ROYAL OAK DAY.

N the twenty-ninth of May, the anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II., it is still customary, especially in the North of England, for the common people to wear in their hats the leaves of the oak, which are sometimes covered on the occasion with leaf-gold. This is done, as everybody knows, in commemoration of the marvellous escape of that monarch from those that were in pursuit of him, who passed under the very oak tree in which he had secreted himself after the decisive battle of Worcester.

"It was the custom, some years back," says Caulfield in his Memoirs of Remarkable Persons, "to decorate the monument of Richard Penderell (in the church-yard of St Giles in the Fields, London), on the 29th of May, with oak branches; but, in proportion to the decay of popularity in kings, this practice has declined." Had the writer attributed the decline of this custom to the increasing distance of time from the event that first gave rise to it, he would perhaps have come much nearer to the truth.

The boys at Newcastle-upon-Tyne had formerly a taunting rhyme on this occasion, with which they used to insult such persons as they met on this day who had not oak-leaves in their hats

"Royal Oak,

The Whigs to provoke."

There was a retort courteous by others, who contemptuously wore plane-tree leaves, which is of the same homely sort of stuff

"Plane-tree leaves;

The Church-folk are thieves."

Puerile and low as these and such like sarcasms may appear, yet they breathe strongly that party spirit which they were intended to promote, and which it is the duty of every good citizen and real lover of his country to endeavour to suppress.

The party spirit on this occasion shewed itself very early: for, in The Lord's Loud Call to England (1660), we read of the following judgment, as related by the Puritans, on an old woman for her loyalty

An antient poor woman went from Wapping to London to buy flowers, about the 6th or 7th of May 1660, to make garlands for the

"May the 29th, says the author of the Festa Anglo-Romana (1678), is celebrated upon a double account; first, in commemoration of the birth of our sovereign king Charles the Second, the princely son of his royal father Charles the First of happy memory, and Mary the daughter of Henry the Fourth, the French king, who was born the 29th day of May 1630; and also, by Act of Parliament, 12 Car. II. by the passionate desires of the people, in memory of his most happy Restoration to his crown and dignity, after twelve years forced exile from his undoubted right, the crown of England, by barbarous rebels and regicides."

day of the king's proclamation (that is, May 8th), to gather the youths together to dance for the garland; and when she had bought the flowers, and was going homewards, a cart went over part of her body, and bruised her for it, just before the doors of such as she might vex thereby. But since, she remains in a great deal of misery by the bruise she had gotten, and cryed out, the devil! saying, the devil had owed her a shame, and now thus he had paid her. It's judged at the writing hereof that she will never overgrow it."

It is also stated that soldiers were whipped almost to death, and turned out of the service, for wearing boughs in their hats on the 29th of May 1716.

The Royal Oak was standing in Stukeley's time, enclosed with a brick wall, but almost cut away in the middle by travellers, whose curiosity had led them to see it. The king, after the Restoration, reviewing the place, carried some of the acorns, and set them in St James's Park or Garden, and used to water them himself.

"A bow-shoot from Boscobel - house," says Stukeley, in his Itinerarium Curiosum, "just by a horse-track passing through the wood, stood the Royal Oak, into which the king and his companion, colonel Carlos, climbed by means of the hen-roost ladder, when they judg'd it no longer safe to stay in the house; the family reaching them victuals with the nut-hook. The tree is now enclosed in with a brick wall, the inside whereof is covered with lawrel, of which we may say, as Ovid did of that before the Augustan palace, ' mediamque tuebere quercum.' Close by its side grows a young thriving plant from one of its acorns."

In Shipman's Carolina, or Loyal Poems (1683), are the following thoughts on this subject

"Blest Charles then to an oak his safety owes ;

The Royal Oak! which now in songs shall live,
Until it reach to Heaven with its boughs;

Boughs that for loyalty shall garlands give.

Let celebrated wits, with laurels crown'd,

And wreaths of bays, boast their triumphant brows;
I will esteem myself far more renown'd

In being honour'd with these oaken boughs.

