BOOK May Day. of Robin Hood acted there, wch accordingly came to passe in Qu. Marie's raigne."* Plays of this kind had already, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, been turned against the Roman Catholic clergy— and perhaps the Reformers dreaded the effect of that upon themselves, which they did not hesitate to try upon others. The Rev. J. Brown cites an instance which shews, not what ridicule might be supposed capable of doing, but what it actually effected-and this not to stop Reformation, but to discredit Popery. Bishop Burnet (he says) tells us that, in the year 1542," Plays and Interludes were a great abuse. In them, mock representations were made, both of the Clergy and of the pageantry of their worship. The Clergy complained much of these as an introduction to atheism, when things sacred were thus laughed at: And said, they that begun to laugh at abuses, would not cease till they had represented all the mysteries of religion as ridiculous: The graver sort of Reformers did not approve of it: But political men encouraged it; and thought nothing could more effectually pull down the abuses that yet remained, than the exposing them to the scorn of the nation."-(History of the Reformation, 1542.)† The gathering for Robin Hood, mentioned by Bishop Latimer, took place at these times: a number of persons from the general term. By an usual transposition of the preposition and * Mancuniensis, fo. 18 MS.-In the College Library, Manchester. BOOK II. went through the country, to collect money for defraying the expenses of the exhibition, and for purchasing the dresses in which the performers were to appear. Lysons, May Day. in his "Environs of London," preserves the following curious estimates : 1 Hen. VIII, Reed for Robyn Hods gaderyng... 5 Hen. VIII, Reed for Robin Hood's gaderyng at Croydon Shoes for the mores daunsars, the frere and 16 Hen. VIII, Recd at the Church Ale and Robynhode, all things deducted ..... iiij marks iij' vj v3 iiijd Robin In a churchwarden's account, dated 1556, or 9 Elizabeth, is the following charge to his parish-" Payde for setting Hood's up Robin Hoode's bower, eighteenpence;" that is, a bower Bower. for the reception of the fictitious Robin Hood and his company, belonging to the May-day pageant. also common in Scotland "In May, quhen men yeid everichone With Robene Hoid and Littill Johne, This game was To bring in bowis and birkinbobbynes ;" + but as meetings for disorderly mirth, in that country, were apt to occasion tumult, it was found necessary in 1555 to suppress Robin Hood by statute :-" It is statute and ordaint," says the Act of Q. Marie, " that in all tymes cumming, na maner of persoun be chosin Robert Hude, nor Lytill Johne, Abbot of Vnressoun, Quenis of Mai, nor otherwise." It would seem, from a disbursement in the "Privy-purse Expenses of Henry the Seventh," in 1492, that occasional revels were sometimes called May-games : "July 8,-Maydens of Lambeth for a May, 10." § * Ritson's Robin Hood, I. p. CIV. iv. Jamieson. Archæol. vol. I, ch. 4, p. 11. Strutt. Scott, Evergreen, vol. II, p. 187. Birkin Bobbins are the seed-pods of the beech. Jamieson's Etymol. Dict. art. Bobyn. § Excerpta Historica, p. 88. BOOK II. Our Saxon ancestors observed the first of May by holding a folcmote, which Sir Henry Spelman regards as a sort of May Day. annual parliament of all the people :* such was also the Folemote. opinion of Somner, who explains it to have been a general assembly of the people, to deliberate upon and order matters of the Commonwealth. Dr. Brady, however, considers the folcmote as an inferior court, held before the King's reeve. A law of the Confessor seems favourable to the views entertained by Spelman and Somner:-" All the people shall assemble in folcmote once a year, on the head Brothers. of the Kalends of May, and by fealty and oath confederate together, and consolidate themselves as sworn brethren, to defend the realm with the King, against foreigners and foes." The Latin writers called the place of meeting Sworn Fratres * Spelm. Gloss. in voc. + Ibidem, p. 48. Ll. Edw. Conf. cap. 35 de Greve.-Wilkins, Leges Angl.-Saxonica, p. 204, col. 2. "Statutum est enim quod ibi debent populi omnes, et gentes Conjurati. universæ singulis annis, semel in anno, scilicet convenire, scilicet in capite Kal. Maii, et se fide et sacramento non fracto ibi in unam et simul confœderare, et consolidare sicut conjurati fratres ad defendendum regnum contra aliegenas, et contra inimicos, una cum domino suo rege." William the Conqueror, without naming time or place, requires the freemen to become sworn brethren for the defence of the monarchy :-" Statuimus etiam et firmiter præcipimus, ut omnes liberi homines totius regni prædicti sint fratres conjurati ad monarchiam nostram et ad regnum nostrum pro viribus suis et facultatibus contra inimicos pro posse suo defendendum."-Decreta Gulielmi Bastardi, Wilkins, p. 217-18. In the vernacular language, the Fratres Conjurati were denominated Wed Brethren, or Sworn Brothers. In 1016, Edmund and Canute, at a meeting of the nobility, made peace and became wed brethren-" and both the Kings," says the annalist, 66 came together at Olney, against Alderney, and became fellows and wed-brethren, and confirmed their friendship both with pledges and oaths: and bezen þa cyningar comon to-zædere ær Olanize pið Deorhýrste. and pordon Feolagan and ped broðra. and heora freondscipe þær gefæstnodon ægben ze mid pedde. ze eac mid ape.