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MAY-DAY SPORTS. British May-Poles-Dr. Parr-Jack-o'-the-Green-Mayday in Dublin-May-pole at Finglass-May story; telling-May Dew-Printers', chimneysweepers, and milkmaids' festivals.

We are rather late in the month with our May-day, and May-pole; but the old maxim is, "Better late than never." The practice of dancing round the May-pole is out of fashion, too; yet the flowers, and soft air, and songs of birds, and clear blue sky, remind us that the spring is come again in good earnest, and at any rate we will rejoice. Little children, like the joyous birds and sportive lambs, seem to have a kind of instinct for the spring; and as one writer remarks, "feel it to the very tips of their fingers." In short,

"All the earth is gay ;

Land and sea

Give themselves up to jollity." Dancing round the May-Pole was a favorite amusement in Great Britain, in former times, and especially in Scotland. The youth of both sexes used to assemble early in the morning, on the first day of May, which they called May-day, and join in their rustic sports. These were various, but dancing round the May-Pole was the

most common.

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closet of his house, from whence it was produced every May-day, with fresh flowers and streamers; and the doctor always spoke of this festivity, as one in which he joined with peculiar delight to himself, and advantage to his neighbors.

At one period of British history, it was customary for some humorous character to dress out with ribands and flowers, and figure in the May-games, under the name of Jack-o'-the-GreeN. He would sometimes come even into London, to amuse the people by his rustic dancing. "A JACK-O'THE-GREEN always carried a long walking stick, with wreaths of flowers on it, he whisked it about in the dance, and afterwards walked with it, in high estate, like a lord mayor's footman.

Though the last of the May-poles disappeared from the neighborhood of London, forty years ago, there are May-day sports and practices still in existence, almost all over Great Britain.

One of these prevails in Dublin. There, it is customary for young men and boys, in the morning, on the first day of May, to go a few miles out of town for the purpose of cutting a May-bush. This is generally a white thorn, of about four or five feet high. They carry it to the street or place of their residence, in the centre of which they dig a hole, and having planted the bush, they go round to every house and collect money. They then buy a pound or more of candles, and fasten them to various parts of the tree or bush, in such a manner as to avoid burning it.

Dr. Parr, an Englishman,― fascinating in conversation, skilful in controversy, a first rate Greek scholar, and one of the greatest and most influential men of his age, was a great friend of May-day sports. Opposite his parsonage house, on the other side of the road, stood the parish May-pole, which on the annual festival (May,) was dressed with garlands, and surrounded by a nume- Another portion of "the collection" is rous band of villagers. The doctor was expended in the purchase of a heap of turf, "first of the throng," and danced with his sufficient for a large fire, and if the funds parishoners, the gayest of the gay. He will allow, an old tar barrel. Formerly it kept the large crown of the May-pole in a was not considered complete, without hav

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ing a horse's skull and other bones, to burn in the fire, which they used to procure in tanners' yards, in the suburbs of the city. After sunset, when no more money can be collected, the bush is trimmed, the turf and bones are made ready to set on fire, the candles are all lighted, the bush fully illuminated, and the boys give three huzzas, and begin to jump and dance round it. After an hour or so, the heap of turf and bones are set fire to; and when the candles are burnt out, the bush is taken up, aud thrown into the flames. They continue playing about, until the fire goes out, when each returns to his home; and so ends their Mayday.

About two or three miles from Dublin at a place called Finglass, May-day is still kept up in the old style. A high pole is decorated with garlands, and visiters come in from different parts of the country, and dance round it. Their music is not always the best, but it is such as they happen to have. The best male and female dancer are chosen king and queen, and placed on chairs. There is an old song relating to this custom, which begins thus:

"Ye lads and lasses all, to-day, To Finglass let us haste away, With hearts so light, and dresses gay, To dance around the May-pole." At a beautiful village in Westmoreland, Eng., it is customary to assemble on the green, and see who can tell the largest story. Prizes are held out for the most successful; a grindstone for the largest story; a hone for a razor for the next largest; an inferior hone for the third, and so on. But the practice of telling falsehoods for sport is very wrong, and leads the individual, almost always, to the habit of telling them in earnest. We do not of course mean to

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approve of all the other May-day sports which we mention. Our object is merely to relate what we know on the subject.

