Then comes the day when Christ ascended to his Father's seate,
Which day they also celebrate with store of drinke and meate;
Then every man some birde must eate, I know not to what ende,
And after dinner all to Church they come, and there attende.
The blocke that on the aultar still till then was seene to stande,
Is drawne up hie above the roofe, by ropes and force of hande;
The Priestes about it rounde do stand, and chaunt it to the skie,
For all these mens religion great in singing most doth lie.
Then out of hande the dreadfull shape of Sathan downe they throw,
Oft times, with fire burning bright, and dasht asunder tho;
The boyes with greedie eyes do watch, and on him straight they fall,
And beate him sore with rods, and breake him into peeces small.
This done, the wafers downe doe cast, and singing cakes the while,
With papers rounde amongst them put, the children to beguile.
With laughter great are all things done: and from the beames they let
Great streames of water downe to fall, on whom they meane to wet.
And thus this solemne holiday, and hye renowned feast
And all their whole devotion here is ended with a jeast."

The following superstition relating to this day is found in Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft, 1665, p. 152. "In some countries they run out of the doors in time of tempest, blessing themselves with a cheese, whereupon was a cross made with a rope's end upon Ascension Day.—Item, to hang an egg laid on Ascension Day in the roof of the house, preserveth the same from all hurts." The same writer mentions the celebrated Venetian superstition on this day, which is of great antiquity. "Every year, ordinarily, upon Ascension Day, the Duke of Venice, accompanied with the States, goeth with great solemnity to the sea, and, after certain ceremonies ended, casteth thereinto a gold ring of great value and estimation, for a pacificatory oblation; wherewith their predecessors supposed that the wrath of the sea was assuaged." This custom "is said to have taken its rise from a grant of Pope Alexander the Third, who, as a reward for the zeal of the inhabitants in his restoration to the Papal chair, gave them power over the Adriatick Ocean, as a man has power over his wife. mory of which the chief magistrate annually throws a ring into it, with these words: Desponsamus te, Mare, in signum perpetui dominii;' We espouse thee, O Sea, in testimony of our perpetual dominion over thee."-Gent. Mag. Nov. 1764, p. 483. See also Gent. Mag. March 1735, p. 118. In another volume of the same miscellany, for March 1798, p. 184, we have an account of the ceremony rather more minute: "On

In me

Ascension Day, the Doge, in a splendid barge, attended by a thousand barks and gondolas, proceeds to a particular place in the Adriatic. In order to compose the angry gulph, and procure a calm, the patriarch pours into her bosom a quantity of holy water. As soon as this charm has had its effect, the Doge, with great solemnity, through an aperture near his seat, drops into her lap a gold ring, repeating these words, 'Desponsamus te, Mare, in signum veri perpetuique dominii :' We espouse thee, O Sea, in token of real and perpetual dominion over thee."

[Brockett mentions the smock-race on Ascension Day, a race run by females for a smock. These races were frequent among the young country wenches in the North. The prize, a fine Holland chemise, was usually decorated with ribands. The sport is still continued at Newburn, near Newcastle. The following curious poem on this amusement is extracted from a small volume, entitled Poetical Miscellanies, consisting of Original Poems, and Translations, by the best hands, published by Mr. Steele, 8vo, 1714, p. 199:

"Now did the bag-pipe in hoarse notes begin
Th' expected signal to the neighb'ring green;
While the mild sun, in the decline of day,
Shoots from the distant West a cooler ray.
Allarm'd, the sweating crowds forsake the town,
Unpeopled Finglas is a desart grown.

Joan quits her cows, that with full udders stand,
And low unheeded for the milker's hand.
The joyous sound the distant reapers hear,
Their harvest leave, and to the sport repair.
The Dublin prentice, at the welcome call,
In hurry rises from his cakes and ale;
Handing the flaunting sempstress o'er the plains,
He struts a beau among the homely swains.

"The butcher's foggy spouse amidst the throng,
Rubb'd clean, and tawdry drest, puffs slow along;
Her pond'rous rings the wond'ring mob behold,
And dwell on every finger heap'd with gold.
Long to St. Patrick's filthy shambles bound,
Surpris'd, she views the rural scene around;
The distant ocean there salutes her eyes,
Here tow'ring hills in goodly order rise;
The fruitful valleys long extended lay,

Here sheaves of corn, and cocks of fragrant hay;

While whatsoe'er she hears, she smells, or sees,
Gives her fresh transports, and she doats on trees.
Yet (hapless wretch), the servile thirst of gain
Can force her to her stinking stall again.

"Nor was the country justice wanting there,
To make a penny of the rogues that swear;
With supercilious looks he awes the green,
'Sirs, keep the peace-I represent the queen.'
Poor Paddy swears his whole week's gains away,
While my young squires blaspheme, and nothing pay.
All on the mossie turf confus'd were laid
The jolly rustick, and the buxom maid,
Impatient for the sport, too long delay'd.

