Chapter M: M. M. a traveller in Russia, communicates, through the Gentleman’s (9)

Recently, it is related, that on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, the boys of the grammar-school at Lanark, according to ancient usage, parade the streets with a palm, or, its substitute, a large tree of the willow kind, _salix cafrea_, in blossom, ornamented with daffodils, mezereon, and box-tree. This day there is called Palm Saturday, and the custom is supposed to be “a popish relic of very ancient standing.”[43] Mr. Douce, in a manuscript note, cited by Mr. Ellis, says “I have somewhere met with a proverbial saying, that he that hath not a palm in his hand on Palm Sunday, must have his hand cut off.”

According to Stowe, in the week before Easter, there were great shows in London for going to the woods, and fetching into the king’s house a twisted tree, or _withe_; and the like into the house of every man of note or consequence.

Palm Sunday remains in the English calendars. It is still customary with men and boys to go a palming in London early on Palm Sunday morning; that is, by gathering branches of the willow or sallow with their grey shining velvet-looking buds, from those trees in the vicinity of the metropolis: they come home with slips in their hats, and sticking in the breast button holes of their coats, and a sprig in the mouth, bearing the “palm” branches in their hands. This usage remains among the ignorant from poor neighbourhoods, but there is still to be found a basket woman or two at Covent-garden, and in the chief markets with this “palm,” as they call it, on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, which they sell to those who are willing to buy; but the demand of late years has been very little, and hence the quantity on sale is very small. Nine out of ten among the purchasers buy it in imitation of others, they care not why; and such purchasers, being Londoners, do not even know the tree which produces it, but imagine it to be a “real” palm tree, and “wonder” they never saw any “palm” trees, and where they grow.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Sweet scented Jonquil. _Narcissus Odorus._
Dedicated to _St. John_ of Egypt.

[39] Fosbroke’s British Monach. Brand’s Pop. Antiq. &c.

[40] From a “Dialogue, concerning the chyefest ceremonyes by the Impes
of Anti-Christ, 1554,” 12mo. Quoted by Brand.

[41] Brand.

[42] Carew.

[43] Sinclair’s Statist. Acc.

~March 28.~

_Priscus_, _Malchus_, and _Alexander_, Martyrs, A. D. 260. _St.
Sixtus_ III. Pope, A. D. 440. _St. Gontran_, King and Confessor, A. D.
593.

CHRONOLOGY.

On this day in 1380, gunpowder was first used in Europe by the Venetians against the Genoese. Its power is said by the Germans to have been discovered accidentally by Berthold Schwartz; but our Roger Bacon who died in 1278, certainly was acquainted with it. Gunpowder was known in India very early, and from thence the knowledge of it was obtained by the Arabians, who employed it in a battle near Mecca so long ago as the year 690.

1677. Wenceslaus Hollar, the engraver, died at Westminster. His view of London in Howell’s “Londinopolis,” and the numerous plates he executed for Dugdale’s “Monasticon,” “Warwickshire,” “St. Paul’s,” “Origines Juridiciales,” and other works have made him well known to the topographer and portrait collector; but his “muffs” and “insects” are particularly beautiful. His style almost peculiar to himself, is known at a glance by the experienced eye; Gaywood, in portraits, and King, in views, were inferior artists of the same school. Merian, in some insects, rivals him formidably. Hollar’s labour was immense as may be seen from Vertue’s catalogue of his prints; yet he often worked at fourpence an hour, and perished in poverty.

1801. Sir Ralph Abercrombie died in Egypt. He received his death-wound on the 21st., during his memorable victory over the French at Alexandria.

1802. Pallas, a new planet, was discovered by Dr. Olbers, of Bremen in Germany.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Lesser Leopardsbane. _Doronicum Plantagineum._
Dedicated to _St. Priscus_.

~March 29.~

_Sts. Jonas_, _Barachisius_, &c. A. D. 327. _Sts. Armogastes_,
_Archinimus_, and _Saturus_, A. D. 457. _St. Eustasius_, or
_Eustachius_, Abbot, A. D. 625. _St. Gundleus_, a Welsh King, 5th
Cent. _St. Mark_, Bishop, 4th Cent.

CHRONOLOGY.

1315. Raymond Lulle, the most celebrated chemist and alchymist of his time, was stoned to death by the natives of Mauritania, whither he had gone on a religious mission, at the age of eighty. His attention was directed to chemistry by the power of love. A lady, very handsome, with whom he was passionately enamoured, refused to marry him. One day, when he renewed his solicitation, she showed her bosom inflamed by a cancer. Young Lulle instantly took leave, with the resolution to cure, and if possible, conquer the heart of his mistress. He searched with all the ardour, which affection and compassion could inspire, into the secrets of medicine and chemistry, and had the good fortune to cure, and to marry her. After her death he attached himself to the church. The inhabitants of the island of Majorca, where he was born, in 1236, revere him as a martyr.

1461. The battle which decided the claims of the houses of York and Lancaster was fought between Towton and Saxton, two villages near York. It commenced in a snow storm at day break, was contested with fearful obstinacy till three in the afternoon, and terminated in a deluge of blood. Eight and thirty thousand human beings were left dead on the field; of whom the heralds appointed to number the slain, returned that twenty-eight thousand were Lancastrians. Edward, duke of York, who won the day, rode from the scene of carnage to York, where he ordered the death of several prisoners; while Henry VI. of Lancaster, who lost the crown, escaped with great difficulty to the borders.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Oxelip. _Primula elatior._
Dedicated to _St. Eustasius_.
Fumitory. _Fumaria officinalis._
Dedicated to _St. Jonas_.

~March 30.~

_St. John Climacus._ _St. Zozimus_, Bishop of Syracuse, A. D. 660.
_St. Regulus_, or _Rieul_, Bishop of Senlis.

