Chapter XIII: Preface (13)

The custom of making large fires on the Eve of St. John’s Day is annually observed by numbers of the Irish people in Liverpool. Contributions in either fuel or money to purchase it with are collected from house to house. The fuel consists of coal, wood, or in fact anything that will burn: the fire-places are then built up and lighted after dark.--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. xii. p. 42.

ISLE OF MAN.

Formerly the inhabitants lighted fires to the windward side of every field, so that the smoke might pass over the corn; they folded their cattle and carried blazing furze or gorse around them several times; they gathered _bawan fealoin_ or mugwort as a preventive against the influence of witchcraft; and it was on this occasion they bore green meadow grass up to the top of Barule in payment of rent to Mannan-beg-mac-y-heir.--Train, _History of Isle of Man_, 1845, vol. ii. p. 120.

MIDDLESEX.

The date of the first establishment of a regular watch or guard for the City of London is uncertain. Stow assures us it has been instituted “time out of mind;” and we have, as early as the 39th Henry VI., the following entries:

“Payde to iiij men to wacche w^{t} the Mayre and to goo w^{t} him a nyghtes, xvj^{d.}”

“Payde in expenses for goyng about w^{t} the Mayre in the town in the wacche, iiij^{d.}”

The watch for the ensuing year was always appointed with much pomp and ceremony on the vigil of St. John, or Midsummer’s Eve; hence the appellation of the Midsummer Watch. On this night, as we learn from Stow, the standing watches in every ward and street of the city and suburbs were habited in bright harness. There was also a marching watch consisting of as many as 2000 persons, most of them old soldiers, who appeared in appropriate habits, armed, and many of them, especially the musicians and standard-bearers, rode on horseback. The watch was attended by men bearing cresset-lights,[71] which were provided partly by the companies, and partly by the City Chamber. Every cresset-bearer was presented with a “strawen hat and a painted badge, beside the donation of his breakfast next morning.” The constables, one half of whom went out on the Eve of St. John, and the other half on the Eve of St. Peter, were dressed in “bright harnesse, some over gilt, and every one had a jornett of scarlet thereupon, and a chain of gold, his henchman following him, and his minstrels before him, and his cresset light at his side. The Mayor himself came after them, well mounted, with his sword-bearer before him, in fair armour on horseback, preceded by the waits, or city minstrels, and the Mayor’s officers in liveries of woosted, or sea-jackets party-coloured. The sheriff’s watches came one after the other in like order, but not so numerous; for the Mayor had, beside his giant, three pageants; whereas the sheriff had only two besides their giants, each with their morris-dancer and one henchman.”

[71] _Cresset-light._--A kind of fire-basket let into an iron frame at
the end of a long pole, and so contrived that the basket remained in a
horizontal position, whichever way the pole was carried. These poles
were usually borne on men’s shoulders. Cresset-lights were also used
as beacons and served instead of lighthouses for signals along the
coast. The badge of the Admiralty was anciently a cresset.--Shakspeare
makes Glendower say, in “Henry IV.” (Act iii. s. 1):

“At my nativity,
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,
Of burning cressets.”

Douce, in his _Illustrations of Shakspeare_, imagines the word to have
been derived from the French word _croiset_--a cruet, or earthen pot.

Stow says that King Henry VIII., in the first year of his reign, came privately into Westcheap to view the setting of this watch, “being clothed in one of the coates of his guard,” and at the next muster, which was on St. Peter’s night, “the king and queene came roially riding to the signe of the King’s Head in Cheape, and there beheld the watche of the citie, which watche was set out with divers goodly shewes, as had been accustomed.” In the 31st year of this reign (1539), however, the Midsummer Watch was discontinued; but it was revived, for one year only, by Sir Thomas Gresham, then Lord Mayor, in the second year of Edward the Sixth’s reign.--Stow’s _Survey of London_; Jupp, _History of the Carpenter’s Company_, 1848, pp. 40-44.

NORTHUMBERLAND.

In the ordinary of the Company of Cooks at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1575, quoted by Brand (_Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 318), is the following clause:--“And alsoe that the said fellowship of Cookes, shall yearelie of theire owne cost and charge mainteigne and keep the bonefires, according to the auntient custome of the said towne on the Sand-hill; that is to say, one bone-fire on the even of the Feast of the Nativitie of St. John Baptist, commonly called Midsomer Even, and the other on the even of the Feast of St. Peter the Apostle, if it shall please the Maior and Aldermen of the said towne for the time being to have the same bone-fires.”

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

Deering, in his _Nottinghamia Vetus et Nova_ (1751, p. 123), quoting from an old authority, gives the following curious account of the watch once held at Nottingham. He says: “Every inhabitant of any ability sets forth a man, as well voluntaries as those who are charged with arms, with such munition as they have; some pikes, some muskets, calivers, or other guns; some partisans, or halberts; and such as have armour send their servants in their armour. The number of these are yearly about two hundred, who at sun-setting meet on the Row, the most open part of the town, where the Mayor’s serjeant-at-mace gives them an oath, the tenor wherof followeth in these words: ‘You shall well and truly keep this town till to-morrow at the sun-rising; you shall come into no house without license or cause reasonable. Of all manner of casualties, of fire, of crying of children, you shall due warning make to the parties, as the case shall require. You shall due search make of all manner of affrays, bloudsheds, outcrys, and all other things that be suspected,’ &c. Which done, they all march in orderly array through the principal streets of the town, and then they are sorted into several companies, and designed to several parts of the town, where they are to keep the watch until the sun dismisses them in the morning. In this business the fashion is for every watchman to wear a garland, made in the fashion of a crown imperial, bedecked with flowers of various kinds, some natural, some artificial, bought and kept for that purpose, as also ribbands, jewels; and for the better garnishing whereof, the townsmen use the day before to ransack the gardens of all the gentlemen within six or seven miles round Nottingham, besides what the town itself affords them: their greatest ambition being to outdo one another in the bravery of their garlands.” This custom was kept up till the reign of Charles I.

