Chapter VIII: Part 8

when he will suddenly appear with a scythe in his hand, which, unless the poor damsel be particular in keeping her right hand stretched out, may prove a dangerous weapon. Also on Midsummer Eve, take two flowers called among the country people "Midsummer Men," and planting them in the thatch, repeat your own and sweetheart's name. Should they grow, a wedding is certain, but if not, the lovers will be parted. On All Saints, commonly called "All Hallows," let a young woman take a ball of new worsted, and holding the end in her fingers, throw the ball through the window (at midnight) saying, "Who holds?" the man who is to be her husband will pick up the worsted, mention his name, and disappear. On Christmas Eve, let three, five, or seven young girls take each a sprig of rosemary and place it in a bowl of water, putting the vessel in the centre of the room. Stretch a string across directly before it, hanging thereon a white garment of each person. They must then sit speechless until the witching hour of midnight, when each of their lovers will appear and take a piece of rosemary out of the basin, and mention his own name and his sweetheart's. When the first new moon in the year appears, she may go to the garden, and looking steadily at it, say--

"New moon, new moon,
Tell unto me
Which of these three is my husband to be,"

mentioning the names of three young men, and curtseying to each one. When next she sees them, let her notice if they have their backs or faces towards her. The one who has his face towards her will be her husband. Hang a peapod containing nine peas over the doorway; the young man who passes under it first (not one of the family) will be the husband of the young woman who hangs it there. When a young girl receives a letter from her lover, let her pin it in nine folds and place it next her heart, on retiring to rest. If she dream of gold or jewellery, he is sincere in his professions; if not, let her beware. Take a ring and hang it upon one of your own hairs, hold it steadily over a wine glass half full of water, and wish to know how many years it will be before you are married. As many times as it hits against the side of the glass, so many years it will be before you are joined in holy wedlock.

If a girl pluck a rose on Midsummer Eve, and wear it on the succeeding Christmas Day, whatever single man takes it from her must marry her.

To ascertain whether a pretended lover is sincere, take an apple-pip, and naming one of your followers, put the pip on the fire: if it make a noise in bursting it is a proof of love; if there is no crack, it is a sign that he has no regard for you:

"If you love me, bounce and fly;
If you hate me, lie and die."

Another charm consists in sticking pips upon the cheek, and naming several lovers, the truest being shown by that which remains longest.

Fingered leaves are supposed to have a magical character. If the terminating leaflets of the common ash are _even_ (they being usually _odd_) they bring "luck or a lover."

The herb Paris, a common plant in thick woods, has very frequently its four leaves multiplied into five or six, and thus generally gets the name of _true love_. So the common Cinquefoil, called "Five-leaved grass," from having its leaves in five digitated divisions, are made six or seven by accessory leaflets, and the following rhyme is repeated in rural places:

"Five-leaved grass, with six leaves on,
Put it under your pillow, and you'll dream of your mon."

A powerful love-spell is produced by what is called the "Speechless hawthorn." In May or June a flowering branch of the hawthorn must be silently gathered in the evening, and the maiden gathering it must refrain from speech that night, as a single word spoken would break the spell. Hastening to bed as soon as possible, speechless she must place the hawthorn branch under her pillow, and then, in the visions of the night, the man whom fate has destined for her future husband will certainly present himself.

The common brake fern (_Pteris aquilina_), cut in two obliquely, shows the initial letters of a sweetheart's name.

Get a maiden egg, carefully break it, and fill half the shell with salt; then eat the salt as you go to bed, walking up stairs backwards, and backing into bed also; be sure and keep silence and you will dream of your lover: if he should offer a glass of water he will be a poor man; if a glass of wine, a gentleman.

On some Friday night go to bed, and put your shoes under your pillow, crossing the left shoe over the right, and say--

"On this blessed Friday night
I put my left shoe o'er my right,
In hopes this night that I may see
The man that shall my husband be,
In his apparel and in his array,
And in the clothes he wears every day;
What he does and what he wears,
And what he'll do all days and years;
Whether I sleep or whether I wake,
I hope to hear my true love speak."

Silence must be preserved till the morning, when the lover is expected to appear in a dream.

Another love spell is "the dumb cake." This cake must be made on New Year's Eve, and eaten in silence by a number of young girls; one of them must place a clean chemise, turned inside out, on a chair before the fire; this must be sprinkled with water by a branch of rosemary; all must then sit round the fire in silence till twelve o'clock. If any among the party wish to be married during the ensuing year, the form of her husband will approach the fire and turn the chemise.

Legends and Traditions.

The legends of Worcestershire, as of most other counties, are mainly traceable to middle-age ecclesiastical influences or to the popular ideas of the author of all evil. Some few are derived from an exaggerated recollection of historical facts, and a still smaller number have descended to us from pagan times. Of these, with others whose origin is buried in obscurity, I shall now proceed to give a sample.

Ribbesford church contains an ancient sculpture on the tympanum of its principal doorway, representing an archer, with a doe or some other animal near him, which he has apparently shot at, but missing his aim, the arrow passes through what some have supposed to be a salmon, others a seal or a beaver; and the legend is, that Robin of Horsehill, the ranger to the manor, went out to shoot a buck, but incontinently pierced a salmon in the river. It is probable, however, in accordance with the known custom of the Norman builders, that the sculpture is merely intended to represent the leading feature of the locality, where an abundance of game was to be procured, the occupants of the manor being bound to furnish sporting for the monks of Worcester. Mr. Lees says that only recently another sculpture has been discovered at this church which seems to establish the proof that they are symbolical in design.

