3 42.80 
 
 "he May Queen 
 
 DflviD Burns 
 
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 fi.2'96^2T 
 
 iSlTTnif 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR 4280.B4M4 
 
 The May Queen, a thespis. 
 
 3 1924 013 446 152 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013446152 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 A THESPIS 
 
 BY 
 
 DAVID BURNS, 
 
 SUBSCRIBERS' EDITION. 
 
 Cablisle : Chas. Thubnam and Sons. 
 London : Simpkin, Maeshall, anu Co. 
 
 1894. 
 iALL EIOHTS RESEK7BD.] 
 
/Uu- i^a ^u^^ Z^' / "^ ^^*^ Z^- 
 /3 hna^ /f^. 
 
TO 
 
 JOHN RUSKIN, 
 
 WHO HAS DONE SO MUCH TO RESTORE THE 
 
 MAY QUEEN 
 
 TO HER ANCIENT THRONE, 
 
 THIS POEM IS (by permission) IN GRATITUDE 
 
 DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1 
 
 Introduction 
 
 2 
 
 The May Queen : — 
 
 > 
 
 Proem 
 
 13 
 
 Time 
 
 15 
 
 Song — Filial Love 
 
 17 
 
 Time 
 
 20 
 
 Song^The Sweet May Dew 
 
 22 
 
 Time 
 
 25 
 
 Song — Spring 
 
 29 
 
 Time 
 
 32 
 
 May-pole Dance (with Song) 
 
 34 
 
 Time - 
 
 35 
 
The May Queen {continued) : — 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Song— The Wayside Flowers 
 
 37 
 
 Time 
 
 39 
 
 Druid 
 
 41 
 
 Time 
 
 46 
 
 May-pole Dance 
 
 47 
 
 Time 
 
 47 
 
 Parting Song - 
 
 47 
 
 Notes 
 
 49 
 
 Brief History of the May Games 
 
 63 
 
 The Kuskin Revival 
 
 70 
 
 The May Morn 
 
 82 
 
 List of Subscribers 
 
 85 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 A May Queen and her Maids, when the dresses and 
 other accessories are selected with good taste, form a 
 group unique in their loveliness. The May-pole Dance 
 is, moreover, a treat of no ordinary kind; but it occupies 
 only a short space of time, and, when it forms the central 
 event of a gala or summer's afternoon entertainment, it 
 does not bulk so largely in the programme as is desir- 
 able, giving place generally to other exercises of a less 
 elevating and aesthetic character. 
 
 The primary object I had in view in composing the 
 following verses was to provide song and recitation which 
 could be used to supplement the dance, while they might 
 help to elucidate its ancient meaning and direct its 
 present purpose into a beneficial channel. 
 
 The choruses are designed to enlist the active co- 
 operation of the public present, and so spread abroad 
 more effectually the spirit of harmony. That the object 
 is worthy of the effort few will deny; whether the effort 
 is worthy of the object is for you, kind reader, to decide. 
 
 In the method of treatment I have tried to avoid 
 any expression that would favour one school of thought 
 more than another. " Time " is an excellent fellow as 
 
2 PREFACE 
 
 far as his knowledge and experience goes ; the ancient 
 " Druid " is introduced as having in turn some know- 
 ledge and experience of things spiritual; and the general 
 purpose of the poem is to rejuvenate the adult and direct 
 the pleasures of the young by deepening their interest 
 in each other. 
 
 My reason for calling the poem a " Thespis ' wiU be 
 apparent from the following : — 
 
 " In the sixth century before the Christian era an 
 Attic Poet, named Thespis, had a wooden platform made 
 on which an actor recited passages at intervals between 
 the choral songs and dances, and this was the first 
 regular stage." * This describes my idea exactly, and, 
 not knowing another name so good, have adopted this. 
 
 I regret that I have had to issue the poem without 
 music for the lyrics, but, if its tone meet with approval 
 and its power command notice, no doubt the music will 
 be forthcoming. 
 
 DAVID BUENS. 
 
 Stamow:, 
 
 Carlisle, 1894. 
 
