Chapter II: Preface (2)

As for Twelfth Day, the king must go crowned in his royal robes, kirtle, surcoat, his furred hood about his neck, his mantle with a long train, and his cutlas before him; his armills upon his arms, of gold set full of rich stones; and no temporal man to touch it but the king himself; and the squire for the body must bring it to the king in a fair kerchief, and the king must put them on himself; and he must have his sceptre in his right hand, and the ball with the cross in the left hand, and the crown upon his head. And he must offer that day gold, myrrh, and sense; then must the dean of the chapel send unto the Archbishop of Canterbury by clerk or priest the king’s offering that day; and then must the Archbishop give the next benefice that falleth in his gift to the same messenger. And then the king must change his mantle when he goeth to meat, and take off his hood and lay it about his neck, and clasp it before with a great rich ouche; and this must be of the same colour that he offered in. And the queen in the same form when she is crowned.

The same day that he goeth crowned he ought to go to matins; to which array belongeth his kirtle, surcoat, tabard, and his furred hood slyved over his head, and rolled about his neck; and on his head his cap of estate, and his sword before him.

At even-song he must go in his kirtle and surcoat, and hood laid about his shoulders, and clasp the tippet and hood together before his breast with a great rich ouche, and his hat of estate upon his head.

As for the _void_ on the Twelfth Night, the king and the queen ought to have it in the hall. And as for the wassail, the steward, the treasurer, and the controller, shall come for it with their staves in their hands; the king’s sewer and the queen’s having fair towels about their necks, and dishes in their hands, such as the king and queen shall eat of; the king’s carvers and the queen’s shall come after with chargers or dishes, such as the king or the queen shall eat of, and with towels about their necks. And no man shall bear anything unless sworn for three months. And the steward, treasurer, comptroller, and marshall of the hall shall ordain for all the hall. And, if it be in the great chamber, then shall the chamberlain and ushers ordain, after the above form; and if there be a bishop, his own squire, or else the king’s, such as the officers choose to assign, shall serve him; and so of all the other estates, if they be dukes or earls; and so of duchesses and countesses. And then there must come in the ushers of the chamber, with the pile of cups, the king’s cups and the queen’s, and the bishop’s with the butlers and wine to the cupboard, and then a squire for the body to bear the cup, and another for the queen’s cup, such as is sworn for hire.

The singers [of the chapel] may stand at the one side of the hall, and when the steward cometh in at the hall-door, with the wassail, he must cry thrice “Wassaile,” &c., and then shall the chapel answer it anon with a good song, and thus in likewise, if it please the king to keep the great chamber. And then when the king and queen have done, they will go into the chamber. And there belongeth for the king, two lights with the void, and two lights with the cup; and for the queen as many.--_Antiq. Rep._ 1807, vol. i. p. 328.

On Twelfth Day, 1563, Mary Queen of Scots celebrated the French pastime of the King of the Bean at Holyrood, but with a queen instead of a king, as more appropriate, in consideration of herself being a female sovereign. The lot fell to the real queen’s attendant, Mary Fleming, and the mistress good-naturedly arrayed the servant in her own robes and jewels, that she might duly sustain the mimic dignity in the festivities of the night. The English resident, Randolph, who was in love with Mary Beton, another of the queen’s maids of honour, wrote in excited terms about this festival to the Earl of Leicester. “Happy was it,” says he, “unto this realm, that her reign endured no longer. Two such sights, in one state, in so good accord, I believe was never seen, as to behold two worthy queens possess, without envy, one kingdom, both upon a day. I leave the rest to your lordship to be judged of. My pen staggereth, my hand faileth, further to write.----The Queen of the Bean was that day in a gown of cloth of silver; her head, her neck, her shoulders, the rest of her whole body, so beset with stones, that more in our whole jewel-house were not to be found. The cheer was great. I never found myself so happy, nor so well treated, until that it came to the point that the old Queen (Mary) herself, to show her mighty power, contrary unto the assurance granted me by the younger Queen (Mary Fleming), drew me into the dance; which part of the play I could with good will have spared unto your lordship as much fitter for the purpose.”--_Lives of the Queens of Scotland_, Strickland, vol. iv. p. 20.

Down to the time of the Civil Wars, the feast of the Epiphany was observed with great splendour, not only at court, but at the Inns of Court, and the Universities (where it was an old custom to choose the king by the bean in a cake), as well as in private mansions and smaller households. We read, too, of our nobility keeping Twelfth Night by the diversion of blowing up pasteboard castles; letting claret flow like blood out of a stag made of paste; the castle bombarded from a pasteboard ship, with cannon, in the midst of which the company pelted each other with egg-shells filled with rose-water; and large pies were made, filled with live frogs, which hopped and flew out upon some curious person lifting up the lid. Twelfth Night grew to be a court festival, in which gaming was a costly feature. Evelyn tells us that on Twelfth Night, 1662, according to custom, His Majesty (Charles II.) opened the revels of that night by throwing the dice himself in the privy chamber, where was a table set on purpose, and lost his 100_l._--_Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 63.

CUMBERLAND.

