Waldron, in his Description of the Isle of Man, (Works, fol. p. 154,) tells us, that the month of May is there every year ushered in with the following ceremony: "In almost all the great parishes, they chuse from among the daughters of the most wealthy farmers a young maid for the Queen of May. She is drest in the gayest and best manner they can, and is attended by about twenty others, who are called maids of honour: she has also a young man, who is her captain, and has under his command a good number of inferior officers. In opposition to her is the Queen of Winter, who is a man drest in woman's clothes, with woollen hoods, furr tippets, and loaded with the warmest and heaviest habits one upon another: in the same manner are those who represent her attendants drest, nor is she without a captain and troop for her defence. Both being equipt as proper emblems, of the beauty of the Spring, and the deforinity of the Winter, they set forth from their respective quarters; the one preceded by violins and flutes, the other with the rough musick of the tongs and cleavers. Both companies march till they meet on a common, and then their trains engage in a mock battle. If the Queen of Winter's forces get the better so far as to take the Queen of May prisoner, she is ransomed for as much as pays the expences of the day. After this ceremony, Winter and her company retire, and divert themselves in a barn, and the others remain on the green, where, having danced a considerable time, they conclude the evening with a feast: the Queen at one table with her maids, the Captain with his troop at another. There are seldon less than fifty or sixty persons at each board, but not more than three knives."

are Robin and Marion, a shepherd and shepherdess. Mr. Warton thought that our English Marian might be illustrated from this composition; but Mr. Ritson is unwilling to assent to this opinion, on the ground that the French Robin and Marion are not the Robin and Marian of Sherwood.' Yet Mr. Warton probably meant no more than that the name of Marian had been suggested from the above drama, which was a great favourite among the common people in France, and performed much about the season at which the May Games were celebrated in England. The great intercourse between the countries might have been the means of importing this name amidst an infinite variety of other matters; and there is, indeed, no other mode of accounting for the introduction of a name which never occurs in the page of English History. The story of Robin Hood was, at a very early period, of a dramatic cast; and it was perfectly natural that a principal character should be transferred from one drama to another. It might be thought, likewise, that the English Robin deserved his Marian as well as the other. The circumstance of the French Marian being acted by a boy contributes to support the above opinion; the part of the English character having been personated, though not always, in like manner."]

[Mr. Douce says, "it appears that the Lady of the May was sometimes carried in procession on men's shoulders; for Stephen Batman, speaking of the Pope and his ceremonies, states that he is carried on the backs of four deacons, 'after the maner of carying Whytepot Queenes in Western May Games."

Mr. Douce adds, in another page, "There can be no doubt that the Queen of May is the legitimate representative of the Goddess Flora in the Roman Festival.]

ROBIN HOOD.

Bishop Latimer, in his sixth Sermon before King Edward the Sixth, mentions Robin Hood's Day, kept by country people in memory of him. "I came once myself," says he, "to a place, riding a journey homeward from London, and sent word over-night into the town that I would preach there in the morning, because it was a holy-day, and I took my horse and my company and went thither, (I thought I should have found a great company in the church;) when I came there, the church-door was fast locked. I tarried there half an hour and more; at last the key was found, and one of the parish comes to me, and says: "This is a busy day with us, we cannot heare you, this is Robin Hoode's daye, the parish is gone abroad to gather for Robin Hoode. I thought my rochet should have been regarded, though I were not: but it would not serve, but was fayne to give place to Robin Hoode's mens.”

.

f In the Gentleman's Magazine for October 1793, p. SSS, there is a curious anecdote of Dr. Geddes, the well-known translator of the Bible, who, it should seem, was fond of innocent festivities. He was seen in the Summer of that year, mounted on the poles behind the QUEEN of the MAY at Marsden Fair, in Oxfordshire."

g In Coates's History of Reading, p. 2144, in the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Lawrence Parish, under the year 1499, is the following article: "It. rec. of the gaderyng of Robyn-hod, xixs."

