PRESENTATION OF LORD MAYOR OF LONDON TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR. King John granted to the citizens of London a charter, empowering them to choose their own mayor, yet by the same power they were generally obliged to present him to the king for his approbation, or, in his absence, to his justiciary; this custom still remaining, he is yearly presented to the lord chancellor, which many of the citizens regard as a needless ceremony; 'twill not be improper, says Maitland, to acquaint all who are of that mind, that this confirming power is so essential, that without it a mere stranger could act as well. COUNTING OF HOB-NAILS, &c. The year 1235 is memorable for a little city incident, which has contrived to transmit its remembrance to our times, by means of an annual ceremony at swearing-in the sheriff, September 30, before the cursitor barons of the exchequer, which is performed with much solemnity by one of the aldermen, in presence of the lord mayor, who goes into, and continues in the court covered. One Walter le Bruin, a farrier, obtained a grant from the crown of a certain spot of ground in the Strand, in the parish of Clement Danes, whereon to erect a forge for carrying on his business. For this the city was to pay annually an acknowledgment, or quit rent, of six horse-shoes, with the nails appertaining, at the King's Exchequer, Westminster. The forge and manufactory exist no longer, but the acknowledgment, after a lapse of so many ages, continues still to be paid. BONE-FIRES. In earlier times they made fires of bones in commemoration of John the Baptist, who, it is said, drove away many dragons when in the wilderness by the burning of bones-" of which they have a great dislike." From this circumstance our bone-fires, although made of wood, derive their cognomen. FEAST OF ASSES. The feast of asses in France was held in honour of Balaam's ass, when the clergy, at Christmas, walked in procession, dressed so as to represent the prophets. Suppressed early-before 1445. HOAXING. The first hoax of a modern kind on record was practised by a wag in the reign of Queen Anne. It appeared in the papers of that time: "A well-dressed man rode down the king's road from Fulham at a most furious rate, commanding each turnpike to be thrown open, as he was a messenger conveying the news of the queen's sudden death. The alarm instantly spread into every quarter of the city; the trained bands, who were on their parade, desisted from their exercise, furled their colours, and returned home with their arms reversed. The shopkeepers began to collect their sables, when the jest was discovered-not the author of it." GOES OF LIQUOR. The tavern called the Queen's Head, in Duke's Court, Bow Street, was once kept by a facetious individual of the name of Jupp. Two celebrated characters, Annesley Shay and Bob Todrington, a sporting man (caricatured by old Dighton, and nicknamed by him the " knowing one,” from his having converted to his own use a large sum of money intrusted to him by the noted Dick England, who was compelled to fly the country, having shot Mr. Rolls in a duel which had a fatal termination), met one evening at the above place, went to the bar, and asked for half-a-quartern each, with a little cold water. In course of time they drank four-and-twenty, when Shay said to the other, "Now we'll go.” “O no!” replied he, " we'll have another, and then go." This did not satisfy the Hibernians, and they continued drinking on till three in the morning, when they both agreed to Go, so that under the idea of going they made a long stay, and this was the origin of drinking or calling for Goes; but another, determined to eke out the measure his own way, used to call for a quartern at a time, and these in the exercise of his humour he called stays. TARRING AND FEATHERING. This custom, which had grown into disuse until just prior to the old American war, when it was revived with great avidity to the cost of our custom-house officers on the other side of the Atlantic, takes its data or origin from the following:-Holinshed says, that in the reign of Richard Coeur-de-Lion, it was enacted, "If any man be taken. with theft or pickery, and therein convicted, he shall have his head polled, and hot pitch poured on his pate, and upon that feathers of some pillow or cushion shaken aloft, that he may thereby be known as a thief, and at the next arrivals of the ships to any land, be put forth of the company to seek his adventures, without all hope of return to his fellows." LAW OF SHIPWRECK. By the Act of 3d Edward I., cap. 4, and 4th of the same king, cap. 2, it is enacted, that if a man, a dog, or a cat, escape alive On the out of any ship, such ship shall not be deemed a wreck. 6th December, 1824, the ship Dart, of Sunderland, drifted into Portsmouth without a soul on board; a live cat, however, being found in the cabin, she escaped becoming a droit of the Admiralty, and was given in charge of the sheriff, to be delivered to the owners. SPITAL SERMON. This sermon, yearly preached on Easter Monday at Christ Church, Christ's Hospital, derives its name from the priory and hospital of our blessed lady, St. Mary Spital, situated on the east side of Bishopsgate Street, with fields in the rear, which now form the suburb called Spitalfields. This hospital, founded in 1197, had a large churchyard, with a pulpit cross, from whence it was an ancient custom on Easter Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, for sermons to be preached on the resurrection, before the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and others, who sat in a house of two stories for the purpose, the Bishop of London and the prelates being above them. In 1594, the pulpit was taken down, and a new one set up, and a large house for the governors and children of Christ's Hospital to sit in.