OXFORDSHIRE.

About the year 750, says Plott, a battle was fought near Burford, perhaps on the place still called Battle-Edge, west of the town, towards Upton, between Cuthred or Cuthbert, a tributary king of the West Saxons, and Ethelbald, king of Mercia, whose insupportable exactions the former king not being able to endure, he came into the field against Ethelbald, met and overthrew him there, winning his banner, whereon was depicted a golden dragon; in memory of which victory, the custom of making a dragon yearly, and carrying it up and down the town in great jollity on Midsummer Eve, to which they added the picture of a giant, was in all likelihood first instituted.--Plott, _Natural History of Oxfordshire_, 1705, p. 356.

WORCESTERSHIRE.

A very curious practice is observed on Midsummer Eve at Kidderminster, arising from the testamentary dispositions of two individuals once resident there. A farthing loaf is given to every person born in Church Street, Kidderminster, who chooses to claim it. The bequest is of very ancient standing, and the farthing loaf, at the time of its date, was far different to what it is now-a-days. The day is called Farthing Loaf Day, and the bakers’ shops are amply provided with these diminutives, as it is the practice of the inhabitants throughout the town to purchase them. Superadded to this bequest is another. About the year 1788 an old bachelor left a sum for the purchase of a twopenny cake for every unmarried resident in Church Street, to be given on Farthing Loaf Day, and also the sum of two guineas to be paid to a household in the said street, as remuneration for providing a supper of bread and cheese and ale, to which every householder in the street should be invited. The householders each take their turn in being host, but with a promise, that none except the occupiers of front houses should enjoy this dignity. The toast directed to be drunk after supper is, “Peace and good neighbourhood.” The money required arises from a sum which is lent at interest, annually, to any competent inhabitant of this favoured street, upon his producing two good sureties for the repayment at the end of the year.--Hone’s _Year Book_, 1838, p. 745; _Old English Customs and Charities_, p. 241.

YORKSHIRE.

On Midsummer Eve, at Ripon, in former days, every housekeeper, who in the course of the year had changed his residence into a new neighbourhood, spread a table before his door in the street with bread, cheese, and ale for those who chose to resort to it. The guests, after staying awhile, if the master was liberally disposed, were invited to supper, and the evening was concluded with mirth and good humour.--_Every Day Book_, vol. ii. p. 866.

WALES.

Bingley, in his _Tour Round North Wales_ (1800, vol. ii. p. 237), says: On the Eve of St. John the Baptist they fix sprigs of the plant called St. John’s-wort over their doors, and sometimes over their windows, in order to purify their houses, and by that means drive away all fiends and evil spirits.

SCOTLAND.

The Eve of St. John is a great day among the mason-lodges of Scotland. What happens with them at Melrose may be considered as a fair example of the whole.

Immediately after the election of office-bearers for the year ensuing, the brethren walk in procession three times round the Cross, and afterwards dine together under the presidency of the newly-elected grand master. About six in the evening the members again turn out, and form into line two abreast, each bearing a lighted flambeau, and decorated with their peculiar emblems and insignia. Headed by the heraldic banners of the lodge, the procession follows the same route, three times round the Cross, and then proceeds to the abbey. On these occasions the crowded streets present a scene of the most animated description. The joyous strains of a well-conducted band, the waving torches, and incessant showers of fire-works make the scene a carnival. But at this time the venerable abbey is the chief point of attraction and resort, and as the torch-bearers thread their way through its mouldering aisles, and round its massive pillars, the outlines of its gorgeous ruins become singularly illuminated, and brought into bold and striking relief. The whole extent of the abbey is, with “measured step and slow,” gone three times round. But when near the _finale_, the whole masonic body gather to the chancel, and forming one grand semicircle around it, where the heart of King Robert Bruce lies deposited near the high altar, the band strikes up the patriotic air, “Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled,” and the effect thus produced is overpowering. Midst showers of rockets and the glare of blue lights the scene closes.--Wade’s _History of Melrose Abbey_, 1861, p. 146.

IRELAND.

The following extract is taken from the _Liverpool Mercury_, June 29th, 1867:--

The old pagan fire-worship still survives in Ireland, though nominally in honour of St. John. On Sunday night bonfires were observed throughout nearly every county in the province of Leinster. In Kilkenny, fires blazed on every hillside at intervals of about a mile. There were very many in the Queen’s county, also in Kildare and Wexford. The effect in the rich sunset appeared to travellers very grand. The people assemble, and dance round the fires, the children jump through the flames, and in former times live coals were carried into the corn fields to prevent blight: of course, people are not conscious that this Midsummer celebration is a remnant of the worship of Baal. It is believed by many that the round towers were intended for signal fires in connection with this worship.--See _Gent. Mag._ 1795, vol. lxv. pt. ii. p. 124; see Sir Henry Piers’s _Description of Westmeath_, 1682; and _The Comical Pilgrim’s Pilgrimage into Ireland_, 1723 p. 92.

