*

sentative of stage elegance was attended by a protector in the somewhat anomalous garb of Jem Crow, and who addressed his lady by the title of Marmselle Molliowski,' introducing her to the spectators as a foreign dancer of notoriety, who had that day condescended to make her first appearance in public by dancing the polka as it really ought to be danced, and in such a manner as would at once satisfy everybody that it was the most extraordinary dance ever invented. After this introduction, Marmselle Molliowski went through a most facetious burlesque, combining all the various absurdities of stage dancing, and ending, by way of climax, with a regular summerset; and the somewhat lavish display of a pair of yellow buckskins, the discovery of which, together with a mock curtesy that terminated the performance, excited shouts of laughter among the multitude, who rewarded the very masculine-looking Mademoiselle Molliowski with a heavy shower of browns." "

I am induced to give at length a very interesting communication on this anniversary by Mr. L. Jewitt, printed in the Literary Gazette, May, 1847:-" While you are deafened by the discordant sounds of the drums and other instruments, and the host of hooting boys, accompanying Jack-in-the-Green in his perambulations through your busy streets, and while you are bewildered by the giddy whirling dance of the sooty monarch under the green extinguisher, and his gay attendants, with their flaunting ribands, their flowers, their brass ladles, and tinsel, the cocked hats and court dresses of the males, and the rustic broad-brimmed straws, the short white dresses, and graceful sylph-like movements of the chummy females, it will be a relief to you to turn and contemplate the pretty and simple celebration of this sweet May-day' in a quiet country village. And now the milkmaids' garlands are no more, and the dancing round the Maypole has passed away, and other May customs and ceremonies are fast being buried in that oblivion where many remnants of the habits and superstitions of our forefathers have long been laid, it will be pleasant to you to know that in some secluded spots May-day customs are still observed, and are looked forward to with as much interest as ever. In Oxford, the singing at Magdalen College still takes place, as you are aware, on the top of the magnificent tower. The choristers assemble there in their white

+ The anthem sung May 1. 1873.

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gowns, at a little before five o'clock in the morning, and as soon as the clock has struck, commence singing their matins. The beautiful bridge and all around the college are covered with spectators; indeed it is quite a little fair; the inhabitants of the city, as well as of the neighbouring villages, collecting together, some on foot and some in carriages, to hear the choir, and to welcome in the happy day. Hosts of boys are there too, with tin trumpets, and stalls are fitted up for the sale of them and sweetmeats; and as soon as the singers cease, the bells peal forth their merry sounds in joyful welcome of the new mouth; and the boys, who have been impatiently awaiting for the conclusion of the matins, now blow their trumpets lustily, and, performing such a chorus as few can imagine, and none forget, start off in all directions, and scour the fields and lanes, and make the woods re-echo to their sounds, in search of flowers. The effect of the singing is sweet, solemn, and almost supernatural, and during its celebration the most profound stillness reigns over the assembled numbers; all seem impressed with the angelic softness of the floating sounds, as they are gently wafted down by each breath of air. All is hushed, and calm, and quiet-even breathing is almost forgotten, and all seem lost even to themselves, until, with the first peal of the bells, the spell is broken, and noise and confusion usurp the place of silence aud quiet. But even this custom, beautiful as it is, is not so pleasing and simple as the one observed at Headington, two miles from Oxford, where the children carry garlands from house to house. They are all alert some days beforehand, gathering evergreens, and levying contributions of flowers on all who possess gardens, to decorate their sweet May offerings. Each garland is formed of a hoop for a rim, with two half hoops attached to it, and crossed above, much in the shape of a crown; each member is beautifully adorned with flowers, and the top surmounted by a fine crown imperial, or other showy bunch of flowers. Each garland is attended by four children, two girls dressed in all their best, with white frocks, long sashes, and plenty of ribands, and each wearing a cap, tastefully ornamented with flowers, &c., who carry the garland supported betwixt them, by a stick passed through it, between the arches. These are followed by the lord and lady, a boy and girl, linked together by a white handkerchief, which they hold at either end, and

who are dressed as gaily as may be in ribands, sashes, rosettes, and flowers-the lady' wearing a smart tasty cap, and carrying a large purse. They then go from house to house, and sing this simple verse to a very primitive tune :— 'Gentlemen and ladies,

We wish you happy May;

We come to show you a garland,
Because it is May-day.'

"One of the bearers then asks, 'Please to handsel the lord and lady's purse; and on some money being given, the 'lord' doffs his cap, and taking one of the lady's' hands in his right, and passing his left arm around her waist, kisses her; the money is then put in the purse, and they depart to repeat the same ceremony at the next house. In the village are upwards of a dozen of these garlands, with their lords and ladies,' which give to the place the most gay and animated appearance.'

The May Garlands are thus alluded to in Fletcher's Poems, 12mo, Lond. 1656, p. 209.

