goes before him, and his footman Hunger attending." It commences as follows: "Of Jacke an Apes I list not to endite, Nor of Jack Daw my gooses quill shall write; Nor Jack of Both Sides, nor of Skipjacke neate. It is a proverb in Norfolk that wherever the wind lies on Ash Wednesday, it continues during the whole of Lent.] ST. DAVID'S DAY. MARCH 1. "March, various, fierce, and wild, with wind-crackt cheeks, By wilder Welshman led, and crown'd with Leeks.-CHURCHILL." ACCORDING to Pitts, St. David, Archbishop of Menevy, now from him called St. David's, in Pembrokeshire, flourished in the fifth and sixth centuries of the Christian era, and died at the age of a hundred and forty years.' [His day is still annually celebrated in London by the Society of Ancient Britons, and has long been assigned to the Welsh. In the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VII., 1492, is the following entry under March 1st, Walshemen, on St. David Day, £2." We read in the Festa Anglo-Romana, 1678, p. 29, that 'the Britons on this day constantly wear a Leek, in memory of a famous and notable victory obtained by them over the Saxons; they, during the battle, having Leeks in their hats, [The Britannia Sacra says he was a Bishop of Menevia, and died in 544; and, according to Hospinian, as quoted by Hampson, he was not commemorated before the twelfth century.] for their military colours and distinction of themselves, by the persuasion of the said prelate, St. David." Another account adds, that they were fighting under their king Cadwallo, near a field that was replenished with that vegetable. So, Walpole, in his British Traveller, tells us: "in the days of King Arthur, St. David won a great victory over the Saxons, having ordered every one of his soldiers to place a Leek in his cap, for the sake of distinction in memory whereof the Welsh to this day wear a Leek on the first of March." The following verses occur among Holmes' MS. collections in the British Museum, Harl. 1977, f. 9, "I like the Leeke above all herbs and flowers, When first we wore the same the feild was ours. The Leeke the fairest emblyn that is worne." [In the Salysburye Prymer, 1533 are the following curious lines,― "Davyd of Wales loveth well lekes, The court at one time practised the custom of wearing leeks on this day; the Flying Post, 1699, informs us, "Yesterday, being St. David's Day, the King, according to custom, wore a leek in honour of the ancient Britons, the same being presented to him by the Serjeant-porter, whose place it is, and for which he claims the cloaths which his Majesty wore that day. The courtiers, in imitation of his Majesty, wore leeks likewise."-Archæologia, xxxii. 399. Aubrey, MS. Lansd. 231, says, "the vulgar in the West of England doe call the moneth of March lide: a proverbial rhythm,— "Eate leekes in Lide, and Ramsins in May, The following proverbial sayings relative to this day are still current in the North of England, "Upon St. David's day, Put oats and barley in the clay." "On the first of March, The crows begin to search." "First comes David, next come Chad, And then comes Winnold as though he was mad."] In the Diverting Post, No. 19, from Feb. 24 to March 3, 1705, we have these lines : "Why on St. David's Day, do Welshmen seek Right, Sir, to die or fight it is, I think; But how is't dulce, when you for it stink?" To a Querist in the British Apollo, 1708, vol. i. No. 10, asking, why do the Ancient Britons (viz. Welshmen) wear Leeks in their hats on the first of March? the following answer is given: "The ceremony is observed on the first of March, in commemoration of a signal victory obtained by the Britons, under the command of a famous general, known vulgarly by the name of St. David. The Britons wore a Leek in their hats to distinguish their friends from their enemies, in the heat of the battle." So Rolt, in his Cambria, 1759, p. 63, "In Cambria, 'tis said, tradition's tale Recounting, tells how fam'd Menevia's Priest Misson, in his Travels in England, translated by Ozell, p. 334, says, speaking of the Welsh, "On the day of St. David, their Patron, they formerly gain'd a victory over the English, and in the battle every man distinguish'd himself by wearing a Leek in his hat; and, ever since, they never fail to wear a Leek on that day. The King himself is so complaisant as to bear them company." In the Royal Apophthegms of King James, 1658, I read the following in the first page: Welchmen, in commemoration of the Great Fight by the Black Prince of Wales, do wear Leeks as their chosen ensign" and the Episcopal Almanack for 1677 states that "The St. David, who was of royal extraction, and uncle to king Arthur, "died aged a hundred and forty-six years, on the first of March, still celebrated by the Welsh, perchance to perpetuate the memory of his abstinence, whose contented mind made many a favourite meal on such roots of the earth." The commemoration of the British victory, however, appears to afford the best solution of wearing the Leek. [It would appear from some lines in Poor Robin's Almanack for 1757, that in England a Welshman was formerly burnt in effigy on this anniversary,— "But it would make a stranger laugh To see th' English hang poor Taff: A pair of breeches and a coat, Hats, shoes, and stockings, and what not, All stuffed with hay to represent The Cambrian hero thereby meant : With sword sometimes three inches broad, And other armour made of wood, They drag hur to some publick tree, To this custom Pepys seems to allude in his Diary for 1667, "In Mark Lane I do observe (it being St. David's Day) the picture of a man dressed like a Welshman, hanging by the neck, upon one of the poles that stand out at the top of one of the merchant's houses in full proportion, and very handsomely done, which is one of the oddest sights I have seen a good while.” Possibly arising from this was the practice till lately in vogue amongst pastrycooks of hanging or skewering taffies or Welshmen of gingerbread for sale on St. David's Day.] Coles, in his Adam in Eden, says, concerning Leeks, "The Gentlemen in Wales have them in great regard, both for their feeding, and to wear in their hats upon St. David's Day." In an old satirical Ballad, entitled "The Bishop's last 1 [Dr. Owen Pughe, the British lexicographer, differing from his martial countrymen, supposes that the custom originated in the Cymmortha, still observed in Wales, in which the farmers reciprocate assistance in ploughing their land, when every one contributes his leek to the common repast.-Hampson's Kalend. i. 170. See also p. 107.] a single sheet, dated 1642, the 14th stanza "Landaff, provide for St. David's Day, Lest the Leeke and Red-herring run away, You are called for Landaff: Ray has the following proverb on this day, 66 Upon St. David's Day, put oats and barley in the clay." In Caxton's Description of Wales, at the end of the St. Alban's Chronicle, 1500, speaking of the "Manners and Rytes of the Walshemen," we read, as also, "They have gruell to potage, And Leekes kynde to companage." "Atte meete, and after eke, Her solace is salt and Leeke." In Shakespeare's play of Henry the Fifth, Act. v. Sc. 1, Gower asks Fluellen," But why wear you your Leek to-day? Saint Davy's Day is past." From Fluellen's reply we gather, that he wore his Leek in consequence of an affront he had received but the day before from Pistol, whom he afterwards compels to eat Leek, skin and all, in revenge for the insult; quaintly observing to him, "When you take occasion to see Leeks hereafter, I pray you mock at them, that is all." Gower too upbraids Pistol for mocking "at an ancient tradition-begun upon an honourable respect, and worn as a memorable trophy of pre-deceased valour." [This seems to show that Shakespeare was acquainted with the tradition above quoted from the Festa Anglo-Romana. It is, however, sufficiently singular that Grimm quotes a passage from an ancient Edda in which a chieftain is represented as carrying an onion either as a returning conqueror, or because it was a custom to wear it at a name giving. a paper by Mr. Thoms in the Archæologia, xxxii. 398. The onion was held sacred by the ancient Egyptians, a superstition ridiculed by Juvenal, ""Tis dangerous here To violate an onion, or to stain The sanctity of leeks with tooth profane."] See |