Chapter II (2)

The Governor of Guernsey, Sir Thomas Leighton, who favoured the views of the Puritan party in the Church, filled up the vacant pulpits with French refugee ministers, and probably it would have been difficult at that time to find any others.[39] The same course seems to have been followed in Jersey. These ministers very naturally preferred their own form of conducting divine worship to that of the Anglican Church, and, on the representation of the Governors of both the islands, permission was given by the Queen for the use of the Genevan form in the churches of the towns of St. Peter Port in Guernsey, and of St. Helier in Jersey. This permission was renewed by King James I. on his accession to the throne; and the natural consequence was, that not only the Presbyterian form of worship soon spread into every parish in the islands, but that the Presbyterian discipline and Church government were firmly established, and the authority of the Bishop of Winchester totally ignored. To this discipline the people of Guernsey clung with great pertinacity, and the attempts during the Great Rebellion of the Brownists and other fanatical sects to introduce their peculiar doctrines, met with little or no favour. It was not without some opposition that Episcopacy was brought in, most of the ministers refusing to conform to the new order of things, and giving up their livings in consequence.[40] The people had nothing to say in the matter: they were bound by the Act of Uniformity, but, in deference to their feelings and prejudices, certain practices were allowed to be retained, and certain others dispensed with.

No great objection could be made to a set form of prayer, for something of the kind was in use in the French Reformed Church; but the Litany of the Church of England seems to have given great offence--probably from its close resemblance to some of those used in the Romish Church--insomuch that many persons at first abstained altogether from attending the morning service; and, although in the present day no objection exists to this, or any other part of the Liturgy, it is, perhaps, owing to habits then contracted, and handed down from generation to generation, that so many, especially in the rural parishes, absent themselves from church in the forenoon. The use of the sign of the cross in baptism, in deference to the strong prejudices of the people, who seem to have looked upon it as the Mark of the Beast, was not at first insisted upon, but, in order to counteract this feeling, the thirtieth Canon “On the lawful use of the Cross in Baptism,” was inserted at the end of the Baptismal Service in the French translation of the Book of Common Prayer printed for use in the islands, and there is every reason to believe that the objection to this practice soon died out.

Probably, kneeling at the Holy Communion was received with little favour, for we find that the first introduction of this practice on the 12th of October, 1662, was thought worthy of a note in a journal kept by a parish clerk and schoolmaster of that day--Pierre Le Roy--who wisely abstained from any comment on the event. To this day appliances for kneeling are rare in many pews, and at the beginning of the nineteenth century most of the congregation remained seated during the singing of the metrical psalms, as is the practice in the Presbyterian churches in Scotland and on the Continent.

Baptismal fonts are of recent introduction, the order to put them up in all the parish churches having been given by the Bishop of Winchester (Dr. C. R. Sumner) on the occasion of his primary visitation to this portion of his diocese in September, 1829, he being the first Prelate of that See who had deigned to inspect the state of the churches in the islands since the time that they were placed under the care of an Anglican Bishop by Queen Elizabeth. Before fonts were provided, the rite of baptism was administered at the altar, the minister, standing within the rail, receiving the water at the proper moment from the clerk, who poured it into his hand from a silver ewer.

In the absence of periodical visits from a Bishop, the rite of confirmation had, of course, become a dead letter. It was administered in 1818, for the first time since the Reformation, by Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, who had been deputed to consecrate two newly-erected churches by the then Bishop of Winchester, who was too old and infirm to undertake the duty himself. Before that time--and indeed for some considerable time later--it was customary to give notice from the pulpit, previously to the quarterly celebration of the Holy Communion, that young persons desirous of communicating for the first time should attend in the vestry on a certain day. This notice was, of course, given in the parish churches in French--the language of the great majority of the people of that time--and the word used for “vestry,” and which we have so translated, was “Consistoire.” No doubt, under the Presbyterian discipline, the examination of catechumens took place before the Consistory, composed of the minister and elders of the church.

