Pennant's MSS.) must have been derived from this hocking each other on Hock-days, after the keeping of the original days had been set aside. The observance of Hoketyde declined soon after the Reformation. Joyful commemorations of a release from the bondage of Popery obliterated the remembrance of the festive season instituted on account of a deliverance from the Danish yoke; if we dare pronounce it certain that it was instituted on that occasion.t There is, however, a curious passage in Wither's Abuses Stript and Whipt (1618), which seems to imply that Hock-tide was then generally observed : "Who think (forsooth) because that once a yeare They can affoord the poore some slender cheere, * The discovery and prevention of the Gunpowder Plot occasioned the establishment, by law, of a yearly day of thanksgiving, for ever, on the 5th of November. † The following is an extract from Bagford's Letter relating to the Antiquities of London, printed in the 1st vol. of Leland's Collectanea, and dated Feb. 1. 1714-15:— "This brings to my mind another antient custom, that hath been omitted of late years. It seems that, in former times, the Porters that ply'd at Billingsgate used civilly to intreat and desire every man that passed that way to salute a post that stood there in a vacant place. If he refused to do this, they forthwith laid hold of him, and by main force bouped his ... against the post; but, if he quietly submitted to kiss the same, and paid down sixpence, then they gave him a name, and chose some one of the gang for his godfather. I believe this was done in memory of some old image that formerly stood there, perhaps of Belus, or Belin. He adds: "Somewhat of the like post, or rather stump, was near St. Paul's, and is at this day call'd St. Paul's Stump." It is the duty of the Rector of St Mary at Hill, in which parish Billingsgate is situated, to preach a sermon every year on the first Sunday after Midsummer day, before the Society of Fellowship Porters, exhorting them to be charitable towards their old decayed brethren, and "to bear one another's burthens." The stump spoken of by Bagford is probably alluded to in "Good Newes and Bad Newes" (1622), where the author, speaking of a countryman who had been to see the sights of London, mentions : "The Water-workes, huge Pauls, Charing Crosse, BLUE QLUE Coats were formerly worn by people of fashion on St George's Day, blue being the national colour in honour of the national saint. The Fins hold that whoever makes a riot on St George's Day is in danger of suffering from storms and tempests. In Coates's History of Reading under the heading of Churchwardens' Accounts in the year 1536, are the following entries : "CHARG' OF SAYNT GEORGE. "Ffirst payd for iii caffes-skynes, and ii horse-skynnes, iiii ▪ via. Payd for makeying the loft that Saynt George standeth upon, via. Payd for ii plonks for the same loft, viij. Payd for iiij pesses of clowt lether, ij. ija. Payd for makeyng the yron that the hors resteth upon, vja. Payd to John Paynter for his labour, xlv. Payd for roses, bells, gyrdle, sword, and dager, iij'. iiija. Payd for naylls necessarye thereto, xa. ob." At Leicester "the riding of the George" was one of the principal solemnities of the town, the inhabitants being bound to attend the Mayor; and St George's horse used to stand, harnessed, at the end of St George's chapel in St Martin's church. ST MARK'S DAY, OR EVE. The 25th of April. T was an old custom in Yorkshire for the common people to sit church of St Mark's Eve, o'clock at night till one in the morning. The third year (for this must be done thrice), they were supposed to see the ghosts of all those who were to die the next year pass by into the church. When any one sickened that was thought to have been seen in this manner, it was presently whispered about that he would not recover, for that such of such an one, who had watched St Mark's Eve, said so. This superstition was in such force that, if the patients themselve heard of it, they despaired of recovery. Many are said to have actuall died by their imaginary fears on the occasion; a truly lamentable, bu by no means incredible, instance of human folly. Pennant's MS. says that in North Wales no farmer dare hold hi team on St Mark's Day, because, as they believe, one man's team wa marked that did work that day with the loss of an ox. The Churc of Rome observes St Mark's Day as a day of abstinence, in imitatio of St Mark's disciples, the first Christians of Alexandria, who, und this Saint's conduct, were eminent for their devotions, abstinence, and sobriety. Strype, in his Annals of the Reformation, informs us: "St. Mark's Day, 25th April 1559, was a procession in divers parishes of London, and the citizens went with their banners abroad in their respective parishes, singing in Latin the Kyrie Eleeson, after the old fashion." In the Burnynge of Paules Church in London 1561, and the 4th of June, by Lyghtnynge, &c. (1563) we read: "Althoughe Ambrose saye that the churche knewe no fastinge day betwixt Easter and Whitsonday, yet beside manye fastes in the Rogation weeke, our wise popes of late yeares have devysed a monstrous fast on St. Marke's Daye. All other fastinge daies are on the holy day Even, only Saint Marke must have his day fasted. Tell us a reason why, so that will not be laughen at. We knowe wel ynough your reason of Tho. Beket, and thinke you are ashamed of it: tell us where it was decreed, by the Churche or Generall Counsell. Tell us also, if ye can, why the one side of the strete in Cheapeside fastes that daye, being in London diocesse, and the other side, beinge of Canterbury diocesse, fastes not? and soe in other townes moe. Could not Becket's holynes reache over the strete, or would he not? If he coulde not, he is not so mighty a Saint as ye make hym; if he would not, he was maliciouse, that woulde not doe soe muche for the citye wherein he was borne." In Vaughan's Golden Grove (1608) we read: "In the yeare of our Lord 1589, I being as then but a boy, do remember that an ale wife, making no exception of dayes, would needes brue upon Saint Marke's days; but loe, the marvailous worke of God! whiles she was thus laboring, the top of the chimney tooke fire; and, before it could bee quenched, her house was quite burnt. Surely, a gentle warning to them that violate and prophane forbidden daies." And in Hall's Triumphs: "On St. Mark's day, blessings upon the corn are implored." PAROCHIAL