The rank of the audiences attests the celebrity of these performances. In 1483 Richard III. visited Coventry to see the Corpus plays, and in 1492 they were attended by Henry VII. and his Queen, who highly commended them. At Chester the mysteries were acted by the trading companies of the city.

In Cornwall they had interludes from Scripture history in the native language. They were called Gnary Miracle Plays. The Bodleian has two MSS. containing three of them-the Deluge, the Passion, and the Resurrection.

On this day, about a quarter to one P.M., the Worshipful Company of Skinners used to walk in procession from their hall on Dowgate Hill to St Antholin's in Watling Street, for Divine service. They were attended by girls strewing herbs before them, and by the boys whom their patronage had placed on the foundation of Christ's Hospital.

According to Pennant, it was customary at Llanasaph in North Wales to strew green herbs and flowers before the houses on Corpus Christi Eve.

IN

ST VITUS'S DAY.

15th of June.

N the Sententiæ Rythmicæ of J. Buchlerus is a passage which seems to prove that St Vitus's Day was equally famous for rain with St Swithin's.

Googe, in his Translation of Naogeorgus, says

"The nexte is VITUS sodde in oyle, before whose ymage faire
Both men and women bringing hennes for offring do repaire;
The cause whereof I doe not know, I thinke, for some disease
Which he is thought to drive away, from such as him do please."

The saint was a Sicilian martyr under Diocletian; but why the disease called St Vitus' dance is so denominated, is not known.

TH

SUMMER SOLSTICE.

MIDSUMMER EVE.

The Vigil of St John Baptist's Day.

'HE pagan rites of this festival at the summer solstice may be considered as a counterpart of those used at the winter solstice at Yule-tide. One thing indeed seems to prove this beyond the possibility of a doubt. In the old Runic Fasti, as will be shown elsewhere, a wheel was used to denote the festival of Christmas. Gebelin derives Yule from a primitive word, carrying with it the_general idea of revolution and a wheel; and it was so called, says Bede, because of the return of the sun's annual course, after the winter solstice. This wheel is common to both festivities. Thus Durandus, speaking of the rites of the Feast of St John Baptist, informs us of

this curious circumstance, that in some places they roll a wheel about, to signify that the sun, then occupying the highest place in the zodiac, is beginning to descend; and in the amplified account of these ceremonies given by Naogeorgus, we read that this wheel was taken up to the top of a mountain and rolled down thence; and that, as it had previously been covered with straw, twisted about it and set on fire, it appeared at a distance as if the sun had been falling from the sky. And he farther observes that the people imagine that all their ill-luck rolls away from them together with this wheel.*

The following is an extract from the Homily De Festo Sancti Johannis Baptistæ:

"In worshyp of Saint Johan the people waked at home, and made three maner of fyres: one was clene bones, and noo woode, and that is called a Bone Fyre; another is clene woode, and no bones, and that is called a Wode Fyre, for people to sit and wake therby; the thirde is made of wode and bones, and it is callyd Saynt Johannys fyre. The first fyre, as a great clerke Johan Belleth telleth he was in a certayne countrey, so in the countrey there was soo greate hete the which causid that dragons to go togyther in tokenynge that Johan dyed in brennynge love and charyte to God and man, and they that dye in charyte shall have parte of all good prayers, and they that do not, shall never be saved. Then as these dragons flewe in th' ayre they shed down to that water froth of ther kynde, and so envenymed the waters, and caused moche people for to take theyr deth therby, and many dyverse sykenesse. Wyse clerkes knoweth well that dragons hate nothyng more than the stenche of brennynge bones, and therefore they gaderyd as many as they mighte fynde, and brent them; and so with the stenche thereof they drove away the dragons, and so they were brought out of greete dysease.

"The seconde fyre was made of woode, for that wyl brenne lyght,

The following is Naogeorgus's account of the rites of this festivity—
Then doth the joyfull feast of John the Baptist take his turne,
When bonfiers great, with loftie flame, in every towne doe burne :
And yong men round about with maides, doe daunce in every streete,
With garlands wrought of Motherwort, or else with Vervain sweete,
And many other flowres faire, with Violets in their handes,
Whereas they all do fondly thinke, that whosoever standes,
And thorow the flowres beholdes the flame, his eyes shall feel no paine.
When thus till night they daunced have, they through the fire amaine,
With striving mindes doe runne, and all their hearbes they cast therein,
And then with wordes devout and prayers they solemnely begin,