In the sandstone blocks lying in Whelpley and Sapey brooks, on the borders of this county and Herefordshire, are indentations which are accounted for in this way. St. Katharine and her maid Mabel (who ultimately took up their abode at Ledbury in consequence of having heard the bells of that town ring of their own accord), while travelling, had their mare and colt stolen, upon which the saint prayed that wherever the animals and the thief trod, the marks of their feet might be left, as a means of tracing them. The thief, it seems, was a girl in pattens, who took the animals down several brooks to avoid detection, and hence the marks of patten-rings and horses' feet visible to this day. Science, however, cold-blooded and unfeeling, has declared, by the mouth of Messrs. Murchison and Buckland, that the cavities alluded to are void spaces from which concretions of marlstone and other matter have been worked out by the action of the water. It has been subsequently urged by other geologists that these indentations were old water-marks made on the shore when the consolidated "old red" was an ancient sea beach, that they were filled up with soft marly matter, which in modern times was washed away by the continued action of streams in flowing among the stones, and thus the simulated mare and colt's tracks became evident. Two of them, at a place called Jumper's Hole, are very conspicuous, but it is certain that they have been deepened year after year by the action of the water that covers them in time of flood. Between Clifton-on-Teme and Stanford Bishop the best specimens may be seen.

The legend of St. Werstan, the founder of an oratory at Great Malvern, was detailed by Mr. Albert Way in the Journal of the Archæological Institute, in 1845, and illustrations given from the ancient painted glass in the third window of the clerestory, north of the choir in Malvern Abbey church. The glass was probably executed towards the close of the fifteenth century, when a part of the structure was renovated. The first subject represents the hermit, under the guidance of angels, indicating the spot for the erection of an oratory, then the angels are seen dedicating the building, next is a figure of Edward the Confessor granting a charter, and lastly the saint is undergoing martyrdom at the hands of two executioners armed with swords, and the choristers or youths belonging to the establishment are being punished by similar tormentors. The series is highly curious, and seems unaccountably to have escaped notice before.

Our neighbours, the Danes, when they piratically infested this country and plundered and burnt so large a number of churches, were sometimes caught _in flagrante delicto_, and their sacrilegious crimes were punished by flaying--their skins being nailed on church doors, as a terror to all other evil doers. The late Dr. Prattinton, of Bewdley, in his Manuscripts now in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries, states that some old doors then in the crypt of Worcester Cathedral were covered with fragments of human skin said to have belonged to a man who had stolen the sanctus-bell from the high altar. Portions of this skin have been since examined microscopically by Mr. Quekett, of the Museum of the College of Surgeons, and pronounced decidedly to be human. I have myself examined some old doors in the crypt and found on them patches of a substance like leather, of which I have a specimen now in my possession; but if it ever belonged to a Dane it affords substantial proof that they could not have been a thin-skinned race.

Similar specimens have been discovered at Westminster Abbey, and the churches of Hadstock and Copford, Essex; and Pepys, in his Diary (1661) mentions having seen Danes' skins on the great doors of Rochester Cathedral.

Evesham Abbey is said to have derived its origin from the same means which have been assigned to many other religious establishments--namely, supernatural interposition. Eoves, a swineherd, was attending his pigs in the forest on the site of which Evesham now stands, when the Virgin appeared to him in a vision, which he communicated to his master, the Bishop of Worcester. The Bishop repaired to the place, and saw a repetition of the vision, the Virgin enjoining him not only to erect a monastery on that spot but to prepare an image of herself, which was to be worshipped at Worcester. This prelate, in atonement for the sins of himself and the people, bound himself with chains, locked them together, and threw the key into the Avon, declaring that nothing but Divine interposition should loose his chains. Then he undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, where his servant, purchasing a fish for dinner, found in it the key which had been thrown away; and so they returned triumphantly to Evesham.

St. Kenelm's chapel, on the Clent Hill, near Stourbridge, has also its legend. Kenulph, King of Mercia, who died in 819, left his young son Kenelm under the protection of his sister Quendreda, who, however, being ambitious for the throne, procured her lover, Askobert, to take the youth out hunting, and there, in a secluded valley, he cut off his head, and buried him. However, a dove dropped a scroll on the high altar at Rome, whereon was written a couplet giving information of the murder:

"In Clent Coubath, Kenelm, kinbarne,
Ly'th under thorne, heaued bereaved."

The lovers accordingly met with their desert, the murdered King was canonized, and on the spot of his murder a chapel was erected, and a spring of holy water burst forth which for many centuries proved an undoubted specific for sore legs and eyes, and a tolerably good source of emolument to the ecclesiastics.

The old church of St. Clement's, Worcester, stood on the eastern side of the Severn, close to the city wall; and the legend says, that it was begun to be built on the side of the river where the parish lies, but that angels, by night, took away the stones to the place where the church was afterwards erected. Modifications of this old tale, as also of the following, may be met with in almost every town. The original spire of St. Andrew's church is said to have been erected by a wealthy individual, out of gratitude for having, on a certain foggy night, been preserved from walking into the Severn, in consequence of hearing St. Andrew's bells suddenly strike out.

