then called Cornhill, before the south door of the church known as that
of St. Andrew the Apostle; and, in order to distinguish this church from
others dedicated to the same saint, it was termed in consequence St.
Andrew’s-Under-Shaft.[48] On the 1st May, 1517 (9th of Henry VIII.), a
violent tumult occurred in the city, and this pole was not raised
afterwards.[49] The inhabitants had long regarded with much jealousy the
numerous foreigners who about that time took up their abode in
London[50] and practised various trades, to the great injury, as was
then thought, of the citizens, and on the 28th of April a quarrel took
place between some of the London apprentices--at that time a powerful
body--and two or three foreigners whom they met in the street, when
blows were exchanged. This disturbance, however, was quickly quelled,
but a rumour suddenly became general, although none knew on what
grounds, that on the ensuing May-day, taking advantage of the sports and
pastimes which were expected, all foreigners then in the city would be
slain. In consequence of this various precautions were adopted by the
authorities with a view to prevent if possible any contemplated outrage,
and all men were commanded to stay in their houses. Notwithstanding this
injunction, on the evening before May-day two striplings were found in
Cheapside “playing at the bucklers,” and having been commanded to
desist, the cry of “’Prentices, ’prentices, bats and clubs!” the usual
gathering words at that period, was heard through the streets, and many
hundreds of persons, armed with clubs and other weapons, assembled from
all quarters, broke open the prisons, destroyed many houses occupied by
foreigners, and committed other excesses. After some exertions on the
part of the city authorities,[51] nearly three hundred of the rioters
were captured. A commission was appointed to inquire into the
insurrection, and a great number of the prisoners were condemned to die,
but with the exception of one John Lincolne, who was hung, they were all
ultimately pardoned. After this circumstance, which acquired for the day
on which it happened the title of “Evil May-day,” and induced those in
power to discountenance sports which led to large congregations, the
Cornhill shaft was hung on a range of hooks under the “pentises[52]” of
a neighbouring row of houses, where it remained till 1549. In that year,
one Sir Stephen, curate of St. Catherine Cree, in a sermon which he
preached at Paul’s Cross, persuaded the people that this pole had been
made into an idol by naming the church of St. Andrew with the addition
of Under that Shaft; and so worked upon them, that in the afternoon of
the same day, “after they had dined,” the inhabitants with great labour
raised the pole off the hooks on which it had rested thirty-two years,
and each man sawing off for himself a piece equal to the length of his
house, it was quickly demolished and burned.--Godwin and Britton,
_Churches of London_, 1839; Brayley, _Londiniana_, 1829, vol. iii. p.
223; Hall’s _Chronicle_, 1517.
[48] This pole, when it was fixed in the ground, was higher than the
church steeple; and it is to this that Chaucer the poet refers when he
says, speaking of a vain boaster, that he bears his head “as he would
bear the great shaft of Cornhill.”--Stow’s _Survey_, B. ii. p. 65;
Godwin and Britton, _Churches of London_, 1839.
[49] Pennant, _London_ (5th edition, p. 587), says this shaft gave
rise to the insurrection. Godwin and Britton deny this was the case.
[50] Hall, in his _Chronicle_, says these foreigners “compassed the
citie rounde aboute, in Southwarke, in Westminster, Temple Barre,
Holborne, Sayncte Martynes, Sayncte John’s Strete, Algate, Toure Hyll,
and Sainct Katherines.”
[51] Cholmondeley, constable of the Tower, discharged some guns into
the streets, while the Earls of Shrewsbury and Surrey, collecting the
gentlemen of the Inns of Court, restrained the violence of the
populace.--Lyttleton, _History of England_, vol. ii. p. 167.
[52] Of the pent-house, or shelving roof projecting from the main
wall, by which the shops at that period were ordinarily protected,
many examples, Godwin and Britton say, existed in their time.