_St. John Climacus_, A. D. 605,

Was caverned as a hermit in a rock near Mount Sinai, in Syria, and became at seventy-five, abbot and superior-general of all the monks and hermits of the country. He admired one of the principal citizens of Alexandria in Egypt, who, petitioning to become a monk, was ordered to remain without the gate, and manifested his obedience by staying there for seven years, and begging prayers for his leprous soul of every passenger. St. John also admired a monkish cook, because he generally cried while he cooked, and assigned as a reason, that “the fire he always had before his eyes, reminded him of that fire which will burn souls for all eternity.”[44] It is related that a woman who had committed so enormous a sin that she dare not confess it, came to St. John, who bade her write it, and seal it, and give it to him, and he would pray for her; this she did, and shortly after St. John died. The woman sorely afraid that her written secret would be read, wept and prayed at St. John’s tomb, and begged he would appear and tell her what he had done with the paper; on a sudden, St. John came forth habited like a bishop, with a bishop on each side of him, and he said to the woman, “Why troublest thou me so much, and these saints with me? thou sufferest us to have no rest: look here, our clothes are all wet with thy tears.” Then he delivered to her the paper, sealed as she had given it to him, and said, “See here, look at the seal, open the writing, and read it.” So she did; and she found all her sin “defaced clean out;” and instead thereof was written, “All thy sins are forgiven, and put away by the prayer of St. John, my servant.” Then she returned thanks, and St. John and his two bishops returned to their sepulchres.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Rough Carameni. _Cardemeni hirsuta._
Dedicated to _St. John of Climacus_.
Lesser Daffodil. _Narcissus minor._
Dedicated to _St. Zozimus_.

[44] Butler’s Saints.

~March 31.~

_St. Benjamin_, Deacon, Martyr, A. D. 424. _St. Acacius_, or
_Achates_, Bishop of Antioch, A. D. 250, or 251. _St. Guy_, A. D.
1046.

CHRONOLOGY.

1814. On this day the sovereigns who have since formed the holy alliance, entered Paris at the head of the Russian troops. The capitulation of this capital was succeeded by the return of the Bourbons to France.

~Maundy Thursday,~

OR

SHERE THURSDAY.

Maundy Thursday is always the Thursday before Easter; its name has occasioned some trouble to antiquaries. One writer conceives _maundy_ to be corrupted from the _mandate_ of Christ to his disciples to break bread in remembrance of him: or from his other _mandate_, after he had washed their feet, to _love one another_.[45] With better reason it is conceived to be derived from the Saxon word _mand_, which afterwards became _maund_, a name for a basket, and subsequently for any gift or offering contained in the basket. Thus Shakspeare says, “a thousand favours from her _maund_ she drew:” and Hall in his satires, speaks of “a _maund_ charged with household merchandize:” so also Drayton tells of “a little _maund_ being made of osiers small;” and Herrick says,

“Behold, for us, the naked graces stay
With _maunds_ of roses, for to strew the way.”

The same poet speaks of _maundie_ at alms:

“All’s gone, and death hath taken
Away from us
Our _maundie_, thus
The widdowes stand forsaken.”

Thus then, “_Maundy Thursday_, the day preceding Good Friday, on which the king distributes alms to a certain number of poor persons at Whitehall, is so named from the _maunds_ in which the gifts were contained.”[46]

According to annual custom, on Maundy Thursday, 1814, the royal donations were distributed at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall. In the morning, Dr. Carey, the sub-almoner, and Mr. Hanby, the secretary to the lord high almoner, Mr. Nost, and others belonging to the lord chamberlain’s office, attended by a party of the yeomen of the guard, distributed to seventy-five poor women, and seventy-five poor men, being as many as the king was years old, a quantity of salt fish, consisting of salmon, cod, and herrings, pieces of very fine beef, five loaves of bread, and some ale to drink the king’s health. Mr. Hanby gave notice that in future their cases must be certified by the minister of the parish, by order of the lord almoner. At three o’clock they assembled again, the men on one side the chapel, and the women on the other. A procession entered, of those engaged in the ceremony, consisting of a party of yeoman of the guard, one of them carrying a large gold dish on his head, containing 150 bags, with seventy-five silver pennies in each, for the poor people, which was placed in the royal closet. They were followed by the sub-almoner in his robes, with a sash of fine linen over his shoulder and crossing his waist. He was followed by two boys, two girls, the secretary, and another gentleman, with similar sashes, &c. &c., all carrying large nosegays. The church evening service was then performed, at the conclusion of which the silver pennies were distributed, and woollen cloth, linen, shoes and stockings, to the men and women, and a cup of wine to drink the king’s health.

Anciently, on Maundy Thursday, the kings and queens of England washed and kissed the feet of as many poor men and women as they were years old, besides bestowing their _maundy_ on each. This was in imitation of Christ washing his disciples’ feet. Queen Elizabeth performed this at Greenwich, when she was thirty-nine years old, on which occasion the feet of the same number of poor persons were first washed by the yeomen of the laundry with warm water and sweet herbs, afterwards by the sub-almoner, and lastly, by the queen herself; the person who washed, making each time a cross on the pauper’s foot above the toes, and kissing it. This ceremony was performed by the queen, kneeling, being attended by thirty-nine ladies and gentlewomen. Clothes, victuals, and money were then distributed among the poor.[47] James II. is said to have been the last of our monarchs who performed this ceremony in person. It was afterwards performed by the almoner. On the 5th of April, 1731, it being Maundy Thursday, the king being then in his forty-eighth year, there was distributed at the Banquetting-house, Whitehall, to forty-eight poor men and forty-eight poor women, boiled beef and shoulders of mutton, and small bowls of ale, which is called dinner; after that, large wooden platters of fish and loaves, viz. undressed, one large old ling, and one large dried cod; twelve red herrings, and twelve white herrings, and four half quartern loaves. Each person had one platter of this provision; after which was distributed to them shoes, stockings, linen and woollen cloth, and leathern bags, with one-penny, two-penny, three-penny, and four-penny pieces of silver, and shillings; to each about four pounds in value. His grace, the lord archbishop of York, lord high almoner, performed the annual ceremony of washing the feet of the poor in the Royal Chapel, Whitehall, as was formerly done by the kings themselves.[48]