Croker, in his _Researches in the South of Ireland_ (1824, p. 233), mentions a custom observed on the eve of St. John’s Day, and some other festivals, of dressing up a broomstick as a figure, and carrying it about in the twilight from one cabin to the other, and suddenly pushing it in at the door. The alarm or surprise occasioned by this feat produced some mirth. The figure thus dressed up was called a _Bredogue_.

At Stoole, near Downpatrick, there is a ceremony commencing at twelve o’clock at night on Midsummer Eve. Its sacred mount is consecrated to St. Patrick; the plain contains three wells, to which the most extraordinary virtues are attributed. Here and there are heaps of stones, around some of which appear great numbers of people, running with as much speed as possible; around others crowds of worshippers kneel with bare legs and feet as an indispensable part of the penance. The men, without coats, with handkerchiefs on their heads instead of hats, having gone seven times round each heap, kiss the ground, cross themselves, and proceed to the hill; here they ascend, on their bare knees, by a path so steep and rugged that it would be difficult to walk up. Many hold their hands clasped at the back of their necks, and several carry large stones on their heads. Having repeated this ceremony seven times, they go to what is called St. Patrick’s Chair, which are two great flat stones fixed upright in the hill; here they cross and bless themselves as they step in between these stones, and, while repeating prayers, an old man, seated for the purpose, turns them round on their feet three times, for which he is paid; the devotee then goes to conclude his penance at a pile of stones, named the Altar. While this busy scene is continued by the multitude, the wells and streams issuing from them are thronged by crowds of halt, maimed, and blind, pressing to wash away their infirmities with water consecrated by their patron saint, and so powerful is the impression of its efficacy on their minds, that many of those who go to be healed, and who are not totally blind, or altogether crippled, really believe for a time that they are by means of its miraculous virtues perfectly restored.--_Hibernian Magazine_, July 1817.

JUNE 24.] MIDSUMMER DAY--ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST’S DAY.

The general customs connected with this season commenced on the preceding evening.--_See_ Midsummer Eve.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

The _Status Scholæ Etonensis_, A.D. 1560 (MS. Addit. Brit. Mus. 4813), says: “_Mense Junii_, in Festo Natalis D. Johannis post matutinas preces, dum consuetudo floruit accedebant omnes scholastici ad rogum extructum in orientali regione templi, ubi reverenter a symphoniacis cantatis tribus Antiphonis, et pueris in ordine stantibus venitur ad merendam.”

CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

On a common called Midsummer Green, in the parish of Barnwell, an annual fair is held, commencing on Midsummer Day, and continuing for a fortnight. This fair is supposed to have originated with the assemblages of children at this place on the eve of St. John the Baptist’s Day, whose yearly gatherings being attended by a considerable concourse of people, attracted the notice of some pedlars, who began to dispose of their merchandise on this spot as early as the reign of Henry I. The articles brought for sale are chiefly earthen-wares, whence the festival has attained the name of _Pot fair_. The fair is proclaimed on the eve of Midsummer Day by the heads of the University, first in the middle of the village, and afterwards on the green where it is celebrated. It appears to have assumed its legal form in the reign of Henry III.--Brayley and Britton, _Beauties of England and Wales_, 1809, vol. ii. p. 110.

CHESHIRE.

In former times there was a privilege of licensing the minstrels, peculiar to the ancient family of Dutton. The original grant came from Earl Randal Blundeville to Roger Lacy, constable of Chester; and his son, John Lacy, assigned the privilege to the family of Dutton. The anniversary of this solemnity was constantly celebrated on the festival of St. John the Baptist by a regular procession of all the minstrels to the church of this tutelary saint in the city of Chester. But after having been constantly observed for at least 550 years, it seems to have been discontinued in 1758; and, as an instance how sacred these exclusive privileges were esteemed by legislative wisdom, the Act of the 29th of Elizabeth, which declares all _itinerant minstrels_ to be vagabonds, particularly excepts the minstrel-jurisdiction of John Dutton, of Dutton in Cheshire, Esq.--Gower, _Materials for a History of Cheshire_, 1771, p. 67.

CORNWALL.

Hitchins, in his _History of Cornwall_ (1824, vol. i. p. 717), says: Midsummer Day is considered as a high holiday, on which either a pole is erected, decorated with garlands, or some flags displayed, to denote the sanctity of the time. This custom has prevailed from time immemorial, of which it is scarcely possible to trace the origin.

DEVONSHIRE.

Lynton revel begins on the first Sunday after Midsummer Day. It formerly lasted a week. As in the days before the Reformation, revels until lately began on a Sunday in Lynton and Lynmouth, a barrel of beer having been placed near the church gate in readiness for the people coming out of church, who partook of a glass and a cake, called revel cake, made with dark flour, currants, and carraway seeds. Wrestling formed a chief feature in the amusements, and large sums were raised by subscription to purchase prizes. However odd it may appear, it is not more than twenty years since the silver spoons, bought as prizes to be wrestled for, were exhibited hung in front of the gallery in Countisbury Church during divine service on Revel Sunday. Of late years, however, owing to the prevalence of drunkenness, especially on the Sunday afternoon, the respectable inhabitants have set their faces against these revels, which have now dwindled into insignificance. The collusion which sprang up among the wrestlers to share the prizes, without their being won by a real trial of skill and strength, hastened also greatly to abate the enthusiasm of the subscribers, so that of late the prizes have not been beyond a few shillings collected from the people on the ground. This of itself has given a death-blow to the revel.--Cooper, _Guide to Lynton and Lynmouth_, 1853, p. 38.

