APRIL.
"The spring clad all in gladness
Doth laugh at winter's sadness;
And to the bagpipe's sound
The nymphs tread out their ground.
"Fie then, why sit we musing,
Youth's sweet delight refusing;
Say dainty nymphs, and speak:
Shall we play barley-breake?"
_Old Ballad_ (A.D. 1603).
Easter Customs--Pace Eggs--Handball in Churches--Sports
confined to Special Localities--Stoolball and Barley-brake
--Water Tournament--Quintain--Chester Sports--Hock-tide.
From the earliest days of Christianity Easter has always been
celebrated with the greatest joy, and accounted the Queen of
Festivals. Many curious customs are associated with this feast, some
of which represented in a rude, primitive way the Resurrection of our
Lord. There was an old Miracle Play which was performed at Easter;
for we find in the churchwardens' books at Kingston-upon-Thames, in
the reign of Henry VIII., certain expenses for "a skin of parchment
and gunpowder for the play on Easter Day," for a player's coat,
stage, and "other things belonging to the play."
Then there was the custom in the North of England of "lifting" or
"heaving," which was originally designed to represent our Saviour's
Resurrection. On Easter Monday the men used to lift the women, whom
they met, thrice above their heads into the air, and the women
responded on Easter Tuesday, and lifted the men. This custom
prevailed also in North Wales, Warwickshire, and Shropshire.
The Pace Eggs, or _Pasche_, or _Paschal_ Eggs, were originally
intended to show forth the same truth, as the egg retaining the
elements of future life was used as an emblem of the Resurrection.
These Pace eggs were dyed, decorated with pretty devices, and
presented by friends to each other. In the North of England, the home
of so many of our old customs, the practice of giving Pace eggs still
lingers on; and we find amongst the household expenses of King Edward
I. an item of "four hundred and a half of eggs--eighteenpence," which
were purchased on Easter Day. The prices current in the thirteenth
century for eggs would scarcely be deemed sufficient by our modern
poultry-keepers!
The decoration of churches and houses with flowers just risen from
their winter sleep, the practice of always wearing some part of the
dress new on Easter Day, all seem to have had their origin in the
holy lessons which cluster round the festival of the resurrection.
An old writer tells us that it was the custom in some churches for
the clergy to play at handball at this season; even bishops and
archbishops took part in the pastime; but why they should profane
God's house in this way we are at a loss to discover. The reward of
the victors was a tansy-cake, so called from the bitter herb tansy,
which was supposed to be beneficial after eating so much fish during
Lent. Of the various kinds of games with balls I propose to treat in
another chapter.
At Easter there were numerous sports in vogue in different parts of
the country. In olden times almost every county had its peculiar
sport, which was regarded as a monopoly of that district. People did
not work so hard in those days, and seem to have had more time and
energy for ancient pastimes. Many of these old games have entirely
vanished; others have left their old neighbourhoods, and received a
hearty welcome all over the country. Berkshire and Somersetshire
were the ancestral homes of cudgel-play, quarter-staff, and
single-stick. Skating and pole-leaping were the characteristic
sports of the fen country. Kent and Sussex were famous for their
cricket; the northern counties for their football. Scotland rejoiced
in golf, curling, and tossing the caber; while Cumberland and
Westmoreland, Cornwall and Devon, were noted for their vigorous and
active wrestlers. Curling, tossing the caber[8], and wrestling have
clung to their old homes; but the other sports have wandered far and
wide, and are no longer confined to their native counties.
At Easter the local favourite sport was renewed with zest and
eagerness, and almost everywhere foot-races were run, the prize of
the conqueror being a tansy-cake. Stoolball and barley-brake were
also favourite games in this month, as Poor Robin says in his
_Almanack_ for 1677. Barley-brake seems to have been a very merry
game, in which the ladies took part, and of which we find some very
bright descriptions in the writings of some old English poets. The
only science of the pastime consisted in one couple trying with
"waiting foot and watchful eye" to catch the others and bear them
off as captives.
