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general head, which will render reference to them more convenient in chronological investigations; for it is probable, that dates, hitherto obscure, may receive a new light from the ideas and recollections, which a collected arrangement is calculated to excite. To facilitate such investigations, the various names by which each festival is known to have been distinguished, are placed at the foot of the page.

BOOK

II.

distribu

As winter commences the year, the subjects of the fol- Ancient lowing pages are treated from the beginning of that season, tion of the according to the ancient verses :

"Dat Clemens hyemem; dat Petrus ver Cathedratus;

Estuat Urbanus; Autumnat Bartholomæus."

This division is not strictly correct; but it affords a convenient medium between the earlier distribution of the seasons by the Saxons,† and that which prevails in the present day, If on perusal, some matters appear puerile and absurd, and what superstition is not eminently so? let it be remembered, that they are mentioned with important objects in view, and that many of them, owing their origin to the universal adoration of the starry firmament, carry us into regions of antiquity too remote for the attainment of records. With respect to some other parts, an observation by the biographer of Peter the Great, on a childish ceremony, is strictly applicable: “These are trifling particulars; but whatever revives the remembrance of ancient manners and customs, is in some degree worthy of being recorded.‡

• Du Cange, Glossar. Mediæv. Latin. Tom. I., col. 882.

+ See Gloss. Dates, Art. Estatis, Autumni, Hiemis, Veris-Initiun. Smollett's Transl., ch. IX., p. 357.

seasons.

Section II.

WINTER.

St.

BOOK
II.

Clement.

"Dat Clemens Hyemem

*

THE festival day of St. Clement, November 23, was formerly considered as the first day of winter, in which were comprised ninety-one days. From a state proclamation in 1640, it appears that processions of children were frequent on St. Clement's day; and in consequence of a still more ancient custom of perambulating the streets, on the night of this festival, to beg drink for carousing, a pot was formerly marked against the 23rd of November upon the old Runic or clog almanacs ;+ but not upon all.‡ The proclamation was " devised by the king's majesty, by the advys of his highness counsel, the xxii day of Julie, xxxiii Proclama- Hen. viii., commanding the feasts of saint Luke, saint Mark, saint Marie Magdalene, Inuention of the Crosse and saint Laurence, which had been vsed, should be nowe againe celebrated and kept holie days." And, following the example of the synod of Carnot, which, in 1526, had decreed that no scholars, clerks, or priests should, under pretence of recreation, enact any folly or levity in the church, on the feast of St. Nicholas, St. Catherine, the Innocents, or any other day, and that the garments of the fools performing theatrical characters should be cast out of

tion of Henry

VIII. for

holidays.

IX. Kal. Dec. S'ci Clementis P'pæ & m'ris. Incipit hyems et habet xci. dies. See Kalend. Vitellius and Titus, infra. The Saxons considered November 7 as the commencement of winter, to which they allotted ninety-two days.-Vide Bridfrith. Ramesiens. de Computo Eccles. MS. (Bibl. Ashmol. Cod. 6682.) Somn. Dict. Angl. Sax. v. Tid.

+ Dr. Plott's Hist. Staffordsh.

Gough's Camden, Brit., Vol. II., Pl. xvi., p. 499.

BOOK

II.

Prohibi

remonies.

the church;* Henry concludes his proclamation thus:-"Where as heretofore dyuers and many superstitious and chyldysh obseruances haue be vsed, and yet to this day are obserued and kept, in many and sundry parts of this realm, tion of as vpon saint Nicholas, saint Catherine, saint Clement, the childish ceholy Innocents, and such like, children be strangelie decked and apparayled, to counterfeit priestes, bishoppes, and women, and so be ledde with songes and daunces from house to house, blessing the people and gatheryng of money; and boyes do singe masse and preach in the pulpitt, with svche other vnfittinge and inconuenient vsages, rather to the derysyon than any true glory of God, or honor of his sayntes: The kynge's maiestie therefore myndinge nothinge so moche as to aduance the true glorie of God without vaine superstition, wylleth and commandeth that from henceforth all svch superstitious obseruations be left and clerely extinguished throwout his realme and dominions, for asmvche as the same doth resemble rather the vnlawfull superstition of Gentilitie, than the pure and sincere religion of Christe."

