an extent, in fact, that the graves of such persons not unfrequently are planted by satirical neighbours, not only with rue, but with thistles, nettles, henbane, and other noxious weeds. At the funerals of young unmarried persons of both sexes, the path to the grave is likewise strewn with odorous flowers and evergreens; and the usual phrase on such occasions is, that the deceased are going to their nuptial beds, not to their graves. Like the Greeks of old, they carefully abstain from the use of ill-omened words. The flowers growing on graves are never invaded, it being deemed a kind of sacrilege to trespass thereon. A relation or a friend will occasionally take a pink, if it can be spared, or a sprig of thyme, from the grave of a loved one, to wear it in remembrance; but they are careful not to deface the growth on the grave. This custom is represented as prevailing mostly in remote villages, and Malkin was assured that in villages where the right of grazing the churchyard has been enforced, it has alienated the affections of large numbers from the clergy and the Church; many having seceded solely that they might bury their friends in dissenting burying-grounds, where their floral tributes are respected. Such are the results of the undue assertion of privilege. These elegant and highly pathetic customs of South Wales impress the mind most favourably. What, inquires Malkin, can be more affecting than to see the youth of both sexes, in every village through which the corpse passes, dressed in their best apparel, and strewing with sweet-scented flowers the path along which one of their beloved neighbours goes to his or her marriage-bed? Speaking of the church of Llanspyddid on the south of the Uske, which is surrounded with large and venerable yew trees, Malkin affirms that the natives of the principality pride themselves much on these ancient ornaments of their churchyards; and that in Brecknockshire it is as usual to decorate graves with slips either of bay or of yew stuck in the green turf, in token of pious remembrance, as it is in Glamorganshire to pay a similar tribute by the cultivation of sweetscented flowers thereon. Gough notes Aubrey's mention of the usage that prevailed at Oakley in Surrey, of lovers planting rose trees on the graves of their departed companions, and inclines to believe that it may be a relic of Roman manners among us; both Romans and Greeks having been wont annually to strew roses on their graves, as Bishop Gibson (after Kirkman de Funeribus) concludes from two inscriptions at Ravenna and Milan. The practice to which Propertius refers of burying the dead in roses was common, Gough adds, among our country people; and to it Anacreon seems to allude in his liii. Ode. In the Female Mentor (1798) we read: Independently of the religious comfort which is imparted in our Burial Service, we sometimes see certain gratifications which are derived from immaterial circumstances, and, however trivial they may appear, are not to be judged improper so long as they are perfectly innocent. Of this kind may be deemed the practice in some country villages of throwing flowers into the grave; and it is curious to trace this apparently simple custom up to the politest periods of Greece and Rome. Virgil, describing the grief of Anchises for Marcellus, represents him as directing "Full Canisters of fragrant Lilies bring, In Romeo and Juliet, Friar Laurence says Dry up your tears, and stick your Rosemary and Paris, the intended husband of Juliet, who seemingly died on her wedding day, is similarly figured as having come "with Flowers to strew his Ladie's Grave," when he provoked and met his fate by the hand of Romeo. And in the same strain Overbury's description of the Faire and happy Milk-maid is: "Thus lives she, and all her care is that she may die in the Spring time, to have store of Flowers stucke upon her Winding-sheet." A MS. entitled Historical Passages concerning the Clergy (cited in the History of Shrewsbury) regards it as probable that in Papal times, when there were neither seats nor benches in churches, the floors were commonly strewed with flowers and sweet herbs, especially at midnight masses and great festivals, to enable the people to prostrate themselves thereon. So in The Festyvall (1528) we read of St Thomas à Becket: "He was also manfull in his houshold, for his Hall was every daye in Somer season strewed with grene Russhes, and in Wynter with clene Hey, for to save the Knyghtes clothes that sate on the Flore for defaute of place to syt on." Pennant's Tour in Scotland records the singular custom in many parts of North Britain, of painting on the doors and window-shutters white tadpole-like figures on a black ground, by way of expressing the country's grief for the loss of any person of distinction. Nothing, Pennant thought, was wanting to render this mode of indicating sorrow completely ridiculous but the addition of "N. B. These are Tears." He saw a door that led into a family vault in Kelso churchyard in 1785, which was covered with these figures on a