In Cumberland, and other northern parts of England, on Twelfth Night, which finishes the Christmas holidays, the rustics meet together in a large room. They begin dancing at seven o’clock, and finish at twelve, when they sit down to _lobscouse_ and _ponsondie_; the former is made of beef, potatoes, and onions, fried together; and in ponsondie we recognise the wassail or waes-hael of ale, boiled with sugar and nutmeg, into which are put roasted apples; the anciently admired lambs’-wool. The feast is paid for by subscription; two women are chosen, who with two wooden bowls placed one within the other, so as to leave an opening and a space between them, go round to the female part of the society in succession, and what one puts into the uppermost bowl the attendant collectress slips into the bowl beneath it. All are expected to contribute something, but not more than a shilling, and they are best esteemed who give most. The men choose two from themselves and follow the same custom, except that as the gentlemen are not supposed to be so fair in their dealings as the ladies, one of the collectors is furnished with pen, ink, and paper, to set down the subscription as soon as received.--_Time’s Telescope_, 1825, p. 13.

In many of the small towns they partake of scalded field-peas, and a hare or some other kind of game. The peas are brought to table with the hare, and are scalded in water with the husks on, after which a lump of butter is put in the middle, and they are picked out as they are eaten. The supper concludes with a _tharve-cake_, a large, flat, oaten cake, baked on a girdle, sometimes with plums in it. Dancing and drinking then occupy the remainder of the evening. Tar barrels are common at all their festivals, and scarcely a town is without them.--_Ibid._ 1829, p. 11.

DERBYSHIRE.

The morris-dancers who go about from village to village about Twelfth Day, have their fool, their Maid Marian (generally a man dressed in woman’s clothes, and called “the fool’s wife,”) and sometimes the hobby-horse; they are dressed up in ribbons and tinsel, but the bells are usually discarded.--_Jour. of Arch. Assoc._ 1852, vol. vii. p. 201.

DORSETSHIRE.

The rector of Piddle Hinton gives away on Old Christmas Day a pound of bread, a pint of ale, and a mince pie, to every poor person in the parish. This distribution is regularly made by the rector to upwards of three hundred persons.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and Charities_, 1842, p. 6.

LINCOLNSHIRE.

Anciently the Mowbrays had great possessions in and about the Isle of Axholme, and a seat, at which they principally resided, and were considered the greatest folks in that part of the country. It so happened that on Old Christmas Day, while a young lady (the daughter of the then Mowbray) was riding over the Meeres to the church by an old road (at that time the principal one across the village) a gale of wind blew off her hood. Twelve farming men who were working in the fields saw the occurrence, and ran to gather up the hood, and in such earnest were they that the lady took so much amusement at the scene she forbade her own attendants joining in the pursuit. The hood being captured, and replaced on the lady’s head, she expressed her obligation to the men, giving them each some money, and promised a piece of land (to be vested in certain persons in trust) to throw up a hood annually on Old Christmas Day.[7] She also ordered that the twelve men engaged to contest the race for the hood should be clothed (_pro temp._) in scarlet jerkins and velvet caps: the hood to be thrown in the same place as the one where she lost hers. The custom is yet followed; and though the Meeres on which she was riding has long ago been brought into a state of cultivation, and the road through been diverted, yet an old mill stands in the field where the road passed through, and is pointed out as the place where the original scene took place, and the hood is usually thrown up from this mill. There is generally a great concourse of people from the neighbouring villages who also take part in the proceedings; and when the hood is thrown up by the chief of the _boggons_, or by the officials, it becomes the object of the villagers to get the hood to their own village, by throwing or kicking it, similar to the foot-ball. The other eleven men, called _boggons_, being stationed at the comers and sides of the field to prevent, if possible, its being thrown out of the field; and should it chance to fall into any of their hands it is “boggoned,” and forthwith returned to the chief, who again throws it up from the mill as before. Whoever is fortunate enough to get it out of the field, tries to get it to his village, and usually takes it to the public house he is accustomed to frequent, and the landlord regales him with hot ale and rum.

[7] The quantity of land given by Lady Mowbray was forty acres, known
by the name of the Hoodlands.

The game usually continues until dusk, and is frequently attended by broken shins and bruised heads. The next day is occupied by the boggons going round the villages, singing as waits, who are regaled with hot furmenty; from some they get coppers given them, and from others a small measure of wheat, according to the means of the donor. The day after that they assume the character of plough bullocks, and at a certain part of West Woodside they “smoke the fool;” that is, straw is collected by those who like, and piled on a heap, a rope being tied or slung over the branches of the tree next the pile of straw; the other end of the rope is fastened round the waist of the “fool,” and he is drawn up, and fire is put to the straw, the “fool” being swung to and fro through the smoke, until he is well nigh choked; after which he goes round with his cap, and collects whatever the spectator thinks proper to give. The performance is then at an end until the following year. See _N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. v. p. 94. Peek’s _History of Axholme_, 1815, vol. i. p. 277.

In the _History of Lincolnshire_ (vol. ii. p. 214) is the following account of this custom, differing but little from the notice already given. At Haxey, Old Twelfth Day is devoted to _throwing the hood_, an amusement, which according to tradition, was instituted by one of the Mowbrays. A roll of canvas, tightly corded together, from four to six pounds in weight, is taken to an open field, and contended for by the rustics. An individual appointed casts it from him, and the first person who can convey it into the cellars of any public house receives the reward of one shilling, paid by the plough-bullocks or _boggins_. A new hood being furnished when the others are carried off, the contest usually continues till dark. The next day the plough-bullocks or boggins go round the town collecting alms, and crying “Largess.” They are dressed like morris-dancers, and are yoked to and drag a small plough. They have their farmer, and a fool called Billy Buck, dressed like a harlequin, with whom the boys make sport. The day is concluded by the bullocks running with the plough round the cross on the green; and the man that can throw the other down, and convey the plough into the cellar of a public house, receives one shilling for his agility.--See _N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. ix. p. 158.

