1 j ANTIQUARIAN GOSSIP ON THE MONTHS. UNE, as heralding in the season of summer, has June, is observed in commemoration of the descent ever been a very favourite month of the year. of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles. The origin Now it is that Nature assumes her most brilliant of the term has been much contested, and even still ttire, and English landscape scenery may justly be seems an undecided question. Some are of opinion aid to reach the height of its beauty. Not only are that it is a corruption of White Sunday, because, in he trees arrayed in their richest foliage, but from the primitive church, the newly-baptized persons, or every quarter there comes floating on the air either catechumens, were in the habit of wearing white the delicate perfume of some fragrant flower or the garments at this season. Wheatly quotes a letter sweet music of one of heaven's many songsters. By from Gerard Langbain, in which is cited a passage our Saxon ancestors June was called sere month, from a Ms. in the Bodleian Library, where it is f from the dryness of the atmosphere at this time; but stated that the day is called Witsonenday or Vitsonmore anciently weyd month, "because their beasts enday, because our ancestors used to give to the did then weyd in the meadows, that is to say, go to poor on this day all the milk of their ewes and kine, feed there." They also named it Lida Erra-the which milk was called, in some places, the whites of word Lida, or litha, signifying in Icelandic, "tokine, in others, whitemeat ("The Prayer-Book Intermove or pass over," may imply the sun's passing its leaved," 1866, p. 127). A writer, however, of the greatest height, and Lida Erra may consequently fourteenth century, supplies us with a more spiritual mean the first month of the sun's descent.* The etymology than either of the preceding. He says:Romans regarded June as the most lucky and pro"This day Whitsonday is cald pitious month for contracting matrimonial engagements, just as May was held to be most unlucky, because thought to be under the influence of spirits adverse to happy households (see "Book of Days," vol. i. p. 719). This superstition has been to a certain degree prevalent even in modern times. Thus Sinclair, in his "Statistical Account of Scotland," tells us that in the parish of Logierait, Perthshire, no one ever begins any business or marries upon the 14th of May. Pennant, too, in his "Tour through Scotland," says that a Highlander never begins anything of consequence on the 3rd of May, which is called La Sheachanna na bleanagh, or the dismal day. Mary Howitt, in her charming book, entitled, "Pictorial Calendar of the Seasons," alluding to sheep-shearing and haymaking practised at this season, says:- "Our ancestors took advantage of every natural holiday to keep it long and gladly. Rural sports, or, as Shakespeare calls them, Whitsun pastorals, succeeded, after a little interval, the games of May; and now, in June, a feast exclusively rural and popular took place at the time of sheep-shearing." Drayton, in his "Polyolbion," describes such a scene where he tells us how "The shepherd king, And whilst the bagpipe plays, each lusty jocund swain, And to their country girls, whose nosegays they do wear, For wisdom and wit seuene fold Was gouen to the Apostles as this day.” In England, before the Reformation, during the Roman Catholic times, it seems to have been customary to dramatise the descent of the Holy Ghost, and in Barnaby Goodge's translation of "Naogeorgus" we find this practice thus alluded to: "On Whitsunday, white pigeons tame in strings from heaven fly, And one that framed is of wood still hangeth in the skie; Thou seest how they with idols play, and teach the people too; None otherwise than little gyrles with puppets use to do." In the ancient romance of "Sir Bevis of Hampton," we find that the gentry amused themselves with horse races: "In somer at Whitsontide, Whan knightes most on horsebacke ride; A cours, let they make on a daye, Have forty pounds of redy golde." In Ireland a superstition prevails that on Easter morning the sun dances in honour of the Resurrection. In England it is, says Hampson, supposed to dance also on Whitsunday morning, but less vigorously than at Easter. Dr. Forster, in his "Perennial Calendar," quotes a curious passage from an old book, entitled, "Arise Evans's Echo to the Voice of Heaven; or a Narrative of his Life," 1652:"He went up a hill to see the sun arise betimes on - Whitsunday, which falls this year on the 4th of Whitsunday morning," and "saw it at its rise skip, * See Hone's "Every-Day Book," 1826, vol. i. p. 737. Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Codex, 1963. 