ISLE OF MAN.

On this day a tent is erected on the summit of the Tynwald Hill (called also Cronk-y-Keeillown, i.e., St. John’s Church Hill, a mound said to have been originally brought from each of the seventeen parishes of the island), and preparations are made for the reception of the officers of state, according to ancient custom. Early in the morning the Governor proceeds from Castletown under a military escort to St. John’s Chapel, situated a few hundred yards to the eastward of the Tynwald Hill. Here he is received by the Bishop, the Council, the clergy, and the keys, and all attend Divine service in the chapel, the Government chaplain officiating. This ended, they march in a procession from the chapel to the mount, the military formed in line on each side of the green turf walk. The clergy take the lead, next comes the Vicar-General, and the two Deemsters, then the bearer of the sword of state in front of the Governor, who is succeeded by the Clerk of the Rolls, the twenty-four keys, and the captains of the different parishes.

The ceremony of the Tynwald Hill is thus stated in the _Lex Scripta_ of the Isle of Man, as given for law to Sir John Stanley, in 1417:

“This is the constitution of old time, how yee should be governed on the Tinwald day. First you shall come thither in your royal array, as a king ought to do by the prerogatives and royalties of the land of Mann, and upon the hill of Tinwald sitt in a chair covered with a royal cloath and quishions, and your visage in the east, and your sword before you, holden with the point upward. Your Barrons in the third degree sitting beside you, and your beneficed men and your Deemsters before you sitting, and your clarke, your knight, esquires, and yeomen about you in the third degree, and the worthiest men in your land to be called in before your Deemsters, if you will ask anything of them, and to hear the government of your land and your will; and the Commons to stand without the circle of the hill, with three clearkes in their surplices, and your Deemsters shall call the coroner of Glanfaba, and he shall call in all the coroners of Man, and their yardes in their hands, with their weapons upon them, either sword or axe; and the moares, that is to witt of every sheading; then the chief coroner, that is, the coroner of Glanfaba, shall make affence upon pain of life or lyme, that no man make a disturbance or stirr in the time Tinwald, or any murmur, or rising in the King’s presence, upon pain of hanging and drawing; and then to proceed in your matters whatsoever you have to doe, in felonie or treason, or other matters that touch the government of your land of Manne.”--Cumming’s _History of the Isle of Man_, 1848, pp. 185, 186.

MIDDLESEX.

“There is this solemn and charitable custom in y^{e} Ch. of St. Mary-Hill, London. On the next Sunday after Midsummer Day, every year, the fellowship of the Porters of y^{e} City of London, time out of mind, come to this church in y^{e} morning, and whilst the Psalms are reading, they group two and two towards the rails of y^{e} Communion table, where are set two basons; and there they make their offering, and so return to the body of y^{e} Church again. After then the inhabitants of y^{e} parish and their wives, and others also then at church, make their offering likewise; and the money so offered is given to the poor decrepit Porters of the said fellowship for their better subsistence.”--Newcomb’s _MS. Collect._, cited by Bishop Kennett.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

It was the custom to strew the church of Middleton Chenduit, in summer, with hay gathered from six or seven swaths in Ash Meadow, which were given for this purpose. In the winter the rector found straw.--Bridges’s _History of Northamptonshire_, 1791, vol. i. p. 187.

NORTHUMBERLAND.

It is customary on this day to dress out stools with a cushion of flowers. A layer of clay is placed on the stool, and therein is stuck, with great regularity, an arrangement of all kinds of flowers, so close as to form a beautiful cushion. These are exhibited at the doors of houses in the villages, and at the ends of streets and cross lanes of larger towns, where the attendants beg money from passengers to enable them to have an evening _fête_ and dancing.

This custom is evidently derived from the “Ludi Compitalii” of the Romans; this appellation was taken from the _compita_, or cross lanes, where they were instituted and celebrated by the multitude assembled before the building of Rome. It was the feast of the _lares_, or household gods, who presided as well over houses as streets.--Hutchinson’s _History of Northumberland_.

OXFORDSHIRE.

The following notice of a curious custom, formerly observed at Magdalen College, Oxford, is taken from the _Life of Bishop Horne_, by the Rev. William Jones (Works, vol. xii. p. 131):--“A letter of July the 25th, 1755, informed me that Mr. Horne, according to an established custom at Magdalen College, in Oxford, had begun to preach before the University, on the day of St. John the Baptist. For the preaching of this annual sermon, a permanent pulpit of stone is inserted into a corner of the first quadrangle; and so long as the stone pulpit was in use (of which I have been a witness), the quadrangle was furnished round the sides with a large fence of green boughs, that the preaching might more nearly resemble that of John the Baptist in the wilderness; and a pleasant sight it was: but for many years the custom has been discontinued, and the assembly have thought it safer to take shelter under the roof of the chapel.”

At the mowing of _Revel-mede_, a meadow between Bicester and Wendlebury, most of the different kinds of rural sports were usually practised; and in such repute was the holiday, that booths and stalls were erected as if it had been a fair. The origin of the custom is unknown; but as the amusements took place at the time when the meadow became subject to commonage, some have supposed it originated in the rejoicings of the villagers on that account. These sports entirely ceased on the enclosure of Chesterton field.--Dunkin, _History of Bicester_, 1816, p. 269.

SOMERSETSHIRE.