MIDDLESEX.

In London on Twelfth Night, in former days, boys assembled round the inviting shops of the pastrycooks, and dexterously nailed the coat-tails of spectators who ventured near enough to the bottoms of the window frames, or pinned them strongly together by their clothes. Sometimes eight or ten persons found themselves thus connected. The dexterity and force of the nail-driving was so quick and sure that a single blow seldom failed of doing the business effectually.--Withdrawal of the nail without a proper instrument was out of the question, and consequently, the person nailed was forced either to leave part of his coat as a cognisance of his attachment, or quit the spot with a hole in it. At every nailing and pinning shouts of laughter arose from the perpetrators, yet it often happened to one who turned and smiled at the duress of another, that he also found himself nailed. Efforts at extrication increased mirth; nor was the presence of a constable, who was usually employed to attend and preserve free “ingress, egress, and regress,” sufficiently awful to deter the offender.--_Every Day Book_, vol. i. p. 50.

A curious custom of mediæval origin is observed at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, on the festival of the Epiphany. After the reading of the sentence at the offertory, “Let your light so shine before men,” &c., while the organ plays, two members of her Majesty’s household, wearing the royal livery, descend from the royal pew and advance to the altar rails, preceded by the usher, where they present to one of the two officiating clergymen a red bag, edged with gold lace or braid, which is received in an offertory basin, and then reverently placed on the altar. This bag or purse is understood to contain the Queen’s offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, in commemoration of the gifts of the Magi to the infant Saviour.--_Echo_, Jan. 7th, 1869.

In the _Lady’s Mag._ for 1760, is the following:

Sunday Jan. 6th, being Twelfth Day, and a collar and offering day at St. James’, his Majesty, preceded by the heralds, pursuivants, &c., and the knights of the Garter, Thistle, and Bath, in the collars of their respective orders, went to the Royal Chapel at St. James’, and offered gold, myrrh, and frankincense, in imitation of the Eastern Magi offering to our Saviour.

ISLE OF MAN.

In this island there is not a barn unoccupied on the whole twelve days after Christmas, every parish hiring fiddlers at the public charge. On Twelfth Day the fiddler lays his head in the lap of some one of the wenches, and the _mainstyr fiddler_ asks who such a maid, or such a maid, naming all the girls one after another, shall marry, to which he answers according to his own whim, or agreeable to the intimacies he has taken notice of during the time of merriment, and whatever he says is absolutely depended on as an oracle; and if he happen to couple two people who have an aversion to each other, tears and vexation succeed the mirth; this they call “cutting off the fiddler’s head,” for after this he is dead for a whole year.--Waldron’s _Description of the Isle of Man_, 1859, p. 156.

SOMERSETSHIRE.

A friend of mine, says Mr. C. W. Bingham in _N. & Q._ (_3rd S._ vol. ix. p. 33), met a girl on Old Christmas Day, in a village of North Somerset, who told him that she was going to see the Christmas thorn in blossom. He accompanied her to an orchard, where he found a tree, propagated from the celebrated Glastonbury thorn, and gathered from it several sprigs in blossom. Afterwards the girl’s mother informed him that it had been formerly the custom for the youth of both sexes to assemble under the tree at midnight on Christmas Eve, in order to hear the bursting of the buds into flower, and she added, “As they comed out, you could hear ’um _haffer_.”

Jennings, and after him Halliwell, give this word _haffer_ for to crackle, to patter, to make repeated loud noises.

STAFFORDSHIRE.

At Paget’s Bromley a curious custom went out in the seventeenth century. A man came along the village with a mock horse fastened to him, with which he danced, at the same time making a snapping noise with a bow and arrow. He was attended by half a dozen fellow-villagers, wearing mock deers’ heads, and displaying the arms of the several landlords of the town. This party danced _the Hays_, and other country dances, to music, amidst the sympathy and applause of the multitude. There was also a huge pot of ale with cakes, by general contribution of the village, out of the very surplus of which “they not only repaired their church, but kept their poor too; which charges,” quoth Dr. Plot, “are not now, perhaps, so cheerfully borne.”--Plot’s _Nat. Hist. of Staffordshire_, 1680, p. 434.

WESTMORELAND.

Twelfth Night, or Holly Night, was formerly celebrated at Brough, by carrying through the town a holly-tree with torches attached to its branches. The procession set out at 8 o’clock in the evening preceded by music, and stopped at the town-bridge, and again at the cross, where it was greeted each time with shouts of applause. Many of the inhabitants carried lighted branches as flambeaux; and rockets, squibs, &c., were discharged on the joyful occasion. After the tree had been carried about, and the torches were sufficiently burnt, it was placed in the middle of the town, when it was again cheered by the surrounding crowd, and then was thrown among them. The spectators at once divided into two parties, one of which endeavoured to take the tree to one of the inns, and the other to a rival inn. The innkeeper whose party triumphed was expected to treat his partisans liberally.--Hone’s _Table Book_, 1838, p. 26; _Handbook for the Lakes_, Murray, 1866, p. 113.

WALES.

