cakes, called soul-cakes, of which they offer one to every person who
comes to the house on this day, and there is an old rhyme, which seems
to have been sung by the family and guests:
“A soul-cake, a soul-cake;
Have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul-cake.”
Kennett’s _Collections_, MS. _Bibl. Lansdown_, No. 1039, vol. 105, p.
12.
The same custom is mentioned, and with very little variation, by Aubrey
in the _Remains of Gentilisme_; see _N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. x. pp. 409,
525.
WALES.
The people of North Wales have a custom of distributing soul-cakes on
All Souls’ Day, at the receiving of which the poor people pray to God to
bless the next crop of wheat.--_Pennant._
SCOTLAND.
In the county of Aberdeen on All Souls’ Day, baked cakes of a particular
sort are given away to those who may chance to visit the house where
they are made. The cakes are called “dirge-loaf.”--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol.
ii. p. 483.
NOV. 5.] GUNPOWDER PLOT.
The 5th of November is not observed by the populace with nearly so much
festive diversion as in former times. Originally, the burning of Guy
Fawkes in effigy was a ceremony much in vogue, especially among the
lower classes, but it is now confined chiefly to school-boys, and even
with them it is not so popular as in days gone by. Formerly, the
burning of “a good guy” was a scene of uproar perhaps unknown to the
present day. The bonfire, for example, in Lincoln’s Inn Fields was
conducted on a very grand scale. It was made at the Great Queen Street
corner, immediately opposite Newcastle House. Fuel came all day long in
carts properly guarded against surprise. Old people have recollected
when upwards of two hundred cart-loads were brought to make and feed
this bonfire, and more than thirty “guys” were burnt upon gibbets
between eight and twelve o’clock at night.[83]
[83] The following extract is from the _Evening Standard_ (February
5th, 1875):--“This morning at ten o’clock the Yeomen of the Guard
(Beefeaters) made their usual search before the meeting of Parliament
for any barrels of gunpowder that might be stowed away in the vaults
under the Houses of Parliament.”
The butchers of Clare Market, also, were accustomed to celebrate this
anniversary in a somewhat peculiar style; one of their body, personating
Guy Fawkes, being seated in a cart, with a prayer-book in his hand, and
a priest, executioner, &c., attending, was drawn through the streets, as
if going to the place of execution; while a select party, with
marrow-bones and cleavers, led the way, and others solicited money from
the inhabitants and spectators. The sums thus obtained were spent at
night in jollity and carousing.--_Sports, Pastimes, and Customs of
London_, 1847, p. 39.
The following time-honoured rhyme is still sung, and varies in different
parts of the country:
“Pray remember
The Fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
For I know no reason
Why Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Hollo boys! Hollo boys! Hurrah.”
In Poor Robin’s _Almanack_ for the year 1677 is the following:
“Now boys with
Squibs and crackers play,
And bonfire’s blaze
Turns night to-day.”
In some parts of the north of England the following song is sung:
“Happy was the man,
And happy was the day,
That caught Guy
Going to his play,
With a dark lanthorn
And a brimstone match
Ready for the prime to touch.
As I was going through the dark entry
I spied the devil.
Stand back! Stand back!
Queen Mary’s daughter.
Put your hand in your pocket,
And give us some money
To kindle our bonfire. Hurrah.”
Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 398.
DERBYSHIRE.
The rhyme formerly sung in many parts of this county is as below:
“Remember, remember,
Th’ fifth o’ November,
Th’ gunpowder plot,
Shall ne’er be forgot!
Pray gi’s a bit o’ coal,
Ter stick in th’ bun-fire hole!
A stick an’ a stake,
For King George’s sake--
A stowp an’ a reel,
Or else wey’ll steal.”
_Long Ago_, 1873, vol. i. p. 338.
LINCOLNSHIRE.
In this county the following quaint rhyme was sung on the anniversary of
the Gunpowder Plot:
“Remember, remember
The fifth o’ November!
Guy and his companions’ plot:
We’re going to blow the Parliament up!
By God’s mercy we wase catcht,
With a dark lantern an’ lighted matcht!”
_Long Ago_, 1873, vol. i. p. 338.
MIDDLESEX.