This day was also called _Shere Thursday_, and by corruption _Chare_ Thursday. Shere Thursday signified that it was the day whereon the clergy were wont to shere or shear their heads, or get them shorn or shaven, and to clip their beards against Easter-day.[49] In the miraculous legend of St. Brandon it is related that he sailed with his monks to the island of sheep, “and on _sherethursdaye_, after souper, he wesshe theyr feet and kyssed them lyke as our lorde dyd to his dyscyples.”[50] Maundy Thursday is nowhere observed in London except, as before stated, at the Chapel Royal.

[45] Dunton’s British Apollo.

[46] Archdeacon Nares’s “Glossary,” wherein the authorities briefly
cited above are set forth at large.

[47] Gentleman’s Magazine.

[48] Lambarde.

[49] Brand’s Pop. Antiq. Nares’s Glossary, _Chare_ and _shere_.

[50] Golden Legend.

~Good Friday.~

A Holiday at all the Public Offices.

This and Christmas-day are the only two close holidays now observed throughout London, by the general shutting up of shops, and the opening of all the churches. The dawn is awakened by a cry in the streets of “Hot-cross-buns; one-a-penny buns, two-a-penny buns; one-a-penny, two-a-penny, hot-cross-buns!” This proceeds from some little “peep-o’-day boy,” willing to take the “top of the morning” before the rest of his compeers. He carries his covered buns in a basket hanging on one arm, while his other hand is straightened like an open door, at the side of his mouth, to let forth his childish voice, and he “pipes and trebles _out_ the sound” to the extremity of his lungs. Scarcely has he departed before others come; “another and another still succeeds,” and at last the whole street is in one “common cry of _buns_.” Old men and young men, young women and old women, big children and little children, are engaged in this occupation, and “some cry now who never cried before.” The bun-venders who eclipse the rest in voice and activity, are young women who drive fruit-barrows--barrows, by the bye, are no more, but of them by and bye. A couple of these ex-barrow-women trip along, carrying a wicker clothes-basket between them, in which the “hot-cross-buns” are covered, first by a clean flannel or green baize, and outwardly by a clean white cloth, which coverings are slowly and partially removed, for fear of letting the buns cool, when a customer stops to buy, or calls them to the door. They continue their lengthened cry, with a volume of concerted sound, unequalled by other rivals in the ephemeral Good Friday trade. These scenes and sounds continue till church-time, and resume in the afternoon. It partially commences on the evening before Good Friday, but with little success.

Some thirty or forty years ago pastrycooks and bakers vied with each other for excellence in making hot-cross-buns; the demand has decreased, and so has the quality of the buns. But the great place of attraction for bun-eaters at that time was Chelsea; for _there_ were the two “_royal_ bun-houses.” Before and along the whole length of the long front of each, stood a flat-roofed, neat, wooden portico or piazza of the width of the foot-path, beneath which shelter “from summer’s heat and winter’s cold,” crowds of persons assembled to scramble for a chance of purchasing “royal hot cross Chelsea buns,” within a reasonable time; and several hundreds of square black tins, with dozens of hot buns on each tin, were disposed of in every hour from a little after six in the morning, till after the same period in the evening of Good Friday. Those who knew what was good, better than new comers, gave the preference to the “old _original_ royal bun-house,” which had been a _bun_-house “ever since it was a house,” and at which “the king himself once _stopped_,” and who could say as much for the other? This was the conclusive tale at the door, and from within the doors, of the “old original bun-house.” Alas! and alack! there is _that_ house _now_; and there is the house that was opened as its rival; but where are ye who contributed to their renown and custom, among the apprentices and journeymen, and the little comfortable tradesmen of the metropolis, and their wives and children--where are ye? With ye hath the fame of “Chelsea buns” departed, and the “royal bun-houses” are little more distinguished than the humble graves wherein ye rest.

* * * * *

Formerly “hot-cross-buns” were commonly eaten in London by families at breakfast, and some families still retain the usage. They are of the usual form of buns; though they are distinguished from them inwardly by a sweeter taste, and the flavour of all-spice, and outwardly by the mark or sign of the cross. The “hot-_cross_-bun” is the most popular symbol of the Roman catholic religion in England that the reformation has left. Of the use of the cross, as a mark or sign in papal worship and devotion, most readers are aware; for it has been insisted on by Roman catholic writers from the days of Constantine to Alban Butler himself, who giving example of its great virtue on Good Friday, says, “to add one more instance, out of many, St. Teresa assures us, in her own life, that one day the devil, by a phantom, appeared to sit on the letters of her book, to disturb her at her devotions; but she drove him away _thrice_ by the sign of the cross, and at last sprinkled the book with holy water; after which he returned no more.”[51] In the houses of some ignorant people, a Good Friday bun is still kept “for luck,” and sometimes there hangs from the ceiling a hard biscuit-like cake of open _cross_-work, baked on a Good Friday, to remain there till displaced on the next Good Friday by one of similar make; and of this the editor of the _Every-Day Book_ has heard affirmed, that “it preserves the house from fire;” “no fire ever happened in a house that had one.” This undoubtedly is a relic of the old superstition; as is also a vulgar notion in the west of England, that the straight stripe down the shoulders of the ass, intersected by the long one from the neck to the tail, is a _cross_ of honour conferred upon him by Christ, and that before Christ rode upon the ass, that animal was not so distinguished.

