Whom as a man that lately dyed of honest life and fame,
In blanket hid they beare about, and straightwayes with the same
They hurl him up into the ayre, not suffring him to fall,
And this they doe at divers tymes the citie over all.

I shew not here their daunces yet, with filthie jestures mad,
Nor other wanton sportes that on these holydayes are had.
There places are where such as hap to come within this dore,
Though old acquainted friendes they be, or never seene before,
And say not first here by your leave, both in and out I go,
They binde their handes behinde their backes, nor any difference tho
Of man or woman is there made, but basons ringing great,
Before them do they daunce with joy, and sport in every streat.
There are that certain praiers have that on the Tuesday fall,
Against the quartaine ague, and the other fevers all.
But others than sowe onyon seede, the greater to be seene,
And persley eke, and lettys both, to have them always greene.
Of truth I loth for to declare the foolish toyes and trickes,
That in these dayes are done by these same Popish Catholickes :
If snow lie deep upon the ground and almost thawing bee,
Then fooles in number great thou shalt in every corner see:
For balles of snow they make, and them at one another cast,
Till that the conquerde part doth yeelde and run away at last.
No matrone olde nor sober man can freely by them come,
At home he must abide that will these wanton fellowes shonne.
Besides the noble men, the riche, and men of hie degree,
Least they with common people should not seeme so mad to bee,
There wagons finely framde before, and for this matter meete,
And lustie horse and swift of pace, well trapt from head to feete
They put therein, about whose necke and every place before
A hundred gingling belles do hang, to make his courage more.
Their wives and children therein set, behinde themselves do stande,
Well armde with whips, and holding faste the bridle in their hande;
With all their force throughout the streetes and market-place they

ron,

As if some whirlewinde mad, or tempest great from skies should

come:

As fast as may be from the streates th' amazed people flye,
And give them place while they about doe runne continually.
Yea sometimes legges or armes they breake, and horse and carte and ali
They overthrow, with such a force they in their course doe fall.
Much lesse they man or childe do spare, that meetes them in the waye,
Nor they content themselves to use this madnesse all the daye :
But even till midnight holde they on, their pastimes for to make,
Whereby they hinder men of sleepe and cause their heads to ake.
But all this same they care not for, nor doe esteem a heare,
So they may have their pleasure still, and foolish wanton geare."

Among the records of the city of Norwich, mention is made of one John Gladman, "who was ever, and at thys our

is a man of sad disposition, and trewe and feythfull to God and to the Kyng, of disporte as hath ben acustomed in ony cité or burgh thorowe alle this reame, on Tuesday in the last ende of Crestemesse [1440,] viz. Fastyngonge Tuesday, made a disport with hys neyghbours, havyng his hors trappyd with tynnsoyle and other nyse disgisy things, corouned as Kyng of Crestemesse, in tokyn that seson should end with the twelve monethes of the yere; aforn hym went yche moneth dysguysed after the seson requiryd, and Lenton clad in white and red heryngs skinns, and his hors trappyd with oystershells after him, in token that sadnesse shuld folowe and an holy tyme, and so rode in divers stretis of the cité with other people with hym disguysed, makyng myrth, disportes, and plays, &c." Bloomfield's Norfolk, ed. 1745, ii. 111.

A very singular custom is thus mentioned in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1779,-" Being on a visit on Tuesday last in a little obscure village in this county (Kent), I found an odd kind of sport going forward: the girls, from eighteen to five or six years old, were assembled in a crowd, and burning an uncouth effigy, which they called an Holly-Boy, and which it seems they had stolen from the boys, who, in another part of the village, were assembled together, and burning what they called an Ivy-Girl, which they had stolen from the girls: all this ceremony was accompanied with loud huzzas, noise, and acclamations. What it all means I cannot tell, although I inquired of several of the oldest people in the place, who could only answer that it had always been a sport at this season of the year." Dated East Kent, Feb. 16th. The Tuesday before Shrove Tuesday in 1779 fell on February the 9th.

[In some places, if flowers are to be procured so early in the season, the younger children carry a small garland, for the sake of collecting a few pence, singing,

"Flowers, flowers, high-do!
Sheeny, greeny, rino!

Sheeny greeny, sheeny greeny,
Rum tum fra!"]

"The peasantry of France," says the Morning Chronicle, March 10th, 1791, "distinguish Ash Wednesday in a very singular manner. They carry an effigy of a similar description to our Guy Faux round the adjacent villages, and collect

Margh-Haldony Shrone Theoday boys cut ball from fungus on thee, call if

SHROVE-TIDE, OR SHROVE TUESDAY.

vol

maney for his funeral, as this day, according to their creed,
is the death of good living. After sundry absurd mum-
meries, the corpse is deposited in the earth." This is
somewhat similar to the custom of the Holly Boy.

Armstrong, in his History of Minorca, p. 202, says,
"During the Carnival, the ladies amuse themselves in throw-u
ing oranges at their lovers; and he who has received one
of these on his eye, or has a tooth beat out by it, is con-
vinced from that moment that he is a high favourite with the
fair one who has done him so much honour. Sometimes a
good handfull of flour is thrown full in one's eyes, which
gives the utmost satisfaction, and is a favour that is quickly
followed by others of a less trifling nature. We well
know that the holydays of the ancient Romans were, like
these carnivals, a mixture of devotion and debauchery.-
This time of festivity is sacred to pleasure, and it is sinful
to exercise their calling until Lent arrives, with the two
curses of these people, Abstinence and Labour, in its train."