It is a curious circumstance that while the vulgar mind has been at all times prone to attribute extraordinary or unaccountable results to Satanic influences, and to regard the evil one as the very essence of craft and cunning, a tendency has always been apparent to reduce his pretensions as a prudent or successful bargain-maker, especially in those instances wherein he was supposed to have come in contact with ecclesiastical antagonism, and he is almost invariably shown up in popular legends as being outwitted and frustrated in his diabolical designs, not less by expedients of the most simple kind, than by evasions as transparent as they are dishonest. We are told by Dr. Adam Clarke that Satan is far from excelling in knowledge, being more cunning and insidious than wise and prudent, and that we in general give this fallen spirit credit for much more wisdom than he possesses; an estimate of character which cannot be far from correct, if the following recollections of his doings in Worcestershire may be relied on: On the north boundary wall of Bromsgrove churchyard lies an old stone effigy of a man in the attitude of prayer, and it is said that the original of this figure sold himself to the wicked one for certain stipulations, one of which was, that when he died, he should not be buried either in or out of the churchyard; and the man accordingly gave directions to be buried under the boundary wall, and the effigy to be placed above it. This was a similar trick to that of the teetotaller, who, having taken the pledge not to drink liquors in or out of his house, compromised the matter to his own conscience by striding across the threshold and draining a jug to the bottom.

So the people of Bewdley were once saved from destruction by a drunken cobbler, who foregather'd with the man of sin, as the latter was travelling with a spadeful of earth to dam up the Severn, and thereby inundate the country. The devil had lost his way, and inquired of the cobbler, who, smelling sulphur, and foreseeing annihilation to all his customers at Bewdley, coolly assured the father of lies that the distance to that town was so great that he had worn out a whole lot of shoes he carried in a bag at his back. Whereupon the fallen spirit at once dropped the earth, and there remains to this day the hill called "The Devil's Spadeful," or "Spittleful." A similar legend prevails in many counties, especially in reference to the Wrekin and High Ercall Hills, Shropshire, and "Robin Hood's Butts," Herefordshire.

Near Little Shelsley grows a plant called "Devil's-bit" (_Succisa pratensis_), which it is said was given to heal any deadly wounds, but as the devil saw how many wicked persons were thus rescued from his grasp, he bit the roots off this plant, whereupon it miraculously grew without them, and follows up the habit to this day.

In Bretforton church is the legend of "Maid Margaret" carved on one of the north pillars. It is said that a nun, being tempted by the devil, resisted, and was devoured by him, whereupon the holy sister, who always went armed with a cross, used it with such effect, that the evil one burst asunder, and she emerged.

Oliver Cromwell's compact with the devil, before the battle of Worcester, has been a favourite fable probably ever since the restoration of Charles II. Echard, the rev. historian, condescends to propagate the fable, that Cromwell, on the morning that he defeated the king's army, had conference personally with the devil in Perry Wood, and made a contract with him, that to have his will then, and in all things else for seven years from that day (he unsuccessfully proposed twenty-one or fourteen years), he should, at the expiration of the said term, have him at his command, to do at his pleasure, both with his soul and body. A valiant officer called Lindsay, an intimate friend of Cromwell's, is said to have been so horror-struck at the interview, that he fled from the battle that day, escaped to a friend's house at Norfolk, and foretold Cromwell's death would happen in seven years, which accordingly so happened on the anniversary day of the battle.

A few remains of fairy lore are yet to be picked up here and there, and Mr. Jabez Allies has furnished us with as much probably as can be gained on this subject. He says that the peasantry of Alfrick and Lulsley occasionally suppose themselves "Puck-laden" (_i. e._ misled by that mischievous sprite Puck, _alias_ good old _cider_), and so drawn into ditches and bogs, whereupon the evil genius sets up a horse-laugh; also that Rosebury Rock, opposite Knightsford bridge, was a favourite haunt of the fairies, concerning whom he tells some curious tales of the patronage they bestowed upon those who had done them a good turn.

In the same locality is a place called "Callow's Leap," where it is said that a mighty hunter, named Callow, leaped down the precipice; what became of him afterwards no record saith, but it may be presumed that the consequences of the leap were not fatal, as Callow's grave, or at least the name of it, exists near Tenbury, a considerable distance from Alfrick. Many are the tales of sights unearthly to be seen at the former spot by night--of hideous black dogs running about, and of the difficulty of getting horses by that part of the road at times.

The "Jovial Hunter" is a legend of some note at Bromsgrove, and an old ballad is still remembered there which records the wondrous achievements of "Sir Ryalash" in ridding that country of an enormous wild boar, which, nerved by the promise of a fair lady's hand, he succeeded in despatching after a four hours' conflict. Bromsgrove, it is said, received its name from Boar's-grove, and there is a place called Burcot, or Boar's-cot, about three miles to the east of the town. An old story has also been handed down that the devil kept his hounds at Halesowen (Hell's Own), and, with his huntsman, Harry-ca-nab, riding on wild bulls, used to hunt the boars on Bromsgrove Lickey. Feckenham forest extended round this neighbourhood for many miles, and there are some historical evidences left of the zest with which the sport of hunting was formerly pursued here, among which is the mandate issued by Edward I to Peter Corbet, an ancestor of the family at Chaddesley, who, like other hunters of wolves, was in the king's pay. (See "Rambler," vol. iii, p. 220.) An argument has been raised from the fact of Robin Hood's name being applied to some trees and other objects in this neighbourhood that the great outlaw must have been at one time a resident in Feckenham forest; but there is no tangible evidence to support the conjecture, as the name of Robin Hood, like that of the Duke of Wellington or Lord Nelson, may probably be met with on signboards or otherwise in every county in England.