Hot-cross-buns are the ecclesiastical _Eulogiæ_, or consecrated loaves, bestowed in the church as alms, and to those who from any impediment could not receive the host. They are made from the dough from whence the host itself is taken, and are given by the priest to the people after mass, just before the congregation is dismissed, and are kissed before they are eaten. They are marked with the cross as our Good Friday buns are. Winckelman relates this remarkable fact, that at Herculaneum were found two entire loaves of the same size, a palm and a half, or five inches in diameter. They were marked by a _cross_, within which were four other lines; and so the bread of the Greeks was marked from the earliest periods. Sometimes it had only four lines, and then it was called _quadra_. This bread had rarely any other mark than a cross, which was on purpose to divide and break it more easily.[52]

The _Tenebræ_, a Roman catholic service signifying _darkness_, is performed on and before _Good Friday_, to denote the circumstances and darkness at the crucifixion. This is partly symbolized by a triangular candlestick with fourteen yellow wax candles and one white one, seven of these yellow candles being on one side, the seven other yellow ones on the other side, and the white wax candle being at the top. The fourteen yellow candles represent the eleven apostles, the virgin Mary, and the women that were with her at the crucifixion; the white candle at the top is to represent Christ. Fourteen psalms are sung, and at the end of each psalm one of the yellow candles is put out till the whole fourteen are extinguished, and the white candle alone left alight. After this and the extinction of the light on the altar, “the white candle is taken down from the top of the triangular candlestick, and hid under the altar.” The putting out of the fourteen candles is to denote the flight or mourning of the apostles and the women; and the hiding of the white candle denotes that Christ is in the sepulchre; then a noise is made by beating the desks or books, and by beating the floor with the hands and feet, and this noise is to represent the earthquake and the splitting of the rocks at the crucifixion.[53]

In the church of St. Peter’s at Rome on Good Friday, the hundred burning lamps on the tomb of St. Peter are extinguished, and a stupendous illuminated cross depends from the immense dome of the cathedral, as if it hung self-supported. But to relate the papal ceremonies pertaining to the fast of lent, and its ensuing festival, would fill volumes of this size, and we hasten from the devices of men to contemplate works which all his art is incompetent to rival.

Nature! to me, thou art more beautiful
In thy most simple forms, than all that man
Hath made, with all his genius, and his power
Of combination: for he cannot raise
One structure, pinnacled, or domed, or gemm’d,
By architectural rule, or cunning hand,
Like to the smallest plant, or flower, or leaf,
Which living hath a tongue, that doth discourse
Most eloquent of Him, the great Creator
Of all living things. Man’s makings fail
To tell of aught but this, that he, the framer
Sought also to create, and fail’d, because
No life can he impart, or breath infuse,
To give inertness being.

[51] Butler’s Moveable Feasts, 1774, 8vo. p. 379.

[52] Fosbroke’s Brit. Monach. Herculaneum it will be remembered was
overwhelmed and destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius,
A. D. 79.

[53] Butler’s Moveable Feasts.

Next came fresh April, full of lustyhed,
And wanton as a kid whose horne new buds;
Upon a bull he rode, the same which led
Europa floting through th’ Argolick fluds:
His horns were gilden all with golden studs,
And garnished with garlands goodly dight
Of all the fairest flowers and freshest buds
Which th’ earth brings forth; and wet he seem’d in sight
With waves, through which he waded for his love’s delight.

_Spenser._

This is the fourth month of the year. Its Latin name is _Aprilis_, from _aperio_, to open or set forth. The Saxons called it, _Oster_ or _Eastermonath_, in which month, the feast of the Saxon goddess, _Eastre_, _Easter_, or _Eoster_ is said to have been celebrated.[54] April, with us, is sometimes represented as a girl clothed in green, with a garland of myrtle and hawthorn buds; holding in one hand primroses and violets, and in the other the zodiacal sign, Taurus, or the bull, into which constellation the sun enters during this month. The Romans consecrated the first of April to Venus, the goddess of beauty, the mother of love, the queen of laughter, the mistress of the graces; and the Roman widows and virgins assembled in the temple of Virile Fortune, and disclosing their personal deformities, prayed the goddess to conceal them from their husbands.[55]

In this month the business of creation seems resumed. The vital spark rekindles in dormant existences; and all things “live, and move, and have their being.” The earth puts on her livery to await the call of her lord; the air breathes gently on his cheek, and conducts to his ear the warblings of the birds, and the odours of new-born herbs and flowers; the great eye of the world “sees and shines” with bright and gladdening glances; the waters teem with life, man himself feels the revivifying and all-pervading influence; and his

---- spirit holds communion sweet
With the brighter spirits of the sky.

[54] Sayer’s Disquisitions.

[55] Lempriere.

~April 1.--All Fools’ Day.~

_St. Hugh_, Bp. A. D. 1132. _St. Melito_, Bp. A. D. 175. _St.
Gilbert_, Bp. of Cathness, A. D. 1240.

On the first of April, 1712, Lord Bolingbroke stated, that in the wars, called the “glorious wars of queen Anne,” the duke of Marlborough had not lost a single battle--and yet, that the French had carried their point, the succession to the Spanish monarchy, the pretended cause of these wars. Dean Swift called this statement “a due donation for ‘_All Fools’ Day_!’”

On the first of April, 1810, Napoleon married Maria Louisa, archduchess of Austria, on which occasion some of the waggish Parisians called him “_un poisson d’Avril_,” a term which answers to our _April fool_. On the occasion of his nuptials, Napoleon struck a medal, with Love bearing a thunderbolt for its device.