Desiring God that all their illes may there consumed bee;
Whereby they thinke through all that yeare from agues to be free.
Some others get a rotten Wheele, all worne and cast aside,
Which, covered round about with strawe and tow, they closely hide :
And caryed to some mountaines top, being all with fire light,
They hurle it downe with violence, when darke appears the night :
Resembling much the sunne, that from the Heavens down should fal,
A straunge and monstrous sight it seemes, and fearefull to them all :
But they suppose their mischiefes all are likewise throwne to hell,
And that from harmes and daungers now, in safetie here they dwell.”

and wyll be seen farre. For it is the chefe of fyre to be seen farre, and betokennynge that Saynt Johan was a lanterne of lyght to the people. Also the people made blases of fyre for that they shulde be seene farre, and specyally in the nyght, in token of St. Johan's having been seen from far in the spirit by Jeremiah. The third fyre of bones betokenneth Johan's martyrdome, for hys bones were brente, and how ye shall here. The Homilist accounts for this by telling us that after John's disciples had buried his body, it lay till Julian, the apostate Emperor, came that way, and caused them to be taken up and burnt, "and to caste the ashes in the wynde, hopynge that he shuld never ryse again to lyfe."

Bourne tells us that it was the custom in his time, in the North of England, chiefly in country villages, for old and young people to meet together and be merry over a large fire, which was made for that purpose in the open street. This, of whatever materials it consisted, was called a bonefire. Over and about this fire they frequently leaped and played at various games, such as running, wrestling, dancing, &c. This, however, was generally confined to the younger sort; for the old ones, for the most part, sat by as spectators only of the vagaries of those who compose the

"Lasciva decentius ætas,"

and enjoyed themselves over their bottle, which they did not quit till midnight, a sometimes till Cock-crow the next morning. Gebelin, his Allegories Orientales, accounts for the custom of making fire on Midsummer Eve thus:

"The or in of this Fire, which is still retained by so many nations,

These fires are supposed to have been called bonefires because they were generally made of bones. There is a passage in Stow, however, wherein he speaks of men finding wood or labour towards them, which seems to oppose the opinion. The learned Dr Hickes also gives a very different etymon. He defines a bonefire to be a festive or triumphant fire. In the islandic language, he says, Baal signifies a burning. In the Anglo Saxon, Bael-rin, by a change of letters of the same organ is made Baen-Fyn, whence our bone-fire.

In the Tynmouth MS. cited so often in the History of Newcastle, "Booner," and "Boen-Harow," occur for ploughing and harrowing gratis, or by gift. There is a passage also, much to our purpose, in Aston's Translation of Aubanus: "Common Fires (or as we call them heere in England Bonefires)." Bone-fire therefore probably means a contribution-fire, that is, a fire to which every one in the neighbourhood contributes a certain portion of materials. The contributed ploughing days in Northumberland are called "Bone-dargs." Bon-fire," says Lye (apud Junii Etymolog.) "not a fire made of bones, but a boon fire, a fire made of materials obtained by begging. Boon, Bone, Bene, vet. Angl. petitio preces."

Fuller, in his Mixt Contemplations in Better Times (1658), says he has met with "two etymologies of Bone-fires. Some deduce it from fires made of bones, relating it to the burning of martyrs, first fashionable in England in the reign of King Henry IV. But others derive the word (more truly in my mind) from boon, that is good, and fires."

though enveloped in the mist of antiquity, is very simple. It was a Feu de foie, kindled the very moment the year began; for the first of all years, and the most antient that we know of, began at this month of June. Thence the very name of this month, junior, the youngest, which is renewed; while that of the preceding one is May, major, the antient. Thus the one was the month of young people, while the other belonged to old men.

"These Feux de Joie were accompanied at the same time with vows and sacrifices for the prosperity of the people and the fruits of the earth. They danced also round this Fire (for what feast is there without a dance?) and the most active leaped over it. Each on departing took away a fire-brand, great or small, and the remains were scattered to the wind, which, at the same time that it dispersed the ashes, was thought to expel every evil. When, after a long train of years, the year ceased to commence at this solstice, still the custom of making these fires at this time was continued by force of habit, and of those superstitious ideas that are annexed to it. Besides, it would have been a sad thing to have annihilated a day of joy in times when there were not many of them. Thus has the custom been continued

and handed down to us."

