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as an April Noddy (Noodle), or Fool, on the 1st of April."-Gent. Mag. for April, 1791, p. 327.

[If, however, a May gosling was made on the second of the month, the following rhyme was uttered to turn the ridicule : May-day's past and gone;

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Thou's a gosling, and I'm none."]

To May-Day sports may be referred the singular bequest of Sir Dudley Diggs (mentioned in Hasted's Kent, ii. 787), who, by his last will, dated in 1638, left the yearly sum of 201., "to be paid to two young men and two maids, who, on May 19th, yearly, should run a tye at Old Wives Lees in Chilham, and prevail; the money to be paid out of the profits of the land of this part of the manor of Selgrave, which escheated to him after the death of Lady Clive. These lands, being in three pieces, lie in the parishes of Preston and Faversham, and contain about forty acres, all commonly called the Running Lands. Two young men and two young maids run at Old Wives Lees in Chilham, yearly, on May 1st, and the same number at Sheldwich Lees on the Monday following, by way of trial: and the two which prevail at each of those places run for the 107. at Old Wives Lees, as above mentioned, on May 19th.” A great concourse of the neighbouring gentry and inhabitants constantly assemble there on this occasion. “There was, till of late years, says the same writer (Hist. of Kent, ii. 284), "a singular, though a very ancient, custom kept up, of electing a Deputy to the Dumb Borsholder of Chart, as it was called, claiming liberty over fifteen houses in the precinct of Pizein-well; every householder of which was formerly obliged to pay the keeper of this Borsholder one penny yearly. This Dumb Borsholder was always first called at the Court-Leet holden for the hundred of Twyford, when its keeper, who was yearly appointed by that court, held it up to his call, with a neckcloth or handkerchief put through the iron ring fixed at the top, and answered for it. This Borsholder of Chart, and the Court-Leet, has been discontinued about fifty years: and the Borsholder, who is put in by the Quarter Sessions for Watringbury, claims over the whole parish. This Dumb Borsholder is made of wood, about three feet and half an inch long, with an iron ring at the top, and four more by the sides, near the bottom, where it has a square

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iron spike fixed, four inches and a half long, to fix it in the ground, or, on occasion, to break open doors, &c., which used to be done, without a warrant of any justice, on suspicion of goods having been unlawfully come by and concealed in any of these fifteen houses. It is not easy at this distance of time, to ascertain the origin of this dumb officer. Perhaps it might have been made use of as a badge or ensign by the office of the market here. The last person who acted as deputy to it was one Thomas Clampard, a blacksmith, whose heirs have it now in their possession."

In the Laws of the Market, printed by Andrew Clark, printer to the Honourable City of London, 1677, under "The Statutes of the Streets of this City against Noysances," 29, I find the following: "No man shall go in the streets by night or by day with bow bent, or arrows under his girdle, nor with sword unscabbar'd, under pain of imprisonment; or with hand-gun, having therewith powder and match, except it be in a usual May-game or Sight."

Audley, in a Companion to the Almanack, 1802, p. 21, says: "Some derive May from Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom they offered sacrifices on the first day of it; and this seems to explain the custom which prevails on this day where the writer resides (Cambridge), of children having a figure dressed in a grotesque manner, called a May Lady, before which they set a table, having on it wine, &c. They also beg money of passengers, which is considered as an offering to the maulkin; for their plea to obtain it is, 'Pray remember the poor May Lady.' Perhaps the garlands, for which they also beg, originally adorned the head of the goddess. The bush of hawthorn, or, as it is called, May, placed at the doors on this day, may point out the first fruits of the Spring, as this is one of the earliest trees which blossoms."

Browne, in his Britannia's Pastorals, 1625, ii. 122, thus describes some of the May revellings:

As I have seene the Lady of the May
Set in an arbour (on a holy-day)

Built by the May-pole, where the jocund swaines
Dance with the maidens to the bagpipe's straines,
When envious Night commands them to be gone,
Call for the merry youngsters one by one,
And for their well performance, soone disposes
To this a garland interwove with roses;

To that a carved hooke or well-wrought scrip;
Gracing another with her cherry lip;

To one her garter; to another then
A hand-kerchiefe cast o'er and o'er agen:
And none returneth emptie that hath spent
His paines to fill their rurall meriment."

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Hutchinson, in his History of Northumberland, ii. 14, tells us "that a syllabub, is prepared for the May Feast, which is made of warm milk from the cow, sweet cakes and wine and a kind of divination is practised, by fishing with a ladle for a wedding-ring, which is dropped into it, for the purpose of prognosticating who shall be first married."