Till a comparatively recent period the Holy Communion was only administered quarterly, and at the great festivals of Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide and Michaelmas. A preparatory sermon was generally preached at an evening service held on the day before the communion, and on this occasion a metrical version of the Decalogue was usually sung instead of a psalm or hymn. This was a practice borrowed from the French Reformed Church, as was also that of singing the 100th Psalm while the non-communicants were leaving the church, some portions of the 103rd Psalm while the communion was being administered, and, just before the final benediction, the Song of Simeon, “Nunc Dimittis.”

Men and women communicated separately, the men first and the women afterwards,--a relic doubtless of the time when they were kept apart in the church. No one thought of leaving the rails until all who knelt at the same time had communicated, when the officiating minister dismissed them with these words:--

“Allez en paix; vivez en paix,
Et que le Dieu de Paix vous bénisse.”

Or

“Que le Dieu de Paix soit avec vous.”

They then retired to make room for others. In parishes where weekly collections were made at the church door for the relief of the poor, it was customary for the minister to say immediately after the final benediction:

“Allez en paix; vivez en paix;
Et en sortant de ce temple souvenez vous des pauvres.”

All these peculiar customs, which had been handed down from Presbyterian times, are rapidly disappearing. In the days when the celebration of the Lord’s Supper was confined to stated days, it was the custom in some of the country parishes to deck out the churches for the occasion with branches of evergreens, as at Christmas. Also, on the day of the communion it was considered irregular to appear in coloured clothes. Black was universally worn, and many old people, both in town and country, but especially in the country, keep to the old custom.

The practice of publishing the banns of marriage immediately after the recital of the Nicene Creed, and not after the Second Lesson, as is done in England, has been retained in Guernsey; the Act of Parliament of George II., which was supposed to change the custom of the church in this respect, and to do away with the express injunctions in the rubric, not including the Channel Islands in its provisions. In the country parishes, where the cemeteries are in the immediate vicinity of the churches, it is now--though it was not so in former days--the custom to carry the corpse into the church for the reading of the appointed Psalms and Lesson; but in Town, where the burial-grounds are, for the most part, at some considerable distance from the sacred building, this part of the service was, till of late years, entirely dispensed with. It is customary, however, for the Clergy, sometimes to the number of three or four, to attend at the house of the deceased, if invited so to do, and to head the procession to the church or cemetery. A pious custom existed formerly--which, one is sorry to say, has of late years fallen almost entirely into disuse--no man ever commenced a new work, or even began the usual routine work of the season, without making use of these words “Au nom de Dieu soit!” Wills and many other legal documents, the books in which the Acts of the Royal Court and of the States of the island are registered, as well as those used by merchants and tradesmen in their business, all commenced with this formula. In many cases it evidently took the place of the sign of the cross. All sittings of the Royal Court and of the States of the island, as well as the meetings of parishioners in the Vestry, and of the parochial councils known as Douzaines, are opened by the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, and closed by the Apostolic Benediction.

[36] EDITOR’S NOTE.--_Comet_, June 29th, 1889.--“At the sale of Lord Crawford’s effects, held in London last week, Messrs. Sotheby sold to Messrs. Ellis, of Bond Street, a Prayer Book, translated into French for the special use of Channel Islanders. The book dates as far back as 1553, and was sold for the price of £70. The following is a full description of the book taken from the catalogue:--678--Liturgy, Livre des Prières communes de l’administration des sacremens et autres cérémonies en l’Eglise de l’Angleterre. Traduit en Francoys par Francoys Philippe, serviteur de Monsieur le Grand Chancelier d’Angleterre. (Fine copy in blue morocco extra gilt edges by W. Pratt, excessively rare). Sm. 4to. (Paris). De l’imprimerie de Thomas Gaultier, Imprimeur du Roy en la langue Française, pour les Iles de Sa Majesté--1553. The following is the collation of this extremely rare edition, purchased in the Tenison sale for £39. (4) ff. Title, Contents, Epistle to Bp. of Ely. Sig: AI-IV+ (4) ff. Preface des Cérémonies en sign. B.1.IV+ (14) ff. Table & Kalendar, Proper Psalms and Lessons. Acte pour Uniformité. 4. (184) ff. Texte. The translation was made from the second book of King Edward VI. for the use of the Inhabitants of the Channel Islands.”

