N° 161. Tuesday, September 4. I Ipfe dies agitat feftos: Fufufque per herbam, Hanc Remus Frater: Sic fortis Etruria crevit, Am glad that my late going into the Country has en- SIR, THOUGH you are pleafed to retire from us fo foon into the City, I hope you will not think the Affairs of the Country altogether unworthy of your Infpection for the future. I had the Honour of feeing your ⚫ short Face at Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY'S, and have ever fince thought your Perfon and Writings both extraordinary. Had you ftayed there a few Days longer you ⚫ would have feen a Country Wake, which you know in moft Parts of England is the Eve-Feast of the Dedication of our Churches. I was last Week at one of these Affemblies, ⚫ which was held in a neighbouring Parish; where I found their Green covered with a promifcuous Multitude of all Ages and both Sexes, who efteem one another more or lefs the following Part of the Year according as they diftinguish themselves at this Time. The whole Company were in their Holy-day Cloaths, and divided into feveral Parties, all of them endeavouring to fhew themfelves in thofe Exercifes wherein they excelled, and to gain the Approbation of the Lookers-on. ༩ I found a Ring of Cudgel Players, who were breaking ⚫ one another's Heads in order to make fome Impreffion ⚫ on their Mistreffes Hearts. I obferved a lufty young Fel N3. · low, low, who had the Misfortune of a broken Pate; but what confiderably added to the Anguish of the Wound, was his over-hearing an old Man, who fhook his Head and faid, That he questioned now if black Kate would marry • him these three Years. I was diverted from a further Ob⚫ fervation of these Combatants, by a Foot-ball Match, which was on the other Side of the Green; where Tom. • Short behaved himself fo well, that most People seemed to agree it was impoffible that he should remain a Batchelor till the next Wake. Having played many a Match my self, 'I could have looked longer on this Sport, had I not ob'ferved a Country Girl, who was posted on an Eminence at fome Distance from me, and was making fo many odd Grimaces, and writhing and diftorting her whole Body in so strange a manner, as made me very defirous to know the Meaning of it. Upon my coming up to her, I found that she was over-looking a Wring of Wrestlers, ⚫ and that her Sweet-heart, a Perfon of small Stature, was contending with an huge brawny Fellow, who twirled him about, and shook the little Man fo violently, that by a fecret Sympathy of Hearts it produced all thofe Agitations in the Perfon of his Mistress, who I dare fay, like Calia in Shakespear on the fame Occafion, could have wifhed her felf invifible to catch the firong Fellow by the Leg. The Squire of the Parish treats the whole Company every Year with a Hogfhead of Ale; and propofes a Beaver Hat as a Recompence to him who gives most Falls. This has raised such a Spirit of Emulation in the Youth of the Place, that fome of them have rendered themselves very expert at this Exercife; and I was often furprised to fee a Fellow's Heels fly up, by a Trip which was given him fo fmartly that I could scarce difcern it. I found that the old Wrestlers feldom entered the Ring, <till fome one was grown formidable by having thrown two or three of his Opponents; but kept themselves as it were in a reserved Body to defend the Hat, which is always hung up by the Perfon who gets it in one of the moft confpicuous Parts of the Houfe, and looked upon by the whole Family as fomething redounding much more to their Honour than a Coat of Arms. There was a Fellow who was fo bufie in regulating all the Ceremonies, and feemed to carry fuch an Air of Importance in his Looks, that I could not help inquiring who he was, and was immediately anfwered, That he did not value himself upon nothing, for that he and his Ancestors had won fo many Hats, that his Parlour looked like a Haberdafher's Shop: However this Thirft of Glory in them all, was the Reafon that no one Man ftood Lord of the Ring for above three Falls while I was amongst them. THE young Maids, who were not Lookers-on ar thefe Exercises, were themselves engaged in fome Diverfion; and upon my asking a Farmer's Son of my own Parish what he was gazing at with fo much Attention, he told me, That he was feeing Betty Welch, whom I knew to be his Sweet-Heart, pitch a Bar. IN fhort, I found the Men endeavoured to fhew the Women they were no Cowards, and that the whole Company strived to recommend themselves to each other, by making it appear that they were all in a perfect State of Health, and fit to undergo any Fatigues of bo‹ dily Labour. Your Judgment upon this Method of Love and Gallantry, as it is at pefent practised amongst us in the Country, will very much oblige, SIR, Yours, &c. IF I would here put on the Scholar and Politician, I might inform my Readers how thefe bodily Exercises or Games were formerly encouraged in all the Commonwealths of