bough or wand (at this time discontinued, and only faintly represented by a trifling nosegay), and the staff or rod of authority in the civil and in the military (for it was a mace of civil power, and the truncheon of the field officers) are both derived hence. A mayor, he says, received his name from this May, in the sense of lawful power.— The crown, a mark of dignity and symbol of power, like the mace and sceptre, was also taken from the May, being representative of the garland or crown, which, when hung on the top of the may or pole, was the great signal for convening the people. The arches of it, which spring from the circlet and meet together at the mound or round ball, being necessarily so formed as to suspend it on the top of the pole.

The word May-pole, he observes, is a pleonasm; in French it is called singly the Mai.

This is, he farther tells us, one of the ancientest customs, which, from the remotest ages, has been by repetition from year to year, perpetuated down to our days, not being at this instant totally exploded, especially in the lower class of life. It was considered as the boundary day, that divided the confines of winter and summer, allusively to which, there was instituted a sportful war between two parties; the one in defence of the continuance of winter, the other for bringing in the summer.-The youth were divided into troops, the one in winter livery, the other in the gay habit of spring.-The mock battle was always fought booty, the spring was sure to obtain the $ 3

victory,

* tri

victory, which they celebrated by carrying umphally green branches with May flowers, proclaiming and singing the song of joy, of which the burthen was, in these or equivalent terms:

"We have brought the summer home +."

CHAP.

* I have more than once been disturbed early on May morning at Newcastle, by the noise of a song, which a woman sung about the streets, who had several garlands in her hand, and which, if I mistake not, she sold to any who were superstitious enough to buy them.It is homely and low, but it must be remembered that our Treatise is not "on the sublime:"

Rise up, maidens! fy for shame,

I've been four long miles from hame;
I've been gath'ring my garlands gay,

Rise up, fair maids, and take in your May.

Here is no pleonasm: it is singly, as the French have it, your May.

"Suecis Meridionalibus, et Gothis, longissimo provinciarum "spatio a polo remotis, alius ritus est, ut primo die Maii, sole per Taurum agente cursum, duplices a magistratibus urbium "constituantur robustorum juvenum & virorum equestres turmæ, "seu Cohortes, tanquam ad durum aliquem conflictum progressuræ, ❝quarum altera sorte deputato duce dirigitur: qui Hyemis titulo " & habitu, variis indutus pellibus, hastis focalibus armatus, glo"batas nives, et crustatas glacies spargens, ut frigora prolonget, "obequitat victoriosus: eoque duriorem se simulat, et efficit, quo "ab vaporariis stiriæ glaciales dependere videntur. Rursumque "alterius equestris cohortis præfectus Estatis, Comes florilias "appellatus, virentibus arborum frondibus, foliisque et floribus "(difficulter repertis) vestitus, æstivalibus indumentis parum se❝curis, ex campo cum duce Hyemali, licet separato loco et ordine, "Civitates ingrediuntur, hastisque edito spectaculo publico, quod "Estas hyemem exuperet, experiuntur."

Olai Magni. Gent. Septent. Hist. Brev. p. 338.

CHAP. XXVI.

Of Parochial perambulations: Their Antiquity, the benefit and advantages of them.

I observed in some
IT

T was a general custom formerly, and is still

observed in some country parishes, to go round the bounds 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 with his church-wardens and parishioners, were wont to deprecate the vengeance of GOD, beg a blessing on the fruits of the earth, and preserve the rights and properties of their parish.

The original of this custom is dated from the times of the heathens. For from the days of Numa Popilius, they worshipped the god Terminus, whom they looked upon to be the guardian of fields and landmarks, and the keeper up of friendship and peace among men: Upon this account the feast called Terminalia, was dedicated to him; instead of which it is a very ancient custom to surround

*Refert Plutarchus in Problem 13. Numam Popilium cum finitimis agri terminis constituisse, & in ipsis finibus Terminum Deum, quasi finium præsidem amicitiæque, ac pacis custodem posuisse. Festa ei dicata quæ Terminalia nuncupantur, quorum vice nos quotannis ex vetustissima consuetudine parochiarum terminos lustramus. Spelm. Gloss. in Verbo. Perambulat.

the bounds of parishes every year: And instead of heathenish rites and sacrifices to an imaginary God, to offer praises and prayers to the true GOD, the GOD of the whole earth. The custom was, the people accompanied the bishop, or some of the clergy into the fields, where litanies were made, and the mercy of GOD implored, that he would avert the evils of plague and pestilence, that he would send them good and seasonable weather, and give them the fruits of the earth in due season.

The litanies or rogations, which were then made use of, and gave name to the time of rogation-week, were first observed by Mamertus, Bishop of Vienna, in the year 550, on account of the frequent earthquakes that happened, and the incursions of wild beasts, which laid in ruins, and depopulated the city. Not that litanies and rogations were not used before, but that before this

time

*It is called rogation-week, because of that prayer and fasting that was then used, for to supplicate GOD for his blessing on the fruits of the earth. It is also in some places called cross-week, because in ancient times, when the priests went into the fields, the cross was carried before them. In the northern parts it is called gang-week, from to gang, which in the North signifies to go.

+ Dum civitas Viennensium crebro terræ motu subrueretur & bestiarum desolaretur incursu, sanctus Mamertus ejus civitatis episcopus, eas legitur pro malis, quæ præmissimus, ordinasse. Walifred. Stral. C. 28. de Reb. Ecclesiast.

time they were not affixed to these days. And since that, they have been observed of the whole church at this season, except the church of Spain, who chused rather to have them after Pentecost than before it; because from Easter-day to the feast of Pentecost, it was the custom of the church not to fast: For as they themselves reasoned, the children of the bride-chamber cannot fast so long as the bridegroom is with them and therefore they held their rogation after Pentecost.

What now remains among us, is the relic of this ancient and laudable custom, which was always observed in the old church of England, and has been also in some measure since the reformation too.

In the canons of Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury, which were made at Cloves-hoo, in the year 747, it was ordered that litanies, that is, rogations, should be observed of the clergy

*Hispani autem, propter hoc quod scriptum est, non possunt filii sponsi lugere quamdiu cum illis est sponsus, infra quinquagessimam paschæ recusantes jejunare, litanios suos post pentecosten posuerunt. Walaf. Strab. ibid.

+ Concil. Cloveshovie sub Cuthbert: Arch. Cant. An. 747. Cap. 16. Ut Litaniæ, i. e. rogationes, a clero omnique populo his diebus cum magna reverentia agantur, id est, septimo kalendarum Maiarum juxta ritum Romanæ ecclesiæ, quæ & litania major apud eam vocatur: Et item quoque secundum morem priorum nostrorum tertiæ dies ante ascentionem domini nostri in cælos, cum jejunio, &c. Spelman. Gloss. 369.