Borlase, in his Antiquities of Cornwall, tells us: "Of the fires we kindle in many parts of England, at some stated times of the year, we know not certainly the rise, reason, or occasion, but they may probably be reckoned among the relicks of the Druid superstitious Fires. In Cornwall, the festival Fires, called Bonfires, are kindled on the Eve of St John Baptist and St Peter's Day; and Milsummer is thence, in the Cornish tongue, called 'Goluan,' which sscnifies both light and rejoicing. At these Fires the Cornish attend ith lighted torches, tarr'd and pitch'd at the end, and make their per nbulations round their Fires, and go from village to village carrying their torches before them, and this is certainly the remains of the Druid superstition, for 'faces præferre,' to carry lighted torches, was reckoned a kind of Gentilism, and as such particularly prohibited by the Gallick Councils they were in the eye of the law'accensores facularum,' and thought to sacrifice to the devil, and to deserve capital punishment."

On the Eves of St John Baptist and St Peter, according to Piers' Description of Westmeath," they always have in every town a Bonfire late in the evenings, and carry about bundles of reeds fast tied and fired; these being dry, will last long, and flame better than a torch, and be a pleasing divertive prospect to the distant beholder; a stranger would go near to imagine the whole country was on fire.”

The author of The Survey of the South of Ireland says: "It is not strange that many Druid remains should still exist; but it is a little extraordinary that some of their customs should still be practised. They annually renew the sacrifices that used to be offered to Apollo, without knowing it. On Midsummer's Eve, every eminence, near which is a habitation, blazes with Bonfires; and round these they carry numerous torches, shouting and dancing, which affords a beautiful sight, and at the same time confirms the observation of Scaliger: 'En Irlande ils sont quasi tous papistes, mais c'est Papauté meslée de Paganisme, comme partout.' Though historians had not given us

the mythology of the pagan Irish, and though they had not told us expressly that they worshipped Beal, or Bealin, and that this Beal was the Sun and their chief God, it might nevertheless be investigated from this custom, which the lapse of so many centuries has not been able to wear away." "I have, however, heard it lamented that the alteration of the style had spoiled these exhibitions for the Roman Catholics light their Fires by the new style, as the correction originated from a pope; and for that very same reason the Protestants adhere to the old."

The Rev. Donald M‘Queen, of Kilmuir in the Isle of Skye, writes to the Gentleman's Magazine for February 1795:-"I was so fortunate in the summer of 1782, as to have my curiosity gratified by a sight of this ceremony to a very great extent of country. At the house where I was entertained, it was told me that we should see at midnight the most singular sight in Ireland, which was the lighting of Fires in honour of the Sun. Accordingly, exactly at midnight, the Fires began to appear and taking the advantage of going up to the leads of the house, which had a widely extended view, I saw on a radius of thirty miles, all around, the Fires burning on every eminence which the country afforded. I had a farther satisfaction in learning, from undoubted authority, that the people danced round the Fires, and at the close went through these fires, and made their sons and daughters, together with their cattle, pass through the Fire; and the whole was conducted with religious solemnity."

The author of The Comical Pilgrim's Pilgrimage into Ireland (1723) says: "On the vigil of St John the Baptist's Nativity, they make Bonfires, and run along the streets and fields with wisps of straw blazing on long poles to purify the air, which they think infectious, by believing al the devils, spirits, ghosts, and hobgoblins fly abroad this night to hurt mankind. Farthermore, it is their dull theology to affirm the souls of all people leave their bodies on the Eve of this Feast, and take their ramble to that very place, where, by land of sea, a final separation shall divorce them for evermore in this world."

Lemnius observes that the Low Dutch have a proverb, that "when men have passed a troublesome night's rest, and could not sleep at all, they say, we have passed St John Baptist's Night; that is, we have not taken any sleep, but watched all night; and not only so, but we have been in great troubles, noyses, clamours, and stirs, that have held us waking.' " "Some," he previously notes, "by a superstition of the Gentiles, fall down before his image, and hope to be thus freed from the epileps; and they are further persuaded, that if they can but gently go unto this Saint's shrine, and not cry out disorderly, or hollow like madmen when they go, then they shall be a whole year free from this disease; but if they attempt to bite with their teeth the Saint's head they go to kisse, and to revile him, then they shall be troubled with this disease every month, which commonly comes with the course of the moon, yet extream juglings and frauds are wont to be concealed under this matter."

We cannot, however, acquiesce with Gebelin in thinking that the act of leaping over these fires was only a trial of agility. It were easy