The parish of Wolverley has likewise its legend, derived from the period of the holy wars. Wolverley Court belonged to one of the Attwoods, who went out as a Crusader, was taken by the Saracens, and kept so long in a dungeon, that his lady at home, supposing him to be dead, was about to marry again, when the knight, having made a vow to the Virgin to present a large portion of his lands to the church at Worcester, was supernaturally liberated from his cell, whisked through the air, and deposited near home, when of course he lost no time in forbidding the banns. The prisoner's fetters are still preserved at the Court, as also the sculptured figure of the warrior, which formerly lay in the old church.

The name of Kidderminster is said to have been derived from the mythological period of Britain's history when King Cador resided at that town; his Majesty having been the founder of a minster there--hence Cador-minster; or, still more whimsical, comes the following versified legend:

"King Cador saw a pretty maid:
King Cador would have kissed her:
The damsel slipt aside and said--
'King Cador, you have miss'd her.'"

(And echo answered--"Cador-mister.")

As to the etymology of the parish of Oddingley, Dr. Nash informs us that Odd and Dingley, two Saxon giants, were said to have fought upon the common at that place, till the former, beginning to feel anxious for his own personal comfort, roared out--

"O Dingley, Dingley, spare my breath:
It shall be called Oddingley heath."

Oddo and Doddo were two powerful dukes of the Mercian kingdom, whose history is connected with that of several towns in this district, and they were buried in Pershore church. Oddingley, however, most probably means "the field of Oding."

In Areley Kings churchyard is a curious monument formed of sandstone blocks, like a portion of a wall, being part of the ancient fence; it bears this inscription in old capitals:

"Lithologema quare?
Reponitvr Sir Harry."

Sir Harry Coningsby, who is thus commemorated, lived in a moated grange in Herefordshire, and was early left a widower, with one child, a daughter, on whom all his happiness was centred. He was standing one day at an open window with the child in his arms, when, in some playful action, she threw herself out of her father's arms, and fell into the moat beneath, where life soon became extinct. The wretched parent could no longer bear to reside at that fatal spot, and removed into Worcestershire, to a house called "The Sturt," in Areley Kings, where he led a solitary life, went usually by the name of "Sir Harry," and when he died was buried in a corner of the churchyard, the epitaph being carved on that part of the churchyard wall which formed Sir Harry's "pane.[8]" A walnut tree was planted close to the grave, and the boys of the parish were to have the walnuts, and crack them on "Sir Harry's" gravestone; but the tree was cut down by the late rector.

[8] The term "pane" means that portion of the churchyard fence which was allotted to each parishioner to keep in repair.

The ancient parish of King's Norton keeps up the memory of two traditions--first, that Queen Elizabeth once slept in a large and picturesque building still shown there; and second, that some centuries ago, letters were usually directed to "Birmingham _near_ Kingsnorton." Droitwich likewise boasts of having, in some remote period, been a town of so much more importance than Worcester, that the latter was known chiefly by its vicinity to the former. There is indeed every probability that the salt springs of Droitwich were worked by the earliest settlers in this island.

The register of Broughton Hackett is said by Nash to contain an entry, that in the reign of Queen Anne the minister of that parish was tried, convicted, and executed, for baking his shepherd's boy in an oven!

There is a tradition at Birtsmorton that Cardinal Wolsey was once a servant in the Court-house of that parish.

Tibberton also has its traditions. It is said there that one Roger Tandy (_temp._ James I) was so very strong, that being at Sir John Pakington's, at Westwood, he took up a hogshead full of beer, drank out of the bunghole, and set it down again, without resting it on his knee or elsewhere. Also that one Hugh Pescod, _alias_ "the little Turk," in the time of Oliver Cromwell, was hung up by the neck for half-an-hour by some Parliamentarian soldiers, and being cut down and thrown into a saw-pit, he recovered; in memory of which era in his history he planted some elm trees near his orchard at Wood Green.

At Dudley there is a tradition that many years ago a giant lived in Dudley castle, as did also one in the castle of Birmingham. The Birmingham giant had done suit and service to the Dudley giant for many years, but growing fat he began to kick, and refused to serve the Dudley giant longer. A furious dispute thereupon broke out; the Dudley giant in his rage threw a large stone all the way from Dudley at the Birmingham giant, and demolished his castle and killed him. Some of his surviving followers erected a stone in the lane as a memento of prowess and rage, and called it the war stone, whence the name Warstone Lane. When the lord of Dudley castle began the dispute which ended in the ruin of the lord of Birmingham, the latter had a large and deep hole made in the castle yard, in the which were buried the treasures and the muniments of his house, with a full charge to his familiar spirit--every great man in those days had one--to watch over them until better days came and justice were done to him. Some years ago, as a gentleman was digging a well in his garden he came unexpectedly upon a strong box. He began to dig round it, and had got it slung in ropes for the purpose of hauling it up, when an ugly dwarf jumped upon it (no one seeing where he came from or went to), exclaiming, "That's mine." Immediately all the earth fell in the hole he had made. He tried many times to get the box, but every time the same thing occurred, so he gave up the attempt in despair. My grandmother has often told me she did not know the gentleman, but she had frequently seen the pick and spade with which the hole had been made.--J. VERNAL.