It is stated in the register at Harlington, under the date of 1683, that
half an acre of land was given by some person, whose name has been
forgotten, for the benefit of the bell-ringers of the parish, to provide
them with a leg of pork for ringing on the 5th of November. It is called
the Pork Acre. The ground is let by the parish officers at 50_s._ a
year, which is paid by them to the bell-ringer.--Edwards, _Old English
Customs and Charities_, 1842, p. 27.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
The following is the rhyme formerly sung in this county:
“Gunpowder treason!
Gunpowder treason!
Gunpowder treason plot!
I know no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fox and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
But, by God’s providence, him they catch,
With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
Hollo, boys! hollo, boys! make the bells ring!
Hollo, boys! hollo, boys! God save the king! Hurrah.”
_Long Ago_, 1873, vol. i. p. 338.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.
At Clifton the following rhyme is sung:
“Please to remember
The fifth of November.
Old Guy Faux
And gunpowder plot
Shall never be forgot,
While Nottingham castle
Stands upon a rock!”
_Long Ago_, 1873, vol. i. p. 338.
OXFORDSHIRE.
“The fifth of November,
Since I can remember,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
This was the day the plot was contriv’d,
To blow up the King and Parliament alive;
But God’s mercy did prevent
To save our King and his Parliament.
A stick and a stake
For King James’s sake!
If you won’t give me one,
I’ll take two,
The better for me,
And the worse for you.”
This is the Oxfordshire song chanted by the boys when collecting sticks
for the bonfire, and it is considered quite lawful to appropriate any
old wood they can lay their hands on after the recitation of these
lines. If it happen that a crusty chuff prevents them, the threatening
_finale_ is too often fulfilled. The operation is called _going
a-progging_. In some places they shout, previously to the burning of the
effigy of Guy Fawkes,
“A penn’orth of bread to feed the Pope,
A penn’orth of cheese to choke him;
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a good old faggot to burn him.”
Halliwell’s _Pop. Rhymes_, 1849, pp. 253, 554.
Formerly, it was the custom for the undergraduates of Pembroke College,
Oxford, to make verses on the 5th of November, and to have two copies of
them, one to present to the master, the other to stick up in the Hall,
and there to remain till a speech on this occasion was spoken before
supper.--Pointer, _Oxoniensis Academia_, 1749, p. 109.
SUSSEX.
At Lewes on the 5th of November in each year, a great torchlight
procession, composed of men dressed up in fantastic garbs, and with
blackened faces, and dragging blazing tar barrels after them, parade the
high street, while an enormous bonfire is lighted, into which, when at
its highest, various effigies are cast. The day’s festivities not
unfrequently terminate in a general uproar and scene of confusion. See
_Lewes Times_, November 13th, 1856.
WESTMORELAND.
The following doggerel is sung in this county:
“I pray you remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
The king and his train had like to be slain--
I hope this day’ll ne’er be forgot.
All the boys, all the boys, let the bells ring!
All the boys, all the boys, God save the king!
A stick and a stake for King Jamie’s sake,--
I hope you’ll remember the bonfire!”
_N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. vii. p. 32.
WILTSHIRE.
At Marlborough the rustics have the following peculiar custom at their
bonfires. They form themselves into a ring of some dozen or more round
the bonfire, and follow each other round it, holding thick club-sticks
over their shoulders; while a few others, standing at distances outside
this moving ring with the same sort of sticks, beat those which the men
hold over their shoulders, as they pass round in succession, all
shouting and screaming loudly. This might last half an hour at a time,
and be continued at intervals till the fire died out.--_N. & Q. 1st. S._
vol. v. p. 355.
At Purton the boys, for several weeks before the 5th of November, used
to go from house to house begging faggots for the bonfire, in the middle
of which was burnt the effigy of Guy Fawkes. The following rhyme was
sung on the occasion:
“My brave lads remember
The fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
We will drink, smoke, and sing, boys,
And our bells they shall ring, boys,
And here’s health to our King, boys,
For he shall not be forgot.”
See _Every Day Book_, 1827, vol. ii. p. 1379.
YORKSHIRE.
A very old custom prevails in the West Riding of Yorkshire, of
preparing, against the anniversary of Gunpowder Plot, a kind of oatmeal
gingerbread, if it may be so called, and of religiously partaking of the
same on this day and subsequently. The local name of the delicacy is
_Parkin_ and it is usually seen in the form of massive loaves,
substantial cakes, or bannocks.--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. iv. p. 368.