It is customary on this day for boys to practise jocular deceptions. When they succeed, they laugh at the person whom they think they have rendered ridiculous, and exclaim, “_Ah! you April fool!_”

_Thirty_ years ago, when buckles were worn in shoes, a boy would meet a person in the street with--“Sir, if you please, your shoe’s _unbuckled_,” and the moment the accosted individual looked towards his feet, the informant would cry--“Ah! you April fool!” _Twenty_ years ago, when buckles were wholly disused, the urchin-cry was--“Sir, your shoe’s _untied_;” and if the shoe-wearer lowered his eyes, he was hailed, as his buckled predecessor had been, with the said--“Ah! you April fool!” Now, when neither buckles nor strings are worn, because in the year 1825 no decent man “has a _shoe_ to his foot,” the waggery of the day is--“Sir, there’s something _out_ of your pocket.” “Where?” “There!” “What?” “Your _hand_, sir--Ah! you April fool!” Or else some lady is humbly bowed to, and gravely addressed with “Ma’am, I beg your pardon, but you’ve _something on your face_!” “Indeed, my man! what is it?” “Your _nose_, ma’am--Ah! you April fool!”

The tricks that youngsters play off on the _first of April_ are various as their fancies. One, who has yet to know the humours of the day, they send to a cobbler’s for a pennyworth of the best “stirrup oil;” the cobbler receives the money, and the novice receives a hearty cut or two from the cobbler’s strap: if he does not, at the same time, obtain the information that he is “an April fool,” he is sure to be acquainted with it on returning to his companions. The like knowledge is also gained by an errand to some shop for half a pint of “pigeon’s milk,” or an inquiry at a bookseller’s for the “Life and Adventures of Eve’s Mother.”

Then, in-door young ones club their wicked wits,
And almost frighten servants into fits--
“Oh, John! James! John!--oh, quick! oh! Molly, oh
Oh, the trap-door! oh, Molly! down below!”
“What, what’s the matter!” scream, with wild surprise
John, James, and Molly, while the young ones’ cries
Redouble till they come; then all the boys
Shout “Ah! you April fools!” with clamorous noise;
And little girls enticed down stairs to see,
Stand peeping, clap their hands, and cry “te-hee!”
Each gibing boy escapes a different way,
And meet again some trick, “as good as that,” to play.

*

Much is written concerning the custom of fool-making on the first of April, but with this result only, that it is very ancient and very general.[56] As a better opportunity will occur hereafter, nothing will be said here respecting “fools” by profession.

The practice of making fools on this day in North Britain, is usually exercised by sending a person from place to place by means of a letter, in which is written

“On the first day of April
Hunt the _gowk_ another mile.”

This is called “hunting the _gowk_;” and the bearer of the “fools’ errand” is called an “April _gowk_.” Brand says, that _gowk_ is properly a _cuckoo_, and is used here _metaphorically_ for a fool; this appears correct; for from the Saxon “_geac_, a cuckoo,” is derived _geck_,[57] which means “one easily imposed on.” Malvolio, who had been “made a _fool_” by a letter, purporting to have been written by Olivia, inquires of her

“Why have you suffered me to be--
--Made the most notorious _geck_ and _gull_
That e’er invention play’d on?”

Olivia affirms, that the letter was not written by her, and exclaims to Malvolio

“Alas, poor _fool_! how have they baffled thee!”

_Geck_ is likewise derivable “from the Teutonic _geck_, _jocus_.”[58]

The “April fool” is among the Swedes. Toreen, one of their travellers, says, “We set sail on the first of April, and the wind made _April fools_ of us, for we were forced to return before Shagen.” On the Sunday and Monday preceding Lent, people are privileged at Lisbon to play the _fool_: it is thought very jocose to pour water on any person who passes, or throw powder in his face; but to do both is the perfection of wit.[59] The Hindoos also at their Huli festival keep a general holiday on the 31st of March, and one subject of diversion is to send people on errands and expeditions that are to end in disappointment, and raise a laugh at the expense of the persons sent. Colonel Pearce says, that “high and low join in it; and,” he adds, “the late Suraja Doulah, I am told, was very fond of making Huli fools, though he was a mussulman of the highest rank. They carry the joke here (in India) so far, as to send letters making appointments, in the name of persons, who, it is known, must be absent from their house at the time fixed upon; and the laugh is always in proportion to the trouble given.”[60]

The _April fool_ among the French is called “_un poisson d’Avril_.” Their transformation of the term is not well accounted for, but their customs on the day are similar to ours. In one instance a “joke” was carried too far. At Paris, on the 1st of April, 1817, a young lady pocketed a watch in the house of a friend. She was arrested the same day, and taken before the correctional police, when being charged with the fact, she said it was an April trick (_un poisson d’Avril_.) She was asked whether the watch was in her custody? She denied it; but a messenger was sent to her apartment, and it was found on the chimney-place. Upon which the young lady said, she had made the messenger _un poisson d’Avril_, “an April fool.” The pleasantry, however, did not end so happily, for the young lady was jocularly recommended to remain in the house of correction till the 1st of April, 1818, and then to be discharged as _un poisson d’Avril_.[61]

* * * * *

It must not be forgotten, that the practice of “making April fool” in England, is often indulged by persons of maturer years, and in a more agreeable way. There are some verses that pleasantly exemplify this:[62]

_To a_ LADY, _who threatened to make the_ AUTHOR _an_ APRIL FOOL.

Why strive, dear girl, to make a fool
Of one not wise before,
Yet, having ’scaped from folly’s school,
Would fain go there no more?

Ah! if I must to school again,
Wilt thou my teacher be?
I’m sure no lesson will be vain
Which thou canst give to me.

One of thy kind and gentle looks,
Thy smiles devoid of art,
Avail, beyond all crabbed books,
To regulate my heart.

Thou need’st not call some fairy elf,
On any April-day,
To make thy bard forget himself,
Or wander from his way.

