CHRISTMAS.

"Remember, remember,The Fifth of November,The gunpowder treason and plot;A stick and a stake,For King George's sake,We hope it will ne'er be forgot."

In the olden time, before the Reformation, Christmas was the highest festival of the Church. In some rural parts of Lancashire it is now but little regarded, and many of its customs are observed a week later,—on the eve and day of the New Year. But still there linger in many places some relics of the old observances and festivities, as the carols, the frumenty on Christmas Eve, the mummers, with "old Ball," or the hobby-horse, and the decoration of churches and dwellings with boughs of evergreen shrubs and plants; in the centre of which is still to be found, in many country halls and kitchens, and in some also in the towns, that mystic bough of the mistletoe, beneath whose white berries, it is the custom and licence of the season to steal a kiss from fair maidens, and even from matrons "forty, fat, and fair."

I have been told in Lancashire, that at midnight on Christmas Eve the cows fall on their knees, and the bees hum the Hundredth Psalm. I am unwilling to destroy the poetry of these old superstitions; but their origin can, I think, be accounted for. Cows, it is well known, on rising from the ground, get up on their knees first; and a person going into the shippon at midnight would, no doubt, disturb the occupants, and by the time he looked around, they would all be rising on their knees. The buzzing of the bees, too, might easily be formed into a tune, and, with the Hundredth Psalm running in the head of the listener, fancy would supply the rest.[179]

Mr. J. O. Halliwell, in hisNursery Rhymes of England, relates the following as a Christmas custom in Lancashire:—The boys dress themselves up with ribands, and perform various pantomimes, after which one of them, who has a blackened face, a rough skin coat, and a broom in his hand, sings as follows:—

Here come I,Little David Doubt;If you don't give me money,I'll sweep you all out.Money I want,Money I crave;If you don't give me money,I'll sweep you all to the grave.

In an old painted window at Betley, Staffordshire, exhibiting in twelve diamond-octagon panes, the mummers and morris-dancers of May-day, the centre pane below the May-pole represents the old hobby-horse, supposed to have once been the King of the May, though now a mere buffoon. The hobby (of this window) is a spirited horse of pasteboard, in which the master dances and displays tricks of legerdemain, &c. In the horse's mouth is stuck a ladle, ornamented with a ribbon; its use being to receive the spectators' pecuniary donations. In Lancashire the old custom seems to have so far changed, that it is the head of a dead horse that is carried about at Christmas, as described amongst the Easter customs. "Old Ball" bites everybody it can lay hold of, and holds its victims till they buy their release with a few pence.

The Rev. W. Thornber[180]describes the Christmas gambols and customs in the Fylde nearly a century ago, as having been kept up with great spirit. The midnight carols of the church-singers[181]—the penny laid on the hob by the fireside, the prize of him who came first to the outer door, to "let Christmas in,"—the regular round of visits—thetreat of mince pies[182]—in turn engrossed their attention. Each farm-house and hut possessed a pack of cards, which were obtained as an alms from the rich, if poverty forbade the purchase. Night after night of Christmas was consumed in poring over these dirty and obscured cards. Nor were the youngsters excluded from a share in the amusements of this festal season. Early, long before dawn, on Christmas morning, young voices echoed through streets and lanes, in the words of the old song—

Get up old wives,And bake your pies,'Tis Christmas-day in the morning;The bells shall ring,The birds shall sing,Tis Christmas-day in the morning.

Many an evening was beguiled with snap-dragon, bobbing for apples, jack-stone, blind-man's buff, forfeits, hot cockles, hunting the slipper, hide lose my supper, London Bridge, turning the trencher, and other games now little played. Fortune-telling by cards, &c., must not be omitted. In the bright frost and moonshine, out-door sports were eagerly pursued, guns were in great request, to shoot the shore-birds, and many found pleasure in "watching the fleet;" others played at foot-ball in the lanes or streets; or engaged in the games of prison-bars, tee-touch-wood, thread-my-needle, horse-shoe, leap-frog, black-thorn, cad, bandy, honey-pot, hop-scotch, hammer and block, bang about and shedding copies. Cymbling for larks[183]was a verycommon pastime; now it is scarcely known by name, and few have retained any of the implements or instruments requisite to practise the art. Tradesmen presented their customers with the Yule-loaf,[184]or two mould candles for the church, or some other Christmas-box. The churches and house-windows were decked with evergreens; a superstition derived probably from the Druids, who decked their temples and houses with evergreens in December, that the Sylvan Spirits might avoid the chilly frosts and storms of winter, by settling in their branches. For some weeks before Christmas, a band of young men called "Mutes," roused at early morn the slumbering to their devotions, or to activity in their domestic duties. The beggar at the door, craving anawmas[? alms] orsaumas[soul-mass] cake, reminded the inmates that charity should be a characteristic of the season. The Eve of Christmas Day was named "Flesh Day," from the country people flocking to Poulton to buy beef, &c., sufficient to supply the needs of the coming year. On the morning of Christmas Day the usual breakfast was of black puddings, with jannock, &c.