Brayley in his _Londiniana_ (vol. iv. p. 318) says, nearly opposite to
Craven Buildings is a low public-house, bearing the sign of the _Cock
and Pye_ (a contraction for the Cock and Magpye), which two centuries
ago was almost the only dwelling in the eastern part of Drury Lane,
except the mansion of the Drewries. Hither the youths and maidens of the
metropolis, who, in social revelry on May-day threaded the jocund dance
around the maypole in the Strand, were accustomed to resort for cakes
and ale and other refreshments.
_May Fair._--This saturnalia was held by a grant of the Abbot of
Westminster, “with revelry for fourteen days.” It took place annually,
commencing on the first of May. The locality was anciently called Brook
Field, the site of which is now covered with Curzon Street, Hertford
Street, and Chesterfield House. Frequent allusions to the fair are found
in plays and pamphlets of Charles II.’s time, and hand-bills and
advertisements of the reign of James II. and his successors are in
existence.
May Fair was granted by James II., in the fourth year of his reign, to
Sir John Coell and his heirs for ever, in trust for Henry Lord Dover,
and his heirs for ever. Before 1704 the ground became much built upon,
as we learn from the old rate-books, and in November 1708 the gentlemen
of the grand jury for the county of Middlesex and the city of
Westminster made presentment of the fair, in terms of abhorrence, as a
“vile and riotous assembly.” The Queen listened to a petition from the
bench of justices for Middlesex, and a royal proclamation, dated April
28th, 1709, prohibiting the fair (at least as far as the amusements were
concerned), was the result. It was, however, soon revived “as of old,”
and, we are told, was much patronised “by the nobility and gentry.” It
had also its attractions for the ruder class of holiday-makers, as we
learn from the following copy of a hand-bill formerly in the Upcott
Collection, dated 1748:
“_May Fair._--At the Ducking Pond on Monday next, the 27th inst., Mr.
Hooton’s dog Nero (ten years old, with hardly a tooth in his head to
hold a duck, but well known for his goodness to all that have seen him
hunt), hunts six ducks for a guinea against the bitch called the Flying
Spaniel, from the Ducking Pond on the other side of the water, which has
beat all she has hunted against, excepting Mr. Hooton’s Good Blood. To
begin at two o’clock.
“Mr. Hooton begs his customers won’t take it amiss to pay twopence
admittance at the gate, and take a ticket, which will be allowed as cash
in their reckoning; no person admitted without a ticket, that such as
are not liked may be kept out.
“_Note_--Right Lincoln ale.”
Mr. Morley, in his _History of Bartholomew Fair_ (1859, p. 103), after
noticing the presentment of the grand jury in 1708 and the prohibition
of May Fair, tells us that the fair was revived, and “finally abolished
in the reign of George II. after a peace-officer had been killed in the
attempt to quell a riot.” The statement, however, of the fair having
been finally abolished in the reign of George II. is perfectly
gratuitous on the part of the historian of “Bartlemy,” as it existed
until near the end of another reign. Carter the antiquary wrote an
account of it in 1816, and he says that a few years previously it was
much in the same state as it had been for fifty years. This description,
full of curious interest, was communicated to the _Gentleman’s Magazine_
for March 1816 (vol. lxxxvi. p. 228). It has been reprinted in Hone’s
_Every Day Book_, 1826, vol. i. p. 572; See Soane’s _New Curiosities of
Literature_, 1867, vol i. p. 250, &c.; _N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. x. p. 358.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
On the morning of May-day the girls from the neighbouring villages of
Kingsthorpe, &c., bring into Northampton their garlands, which they
exhibit from house to house (to show, as the inhabitants say, what
flowers are in season), and usually receive a trifle from each house.