One thing he never can forget,
Whatever change may be,
The sacred hour when first he met
And fondly gazed on thee.

A seed then fell into his breast;
Thy spirit placed it there:
Need I, my Julia, tell the rest?
Thou seest the blossoms here.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Annual Mercury. _Mercurialis annua._
Dedicated to _St. Hugh_.

[56] Brand.

[57] Ash.

[58] Jamieson, in Nare’s Glossary.

[59] Southey, quoted in Brand, as also Toreen.

[60] Asiat. Res. in Brand, from Maurice.

[61] Morn. Chron. June 17, 1817.

[62] Cited by Brand from Julia, or Last Follies, 1798, 4to.

~April 2.~

_St. Francis_ of Paula. _St. Apian_, A. D. 306. _St. Theodosia_, A. D.
308. _St. Nicetius_, Abp. of Lyons, A. D. 577. _St. Ebba_, Abbess, and
her companions, A. D. 870, or 874. _B. Constantine_ II. king of
Scotland, A. D. 874. _St. Bronacha_, or _Bronanna_, Abbess.

_St. Francis_ of Paula

Was a Calabrian, and at fifteen years old shut himself up in a cave, in a rock on the coast. Before twenty he was joined by two others, and the people built them three cells; the number increased, and so arose the order of friar Minims, which means the least of the friars. Constant abstinence from flesh, and all food made of milk or eggs, was one of their rules. In 1479, being invited to Sicily, “he was received there as an angel from heaven, wrought miracles, and built several monasteries.” He prophesied, held burning coals in his hand without being burnt, restored his nephew to life, cured people of the plague, received the host with a cord about his neck on Maundy Thursday, died on the 2d of April, 1508, aged ninety-one, and was buried till 1562 when the hugonots burnt his bones with the wood of a crucifix.[63]

Besides this, it is related, that the elements lost their force against him; that he walked upon fire; entered into a burning oven without harm; and made a sea voyage on his own cloak instead of a ship, and had a companion on board with him.[64]

According to another account he was much worried by the devil. Once while he was at prayers the devil called him three times by his own name. Another time he was so possessed by the fiend, that he had no other way to get rid of him, than by stripping and beating himself with a hard cord, crying while he did it, “thus brother ass thou must be beaten;” after which he ran into the snow and made seven snowballs, intending to swallow them if the devil had not taken his leave. Then a whole parcel of devils came one night, and gave him a grievous beating; this was because he lodged in a cardinal’s palace, and it occasioned him to shift his lodging. Afterwards, when at prayers, he saw upon the roof of the house whole companies of these infernals. He was a bird-fancier. A bird sat singing on a fig-tree by the side of his cell, he called it to him; the bird came upon his hand, and he said to it--“Sing, my sister, and praise the Lord,” and the bird sat singing till he gave it liberty to go away. Going to Venice with his companions, and hearing birds singing in a wood, he proposed to sing the canonical hours, but the monks could not hear themselves for the chanters of the grove, wherefore, he entreated the feathered choir to be silent, and they remained so till he gave them liberty to proceed. At another place when he was preaching, he could not be heard for the swallows, which were making their nests; he said to them--“Sister swallows, it is time for me to speak; as you’ve said enough, be quiet,” and so they were. It was customary with him when one of his friars had committed a fault to take off the friar’s hood, and throw it into the fire, from whence after staying there a proper time, he commanded it to be restored to the friar, and the hood was then taken out of the fire without having sustained injury. More to the like effect, and of equal credibility, is related of this saint in the _Golden Legend_.

CHRONOLOGY.

1801. Lord Nelson’s victory at Copenhagen, when eighteen sail of the line were either captured or destroyed.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

White Violet. _Viola alba._
Dedicated to _St. Francis_ of Paula.

[63] Butler.

[64] Ribadeneira.

~Moveable feasts.~

⁂ AN ERROR _under the above title having crept into the_ Every-Day
Book, _at p. 190, and also extended to the_ list _of “Moveable
feasts,” the reader will please to correct that list, &c. by the
following statement._

_Shrove Sunday_ is the Sunday next before Shrove Tuesday. It is also called _Quinquagesima_ Sunday.

_Shrove Tuesday_ is always the seventh Tuesday before _Easter-day_.

_Care, or Carle Sunday_ is the fifth Sunday in Lent, and the second Sunday before _Easter-day_.

_Maundy Thursday_, also called _Chare_ or _Shere_ Thursday, is the day before _Good Friday_.

_Good Friday_ is the Friday in Passion-week, and consequently the Friday next before _Easter-day_.

EASTER-DAY is always the first Sunday after the first _full_ moon, which happens on or next after the 21st of March; but if the _full_ moon happens upon a Sunday, _Easter-day_ is the Sunday following.

_Octave or Utas of a Feast._

_The Octave_ or _Utas_ of each feast is always the eighth day after it occurs; for example, the feast of St. Hillary is the 13th of January, hence the _octave_ of St. Hillary is the 22d of January.

†⸸†THESE CORRECTIONS _would have been made in the sheet itself, but a great number of copies having been printed, before the error was discovered, it became necessary to postpone the rectification._ See NOTE below.[65]

[65] Mr. NICOLAS obligingly informs me, that since his “_Notitia
Historica_” was printed, he has ascertained that the rule laid down
for _Shrove Tuesday_, in that work, was not correct, and that having
made some alterations in the event of a second edition being demanded,
and finding I had cited the part containing the error, he thought it
right to send me a copy of his corrections, from whence the preceding
list is formed. There can scarcely be a doubt that a second edition of
Mr. Nicolas’s “_Notitia Historica_” will be required speedily, because
the series of Tables, Calendars, and miscellaneous information which
it contains must be eminently useful, not only to the legal
profession, antiquaries, and every historical and topographical
inquirer, but to general readers, many of whom daily suffer
inconvenience without such a source of reference. W. H.

