book, and we will venture to assert, that without the aid of a glossary, it would be unintelligible to all, except to a native of the West Riding, or of some part of Yorkshire; the mere inversions of sound, and differences of pronunciation, would of course be comprehended. "To 'th Conner o' my Book. "An this lile (little) book'll gi' the onny plezer efter a hard day's wark, I sall be feaful fain on't. Bud sud onny outcumlins, (Germ. Ankömmling, a stranger,) ivver awn (visit) this outside staany plat, it may happen gee'em some inseet into awyer plain mack o'talk; at they may larn, at awyer discowerze hez a meanin in't as weel as theirs; at they mayn't snert an titter (laugh) at huz, gin (as if) we wor hauf rocktons, (?) but may undercumstand, an be insensed by this book, lile as it is, at ya talk's aqual to another, seeabetide it explains yan's thoutes. Sud t'lads o'Craven yunce git a gliff (glimpse) o'what a seet o'words I've coud togither (collected) it'll happen mack'em nut so keen, at iv'ry like, o'luggin into th' country a parcel of outlandish words, er seea shamm'd o'talking their awn. For, o'lat years, young foak are grown seea maachy (proud, Teut.) an see feeafully geen to knackin (speaking affectedly,) at their parents er ill set to knaw what their barns (Moes. Goth. barn, a child,) er javverin about." p. v. The above is a specimen of the language of the northern portion of England, in its "purity;" for, although the dialects of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, vary, in some respects, from it and from each other, we may place it antithetically with the following extract from Mr. Jennings's "Specimens of the West of England Dialects," which is scarcely less discrepant from correct English, than the passage we have already cited. It is from a piece entitled "Mary Ramsey, a Monologue to er Scholards;" the subject, however, is of little importance; and, if it were, Mr. Jennings has not afforded us much choice. Now Miss Whitin, tha dunces be a gwon, let I hire how pirty you can read. I always zed that Pâson Tuttle's grandâter ood lorn er book well. Now, Miss, what ha ye a got there? Valentine an Orson. A pirty story, bit I be afeard there's naw moril to it. What be all tha tuthermy (other) books you a got by yer goodhussey (threadcase) there in tha basket? Gee's-zee-'em, (let me see them) nif you please, Miss Polly.-Tha Zeven Champions-Goody Two Shoes-Pawems vor Infant Minds.-Theäzamy here be by vur tha best.-There is a moril to mooäst o'm; an thâ be pirty bezides.-Now, Miss, please ta read thic. Tha Notorious Glution-Pal Came! turn tha glass! dwont ye zee tha zond (sand) is all hirnd (run) out-you'll stâ in school tha longer vor't nif you dwon't mine it.Now, all o' ye be quiet to hire Miss Whitin read.-There now, what d'ye zâ to jitch radin as that?-There, d' ye hire, Het Came! she dwon't drean (drawl)— hum, hum, hum.—I shood like ta hire er vessy (read verses) wi' zum o' ye; bit your bad radin ood spwile her good."-Jennings, p. 186. The second division of provincialisms, consists of words derived directly from some foreign language, as from the Latin, French, German, &c.; but so corrupted by passing through the mouths of the illiterate, as to have their origin scarcely recognizable. The above quotations have afforded examples of this character; and the following are additional. Brownleemers-a word used in the North of England, and signifying ripe, brown, nuts, from the French bruns, brown, and lesmurs, ripe ones :-the Jackalegs, a large clasped knife, corrupted from Jacques de Liege, the Cutler-the word Riff-raff, from the Danish Ripsraps, the dregs of the people-Quandary, from the French qu'en dirai? what shall I say of it?-Bob Ruly, in the western country, corrupted from Bois brulé, burnt wood, so called by the French because of the quantity of burnt wood in the neighbourhood or the sign of the Bull and Mouth, in Bull and Mouth street, London, corrupted from Boulogne Mouth, or Harbourand of the Bull and Gate, corrupted from Boulogne Gate-or of the Bell Savage, commonly represented by a black man and a bell, but really corrupted from the French, Belle Sauvagethe beautiful savage-or that of the Swan with two Necks, intended for, and corrupted from the Swan with two Nicks, or Notches, in its bill, as marks by which it might be known; or a thousand others, of the like nature, that might be enumerated. The third and last division consists of mere arbitrary words, not accurately deducible from any primary source or language, but ludicrous nominations from some apparent qualities in the object or thing, being at first scarcely current out of a district, but, by time and use, gradually extending themselves, such as, perhaps, Bridewain-applied to a wagon laden with furniture, which was formerly given to the bride, where the father could afford