The skeleton of the garland is formed of two hoops of osier or hazel
crossing each other at right angles, affixed to a staff about five feet
long, by which it is carried; the hoops are twined with flowers and
ribbons so that no part of them is visible. In the centre is placed one,
two, or three dolls, according to the size of the garland and the means
of the youthful exhibitors. Great emulation is excited amongst them, and
they vie with each other in collecting the choicest flowers, and
adorning the dolls in the gayest attire; ribbon streamers of the varied
colours of the rainbow, the lacemakers adding their spangled bobbins,
decorate the whole. The garlands are carried from house to house
concealed from view by a large pocket-handkerchief, and in some villages
it is customary to inquire if the inmates would like to see the Queen of
the May.
Wherever the young people receive a satisfactory contribution they chant
their simple ditties, which conclude with wishing the inhabitants of the
house “a joyful May,” or “a merry month of May.” The verses sung by the
Dallington children are entirely different from those of any other
village, and are here subjoined:--
“The flowers are blooming everywhere,
O’er every hill and dale;
And oh! how beautiful they are,
How sweetly do they smell!
Go forth, my child, and laugh and play,
And let your cheerful voice,
With birds, and brooks, and merry May,
Cry out, Rejoice! rejoice!”
When the Mayers have collected all the money they can obtain, they
return to their homes, and regale themselves, concluding the day with a
merry dance round the garland.--_Every Day Book_, 1826, vol. ii. p.
615; _Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases_, 1854, vol. ii. p.
421.
Clare, “the Peasant Poet” of Northampton, in one of his MS. ballads,
describes the manner in which May-day is observed in his native village,
Helpstone, near Peterborough, and the neighbourhood. His delightful
ballad is printed by Miss Baker in her work already quoted (vol. ii. p.
423).
“How beautiful May and its morning comes in!
The songs of the maidens, you hear them begin
To sing the old ballads while cowslips they pull,
While the dew of the morning fills many pipes full.
The closes are spangled with cowslips like gold,
Girls cram in their aprons what baskets can’t hold;
And still gather on to the heat of the day,
Till force often throws the last handful away.
Then beneath an old hawthorn they sit, one and all,
And make the May-garlands, and round _cuck_ a ball
Of cowslips and blossoms so showy and sweet,
And laugh when they think of the swains they shall meet.
Then to finish the garland they trudge away home,
And beg from each garden the flowers then in bloom;
Then beneath the old eldern, beside the old wall,
They set out to make it, maid, misses and all.
The ribbons the ploughmen bought maids at the fair
Are sure to be seen in a garland so fair;
And dolls from the children they dress up and take,
While children laugh loud at the show they will make.
Then they take round the garland to show at each door,
With kerchief to hide the fine flowers cover’d o’er;
At cottages also, when willing to pay,
The maidens their much-admired garland display.
Then at _duck-under-water_[53] adown the long road
They run with their dresses all flying abroad;
And ribbons all colours, how sweet they appear!
May seems to begin the life of the year.
Then the garland on ropes is hung high over all,
One end to a tree, and one hooked to a wall;
When they _cuck_ the ball over till day is nigh gone,
And then tea and cakes and the dancing comes on.
And then, lawk! what laughing and dancing is there,
While the fiddler makes faces within the arm-chair;
And then comes the _cushion_,[54] the girls they all shriek,
And fly to the door from the old fiddler’s squeak.
But the doors they are fastened, so all must kneel down,
And take the rude kiss from the unmannerly clown.
Thus the May games are ended, to their houses they roam,
With the sweetheart she chooses each maiden goes home.”
[53] Duck-under-the-water. A game in which the players run, two and
two, in rapid succession, under a handkerchief held up aloft by two
persons standing apart with extended arms. Formerly in this northern
part of Northamptonshire even married women on May-day played at this
game under the garland, which was extended from chimney to chimney
across the village street.--_Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and
Phrases_, 1854, vol. i. p. 204.
