Blackstone says, that it was usual for the lord of this manor to provide a minstrel or piper for the diversion of the tenants while they were employed in his service. In the Introduction to the Survey and Natural History of the North Division of the County of Wiltshire, by Aubrey, at p. 32, is the following curious account of Whitsun-Ales: "There were no rates for the poor in my grandfather's days; but for Kingston St. Michael (no small parish) the ChurchAle of Whitsuntide did the business. In every parish is (or was) a church-house, to which belonged spits, crocks, &c., utensils for dressing provision. Here the housekeepers met and were merry, and gave their charity. The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at butts, &c., the ancients sitting gravely by, and looking on. All things were civil, and without scandal. The Church-Ale is doubtless derived from the Ayanaι, or Love Feasts, mentioned in the New Testament." He adds, "Mr. A. Wood assures that there were no almshouses, at least they were very scarce, before the Reformation; that over against Christchurch, Oxon, is one of the ancientest. In every church was a poor man's box, but I never remembered the use of it; nay, there was one at great inns, as I remember it was before the wars. These were the days when England was famous for the grey goose quills." The following lines on Whitsunday occur in Barnaby Googe's translation of Naogeorgus: "On Whitsunday whyte pigeons tame in strings from heaven flie, Among the ancient annual church disbursements of St. Mary-at-Hill, in the city of London, I find the following entry: "Garlands, Whitsunday, iijd." Sometimes also the subsequent: "Water for the Funt on Whitson Eve, jd." This is explained by the following extract from Strutt's Manners and Customs, iii. 174: "Among many various ceremonies, I find that they had one called the Font hallowing,' which was performed on Easter Even and Whitsunday Eve; and, says the author of a volume of Homilies in Harl. MS. 2371, in the begynnyng of holy chirch, all the children weren kept to be crystened on thys even, at the Font hal ,,, lowyng; but now, for enchesone that in so long abydynge they might dye without crystendome, therefore holi chirch ordeyneth to crysten at all tymes of the yeare; save eyght dayes before these Evenys, the chylde shalle abyde till the Font hallowing, if it may savely for perrill of death, and ells not.' Collinson, in his History of Somersetshire, iii. 620, speaking of Yatton, says, that "John Lane of this parish, gent. left half an acre of ground, called the Groves, to the poor for ever, reserving a quantity of the grass for the strewing church on Whitsunday." A superstitious notion appears anciently to have prevailed in England, that "whatsoever one did ask of God upon Whitsunday morning, at the instant when the sun arose and play'd, God would grant it him." See Arise Evans's Echo to the Voice from Heaven; or, a Narration of his Life, 1652, p. 9. He says, "he went up a hill to see the sun rise betimes on Whitsunday morning," and saw it at its rising "skip, play, dance, and turn about like a wheel." "At Kidlington, in Oxfordshire, the custom is, that on Monday after Whitsun week there is a fat live lamb provided; and the maids of the town, having their thumbs tied behind them, run after it, and she that with her mouth takes and holds the lamb, is declared Lady of the Lamb, which being dressed, with the skin hanging on, is carried on a long pole before the lady and her companions to the Green, attended with music, and a Morisco dance of men, and another of women, where the rest of the day is spent in dancing, mirth, and merry glee. The next day the lamb is part baked, boiled, and roast, for the Lady's Feast, where she sits majestically at the upper end of the table, and her companions with her, with music and other attendants, which ends the solemnity." (Beckwith's edition of Blount's Jocular Tenures, p. 281.) In Poor Robin's Almanack for 1676, stool-ball and barleybreak are spoken of as Whitsun sports. In the Almanack for the following year, in June, opposite Whitsunday and Holidays, we read: "At Islington a fair they hold, Where cakes and ale are to be sold. [A custom formerly prevailed amongst the people of Burford to hunt deer in Whichwood Forest, on Whitsunday. An original letter is now in the possession of the Corporation, dated 1593, directing the inhabitants to forbear the hunting for that year, on account of the plague that was then raging, and stating that an order should be given to the keepers of the forest, to deliver to the bailiffs two bucks in lieu of the hunting; which privilege, was not, however, to be prejudiced in future by its remittance on that occasion.] THE BOY'S BAILIFF. [AN old custom so called formerly prevailed at Wenlock, in Shropshire, in the Whitsun week. It consisted, says Mr. Collins, of a man who wore a hair-cloth gown, and was called the bailiff, a recorder, justices, and other municipal officers. They were a large