In the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Helen's, Abingdon, under the year 1566, we find eighteen pence charged for setting up Robin Hood's bower. See Mr. Nichols's Illustrations of Ancient Manners and Expences, p. 143.

[Mr. Douce thinks "the introduction of Robin Hood into the celebration of May, probably suggested the addition of a King or Lord of May." The Summer King and Queen, or Lord and Lady of the May, however, are characters of very high antiquity. The conversation between Robert Bruce and his Queen, in 1306, has been already quoted from Spelman: and even in the Synod at Worcester, A. D. 1240, can. 38, a strict command was given, "Ne intersint ludis inhonestis nec

We read, in Skene's Regiam Majestatem, "Gif anie provest, baillie, counsell, or communitie, chuse Robert Hude, litell John, Abbat of Unreason, Queens of Maii, the chusers sall tyne their friedome for five Zeares; and sall bee punished at the King's will and the accepter of sick ane office, salbe

sustineant ludos fieri de REGE et REGINA, nec Arietes levari, nec palestras publicas." See Kennett's Paroch. Antiq. Gloss. v. Arietum levatio.

Ihre, in his Suio-Gothic Glossary, makes the following mention of the King or Lord of May upon the Continent:

"MAIGREFWE dicebatur, qui mense Maijo serto floreo redimitus solenni pompa per plateas et vicos circumducebatur. Commemorant Historici, Gustavum I. Suionum Regem anno 1526 sub nundinis Ericianis vel d. 18. Maii ejusmodi Comitem Majum creasse Johannem Magnum, Archiep. Upsaliensem. Et quum moris esset, ut Comes hic imaginarius satellitium, quod eum stipaverat, convivio exciperet, fecit id Johannes non sine ingenti impensa, ut ipse in Historia Metropolitana conqueritur. Conf. Westenhielms Hist. Gust. I. ad annum, nec non Tegel in Historia hujus Reg. Part. 1. In Anglia quoque ejusmodi Reges et Reginæ Majales floribus ornati a juventute olim creabantur, quo facto circa perticam eminentiorem, nostris MAISTANG dictam, choreas ducebant, & varios alios ludos exercebant." tom. ii. p. 1.8. sub v.]

Mr. Lysons, in his Extracts from the Churchwardens' and Chamberlains' Accounts at Kingstonupon-Thames, affords us some curious particulars of a sport called the "Kyngham," or KING

GAME.

"Be yt in mynd, that ye 19 yere of King Harry the 7, at the geveng out of the Kynggam by Harry Bower and Harry Nycol, cherchewardens, amounted clerely to £4. 2s. 6d. of that same game." £. s.

"Mem. That the 27 day of Joun, ao. 21, Kyng H. 7, that we, Adam Bakhous and Harry Nycol, hath made account for the Kenggam, that same tym don Wylm Kempe, Kenge, and Joan Whytebrede, quen, and all costs deducted

"23 Hen. 7. Paid for whet and malt and vele and motton and

for the Kyngam

To the taberare

d.

4 5 0

pygges and ger and coks

Paid to Robert Neyle for goyng to Wyndesore for maister doctor's horse agaynes the Kyngham day

For bakyng the Kyngham brede

0 4

0 6

0 1 0"

To a laborer for bering home of the geere after the Kyngham was don The contributions to the celebration of the same game, Mr. Lysons observes, in the neighbouring parishes, show that the Kyngham was not confined to Kingston. See Envir. of London, vol. i. p. 225.

In another quotation from the same Accounts, 24 Hen. VII. the "cost of the Kyngham and Robyn-hode" appears in one entry, viz.

banished furth of the Realme." And under "pecuniall crimes,"-"all persons, quha a landwort, or within burgh, chuses Robert Hude, sall pay ten pounds, and sall be warded induring the King's pleasure." Mar. Parl. 6. c. 61h.

FRIAR TUCK.

