go in solemn procession with his fellows, Gregory's Works, 1649, p. 114. The show to the altar of the Holy Trinity and All of the Boy Bishop, rather on account of its Saints, or (as the Pie directs) to the altar levity and absurdity, than of its superstiof Holy Innocents or Holy Trinity in their tion, was formally abrogated by a Procopes, and burning tapers in their hands. clamation, July 22, 1542. But it The Bishop beginning, and the other boys had been interdicted abroad, a cenfollowing: "Centum quadraginta qua- tury before, by the Council of Basle, tuor," &c. Then the verse, "Hi emti 1431, as appears from a citation in sunt ex omnibus,' &c. and this was sung Prynne's "Histriomastix," 1633, and by three of the boys. Then all the boys the later statutory prohibition was sang the 'Prosa sedentem in supernâ more or less disregarded in England. The majestatis arce,' &c. The Chorister conclusion of Henry VIII.'s Proclamation Bishop, in the mean time, fumed the altar is: "And whereas heretofore dyvers and first, and then the image of the Holy many superstitious and chyldysh observTrinity. Then the Bishop said modesta auncies have be used, and yet to this day voce the verse "Lætamini," and the re- are observed and kept, in many and sundry sponse was, "Et gloriamini," &c. Then partes of this Realm, as upon Saint Nichothe prayer which we yet retain: "Deus fas, the Holie Innocents, and such like, cujus hodierna die," &c. In their return children be strangelie decked and appafrom the altar Præcentor puerorum in- rayled to counterfeit Priests, Bishop, and cipiat, &c., the chanter-chorister began Women, and to be ledde with songes and "De Sancta Maria," &c. The response dances from house to house, blessing the was "Felix namque," &c., et "sic pro- people, and gathering of money; and boyes cessio," &c. The procession was made into do singe masse and preache in the pulpitt, the quire, by the west door, in such order with such other unfittinge and inconvenithat the dean and canons went foremost : ent usages, rather to the derysyon than the chaplains next: the Bishop, with his anie true glorie of God, or honour of his little Prebendaries, in the last and high-sayntes. The Kynges Majestie wylleth est place. The Bishop took his seat, and and commaundeth that henceforth all such the rest of the children disposed themselves superstitious observations be left and upon each side of the quire, upon the up-clerely extinguished throwout all this permost ascent, the canons resident bearing the incense and the book: and the petit canons the tapers, according to the Rubrick. And from this hour to the full end of the next day's procession no clerk is accustomed (whatever his condition may be) to take place above his superiors. Then the Bishop on his seat said the verse : "Speciosus forma, &c. diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis," &c. Then the prayer, "Deus qui salutis æternæ," &c.," Pax vobis," &c. Then after the "Benedicamus Domino," the Bishop, sitting in his seat, gave the Benediction to the people in this manner: "Princeps Ecclesiæ Pastor ovilis cunctam plebam tuam benedicere digneris," &c. Then, turning towards the people, he sang or said: "Cum mansuetudine & charitate humiliate vos ad benedictionem" the chorus answering, "Deo gratias." Then the cross-bearer delivered up the crozier to the Bishop again, et tunc Episcopus puerorum primo signando se in fronte sic dicat, "Adjutorium nostrum," &c. The chorus answering Qui fecit Coelum & Terram." Then, after some other like ceremonies performed, the Bishop began the Completorium or Complyn; and that done, he turned towards the quire, and said, "Adjutorium," &c., and then, last of all, he said, "Benedicat Vos omnipotens Deus, Pater, and Filius, & Spiritus Sanctus." All this was done with solemnity of celebration, and under pain of anathema to any that should interrupt or press upon these children. See Realme and Dominions." Bishop Tanner, in a letter to Hearne, says in allusion to the abuse of the ancient custom, that the choristers chose a bishop and waited on him in procession to several houses in the city, where the little rogues took great liberties. And Tanner traces to this circumstance the bye-name of St. Nicholas's Clerks conferred on them. In Hall's "Triumphs of Rome" (Triumphs of Pleasure) he equally animadverts on the licence, which had crept into this Romish Observance, when he says, "What merry work it was here in the days of our holy fathers (and I know not whether, in some places, it may not be so still), that upon St. Nicholas, St. Katherine, St. Clement, and Holy Innocents' Day, children were wont to be arrayed in chimers, rochets, surplices, to counterfeit bishops