[37] Boniface IX. being Pope, Clement VII. Anti-Pope in France, and the Bishop of Coutances taking his side, the Bishop of Nantes was appointed by Boniface administrator of the See of Coutances, and the King of England, Richard II., addressed a letter to the Governors, Bailiffs, Jurats, and other inhabitants of Jersey and Guernsey, ordering them to obey the Bishop of Nantes in all spiritual matters. Rymer. Vol. VIII. p. 131.

[38] EDITOR’S NOTE.--It was the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth by the Pope that led to the transference of the Channel Islands from the Diocese of Coutances to that of Winchester. Canon MacColl in his “Reformation Settlement” notes as an extraordinary fact that the Bishop of Coutances so far disapproved of that excommunication as to have offered, on condition that his jurisdiction was allowed, to give institution to those clergy whom the Queen might nominate from the English Universities. In fact, up to the date of the bull of excommunication, the islands remained under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Coutances, who permitted the use of the reformed Prayer Book, and ruled, apparently without a protest, over a portion of his diocese, in which the claim to supremacy on the part of the Pope was denied.

[39] EDITOR’S NOTE.--Mr. Matthieu Le Lièvre gives a slightly different version. He says:--“Parmi ceux qui avaient quitté Guernesey pour échapper au coups de la réaction catholique, se trouvait Guillaume Beauvoir, membre de l’une des familles qui ont joué un grand rôle dans l’histoire de l’île, et qui occupa lui-même, pendant neuf ans (1572-1581), la dignité de bailli, la première magistrature du pays.… Il s’éloigna donc et se refugia avec sa femme à Genève, où il séjourna quelque temps et se fit avantageusement connaître de Calvin et de ses collègues. Rentré dans son île natale après la mort de la reine Marie, il fut frappé de la nécessité d’appeler au plus tôt un homme de tête et de piété pour relever les affaires de la Réforme à Guernesey. Il écrivit donc aux pasteurs de Genève, et à Calvin en particulier, pour leur demander un ministre. La Compagnie des Pasteurs s’en occupa et envoya à la jeune Eglise de Guernesey le ministre Nicolas Baudoin, porteur de deux lettres de recommandation addressées à Guillaume Beauvoir, et signées, l’une Charles Despeville (l’un des pseudonymes de Calvin) et l’autre Raymond Chauvet, l’un des Pasteurs de Genève.”--_Histoire du Méthodisme dans les Iles de la Manche_, par Matthieu Le Lièvre, D.D., pp. 38-39.

[40] EDITOR’S NOTE.--Pierre Le Roy’s Diary, 24th Sept., 1662. “Il est arrivé dans cette ile une compagnie de cent soldats avec un major, un capitaine, et des officiers, à cause de quelque opposition à l’Acte d’Uniformité. Les ministres n’ont pas voulu s’y soumettre et ont abandonné leurs cures, savoir M. Le Marchant, du Valle et de Saint-Samson; M. Perchard, de Saint Pierre-du-Bois; M. Morehead, de Saint-Sauveur; M. de la Marche, du Câtel, et M. Hérivel, de la Forêt et de Torteval.” John de Sausmarez, formerly Rector of St. Martin’s parish, was made Dean in 1662, and he and one of his colleagues, Pierre de Jersey, were the first to establish the new ritual. Thomas Le Marchant, who was virtually the head of the Presbyterian party, and as such was especially hated by Dean de Sausmarez, was shut up first in Castle Cornet in 1663, and in 1665 in the Tower of London, till September, 1667, when he was liberated, “ayant donné caution de mille livres sterling qu’il ne présumera pas en aucun temps d’aller dans l’île de Guernesey à moins qu’il n’ait pour le faire une license spéciale de Sa Majesté, et qu’il se comportera à l’avenir comme un respectueux et loyal sujet,” etc. He had married Olympe Roland, and his son Eléazar was later Lieutenant Bailiff of Guernsey.--See also _Histoire du Methodisme dans les Isles de la Manche_, par Matthieu Le Lièvre, 1885, p. 112.

Birth and Baptism.

