Star.
London, England, 1821-05-07 00:00:00

111 AV.

We are irresistibly tempted, by as bright a sky and
as balmy an air as ever inspired the votaries of Spring
in this variable climate, to give ourselves up to the
fascinations of this beauteous budding time and its
old recollections. Weather such as this which now
, inspires us, has taught us the meaning of our ances-
tors raptures about May-day ; and convinced us that
it was with no effort against blights and chills that
they went out, as old Stow tells us, on that memora-
ble morning, ,g into the sweet meadows and green
woods, there to rejoice their spirits with the beauty
and savour of sweet flowers, and with the harmony
of birds praising GOD in their kind." We can now
understand, while the blue vault is scarcely speckled
with a cloud, and the foliage of the trees has put
forth its freshest green, and the hawthorn is budding,
to prove that the old seasons have not forsaken us,
a.id clic thrush is singing over its sitting mate—we
can now understand the enthusiasm of one of oar
bld rural Poets:

• " Get up; get op, for shame ! the blooming Morn
Upon her wings presents the god unshorn
See how Aurora throws her fair
Fresh-quilted colours through the air.
• Get up, sweet slug-a-bed ! and see
The dewbespangling herb and tree:
Each flower has wept, and bow'd towards the East
Above 'an hour since, yet you not- drest ;
Nay, not so much as out of bed,
When all the birds have matins said,
And sung their thankful hymns ;--'ris sin,
When as a thousand virgins on this day
Spring sooner than the lark, to fetch In May !"
—Alas! the virgins in the towns and cities rise when
the sun is hastening to his meridian; and even the
lasses of the village are too politely precise to wet
their feet in the dewy hedges, or to risk their mus-
lins in the hawthorn bush. If there be any of the
fairer sex who think that May-day should not quite
be forgotten, they cultivate the feeling with no poeti-
csl rapture, but with the singleness of " pecuniary
views." They are of the same species as the let.rglr:isd-
seller, who sung her solitary song for an e y-
nary penny:

" Rise up, Maidens ! fie, for shame !
I've been four long miles from ham;
I've been gath'ring my garlands gay ;
Rise up, fair Maids, and take in your May!"

Even this relic of the " olden times" is worn out,
and May-day is left in mockery to the chimney-
sweepers. Without rubbing up much of the pedantry
of antiquarianism, it may be amusing jusr to look
back upon the gladsome intoxication of happy spirits
to which our ancestors surrendered themselves at this
genial season. Wherever we can we will let the old
writers tell this story in their own terms. The for-
mal Mr. Bourne, who coquetted with old customs by
diligently recording them with a pious abuse cf their
Heathenish vanities, says—" On the calends, or the
first day of May, commonly called May-day, the
j ivenile part of both sexes were wont to rise a little
after midnight, and walk to some neighbouring wood,
accompanied with music and the blowing of horns ;
where they break down branches from the trees, and
adorn them with nosegays and crowns of flowers.'
When this is done, they return with their booty home-
wards, about the rising of the sun, and make their
doors and windows to triumph in the flowery spoil.'
The afterpart of the day is chiefly spent in dancing
round a tall pole, which is called a May-pole; which,
being placed in a convenient part of the village,
stands there, as it were, consecrates to the goddess
of flowers, without the least violation offered it in
the whole circle of the year. And this is not the
custom of the British common people only, but it is
the custom of the generality of other nations; parti-
cularly of the Italians, where Polydore Virgil tells
to the youth of both sexes were accustomed to go
into the fields on the calends of May, and bring
thence the branches of trees, singing all the way as
they came, and so place them on the doors of their
houses. This is the relic of an ancient custom among'
the Heathens, who observed the four List days of
April, and the first of May, in honour of the goddess
Flora, who was imagined the deity presiding over
fruit and flowers."

. The l'uritans waged war with the May-poles, and
indeed with all those indications of a full-hearted sim-
plicity which were the echo of the universal harmony
of Nature. The May-poles never held up their heads
atter the civil wars. The 44 strait-laced" exulted in
their fall, but we believe the people were neither
wiser nor happier for their removal:
" Happy the age, and harmless were the days,
For then true love and amity were found,
When every village did a May-pole raise,
And Whitsun ales and May-games did abound ;
And all the lusty youkers in a rout,
With merry lasses rimed the rod about ;
Then Friendship to the banquet bid the guests,
And poor men fared the better for their feasts.
Alas, poor May-poles ! what should be the cause •
That you were almost banisht from the earth,
Who never were rebellious to the laws—
Your greatest crime was honest, harmless mirth I"

But the sports of May were not confined to the
villages. Even the gorgeous pomp of the old Courts
did not disdain to borrow a fragrance and freshness
from the joys of the people. HALL, the historian,
gives us an account of " Henry the Eighth's riding a
flaying from Greenwich to the high ground of
Shooter's-hill, with Queen Katharine his wile, accom-
panied with many Lords and Ladies." The good
people of London, in those days, were not ashamed
to let in a little of the light of creation upon their
met cantile pursuits. Stow tells us, " In the month
( i May, the citizens of London (of all estates), lightly
in every parili, or sometimes two or three parishes
joining together, had their severld Mayings, and did
fetch in May-poles with divers warlike spews, with
good inches, , morrice-dancers, and other devices for
pastime all the day long.; and towards the evening
they had stage-plaies and bone-fires in the streets.'
The gratulation of the Spring-season" has no more
a place aniongst us; the leaves and the flowers come
without a "Hail" from the court, thr city, or the
village. We are not romantic enough to expect that
the.present age will revive any of the simple amuse-
menu of its predecessors; that the " wassail bowl"
of Christmas, or the garland of May, should come
amongst us with their hearty and inspiring recollee.
bong, Those who now love Nat= and cheerfulness

must confine their raptures to their own families—to,
their fire-sides in winter, an4.4iteir gardens in the
sunny seasons. We would only hint that our ances-
tors, in proclaiming their jothusiasm for the fresh-
ness of a beautiful world; were paying a true and
affecting homage to its CaisAvoa ; and, though their
cheerfulness might be boisterous, and its origin
Heathenish, it was far better than that apathy which
passes by the wonders and beauties of the earth with
indifference; or that precision which, in deprecating
the exercise of pure and simple enjoyments, shuts up
the heart against the best feelings of kindness to man,
or devotion to GOD.
MAY, 1821.
7th day of the Montb—Monday—Sun rises 95 minutes after
four--sets 25 minutes before eight.
S. Tuesday—Moon enters her first quarter at a quarter before
twelve at night.
9. Wednesday—Easter Term begins—length of the days
fifteen hours and nearly a quarter.
10. Thursday—Day-light begins at twenty-five minutes after
one in the morning—Clocks nearly four minutes after the sun.
11. Friday—Days increased seven hours and thirty-four mi-
nutes—day closes at twenty minutes before eleven at night.
12. Saturday—Length of the night from the sun setting to
sun rising, eight hours and thirty minutes.