the country to play their parts tolerably he to have every year a queen of the may but as to robin hood the the horse and all the other crew that used to the day with their he has not ventured to introduce them still i look forward with some interest ta the promised shadow of old may day though it be but a shadow and i feel more and more pleased with the yet harm less of my host which is surrounding him with agreeable associations and making may day customs a little world of poetry about him brought up as i have been in a new country i may appreciate too highly the faint of ancient customs which i now and then meet with and the interest i express in them may provoke a smile from those who are suffering them to pass away but with whatever indifference they may be regarded by those to the manner born yet in my mind the lingering of them a charm to rustic life which nothing else could readily supply i shall never forget the delight i felt on first seeing a may pole it was on the banks of the close by the picturesque old bridge that stretches across the river from the quaint little city of i had already been carried back into former days by the 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 the may pole on the margin of that poetic stream completed the illusion my fancy adorned it with wreaths vol ii e may day customs of flowers and peopled the green bank with all the dancing 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 plain of and the beautiful borders of wales and looked from among swelling hills down a long green valley through which the wound its stream my imagination turned all into a perfect whether it be owing to such poetical associations early into my mind or whether there is as it were a sympathetic revival and forth of the feelings at this season certain it is that i always experience wherever i may be placed a delightful of the heart at the return of may it is said that birds about this time become restless in their as if instinct with the season conscious of the that is going on in the groves and impatient to break from their bondage and join in the of the year in like manner i have felt myself excited even may day customs in the midst of the metropolis when the win which had been closed all winter were again thrown open to receive the breath of may when the sweets of the country were breathed into the town and flowers were cried about the streets i have considered the treasures of flowers thus poured in as so many from nature inviting us forth to enjoy the virgin beauty of the year before its freshness is by the of sunny summer one can readily imagine what a gay scene it must have been in jolly old london when the doors were decorated with branches when every hat was with and robin hood maid the dancers and all the other fantastic and were performing their about the may pole in every part of the city i am not a admirer of old times and old customs merely because of their antiquity but while i rejoice in the decline of many of e s may day customs the rude and coarse amusements of former days i cannot but regret that this innocent and fanciful festival has fallen into it seemed appropriate to this and pastoral country and calculated to light up the too gravity of the nation i value every custom that to poetical feeling into the common people and to and soften the of rustic manners without destroying their simplicity indeed it is to the decline of this happy simplicity that the decline of this custom may be traced and the rural dance on the green and the homely may day have gradually disappeared in proportion as the have become expensive and artificial in their pleasures and too knowing for simple enjoyment some attempts the squire me have been made of late years by men of both taste and learning to rally back the popular feeling to these standards of primitive simplicity but the time has gone by the feeling has become mat customs by habits of gain and traffic the country the manners and amusements of the town and little is heard of may day at present except from the of authors who sigh after it from among the brick walls of the city for o for o the is forgot village nay i tell you i am so well beloved in our town that not the worst dog in the street will hurt my little finger of as the neighbouring village is one of those out of the way but little places where a small matter makes a great stir it is not to be supposed that the approach of a festival like that of may day can be regarded with indifference especially since it is made a matter of such moment by the great folks at the hall master who is the faithful of the worthy squire and with his humour in every thing is frequent just now in his visits to the village to give directions for the impending and as i have taken the liberty occasionally of accompanying him i have been enabled to get some village insight into the characters and internal politics of this very sagacious little community master is in fact the caesar of the village it is true the 