To St. Clement the attributes of one or another of the many Vulcans, in whom antiquity rejoiced,† seems to have been transferred; for he is the patron saint of anchor smiths, as St. Crispin is that of cobblers, and the festival of each is celebrated by his pupillary artisans. At Woolwich an annual ceremony is performed by the blacksmiths and their apprentices in the dock yards, on the eve of St. Clement, who is represented by one of the latter, borne in a chair on the shoulders of six men. No explanation is given of this ceremony, nor is it known why St. Clement should be considered the patron of the trade. The Vul- Vulcanalia canalia were celebrated on the 22nd of August, and the god was the tutelary deity of the kalends of September, so

Boehill. Decret. Eccl. Gall., Lib. IV., tit. 7, cap. 43, 4, 6, p. 586. Warton, Hist. Engl. Poetry, Vol. III., p. 323 note.

+ Cic. de Nat. Deorum, Lib. III., cap. 22.

BOOK
II.

Church processions revived.

St.
Catherine.

that there is no correspondence in the times of the festivals. The procession of the blacksmiths is probably a relic of the ancient village perambulations for liquor, and St. Clement may have taken the attributes of Vulcan, simply because they were not appropriated by any other saint.

Among the church processions revived by queen Mary, that of St. Clement's church, in honor of this saint, was by far the most splendid of any in London. The procession to St. Paul's, in 1557, "was made very pompous, with four score banners and streamers, and the waits of the city playing, and three score priests and clerks in copes. And divers of the Inne of Court were there, who went next the priests."*

The day of St. Catherine,† (November 25), was anciently observed by young women, who assembled to make merry, according to a custom which they called Catherining, and which probably originated in the religious processions, suppressed by the proclamation of the 33rd of Henry the Eighth. Like the processions of St. Clement, they were revived to endure a brief existence in the reign of queen Mary, and Strype has described several gorgeous pageants, among which is the procession of 1553, which was celebrated with five hundred great lights around St. Paul's steeple.‡

According to Andreas a Santa Theresa, the Carmelite author of a strange oration pronounced at Munich, in 1664, at the festival in honor of St. Joseph of Nazareth, philosophers pay their devotions to this saint. She was also the patroness of spinsters. The Normans apply a very old saying to a maid, who does not marry, importing that she will remain to attire St. Catherine:-"Elle restera pour coiffer Sainte Katherine."

Strype, Eccles. Mem., Vol. III., ch. 49, p. 377. Strutt, Warton, Vol. III., p. 322.

+ See Gloss. of dates, Sanctæ Catherine, vel Katerinæ Virginis Festum. Eccles. Mem., Vol. III., ch. 39, p. 309-ch. 49, p. 377-ch. 5, p. 51, 57.

II.

Andrew.

November 30 is devoted to St. Andrew, the patron BOOK saint of Scotland, whose sons substantially, or at least dietically, differing from the Irish and Welsh, who, on the St. festivals of their respective patron saints, wear emblems derived from the vegetable kingdom, bear singed sheeps' heads in their annual procession in honor of the day. For this remarkable custom there seems to exist no other reason than the national partiality to this exquisite dainty as an article of food; and, in proof, we are informed by Sir John Sinclair, that in the summer season, many opulent citizens of Edinburgh resort to Dudington, a village in the vicinity, to feast upon this ancient Scottish dish, for which the place has long been celebrated. The use of singed sheeps' Singed heads, boiled or baked, so common at Dudington, is supposed to have arisen from the practice of slaughtering the sheep, fed on the neighbouring hills, for the market, removing the carcasses to town, and burning the head and offals to be consumed on the spot.†

Persius, at least in Dryden's translation, mentions a similar delicacy, though without approbation, for he looks upon it as the miser's fare:

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sheeps'

not St.

St. Andrew's day is chiefly noted as indicating the first Sunday of Advent, and is marked in the Runic kalendar The saltier with the cross, called by heralds a saltier, in the form of Andrew's the letter X; and as he is always depicted with a cross of cross. this description, his name has been communicated to the saltier," Croix de St. André," which is otherwise supposed

See Gloss. of dates, Arts. Andermesse; St. Andrew's Day; Androismesse; Andyrs Day; Sancti Andrea Festum.

+ Statist. Account of Scotl., Vol. XXIII., p. 359. Dr. Forster, Peren. Calend., p. 674.

Pers. Sat. VI., ad fin.

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