St. Augustine's Oak--the celebrated tree under which the "Apostle of the English" is said to have held a conference with the British bishops--has been claimed by many places in this county as a plant of Worcestershire growth: Rock and Alfrick, a place called "The Apostle's Oak," near Stanford Bridge, the Mitre Oak at Hartlebury, and other places, have been pointed out, but the record left of the site of this famous oak is so vague that any attempt at fixing it must be mere matter of conjecture. Some have supposed that the parish of Rock, whose original name was derived from the Saxon word signifying an oak, must have been the site, as Dr. Nash informs us that there was a hollow oak there held in great veneration by the country people, and called by them "The Apostle's Oak." When the turnpike was first erected, it served as a habitation for the keeper, and through his carelessness was burnt down.

Old Customs.

THE BABES OF BETHLEHEM.

It is an ancient custom at Norton, near Evesham, on the 28th of December (Innocents' Day) to ring a muffled peal, in token of sorrow for the slaughter of the hapless "babes of Bethlehem," and, immediately afterwards, an unmuffled peal, in manifestation of joy for the deliverance and escape of the infant Saviour.

RINGING FOR THE PARSON.

At Huddington church a custom prevails not to ring the bell for service till the clergyman appears in sight--which probably originated in that interesting period of church discipline when congregations were not always sure of a parson till they had caught him.

BAPTISMS.

The number of godfathers and godmothers to attend at baptisms was fixed at Worcester, at a synod held in 1240, when the same provision was made as is now required by our rubric, viz., "That there should be for every male child that is to be baptized two godfathers and one godmother, and for every female one godfather and two godmothers."

CRABBING THE PARSON.

The custom of "crabbing the parson" was observed till lately at St. Kenelm's chapelry, near Stourbridge. It was the practice for the villagers, and all who chose, to arm themselves with crabs on the wake Sunday, and as the parson approached the church they were plentifully and vigorously discharged at him in the most approved mode of "horizontal firing" until he reached the haven of the church porch. The substitution of sticks and stones for crabs led to the suppression of the practice. It is said that the origin of this curious game was at some "time immemorial," when a certain clergyman who served this chapel abstracted some dumplings from a pot at a farmhouse near and deposited them in the sleeves of his surplice, from which they rolled out during service time on the head of the clerk, who, thinking himself insulted, retaliated upon the parson by pelting him with a quantity of crabs which he had accidentally got in his pocket.

PRIMITIVE CATHEDRAL CUSTOMS.

Two ancient customs are observed at Worcester Cathedral--first, the separation of men from the women; and second, the division of the morning service into two. The allotment to each sex of a distinct place in the church was very strictly observed among the primitive Christians, and Geoffrey of Monmouth states that the Britons observed the ancient custom of Troy, by which the men and women used to celebrate their festivals apart. There is an old _jeu d'esprit_ in relation to the custom at Worcester:

"The churches in general, we everywhere find,
Are places where men to the women are joined;
At Worcester, it seems, they are more cruel hearted,
For men and their wives are brought here to be parted."

As to the division of the morning service (one portion being performed between eight and nine o'clock; and the Litany, Communion, and sermon, from eleven to one), it is to be observed that these services were originally intended to be distinct, so that the curate might have time between them to receive the names of those who intended to communicate. The Communion Office still everywhere retains the old name of "the second service;" and Bishop Overal imputes it to the negligence of ministers and the carelessness of the people that they are huddled together into one office. (See Wheatley on the Common Prayer.)

MARRIAGE CUSTOM.

The neighbourhood of Abberton, Flyford Flavel, Wick, Naunton Beauchamp, and other rural parishes in that district, celebrate weddings by serenading the house of the newly-married pair at night, and firing off guns, pistols, or any other instrument which will explode. Some parties at Wick were not long ago summoned before the magistrates for having participated in one of these popping-bouts, but the indignation of the district was greatly aroused by their being mulcted in certain expenses and ordered to discontinue the practice, for it is believed to be nearly "as old as Adam," and as indispensable a ceremony as the marriage vow itself.

FUNEREAL.

At Broadwas, at all funerals, the bearers invariably set down the coffin in the middle of the lane leading to the church, and forming a circle around it, they all bow most reverentially--a remnant, no doubt, of those ceremonies observed in Catholic days, to mark respect for the departed and to bid him farewell.

ASCENSION DAY.

Brand, in his "Popular Antiquities," states that a servant, named Betty Jelkes, who lived several years at Evesham, informed him of an ancient custom at that place for the master-gardeners to give their workpeople a treat of baked peas, both white and grey, and pork, annually on Holy Thursday.