At Wycoller Hall, the family usually kept open house the twelve days at Christmas. The entertainment was [in] a large hall of curious ashlar work, [on] a long table, plenty offrumenty, like new milk, in a morning, made of husked wheat boiled, roasted beef, with a fat goose anda pudding, with plenty of good beer for dinner. A round-about fire-place, surrounded with stone benches, where the young folks sat and cracked nuts, and diverted themselves; and in this manner the sons and daughters got matching, without going much from home.[185]

"Carol" is supposed to be derived fromcantareto sing, androla, an interjection of joy. Amongst our Christmas customs that of carol-singing prevails over a great part of Lancashire. It is the old custom of celebrating with song the birth of the Saviour, even as the angels are said to have sung "Glory to God in the highest," &c., at this great event. Almost every European nation has its carols. Our earliest Christian forefathers had theirs; one or two Anglo-Norman carols have been preserved, and some of every century from the thirteenth to the eighteenth. Numerous books containing carols have been printed (one by Wynkin de Worde), and it would occupy too much space to insert even the most popular of these carols here. A verse of one common to Lancashire and Yorkshire must suffice:—

God rest you all, merry gentlemen,Let nothing you dismay;Remember Christ our SaviourWas born on Christmas-day.

The town or the village waitts go about after midnight, waking many a sleeper with their homely music, which sounds all the sweeter for being heard in the stilly night. Various items of payment to the Manchester waitts occur inthe Church Leet Books of that manor. A dance tune called "The Warrington Waitts" occurs in a printed Tune-Book of 1732. Hand-bell ringing, a favourite Lancashire diversion, is much practised about Christmas.

FOOTNOTES:[143]Hermentrude, inNotes and Queries, 3rd ser., vol. ii. p. 484.[144]Prestoniensis, inNotes and Queries, 2nd ser., vol. ii. p. 326.[145]Hampson'sMedii Ævi Kalendarium, vol. i. p. 98.[146]Prestoniensis, inNotes and Queries, 2nd series, vol. iii. p. 50.[147]Halliwell'sArchaic and Provincial Dictionary.[148]Pasquil'sPalinodia.[149]Ploughman's Feasting Days, stanza 3.[150]Pictorial History of Lancashire.[151]See Rev. W. Thornber'sHistory of Blackpool.[152]See also, underBells, the Pancake Bell.[153]Notes and Queries, 2nd ser., V.[154]For the Simnel cakes of Shrewsbury, &c., seeBook of Days, I. 336.[155]Baines'sHistory of Lancashire.[156]History of Manchester, II. 265.[157]Baines'sHistory of Lancashire.[158]H. T. Riley, inNotes and Queries, 2nd ser., ii. 320.[159]Pictorial History of Lancashire.[160]Hone'sEvery-Day Book, ii. 450; Brand'sPopular Antiquities, &c.[161]Pictorial History of Lancashire.[162]Baines'sHistory of Lancashire.[163]Pictorial History of Lancashire.[164]History of Blackpool, p. 92.[165]Browisorbrewisis broth or pottage;frumenty, is hulled wheat boiled in milk, and flavoured with cinnamon, sugar, allspice; andjannocks, oaten bread in large, coarse loaves;throdkins, a cake made of oatmeal and bacon.[166]Rev. W. Thornber'sHistory of Blackpool.[167]Hone'sEvery-Day Book, ii. 597.[168]For the words of these songs, see Harland'sBallads and Songs of Lancashire, p. 116; and for words and music, Chambers'sBook of Days, i. 546.[169]A. B., Liverpool, inNotes and Queries, v. 581.[170]Baines'sHistory of Lancashire.[171]These boughs, says Mr. Thornber, in hisHistory of Blackpool, were emblematical of the character of the maiden thus conspicuously distinguished; an elder-bough for a scold, one of ash for a swearer, &c.[172]Pictorial History of Lancashire.[173]Dugdale'sMonast. Anglic., vol. vi. p. 906.[174]Farington Papers, p. 128.[175]Gent. Mag., vol. liii., for July, 1783, p. 578.[176]M. F., inNotes and Queries, 3rd series, ii. 397.[177]Aquinas, inNotes and Queries, 3rd series, v., April 2., 1864.[178]Ed.Notes and Queries.[179]Wellbank, inNotes and Queries, 2nd series, viii. 242.[180]SeeHistory of Blackpool.[181]Here is the specimen of one sung from house to house during Christmas:—We're nather cum to yare hase to beg nor to borrow,But we're cum to yare hase to drive away o sorrow;A suop o' drink, as yau may think, for we're varra droy,We'll tell yau what we're cum for—a piece o' Christmas poye.[182]The mince-pie, made of a compound of Eastern productions, represented the offerings of the wise men who came from far to worship the Saviour, bringing spices. Its old English coffin-shape was in imitation of the manger in which the infant Jesus was laid.[183]We have not been able to find any account of this mode of catching larks, at least, under the name here given.[184]The baker formerly gave his customers a baby of paste; and in my own recollection a cake, decorated with the head of a lamb, named "the Ewe loaf," was the Christmas present of bakers at Poulton. On Christmas Eve the houses were illuminated with candles of an enormous size.—W. T.[185]From a family MS. of the Cunliffes, quoted in Baines'sLancashire, iii. 244.

