"And as the confines of two months are thine
To sing of both the double task be mine.
Circus and stage are open now and free-
Goddess! again thy feast my theme must be.
Since new opinions oft delusive are,
Do thou, O Flora, who thou art declare;
Why should thy poet on conjectures dwell?
Thy name and attributes thou best can tell.
Thus I-to which she ready answer made,
And rosy sweets attended what she said;
Though, now corrupted, Flora be my name,
From the Greek Chloris that corruption came :-
In fields where happy mortals whilome stray'd,
Chloris my name, I was a rural maid;

To praise herself a modest nymph will shun,
But yet a god was by my beauty won."

Flora then relates, that Zephyr became enamoured of her as Boreas had been, that" by just marriage to his bed," she was united to Zephyr, who assigned her the dominion over Spring, and that she strews the earth with flowers and presides over gardens. She further says, as the deity of flowers,

"I also rule the plains.

When the crops flourish in the golden field;
The harvest will undoubted plenty yield;

If purple clusters flourish on the vine,

The presses will abound with racy wine;

The flowering olive makes a beauteous year,

And how can bloomless trees ripe apples bear?

The flower destroyed, of vetches, beans, and peas,
You must expect but small or no increase;
The gift of honey's mine, the painful bees,
That gather sweets from flowers or blooming trees,
To scented shrubs and violets I invite,

In which I know they take the most delight;
A flower an emblem of young years is seen,
With all its leaves around it fresh and green;
So youth appears, when health the body sways,
And gladness in the mind luxuriant plays,"

From these allegorical ascriptions the Roman people worshipped Flora, and celebrated her festivals by ceremonies and rejoicings, and offerings of spring flowers, and the branches of trees in bloom, which, through the accommodation of the Romish church to the Pagan usages, remain to us at the present day.

MICHAELMAS DAY, &c.

The festival of St. Michael and all Angels has been celebrated with great solemnity by the Christian church ever since the fifth age, and was certainly kept sacred in Apulia as early as 493.

The dedication of the great church of Mount Gorgano, in Italy, to St. Michael, gave rise to the celebration of this feast in the West. It obtained the common name of Michaelmas, and the dedication of numerous churches at Rome, and other parts of Italy, subsequently took place on this day, a practice followed in other countries.

The churches dedicated to St. Michael are usually to be found on elevated spots, in allusion to this Saint's having been the highest of the heavenly host. St. Michael's Mount, in Cornwall, and that in Normandy, are confirmations of this remark.

Michaelmas-day is one of the regular quarter-days for settling rents; but it is no longer remarkable for the hospitality which once attended this anniversary. At Martinmas, the old quarter-day, the

landlords used formerly to entertain their tenants with geese, then only kept by opulent persons. But these birds being esteemed in perfection early in the autumn, most families now have a goose dressed on St. Michael's day; for

At Michaelmas, by custom right divine,

Geese are ordained to bleed at Michael's shrine.

Very many inquiries have been made by antiquaries into the origin of eating goose" on this festival, none of which, however, prove satisfactory, and, in our opinion, it had no particular meaning, except that stubble geese are now in perfection. People like to do things that are pleasant on holydays; and feasts, both among Polytheists and Christians, make up a great part of the miscellaneous customs attached to their calling. Geese are eaten likewise at Martinmas; and in Denmark, and other countries, where they are later in being ready for the table, this is usually the time when they are in vogue. As matter, however, of antiquarian information, we shall cite the various explanations of this custom from different authors. It has been ascribed to the accidental circumstance of Queen Elizabeth's being at dinner on a goose at the time she heard of the defeat of the Spanish armada, and that in consequence she ate of goose every year on that anniversary. In Gascoignes Flowers we find,

And when the tenauntes come to paie their quarter's rent,
They bring some fowle at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent;
At Christmas a capon, at Michaelmas a goose;

And some what else at Newyere's tide, for feare their lease fire loose.

