PART II.

LOCAL CUSTOMS AND USAGES AT VARIOUS SEASONS.

Every greater or lesser festival of the church had its popular no less than its ecclesiastical observances. The three great events of human birth, marriage, and death, with their church rites of baptism, wedding, and burial, naturally draw towards them many customs and usages deemed fitting to such occasions. There are many customs in connexion with the free and the inferior tenants of manors, and their services to the manorial lord. Another class of customs will be found in observance in agricultural districts amongst the owners, occupiers, and labourers of farms and the peasantry generally. Lastly, as has been observed of the English generally, every great occasion, collective or individual, must have its festal celebration by eating and drinking in assembly. The viands and the beverages proper to particular occasions, therefore, constitute a not unimportant part of the local customs and usages of the people; and hence demand a place in a volume of Folk-Lore. To these subjects the present Part of this book is appropriated, and it is believed that they will be found not less strikingly illustrative of the manners and habits of the people of Lancashire, than the Superstitious Beliefs and Practices recorded in the first Part of this little work.

CHURCH AND SEASON FESTIVALS.

The feasts of dedication of parish churches to their particular tutelary saints, of course are much too numerous to be more than named in a work of this nature. The eve of such anniversary was the yearly wake [or watching] of the parishioners; and originally booths were erected in the churchyards, and feasting, dancing, and other revelry continued throughout the night. The parishioners attended divine service on the feast day, and the rest of that day was then devoted to popular festivities. So great grew the excesses committed during these prolonged orgies, that at length it became necessary to close the churches against the pageants and mummeries performed in them at these anniversaries, and the churchyards against the noisy, disorderly, and tumultuous merry-makings of the people. Thenceforth the great seat of the revels was transferred from the church and its graveyard, to the village green or the town market-place, or some space of open ground, large enough for popular assemblages to enjoy the favourite sports and pastimes of the period. Such were the general character and features of the wakes and feasts of country parishes, changing only with the name of the patron saint, the date of the celebration. But the great festivals of the church, celebrated alike in city and town, in village and hamlet, wherever a church "pointed its spire to heaven," were held with more general display, as uniting the ceremonials and rites of the church, with the popular festivities outside the sacred precincts. Of these great festivals the chief were New Year's Day, Twelfth Night (Jan. 5), Shrove or Pancake Tuesday, Ash-Wednesday or the first day of Lent, Mid-Lent or Mothering Sunday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, Whitsuntide or Pentecost, May-Day, Midsummer Day (St. John's Eve and Day, June 23 and 24), Michaelmas Day (Sept. 29), and Christmas Day, with the Eve of the New Year. Of these we propose to notice various customs and practices as observed in Lancashire from the beginning to the close of the year.

NEW YEAR'S DAY.

In the church calendar this day is the festival of the Circumcision; in the Roman church it is the day of no fewer than seven saints. But it is much more honoured as a popular festival. Many families in Lancashire sit up on New Year's Eve till after twelve o'clock midnight, and then drink "a happy New Year" to each other over a cheerful glass. The church bells, too, in merry peals ring out the Old Year, and ring in the New. In the olden time the wassail-bowl, the spiced ale called "lamb's wool," and currant bread and cheese, were the viands and liquor in vogue on New Year's Eve and Day. A turkey is still a favourite dish at dinner on New Year's Day.

FIRE ON NEW YEAR'S EVE.

My maid, who comes from the neighbourhood of Pendle, informs me that an unlucky old woman in her native village, having allowed her fire to go out on New Year's Eve, had to wait till one o'clock on the following day before any neighbour would supply her with a light.[143]

NEW YEAR'S LUCK.

Should a female, or a light-haired male, be the first to enter a house on the morning of New Year's Day, it is supposed to bring bad luck for the whole of the year then commencing. Various precautions are taken to prevent this misfortune: hence many male persons with black or dark hair, are in the habit of going from house to house, on that day, "to take the New Year in;" for which they are treated with liquor, and presented with a small gratuity. So far is the apprehension carried, that some families will not open the door to any one until satisfied by the voice that he is likely to bring the house a year's good luck by entering it. Then, the most kindly and charitable woman in a neighbourhood will sternly refuse to give any one a light on the morning of New Year's Day, as most unlucky to the one who gives away light.

NEW YEAR'S FIRST CALLER.

For years past, an old lady, a friend of mine, has regularly reminded me to pay her an early visit on New Year's Day; in short, to be her first caller, and to "let the New Year in." I have done this for years, except on one occasion. When I, who am of fair complexion, have been her first visitor, she has enjoyed happy and prosperous years; but on the occasion I missed, some dark-complexioned, black-haired gentleman called;--sickness and trouble, and commercial disasters, were the result.[144] [This is at variance with the preceding paragraph as to the favourite colour of the hair, &c. Perhaps this differs in different localities; but of this at least we are assured, that any male, dark or fair, is regarded as a much more lucky "letter-in" of the New Year, than any girl or woman, be she blonde or brunette.]

In Lancashire, even in the larger towns, it is considered at this time of day particularly fortunate if "a black man" (meaning one of a dark complexion) be the first person that enters the house on New Year's Day.[145]

NEW YEAR'S DAY AND OLD CHRISTMAS DAY.

Some persons still keep Old Christmas Day. They always look for a change of weather on that day, and never on the 25th December. The common people have long begun their year with the 1st of January. The Act of 1752, so far as they were concerned, only caused the Civil and the Ecclesiastical Year to begin together. In Hopton's _Year Book_ for A.D. 1612, he thus speaks of _January 1st_:--"January. New-yeares day in the morning being red, portends great tempest and warre."

AULD WIFE HAKES.

Christmas and New Year's tea parties and dances are called "Auld Wife Hakes" in the Furness district of Lancashire. The word _hake_ is never used in the central part of the county.[146] Can this be from _hacken_ (? from _hacking_, chopping small), a pudding made in the maw of a sheep or hog. It was formerly a standard dish at Christmas, and is mentioned by N. Fairfax, _Bulk and Selvedge_, 1674, p. 159.[147] [To _hake_, is to sneak, or loiter about.]

NEW YEAR'S GIFTS AND WISHES.

It was formerly a universal custom to make presents, especially from superiors to dependents, and _vice versâ_. Now the custom is chiefly confined to parents and elders giving to children or young persons. The practice of making presents on New Year's Day existed among the Romans, and also amongst the Saxons; from one or both of which peoples we have doubtless derived it. The salutation or greeting on New Year's Day is also of great antiquity. Pieces of Roman pottery have been found inscribed "A happy new year to you," and one inscriber wishes the like to himself and his son. In country districts, the homely phrase is: "A happy New Year t'ye, and monny on 'em." In more polished society, and in correspondence, "I wish you a happy New Year," or "The compliments of the season to you."

SHROVETIDE.

This name, given to the last few days before Lent, is from its being the custom for the people to go to the priest to be _shriven_, _i.e._, to make their confession, before entering on the great fast of Lent, which begins on Ash-Wednesday. _Tide_ is the old Anglo-Saxon word for time, and it is still retained in Whitsuntide. After the people had made the confession required by the ancient discipline of the church, they were permitted to indulge in festive amusements, though restricted from partaking of any repasts beyond the usual substitutes for flesh: hence the Latin and continental name _Carnaval_,--literally "Carne, vale," "Flesh, farewell." In Lancashire and other Northern counties, three days in this week had their peculiar dishes, viz.: "Collop Monday," "Pancake Tuesday," and "Fritters Wednesday." Originally, collops were simply slices of bread, but these were long ago discarded for slices or rashers of bacon. Fritters were thick, soft cakes, made from flour batter, with or without sliced apples intermixed. Shrovetide was anciently a great time for cock-throwing and cock-fighting, and indeed of many other loose and cruel diversions, arising from the indulgences formerly granted by the church, to compensate for the long season of fasting and humiliation which commenced on Ash-Wednesday. As Selden observes--"What the church debars us on one day, she gives us leave to take on another; first we feast, and then we fast; there is a carnival, and then a Lent."

SHROVE-TUESDAY, OR PANCAKE TUESDAY.

The tossing of pancakes (and in some places fritters) on this day was a source of harmless mirth, and is still practised in the rural parts of Lancashire and Cheshire, with its ancient accompaniments:--

"It is the day whereon the rich and poor, Are chiefly feasted on the self-same dish, When every paunch till it can hold no more, Is fritter-filled, as well as heart can wish; And every man and maid do take their turn And toss their pancakes up for fear they burn, And all the kitchen doth with laughter sound, To see the pancakes fall upon the ground."[148]

Another writer gives this injunction:--

"Maids, fritters and pancakes enow see ye make, Let Slut have one pancake for company's sake."[149]

COCK-THROWING AND COCK-FIGHTING.

Cock-fighting was a barbarous pastime of high antiquity, being practised by the Greeks and Romans. In England it may be traced back to the twelfth century, when it appears to have been a childish or boyish sport. FitzStephen, in his description of London in the time of Henry II., says: "Every year, on the morning of Shrove-Tuesday, the schoolboys of the city of London, and of other cities and great towns, bring game cocks to their masters, and in the fore-part of the day, till dinner-time, are permitted to amuse themselves with seeing them fight." The school was the cock-pit, and the master the comptroller or director of the pastime. The victor, or hero of the school, who had won the greatest number of fights was carried about upon a pole by two of his companions. He held the cock in his hands, and was followed by other boys bearing flags, &c. Cock-throwing was a sport equally cruel; but only one cock was needed. The poor bird was tied to a peg or stake, by a string, sometimes long, sometimes short, and the boys from a certain distance, in turn, threw a stick at the cock. The victor in this case was he whose missile killed the poor bird. Amongst the recognised payments by the boys at the old Free Grammar Schools, was a penny yearly to the master for the privilege of cock-fighting or cock-throwing on Shrove-Tuesday. The statutes of the Manchester Free Grammar School, made about 1525, show a creditable desire to abolish these barbarous sports. One of these statutes, as to the fees of the master, provides that "he shall teach freely and indifferently [not carelessly, but impartially] every child and scholar coming to the same school, without any money or other reward taking there-for, as cock-penny, victor-penny," &c. Another is still more explicit:--"The scholars of the same school shall use no cock-fights, nor other unlawful games, and riding about for victors, &c., which be to the great let [hindrance] of virtue, and to charge and cost of the scholars, and of their friends." At a much later period, however, the scholars seem to have been allowed, on Easter Monday, to have archery practice at a target, one of the prizes being a dunghill-cock; but this was abolished by the late Dr. Smith, when high master.

COCK-FIGHTING ABOUT BLACKBURN.

About thirty years ago cock-fighting formed a common pastime about Mellor and Blackburn. A blacksmith, named Miller, used to keep a large number of cocks for fighting purposes. He was said to have "sold himself to the devil" in order to have money enough for betting; and it was remarked that he rarely won! If the practice is still followed, it is done _in secret_; but the number of game-cocks one sees kept by "sporting characters" can scarcely admit of any other inference.

COCK-PENNY AT CLITHEROE.

In the Clitheroe Grammar School an annual present at Shrovetide is expected from the scholars, varying in amount according to the circumstances of the parents. With the exception of this _cock-penny_, the school is free. The origin of this custom it is now difficult to trace. Shrove-Tuesday, indeed, was a sad day for cocks. Cock-fighting and throwing at cocks were among its barbarous sports. Schoolboys used to bring game-cocks to the master, and delight themselves in cock-fighting all the forenoon. In Scotland, the masters presided at the fight, and claimed the runaway cocks called "forgers" [? 'fugees] as their perquisites. The "cock-penny" may have been the substitute devised by a less cruel age for the ordinary gratuity.[150]

COCK-FIGHTING AT BURNLEY.

The head master of Burnley Grammar School used to derive a portion of his income from "cock-pence" paid to him by his pupils at Shrovetide. This has been disused for half a century. Latterly it degenerated into a "clubbing together" of pence by the pupils for the purpose of providing themselves with materials for a carouse. This was, therefore, at last prohibited.

SHROVETIDE CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE.

Shrove-Tuesday was also called "Pancake Day," pancakes being the principal delicacy of the day. At eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the "pancake bell" rang at Poulton church, and operations were immediately commenced. Great was the fun in "tossing" or turning the pancake by a sudden jerk of the pan; while the appetites of the urchins never flagged. Amongst the sports on Shrove-Tuesday, was pre-eminently cock-fighting; though bull and bear baiting were also among the rude and savage pastimes of the season.[151] In Poulton, on Shrove-Tuesday, the pancake bell still warns the apprentice to quit his work, not indeed to go to the confessional and be _shriven_, but to prepare for the feast of the day.[152]

LENT.--ASH-WEDNESDAY.

The forty days' fast at the beginning of spring, in commemoration of the temptation and fast of our Saviour in the wilderness, was called Lent, from the Saxon name for Spring, _lengten-tide_. The fast, as prescribed by the church, consisted in abstaining from flesh, eggs, preparations of milk, and wine, and in making only one meal, and that in the evening. Fish was not forbidden, though many restricted themselves to pulse and fruit. Ash-Wednesday, the first day in Lent, was one of severe discipline in the Roman church; and to remind the faithful, at the beginning of the long penitential fast, that men are but "dust and ashes," the priest, with ashes of the wood of the palm-tree, marked the sign of the cross on the forehead of each confessing worshipper; whence the name. Since the Reformation the observance of Lent by fasting is not general in Lancashire.

MID-LENT SUNDAY, OR "MOTHERING SUNDAY."

The fourth or middle Sunday between Quadragesima (the first Sunday in Lent) and Easter Sunday. It was of old called _Dominica Refectionis_, or the Sunday of Refreshment, from the gospel of the day treating of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. It was originally called "Mothering Sunday," from the ancient usage of visiting the mother or cathedral churches of the dioceses, when Lent or Easter offerings were made. The public processions have been discontinued ever since the middle of the thirteenth century; but the name of Mothering Sunday is still retained, a custom having been substituted amongst the people of Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and other counties, of those who have left the paternal roof visiting their natural mother, and presenting to her small tokens of their filial affection, in money, trinkets, frumenty, or cakes. In some parts of Lancashire, the particular kind of cakes have long been fixed by old custom, being what are called "simnels," or, in the dialect of the district, "simlins;" and with these sweet-cakes, it was, and in places is still, the custom to drink warm, spiced ale, called "bragot." Another viand especially eaten on Mid-Lent Sunday was that of fig or fag-pies.

SIMNEL CAKES.

In days of yore, there was a little alleviation of the severities of Lent permitted to the faithful, in the shape of a cake called "Simnel." Two English towns claim the honour of its origin,--Shrewsbury and Devizes. The first makes its simnel in the form of a warden-pie, the crust being of saffron and very thick; the last has no crust, is star-shaped, and the saffron is mixed with a mass of currants, spice, and candied lemon. Bury, in Lancashire, is almost world-famous for its simnels and its bragot (or spiced sweet ale), on Mothering Sunday, or Mid-Lent. As to the name, Dr. Cowell, in his _Law Directory or Interpreter_ (folio, 1727), derives _simnell_ (Lat. _siminellus_), from the Latin _simila_, the finest part of the flour: "_panis similageneus_," simnel bread,--"still in use, especially in Lent." The English _simnel_ was the purest white bread, as in the Book of Battle Abbey: "Panem regiæ mensæ apsum, qui _simenel_ vulgo vocatur." (Bread fit for the royal table, which is commonly called _simenel_.) Dr. Cowell adds that it was sometimes called _simnellus_, as in the "Annals of the Church of Winchester," under the year 1042, "conventus centum _simnellos_" (the convent 100 _simnels_). He also quotes the statute of 51 Henry III. (1266-7), which enacts that "bread made into a _simnel_ should weigh two shillings less than wastel bread;" and also an old manuscript of the customs of the House of Farendon (where it is called "bread of symenel"), to the same effect. Wastel was the finest sort of bread. Herrick, who was born in 1591, and died in 1674 (?) has the following in his _Hesperides_:--

TO DIANEME. A Ceremony in Gloucester.

I'll to thee a _Simnell_ bring 'Gainst thou go'st a _mothering_; So that when she blesseth thee, Half that blessing thou'lt give me.

Bailey, in his Dictionary (folio 1764), says _simnel_ is probably derived from the Latin _simila_, fine flour, and means, "a sort of cake or bun, made of fine flour, spice, &c." It will thus appear that _simnel_ cakes can boast a much higher antiquity than the reign of Henry VII. (Lambert _Simnel_ probably taking his name from them, as a baker, and not giving his name to them), and that they were not originally confined to any particular time or place.[153]

In the _Dictionarius_ of John de Garlande, compiled at Paris in the thirteenth century, the word _simineus_ or _simnels_, is used as the equivalent to the Latin _placentæ_, which are described as cakes exposed in the windows of the hucksters, to sell to the scholars of the University and others.[154]

BURY.

There is an ancient celebration in Bury, on Mid-Lent Sunday, there called "Simblin Sunday," when large cakes called "simblins" (_i.e._, simnels), are sold generally in the town, and the shops are kept open the whole day, except during Divine Service, for the purpose of vending this mysterious aliment.[155] These cakes are a compound of currants, candied lemon, sugar, and spice, sandwich-wise, between crust of short or puff paste. They are in great request at the period, not only in Bury, but in Manchester and most of the surrounding towns. A still richer kind, approaching the bride-cake in character, are called "Almond Simnels."

BRAGOT-SUNDAY.

Formerly it was the practice in Leigh to use a beverage on Mid-Lent Sunday, called "bragot," consisting of a kind of spiced ale; and also for the boys to indulge themselves by persecuting the women on their way to church, by secretly hooking a piece of coloured cloth to their gowns. A similar custom prevails in Portugal, at Carnival time, when many persons that walk the streets on the three last days of the Intrudo, have a long paper train hooked to their dress behind, on which the populace set up the cry of "Raboleve," which is continued till the butt of the joke is divested of his "tail." As to "Bragot," or more properly "Braget" Sunday, it is a name given in Lancashire to the fourth Sunday in Lent, which is in other places called "Mothering Sunday." Both appellations arise out of the same custom. Voluntary oblations, called _Quadragesimalia_ (from the Latin name of Lent, signifying forty days), were formerly paid by the inhabitants of a diocese to the Mother Cathedral Church, and at this time prevailed the custom of processions to the Cathedral on Mid-Lent Sunday. On the discontinuance of processions, the practice of "mothering," or visiting parents, began; and the spiced ale used on these occasions was called _braget_, from the British _bragawd_, the name of a kind of metheglin. Whitaker[156] observes that this description of liquor was called "Welsh ale" by the Saxons. Since his time, the liquor drunk on this day is principally _mulled ale_, of which there is a large consumption in Lancashire on Mid-Lent Sunday.[157]

FAG-PIE SUNDAY.

Fig-pies--(made of dry figs, sugar, treacle, spice, &c., and by some described as "luscious," by others as "of a sickly taste")--or, as they are locally termed, "fag-pies," are, or were at least till recently, eaten in Lancashire on a Sunday in Lent [? Mid-Lent Sunday], thence called "Fag-pie Sunday."[158]

In the neighbourhood of Burnley Fag-pie Sunday is the second Sunday before Easter, or that which comes between Mid-Lent and Palm Sunday. About Blackburn fig-pies are always prepared for Mid-Lent Sunday, and visits are usually made to friends' houses in order to partake of the luxury.

GOOD FRIDAY.

This name is believed to be an adoption of the old German _Gute_ or _Gottes Freytag_, Good or God's Friday, so called on the same principle that Easter Day in England was at no very remote period called "God's Day." The length of the Church Services in ancient times, on this day, occasioned it to be called Long Friday. In most parts of Lancashire, buns with crosses stamped upon them, and hence called "cross buns," are eaten on this day at breakfast; and it is in many places believed that a cross bun, preserved from one Good Friday to another, will effectually prevent an attack of the whooping-cough. Some writers declare that our cross buns at Easter are only the cakes which our pagan Saxon forefathers ate in honour of their goddess Eostre, and from which the Christian clergy, who were unable to prevent people from eating them, sought to expel the paganism by marking them with the cross. On the Monday before Good Friday the youths about Poulton-le-Fylde and its neighbourhood congregate in strange dresses, and visit their friends' houses, playing antics, on which occasion they are styled "the Jolly Lads."[159] It is stated that in some places in Lancashire, Good Friday is termed "Cracklin' Friday," as on that day it is a custom for children to go with a small basket to different houses, to beg small wheaten cakes, which are something like the Jews' Passover bread; but made shorter or richer, by having butter or lard mixed with the flour. "Take with thee loaves and cracknels." (1 Kings xiv.)

EASTER.

This name is clearly traced to that of Eostre, a goddess to whom the Saxons and other Northern nations sacrificed in the month of April, in which our Easter usually falls. Easter Sunday is held as the day of our Lord's resurrection. Connected with this great festival of the Church are various local rites and customs, pageants and festivities; such as _pace_ or _Pasche_ [_i.e._, Easter] egging, lifting or heaving, Ball play, the game of the ring, guisings or disguisings, fancy cakes, "old hob," "old Ball," or hobby horse, &c.

Easter-Day is a moveable feast, appointed to be held on the first Sunday after the full moon immediately following the 21st of March; but if the moon happen to be at the full on a Sunday, then Easter is held on the following Sunday and not on the day of the full moon. Thus, Easter-Day cannot fall earlier than the 22nd of March, nor later than the 25th of April, in any year.

PASCHE, PACE, OR EASTER EGGS.

In Lancashire and Cheshire children go round the village and beg eggs for the Easter dinner, accompanying their solicitation by a short song, the burthen of which is addressed to the farmer's dame, asking for "an egg, bacon, cheese, or an apple, or any good thing that will make us merry;" and ending with

And I pray you, good dame, an Easter egg.

In the North of Lancashire, Cumberland, Westmorland, and other parts of the North of England, boys beg on Easter Eve eggs to play with, and beggars ask for them to eat. These eggs are hardened by boiling and tinged with the juice of herbs, broom-flowers, &c. The eggs being thus prepared, the boys go out and play with them in the fields, rolling them up and down like bowls, or throwing them up like balls into the air.[160]

PACE EGGING IN BLACKBURN.

The old custom of "pace egging" is still observed in Blackburn. It is an observance limited to the week before Easter-Day, and is said to be traceable up to the theology and philosophy of the Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks, and Romans; among all of whom an egg was an emblem of the universe, the production of the Supreme Divinity. The Christians adopted the egg as an emblem of the resurrection, since it contains the elements of a future life.

The immediate occasion of the observance may have been in the resumption on the part of our forefathers of eggs as a food at Easter on the termination of Lent; hence the origin of the term _pace_ or _pasque_ [rather from _Pasche_] that is, Easter egg. In a curious roll of the expenses of the household of Edward I., communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, is the following item in the accounts for Easter Sunday: "For four hundred and a half of eggs, eighteen pence." The following prayer, found in the ritual of Pope Paul V., composed for the use of England, Ireland, and Scotland, illustrates the meaning of the custom: "Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, this Thy creation of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance to Thy faithful servants, eating it in thankfulness to Thee, on account of the resurrection of our Lord." In Blackburn at the present day, pace egging commences on the Monday and finishes on the Thursday before the Easter-week. Young men in groups varying in number from three to twenty, dressed in various fantastic garbs, and wearing masks--some of the groups accompanied by a player or two on the violin--go from house to house singing, dancing, and capering. At most places they are liberally treated with wine, punch, or ale, dealt out to them by the host or hostess. The young men strive to disguise their walk and voice; and the persons whom they visit use their efforts on the other hand to discover who they are; in which mutual endeavour many and ludicrous mistakes are made. Here you will see Macbeth and a fox-hunter arm in arm; Richard the Third and a black footman in familiar converse; a quack doctor and a bishop smoking their pipes and quaffing their "half and half;" a gentleman and an oyster-seller; an admiral and an Irish umbrella-mender; in short, every variety of character, some exceedingly well-dressed, and the characters well sustained. A few years ago parties of this description were much subject to annoyance from a gang of fellows styled the "Carr-laners," (so-called, because living in Carr-lane, Blackburn,) armed with bludgeons, who endeavoured to despoil the pace-eggers. Numerous fights, with the usual concomitants of broken eggs and various contusions, were amongst the results. This lawless gang of ruffians is now broken up, and the serious affrays between different gangs of pace-eggers have become of comparatively rare occurrence. An accident, however, which ended fatally, occurred last year [? 1842]. Two parties had come into collision, and during the affray one of the young men had his skull fractured, and death ensued. Besides parties of the sort we have attempted to describe, children, both male and female, with little baskets in their hands, dressed in all the tinsel-coloured paper, ribbons, and "doll rags" which they can command, go up and down from house to house; at some receiving pence, at others eggs, at others gingerbread, some of which is called _hot_ gingerbread, having in it a mixture of ginger and Cayenne, causing the most ridiculous contortions of feature in the unfortunate being who partakes of it. Houses are literally besieged by these juvenile troops from morning till night. "God's sake! a pace-egg," is the continual cry. There is no particular tune, but various versions of pace-egging and other songs are sung. The eggs obtained by the juveniles are very frequently boiled and dyed in logwood and other dyes, on the Easter Sunday, and rolled in the fields one egg at another till broken. Great quantities of mulled ale are drunk in this district on Easter Sunday. The actors do not take the eggs with them; they are given at the places where they call. The actors are mostly males; but in the course of one's peregrinations on one of these evenings it is not unusual to discover one or two of the fair sex in male habiliments, and supporting the character admirably. This old custom of pace-egging was again observed this year [? 1843] notwithstanding the fatal accidents we have mentioned, without any molestation from the authorities, and without any accident occurring.[161]

PACE OR PEACE EGGING IN EAST LANCASHIRE.

The week before Easter is a busy one for the boys and girls in East Lancashire. They generally deck themselves up in ribbons and fantastic dresses, and go about the country begging for money or eggs. Occasionally they go out singly, and then are very careful to provide themselves with a neat little basket, lined with moss. Halfpence or eggs, or even small cakes of gingerbread, are alike thankfully received. Sometimes the grown young men are very elaborately dressed in ribbons, and ornamented with watches and other jewellery. They then go out in groups of five or six, and are attended by a "fool" or "tosspot," with his face blackened. Some of them play on musical instruments while the rest dance. Occasionally young women join in the sport, and then the _men_ are dressed in women's clothing, and the _women_ in men's.

EASTER SPORTS AT THE MANCHESTER FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

A gentleman, using the initials G. H. F., some years ago communicated to a local paper the following facts relative to the sports of the scholars at Easter in the early part of the nineteenth century:--"On Easter Monday the senior scholars had a treat and various festivities. On the morning of that day, masters and scholars assembled in the school-room, with a band of music, banners, &c. One essential thing was a target, in a square frame, to which were suspended one or more pairs of silver buckles, constituting the chief archery prize, the second being a good dunghill-cock. These were the only prizes, and they were duly contended for by the scholars, the whole being probably devised in the old times, with a view to keep the youth of Manchester in the practice of the old English archery, which on the invention of gunpowder and fire-arms fell rapidly into desuetude. The gay procession thus provided, the scholars, bearing their bows and arrows, set out from the Grammar School, headed by some reverend gentleman of the Collegiate church, by the masters of the school, the churchwardens, &c.--the band playing some popular airs of the day--and took its route by Long Millgate, to Hunt's Bank, and along the Walkers' [_i.e._, fullers'] Croft, to some gardens, where it was then the custom for artizans on Sunday mornings to buy 'a penny posy.' Here the targets were set up, and the 'artillery practice,' as it was the fashion to call archery, commenced. At its close the prizes were awarded, and the procession returned in the same order, along Hunt's Bank, the Apple Market, Fennel Street, Hanging Ditch, and Old Millgate, to the Bull's Head, in the Market Place,--in those days a very celebrated house, where the junior boys were treated with _frumenty_--wheat stewed, and then boiled in milk with raisins, currants, and spices, till it forms a thick, porridge-like mess, exceedingly palatable to young folk. The masters and assistants, and the senior scholars, partook of roast beef, plum pudding, &c. The abolition of this Easter Monday custom, said to have been by Dr. Smith, was by no means relished by the Grammar School boys."

"LIFTING" OR "HEAVING" AT EASTER.

This singular custom formerly prevailed in Manchester, and it is now common in the neighbourhood of Liverpool, in the parish of Whalley, at Warrington, Bolton, and in some other parts of Lancashire, especially in rural districts, though it is by no means general, and in some places is quite unknown. A Manchester man, in 1784, thus describes it:--"_Lifting_ was originally designed to represent our Saviour's resurrection. The men lift the women on Easter Monday, and the women the men on Tuesday. One or more take hold of each leg, and one or more of each arm, near the body, and lift the person up, in a horizontal position, three times. It is a rude, indecent, and dangerous diversion, practised chiefly by the lower class of people. Our magistrates constantly prohibit it by the bellman, but it subsists at the end of the town; and the women have of late years converted it into a money job. I believe it is chiefly confined to these northern counties."

The following [translated] extract from a document entitled _Liber Contrarotulatoris Hospicii_, 13 Edward I. [1225], shows the antiquity of the custom:--"To the Ladies of the Queen's Chamber, 15th of May; seven ladies and damsels of the queen, because they took [or lifted] the king in his bed, on the morrow of Easter, and made him pay fine for the peace of the king, which he made of his gift by the hand of Hugh de Cerr [or Kerr], Esq., to the lady of Weston, £14."[162]

On Easter Monday, between Radcliffe and Bolton, we saw a number of females surround a male, whom they mastered, and fairly lifted aloft in the air. It was a merry scene. What humour in the faces of these Lancashire witches! What a hearty laugh! What gratification in their eyes! The next day would bring reprisals: the girls would then be the party to be subjected to this rude treatment.[163]

EASTER GAME OF THE RING.

In his _History of Lancashire_, Mr. Baines states that the Easter Game of the Ring, little known in other parts of Lancashire, prevails at Padiham, in the parish of Whalley, on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in Easter week; when young people, having formed themselves into a ring, tap each other repeatedly with a stick, after the manner of the holiday folks at Greenwich. The stick may be a slight difference; but the game of Easter ring, with taps of the hand, or the dropping of a handkerchief at the foot, the writer has seen played at Easter and at Whitsuntide in many villages and hamlets round Manchester.

PLAYING "OLD BALL."

This is an Easter custom. A huge and rude representation of a horse's head is made; the eyes are formed of the bottoms of old broken wine or other "black bottles"; the lower and upper jaws have large nails put in them to serve as teeth; the lower jaw is made to move by a contrivance fixed at its back end, to be operated on by the man who plays "Old Ball." There is a stick, on which the head rests, which is handled and used by the operator, to move "Old Ball" about, and as a rest. Fixed to the whole is a sheet of rough sacking-cloth, under which the operator puts himself, and at the end of which is a tail. The operator then gets into his position, so as to make the whole as like a horse as possible. He opens the mouth by means of the contrivance before spoken of. Through the opening he can see the crowd, and he runs first at one and then another, neighing like a horse, kicking, rising on his hind legs, performing all descriptions of gambols, and running after the crowd; the consequence is, the women scream, the children are frightened, and all is one scene of the most ridiculous and boisterous mirth. This was played by sundry "Old Balls" some five years ago, at the pace-egging time, at Blackburn; but it has gradually fallen into disuse. This year [? 1843] our informant has not heard it even mentioned. [It is still continued in various parts of Lancashire, amongst others at Swinton, Worsley, &c.] The idea of this rude game may have been taken from the hobby-horse in the ancient Christmas mummings.--_Pictorial History of Lancashire._ [From the editor of the above work calling this "playing the old ball," and never marking the word ball by a capital B, he seems to have supposed it meant a spherical ball; whereas "Old Ball" throughout Lancashire is a favourite name for a cart-horse,--See a further notice of "Old Ball" under Christmas.--EDS.]

ACTING WITH "BALL."

This is a curious practice, and is often substituted for "pace-egging." The bones of a horse's head are fixed in their natural position by means of wires. The bottoms of glass bottles do duty for eyes; and the head is covered with the skin of a calf. A handle is then fixed in the upper portion of the head, and the whole skull is supported on a stout pole shod with an iron hoop. A sack is then made to fit the skull neatly, and to hang low enough down so as to hide the person who plays "Ball." The sack, or cover, is also provided with a tail so as to look as nearly like a horse's tail as possible. Some five or six then take "Ball" about the country and play him where they can obtain leave. Sometimes a doggrel song is sung, while "Ball" prances about and snaps at the company. As soon as the song is finished, "Ball" plays his most boisterous pranks, and frequently hurts some of the company by snapping their fingers between his teeth when they are defending themselves from his attacks. The writer has seen ladies so alarmed as to faint and go into hysterics:--on this account "Ball" is now nearly extinct in the neighbourhoods of Blackburn, Burnley, &c.

EASTER CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE.

Children and young people as Easter approached, claimed their "pace-eggs" [from Pasche, the old term for Easter] as a privileged "dow" [dole]. On the afternoon of Easter Sunday the young of both sexes amused themselves in the meadows with these eggs, which they had dyed by the yellow blossoms of the "whin," or of other colours by dyeing materials. Others performed a kind of Morris or Moorish dance or play, called "_Ignagning_," which some have supposed to be in honour of St. Ignatius; but more probably its derivation is from "_ignis Agnæ_," a virgin and martyr who suffered at the stake about this time of the year. "Ignagning," says the Rev. William Thornber,[164] "has almost fallen into disuse, and a band of boys, termed 'Jolly Lads,' has succeeded, who, instead of reciting the combat of the Turk and St. George, the champion of England, the death of the former, and his restoration to life by the far-travelled doctor, now sing of the noble deeds of Nelson and Collingwood; retaining, however, the freaks and jokes of 'Old Toss-pot,' the fool of the party, who still jingles the small bells hung about his dress." Easter Monday was a great day for the young people of the neighbourhood going to the yearly fair at Poulton. Happy was the maiden who could outvie her youthful acquaintance in exhibiting a greater number of "white cakes," the gifts of admiring youths; thereby proving beyond dispute the superior effects of her charms. Then the excitement and exertion of the dance! At that time dancing consisted in the feet beating time to a fiddle, playing a jig in double quick time; one damsel succeeding another, and striving to outdo her companions in her power of continuing this violent exercise, for much honour was attached to success in this respect, the bystanders meanwhile encouraging their favourites, as sportsmen do their dogs, with voice and clapping of hands. Such was--

"The dancing pair that simply sought renown, By holding out, to tire each other down."

On Good Friday a jorum of _browis_ and roasted wheat or _frumenty_ was the treat for dinner; white _jannocks_, introduced by the Flemish refugees, and _throdkins_[165] were also then eaten with great zest by the hungry labourer.[166]

MAY-DAY CUSTOMS.

The Romans commenced the festival of Flora on the 28th April, and continued it through several days in May, with various ceremonies and rejoicings, and offerings of spring flowers and the branches of trees in bloom, which, through the accommodation of the Romish church to the pagan usages, remain to us as May-day celebrations to the present time. It was formerly a custom in Cheshire [and Lancashire] for young men to place birchen boughs on May-day over the doors of their mistresses, and mark the residence of a scold by an alder bough. There is an old rhyme which mentions peculiar boughs for various tempers, as an owler (alder) for a scolder, a nut for a slut, &c. Ormerod thinks the practice is disused; but he mentions that in the main street of Weverham are two May-poles, which are decorated on May-day with all due attention to the ancient solemnity; the sides are hung with garlands, and the top terminated by a birch, or other tall slender tree with its leaves on; the bark being peeled off and the stem spliced to the pole, so as to give the appearance of one tree from the summit.[167] The principal characteristics of May-day celebrations and festivities are of rejoicing that the reign of winter is at an end, and that of early summer with its floral beauties, has come. The hawthorn furnishes its white blossoms in profusion; and the tall May-poles, gaily decorated with garlands of leaves and flowers, and festoons of ribbons of the brightest colours, are centres of attraction on the village green, for the youth of both sexes to dance the May-pole dance, hand-in-hand, in a ring.

MAY SONGS.

Amongst the old customs of rural Lancashire and Cheshire is that of a small party of minstrels or carollers going round from house to house during the last few evenings of April, and singing a number of verses, expressive of rejoicing that "cold winter is driven away," and that the season is "drawing near to the merry month of May." The singers are generally accompanied by one or two musical instruments, a violin and clarionet for instance, and the tunes are very quaint and peculiar. Of course for their good wishes for the master of the house, with his "chain of gold," for the mistress, with "gold along her breast," and the children "in rich attire," a trifling gift in money is made.[168]

MAY-DAY EVE.

The evening before May-day is termed "Mischief Night" by the young people of Burnley and the surrounding district. All kinds of mischief are then perpetrated. Formerly shopkeepers' sign-boards were exchanged; "John Smith, grocer," finding his name and vocation changed, by the sign over his door, to "Thomas Jones, tailor," and _vice versâ_; but the police have put an end to these practical jokes. Young men and women, however, still continue to play each other tricks, by placing branches of trees, shrubs, or flowers under each others' windows, or before their doors. All these have a symbolical meaning, as significant, if not always as complimentary, as "the Language of Flowers." Thus, "a thorn" implies "scorn;" "wicken" (the mountain ash) "my dear chicken;" a "bramble," for one who likes to "ramble," &c. Much ill-feeling is at times engendered by this custom.

MAY-DAY CUSTOM.

On the 1st of May the following custom is observed in some parts of Lancashire, though now very nearly obsolete. Late on the preceding night, or early on that morning, small branches of trees are placed at the doors of houses in which reside any marriageable girls. They are emblematical of the character of the maidens, and have a well-understood language of their own, which is rhythmical. Some speak flatteringly; others quite the reverse; the latter being used when the character of the person for whom it is intended is not quite "above suspicion." A malicious rustic wag may sometimes put a branch of the latter description where it is not deserved; but I believe this is an exception. I only remember a few of the various trees which are laid under contribution for this purpose. _Wicken_ is the local name for mountain ash.

_Wicken_, sweet chicken.

_Oak_, for a joke.

_Gorse, in bloom_, rhymes with "at noon" (I omit the epithet given here to an unchaste woman) and used for a notorious delinquent.[169]

PENDLETON AND PENDLEBURY MAY-POLE AND GAMES.

The people of these townships for centuries celebrated May-day (a relic of the ancient heathen festival of the goddess Flora) by the May-pole, to which the watchful care of Charles I. and his royal progenitor extended, when they printed in their proclamation and "Book of Sports," that after the end of divine service on Sundays, their "good people be not disturbed, letted, nor discharged from the having of May-games, and the setting up of the May-poles," &c. The ancient practice was to erect the pole on May-day, and to surround it with a number of verdant boughs, brought from "Blakeley Forest," which were decked usually with garlands and flowers, and around which the people assembled to dance and celebrate their May-games. "Pendleton Pole" is of much higher antiquity than the Reformation; for in the will of Thomas del Bothe, who died 47 Edw. III. (1373) the sum of 30_s._ is bequeathed towards making the causeway at Pendleton near "le Poll." In the time of the Commonwealth the Pendleton Pole was taken down, in virtue of an ordinance of Parliament against May-poles, and such other "heathenish vanities;" but it was re-erected at the Restoration, and still presents its lofty head, surmounted by a Royal Crown; though much of the spacious field of the ancient May-games is now occupied by buildings [in 1780 the township was little more than a fold of cottages, with its May-pole and green], and much of the spirit of the rural sports of our ancestors has subsided. In Pasquil's "_Palinodia_," (published in 1654) the decay of May-games two centuries ago, is recorded and lamented:--

"Happy the age, and harmless were the days (For then true love and amity was found); When every village did a May-pole raise, And Whitsun ales and May-games did abound, And all the lusty younkers in a rout, With merry lasses, danced the rod about; Then friendship to their banquets bid the guests, And poor men fared the better for their feasts.

The lords of castles, manors, towns, and towers, Rejoiced when they beheld the farmers flourish, And would come down unto the summer bowers, To see the country gallants dance the Morice. . . . . . But since the summer poles were overthrown, And all good sports and merriments decay'd, How times and men are changed, so well is known, It were but labour lost if more were said."

MAY CUSTOM IN SPOTLAND.

A custom of high antiquity and of primitive simplicity prevails in the district of Spotland, in the parish of Rochdale. On the first Sunday in May the young people of the surrounding country assemble at Knott Hill yearly, for the purpose of presenting to each other their mutual greetings and congratulations on the arrival of this cheering season, and of pledging each other in the pure beverage which flows from the mountain springs.[170]

MAY-DAY CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE.

On the morning of the first day of May, many a May-bough[171] ornamented the villages and towns of the Fylde, inserted by some mischievous youngsters, at the risk of life or limb, in the chimney-tops of their neighbours' houses. Then came a most imposing piece of pageantry, that of "bringing-in May;" when a king and queen, with their royal attendants and rustic band of music, mummers, &c., attracted the attention and admiration of the country side. May-day with its pageants, sports, games, dances, garlands, and May-poles, was peculiarly a season of hilarity, merry-making, and good humour. The pageant of "bringing-in May," was a favourite pastime at Poulton about fifty years ago [_i.e._, about 1787]; the causeways were strewed with flowers, and at the door of the house of each respectable inhabitant, sweetmeats, ale, and even wine, were handed about as a treat and refreshment to the young, who were thus affording them amusement. By degrees the pageant ceased; a vigorous attempt, however, was made to revive it in 1818, with all its honours; but the age-worn custom proved to be utterly incapable of resuscitation. Another writer,[172] however, states that at Poulton-le-Fylde and in its neighbourhood, some of the customs of the olden time are still observed. Very recently May-day was ushered in with a dance round the May-pole, and the lavish exhibition of garlands and merriment.

THE MAY-POLE OF LOSTOCK.

The May-pole of Lostock, a village near Bolton, is probably the most ancient upon record. It is mentioned in a charter by which the town of Westhalchton [? Westhaughton] was granted to the Abbey of Cockersand, about the reign of King John. The pole, it appears, had superseded a cross, and formed one of the landmarks which defined the boundaries, and it must therefore have been a permanent and not an annual erection. The words of the charter are:--"De Lostock meypull, ubi crux situ fuit, recta linea in austro, usque ad crucem super le Tunge."[173] (From Lostock May-pole, where the cross was formerly, in a straight line to the south, as far as to the cross upon the Tunge.)

ROBIN HOOD AND MAY-GAMES AT BURNLEY, IN 1579.

In a letter from Edmond Assheton, Esq., then a magistrate of Lancashire, and aged 75, to William Farington, Esq. (who was also in the commission of the peace), dated Manchester, May 12, 1580, the writer thus complains of "lewd sports" and sabbath-breaking:--"I am sure, Right Worshipful, you have not forgotten the last year stirs at Burnley about Robin Hood and the May-games. Now, considering that it is a cause that bringeth no good effect, being contrary to the best, therefore a number of the justices of the peace herein in Salford Hundred have consulted with the [Ecclesiastical] Commission [of Queen Elizabeth] to suppress those lewd sports, tending to no other end but to stir up our frail natures to wantonness; and mean not to allow neither old custom. Then their excuse in coming to the church in time of divine service, for every man may well know with what minds, after their embracings, kissings, and unchaste beholding of each other, they can come presently prepared to prayer. A fit assembly to confer of worse causes, over and besides their marching and walking together in the night time. But chiefly because it is a profanation of the Sabbath-day, and done in some places in contempt of the gospel and the religion established, I pray God it be not so at Burnley. It is called in the Scriptures the Lord's Day, and was not lawful under the old law to carry a pitcher of water on the Sabbath, or to gather sticks, but it was death. Such regard was had in the time of the law to keeping holy the Sabbath. And do not we withdraw even the practice and use of good and godly works upon the same day? Then in reason the other should cease. Tell me, I pray you, if you can find in the presence of the foresaid lewd pastimes, good example or profit to the commonwealth, the defence of the realm, honour to the prince, or to the glory of God? Then, let them continue; otherwise, in my opinion, they are to be withdrawn. For to that end I address these contents unto you, because we would not deal for any reformation within the limits of your walk; and for the better credit of the consent of the Commissioners, you may peruse how they mean to proceed against them of Burnley who have revived their former follies, if you redress not the same.... Your assured always to use, EDMOND ASSHETON. It will not be long afore [there] will be order taken for this dancing, either by the Privy Council or by the Bishops by their commandment. My meaning is, I would have you to do it yourself, which will with one word be brought to pass.... If you would set your hand to this precept with us, I think it would end these disorders within prescribed."[174]

MAY-DAY IN MANCHESTER.

In the now olden days of coaching, this was a great day in Manchester. The great coaching establishments, those of the royal mails, north, south, east, and west, and all the highflyers, &c., turned out all their spare vehicles and horses for a grand procession through the principal streets of the town. Many of the mail and other coaches were newly painted for the occasion; all the teams were provided with new harness and gearing; the coachmen and guards had new uniforms; Jehu wore a great cockade of ribbons, and a huge bouquet of flowers, and he handled the new ribbons with a dignity and grace peculiar to this almost defunct race. The guard, in bright scarlet uniform, blew on his Kent bugle some popular tune of the time; and the horses wore cockades and nosegays about their heads and ears; almost every coach on this occasion was drawn by four horses, their coats shining with an extra polish for May-day; and the cavalcade was really a pretty sight on a bright May-day morning. Second only to it in decorative splendour, and in horseflesh, was the display of lorries, wagons, drays, and carts, with their fine draught-horses. Then came the milk-carts, with their drivers in dresses covered with ribbons. These equine and asinine glories have passed away, extinguished by the rail.

QUEEN OF THE MAY, &c.

The custom of choosing a May King and Queen is now disused. May-games, and the May-pole, were kept up at the quiet little village of Downham when all other places in the neighbourhood had ceased to celebrate May-day. Nothing is now made of May-day, if we except the custom of carters dressing their horses' heads and tails with ribbons on that day.

WHITSUNTIDE.

The Feast of Pentecost, or Whitsuntide, was formerly kept as a high church festival, and by the people was celebrated by out-door sports and festivities, and especially by the drinking assemblies called "Whitsun-Ales." One writer (inquiring whether the custom of "lifting at Easter" is a memorial of Christ being raised up from the grave) observes that, "there seems to be a trace of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the heads of the Apostles, in what passes at Whitsuntide Fair, in some parts of Lancashire; where one person holds a stick over the head of another, whilst a third, unperceived, strikes the stick, and thus gives a smart blow to the first. But this probably is only local."[175] "Whit-week," as it is generally called, has gradually grown to be the great yearly holiday of the hundred of Salford, and the manufacturing district of which Manchester is the centre. This seems to have arisen from the yearly races at Manchester being held from the Wednesday to the Saturday inclusive, in that week. After the rise of Sunday-schools, their conductors, desiring to keep youth of both sexes from the demoralizing recreations of the racecourse, took them to fields in the neighbourhood and held anniversary celebrations, tea-parties, &c., in the schools. The extension of the railway system has led to "cheap trips" and "school excursion trains" during Whitsuntide; which are occasionally taken to Wales, the Lakes, and other great distances. Canal boats take large numbers of Sunday scholars to Dunham Park, Worsley, &c. Short excursions are made in carts, temporarily fitted with seats. It is customary for the cotton-mills, &c., to close for Whitsuntide week to give the hands a holiday; the men going to the races, &c., and the women visiting Manchester on Whit-Saturday, thronging the markets, the Royal Exchange, the Infirmary Esplanade, and other public places; and gazing in at the "shop windows," whence this day is usually called "Gaping Saturday." The collieries, too, are generally closed in Whit-week; and in some the underground horses are brought to the surface to have a week's daylight, the only time they enjoy it during the year. The mills, coalpits, &c., generally have the requisite repairs of machinery, &c., made during this yearly holiday--those at least which would necessitate the stoppage of the work at another time.

WHIT-TUESDAY.--KING AND QUEEN AT DOWNHAM.

The last rural queen chosen at Downham is still living in Burnley. The lot always fell to the prettiest girl in the village, and certainly it must be admitted that in this instance they exercised good judgment. A committee of young men made the selection; then an iron crown was procured and dressed with flowers. The king and queen were ornamented with flowers, a procession was then formed, headed by a fiddler. This proceeded from the Inn to the front of "Squire Assheton's," Downham Hall, and was composed of javelin men, and all the attendants of royalty. Chairs were brought out of the Hall for the king and queen, ale was handed round, and then a dance was performed on the lawn, the king and queen leading off. The procession next passed along through the village to the green, where seats were provided for a considerable company. Here again the dancing began, the king and queen dancing the first set. The afternoon was spent in the usual games, dances, &c. On the next night all the young persons met at the inn, on invitation from the king and queen--each paid a shilling towards the "Queen's Posset." A large posset was then made and handed round to the company. After this the evening was spent in dancing and merry-making.

ROGATIONS OR GANG DAYS.

These days are so named from the Litanies or Processions of the Church, before Holy Thursday or Ascension Day. It was a general custom in country parishes to "gang" or go round the boundaries and limits of the parish, on one of the three days before Holy Thursday, or the Feast of our Lord's Ascension; when the minister, accompanied by his churchwardens and parishioners, was wont to deprecate the vengeance of God, beg a blessing on the fruits of the earth, and preserve the rights and properties of the parish. In some parishes this perambulation took place on Ascension Day itself. In a parochial account-book, entitled "A Record of the Acts and Doings of the thirty men of the parish of Kirkham," Lancashire, is the following entry under the year 1665: "Spent on going perambulations on Ascension Day, 1_s._ 6_d._"

OATMEAL CHARITY AT INCE.

Under the name of Richardson's Charity, a distribution takes place annually on the Feast of the Ascension or Holy Thursday (ten days before Whit-Sunday) of _five loads of oatmeal_, each load weighing 240 lb. Three loads are given to the poor of the township of Ince, one to the poor of Abram, and the other to the poor of Hindley; adjacent townships, all in the parish of Wigan. The Charity Commissioners, in their twenty-first report, state that the meal is provided by Mr. Cowley, of Widnes, the owner of an estate in Ince, formerly the property of Edward Richardson, who, as the commissioners were informed, directed by his will that this distribution should be made for fifty years from the time of his death. The year 1784 was given as the date of this benefaction, in the Returns made to Parliament in 1786. Mr. Cowley has himself had the disposal of this charity. The charity would, according to this statement, legally cease in 1836.

NAMES FOR MOONS IN AUTUMN.

In Lancashire, as well as in the South of Scotland and the South of Ireland, the moon of September is commonly called "the harvest moon," that of October "the huntsman's moon."[176]

"GOOSE-INTENTOS."

In "An Universal Etymological English Dictionary," by N. Bailey, London, 1745, I read:--"Goose-intentos, a goose claimed by custom by the husbandmen in Lancashire, upon the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, when the old Church prayers ended thus: 'ac bonis operis jugiter præstat esse _intentos_.'" These words occur in the old Sarum books, in the Collect for the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost; in the present Liturgy, in that for the seventeenth Sunday after Trinity.[177]

Blount, in his _Glossographia_, says that "in Lancashire the husbandmen claim it as a due to have a goose-intentos on the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost: which custom takes its origin from the last word of the old Church prayer of that day:--'Tua nos Domine, quæ sumus, gratia semper et præveniat et sequatur; ac bonis operibus jugiter præstet esse _intentos_.' The vulgar people called it 'a goose with ten toes.'" Beckwith, in his new edition of Blount's _Fragmenta Antiquitatis_ (London, 4to, 1815, p. 413), after quoting this passage, remarks:--"But besides that the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, or after Trinity rather, being movable, and seldom falling upon Michaelmas Day, which is an immovable feast, the service for that day could very rarely be used at Michaelmas, there does not appear to be the most distant allusion to a goose in the words of that prayer. Probably no other reason can be given for this custom, but that Michaelmas Day was a great festival, and geese at that time most plentiful. In Denmark, where the harvest is later, every family has a roasted goose for supper on St. Martin's Eve [Nov. 10]." It must be borne in mind that the term _husbandman_ was formerly applied to persons of a somewhat higher position in life than an agricultural labourer, as for instance to the occupier and holder of the land. In ancient grants from landlords of manors to their free tenants, among other reserved rents, boons, and services, the landlord frequently laid claim to a good stubble goose at Michaelmas. After all, the connexion between the goose and the collect is not apparent.[178]

ALL SOULS' DAY.--NOV. 2.

So named, because in the Church of Rome prayers are offered on this day for "all the faithful deceased."

There is a singular custom still kept up at Great Marton, in the Fylde district, on this day. In some places it is called "soul-caking," but there it is named "psalm-caking,"--from their reciting psalms for which they receive cakes. The custom is changing its character also--for in place of collecting cakes from house to house, as in the old time, they now beg for money. The term "psalm" is evidently a corruption of the old word "sal," for soul; the mass or requiem for the dead was called "Sal-mas," as late as the reign of Henry VI.

GUNPOWDER PLOT AND GUY FAWKES.

The anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot of November 5, 1605, is still more or less kept in many parts of Lancashire, in towns by the effigy of Guy Fawkes being paraded about the streets, and burnt at night with great rejoicing; and by the discharge of small cannon, guns, pistols, &c., and of fireworks. In the country the more common celebration is confined to huge bonfires, and the firing of pistols and fireworks. In some places, especially about Blackburn, Burnley, and that district, as well as in villages about Eccles, Worsley, &c., it is customary for boys for some days before the 5th of November, to go round to their friends and neighbours to beg for coals. They generally take their stand before the door, and either say or sing some doggerel, to the following effect:--

"Remember, remember, The Fifth of November, The gunpowder treason and plot; A stick and a stake, For King George's sake, We hope it will ne'er be forgot."

CHRISTMAS.

In the olden time, before the Reformation, Christmas was the highest festival of the Church. In some rural parts of Lancashire it is now but little regarded, and many of its customs are observed a week later,--on the eve and day of the New Year. But still there linger in many places some relics of the old observances and festivities, as the carols, the frumenty on Christmas Eve, the mummers, with "old Ball," or the hobby-horse, and the decoration of churches and dwellings with boughs of evergreen shrubs and plants; in the centre of which is still to be found, in many country halls and kitchens, and in some also in the towns, that mystic bough of the mistletoe, beneath whose white berries, it is the custom and licence of the season to steal a kiss from fair maidens, and even from matrons "forty, fat, and fair."

CREATURES WORSHIPPING ON CHRISTMAS EVE.

I have been told in Lancashire, that at midnight on Christmas Eve the cows fall on their knees, and the bees hum the Hundredth Psalm. I am unwilling to destroy the poetry of these old superstitions; but their origin can, I think, be accounted for. Cows, it is well known, on rising from the ground, get up on their knees first; and a person going into the shippon at midnight would, no doubt, disturb the occupants, and by the time he looked around, they would all be rising on their knees. The buzzing of the bees, too, might easily be formed into a tune, and, with the Hundredth Psalm running in the head of the listener, fancy would supply the rest.[179]

CHRISTMAS MUMMING.

Mr. J. O. Halliwell, in his _Nursery Rhymes of England_, relates the following as a Christmas custom in Lancashire:--The boys dress themselves up with ribands, and perform various pantomimes, after which one of them, who has a blackened face, a rough skin coat, and a broom in his hand, sings as follows:--

Here come I, Little David Doubt; If you don't give me money, I'll sweep you all out. Money I want, Money I crave; If you don't give me money, I'll sweep you all to the grave.

THE HOBBY HORSE, OR OLD BALL.

In an old painted window at Betley, Staffordshire, exhibiting in twelve diamond-octagon panes, the mummers and morris-dancers of May-day, the centre pane below the May-pole represents the old hobby-horse, supposed to have once been the King of the May, though now a mere buffoon. The hobby (of this window) is a spirited horse of pasteboard, in which the master dances and displays tricks of legerdemain, &c. In the horse's mouth is stuck a ladle, ornamented with a ribbon; its use being to receive the spectators' pecuniary donations. In Lancashire the old custom seems to have so far changed, that it is the head of a dead horse that is carried about at Christmas, as described amongst the Easter customs. "Old Ball" bites everybody it can lay hold of, and holds its victims till they buy their release with a few pence.

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE.

The Rev. W. Thornber[180] describes the Christmas gambols and customs in the Fylde nearly a century ago, as having been kept up with great spirit. The midnight carols of the church-singers[181]--the penny laid on the hob by the fireside, the prize of him who came first to the outer door, to "let Christmas in,"--the regular round of visits--the treat of mince pies[182]--in turn engrossed their attention. Each farm-house and hut possessed a pack of cards, which were obtained as an alms from the rich, if poverty forbade the purchase. Night after night of Christmas was consumed in poring over these dirty and obscured cards. Nor were the youngsters excluded from a share in the amusements of this festal season. Early, long before dawn, on Christmas morning, young voices echoed through streets and lanes, in the words of the old song--

Get up old wives, And bake your pies, 'Tis Christmas-day in the morning; The bells shall ring, The birds shall sing, Tis Christmas-day in the morning.

Many an evening was beguiled with snap-dragon, bobbing for apples, jack-stone, blind-man's buff, forfeits, hot cockles, hunting the slipper, hide lose my supper, London Bridge, turning the trencher, and other games now little played. Fortune-telling by cards, &c., must not be omitted. In the bright frost and moonshine, out-door sports were eagerly pursued, guns were in great request, to shoot the shore-birds, and many found pleasure in "watching the fleet;" others played at foot-ball in the lanes or streets; or engaged in the games of prison-bars, tee-touch-wood, thread-my-needle, horse-shoe, leap-frog, black-thorn, cad, bandy, honey-pot, hop-scotch, hammer and block, bang about and shedding copies. Cymbling for larks[183] was a very common pastime; now it is scarcely known by name, and few have retained any of the implements or instruments requisite to practise the art. Tradesmen presented their customers with the Yule-loaf,[184] or two mould candles for the church, or some other Christmas-box. The churches and house-windows were decked with evergreens; a superstition derived probably from the Druids, who decked their temples and houses with evergreens in December, that the Sylvan Spirits might avoid the chilly frosts and storms of winter, by settling in their branches. For some weeks before Christmas, a band of young men called "Mutes," roused at early morn the slumbering to their devotions, or to activity in their domestic duties. The beggar at the door, craving an _awmas_ [? alms] or _saumas_ [soul-mass] cake, reminded the inmates that charity should be a characteristic of the season. The Eve of Christmas Day was named "Flesh Day," from the country people flocking to Poulton to buy beef, &c., sufficient to supply the needs of the coming year. On the morning of Christmas Day the usual breakfast was of black puddings, with jannock, &c.

CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS AT WYCOLLER HALL.

At Wycoller Hall, the family usually kept open house the twelve days at Christmas. The entertainment was [in] a large hall of curious ashlar work, [on] a long table, plenty of _frumenty_, like new milk, in a morning, made of husked wheat boiled, roasted beef, with a fat goose and a pudding, with plenty of good beer for dinner. A round-about fire-place, surrounded with stone benches, where the young folks sat and cracked nuts, and diverted themselves; and in this manner the sons and daughters got matching, without going much from home.[185]

CAROLS, &c.

"Carol" is supposed to be derived from _cantare_ to sing, and _rola_, an interjection of joy. Amongst our Christmas customs that of carol-singing prevails over a great part of Lancashire. It is the old custom of celebrating with song the birth of the Saviour, even as the angels are said to have sung "Glory to God in the highest," &c., at this great event. Almost every European nation has its carols. Our earliest Christian forefathers had theirs; one or two Anglo-Norman carols have been preserved, and some of every century from the thirteenth to the eighteenth. Numerous books containing carols have been printed (one by Wynkin de Worde), and it would occupy too much space to insert even the most popular of these carols here. A verse of one common to Lancashire and Yorkshire must suffice:--

God rest you all, merry gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay; Remember Christ our Saviour Was born on Christmas-day.

The town or the village waitts go about after midnight, waking many a sleeper with their homely music, which sounds all the sweeter for being heard in the stilly night. Various items of payment to the Manchester waitts occur in the Church Leet Books of that manor. A dance tune called "The Warrington Waitts" occurs in a printed Tune-Book of 1732. Hand-bell ringing, a favourite Lancashire diversion, is much practised about Christmas.

FOOTNOTES:

[143] Hermentrude, in _Notes and Queries_, 3rd ser., vol. ii. p. 484.

[144] Prestoniensis, in _Notes and Queries_, 2nd ser., vol. ii. p. 326.

[145] Hampson's _Medii Ævi Kalendarium_, vol. i. p. 98.

[146] Prestoniensis, in _Notes and Queries_, 2nd series, vol. iii. p. 50.

[147] Halliwell's _Archaic and Provincial Dictionary_.

[148] Pasquil's _Palinodia_.

[149] _Ploughman's Feasting Days_, stanza 3.

[150] _Pictorial History of Lancashire._

[151] See Rev. W. Thornber's _History of Blackpool_.

[152] See also, under BELLS, the Pancake Bell.

[153] _Notes and Queries_, 2nd ser., V.

[154] For the Simnel cakes of Shrewsbury, &c., see _Book of Days_, I. 336.

[155] Baines's _History of Lancashire_.

[156] _History of Manchester_, II. 265.

[157] Baines's _History of Lancashire_.

[158] H. T. Riley, in _Notes and Queries_, 2nd ser., ii. 320.

[159] _Pictorial History of Lancashire._

[160] Hone's _Every-Day Book_, ii. 450; Brand's _Popular Antiquities, &c._

[161] _Pictorial History of Lancashire._

[162] Baines's _History of Lancashire_.

[163] _Pictorial History of Lancashire._

[164] _History of Blackpool_, p. 92.

[165] _Browis_ or _brewis_ is broth or pottage; _frumenty_, is hulled wheat boiled in milk, and flavoured with cinnamon, sugar, allspice; and _jannocks_, oaten bread in large, coarse loaves; _throdkins_, a cake made of oatmeal and bacon.

[166] Rev. W. Thornber's _History of Blackpool_.

[167] Hone's _Every-Day Book_, ii. 597.

[168] For the words of these songs, see Harland's _Ballads and Songs of Lancashire_, p. 116; and for words and music, Chambers's _Book of Days_, i. 546.

[169] A. B., Liverpool, in _Notes and Queries_, v. 581.

[170] Baines's _History of Lancashire_.

[171] These boughs, says Mr. Thornber, in his _History of Blackpool_, were emblematical of the character of the maiden thus conspicuously distinguished; an elder-bough for a scold, one of ash for a swearer, &c.

[172] _Pictorial History of Lancashire._

[173] Dugdale's _Monast. Anglic._, vol. vi. p. 906.

[174] _Farington Papers_, p. 128.

[175] _Gent. Mag._, vol. liii., for July, 1783, p. 578.

[176] M. F., in _Notes and Queries_, 3rd series, ii. 397.

[177] Aquinas, in _Notes and Queries_, 3rd series, v., April 2., 1864.

[178] Ed. _Notes and Queries_.

[179] Wellbank, in _Notes and Queries_, 2nd series, viii. 242.

[180] See _History of Blackpool_.

[181] Here is the specimen of one sung from house to house during Christmas:--

We're nather cum to yare hase to beg nor to borrow, But we're cum to yare hase to drive away o sorrow; A suop o' drink, as yau may think, for we're varra droy, We'll tell yau what we're cum for--a piece o' Christmas poye.

[182] The mince-pie, made of a compound of Eastern productions, represented the offerings of the wise men who came from far to worship the Saviour, bringing spices. Its old English coffin-shape was in imitation of the manger in which the infant Jesus was laid.

[183] We have not been able to find any account of this mode of catching larks, at least, under the name here given.

[184] The baker formerly gave his customers a baby of paste; and in my own recollection a cake, decorated with the head of a lamb, named "the Ewe loaf," was the Christmas present of bakers at Poulton. On Christmas Eve the houses were illuminated with candles of an enormous size.--W. T.

[185] From a family MS. of the Cunliffes, quoted in Baines's _Lancashire_, iii. 244.

EATING AND DRINKING CUSTOMS.

In many instances of particular Church Festivals, and of popular celebrations, we have already enumerated various viands appropriated to special occasions, as the turkey to New Year's Day; the pancake to Shrove-Tuesday; the simnel, carlins, bragot, and fig-pie to Mid-Lent Sunday; the goose to Michaelmas; frumenty, mince-pies, &c., to Christmas. A few remain, however, for notice here:--Eccles cakes, Ormskirk gingerbread, Everton toffy, and other sweet cakes have "all seasons for their own." The two rival shops in Eccles, on opposite sides of Church-street, the one called "The genuine Eccles cake shop, from over the way," and the other "The real Eccles cake shop, never removed," so much puzzle the stranger and visitor, that purchases are often made at both in order to secure the real, genuine, original article.

THE HAVERCAKE LADS.

Formerly the bread eaten by the labouring classes in the parish of Rochdale and others in the east of Lancashire was oat-cake, which was also pretty generally in use in the west of Yorkshire. A regiment of soldiers raised in these two adjoining districts at the beginning of the last war took the name of the "Havercake Lads," assuming as their badge an oat cake [oats are called havers], which was placed (for the purpose of attracting recruits) on the point of the recruiting sergeant's sword. Oat bread is still eaten in various manufacturing and hilly districts of Lancashire, but not nearly so generally as half a century ago.[186]

WOODEN SHOES AND OATEN BREAD OR JANNOCKS.

Both these are said to have been introduced by the Flemish immigrant weavers about the year 1567. Their sabots, however, were made entirely of wood, lined with a little lamb's skin, to protect the top of the foot; while the _clogs_ of the present day have strong leather tops [often brass clasps] and thick wooden soles. The kind of bread introduced by the Flemings into Bolton and other manufacturing districts of Lancashire was made of oatmeal in the form of a loaf, and called _jannock_; but the gradual change in manners and improvement in social condition have almost banished this food, and wheaten-bread and oat-cakes have almost altogether taken its place.

In the _Shepherd's Play_, performed at Chester in 1577, in honour of the visit to that city of the Earl of Derby, the third Shepherd says:--

And brave ale of Halton I have, And what meat I had to my hire; A pudding may no man deprave, And a _jannock_ of Lancaster-shire.

Jannock is now used in Leigh more commonly than in most other parts of Lancashire. Warrington ale was no less celebrated than Halton ale, and a song in praise of the former is printed in Harland's _Lancashire Ballads_.[187]

PORK PASTIES.

In West Houghton, at the annual feast or wakes, there is a singular local custom of making large flat pasties of pork, which are eaten in great quantities on the Wakes Sunday, with a liberal accompaniment of ale; and people resort to the village from all places for miles round, on this Sunday, just as they rush into Bury on Mid-Lent or Mothering Sunday to eat simnels and drink bragot ale.

FOOTNOTES:

[186] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[187] P. 199.

BIRTH AND BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS.

Many of the customs attending child-bearing, churching, and christening are not peculiar to Lancashire, but common nearly all over England. The term "the lady in the straw," merely meant the lady confined to her bed, as all beds were anciently stuffed with straw. It was formerly the custom in Lancashire, as elsewhere, for the husband against the birth of the child to provide a large cheese and a cake. These were called "the groaning" cheese and cake; and throughout the north of England the first cut of the sick wife's cheese, or groaning cheese, is taken and laid under the pillows of young women to cause them to dream of their lovers. Amongst customs now obsolete was the giving a large entertainment at the churching. Now it is usually given at the christening.

PRESENTS TO WOMEN IN CHILDBED.

In a note on an entry of _Nicholls's Assheton's Journal_, Dr. Whitaker and its Editor, the Rev. Canon Raines, say that the custom of making presents to women in childbed, is yet called "prēsĕnting" in Craven. It is now quite obsolete in South Lancashire, although it continued to be observed to the middle of the eighteenth century. In a MS. journal of 1706 is an entry "John Leigh brought my wife a groaning-cake: gave him 6_d._" Other entries in the same journal show that money gifts ranged from 1_s._ 6_d._ to 5_s._ (the last being to the minister's wife); besides smaller gifts to maids and midwives, and bottles of wine, syrup of ginger, and other creature comforts to the person confined.

TEA-DRINKING AFTER CHILDBIRTH.

In some parts of North Lancashire it is customary to have a tea-drinking after the recovery from childbirth. All the neighbours and friends are invited--sometimes many more than can be comfortably accommodated--and both tea and rum are plentifully distributed. After tea, each visitor pays a shilling towards the expense of the birth feast; and the evening is spent in the usual gossip.

TURNING THE BED AFTER CHILDBIRTH.

An attendant was making a bed occupied by the mother of a child born a few days previously. When she attempted to turn it over, to give it a better shaking, the nurse energetically interfered, peremptorily forbidding her doing so till a month after the confinement, on the ground that it was decidedly unlucky; and said that she never allowed it to be done till then, on any account whatever.[188]

AN UNBAPTIZED CHILD CANNOT DIE.

The _Morning Herald_ of the 18th June, 1860, notices a case of attempted infanticide near Liverpool. The wretched mother, having gained access to a gentleman's grounds, laid her child on the ground and covered it with sods. The child was happily discovered and its life saved. The mother was apprehended and charged with having attempted to murder her child. She confessed that she was guilty, and added ["the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel"] that she had previously succeeded in getting the child baptized, as she believed it could not otherwise have died. This is a strange bit of folk-lore.[189]

GIFTS TO INFANTS.

It is a custom in some parts of Lancashire, as well as in Yorkshire, Northumberland, and other counties, that when an infant first goes out of the house, in the arms of the mother or the nurse, in some cases the first family visited, in others every neighbour receiving the call, presents to or for the infant an egg, some salt, some bread, and in some cases a small piece of money. These gifts are to ensure, as the gossips avow, that the child shall never want bread, meat, or salt to it, or money, throughout life. The old custom of sponsors giving the child twelve tea-spoons, called "Apostle Spoons," is now obsolete. The gift of a coral with bells, is supposed to have had its origin in a very ancient superstition. Coral, according to Pliny, was deemed an amulet against fascination; and it was thought to preserve and fasten the teeth. The coral-bells (especially if blest by the priest) would scare away evil spirits from the child.

CHANGELINGS.

There is even yet in some parts of Lancashire a strong dread of the fairies or witches coming secretly and exchanging their own ill-favoured imps, for the newly born infant; and various charms are used to prevent the child from being thus stolen away.

FOOTNOTES:

[188] A. B., Liverpool, in _Notes and Queries_, vi. 432.

[189] W. S. Simpson, in _Notes and Queries_, 2nd series, x. p. 184.

BETROTHING AND BRIDAL OR WEDDING CUSTOMS.

BETROTHING CUSTOMS.

The common custom of breaking a piece of silver or gold (if it be crooked, so much the luckier) between lovers of the humbler classes, especially when the man is going to a distance, is believed to have had its origin in a sort of betrothal or promise of marriage, much practised amongst the ancient Danes, called _Hand-festing_, which is mentioned by Ray in his Collection or Glossary of Northumbrian Words. It means hand-fastening or binding. In betrothal it was also the custom to change rings, formed of two links or hoops, called gemmel rings, from _gemelli_, twins.

CURIOUS WEDDING CUSTOM.

An ancient custom at weddings of the poorer classes in Lancashire, and in some parts of Cumberland, is thus described:--The Lord of the Manor, in whose jurisdiction the marriage takes place, allowed the parties a piece of ground for a house and garden. All their friends assembled on the wedding-day, and the bridegroom having provided a dinner and drink, they set to work and constructed a dwelling for the young couple, of clay and wood, what is called post and petrel, or wattle and daub. Many of these "clay biggins" still remain in the Fylde district and the northern parts of Lancashire. The relatives of the pair supplied the most necessary part of the furniture, and thus they were enabled to "start fair" in the world.[190]

COURTING AND WEDDING CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE.

On the occasion of a marriage, a christening, or a churching, each guest either sent or presented some offering of money or food; thus providing a sufficient stock of provisions for the entertainment without much, if any, cost to the host. The preliminaries before marriage, the addresses paid by the swain to his sweetheart after the day's labour was done, were styled "the sitting-up," the night being the time allotted to courtship, by the kitchen fire, after the other members of the family had retired to rest. This "sitting-up" was regularly observed every Saturday night if the lover was faithful; if otherwise, the price of the "lant" (?) of the forsaken fair was transmitted by her to the rival preferred by her inconstant swain. On the wedding-day, when a bride and her "groom" left the house to have the marriage rites solemnized, some relative or servant threw at or after the smiling pair a "shuffle" (_Pantoufle_, an old shoe or slipper)--a custom in its origin said to be Jewish--as a preventive of future unhappiness, an omen of good-luck and prosperity. At the church-door an idle crowd was always ready for the "perry,"--that is, to contest for the dole of scattered half-pence, or if disappointed, to deprive the bride of her shawl or shoes, till some largess was bestowed. The day was spent in the company of a merry party of friends, who, after the ceremony of "throwing the stocking" over the bed of the wedded pair was performed, retired to their homes.[191]

ANCIENT BRIDAL CUSTOM.--THE BRIDE'S CHAIR AND THE FAIRY HOLE.

On the lower declivity of Warton Crag, in the parish of Warton (which abuts on Morecambe Bay and the Westmorland border), commanding a beautiful and extended prospect of the bay, a seat called "The Bride's Chair" was resorted to on the day of marriage by the brides of the village; and in this seat they were enthroned with due solemnity by their friends; but the origin and the object of the custom, which has now fallen in disuse, are unknown. Not far from Warton Crag are three rocking-stones placed in a line, about forty feet asunder, the largest stone lying in the middle. A cave is also mentioned by Lucas, named "The Fairy Hole," where dwarf spirits called Elves or Fairies, were wont to resort.[192]

BURNLEY.

An ancient custom prevails at Burnley Grammar School, by which all persons married at St. Peter's Church in that town are fined by the boys. As soon as a wedding is fixed the parish clerk informs the boys, and on the day appointed they depute two of their number to wait upon the groomsman and demand a fee. There is no fixed sum named; but enough is got to purchase books and maintain a tolerable library for the use of the pupils. Former pupils always pay a liberal fine.

MARRIAGES AT MANCHESTER PARISH CHURCH.

"Th'owd Church," as the collegiate church of Manchester was provincially designated before it attained the dignity of a cathedral, was known and celebrated far and wide over the extensive parish. Its altar has witnessed the joining together of thousands of happy [and unhappy] couples. The fees here being less than those demanded at other churches, which had to pay tribute to it, it was of course the most popular sanctuary in the whole parish for the solemnization of matrimony. At the expiration of Lent (during which the marriage fees are doubled) crowds of candidates for nuptial honours present themselves; indeed so numerous are they that the ceremony is performed by wholesale on Easter Monday. A chaplain of facetious memory [the Rev. Joshua Brookes] is said to have on one of these occasions accidentally united the wrong parties. When the occurrence was represented to him, his ready reply was, "Pair as you go out; you're all married; pair as you go out." This verbal certificate appeared to give general satisfaction, and each bridegroom soon found his right bride. Sir George Head, in his _Home Tour through the Manufacturing Districts, in the summer of 1835_, thus describes what he saw of these wholesale Monday marriages:--"I attended the Old Church at Manchester one Monday morning, in order to witness the solemnization of several marriages, which I had reason to suppose were then and there to take place. I had heard on the preceding Sunday the banns proclaimed as follows:--'For the first time of asking, 65; for the second time, 72; for the third time, 60. Total, 197.' Having been informed that it would be expedient to be on the spot at eight in the morning I repaired thither at that hour. Operations, however, did not commence before ten. The latter is the usual time of proceeding to business, although in cases of persons married by licence 8 o'clock is the hour. When all was ready and the church doors opened, the clergyman and clerk betook themselves to the vestry; and the people who were about to be married, and their friends, seated themselves in the body of the church opposite the communion table, on benches which were placed there for the purpose. Not less than fifty persons were assembled, among whom I took my seat quietly, without being noticed. A party who had arrived in a narrow _vis à vis_ fly, most exclusively paraded in the meantime up and down (as if unwilling to identify themselves with the humbler candidates of matrimony) in another part of the church. The people at first took their seats in solemn silence, each one inquisitively surveying his neighbour; but as the clergyman and clerk were some time in preparation, the men first began to whisper one to another and the women to titter, till by degrees they all threw off their reserve, and made audible remarks on the new comers. There was little _mauvaise honte_ among the women, but of the men, poor fellows! some were seriously abashed; while among the hymeneal throng there seemed to prevail a sentiment that obtains pretty generally among their betters, namely, inclination to put shy people out of conceit with themselves. Thus, at the advance of a sheepish-looking bridegroom, he was immediately assailed on all sides with 'Come in, man; what art thou afraid of? Nobody 'll hurt thee!' And then a general laugh went round in a repressed tone, but quite sufficient to confound and subdue the new comer. Presently a sudden buzz broke out, 'The clergyman's coming;' and all was perfectly silent. About twelve couples were to be married; the rest were friends and attendants. The former were called upon to arrange themselves all together around the altar. The clerk was an adept in his business, and performed the duties of his office in a mode admirably calculated to set the people at their ease and direct the proceedings. In appointing them to their proper places, he addressed each in an intonation of voice perfectly soft and soothing, and which carried with it more of encouragement as he made use of no appellative but the Christian name of the person spoken to. Thus he proceeded:--'Daniel and Phœbe; this way, Daniel, take off your gloves, Daniel. William and Anne; no, Anne; here, Anne; t'other side, William. John and Mary; here, John; oh! John.' And then addressing them all together, 'Now, all of you give your hats to some person to hold.' Although the marriage service appeared to me (adds Sir George) to be generally addressed to the whole party, the clergyman was scrupulously exact in obtaining the accurate responses from each individual."

* * * * *

Many wedding customs, as the bridesmaids and best men, the wedding-ring, the nuptial kiss in the church, the bouquet borne in the hand of the bride, &c., the scattering of flowers in her path, the throwing of an old shoe after her for luck, the giving gloves, &c., are of ancient origin, and are the relics of Anglo-Saxon or Danish usages.

FOOTNOTES:

[190] Hampson's _Medii Ævi Kalend._ i. 289.

[191] See Rev. W. Thornber's _History of Blackpool_.

[192] Baines's _History of Lancashire_.

DYING, DEATH-BED, AND FUNERAL CUSTOMS.

DYING HARDLY.

Persons are said to "die hardly," as the phrase is, meaning to be unable to expire, when there are pigeons' feathers in the bed. Some will not allow dying persons to lie on a feather-bed, because they hold that it very much increases their pain and suffering, and actually retards their departure. On the other hand, there is a superstitious feeling that it is a great misfortune, nay, even a _judgment_, not to die in a bed.

BURYING IN WOOLLEN.

By a statute of 30 Car. II., stat. I, cap. 3 (1678), entitled "An act for the lessening the importation of linen from beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper manufactures of the kingdom," it is enacted that the curate of every parish shall keep a register, to be provided at the charge of the parish, wherein to enter all burials and affidavits of persons being buried in woollen; the affidavit to be taken by any justice of the peace, mayor, or such like chief officer, in the parish where the body was interred; and if there be no officer, then by any curate within the city where the corpse was buried (except him in whose parish the corpse was buried), who must administer the oath and set his hand gratis. No affidavit to be necessary for a person dying of the plague. It imposes a fine of £5 for every infringement; one half to go to the informer, and the other half to the poor of the parish. This act was repealed by the 54 Geo. III. cap. 108 (1814). In the parish of Prestwich, the first entry in the book provided for such purposes was in August, 1678; and there is no entry later than 1681, which appears also to be the limit of the act's observance in the adjacent parish of Radcliffe; where the entries immediately follow the record of the burial itself in the registers, and not in a separate book as at Prestwich. Under the year 1679, is the following entry in the parish register of Radcliffe:--

"An orphan of Ralph Mather's, of Radcliffe, was buried the 9th day of April, and certified to be wound up in woollen only, under the hand of Mr. William Hulme."

In the churchwardens' accounts of Prestwich, for the year 1681, is the following item of receipt:--

"Received a fine of James Crompton, for burying his son, and not bringing in an affidavit, according to the act for burying in woollen, £2 10_s._"[193]

FUNERAL DOLE AND ARVAL CAKE.

In Lancashire, the funeral was formerly celebrated with great profusion in meats and drinks, to which was added in those of the richer sort, what was called a penny dole, or promiscuous distribution of that sum, anciently delivered in silver to the poor. The effect of this custom, says Lucas (as quoted by Dr. Whitaker[194]) was such, that he had seen many "who would rather go seven or eight miles to a penny dole, than earn sixpence in the same time by laudable industry." This custom of distributing a small money alms or dole at funerals still existed in parts of Lancashire within the last fifty years. One sexagenarian informant told the writer that, when a lad, he went to the funeral of a Mr. D., in the hamlet of Swinton, parish of Eccles, and there was what he called "a _dow_, gi'en to every lad and every wench [boy or girl] as went, far and near,--a penny a-piece; and them as carrit a choilt [carried a child] had tuppence." Usually at country funerals, after the interment, the relations first, and next their attendants, threw into the grave sprigs of bay, rosemary, or other odoriferous evergreens, which had been previously distributed amongst them. In some cases, a messenger went round the neighbourhood, "bidding" parties to the funeral, and at each house where he gave the invitation, he left a sprig of rosemary, &c. After the rites at the grave, the company adjourned to a neighbouring public-house, where they were severally presented with a cake and ale, which was called an _arval_. This word seems to have greatly puzzled Dr. Whitaker. It is the Sueo-Gothic _arföl_, which is a compound of _arf_, inheritance, and _öl_, ale,--expressive of a feast given by the heir, at the funeral, on succeeding to the estate. The feast and its name were imparted to us by the Danes, whose _arfwöl_ is described by Olaus Wormius as a solemn banquet, celebrated by kings and nobles, in honour of deceased relations, whom they are succeeding.

DALTON-IN-FURNESS.

The most singular mode of conducting funerals prevails at this place. A full meal of bread and cheese and ale is provided at the funeral house; and, after the corpse is interred the parish clerk proclaims, at the grave-side, that the company must repair to some appointed public-house. Arrived there, they sit down by fours together, and each four is served with two quarts of ale.[195] One half of this is paid for by the conductor of the funeral, and the other half by the company. While they are drinking the ale, the waiter goes round with cakes, serving out one to each guest, which he is expected to carry home.[196]

OLD FUNERAL CUSTOMS AT WARTON.

A singular practice, which was growing obsolete in the time of Lucas (says Dr. Whitaker) once prevailed in the parish of Warton; which was, that most householders were furnished with a kind of family pall, or finely wrought coverlet, to be laid over the bier when the corpse was carried to church. Amongst other funeral customs at Warton, were the great feasting and drinking; the funeral dole, distributed to the poor; the casting of odoriferous herbs into the grave; and the cake and _arval_-ale, already described, pp. 270, 271, _suprâ_.[197]

FUNERAL CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE.

When the last offices of respect to a departed friend or neighbour were to be rendered, a whole district, called "their side" of the country, was "bidden" or invited to assist in carrying the remains to their narrow home. At a stated hour the crowd assembled, not to mourn with widowed wife or weeping children, but to consume ale and tobacco, and to talk over their farms or trade till all was in readiness to depart for the completion of the obsequies. A particular order was observed. From the door of his former home, and into, and out of, the church, the corpse was carried on the shoulders of four of his relatives--his nearest kinsman, the chief mourner, walking in front with the clergyman. At the close of the ceremony, after the sprigs of box or rosemary had been deposited on the coffin, each person also adding a sprinkling of dust, the rough voice of the parish clerk was heard grating harshly in that solemn moment, inviting the "bidden" to show further their respect to the deceased by partaking of a dinner provided at the village inn. How the day terminated may be supposed, and indeed was a matter of sad notoriety. Indeed, it was not very unusual to see those who were to convey the dead to the sepulchre, tottering from intoxication under their sad burden. The best features of these old-time funerals were that doles in money were distributed to the aged and the very young; the poor were fed, and sometimes warm cloaks or other useful articles of attire were given, to be worn in memory of the departed.[198] Fifty-five years ago, says Mr. Thornber, writing in 1837, the more respectable portion of the inhabitants of Poulton were buried by candle-light--a custom long observed by some of the oldest families in the town. It was regarded as a sacred duty to expose a lighted candle in the window of every house as the corpse passed through the streets towards the church for interment; and he was poor indeed who did not pay this tribute of respect to the dead. So late as 1813 this church was strewed with rushes.

MODE OF BURIAL OF A WIDOW WHO HAD TAKEN RELIGIOUS VOWS.

A daughter of William Balderstone, of Balderstone, in her widowhood, makes a will of which the following is the commencement:--"Seventh day of January, 1497. I, Dame Jane Pilkington, widow, make and ordain this my last will and testament: First, I bequeath my bodye to be buried in y^e Nunnes Quire of Monketon, in my habit, holding my hand upon my breast, with my ring upon my finger, having taken in my resolves the mantel and the ring," &c.[199]

FUNERAL CUSTOMS IN EAST LANCASHIRE.

In _Nicholas Assheton's Journal_, he mentions that the corpse of a Mrs. Starkie was carried to church by four relatives; there was a sermon, and afterwards dinner, forty messes being provided for. On this, Dr. Whitaker remarks:--"An ancient usage. The nearest relations always took up the corpse at the door; and once more, if the distance was considerable, at the church gates. By forty messes, I suppose are to be understood so many dishes of meat." The editor (the Rev. Canon Raines) adds:--"This custom, which appears to be quite patriarchal, is still prevalent in some of the country parishes in South Lancashire. The custom of preaching funeral sermons on the day of the burial is now exploded, although so recently as 1776 the vicar of one of the largest parishes in Lancashire (Rev. John White, B.A., of Blackburn), objected to the building of a church in his parish unless he had 'some compensation made for the funeral sermons to be preached in it.'[200] I should rather understand the forty messes to be dinners provided for forty persons, although funerals in Lancashire at this period were conducted on a scale of prodigality scarcely to be conceived." [_The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths_ give examples of three burial customs--that of a dole to the poor; at one place 40_s._ 7_d._, at another 57_s._ 4_d._, at a third 47_s._ 8_d._ (?) a penny to each person; that of payment to the clergyman for a funeral sermon, in one case 5_s._; and that of providing dinners for the mourners, chiefly for those from a distance, in one case twenty-four messes of meat cost 58_s._ 8_d._; in another instance seventy dined at 6_d._ the mess or meal, seventy-six and sixty-five at 5_d._; in all 211 persons attending one funeral.--EDS.]

BIDDING TO FUNERALS.

Previously to the formation of cemeteries, and the employment of omnibus-hearses, it was customary to invite large numbers to attend funerals. Guests were invited by _dozens_; and as each entered the house where the deceased lay, he was met at the door by a female attendant habited in black, and wearing a white apron, who offered him spiced liquor from a silver tankard. In the house each person was presented with a bun and a slice of currant bread. When the time for closing up the coffin arrived, each took his last look at the corpse and presented a shilling, or more, to the nearest relative of the deceased; who always sat at the head of the coffin for this purpose. In the neighbourhoods of Little Hulton, Peel Yate, Walkden Moor, &c., it was till of late years the custom for two persons to be nominated as "bidders" of guests to a funeral. These went to the various houses of the persons to be invited, and presented to each a sprig of rosemary; which the guest wore or carried in the hand at the funeral. This inviting or "bidding" was usually called "lating" or "lathing;" from the A.-S. verb _Lathian_, to invite, bid, or send for.

SITUATION AND DIRECTION OF GRAVES.

As churches are built to stand about East and West, the greatest spaces in the churchyard are the North and South sides of the church. Throughout Lancashire and the North of England there is a universal superstition that the south side of the church is the holiest or most consecrated ground, and it may be observed that that side of the graveyard is generally crowded with grave-stones, or green hillocks of turf, while the north side has but few. This is an old superstition, which held that the north side of the church was really unhallowed ground, fit only to be the last resting place of still-born infants and suicides. Then almost all graves are ranged east and west; and in a rare tract of the Marprelate series, called "_Martin's Month's Mind_" (1589) it is stated that "he would not be laid east and west (for he ever went against the hair), but north and south: I think because 'Ab aquilone omne malum' (from the north comes all evil), and the south wind ever brings corruption with it." The celebrated antiquary Thomas Hearne, left orders for his grave to be made straight by a compass, due east and west. Sir Thomas Browne[201] observes that "the Persians were buried lying north and south; the Megarians and Phœnicians placed their heads to the east; the Athenians, some think, towards the west, which Christians still retain; and Bede will have it to be the posture of our Saviour." One "Article of Inquiry" in a visitation of the Bishop of Ely in 1662, was--"When graves are digged, are they made six feet deep (at the least), and east and west?"

FOOTNOTES:

[193] Rev. John Booker, Prestwich, in _Notes and Queries_, v. 543.

[194] _Richmondshire_, ii. 298.

[195] In many instances, in social feasts, four persons were regarded as a "mess."

[196] The Rev. Mr. Hodgson's _Description of Westmorland_.

[197] Baines's _History of Lancashire_.

[198] Rev. W. Thornber's _History of Blackpool_.

[199] Dr. Whitaker's _Whalley_, addenda.

[200] _Lancashire MSS.--Letters._

[201] In his _Urn Burial_.

CUSTOMS OF MANORS.

This subject would require extensive notice, if the materials requisite for its elucidation were more numerous and accessible. All prescriptive customs of manors have existed beyond what is termed "legal memory"--_i.e._, from the reign of Richard I. (1189-1199). Many others, relating to the military and other free tenures of the chief tenants of manors, and to the socage and inferior or servile tenures, with the boons of the cottagers, &c., and the various services attached to these different tenures, would make a very curious piece of history of customs and usages; but these are usually recorded only in private grants, charters, and other deeds, or in copy-rolls and other records of manors, not generally accessible. The following are some examples:--

THE HONOUR OF KNIGHTHOOD.

In the early ages of our history, the honour of knighthood, with the military services to which it was incident under the feudal system, was often forced upon the subject. In the year 1278, a writ to the Sheriff of Lancashire commanded him to distrain upon all persons seised of land of the value of £20 yearly, whether held of the King _in capite_, or of any other lords who ought to be knights and were not; and all such were ordered forthwith to take out their patent of knighthood. Fourteen years after this, a writ was issued, wherein the qualification was raised to double the amount; and a writ, dated 6th February, 1292, was issued to the Sheriff of Lancashire (with others), proclaiming that all persons holding lands in fee, or of inheritance, of the value of £40 per annum, must take the order of knighthood before Christmas in that year. The crown might relax or vary these services: hence a writ to the Sheriff of Lancashire recites "that the commonalty of England, having performed good services against the Welsh, the king excuses persons not holding lands of the value of £100 yearly from taking the order of knighthood;" but all holding above that amount, and not taking the order before the Nativity of the Virgin (Sept. 8), were to be distrained upon. Subsequently, injunctions were addressed to the Sheriff, commanding him to make extents of the lands of those refusing to take the order of knighthood, and to hold them for the king until further orders. Another writ to the Sheriff of Lancashire, of 6th April, 1305, directs him to proclaim that all who should become knights, and are not, must repair to London before the following Whit Sunday to receive that distinction, if properly qualified.[202]

MARITAGIUM.

On the marriage of the Princess Alianora (sister of Edward III.) with the Earl of Guelders, an order was issued to the abbot of Furness, and to the priors of Burscough, Up-Holland, and Hornby, as well as to the abbot of Whalley, and to the priors of Cartmell and Coningshead, requesting them to levy the subsidy on their respective houses, towards the _Maritagium_, an impost of early times, which ceased with the feudal system.[203] This order the priests were slow to obey, in consequence of which another letter was issued by the king from Pontefract, reminding them of their neglect, and ordering them to communicate their intention to the proper authority. No further documents appear on the subject; and it may be presumed that this second application produced the desired effect.[204]

PECULIAR SERVICES AND TENURES.

The following are entries in the "Testa de Nevill," a book supposed to have been compiled towards the close of the reign of Edward II. or the beginning of that of Edward III., and consequently to exhibit the services and tenures existing about the beginning of the 12th century:--Thomas and Alicia de Gersingham, by keeping the king's [John's] hawks in Lonsdale, till they became strong, when they were to be committed to the Sheriff of Lancashire. Luke Pierpoint, by keeping an aëry; Adam de Hemelesdale, by constabulary at Crosby. Quenilda de Kirkdale, by conducting royal treasure. Richard Fitz Ralph, by constabulary at Singleton. John de Oxeclive, by being carpenter at Lancaster Castle. Adam Fitz Gilmighel, by being the king's carpenter. Roger the carpenter, by being carpenter in Lancaster Castle. Ralph Barun or Babrun, by being mason in Lancaster Castle. Walter, son of Walter Smith, by forging iron instruments. Roger Gernet, by being chief forester. William Gernet, by the service of meeting the king on the borders of the city, with his horse and white rod, and conducting him into and out of the city. William and Benedict de Gersingham, by the sergeantry of keeping the king's aëries of hawks. Gilbert Fitz Orm, by paying yearly 3_d._ or some spurs to Benedict Gernet, the heir of Roger de Heton, in thanage. Roger de Leycester, by paying 8_s._ and two arrows yearly. A great number of persons in thanage: others in drengage. John de Thoroldesholme, by larderery; Roger de Skerton, by provostry. Roger Fitz John, by making irons for the king's ploughs. Others, by gardenry, and by masonry, or the service of finding pot-herbs and leeks for Lancaster castle, smith's work, and carpentry; the burgesses of Lancaster, by free-burgage and by royal charter. Peter de Mundevill, by service of one brachet [a sort of hound] of one colour. The prior of Wingal, by he knows not what service. Lady Hillaria Trussebut, by no service, and she knows not by what warrant. Henry de Waleton, by being head sergeant or bailiff of the Hundred of Derbyshire [_i.e._, West Derby]. Galfridus Balistarius [Geoffrey Balistur] by presenting two cross-bows to the king. William Fitz William, by presenting one brachet, one _velosa_ [? a piece of velvet] and two _lintheamina_ [pieces of linen cloth]. Roger Fitz Vivian holds the sergeantry of Heysham, by blowing the horn before the king at his entrance into and exit from the city of Lancaster. Thomas Gernet, in Heysham, by sounding the horn on meeting the king on his arrival in those parts. William Gresle, by presenting a bow without string, a quiver, 12 arrows, and a _buzon_ [? possibly a quiver or arrow-case]. William Fitz Waukelin, by presenting one soar-hawk. Hervi Gorge, by presenting one plough, one _linthola_ [piece of linen cloth], one _velosa_ [piece of velvet], and one _auricular_ [? a veil for the confessional]. Roger and Hugh de Auberville, by keeping one hawk. Several religious houses held in pure and free and perpetual alms, or what the Normans styled "Frank-almoigne." A large number of persons held by donation, in consideration of yearly rents, and some of these were nominal, as "a pepper-corn, if demanded," "a clove," "a red rose on St. John the Baptist's Day" (24th June), "a pair of white gloves or a peny," a "Manchester knife," &c.

SMITHELLS.--The mesne manor of Smithells in Sharples, near Bolton, is dependent upon the superior manor of Sharples, the lord of which claims from the owner of Smithells a pair of gilt spurs annually; and, by a very singular and inconvenient custom, the unlimited use of the cellars at Smithells Hall for a week in every year.[205]

It does not appear, however, that the lord of Smithells was bound to the quantity or to the quality of the liquors with which his cellars were at that time to be stored. This feudal claim seems now nearly abandoned, as it has not been enforced within the present century.[206]

MANOR OF COCKERHAM.--REGULATIONS FOR THE SALE OF ALE.

The customs' dues of this manor appear to have been originally ordained by Brother William Geryn, cellarer of the Abbey of Cokersand, in 1326, and were confirmed by John the Abbot in 1st Richard III. (1483-4). The confirmation is in the English of the period; and among other curious ordinances, contains the following regulation as to the price, &c., of ale (the spelling is modernised):--"There shall no brewer let no tenant for to have ale for their silver out of their house, and such [may] have four gallons within their house, so that they bring a vessel with them. Ye shall not sell a gallon of ale above a halfpenny when ye may buy a quarter of good oats for 2_d._ Ye shall give ale-founders [manorial officers also called ale-tasters] a founding-gallon, or else a taste of each vessel, and your charge, on pain [penalty] of grievous amerciaments."[207]

MANORIAL CUSTOMS IN FURNESS.

KIRKBY IRELETH.--In this manor the widow is entitled during her widowhood to the moiety of the estate whereof her husband died seised; but forfeits her right thereto upon re-marriage or breach of chastity. Every tenant, upon being admitted to a tenement, pays to the lord of the manor 20 years' quit-rent for a fine. Every entire tenement was formerly obliged to keep one horse and harness, for the king's service, on the borders or elsewhere. These were called "summer [? sumpter] nags," of which 30 were kept in Kirkby. The tenant was also to furnish a boon plough and a boon-harrow, that is, a day's ploughing and harrowing; and no one is to let his land for any time exceeding 7 years, without licence. Tenements in this manor are forfeited to the lord by treason or felony. A tenant convicted of wilful perjury forfeits to the lord 20 years' rent, and for petty larceny, 10 years' rent.

PENNINGTON.--Pennington is the smallest parish in the county, and contains fewer streams than any other parish in North Lonsdale. Some feudal customs, obsolete in most places, are still observed in the manor of Pennington. A tenant on admission pays a fine of 16 years' quit-rent. On the death of the lord and on every change of the lord by descent, the tenant pays a further fine of 6 years' quit-rent; and a running-fine, town-term, or _gressom_, is payable every 7th year. The heir, where there is a widow, pays a heriot. Every tenant must plant two trees of the same kind for every one that he fells. Formerly every tenant was obliged to carry a horse-load once a year to Manchester and half a horse-load to Lancaster. In 1318 a dispute between the Pennington family and the Abbot of Furness, as to boon services, was thus decided:--"That the manor of Pennington was held by the service of 30_s._, and of finding yearly, for one day in autumn, a man and woman, sufficient to mow at the Grange of Lindale, for every house with a court-yard except Sir William de Pennington's capital messuage; the convent to find the daily refreshment of each mower while employed, according to ancient custom; and Sir William granting that all the tenants of the manor, who had or might have ploughs, should plough half an acre of the Abbot's Grange at Lindale."[208]

MUCHLAND.--Immediately after the Conquest Aldingham was granted to Michael Flandrensis or le Fleming, and his land was called Michael's land, to distinguish it from that of the abbey of Furness; spelled often Mychel-land and Mychelande, till it got corrupted into Muchland. In the manor of Muchland, the tenant on being admitted to his tenement pays to the lord of the manor two years' rent over and above the usual annual rent. Every tenant paying 40_s._ rent was formerly obliged to find a horse and harness for the King's service, on the borders or elsewhere. Every tenant who paid 20_s._ a year rent, was to furnish a man harnessed for the King's service. Every old tenant paid a _gressom_ of one year's rent on the death of the lord, and every new tenant pays two years' rent to the next heir. The widow has one-third of the tenement during her chaste widowhood. If a tenement is not presented within a year and a day after the death of the tenant, or if it be sold, set, or let without paying the fine, or _gressom_, for a year and a day, then the lord, if there be not good distress upon the grounds, may seize such tenement into his hands as a forfeiture, &c.

LOWICK.--Here the customs are much the same as in Kirkby Ireleth, except as to forfeitures. The running _gressom_, or town term, is a year's rent every seventh year, paid to the lord. There are four house-lookers annually appointed for reviewing and assigning timber for necessary repairs.

NEVIL HALL.--The admittance fine is two years' rent, over and above the accustomed yearly rent. The heriot, on the change of lord, is half a year's rent. The running _gressom_, or town-term, is half a year's rent every seventh year. Every tenant paying 20_s._ rent was formerly to keep a horse harnessed in readiness for the King's service. The widow in this manor, if the first wife, to have half the tenement; but if she be a latter wife, then only one-third the tenement. A tenant may, whenever he pleases, give his tenement to any of his sons; and in default of sons to any of his daughters, as he thinks fit. A tenant may let, or mortgage, any tenement or part of it for a year, without a licence; and may sell his whole tenant-right, or any part of it, with licence from the lord. The rents mentioned above are old and immutable rents.[209]

MUCH-URSWICK.--These customs include a fine of 20_d._ to the lord of the manor on every change of tenancy, or on the death of the lord; except one large house, which paying 4_s._ rent, paid a fine of five times the lord's rent, or 5_d._ on the death of the lord, or a change of tenancy. The tenant's widow had half the estate during chaste widowhood. The tenants were obliged to carry a single horse-load, anciently fish, once a year to Mowbreck Hall, near Kirkham; but this service was commuted for a small rent called carriage rent. Tenements in this manor, on treason or felony by the tenant are forfeited to the lord. A tenant convicted of wilful perjury, forfeits to the lord twenty years' rent, and for petty larceny, ten years' rent.[210]

THE ROYAL MANOR OF WARTON.--These customs are similar in many respects to those of the duchy manors in Furness. In the reign of Elizabeth a commission of survey, and a jury of twenty-four, from the neighbouring manors, made a return of the customs, which were confirmed by the Court of Exchequer. These manorial bye-laws are applicable to customary tenants, and relate to the subjects of heirships, performance of suit and service, the powers of the steward, the enrolling of tenants, the payment of rents, amounts of fines, &c. A fine of two years' rent is to be imposed on changes of tenantry; all tenants paying above 20_s._ rent were required to maintain a horse and man with armour, tenants paying under 20_s._ being commanded to serve in person: these services to be strictly and fully executed in cases of need. Each tenant is directed to repair his own homestead. In case of the death of a married tenant, one-half of the tenement is assigned to the widow, to be held during her chaste widowhood, and the other half to the heir or heirs. The crime of fornication to be punished with forfeiture. Tenants not to set, let, or mortgage for above three years without licence; not to encroach on the common without permission. The manor court to have jurisdiction in cases of tithe and tenant right; the tenants to be at liberty to take ash wood. The tenants are not to be abated in their rents for any loss they may suffer in their several proportions of turbary, marsh and common. These manorial regulations are now but seldom enforced, and the Court Baron of Warton assembles only on rare occasions, not uncommonly after intervals of years.[211]

FEUDAL PRIVILEGES OF THE HONOUR AND MANOR OF HORNBY.--These ancient privileges comprised free warren, subject to a fine of 10_l._ on encroachments on the King's forests; right of market and fair at Arkholme and at Hornby; court of view of frank-pledge; sheriff's turn; free court of all pleas; assize of bread; soc, sac, tol, and them; infangetheof and utfangetheof; hamsocn; leyrwite; murder; acquittance of shires and hundreds, lestage [or lastage], aids of sheriffs and their bailiffs, and amercements; wardships, and works and enclosures of castles, parks, and bridges; and of passage, frontage, stallage, toll, paiage, and money given for murder; and right to pontage, stallage, hidage, and pickage. All these feudal customs were confirmed in the 12th Charles I. (1636) to Henry Parker, Lord Morley and Monteagle.[212]

A number of the above terms require explanation. "Money given for murder," implied the fines levied on a district in which a murder had been committed, and the criminal not discovered; "the privilege of murder" was the power to levy such fines; thus the town or hundred which suffered an Englishman, who had killed a Dane there to escape, was to be amerced sixty-six marks [44_l._] to the King. _Hamsocn_, is the privilege or liberty of a man's own house, its violation is burglary. _Leyr_ or _lecher wite_, is the privilege of punishing adultery and fornication. Passage is a toll for passing over water, as at a ford or ferry; pontage is bridge toll; stallage, a toll for stalls in a market; paiage or pavage, is a paving toll. _Sac_, the right of a lord to hold pleas in his court, in causes of trespass among his tenants; _soc_, the right to administer justice and execute laws; _toll_, the right to levy tolls on tenants; _them_, the right to hear, restrain, and judge bondmen and villeins, with their children, goods and chattels, &c. _Infangetheof_, the lord's privilege to judge any thief taken within his fee. _Outfangtheof_, the right of the lord to call men dwelling within his manor, and taken for felony outside his fee, to judgment in the lord's own court.

THE LORD'S YULE FEAST AT ASHTON.

Among the customs of the Manor of Ashton-under-Lyne, as described by the late Dr. Hibbert-Ware, was the making of so-called "presents" by the tenants-at-will to the lord of the manor, for the sake of partaking in the annual feast at the great hall. In the rental of Sir John de Assheton, made in November 1422, these presents are claimed as an obligatory service from the tenants-at-will, in the following terms:--"That they shall give their presents at Yole [Christmas]; every present to such a value as is written and set in the rental; and the lord shall feed all his said tenants, and their wifes, upon Yole-day at the dinner, if they like for to come; but the said tenants and their wifes, though it be for their ease not to come, they shall send neither man nor woman in their name,--but if [unless] they be their son or their daughter dwelling with them,--unto the dinner; for the lord is not bounden to feed them all, only the good man and the good wife." In some manor-houses of Lancashire, once dedicated to these annual scenes of festivity, may be observed an elevation of the floor [or _daïs_] at the extremity of the great hall, or, in the place of it, a gallery which stretches along one side of the room [many halls have both _daïs_ and gallery] to accommodate the lord and his family, so that they might not be annoyed by the coarse rustic freedoms which the tenants would be too apt to take during the hours of their conviviality. In a hall, then, of this kind in the manor-house at Assheton, we may imagine the large Yule fire to be kindled; while in a gallery or raised floor Sir John of Assheton, his lady, and family, together with his kinsmen, Elland of Brighouse, and Sir John the Byron, are feasting apart, yet attentive to the frolics or old songs of the company below. It was on these occasions that peg-tankards were used, and horns that bore the names of the Saxons and Danes, whom the Normans had ousted out of their possessions. Of the description of ale that flowed merrily on these occasions we know little; but there can be no doubt that it was like King Henry the Eighth's ale, which contained neither hops nor brimstone. We may suppose, then, that on annual festivals like these, the wooden bowl or horn would pass freely through the hands of Sir John of Assheton's tenants-at-will; among whom were such personages as Hobbe Adamson, Hobbe of the Leghes, William the arrow-smith, Roger the baxter, Roger le smith, Jack the spencer, Jack the hind, Elyn Wilkyn daughter, Elyn the rose, and the widows Mergot of Staley, Peryn's wife, and Nan of the Windy Bank,--all clad in their best hoods, and brown woollen jackets and petticoats. The ancient musical instruments used in Lancashire were a kind of fiddle, not of the present form, and a stringed instrument called the virginals. The provincial songs of that period, few of which were less than half-an-hour in length, rehearsed the deeds of Launcelot du Lake, and his conquest of the giant Tarquin, at the castle of Manchester; Ranulph of Chester, and his wars in the Holy Land; or the warlike feats and amorous prowess of the renowned Cheshire hero, Roger de Calverley. In order to preserve, as much as possible, the degree of decorum that was necessary at such meetings, there was firstly introduced a diminutive pair of stone stocks, of about eighteen inches in length, for confining within them the fingers of the unruly. This instrument was entrusted to the general prefect of manorial festivities named the King of Misrule, whose office it was to punish all who exceeded his royal notions of decency. Accordingly such a character appears among the list of Sir John of Assheton's tenants, under the name of Hobbe the king. From these entertainments being supported by the contributions of the tenants, they were derisively called _Drink-leans_. [_Læn_, A.-S. a loan, a gift, a reward; _Læne_, adj., lean, slender, fragile.][213]

RIDING THE BLACK LAD AT ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE.

In the rental of Sir John Assheton, knight, of his Manor of Ashton-under-Lyne, A.D. 1422, it is stated that two of his sons, Rauf of Assheton, and Robyn of Assheton, by grants to them, "have the sour carr guld rode and stane rynges for the term of their lives." This donation (says Dr. Hibbert-Ware) evidently alludes to the privilege of _Guld-riding_, a custom that in Scotland at least is of great antiquity, having been intended to prevent lands from being over-run with the weeds, which, from their yellow colour, were named _gools_ or _gulds_, _i.e._, the corn-marigold, or _Chrysanthemum Segetum_ of Linn. Boethius (lib. 10) mentions a law of king Kenneth (probably rather of Alexander II.) to prevent the growth of _manaleta_ or _guld_, and to impose a fine of oxen on proof of its infraction. The Rev. J. P. Bannerman, in a statistical account of the parish of Cargill, in Perthshire, states that with a view of extirpating this weed, "after allowing a reasonable time for procuring clean seed from other grounds, an act of the Baron Court was passed, enforcing an old Act of Parliament to the same effect, imposing a fine of 3_s._ 4_d._, or a wether sheep, on the tenants for every stock of _gool_ that should be found growing in their corn at a particular day; and certain persons styled _gool-riders_ were appointed to ride through the fields, search for _gool_, and carry the law into execution when they discovered it. Though the fine of a wether sheep is now commuted and reduced to a penny, the practice of _gool-riding_ is still kept up, and the fine rigidly exacted." To this origin Dr. Hibbert-Ware attributes the custom peculiar to Ashton-under-Lyne of "Riding the Black Lad." He states that in the days of Sir John of Assheton (A.D. 1422) a large portion of low wet land in the vicinity of Assheton was named the Sour Carr (carr being synonymous with the Scotch word _carse_, and the well-known term _sour_ implying an impoverished state of the carr). It had been over-run with corn-marigolds or carr-gulds, which were so destructive to the corn that the lord of the manor enforced some rigorous measures for their extirpation, similar to the carr-guld riding in Perthshire. Ralph of Assheton, Sir John's son by a second marriage, and Robin, his brother, were on a certain day in the spring [Easter-Monday] invested with the power of riding over the lands of the carr, named the _Carr Guld Rode_, of levying fines for all _carr-gulds_ that were found among the corn, and, until the penalties were paid, of punishing transgressors by putting them into the [finger] _stocks_ or _stone rings_, or by incarceration. Ralph Assheton, by his alliance with a rich heiress, became the lord of the neighbouring manor of Middleton, and soon afterwards received the honour of knighthood; being at the same time entrusted with the office of Vice-Constable of the kingdom; and it is added, of Lieutenant of the Tower. Invested with such authorities, he committed violent excesses in this part of the kingdom. Retaining for life the privilege granted him in Ashton of Guld-riding, he, on a certain day in spring, made his appearance in the manor, clad in black armour (whence his name of the Black Lad or Black Boy) mounted on a charger, and attended with a numerous train of his own followers, in order to levy the penalty arising from the neglect of clearing the land from carr-gulds. The interference of so powerful a knight belonging to another township could not but be regarded by the tenants of Assheton as the tyrannical intrusion of a stranger; and as Sir Ralph, sanctioned by the political power given him by Henry VI., exercised his privilege with the utmost severity, the name of the Black Lad is still regarded with sentiments of horror. Tradition has, indeed, perpetuated the prayer that was fervently ejaculated for a deliverance from his tyranny:--

Sweet Jesu! for thy mercy's sake, And for thy bitter passion, Save us from the axe of the Tower, And from Sir Ralph of Ashton.

Upon the death of the Black Knight, Sir John's heir and successor abolished the usage for ever, reserving for the estate a small sum of money for the purpose of perpetuating, in an annual ceremony, the dreaded annual visits of the Black Boy. This is still kept up. An effigy is made of a man in armour; and since Sir Ralph was the son of a second marriage (which, for this reason, had been esteemed by the heir of Sir John as an unfortunate match) the image is deridingly emblazoned with some emblem of the occupation of the first couple that are linked together in the course of the year. [Mr. Edwin Butterworth says with the initials of their names.] The Black Boy is then fixed on horseback, and, after being led in procession round the town, is dismounted, made to supply the place of a shooting-butt, and, all fire-arms being in requisition for the occasion, he is put to an ignominious death. [The origin of Riding the Black Lad, here suggested, is exceedingly ingenious; but it seems questionable whether any real data for it are given in the single passage cited from the rental of 1422. "The Sour Carr Guld Rode and the Stane Ringes" taken as they stand, may mean the Guld-ruyding, or ridding, as a piece of land cleared of stumps, &c., was called; _ex. gr._ Hunt-royd, Orme-rod, Blake-rod, &c. The Stone Rings may be a piece of land so-called. There is no mention of the power to levy penalties, nor even of any official riding, but only the _rode_,--not road, as it has been interpreted, but ridded land, perhaps cleared from gulds and weeds, no less than from stubs, stumps, and stones.--EDS.][214]

Mr. Roby, from the above materials, has written a tale of Sir Ralph's cruel seizure of a widow's only cow, as the heriot due to him as lord of the manor, on the death of her husband. Her half-witted son is said to have told Sir Ralph that on his death his master the devil would claim a heriot, and that Sir Ralph himself would be given up. On this Sir Ralph took fright, and sent back the heriot cow to the poor widow. Another tradition exists as to the origin of the custom of "Riding the Black Lad," which Mr. Roby thinks may have been fabricated merely to throw off the odium attached to the name of Sir Ralph. In the reign of Edward III. one Thomas Assheton fought under Queen Philippa in the battle of Neville's Cross. Riding through the ranks of the enemy, he bore away the royal standard from the Scotch king's tent, who himself was afterwards taken prisoner. King Edward, on his return from France, conferred on Thomas the honour of knighthood, with the title of "Sir Thomas Assheton of Assheton-under-Lyne." To commemorate this singular display of valour, Sir Thomas instituted the custom of "Riding the Black Knight or Lad" at Assheton, on Easter-Monday; leaving 10_s._ yearly to support it, together with his own suit of black velvet, and a coat of mail. Which of these accounts of the origin of the custom is correct, there is now no evidence to determine.

