buns, two-a-penny buns; one-a-penny, two-a-penny, hot-cross-buns !" This proceeds from some little "peep-o'-day boy," willing to take the " top of the morning" before the rest of his compeers. He, carries his covered buns in a basket hanging on one arm, while his other hand is straightened like an open door, at the side of his mouth, to let forth his childish voice, and he "pipes and trebles out the sound" to the extremity of his lungs. Scarcely has he departed before others come; "another and another still succeeds," and at last the whole street is in one common cry of buns." Old men and young men, young women and old women, big children and little children, are engaged in this occupation, and some cry now who never cried before." The bun-venders who eclipse the rest in voice and activity, are young women who drive fruit-barrows-barrows, by the bye, are no more, but of them by and bye. A couple of these ex-barrow-women trip along, carrying a wicker clothes-basket between them, in which the "hot-crossbuns" are covered, first by a clean flannel or green baize, and outwardly by a clean white cloth, which coverings are slowly and partially removed, for fear of letting the buns cool, when a customer stops to buy, or calls them to the door. They continue their lengthened cry, with a volume of concerted sound, unequalled by other rivals in the ephemeral Good Friday trade. These scenes and sounds continue till church-time, and resume in the afternoon. It partially commences on the evening before Good Friday, but with little success. Some thirty or forty years ago pastrycooks and bakers vied with each other for excellence in making hot-cross-buns; the demand, has decreased, and so has the quality of the buns. But the great place of attraction for bun-eaters at that time was Chelsea; for there were the two "royal bun-houses." Before and along the whole length of the long front of each, stood a flat-roofed, neat,wooden portico or piazza of the width of the foot-path, beneath which shelter "from summer's heat and winter's cold," crowds of persons assembled to scramble for a chance of purchasing "royal hot cross Chelsea buns," within a reasonable time; and several hundreds of square black tins, with dozens of hot buns on each tin, were disposed of in every hour from a little after six in the morning, till after the same period in the evening of Good Friday. Those who knew what was good, better than new comers, gave the preference to the "old original royal bun-house," which had been a bun-house "ever since it was a house," and at which "the king himself once stopped," and who could say as much for the other? This was the conclusive tale at the door, and from within the doors, of the "old original bun-house." Alas! and alack! there is that house now; and there is the house that was opened as its rival; but where are ye who contributed to their renown and custom, among the apprentices and journeymen, and the little comfortable tradesmen of the metropolis, and their wives and children-where are ye? With ye hath the fame of" Chelsea-buns' departed, and the "royal bun-houses are little more distinguished than the humble graves wherein ye rest. The Formerly "hot-cross-buns" were commonly eaten in London by families at breakfast, and some families still retain the usage. They are of the usual form of buns; though they are distinguished from them inwardly by a sweeter taste, and the flavour of all-spice, and outwardly by the mark or sign of the cross. "hot-cross-bun" is the most popular symbol of the Roman catholic religion in England that the reforination has left. Of the use of the cross, as a mark or sign in papal worship and devotion, most readers are aware; for it has been insisted on by Roman catholic writers from the days of Constantine to Alban Butler himself, who giving example of its great virtue on Good Friday, says, "to add one more instance, out of many, St. Teresa assures us, in her own life, that one day the devil, by a phantom, appeared to sit on the letters of her book, to disturb her at her devotions; but she drove him away thrice by the sign of the cross, and at last sprinkled the book with holy water; after which he returned no more." the houses of some ignorant people, a Good Friday bun is still kept "for luck," and sometimes there hangs from the cieling a hard biscuit-like cake of open cross-work, baked on a Good Friday, to remain there till displaced on the next Good Friday by one of similar make; and of this the editor of the Every-Day Book 11 In * Butler's Moveable Feasts, 1774, 8vo. p. 379. has heard affirmed, that it preserves the house from fire;" "no fire ever happened in a house that had one." This undoubtedly is a relic of the old superstition; as is also a vulgar notion in the west of England, that the straight stripe down the shoulders of the ass, intersected by the long one from the neck to the tail, is a cross of honour conferred upon him by Christ, and that before