Balder the Beautiful Part 28

[489] A. de Nore, _op. cit._ pp. 19 _sq._; Berenger-Feraud, _Reminiscences populaires de la Provence_ (Paris, 1885), pp. 135-141. As to the custom at Toulon, see Poncy, quoted by Breuil, _Memoires de la Societe des Antiquaires de Picardie_, viii. (1845) p. 190 note. The custom of drenching people on this occasion with water used to prevail in Toulon, as well as in Ma.r.s.eilles and other towns in the south of France. The water was squirted from syringes, poured on the heads of pa.s.sers-by from windows, and so on. See Breuil, _op. cit._ pp. 237 _sq._

[490] A. de Nore, _op. cit._ pp. 20 _sq._; E. Cortet, _op. cit._ pp.

218, 219 _sq._

[491] Le Baron de Reinsberg-Duringsfeld, _Calendrier Belge_ (Brussels, 1861-1862), i. 416 _sq._ 439.

[492] Le Baron de Reinsberg-Duringsfeld, _op. cit._ i. 439-442.

[493] Madame Clement, _Histoire des fetes civiles et religieuses_, etc., _du Departement du Nord_ (Cambrai, 1836), p. 364; J.W. Wolf, _Beitrage zur deutschen Mythologie_ (Gottingen, 1852-1857), ii. 392; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_. p. 513.

[494] E. Monseur, _Folklore Wallon_ (Brussels, N.D.), p. 130, ---- 1783, 1786, 1787.

[495] Joseph Strutt, _The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England_, New Edition, by W. Hone (London, 1834), p. 359.

[496] John Stow, _A Survay of London_, edited by Henry Morley (London, N.D.), pp. 126 _sq._ Stow's _Survay_ was written in 1598.

[497] John Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1882-1883), i. 338; T.F. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_ (London, 1876), p. 331. Both writers refer to _Status Scholae Etonensis_ (A.D. 1560).

[498] John Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme_ (London, 1881), p. 26.

[499] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1882-1883), i. 300 _sq._, 318, compare pp. 305, 306, 308 _sq._; W.

Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 512. Compare W. Hutchinson, _View of Northumberland_, vol. ii. (Newcastle, 1778), Appendix, p. (15), under the head "Midsummer":--"It is usual to raise fires on the tops of high hills and in the villages, and sport and danse around them; this is of very remote antiquity, and the first cause lost in the distance of time."

[500] Dr. Lyttelton, Bishop of Carlisle, quoted by William Borlase, _Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall_ (London, 1769), p. 135 note.

[501] _County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M.C.

Balfour (London, 1904), p. 76, quoting E. Mackenzie, _An Historical, Topographical, and Descriptive View of the County of Northumberland_, Second Edition (Newcastle, 1825), i. 217.

[502] _County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M.C.

Balfour, p. 75.

[503] _County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M.C.

Balfour, p. 75.

[504] _The Denham Tracts_, edited by J. Hardy (London, 1892-1895), ii.

342 _sq._, quoting _Archaelogia Aeliana_, N.S., vii. 73, and the _Proceedings_ of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, vi. 242 _sq._; _County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M.C. Balfour (London, 1904), pp. 75 _sq._ Whalton is a village of Northumberland, not far from Morpeth.

[505] _County Folk-lore_, vol. vi. _East Riding of Yorkshire_, collected and edited by Mrs. Gutch (London, 1912), p. 102.

[506] John Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme_ (London, 1881), p. 96, compare _id._, p. 26.

[507] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1882-1883), i. 311.

[508] William Borlase, LL.D., _Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall_ (London, 1769), pp. 135 _sq._ The Eve of St.

Peter is June 28th. Bonfires have been lit elsewhere on the Eve or the day of St. Peter. See above, pp. 194 _sq._ 196 _sq._, and below, pp. 199 _sq._, 202, 207.

[509] J. Brand, _op. cit._ i. 318, 319; T.F. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_ (London, 1876), p. 315.