Tollet, in the description of his famous window, of which more will be said hereafter, tells us: "Better judges may decide that the institution of this festival originated from the Roman Floralia, or from the Celtic La Beltine, while I conIceive it derived to us from our Gothic ancestors." Olaus Magnus de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, lib. xv. c. 8, says, "that after their long winter, from the beginning of October to the end of April, the Northern nations have a custom to welcome the returning splendour of the sun with dancing, and mutually to feast each other, rejoicing that a better season for fishing and hunting was approached." In honour of May Day the Goths and Southern Swedes had a mock battle between Summer and Winter, which ceremony is retained in the Isle of Man, where the Danes and Norwegians had been for a long time masters.

Borlase, in his curious account of the manners of Cornwall, speaking of the May Customs, says: "This usage is nothing more than a gratulation of the Spring;" and every house exhibited a proper signal of its approach, "to testify their universal joy at the revival of vegetation.' He says:

"An antient custom, still retained by the Cornish, is, that of decking their doors and porches on the first day of May with green boughs of sycamore and hawthorn, and of planting trees, or rather stumps of trees, before their houses."

In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1754, p. 354, a custom is alluded to, I believe, not yet entirely obsolete. The writer says, "They took places in the waggon, and quitted London early on May morning; and it being the custom in this month for the passengers to give the waggoner at every inn a ribbon

to adorn his team, she soon discovered the origin of the proverb, as fine as a horse;' for, before they got to the end of their journey, the poor beasts were almost blinded by the tawdry party-coloured flowing honours of their heads."

Another writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1790, p. 520, says: "At Helstone, a genteel and populous borough town in Cornwall, it is customary to dedicate the eighth of May to revelry (festive mirth, not loose jollity). It is called the Furry Day, supposed Flora's Day; not, I imagine, as many have thought, in remembrance of some festival instituted in honour of that goddess, but rather from the garlands commonly worn on that day. In the morning, very early, some troublesome rogues go round the streets with drums, or other noisy instruments, disturbing their sober neighbours, and singing parts of a song, the whole of which nobody now recollects, and of which I know no more than that there is mention in it of the grey goose quill,' and of going to the green wood to bring home the Summer and the May-o.' And, accordingly, hawthorn flowering branches are worn in hats. The commonalty make it a general holiday; and if they find any person at work, make him ride on a pole, carried on men's shoulders, to the river, over which he is to leap in a wide place, if he can; if he cannot, he must leap in, for leap he must, or pay money. About 9 o'clock they appear before the school, and demand holiday for the Latin boys, which is invariably granted; after which they collect money from house to house. About the middle of the day they collect together, to dance hand-in-hand round the streets, to the sound of the fiddle, playing a particular tune, which they continue to do till it is dark. This they call a Faddy.' In the afternoon the gentility go to some farmhouse in the neighbourhood, to drink tea, syllabub, &c., and return in a morris-dance to the town, where they form a Faddy, and dance through the streets till it is dark, claiming a right of going through any person's house, in at one door, and out at the other. And here it formerly used to end, and the company of all kinds to disperse quietly to their several habitations; but latterly corruptions have in this, as in other matters, crept in by degrees. The ladies, all elegantly dressed in white muslins, are now conducted by their partners to the

ball-room, where they continue their dance till supper-time; after which they all faddy it out of the house, breaking off by degrees to their respective houses. The mobility imitate their superiors, and also adjourn to the several public-houses, where they continue their dance till midnight. It is, upon the whole, a very festive, jovial, and withal so sober, and, I believe, singular custom and any attempt to search out the original of it, inserted in one of your future Magazines, will very much please and gratify DURGAN."

[I am enabled to furnish a copy of the Furry-day song, which has escaped the memory of this writer:

"Robin Hood and Little John,

They both are gone to the fair,
And we'll go to the merry green wood,
And see what they do there.

For we were up as soon as any day
For to fetch the summer home,

The summer and the May, O,

For the summer now is come!

Where are those Spaniards

That make so great a boast?
They shall eat the grey goose feather,
And we will eat the roast.

As for the brave St. George,

St. George he was a knight;

Of all the knights in Christendom

St. Georgy is the right.

God bless Aunt Mary Moses,

And all her powers and might,

And send us peace in merry England,
Both day and night!"]

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The month of May is generally considered as an unlucky time for the celebration of marriage. This is an idea which has been transmitted to us by our Popish ancestors, and was borrowed by them from the ancients.

In Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, 1794, xi. 620, the minister of Callander, in Perthshire, says, the people of district "have two customs, which are fast wearing out, not only here but all over the Highlands, and therefore ought to be taken notice of while they remain. Upon the first day of May, which is called Baltan or Bàl-tein-day, all the boys in a township or hamlet meet in the moors. They cut a table in the green sod, of a round figure, by casting a trench in the

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