Christ rode upon the ass, that animal was not so distinguished. Hot-cross-buns are the ecclesiastical Eulogiæ, or consecrated loaves, bestowed in the church as alms, and to those who from any impediment could not receive the host. They are made from the dough from whence the host itself is taken, and are given by the priest to the people after mass, just before the congregation is dismissed, and are kissed before they are eaten. They are marked with the cross as our Good Friday buns are. Winckelman relates this remarkable fact, that at Herculaneum were found two entire loaves of the same size, a palm and a half, or five inches in diameter. They were marked by a cross, within which were four other lines; and so the bread of the Greeks was marked from the earliest periods. Sometimes it had only four lines, and then it was called quadra. This bread had rarely any other mark than a cross, which was on purpose to divide and break it more easily.* The Tenebræ, a Roman catholic service signifying darkness, is performed on and before Good Friday, to denote the circumstances and darkness at the crucifixion. This is partly symbolized by a triangular candlestick with fourteen yellow wax candles and one white one; seven of these yellow candles being on one side, the seven other yellow ones on the other side, and the white wax candle being at the top. The fourteen yellow candles represent the eleven apostles, the virgin Mary, and the women that were with her at the crucifixion; the white candle at the top is to represent Christ. Fourteen psalms are sung, and at the end of each psalm one of the yellow candles is put out till the whole fourteen are extinguished, and the white candle alone left alight. After this and the extinction of the light on the altar, "the white candle is taken down from the top of the triangular candlestick, and hid under the altar." The putting out of the fourteen candles is to denote the flight or mourning of the apostles and the women; and thehiding of the white candle denotes that Christ is in the sepulchre; then a noise is made by beating the desks or books, and by beating the floor with the hands and feet, and this noise is to represent the earthquake and the splitting of the rocks at the crucifixion.* In the church of St. Peter's at Rome on Good Friday, the hundred burning lamps on the tomb of St. Peter are extinguished, and a stupendous illuminated cross depends from the immense dome of the cathedral, as if it hung self-supported. But to relate the papal ceremonies pertaining to the fast of lent, and its ensuing festival, would fill volumes of this size, and we hasten from the devices of men to contemplate works which all his art is incompetent to rival. Nature to me, thou art more beautiful Which living hath a tongue, that doth discourse Of all living things. Man's makings fail * Fosbroke's Brit. Monach. Herculaneum it will be remembered was overwhelmed and destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, A. D. 79. *Butler's Moveable Feasts. Next came fresh April, full of lustyhed, This is the fourth month of the year. Its Latin name is Aprilis, from aperio, to open or set forth. The Saxons called it, Oster or Eastermonath, in which month, the feast of the Saxon, goddess, Eastre, Easter, or Eoster is said to have been celebrated.* April, with us, is sometimes represented as a girl clothed in green, with a garland of myrtle and hawthorn buds; holding in one hand primroses and violets, and in the other the zodiacal sign, Taurus, or the bull, into which constellation the sun enters during this month. The Romans consecrated the first of April to Venus, the goddess of beauty, the mother of love, the queen of laughter, the mistress of the graces; and the Roman widows and virgins assembled in the temple of Virile Fortune, and disSayer's Disquisitions. Spenser. closing their personal deformities, prayed the goddess to conceal them from their husbands.* In this month the business of creation seems resumed. The vital spark rekindles in dormant existences; and all things "live, and move, and have their being." The earth puts on her livery to await the call of her lord; the air breathes gently on his cheek, and conducts to his ear the warblings of the birds, and the odours of new-born herbs and flowers; the great eye of the world "sees and shines" with bright and gladdening glances; the waters teem with life; man himself feels the revivifying and all-pervading influence; and his spirit holds communion sweet With the brighter spirits of the sky. * Lempriere. It is customary on this day for boys to April 1.