[143]Hermentrude, inNotes and Queries, 3rd ser., vol. ii. p. 484.

[144]Prestoniensis, inNotes and Queries, 2nd ser., vol. ii. p. 326.

[145]Hampson'sMedii Ævi Kalendarium, vol. i. p. 98.

[146]Prestoniensis, inNotes and Queries, 2nd series, vol. iii. p. 50.

[147]Halliwell'sArchaic and Provincial Dictionary.

[148]Pasquil'sPalinodia.

[149]Ploughman's Feasting Days, stanza 3.

[150]Pictorial History of Lancashire.

[151]See Rev. W. Thornber'sHistory of Blackpool.

[152]See also, underBells, the Pancake Bell.

[153]Notes and Queries, 2nd ser., V.

[154]For the Simnel cakes of Shrewsbury, &c., seeBook of Days, I. 336.

[155]Baines'sHistory of Lancashire.

[156]History of Manchester, II. 265.

[157]Baines'sHistory of Lancashire.

[158]H. T. Riley, inNotes and Queries, 2nd ser., ii. 320.

[159]Pictorial History of Lancashire.

[160]Hone'sEvery-Day Book, ii. 450; Brand'sPopular Antiquities, &c.

[161]Pictorial History of Lancashire.

[162]Baines'sHistory of Lancashire.

[163]Pictorial History of Lancashire.

[164]History of Blackpool, p. 92.

[165]Browisorbrewisis broth or pottage;frumenty, is hulled wheat boiled in milk, and flavoured with cinnamon, sugar, allspice; andjannocks, oaten bread in large, coarse loaves;throdkins, a cake made of oatmeal and bacon.

[166]Rev. W. Thornber'sHistory of Blackpool.

[167]Hone'sEvery-Day Book, ii. 597.

[168]For the words of these songs, see Harland'sBallads and Songs of Lancashire, p. 116; and for words and music, Chambers'sBook of Days, i. 546.

[169]A. B., Liverpool, inNotes and Queries, v. 581.

[170]Baines'sHistory of Lancashire.

[171]These boughs, says Mr. Thornber, in hisHistory of Blackpool, were emblematical of the character of the maiden thus conspicuously distinguished; an elder-bough for a scold, one of ash for a swearer, &c.

[172]Pictorial History of Lancashire.

[173]Dugdale'sMonast. Anglic., vol. vi. p. 906.

[174]Farington Papers, p. 128.

[175]Gent. Mag., vol. liii., for July, 1783, p. 578.

[176]M. F., inNotes and Queries, 3rd series, ii. 397.

[177]Aquinas, inNotes and Queries, 3rd series, v., April 2., 1864.

[178]Ed.Notes and Queries.

[179]Wellbank, inNotes and Queries, 2nd series, viii. 242.

[180]SeeHistory of Blackpool.

[181]Here is the specimen of one sung from house to house during Christmas:—We're nather cum to yare hase to beg nor to borrow,But we're cum to yare hase to drive away o sorrow;A suop o' drink, as yau may think, for we're varra droy,We'll tell yau what we're cum for—a piece o' Christmas poye.

[181]Here is the specimen of one sung from house to house during Christmas:—

We're nather cum to yare hase to beg nor to borrow,But we're cum to yare hase to drive away o sorrow;A suop o' drink, as yau may think, for we're varra droy,We'll tell yau what we're cum for—a piece o' Christmas poye.

[182]The mince-pie, made of a compound of Eastern productions, represented the offerings of the wise men who came from far to worship the Saviour, bringing spices. Its old English coffin-shape was in imitation of the manger in which the infant Jesus was laid.

[183]We have not been able to find any account of this mode of catching larks, at least, under the name here given.

[184]The baker formerly gave his customers a baby of paste; and in my own recollection a cake, decorated with the head of a lamb, named "the Ewe loaf," was the Christmas present of bakers at Poulton. On Christmas Eve the houses were illuminated with candles of an enormous size.—W. T.

[185]From a family MS. of the Cunliffes, quoted in Baines'sLancashire, iii. 244.