In some parts of Pembrokeshire, the following practice is observed. A wren is secured in a small house made of wood, with door and windows, the latter glazed. Pieces of ribbon of various colours are fixed to the ridge of the roof outside. Sometimes several wrens are brought in the same cage, and oftentimes a stable-lantern, decorated as above mentioned, serves for the wren’s-house. The proprietors of this establishment go round to the principal houses in their neighbourhood: where, accompanying themselves with some musical instrument, they announce their arrival by singing the ‘Song of the Wren.’ The wren’s visit is a source of much amusement to children and servants, and the wren’s men, or lads, are usually invited to have a draught from the cellar, and receive a present in money. The ‘Song of the Wren’ is generally _encored_, and the proprietors very commonly commence high life below stairs, dancing with the maid-servants, and saluting them under the kissing bush, where there is one. The following is the ‘Song of the Wren:’

“Joy, health, love, and peace,
Be to you in this place.
By your leave we will sing,
Concerning our king:
Our king is well drest;
In silks of the best;
With his ribbons so rare,
No king can compare.
In his coach he does ride,
With a great deal of pride;
And with four footmen
To wait upon him.
We were four at watch,
And all nigh of a match;
And with powder and ball
We fired at his hall.
We have travell’d many miles,
Over hedges and stiles,
To find you this king,
Which we now to you bring.
Now Christmas is past,
Twelfth Day is the last.
Th’ Old Year bids adieu;
Great joy to the New.”

It would appear from the ninth line of the song that the wren at one time used to occupy a coach, or that her house was placed upon wheels.--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. v. p. 109.

JAN. 7.] ST. DISTAFF’S DAY.--ROCK DAY.

The day after Twelfth Day was called Rock Day[8] and St. Distaff’s Day, because on that day women resumed their spinning, which had been interrupted by the sports of Christmas; for our ancestors, it seems, returned to their work in a very leisurely manner. From Herrick’s _Hesperides_ (p. 374) we learn that the men, in boisterous merriment, burned the women’s flax, and that they in retaliation dashed pails of water upon the men:

“Partly work, and partly play
Ye must on St. Distaff’s Day:
From the plough soone free your teame,
Then home and fother them;
If the maides a spinning goe,
Burn the flax and fire the tow.

* * * * *

Bring in pails of water, then
Let the maides bewash the men;
Give St. Distaff all the night,
Then bid Christmas sport good night;
Then next morning, every one
To his own vocation.”

_Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 138.

[8] See ‘Things not generally known,’ by John Timbs, 1859, pp. 1-6.

PLOUGH MONDAY.

This was the name of a rustic festival, held the first Monday after Twelfth Day, formerly of great account in England, bearing in its first aspect, like St. Distaff’s Day, reference to the resumption of labour after the Christmas holidays. In Catholic times, the ploughmen kept lights burning before certain images in churches to obtain a blessing on their work; and they were accustomed on this day to go about in procession, gathering money for the support of these _plough lights_, as they were called. The Reformation put out the lights, but it could not extinguish the festival. The peasantry contrived to go about in procession, collecting money, though only to be spent in conviviality in the public-house. It was at no remote date a very gay and rather pleasant-looking affair. A plough was dressed up with ribbons and other decorations--the _Fool plough_. Thirty or forty stalwart swains, with their shirts over their jackets, and their shoulders and hats flaming with ribbons, dragged it along from house to house, preceded by one in the dress of an old woman, but much bedizened, bearing the name of _Bessy_. There was also a fool, in fantastic attire. In some parts of the country morris-dancers attended the procession; occasionally, too, some reproduction of the ancient Scandinavian sword-dance added to the means of persuading money out of the pockets of the lieges.--_Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 94.

In Tusser’s _Five Hundred Points of Husbandry_, under the account of the Ploughman’s Feast Days, are the following lines:

“Plough Munday, next after that twelf-tide is past,
Bids out with the plough: the worst husband is last.
If plowman get hatchet or whip to the skrene,
Maids loseth their cocke, if no water be seen.”

Which are thus explained in _Tusser Redivivus_ (1744, p. 79): “After Christmas (which formerly, during the twelve days, was a time of very little work), every gentleman feasted the farmers, and every farmer their servants and task-men. _Plough Monday_ puts them in mind of their business. In the morning, the men and the maid-servants strive who shall show their diligence in rising earliest. If the ploughman can get his whip, his ploughstaff, hatchet, or anything that he wants in the field, by the fireside, before the maid hath got her kettle on, then the maid loseth her shrove-tide cock, and it wholly belongs to the men. Thus did our forefathers strive to allure youth to their duty, and provided them with innocent mirth as well as labour. On this Plough Monday they have a good supper and some strong drink.” See also _Every Day Book_, 1826, vol. i. p. 71.

In the _British Apollo_ (fol. 1710, ii. 92), to an inquiry why the first Monday after Twelfth Day is called _Plough Monday_, answer is given: “Plough Monday is a country phrase, and only used by peasants, because they generally used to meet together at some neighbourhood over a cup of ale, and feast themselves, as well as wish themselves a plentiful harvest from the great corn sown (as they call wheat and rye), as also to wish a God-speed to the plough as soon as they begin to break the ground, to sow barley, and other corn, which they at that time make a holiday to themselves as a finishing stroke after Christmas, which is their master’s holiday time, as ’prentices in many places make it the same, appropriated by consent to revel among themselves.”

Formerly the following custom prevailed in the northern counties of England on Plough Monday. If a ploughman came to the kitchen-hatch, and could cry, “Cock in the pot,” before the maid could cry “Cock on the dunghill,” he was entitled to a cock for Shrove Tuesday.--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. i. p. 386.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

Plough Monday is observed at Cambridge by parties going about the town variously dressed in ribbons, etc.; some with a female among them, some with a man in women’s clothes, some with a plough: they dance and collect money which is afterwards spent in a feast.--_Time’s Telescope_, 1816, p. 3.