—M Fools' Day practise jocular deceptions. When they St. Hugh, Bp. A. D. 1132. St. Melito, Bp. A. D. 175. St. Gilbert, Bp. of Cathness, A. D. 1240. On the first of April, 1712, Lord Bolingbroke stated, that in the wars, called the "glorious wars of queen Anne," the duke of Marlborough had not lost a single battle-and yet, that the French had carried their point, the succession to the Spanish monarchy, the pretended cause of these wars. Dean Swift called this statement 66 a due donation for All Fools' Day!" On the first of April, 1810, Napoleon married Maria Louisa, archduchess of Austria, on which occasion some of the waggish Parisians called him "un poisson d'Avril," a term which answers to our April fool. On the occasion of his nuptials, Napoleon struck a medal, with Love bearing a thunderbolt for its device. succeed, they laugh at the person whom they think they have rendered ridiculous, and exclaim, "Ah! you April fool!" Thirty years ago, when buckles were worn in shoes, a boy would meet a person in the street with-"Sir, if you please, your shoe's unbuckled," and the moment the accosted individual looked towards his feet, the informant would cry-" Ah! you April fool!" Twenty years ago, when buckles were wholly disused, the urchin-cry was-" Sir, your shoe's untied ;" and if the shoe-wearer lowered his eyes, he was hailed, as his buckled predecessor had been, with the said "Ah! you April fool!" Now, when neither buckles nor strings are worn, because in the year 1825 no decent man "has a shoe to his foot," the waggery of the day is"Sir, there's something out of your pocket." "Where?" "There !" "What?" "Your hand, sir-Ah! you April fool!" Or else some lady is humbly bowed to, and gravely addressed with "Ma'am, I beg your pardon, but you've something on your face!" "Indeed, my man! what is it?" "Your nose, ma'am-Ah! you April fool!" The tricks that youngsters play off on the first of April are various as their fancies. One, who has yet to know the humours of the day, they send to a cobbler's for a pennyworth of the best "stir rup oil;" the cobbler receives the money, and the novice receives a hearty cut or two from the cobbler's strap: if he does not, at the same time, obtain the information that he is "an April fool," he is sure to be acquainted with it on returning to his companions. The like knowledge is also gained by an errand to some shop for half a pint of "pigeon's milk," or an inquiry at a bookseller's for the "Life and Adventures of Eve's Mother." Then, in-door young ones club their wicked wits, "Oh, John! James! John!-oh, quick! oh! Molly, oh! Oh, the trap-door! oh, Molly! down below!" "What, what's the matter!" scream, with wild surprise, John, James, and Molly, while the young ones' cries Redouble till they come; then all the boys Shout" Ah! you April fools!" with clamorous noise; Much is written concerning the custom of fool-making on the first of April, but with this result only, that it is very ancient and very general.* As a better opportunity will occur hereafter, nothing will be said here respecting "fools" by profession. The practice of making fools on this day in North Britain, is usually exercised by sending a person from place to place by means of a letter, in which is written "On the first day of April Hunt the gowk another mile." This is called "hunting the gowk," and the bearer of the "fools' errand" is called an "April gowk." Brand says, that gowk is properly a cuckoo, and is used here metaphorically for a fool; this appears correct; for from the Saxon geac, a cuckoo," is derived geck, which one easily imposed on.' Malvolio, who had been "made a fool" by a letter, purporting to have been written by Olivia, inquires of her means "Why have you suffered me to be -Made the most notorious geck and gull That e'er invention play'd on ?" Olivia affirms, that the letter was not written by her, and exclaims to Malvolio "Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled thee !" as good as that," to play. Geck is likewise derivable "from the Teutonic geck, jocus."* The The "April fool" is among the Swedes. Toreen, one of their travellers, says, "We set sail on the first of April, and the wind made April fools of us, for we were forced to return before Shagen." On the Sunday and Monday preceding Lent, people are privileged at Lisbon to play the fool: it is thought very jocose to pour water on any person who passes, or throw powder in his face; but to do both is the perfection of wit.t Hindoos also at their Huli festival keep a general holiday on the 31st of March, and one subject of diversion is to send people on errands and expeditions that are to end in disappointraent, and raise a laugh at the expense of the persons sent. Colonel Pearce says, that "high and low join in it; and," he adds, "the late Suraja Doulah, I am told, was very fond of making Huli fools, though he was a musthe joke here (in India) so far, as to send sulman of the highest rank. They carry letters making appointments, in the name of persons, who, it is known, must be absent from their house at the time fixed upon; and the laugh is always in proportion to the trouble given." The April fool among the French is called " un poisson d'Avril." Their trans Jamieson, in Nare's Glossary. Southey, quoted in Brand, as also Toreen. Asiat. Res. in Brand, from Maurice. |