 * Chatterbox, July, 1893. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The observance of the May festivities had within 
 the last fifty years become practically extinct, and the 
 revival within the present generation partakes frequently 
 more of a new departure than of a perpetuation of an 
 ancient custom. In the present insatiable thirst for 
 novelty an obsolete thing is frequently stumbled upon 
 and too often forced into service under a guise sadly 
 out of keeping with its primitive function. This has 
 been particularly the case with the May Queen. She 
 has been used to lend a flavour of romance to pretty 
 music and weak couplets, written in absolute ignorance 
 of her or her lineage ; and, worse still, she has been 
 sometimes treated as a travesty of our monarch, and 
 language applied to her altogether foreign to the realm 
 she rules over. In some respects, again, many of our 
 
4 INTRODUCTION 
 
 revivals are probably great improvements on what has 
 ever gone before, and that principally from a weeding 
 out of ancient evils. By eschewing the evU and select- 
 ing the good from both the ancient and modern, these 
 festivals might become most important and potent 
 seasons of relaxation and goodwill. 
 
 The following is an attractive form of procession and 
 dance. The Queen is a young girl, the younger the 
 better if more than a mere infant, chosen for some 
 charm of looks or temper, or chosen by the votes of 
 her playmates. She should be richly dressed in some 
 showy material so as to distinguish her from her 
 maids. She wears a crown of flowers, and carries in 
 her hand a sceptre consisting of a slender wand decked 
 vidth a nosegay of flowers. She may or may not have a 
 wreath of flowers worn over her shoulder — plaid-fashion. 
 If " Flora " be in her train, it is probably better to 
 confine the Queen's adornments to little more than the 
 crown and sceptre. 
 
INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 The Queen is accompanied by twelve Maids of 
 Honour, preferably all in spotless white, and with a few 
 floral decorations. 
 
 These should be from four to seven years of age, and 
 the nearer a size they are the better they look. During 
 the procession and the Dance they are grouped round 
 the Queen, who is slightly elevated on a dais or throne. 
 Their only duty is to give effect,* and the more uniform, 
 pretty, happy, and spotless they look the better. The 
 next and an important part of the retinue is the group 
 of Dancers. These are girls of similar age and equip- 
 ment to the Maids of Honour, only the slippers and 
 stockings of the Dancers must be uniform, which is 
 desirable but not so absolutely necessary with the others. 
 Each Dancer is distinguished by a particular colour — 
 
 * They will, of conrse, join in all the chorusee, and if the 
 Dance be accompanied by singing they will be trained to sing 
 the song. 
 
6 INTRODUCTION 
 
 frequently red, white, and blue — and this is made 
 manifest by the ribbon that ties her hair or the sash 
 round her waist. 
 
 It is usual to place the Queen and her Maids on 
 the first, and the Dancers on the second of two drays, 
 and to promenade the principal thoroughfares on the 
 way to the May-pole. But local circumstances will 
 largely control this feature of the day's proceedings. 
 
 The May-pole should be a straight and shapely pole 
 at least 16 feet long. It should be peeled of its bark, 
 and may be left clean or painted any desirable colour. 
 Its top may be appropriately garnished with a branch of 
 hawthorn blossom or a large bouquet of flowers. Near 
 its top is fastened a series of ribbons of different colours, 
 which- follow each other in a horizontal line round the 
 pole in a prescribed order — say four sets of red, white, 
 and blue — and long enough to allow them to be held 
 gracefully in the hands of the girls as they dance round 
 the pole. 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 The May-pole should be secured in the middle of a 
 platform sufficiently elevated to give an uninterrupted 
 view of the Dancers, and when more than the mere 
 Dance is attempted, the Queen and her Maids should sit 
 in state under a canopy to one side of the platform, so 
 as to form a symmetrical group with the Dancers. 
 Should any form of play be produced, side boxes or 
 vdngs should be added from which the various actors 
 would emerge as required. Good music is a sine qua nun, 
 and the band may be stationed in any convenient position 
 having a clear view of the Dancers. If in uniform and 
 appropriately decorated the members of the band may be 
 made to add considerably to the picturesqueness of the 
 grouping, in which case they might divide their numbers 
 between the two sides of the stage, and appear in the 
 guise of court minstrels. 
 