An old writer thus describes a water tournament, which seems to have
been a popular pastime among the youths of London at Easter--"They
fight battels on the water. A shield is hanged upon a pole (this is
a kind of quintain) fixed in the midst of the stream. A boat is
prepared without oars, to be carried by the violence of the water,
and in the fore-part thereof standeth a young man ready to give
charge upon the shield with his lance. If so be he break his lance
against the shield, and do not fall, he is thought to have performed
a worthy deed. If so be that, without breaking his lance, he runneth
strongly against the shield, down he falleth into the water, for the
boat is violently tossed with the tide; but on each side of the
shield ride two boats furnished with young men, which recover him
that falleth as soon as they may. Upon the bridge, wharves, and
houses by the river-side, stand great numbers to see and laugh
thereat." Stow thus describes the water tournament--"I have seen
also in the summer season, upon the river Thames, some rowed in
wherries, with staves in their hands, flat at the fore-end, running
one against the other; and for the most part, one or both of them
were overthrown and well ducked." This sport on the water was a
variety of the famous quintain, which was itself derived from the
jousts or tournaments, only, instead of a human adversary, the
knight or squire, riding on a horse, charged a shield or wooden
figure attached to a piece of wood, which easily turned round upon
the top of a post. At the other end of the wood was a heavy bag of
sand, which, when the rider struck the shield with his lance, swung
round and struck him with great force on the back if he did not ride
fast and so escape his ponderous foe. There were other forms of this
sport, which is so ancient that its origin has been lost in
antiquity. Queen Elizabeth was very much amused at Kenilworth Castle
by the hard knocks which the inexpert riders received from the
rotating sand-bag when they charged "a comely quintane" in her royal
presence in the year 1575.
A handsome quintain still stands on Offham village green, in Kent,
although it is no longer used for the skilful practice of former
days. It is the custom to hoist married men, who are not blest with
children, on the quintain, which is made to revolve rapidly.
Sometimes discontented and disobedient wives share the same fate.
Chester was famous for its Easter sports, when the mayor with his
mace, the corporation with twenty guilds, marched to the Rood-eye,
to play at football. But "inasmuch as great strife did arise among
the young persons of the same city" on account of the game, a
change was made in the reign of Henry VIII., and foot-races and
horse-races were substituted for the time-honoured football, and an
arrow of silver was given to the best archer.
But Easter sports are almost finished: however, we have not long to
wait for another popular anniversary; for the famous Hock-tide
sports always took place a fortnight after Easter, and much
amusement, and profit also, were derived from the quaint observances
of Hock Monday and Tuesday. The meaning of the word and the origin
of the custom have been the subjects of much conjecture; but the
festival is supposed to be held in remembrance of the victory of our
Saxon forefathers over the Danes in the time of Ethelred. The custom
was that on Hock Monday the men should go out into the streets and
roads with cords, and stop and bind all the women they met,
releasing them on payment of a small ransom. On the following day
the women bound the men, and the proceeds were devoted to charitable
purposes. It is to be noted that the women always extracted the most
money, and in the old churchwardens' accounts we find frequent
records of this strange method of collecting subscriptions--_e.g._,
St. Lawrence's, Reading, A.D. 1499:--"Item, received of Hoc money
gaderyd" (gathered) "of women xx_s_. Item, received of Hoc money
gaderyd of men iiij_s_." We also find that the women had a supper
given to them as a reward for their exertions, for there is the
"item for wives' supper at Hock-tide xxiij_d_."
The observance of Hock-tide seems to have been particularly popular
in the ancient town of Reading. At Coventry there was an "old
Coventry Play of Hock Tuesday," which was performed with great
delight before Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth: the players divided
themselves into two companies to represent the Saxons and the Danes:
a great battle ensued, and by the help of the Saxon women the former
were victorious, and led the Danes captive. The queen laughed much
at the pageant, and gave the performers two bucks and five marks in
money.
So ends the month of sunshine and of shower; but the rustic youths
are making ready for the morris-dance, and the merry milk-maids are
preparing their ribbons to adorn themselves for the revels of May
Day. The May-pole is being erected on the village green, and all is
in readiness for the rejoicings of to-morrow.