Collinson, in his _History of the County of Somerset_ (1791, vol. iii. p. 586), gives an account of a custom that was celebrated on the Saturday before old Midsummer Day in the parishes of Congresbury and Puxton, at two large pieces of common land, called East and West Dolemoors. These, he says, were divided into single acres, each bearing a peculiar and different mark cut on the turf, such as a horn, four oxen and a mare, two oxen and a mare, pole-axe, cross, dung-fork, oven, duck’s nest, hand reel, and hare’s tail. On the Saturday before old Midsummer Day, several proprietors of estates in the parishes of Congresbury, Puxton, and Week St. Lawrence, or their tenants, assembled on the commons. A number of apples were previously prepared, marked in the same manner with the before-mentioned acres, which were distributed by a young lad to each of the commoners from a bag or hat. At the close of the distribution, each person repaired to his allotment as his apple directed him, and took possession for the ensuing year. An adjournment then took place to the house of the overseer of Dolemoors (an officer annually elected from the tenants), where four acres, reserved for the purpose of paying expenses, were let by inch of candle, and the remainder of the day was spent in sociability and hearty mirth.

WILTSHIRE.

At Chiltern there is a sport widely practised by the boys, which they call “egg-hopping.” At the commencement of summer the lads forage the woods in quest of birds’ eggs. These, when found, they place on the road at distances apart in proportion to the rarity or abundance of the species of egg. The hopper is then blindfolded, and he endeavours to break as many as he can in a certain number of jumps. The universality of the game, and the existence of various superstitions, combined with their refusal to part with the eggs for money, would warrant a supposition that some superstition is connected with it.--_N. & Q. 3rd. S._ vol. iv. p. 492.

YORKSHIRE.

Old Midsummer Day, says Cole (_History of Scalby_, 1829, p. 44), is, at Scalby, a kind of gala time, when the sports, as they are termed, take place, consisting of the most rustic description of amusements, such as donkey-racing, &c., and when booths are erected for the accommodation of the several visitors, and the village presents a motley fair-like appearance.

IRELAND.

CO. CORK.

A pilgrimage to the source of the River Lee is one frequently performed by two very different classes of persons--the superstitious and the curious; the first led by a traditional sanctity attached to the place, the latter by the reputed sublimity of its scenery, and a desire of witnessing the religious assemblies and ceremonies of the peasantry. The scenery of Gougaun lake is bold and rugged, surrounded by rocky and barren mountains; in its centre is a small and solitary island, connected with the shore by a narrow artificial causeway, constructed to facilitate the rites of religious devotees, who annually flock thither on the 24th June (St. John’s Day), and the celebration of a pious festival. The principal building on the island is a rudely formed circular wall of considerable solidity, in the thickness of which are nine arched recesses or cells, called chapels, severally dedicated to particular saints, with a plain flag-stone set up in each as an altar.

On the celebration of the religious meeting these cells are filled with men and women in various acts of devotion, almost all of them on their knees. Croker, in his _Researches in the South of Ireland_ (1824, p. 275), describing one of these pilgrimages, says: To a piece of rusty iron considerable importance seems to have been attached; it passed from one devotee to another with much ceremony. The form consisted in placing it three times, with a short prayer[72] across the head of the nearest person to whom it was then handed, and who went through the same ceremony with the next to him, and thus it circulated from one to the other. The banks of the lake were the scenes of merry-making. Almost every tent had its piper, two or three young men and women dancing the jig.

[72] “Copy of the prayer to be said at the well of St. John.--‘O
Almighty God, as I have undertaken this journey by way of pilgrimage
in and through a penitential spirit, in the first place I hope to
render myself worthy of the favour I mean to ask, to avoid drunkenness
and licentiousness, and hope to find favour in thy sight; I therefore
pay this tribute and fulfil the promise I have made; I ask you
therefore, through the intercession of St. John, to grant me the
following favour (here mention your ailment, the particular favour you
stand in need of). I know how unworthy I am of being heard, but I
resolve, with thy gracious assistance, henceforward to render myself
worthy of your favour. I implore this gift through the intercession of
St. John, and the sufferings of Christ our Lord. Amen.’

“N.B. You must be careful to avoid all excess in drinking, dancing in
tents, for it is impossible characters can find favour in the sight of
God, such as these. Fasting going there had formerly been the custom.”

CO. LIMERICK.

At one time, the tradesmen of Limerick marched, on Midsummer Day, arranged under their respective leaders, decorated with sashes, ribbons, and flowers, and accompanied with a band of musicians, and the shouts of the delighted populace, through the principal streets of the city, while their merry-men played a thousand antic tricks, and the day generally ended in a terrible fight between the Garryowen and Thomond-gate boys (the tradesmen of the north and south suburbs).--Fitzgerald and Macgregor’s _History of Limerick_, 1827, p. 540.

JUNE 25.] YORKSHIRE.

In the village of Micklefield, about ten miles east of Leeds, it is the custom on the second day of the feast, (June 25th) for about twelve of the villagers,[73] dressed, in their best garb, and wearing a white apron _à l’épicier_, to carry a large basket (generally a clothes-basket) to each farm-house in the village, the occupier of which seems to consider it his bounden duty to give them a good supply of confectionery of some kind to take away with them, and ale _ad libitum_ to drink in his house.--_N. &. Q. 3rd S._ vol. iii. p. 263.

[73] These villagers call themselves “_Joss Weddingers_.” (?)

JUNE 29.] ST. PETER’S DAY.

