It is not easy to say when or how these rogations became mixed up with the parochial perambulations, but there cannot be the least doubt that the latter have been derived to us from the times of the Romans. It is only a Christian form of the Terminalia, established by Numa Pompilius, in honour of the God Terminus, the guardian of fields and landmarks, and maintainer of peace amongst mankind.*

Even the Reformation did not sweep away this useful custom; it only modified the observance; and we find Elizabeth ordering that "the curate, at certain and convenient places, shall admonish the people to give thanks in the beholding God's benefits, for the increase and abundance of his fruits upon the face of the earth, with the saying of the 103d psalm, at which time the minister shall inculcate these, or such sentences-'cursed be he which translateth the bounds and dolest of his neighbours.'"

The week, in which these days fell, was also called

herd's "Elucidation of Common Prayer," vol. ii. p. 127, who, however, in the earlier edition of his work mistook this "civitas Vien. nensium," for Vienna, the capital of Austria. In the second edition of vol. ii. the error is corrected.

* Spelman, in his Glossary under the head Perambulatio, says, "refert Plutarchus in Problem xiii. Numam Pompilium cum finitimis agri terminis constituisse et in ipsis finibus Terminum, Deum, quasi finium præsidem amicitiæque ac pacis custodem posuisse. Hinc festa ei dicata quæ Terminalia nuncupantur, quorum vice nos quotannis ex vetustissimâ consuetudine parochiarum terminos lustramus,-Saxonibus gangdagas, hodiernis processiones et Rogationes appellatas.

+ Dole means a boundary-stone. Todd derives it from the Saxon dælan, to divide; but I should rather fancy it was the Celtic dol, a stone, which we find in the compound word dolman, i.e. the Stone of the Men, another name for the cromlech.

Bourne's Antiq. vol. i. p. 207.

Cross-week," because in ancient times, when the priests went into the fields, the cross was carried before them." In the north it was, and I believe still is, called gang-week, from the provincial word gang, a descendant from the Anglo-Saxon gang-days already noticed. Lastly, it was termed Grass-week, in some of the inns of court, because the commons then consisted mostly of sallads and green vegetables.

There is a superstitious observance appertaining to this week peculiar to Kent, but which I believe may be found, with modifications, in Devonshire also. Hasted, who sometimes condescended to relieve his antiquarian details by scraps of this kind, informs us "there is an odd custom used in these parts, about Keston and Wickham, in Rogation week; at which time a number of young men meet together for the purpose, and with a most hideous noise run into the orchards, and incircling each tree, pronounce these words:

Stand fast root, bear well top,

God send us a youling+ sop!
Every twig, apple big;
Every bough, apple enow.

But

For which incantation the confused rabble expect a gratuity in money, or drink, which is no less welcome. if they are disappointed of both, they with great solemnity anathematize the owners and trees with altogether as insignificant a curse. It seems highly probable that this custom has arisen from the ancient one of perambulation among the heathens, when they made their

* Bourne's Antiq. Vulg. p. 285, note.

I hardly know whether it may be necessary to explain to any one that this youling, or yuling sop is an allusion to the roasted crab. apple, which is put into the wassail bowl at Christmas, the ale thus prepared forming the well-known drink called lambs-wool.

prayers to the Gods for the use and blessing of the fruits coming up, with thanksgivings for those of the preceding year. And as the heathens supplicated Eolus, God of the winds, for his favourable blasts; so in this custom, they still retain his name with a very small variation, this ceremony being called youling, and the word is often used in their invocations."*

I doubt much however the word youling having any thing to do with the God Eolus. It is derived, in my opinion, from the Indian huly, a spring festival; for though in more modern times YULE has been restricted to mean a Christmas feast, yet with the Druids it was also applied to those that were celebrated in the month of May. We shall find, too, that the word, under various modifications of the original root, runs through the Gothic, Danish, Welsh, and other languages, and always more or less distinctly signifying a rejoicing or festival-making This is clearly its meaning amongst the people of Kent in the ceremony just described.