-Chron. Saxon. ad an. 1016; Dissert. Sax. Chron. p. 291. Kennett has a record, from which it appears that the Norman nobles formed confederacies of this kind previously to the invasion" Robertus de Oileio et Rogerus de Iverio, fratres jurati, et per fidem et per sacramentum confœderati, venerunt ad conquestum Angliæ.”— Paroch. Antiq. p. 57. These persons divided the estates allotted to them Campus Martii,* and the time of holding fixed by this law, by the conqueror.-Dugd. Baron. vol. I, p. 460. A similar division was made between Robert Marmion and Sir Walter de Somerville, who were also sworn brethren in the expedition.-Ibid. p. 375. From these confederacies for the division of plunder, it has been supposed that we derive the colloquial term, sworn brothers in iniquity."-Jacob, in v. Fratres Jurati. 66 The bond of union among the Thanes of Cambridgeshire, preserved by Dr. Hickes, appears to be an instrument of contract among wed-brethren—the diploma and constitution of their society.-Septent. Linguar. Thesaur. tom. III; Dissert. Epist. p. 21. Persons devoted to a religious life also united in this manner (vide Hickes, ib. p. 19-20), whence the terms confratria, confrairie jurée, &c. used by ecclesiastical writers; and because every member of these fellowships, whether consisting of clergy or laity, was obliged to pay a gild, or contribution towards the promotion of the particular object of the society, they were here called gilds, corruptly guilds-from the verb gildan, to pay: the gilds, it is well known, were the origin of corporations. If the Freemasons have a higher antiquity than these gilds, wed-brethren, and fratrum conjurationes, they are their parents. In after times these associations, ceasing to be honorable, were, as just noticed, formed for the purposes of plunder. They were denounced by the Council of Montpellier, in 1214; Toulouse, in 1229; Arles, in 1231; Compeigne, in 1238; Valentin, 1248; Avignon, 1281; Treves, 1310.-Du Cange, Gloss. tom. II, col. 960. In a letter of the year 1317, they are mentioned as formed for sinister purposes :-" Sur ce qu'ils disoient que nous avions fait les alliances et confrairies jurées, au prejudice d'eux (Charles de Valois, et Philippe son fils), de leur honneur et noblesse, jurisdiction; et pour ce eussent mis main en nos terres."-Marten, Anecd. tom. I, col. 1351; Du Cange, Suppl. tom. II, col. 1085. In fact, the Council of Arles in 1234, cap. 9, calls them "conjurationes, et conspirationes, quæ confratriæ vocantur;" and the Council of Avignon in 1326, cap. 37, speaks of them in terms to this effect-that many of the nobles in the provinces, and others, form unions and societies, interdicted both by the canons and human laws, and, assembling in some place once a year, they make articles and agreements, and under oath they pledge themselves (" vallata ineunt") to assist each other against all persons except their lords; and in every case, one is to give aid, counsel, and favour to another: sometimes they all dress themselves in similar clothes, with curious signs and characters, and choose themselves a chief (" majorem,” a 66 grand"), whom they swear to obey in all things. This description seems to agree with Freemasons and other societies, who, however innocent they may have been, excited suspicion by the secrecy of their union but the fourteenth century was fertile in singular and eccentric societies, some of which are noticed infra. "Denuo in Campo Martii, ubi illi qui sacramentis inter illos pacem confirmavere, Regem omnem culpam imposuere." Simeon Dunelmens. Chron. ad an. 1094. BOOK II. May Day. Gilds. BOOK II. May Day. Lares. as quoted in the margin, was the kalends of May, or the first of that month.* It can scarcely be doubted that some of the observances of May are due to the Floralia, of which the extension from April into this month is of very high antiquity. In Italy an old custom is still preserved, modified according to exPræstites isting opinions. The first foundation of the Præstites Lares, in the houses of ancient Rome, was celebrated on the kalends of May,† and on this occasion the Lararium, with all the little images of household gods, was adorned with fresh leaves and garlands. The remains of this ceremony may still be perceived, as practised by the modern Romans: a chair is placed before the house-door, upon which is fixed as image of the Virgin, adorned with garlands, and children soliciting a donation from every passenger, address the men in some such terms as the following— Barley The game of barleybrakes, as it is called by Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy,§ was formerly played in this month. It is mentioned by the old pastoral poet, Browne: "At doore expecting him his mother sate, Wondring her boy would stay from her so late; And with such thoughts gladly herselfe abuses: * See Gloss. art. Caput Kalendarum, Kalendæ. + Ovid. Fast. lib. V, v. 129. Kaleidoscope, vol. III, p. 362. Liverpool, 4to, 1823. § Strutt, Glig. Gamena, Introd. s. xviii. Britannia's Pastorals, b. I, s. 3. |