On Ascension Day the inhabitants of Nantwich formerly assembled and sang a hymn of thanksgiving for the blessings of brine, and a very ancient pit there was held in great veneration and bedecked with boughs, flowers, and garlands; a jovial band of young people encircled the place, celebrating the occasion with song and dance. The custom also was yearly observed at Droitwich, on St. Richard's Day. This "Saint Richard" was Richard de Burford, Bishop of Chichester, who was born at Droitwich about the year 1200. Leland says that the principal salt springs "did fayle in the tyme of Richard de la Wich, or Burford, Bishop of Chichester; and that after, by his intercession, it was restored to the profit of the ould course; such (he adds) is the superstition of the people. In token whereof, or for the honour that the Wichemen and saulters bear unto this Richard, their countrieman, they used of late tymes on his daye to hange about the sault springe or well, once a yeere, with tapestrie, and to have drinking games or revels at it." One year "in the Presbyterian time (as Aubrey hath it) it was discontinued, and after that the spring shrank up or dried up for some time; so afterwards they revived their annual custom, notwithstanding the power of Parliament and the soldiers, and the salt water returned again and still continues."

GUY FAULX.

The 5th of November--so long celebrated as

"The day that God did prevent
To blow up his king and parliament,"

--is still faintly remembered among us by means of squibs and crackers stealthily discharged by mischievous boys in the streets. The good old system of bonfires--always a most popular mode of rejoicing--would probably not have been abandoned but for the numerous conflagrations it must have occasioned at a time when thatch generally covered our houses. In 1789, the Worcester corporation caused the bellman to cry down bonfires, although previous to that time the expense of providing fuel, and drink to hand round to the happy spectators, had been regularly defrayed out of the civic purse. Last year (1855) the notoriety of the day was partly revived, though on another account--namely, its being the first anniversary of the battle of Inkermann.

"ROYAL OAK DAY"--MAY 29,

is wonderfully shorn of its honours since people have generally taken to read history, and have learned how little reason they have to bless the memory of the Stuarts. The marvellous escape of Charles II, when his pursuers passed under the oak tree in which he was secreted after the battle of Worcester, is now only commemorated in the city which boasts of being "faithful" to its kings whether their memory be odorous or not, by some half-dozen boughs of oak being affixed over as many doorways in different streets.

MOTHERING SUNDAY.

Midlent, or, as it is called in Worcestershire, "Mothering Sunday," is still observed as a minor festival, upon which all the children and grand-children visit their parents, and the pride of the feast is invariably a loin of veal.

ALL FOOLS' DAY.

The first of April, too, is not forgotten by the young fry, as "April fool day;" when all sorts of traps are set to make each other look ridiculous.

PLEDGING.

The old custom of drinking healths is on the decline. In a book of rhymes, published about 1660, in "a catch made before the king's coming to Worcester with the Scottish army," is the following:

"Each man upon his back
Shall swallow his sack,
This health will endure no shrinking;
The rest shall dance round
Him that lies on the ground:
'Fore me this is excellent drinking."

MAY-POLES.

The May-pole, it has been already stated, is still in existence at Offenham, Hartlebury, Bayton, &c. Thomas Hall, a puritanical writer (1660), author of the "Downfall of May Games," says--"The most of these May-poles are stollen, yet they give out that the poles are given them. There were two May-poles set up in my parish (Kingsnorton); the one was stollen, and the other was given by a profest Papist. That which was stollen was said to bee given, when 'twas proved to their faces that 'twas stollen, and they were made to acknowledge their offence. This pole that was stolen was rated at five shillings: if all the poles, one with another, were so rated, which was stollen this May, what a considerable sum would it amount to! Fightings and bloodshed are usual at such meetings, insomuch that 'tis a common saying, that 'tis no festival unless there bee some fightings."

HEAVING.

"Heaving" or "lifting" at Easter has not long been discontinued at Worcester, the locality where the writer last heard of its performance being in Birdport and Dolday. On Easter Monday the women would surround any man who happened to be passing by, and by their joint efforts lift him up in the air, and on the next day the men did the same to the women. The only mode of escaping this kind of elevation was by "forking out" (as they term it in the classical phraseology of that neighbourhood) a certain sum to be spent in drink. At Hartlebury, a few years back, the farmhouse mistress would give the male servant a treat on Easter Tuesday, to heave the female servant, for she superstitiously believed that it would prevent the female servant from breaking the crocks during the ensuing year. At Kidderminster, on Easter Monday, the women would deck themselves gaily for the occasion, dress a chair with ribbons, and place a rope across the street to prevent the escape of any unfortunate man who chanced to pass that way. He was then seized, placed in the chair, elevated up on high, turned round three times, set down again, and was then kissed by all the women. He was also expected to pay something towards the evening's entertainments of tea and dancing. Next day the women were heaved by the men. This custom was observed in the streets till about a dozen years ago, and even to a later period in the factories and public-houses in Kidderminster. Heaving was no doubt originally designed to represent the resurrection.

VALENTINE'S DAY

is one of the best preserved customs of the middle ages, and will probably last as long as "young men and maidens" have a tender regard for each other. The first woman seen by a man on the morning of this day, or _vice versa_, is called their Valentine, though the parties never see each other again. Since the establishment of the penny postage system and the cheapening of paper and print, the custom of sending Valentines has been much on the increase, some of our Worcester booksellers having found the trade sufficiently important to warrant the insertion of advertisements in the newspapers announcing a varied stock of these little missives on hand; while the progress of education and taste among the people is shown by the elegance with which some of the amatory designs are "got up." There is no satisfactory account of the origin of this custom, which has been proved to have existed at least five centuries ago. In the life of St. Valentine there is nothing that could have given rise to it. There was a rural tradition that on this day every bird chose its mate:

"Look how, my dear, the feather'd kind,
By mutual caresses joined,
Bill, and seem to teach us two
What we to love and custom owe.