~Easter.~

EASTER-DAY is distinguished by its peculiar name, through our Saxon ancestors, who at this season of the year held a great festival, in honour of the goddess Eastor, probably the Astarte of the eastern nations. The French call this festival _Paques_, derived from the Greek _pascha_, which is also derived from the Hebrew _pesech_, meaning passover; and whence we have the English word _paschal_, applied to the lamb, which formed part of the evening meal, the last of which our saviour partook, before his death, with his twelve missionaries. In Cambridgeshire the word pasch is still in use, and applied to a flower which appears at this time on the Gogmagog hills and its environs. The day is of importance in a civil, as well as in a religious, light; for on this day depend the openings of our courts of law, which take place after it, and the festivals of the church are arranged in conformity to it. By the act of parliament on this subject, and the rule given in conformity to it in the “Common Prayer-Book,” which of course every body has an opportunity of seeing, “EASTER-DAY _is always the first_ Sunday _after the_ Full Moon, _which happens upon, or next after, the twenty-first day of_ March; _and if the Full Moon happen upon a Sunday_, Easter-day _is the Sunday after._”

One would think, that when such precise directions had been given, and the state of the moon on any day is so clearly and easily ascertained, that there would be no difficulty in following them; but experience has proved that contrary deviations from the act of parliament have been numerous. These have been pointed out at various times, but without any effect on the public. In the year 1735, Henry Wilson, of Tower-hill, styling himself mathematician, denounced the errors on this subject in a very ingenious work, entitled “The regulation of Easter, or the cause of the errours and differences contracted in the calculation of it, discovered and duly considered, showing--The frequency and consequence of that errour, with the cause from whence it proceeds, and a method proposed for rectifying it, and reconciling the differences about it, and for restoring the time of celebrating that great solemnity in its primitive certainty and exactness, and that without the difficulty and confusion which some have objected would attend such a regulation.” 8vo.

Within these few years an error in the observance of Easter took place, and on all the almanacs fixing an improper day for its observance, a memorial was presented to the lords in council and to the prince regent, humbly soliciting their interference on this subject. It was noticed also by Mr. Frend, in his “Evening Amusements;” and a clergyman of Oxford published a pamphlet on the occasion. There was also, we believe, one clergyman, who, disregarding the almanac, obeyed the rubric, and read the services for Easter-day, and the Sundays depending on it, on very different days from those adopted in other churches. It was remarkable also, that in that very year, judge Garrow arrived at Gloucester a short time after twelve o’clock at night, of the day on which the assizes were to commence, and the high-sheriff very properly representing his scruples, on the legality of then commencing the assizes, they were delayed till the opinion of the judges could be taken, and the consequence was, the issuing of a new writ. Thus the difference of a few minutes was considered fatal to the opening of a country court, though the courts of law at Westminster had been opened a few months before, when a much greater error had taken place with respect to Easter-day, on which, as before observed, the opening of those courts depends.

To understand this subject we must refer back to the origin of this festival, instituted in honour of the resurrection of our saviour, which took place on the third day after his execution as a malefactor. Friday had been fixed upon as the day of commemorating his death, and as that took place on the day of full moon, the first full moon after the twenty-first of March was fixed upon as the regulator of the festival. The great point had in view was to prevent the festival of Easter-day from being observed on the day of a full moon, but as near to it as circumstances would admit, and in consequence there is a great difference in the times of observing this festival; it being specially provided, however, that it should happen _after_ a full moon. The Jews observe their passover by juster rules; the day for the celebration of it taking place on different days of the week: but the Christians having fixed on Friday for the celebration of the fast on the death of our saviour, the Easter-day, on the following Sunday, was accommodated to it, and both were so fixed, that there could not be a full moon on the Easter-day, nor for some weeks after it.

In this year, 1825, the full moon occurs at twenty-three minutes past six in the morning of the _third_ of April; consequently, according to the act of parliament, and the rubric of the church, Easter-day ought to be celebrated on the _tenth_, and the courts of law ought to open, or Easter term begin, on the twenty-seventh; but our almanac-makers thought good to fix Easter-day on the _third_, and consequently Easter term is placed by them on the _twentieth_, on which day it is presumed that judicial proceedings will commence.

Easter-day is observed all over Christendom with peculiar rites. In the catholic church high mass is celebrated, the host is adored with the greatest reverence, and both Catholics and Protestants might be led from it, to a more particular attention to the circumstances attending its form and substance. The _host_, derived from the Latin word _hostia_, meaning a victim, is a consecrated wafer, of a circular form, composed of flour and water. Both substance and form are regulated by custom of very ancient date. On the night before his execution, our saviour took bread, and blessing it, divided it among his missionaries; but the bread he took was not ordinary bread, but unleavened bread, such as is used by the Jews during the passover week in the present days. This bread is composed of merely flour and water, no leaven during the festival of their passover being permitted to enter the house of a Jew. It is a kind of biscuit of a circular form, and the _host_ thus, by its form and substance, brings us back to the recollection of the Catholics, and the rite celebrated by our saviour. It is the representation of the Jewish cake, or unleavened bread, which is to this day eaten by that nation during the passover week.

The Protestants have deviated from this custom, and in their churches use leavened bread, without any regard to form, and they cut it with a knife into small pieces, forgetting that our saviour broke the bread; but some use leavened bread, and, as they cannot break it, they attempt to imitate our saviour’s action by tearing it in pieces.

For those who wish to have a more comprehensive view of this subject, the following works are recommended: Cardinal Bona on the mass; Dean Comber on the liturgy; and above all, the Hebrew ritual, which is translated into English, and to which both Catholics and Protestants are indebted for greater part of their services.[66]

[66] This article on “Easter” is _communicated_ by the gentleman who
favoured the editor with the account of the “Vernal Equinox,” at p.
375.

