of the man I saw in my dream!" Of course he became her husband. The tying of amatory knots, to unite the beloved person's affections with their own, was a common expedient amongst the Ro mans. "Necte tribus nodis ternos, Amarylli colores:" Necte, Amarylli, modo; et Veneris, dic. vincula necte." Virg. Eclog. viii. 77. "Knit with three knots the fillets, knit them straight, And say, these knots to love I consecrate." Dryden. There is an ancient admonition, to note down whether the sun shine on St. Vincent's Day (January 22d). "Vincenti festo si sol radiet memor esto." "Remember on St. Vincent's day, If that the sun his beams display." And Dr. Forster presumes that it may have arisen from an idea that the sun would not shine inauspiciously "on that day on which the martyrdom of the saint was so inhumanly finished by burning," (p. 26). It is probably, however, connected with the following old proverb of the vintager. "A la fête de Saint Vincent Si il gêle, il en descend." The conversion of St. Paul (January 25th), has also, for whatever reason, been reckoned particularly ominous, with regard to the future weather of the year; a superstition which prevails in many countries. The following rhymes seem, in the middle ages, to have been familiar to all. "Clara dies Pauli bona tempora denotet anni, "If St. Paul's day be fair and cleare Then wars shall trouble the realm full oft." From the condition of the weather on Candlemas Day, also (February 2d), the superstitious agriculturist has long been accustomed to estimate its character for the year. "There is a general tradition," says Sir Thomas Browne, "in most parts of Europe, that inferreth the coldnesse of succeeding weather from the shining of the sun on Candlemas Day, according to the provincial distich." "Si sol splendescat Maria purificante Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante." And again "If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, Winter will have another fight! But if Candlemas Day be clouds and rain, Winter is gone and will not come again." Candlemas Day is so called, from having been formerly celebrated with many candles, which, being sprinkled with holy water, and blessed, were supposed to possess the power of driving away evil spirits. "Whose candelle burneth cleere and bright, a wonderous force and might Doth in these candells lie, which, if at any time they light, They sure believe that neither storme nor tempest dare abide, Nor thunder in the skie be heard, nor any divel spide, Nor fearfull sprites that walk by night, nor hurt by frost and haile."* These consecrated candles were even viewed as useful to the dying. To the question, "Wherefore serveth holy candles ?" we find blesse men when they lye a dying."+ this reply: "To light up in thunder, and to Candlemas was the season at which the Februa, a feast of purification and atonement, was formerly held at Rome. That which was purified by the sacrifice was called februatum, and the month in which the purification took place, Februarius. The evident relation between the two festivals of purification, is one amongst the most striking instances of the connexion between the original Ethnical, and subsequent Christian, rites and festivals, as to their periods of occurrence and identity of purpose. In years when the moveable feasts fall early, Shrovetide § and Ash Wednesday,|| and their consequent feasts, occur about this period. Shrove Tuesday is, in many parts, called Pancake Tuesday. After the people had made the confession required by the discipline of the ancient church, they were permitted to indulge in festive amusements, though still not allowed to partake of any repasts beyond the usual substitutes for flesh: hence the custom of eating pancakes and fritters at Shrovetide. By the vulgar, too, the Monday preceding is, especially in the north of England, called Collop Monday, from the primitive custom of regaling with eggs, on collops, or slices of bread, which were subsequently changed to collops of meat. On Pancake Tuesday it seems to have been Barnaby Googe's Translat, of Naogeorg. f. 47. + Brand's Popular Antiquities, l. 41. "Februa Romani discere piamina patres, Nunc quoque dant verbo plurima signa fidem." Orid Fastor. 