On the birth of a child notice is usually sent to the nearest relations, and as soon as the mother is sufficiently recovered she receives the visits and congratulations of her friends. It is customary to offer cake and wine to the visitors on these occasions. The wine must on no account be refused, but the health of the child must be duly drunk, and the glass drained, for it is considered extremely unlucky to leave a drop behind. The christening feast still retains the ancient name of “_Les Aubailles_” from the white garment or alb--in French “aube”--with which, in the early church, the recipients of baptism were solemnly invested. It is customary for the sponsors to make a present to the child, which usually takes the form of silver spoons, or a drinking cup. Before the re-establishment of Episcopacy at the Restoration there appears to have been only one sponsor of each sex. Of course the rubric which orders that every boy shall have two godfathers, and every girl two godmothers, is now complied with, but the second is invariably styled by the people the “little” godfather or godmother, and is often a child or very young person evidently only put in to comply with the requirements of the church.

The excess of feasting at baptisms and churchings as well as at marriages and funerals seems to have reached to such an extent in the early part of the seventeenth century as to call for repressive measures on the part of the legislature, at that time deeply imbued with a puritanical spirit, and sumptuary laws of a very stringent nature were promulgated restricting the invitations on these occasions to the nearest relations, and prohibiting entirely all dancing, and even almsgiving.

After baptism the child is sent round to its nearest relatives, and the old women say that a present of some sort, preferably an egg, should be placed in the infant’s hands, while visitors to the child are always expected to put some money in the infant’s hand for luck, and as a token that it shall never want, the value of the gift being of little moment.

It is thought very unlucky to measure or weigh a child, such a proceeding being sure to stop its growth; and it is also supposed to be very unlucky to cover up a baby’s face when taking it to the church to be christened, until the ceremony is over.

It is considered peculiarly unlucky for three children to be presented at the font at the same time for baptism, as it is firmly believed that one of the three is sure to die within the year.[41]--_Communicated by the Rev. C. D. P. Robinson, Rector of St. Martin’s._

[41] EDITOR’S NOTE.--This superstition still continues, and was told me in 1896 by Mrs. Le Patourel and others. The doomed baby is supposed to be the one christened _second_, or the middle one, and you still hear women say when their child has been christened with two others, “Oh, but mine was an _end_ one.”

Betrothals and Weddings.

“As I have seene upon a Bridall day,
Full many maids clad in their best array,
In honour of the Bride come with their Flaskets
Fill’d full with flowers: others in wicker baskets
Bring forth from the Marsh rushes, to o’erspread
The ground whereon to Church the lovers tread;
Whilst that the quaintest youth of all the Plaine
Ushers their way with many a piping straine.”

--_Brown’s “Pastorals,” written before 1614._

From the reign of Elizabeth to the Restoration of Charles II., the Presbyterian form of church government, with its rigorous discipline, prevailed in the Island, and the betrothal--“fiançailles”[42] of persons intending to take upon themselves the holy state of matrimony was a solemn act, performed in the presence of the ministers and elders of the church, and which by an ordinance of the Royal Court of the year 1572, was to be followed by marriage within six months at the latest. The legislature of that day evidently disapproved of long engagements. The promise was usually confirmed by a gift on the part of the bridegroom of some article of value, which was to be held by the bride as an earnest for the performance of the contract, and returned in case the match was broken off by mutual consent. Traces of this custom are still to be observed in the formal announcement of the engagement to relations, and in the visits paid to them by the young couple in order to introduce each other reciprocally to those with whom they are to be hereafter more closely connected, as well as in the importance attached to the presents, locally termed “gages”[43] (pledges) given by the young man to his affianced bride.

A round of entertainments usually succeeds the announcement of the intended marriage, at which in former days mulled wine used to be “de rigueur,” as indeed it was at all family merry makings and occasions of rejoicings.