66 play, dance, and turn about like a whale." It is At Monk Sherborne, near Basingstoke, both the inquired in Dunton's "Athenian Oracle," Why priory and parish churches were decorated with birch. does the sun at its rising play more on Easter Day on Whitsunday. The old church, too, of St. Mary than Whit Sunday?" The question is answered Redcliffe, Bristol, is annually strewn with rushes on thus: "The matter of fact is an old, weak, super- this day. stitious 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 lambplaying, 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." Mr. Fosbrooke says that in Spain this feast was celebrated with representations of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and of thunder from engines, which did much damage. Water, oak-leaves, burning torches, wafers, and cakes, were thrown down from the church roof; pigeons and small birds with cakes tied to their legs were let loose; and a long censer was swung up and down. The Whitsun-ales, which were formerly kept up in our country with much spirit, were no doubt derived from the agapai (yana), or love-feasts, of the early Christians. On such occasions voluntary contributions were made, with which the churchwardens purchased malt, bread, and a quantity of ale, which they sold out in the church or elsewhere. The profits, as well as those derived from the games of dancing, bowling, shooting at butts, etc., were either applied to the repair of the church, or else given to the relief of the poor. In Douce's time-about eighty years agoa Whitsun-ale was conducted in the following manner :-Two persons are chosen, previously to the meeting, to be lord and lady of the ale, who dress as suitably as they can to the characters they assume. A large empty barn, or some such building, is provided for the lord's hall, and fitted up with seats to accommodate the company. Here they assemble to dance and regale in the best manner their circumstances and the place will afford; and each young fellow treats his girl with a favour. The lord and lady honour the hall with their presence, attended by the steward, sword-bearer, purse-bearer, and mace-bearer, with their several badges or ensigns of office. They have likewise a train-bearer, or page, and a fool, or jester, dressed in a parti-coloured jacket. The lord's music, consisting of a tabor and pipe, is employed to conduct the music. At these ales the Whitsun plays were performed, and Shakespeare, speaking of the plot of his own "Pericles, Prince of Tyre," says in the prologue— "It hath been sung at festivals, On Ember eves and holy ales." Formerly at St. Briavels, Gloucestershire, after Divine service on Whitsunday, pieces of bread and cheese were distributed to the congregation at church. To defray the expenses, every householder in the parish paid a penny to the churchwardens, and this was said to be for the liberty of cutting and taking the wood in Hudnalls. According to tradition, the privilege was obtained of some Earl of Hereford, then lord of the Forest of Dean, at the instance of his lady, upon the same hard terms that Lady Godiva obtained the privileges for the citizens of Coventry. See Smith's "Festivals," 1831, p. 151. At Corby, near Rockingham, in Northamptonshire, every twentieth year the inhabitants assemble at an early hour on Whitsun Monday, and stop up all roads and bye-ways in the parish, demanding a toll of every person who may have occasion to pass through the village on this day. In case of noncompliance, a stout pole is produced, and the nonconformist is placed thereon, in a riding attitude, carried through the village, and taken to the parish stocks, and imprisoned until the authorities choose to grant a dismissal. It appears that Queen Elizabeth granted to the inhabitants of Corby a charter to free them from town toll throughout England, Wales, and Scotland, and also to exempt them from serving on juries at Northampton, and to free the knights of the shire from the Militia law. This custom of taking toll has been observed in commemoration of the granting of this charter ("Notesand Queries," 3rd S. vol. i. p. 424). Formerly the Whitsun mysteries were acted at Chester during the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Whitsun week. The performers were carried from one place to another by means of a scaffold-a huge and ponderous machine mounted on wheels, gaily decorated with flags, and divided, we are told, into two compartments, the upper of which formed the stage, and the lower, defended from vulgar curiosity by coarse canvas draperies, answered the purposes of a green-room. The performers began at the abbey gates, where they were witnessed by the high dignitaries