[510] William Bottrell, _Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall_ (Penzance, 1870), pp. 8 _sq._, 55 _sq._; James Napier, _Folk-lore, or Superst.i.tious Beliefs in the West of Scotland_ (Paisley, 1879), p. 173.

[511] Richard Edmonds, _The Land's End District_ (London, 1862), pp. 66 _sq._; Robert Hunt, _Popular Romances of the West of England_, Third Edition (London, 1881), pp. 207 _sq._

[512] Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London, 1909), pp. 27 _sq._ Compare Jonathan Ceredig Davies, _Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales_ (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 76.

[513] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1882-1883), i. 318.

[514] Joseph Train, _Account of the Isle of Man_ (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1845), ii. 120.

[515] Sir Henry Piers, _Description of the County of Westmeath_, written in 1682, published by (General) Charles Vallancey, _Collectanea de Rebus Hibernieis_, i. (Dublin, 1786) pp. 123 _sq._

[516] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1882-1883), i. 303, quoting the author of the _Survey of the South of Ireland_, p. 232.

[517] J. Brand, _op. cit._ i. 305, quoting the author of the _Comical Pilgrim's Pilgrimage into Ireland_ (1723), p. 92.

[518] _The Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. lxv. (London, 1795) pp. 124 _sq._ The writer dates the festival on June 21st, which is probably a mistake.

[519] T.F. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_ (London, 1876), pp.

321 _sq._, quoting the _Liverpool Mercury_ of June 29th, 1867.

[520] L.L. Duncan, "Further Notes from County Leitrim," _Folk-lore_, v.

(1894) p. 193.

[521] A.C. Haddon, "A Batch of Irish Folk-lore," _Folk-lore_, iv. (1893) pp. 351, 359.

[522] G.H. Kinahan, "Notes on Irish Folk-lore," _Folk-lore Record_, iv.

(1881) p. 97.

[523] Charlotte Elizabeth, _Personal Recollections_, quoted by Rev.

Alexander Hislop, _The Two Babylons_ (Edinburgh, 1853), p. 53.

[524] Lady Wilde, _Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superst.i.tions of Ireland_ (London, 1887), i. 214 _sq._

[525] T.F. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_ (London, 1876), pp.

322 _sq._, quoting the _Hibernian Magazine_, July 1817. As to the worship of wells in ancient Ireland, see P.W. Joyce, _A Social History of Ancient Ireland_ (London, 1903), i. 288 _sq._, 366 _sqq._

[526] Rev. A. Johnstone, describing the parish of Monquhitter in Perthshire, in Sir John Sinclair's _Statistical Account of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1791-1799), xxi. 145. Mr. W. Warde Fowler writes that in Scotland "before the bonfires were kindled on midsummer eve, the houses were decorated with foliage brought from the woods" (_Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic_, London, 1899, pp. 80 _sq._). For his authority he refers to _Chambers' Journal_, July, 1842.

[527] John Ramsay, of Ochtertyre, _Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century_, edited by A. Allardyce (Edinburgh, 1888), ii. 436.

[528] Rev. Mr. Shaw, Minister of Elgin, in Pennant's "Tour in Scotland,"

printed in John Pinkerton's _Voyages and Travels_ (London, 1808-1814), iii. 136.

[529] A. Macdonald, "Midsummer Bonfires," _Folk-lore_, xv. (1904) pp.

105 _sq._

[530] From notes kindly furnished to me by the Rev. J.C. Higgins, parish minister of Tarbolton. Mr. Higgins adds that he knows of no superst.i.tion connected with the fire, and no tradition of its origin. I visited the scene of the bonfire in 1898, but, as Pausanias says (viii. 41. 6) in similar circ.u.mstances, "I did not happen to arrive at the season of the festival." Indeed the snow was falling thick as I trudged to the village through the beautiful woods of "the Castle o' Montgomery" immortalized by Burns. From a notice in _The Scotsman_ of 26th June, 1906 (p. 8) it appears that the old custom was observed as usual that year.

[531] Thomas Moresinus, _Papatus seu Depravatae Religionis Origo et Incrementum_ (Edinburgh, 1594), p. 56.