"Heark, how Amyntas in melodious loud

Shrill raptures tunes his horn-pipe! whiles a crowd

Of snow-white milk-maids, crownd with garlands gay,
Trip it to the soft measure of his lay;

And fields with curds and cream like green-cheese lye;
This now or never is the Gallaxie.

If the facetious Gods ere taken were

With mortal beauties and disguis'd, 'tis here.

See how they mix societies, and tosse

The tumbling ball into a willing losse,

That th' twining Ladyes on their necks might take
The doubled kisses which they first did stake."]

MAY-POLES.

"The after

Bourne, speaking of the 1st of May, tells us : part of the day is chiefly spent in dancing round a tall pole, which is called a May Pole; which being placed in a convenient part of the village, stands there, as it were, consecrated to the Goddess of Flowers, without the least violation offer'd to it in the whole circle of the year.” Stubbs, a puritanical writer, in his Anatomie of Abuses, says: "But their cheefest jewell they

bring from thence [the woods] is their Maie poole, whiche they bring home with greate veneration, as thus :-They have twentie or fourtie yoke of oxen, every oxe havyng a sweete nosegaie of flowers tyed on the tippe of his hornes, and these axen drawe home this Maie poole (this stinckyng idoll rather), which is covered all over with flowers and hearbes, bounde rounde aboute with stringes, from the top to the bottome, and sometyme painted with variable colours, with twoo or three hundred men, women, and children followyng it with greate devotion. And thus beyng reared up, with handkerchiefes and flagges streamyng on the toppe, they strawe the grounde aboute, binde greene boughes about it, sett up sommer haules, bowers, and arbours, hard by it. And then fall they to banquet and feast, to leape and daunce aboute it, as the Heathen people did at the dedication of their idolles, whereof this is a perfect patterne, or rather the thyng itself."

[No essay on this subject can be considered complete without the curious old ballad in the Westminster Drollery, called the "Rural Dance about the May-pole, the tune the first figure dance at Mr. Young's ball, May 1671:"

"Come lasses and lads, take leave of your dads,

And away to the May-pole hie;

For every he has got him a she,

And the minstrel's standing by.

For Willy has gotten his Jill, and Johnny has got his Joan.
To jig it, jig it, jig it, jig it up and down.

Strike up, says Wat. Agreed, says Kate,
And, I prithee, fidler, play;

Content, says Hodge, and so says Madge,

For this is a holiday!

Then every man did put his hat off to his lass,

And every girl did curchy, curchy, curchy on the grass.

Begin, says Hall. Aye, aye, says Mall,

We'll lead up Packington's Pound:

No, no, says Noll. And so, says Doll,

We'll first have Sellenger's Round.

Then every man began to foot it round about,

And every girl did jet it, jet it, jet it in and out.

You're out, says Dick. 'Tis a lie, says Nick;

The fiddler played it false :

'Tis true, says Hugh; and so says Sue,

And so says nimble Alce.

The fiddler then began to play the tune again,

And every girl did trip it, trip it, trip it to the men."

"the

"I shall never forget," says Washington Irving, delight I felt on first seeing a May-pole. It was on the banks of the Dee, close by the picturesque old bridge that stretches across the river from the quaint little city of Chester. I had already been carried back into former days by the antiquities of that venerable place, the examination of which is equal to turning over the pages of a black-letter volume, or gazing on the pictures in Froissart. The May-pole on the margin of that poetic stream completed the illusion. My fancy adorned it with wreaths of flowers, and peopled the green bank with all the dancing revelry of May-day. The mere sight of this May-pole gave a glow to my feelings, and spread a charm over the country for the rest of the day; and as I traversed a part of the fair plain of Cheshire, and the beautiful borders of Wales, and looked from among swelling hills down a long green valley, through which the Deva wound its wizard stream,' my imagination turned all into a perfect Arcadia.”]

In Vox Graculi, 1623, p. 62, speaking of May, the author says: "This day shall be erected long wooden idols, called May-poles; whereat many greasie churles shall murmure, that will not bestow so much as a faggot-sticke towards the warming of the poore: an humour that, while it seems to smell of conscience, savours indeed of nothing but covetousness." Stevenson, in the Twelve Moneths, 1661, p. 22, says, "The tall young oak is cut down for a May-pole, and the frolick fry of the town prevent the rising of the sun, and, with joy in their faces and boughs in their hands, they march before it to the place of erection." I find the following in A Pleasant Grove of New Fancies, 1657, p. 74 :—

"The Maypole is up,

Now give me the cup,

I'll drink to the garlands around it,
But first unto those

Whose hands did compose

The glory of flowers that crown'd it."

In Northbrooke's Treatise, wherein Dicing, Dauncing, vaine Playes or Enterluds, with other idle Pastimes, &c., commonly used on the Sabbath-day, are reproved, 1577, p. 140, is the

In the Chapel-wardens' Accounts of Brentford, 1623, is the following article: "Received for the Maypole £1 4s." Lysons's Envir. of Lond. ii. 54.