On this day many of the rites peculiar to the festival of St. John the Baptist were repeated.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

It appears from the _Status Scholæ Etonensis_ (A.D. 1560) that the Eton boys had a great bonfire annually on the east side of the church on St. Peter’s Day, as well as on that of St. John Baptist.

KENT.

The stranger who chances to attend Divine service in Farnborough parish church on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Peter, has his attention arrested by the floor of the porch being strewed with reeds. By an abstract of the will of George Dalton, Gent., of Farnborough, dated December 3rd, 1556, set forth on a mural tablet in the interior of the church, he learns that this gentleman settled a perpetual annuity of 13_s._ 4_d._ chargeable upon his lands at Tuppendence: 10_s._ to the preacher of a sermon on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Peter, and 3_s._ 4_d._ to the poor. Local traditional lore affirms that Mr. Dalton was saved from drowning by reeds, and that the annual sermon and odd manner of decorating the porch are commemorative of the event. This day is called by the inhabitants of the village, Reed Day or Flag Day.--_Maidstone Gazette_, 1859.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

Cole, in his _History of Weston Favell_ (1829, p. 58), says:--The feast follows St. Peter’s Day. The amusements and sports of the week consist of dinner and tea parties formed from the adjacent towns, which meetings are frequently concluded with a ball, indeed a dance at the inns on the few first days of the feast is indispensable. Games at bowls and quoits are pursued with great dexterity and interest by the more athletic visitants, and in the evening the place presents a motley, fair-like appearance; but this continues for no longer period than the second or third day in the feast week.

NORTHUMBERLAND.

Formerly, says Brand (_Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 337), on the evening of St. Peter’s Day, the inhabitants of this county carried firebrands about the fields of their respective parishes. They made encroachments on these occasions upon the bonfires of the neighbouring towns, of which they took away some of the ashes by force; this they called “carrying off the flower (probably the flour) of the wake.”

YORKSHIRE.

In an old account of Gisborough, in Cleveland, and the adjoining coast, printed in the _Antiquarian Repertory_ (1808, vol. iii. p. 304) from an ancient MS. in the Cotton Library (marked Julius F. C., fol. 455), speaking of the fishermen, it is stated that “Upon St. Peter’s Daye they invite their friends and kinsfolk to a festyvall kept after their fashion with a free hearte, and noe shew of niggardnesse; that daye their boates are dressed curiously for the shewe, their mastes are painted, and certain rytes observed amongst them, with sprinkling their prowes with good liquor, sold with them at a groate the quarte, which custom or superstition, suckt from their auncestors, even contynueth down unto this present tyme.”

The feast day of Nun-Monkton is kept on St. Peter’s Day, and is followed by the “Little Feast Day,” and a merry time extending over a week. On the Saturday evening preceding the 29th a company of the villagers, headed by all the fiddlers and players on other instruments that could be mustered at one time went in procession across the great common to “May-pole Hill,” where there is an old sycamore (the pole being near it) for the purpose of “rising Peter,” who had been buried under the tree. This effigy of St. Peter, a rude one of wood, carved--no one professed to know when--and in these later times clothed in a ridiculous fashion, was removed in its box-coffin to the neighbourhood of the public-house, there to be exposed to view, and, with as little delay as possible, conveyed to some out-building, where it was stowed away and thought no more about till the first Saturday after the feast day (or the second if the 29th had occurred at the back end of a week), when it was taken back in procession again, and re-interred with all honour which concluding ceremony was called “Buryin’ Peter.” In this way did St. Peter preside over his own feast. On the evening of the first day of the feast, two young men went round the village with large baskets for the purpose of collecting tarts, cheese-cakes, and eggs for mulled ale--all being consumed after the two ceremonies above indicated. This last good custom is not done away with yet, suppers and, afterwards, dancing in a barn being the order while the feast lasts.--_N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. i. p. 361.

SCOTLAND.

In Sinclair’s _Stat. Acc. of Scotland_ (1792, vol. iii. p. 105) we are told that at Loudoun, in Ayrshire, the custom still retains among the herds and young people to kindle fires in the high grounds, in honour of Beltan. Beltan was anciently the time of this solemnity. It is kept on St. Peter’s day.

JULY.] COMMENCEMENT DAY.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

In the University of Cambridge, the first Tuesday in July is usually the Commencement Day. The Commencement Sunday is the Sunday immediately before the Commencement Day. It is a commemoration day.

On Commencement Sunday, the Vice-Chancellor invites to dinner all noblemen, the three Regius Professors, and their sons and the public orator.--Adam Wall, _Ceremonies observed in the Senate House of the University of Cambridge_, 1798, p. 76.

HUNTINGDONSHIRE.

At Old Weston a piece of green sward belongs by custom to the parish clerk for the time being, subject to the condition of the land being mown immediately before Weston feast, which occurs in July, and the cutting thereof being strewed on the church floor previously to Divine service on the feast Sunday, and continuing there during Divine service.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and Charities_, p. 220.

LANCASHIRE.

At Altcar the parish church is dedicated to St. Michael, and, in accordance with a very old custom, a rush-bearing takes place in July.--See _Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 341.

NORTHUMBERLAND.