and priests, and to be led, with songs and dances, from house to house, blessing the people, whe stood girning in the way to expect that ridiculous benediction. Yea, that boys in that holy sport were wont to sing masses and to climb into the pulpit to preach (no doubt learnedly and edifyingly) to the simple auditory. And this was so really done, that in the cathedral church of Salisbury (unless it be lately defaced) there is a perfect monument of one of these Boy Bishops (who died in the time of his young pontificality) accoutred in his episcopal robes, still to be seen. Strype, however, in his " 'Memorials," speaking of the Boy Bishop, among scholars, says: "I shall only remark that there might be this at least be said in favour of this old custom, that it gave a spirit to the children, and the hopes that they might at one time or other attain to the real mitre, and so made them mind their books." restored num, psalmo centesimo xij° et pro buius colacionis fundamento." St. Nicholas's Day used to elect three Aubanus tells us, that scholars on In the Posthumous Works of John Gregory, 1650, there is a monograph on this subject with three engravings; it is called: Episcopus Puerorum, In die Innocentium; or a Discoverie With the Catholic Liturgy, all the of an Antient Custom in the Church of pageantries of popery were Sarum, making an Anniversarie Bishop to their ancient splendour by Queen among the Choristers." In 12 Edward III., while the King was at Antwerp, the Mary. Among these, the procession of the Boy Bishop was too popular a mumBoy-Bishop there received 13s. 6d. for singmery to be overlooked. In Strype we reading before his majesty in his chamber. that, Nov. 13, 1554, an edict was issued Hazlitt's Warton, 1871, ii., 229. by the Bishop of London to all the Clergy of his Diocese, to have a Boy Bishop in procession. In the same volume, however, we read, "The which was St. Nicholas Eve, at even-song time came a commandment that St. Nicholas should not go abroad nor about. But, notwithstanding, it seems, so much were the citizens taken with the mock of St. Nicholas, that is, a Boy Bishop, that there went about these St. Nicholases in divers parishes, as in St. Andrew's, Holborn, and St. Nicolas Olaves in Bread-street. The reason the procession of St. Nicolas was forbid, was, because the Cardinal had this St. Nicolas Day sent for all the Convocation, Bishops, and inferior Clergy, to come to him to Lambeth, there to be absolved from all their perjuries, schisms and heresies." In the accounts of St. Mary-at-kept the fast so rigorously on this account, Hill, London, 1554, is the following entry: "Paid for makyng the Bishops myter, with staff and lace that went to it, iiis. Paid for a boke for St. Nicholas, viijd." Strype says, that in 1556, on St. Nicholas' Even, "St. Nicholas, that is a boy habited like a bishop in pontificalibus, went abroad in most parts of London, singing after the old fashion, and was received with many ignorant but well-disposed people into their houses, and had as much good cheer as ever was wont to be had before, at least in many places." The Boy Bishop would naturally be put down again when Queen Elizabeth came to the crown: and yet, by Puttenham's account, it was exhibited in the country villages after her accession. Puttenham wrote his "Art of English Poesy many years before it was published in 1589. He says: "Methinks this fellow speaks like Bishop Nicholas: for on St. Nicholas's night, commonly, the scholars of the country make them a bishop, who, like a foolish boy, goeth about blessing and preaching with such childish terms as make the people laugh at his foolish counterfeit speeches." The special service for Inno- Bragot Sunday.-In Lancashire, cents' Day, in an early printed copy of it, or some parts of it, a spiced ale, called is described as "In die innocentium sermo Braget or Bragot, used to be drunk very pro episcopo puerorum.' It commences largely on Palm Sunday, which was thence with the words: "Laudate, pueri, domi-called Bragot Sunday. that their friends, in order to prevent Branks.