Inmany instances of particular Church Festivals, and of popular celebrations, we have already enumerated various viands appropriated to special occasions, as the turkey to New Year's Day; the pancake to Shrove-Tuesday; the simnel, carlins, bragot, and fig-pie to Mid-Lent Sunday; the goose to Michaelmas; frumenty, mince-pies, &c., to Christmas. A few remain, however, for notice here:—Eccles cakes, Ormskirk gingerbread, Everton toffy, and other sweet cakes have "all seasons for their own." The two rival shops in Eccles, on opposite sides of Church-street, the one called "The genuine Eccles cake shop, from over the way," and the other "The real Eccles cake shop, never removed," so much puzzle the stranger and visitor, that purchases are often made at both in order to secure the real, genuine, original article.

Formerly the bread eaten by the labouring classes in the parish of Rochdale and others in the east of Lancashire was oat-cake, which was also pretty generally in use in the west of Yorkshire. A regiment of soldiers raised in these two adjoining districts at the beginning of the last war took the name of the "Havercake Lads," assuming as their badge an oat cake [oats are called havers], which was placed (for the purpose of attracting recruits) on thepoint of the recruiting sergeant's sword. Oat bread is still eaten in various manufacturing and hilly districts of Lancashire, but not nearly so generally as half a century ago.[186]

Both these are said to have been introduced by the Flemish immigrant weavers about the year 1567. Their sabots, however, were made entirely of wood, lined with a little lamb's skin, to protect the top of the foot; while theclogsof the present day have strong leather tops [often brass clasps] and thick wooden soles. The kind of bread introduced by the Flemings into Bolton and other manufacturing districts of Lancashire was made of oatmeal in the form of a loaf, and calledjannock; but the gradual change in manners and improvement in social condition have almost banished this food, and wheaten-bread and oat-cakes have almost altogether taken its place.

In theShepherd's Play, performed at Chester in 1577, in honour of the visit to that city of the Earl of Derby, the third Shepherd says:—

And brave ale of Halton I have,And what meat I had to my hire;A pudding may no man deprave,And ajannockof Lancaster-shire.

Jannock is now used in Leigh more commonly than in most other parts of Lancashire. Warrington ale was no less celebrated than Halton ale, and a song in praise of the former is printed in Harland'sLancashire Ballads.[187]

In West Houghton, at the annual feast or wakes, there is a singular local custom of making large flat pasties of pork, which are eaten in great quantities on the Wakes Sunday, with a liberal accompaniment of ale; and people resort to the village from all places for miles round, on this Sunday, just as they rush into Bury on Mid-Lent or Mothering Sunday to eat simnels and drink bragot ale.

FOOTNOTES:[186]Baines'sLancashire.[187]P. 199.

[186]Baines'sLancashire.

[187]P. 199.

Manyof the customs attending child-bearing, churching, and christening are not peculiar to Lancashire, but common nearly all over England. The term "the lady in the straw," merely meant the lady confined to her bed, as all beds were anciently stuffed with straw. It was formerly the custom in Lancashire, as elsewhere, for the husband against the birth of the child to provide a large cheese and a cake. These were called "the groaning" cheese and cake; and throughout the north of England the first cut of the sick wife's cheese, or groaning cheese, is taken and laid under the pillows of young women to cause them to dream of their lovers. Amongst customs now obsolete was the giving a large entertainment at the churching. Now it is usually given at the christening.

In a note on an entry ofNicholls's Assheton's Journal, Dr. Whitaker and its Editor, the Rev. Canon Raines, say that the custom of making presents to women in childbed, is yet called "prēsĕnting" in Craven. It is now quite obsolete in South Lancashire, although it continuedto be observed to the middle of the eighteenth century. In a MS. journal of 1706 is an entry "John Leigh brought my wife a groaning-cake: gave him 6d." Other entries in the same journal show that money gifts ranged from 1s.6d.to 5s.(the last being to the minister's wife); besides smaller gifts to maids and midwives, and bottles of wine, syrup of ginger, and other creature comforts to the person confined.

In some parts of North Lancashire it is customary to have a tea-drinking after the recovery from childbirth. All the neighbours and friends are invited—sometimes many more than can be comfortably accommodated—and both tea and rum are plentifully distributed. After tea, each visitor pays a shilling towards the expense of the birth feast; and the evening is spent in the usual gossip.