[54] The cushion dance appears to be of some antiquity: it is thus
mentioned by Selden in his _Table Talk_, under “King of
England”:--“The court of England is much altered. At a solemn dancing,
first you have the great measures, then the Corrantoes and the
Galliards, and this is kept up with ceremony; at length to French-more
[Frenchmore] and the cushion dance, and then all the company
dance--lord and groom, lady and kitchen maid, no distinction. So in
our court in Queen Elizabeth’s time gravity and state were kept up. In
King James’ time things were very pretty well. But in King Charles’
time there was nothing but Frenchmore and the cushion-dance, omnium
gatherum, tolly polly, hoite come toite.” In Playford’s _Dancing
Master_ (1698, p. 7) it is described as follows:--“This dance is begun
by a single person (either man or woman), who, taking a cushion in
hand, dances about the room, and at the end of the tune stops and
sings, ‘This dance it will no further go;’ the musician answers, ‘I
pray you, good sir, why say you so?’ _Man._ ‘Because Jean Sanderson
will not come to.’ _Musician._ ‘She must come to, and she shall come
to, and she must whether she will or no.’ Then he lays down the
cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses her,
singing, ‘Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome.’ Then she rises,
takes up the cushion, and both dance, singing, ‘Prinkum prankum is a
fine dance, and shall we go dance it once again?’ Then making a stop,
the woman sings as before, ‘This dance it will no further go.’
_Musician._ ‘I pray you, madam, why say you so?’ _Woman._ ‘Because
John Sanderson will not come to.’ _Musician._ ‘He must come to,’ &c.
(as before). And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who,
kneeling upon it, salutes her, she singing ‘Welcome, John Sanderson,’
&c. Then he taking up the cushion, they dance round, singing as
before, and thus they do till the whole company are taken into the
ring. Then the cushion is laid before the first man, the woman singing
‘This dance,’ &c. (as before), only instead of ‘not come to,’ they
sing, ‘go fro;’ and instead of ‘Welcome, John Sanderson,’ ‘Farewell,
farewell;’ and so they go out one by one as they came in.”
This dance was well known in Holland in the early part of the
seventeenth century, and an interesting engraving of it may be seen in
the ‘Emblems of John de Brunnes,’ Amst. 1624.--Nares’ _Glossary_
(Halliwell and Wright), 1859, vol. i. p. 219.
A native of Fotheringhay, Mr. W. C. Peach, relates that he was formerly
accustomed to go into the fields over-night and very early on May-day to
gather cowslips, primroses, wood-anemones, blue bells, &c., to make the
garlands. The garland, if possible, was hung in the centre of the street
on a rope stretched from house to house. Then was made the trial of
skill in tossing balls (small white leather ones) through the framework
of the garland, to effect which was a triumph. Speaking of the May-bush
(a large tree selected for being tall, straight, full of branches, and
if possible flowers), Mr. W. C. Peach says, “I have been looking out for
a pretty bush days before the time, and if hawthorn and in blossom, then
it was glorious. I have seen them ten or twelve feet high, and many in
circumference, and they required a stalwart arm to carry and put them
into a hole in the ground before the front door, where they were wedged
on each side so as to appear growing. Flowers were then thrown over the
bush and around it, and strewn as well before the door. Pretty little
branches of whitethorn, adorned with the best flowers procurable, were
occasionally put up, unperceived by others if possible, against the
bed-room of the favourite lass, to show the esteem in which she was
held, and the girls accordingly were early on the alert to witness the
respective favours allotted them. Elder, crab-tree, nettles, thistles,
sloes, &c., marked the different degrees of respect in which some of
them were held.”--_Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases_, vol.
ii. p. 427.
At Nassington they carry garlands about, and beg for money; in the
evening they tie them across the street from chimney to chimney, and
dance under them. Formerly married women used to amuse themselves by
playing under them at the game of Duck-under-the-water.[55]--_Ibid._ p.
428.
[55] See note on page 252.
At Nassington a curious pasture custom also takes place on May-day.