 The Dance itself is very simple. Each Dancer takes 
 hold of a ribbon of the same colour as that which dis- 
 tinguishes her own hair. They then dance round the 
 
8 INTRODUCTION 
 
 pole, one half, it may be, in the opposite direction to 
 the other, and keeping time with the band as it plays 
 some lively polka. This twists the ribbons round the 
 pole in a definite order, and plaits a design on it in 
 keeping with the motion of the Dancers. When this 
 has gone on till the design comes too close down for 
 the children to dance comfortably, they reverse the 
 direction of their circuit, and so unravel the imprisoned 
 ribbons. When the untwining has been completely 
 effected this particular Dance is at an end. By follow- 
 ing another figure another design can be wrought, 
 and the Dancers create a difierent effect in their own 
 grouping and motions, and so on in a considerable 
 variety of figures the Dance can be repeated. But 
 though varying indefinitely in detail there must 
 always be a great degree of sameness in the general 
 effect, and it would be a mistake to tire out the 
 children and the audience in straining after too many 
 repetitions.'*^ 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 It becomes a question how far the May-pole Dance 
 might be varied and embellished by other children 
 marching, dancing, or carrying on other graceful 
 exercises in an outer circle alternately with the Pole 
 Dance or even simultaneously with it. In this direction 
 and in singing and acting are to be sought the sup- 
 plementary exercises to protract the entertainment to 
 the necessary degree. It is here that the temptation to 
 caricature the army and other " resources of civilization" 
 comes in, and though not positively objectionable these 
 are, at least, not in the best of ta.ste. When, however, 
 '' sports, " that is, running and wrestling for money, 
 "Aunt Sallies,'' and the other democratic adornments of 
 the village fair are brought into requisition, the May 
 Queen and her court sink to their level, and her glory gets 
 trailed through the mud. Gymnastic exercises and even 
 trials of strength, agUity, and skill might very well be 
 introduced so long as they did not offend the ordinary 
 rules of good feeling and propriety, but the competitors 
 
10 INTRODUCTION 
 
 should in every case perform their part in presence of 
 the Court, and be announced by a Court official with 
 becoming dignity ; and the victor receive his reward on 
 bended knee from the Queen, such being a flower and a 
 smile. If all competitors could be uniformly dressed in 
 some grotesque or antique garb, the tone and effect of 
 the entertainment would be very much enhanced. 
 
 But while all that is coarse or common should be 
 carefully eschewed, neither should the gala be used as 
 an opportunity to furtively sermonise. All forced and 
 mawkish sentimentality is to be deprecated as much 
 on account of religion as the May Queen. 
 
 It will be readily seen that a form of procession 
 suitable for a village green must differ somewhat from 
 that in a young ladies' seminary. In the latter case the 
 election and crowning of the Queen may be the most 
 attractive feature of the day's proceedings ; but in the 
 former case the crowning should, in most cases, be dis- 
 pensed vrith. This arises, in great measure, from the 
 
INTRODUCTION 11 
 
 Queen appearing in public with the crown on before 
 the ceremony can be publicly performed, which renders 
 it ridiculous. In the open air, again, and with young 
 girls, it is a mistake to ask the Queen to read proclama- 
 tions or sing songs. She should maintain an attitude 
 of dignified amiability in perfect silence. If called on 
 to perform tasks, she is almost sure to lose her dignity 
 in the direction of confident impudence or of nervous 
 awkwardness. 
 
 Stripped of all excrescences, the influence of the May 
 Queen Festival is wholly good. That " of such is the 
 Kingdom of Heaven " was never more apparent than it 
 is to the careful observer who watches a group of rough 
 men and women as pass the flower-decked cars, carry- 
 ing their human and floral bouquets in procession, all 
 spotless and happy. Joy, love, and appreciation beams 
 in each face, and tongues are loud that day in blessing 
 that are too often given to cursing. The efiect on all, 
 old and young, is pleasing, elevating, and stimulating, 
 
12 INTRODUCTION 
 
 with a minimum, under proper direction, of the counter- 
 acting influences inseparable from most other displays 
 and competitions. 
 
