_The ancient Custom of Well-flowering._--At Tissington, near Ashbourne,
Derbyshire, annually, on Ascension Day, a beautiful ceremony called the
"well-flowering" takes place; and in it Psalms used by the Church of
England are partially employed. It is a popular recognition of the value of
those "perpetual fountains which gush out from below the dry wolds and
limestone hills, bearing life and beauty on their course,--objects,"
remarks Professor Phillips in his admirable work on _The Rivers, Mountains,
and Sea Coasts of Yorkshire_ (recently published), "on which rustic love
and admiration may tastefully bestow the emblematic flowers and grateful
songs, which constituted a pleasing form of popular worship in the earlier
ages of the world." Perhaps some correspondents of "N. & Q." may be enabled
to mention other {281} villages besides Tissington in which this innocent
and pleasing custom is still observed. I am aware that there are many
places, especially in the north of England, in which a rustic celebration
takes place annually at wells sacred from olden time; but is not the
"well-flowering" a distinct custom?