Blount, in his _Fragmenta Antiquitatis_ (Beckwith, 1815, p. 565), gives
the following account of a custom observed at Doncaster. He says at this
place on the 5th November, yearly, whether it happens on a Sunday, or
any other day in the week, the town waits play for some time on the top
of the church steeple, at the time when the congregation are coming out
of the church from morning service, the tune of “God Save the King.”
This has been done for four-score years at least, and very possibly ever
since the 5th of November has been a festival, except that formerly the
tune played was “Britons, strike home.” The waits always receive from
the churchwardens sixpence a-piece for this service.
NOV. 6.] ST. LEONARD’S DAY.
ESSEX.
Every tenant of the Manor of Writtell, upon St. Leonard’s Day, pays to
the lord for everything under a year old a halfpenny, for every yearling
pig a penny, and for every hog above a year old twopence, for the
privilege of pawnage in the lord’s woods: and this payment is called
Avage or Avisage.--Blount’s _Law Dictionary_, 1717.
WORCESTERSHIRE.
A list of holy days published at Worcester, in 1240, ordains St.
Leonard’s festival to be kept a half holy day, enjoins the hearing of
mass, and prohibits all labour except that of the plough.--_Every Day
Book_, vol. ii. p. 1382.
NOV 9.] LORD MAYOR’S DAY.
The office of Chief Magistrate of London was held for life till about
1214, nor was it until more than a hundred years afterwards that the
title of _Lord_ was given to the Mayor. This arose in the time of
Richard II., on occasion of Walworth, the Mayor of the day, basely
murdering Wat Tyler in Smithfield.
That which in later days has been called the _Lord Mayor’s Show_ was but
a degenerate copy of the old _Pageant_ or _Triumph_, which assumed a
variety of forms at different times, blending Paganism, Christianity,
and chivalry in marvellous confusion. This, however, was not always the
case, for at one time it became the fashion for the city to employ
dramatists of note upon these matters; and there are yet extant certain
pageants by Decker, Middleton, Webster, and others, though perhaps
inferior writers.--Soane’s _Curiosities of Literature_.
With the processions, &c., of late years, most readers are sufficiently
well acquainted from the newspapers of the day. Fully to describe those
of former ages would require, however, a volume of no mean size; but
some idea of their general character may be formed from the following
brief sketch:--The first account of this annual exhibition known to have
been published, was written by George Peele for the inauguration of Sir
Wolstone Dixie, Knight, on the 29th of October (Old Style), 1585. On
that occasion, as was customary to the times, there were dramatic
representations in the procession of an allegorical character. Children
were dressed to personify the city, magnanimity, loyalty, science, the
country, and the river Thames. They also represented sailors, soldiers,
and nymphs, with appropriate speeches. The show opened with a Moor
mounted on a lynx. On Sir Thomas Middleton’s mayoralty, in 1613, the
solemnity is described as unparalleled for the cost, art, and
magnificence of the shows, pageants, chariots, morning, noon, and night
triumphs. In 1655 the city pageants, after a discontinuance of about
fourteen years, were revived. Edmund Gayton, the author of the
description for that year, says that “our metropolis, for these
planetary pageants, was as famous and renowned in foreign nations as for
their faith, wealth, and valour.” In the show of 1659, an European, an
Egyptian, and a Persian were personated. On Lord Mayor’s Day, 1671, the
King, Queen, and Duke of York, and most of the nobility being present,
there were “sundry shows, shapes, scenes, speeches, and songs in part;”
and the like in 1672 and 1673, when the King again graced the triumphs.
The King, Queen, Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Rupert, the Duke of
Monmouth, foreign ambassadors, the chief nobility, and Secretary of
State, were at the celebration of Lord Mayor’s Day in 1674, when there
“were emblematical figures, artful pieces of architecture, and rural
dancing, with pieces spoken on each pageant.”--See Hone’s _Every Day
Book_, vol. i. p. 1445.
NOV. 11.] ST. MARTIN’S DAY.
The festival of St. Martin, happening at that season when the new wines
of the year are drawn from the lees and tasted, when cattle are killed
for winter food, and fat geese are in their prime, is held as a feast
day over most parts of Christendom. On the ancient clog almanacs, the
day is marked by the figure of a goose, our bird of Michaelmas being, on
the continent, sacrificed at Martinmas. In Scotland and the north of
England, a fat ox is called a _mart_[84] clearly from Martinmas, the
usual time when beeves are killed for winter use.--_Book of Days_, vol
ii. p. 568.
