Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1841-04-30
I have seen The Ladv of the Mdu

] have seen the Lady Of The May
Set in an arbour ION holy-day)
Bull blythe Maypols There the joco,tnd s,rdincs
Dance Nth The mdidens TO the bag pipes sranes,
When envious night commands them TO be gone,
Call for the merry youngsters one by one,
And, for their well performance, soon dsposes,
To this garland Intervene with roses
To that carved hooke, or we'll wrought scrip;
Gracing another with her cherry lip;
To one hei garter to another, then,
A hand her chefe, cast er and DER agnn;
And none returneth empte that hath spent
His paines TO fill their rural merrment.
Bronne's Pastordls.
A poet, who has not versifcd, (Mr. WASH
ington Irving,) says, 81 shall never forget
the delight felt on first seeing May-pole.
1t 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.
had already 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 black-etter vo-
lume, or gazing on the pictures in Froissart.
The May pole on the margin of that poetic
stream completed the illusion. My fancy
adorned it with wrcaths of flowers, and
peopled the green bank with all the dancing
revelry of May-day. The mere sight of this
May-pole gave glow TO my feelings, and
spread charm over the country for the rest
of the day; and as traversed part of the
fair plans of Cheshire, and the beautiful
borders of Wales, and looked from among
swelling hills down a long green valley,
through which the Deva wound its wizard
stream my Imagination turned all into a
perfect Arcadia.-One can readily imagine
what gay scene il must have been in jolly
old London, when the doors were decorated
with Towering 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 revel-
lers were performing their antics about the
May-pole in every part of the city. On this
occasion we are told Robin Hood presided as
Lord Of the May
"Wnh coat Of Lincoln green, and mantle too
, And horn Of ivory mouth, and buckle bright.
And arrows winged with eacockfa,hers light
And irns'y bow well gathered Of the view;
whs him, crowned Lady ofthe May,maid Marian
f ''Wnh eyes Of blue,
Shining through dusk hair, like the Of night,
And hah'ed in pretty forest light
) His greenwood beauty sits, young as the dew,
and there, too, in sub,cqen, stage Of the pageant
"The nrcher-men in green, with belt and bow,
F-as'ing on pleasant, ,ver-fowl and swan,
With Robin at then head, and Marian.
There will he opportunity in the course o
this work to dilatc somewhat concerning tn,
May-polc and the characters in the May
games, and therefore little will be adducet
at present as to the origin of pastimes whcl
royalty itself delighted in, and corporation
patronized. For example Of these honour
: to the testal day, aud honest gatherer of olde
chronicles shall relate in his own words, ST
much as he acquaints us with -
SIN the moneth of May, namely on Ma,
day in the morning, every man, except i'm
pedimcnt, would wake into the sweet med
doves and green woods, there to reoyc
their spirits with the beauty and SAVIOUR o
sweet FLOWERS, and with the harmonic of bird
prasing God in their kinde. And for ex
ample hereof, Edward Hall hath noted, tina
king Henry the eighth, as in the third of hi
rcigne, and divers other yecrcs, so namel
in the seventh Of his rcignc on May day il
tie morning, with qucenc Katharine his wife
= accompanied with many lords and ladies
rode Maying from Greenwich to the hig
ground of Shoothcrs-hiIl: where as they pas
Ncd by the way, they espyed company O
tall ycomen, clothed all in greene, wit
greene hoods, and with bowes and arrowes
to the number Of 200. One, being the
chieltainc, was called Robin Hood, who re
:. qulrcd the king and all his company to sta
and see his men shoot: whcrcunto the kin
granting, Robin Hood whistled and all tn
200 arclers shot of, oosing all at once; an
when he whstled againe, they likewise she
againe: their arrows whistled by craft oft
head, so that the noise was strange and lout
which greatly delighted the king, queenc, an
their company.
"Moreover, this Robin Hood desired Il,
King and queene, with their retinue, to ent,
the greene wood, where, in arbours made {
bonghes, and dcckt with flowers, they WEI
set and served plcntifulIy with venison an
WINE, by Robin Hood and his meyny, t
their great contentment, and had otht
pagcants and pastimes; as zee may read
my said author.
81 find also, that in the month of May, ii
citizens of London (of all es,atcs) lightly
every parish, or sometimes two or three p;
rishcs jOyning together, had their sever;
= Mayngs, and did fetch in May-polcs, wi
= divers warlike shelves, with good archer
morce -danccrr, and other deviscs for pa
time all the day long; and towards the eve'
ing, they had stagcplaies, and boncGres
the streets.
"Of these Mayings, we read in the reig
Of Henry the sixth, that the aldermen al
sherifcs Of London, being on May day
the bishop of Londons wood in the parish
Stcbunhea,h, and having there worshpfi
dinner for themselves and other CONNER
Lydgate the poet, that was monk of Bur
6. sent to them by pursuant "A joyful col
;s mendation of that season, containing sixtce
IL slaves in meeter royal, beginning thus ),
NJ "Mi.hty Flora, godicsse of fresh flowers,
RI which clothed hath the soyle in us green,
l., Made bud 10 spring, with her sweet showers,
"c by influence of the sunne shine,
Ia To doe p!easance OF intent full cieine,
H., unto the states which now sit here,
Hath Yer downe sent her own daughter dcaro,
ny
OF Making the vertue, that dured IN the root,
ne, Called The vertud, the yerlue vegetable,
49,, for To transcend, most wholesome and most SOC
NC Into the top, I. is season agreeable: