Part 114

The _rout_ was first discontinued by sir Brooke Watson, because it was always customary to have it in passion week. The allowance has since had an increase of 3000_l._ This liberality on the part of the corporation, instead of exciting a corresponding feeling on the part of their magistrates, seems rather to have raised in them a spirit of cupidity, and of late years, on many occasions, the office seems to have been undertaken on a kind of speculation for saving money. Though allowed 1500_l._ a year for the sword-bearer’s table, every chicken and bottle of wine began to be grudged; and after repeated appeals by the household to the court of common council, on account of the shabby reductions successively made, and which were considered as unjust, as they had purchased their places with the usual privileges, the corporation concluded a treaty with them a short time ago, by which a specified sum of money was secured to each individual, either on giving up his place, or at his death to be paid to his family. They have of course given up the right of alienating their places, and thus perpetuating the system. The corporation have thus gained an extensive increase of patronage; though the number of officers is to be reduced as the places fall in. But some of the aldermen below the chair were rather disagreeably surprised at the result; for the common council very justly deducted the 1500_l._ at which the expense of the table was generally calculated, from his lordship’s allowance.

I am, &c.

C. R. H.

* * * * *

The _lord mayor’s household_, scarcely known in its constitution by the citizens whom the lord mayor selects for his visitors, is well set forth by the preceding letter of a valuable correspondent. It concerns all who are interested in the maintenance of civic splendour, and especially those who are authorized to regulate it. Such papers, and indeed any thing regarding the customs of London, will always be acceptable to the readers of this work, who have not until now been indulged with information by those who have the power to give it. The _Every-Day Book_ is a collection of ancient and present usages and manners, wherein such contributions are properly respected, and by the Editor they are always thankfully received.

* * * * *

On Michaelmas-day the sheriffs of London, previously chosen, are solemnly sworn into office, and the lord mayor is elected for the year ensuing.

Pennant speaking of the mercers’ company, which by no means implied originally a dealer in silks, (for _mercery_ included all sorts of small wares, toys, and haberdashery,) says, “This company is the first of the twelve, or such who are honoured with the privilege of the lord mayor’s being elected out of one of them.” If the lord mayor did not belong to either of the twelve, it was the practice for him to be translated to one of the favoured companies. The custom was discontinued in the mayoralty of sir Brook Watson, in 1796, and has not been revived.

E. I. C.

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The “Gentleman’s Magazine” notices a singular custom at Kidderminster--“On the election of a bailiff the inhabitants assemble in the principal streets to throw cabbage stalks at each other. The town-house bell gives signal for the affray. This is called lawless hour. This done, (for it lasts an hour,) the bailiff elect and corporation, in their robes, preceded by drums and fifes, (for they have no waits,) visit the old and new bailiff, constables, &c. &c. attended by the mob. In the mean time the most respectable families in the neighbourhood are invited, to meet and fling apples at them on their entrance. I have known forty pots of apples expended at one house.”

_Michaelmas Goose._

“September, when by custom (right divine) Geese are ordain’d to bleed at Michael’s shrine.”

_Churchill._

Mr. Brand notices the English custom of having a roast goose to dinner on Michaelmas-day. He cites Blount as telling us that “goose-intentos” is a word used in Lancashire, where “the husbandmen claim it as a due to have a goose _intentos_ on the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost; which custom took origin from the last word of the old church-prayer of that day: ‘Tua, nos quæsumus, Domine, gratia semper præveniat et sequitur; ac bonis operibus jugiter præstet esse intentos.’ The common people very humourously mistake it for a goose with _ten toes_.” To this Mr. Brand objects, on the authority of Beckwith, in his new edition of the “Jocular Tenures:” that “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.”

Mr. Douce is quoted by Mr. Brand, as saying, “I have somewhere seen the following reason for eating goose on Michaelmas-day, viz. that queen Elizabeth received the news of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, whilst she was eating a goose on Michaelmas-day, and that in commemoration of that event she ever afterwards on that day dined on a goose.” This Mr. Brand regards as strong proof that the custom prevailed even at court in queen Elizabeth’s time; and observing that it was in use in the tenth year of king Edward the Fourth, as will be shown presently, he represents it to have been a practice in queen Elizabeth’s reign, before the event of the Spanish defeat, from the “Posies of Gascoigne,” published in 1575.

“And when the tenauntes come to paie their quarter’s rent, They bring some fowle at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent, At Christmasse a capon, at _Michaelmasse_ A GOOSE; And somewhat else at New-yeres tide, _for feare their lease flie loose_.”

_Gascoyne._

So also the periodical paper called “The World,” represents that “When the reformation of the calendar was in agitation, to the great disgust of many worthy persons who urged how great the harmony was in the old establishment between the holidays and their attributes, (if I may call them so,) and what confusion would follow if MICHAELMAS-DAY, for instance, was not to _be celebrated when stubble-geese are in their highest perfection_; it was replied, that such a propriety was merely imaginary, and would be lost of itself, even without any alteration of the calendar by authority: for if the errors in it were suffered to go on, they would in a certain number of years produce such a variation, that we should be mourning for a good king Charles on a false thirtieth of January, at a time of year when our ancestors used to be tumbling over head and heels in Greenwich-park in honour of Whitsuntide: and at length be choosing king and queen for Twelfth Night, when we ought to be admiring the London prentice at Bartholomew-fair.”

According to Brand, geese are eaten by ploughmen at the harvest-home; and it is a popular saying, “If you eat goose on Michaelmas-day you will never want money all the year round.”

In 1470, John de la Hay took of William Barnaby, lord of Lastres, in the county of Hereford, one parcel of the land of that demesne, rendering twenty-pence a year, and one _goose_ fit for the lord’s dinner on the feast of St. Michael the archangel, with suit of court and other services.

* * * * *

According to Martin, in his “Description of the Western Islands of Scotland,” the protestant inhabitants of Skie, observe the festivals of Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, and that of St. Michael, on which latter day they have a cavalcade in each parish, and several families bake the cake called St. Michael’s bannock. So also, “They have likewise a general cavalcade on St. Michael’s-day in Kilbar village, and do then also take a turn round their church. Every family, as soon as the solemnity is ended, is accustomed to bake St. Michael’s cake, and all strangers, together with those of the family, must eat the bread that night.” We read too, in Macauley’s History, that “It was, till of late, a universal custom among the islanders, on Michaelmas-day, to prepare in every family a loaf or cake of bread, enormously large, and compounded of different ingredients. This cake belonged to the archangel, and had its name from him. Every one in each family, whether strangers or domestics, had his portion of this kind of shew-bread, and had, of course, some title to the friendship and protection of Michael.”

* * * * *

Macauley, in the “History of St. Kilda,” says, that “In Ireland a sheep was killed in every family that could afford one, on the same anniversary; and it was ordained by law that a part of it should be given to the poor. This, and a great deal more was done in that kingdom, to perpetuate the memory of a miracle wrought there by St. Patrick through the assistance of the archangel. In commemoration of this, Michaelmas was instituted a festival day of joy, plenty, and universal benevolence.”

_Ganging Day._

Mr. Brand found in a London newspaper of October 18, 1787, the following extraordinary _septennial_ custom at Bishops Stortford, in Hertfordshire, and in the adjacent neighbourhood, on _old_ Michaelmas-day: “On the morning of this day, called Ganging-day, a great number of young men assemble in the fields, when a very active fellow is nominated the leader. This person they are bound to follow, who, for the sake of diversion, generally chooses the route through ponds, ditches, and places of difficult passage. Every person they meet is bumped, male or female; which is performed by two other persons taking them up by their arms, and swinging them against each other. The women in general keep at home at this period, except those of less scrupulous character, who, for the sake of partaking of a gallon of ale and a plumb-cake, which every landlord or publican is obliged to furnish the revellers with, generally spend the best part of the night in the fields, if the weather is fair; it being strictly according to ancient usage not to partake of the cheer any where else.”

M. Stevenson, in “The Twelve Moneths, Lond. 1661, 4to.” mentions the following superstition; “They say, so many dayes old the moon is on Michaelmass-day, so many floods after.”

_Anecdote of a Goose._

An amusing account of a Canada goose once the property of Mr. Sharpe, at Little Grove, near East Barnet, was inserted by that gentleman in his copy of “Willughby’s Ornithology.” He says:--

The following account of a Canada goose is so extraordinary, that I am aware it would with difficulty gain credit, were not a whole parish able to vouch for the truth of it. The Canada geese are not fond of a poultry-yard, but are rather of a rambling disposition. One of these birds, however, was observed to attach itself, in the strongest and most affectionate manner, to the house-dog; and would never quit the kennel, except for the purpose of feeding, when it would return again immediately. It always sat by the dog; but never presumed to go into the kennel, except in rainy weather. Whenever the dog barked, the goose would cackle and run at the person she supposed the dog barked at, and try to bite him by the heels. Sometimes she would attempt to feed with the dog; but this the dog, who treated his faithful companion rather with indifference, would not suffer.

This bird would not go to roost with the others at night, unless driven by main force; and when, in the morning, she was turned into the field, she would never stir from the yard gate, but sit there the whole day, in sight of the dog. At last, orders were given that she should be no longer molested, but suffered to accompany the dog as she liked: being thus left to herself, she ran about the yard with him all the night; and what is particularly extraordinary, and can be attested by the whole parish, whenever the dog went out of the yard and ran into the village, the goose always accompanied him, contriving to keep up with him by the assistance of her wings; and in this way of running and flying, followed him all over the parish.

This extraordinary affection of the goose towards the dog, which continued till his death, two years after it was first observed, is supposed to have originated from his having accidentally saved her from a fox in the very moment of distress. While the dog was ill, the goose never quitted him day or night, not even to feed; and it was apprehended that she would have been starved to death, had not orders been given for a pan of corn to be set every day close to the kennel. At this time the goose generally sat in the kennel, and would not suffer any one to approach it, except the person who brought the dog’s or her own food. The end of this faithful bird was melancholy; for, when the dog died, she would still keep possession of the kennel; and a new house-dog being introduced, which in size and colour resembled that lately lost, the poor goose was unhappily deceived; and going into the kennel as usual, the new inhabitant seized her by the throat, and killed her.

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Michaelmas-day is one of the “four usual quarter-days, or days for payment of rent in the year.”

_A Michaelmas Notice to quit._

To ALL gad-flies and gnats, famed for even-tide hum, To the blue-bottles, too, with their gossamer drum; To all long-legs and moths, thoughtless rogues still at ease, Old Winter sends greeting--health, friendship, and these.

WHEREAS, on complaint lodged before me this day, That for months back, to wit, from the first day of May, Various insects, pretenders to beauty and birth, Have, on venturesome wing, lately traversed the earth, And, mistaking fair Clara’s chaste lips for a rose, Stung the beauty in public--and frightened her beaux.

AND, WHEREAS, on the last sultry evening in June, The said Clara was harmlessly humming a tune; A blue-bottle, sprung from some dunghill, no doubt, Buzzed about her so long--he at last put her out.

AND WHEREAS sundry haunches and high-seasoned pies, And a thousand sweet necks have been o’errun with flies; In his wisdom, Old Winter thinks nothing more fit Than to publish this friendly ‘memento to quit.’

AT YOUR PERIL, ye long-legs, this notice despise! Hasten hence, ye vile gad-flies! a word to the wise! Hornets, horse-stingers, wasps, fly so hostile a land, Or your death-warrant’s signed by Old Winter’s chill hand.[332]

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Michaelmas Daisy. _Aster Tradescanti._ Dedicated to _St. Michael and all Angels_.

[331] Golden Legend.

[332] From Times Telescope.

~September 30.~

_St. Jerome_, Priest, Doctor of the Church, A. D. 420. _St. Gregory_, Bp. surnamed the Apostle of Armenia, and the Illuminator, 4th Cent. _St. Honorius_, Abp. of Canterbury, A. D. 653.

~St. Jerome.~

This saint is in the church of England calendar and almanacs. Particulars concerning him will be related hereafter; it is sufficient to observe, for the present, that the church of England sets him forth as an authority for reading the Old Testament Apocrypha.

_Custom at Kidderminster._

The annual election of a bailiff at this town, before noticed,[333] is still accompanied by the rude mirth of the populace. The Editor is obliged to a lady for the following communication.

_To the Editor of the Every-Day Book._

Dear Sir,

I have just cast my eye upon your definition of the term “costermonger,” and it reminds me of an annual custom at Kidderminster, (my native town,) which you may perhaps think an account of, a fit subject for insertion in the _Every-Day Book_.

The magistrate and other officers of the town are annually elected, and the first Monday after Michaelmas-day is the day of their inauguration, in celebration of which, they each of them cause to be thrown to the populace, (who assemble to the amount of some thousands,) from the windows of their houses, or sometimes from the town-hall, a large quantity of apples, in the whole often amounting, from twenty to thirty pots, (baskets containing five pecks each.) This practice occasions, of course, a kind of prescriptive holiday in the town, and any one having the temerity to refuse his apprentice or servant leave to attend the “apple-throwing,” would most probably have cause to repent such an invasion of right. A rude concourse therefore fills the streets which are the scenes of action; and as a sort of “safety valve,” if I may “compare great things with small,” recourse is had by the crowd to the flinging about of old shoes, cabbage stalks, and almost every accessible kind of missile; till at length the sashes are raised, and the gifts of Pomona begin to shower down upon the heads of the multitude. Woe be to the unlucky wight who may chance to ride through the town during the introductory part of this custom; no sooner does he appear, than a thousand aims are taken at him and his horse, or carriage, and the poor belated rider “sees, or dreams he sees,” (if ignorant of the practice,) the inhabitants of a whole town raised to oppose his single progress, without being able to form the most distant idea of their motive for so doing. At Ludlow there is a custom as ancient and equally foolish, that of pulling a rope, but of this I know nothing except by report.

I am,

H. M.

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Golden Amaryllis. _Amaryllis Aurea._ Dedicated to _St. Jerome._

[333] In Col. 1337.

Then came October, full of merry glee, For yet his noule was totty of the must, Which he was treading, in the wine-fat’s see, And of the joyous oyle, whose gentle gust Made him so frollick, and so full of lust: Upon a dreadfull scorpion he did ride, The same which by Dianae’s doom unjust Slew great Orion; and eeke by his side He had his ploughing-share, and coulter ready tyde.

_Spenser._

This is the tenth month of the year. From our Saxon ancestors, “October had the name of _Wyn_-monat,” _wyn_ signifying wine; “and albeit they had not anciently wines made in Germany, yet in this season had they them from divers countries adjoining.”[334] They also called it _Winter-fulleth_.[335]

In noticing the stanza, beneath the above engraving by Mr. Williams from his own design, Mr. Leigh Hunt says, that “Spenser, in marching his months before great nature, drew his descriptions of them from the world and its customs in general; but turn his October wine-vats into cider-presses and brewing-tubs, and it will do as well.” He continues to observe, that “This month on account of its steady temperature, is chosen for the brewing of such malt liquor as is designed for keeping. The farmer continues to sow his corn, and the gardener plants forest and fruit trees. Many of our readers, though fond of gardens, will learn perhaps for the first time that trees are cheaper things than flowers; and that at the expense of not many shillings, they may plant a little shrubbery, or make a rural skreen for their parlour or study windows, of woodbine, guelder-roses, bays, arbutus, ivy, virgin’s bower, or even the poplar, horse-chestnut, birch, sycamore, and plane-tree, of which the Greeks were so fond. A few roses also, planted in the earth, to flower about his walls or windows in monthly succession, are nothing in point of dearness to roses or other flowers purchased in pots. Some of the latter are nevertheless cheap and long-lived, and may be returned to the nursery-man at a small expense, to keep till they flower again. But if the lover of nature has to choose between flowers or flowering shrubs and trees, the latter, in our opinion, are much preferable, inasmuch as while they include the former, they can give a more retired and verdant feeling to a place, and call to mind, even in their very nestling and closeness, something of the whispering and quiet amplitude of nature.

“Fruits continue in abundance during this month, as everybody knows from the shop-keeper; for our grosser senses are well informed, if our others are not. We have yet to discover that imaginative pleasures are as real and touching as they, and give them their deepest relish. The additional flowers in October are almost confined to the anemone and scabious; and the flowering-trees and shrubs to the evergreen cytisus. But the hedges (and here let us observe, that the fields and other walks that are free to every one are sure to supply us with pleasure, when every other place fails,) are now sparkling with their abundant berries,--the wild rose with the hip, the hawthorn with the haw, the blackthorn with the sloe, the bramble with the blackberry; and the briony, privet, honeysuckle, elder, holly, and woody nightshade, with their other winter feasts for the birds. The wine obtained from the elder-berry makes a very pleasant and wholesome drink, when heated over a fire; but the humbler sloe, which the peasants eat, gets the start of him in reputation, by changing its name to _port_, of which wine it certainly makes a considerable ingredient. A gentleman, who lately figured in the beau-monde, and carried coxcombry to a pitch of the ingenious, was not aware how much truth he was uttering in his pleasant and disavowing definition of port wine: ‘A strong intoxicating liquor much drank by the lower orders.’

“Swallows are generally seen for the last time this month, the house-martin the latest. The red-wing, field-fare, snipe, Royston crow, and wood-pigeon, return from more northern parts. The rooks return to the roost trees, and the tortoise begins to bury himself for the winter. The mornings and afternoons increase in mistiness, though the middle of the day is often very fine; and no weather when it is unclouded, is apt to give a clearer and manlier sensation than that of October. One of the most curious natural appearances is the _gossamer_, which is an infinite multitude of little threads shot out by minute spiders, who are thus wafted by the wind from place to place.

“The chief business of October, in the great economy of nature, is dissemination, which is performed among other means by the high winds which now return. Art imitates her as usual, and sows and plants also. We have already mentioned the gardener. This is the time for the domestic cultivator of flowers to finish planting as well, especially the bulbs that are intended to flower early in spring. And as the chief business of nature this month is dissemination or vegetable birth, so its chief beauty arises from vegetable death itself. We need not tell our readers we allude to the changing leaves with all their lights and shades of green, amber, red, light red, light and dark green, white, brown, russet, and yellow of all sorts.”

The orient is lighted with crimson glow, The night and its dreams are fled, And the glorious roll of nature now Is in all its brightness spread. The autumn has tinged the trees with gold, And crimson’d the shrubs of the hills; And the full seed sleeps in earth’s bosom cold; And hope all the universe fills.

[334] Verstegan.

[335] Dr. F. Sayer.

~October 1.~

_St. Remigius_, A. D. 533. _St. Bavo_, Patron of Ghent, A. D. 653. _St. Piat_, A. D. 286. _St. Wasnulf_, or _Wasnon_, A. D. 651. _St. Fidharleus_, Abbot in Ireland, A. D. 762. _Festival of the Rosary._

_Remigius._