[84] _Mart_, according to Skinner, is a fair, who considers it a
contraction of market. Brand (_Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 400) says
that, had not _mart_ been the general name for a fair, one might have
been tempted to suppose it a contraction of Martin, the name of the
saint whose day is commemorated.
_Salt Silver._--In the glossary to Kennett’s _Parochial Antiquities_ (p.
496) is the following:--“Salt Silver.--_One penny paid at the Feast of
St. Martin_, by the servile tenants to their lord, as a commutation for
the service of carrying their lord’s salt from market to his larder.”
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.
There is a house in Fenny Stratford, called St. Martin’s house, in the
wall of which is a stone bearing the following inscription:--
“This house was settled on the parish officers of this town, for the
annual observance of St. Martin’s Day.”--“Anno Domini 1752.”
The house is let at 5_l._ 4_s._ per annum, and the rent, after defraying
the expense of repairs, is laid out in giving an entertainment to the
inhabitants of the town.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and Charities_,
1842, p. 59.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE.
Within the manor of Whitlesea there is a custom for the inhabitants to
choose, on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Martin, two persons
called storers, to oversee the public business, and likewise to provide
a common bull, in consideration whereof they enjoy a certain pasture
called Bull Grass; and the major part of the freeholders and copyholders
at a meeting grant the grass every year to any person who will take it,
to have the same from Lady-day till the corn is carried out of
Coatsfield.--Blount’s _Fragmenta Antiquitatis_, 1815, p. 576.
CUMBERLAND.
Thomas Williamson, by will, dated 14th December, 1674, gave the sum of
20_l._ to be laid out in land to be bestowed upon poor people born
within St. John’s Chapelry or Castlerigg, in mutton or veal, at
Martinmas yearly, when flesh might be thought cheapest, to be by them
pickled or hung up and dried, that they might have something to keep
them within doors upon stormy days.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and
Charities_, 1842, p. 63.
WARWICKSHIRE.
Dugdale, in his _Antiquities of Warwickshire_ (1730, vol. i. p. 4),
says:--There is a certain rent due unto the lord of the Hundred of
Knightlow, called _Wroth_ money or _Warth_ money or _Swarff_ penny,
probably the same with _Ward_ penny. This rent must be paid every
Martinmas Day, in the morning, at Knightlow Cross, before the sun
riseth: the party paying it must go thrice about the cross, and say “The
_Wrath_ money,” and then lay it in the hole of the said cross before
good witness, for if it be not duly performed the forfeiture is thirty
shillings and a white bull.
YORKSHIRE.
In the North Riding of Yorkshire it is customary for a party of singers,
mostly consisting of women, to begin at the feast of St. Martin a kind
of peregrination round the neighbouring villages, carrying with them a
small waxen image of our Saviour adorned with box and other evergreens,
and singing at the same time a hymn which, though rustic and uncouth, is
nevertheless replete with the sacred story of the Nativity. The custom
is yearly continued till Christmas Eve, when the feasting, or as they
usually call it, “good living,” commences; every rustic dame produces a
cheese preserved for the sacred festival, upon which, before any part of
it is tasted, according to an old custom, she with a sharp knife makes
rude incisions to represent the Cross. With this, and furmity made of
barley and meal, the cottage affords uninterrupted hospitality.--_Gent.
Mag._ 1811, vol. lxxxi. pt. i. p. 423.
IRELAND.
At St. Peter’s, Athlone, every family of a village, says Mason, in his
_Stat. Acc. of Ireland_ (1819, vol. iii. p. 75), kills an animal of some
kind or other: those who are rich kill a cow or a sheep, others a goose
or a turkey; while those who are poor and cannot procure an animal of
greater value, kill a hen or a cock, and sprinkle the threshold with the
blood, and do the same in the four corners of the house, and this
ceremonious performance is done to exclude every kind of evil spirit
from the dwelling where this sacrifice is made, till the return of the
same day in the following year.
NOV. 13.] ST. BRICE’S DAY.
_The Stamford Bull Running._--From time immemorial down to a late period
this day was annually celebrated at the town of Stamford, in
Lincolnshire, by a rough sport called bull-running. Butcher, in his
_Survey of Stamford_ (1717, pp. 76, 77), alluding to this custom,
says:--“The butchers of the town at their own charge provide the bull,
and place him over-night in a stable or barn belonging to the alderman.