Shall only you and I forbear
To meet and make a happy pair?
Shall we alone delay to live?
This day an age of bliss may give.

But ah! when I the proffer make,
Still coyly you refuse to take;
My heart I dedicate in vain,
The too mean present you disdain.

Yet, since the solemn time allows
To choose the object of our vows,
Boldly I dare profess my flame,
Proud to be yours by any name."

MORRIS DANCING

is still resorted to by the boatmen of the Severn and the canals, whenever the frost interrupts their ordinary occupation, on which occasion small parties of them, dressed up fantastically with ribbons, and carrying short sticks, which they strike together in time with parts of the dance, perform in the streets, soliciting alms. The Morris Dancers made a considerable figure in the parochial festivals of the olden times. It is said the custom was introduced by the Moors into Spain. A few years ago a dance was performed in Herefordshire by eight men whose united ages amounted to eight hundred years; and Sir William Temple mentions that in a certain year of King James's reign there were ten men in Herefordshire who went about that county as Morris Dancers whose ages altogether numbered twelve hundred years! 'Tis not so much (says he) that so many in one county should live to that age, as that they should be in vigour and humour to travel and dance.

THE "WAITS"

linger yet among us, but their operations are confined to an early serenading of the citizens with soft music a few mornings in the Christmas time. Formerly the Worcester Corporation kept a "company of waites," paying them wages and dressing them in livery (cock'd hats and blue coats or cloaks), to be ready to play on all public occasions; but towards the close of the last century they were gradually superseded by another order of minstrels, "ye drums and fifes." Busby, in his Dictionary of Music, says the term "wayghts or waites" formerly signified "hautboys," and, what is remarkable, has no singular number. From the instruments, its signification was for a time transferred to the performers themselves; who, being in the habit of parading the streets by night with their music, occasioned the name to be applied generally to all musicians who followed a similar practice; hence those persons who annually, at the approach of Christmas, salute us with their nocturnal concerts, were, and are to this day, called Wayghts.

THE CURFEW BELL

still is occasionally rung at St. Helen's church, in this city, and at Bewdley and King's Norton, also at Pershore from October till March. At Evesham it is rung in the fine old bell-tower at eight o'clock every evening, except on Saturdays, when it is rung at seven o'clock during the Christmas holidays--the week before and the week after Christmas Day it is rung at seven o'clock; and probably at other old towns in the county which I have not ascertained; but the perpetuation of the old custom seems to be dependent solely on the poor ringers' respect for ancient usages, as they apparently get no money for their pains. At St. Helen's, after ringing the eight o'clock bell, it was usual to strike upon it the number of the day of the month.

PLUM-PUDDING AND OTHER BELLS.

At St. Martin's church, a few weeks before Christmas, a bell is nightly rung, the expense of which, I believe, is provided for under the will of one Sir Robert Berkeley, Knight, who left a fund for bell-ringing on certain days, and to purchase bell-ropes. The bell at St. Martin's is called "the plum-pudding bell," probably in allusion to the approaching Christmas festivities, as the "pancake bell" was formerly rung in many places at Easter. In most old towns, as at Worcester and Bewdley, a very early morning bell was formerly rung, probably for the purpose of waking up apprentices and arousing the working classes generally, as also school-boys to their studies; but these parties are now mainly left to manage their early rising as they can, unless some friendly factory bell be at hand. There was also a passing bell, tolled while persons were dying. In the articles of visitation for the diocese of Worcester in 1662 occurs the following: "Doth the parish clerk or sexton take care to admonish the living, by tolling of a passing bell, of any that are dying, thereby to meditate of their own deaths, and to commend the other's weak condition to the mercy of God?"

ST. CATHARINE'S DAY.

"Catherning," or "Cattaring,"--that is, the observance of St. Catharine's Day (Nov. 25) has not yet gone out of remembrance in Worcestershire. It was formerly the custom of the Dean and Chapter--that day being the last of their audit--to distribute amongst the inhabitants of the College precincts a rich compound of wine, spices, &c., called "the Cattern bowl." A modified edition of the custom, I believe, is still observed. At Leigh, Harvington, Offenham, and other parishes, the young people had a custom of going round to the houses and asking for apples and beer, using a doggrel rhyme on the occasion which differs in most places, and St. Thomas's and old Christmas Day are sometimes selected for the purpose. The St. Thomas's Day perambulation is in some places called "Going a gooding." The rhyme or carol more usually sung on St. Catharine's Day began thus:

"Catt'n and Clement comes year by year,
Some of yr apples and some of yr beer;
Some for Peter, some for Paul,
Some for Him who made us all.
Peter was a good old man,
For his sake give us some:
Some of the best and none of the worst,
And God will send yr souls to roost."

Concluding thus:

"Up the ladder and down with the can,
Give me red apples and I'll begone."

