On this day a very curious custom is observed in the North o_British Popular Customs, Present and Past Illustrating the Social and Domestic Manners of the People. Arranged According to the Calendar of the Year.

cake of flour, spring-water, salt, and sugar must be made by three

maidens or three widows, and each must have an equal share in the

composition. It is then baked before the fire in a Dutch-oven, and, all

the while it is doing, silence must be strictly observed, and the cake

must be turned nine times, or three times to each person. When it is

thoroughly done it is divided into three parts. Each one taking her

share, and cutting it into nine slips, must pass each slip three times

through a wedding-ring previously borrowed from a woman who has been

married at least seven years. Then each one must eat her nine slips as

she is undressing, and repeat the following rhyme:--

“O good St. Faith, be kind to-night,

And bring to me my heart’s delight;

Let me my future husband view,

And be my visions chaste and true.”

Then all three must get into bed with the ring suspended by a string to

the head of the couch, and they will be sure to dream of their future

husbands.--Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 373.

OCT. 10.] DORSETSHIRE.

Pack Monday Fair is held at Sherborne on the first Monday after the 10th

of October, and is ushered in, says Hutchins (_Hist. of Dorset_, 1774),

by the ringing of the great bell at a very early hour in the morning,

and by the boys and young men perambulating the streets with cows’

horns. Tradition asserts that this fair originated at the termination of

the building of the church, when the people who had been employed about

it packed up their tools, and held a fair or wake in the churchyard,

blowing cows’ horns in their rejoicing.--See _Every Day Book_, vol. ii.

p. 1037.

KENT.

A fair was formerly held yearly on the 10th of October, in the precincts

of the ville of Christ Church, and was usually called Jack and Joan

Fair, from its being esteemed a statute fair for the hiring of servants

of both sexes, for which purpose it continued till the second Saturday

or market-day had passed.--Hasted’s _History of Kent_, 1799, vol. iv. p.

424.

LANCASHIRE.

About the year 1760, it was customary with the burgesses of Liverpool on

the annual election of a mayor to have a bear baited. This event took

place on the 10th of October, and the demonstrations of rejoicing

continued for several days. The animal was first baited at the White

Cross, at the top of Chapel Street, and was then led in triumph to the

exchange, where the conflict was renewed. A repetition of the same

brutal cruelties was likewise exhibited in Derby Street, and the

diversion was concluded by the animal undergoing reiterated assaults at

the Stock Market opposite the top of Pool Lane. The bear was assailed

separately by large mastiffs, and if any dog compelled him to yell, or

was able to sustain the contest with superior address, he was rewarded

with a brass collar. It was remarkable, however, that few of the bear’s

assailants could be induced to renew the fight after having once

received the fraternal embrace.--Corry, _History of Liverpool_, 1810, p.

93.

YORKSHIRE.

Formerly, there existed in Hull a custom of whipping all the dogs that

were found running about the streets on the 10th of October,[78] and at

one time so common was the practice, that every little urchin considered

it his duty to prepare a whip for any unlucky dog that might be seen in

the street on that day.

[78] See St. Luke’s Day.

Tradition assigns the following origin to the custom:--Previous to the

suppression of monasteries in Hull, it was the custom for the monks to

provide liberally for the poor and the wayfarer who came to the fair

held annually on the 11th of October; and while busy in this necessary

preparation the day before the fair, a dog strolled into the larder,

snatched up a joint of meat and decamped with it. The cooks gave the

alarm, and when the dog got into the streets he was pursued by the

expectants of the charity of the monks, who were waiting outside the

gate, and made to give up the stolen joint. Whenever, after this, a dog

showed his face while this annual preparation was going on, he was

instantly beaten off. Eventually, this was taken up by the boys and,

until the introduction of the new police, was rigidly put in practice by

them every 10th of October.--_N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. viii. p. 409.

OCT. 18.] ST. LUKE’S DAY.

KENT.

At Charlton, a fair was held on this day, and was characterized by

several curious peculiarities. Every booth in the fair had its horns

conspicuous in the front. Rams’ horns were an article abundantly

represented for sale, even the gingerbread was marked by a gilt pair of

horns. It seemed an inexplicable mystery how horns and Charlton Fair had

become associated in this manner, till an antiquary at length threw a

light upon it by pointing out that a horned ox is the recognised

mediæval symbol of St. Luke, the patron of the fair, fragmentary

examples of it being still to be seen in the painted windows of Charlton

Church. This fair was one where an unusual licence was practised. It was

customary for men to come to it in women’s clothes--a favourite mode of

masquerading two or three hundred years ago--against which the puritan

clergy launched many a fulmination. The men also amused themselves, on

their way across Blackheath, in lashing the women with furze, it being

proverbial that “all was fair at Horn Fair.”--_Book of Days_, vol. i. p.

645.

A sermon was formerly preached at Charlton Church on the day of the

fair. A practice which originated by a bequest of twenty shillings a

year to the minister of the parish for preaching it.--See _Every Day

Book_, 1826, vol. i. pp. 1386-1389.