—“ They have an artifice at Newcastle under Lyme and Walsall," says Plot, "for correcting of scolds, which it does, too, so effectually and so very safely, that I look upon it as much to be preferred to the cucking stoole, which not only endangers the health of the party, but also gives the tongue liberty 'twixt every dipp; to neither of which this is at all liable: it being such a bridle for the tongue as not only quite deprives them of speech, but brings shame for the transgression and humility thereupon, before 'tis taken off which being put upon the offender by order of the magistrate, and fastened with a padlock behind, she is led round the town by an officer, to her shame, nor is it taken off till after the party begins to shew all external signes imaginable of humiliation and amendment." Staffordshire, p. 389. In a plate annexed, he gives a representation of a pair of branks. They still preserve a pair in the Town Court at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where the same custom once prevailed. Gardner's England's Grievance, 1656, and Brand's History, ii., 292. A fuller description of the brank occurs in Willis's "Current Notes" for May, 1854, where several engravings accompany and illustrate the letter-press. The writer says: It may be described as an iron skeleton helmet, having a gag of the same metal, that by being protruded into the mouth of an inveterate brawler, effectually branked that unruly member, the tongue. As an instrument of considerable antiquity at a time when the gag, the rack, and the axe were the ratio ultima Roma, it has doubtless been employed, not unfrequently for purposes of great cruelty, though in most examples, the gag was not purposely designed to wound the mouth, but simply to restrain or press down the tongue. Several of these instruments are yet extant, though their use has now, thanks to more considerate civilization, become obsolete. The earliest use of the brank in England is not antecedent to the reign of Charles." A curious variety of this old mode of penance is noticed in the same miscellany for October, 1854. Brawl. A dance introduced from France in or about the middle of the sixteenth century. See Halliwell in v. Bread. In Craven, in the West Riding of York, those who knead dough for baking are in the habit of making the sign of the cross, both when they knead or stiffen the material, and when they elt or moisten it with additional milk or milk and water, as a precaution against the sinister action of any witch or evil-eyed person at hand. Douce, in his interleaved copy of Brand's "Antiquities," pointed out that M. Thiers (in his Traitè des Superstitions) mentioned a belief as prevalent in France that bread baked on Christmas Eve would not turn mouldy. Bread and Cheese Land,Hasted, speaking of Biddenden, tells us that "twenty acres of land, called the Bread and Cheese Land, lying in five pieces, were given by persons unknown, the yearly rents to be distributed among the poor of this parish. This is yearly done on Easter Sunday, in the afternoon, in 600 cakes, each of which have the figures of two women impressed on them, and are given to all such as attend the church; and 270 loaves, weighing three pounds and a half a-piece, to which latter is added one pound and a half of cheese, are given to the parishioners only at the same time. There is a vulgar tradition in these parts, that the figures on the cake represent the donors of this gift, being two women twins, who were joined together in their bodies, and lived together so till they were between twenty and thirty years of age. But this seems without foundation. The truth seems to be, that it was the gift of two maidens, of the name of Preston; and that the print of the women on the cakes has taken place only within these fifty years, and was made to represent two poor widows, as the general objects of a charitable benefaction." "At Biddenden, Kent, yesterday, there was observed a curious Easter custom of distributing cakes hearing the impressed figures of the "Biddenden Maids." Their names were Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, and they are said to have lived to the age of 34 years, when one died, and the other followed within six hours. They bequeathed land in the parish which produces about forty guineas a year, and from this the cost of the distribution is defrayed. The custom always attracts a very considerable number of visitors from the surrounding villages, and it is among these that the cakes, having a quaint representation of the maids, stamped with a boxwood die, are distributed, bread and cheese being given to the poor of the parish." Globe, April, 8 1890. There is a similar custom at Paddington, near London, where the gifts are thrown from the church steeple. Sussex Arch. Coll., xiv., 135. Breakfasting. - A Sussex custom. Gloucestershire, a very strange quasi-jocuBriaval's, St.-At St. Briaval's, lar custom formerly prevailed on WhitSunday. Several baskets full of bread and cheese, cut very small, were brought into church, and immediately after service were thrown by the churchwardens from the galleries among the congregation, who scrambled for them. The custom was kept up, and may be still, in order to secure to the poor of St. Briaval's and Havelfield the right of cutting and carrying wood from 3,000 acres of coppice in Hudknoll and the Meend. Every householder was assessed 2d. towards defraying the cost of the bread and cheese. In 1687, the Orders and Rules of the Court of St. Briavells in the Forest of Dean, in the County of Gloucester," were printed in a volume with similar regulations for the miners in the Forest. Bridal Bed.