very large scale. To what has been already said on the subject of rosemary at funerals may be added that in the British Apollo (1708) the question, "Whence proceeds that so constant formality of persons bearing a sprig of Rosemary in their hand, when accompanying the obsequies of a deceas'd person?" is answered: "That custom ('tis like) had its rise from a notion of an Alexipharmick, or preservative virtue in that Herb against pestilential Distempers: whence the smelling thereto at Funerals was probably thought a powerful defence against the morbid effluvias of the Corpse. Nor is it for the same reason less customary to burn Rosemary in the Chambers of the Sick, than Frankincense, whose odour is not much different from the former; which gave the Greeks occasion to call Rosemary Λιβανωτίς, from Λιβανος, Thus.” To the query why among the ancients ewe and cypress were given at Funerals, it is answered in the same publication: "We suppose that as Ewe and Cypress are always green, the Antients made use of them at Burials, as an emblem of the immortality of the deceased through their vertues or good works." MINNYNG DAYS; MYNDE DAYS; OR MONTH'S MIND. Minnyng days Blount derives from the Saxon Lemỳnde,* days which our ancestors called their month's mind, their year's mind, and the like, as being the days whereon their souls (after death) were had in special remembrance by the performance of some office or obsequies, such as obits, dirges, &c. The phrase is still retained in Lancashire; but elsewhere they are more commonly called anniversary days; and the familiar expression of "having a Month's Mind," to imply a longing desire, is evidently derived hence. Accordingly we read in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa: "By saying they have a Month's Mind to it, they antiently must undoubtedly mean that, if they had what they so much longed for, it would (hyperbolically speaking) do them as much good (they thought) as they believed a Month's Mind, or Service said once a Month, (could they afford to have it) would benefit their souls after their decease." Fabian's Chronicle contains the record of the death in 1439 of "Sir Roberde Chichely, Grocer, and twice Mayor of London, the which wylled in his Testament that upon his Mynde Day a good and competent Dyner should be ordayned to xxiiii C. pore men, and that of housholders of the Citee, yf they myght be founde. And over that was xx pounde destributed among them, which was to every Man two pence.' " The chronicler left most explicit instructions as to the execution of his own month's mind. His will among other things directs "At whiche tyme of burying, and also the Monethis Mynde, I will that myne Executrice doo cause to be carried from London .xii. newe Torches, there beyng redy made, to burn in the tymes of the said burying and Monethes Minde: and also that they do purvay for .iiii. Tapers of .iii. lb. evry pece, to brenne about the Corps and Herse for the foresaid .ii. seasons, whiche Torches and Tapers to be bestowed as hereafter shalbe devised; which .iiij. Tapers I will be holden at every tyme by foure poore men, to the whiche I will that to everyche of theym be geven for their labours at either of the saide .ij. tymes .iiij.d to as many as been weddid men : and if any of theym happen to be unmarried, than they to have but .iij.d. a pece, and in lyke maner I will that the Torche berers be orderid." Again: "Also I will, that if I decesse at my tenemente of Halstedis, that myn Executrice doo purvay ayenst my burying competent brede, ale, and chese, for all comers to the parishe Churche, and ayenst the Moneths Mynde I will be ordeyned, at the said Churche, competent brede, ale, pieces of beffe and moton, and rost rybbys of beffe, as shalbe thought nedefull by the discrecion of myn Executrice, for all comers to the said obsequy, over and above brede, ale, and chese, for the comers unto the dirige over night. And furthermore I will that my said Executrice doo purvay ayenst the said Moneths Mynde .xxiiij. peces of beffe and moton, and .xxiiij. treen platers and .xxiiij. treen sponys; the whiche peces of fleshe with the said platers and spoonys, w. .xxiiij.d. of siluer, I will be geven unto .xxiiij. poore persones of the said parisshe of Theydon Garnon, if win that parishe so many may be founde: for lake whereof, I will the .xxiiij. peces of flesh and .ij.s. in i.e., the mind, q. myndyng days [Bede lib. iv. ca. 30]. Commemorationis Dies. money, we the foresaid platers and sponys be geven unto suche poore persones as may be found in the parisshes of Theydon at Mount, and Theydon Boys, after the discrecion of myn Executors; and if my said Monethes Mynde fall in Lent, or upon a fysshe day, than I will that the said .xxiiij. peces of fleshe be altered unto saltfyche or stokfyche, unwatered, and unsodeyn, and that every piece of beef or moton, saltfyshe or stokfysh, be well in value of a peny or a peny at the leest; and that noo dyner be purveyed for at hom but for my household and kynnysfolks: and I will that my Knyll be rongyn