retinue of men and boys mounted on horseback, begirt with wooden swords, which they carried on their right sides, so that they were obliged to draw their swords out with their left hands. They used to call at the gentlemen's houses in the franchise, where they were regaled with refreshments; and they afterwards assembled at the Guildhall, where the town clerk read some sort of rigmarole which they called their charter, one part of which was— "We go from Bickbury, and Badger, to Stoke on the Clee, The three first-named places are the extreme points of the franchise; and the other two are on the return to Much Wenlock. Mr. Collins supposes this custom to have originated in going a bannering.] TRINITY, OR TRINITY SUNDAY, EVEN. THE observance of Trinity Sunday is said to have been first established in England by Archbishop Becket, soon after his consecration." Hic post consecrationem suam instituit festivitatem principalem S. Trinitatis annis singulis in perpetuam celebrandam, quo die primam Missam suam celebravit." Whart. Anglia Sacra, P. i. p. 8. In Lysons's Environs of London, i. 310, among his extracts from the Churchwardens' Accounts at Lambeth are the following: "1519. Item, for garlonds and drynk for the chylderne To Spryngwell and Smyth for syngyng with the Item, for four onssys of garnesyng rebonds, at £ s. d. 0 0 6 0 0 12 0 3 0" In the Mémoires de l'Académie Celtique, iii. 447, in "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 campagne, pour y voir lever trois soleils à la fois." In a Letter to Aubrey (Miscellanies, 1714), dated Ascension Day, 1682, is an account of Newnton, in North Wiltshire; where, to perpetuate the memory of the donation of a common to that place, by King Athelstan and of a house for the hayward, i. e. the person who looked after the beasts that fed upon this common, the following ceremonies were appointed: "Upon every Trinity Sunday, the parishioners being come to the door of the hayward's house, the door was struck thrice in honour of the Holy Trinity; then they entered. The bell was rung; after which, silence being ordered, they read their prayers aforesaid. Then was a ghirland of flowers (about the year 1660 one was killed striving to take away the ghirland) made upon an hoop, brought forth by a maid of the town upon her neck; and a young man (a bachelor) of another parish, first saluted her three times, in honour of the Trinity, in respect of God the Father. Then she puts the ghirland upon his neck, and kisses him three times, in honour of the Trinity, particularly God the Son. Then he puts the ghirland on her neck again, and kisses her three times, in respect of the Holy Trinity, and particularly the Holy Ghost. Then he takes the ghirland from her neck, and, by the custom, must give her a penny at least, which, as fancy leads, is now exceeded, as 2s. 6d., or &c. The method of giving this ghirland is from house to house annually, till it comes round. In the evening every commoner sends his supper up to this house, which is called the Eale House; and having before laid in there equally a stock of malt which was brewed in the house, they sup together, and what was left was given to the poor." COVENTRY SHOW FAIR. [THIS celebrated Fair commences upon the Friday in Trinity week, and continues for eight days. It is of very high antiquity, the Charter being granted by Henry III. in 1218, at the instigation of Randle, Earl of Chester. For many centuries it was one of the chief marts in the kingdom for the sale of the various articles of merchandise in general consumption. Of late years, it has been principally celebrated for the Show or procession, which is exhibited at intervals of from three to seven years, on the first day of the fair, and on that account has acquired a great degree of notoriety and interest. This procession is believed to have been first instituted in 1678, or at least the procession of Lady Godiva was then first introduced into the pageant, thus laying the foundation of that splendid cavalcade usually designated the Procession of Lady Godiva, and to the same period must be referred the first public exhibition of the far-famed Peeping Tom of Coventry. Leofric, Earl of Mercia, Lord of Coventry, imposed certain hard and grievous services upon the place, which his Countess Godiva, out of feelings of compassion for the inhabitants, frequently and earnestly implored her husband to free them from, but without effect; and unwilling to give up an exaction which tended so much to his profit, he at length commanded her to urge him no more on the subject. Godiva was not thus to be diverted from her purpose, and, resuming her importunities, he thought to silence her at once, by declaring that he never would accede to her wishes, unless she would consent to ride naked from one end of the town to the other, in the sight of the inhabitants. To this extraordinary proposal, however, he heard with astonishment her reply in these words, "But will you give me leave to do so?" and being compelled |