DERBYSHIRE.

On Plough Monday the “Plough bullocks” are occasionally seen; they consist of a number of young men from various farmhouses, who are dressed up in ribbons, their shirts (for they wear no coats or waistcoats) literally covered with rosettes of various colours and their hats bound with ribbons, and decorated with every kind of ornament that comes in their way; these young men yoke themselves to a plough, which they draw about, preceded by a band of music, from house to house, collecting money. They are accompanied by the Fool and Bessy; the Fool being dressed in the skin of a calf, with the tail hanging down behind, and Bessy generally a young man in female attire. The Fool carries an inflated bladder tied to the end of a long stick, by way of whip, which he does not fail to apply pretty soundly to the heads and shoulders of his team. When anything is given a cry of “Largess!” is raised, and a dance performed round the plough. If a refusal to their application for money is made they not unfrequently plough up the pathway, door-stone, or any other portion of the premises they happen to be near.--_Jour. of Arch. Assoc. 1852_, vol. vii. p. 202.

HUNTINGDONSHIRE.

Plough Monday is observed in this county. The mummers are called “Plough-Witchers,” and their ceremony, “Plough-Witching.”--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. ix. p. 381.

LEICESTERSHIRE.

Macaulay (_History of Claybrook_, 1791, p. 128,) says: On _Plough Monday_ I have taken notice of an annual display of morris-dancers at Claybrook, who come from the neighbouring villages of Sapcote and Sharnford.

LINCOLNSHIRE.

A correspondent of the _Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 94, giving the following interesting account as to how Plough Monday was, in days gone by, celebrated in the county, says:--Rude though it was, the Plough procession threw a life into the dreary scenery of winter, as it came winding along the quiet rutted lanes, on its way from one village to another; for the ploughmen from many a surrounding hamlet and lonely farmhouse united in the celebration of Plough Monday. It was nothing unusual for at least a score of the “sons of the soil” to yoke themselves with ropes to the plough, having put on clean smock frocks in honour of the day. There was no limit to the number who joined in the morris-dance, and were partners with “Bessy,” who carried the money-box; and all these had ribbons in their hats, and pinned about them wherever there was room to display a bunch. Many a hardworking country Molly lent a helping hand in decorating out her Johnny for Plough Monday, and finished him with an admiring exclamation of “Lawks, John! thou does look smart, surely.” Some also wore small bunches of corn in their hats, from which the wheat was soon shaken out by the ungainly jumping which they called dancing. Occasionally, if the winter was severe, the procession was joined by threshers carrying their flails, reapers bearing their sickles, and carters with their long whips, which they were cracking to add to the noise, while even the smith and the miller were among the number, for the one sharpened the ploughshares and the other ground the corn; and Bessy rattled his box, and danced so high that he showed his worsted stockings and corduroy breeches; and very often, if there was a thaw, tucked up his gown skirts under his waistcoat, and shook the bonnet off his head, and disarranged the long ringlets that ought to have concealed his whiskers. For Bessy is to the procession of Plough Monday what the leading _figurante_ is to an opera or ballet, and dances about as gracefully as the hippopotami described by Dr. Livingstone. But their rough antics were the cause of much laughter, and rarely do we ever remember hearing any coarse jest that would call up the angry blush to a modest cheek.

No doubt they were called “plough-bullocks,” through drawing the plough, as bullocks were formerly used, and are still yoked to the plough in some parts of the country. The rubbishing verses they recited are not worth preserving, beyond the line, which graces many a public-house sign, “God speed the plough.” At the large farmhouse, besides money they obtained refreshment, and through the quantity of ale they thus drank during the day managed to get what they called “their load by night.” Even the poorest cottagers dropped a few pence into Bessy’s box.

But the great event of the day was when they came before some house which bore signs that the owner was well-to-do in the world, and nothing was given to them. Bessy rattled his box, and the ploughmen danced, while the country lads blew the bullocks’ horns, or shouted with all their might; but if there was still no sign, no coming forth of either bread-and-cheese or ale, then the word was given, the ploughshare driven into the ground before the door or window, the whole twenty men yoked pulling like one, and in a minute or two the ground before the house was as brown, barren, and ridgy as a newly-ploughed field. But this was rarely done, for everybody gave something, and were it but little the men never murmured, though they might talk about the stinginess of the giver afterwards amongst themselves, more especially if the party was what they called “well off in the world.” We are not aware that the ploughmen were ever summoned to answer for such a breach of the law, for they believe, to use their own expressive language, “they can stand by it, and no law in the world can touch ’em, ’cause it’s an old charter;” and we are sure it would spoil their “folly to be wise.”

One of the mummers generally wears a fox’s skin in the form of a hood; but beyond the laughter the tail that hangs down his back awakens by its motion as he dances, we are at a loss to find a meaning. Bessy formerly wore a bullock’s tail behind, under his gown, and which he held in his hand while dancing, but that appendage has not been worn of late.

NORFOLK.

Hone’s _Year Book_, p. 29, gives a quotation from a _Briefe Relation_, &c., 1646, wherein the writer says, that the Monday after Twelfth Day is called “Plowlick Monday” by the husbandmen in Norfolk, “because on that day they doe first begin to plough.”