The Genii of the Druids hover'd here,

Who under oaks did Britain's glories sing;
Which, since, in Charles completed did appear
They gladly came now to protect their king."

:

At Tiverton in Devon it was customary on this day for a number of young men, dressed in the style of the seventeenth century, and armed with swords, to parade the streets and gather contributions from the Inhabitants. At the head of the procession walked a man called Oliver, dressed in black, with his face and hands besmeared with soot and grease, and his body bound by a strong cord, the end of which was held to prevent his running too far. Next came another troop, similarly arrayed, each man bearing a large branch of oak, while four others, carrying a throne made of oaken boughs on which sat a

child, brought up the rear. Oliver's capers provoked the merriment of the boys, who amused themselves by casting dirt and throwing stones at him. When an urchin was caught, he was duly nigrified by Oliver, to the no small delight of his more fortunate companions. In the evening the whole party had a feast, the expense of which was defrayed by the collection made during the day.

Tennyson alludes to this celebrated tree in his poem of the Talking Oak

A devout lover of ancient customs, who was poet and antiquary both, has left the following Song for 29th of May, called Royal Oak Day, written for the pensioners of Chelsea Hospital

FOR

"Midst the boughs of the oak when pursued by his foes,

Royal Charles found a shelter and shade;

And still every spring, as it verdantly grows,
From its leaves shall a garland be made.*

We'll hail with delight, and most cheerfully sing,
On this day every following year,

Which restored to his throne our good founder and king
Who gave us this home and good cheer.

To our founder, King Charles, a bumper we'll give

And his memory constantly cherish;

Like the leaves of the oak, it shall yearly revive,
Nor ever be suffered to perish.

And now that our battles and conquests are o'er,
And from war's noisy conflicts we cease,

The trumpet's loud blast shall be sounded no more,
But our days here be ended in peace."

WHITSUNTIDE.

WHITSUN-ALE.

OR the church ale, says Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, "two young men of the parish are yerely chosen by their last foregoers to be wardens, who, dividing the task, make collection among the parishioners of whatsoever provision it pleaseth them voluntarily to bestow. This they employ in brewing, baking, and other acates, against Whitsontide; upon which holydays the neighbours meet at the church house, and there merily feed on their owne victuals, contributing some petty portion to the stock, which, by many smalls, groweth to a meetly greatnes for there is entertayned a kind of emulation between these wardens, who by his graciousness in gather

Spring Buds, &c., by Samuel Shepherd, F.S.A., London 1844, p. 52

ing, and good husbandry in expending, can best advance the churches profit. Besides the neighbour parishes at those times lovingly visit one another, and this way frankly spend their money together. The afternoones are consumed in such exercises as olde and yong folke (having leysure) doe accustomably weare out the time withall.

"When the feast is ended, the wardens yeeld in their account to the parishioners; and such money as exceedeth the disbursment is layd up in store, to defray any extraordinary charges arising in the parish, or imposed on them for the good of the countrey or the prince's service: neither of which commonly gripe so much, but that somewhat stil remayneth to cover the purse's bottom."

The Whitsun-ales have been already mentioned as common in the vicinity of Oxford.

In A Serious Dissuasive against Whitsun Ales (1736), we read: "These sports are attended usually with ludicrous gestures, and acts of foolery and buffoonry- but children's play, and what therefore grown-up persons should be ashamed of."

In a postscript it is added: "What I have now been desiring you to consider, as touching the evil and pernicious consequences of WHITSUN-ALES among us, doth also obtain against Dovers Meeting, and other the noted places of publick resort of this nature in this country; and also against Midsummer Ales and Mead-Mowings; and likewise against the ordinary violations of those festival seasons commonly called Wakes. And these latter in particular have been oftentimes the occasion of the profanation of the Lord's Day, by the bodily exercise of wrestling and cudgel-playing, where they have been suffered to be practised on that holyday."

In the Churchwardens' Accounts of St Mary's parish, Reading, we have

66

A.D. 1557. Item, payed to the Morrys Daunsers and the Mynstrelles, mete and drink at Whytsontide, iijs. iiijd."