1. ii. v. 19. So called from the Catholic custom of the people applying to the priests to shrive them, or hear their confessions, before entering on the fast the following day. So designated from the ancient custom of fasting in sack-cloth and ashes. From this period, i.e. from Ash Wednesday to Easter, is the quadragesimal fast of Lent, so named from the season of the year at which it falls. In the laws of Alfred it is called lengten faesten, or the fast in spring. Customary for boys, and others, to toss their is referred to in the Harleian MS. by John own pancakes. "It was the day whereon both rich and poore, In Scotland, Shrovetide is called Fastronevin, Fastryngis-Ewyn, Fasternseen, and Fastenseen. The Scotch designation is older than the English; for Shrovetide and Shrove Tuesday are not to be found in the AngloSaxon, nor does it appear that there is any particular name for that day in that language. The Anglo-Saxon word faesten, signifies a fast in general: but allied to the Scotch term denoting Shrove Tuesday, the Germans have Fastnacht, or Fastelabend, literally signifying Fastnight, or Fasteven. The terminations eve, or een, as in Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, Fasternseen, or Halloween, were first employed, because originally all feasts commenced and ended with the evening. The day was primitively computed in this manner. "The evening and the morning was the first day," and the Jews still adhere to this mode of computation. We have a remnant of the same ancient cus tom in the words se'nnight, and fortnight, instead of seven, or fourteen days.-(Jamieson.) Formerly, in Newcastle, on those days of authorised indulgence, the great bell of St. Nicholas was tolled at twelve o'clock at noon; when the shops and offices were immediately closed, and a little carnival (carni vale, farewell to flesh), ensued for the remainder of the day,-and it is still kept as a sort of half holiday. It was (Brockett, p. 159), of old, a great period for cock-fighting, and cock-throwing, and indeed of every loose and profligate recreation, excesses arising from the indulgences formerly granted by the church in consequence of the long season of fasting and humiliation, which commenced on the following day. It is a vulgar belief, that the first two single persons who meet in the morning of St. Valentine's day (February 14), may have a chance of becoming married to each other. St. Valentine's day has long been imagined the day whereon birds pair, and hence it has been considered peculiarly ominous to lovers; so that billets doux, sent on this day, have received the cognomen of the saint.† The custom of choosing Valentines is an old one; it was practised in the houses of the gentry of England as early as 1476, and Pasquil's Palinodia, 4to. Lond. 1634. Dr. Jamieson (art. Valentine) has asserted that the term Valentine is in England restricted to persons-but he is in enor. The billets doux are universally so denominated, Lydgate, the monk of Bury, in a poem writ ten by him in praise of Queen Catherine, wife of Henry V. "Seynte Valentine, of custom yeere by ycere Men have an usaunce in this regioun To loke and serche Cupides Kalende, And chose their choyse, by grete affeccioun, Such as ben prike with Cupides mocioun Takyng theyre choyse as theyr sort doth falle, But I love oon whiche excellith alle." St. David's Day (March 1st), is a festival dear to every Welchman, being kept by them in honour of St. David, Bishop of Miney, in Wales, in commemoration of a signal victory obtained by them under the conduct of St. David, over the Saxons. The origin of the custom of wearing the leek in their hats, is explained in the following lines, affirmed by Dr. Forster (p. 85), to have been found in an ancient MS. in the British Museum. "In Cambria, 'tis said, tradition's tale We may here refer to some of the ceremonies belonging to the moveable feasts, which occur about this period of the year; is called in the north of England and Scotand first to those of Carlin Sunday (for so it land) formerly denominated Care Sunday, which is Passion Sunday-it is the Sunday preceding Palm Sunday, or the second Sunday from Easter. On this day a custom ob, tains, and has long obtained, especially in the north of England and Scotland, of eating Carlings, which are gray peas, steeped all night in water, and fried the next day with butter. Brand has offered the following, as the most probable explanation of the origin of the use of peas at this season. It is not satisfactory. "In the old Roman Calendar, I find it observed on this day, that a dole is made of soft beans. 1 can hardly entertain a doubt, that our custom is derived from hence. It was usual amongst the Romanists to give away beans in the doles at funerals: it was also a rite in the funeral ceremonies of heathen Rome. Why we have substituted peas I know not, unless it was because they are a pulse somewhat fitter to be eaten at this season of the year." And he afterwards expresses himself still more forcibly. Having observed that, according to Erasinus, Plutarch held pulse (legumina) to be of the highest efficacy for invoking the manes, he adds-"Ridiculous and absurd as these superstitions may appear, it is yet certain that Carlings deduce their origin from thence."-Popular Antiq. 1. 