Part 12 (1/2)
The condition of the rural peasantry a hundred years ago fell immeasurably short of the opportunities for recreation afforded at the present time, but there were not a few bright spots in the year, which, whatever we may think of the manner of the enjoyment, did afford very pleasant antic.i.p.ations and memories to even the peasant folk in the villages. By custom these periodical feasts, for they generally resolved themselves into that, became a.s.sociated with certain seasons, and of these none held a more important place than the annual Michaelmas ”Statty,” that is, the annual statute fair, of some central village or town where, to quote an old Hertfords.h.i.+re ballad,
There's dancing and singing And fiddling and ringing, With good beef and pudding, And plenty of beer.
Hither came the lads and la.s.ses just free from a year's hiring and--the lads with whip-cord or horse-hair banding round their hats to indicate their accomplishments with horses, &c.--ready to enter upon a fresh engagement with the old or with a new master for the coming twelve months. Sturb.i.t.c.h fair is not the only place which has been proclaimed by dignified officials, for in the old time many country fairs, which had no Mayor and Corporation to fall back upon, were thought of sufficient importance to engage the services of the Town Crier or Beadle, and in some places this was the kind of proclamation that ushered in the fair:--
O yez! O yez! the fair is begun, There shall be no arrest, till the fair is done.
Arrest for debt should, I suppose, be understood, for the Stocks invariably received as much company as they could hold on such occasions.
In some cases the ”Statty,” or fair, was proclaimed by printed notice issued by the chief constable of the hundred, and others even by those responsible for obtaining situations for pauper children, to whose interest it was that such a convenient means of bringing people together should be kept up. In the year 1788 I find the Royston Parish Committee pa.s.sing this resolution:--
”Ordered that for the future such Boys and Girls as are in the Workhouse and fit for service be taken to the Neighbouring Statutes for the purpose of letting them for service.”
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Generally each printed announcement by the Chief Constable of a statute fair for hiring within his hundred concluded with the intimation--”Dinner on Table at two o'clock, price 2s. 6d. each.” From the last named item I conclude that the dinner on the table was intended for employers who could afford the 2s. 6d., and also, I believe, for the parish constables of the hundred whose ”2s. 6d. for the constabel's fest” so frequently occurs in parish accounts. A number of these announcements before me all end in a similar strain, but I give one specimen below--
PUCKERIDGE STATUTE FOR HIRING SERVANTS, will be held at the BELL INN, On FRIDAY, the 23RD of SEPTEMBER, 1796, _THOMAS PRIOR, Chief Constable._ Dinner on the Table at Two o'clock.
May-day observances may perhaps appear a too hackneyed topic for a place in these Glimpses, and yet they were very different from present day observances. The ”May-dolling” by children in the streets of Royston as every first of May comes round is clearly a survival of the more picturesque mummeries of the past. There is this in common, in all the procession of Mayers through the ages, that their outward equipment has always sought some little bit of promise of greenery from nature's springtide, and rather a large piece of the human nature which runs to seed in the oriental ”backsheesh”--a picturesque combination of blessing and begging. The ”Mayers' song,” and its setting in this district, was something like the following:--At an early hour in the morning a part of the townspeople would parade the town singing the Mayers' song, carrying large branches of may or other greenery, a piece of which was affixed to the door of the most likely houses to return the compliment. Sometimes delicate compliments or otherwise were paid to the servants of the house, and, if not in favour with the Mayers, the former would find on opening the door in the morning, not the greeting of a branch of ”may” but a spiteful bunch of stinging nettles!--a circ.u.mstance which caused servants to take a special interest in what they would find at their door as an omen of good fortune.
During the day the Mayers' procession went on in a more business-like form, with sundry masked figures, men with painted faces--one wearing an artificial hump on his back, with a birch broom in his hand, and the other in a woman's dress in tatters and carrying a ladle--acting the parts of ”mad Moll and her husband.” Two other men, one gaudily dressed up in ribbons and swathed in coloured bandages and {99} carrying a sword, and another attired as a lady in a white dress and ribbons, played the part of the ”Lord and Lady.” Other attendants upon these followed in similar, but less imposing, attire. With fiddle, clarionet, fife and drum, a substantial contribution from the townspeople was acknowledged with music and dancing, and a variety of clownish tricks of Mad Moll and her Husband.
We thus see that the chubby-fisted little fellows who, not possessing even a doll, rig out a little stump of an old sailor or soldier, or even a bunch of greenery on a stick, as well as the girls who now promenade their dolls of varying degrees of respectability, have an historical background of some dignity, when, on the morning of the first of May, they line our streets and reflect the glories of the past to an unsentimental generation which knows nothing of ”Mad Moll and her husband.”
The following are some verses of the Mayers' song--
Remember us poor Mayers all, And thus we do begin, To lead our lives in righteousness, Or else we die in sin.
A branch of May we have brought you, And at your door it stands, It is but a sprout, But it's well budded out.
by the work of our Lord's hands.
The moon s.h.i.+nes bright and the stars give light, A little before it is day; So G.o.d bless you all, both great and small, And send you a joyful May!
Plough Monday and its interesting connection with the return of the season for field work of the husbandman, and its modern relic of perambulating the streets with a plough for largess, has practically pa.s.sed away as a custom and has long since lost its sentiment. Another curious observance connected with the harvest was in full swing at the time of which I am writing; viz., the ”hockey” load, or harvest home.
Many persons living remember the intense excitement which centred around the precincts of the farmhouse and its approaches, when it was known that the last load of corn was coming home! Generally a small portion, enough to fill the body of the cart, was left for the last load. Upon this the men rode home, shouting ”merry, merry, harvest home,” which was a well understood challenge to all and sundry to bring out their water! Through the village the light load rattled along at a great pace, while from behind every wall, tree, or gatepost along the route, men, women and even children, armed with such utensils as came ready to hand, sent after the flying rustics a shower of water {100} which continually increased in volume as the hockey load reached the farm-yard, where capacious buckets and pails charged from the horse pond brought up a climax of indescribable fun and merriment!
The next in order of the seasons, manners, and customs are the summer and autumn feasts and fairs. Of the fair held at Anstey, the following is an announcement of seventy years ago--
ANSTEY FAIR, ON THURSDAY, JULY 15TH, 1817.
A Tea Kettle to be Bowled for by Women.
A Gown to be Smoked for by Women.
A s.h.i.+ft to be Run for by Women.