The next morning proclamation is made by the common bell-man of the town
that each one shut up his shop-door and gate, and that none, upon pain
of imprisonment, do any violence to strangers, for the preventing
whereof (the town being a thoroughfare and then being in Term time) a
guard is appointed for the passing of travellers through the same
without hurt. That none have any iron upon their bull-clubs or other
staff which they pursue the bull with. Which proclamation made, and all
the gates shut up, the bull is turned out of the alderman’s house, and
the men, women, and children, with all the dogs in the town, run after
him, &c.”
According to tradition the origin of the custom dates from the time of
King John, when, one day, William, Earl of Warren, standing on the
battlements of the castle, saw two bulls fighting in the meadow beneath.
Some butchers, coming to part the combatants, one of the bulls ran into
the town, causing a great uproar. The earl, mounting his horse, rode
after the animal, and enjoyed the sport so much that he gave the meadow
in which the fight began to the butchers of Stamford, on condition that
they should provide a bull, to be run in the town annually, on the 13th
of November, for ever after.
There is no documentary evidence on the subject, but the town of
Stamford undoubtedly holds certain common rights in the meadow
specified, which is still termed the bull-meadow.--See _Book of Days_,
vol. ii. p. 574.
NOV. 14.] St. ERCONWALD’S DAY.
Strype, in his _Ecclesiastical Memorials_ (1822, vol. iii. pt. i. p.
322), says:--“It was commanded, that every priest in the diocese of
London should go to St. Paul’s in procession in copes on St. Erconwald’s
Day.” [November 14th, 1554].
NOV. 17.] QUEEN ELIZABETH’S ACCESSION.
Queen Elizabeth’s accession was long observed as a Protestant festival,
and with the society of the Temple, the Exchequer, Christ’s Hospital,
Westminster, and Merchant Taylors’ Schools, is, says Timbs, kept as a
holiday. The Pope in effigy, in a chair of state, with the devil, a real
person, behind him, caressing him, &c., was formerly paraded in
procession on this day in the streets of London, and afterwards thrown
into a bonfire. In Queen Anne’s time the Pretender was added to the Pope
and the devil. There were also great illuminations in the evening. This
anniversary was first publicly celebrated about 1570, twelve years after
Elizabeth’s accession. (Timbs, _Something for Everybody_, p. 122.)
Brayley in his _Londiniana_, vol. iv. p. 74, _et seq._, has given a very
interesting account of these processions.
A correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_1st S._ vol. iv. p. 345) says that when
he was at Christ’s Hospital the following curious custom prevailed on
the 17th of November.
Two or more boys would take one against whom they had any spite or
grudge, and having lifted him by the arms and legs, would bump him on
the hard stones of the cloisters.
In reading _Sir Roger de Coverley_, with notes by Willis published in
the _Traveller’s Library_, the same correspondent says that he found (at
p. 134) what he considered a fair explanation. A full account is there
given, he says, of the manner in which the citizens of London intended
celebrating, in 1711, the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession on
the 17th of November, some parts of which would almost seem to have
been copied during the excitement against the papal bull in November
1850. Probably therefore, originally, the unfortunate boy who had to
endure the rude bumping by his schoolfellows was intended to represent
the Pope or one of his emissaries, and that those who inflicted the
punishment were looked upon as good Protestants.
NOV. 23.] ST. CLEMENT’S DAY.
The festival day of St. Clement was formerly considered as the first day
of winter, in which were comprised ninety-one days. From a State
proclamation in 1540 it appears that processions of children were
frequent on St. Clement’s Day; and, in consequence of a still more
ancient custom of perambulating the streets on the night of this
festival to beg drink for carousing, a pot was formerly marked against
the 23rd of November upon the old runic or clog almanacs; but not upon
all.--_Med. Ævi Kalend._ 1841, vol. i. p. 60.; Plot, _History of
Staffordshire_, 1686, p. 430; see Gough’s _Camden Brit._ vol. ii. pt.
xvi. p. 499.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE.
The bakers of Cambridge hold an annual supper on St. Clement’s Day,
which supper is called the “Baker’s Clem.”--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. iv. p.
492.
KENT.
In _Every Day Book_ (1826, vol. i. p. 1501) is the following account of
an annual ceremony formerly celebrated on the evening of St. Clement’s
Day, by the blacksmiths’ apprentices of the dockyard at Woolwich:--