"When, lo, old Arbiter, amid the croud,
Prince of the annual games, proclaim'd aloud,
'Ye virgins, that intend to try the race,
The swiftest wins a smock enrich'd with lace:
A cambrick kerchiff shall the next adorn,
And kidden gloves shall by the third be worn.'
This said, he high in air display'd each prize;
All view the waving smock with longing eyes.
"Fair Oonah at the barrier first appears,
Pride of the neighb'ring mill, in bloom of years
Her native brightness borrows not one grace,
Uncultivated charms adorn her face,

Her rosie cheeks with modest blushes glow,
At once her innocence and beauty show:
Oonah the eyes of each spectator draws,

What bosom beats not in fair Oonah's cause?

"Tall as a pine majestick Nora stood,

Her youthful veins were swell'd with sprightly blood,
Inur'd to toyls, in wholesom gardens bred,
Exact in ev'ry limb, and form'd for speed.

"To thee, O Shevan, next what praise is due ?
Thy youth and beauty doubly strike the view,
Fresh as the plumb that keeps the virgin blue!
Each well deserves the smock,-but fates decree,
But one must wear it, tho' deserv'd by three.
"Now side by side the panting rivals stand,
And fix their eyes upon th' appointed hand;
The signal giv'n, spring forward to the race,
Not fam'd Camilla ran with fleeter pace.
Nora, as lightning swift, the rest o'er-pass'd,
While Shevan fleetly ran, yet ran the last.
But, Oonah, thou hadst Venus on thy side;
At Nora's petticoat the goddess ply'd,

And in a trice the fatal string unty'd.

Quick stop'd the maid, nor wou'd, to win the prize,
Expose her hidden charms to vulgar eyes.

But while to tye the treach'rous knot she staid,
Both her glad rivals pass the weeping maid.
Now in despair she plies the race again,
Not winged winds dart swifter o'er the plain :
She (while chaste Dian aids her hapless speed)
Shevan outstrip'd-nor further cou'd succeed.
For with redoubled haste bright Oonah flies,
Seizes the goal, and wins the noblest prize.
'Loud shouts and acclamations fill the place,
Tho' chance on Oonah had bestow'd the race;
Like Felim none rejoyc'd—a lovelier swain
Ne'er fed a flock on the Fingalian plain.
Long he with secret passion lov'd the maid,
Now his encreasing flame itself betray'd.
Stript for the race how bright did she appear!
No cov'ring hid her feet, her bosom bare,
And to the wind she gave her flowing hair.
A thousand charms he saw, conceal'd before,
Those yet conceal'd he fancy'd still were more.

"Felim, as night came on, young Oonah woo'd,
Soon willing beauty was by truth subdu'd.
No jarring settlement their bliss annoys,
No licence needed to defer their joys.
Oonah e'er morn the sweets of wedlock try'd,
The smock she won a virgin, wore a bride."]

MAY-DAY CUSTOMS.

"If thou lov'st me then,

Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did met thee once with Helena,

To do observance for a morn of May,

There will I stay for thee."

Mids. Night's Dream, Act i. sc. 1.

It was anciently the custom for all ranks of people to go out a Maying early on the first of May. Bourne tells us that in his time, in the villages in the North of England, the iuvenile part of both sexes were wont to rise a little after midnight on the morning of that day, and walk to some

neighbouring wood, accompanied with music and the blowing of horns, where they broke down branches from the trees and adorned them with nosegays and crowns of flowers. This done, they returned homewards with their booty about the time of sunrise, and made their doors and windows triumph in the flowery spoil.

Stubbs, in the Anatomie of Abuses, 1585, f. 94, says :Against Maie, every parishe, towne, and village, assemble themselves together, bothe men, women, and children, olde and yong, even all indifferently: and either goyng all together, or devidyng themselves into companies, they goe some to the woodes and groves, some to the hilles and mountaines, some to one place, some to another, where they spende all the night in pastymes, and in the mornyng they returne, bringing with them birch, bowes, and braunches of trees to deck their assemblies withall. I have heard it credibly reported (and that viva voce) by men of great gravitie, credite, and reputation, that of fourtie, threescore, or a hundred maides goyng to the woode over night, there have scarcely the thirde parte of them returned home againe undefiled."

Hearne, in his Preface to Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, p. 18, speaking of the old custom of drinking out of horns, observes::- "Tis no wonder, therefore, that upon the jollities on the first of May formerly, the custom of blowing with, and drinking in, horns so much prevailed, which, though it be now generally disus'd, yet the custom of blowing them. prevails at this season, even to this day, at Oxford, to remind people of the pleasantness of that part of the year, which ought to create mirth and gayety, such as is sketch'd out in some old Books of Offices, such as the Prymer of Salisbury, printed at Rouen, 1551, 8vo." Aubrey, in his Remains of Gentilisme and Juadisme, MS. Lansd. 266, f. 5, says :"Memorandum, at Oxford, the boys do blow cows' horns and hollow canes all night; and on May Day the young maids of every parish carry about garlands of flowers, which afterwards they hang up in their churches." Mr. Henry Rowe, in a note in his Poems, ii. 4, says:— "The Tower of Magdalen College, Oxford, erected by Cardinal Wolsey, when bursar of the College, 1492, contains a musical peal of ten bells, and on May Day the choristers assemble on the top to usher in the spring.' Dr. Chandler, however, in his Life of Bishop Waynflete,