of the Church; they then proceeded to the High Cross, where the mayor and the civicmagnates were assembled; and so on throughout the city, until their history of God and his dealings with man had been played out. Although immense numbers of people from all parts came to witness these pageants, yet great order was preserved. To describe each of the plays would take up far more space than we are able to give, but suffice it to say that to each craft in the city a separate mystery was allotted. Thus the drapers exhibited the "Creation," the tanners took the Fall of Lucifer," the watercarriers of the Dee acted the "Deluge," etc. The production, too, of these pageants, was extremely costly; indeed each one has been set down at fifteen or twenty pounds sterling. On Whit Tuesday a sermon is annually preached at St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, and called the "Botanical Sermon." Formerly it was customary for the President and several Fellows of the Royal Society to be present. At St. James's Church, Mitre Court, Aldgate, a sermon is also preached from a text having special reference to flowers; this is called the "Flower Sermon." In Poor Robin's Almanack for 1676 stool-ball and barley-break are spoken of as Whitsun sports. Trinity Sunday (June 11th) is a festival of late institution. Anciently all Sundays were held to commemorate this mystery. Durandus says this festival. dates from the time of Gregory the Fourth, A.D. 834. Gervase of Canterbury, however, tells us that Thomas à Becket instituted this festival in England soon after his consecration. In the twelfth century Abridged from "Edinburgh Review," 1856. See Timbs' "Things. not Generally known," p. 57. the Feast of the Trinity was kept by some churches | on the octave of Whitsunday; by others on the Sunday preceding Advent. The Synod of Arles, 1260, made a canon commanding the celebration of the Feast of the Holy Trinity to be observed on the Sunday after Whitsunday. ("Prayer-Book Interleaved, p. 129.) It is still customary on this day for the judges and great law-officers of the Crown, together with the lord mayor, aldermen, and common council to attend service at St. Paul's Cathedral.* In the "Memoires de l'Académie Celtique" (vol. iii. p. 447), in the "Notice sur quelques Usages et Croyances de la ci-devant Lorraine," we read "Le jour de la fête de la Trinité, quelques personnes vont de grand matin dans la compagne, pour y voir lever trois soleils à la fois." In the Lambeth accounts, we find the churchwardens' expenses for garlands and drink for the children, for garnishing ribbons, and for singingmen in the procession on Trinity Sunday even. The parish of Clee, in Lincolnshire, possesses a right of cutting rushes from a piece of land called "Bescars," for the purpose of strewing the floor of the church on Trinity Sunday. A small quantity of grass, says Edwards, is annually cut to preserve this right. Corpus Christi Day (June 15th) is a grand festival in the Romish Church, held on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, in celebration of the doctrine of transubstantiation. It is observed in all Roman Catholic countries with music, lights, flowers strewed in the streets, rich tapestries hung upon the walls, and with other demonstrations of rejoicing. Anciently, in our own country as well as abroad, plays representing Scripture subjects were performed on this day. Thus we learn that the play of "Corpus Christi was acted in the city of York till the twenty-sixth year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, 1584. It consisted of a solemn procession in remembrance of the sacrament of the body of Christ; the symbolic representations being borne in a shrine. Every trade in the city was obliged to furnish a pageant at its own expense and join the procession; and each individual had to personify some particular passage in the Old or New Testament, and to repeat some poetry on the occasion. The whole was preceded by a great number of lighted torches, and a multitude of priests in their proper habits. At one time, too, the crafts or companies of Norwich walked in procession on Corpus Christi Day. Each company had its banner, on which was painted its patron or guardian saint. On the 21st of June happens the Summer Solstice, or longest day. At Greenwich, the sun is above the horizon from 3.43 morning to 8.17 evening, making the day 16 hours and 26 minutes long. In Edinburgh the longest day is about 17 hours. Upon the vigil of St. John the Baptist's Day (June 24), called also Midsummer Day, many superstitious practices were observed. It was a popular belief that if any unmarried woman fasted on Midsummer Eve, and at midnight laid a clean