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

In the northern and eastern parts of the county Plough Monday is more noticed than in the neighbourhood of Northampton. The pageant varies in different places; sometimes five persons precede the plough, which is drawn by a number of boys with their faces blackened and reddled. Formerly, when the pageant was of a more important character than now, the plough was drawn by oxen decorated with ribbons. The one who walks first in the procession is styled the Master, and is grotesquely attired, having on a large wig; two are gaily bedizened in women’s clothes; and two others have large hunches on their backs, on which is sewed the knave of hearts. These two are called Red Jacks, or fools. Each of the five carries a besom, and one of them a box, which he rattles assiduously among the spectators to obtain their donations, which are spent at night in conviviality and jollification. In some instances they plough up the soil in front of the houses of such persons as refuse their contributions. Before the inclosure of open fields, there was another custom in connection with the day. When the ploughman returned from his labours in the evening, the servant-maid used to meet him with a jug of toast and ale; and if he could succeed in throwing his plough-hatchet into the house before she reached the door, he was entitled to a cock to throw at Shrovetide; but if she was able to present him with the toast and ale first, then she gained the cock. (See page 38.)--Baker’s _Northamptonshire Words and Phrases_, 1854, ii. 1257.

YORKSHIRE.

On the Monday after Twelfth Day, says Clarkson (_Hist. of Richmond_, 1821, p. 293), a number of young men from the country, yoked to a plough, drag it about the streets, begging money, in allusion to the labours of the plough having ceased in that severe weather. In like manner the watermen in London, when the Thames is covered with ice in hard frosts, haul a boat about the streets, to show that they are deprived of the means of earning their livelihood.

JAN. 10.] OXFORDSHIRE.

Pointer, in his _Oxoniensis Academia_ (1749, p. 96), alludes to a practice observed at St. John’s and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford, of having a speech spoken on this day, _in laudem Laudi Archiepiscopi_.

JAN. 12.] SCOTLAND.

This day is observed by the people of Halkirk, as New Year’s Day, a time when servants are too apt to spend their hard-earned penny in drink and other equally useless purposes.--_Stat. Acc. of Scotland_, 1845, vol. xv. p. 75.

JAN. 13.] ST. HILARY’S DAY.

St. Hilary is memorable in the annals of Richmond, in the county of York, as on the anniversary of his festival the mayor is chosen for the ensuing year, which causes it to be observed as a jubilee-day among the friends, and those concerned in corporation matters.

St. Hilary likewise gives name to one of the four seasons of the year when the courts of justice are opened.--Clarkson’s _Hist. of Richmond_, 1821, p. 293.

JAN. 14.] MALLARD NIGHT.

OXFORDSHIRE.

This day was formerly celebrated in All Souls College, Oxford, in commemoration of the discovery of a very large mallard or drake in a drain, when digging for the foundation of the college; and though this observance no longer exists, yet on one of the college “gaudies” there is sung in memory of the occurrence a very old song called “The swapping, swapping mallard.”

“THE MERRY OLD SONG OF THE ALL SOULS MALLARD.

“Griffin, bustard, turkey, capon,
Let other hungry mortals gape on;
And on the bones their stomach fall hard,
But let All Souls’ men have their Mallard.

Oh! by the blood of King Edward,[9]
Oh! by the blood of King Edward,
It was a swapping, swapping Mallard.

The Romans once admired a gander
More than they did their chief commander;
Because he saved, if some don’t fool us,
The place that’s called th’ ‘_head of Tolus_.’

Oh! by the blood of King Edward, &c.

The poets feign Jove turned a swan,
But let them prove it if they can;
As for our proof, ’tis not at all hard,
For it was a swapping, swapping Mallard.

Oh! by the blood of King Edward, &c.

Therefore let us sing and dance a galliard,
To the remembrance of the Mallard;
And as the Mallard dives in pool,
Let us dabble, dive, and duck in bowl.

Oh! by the blood of King Edward,
Oh! by the blood of King Edward,
It was a swapping, swapping Mallard.”

[9] The allusion to King Edward is surely an anachronism, as King
Henry VI. was reigning at the time of the foundation of the
college.--_Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 114.

When Pointer wrote his _Oxoniensis Academia_ (1749), he committed a grave offence by insinuating that this immortalised mallard was no other than a _goose_. The insinuation produced a reply from Dr. Buckler, replete with irresistible irony; but Pointer met a partisan in Mr. Bilson, chaplain of All Souls, who issued a folio sheet entitled ‘Proposals for printing by subscription the History of the Mallardians,’ with the figure of a cat prefixed, said to have been found starved in the college library.--_Hist. of Co. of Oxford_, 1852, p. 144.

JAN. 17.] SEPTUAGESIMA.

Septuagesima occurs between this day and February the 22nd, according as the Paschal full moon falls. It was formerly distinguished by a strange ceremony, denominated the _Funeral of Alleluia_. On the Saturday of Septuagesima, at nones, the choristers assembled in the great vestiary of the cathedral, and there arranged the ceremony. Having finished the last _benedicamus_, they advanced with crosses, torches, holy waters, and incense, carrying a turf in the manner of a coffin, passed through the choir, and went howling to the cloister as far as the place of interment; and then having sprinkled the water and censed the place, returned by the same road.--Fosbroke’s _British Monachism_, 1843, p. 56.

JAN. 20.] ST. AGNES’ EVE.

This night was formerly much venerated by young maidens who wished to know when and whom they should marry. It was required that on this day they should not eat, which was called “fasting St. Agnes’ fast.” Keats has made this custom the subject of one of his poems. The following are a few stanzas from it:

“St. Agnes’s Eve! Ah, bitter chill it was!
The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;
The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass,
And silent was the flock in woolly fold.