An attendant was making a bed occupied by the mother of a child born a few days previously. When she attempted to turn it over, to give it a better shaking, the nurse energetically interfered, peremptorily forbidding her doing so till a month after the confinement, on the ground that it was decidedly unlucky; and said that she never allowed it to be done till then, on any account whatever.[188]

TheMorning Heraldof the 18th June, 1860, notices a case of attempted infanticide near Liverpool. The wretched mother, having gained access to a gentleman's grounds, laid her child on the ground and covered it with sods. The child was happily discovered and its life saved. The mother was apprehended and charged with having attempted to murder her child. She confessed that she was guilty, and added ["the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel"] that she had previously succeeded in getting the child baptized, as she believed it could not otherwise have died. This is a strange bit of folk-lore.[189]

It is a custom in some parts of Lancashire, as well as in Yorkshire, Northumberland, and other counties, that when an infant first goes out of the house, in the arms of the mother or the nurse, in some cases the first family visited, in others every neighbour receiving the call, presents to or for the infant an egg, some salt, some bread, and in some cases a small piece of money. These gifts are to ensure, as the gossips avow, that the child shall never want bread, meat, or salt to it, or money, throughout life. The old custom of sponsors giving the child twelve tea-spoons, called "Apostle Spoons," is now obsolete. The gift of a coral with bells, is supposed to have had its origin in a very ancient superstition. Coral, according to Pliny, was deemed an amulet against fascination; and it was thought to preserve and fasten the teeth. The coral-bells (especially if blest by the priest) would scare away evil spirits from the child.

There is even yet in some parts of Lancashire a strong dread of the fairies or witches coming secretly and exchanging their own ill-favoured imps, for the newly born infant; and various charms are used to prevent the child from being thus stolen away.

FOOTNOTES:[188]A. B., Liverpool, inNotes and Queries, vi. 432.[189]W. S. Simpson, inNotes and Queries, 2nd series, x. p. 184.

[188]A. B., Liverpool, inNotes and Queries, vi. 432.

[189]W. S. Simpson, inNotes and Queries, 2nd series, x. p. 184.

Thecommon custom of breaking a piece of silver or gold (if it be crooked, so much the luckier) between lovers of the humbler classes, especially when the man is going to a distance, is believed to have had its origin in a sort of betrothal or promise of marriage, much practised amongst the ancient Danes, calledHand-festing, which is mentioned by Ray in his Collection or Glossary of Northumbrian Words. It means hand-fastening or binding. In betrothal it was also the custom to change rings, formed of two links or hoops, called gemmel rings, fromgemelli, twins.

An ancient custom at weddings of the poorer classes in Lancashire, and in some parts of Cumberland, is thus described:—The Lord of the Manor, in whose jurisdiction the marriage takes place, allowed the parties a piece of ground for a house and garden. All their friends assembled on the wedding-day, and the bridegroom having provided a dinner and drink, they set to work and constructed a dwelling for the young couple, of clay and wood, what is called post and petrel, or wattle and daub. Many of these "clay biggins" still remain in the Fylde districtand the northern parts of Lancashire. The relatives of the pair supplied the most necessary part of the furniture, and thus they were enabled to "start fair" in the world.[190]

On the occasion of a marriage, a christening, or a churching, each guest either sent or presented some offering of money or food; thus providing a sufficient stock of provisions for the entertainment without much, if any, cost to the host. The preliminaries before marriage, the addresses paid by the swain to his sweetheart after the day's labour was done, were styled "the sitting-up," the night being the time allotted to courtship, by the kitchen fire, after the other members of the family had retired to rest. This "sitting-up" was regularly observed every Saturday night if the lover was faithful; if otherwise, the price of the "lant" (?) of the forsaken fair was transmitted by her to the rival preferred by her inconstant swain. On the wedding-day, when a bride and her "groom" left the house to have the marriage rites solemnized, some relative or servant threw at or after the smiling pair a "shuffle" (Pantoufle, an old shoe or slipper)—a custom in its origin said to be Jewish—as a preventive of future unhappiness, an omen of good-luck and prosperity. At the church-door an idle crowd was always ready for the "perry,"—that is, to contest for the dole of scattered half-pence, or if disappointed, to deprive the bride of her shawl or shoes, till some largess was bestowed. The day was spent in the company of a merry party of friends, who, after the ceremony of "throwing the stocking" over the bed of the wedded pair was performed, retired to their homes.[191]

On the lower declivity of Warton Crag, in the parish of Warton (which abuts on Morecambe Bay and the Westmorland border), commanding a beautiful and extended prospect of the bay, a seat called "The Bride's Chair" was resorted to on the day of marriage by the brides of the village; and in this seat they were enthroned with due solemnity by their friends; but the origin and the object of the custom, which has now fallen in disuse, are unknown. Not far from Warton Crag are three rocking-stones placed in a line, about forty feet asunder, the largest stone lying in the middle. A cave is also mentioned by Lucas, named "The Fairy Hole," where dwarf spirits called Elves or Fairies, were wont to resort.[192]

An ancient custom prevails at Burnley Grammar School, by which all persons married at St. Peter's Church in that town are fined by the boys. As soon as a wedding is fixed the parish clerk informs the boys, and on the day appointed they depute two of their number to wait upon the groomsman and demand a fee. There is no fixed sum named; but enough is got to purchase books and maintain a tolerable library for the use of the pupils. Former pupils always pay a liberal fine.