98, 99. Palm Sunday follows Carlin Sunday, and is that immediately preceding Easter. It was so denominated by the church of Rome, because of palm branches being borne, in commemoration of those that were strewed in the way when our Saviour entered Jerusalem. In many parts of England, the day is still celebrated by bearing boughs in procession; but in northern latitudes, the box, the olive, and the blooming willow, are used as substitutes for the palm; and this circumstance is doubtless the occasion of the last-mentioned tree being, in Cumberland, called by the vulgar, the palm. Mandy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, is the Thursday immediately before Good Friday. It is the Dies Mandati, the day on which our Saviour gave his great mandate that we should love one another, and on which he washed the feet of his disciples. The practice of washing the feet was long kept up in the monasteries, and after the ceremony, liberal donations were made to the poor, of clothing and pieces of silver; refreshment was also given to them, to mitigate the severity of the long fast. A relic of this custom is still preserved in the donations dis pensed at St. James's on this day. Good Friday is an appellation peculiar to the English Church. Holy Friday, or Friday in Holy Week, being more ancient and general. Buns, with crosses stamped upon them, hence called Cross-Buns, are usually eaten in London and other places on this day, at breakfast. Bryant carries this word, Bun, back to Heathenism. "The offerings," he says, "which people in ancient times used to present to the gods, were generally purchased at the entrance of the temple; especially every species of consecrated bread. One species of sacred bread which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun. Hesychius speaks of the Boun, and describes it, 66 a kind of cake with a representation of two horns." Julius Pollux mentions it after the same manner, "a sort of cake with horns." It must be observed, however, as Dr. Jamieson has remarked, that the term occurs in Hesychius in the form of Bous, bous; and that, for the support of this etymon, Bryant finds it necessary to observe, that "the Greeks, who changed the nu final into a sigma, expressed it in the nominative Bous, but in the accusative more truly Bour, boun," -(Supplement, p. 159.) CHAPTER III. EASTER. CONSIDERABLE discussion has occurred from time to time, regarding the origin of the term Easter. Dr. Forster (in another of his works, however, which will fall under notice hereafter), is of the common opinion, that as the word east signifies the place of rising, being so called "from its being that quarter where, owing to the earth's rotatory motion, the sun and stars appear to rise, so Easter signifies the time of rising, or the festival of the rising of Jesus Christ:" but this is more than doubtful; according to the venerable Bede, the term was of Heathen origin. "Easter monath," says he, "which is now rendered the Paschal month, formerly received its name from a goddess, worshipped by the Saxons and other ancient nations of the north, called Eostre, in whose honour they observed a festival in this month." "From the name of this goddess," he adds, "they now design the Paschal season, giving a name to the joys of a new solemnity, from a term familiarized by the use of former ages." The Anglo-Saxon term, is hence retained in our translation of the Bible, although Wiclif uses Pask. The ancient Germans called it Oostrun, and their posterity have changed the term to Ostern, Osterdag; also written Ooster, Oosteren, and Oosterday. Thence the Paschal lamb is in their version often rendered Osterlamb. The entrance of the sun into Aries, has always been a time of festivity amongst the Persians, Egyptians, and others. The ancient Egyptians, observing the sun removing from their climates, began to fear that a day would arrive when it would quit them entirely,* and consequently they every year celebrated with rejoicing, the period when they observed its reascension. In Scotland, and in the north of England, a custom prevails, of boiling eggs hard, and dying or staining them of various colours, and giving them to children to amuse themselves with, especially on Easter Sunday. In these places children ask for their pays eggs, as they are termed, at this season, as for a fairing. The words, pays, pas, pace, pase, pasce, pask, pasch, words used in North Britian to signify Easter, are clearly derived from the Hebrew, through the Greek πασχα. The Danish paaske-egg, and the Suis-Gothic paskegg, both likewise signify coloured eggs. Brand considers this custom as a relic of ancient Catholicism, the eggs being emblematic of the resurrection: but it is not improbable that it had its commencement in the times of heathenism; the egg being a sacred symbol in the pagan worship. They are still used at the feast of Beltein, which is unquestionably of heathen origin, and are presented about the period of Easter, in many countries. "Nam rudis ante illos nullo discrimine vita, "The sextene day eftyr Pase Customary for boys, and others, to toss their is referred to in the Harleian MS. by John own