Greece; from whence the Romans afterwards borrowed their Pentathlum, which was compofed of Running, Wreflling, Leaping, Throwing, and Boxing, tho' the Prizes were generally nothing but a Crown of Cypress or Parfley, Hats not being in fashion in thofe Days: That there is an old Statute, which obliges every Man in England, having fuch an Eftate, to keep and exercife the long Bow; by which Means our Ancestors excelled all other Nations in the Ufe of that Weapon, and we had all the real Advantages, without the Inconvenience of a standing Army: And that I once met with a Book of Projects, in which the Author confidering to what noble Ends that Spirit of Emulation which fo remarkably fhews it felf among our common People in these Wakes, might be directed, propofesthat for the Improvement of all our handicraft N 4 Trades Trades there fhould be annual Prizes fet up for fuch Perfons as were moft excellent in their feveral Arts. But laying afide all these political Confiderations, which might tempt me to pafs the Limits of my Paper, I confefs the greatest Benefit and Convenience that I can obferve in thefe Country Feftivals, is the bringing young People together, and giving them an Opportunity of fhewing themfelves in the moft advantageous Light. A Country Fellow that throws his Rival upon his Back, has generally as good Succefs with their common Miftrefs; as nothing is more ufual than for a nimble-footed Wench to get a Husband at the fame Time fhe wins a Smock, Love and Marriages are the natural Effects of thefe anniversary Affemblies. I must therefore very much approve the Method by which my Correfpondent tells me each Sex endeavours to recommend it felf to the other, fince nothing feems more likely to promife a healthy Offspring or a happy Cohabitation. And I believe I may affure my Country Friend, that there has been many a Court Lady who would be contented to exchange her crazy young Husband for Tom Short, and feveral Men of Quality who would have parted with a tender Yoke-fellow for Black Kate. I am the more pleased with having Love made the principal End and Defign of thefe Meetings, as it feems to be moft agreeable to the Intent for which they were at first inftituted, as we are informed by the learned Dr. Kønnet, with whofe Words I fhall conclude my prefent Paper. THESE Wakes, fays he, were in Imitation of the antient ázána, or Love-Feafts; and were first established in England by Pope Gregory the Great, who in an Epiftle to Melitus the Abbot, gave Order that they should be kept in Sheds or Arbories made up with Branches and Boughs of Trees round the Church. HE adds, That this laudable Cuftom of Wakes prevailed for many Ages, till the nice Puritans began to exclaim against it as a Remnant of Popery; and by Degrees the precife Humour grew fo popular, that at an Exeter Affizes the Lord Chief Baron Walter made an Order for the Suppression of all Wakes; but on Bishop Laud's complaining of this innoating Humour, the King commanded the Order to be reerfed. Wednesday, No 162. Wednesday, September 5. Servetur ad imum Qualis ab incapto procefferit, & fibi conftet. Hor.. OTHING that is not a real Crime makes a Man appear fo contemptible and little in the Eyes of the World as Inconftancy, efpecially when it regards Religion or Party. In either of these Cases, tho' a Man perhaps does but his Duty in changing his Side, he not only makes himself hated by thofe he left, but is feldom heartily esteemed by thofe he comes over to. IN these great Articles of Life therefore a Man's Conviction ought to be very ftrong, and if poffible fo well timed that worldly Advantages may feem to have no Share in it, or Mankind will be ill-natured enough to think he does not change Sides out of Principle, but either out of Levity of Temper or Profpects of Intereft. Converts and Renegadoes of all Kinds fhould take particular Care to let the World see they act upon honourable Motives; or what ever Approbations they may receive from themselves, and Applaufes from those they converfe with, they may be very well affured that they are the Scorn of all good Men, and the publick Marks of Infamy and Derifion. IRRÉSOLUTION on the Schemes of Life which offer themselves to our Choice, and Inconftancy in parfu ing them, are the greatest and most univerfal Caufes of all our Difquiet and Unhappinefs. When Ambition pulls one Way, Intereft another, Inclination a third, and perhaps Reafon contrary to all, a Man is likely to pafs his Time but ill who has fo many different Parties to pleafe. When the Mind hovers among fuch a Variety of Allurements, one had better fettle on a Way of Life that is not the very best we might have chofen, than grow old without determining our Choice, and go out of the World, as the greatest Part of Mankind do, before we have refolved how to live in it. There is but one Method of fetting our felves at Reft in this Particular, and that is by adhering ftedfaftly to one great N5 |