66

In the parish of St Laurence, "A.D. 1502. It. payed to Will'm Stayn' for makyng up of the mayden's ban' cloth, viijd." A.D. 1504. It. payed for bred and ale spent to the use of the church at Whitsontyde, ijs. vjď. ob. It. for wyne at the same tyme, xiiijd." A.D. 1505. It. rec. of the mayden's gaderyng at Whitsontyde by the tre at the church dore, clerly ijs. vjd. It. rec. of Richard Waren, for the tre at the church dore, iijd."

In the parish of St Giles, 1535. "Of the Kyng Play at Whitsuntide, xxxvjs. viijd."

This last entry probably alludes to something of the same kind with the Kyngham, already mentioned. In the parish of St Laurence, we read "A.D. 1499. It. payed for horse mete to the horses for the kyngs of Colen on May-day, vjd." A note adds: "This was a part of the pageant called the King-play, or King-game, which was a representation of the Wise Men's Offering, who are supposed by the Romish Church to have been kings, and to have been interred at Cologne." Then follows: "It. payed to mynstrells the same day, xijd.

Whitsun-ales, says Douce, are conducted in the following manner : "Two persons are chosen, previously to the meeting, to be lord and

lady of the ale, who dress as suitably as they can to the characters they assume. A large empty barn, or some such building, is provided for the lord's hall, and fitted up with seats to accommodate the company. Here they assemble to dance and regale in the best manner their circumstances and the place will afford; and each young fellow treats his girl with a ribband or favour. The lord and lady honour the hall with their presence, attended by the steward, sword-bearer, purse-bearer, and mace-bearer, with their several badges or ensigns of office. They have likewise a train-bearer or page, and a fool or jester, drest in a party-coloured jacket, whose ribaldry and gesticulation contribute not a little to the entertainment of some part of the company. The lord's music, consisting of a pipe and tabor, is employed to conduct the dance. Some people think this custom is a commemoration of the ancient Drink-lean, a day of festivity formerly observed by the tenants and vassals of the lord of the fee within his manor; the memory of which, on account of the jollity of those meetings, the people have thus preserved ever since. The glossaries inform us, that this Drink-lean was a contribution of tenants towards a potation or Ale provided to entertain the lord or his steward."

Concerning the etymology of the word Ale, writes Douce, " much pains have been taken, for one cannot call it learning. The best opinion however seems to be that, from its use in composition, it means nothing more than a feast or merry-making, as in the words Leet-Ale, Lamb-Ale, Whitson-Ale, Clerk-Ale, Bride-Ale, Church-Ale, Scot-Ale, Midsummer-Ale, &c. At all these feasts, Ale appears to have been the predominant liquor, and it is exceedingly probable that from this circumstance the metonymy arose. Hickes informs us that

the Anglo-Saxon Geol, the Dano-Saxon Iol, and the Icelandic Ol, respectively have the same meaning; and perhaps Christmas was called by our Northern ancestors Yule, or the Feast, by way of preeminence."

In his History of the Isle of Wight, speaking of the parish of Whitwell, Worsley tells us that there is a lease in the parish chest, dated 1574, "of a house called the church house, held by the inhabitants of Whitwell, parishioners of Gatcombe, of the lord of the manor, and demised by them to John Brode, in which is the following proviso: Provided always, that, if the Quarter shall need at any time to make a Quarter-Ale, or Church-Ale, for the maintenance of the chapel, that it shall be lawful for them to have the use of the said house, with all the rooms, both above and beneath, during their Ale."

It appears from A Sermon made at Blanford Forum, in the county of Dorset, on Wednesday the 17th of January 1570, by William Kethe, that it was the custom at that time for the Church Ales to be kept upon the Sabbath-day; which holy day, says our author, "the multitude call their revelyng day, which day is spent in bulbeatings, bearebeatings, bowlings, dicyng, cardyng, daunsynges, drunkennes, and whoredome," "in so much, as men could not keepe their servauntes from lyinge out of theyr owne houses the same sabbath-day at night." Stubbs, in his Anatomie of Abuses, gives the following account of "The Maner of Church-Ales in England"