"Th'owd Church," as the collegiate church of Manchester was provincially designated before it attained thedignity of a cathedral, was known and celebrated far and wide over the extensive parish. Its altar has witnessed the joining together of thousands of happy [and unhappy] couples. The fees here being less than those demanded at other churches, which had to pay tribute to it, it was of course the most popular sanctuary in the whole parish for the solemnization of matrimony. At the expiration of Lent (during which the marriage fees are doubled) crowds of candidates for nuptial honours present themselves; indeed so numerous are they that the ceremony is performed by wholesale on Easter Monday. A chaplain of facetious memory [the Rev. Joshua Brookes] is said to have on one of these occasions accidentally united the wrong parties. When the occurrence was represented to him, his ready reply was, "Pair as you go out; you're all married; pair as you go out." This verbal certificate appeared to give general satisfaction, and each bridegroom soon found his right bride. Sir George Head, in hisHome Tour through the Manufacturing Districts, in the summer of 1835, thus describes what he saw of these wholesale Monday marriages:—"I attended the Old Church at Manchester one Monday morning, in order to witness the solemnization of several marriages, which I had reason to suppose were then and there to take place. I had heard on the preceding Sunday the banns proclaimed as follows:—'For the first time of asking, 65; for the second time, 72; for the third time, 60. Total, 197.' Having been informed that it would be expedient to be on the spot at eight in the morning I repaired thither at that hour. Operations, however, did not commence before ten. The latter is the usual time of proceeding to business, although in cases of persons married by licence 8 o'clock is the hour. When all was ready and the church doors opened, the clergyman and clerk betook themselves to thevestry; and the people who were about to be married, and their friends, seated themselves in the body of the church opposite the communion table, on benches which were placed there for the purpose. Not less than fifty persons were assembled, among whom I took my seat quietly, without being noticed. A party who had arrived in a narrowvis à visfly, most exclusively paraded in the meantime up and down (as if unwilling to identify themselves with the humbler candidates of matrimony) in another part of the church. The people at first took their seats in solemn silence, each one inquisitively surveying his neighbour; but as the clergyman and clerk were some time in preparation, the men first began to whisper one to another and the women to titter, till by degrees they all threw off their reserve, and made audible remarks on the new comers. There was littlemauvaise honteamong the women, but of the men, poor fellows! some were seriously abashed; while among the hymeneal throng there seemed to prevail a sentiment that obtains pretty generally among their betters, namely, inclination to put shy people out of conceit with themselves. Thus, at the advance of a sheepish-looking bridegroom, he was immediately assailed on all sides with 'Come in, man; what art thou afraid of? Nobody 'll hurt thee!' And then a general laugh went round in a repressed tone, but quite sufficient to confound and subdue the new comer. Presently a sudden buzz broke out, 'The clergyman's coming;' and all was perfectly silent. About twelve couples were to be married; the rest were friends and attendants. The former were called upon to arrange themselves all together around the altar. The clerk was an adept in his business, and performed the duties of his office in a mode admirably calculated to set the people at their ease and direct the proceedings. In appointing them to their proper places, headdressed each in an intonation of voice perfectly soft and soothing, and which carried with it more of encouragement as he made use of no appellative but the Christian name of the person spoken to. Thus he proceeded:— 'Daniel and Phœbe; this way, Daniel, take off your gloves, Daniel. William and Anne; no, Anne; here, Anne; t'other side, William. John and Mary; here, John; oh! John.' And then addressing them all together, 'Now, all of you give your hats to some person to hold.' Although the marriage service appeared to me (adds Sir George) to be generally addressed to the whole party, the clergyman was scrupulously exact in obtaining the accurate responses from each individual."

Many wedding customs, as the bridesmaids and best men, the wedding-ring, the nuptial kiss in the church, the bouquet borne in the hand of the bride, &c., the scattering of flowers in her path, the throwing of an old shoe after her for luck, the giving gloves, &c., are of ancient origin, and are the relics of Anglo-Saxon or Danish usages.

FOOTNOTES:[190]Hampson'sMedii Ævi Kalend.i. 289.[191]See Rev. W. Thornber'sHistory of Blackpool.[192]Baines'sHistory of Lancashire.

[190]Hampson'sMedii Ævi Kalend.i. 289.

[191]See Rev. W. Thornber'sHistory of Blackpool.

[192]Baines'sHistory of Lancashire.

Personsare said to "die hardly," as the phrase is, meaning to be unable to expire, when there are pigeons' feathers in the bed. Some will not allow dying persons to lie on a feather-bed, because they hold that it very much increases their pain and suffering, and actually retards their departure. On the other hand, there is a superstitious feeling that it is a great misfortune, nay, even ajudgment, not to die in a bed.