PERAMBULATIONS IN ROGATION WEEK, OR ON ONE OF THE THREE DAYS BEFORE "That ev'ry man might keep his owne possessions, (With zealous prayers, and with praisefull cheere), And well knowne markes (which sacrilegious hands T was a general custom formerly, says Bourne, and is still observed 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, and, invoking a blessing on the fruits of the earth, to pray for the preservation of the rights and properties of the parish. "It is the custom in many villages in the neighbourhood of Exeter," says a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1787, "to 'hail the Lamb' upon Ascension morn. That the figure of a lamb actually appears in the East upon this morning is the popular persuasion: and so deeply is it rooted that it hath frequently resisted (even in intelligent minds) the force of the strongest argument." The following superstition relating to this day is found in Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft (1665): "In some countries they run out of the doors in time of tempest, blessing themselves with a cheese, whereupon was a cross made with a rope's end upon Ascension Day."—“Item, to hang an egg laid on Ascension Day in the roof of the house, preserveth the same from all hurts." The same writer mentions the celebrated Venetian superstition on this day, which is of great antiquity: "Every year, ordinarily, upon Ascension Day, the Duke of Venice, accompanied with the States, goeth with great solemnity to the sea, and, after certain ceremonies ended, casteth thereinto a gold ring of great value and estimation, for a pacificatory oblation; wherewith their predecessors supposed that the wrath of the sea was assuaged." This custom is said to have taken its rise from a grant of Pope Alexander the Third, who, as a reward for the zeal of the inhabitants in his restoration to the papal chair, gave them power over the Adriatic Ocean, as a man has power over his wife; in memory of which the chief magistrate annually throws a ring into it, with these words: 'Desponsamus te, Mare, in signum perpetui dominii;' We espouse thee, O Sea, in testimony of our perpetual dominion over thee." Gentleman's Magazine for March 1798 we have an account of the ceremony rather more minute: "On Ascension Day, the Doge, in a splendid barge, attended by a thousand barks and gondolas, proceeds to a particular place in the Adriatic. In order to compose the angry gulph, and procure a calm, the patriarch pours into her bosom a quantity of holy water. As soon as this charm has had its effect, the Doge, with great solemnity, through an aperture near his seat, drops into her lap a gold ring, repeating these words, 'Desponsamus_te, Mare, in signum veri perpetuique dominii:' We espouse thee, O Sea, in token of real and perpetual dominion over thee. But, alas! how precarious are all matrimonial contracts in the present licentious age! This cara sposa, notwithstanding her repeated engagements, has been lately guilty of crim. con. to a flagrant degree, and now resigns herself to the possession of debauchees. It is therefore most probable that this annual ceremony will be no more repeated. This harlot will be divorced for ever." In the Bourne cites Spelman as deriving this custom from the times of the heathens, and holding that it is an imitation of the Feast called Terminalia, which was dedicated to the God Terminus, whom they considered as the guardian of fields and landmarks, and the maintainer of friendship and peace among men. The primitive custom used by Christians on this occasion was, for the people to accompany the bishop or some of the clergy into the fields, where Litanies were repeated, in which the mercy of God was implored that he would avert the evils of plague and pestilence, and that he would send them good and seasonable weather, and give them in due season the fruits of the earth. In Lysons's Environs of London, among his curious extracts from the Churchwardens' Accounts at Lambeth, I find the following relative to our present subject £ s. d. 8 "1516. Paid for dyinge of buckram for the Letty clothes o . O 8 probably for the processions in which they chaunted the Litany on Rogation Day." A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for August 1790 tells us : "Some time in the Spring, I think the day before Holy Thursday, all the clergy, attended by the singing men and boys of the choir, perambulate the town in their canonicals, singing Hymns; and the Bluecoat Charity boys follow, singing, with green boughs in their hands." In London, these parochial processions are still kept up on Holy Thursday. Shaw, in his History of Staffordshire, speaking of Wolverhampton, says: "Among the local customs which have prevailed here may be noticed that which was popularly called 'Processioning.' Many of the older inhabitants can well remember when the sacrist, resident prebendaries, and members of the choir, assembled at Morning Prayers on Monday and Tuesday in Rogation Week, with the charity children, bearing long poles clothed with all kinds of flowers then in season, and which were afterwards carried through the streets of the town with much solemnity, the clergy, singing men and boys, dressed in their sacred vestments, closing the procession, and chanting in a grave and appropriate melody, the Canticle, Benedicite, Ŏmnia Opera, &c. "This ceremony, innocent at least, and not illaudable in itself, was of high antiquity, having probably its origin in the Roman offerings of the Primitiæ, from which (after being rendered conformable to our purer worship) it was adopted by the first Christians, and handed down, through a succession of ages, to modern times. The idea was, no doubt, that of returning thanks to God, by whose goodness the face of nature was renovated, and fresh means provided for the sustenance and comfort of his creatures. It was discontinued about 1765. "The boundaries of the township and parish of Wolverhampton are in many points marked out by what are called Gospel Trees, from the custom of having the Gospel read under or near them by the clergyman attending the parochial perambulations. Those near the town were visited for the same purpose by the Processioners before mentioned, and are still preserved with the strictest care and attention." The following is from Herrick's Hesperides "Dearest, bury me Under that Holy-Oke, or Gospel-Tree; Where (though thou see'st not) thou may'st think upon |