* In April 1559, Queen Elizabeth came in great state from St. Mary Spital, attended by a thousand men in harness, with shirts of mail, and croslets, and morris-pikes, and ten great pieces carried through London unto the court, with drums, flutes, and trumpets sounding, and two morris-dancers, and two white bears in a cart.† The Spital sermons were, after the restoration, preached at St. Bride's, Fleet Street, but have been since removed to Christ Church, Newgate Street, where they are still preached every Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday, before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. LION SERMON. A merchant of London, about two centuries ago, went on a voyage to Africa; the ship was wrecked on the coast, and all perished save himself. Exhausted, and deeply impressed with his melancholy situation, he lay stretched on the shore, when to his surprise and fright he saw approaching him an immense lion! Petitioning the Almighty to spare his life, he vowed, in return for such a boon, to give on his arrival in England a part of his wealth to the poor of his parish; likewise, to perpetuate his miraculous escape (should it be permitted him), to leave a certain sum§ for the preaching of a sermon on the day on which it occurred. The tradition states, his prayer was heard, the lion looked on him and passed him; he shortly after had the gratifi+ Maitland. * Stow. cation to see a vessel approach; he was taken on board, arrived in London, and fulfilled his vow. At the parish church of St. Catherine Cree, in Leadenhall Street, what is called the Lion Sermon is preached on the day of the aforesaid miraculous escape. "Mighty monarch of the forest Noble Nature beats through thee; MAY-POLES. The May-pole is up I'll drink to the garlands around it; But first unto those Whose hands did compose The glory of flowers that crown'd it. Herrick. London in former times abounded with May-poles,-they were called shafts. Jeffrey Chaucer, writing of a vain boaster, hath these words, alluding to a shaft in Cornhill, near to the church of St. Andrew Undershaft. Right well aloft, and high you bear your head, * * * * * * * As you would bear the great shaft of Cornhill."* This shaft, or May-pole, was kept in an alley in the vicinity, called Shaft Alley; and on the 1st of May was brought out, dressed with flowers and birds' eggs, and reared up near unto the church, amid the shoutings and rejoicings of the lookers-on. At Gisor's Hall (Gerard's) also, was a long shaft, and which was supposed by the ignorant to be the staff of one Geraldus a giant, but which in fact was nothing more than a May-pole, that was wont to be yearly brought out on the 1st of May, and placed before the door.t A processional engraving, by Vertue, among the prints of the Antiquarian Society, represents a May-pole at a door or two westward, beyond "Where Catherine Street descends into the Strand." Washington Irving_says, "I shall never forget the delight I felt on first seeing a May-pole. It was on the banks of the Dee, close by the picturesque old bridge that stretches across the river from the quaint little city of Chester. I already had been carried back into former days by the antiquities of that venerable place; the examination of which is equal to turning over the pages of a black letter volume, or gazing on the pictures in *Formerly Cornhill extended thus far. + Stow. Froissart. The May-pole on the margin of that poetic stream completed the illusion. My fancy adorned it with wreaths of flowers, and peopled the green bank with all the dancing revelry of May-day. "The mere sight of this May-pole gave a glow to my feelings, and spread a charm over the country for the rest of the day; and as I traversed a part of the fair plains of Cheshire, and the beautiful borders of Wales, and looked from among swelling hills down a long green valley, through which the Beva wound its wizard stream,' my imagination turned all into a perfect Arcadia. One can readily imagine what a gay scene it must have been in jolly old London, when the doors were decorated with flowering branches, when every hat was decked with hawthorn; and Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, the Morris-dancers, and all the other fantastic masks and revellers, were performing their antics about the May-pole in every part of the city." The May-pole is of Roman origin, and formed part of the games of Flora; but it is mere conjecture as to the period when it was first introduced into this country. WHIPPING OF APPLE-TREES. There are various customs still prevalent in honour of the goddess Pomona, whom it was said presided over fruit. Among others, is that of whipping the apple-trees, in order that they may produce a plentiful crop. This custom is still observed at Warkingham, in Surrey. Early in the spring the boys go round to several orchards in the parish, and having performed the ceremony, they carry a little bag to the house, when the good woman gives them some meal or oatmeal. ETON MONTEM. The triennial custom of the Eton scholars parading to Salt-hill, and distributing salt, originated in the early days of monkish superstition, when the friars used to sell their consecrated salt for medical purposes. The Montem was abolished in 1847, on the representation of the Master of the College to Her Majesty and the government, that its celebration was attended with certain inconveniences. Its abolition was, however, vigorously opposed by many influential persons who had been educated at Eton. SWEARING BY BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE. This originated in the manner of the Pope's blessing the world yearly, from the balcony of St. Peter's at Rome. He holds a wax taper lighted, a cardinal reads a curse on all heretics, and no sooner is the last word uttered, than the bell tolls, and the Pope |