cloth on the table, with bread, cheese, and ale, and then sat down as if about to cat, the street-door being left open, the person whom she was afterwards to marry would come into the room and drink to her by bowing; and after filling the glass, would leave it on the See Timba' "Something for Everybody," p. 83. + Quoted in Lysons' "Environs of London,' vol. i. p. 310. ***Old English Customs and Charities," p. 217. table, and, making another bow, retire. Young women also used to divine by hemp-seed, making use of the following incantation:"Hemp-seed I sow, Hemp-sced I hoe, And he that is my true love, Come after me and mow." The mugwort was regarded as potent against storms-and even the devil himself-if branches of it were hung up against the doors of houses on St. John's Eve. On this night also it was customary, among other observances, to light large bonfires," around which the people danced with much mirth and glee. These, it should be remarked, have been common on this night, at all times and in all countries. We find them spoken of as existing in India and Egypt, and in use also among the Druids. Some writers are of opinion that they have reference to the character of St. John in Holy Writ, which describes him as "a shining light." Others, again, affirm that these fires were made to drive away dragons and evil spirits hovering in the air, and a writer, quoted by Strutt, says that in some countries they burned bones, which was called a "bone-fire," for "the dragons hattyd nothyng more than the styncke of brenyng bonys."t In Cornwall, the day was anciently called Goluan, a word signifying both light and joy. In other parts of the west they were termed Blessing Fires, which Soane considers indicates their religious origin. This custom, we are informed, is still kept up by numbers of the Irish people in Liverpool. Contributions aro collected from house to house, in either fuel or money, and as soon as night sets in the fires are lighted. Thus At last a In addition to the superstitious observances practised on Midsummer Eve, many of a similar nature were observed on Midsummer Day itself. Aubrey tells us, "the last summer, on St. John's Day (1684), I accidentally was walking in the pasture behind Montague House; it was twelve o'clock. I saw there about two or three and twenty women, most of them well habited, on their knees, very busy, as if they had been weeding. I could not presently learn what the matter was. young man told me that they were looking for a coal under the root of a plantain to put under their heads that night, and they should dream who would bo their husbands. It was to be found that day and hour." From time immemorial, the maidens on the banks of the Guadalquiver, in Spain, have gono forth on the morning of this day to gather flowers, "snow-white which they bind in a garland on a wether." The object of this custom is an amatory divination, expressed in the following song, which is sung on the occasion: "Come forth, come forth, my maidens, we'll gather myrtle boughs, And we all shall learn from the dews of the fern, if our lads will keep their vows; If the wether be still, as we dance on the hill, and the dew hangs sweet on the flowers, Then we'll kiss off the dew, for our lovers are true, and the Baptist blessing is ours." The origin of the term bonfire has been much disputed. Some find its derivation in the fact of the fires having originally been made of bones. Thus, Fuller says, "Some deduce it from fires made of bones, relating to the burning of martyrs, first fashionable in England in tho reign of King Henry IV. Others, says Soane, derive the word from boon, that is, good, and fires. Dr. Hickes considers that the word finds its origin in the Anglo-Saxon, bolfyr, a burning pile." See Hampson's "Medii Avi Kalendarium," vol. i. p. 2009. Strutt's "Glig. Gamena," b. iv. c. 3, s. 23. Formerly, in Cornwall, Midsummer Day was looked upon as a high day. A pole was erected, decorated with garlands, around which the young people danced and made merry. Before leaving this part of our subject, we must not omit to mention the watch kept on Midsummer Eve. The origin of this custom seems to have arisen in the thirteenth century, when, in consequence of great disorders committed in the streets of London, it was customary to set the midsummer watch upon the eve of St. John the Baptist. The ceremony was performed with great pomp and pageantry, and the whole was conducted at a very heavy expense. This practice was kept up till the year 1539, when it was discontinued. It was revived, however, again in 1548, but soon afterwards finally abolished." ("Sports, Pastimes, and Customs of London," 1838, p. 35.) At Nottingham, the custom was kept up till the reign of Charles 1. At Chiltern, in Wiltshire, there is a sport very widely practised by the boys at this season of the year called "Egg-hopping." The boys forage the woods in search of birds' eggs. These, when found, they place on the road at distances apart in proportion to the variety or abundance of the species of egg. The hopper is then blindfolded, and he tries to break as many as he can in a certain number of jumps. This game is most universal, and carried on with great spirit.