pancakes. "It was the day whereon both rich and poore, In Scotland, Shrovetide is called Fastronevin, Fastryngis-Ewyn, Fasternseen, and Fastenseen. The Scotch designation is older than the English; for Shrovetide and Shrove Tuesday are not to be found in the AngloSaxon, nor does it appear that there is any particular name for that day in that language. The Anglo-Saxon word faesten, signifies a fast in general: but allied to the Scotch term denoting Shrove Tuesday, the Germans have Fastnacht, or Fastelabend, literally signifying Fastnight, or Fasteven. The terminations eve, or een, as in Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, Fasternseen, or Halloween, were first employed, because originally all feasts commenced and ended with the evening. The day was primitively computed in this manner. "The evening and the morning was the first day," and the Jews still adhere to this mode of computation. We have a remnant of the same ancient cus tom in the words se'nnight, and fortnight, instead of seven, or fourteen days.-(Jamieson.) Formerly, in Newcastle, on those days of authorised indulgence, the great bell of St. Nicholas was tolled at twelve o'clock at noon; when the shops and offices were immediately closed, and a little carnival (carni vale, farewell to flesh), ensued for the remainder of the day,-and it is still kept as a sort of half holiday. It was (Brockett, p. 159), of old, a great period for cock-fighting, and cock-throwing, and indeed of every loose and profligate recreation, excesses arising from the indulgences formerly granted by the church in consequence of the long season of fasting and humiliation, which commenced on the following day. It is a vulgar belief, that the first two single persons who meet in the morning of St. Valentine's day (February 14), may have a chance of becoming married to each other. St. Valentine's day has long been imagined the day whereon birds pair, and hence it has been considered peculiarly ominous to lovers; so that billets doux, sent on this day, have received the cognomen of the saint.† The custom of choosing Valentines is an old one; it was practised in the houses of the gentry of England as early as 1476, and Pasquil's Palinodia, 4to. Lond, 1634. Dr. Jamieson (art. Valentine) has asserted that the term Valentine is in England restricted to persons-but he is in enor. The billets doux are universally so denominated, Lydgate, the monk of Bury, in a poem writ "Seynte Valentine, of custom yeere by yeere And chose their choyse, by grete affeccioun, Takyng theyre choyse as theyr sort doth falle, St. David's Day (March 1st), is a festival in honour of St. David, Bishop of Miney, in dear to every Welchman, being kept by them Wales, in commemoration of a signal victory obtained by them under the conduct of St. David, over the Saxons. The origin of the custom of wearing the leek in their hats, is Dr. Forster (p. 85), to have been found in an explained in the following lines, affirmed by ancient MS. in the British Museum. "In Cambria, 'tis said, tradition's tale monies belonging to the moveable feasts, We may here refer to some of the cerewhich occur about this period of the year; is called in the north of England and Scotand first to those of Carlin Sunday (for so it land) formerly denominated Care Sunday, which is Passion Sunday-it is the Sunday Preceding Palm Sunday, or the second Sunday from Easter. On this day a custom ob tains, and has long obtained, especially in Carlings, which are gray peas, steeped all the north of England and Scotland, of eating night in water, and fried the next day with butter. "There'll be all the lads and the lasses, Ritson. In former times, the custom seems to have been general in England, as Palsgrave has the following phrase “I parche pesyn as folkes vse in Lent."‡ probable explanation of the origin of the use of peas Brand has offered the following, as the most at this season. It is not satisfactory. "In the old Roman Calendar, I find it observed on hardly entertain a doubt, that our custom is derived this day, that a dole is made of soft beans. I can from hence. It was usual amongst the Romanists to give away beans in the doles at funerals: it was also a rite in the funeral ceremonies of heathen Rome. Why we have substituted peas I know not, unless it was because they are a pulse somewhat fitter to be eaten at this season of the year." And he afterwards expresses himself still more forcibly. Having observed that, according to Erasinus, Pluefficacy for invoking the manes, he adds-"Ridicutarch held pulse (legumina) to be of the highest lous and absurd as these superstitions may appear, it is yet certain that Carlings deduce their origin from thence."-Popular Antiq. 