flagellating was of a yet more general and extended nature; for not only did the parents scourge their children, but the boys whipt the girls, the men servants whipt the maid-servants, and the monks either flogged each other, or the father-abbot kindly took the office upon himself and flogged the whole monastery round in all brotherly love and affection.* Clement Marot has a humorous, but not very delicate epigram upon this subject, in which he uses the word innocenter to express the flagellating custom peculiar to this season, as his commentator, Dufresne, is at the pains of explaining in a note.† This feast, without any apparent reason, was reckoned peculiarly ill-omened; to begin any work upon it was very unlucky; and, whatever day of the week it might chance to fall upon, that day throughout the whole year was equally unfavourable;‡ in such a case idleness was no doubt only too well pleased to find an ally in superstition. Neither would any marry at this season,§ put on a new suit, or even pare the nails, one and all of these things being in the calendar of things unlucky; and as a * "Mane statim primo gnatos gnatasque parentes Et famuli, famulas; monachi, quoque, mutuo sese; NAOGEORGUS-REGNUM PAPISTICUM, lib. iv. p. 133. I can not venture to give the epigram itself, but the note runs thus:-" INNOCENTER-Allusion a un usage pratiqué lors en France, où les jeunes personnes, qu'on pouvoit surprendre au lit le Jour des Innocents, recevoient sur le derriere quelques claques, et quelquefois un peu plus quand le sujet en valoit la peine. Cela ne se pratique plus aujourd'hui (1731); nous sommes bien plus sages et plus reserves que nos peres." ŒUVRES DE CLEMENT MAROT.-Epigramme 135, p. 290. Tome Seconde. 4to. A. La Haye, 1731. BOURNE'S ANTIQUITATES VULGARES, chap. xviii. p. 163. § BRAND'S POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, vol. i. p. 295. "That it is not good to put on a new sute, pare one's nailes, or begin anything on a Childermas Day.” Melton's Astrologaster : p. 46. 4to. 1620. proof that such weakness was not confined to the people, we have Edward the Fourth putting off his coronation to a Monday because the preceding Sunday happened to be Childermass Day.* The lawyers of Lincoln's Inn appear to have kept this feast with ceremonies peculiar to themselves; but Dugdale's account is so concise-as if writing on a subject familiar at the time to every one-we now can make out little more than that there was a king of their revels called the King of Cockneys, and had been a Jack Straw, who with all his followers was in his day forbidden. The whole passage is curious and well worth transcribing as indicative of the manners of the time: "The first order wherewith I have met, which maketh any mention of these solemnities in this House was in 9 H. 8, it being then agreed and ordained, that he who should after that time be chosen King on Christmass Day ought then to occupy the said room if he were present; and in his absence the Marshall for the time being, by the advice of the Utter Barristers,† present to name another. "And for learning of young gentlemen to do service, that the Marshal should sit as king on New Year's Day, and have like service as on Christmas Day; and the Master of the Revell during dinner time supply the Marshal's room. * See FENN'S PASTON LETTERS, with the note. Letter v.-Edward IV. vol. i. p. 234. +“UTTER BARRASTERS (Jurisconsulti) are such who for their long study and great industry bestowed upon the knowledge of the common law are called out of their contemplation to practice, and in the view of the world to take upon them the protection and defence of clients. In other countries they are called Licentiati in Jure. They are called UTTER BARRASTERS, i. e. pleaders ouster the bar, to distinguish them from Benchers, or those who have been readers, who are sometimes admitted to plead within the bar, as the king's, queen's, or prince's counsel are." BLOUNT'S LAW DICTIONARY. * "Moreover that the King of Cockneys on Childermasse Day should sit and have due service; and that he and all his officers should use honest manner and good order, without any wast or destruction-making in wine, brawn, chely, or other vittaills; as also that he and his marshal, butler, and constable-marshal should have their lawful and honest commandments by delivery of the officers of Christmass; and that the said King of Cockneys, ne none of his officers medyll neither in the buttry, nor in the Stuard of Christmass his office, upon pain of xis for every such medling. And lastly that Jack Straw and all his adherents should be thenceforth utterly banisht, and no more to be used in this house, upon pain to forfeit for every time five pounds, to be levied on every fellow hapning to offend again this rule.† That the custom of was-hael prevailed among the heathen Saxons is abundantly clear, but the introduction of Christianity did not at all tend to its abolition, though * Chely, from the Latin, chelæ, is here used for shell-fish in general. 66 SIR W. DUGDALE'S ORIGINES JURIDICALES, p. 247. Folio: London, 1666.-In those days every amusement and indulgence was granted to the law-students, possibly with the idea of attracting others to a pursuit in itself so little inviting. Masks, and revels,—another name for dances-were not only permitted at certain seasons, but enjoined; or, as Dugdale tells us, they were thought very necessary and much conducing to the making of gentlemen more fit for their books at other times." If the young lawyers neglected this essential part of their profession they were visited with pains and penalties well calculated to set all their legs in motion, though one would scarcely have imagined that compulsion in such a case could be at all requisite. By an order made 6th Feb. 7th Jac. it appears that the Under-Barristers were by decimation put out of commons, for example's sake, because the whole bar offended by not dancing on Candlemass Day preceding, according to the antient order of this society, when the judges were present; with this, that if the like fault were committed afterwards, they should be fined or disbarred." Idem, 246. 66 proof that such weakness was not confined to the people, we have Edward the Fourth putting off his coronation to a Monday because the preceding Sunday happened to be Childermass Day.* The lawyers of Lincoln's Inn appear to have kept this feast with ceremonies peculiar to themselves; but Dugdale's account is so concise-as if writing on a subject familiar at the time to every one-we now can make out little more than that there was a king of their revels called the King of Cockneys, and had been a Jack Straw, who with all his followers was in his day forbidden. The whole passage is curious and well worth transcribing as indicative of the manners of the time: "The first order wherewith I have met, which maketh any mention of these solemnities in this House was in 9 H. 8, it being then agreed and ordained, that he who should after that time be chosen King on Christmass Day ought then to occupy the said room if he were present; and in his absence the Marshall for the time being, by the advice of the Utter Barristers,† present to name another. "And for learning of young gentlemen to do service, that the Marshal should sit as king on New Year's Day, and have like service as on Christmas Day; and the Master of the Revell during dinner time supply the Marshal's room. * See FENN'S PASTON LETTERS, with the note. Letter v.-Edward IV. vol. i. p. 234. +"UTTER BARRASTERS (Jurisconsulti) are such who for their long study and great industry bestowed upon the knowledge of the common law are called out of their contemplation to practice, and in the view of the world to take upon them the protection and defence of clients. In other countries they are called Licentiati in Jure. They are called UTTER BARRASTERS, i. e. pleaders ouster the bar, to distinguish them from Benchers, or those who have been readers who are sometimes admitted to plead within the bar, as the king queen's, or prince's counsel are." BLOUNT'S LAW DICTIONARY. |