinity, which continues to be sung on the tower at sun-rising, has evidently reference to the original service. The produce of the two acres above mentioned used to be distributed on the same day between the President and Fellows; it has however for many years been given up to supply the choristers with a festal entertainment in the college-hall.

It was also the custom at Oxford a generation ago for little boys to blow horns about the streets early on May-day, which they did for the purpose of “calling up the old maids.” “I asked an aged inhabitant,” says a correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_4th S._ vol. vii. p. 430), “how long the horn-blowing had ceased, and he replied, ever since the Reform Bill came in; but that he remembered the time when the workhouse children were let out for May-day early in the morning with their horns and garlands, and a worthy alderman whom he named always kept open house on that day, and gave them a good dinner.” “Calling up the old maids” no doubt refers to the practice of calling up the maids, whether old or young, to go a-maying. Hearne, in his preface to Robert of Gloucester’s _Chronicle_, alluding to the custom (p. 18) says:--“’Tis no wonder, therefore, that upon the jollities on the first day of May formerly the custom of blowing with, and drinking in, horns so much prevailed, which, though it be now generally disused, yet the custom of blowing them prevails at this season, even to this day at Oxford, to remind people of the pleasantness of that part of the year, which ought to create mirth and gayety.”

Aubrey has this memorandum in his _Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme_ (MS. Lansd. 266, p. 5):--At Oxford the boys do blow cows’ horns and hollow canes all night; and on May-day the young maids of every parish carry about garlands of flowers, which afterwards they hang up in their churches.

At Combe, in the same county, troops of little girls dressed up fantastically parade the village, carrying sticks, to the top of which are tied bunches of flowers, and singing the following song:--

“Gentlemen and ladies,
We wish you a happy May;
We’ve come to show our garlands,
Because it is May-day.”

The same verse, substantially, is the May-day song at Wootton, an adjoining parish. The last two of the four lines are sometimes as follow:--

“Come, kiss my face, and smell my mace,
And give the lord and lady something.”

_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. vii. p. 425.

At Headington, about two miles from Oxford, the children gather garlands from house to house. Each garland is formed of a hoop for a rim, with two half hoops attached to it and crossed above, much in the shape of a crown; each member is adorned with flowers, and the top surmounted by a crown imperial or other showy bunch of flowers. Each garland is attended by four children, two girls dressed in all their best, who carry the garland, supported betwixt them by a stick passed through it between the arches. These are followed by the “lord and lady,” a boy and girl, who go from house to house and sing the same song as is sung at Combe. In the village are upwards of a dozen of these garlands, with their “lords and ladies,” which give to the place the most gay and animated appearance.--_Literary Gazette_, May 1847.