Among the trading, agricultural, and labouring classes each party is expected to bring his or her portion of the articles necessary to set up housekeeping. The man, for example, provides the bedstead, the woman, the bed and the household linen, and very often the crockery and furniture. All, however, is looked upon as belonging to the wife, and is frequently secured to her by a regular contract entered into before marriage, so that in case of the husband getting into pecuniary difficulties, his creditors cannot lay claim to the household furniture. The handsomely carved oaken chests, or large leather-covered boxes studded with brass nails, which were formerly to be seen in almost all the old country houses, were used to contain the stock of linen, and appear to have been in early days almost the only piece of ornamental furniture of which the house could boast. This used to be brought to the bridegroom’s residence, with the rest of the articles provided by the bride, a day or two before the wedding, and with a certain degree of form, the bridegroom, or his best man, conducting the cart which contained them,[44] and the nearest unmarried female relative of the bride carrying the looking-glass or some other valued or brittle article. A similar custom still exists in Normandy and Brittany. It is considered highly unlucky for a bride to take any other way in going to the church to be married than that which she follows when going thither for her usual devotions. Flowers and rushes are invariably strewn in the path of the bride and bridegroom as they leave the church, and before the door of their future habitation.[45]

On the first or second Sunday after their wedding the newly-married pair appear in church attended by the best man and the bridesmaid, and it is a point of etiquette for the bride and bridegroom to read and sing out of the same book, however many books there may be in the pew. Among well-to-do people a series of parties in honour of the young couple ensue, which in the dialect of the country are called “_reneuchons_,” “_neuches_” being the local pronunciation of the French word “noces.”

It appears from an ordinance of the Royal Court of 1625, when the puritanical spirit, which had come in with the Genevan discipline, was at its height, that the poor at that time were in the habit of soliciting alms at weddings, baptisms, and burials. This practice, as tending to keep up superstition and as dishonouring to God, was expressly forbidden by the legislation under pain of corporal punishment to the beggar, and a fine to the giver of alms.[46]

[42] “The custom of _flouncing_ is said to be peculiar to Guernsey. It is an entertainment given by the parents of a young couple when they are engaged, and the match has received approval. The girl is introduced to her husband’s family and friends by her future father-in-law, and the man similarly by hers; after this they must keep aloof from all flirtation, however lengthy the courtship may prove. The belief is that if either party break faith the other side can lay claim to a moiety of his or her effects.”--From Brand’s _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_. Vol. II., p. 56.

[43] EDITOR’S NOTE.--Usually consisting of half-a-dozen or a dozen (according to the bridegroom’s means) silver spoons, and a pair of sugar tongs, marked with the initials of bride and the customary “bague de fiançailles.”

[44] EDITOR’S NOTE.--Besides this it was customary amongst farmers for the parents of a bride to give her a cow, and the animal in this case followed the cart.--_From Mr. J. de Garis, Rouvets, St. Saviour’s, 1901._

[45] EDITOR’S NOTE.--Les “gllajeurs”--the wild marsh iris--was always one of the favourite flowers for strewing in front of the bride, and all the water-lanes and marshes were ransacked for it. The wedding festivities generally lasted for two or three days. The house on the wedding day was decorated with wreaths and crowns of flowers, and, as usual, the festivities began with dinner, for which the usual fare was roast beef, roast mutton, a ham, plum pudding, and, of course, “gâche à corînthe,” washed down with cider. Then came games, songs, etc., till tea time, and then the tables would be cleared for dancing, while mulled wine, cheese, and Guernsey biscuits would be handed round at intervals. All the relations, friends, and neighbours of course partook of these festivities. A few songs were sung, “Jean, gros Jean,” being a “sine quâ non” in the country parishes, and then the mulled wine was handed round in cups, especially at midnight, as the clock struck. The correct formula before beginning to drink was

“Cher petit Pèpinot
Quand je te vè
Tu parais bien
Si je te bè, j’m’en sentirai
Et si je te laisse j’m’en repentirai,
Faut donc bien mieux bère, et m’en sentir
Que de te laisser, et m’n repentir!
A votre santâï la coumpagnie!”