it, when she left his house-Devil's dung, for assafœtida, &c. &c. But the portion of the works before us, to which we are more immediately desirous of drawing attention, is that which treats. of popular rites and ceremonies; on which points, each of them affords us some information, especially those of Dr. Forster and of Mr. Hone, which, indeed, as their titles import, are devoted almost exclusively to such inquiries. From the unconnected and consequently unsatisfactory manner in which the former of these is thrown together, the facts are frequently so vaguely detailed, as to be unavailable; whilst the latter comprises only a few subjects, and these perhaps of inferior interest to the general reader: these deficiencies, it will be our endeavour, in the following pages, to supply; and, by pursuing the order adopted by Dr. Forster, in the Perennial Calendar, and tracing not only the observances of particular days by the Christian world to their sources, but also the popular superstitions connected with those periods-an investigation calculated to illustrate our ancient poems and romances, and to recall to memory the narrations to which, at different periods of life, each of us must have occasionally listened, either in the nursery, or when of larger growth, we trust that an historical sketch may be formed, which may be deemed not uninteresting. In some instances, it will be remarked, that the superstitions are of such remote antiquity, as to have actually outlived the knowledge of the causes that gave them origin; whilst others shed light on ancient customs, and point out the analogy between those of different nations; so striking, indeed, it will be found, is the coincidence between the manners of our ancestors, and those of the inhabitants of some other countries, that, if we had no other historical record, it would sufficiently evidence the connexion which must have originally existed between them. The reader who has not reflected on the subject, will be astonished to find so many of the festivals in the calendar, of ethnic origin; but, on investigation, his astonishment will cease. At the time of the triumph of Christianity, the heathens were of course delighted with the festivals of their gods, and unwilling to part with those delights; and, as for the attainment of so important an object as the supplanting of Paganism, by the religion of our Lord and Saviour, it became a matter of moment to sacrifice what were esteemed to be minor points, Gregory, (Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neocæsarea, who died in 265,) to facilitate their conversion, instituted annual festivals to the saints and martyrs. Hence it happened, that, for exploding the festivals of the heathens, the principal festivals of the Christians succeeded in their room, as the celebration of Christmas with joy and feasting, &c. in the room of the Bacchanalia and Saturnalia: the celebration of May-day with flowers, in the room of the Floralia; and that of the festivals to the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and divers of the Apostles, in the room of the solemnities at the entrance of the sun into the signs of the Zodiac, in the old Julian Calendar. In a letter from Pope Gregory the Great, written in the 6th century to the Abbot Mellitus, then going to Britain, the latter is desired to tell Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, that, after mature deliberation on the affair of the English, he was of opinion that the temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed, but that the idols should. He further orders the temples to be sprinkled with holy water, and relics to be placed in them; and, because our ancestors sacrificed oxen in their Pagan worship, he directs the object of the sacrifice to be * Delectabantur Deorum suorum festis idololatræ, nec oblectationibus iis spoliari se volebant; hanc, ergo, ob causam Gregorius, quo facilius ad Christianam Ecclesiam adducerentur, annuos, in Sanctorum, Martyrumque memoriam, dies festos instituit. Hinc factum ut, explosis idololatrarum festis, in eorum locum præcipua e Christianis festis successerint. Exempli gratiâ, Natalium Christi, cum hederâ et comessationibus, et ludis, jocisque in locum Bacchanalium, Saturnaliumque; celebratio, primi diei mensis Maii cum floribus, loco Floralium; celebratio denique, festorum in honorem Virginis Mariæ, Joannis Baptista, et variorum ex apostolis, in locum solennium rituum, diebus, queis in singula Zodiaci signa, ex veteri Juliano Kalendario, intrabat Sol, celebrari solitorum.