ON POPULAR ANTIQUITIES: CHIEFLY ILLUSTRATING THE ORIGIN OF OUR VULGAR CUSTOMS, CEREMONIES, AND SUPERSTITIONS. BY JOHN BRAND, M.A. FELLOW AND SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON: ARRANGED AND REVISED, WITH ADDITIONS, BY HENRY ELLIS, F.R.S. SEC. S. A. KEEPER OF THE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. VOL. I. “Nam ut verè loquamur, Superstitio fusa per Orbem oppressit omnium feré Animos, atque hominum "Sacra recognosces Annalibus eruta priscis; Et quo sit merito quaeque notata dies. Invenies illic et festa domestica vobis. Saepe tibi Pater est, saepe legendus Avus.” OVID. FAST. 1. i. v. 7. London: PRINTED FOR F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON; WILKIE And ROBINSON; JOHN WALKER; R. LEA'; W. STEWART; R. BALDWIN; CRADOCK AND JOY; J. FAULDER; 1813. THE EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. THE respected Author of the following Work, as will be seen by the date of his Preface, had prepared it to meet the public eye so long ago as 1795. The subjects, however, which form the different Sections, were then miscellaneously arranged, and he had not kept even to the chronological order of the Feasts and Fasts observed by his predecessor Bourne. The idea of a more perspicuous method was probably the first occasion of delay; till the kindness of friends, the perseverance of his own researches, and the vast accession of intelligence produced by the Statistical Enquiries in Scotland, so completely overloaded his Manuscript, that it became necessary that the whole Work should be re-modelled. This task, even to a person of Mr. Brand's unwearied labour, was discouraging; and, though he projected a new disposition of his materials, he had made no progress in the alteration of the Work at the time of his death. In this state, at the sale of the second part of Mr. Brand's Library, in 1808, the Manuscript of his Observations on Popular Antiquities was purchased. Fortunately, in one of the volumes, a Sketch for a new Arrangement was inserteda, which has been followed with very little variation. In the first volume, it will be seen, the days of more particular note in the Calendar are taken in chronological order; the Customs at * This is, no doubt, "the totally different Arrangement of the subjects" alluded to in a Note in the Preface, p. viii. Country Wakes, Sheep-shearings, and other rural practices, form a sort of Supplement; and these are again followed by such usages and ceremonies as are not assignable to any particular period of the year. In the second volume, the Customs and Ceremonies of Common Life are introduced, followed by the numerous train of Popular Notions, Sports, and Errors. Mr. Brand's Extracts from Books and Manuscripts have, in most instances, been collated with their originals: a service which has added very much to the correctness of the Work. The Editor's Additions consist chiefly, though not quite exclusively, in the passages enclosed by brackets, and in the Index. British Museum, |