In the _History of Alnwick_ (1822, pp. 241-244) the following account is given of an ancient custom celebrated on the proclamation of the fair held in July. On the Sunday evening preceding the fair, the representatives of the adjacent townships that owe suit and service to his Grace the Duke of Northumberland, and the constables of Alnwick, with several of the freeholders and tradesmen, attend at the castle, where they are freely regaled. The steward of the Court, and the bailiff with their attendants, then proceed from the castle to the cross in the market-place, where the bailiff proclaims the fair in the name of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, and calls over the names of the various townships that owe suit and service; viz. the townships of Chatton and Chillingham, four men, Coldmarton and Fowbury, four men; Hetton and Hezebrigge, four men; Fawdon and Clinch, four men; Alnham and Alnham Moor, two men; Tughall and Swinhoe, two men; Longhoughton and Denwick, four men; Lesbury and Bilton, two men; Lyham and Lyham-hall, one man; with the principal inhabitants of the borough of Alnwick. The representatives who attend for the several townships in service are obliged to keep watch at different parts of the town the night before the fair, which has been a custom from time immemorial. On the fair-day the tenants of the Duke within the barony of Alnwick attend at the castle, when the steward and bailiff proceed from thence to the market, and proclaim the fair as before. They then go to Clayport Street, where the fair is again proclaimed, and from thence to the castle. The above townships, by their attendance, are exempt from paying toll in the borough for twelve months, but if they do not attend, they must pay the same till the next year.

SCOTLAND.

COUNTY OF EDINBURGH.

The Leith Races take place either in the month of July or August. As they were under the patronage of the magistrates of Edinburgh, it was usual for one of the city officers to walk in procession every morning during the week from the Council Chamber down to Leith, bearing aloft a silk purse, gaily decorated with ribbons, styled the City Purse, on the end of a pole, accompanied by the town-guard drummer, who, being stationed in the rear of this dignitary, continued beating a tattoo at his heels all the way to the race-ground.

The procession which at the onset consisted only of the officer and the drummer, and sometimes a file or two of the town-guard, gathered strength as it moved along the line of march, from a constant accession of boys, who were every morning on the look out for this procession, and who preferred, according to their own phrase, “gaun down wi’ the purse,” to any other way. Such a dense mass of these finally surrounded the officer and his attendant drummer that, long before the procession reached Leith, both had wholly disappeared. Nothing of the former remained visible but the purse, and the top of the pole on which it was borne. These, however, projecting above the heads of the crowd, still pointed out the spot where he might be found: of the drummer, no vestige remained; but he was known to exist by the faint and intermittent sounds of his drum. The town-guard also came in for a share of the honours and the business of this festive week. These were marched down to Leith every day in full costume. Having arrived upon the sands, the greater part, along with the drummer, took their station at the starting-point, where the remainder surrounded the heights. The march of these veterans to Leith is thus humorously described by Ferguson:--

“Come, hafe a care (the captain cries),
On guns your bagnets thraw:
Now mind your manual exercise,
And march down row by row.
And as they march he’ll glour about,
Tent a’ ther cuts an’ scars;
Mang these full many a gausy snout
Has gusht in birth-day wars
Wi’ blude that day.”

Campbell, _History of Leith_, 1827, p. 187.

RENFREWSHIRE.

A very curious custom existed at Greenock, and in the neighbouring town of Port Glasgow, at the fair held on the first Monday in July, and the fourth Tuesday in November. The whole trades of the town, in the dresses of their guilds, with flags and music, each man armed, made a grand rendezvous at the place where the fair was to be held, and with drawn swords and array of guns and pistols, surrounded the booths, and greeted the baillie’s announcement by tuck of drum, “that Greenock Fair was open,” by a tremendous shout, and a struggling fire from every serviceable barrel in the crowd.--_N. &. Q. 1st S._, vol. ix. p. 242.

ROXBURGHSHIRE.

Haig, in his _History of Kelso_ (1825, p. 107), tells us that in his time the Society of Gardeners, on the second Tuesday in July, the day of their annual general meeting, paraded the streets, accompanied by a band of music, and carrying an elegant device composed of the most beautiful flowers, which, on the company reaching the inn where they dined, was thrown from the window to the crowd, who soon demolished it in a scramble for the flowers.

Fuller, too, in his _History of Berwick-upon-Tweed_ (1799, p. 447), says the association of gardeners, which took place in 1796, had in his time a procession through the streets yearly. It was accompanied with music; and, in the middle of the procession, a number of men carried a large wreath of flowers. The different officers belonging to this institution wore their respective insignia, and the whole society dined together.

JULY 1.] IRELAND.

Mason, in his _Stat. Acc. of Ireland_ (1814, vol. ii. p. 528), says that the great holiday in Seagoe is on the first of July (Old Style), being the anniversary of the battle of the Boyne. A procession takes place, the whole population wear orange lilies, and the day is spent in festivity.

JULY 5.] LEICESTERSHIRE.

At Glenfield, the parish clerk, in accordance with an old custom, strews the church with new hay on the first Sunday after the 5th of July.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and Charities_, p. 219.

JULY 7.] ST. THOMAS À BECKET’S DAY.

CORNWALL.