A writer in The World, No. 10, probably Lord Orford, remarking on the effects of the alteration of the style, says, "When the reformation of the Calendar was in agitation, to the great disgust of many worthy persons, who urged how great the harmony was in the old establishment between the holydays and their attributes; and what confusion would follow if Michaelmas Day, for instance, was not to be celebrated when stubble geese are in their highest perfection; it was replied, that such a propriety was merely imaginary, and would be lost of itself, even without any alteration of the Calendar by authority; for if in it the errors were suffered to go on,' they would, in a certain number of years, produce such a variation, that we should be mourning for good King Charles on a false thirtieth of January, at a time of year when our ancestors used to be tumbling over head and heels in Greenwich Park, in honour of Whitsuntide; and at length be choosing king and queen for Twelfth Night, when we ought to be admiring the London 'Prentice at Bartholomew Fair."

It is a popular saying, that "if you eat goose on Michaelmas Day, you will never want money all the year round." In the British Apollo the proverb is thus discussed:

Supposing now Apollo's sons,

Just rose from picking of goose bones,
This on you pops, pray tell me whence
The customed proverb did commence,
That who eats goose on Michael's Day,
Sha'n't money lack his debts to pay ?
This notion, fram'd in days of yore,
Is grounded on a prudent score:

See Origin of Goose on Michaelmas Day.

For, doubtless, 'twas at first designed
To make the people Seasons mind;
That so they might apply their care
To all those things which needful were,
And, by a good industrious hand,

Know when and how t'improve their land.

In Poor Robin's Almanack for 1695, under September, are the following quaint lines:

Geese now in their prime season are,

Which, if well roasted, are good fare:
Yet, however, friends, take heed
How too much on them you feed,

Lest, when as your tongues run loose,
Your discourses do smell of goose.

ALL SAINT'S DAY.

This day is thus denominated in the Calendar, because, it celebrates the commemoration of those worthies, whom, on account of their number, particular days could not be appropriated to their individual honour.

ST. MARTIN'S LITTLE SUMMER.

In Times Telescope for 1825, we are told that the few fine days which sometimes occur about the beginning of November, have been denominated" St. Martin's Little Summer:" to this Shakspeare alludes in the First Part of King Henry 4th, (Act 1, Scene 2d), where Prince Henry says to Falstaff, Farewell, thon latter spring! farewell, allhallewn summer!"-and in the First Part of King Henry 6th (Act 1, Scene 2d), Joan la Pucelle says,— "Assign'd I am to be the English scourge, This night assuredly the siege I'll raise: Expect St. Martin's Summer, halcyon days, Since I have entered thus into these wars."

So called, because the day was set apart to offer up prayers for souls in Purgatory.

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST'S DAY.

Consecrated wine was anciently sold by the priests on the 27th of December, the festival of St. John the Evangelist, to prevent the effects of poison, storms, &c.; because St. John had been forced to drink poison.

LADY DAY.

The Roman Catholic festival of the annunciation is commonly called in England, Lady Day, an abridgement of the old term Our Lady's Day, or the day of our blessed Lady.

A few years ago, a country gentleman wrote a letter to a lady of rank in town, and sent it through the General Post with the following address::

"To

"The 25th of March,

"Foley Place, London."

The postman duly delivered the letter at the house of Lady Day, for whom it was intended.

MAUNDY THURSDAY.

The term Maundy, as applied to the Thursday before Easter, has occasioned some trouble to Antiquaries. One writer conceives Maundy to be corrupted from the Mandate of Christ to his disciples, to break bread in remembrance of him: or, from his other mandate, after he had washed their feet, to love one another.

With better reason it is conceived to be derived from the Saxon word Mand, which afterwards became Maund, a name for basket, and subsequently for any gift or offering contained in the basket. Thus then Maundy Thursday, the day preceding Good Friday, on which the king distributes alms to a certain number of poor persons at Whitehall, is so named from the Maunds in which the gifts were contained +

CANDLE-MASS DAY.

The term Candle mass, as applied to a particular season, originated from the ceremony of putting up masses by candle-light, for the fattening of the beasts, in order that they might be productive of tallow, which being an article of great consumption with the Roman Catholic church, they were desirous of it being plentiful.

It is to be noted, that from Candiemass the use of tapers at vespers and litanies, which prevailed throughout the winter, ceased until the ensuing All Hallow-Mass; and hence the origin of an old English proverb in "Ray's Collection"

"On Candlemass day

Throw candle and candlestick away."

TWELFTH DAY:

There is a difference of opinion as to the origin of Twelfth Day. Brand says, "that though its customs vary in different countries, yet they concur in the same end, that is, to do honour to the Eastern Magi." He afterwards observes, "that the practices of choosing King on twelfth day is similar to a custom that existed among the ancient Greeks and Romans, who, on the festival days of Saturn, about that season of the year, drew lots for kingdoms, and like kings exercised their temporary authority." The Epiphany is called Twelfth Day, because it falls on the twelfth day after Christmas day. Epiphany signifies Manifestation, and is applied to this day because it is the day whereon Christ was manifested to the Gentiles.

QUARTER DAY.

"Relentless, undelaying Quarter-day!

Cold, though in Suminer, cheerless though in Spring,
In Winter, bleak; in Autumn, withering-

No quartert dost thou give, not for one day,

But rent and tax enforce th us to pay;

Or, with a quarter-staff, enters our dwelling,
Thy ruthless minion, our small chattels selling,
And empty-handed sending us away!—

• Dunton's British Apollo.

+ Archdeacon Nare's "Glossary," wherein the various authorities are set forth at large.

See Giving Quarter.

Thee I abhor, although I lack not coin

To bribe thy "itching palm :" for I behold
The poor and needy whom sharp hunger gnawing
Compels to flit, on darksome night and cold,
Leaving dismantled walls to meet thy claim :-
Then scorn I thee, and hold them free from blame."

If he who runs may read, surely, he who does either, wants not to know that Quarter day is the termination of a quarter of a year, and needs no further derivation than what it carries with it; but, however simple this may be, yet the origin, or data from whence it was made the Rent-day, or day for paying and collecting rents, may not be so generally known. It was not till the fifteenth century, in the reign of Henry 7th, that rents were paid or collected quarterly; prior to that period, they were paid by the week, month, or year. His Highness, who was very fond of money, and who perhaps left more ready money behind him than any British monarch either before or since, stipulated with his own immediate tenants, that they should pay their rents quarterly; this system, however, did not become the law of the land until the Revolution in 1688; from which period, of course, it became usual throughout the land.

PLOUGH MONDAY.

The first Monday after Twelfth Day is so called, because the husbandman then resumes the plough, for the first time after Christrnas. On this day, and for some days afterwards, in the northern counties, particularly Yorkshire, there is a procession of rustic youths dragging a plough, who, as they officiate for oxen, are called plough-stots: they are dressed with their shirts outside of their jackets, with sashes of ribbands fastened on their shirts, and on their hats. Besides the plough-draggers, there is a band of six in the same dress, furnished with swords, who perform the sword. dance, while one or more musicians play on the flute or violin.

The sword-dance, probably introduced by the Danes, displays considerable ingenuity, not without gracefulness. The dancers arrange themselves in a ring, with their swords elevated, and their motions and evolutions are at first slow and simple, but become gradually more rapid and complicated: towards the close, each one catches the point of his neighbour's sword, and various movements take place in consequence; one of which, consists in joining or plaiting the swords into the form of an elegant hexagon or rose, in the centre of the ring, which rose is so firmly made, that one of them holds it up above their heads without undoing it. The dance closes with taking it to pieces, each man laying hold of his own sword. During the dance, two or three of the company, called Toms or Clowns, dressed up as harlequins, in most fantastic modes, having their faces painted or masked, are making antic gestures to amuse the spectators; while another set, called Madgies or Madgy Pegs, clumsily dressed in women's cloathes, and also masked, or painted, go from door to door rattling old cannisters, in which they receive money-when they are well paid they raise a huzza; when they get nothing, they shout out "hunger and starvation." When the party do not exceed forty, they seldom encumber themselves with a plough. Egton Bridge has long been the principal rendezvous for sword-dancers in the vicinity of Whitby.