Ascension Eve. This, though not noticed amongst Protestants, is held by the more rigid Catholics to be a particular occasion for alms-giving, for, as Durandus tells us, the previous fasts are of no avail without works of charity; "if," says he, quoting St. Gregory, "you wish your prayer to rise to Heaven, you must lend it two wings-fasting and alms-giving."

* Hasted's History of Kent, vol. i. p. 109.

"Quia vero jejunium quo præmissum est non sufficit sine operibus misericordiæ, ideo in vigiliâ Ascensionis, quæ est tertia dies rogationum, ecclesia monet ad opera misericordiæ....Dicit enim Gregor. 'Si vis orationem tuam ad cælum volare, fac ei duas alas, scilicet jejunium et eleemosynam.' Gul. Durandi, Rat. Div. Offic. lib. vi. cap. ciii. p. 260.

ASCENSION-DAY, or HOLY THURSDAY. This, as the name sufficiently implies, is the anniversary of Christ's Ascension, but there is no peculiar mention of this festival amongst the elder writers on such subjects. It is celebrated on the fortieth day after the passover, because Christ ascended into Heaven on the fortieth day after his resurrection.* A few trifling observances still cling to it in some parts, the relicks of our forefathers' superstitions. Thus we are told by a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, when speaking of superstitions prevalent in the neighbourhood of Exeter, "that the figure of a lamb actually appears in the east on the morning of AscensionDay is the popular persuasion. And so deeply is it rooted that it hath frequently resisted (even in intelligent minds) the force of the strongest argument."†

Reginald Scot also mentions two superstitions as connected with this day, but without localizing them—“ in some countries," he says, "they run out of the doors in time of tempest, blessing themselves with a cheese, whereupon there was a cross made with a rope's end upon Ascension-Day-Item, to hang an egg, laid on AscensionDay in the roof of the house preserveth the same from all hurts."

In conclusion it should not be forgotten that the custom of parochial perambulations has amongst us been chiefly confined to this day; but such deviations from the original observance are too common to excite the least surprise.

* "Apud vetustiores authores festi Ascensionis Christi peculiaris mentio nulla fit, sed comprehendunt illud sub Quinquaginta illis festis diebus post Pascha." Hospinian De Festis Christianorum, p. 86.

+ Gentleman's Magazine, for August 1787, vol. lvii. p. 718, note. The Discovery of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot, p. 152, folio, Lond. 1665.

Pentecost: Whitsuntide. This term was anciently used with two very different meanings; first, as denoting the whole fifty days from Easter to Whitsuntide, i.e. the Paschal solemnity, which in early times was one continued festival in commemoration of Christ's resurrection; and secondly, as signifying that particular day on which the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles. In this more restricted sense it was called Pentecost because it was the fiftieth day from the Passover; and Whitsunday, i.e. White-Sunday, either metaphorically from the light which then diffused itself amongst the apostles; or, and this seems more probable-from its being one of the two principal seasons of public baptism, when the baptized wore white garments, or chrisoms, in token of the spiritual purity they received at the font, and their promised whiteness of life for the future. It must not, however be concealed that Wheatley mentions a curious letter of Gerard Langbain's upon this subject, giving a very different meaning to the word. From his account it would seem, that Langbain, who was a perfect glutton of Bodleian manuscripts, stumbled upon one, which in substance states, "that it was a custom among our ancestors upon this day to give all the milk of their ewes and kine to the poor for the love of God, in order to qualify themselves to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which milk being then-as it is still in some counties,-called Whitemeat, &c. therefore this day from that custom took the name of Whitsunday.":

* Wheatley's account is as follows-" "The letter I have is in manuscript, but seems to be a transcript of a printed letter of Langbain, dated from Oxford on Whitsun-Eve, 1650, and writ in answer to a friend that had enquired of him the original of the word, Whitsuntide, in which after he had hinted at some other opinions he gives the above-mentioned account in the following words.-"Extat illic (in Bodleianâ) MS. hoc titulo, De Solemnitatibus Sanctorum Feriandis.