Mr. Tollet describes this character upon his window as in the full clerical tonsure, with a chaplet of white and red beads in his right hand: and, expressive of his professed humility, his eyes are cast upon the ground. His corded

S. d.

"A kylderkin of 3 halfpennye bere and a kilderkin of singgyl bere 0 2
7 bushels of whete

4

0

6

3

The clear profits, 15 Henry VIII. (the last time Mr. Lysons found it mentioned,) amounted to €9. 10s. 6d. a very considerable sum.

In a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, entitled "The Knight of the burning Pestle," 4to. 1613, Rafe, one of the characters, appears as Lord of the May:

He adds:

"And, by the common-councell of my fellows in the Strand,
With gilded staff, and crossed skarfe, the May-Lord here I stand.”

"The Morrice rings while Hobby Horse doth foot it featously;"

and, addressing the groupe of citizens assembled around him, "from the top of Conduit-head,” says :
"And lift aloft your velvet heads, and, slipping of your gowne,
With bells on legs, and napkins cleane unto your shoulders ti'de,
With scarfs and garters as you please, and Hey for our town cry'd:
March out and shew your willing minds, by twenty and by twenty,
To Hogsdon or to Newington, where ale and cakes are plenty.
And let it nere be said for shame, that we, the youths of London,
Lay thrumming of our caps at home, and left our custome undone.
Up then, I say, both young and old, both man and maid, a Maying,
With drums and guns that bounce aloude, and merry taber playing."

In Sir David Dalrymple's Extracts from the Book of the Universal Kirk, in the year 1576, Robin Hood is styled King of May.

girdle and his russet habit denote him to be of the Franciscan Order, or one of the Grey Friars. His stockings are red, his red girdle is ornamented with a golden twist, and with a golden tassel. At his girdle hangs a wallet for the reception of provision, the only revenue of the mendicant orders of religious, who were named Walleteers, or Budget-bearers. Mr. Steevens supposes this Morris Friar designed for Friar Tuck, chaplain to Robin Hood, as King of Mayi.

THE FOOL.

Mr. Tollet, describing the Morris Dancers in his window, calls this the Coun

i [Mr. Douce says: "There is no very ancient mention of this person, whose history is very uncertain. Drayton has thus recorded him, among other companions of Robin Hood:

'Of Tuck, the merry Friar, which many a sermon made

In praise of Robin Hood, his outlaws and their trade.' Polyolb. Song xxvi. He is known to have formed one of the characters in the May Games during the reign of Henry the Eighth, and had been probably introduced into them at a much earlier period. From the occurrence of this name on other occasions, there is good reason for supposing that it was a sort of generic appellation for any friar, and that it originated from the dress of the order, which was tucked or folded at the waist by means of a cord or girdle. Thus Chaucer, in his Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, says of the Reve:

• Tucked he was, as is a frere aboute:'

and he describes one of the friars in the Sompnour's Tale:

'With scrippe and tipped staff, ytucked hie.'

This Friar maintained his situation in the Morris under the reign of Elizabeth, being thus mentioned in Warner's Albion's England:

"Tho' Robin Hood, liell John, frier Tucke, and Marian, deftly play :'

but is not heard of afterwards. In Ben Jonson's Masque of Gipsies, (Works, 1756, vol. vi. p. 95,) the clown takes notice of his omission in the Dance."]

The Friar's coat, as appears from some of the extracts of Churchwardens' and Chamberlains' Accounts of Kingston, already quoted, was generally of russet. In an antient drama, called the Play of Robin Hood, very proper to be played in May games, a friar, whose name is Tuck, is one of the principal characters. He comes to the forest in search of Robin Hood, with an intention to fight him, but consents to become chaplain to his Lady. See Lysons's Environs of London, vol. i. p. 227.

[Mr. Tollet observes in a note, that, "when the parish priests were inhibited by the diocesan to assist in the May-games, the FRANCISCANS might give attendance, as being exempted from episcopal jurisdiction."]