By a statute of 30 Car. II., stat. I, cap. 3 (1678), entitled "An act for the lessening the importation of linen from beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper manufactures of the kingdom," it is enacted that the curate of every parish shall keep a register, to be provided at the charge of the parish, wherein to enter all burials and affidavits of persons being buried in woollen; the affidavit to be taken by any justice of the peace, mayor, or such like chief officer, in the parish where the body was interred; and if there be no officer, then by any curate within the city where the corpse was buried (except him in whose parish the corpse was buried), who must administer the oath and set his hand gratis. No affidavit to be necessary for a person dying of the plague. It imposes a fine of £5 for every infringement; one half to go to the informer, and the other half to the poor of the parish. This act was repealed by the 54 Geo. III. cap. 108 (1814). In the parish of Prestwich, the first entry in the book provided for such purposes was in August, 1678; and there is no entry later than 1681, which appears also to be the limit of the act's observance in the adjacent parish of Radcliffe; where the entries immediately follow the record of the burial itself in the registers, and not in a separate book as at Prestwich. Under the year 1679, is the following entry in the parish register of Radcliffe:—

"An orphan of Ralph Mather's, of Radcliffe, was buried the 9th day of April, and certified to be wound up in woollen only, under the hand of Mr. William Hulme."

In the churchwardens' accounts of Prestwich, for the year 1681, is the following item of receipt:—

"Received a fine of James Crompton, for burying his son, and not bringing in an affidavit, according to the act for burying in woollen, £2 10s."[193]

In Lancashire, the funeral was formerly celebrated with great profusion in meats and drinks, to which was added in those of the richer sort, what was called a penny dole, or promiscuous distribution of that sum, anciently delivered in silver to the poor. The effect of this custom, says Lucas (as quoted by Dr. Whitaker[194]) was such, that he had seen many "who would rather go seven or eight miles to a penny dole, than earn sixpence in the same time by laudable industry." This custom of distributing a small money alms or dole at funerals still existed in parts of Lancashire within the last fifty years. One sexagenarian informant told the writer that, when a lad, he went to the funeral of a Mr. D., in the hamlet of Swinton, parish of Eccles, and there was what he called "adow, gi'en to every lad and every wench [boy or girl] as went, far and near,—a penny a-piece; and them as carrit a choilt [carried a child] had tuppence." Usually at country funerals, after the interment, the relations first, and next their attendants, threw into the grave sprigs of bay, rosemary, or other odoriferous evergreens, which had been previously distributed amongst them. In some cases, a messenger went round the neighbourhood, "bidding" parties to the funeral, and at each house where he gave the invitation, he left a sprig of rosemary, &c. After the rites at the grave, the company adjourned to a neighbouring public-house, where theywere severally presented with a cake and ale, which was called anarval. This word seems to have greatly puzzled Dr. Whitaker. It is the Sueo-Gothicarföl, which is a compound ofarf, inheritance, andöl, ale,—expressive of a feast given by the heir, at the funeral, on succeeding to the estate. The feast and its name were imparted to us by the Danes, whosearfwölis described by Olaus Wormius as a solemn banquet, celebrated by kings and nobles, in honour of deceased relations, whom they are succeeding.

The most singular mode of conducting funerals prevails at this place. A full meal of bread and cheese and ale is provided at the funeral house; and, after the corpse is interred the parish clerk proclaims, at the grave-side, that the company must repair to some appointed public-house. Arrived there, they sit down by fours together, and each four is served with two quarts of ale.[195]One half of this is paid for by the conductor of the funeral, and the other half by the company. While they are drinking the ale, the waiter goes round with cakes, serving out one to each guest, which he is expected to carry home.[196]

A singular practice, which was growing obsolete in the time of Lucas (says Dr. Whitaker) once prevailed in the parish of Warton; which was, that most householders were furnished with a kind of family pall, or finely wroughtcoverlet, to be laid over the bier when the corpse was carried to church. Amongst other funeral customs at Warton, were the great feasting and drinking; the funeral dole, distributed to the poor; the casting of odoriferous herbs into the grave; and the cake andarval-ale, already described, pp.270,271,suprâ.[197]

When the last offices of respect to a departed friend or neighbour were to be rendered, a whole district, called "their side" of the country, was "bidden" or invited to assist in carrying the remains to their narrow home. At a stated hour the crowd assembled, not to mourn with widowed wife or weeping children, but to consume ale and tobacco, and to talk over their farms or trade till all was in readiness to depart for the completion of the obsequies. A particular order was observed. From the door of his former home, and into, and out of, the church, the corpse was carried on the shoulders of four of his relatives—his nearest kinsman, the chief mourner, walking in front with the clergyman. At the close of the ceremony, after the sprigs of box or rosemary had been deposited on the coffin, each person also adding a sprinkling of dust, the rough voice of the parish clerk was heard grating harshly in that solemn moment, inviting the "bidden" to show further their respect to the deceased by partaking of a dinner provided at the village inn. How the day terminated may be supposed, and indeed was a matter of sad notoriety. Indeed, it was not very unusual to see those who were to convey the dead to the sepulchre, tottering from intoxication under their sad burden. The bestfeatures of these old-time funerals were that doles in money were distributed to the aged and the very young; the poor were fed, and sometimes warm cloaks or other useful articles of attire were given, to be worn in memory of the departed.[198]Fifty-five years ago, says Mr. Thornber, writing in 1837, the more respectable portion of the inhabitants of Poulton were buried by candle-light—a custom long observed by some of the oldest families in the town. It was regarded as a sacred duty to expose a lighted candle in the window of every house as the corpse passed through the streets towards the church for interment; and he was poor indeed who did not pay this tribute of respect to the dead. So late as 1813 this church was strewed with rushes.