YORKSHIRE.

Drake, in his _Eboracum_ (1736, p. 218), says that a fair was always

kept in Micklegate, on St. Luke’s Day, for all sorts of small wares. It

was commonly called _Dish Fair_ from the great quantity of wooden

dishes, ladles, &c., brought to it. An old custom was observed at this

fair, of bearing a wooden ladle in a sling on two stangs about it,

carried by four sturdy labourers, and each labourer was supported by

another. This, without doubt, was a ridicule on the meanness of the

wares brought to the fair, small benefit accruing to the labourers at

it.

Drake tells us that in his time St. Luke’s Day was known in York by the

name of Whip-Dog Day, from a strange custom that schoolboys had of

whipping all dogs that were seen in the streets on that day. Whence this

uncommon persecution, he says, took its rise is uncertain, and has even

been considered by some to be of Roman origin. He regards, however, the

following tradition as most probable:--That in some time of popery a

priest celebrating mass at this festival, in some church in York,

unfortunately dropped the host after consecration, which was suddenly

snatched up and swallowed by a dog that lay under the altar table. The

profanation of this high mystery occasioned the death of the dog, and a

persecution began which was continued on the anniversary of this day.

The same custom also existed at Manchester on the first day of Acres

Fair, which was held about the same time.--_Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p.

360.

OCT. 21.] GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

Richard Aldridge gave the interest of 200_l._, Three per Cent. Consols,

that the dividend should, for ever, be disposed of as follows:--1_l._

1_s._ to the vicar of the parish of St. Nicholas for performing morning

service annually in the parish church on the 21st of October, and

preaching a sermon in commemoration of the glorious victory obtained by

Lord Nelson over the combined fleets of France and Spain off Cape

Trafalgar, on the 21st of October 1805; 10_s._ 6_d._ equally between the

clerk and sexton for their attendance at such service and sermon. The

residue of the dividend to be applied to keeping a monument of his

friend in good condition, and the surplus after such repair to be given

to the poor on the 6th of December each year in coals and

garments.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and Charities_, 1842, p. 170.

OCT. 25.] ST. CRISPIN’S DAY.

In many places St. Crispin’s Day is a great holiday among the

shoemakers, and the origin of it is thus explained:--Two brothers,

Crispin and Crispinian, natives of Rome, having become converts to

Christianity, travelled to Soissons in France about the year 303, in

order to propagate the Christian faith. Being desirous, however, of

rendering themselves independent they gained a subsistence by making

shoes, with which it is said they furnished the poor at an extremely

small price, an angel, according to the legend, supplying them with

leather. They suffered martyrdom in the persecution under Maximian.

In _Time’s Telescope_ for 1816 it is observed that the shoemakers of the

present day are not far behind their predecessors in the manner of

keeping St. Crispin. From the highest to the lowest it is a day of

feasting and jollity. It is also observed as a festival with the

corporate body of cordwainers or shoemakers of London, but without any

sort of procession on the occasion.

NORTHUMBERLAND.

In the town of Hexham, the following custom is, or was, at one time

observed:--The shoemakers of the town meet and dine by previous

arrangements at some tavern; a King Crispin, queen, prince, and

princess, elected from members of their fraternity of families, being

present. They afterwards form in grand procession (the ladies and their

attendants excepted), and parade the streets with banners, music, &c.,

the royal party and suite gaily dressed in character. In the evening

they reassemble for dancing and other festivities. To his majesty and

consort, and their royal highnesses the prince and princess (the latter

usually a pretty girl), due regal homage is paid during that day.--_N. &

Q. 1st S._ vol. vi. p. 243.

At one time the cordwainers of Newcastle celebrated the festival of St.

Crispin by holding a coronation of their patron saint in the court of

the Freemen’s Hospital at the Westgate, and afterwards walking in

procession through the principal streets of the town. This caricature

show produced much laughter and mirth.--Mackenzie, _History of

Newcastle_, 1827, vol. i. p. 88.

SUSSEX.

In the parishes of Cuckfield and Hurst-a-point, St. Crispin’s Day is

kept with much rejoicing. The boys go round asking for money in the name

of St. Crispin, bonfires are lighted, and it passes off very much in the

same way as the 5th of November. It appears from an inscription on a

monument to one of the ancient family of Bunell, in the parish church of

Cuckfield, that a Sir John Bunell attended Henry V. to France in the

year 1415, with one ship, twenty men-at-arms, and forty archers, and it

is probable that the observance of this day in that neighbourhood is

connected with that fact.--_N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. v. p. 30.

WALES.

At Tenby an effigy was made and hung on some elevated and prominent

place (the steeple for instance) on the previous night. On the morning

of the Saint’s day it was cut down and carried about the town, a will

being read in doggrel verse, purporting to be the last testament of the

Saint, in pursuance of which the several articles of dress were

distributed to the different shoemakers. At length nothing remained of

the image but the padding, which was kicked about by the crowd. As a

sort of revenge for the treatment given to St. Crispin, his followers

hung up the effigy of a carpenter on St. Clement’s Day.--Mason’s _Tales

and Traditions of Tenby_, 1858, p. 26.