at my Monethes Mynde after the guyse of London. Also I will that myn Executrice doo assemble upon the said day of Moneths Mynde .xij. of the porest menys children of the foresaid parisshe, and after the Masse is ended and other obseruances, the said Children to be ordered about my Grave, and there knelyng, to say for my soule and all Cristen soules, De profundis as many of them as can, and the residue to say a Pater noster, and an Ave oonly; to the which .xij. childern I will be geven .xiij.d. that is to meane, to that childe that beginneth De profundis and saith the preces, ij.d. and to eueryche of the other j.d." The Will of Thomas Windsor, Esq., 1479, provides— "Item, I will that I have brennyng at my Burying and Funeral Service, four Tapers and twenty-two Torches of wax, every Taper to conteyn the weight of ten pounds, and every Torch sixteen pounds, which I will that twenty-four very poor Men, and well disposed, shall hold as well at the tyme of my burying as at my Moneth's Minde. Item, I will that after my Moneth's Minde be done, the said four Tapers be delivered to the Churchwardens, &c. And that there be a hundred Children within the age of sixteen years to be at my Moneth's Minde, to say for my soul. That against my Moneth's Minde, the Candles bren before the rude in the Parish Church. Also that at my Moneth's Minde, my Executors provide twenty Priests to singe Placebo, Dirige, &c." Veron's reference (1561) is— "I shulde speake nothing, in the mean season, of the costly feastes and bankettes that are commonly made unto the priestes (whiche come to suche doinges from all partes, as Ravens do to a deade Carkase,) in their buryinges, moneths mindes and yeares myndes." In the Churchwardens' Accounts of St Mary at Hill, in the City of London, 17 & 19 Edw. IV. occur these entries- "P to Sir I. Philips for keepyng the Morrow Mass at 6 o'clock upon feryall days, each quarter v.s." "To the Par. Priest to remember in the pulpit the soul of R. Bliet, who gave vj.s. viij.d. to the Church works. ij.d." In the Accounts of St Margaret, Westminster, we read— Item, at the Monyth Mynde of Lady Elizabeth Countess of Oxford, for four Tapers, viijd." Under the year 1531— Item, for mette for the theff that stalle the Pyx. iiijd.;” and in 1532 "Item, received for iiii. Torches of the black Guard. viijď.” On these occasions the word "Mind" signified Remembrance; and the expressions a "Month's Mind," and a "Year's Mind," meant that on the month or year after the death of a person some solemn service for the good of his soul should be celebrated. In Ireland, writes Piers (1682), after the day of interment of a great personage they count four weeks; and that day four weeks all priests and friars, and all gentry far and near, are invited to a great feast, "usually termed the Month's Mind." Preparatory to this feast, masses for the repose of the soul of the departed were said in all parts of the house at once. If the room was large, three or four priests celebrated in the several corners thereof. The masses done, they proceeded to the entertainment; at the conclusion of which priests and friars were discharged from attendance with individual largesses. DRINKING CUSTOMS. PLEDGING. Joa 1 де HE word pledge Blount thinks is most probably derived from the French Pleige, a surety or gage. Some deduce the drinking expression "I'll pledge you" from the time when the Danes bore sway in this land. It having been the common practice of those ferocious people to stab the natives, in the act of drinking, with knives or daggers, people would not drink in their company unless some one present undertook to be their pledge or surety that they should receive no hurt while they were indulging. Thus, in Timon of Athens we read -"If I Were a huge man, I should fear to drink at meals, Lest they should spy my Wind pipe's dangerous Notes The allusion, Grey explains, is to the pledge exacted in the Danish period; and from Baker's Chronicle we learn that during Wyat's Rebellion, in 1553, the serjeants and other lawyers in Westminster Hall pleaded in harness. Others affirm the true sense of the word to be that, if the person drunk unto was not disposed to drink himself, he would procure another as a pledge to do it for him; else the proposer would take it ill. Strutt confirms the former of these opinions with the observation that, in the old mode of pledging each other, he who was going to drink asked any one of the company near him whether he would pledge him; whereupon the invited one, answering that he would, held up his knife or sword for his protection while he drank; for while a man is drinking he necessarily is in an unguarded posture, and exposed to the treacherous stroke of a hidden or secret enemy. But the custom, continues Strutt, is said to have originated from the death of Edward the Martyr, who by the contrivance of his stepmother was treacherously stabbed in the back while drinking. Henry's History refers to this subject in these terms: "If an EnglishЯan presumed to drink in the presence of a Dane, without |