-Newton, Observ. in Daniel. cap. 14. exchanged, and permits them to build huts of the boughs of trees, about the temples so transformed into churches, on the day of the dedication to, or nativities of, the martyrs, whose relics they contain, and there to kill the cattle, and celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting. The strong attachment of a people to their ancient festivals, is, as we have mentioned, a sufficient excuse, in most instances, for the continuance of them, even when, as in the case before us, of an ethnic character: but, at the same time, it must ever be accounted, as a general principle, a dangerous policy which retains the superstition, whilst it merely changes the object or the name. Before referring to particular superstitions, we may remark, that the belief, that some human beings could attain the power of inflicting ills on their fellow creatures, and of controlling the operations of nature, is one of the highest antiquity. It has appeared in every region of the globe; and from its extensive prevalence, it would seem that the human mind, especially in its state of ignorance and barbarism, is a soil well adapted for its reception and cultivation. Life has so many evils, which the uninformed mind can neither prevent nor avert, and encourages so many hopes, which every age and condition are anxious to realize, that we can hardly be astonished to find a considerable portion of mankind become the willing prey of impostors, who practise on their credulity by threats of evil and promises of good, greater than the usual course of nature would dispense: nor have the lights of Divine revelation, nor the circumstance of their being discountenanced by both civil and ecclesiastical laws, prevented such frauds and absurdities from being encouraged. Their foundation seems to lie deep in the heart's anxiety about futurity-in its impatience for good greater than it enjoys-and in its restless curiosity to penetrate the unknown, and to meddle with the forbidden.* These remarks will introduce us to a superstition practised in the south of Scotland, on the morning of the New Year, (January 1.) The instant the clock has struck the midnight hour, one of a family goes to the well as quickly as possible, and carefully skims it: this they call getting "the scum or ream (cream) of the well." "Twall struck-twa neebour hizzies raise The flower o' the well to our house gaes, This flower o' the well signifies the first pailful of water, and the girl who is so fortunate as to obtain that prize, is supposed to have more than a double chance of gaining the most accomplished Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, iii, 130. young man in the parish. As they go to the well they chant over the two last of the above lines. This is an old superstition, and is probably derived from the worship of wells by the Picts. It was known to the Romans : the act of skimming water with the hand, being one of the rites necessary for successful augury. Turnus observed it. "Et sic affatus ad undam Processit, summoque hausit de Gurgite lymphas "Thus having said, as by the brook he stood, VIRGIL, En. ix, 23. He scoop'd the water from the crystal flood; DRYDEN. The idea of prognosticating the future condition of the weather, from the state of the atmosphere on certain festival days, prevailed early and generally but it seems doubtful, whether such prognostications were founded upon any particular regard to the saints with whose festivals they were conjoined. The notion is probably of older date than the Christian era, and was perhaps founded on an observation of the particular phenomena of the heavens, as the rising of particular stars, &c. on which the ancients placed much reliance in their prognostications. In many places, the festival of the circumcision is still considered as affording an evidence of the weather to be expected in the coming year. Many persons, too, make a point of wearing new clothes on New Year's Day, and esteem any omission of this kind extremely unlucky. The salutations of this day are of remote antiquity, as well as the custom of "New Year's Gifts, find hereafter. as we shall The custom of eating twelfth cake, and especially of drawing for king and queen, on the Epiphany, or twelfth day, or twelfth tide, or old Christmas day, (January 6,) as it is variously termed, is antique. In the ancient Calendar of the Romish Church, is an observation on the fifth day of January, the vigil of the Epiphany, "Kings created or elected by beans ;" and the sixth is called "The Festival of Kings," with the additional remark, that the ceremony of electing kings was continued with feasting for many days." In the cities and academies of Germany, the students and citizens choose one of their number for king, providing a most magnificent banquet on the occasion. In France, during the ancient regime, one of the courtiers was chosen king, and the nobles attended at an entertainment at which he presided; and with the French, Le Roi de la Fève, still signifies a twelfth-night king. The above ceremonies are probably the remains of those for Ovid fast. lib. i. 63-74 |