A daughter of William Balderstone, of Balderstone, in her widowhood, makes a will of which the following is the commencement:—"Seventh day of January, 1497. I, Dame Jane Pilkington, widow, make and ordain this my last will and testament: First, I bequeath my bodye to be buried in yeNunnes Quire of Monketon, in my habit, holding my hand upon my breast, with my ring upon my finger, having taken in my resolves the mantel and the ring," &c.[199]

InNicholas Assheton's Journal, he mentions that the corpse of a Mrs. Starkie was carried to church by fourrelatives; there was a sermon, and afterwards dinner, forty messes being provided for. On this, Dr. Whitaker remarks:—"An ancient usage. The nearest relations always took up the corpse at the door; and once more, if the distance was considerable, at the church gates. By forty messes, I suppose are to be understood so many dishes of meat." The editor (the Rev. Canon Raines) adds:—"This custom, which appears to be quite patriarchal, is still prevalent in some of the country parishes in South Lancashire. The custom of preaching funeral sermons on the day of the burial is now exploded, although so recently as 1776 the vicar of one of the largest parishes in Lancashire (Rev. John White, B.A., of Blackburn), objected to the building of a church in his parish unless he had 'some compensation made for the funeral sermons to be preached in it.'[200]I should rather understand the forty messes to be dinners provided for forty persons, although funerals in Lancashire at this period were conducted on a scale of prodigality scarcely to be conceived." [The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworthsgive examples of three burial customs—that of a dole to the poor; at one place 40s.7d., at another 57s.4d., at a third 47s.8d.(?) a penny to each person; that of payment to the clergyman for a funeral sermon, in one case 5s.; and that of providing dinners for the mourners, chiefly for those from a distance, in one case twenty-four messes of meat cost 58s.8d.; in another instance seventy dined at 6d.the mess or meal, seventy-six and sixty-five at 5d.; in all 211 persons attending one funeral.—Eds.]

Previously to the formation of cemeteries, and the employment of omnibus-hearses, it was customary to invitelarge numbers to attend funerals. Guests were invited bydozens; and as each entered the house where the deceased lay, he was met at the door by a female attendant habited in black, and wearing a white apron, who offered him spiced liquor from a silver tankard. In the house each person was presented with a bun and a slice of currant bread. When the time for closing up the coffin arrived, each took his last look at the corpse and presented a shilling, or more, to the nearest relative of the deceased; who always sat at the head of the coffin for this purpose. In the neighbourhoods of Little Hulton, Peel Yate, Walkden Moor, &c., it was till of late years the custom for two persons to be nominated as "bidders" of guests to a funeral. These went to the various houses of the persons to be invited, and presented to each a sprig of rosemary; which the guest wore or carried in the hand at the funeral. This inviting or "bidding" was usually called "lating" or "lathing;" from the A.-S. verbLathian, to invite, bid, or send for.

As churches are built to stand about East and West, the greatest spaces in the churchyard are the North and South sides of the church. Throughout Lancashire and the North of England there is a universal superstition that the south side of the church is the holiest or most consecrated ground, and it may be observed that that side of the graveyard is generally crowded with grave-stones, or green hillocks of turf, while the north side has but few. This is an old superstition, which held that the north side of the church was really unhallowed ground, fit only to be the last resting place of still-born infants and suicides. Then almost all graves are ranged east and west; and in a raretract of the Marprelate series, called "Martin's Month's Mind" (1589) it is stated that "he would not be laid east and west (for he ever went against the hair), but north and south: I think because 'Ab aquilone omne malum' (from the north comes all evil), and the south wind ever brings corruption with it." The celebrated antiquary Thomas Hearne, left orders for his grave to be made straight by a compass, due east and west. Sir Thomas Browne[201]observes that "the Persians were buried lying north and south; the Megarians and Phœnicians placed their heads to the east; the Athenians, some think, towards the west, which Christians still retain; and Bede will have it to be the posture of our Saviour." One "Article of Inquiry" in a visitation of the Bishop of Ely in 1662, was—"When graves are digged, are they made six feet deep (at the least), and east and west?"

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