tury, or perhaps still earlier, the ancient stories of Robin Hood and his frolicsome companions, seem to have been new modelled, and divided into separate ballads, which much increased their popularity; for this reason it was customary to personify this famous outlaw, with several of his most noted associates, and add them to the pageantry of the Maygames. He presided as Lord of the May; and a female, or a youth in a female habit, in the character of his faithful mistress, the Maid Marian, was Lady of the May. His companions were also equipped in appropriate dresses, and distinguished by the title of Robin Hood's Men.

Henry VIII. when young, delighted much in pageantry; and the early part of his reign. abounded in gaudy shows, some of his own devising, others contrived for his amusement.

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Among the latter may be reckoned a May game at Shooter's Hill, exhibited by the officers of his guards, about two hundred in number, clothed in green, and headed by their captain, who personated Robin Hood. They met the king, on May-day morning, in the seventh year of his reign, as he was riding out on a maying, from Greenwich to the high ground of Shooter's hill, accompanied by the queen and a large retinue of nobility, of both sexes. The fictitious foresters arrested the progress of the royal party, and their chieftain required of the king that he should stay and see his men shoot. The king gave his assent; and, on a whistle from Robin Hood, all the two hundred archers shot off at once. This was repeated, on a second whistle from the captain; and, by a contrivance in the heads of the arrows, they made a loud and strange

noise, which greatly delighted the king and his party. Robin Hood then approached his majesty, and invited him to see the manner in which he and his companions lived the royal party accordingly suffered themselves to be conducted into the wood under the hill, where, in arbours made with boughs and decked with flowers, they were served with venison and wine, the archers in the mean time blowing their horns. After the entertainment, with which the king and queen were much pleased, the royal party returned towards Greenwich, and were met on their way by two ladies, riding in a rich open chariot, drawn by five horses, each horse having his name upon his head, and upon every horse sat a lady with her name written. The two ladies in the chariot were splendidly attired, one of them personifying the Lady May, the other the Lady

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Flora; and "they saluted the king with divers goodly songs, and so brought him to Greenwich."

May-day is still observed, in different parts of the kingdom, with somewhat of mirth and jollity, but nothing like what took place in the days of our forefathers. The Maypole is kept up in many country villages, and, after

it has been dressed with ribands and garlands, a dance takes place among the youths and girls of the place. In some parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire, children deck themselves with chaplets of cowslips and wild hyacinths, and in this manner go about begging halfpence for the purchase of toys and gingerbread. In Dorsetshire, the boys, at an early hour of the morning, come forth, some with garlands composed of three hoops, of different sizes, bound round with flowers, and fastened

longitudinally upon a stick, in the manner of the ancient Bacchanalian thyrsi; while others blow their horns, or tin trumpets, with all their might, shouting at intervals Arour! Arour! probably, a corruption of Aurora! Aurora! or, rather, of Aruer, an ancient title of the sun.

In the metropolis, the observance of Mayday is confined to the lowest orders. In the reign of Queen Anne, and probably before her time, the milkmaids decorated their pails with flowers and ribands, with the addition of borrowed plate, silver cups, tankards, and salvers, and carried them upon their heads to the houses of their customers, where they danced, in order to obtain a small gratuity. In later times, the plate, with the other decorations, were placed on a pyramidal frame, and carried by two chairmen upon a wooden horse. The