—In the papal times no new-married couple could go to bed together till the bridal bed had been blessed. In a MS. cited by Blakeway, it is stated that "the pride of the clergy and the bigotry of the laity were such that new married couples were made to wait till midnight, after the marriage day, before they would pronounce a benediction, unless handsomely paid for it, and they durst not undress without it, on pain of excommunication." Blomefield's Norfolk, iv. 221. Bride-Ale. In Ihre's "Glossarium Suio-Gothicum," 1769, we read: v. Brudskal. Gifwa i Brudskálen dicitur de Erano vel munere_collectitio, quod Sponsæ die Nuptiarum a Convivis in pateram mittitur, habito antea brevi Sermone a præsente Sacerdote. Nescio, an huc quicquam faciat Tributum illud, quod in Gallia Sponsæ dabatur Escuellatta dictum, et de quo Du-Fresne in Gloss. Lat." Ibid. v. Jul p. 1005: "Hemkomol, Convivium quod novi Conjuges in suis ædibus instruunt." In the "Christen State of Matrimony," 1543, fol. 48, verso, we read: "When they come home from the church, then beginneth excesse of eatyng and dryncking-and as much is waisted in one daye, as were sufficient for the two newe married folkes halfe a year to lyve upon." The following is from the Court Rolls of Hales Owen Borough, Salop, of the 15th Elizabeth : Custom of Bride Ale: "Item, payne is made a person or persons that shall brewe any weddyn ale to sell, shall not brewe above twelve strike of mault at the most, and that the said persons so married shall not keep nor have above eight messe of persons at his dinner within the burrowe: and before his brydall daye he shall keep no unlawfull games in hys house, nor out of hys house, on pain of 20 shillings.' In Harrison's " Description of Britain," it is remarked "In feasting also the husbandmen do exceed after their manner, especially at bridales, &c., where it is incredible to tell what meat is consumed and spent; ech one brings such a dish, or so manie with him, as his wife and he doo consult upon, but alwaies with this consideration, that the leefer friend shall have the better provision." Thus it appears that among persons of inferior rank a contribution was expressly made for the purpose of assisting the bridegroom and bride in their : that no new situation. This custom must have doubtless been often abused: it breathed, however, a great deal of philanthropy, and would naturally help to increase population by encouraging matrimony. This custom of making presents at weddings seems also to have prevailed_amongst those of the higher order. From the account of the nuptials of the Lady Susan with Sir Philip Herbert, in the reign of James I. it appears that the presents of plate and other things given by noblemen were valued at £2,500, and that the king gave £500 for the bride's jointure. His majesty gave her away, and, as his manner was, archly observed on the occasion that "if he were unmarried he would not give her, but keep her for himself." Bride-ales are mentioned by Puttenham in his "Arte of Poesie":"During the course of Queen Elizabeth's entertainments at Kenilworth Castle, in 1575, a bryde-ale was celebrated with a great variety of shews and sports.' From a passage in Jonson's Silent Woman," Andrews infers that it seems to have been a general custom to make presents to the married pair, in proportion to the gay appearance of their wedding. "HereNewton, speaking of rushes, says with be made manie pretie imagined devises for bride-ales, and other solemnities as little baskets, hampers, paniers, pitchers, dishes, combes, brushes, stooles, chaires, purses with strings, girdles. and manie such other pretie, curious, and artificiall conceits, which at such times many do take the paines to make and hang up in the houses, as tokens of good-will to the new married bride: and after the solemnitie ended, to bestow abroad for bridegifts or presents.' In reference to the rose, he says: "At bride-ales the houses and chambers were wont to be strawed with these odoriferous and sweet herbes : to signifie that in wedlocke all pensive sullennes and lowring cheer, all wrangling strife, jarring, variance, and discorde, ought to be utterly excluded and abandoned; and that in place thereof al mirth, pleasantnes, cheerfulnes, mildnes, quietnes, and love should be maintained, and that in matters passing betweene the husband and the