There is a large tract of meadow-land lying on the side of the river
Nen, which the inhabitants of the village have the right of pasturing
cows upon.[56] The pasture season commences on May-day, and on the
evening preceding a rail is put across the entrance to the pasture,
which the cows must leap to get into. Much rivalry takes place on this
occasion. The lads watch through the night and the dawning of May-day,
the lasses with their cows being ready at the proper moment to see which
cow shall leap the rail first into the meadow, and the cow which does
this is led round the village in the afternoon, her horns decorated with
ribbons, &c. Degradation only awaits the hindmost cow, she has to carry
elder, nettles, and thistles as her badge, and the lass who milks her
has to bear the gibes and jeers of the villagers.--_Glossary, &c._, p.
428.
[56] _Vide_ Bridge’s _Hist. of Co. of Northampton_, 1791, vol. ii. p.
468.
At Morton-Pinkeney the following song is sung by the children on
May-morning:--
“I have a little purse in my pocket,
All fixed with a silver pin;
And all that it wants is a more little silver
To line it well within.
The clock strikes one, I must be gone,
Or else it will be day;
Good morning to you, my pretty fair maid,
I wish you the merriment of May.”--
_Ibid._ p. 426.
At Polebrook, on the last few days of April, the Queen of May and her
attendants gather what flowers they can from the surrounding meadows,
and call at the houses of the principal inhabitants to beg flowers, the
gift or the loan of ribbons, handkerchiefs, dolls, &c., with which to
form their garland. This being arranged on hoops, the young maidens
assemble on May-morning, and carry it round the village, preceded by a
fiddler; and the following quaint song--very similar to the one used at
Hitchin, and thought from its phraseology to have been written in the
time of the Puritans--is sung by the Queen and her company at the
different houses, and a gratuity is solicited.
“Remember us poor mayers all,
For now we do begin
To lead our lives in righteousness,
For fear we die in sin.
To die in sin is a serious thing,
To go where sinners mourn;
’Twould have been better for our poor souls
If we had ne’er been born.
Now we’ve been travelling all the night,
And best part of this day;
And now we’re returning back again,
And have brought you a branch of May.
A branch of May, which looks so gay,
Before your door to stand;
’Tis but a sprout, but ’tis well spread out,
The work of our Lord’s hand.
Arise, arise, you pretty fair maid,
Out of your drowsy dream,
And step into your dairy-house
For a sup of your sweet cream.
O, for a sup of your sweet cream,
Or a jug of your own beer;
And if we tarry in the town,
We’ll call another year.
Now take the Bible in your hand,
And read a chapter through,
And when the day of judgment comes,
The Lord will think of you.
Repent, repent, ye wicked men,
Repent before you die;
There’s no repentance in the grave,
When in the ground you lie.
But now my song is almost done,
I’ve got no more to say;
God bless you all, both great and small,
I wish you a joyful May.”
The garland is afterwards suspended by ropes from the school-house to an
opposite tree, and the mayers and other children amuse themselves by
throwing balls over it. With the money collected tea and cakes are
provided for the joyous party. The Queen of the May takes her seat at
the head of the tea-table, under a bower composed of branches of may and
blackthorn; a wreath of flowers is placed on her head, and she is hailed
“Lady of the May.” The attendants wait round her, the party of mayers
seat themselves at a long table below, and the evening concludes with
mirth and merriment.--_Glossary, &c._, p. 424.
NORTHUMBERLAND
The young people of both sexes go out early in the morning to gather the
flowering thorn and the dew off the grass, which they bring home with
music and acclamations; and having dressed a pole on the town-green with
garlands, dance around it. A syllabub is also prepared for the
May-feast, which is made of warm milk from the cow, sweet cakes, and
wine; and a kind of divination is practised by fishing with a ladle for
a wedding-ring which is dropped into it for the purpose of
prognosticating who shall be first married.--Hutchinson, _Hist. of
Northumberland_, 1778, vol. ii., Appendix, p. 14.
At Newcastle-upon-Tyne it was formerly usual on May-mornings for the
young girls to sing these lines in the streets, at the same time
gathering flowers:--
“Rise up, maidens, fie for shame!
