ners of Cornwal, tells us, "An antient Custom, "still retained by the Cornish, is that of decking "their Doors and Porches on the first of May with ́ green Sycamore and Hawthorn Boughs, and of

planting Trees, or rather Stumps of Trees, be"fore their Houses: And on May Eve, they from "Towns make Excursions into the Country, and "having cut down a tall Elm, brought it into "Town, fitted a straight and taper Pole to the "End of it, and painted the same, erect it in the "most public Places, and on Holidays and Festi"vals adorn it with Flower Garlands, or Insigns "and Streamers." He adds, "This Usage is nothing more than a Gratulation of the Spring Season; and House exhibited a proper Sig "nal of its Approach, to testify their universal Joy "at the Revival of Vegetation."

every

The Author of the Pamphlet, entitled, "The

Way to Things by Words, and to Words by

As I have seene the Lady of the May
Set in an Arbour.

Built by the May-Pole, where the jocund Swaines
Dance with the Maidens to the Bagpipes 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 Handkerchief cast o're and o're agen:

And none returneth empty, that hath spent
His Pains to fill their rural Merriment:
Su, &c.

P. 122.

"Things," in his Specimen of an Etimological Vocabulary, considers the May-Pole* in a new and curious Light: We gather from him that our Ancestors held an anniversary Assembly on May-day; the Column of the May (whence our May-Pole) was the great Standard of Justice in the Ey-Commons, or Fields of May. Here it was that the deposed or punished

People, if they saw Cause, their Governors, their Barons, their Kings. ---The Judge's Bough or Wand (at this Time discontinued, and only faintly represented by a trifling Nosegay), and the Staff or Rod of Authority in the Civil and in the Military (for it was the Mace of Civil Power, and the Truncheon of the Field Officers) are both derived from hence.-A Mayor, he says, received his Name from this May, in the Sense of lawful Power. The Crown, a Mark of Dignity and Symbol of Power, like the Mace and Sceptre, was also taken from the May, being Representative of the Garland or Crown, which when hung on the Top of the May or Pole, was the great Signal for convening the People.-The Arches of it, which spring from the Circlet and meet together at the Mound or round Ball, being necessarily so formed to suspend it on the Top of the Pole.

* Dr. Moresin gives us his Opinion concerning the Origin of this Custom in the following Words: “ Maio mense exire in Agros " & cantando viridem frondem reportare, quam in Domibus &. "Domorum foribus appendant, aut a Flora lasciviæ Romanæ Dea, "aut ab Atheniensibus est." Deprav. Rel. Orig, p. 91.

The Word May-Pole, he observes, is a Pleonasm; in French it is called singly the Mai.

This is, he farther tells us, one of the antientest Customs, which from the remotest Ages, has been by Repetition from Year to Year, perpetuated down to our Days, not being at this Instant totally exploded, especially in the lower Class of Life. -It was considered as the Boundary Day, that divided the Confines of Winter and Summer, allusively to which, there was instituted a sportful War between two Parties; the one in Defence of the Continuance of Winter, the other for bringing in the Summer.-The Youth were divided into Troops, the one in Winter Livery, the other in the gay Habit of the Spring.-The mock Battle was always fought Booty, the Spring was sure to obtain the Victory, which they celebrated by carrying* triumphantly green Branches with May Flowers, proclaiming and singing the Song of Joy, of

* I have more than once been disturbed early on May Morning at Newcastle, by the Noise of a Song, which a Woman sung about the Streets, who had several Garlands in her Hand, and which, if I mistake not, she sold to any who were superstitious enough to buy them. It is homely and low, but it must be remembered that our Treatise is not " on the Sublime."

Rife up, Mairens! fy for Shame,

I've been four long Miles from Hame;

I've been gath'ring my Garlands gay.

Rife up, fair Maids, and take in your May.

Here is no Pleonasm: It is singly, as the French have it, your May.

which

which the Burthen was, in these, or equivalent Terms:

"We have brought the Summer home*.”

"Suecis Meridionalibus, et Gothis, longissimo provinciarum "spatio à polo remotis, alius ritus est, ut primo die Maii, sole per "Taurum agente cursum, duplices à Magistratibus urbium consti"tuantur robustorum juvenum & virorum equestres turmæ, seu "Cohortes, tanquam ad durum aliquem conflictumn progressuræ, quarum altera sorte deputato duce dirigitur: qui Hyemis titulo " & habitu, variis indutus pellibus, hastis focalibus armatus, glo-s "batas nives, et crustatas glacies spargens, ut frigora prolonget,

obequitat victoriosus: eoque duriorem se simulat, et efficit, quo "ab vaporariis stiriæ glaciales dependere videntur. Rursumque "alterius equestris cohortis præfectus Estatis, Comes florialis "appellatus, virentibus arborum frondibus, foliisque et floribus

(difficulter repertis) vestitus, æstivalibus indumentis parum se"curis, ex campo cum duce Hyemali, licet separato loco et ordine, "Civitates ingrediuntur, hastisque edito spectaculo publico, quod "Estas hyemem exuperet, experiuntur."

Olai Magni. Gent. Septent. Hist. Brev. p. 338.

CHAP. XXVI.

Of Parochial Perambulations: Their Antiquity, the Eenefit and Advantage of them.

IT

was a general Custom formerly, and is still observed in some Country Parishes, to go round the Bounds and Limits of the Parish, on one of the three Days before Holy Thursday, or the Feast of our LORD's Ascension ; when the Minister, accompany'd with his Church-Wardens and Parishioners, were wont to deprecate the Vengeance of God, beg a Blessing on the Fruits of the Earth, and preserve the Rights and Properties of their Parish.

The Original of this Custom is dated from the Times of the Heathens. For * from the Days of Numa Popilius, they worshipped the God Terminus, whom they looked upon to be the Guardian of Fields and Landmarks, and

* Refert Plutarchus in Problem 13. Numam Popilium cum finitimis agri terminis constituisse, & in ipsis finibus Terminum Deum, quasi finium præsidem amicitiæque, ac pacis custodem posuisse. Festa ei dicata quæ Terminalia nuncupantur, quorum vice nos quotannis ex vetustissima consuetudine parochiarum terminos lustramus. Spel. Gloss. in Verbo. Perambulat.

the