There is an anecdote abroad in the village of which we have been speaking, that reflects much honor on the people. A bishop of Carlisle came along one May-day and seeing a crowd assembled, inquired the cause. On being told, he complained most bitterly of the iniquity of the proceeding, adding, that for his part he never told a lie of any sort in his life. On hearing this, the judges of the assembly at once decreed to him one of their highest prizes, and forced the good man to accept it, by throwing it into his carriage.

In Edinburgh, a custom prevails on the first day of May, of assembling on a hill, at four o'clock in the morning, to gather May dew.

It begins by opening the gates and ringing the bells. The people of both sexes and all classes collect in gay throngs, dressed in all the colors of the rainbow, and hurry off to the place appointed. In the course of half an hour, the entire hill is a moving mass, of all sorts and sizes. At its top may be seen a company of bakers and other mechanics, dressed in kilts, dancing round a May-pole. The strong lights thrown upon the various groups by the rising sun, present a strange, but curious appearance; while the ever varying and unceasing sounds of the bagbipes, and tabours, and fifes, almost stun the ear. There are also, we are sorry to say it, some scenes of intemperance, and intemperate mirth, among the rest.

At six o'clock, the higher classes of the people come toiling up the hill, to take their turn in the sports, while the first party retire to their homes and to their labors; for it is a rule to have the house clean, and every

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thing in order, earlier on this morning than usual. But the "gentry," too, retire, and all is quiet for the rest of the forenoon, after eight o'clock. This is called the gathering of May dew.

Fifty years ago, there was a superstitious notion abroad, in many parts of Great Britain, that if they went into the fields early in the morning on the first of May, and bathed their faces with the dew, on the green grass, it would render them beautiful.

As late as 1826, the chimney sweeps of London held a merry festival on the first day of May, but the story is too long for this Magazine. The printers, many years ago, used also to assemble on May-day, and wear garlands of laurel, carry white wands in their hands, &c. The milkmaids, too, had their dances, and their garlands.

The festival of May-day is said to have originated with the ancient Romans, but we have not been able to learn exactly how, when, or wherefore. It was most in repute in England about 200 years ago.

We have spoken as if the May-day sports were peculiar to Great Britain; but we find that in Holland, too, they have their May booms, which are straight young trees set up before their doors; commonly of the species called hawthorn.

Among the numerous songs which we have seen, composed for these occasions, is the following, by Leslie.

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Ribands for her braided hair.
Beads to grace her bosom fair; —
From you stand, the juggler plays
With the rustic crowds away;
There the morris-dancers stand,
Glad bells ringing on each hand;
Here the May-pole rears its crest,
With the rose and hawthorn drest;
At the side are painted bands
Of animals from other lands.
In the midst, like the young queen,
(Flower-crowned,) of the rural green,
Is a bright cheeked girl, her eye
Blue, like April's morning sky,
With a blush, like what the rose
To her moonlight minstrel shows.
Farewell, cities! who could bear
All their smoke, and all their care,
All their pomp, when wooed away
By the azure hours of May?

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The following account of "fetching in May from the woods," as it was called, will amuse our readers, and at the same time show them the old fashioned way of spelling.

"Their cheefest jewell they bring from thence (the woods) is their Maie poole. They have twentie or fourtie yoke of oxen, every oxe havyng a sweete nosegaie of flowers tyed on the tippe of his hornes, and these oxen drawe home this Maie poole, which is covered all over with flowers and hearbes, bounde rounde aboute with stringes, from the top to the bottome; and sometyme painted with variable colors, with twoo or three hundred men, women, and children, following it. And thus beyng reared up, with handkerchiefes and flagges streamyng on the toppe, they strawe the grounde aboute, binde greene boughes aboute it, sette up Sommer haulles, Bowers, and Arbors daunce aboute it, as the Heathen people did harde by it, and then fall they to leape and at the dedication of their Idolles

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various colored ribands. These are affixed to a staff about five feet long, by which it is carried; and in each of the apertures between the hoops, is placed a smartly dressed doll.

THE girls from the villages adjoining covered with flowers and streamers of Northampton in England, on the morning of May-day, come into town with May garlands, which they exhibit from house to house, and usually receive a "trifle" from each house. The garland is composed of two hoops crossing each other vertically, and

The engraving will convey some idea of the garland. The numerous streamers at

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