Among the sports of Shrove Tuesday, cock-fighting and throwing at cocks appear almost everywhere to have prevailed. Fitzstephen, as cited by Stowe, informs us that anciently on Shrove Tuesday the school-boys used to bring cocks of the game, now called game-cocks, to their master, and to delight themselves in cock-fighting all the forenoon. One rejoices to find no mention of throwing at cocks on the occasion, a horrid species of cowardly cruelty, compared with which, cock-fighting, savage as it may appear, is to be reckoned among "the tender mercies" of barbarity.

The learned Moresin informs us that the Papists derived this custom of exhibiting cock-fights on one day every year from the Athenians, and from an institution of Themistocles. "Galli Gallinacei," says he, "producuntur per diem singulis annis in pugnam à Papisequis, ex veteri Atheniensium forma ducto more et Themistoclis instituto." Cal. Rhod. lib. ix. variar. lect. cap. xlvi. idem Pergami fiebat.; Alex. ab Alex. lib. v. cap. 8.-Moresini Papatus, p. 66. An account of the arigin of this custom amongst the Athenians may be seen in Eliani Variæ Historiæ, lib. ii. сар. xxviii.

This custom was retained in many schools in Scotland within the last century. Perhaps it is still in use. within

fell

ell into holl, Willys
༡.༡.

The

away

Run

dinner, all the youths The scholars of every

schoolmasters were said to preside at the battle, and claimed the run-away-cocks, called Fugees, as their perquisites.' According to Fitzstephen: "After go into the fields to play at the ball. school have their ball or bastion in their hands. The ancient and wealthy men of the city come forth on horseback to see the sport of the young men, and to take part of the pleasure, in beholding their agility." Strype's edit. of Stowe, i. 247. See also Dr. Pegge's edit. of Fitzstephen's London, 4to. 1772, pp. 45, 74. It should seem that Foot-Ball is here meant. In Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, 1795, xv. 521, the minister of Kirkmichael, in Perthshire, speaking of the manners and customs of the inhabitants, says, "Foot-ball is a common amusement with the school-boys, who also preserve the custom of cockfighting on Shrove Tuesday."

Hutchinson, in his History of Cumberland, ii. 322, speaking of the parish of Bromfield, and a custom there, that having now fallen into disuse, will soon be totally forgotten, tells us, "Till within the last twenty or thirty years, it had been a custom, time out of mind, for the scholars of the free school of Bromfield about the beginning of Lent, or, in the more expressive phraseology of the country, at Fasting's. Even, to bar out the master; i. e. to depose and exclude him from his school, and keep him out for three days. During the period of this expulsion, the doors of the citadel, the

1 Carpentier calls "Gallorum pugna" ludi genus inter pueros scholares, non uno in loco usitati. Lit. remiss. An. 1383, in Reg. 134. Chartoph. Reg. ch. 37.-"En ce Karesme entrant à une feste ou dance que l'en faisoit lors d'enfans pour la jouste des coqs, ainsi qu'il est accoustumé (en Dauphiné)." Du Cange, in his Glossary, ii. 1679, says, that although this practice was confined to schoolboys in several provinces of France, it was nevertheless forbidden in the Council of Copria (supposed to be Cognac) in the year 1260. The decree recites "that although it was then become obsolete, as well in grammar schools as in other places, yet mischiefs had arisen, &c." "DUELLUM GALLORUM gallinaceorum etiamnum in aliquot provinciis usurpatum a scholaribus puerulis, vetatur in Concilio Copriniacensi An. 1260, cap. 7. quod scilicet superstitionem quamdam saperet, vel potius sortilegii aut purgationis vulgaris nescio quid redoleret; quia ex duello gallorum, quod in partibus istis, tam in Scholis Grammaticæ, quam in aliis fieri inolevit, nonnulla mala aliquoties sunt exorta," &c. Du Cange, in verbo. Vide Carpentier, v. Jasia.

school, were strongly barricadoed within: and the boys, who defended it like a besieged city, were armed in general with bore-tree or elder pop-guns. The master meanwhile made various efforts, both by force and stratagem, to regain his lost authority. If he succeeded, heavy tasks were imposed, and the business of the school was resumed and submitted to; but it more commonly happened that he was repulsed and defeated. After three days' siege, terms of capitulation were proposed by the master, and accepted by the boys. These terms were summed up in an old formula of Latin Leonine verses, stipulating what hours and times should for the year ensuing be allotted to study, and what to relaxation and play. Securities were provided by each side for the due performance of these stipulations, and the paper was then solemnly signed both by master and scholars.

it

"One of the articles always stipulated for and granted, was the privilege of immediately celebrating certain games of long standing; viz. a foot-ball match and a cock-fight. Captains, as they were called, were then chosen to manage and preside over these games; one from that part of the parish which lay to the westward of the school; the other from the east. Cocks and foot-ball players were sought for with great diligence. The party whose cocks won the most battles was victorious in the cock-pit; and the prize, a small silver bell, suspended to the button of the victor's hat, and worn for three successive Sundays. After the cock-fight was ended, the foot-ball was thrown down in the churchyard; and the point then to be contested was, which party could carry to the house of his respective captain, to Dundraw, perhaps, or West-Newton, a distance of two or three miles, every inch of which ground was keenly disputed. All the honour accruing to the conqueror at foot-ball, was that of possessing the ball. Details of these matches were the general topics of conversation among the villagers, and were dwelt on with hardly less satisfaction than their ancestors enjoyed in relating their feats in the border wars. It never was the fortune of the writer of this account to bear the bell (a pleasure which it is not at all improbable had its origin in the bell having been the frequent, if not the usual reward of victory in such rural contests). Our Bromfield sports were some