* * * * *

They told me how, upon St. Agnes’s Eve
Young virgins might have visions of delight;
And soft adorings from their loves receive,
Upon the honey’d middle of the night,
If ceremonies due they did aright;
As supperless to bed they must retire,
And couch supine their beauties, lilywhite;
Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require
Of Heaven, with upward eyes, for all that they desire.

* * * * *

Her vespers done,
Of all its wretched pearls her hair she frees;
Unclasp’d her warmed jewels one by one;
Loosens her fragrant bodice; by degrees
Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees:
Half hidden, like a mermaid in sea-weed,
Pensive awhile she dreams awake, and sees,
In fancy, fair St. Agnes in her bed,
But dares not look behind, or all the charm is fled.”

SCOTLAND.

Formerly on the eve of St. Agnes’ Day the following custom was, and perchance still is observed in the northern parts of Scotland by the mountain peasantry. A number of young lads and lasses meeting together on the eve of St. Agnes, at the hour of twelve, went one by one to a certain cornfield, and threw in some grain, after which they pronounced the following rhyme:

“Agnes sweet and Agnes fair,
Hither, hither, now repair;
Bonny Agnes, let me see
The lad who is to marry me.”

The prayer was granted by their favourite saint, and the shadow of the destined bride or bridegroom was seen in a mirror on this very night.--_Time’s Telescope_, 1832, p. 15.

JAN. 21.] ST. AGNES’ DAY.

Since the Reformation, St. Agnes has by degrees lost her consequence in this country as superstition has subsided; though our rural virgins in the north are yet said to practise some singular rites, in keeping “what they call St. Agnes’ Fast, for the purpose of discovering their future husbands.”--_Clavis Calendaria_, Brady, 1815, vol. i. p. 170. See Mother Bunch’s _Closet Newly Broke Open_, 1825 (?). _Anatomy of Melancholy_, Burton, 1660, p. 538.

JAN. 24.] ST. PAUL’S EVE.

CORNWALL.

The first red-letter day in the Tinner’s Calendar is St. Paul’s Pitcher-day, or the Eve of Paul’s Tide. It is marked by a very curious and inexplicable custom, not only among tin-streamers, but also in the mixed mining and agricultural town and neighbourhood of Bodmin, and among the seafaring population of Padstow. The tinner’s mode of observing it is as follows:--On the day before the Feast of St. Paul, a water-pitcher is set up at a convenient distance, and pelted with stones until entirely demolished. The men then leave their work, and adjourn to a neighbouring ale-house, where a new pitcher bought to replace the old one is successively filled and emptied, and the evening is given up to merriment and misrule.

On inquiry whether some dim notion of the origin and meaning of this custom remained among those who still keep it up, it was found to be generally held as an ancient festival intended to celebrate the day when tin was first turned into metal--in fact, the discovery of smelting. It is the occasion of a revel, in which, as an old streamer observes, there is an open rebellion against the water-drinking system which is enforced upon them whilst at work.

The custom of observing _Paul’s Pitcher Night_ is probably half-forgotten even in Cornwall at the present time, where many of the ancient provincial usages have been suffered to die out. It was, however, in full vigour so recently as 1859. The boys of Bodmin parade the town with broken pitchers, and other earthenware vessels, and into every house, where the door can be opened, or has been inadvertently left so, they hurl a “Paul’s pitcher,” exclaiming,

“Paul’s Eve,
And here’s a heave.”

According to custom, the first “heave” cannot be objected to; but upon its repetition the offender, if caught, may be punished.--Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ 1870, vol. i. p. 23; _N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. iii. p. 239; _2nd S._ vol. viii. p. 312.

JAN. 25.] ST. PAUL’S DAY.

Strype, in his _Ecclesiastical Memorials_ (1822, vol. iii. part i. p. 331), says: On the 25th of January (1554), being St. Paul’s Day, was a general procession of St. Paul by every parish, both priests and clerks, in copes, to the number of an hundred and sixty, singing _Salve festa dies_, with ninety crosses borne. The procession was through Cheap unto Leadenhall. And before went two schools; that is, first, all the children of the Gray Friars, and then those of St. Paul’s school. There were eight bishops, and the Bishop of London, mitred, bearing the Sacrament, with many torches burning, and a canopy borne over. And so about the churchyard, and in at the West door, with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and all the Companies in their best liveries. And within a while after, the King came, and the Lord Cardinal, and the Prince of Piemont, and divers lords and knights. At the foot of the steps to the choir, as the King went up, kneeled the gentlemen lately pardoned, offering him their service. After mass, they returned to the court to dinner. And at night bonfires, and great ringing of bells in every church. And all this joy was for the conversion of the realm.

It was on this day that the husbandmen of old used to make prognostics of the weather, and of other matters for the whole year, a custom which Bourne (_Antiquitates Vulgares_, chap. xviii. p. 159) has tried to unravel.--_New Curiosities of Literature_, Soane, 1847, p. 42.