‡ St. Peter's Day (June 29th) is still observed in some parts of England, when some of the superstitions connected with Midsummer Day are repeated. Formerly, says Brand, on the evening of St. Peter's Day, the inhabitants of Northumberland carried firebrands about the fields of their respective parishes. On these occasions they made encroachments upon the bonfires of the neighbouring towns, of which they took away some of the ashes by force. This they called "carrying off the flower (probably the flour) of the wake." NATURAL HISTORY ANECDOTES. AN AGED CANARY. "J. B. C.," in the interesting "Natural History Anecdotes" for March, instances the case of a canary which attained the age of fifteen years, and then says that perhaps some readers know of similar cases of longevity. About eighteen months ago a favourite bird of ours died that was over twenty-two years of age. It was what is called here a "mule" bird, a kind of cross between the canary and the goldfinch, I believe. It was in our family for ten years, and previous to coming into our possession had been the property of some intimate friends of our family for at least twelve years to my certain knowledge. It was a beautiful songster, possessed of a clear, ringing voice, and was very tame. It continued to sing blithely until within about twelve months of its death, when the first signs of age began to be observable in a loss of its accustomed sprightliness. About this time, too, another curious circumstance manifested itself. Whenever the cage was taken down for the purpose of being cleaned, the bird would go off in a kind of swoon, sometimes at the * See Stow's "Survey of London," 1848. + See Deering's "Nottinghamia Vetus et Nova," 1751. bottom of the cage, at others remaining suspended, head downwards, from the perch. It would remain in this state about five minutes, and on recovering no ill effect would be discernible. Every care was taken of it; but at length, one fine evening, poor Tom was discovered on its back at the bottom of the cage quite dead. Wishing to have the bird preserved, I entrusted it to a local taxidermist for that purpose, and that was the last I saw of poor Tom, as after making numerous unsuccessful applications at the bird-stuffer's shop, I one day found the latter closed, and that "the place that had known him" was to know him no more. After this I could obtain no trace of the bird. Exeter. A TAME PARTRIDGE. W. C. leaving the country. I put it in an open cage in a A young partridge was given to me by a friend window place, and it soon became quite at home, not liking to be left alone, and if so at any time in the day calling very loud. It made friends with the dog and cat, and used to lic before the fire with them, sometimes waking up to pull a hair out of their backs, and then crouching down as if asleep. It always went to its cage at night. It liked wheat or bread, but best of all rice-pudding, and came every day into the parlour at dinner-time for some. It strayed into the fields once, and was brought back almost starved. Pat, as we called it, was a great pet, but did not live very long. My dog died, and her successor (a puppy) bit Pat in play. Two little stones in my garden mark their graves, and I well remember my grief. R. W. SAGACITY OF A DOG AND ATTACHMENT TO A PONY. When living in a midland county I had a spaniel and a pony. The latter was ill for some time, when the dog slept in or under his manger and sometimes on his back. On his recovery she seldom left him long, and if the groom put his harness on, would jump into the manger, and thence on his back, barking loud. When taken out she followed, but, hunting the game, was shut up by order. She disliked this, and as soon as the pony was harnessed would start off, hide herself, and wait till he appeared, delighted with her success. On one occasion the groom rode the pony to a town, and, it being the Queen's accession day, the street was crowded. She begged to be taken up, and rode before him. On my leaving, both were sent my father in Cheshire, where, as long as the dog lived, the attachment seemed to increase. She would go into the field and stay with him. to SAGACITY OF A RAT. R. W. |