~April 3.~

1825. EASTER SUNDAY. _The Resurrection._

_Sts. Agape_, _Chionia_, and _Irene_, Sisters, and their Companions,
A. D. 304; _St. Richard_. _St. Ulpian._ _St. Nicetas_, Abbot, A. D.
824.

_St. Richard de Wiche_

Was born at Wiche, near Worcester; studied at Oxford, Paris, and Bologna; became chancellor to the diocese of Canterbury; and was consecrated bishop of Chichester in 1245, against the desire of Henry III who seized his temporalities. These he regained by replevin, and pleading his cause against the king’s deputies before Innocent IV at Rome, a papal decree confirmed his election. Among his clergy he was a strict disciplinarian, and a friend and comforter to the poor. Preaching a crusade, according to the fashion of those times, against the Saracens, he fell sick, and died in the hospital at Dover, called God’s-house, in 1253, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and in the ninth of his episcopal functions. This is a brief character of an exemplary prelate, but the credulous Butler chooses to affirm, that three dead persons were restored to life, and other miraculous cures were worked at his tomb. Father Porter gossips a story of a miraculous flow of unction at his consecration; of a dead-born child having been brought to life by his dead merits; and of the touch of his old clothes having cured the diseased, with other performances, “which moved pope Boniface IV. to enrol him into the number of the canonized saincts.” Such wonders have never been performed in our days, and hence late popes have not been able to make saints. If bibles could be suppressed, and the printing-press destroyed, miracles and canonizations would “come in” again.

* * * * *

For particulars respecting _Easter-day_ and _Easter Monday_, see _Easter Tuesday_, 5th of APRIL.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Evergreen Alkanet. _Anchusa sempervirus._
Dedicated to _St. Agape_.

~April 4.~

_St. Isidore_, Bishop of Seville, A. D. 636 _St. Plato_, Abbot, A. D.
813.

EASTER MONDAY

Holiday at the Public Offices; except Excise, Custom, and Stamp.

CHRONOLOGY.

1774. Oliver Goldsmith died: he was born in Ireland, November 29th, 1728.

1802. Lloyd, lord Kenyon, lord chief-justice of England, died, aged 69.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Red Crown Imperial. _Fritillaria Imperialis._
Dedicated to _St Isidore._

~April 5.~

_St. Vincent Ferrer_, A. D. 1419. _St. Gerald_, Abbot, A. D. 1095.
_St. Tigernach_, Bishop in Ireland, A. D. 550. _St. Becan_, Abbot.

EASTER TUESDAY.

Holidays at the Public Offices; except Excise, Stamp, and Custom.

CHRONOLOGY.

1605. John Stow, the antiquary, died, aged 80. He was a tailor.

1800. The rev. William Mason died. He was born at Hull, in Yorkshire, in 1725.

1804. The rev. William Gilpin, author of “Picturesque Tours,” “Remarks on Forest Scenery,” an “Essay on Prints,” &c. died aged 80.

1811. Robert Raikes, of Gloucester, died, aged 76. He was the originator of sunday-schools, and spent his life in acts of kindness and compassion; promoting education as a source of happiness to his fellow beings, and bestowing his exertions and bounty to benefit the helpless.

* * * * *

FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Yellow Crown Imperial. _Fritillaria Imperialis Lutea._
Dedicated to _St. Vincent Ferrer_.

~Easter Customs.~

_Dancing of the Sun._

The day before Easter-day is in some parts called “Holy Saturday.” On the evening of this day, in the middle districts of Ireland, great preparations are made for the finishing of Lent. Many a fat hen and dainty piece of bacon is put in the pot by the cotter’s wife about eight or nine o’clock, and woe be to the person who should taste it before the cock crows. At twelve is heard the clapping of hands, and the joyous laugh, mixed with “_Shidth or mogh or corries_,” i. e. _out with the Lent_: all is merriment for a few hours, when they retire, and rise about four o’clock _to see the sun dance_ in honour of the resurrection. This ignorant custom is not confined to the humble labourer and his family, but is scrupulously observed by many highly respectable and wealthy families, different members of whom I have heard assert positively that they had seen the sun dance on Easter morning.[67]

It is inquired in Dunton’s “Athenian Oracle,” “Why does the sun at his rising play more on Easter-day than Whit-Sunday?” The question is answered thus:--“The matter of fact is an old, weak, superstitious error, and the sun neither plays nor works on Easter-day more than any other. It is true, it may sometimes happen to shine brighter that morning than any other; but, if it does, it is purely accidental. In some parts of England they call it the lamb-playing, which they look for, as soon as the sun rises, in some clear or spring water, and is nothing but the pretty reflection it makes from the water, which they may find at any time, if the sun rises clear, and they themselves early, and unprejudiced with fancy.” The folly is kept up by the fact, that no one can view the sun steadily at any hour, and those who choose to look at it, or at its reflection in water, see it apparently move, as they would on any other day. Brand points out an allusion to this vulgar notion in an old ballad:--

But, Dick, she _dances_ such away!
No _sun_ upon an _Easter day_
Is half so fine a sight.

Again, from the “British Apollo,” a presumed question to the sun himself upon the subject, elicits a suitable answer:

_Q._ Old wives, Phœbus, say
That on Easter-day
To the music o’ th’ spheres you do caper;
If the fact, sir, be true,
Pray let’s the cause know,
When you have any room in your paper.

_A_. The old wives get merry
With spic’d ale or sherry,
On Easter, which makes them romance;
And whilst in a rout
Their brains whirl about,
They fancy we caper and dance.

A bit of smoked glass, such as boys use to view an eclipse with, would put this matter steady to every eye but that of wilful self-deception, which, after all, superstition always chooses to see through.

_Lifting._