_St. Paul’s Cathedral._--One of the strangest of the old ceremonies in which the clergy of St. Paul’s Cathedral used to figure was that which was performed twice a year, namely, on the day of the Conversion, and on that of the Commemoration of St. Paul. On the former of these festivals a fat buck, and on the latter a fat doe, was presented to the church by the family of Baud, in consideration of some lands which they held of the Dean and Chapter at West Lee in Essex. The original agreement made with Sir William Le Baud, in 1274, was that he himself should attend in person with the animals; but some years afterwards it was arranged that the presentation should be made by a servant, accompanied by a deputation of part of the family. The priests, however, continued to perform their part in the show. On the aforesaid days, the buck and doe were brought by one or more servants at the hour of the procession, and through the midst thereof, and offered at the high altar of St. Paul’s Cathedral; after which the persons that brought the buck received of the Dean and Chapter, by the hands of their chamberlain, twelvepence for their entertainment; but nothing when they brought the doe. The buck being brought to the steps of the altar, the Dean and Chapter, apparelled in copes and proper vestments, with garlands of roses on their heads, sent the body of the buck to be baked, and had the head and horns fixed on a pole before the cross in their procession round about the church, till they issued at the West door, where the keeper that brought it blowed the death of the buck, and then the horns that were about the city answered him in like manner; for which they had each of the Dean and Chapter three and fourpence in money, and their dinner; and the keeper, during his stay, meat, drink, and lodging, and five shillings in money at his going away; together with a loaf of bread, having on it the picture of St. Paul. This custom was continued till the reign of Elizabeth.--_Beauties of England_, Brayley and Britton, 1803, vol. v. p. 486.

JAN. 31.] EXECUTION OF CHARLES I.

The anniversary of the execution of King Charles I. was formerly celebrated, and a special form of prayer made use of, which was removed from the Prayer Book by an Act of Parliament (22 Vict. c. 2, March 25, 1859).

The following extract is taken from the _Courier_, of the 30th of January, 1826:

“This being the anniversary of King Charles’ Martyrdom (in 1649), the Royal Exchange gates were shut till twelve o’clock, when they were opened for public business.”

There is a story told regarding a Miss Russell, great granddaughter of Oliver Cromwell, who was waiting-woman to the Princess Amelia, daughter of George II., to the effect that, while engaged in her duty one 30th of January, the Prince of Wales came into the room, and sportively said, “For shame, Miss Russell! why have you not been at church, humbling yourself with weepings and wailings for the sins on this day committed by your ancestor?” To which Miss Russell answered, “Sir, for a descendant of the great Oliver Cromwell, it is humiliation sufficient to be employed, as I am, in pinning up the tail of your sister!”--Rede’s _Anecdotes_, 1799, quoted in _Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 192.

JAN. 31.] ISLE OF MAN.

On the eve of the 1st of February a festival was formerly kept, called in the Manks language _Laa’l Breeshey_, in honour of the Irish lady who went over to the Isle of Man to receive the veil from St. Maughold. The custom was to gather a bundle of green rushes, and standing with them in the hand on the threshold of the door, to invite the holy Saint Bridget to come and lodge with them that night. In the Manks language, the invitation ran thus:--“Brede, Brede, tar gys my thie, tar dyn thie ayms noght. Foshil jee yn dorrys da Brede, as lhig da Brede e heet staigh.” In English, “Bridget, Bridget, come to my house, come to my house to-night--open the door for Bridget, and let Bridget come in.” After these words were repeated, the rushes were strewn on the floor by way of a carpet or bed for St. Bridget.--Train’s _History of the Isle of Man_, 1845, vol. ii. p. 116.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

The following extract from the _Newark Advertiser_ of Feb. 2nd. 1870, describes a custom that existed for a long time at Newark:

“For many years past the last day in January has been observed in Newark as a raffling day for oranges in the market-place. On Monday last application was made to Mr. Superintendent Riddell, at the Post Office, as to whether the practice would be allowed this year as usual. He advised them to apply to the sitting magistrates, and upon doing so Mr. Wallis (deputy clerk) read to them the Act of Parliament, which stated that they would be liable to three months’ hard labour if they raffled. The applicants said they believed there was some old charter which gave them the privilege in Newark for raffling on that day, but they were told the Act of Parliament made no exceptions, and the magistrates said they could not give them permission to break the law. On Monday, therefore, no raffling took place, and we may regard the practice as finally put an end to, which will be a matter of great satisfaction to many.--See, _Every Day Book_, vol. ii. p. 161.

OXFORDSHIRE.

By the common people, the Saturday preceding Shrove Tuesday is called Egg Saturday. This name is employed as a date by Anthony à Wood: “One hundred and ninety-two bachelors to determine this Lent, but twenty-three or thereabouts were not presented on Egg Saturday.”--_Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 158. _Lives of Leland, Hearne, and Wood_, 1772, vol. ii. p. 297.

FEB. 1.] CANDLEMAS EVE.

On Candlemas Eve was kindled the _yule-brand_, which was allowed to burn till sunset, when it was quenched and carefully laid by to _teend_ (i.e. light) the Christmas clog or log at the next return of the season. Thus Herrick, _Hesperides_, p. 337, says:

“Kindle the _Christmas Brand_, and then
Till sunne-set let it burne;
Which quencht, then lay it up agen
Till Christmas next returne.

Part must be kept wherewith to teend
The _Christmas Log_ next yeare;
And where ’tis safely kept, the fiend
Can do no mischiefe there.”

The rosemary, the bay, the ivy, the holly, and the mistletoe, the Christmas decorations of hall and cottage, were now pulled down, when, according to the popular superstition, not a branch, nor even a leaf, should be allowed to remain.

“Down with the _Rosemary_ and so
Down with the _Baies_ and the _Misleto_:
Down with the _Holly, Ivie, all
Wherewith ye dress the Christmas Hall_:
That so the superstitious find
_No one least branch there left behind_:
For look, _how many leaves_ there be
Neglected there (maids trust to me),
_So many goblins you shall see_.”

Herrick (_Hesperides_, p. 361).