wife all secresie should be used." Herbal from the Bible, 1587, p. 92. Compare Bid-ale and Bride-Wain. "" Bride-Cake. The connection between the bride-cake and wedding is strongly marked in the following custom still retained in Yorkshire, where the former is cut into little square pieces, thrown over the bridegroom's and bride's head, and then put through the ring. The cake is sometimes broken over the bride's head, and then thrown away among the crowd to be scrambled for. This is noted by Aubanus in his description of the rites of marriage in his country and time. "Peractâ re divinâ Sponsa ad, paucis a Pronubo de mutato vitæ genere prefatis, in signum constantiæ, virtutis, defensionis et tutelæ, propinat Sponsæ et simul Morgennaticam (Dotalitium ob virginitatem) promittit, quod ipsa grato animo recolens, pari ratione et modo, paulo post mutato in uxorium habitum operculo Capitis, ingressa, poculum, ut nostrates vocant, uxorium leviter delibans, amorem, fidem, diligentiam, et subjectionem pro"Mertilla. But coming back when sheet Gothorum vetusto, 1672, p. 163, quoted missum."-Stiernhook De Jure Suecorum is wed, Who breaks the cake above her head? Claia. That shall Mertilla." Thus Smollett, in his Humphrey Clinker, 1771: "A cake being broken over the head of Mrs. Tabitha Lismahago, the fragments were distributed among the bystanders, according to the custom of the antient Britons, on the suppostion that every person who ate of this hallowed cake, should that night have a vision of the man or woman whom Heaven designed should be his or her wedded mate." In the North, slices of the bride-cake are put through the wedding ring: they are afterwards laid under pillows, at night, to cause young persons to dream of their lovers. Douce pointed out that this custom is not peculiar to the North of England, it seems to prevail generally. The pieces of the cake must be drawn nine times through the wedding ring. But it appears that the cake was not necessarily a wedding-cake. The " Spectator" observes also: The writer resolved to try his fortune, fasted all day, and that he might be sure of dreaming upon something at night, procured an handsome slice of bride cake, which he placed very conveniently under his pillow." The Connoisseur "Cousin Debby was married a little while ago, and she sent me a piece of bride-cake to put under my pillow, and I had the sweetest dream: I thought we were going to be married together. The following occurs in the Progress of Matrimony, 1733 : says: "But, Madam, as a present take by Malone. In the Workes of John Hei wood, the following passage occurs: "The drinke of my brydecup I should have forborne, Till temperaunce had tempred the taste beforne. I see now, and shall see while I am alive Who wedth or he be wise shall die or he thrive." Edit. 1576, sign. B. 4. Bride Favours.-In "The Fifteen Comforts of Marriage,' a conference is introduced, concerning bridal colours in dressing up the bridal bed by the bridemaids-not, say they, with yellow ribbands, these are the emblems of jealousynot with "Fueille mort," that signifies fading love but with true blue, that signifies constancy, and green denotes youthput them both together, and there's youthful constancy. One proposed blew and black, that signifies constancy till death; but that was objected to, as those colours will never match. Violet was proposed as signifying religion; this was objected to as being too grave: and at last they concluded to mingle a gold tissue with grassgreen, which latter signifies youthful jollity. For the bride's favours, top-knots, and garters, the bride proposed blew, goldcolour, popingay-green, and limon-colour The objected to, gold-colour signifying avarice-popingay-green, wantonness. younger bridemaid proposed mixturesflame-colour, flesh-colour, willow, and milk-white. The second and third were objected to, as flesh-colour signifies lascivisettled that red signifies justice, and seaousness, and willow forsaken. It was green inconstancy. The milliner, at last, fixed the colours as follows: for the favours, blue, red, peach-colour, and orange16-tawney for the young ladies' top-knots, flame-colour, straw-colour, (signifying plenty), peach-colour, grass-green, and milk-white and for the garters, a perfect Bride-Cup.-This custom has its yellow, siguifying honour and joy. traces in Gentilism. It is of high anti-this variety of colours in the bride favours quity, says Malone, for it subsisted among used formerly, the following passage, our Gothic ancestors. 66 Ingressus domum wherein Lady Haughty addresses Morose, convivalem Sponsus cum pronubo suo, in Jonson's "Silent Woman," evidently sumpto poculo, quod maritale vocant, ac alludes: Το |