1.98, 99., Palm Sunday follows Carlin Sunday, and is that immediately preceding Easter. It was so denominated by the church of Rome, because of palm branches being borne, in commemoration of those that were strewed in the way when our Saviour entered Jerusalem. In many parts of England, the day is still celebrated by bearing boughs in procession; but in northern latitudes, the box, the olive, and the blooming willow, are used as substitutes for the palm; and this circumstance is doubtless the occasion of the last-mentioned tree being, in Cumberland, called by the vulgar, the palm. Mandy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, is the Thursday immediately before Good Friday. It is the Dies Mandati, the day on which our Saviour gave his great mandate that we should love one another, and on which he washed the feet of his disciples. The practice of washing the feet was long kept up in the monasteries, and after the ceremony, liberal donations were made to the poor, of clothing and pieces of silver; refreshment was also given to them, to mitigate the severity of the long fast. A relic of this custom is still preserved in the donations dispensed at St. James's on this day. Good Friday is an appellation peculiar to the English Church. Holy Friday, or Friday in Holy Week, being more ancient and general. Buns, with crosses stamped upon them, hence called Cross-Buns, are usually eaten in London and other places on this day, at breakfast. 66 Bryant carries this word, Bun, back to Heathenism. "The offerings," he says, "which people in ancient times used to present to the gods, were generally purchased at the entrance of the temple; especially every species of consecrated bread. One species of sacred bread which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun. Hesychius speaks of the Boun, and describes it, a kind of cake with a representation of two horns." Julius Pollux mentions it after the same manner, 66 a sort of cake with horns." It must be observed, however, as Dr. Jamieson has remarked, that the term occurs in Hesychius in the form of Bous, bous; and that, for the support of this etymon, Bryant finds it necessary to observe, that "the Greeks, who changed the nu final into a sigma, expressed it in the nominative Bous, but in the accusative more truly Bouv, boun." -(Supplement, p. 159.) CHAPTER III. EASTER. CONSIDERABLE discussion has occurred from time to time, regarding the origin of the term Easter. Dr. Forster (in another of his works, however, which will fall under notice hereafter), is of the common opinion, that as the word east signifies the place of rising, being so called "from its being that quarter where, owing to the earth's rotatory motion, the sun and stars appear to rise, so Easter signifies the time of rising, or the festival of the rising of Jesus Christ :" but this is more than doubtful; according to the venerable Bede, the term was of Heathen origin. "Easter monath," says he, "which is now rendered the Paschal month, formerly received its name from a goddess, worshipped by the Saxons and other ancient nations of the north, called Eostre, in whose honour they observed a festival in this month." "From the name of this goddess," he adds, "they now design the Paschal season, giving a name to the joys of a new solemnity, from a term familiarized by the use of former ages." The Anglo-Saxon term, is hence retained in our translation of the Bible, although Wielif uses Pask. The ancient Germans called it Oostrun, and their posterity have changed the term to Ostern, Osterdag; also written Ooster, Oosteren, and Oosterday. Thence the Paschal lamb is in their version often rendered Osterlamb. The entrance of the sun into Aries, has always been a time of festivity amongst the Persians, Egyptians, and others. The ancient Egyptians, observing the sun removing from their climates, began to fear that a day would arrive when it would quit them entirely, and consequently they every year celebrated with rejoicing, the period when they observed its reascension. In Scotland, and in the north of England, a custom prevails, of boiling eggs hard, and dying or staining them of various colours, and giving them to children to amuse themselves with, especially on Easter Sunday. In these places children ask for their pays eggs, as they are termed, at this season, as for a fairing. The words, pays, pas, pace, pase, pasce, pask, pasch, words used in North Britian to signify Easter, are clearly derived from the Hebrew, through the Greek Taya. The Danish paaske-egg, and the Suis-Gothic paskegg, both likewise signify coloured eggs. Brand considers this custom as a relic of ancient Catholicism, the eggs being emblematic of the resurrection: but it is not improbable that it had its commencement in the times of heathenism; the egg being a sacred symbol in the pagan worship. They are still used at the feast of Beltein, which is unquestionably of heathen origin, and are presented about the period of Easter, in many countries. "Nam rudis ante illos nullo discrimine vita, "The sextene day eftyr Pase |