Star.
London, England, 1820-05-01 00:00:00

ON ILI Y

F. lIALT/111::.6 LONDON :.1 1410. V. VOL. I.

As our pre ?iit Number will be given to the Puhlie
trt the first of May, we ,L,ay be atiowed to indulge
ourselves with a few observations upon the ancient
customs and pl?asantries 01 aiat fairest .;ay of all the
ye tr. shail be al,:r.ling our Readers some amuse-
mqut, pt:rhi-o, a, we'.l as doing oursel•:es a service,'
by she ing that we have some relish for geode as'
well AS critical sp:xts; and that we can assaine
enooli to turn asi.k from the flowery peaiods
of otr 47on:c:npin it's, whether in poetry cr
an cast a though:, once in a way, urea the month
of lowers.
Al our itsoci.liens with May a:c t-!lightful. It
the time of coirratulatien and of hope: we rejoice
that the white.- has passed away, and we see the
!u:rirner oproach towards us with the sofles: glance
and ino.a buoy step :we forget the le,tivities of
Chris!ni as, and the scorciii:.t.-; glance and st.L.y breath
of June ; and rec.)ilect only that bitter frosts and
dark days ate tile companions of the one, and that
the other has bright colons an 3 tli t t icheq odours,
sunset , ml evening winds, to make ns happy.
The titst of May wa:• a day ple:tsant to gods and
ien. It sh,•ae as welcome on Olymi:us as at Rome
and in the valleys of Tivoli. We have high intiina-
tasn that Aurora was a patroness of the day, or, at
any rate, that ..he mingled in the revelry. Who,
when he !lears of
" Zepiiyr wit% Aurora playing,
" be met once a mabinz,"
can be,itate to admit into the ca:enciar. of his holy
days thi, one which was ooserved by such bright and
airy deitiei?
nna Oiav) i 3 traced by son'e to the word
icycz, is said to have been adopted by Romulus
()lit of respect to his senators, who were called Ma-
jot es. VI e pa efe:- tilt: pleasanter derivation, and
actaiowled.7,e rather its origin in the starry 11/ai:.:,
(?!-.e of Vie Pleiades, and mother of the feather-
iuote..l He; iheu

ins, who v,enerally sheaved a good deal
of animal propensity in their an.n-cments, observed
Ikia)•..nry with but unseemly rites; they exhibited
lt;ose s, .eels aini extravagant postures, to stimulate
tine de.,-,r-Lied appetite of Rome, in the same spirit
that they ad •:iiiiistered to their own pampered vanity,
by pro...:!.ii,ning al! the world barbarians except them-
selves. The:e sports were acted in honour, as it was
of the goddess Flora, who (ousting
Pomona from her gole:en seat) was worshipped as
the deity tf fi awl flovers.
et fer:c.i±:us rre-cra."
The ancient,: esteenaar the month of May unfa-
vourable, while the moderns deem it favourable to
lave. Shalc.peart, sho may be considered as the
best authority on ininits or this sort, speaks of
"' I.ove, w:pocc month is czar Atali.”
For O7melves, r.e .ire of the modera faction ; and
while we thick that se., ltom the young-eyed
god might make bright even the fogs of Nos -inber,
yet when he shakes h s wings " with rosie May-
dews wet," and comes down upon us like a shape
from llEss-LN, not even Sir Merck Shattou himseif,
that inpeniotisly• tedious euphuist, may contend with
him. This is but a strange comparison, perhaps,
especially as we confess our admiration of that ro-
mantic personage extends scarcely beyond his slashed
doublet and collar of .gems, and. by no means car-
ri.!s us to the end of his speeches. Yet are we con-
strained to consider Sir Piereie as a favoured speci-
men ofhis kind ; for wehave seen some of the brightest
eyes that we know glisten, though they wete previ-
ously and very sweet lips smile at the passing
mention of his name. We have felt that this was
really hard upcn us, and our se:ious endeavours at
: though the Elizabethan knight is certainly
a sort of privileged person, and has written antherity
to rise with " mortal gashes' on his head, and to
push us oil this plain-spoken age from our stools,
with as little ceremony as he used towards the honest
family of Glendinning.
But to quit Cupid and Sir Merck Shaf:on for our
suhject, fiorn which we have been beguiled by the
latter worthy, let us now say a word or two about
(air ancestors. They had better notions of May than
the Romans, and observed it with as gay but more
decorous rites. Although the processions and dance
of the morning might degenerate into too free a ca-
rousal at night, yet the more objectionable parts of
the sporty; were never, we fisheye, preconcerted : it is,
nue, indeed, that good dicer was not wanting during
the-day; but it was not until evening that the bon;
ii.es were lighted, and the actual revelling com-
menced. At Rome, vice formed a striking and es-
scotial part of the day's festivity: ie England, it was
either hafrequent or iortaitous: it was nourished with
potent dews, and sprung up like an exhalation at the
dose of the day, when the spirit of gaiety began
to languish.
May-day was celebrated, as was fitting, by the
young. They rose shortly rifler midnight, and .went
to some neighbouring wood, attended by songs and
music, and breaking green branches from the trees,
nrionled them with wreaths and crowns of flowers.—

They returned home at the rising of the sun, and
made their windows and :Lek doors gay IA ith gar-
s.tiids. In the they danced during the day
around the May-pule, which afterwards remained
during the whole year untouched, inceFt by the
seasons, a fading emblem :uid a consecra:ed oiering
to the Goddess of Flowers. At night, the vil:aers
lighted np fires, and iuditiged in revelling which'
sometimes were, perhaps, " after the leis Raman
ta.sbion ;" and tri-ght, indeed, have vied even wi:h
those ieligicus festivities with which the " True
Fevers" are siiti accttlionied to reward themselves, for
their pious abstinence dining the fasts of Rlitimazan.
By the Highlanders of Scotland, and also 1:y some
of die nations of Italy, May .day Was oLer,cj, as
well as by us. With us, indeed, it had the addi-
tional recommendation cf being called " Robin
lood's day ;" and persons representing Robin and
I laid Marian were wont to veside on these occasions,
accompanied by villagers in the ta: Sherwood green.
I.ty-gueen, crowned with
noses ri;:going in the pride of 'May,
and otter flowers, is a etc:attire beautiful enough
for ::t Lion, and may vie in idea almw.t with the
;.s n;fl:s and spit its of antiquity.
• r are told that King Henry VIII. who was such
Hl.idlit in his yoiqh, and such a tyrant in his age,
u..tLe rode " a Inaiii);" with his wife Catherine, horn,