OCT. 29.] ST. MODWEN’S DAY.

STAFFORDSHIRE.

This day used to be observed at Burton-on-Trent. On it was held a sale

of cheese, and a variety of sports and pastimes took place.--Pitt,

_Topographical History of Staffordshire_, 1817, p. 45.

OCT. 30.] BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

The manor of Chetwode--a small village about five miles from

Buckingham--has been the property of the Chetwode family from Saxon

times. Though of small extent, it is the paramount manor of a liberty

or district, embracing several other manors and villages, which are

required to do suit and service at the Court-Leet held at Chetwode every

three years. The lord of Chetwode manor has also the right to levy a

yearly tax, called the “Rhyne Toll,” on all cattle found within this

liberty, between the 30th of October and the 7th of November, both days

inclusive. The commencement of the toll, which is proclaimed with much

ceremony, is thus described in an old document of Queen Elizabeth’s

reign:--

“In the beginning of the said drift of the common, or rhyne, first at

their going forth, they shall blow a welke-shell, or horne, immediately

after the sun rising at the Mansion-House of the manor of Chetwode, and

then, in their going about, they shall blow their horne the second time

in the field between Newton Purcell and Barton Hartshorne, in the said

county of Bucks, and also shall blow their horne a third time at a place

near the town of Finmere, in the county of Oxford, and they shall blow

their horne the fourth time at a certain stone in the market of the town

of Buckingham, and there to give the poor sixpence; and so, going

forward in this manner about the said drift, shall blow the horne at

several bridges called Thornborough Bridge, King’s Bridge, and Bridge

Mill. And they also shall blow their horne at the Pound Gate, called the

Lord’s Pound, in the parish of Chetwode..... And also (the Lord of

Chetwode) has always been used by his officers and servants to drive

away all foreign cattle that shall be found within the said parishes,

fields, &c., to impound the same in any pound of the said towns, and to

take for every one of the said foreign beasts twopence for the mouth,

and one penny for a foot for every one of the said beasts.” All cattle

thus impounded at other places were to be removed to the pound at

Chetwode, and if not claimed and the toll paid within three days, “then

the next day following after the rising of the sun, the bailiff or

officers of the lord for the time being shall blow their horne three

times at the gate of the said pound, and make proclamation that, if any

persons lack any cattle that shall be in the same pound, let them come

and shew the marks of the same cattle so claimed by them, and they shall

have them, paying unto the lord his money in the manner and form before

mentioned, otherwise the said cattle that shall so remain, shall be the

lord’s as strays.” This toll was formerly so rigidly enforced, that if

the owner of cattle so impounded made his claim immediately after the

proclamation was over, he was refused them, except by paying their full

market price.

Though the custom is still regularly observed, it has undergone some

changes since the date of the above document. The toll now begins at

nine in the morning instead of at sunrise, and the horn is first sounded

on the church-hill at Buckingham, and gingerbread and beer distributed

among the assembled boys, the girls being excluded. The officer then

proceeds to another part of the liberty on the border of Oxfordshire,

and there, after blowing his horn as before, again distributes

gingerbread and beer among the assembled boys. The toll is then

proclaimed as begun, and collectors are stationed at different parts to

enforce it, at the rate of two shillings a score upon all cattle and

swine passing on any road within the liberty, until twelve o’clock at

night on the 7th of November, when the “Rhyne” closes.

The occupiers of land within the liberty have long been accustomed to

compound for the toll by an annual payment of one shilling. The toll has

sometimes been refused, but has always been recovered with the attendant

expenses. It realised about 20_l._ a year before the opening of the

Buckinghamshire Railway; but now, owing to Welsh and Irish cattle being

sent by trains, it does not amount to above 4_l._, and is let by the

present lord of the manor for only 1_l._ 5_s._ a year.

The existence of this toll may be traced to remote antiquity, but

nothing is known of its origin except from local tradition, which,

however, in this case has been so remarkably confirmed, that it may

safely be credited. The parish of Chetwode, as its name implies, was

formerly thickly wooded; indeed it formed a part of an ancient forest

called Rookwoode, which is supposed to have been conterminous with the

present liberty of Chetwode. At a very early period, says our tradition,

this forest was infested with an enormous wild boar which became the

terror of the surrounding country. The inhabitants were never safe from

his attacks, and strangers who heard of his ferocity were afraid to

visit or pass through the district, so that traffic and friendly

intercourse were seriously impeded, as well us much injury done to

property by this savage monster. The lord of Chetwode, like a valiant

knight, determined to rid his neighbourhood from this pest, or to die in

the attempt. Bent on this generous purpose, he sallied forth into the

forest, and, as the old song has it,--

“Then he blowed a blast full north, south, east, and west--