Very frequently at weddings people who knew what this formula led to put hanging beams from the “_pôutre_,” or central rafter for the men to hold on to! “À mon beau laurier qui danse” was of course always danced at the weddings, “ma coummère, et quand je danse” was another very favourite dance, the steps going to each syllable when sung, and they also danced “Poussette,” which entirely consisted of the different inflections of the word “Poussette,” “Pou-set-te,” alternately chanted smoothly or jerkily. This feasting and dancing was kept up till five or six the next morning, and very often for the next night as well, while on the third day all the old people and non-dancers were asked in to finish up the feast in peace.--_From Mrs. Mollet, Mrs. Marquand, and Mrs. Le Patourel._

There are certain gifts from a man to his fiancée which are supposed to be most unlucky to accept, as by so doing it would mean that the wedding would probably never take place. They are a watch and chain, a brooch, and a Bible, and if he should present her with a knife or a pair of scissors the only way to avert the ill-luck is to pay a penny for them. Should a girl upset a chair before the wedding her marriage will be delayed for a year. If a girl wishes to dream of the man she is to marry she must take some of the wedding cake on the day of the wedding, pass it through a married woman’s wedding ring, or, if possible, the bride’s, (a widow’s is of no avail) and put it under her pillow, and dream on it for five consecutive nights, and the _last_ dream will come true.--_From Fanny Ingrouille._

A correspondent sent the following query in 1857 to “_Notes and Queries_”:--“A month or two back a family, on leaving one of the Channel Islands, presented to a gardener (it is uncertain whether an inhabitant of the island or no) some pet doves, the conveyance of them to England being likely to prove troublesome. A few days afterwards the man brought them back, stating that _he was engaged to be married_, and the possession of the birds might be (as he had been informed) an obstacle to the course of true love remaining smooth.” This was put in the shape of a query, but no answer appeared. Doves and wild pigeons in Guernsey are supposed to be most unlucky birds to have in a house, so probably the gardener had been told that they would bring ill-luck on his future “ménage” if he accepted them. The country people carry their distrust of them so far that they say that their wings, worn in a hat, bring misfortune, and they are among the birds whose feathers in the pillows of the dying prolong the death agony.

“CHEVAUCHERIE D’ANE.”

If after marriage a couple do not agree well together, they are admonished by their neighbours by what, in England, is called “rough music.” In Métivier’s Dictionary he describes two young people, boy and girl, back to back on a donkey, representing the guilty husband and wife. They were followed by all the idlers of the district singing a scurrilous rhyme, and surrounding the house of the offending pair, where the song and its accompaniments were kept up all night.--_Métivier’s Dictionary, p. 23._

Nowadays putting the man and woman back to back on the donkey seems to be discontinued, but in St. Peter’s-in-the-Wood, Miss Le Pelley, a resident in the parish, writes “If the young men of this parish find out that a man has beaten his wife they form two parties on opposite sides of his house, at about a distance of one hundred yards from it, and blow conch shells, first one and then the other in answer. They keep this noise up for a long time so that the married couple may feel ashamed of themselves. I have not heard them just lately (1896), but one year it was very frequent, and such a nuisance.”--See in Brand’s _Antiquities_, Vol. 2, p. 129, the articles on “Riding the Stang” in Yorkshire, said also to be known in Scandinavia.

[46] It is not unusual in the country parishes for the young men of the neighbourhood to assemble around the house in the evening and to fire off their militia muskets or fowling pieces in honour of the wedding, in return for which they are regaled with a cup of wine to drink the health of the newly-married pair. If the marriage is between persons connected with the shipping interest all the vessels in port make a point of displaying their flags, and a few bottles of wine are distributed in return among the crews. Marriages among the country people are frequently celebrated on a Sunday, immediately before the morning service. If it is the intention of the newly-married couple to attend the service they make it a point to leave the Church and return after a short interval, as an idea prevails that if they remained in the Church until the prayers of the day have been begun the marriage would be illegal.--_From Rev. J. Giraud, Rector of Saint Saviour’s._

Deaths and Funerals.

As soon as a death occurs in a family a servant or friend is immediately sent round to announce the sad event to all the nearest relatives of the deceased, and the omission of this formality is looked upon as a great slight, and a legitimate cause of offence. If any person enter a house where a corpse is lying it is considered a mark of great disrespect not to offer a sight of it, and it is thought equally disrespectful on the part of the visitor if the offer is declined, as the refusal is supposed to bring ill-luck on the house. When the day is fixed for the funeral a messenger is sent to invite the friends and relatives to attend, and in times gone by if those to be invited resided at any distance it was considered proper that this messenger should be mounted on a black horse. Formerly the funeral feast was universal, of late years it is seldom heard of except in some of the old country families of the middle classes, among whom ancient customs generally abide longer than among the classes immediately above or below them.