The ladder alluding to the store of apples, generally kept in a loft; and the can, doubtless, to the same going down into the cellar for the beer. In some districts of the county the following doggrel is repeated:

"St. Clements! St. Clements! A cat by the ear!
A good red apple--a pint o' beer!
Some o' your mutton, some o' your _vale_! [veal]
If it's good, gie us a _dale_, [deal]
If its _naught_, gie us some _saut_! [salt]
Butler, butler, fill the bowl--
If you fill it of the best,
God will send your soul to rest;
But if you fill it of the small,
The Devil take butler, bowl, and all!"

A correspondent states that this custom originated, or was revived, when Queen Elizabeth visited Worcester, the inhabitants sparing no expense to give her Majesty a gracious reception upon St. Catharine's Day, when a number of apples were strung before the fire and the citizens went with a can from house to house, begging apples and beer, and repeating the above lines.

CURIOUS CHARITY, &c.

At Kidderminster is a whimsical charity for the benefit of the inhabitants of Church Street. Mr. Brecknall, a bachelor, in 1778, bequeathed a farthing loaf and twopenny cake annually to every _single_ person born in that street who should apply for it on the 21st of June; the applicant is eligible during the whole of his or her life, or in whatever part of the world residing. The mere residents of Church Street, if not born there, are also entitled to a cake, but their claim is forfeited when they leave the street. The recipients make themselves truly "jolly" on the night of the distribution.--In the same town the inhabitants formerly assembled at a particular hour on Michaelmas Day, on the occasion of the election of a bailiff, which was announced by the ringing of the town-house bell, and during one hour--termed "lawless hour"--the poorer classes amused themselves by throwing cabbage-stalks at each other, while the higher classes threw apples. Sometimes the apples were thrown from windows, to be scuffled for, and many a black eye was the consequence of this fruit being used as a projectile. After a whole street had been amused by this practical fun, it was given out by some leader of the mob what locality was next to be favoured, and thither they all proceeded at once. This custom was observed within the last twenty years.

THE WHOOP.

On the second Sunday in July there was a custom at Chaddesley Corbett to put strangers "through the whoop." I cannot ascertain exactly what this practice was, as the inhabitants from whom I have sought information fight exceedingly shy of it, and some even deny the existence of the custom; but one gentleman informs me that it was usual on that day for the lower order of the parishioners to play some practical joke--anything which first presented itself to their imaginations--upon whatever stranger happened to come within their boundary.

TENURE.

There is a curious tenure at Inkberrow. The manor and advowson were granted by Philip and Mary to an ancestor of the present Lord Abergavenny, on condition that in default of male issue the same should revert to the Crown. Up to the present time, however, there has been no lack of males in the family, and the present noble lord "hath his quiver full" of promising sons.

NICKNAMES.

Among the colliers in the north of this county, as also that singular race of beings known as the "Lye-wasters," near Stourbridge, the custom is observed of adopting nicknames, so that they are but very little known by their Christian or surnames, and an officer who goes to serve a writ or summons has a task which he finds himself unable to perform. Amusing instances are given in "The Rambler," vol. ii, p. 80, and vol. iii, p. 253.

BRIDE ALES.

At Halesowen, in former times, the celebration of bride-ales or love-ales, at a wedding, prevailed, and led to such disorder that during the reign of Elizabeth it was found necessary by the Borough Court to make some most stringent orders thereon. The custom was for the bride to sell a quantity of ale, for which she received, by way of contribution, whatever handsome price the friends assembled chose to pay; the object being to assist the young people in commencing housekeeping. The custom is now reversed, for the entertainment to be given by young married people to their friends is at present a serious item.

PAUPER RELIEF.

The way of relieving parochial paupers at Harvington in the seventeenth century was by assigning them for certain days to any of the inhabitants who would employ them. An entry occurs in the parish register thus:

"April 6, 1697. A particular of the several days as Thomas
Godfrey is to worke with the persons under written, for which
they are to give him 8d. a day, or if they doe not employ him,
4d. per day; to begin from the 6th of April, 1697, and soe to
goe thro' the towne as thus:"

Then follows a list of thirty-six persons who were to employ the said Thomas Godfrey, giving him a month's intermission at harvest time.

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS.

On the confines of Worcestershire, towards Ledbury, it was some years ago the custom, on Twelfth Night, for the farmers to make twelve fires upon the head (east side) of one of their wheat fields. One of these fires was larger than the others, which they called "Old Meg," and around this the farm servants, with their families and friends, congregated to drink warm cider, with plum-cake toasted in it, and with loud hurrahs wishing success to the master and his crops; then they proceeded to the cow-house, which had been nicely cleaned for the occasion, and the cows had also been cleaned and tied up, being allowed a good supply of their best provender. A large plum-cake, bound round with tape, was stuck on the horns of the best cow, and buckets of cider with plum-cake were carried in. Each person present then drank to the health of the cow, using this doggrel:

"Here's to thee, Ball, and to thy white horn;
Pray God send thy master a good crop of corn,
Of wheat, rye, and barley, and all sorts of grain,
And at this time twelve months we meet here again.
The leaves they are green,
The nuts they are brown,
They all hang so high
That they cannot come down.
They cannot come down until the next year,
So thee eat thy oats and we'll drink our beer" (or cider, as
the case might be.)