BOON SHEARING.

In the manor of Ashton-under-Lyne, every tenant-at-will was thus commanded:--"He that plough has, shall plough two days. He that half plough has, shall plough a day, whenever the lord be liever [more willing], in wheet-seeding, or in lenton-seeding; and every tenant harrow a day with their harrow, in seeding time, when they bin charged. And they should cart, every tenant ten cartful of turve from Doneam Moss to Assheton, and shere four days in harvest, and cart a day corn." This service, so profitable to the lord, was familiarly called boon-work. Hence an old adage still retained in the North of England, when a man is supposed to be working for nothing, that "he has been served like a boon-shearer."[215]

THE PRINCIPAL OR HERIOT.

One of the services of Sir John Assheton's tenants-at-will, in the manor of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the fifteenth century, as appears by his rental of 1422, was that "they should pay a principal at their death, to wit, the best beast they have." This was evidently a heriot. As of a military vassal, or tenant by knight-service, his horse was the heriot due to his lord at death; so the custom became extended to that class of dependents who were retained in the lord's employ to perform the busier services of the manor. As their property consisted of cattle, or of implements of husbandry, the heriot due to the lord was the best beast, cow, or horse, of which the tenant might die possessed. This condition being fulfilled, every further claim upon the goods of the deceased was remitted. At times this expressive relic of ancient military subjection was found exceedingly galling. In the manor of Assheton there are many traditional stories still remaining on the subject of such principals or heriots. A tenant's boy, on the death of his father, was driving an only cow to the manor-house of the adjoining demesnes of Dukinfield. He was met by the lord of the place, with whose person and rank he was unacquainted, who questioned him whither he was taking his beast. "I am driving it as far as Dukinfield for the heriot," replied the boy. "My father is dead--we are many children--and we have no cow but this. Don't you think the devil will take Sir Robert for a heriot, when he dies?" The lad was fortunately addressing a humane landlord. "Take the cow back to thy mother; I know Sir Robert,--I am going to Dukinfield myself, and will make up the matter with him."[216]

DENTON RENT-BOONS.

The lands of the Denton estates of the Hollands were held in 1780 by seventeen tenants, subject to a rent of 294_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ The entire property was held by lease of lives, and this rental was exclusive of fines paid on the renewal of leases. By the terms of their respective leases the tenants were also pledged to the payment of certain rent-boons, consisting of a dog and a cock, or (at the landlord's option) of their equivalent in money--for the dog 10_s._, for the cock 1_s._; the landlord thus providing for his amusement in hunting and cock-fighting in a manner least onerous to himself.[217]

A SAXON CONSTABLEWICK.

Until within these few years a relic of Saxon polity more ancient than the Domesday Survey existed in the Constablewick of Garstang, which continued to our own days, the _freo borh_, _friborg_, or Saxon manor, in a very perfect state. The free-burgh consisted of 11 townships, surrounding the original lordship to which all but one were subject. The reason for establishing this institution is stated in a Saxon law. The _Wita_, or counsellors, having considered the impunity with which trespasses against neighbours were committed, appointed over every ten friborgs, justiciaries whom they denominated _tien heofod_ or "head of ten." These (says Dr. Keuerden) handled smaller causes between townsmen and neighbours, and according to the degree of the trespass, awarded satisfaction; made agreements respecting pastures, meadows and corn-lands, and reconciled differences among neighbours. The constablewick of Garstang comprised the township of Garstang and ten other townships, all of which are styled hamlets in the books of the court, and were divided into three portions. Two constables were annually elected for this district, and were alternately taken from each third portion of the constablewick. The jury were nominated in a similar manner. The jury were accustomed to adjourn from the court to an eminence called Constable hillock, adjoining the river Wyre, where they made choice of the constables by inscribing their names upon slips of wood. These officers were empowered to collect the county-rates, and serve for all the hamlets. The court was held annually, by direction of a steward of the Duke of Hamilton, the superior lord of the wick, till 1816, when it fell into neglect, and its powers are now exercised in such of the townships only as are the property of the Duke. The adjournment of the court to the hillock is obviously the remnant of a custom far more ancient than the institution of the friborg itself.[218]

TALLIAGE OR TALLAGE.

This was a kind of occasional property tax, levied by order of the monarch in emergencies, and throughout the kingdom. In the charter granted by Randle, Earl of Chester, to the burgesses of Stafford, about A.D. 1231, is a clause reserving to him and his heirs reasonable tallage, when the King makes or takes tallage of his burgesses throughout England. A precisely similar clause is found in Thomas Greslet's charter to his burgesses of Mamecestre in 1301. In the 11th Henry III. (1226-27) a still earlier talliage was made in Lancashire, which enables us to measure the relative importance of the principal towns in the county early in the thirteenth century. The impost was assessed by Master Alexander de Dorsete and Simon de Hal; and the payments were for the towns of Lancaster thirteen marks (£8 13_s._ 4_d._); Liverpool, eleven marks, 7_s._ 8_d._ (£7 14_s._ 4_d._); West Derby, seven marks, 7_s._ 8_d._ (£5 1_s._); Preston, fifteen marks, 6_d._ (£10 0_s._ 6_d._). The tenants in thanage paid ten marks (£6 13_s._ 4_d._) to have respite, that they might not be talliaged. Baines deems it remarkable that Manchester, Stafford, and Wigan were not included; but in these old manors it was the lord of the manor who had the right to levy talliage within his manor. In 1332 a tallage of one-fifteenth was levied by Edward III., to enable him to carry on the war against Scotland.[219]

ROCHDALE TITHE, EASTER-DUES, MORTUARIES, ETC.

The following is a literal copy of a small hand-bill in possession of the writer, which appears to have been printed for distribution among the farmers and the parishioners generally, with the purpose of supplying information as to the various payments to be made to the vicar, or at all events to the parish church:--

An EXTRACT out of the _Parliament Survey_, Taken the 10th of _January_ 1620.

The Parish of _Rochdale_ is divided into four Divisions, viz. _Hundersfield_, _Spotland_, _Castleton_, and _Butterworth_. There is also belonging to the Rectory of _Rochdale_, the Parish Chapel of _Saddleworth_, in the County of _York_; and certain Parcels of Glebe Lands, lying in _Saddleworth_.

⁂ There is no Tythe Hay paid within the Parish, but a Penny a Year every one payeth that holdeth any Lands within the Parish.

No Tythe paid for Eggs, Apples, Hemp, or Flax.

The Manner of receiving the _Easter-Role_ and Mortuarys are thus--each Horse payeth a Penny; for every married Man or Widow at the Offering, a Penny; every Plough a Penny; every Swarm of Bees a Penny; every Cow one Penny; and every Colt, and every Calf, one Halfpenny.

For Mortuarys--Every one buried in the Chancel payeth 6_s._ 8_d._ every one that dieth worth twenty Nobles, in moveable Goods, over and above his Debts, payeth 3_s._ 4_d._ if worth 30_l._ payeth 6_s._ 8_d._ if worth 40_l._ or upwards, 10_s._--Stat. 21. Hen. 8. Chap. 6.

N.B. That House or Smoke, and Garden, hath been substituted in the Room of Horse and Plough.

In Closes where there are more than ten Stacks of Corn (or even tens) in one Close, _the odd Stacks shall not be tythed_; the Land-Owner setting up the Corn in Stacks, may be a good Consideration for the same; because of Common Right the Tytheman is to take the Corn Tythe in the Sheaf, but when the same is stacked, as is customary in many places, the Tytheman may not break any odd Stack, for he cannot tythe both by the Stack and Sheaf. And this was the Opinion of Serjeants _Poole_ and _Kenyan_, and of Lawyer _Wilson_.

No Complaint concerning any small Tythes, &c. shall be determined by Justices of Peace, unless the Complaint be made within two Years after the same Tythes, &c. become due. Stat. 7. and 8. William 3. Chap. 6.

FARM AND AGRICULTURAL CELEBRATIONS IN THE FYLDE.

In the olden times almost every great agricultural operation had its peculiar festivities; now almost everywhere obsolete. The harvest home, its procession and feast, still linger the last of these rural celebrations, but shorn of much of its old ceremonial and jollity. "Shutting of marling" had also its gala-day. Then a "lord" and a "lady" presided at the feast; having been previously drawn out of the marl-pit by a strong team of horses, gaily decorated with ribbons, mounted by their drivers, who were trimmed out in their best. The procession paraded through the village lanes and streets, some of its members shaking tin boxes, and soliciting contributions from the bystanders. The money collected was expended in good cheer at the feast. Again, "Cob-seeding" was a time when mirth and good-nature prevailed. Like the "bee" of our American cousins, it was an occasion when all helped every one else in turn,--collecting, threshing, winnowing the crop on the field; "housing" the seed ready prepared for the market; and when all the work of the day was finished, partaking of a substantial supper, and closing the evening with many a merry dance on the barn's clay floor.[220]

DALTON-IN-FURNESS.

Among the ancient customs of Dalton, is the practice of hiring reapers on Sundays in time of harvest. Endeavours have been made to abolish it; but by the statute of 27 Henry VI. cap. 5, for suppressing Sabbath-breaking, four Sundays in harvest time are excepted from the prohibition against holding markets and fairs on holydays, and the people of Dalton have construed it to the hiring of such servants. Till of late years there was at Dalton an annual festival called "The Dalton Hunt," in which the gentlemen of the district partook of the sports of the field by day, and joined the ladies in the ball-room at night. A suite of rooms was erected in the town, and handsomely fitted-up for this annual jubilee, which existed as early as the year 1703, as appears from the columns of the _London Gazette_, in which it is styled "the Dalton Route," and the pen of an elegant contributor to the _Tatler_ has imparted to it additional celebrity. To the regret of the beaux and belles of the neighbourhood the "route" was discontinued in 1789, and has never since been revived.[221]

LETTING SHEEP FARMS IN BOWLAND.

One custom, in letting the great sheep-farms in the higher parts of Bowland, deserves to be mentioned, as I do not know that it prevails anywhere else. It is this: That the flock, often consisting of 2000 sheep, or more, is the property of the lord, and delivered to the tenant by a schedule, subject to the condition of delivering up an equal number of the same quality at the expiration of the term. Thus the tenant is merely usufructuary of his own stock. The practice was familiar to the Roman law, and seems to have arisen from the difficulty of procuring tenants who were able to stock farms of such extent.[222]

MEDIÆVAL LATIN LAW TERMS.

The old charters and deeds of Manchester, Warrington, and other Lancashire towns, contain various words now obsolete, and amongst others the words _namare_ and _namium_, which it is not easy to render accurately. The first may be translated to seize in pledge, to arrest, to distrain; the second is a pledge, or a distress, what is seized by distraint. In connexion with the substantive _namium_, the following anecdote of the great Sir Thomas More may be told, as illustrative of the obscurity of some of these ancient law terms. It is said that Sir Thomas, when travelling, arrived at Padua just as a boasting Professor had placarded the walls of that University with a challenge to all the world to dispute with him on any subject or in any art, and that Sir Thomas accepted the challenge, and proposed for his subject this question:--

"AN AVERIA CARUCÆ CAPTA IN VETITO NAMIO SINT IRREPLEGIBILIA?"

which, it is almost needless to add, proved such a stumbling-block to the challenger, who did not know even the very terms of the question, that he surrendered at discretion, and acknowledged himself vanquished.[223]

Perhaps the best way to English the puzzling question, would be to render it thus:--"Whether plough-cattle, taken in illegal distress, are irrepleviable?" But several of the words are susceptible of two meanings. Thus _averia_ means goods, as well as cattle; _caruca_, a cart, as well as a plough; _namium_, a pledge, as well as a distress. It is not to be wondered at that the continental Professor found himself unable even to comprehend the terms of this perplexing question.

CUSTOMS [DUES] AT WARRINGTON.

Amongst the Tower records are three royal charters bearing date respectively 3 Edward II., 15 Edward II., and 12 Edward III. (1309-10, 1321-2, 1338), and granting, for the purpose of effecting repairs in the bridges and pavements, certain temporary customs on articles brought into Warrington for sale. In the two first of these charters, a custom of one farthing is imposed on every 100 faggots and every 1000 turves; and of one halfpenny on every cart-load of wood or wind-blown timber. The last of the charters imposes a custom of one penny on every 1000 faggots, one farthing on every 10,000 turves, one penny on every ship-load of turves, and one halfpenny weekly on every cart-load of wood and coals [_carbonum_, ? charcoal]. Amongst other articles, a custom was imposed on salt, on bacon, on cheese (probably from Cheshire), on butter, on lampreys, on salmon, on pelts of sheep, goats, stags, hinds, deer, does, hares, rabbits, foxes, cats, and squirrels; on cloths in the entire piece; on grice work (_i.e._, fur of the skins of blue weasels); on Cordovan leather, on oil in flasks (_lagenas olei_); on hemp, on linen webs; on Aylesbury webs and linen; on canvas, Irish cloths, Galways and worsteds; on silks, diapered with gold (_de Samite_) and tissue; on silks within gold; on sendal [or _cendal_, a kind of silk]; on cloth of baudekin [silk cloth, interwoven with threads of gold]; on gads of maple, and on Aberdeen gads; on every tun of wine (_et cinerum_--the ashes of burnt wine lees); on honey; on wool in sacks; on tin, brass, copper, iron, and lead; on alum, copperas, argil, and verdigris; on onions and garlic; and on stock-fish, salt mullet, herrings, and sea-fish, amongst a number of other articles.[224]

FOOTNOTES:

[202] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[203] Claus., 7 Edward III., 1333, p. 1, m. 23.

[204] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[205] Dr. Whitaker's _Whalley_.

[206] Baines's _History of Lancashire_.

[207] Baines's _History of Lancashire_.

[208] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[209] West's _History of Furness_.

[210] Baines's _History of Lancashire_.

[211] Baines's _History of Lancashire_.

[212] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[213] _Illustration of the Customs of a Manor in the North of England._

[214] Dr. Hibbert-Ware's _Illustration of the Customs of a Manor in the North of England_.

[215] Dr. Hibbert-Ware's _Illustration of the Customs of a Manor in the North of England_.

[216] _Illustration of the Customs of a Manor in the North of England_, by Dr. Hibbert-Ware.

[217] Rev. J. Booker's _Chapel of Denton_.

[218] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[219] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[220] Rev. W. Thornber's _History of Blackpool_.

[221] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[222] Dr. Whitaker's _Whalley_.

[223] Mr. Beamont's _Warrington in the Thirteenth Century_.

[224] Mr. W. Beamont, in _Warrington in 1465_.

INDEX.

Agricultural and Farm Celebrations in the Fylde, 298

Alchemists, 23; two Lancashire, 30

Alchemy, 23

Ale, price of, 281; of Halton, 259; Warrington, 259; Cockerham, 281

Ale Founders, 281

All-Souls Night, 49

" Day, 251

Apostle Spoons, 262

Arrowsmith, Father, his execution and the dead hand, 158-163

Arval, cake and ale, 270-272

Ascension Day, or Holy Thursday, 249

Ash-Wednesday, 221

Ashton, (Sir Thomas), of Ashton, 30

Ashton-under-Lyne, manorial customs of, 286, 289, 292, 293; the Lord's Yule Feast at, 286; Riding the Black Lad at, 289

Assheton (Sir John de), 287

" (Sir Ralph de), 290-292

Astrologers, Lancashire, 33

Astrology, 33

Auld Wife Hakes, 216

Averia (cattle, goods), 300, 301

Aylesbury webs and linen, 302

Baal Worship, 3-45

Bacon, Customs' dues on, 301

Ball, or "Old Ball," 234, 235

Baptismal Customs, 260

Barguest, bar- or barn-ghaist, 91

Barnacle Geese, 116-121

Bel, Belus, or Baal, 45

Belisama, the River Ribble, 4

Bells, church, 41, 42; passing and funeral, 41, 42; pancake, 44; curfew, 44; submarine, 44; verses, 42

Beltane or Beltein fires, 3, 45, 47, 48

Betrothing and bridal customs, 263

Bible, for direction, divination, and dreams, 20

Bible and key, 103

Bidding to funerals, 274

Birth and baptismal customs, 260

Black Lad, at Ashton, 289

Bleeding, charms to stop, 77

Boggart, or bogle, 16; the name, 49; the flitting, 58

Boggart Hole Clough, 50

Boggarts, ghosts, and haunted places, 49; various, 58; in old halls, 51; in the nineteenth century, 61

Bones of St. Lawrence at Chorley, 157

Booker (John), of Manchester, astrologer, 34-38

_Books of Fate_, 145

Boon rents at Denton, 294

Boon shearing at Ashton, 292, 293

Bothe (Thomas del) his will, 241

Bowland, letting sheep, &c., 300

Bragot-Sunday, 225, 258

Bridal bouquet, 268; flowers, _ib._

Bride's chair at Warton, 265

Brindle Church, footprint at, 134

Bromley (Sir Edward), judge, 189

Brownies or _lares_, 16

Bryn Hall, the Gerards, and the dead man's hand, 158-163

Bungerley stepping-stones, 90

Burial by candle light, 273; of a widow in vows, _ib._

Burnley, the church, 89; a witch near, 209; wedding customs at, 265

Burying in woollen, 269

Cards, 140

Carlins, 258

Carnaval, 217

Carols, Christmas, 257

Carr Gulds, 290

Cartmel Church, Legend of, 137

Cattle Diseases, Charms for, 79

Celebrations, Farm and Agricultural, in the Fylde, 298

Changelings, 263

Charles I., King, 200, 240

Charm, a, in cypher, 63

Charms and spells, 62; against evil beings, _ib._; against sickness, wounds, &c., 74; crow, lady-bird, 70-71; to get drink, 72-74; against danger by night, 74; wounds, 74; toothache, 75; rheumatism and cramp, 75; ague, 80; nettle stings, _ib._; jaundice, _ib._; to get sleep, _ib._

"Chattox, Old," a witch, 186-189

Child, unbaptized, cannot die, 262

Childbed presents, 260

Childbirth, tea-drinking, 261

" turning the bed after, 261

Children, gifts to, 262

Christianizing of pagan gods and festivals, 14

Christmas, 252; mumming at, 253; carols, 254; games, 255; mutes, 256

Christmas at Wycoller Hall, 256

" Carols, 254; rhymes, 253

Christmas customs in the Fylde, 254; games there, 255

Christmas-day, old and new, 20; breakfast in the Fylde, 256

Christmas Eve, creatures worshipping, 253; called "Flesh-day," 256

" Evergreens, &c., 256

Christmas Frumenty, 252, 256

Christmas hobby-horse, 254

Christmas or Yule Feast, at Ashton-under-Lyne, 286

Church Festivals, 212, _et seq._

Churches and Churchyards, north and south sides of, 275

Cinderella and her slipper, 5

Clayton Hall Boggart, 52

Clegg Hall Boggart, 52

Cleworth, Demoniacs in 1594, 92

Clock-house Boggart, 52

Cob-seeding, 298

Cock-penny, at Clitheroe, 220

Cock-throwing and Cock-fighting, 218; about Blackburn, 220; at Burnley, _ib._

Cockerham Manor, 281; ale in, _ib._

Cokersand Abbey, 281; abbot of, _ib._

Collop Monday, 217

Constablewick, a Saxon, 295

Corals with bells, 262

Corpse, carrying the, 272, 274

Courting and Wedding Customs in the Fylde, 264

Cousell and Clarke, conjurors, 86

Cramp Rings, 75

Creed and Little Creed, at Eccles, 114

Cross-buns on Good Friday, 226

Crow Charm, 70

Curfew Bell, 44

Customs of Manors, 276; in Furness, 281; Ashton, 286, 289

Customs' dues at Warrington, 301

"Cuthbert, Old mother," and her daughters, 177

Dalton-in-Furness, funerals at, 271; manor, 299; hunt and rout, _ib._

Dalton-in-Furness, hiring reapers on Sunday, 299

Danish Traditions, &c., 4, 5

Darrell's (Rev. John) _Narrative_, &c. 93, 96; his punishment, 97

Dead and Dying, the, 7

" man's hand, 158, 163

" raising the, 128

Deasil, or Widersinnis, 151

Death tick or Death watch, 152

Dee (Dr. John), 25

" charged with Witchcraft, 178

Deities and demi-gods, 12

"Demdike, Old," a witch, 186; "Young Demdike," _ib._

Demon and Goblin Superstitions, 88

Demon Pig, 89

Demoniacal possession in 1594, 92; in 1686, 98

Demoniacs, 87; dispossessing a, 92; at Morzine, 88

Demonology, 86

Denton Rent-boons, 294

Derby (Edward 3rd) Earl of, charged with keeping a Conjuror, 129

Device, Elizabeth and Alizon, witches, 186, 189

Devil, the 16; his names, 84-86; a card-player, 81; raised, 17, 81; exorcised, 17, 81

Devil, at Burnley, 83

" and the Tailor of Chatburn, 82; and the Dun horse, _ib._; and the schoolmaster at Cockerham, 83

Devil, sacrifices to, 82; appearances of, _ib._

"Devils of Morzine," (demoniacs) 88

Dispossession of Devils, 93-98

Divination, ancient, 7; Lancashire, _ib._

" 102; at marriages, 103; by Bible and key, _ib._; Lancashire form of, 104; by the dying, _ib._; second-sight, 105; spirits of the dying and dead, _ib._; by lots, 106

Doles at Weddings, 264; at funerals, 270; at Swinton, _ib._

Downham, King and Queen at, 248

Dreams, 6, 19, 140, 145-149

Drink-leans, 288

Druidical Rock basins, 106-110

Dugdale, the Surey demoniac, 98

Dukinfield (Sir Robert), and the heriot, 294

Dying, Death-bed, and Funeral Customs, 268

Dying hardly, 268

Easter, _Eostre_, 8, 226, 227

" Customs, 227-237; Fylde, 236

" Day, 227

" Eggs, 227, 228

" Monday, 233, 237

" "Lifting or heaving," 233; game of the ring, 234; Sports, 231

Easter sports at the Manchester Free Grammar School, 231

Eating and Drinking Customs, 258

Eccles, ignorance in, 113-115

Eccles cakes, 258

Edward I., King, 27; his gift for "lifting," 233

Edward III., King, 28; his letter for alms, 133

Edward IV., King, 32

Edward VI., King, 34

Eggs, Pace, Pasche, or Easter, 217, 228; in Blackburn, 228, 229; in East Lancashire, 231; bought for Easter, 229; papal prayer, blessing eggs, 229

"Elias, the Prophet," a fanatic, 138

Elizabeth, Queen, 35

Ellen's (St.) Well, in Brindle, 172

Elves and Fairies, 110-113

Everton toffy, 258

Evil Eye, the, 69

Ewe Loaf, the, 256

Exorcism of demons by godly ministers, 95, 98-101

Fag-pie (or Fig-pie) Sunday, 226, 258

Fairies, 53; and Elves, 106-110

Fairy, a, on Mellor Moor, 111

" Hole, at Warton, 265

" Queen, 16

" Tales, Lancashire, 112, 113

Familiar Spirit, Transfer of a, 210

_Famous History of Witches_, 176

Feeorin (fairies), 53

Fern Seed, 10

Festivals, Church and Season, 212

Finger Stocks of Stone, 288

Flemings' Wooden Shoes and Oaten Bread, 259

"Flesh-Day" (Christmas Eve), 256

Folk-Lore, Eastern, 2-6; Greek and Roman, 5, 6; Scandinavian, 4, 5; various, 113; of Eccles and neighbourhood, 113

Footprints at Brindle Church, 134; at Smithells Hall, 135

Fortune-Telling, 121-126; Story of, 122; "Owd Rollison," 123

Frumenty, 262, 256, 258

Funeral Biddings, 274; gifts, 275; bay, rosemary, &c., 270, 272, 275

Funeral Customs, 268; in East Lancashire, 273; at Dalton-in-Furness, 271; at Warton, 271; Fylde, 272

Funeral Doles, 270; at Swinton, _ib._; various, 274

Funeral Sermons, 274; dinners and drinkings, 272

Furness, Manorial Customs, 281, 285

Fylde, The (in Lancashire), _passim_.

" Easter Customs in, 236, 242, 243

" Farm and Agricultural Celebrations in, 298

" Harvest Home, 298; "shutting of marling," _ib._; cob-seeding, _ib._

Gabriel Ratchets, 89, 167

"Gang-Days," or Rogation Days, 248

Garstang, a Saxon Constablewick, 295

Geese, hatched from sea-shells, 116

Gemmel Rings, 263

Gerard (Sir Thomas), 131

" (Sir John), 162

Gerards of Bryn, 158-162

Gifts to Infants, 262

Gloucester (Eleanor), Duchess of, and Witchcraft, 174

Gloves, Wedding, 268

Goblin, Gobelinus, Kobold, Khobalus, &c., 16

Goblin Builders, 89

" Superstitions, 88

Good Friday, 226; viands, 226, 237

"Goose-Intentos," 250

Graves, Situation and Direction of, 275

Greek Traditions and Superstitions, 5, 6, 13; Mythology, 13

Grendels, The, 17

Grislehurst Boggart, 61

Groaning Cheese and Cake, 260

Guld-Riding, 289

Gunpowder Plot, 251

Guy Fawkes, 251

Hackensall Hall Boggart, 59

Hæver or Hiver, 149

Hakes, Auld Wife, 216

Hallowe'en, 3

Halton Ale, 259

Hand-bell Ringing, 258

Hand-festing, 263

Hartlay (John), a Conjuror, 93-96

Harvest Home, 298

Havercake Lads, 258

Helen's (St.) Well in Brindle, 172; near Sefton, 173

Henry IV., King, 20

Henry VI., King, 28, 29, 31; miracles at his tomb, 132

Henry VII., King, his embassy to Pope Julius II., 132

Henry VIII., King, 87; his ale, 287

Heriot or Principal, at Ashton-under-Lyne, 292, 293; story of, 294

"Hobbe, the King," at Ashton, 288

Hobby-horse at Christmas, 254

Hornby, Honour and Manor of, 285

" Park Mistress and Margaret Brackin, 59

Horwich Moor, 48

Hothershall Hall, 5

House Boggarts, 56

Household bewitched, 184

Hunchback, story of the, 5

Huntingdon's, Earl of, letter, 130

Hydrocephalus in Cattle, to cure, 79

Ignagning, 236

Imps, or Changelings, 263

Ince Hall, 52

Ince Manor House, 52

" Oatmeal Charity at, 249

Indo-European origin of superstitions, 2

Infants, gifts to, 262

Invocation at bedtime, 68, 69

Jack and the Bean-Stalk, 5

Jack the Giant-Killer, 5

James I., King, his _Dæmonologie_, 185

Jannocks, 259

Johnson's (Margaret), confession, 198

Jolly Lads, 236

Jourdain (Margery), witch of Eye, 174

Kelly (Edward), the Seer, 25, 126

Killing a witch, 208

King and Queen at Downham, 248

King of the May, 254

" of Misrule, 288

King's Evil, touching for, 77

Kirkby Ireleth, Manor of, 281

Knighthood, honour of, 277; compulsory in 1278, 1292, and 1305, _ib._

Knives, &c., 18; Manchester, 280

Labouring Goblins, 56

Lady in the straw, 260

Lady-bird charm, 70, 71

Lancashire musical instruments, 288

" Witches, verses on, 179

Lancaster (Thomas), Earl of, a saint, 133, 134

Lating or Leeting Witches, 210

Law Terms, mediæval Latin, 300

Lawrence, St., his bones at Chorley, 157

Leadbetter (Charles), a Lancashire astrologer, 40

Legend of Cartmel Church, 137

Lent, 221

Local customs and usages at various seasons, 212, _et seq._

Lord's Day conjuration, 67

Lostock May-pole, 243

Lots, casting or drawing, 106

Lowick, Manor of, 283

Lubber Fiend, 59, 89

Magic and Magicians, 126

Magpies, 143-145

Malkin Tower, in Pendle Forest, 186, 189, 204, 211

Manchester knife, a, 289

" Church, weddings at, 265

Manorial franchises, &c., 285

Manors, customs of, 276; in Furness, 281; Ashton-under-Lyne, 286, 289; Smithells, 280; Cockerham, 281; Kirkby Ireleth, _ib._; Pennington, 282; Muchland, _ib._; Lowick, 283; Nevill Hall, _ib._; Much Urswick, 284; Warton, _ib._; Hornby, 285; Ashton-under-Lyne, 286, 289

Maritagium, custom of, 278

Marsh (Geo.), the martyr, 135-137

Martins, "shifting of," 143

Mary Queen of Scots, 131

May-day Eve, 46, 47, 239

" Customs, 238-246; in Spotland, 242; in Manchester, 245

May-day Games, decay of, 241; at Burnley (1579), 244

May-Poles, 240-243; Parliamentary ordinance against, 241

May King and Queen, 246

" Songs, 239

Mermaid of Marton Mere, 90

"Messes" at dinners, &c., 271, 274

Michaelmas Day, 250; goose, _ib._, 258

Mid-Lent Sunday, or Mothering Sunday, 222, 225

Mince Pies, 255, 258

Miracles, or Miraculous Stories, 131

" of a dead Duke of Lancaster (King Henry VI.), 132-134

Miraculous cures by a dead man's hand, 158-163

Miraculous footprints in Brindle Church, 134; in Smithells Hall, 135

"Mischief Night," 239

Mistletoe, 252

Money gift at funerals, 275

Moon, the, 70; omens from, 149; names for autumn moons, 250

More (Sir Thomas), Story of, 300

"Mothering Sunday," 222, 225

Mountain Ash, 72

Muchland, Manor of, 282

Much-Urswick, Manor of, 284

Mutes at Christmas, 256

Mythology of Greece and Rome, 13; Oriental, _ib._; Northern, _ib._

Naiades, Nixies, Nisses, 16

Nails, cutting, 68

Nevill Hall, Manor of, 283

New Year's-Day, weather omens, 151; Festival, 214; and Old Christmas-Day, 212

New-Year's turkey, 258

" Eve, fire on, 214

New-Year's Luck, 214; first caller, 215; gifts and wishes, 216

Nicholas, St., 85

"Nick, Old" (the devil), 84-86

Night-mare, 89

Northumbrian Superstitions, 9

November 1, All Souls' Day, 251

November 5, Gunpowder Plot, 251

Numbers, odd, 4; "3" and "7," _ib._

Nutter (Alice), a wealthy witch, 193

Oat Cake, 258; Jannocks, 259

Oatmeal charity at Ince, 249

"Old Nick" (the devil), 84-86

"Old Scrat," or Skrat, 90

Omens and Predications, 138, 139

Omens, Dreams, Withershins, Cards, Teacups, &c., 140

Omens--Cats, 141; Dogs, Lambs, Birds, 142; Swallows, Magpies, _ib._ Deasil, or Widersinnis, 151; weather for New Year's-Day, 151; Death tick, or watch, 152

Ormskirk gingerbread, 258

Pace or Pasche-egging, 128; in Blackburn, _ib._; East Lanc., 231

Pagan gods, festivals and temples, changed into Christian saints, feasts and churches, 14

Pancake Bell, 44; Tuesday, 218

Passing Bell, 44

Paternoster, White, &c., at Eccles, 115

Peel of Fouldrey and Tree-Geese, 116

Peggy's Well, Legend of, 171

Pendle, Forest and Hill of, 202, 204

Pendleton and Pendlebury, May-pole and games, 240, 241

Pentecost, 16th Sunday after, 250

Pentecost (See Whitsuntide).

Persons bewitched, sixteen, 192

Philosopher's Mercury, 23

" Stone, 23

Pigeons' Feathers in beds, 268

Pilkington (Dame Jane), 273

Pimpernel, 71

Pork Pasties, 260

Prayer and Blessing on Eggs, 229

Prayer in Verse against Sir Ralph Ashton, 291

Predications (see Omens).

Presents to Women in Childbed, 260

" to Infants, 262

Prestwich, Burying in Woollen at, 269

Principal or heriot at Ashton, 293

Prophet Elias, a fanatic, 138

Queen of the May, 246

Radcliffe, Burying in Woollen, 269

Radcliffe Tower, 51

Raising the Dead, 128; the Devil, 17, 81

Rent-boons at Denton, 294

Rents, Nominal, 280

Rheumatism, charms to cure, 75

Riding the Black Lad at Ashton, 289

Rings, betrothal or gemmel, 263; Wedding, 268

Robins and Wrens, 142

Robinson, Edmund, 195, 201

Rochdale Church, 89

" Tithe, Easter Dues, &c., 297

Rogation Days or Gang Days, 248

Rolleston, Mr., 131

"Rollison, Owd," 123-125

Roman Traditions and Superstitions, 5, 6, 18; Mythology, 13

Saint Cuthbert's Beads, 15

" John's Eve, 8, 46, 47

" Vitus's Dance, 87

Samlesbury Witches, 194

"Scrat, Old" (or Skrat), 90

Second-sight in Lancashire, 105

Services and Tenures, peculiar, 278

Sheep and Farms in Bowland, 300

Shoes, Old, for luck, 264, 268

Shrew Tree in Carnforth, 79

Shrovetide, 217; Tuesday, 218; Pancakes, _ib._, 258; Sports, 219; customs in the Fylde, 221

Sickness, charms to cure, 74

Simnel Cakes, 223; at Bury, 224, 258

Sitting-up Courtship, 264

Skriker, 91

Smithells Hall, 51; Marsh the Martyr, 135

Smithells, Manor of, custom, 280

Sneezing, 6, 68

Songs, Lancashire, about 1422, 288

Sparrows, 142

Spell, description of a, 177

Spirits of the dying and dead, 105

Spitting on money, &c., 69, 70

Stocks for the fingers, 283

Superstitions in Manchester in the 16th century, 168

Superstitions of Pendle Forest, 164; of East Lancashire, 165

Superstitions, popular, 153-157; Nineteenth Century, 164

Superstitious beliefs, and practices, 1; fears and cruelties, 167

Superstitious fear of Witchcraft, 182

Talliage or Tallage, 296; of Lancashire towns, &c., _ib._

Teacups, Omens from, 140

Teanlay, or All Souls' Night, 49

Tenants of Ashton-under-Lyne, 288

Tenures and Services, peculiar, 278

Thackergate Boggart, 52

Throwing the Stocking, 264

Toothache, charms to cure, 75

Touching for King's Evil, 77

Towneley, ghost and tradition, 57

Trash or Skriker, 91

Tree Barnacles, or Tree Geese, 116

Turning Bed after Childbirth, 261

Unbaptized Child, cannot die, 262

Urswick Much, Manor of, 284

Utley, hanged for witchcraft, 195

Vervain, to cure wounds, a rhyming charm, 76, 115; against blasts, 115

Victor Penny, 219

Vitus's (St.), Dance, 87

Waddow Hall, 171

Waitts, the, 257; of Manchester, 257; of Warrington, 258

Walton-le-Dale, raising the dead, 128

Warcock Hill, 17

Warrington Ale, 259

Warton, Royal Manor of, 284; wedding customs at, 265

Warts, cures for, 78; caused by washing in egg-water, 121

Water Sprites, 89

Weather Omens, 141-145, 149-152

Wedding Customs, 263; in the Fylde, 264; at Warton, 265; at Burnley, 265; various, 268

Weddings at Manchester Church, 265

Well at Wavertree, 169

Well, Peggy's, 170; Legend of, 171

Well, St. Helen's, in Brindle, 172; near Sefton, 173

Wells and Springs, dedicated to saints, 169

West Houghton Wakes, 260

Whitsuntide, 246; Fair, 246; 16th Sunday after, 250

Whitsuntide Ales, 246

" Tuesday, 248

" week, 247

Whooping Cough, 10

Wicken or Wiggen Tree (the mountain ash), 72

Widersinnis, or Deasil, 151; Withershins, 140, 151

Widow, Burial of a, 273

Widows, manorial customs, 281-285

Wilder Lads, 48

Will-o'-th'-Wisp, 53

Winwick Church, 89

Wise Men and Cunning Women, 121

Wizards, 87; Swimming a, _ib._

Wooden Shoes and Oaten Bread, 259

Woollen, burying in, 269

Wounds, to cure, 74; Vervain, 76

Wycoller Hall, Christmas at, 256

Yule Loaf, 256