The festival called Bodmin Riding was kept on Sunday and Monday after St. Thomas à Becket’s Day (July 7th). A puncheon of beer having been brewed in the preceding October, and bottled in anticipation of the time, two or more young men who were entrusted with the chief management of the affair, and who represented the “wardens,” went round the town attended by a band of drums and fifes, or other instruments. The crier saluted each house with, “To the people of this house a prosperous morning, long life, and a merry riding!” The musicians then struck up the riding tune, and the householder was solicited to taste the riding ale, which was carried round in baskets. A bottle was usually taken in, and it was acknowledged by such a sum as the means or humour of the townsman permitted, to be spent on the public festivities of the season. Next morning a procession was formed: all who could afford to ride mounted on horse or ass, which proceeded first to the Priory, to receive two large garlands of flowers fixed on staves, and then through the principal streets to the Town End, where the games were formally opened. The sports, which lasted two days, consisted of wrestling, foot-racing, jumping in sacks, &c. It should be remarked that a second or inferior brewing, from the same wort, was drunk at a minor merry-making at Whitsuntide. In an order, dated November 15th, 1583, regulating the business of the shoemakers, a class of tradesmen which seems for ages to have been more than usually numerous in Bodmin, it is directed by the mayor and the masters of the occupation, “that at the _Rydyng_ every master and journeyman shall give their attendance to the steward, and likewise bring him to church, upon pain of 12_d._ for every master, and 6_d._ for every journeyman, for every such default, to the discretion of the master of the occupation.”

At this festival there was held a curious kind of mock trial. A Lord of Misrule was appointed, before whom any unpopular person, so unlucky as to be captured, was dragged to answer a charge of felony; the imputed crime being such as his appearance might suggest, a negligence in his attire, or a breach of manners. With ludicrous gravity a mock trial was then commenced, and judgment was gravely pronounced, when the culprit was hurried off to receive his punishment. In this his apparel was generally a greater sufferer than his person, as it commonly terminated in his being thrown into the water or the mire.[74] “Take him before the mayor of Halgaver;” “Present him in Halgaver Court,” are old Cornish proverbs.--_Parochial History of Cornwall_, 1868, vol i. p. 104. Murray, _Handbook for Cornwall_, 1865, p. 244.

[74] Carew, in his _Survey of Cornwall_ (1811, p. 296), speaking of
this custom, says: “The youthlier sort of Bodmin townsmen use
sometimes to sport themselves by playing the box with strangers whom
they summon to Halgaver. The name signifieth the goat’s moor, and such
a place it is, lying a little without the town, and very full of
quagmires. When these mates with any raw serving man, or other young
master, who may serve and deserve to make pastime, they cause him to
be solemnly arrested, for his appearance before the mayor of Halgaver,
where he is charged with wearing one spur, in going untrussed or
wanting a girdle, or some such like felony; and after he hath been
arraigned and tried, with all requisite circumstances, judgment is
given in formal terms, and executed in some ungracious prank or other,
more to the scorn than hurt of the party condemned. Now and then they
extend their merriment with the largest, to the prejudice of
over-credulous people, persuading them to fight with a dragon lurking
in Halgaver, or to see some strange matter there; which concludeth at
least with a training them into the mire.”

KENT.

Becket’s Fair, says Hasted in his _History of Canterbury_ (1801, vol. i. p. 104), was held on the feast of St. Thomas à Becket, and was so called from this day being the anniversary of the Archbishop’s translation from his tomb to his shrine, and as such was fixed for this purpose, as a means of gathering together a greater multitude for the celebration of this solemn day.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

In some parts of this county the Sunday after St. Thomas à Becket’s Day goes by the name of Relic Sunday.--_Time’s Telescope_, 1822, p. 192.

JULY 9.] STAFFORDSHIRE.

There existed at one time, at Wolverhampton, an annual procession, on July 9th (the eve of the great fair), of men in antique armour, preceded by musicians playing the “fair tune,” and followed by the steward of the Deanery Manor, the peace-officers, and many of the principal inhabitants. Tradition says the ceremony originated at the time when Wolverhampton was a great emporium of wool, and resorted to by merchants of the staple from all parts of England. The necessity of an annual force to keep peace and order during the fair (which is said to have lasted fourteen days, but the charter says only eight) is not improbable. It was finally discontinued by Sir William Pulteney, who was the lessee of the Deanery Manor, to the great dissatisfaction of the people of Wolverhampton. These processions were the remains of the Corpus Christi pageantry, which were always celebrated at the annual fairs, and attended by men armed and equipped as if for war.--Shaw, _History of Staffordshire_, 1798-1801, p. 165; Oliver, _Historical Account of the Collegiate Church of Wolverhampton_, 1836, p. 44.

JULY 12.] IRELAND.

At Maghera, County Down, on the 12th of July, the anniversary of the battle of Aughrim, the Orangemen assemble, walk in their insignia, and dine together.--Mason, _Stat. Acc. of Ireland_, 1844, vol. i. p. 594.

JULY 15.] ST. SWITHIN’S DAY.

St. Swithin was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the time of King Ethelbert, and the great patron saint of the cathedral and city of Winchester. In some church-books there are entries of gatherings of “Saint Swithine’s farthyngs” on this day. There is an old proverb which says:

“St. Swithin’s Day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain:
St. Swithin’s Day, if thou be fair,
For forty days ’twill rain na mair.”

There is also a quaint saying, that when it rains on St. Swithin’s Day, it is the saint christening the apples.--See Timbs’ _Things not Generally Known_, 1856, p. 153.

SURREY.

In the Churchwardens’ accounts of the parish of Horley, under the years 1505-6, is the following entry, which implies a gathering on this saint’s day:--

“Itm. Saintt Swithine farthyngs the said 2 yeres, 30_s._ 8_d._”

YORKSHIRE.

Sports were at one time annually celebrated at Cloughton on Saturday evening after the 15th July.--Cole, _Historical Sketches of Scalby, Burniston, and Cloughton_, 1829, p. 63.

JULY 17.] ST. KENELM’S DAY.

WORCESTERSHIRE.