The lid of the coffin is not screwed down until all the guests are assembled, and the person whose business it is to see to it, comes into the room where they are met, and invites them to take a last look. Hearses are almost unknown, even in cases where the distance from the house to the cemetery is considerable. The coffin is almost invariably borne on the shoulders by hired bearers, but in former days it was only persons of a certain standing in society who were considered entitled to this honour; the poor were carried by their friends, three on each side, bearing the coffin slung between them. Care was always taken that the corpse was carried to the church by the way the deceased was in the habit of taking during his lifetime.[47]

The custom of females attending funerals, which was formerly universal, has disappeared entirely from the town, but in the country it is still occasionally observed, the mourners being attired in long black cloaks with hoods that almost conceal the face. The funeral feast, when there is one, takes place when the cortège returns to the house of mourning. A chair is placed at the table where the deceased was wont to sit, and a knife, fork, plate, etc., laid before it as if he were still present.[48] Tea and coffee, wine, cider, and spirits, cakes, bread and cheese, and more especially a ham, are provided for the occasion. The last-named viand was, in bygone days, almost considered indispensable, and where they kept pigs,--and almost everyone then kept pigs--every year, when the pig was killed, a ham was put away “in case of a funeral” and was not touched till the next pig was killed and another ham was put in readiness; and from thence it comes that “màngier la tchesse à quiqu’un”--“to eat a person’s ham”--is proverbially used in the sense of attending his funeral. The first glass of wine is drunk in silence to the memory of the departed, whose good qualities are then dilated upon, but the conversation soon becomes general, and it not unfrequently happens that more liquor is imbibed than is altogether good for the guests. In fact the mourners had generally to be conveyed home in carts.[49]

From ancient wills it seems that money was sometimes left for the purpose of clothing a certain number of poor, and from the ordinances of the Royal Court prohibiting begging at funerals, or even the voluntary giving of alms on these occasions, it is not improbable that the custom of distributing doles was, at one time, almost general. There is no trace of it in the present day.

Till within the last few years it was almost an universal custom, even among the dissenters, for the members of a household in which a death had occurred, to attend their parish church in a body on the first or second Sunday after the funeral, and the custom is still kept up to a certain extent. If they are regular frequenters of the church they occupy their usual seats, if not, they are placed, if possible, in some conspicuous part of the building, where they remain seated during the entire service, not rising even during those portions of the service in which standing is prescribed by the rubric. This is called “taking mourning,” in French “prendre le deuil.” Widows remain seated in church during the whole of the first year of their widowhood.

[47] EDITOR’S NOTE.--Mr. Allen told me (1896) that attending a short time ago at a funeral in the Mount Durand, the corpse was to be carried to Trinity Church, to which of course the shortest route was _down_ the hill, but the widow of the deceased remonstrated so vigorously, saying that she could not allow anything so unlucky to happen to her husband, as that he should start for his funeral _down hill_, that, in deference to her wishes they went _up_ the hill and round by Queen’s-road.

[48] At funeral feasts it was an ancient custom in Iceland to leave the place of the dead man vacant.--See Gould’s “_Curiosities of Olden Times_,” p. 84.

[49] EDITOR’S NOTES.--Unless the forehead of the corpse is touched after death the ghost will walk. When you go into a house of mourning and are shown the corpse you should always lay your hand on its forehead.--_From Fanny Ingrouille, of the Forest Parish._

The same idea prevails in Guernsey which we meet with in Yorkshire and many of the Eastern Counties of England that, having your pillow stuffed with pigeons’, doves’, or any _wild_ bird’s feathers will cause you to “die hard.”--See _Notes and Queries_, 1st Series, Vol. IV.

It is also said that it is unlucky to keep doves in a house, but if they are kept in a cage and anyone dies in the house, unless a crape bow is placed on the top of the cage they will die too.

The country people also believe that no one ever dies when the tide is _rising_. Frequently when talking of a death they will say, “the tide turned, and took off poor ---- with it.”--_From Fanny Ingrouille and many others._