For I’ve been four long miles from hame,
I’ve been gathering my garlands gay,
Rise up, fair maids, and take in your May!”--
Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 219.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.
The May-day customs observed in this county are in many respects similar
to those of other counties, but Nottinghamshire has the honour of being
the parent of most of the happy sports which characterise this joyous
period of the year, from the fact of most of the May-day games having
had their origin in the world famous Robin Hood, whose existence and
renown are so intimately connected with this district. His connection
with “Merry Sherwood” and the Sheriff of Nottingham have been universal
themes for centuries; and these and the “Miller of Mansfield” and the
“Wise Men of Gotham” have done more towards making this county famous
than all the rest of the ballads and popular literature put together.
Maypoles and morris-dances were formerly very general, and the
characters of Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, and the
Hobby-horse were well sustained. The maypoles were sometimes very
elegantly ornamented, and surmounted by flags and streamers of various
colours. One was not many years ago remaining by Hucknall Folkard, and
at the top were portions of the ironwork and decorations still in being.
The morris-dance was unquestionably one of the most popular of the many
games incident to this season, and was very generally prevalent
throughout this county, and many are the ballads dedicated to its
observance. The following is of 1614:--
“It was my hap of late by chance
To meet a country morris-dance,
When, chiefest of them all the foole
Plaid with a ladle and a toole;
When every younker shak’t his hels,
And fine Maid Marian with her smoile,
Showed how a rascal plaid the voile,
And when the hobby horse did wihy,
Then all the wenches gave a tihy,” &c.
May-day, although a day of general holiday and rejoicing, is
nevertheless considered, as is the whole of the month, unlucky for
marriage, and few are celebrated on this day; more weddings being
hastened, so as to be over before this day, than postponed until June.
This does not apply to divinations for future partners, for in some
parts of the county it is usual to prepare a sweet mixture on the first
of May, composed of new milk, cakes, wine, and spice, and for the
assembled company to fish with a ladle for a ring and a sixpence, which
have been dropped into the bowl; the young man who gains the ring and
the young woman the sixpence being supposed to be intended for each
other.--_Jour. of Arch. Assoc._ 1853, vol. viii. p. 234.
OXFORDSHIRE.
Previous to the Reformation a requiem mass is said to have been
performed every May-morning at an early hour on the top of Magdalen
tower, Oxford, for the repose of the soul of Henry VII., who had
honoured that college with a visit in 1486-7. The choristers continue to
execute in the same place, at five o’clock in the morning of the same
day, certain pieces of choir-music, for which service the rectory of
Slimbridge in Gloucestershire pays the yearly sum of £10. The ceremony
has encouraged the notion that Henry contributed to the erection of the
tower, but his only recorded act of favour to the college is the
confirmation of its claim to the rectory charged with the annual
payment.
The following hymn is sung on the occasion of this ceremony:
“Te Deum Patrem colimus,
Te laudibus prosequimur,
Qui corpus cibo reficis
Cœlesti mentem gratia.
Te adoramus, O Jesu!
Te, Fili unigenite!
Te, qui non dedignatus es
Subire claustra Virginis.
Actus in crucem factus es,
Irato Deo victima;
Per te, Salvator unice,
Vitæ spes nobis rediit.
Tibi, æterne Spiritus,
Cujus afflatu peperit
Infantem Deum Maria,
Æternum benedicimus!
Triune Deus, hominum
Salutis Auctor optime,
Immensum hoc mysterium
Ovanti lingua canimus.”
A correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_2nd S._ vii. p. 446) thinks this hymn was
composed by Dr. Thomas Smith, a very learned fellow of Magdalen College,
soon after the Restoration, and that it was not sung till about the
middle of the last century.[57]--Akerman, _History of Oxford_, vol. i.
p. 251; Wade, _Walks in Oxford_, 1817, vol. i. p. 132.