 But at the same time it must be owned that the 
 mere Dance affords little of a moral, educational, or 
 recreative character that could not be derived from any 
 other pretty evolution of drUl by nicely-dressed children. 
 If the Queen, therefore, is to hold sway in any especial 
 degree in the thoughts and feelings of juveniles, and 
 especially of adults, something of the romance of the 
 distant past, and something of the deeper meaning of 
 things must be brought into view. This reflection 
 forms the key to the groundwork of the following 
 verses. Should they prove unacceptable it is to be 
 hoped that a more felicitous pen will catch the popular 
 taste, without lowering the standard herein set up. 
 
PROEM. 
 
 All hail ! all. hail ! thou Queen of May, 
 Thou Queen of love and beauty, 
 
 Thy bulwarks are our loyal hearts, 
 Brimful of love and duty. 
 
 The God of all creation showers 
 
 His blessings on the earth, 
 And grateful nature yields her flowers 
 
 In token of her mirth. 
 We join the jocund choir and sing 
 
 Of love and beauty's queen, 
 And voice the inward joys that spring 
 
 Like flowers from Summer's sheen. 
 All hail ! all hail ! &c. 
 
14 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 We watch the tender op'ning bud, 
 
 We watch the falling leaf, 
 We own Thee source of all our joy, 
 
 Our succour in our grief. 
 We thank Thee for the sweetest thing 
 
 That Thou to earth hast given, 
 Our beauteous Queen, a winsome child, 
 ' Of such as are in heaven.' 
 
 All hail ! all hail ! thou Queen of May, 
 
 Thou Queen of love and beauty. 
 Thy bulwarks are our loyal hearts, 
 Brimfiil of love and duty. 
 
 We see Thy Providence around. 
 
 Of what pertains to earth. 
 And in our sense of vernal joys 
 
 We sense the higher birth ; 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 16 
 
 For joys of earth are still .the joys, 
 
 In fitful echoes here, 
 Of love's perennial sumraertide 
 In Heaven's eternal sphere. 
 
 All hail ! all hail ! thou Queen of May, 
 
 Thou Queen of love and beauty. 
 Thy bulwarks are our loyal hearts, 
 Brimful of love and duty. 
 
 Enter Time, wearinff a girdle with the Signs of 
 the Zodiac upon it, and carrying a staff" 
 ending in a Sandglass. Time acts as an 
 officious Master of Ceremonies. 
 
 My name is Time. I come to marshal here 
 The joyous courtiers of the changing year. 
 And spend myself for once ' upon a time ' 
 In innocence and fun, and dance and rhyme. 
 Nor grudge me this brief joy, I seldom play, 
 
16 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 As you must know who note life's speeding day : 
 You see my art in lines upon each brow, 
 And in the locks that white and whiter grow. 
 Each time I turn my yearly girdle round, 
 I lay ten million mortals in the ground ! 
 For human life is as the rainbow's span, 
 In joy to spring, to sink soon pale and wan, 
 Or like the bloom that scents a summer's day 
 E'er evening trodden in its natal clay : 
 From earth to life and back to earth again. 
 The common lot of rainbow, flowers, and men ! 
 But fear me not, I've got no ill intent, 
 But for the day am here on pleasure bent, 
 Nor let us mar with care the joyous sheen 
 That basks in glory on our lovely Queen ; 
 In innocency throned she now rules o'er us, 
 And her commands are now 'a song and chorus.' 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 17 
 
 Enter Filial Love who sings : 
 
 When on the thorny path of life 
 
 Man first betook his way, 
 And backward cast a tearful glance 
 
 On joy's receding ray. 
 He deep had sunk in dark despair 
 
 But for one loving other, 
 A ' woman ' styled in Paradise, 
 But now he called her ' mother. '"= 
 0, Maya, Maya, mother dear ! 
 Blest type of Heaven's all-loving sphere, 
 'Tis ours to gratefully revere 
 And succour thee, our mother. 
 
 Alternative Chorus: 
 
 0, mother fair, beyond compare ! 
 Thy love is as a jewel rare ; 
 With tender, watchful, filial care. 
 We'll succour thee, our mother. 
 
18 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 We all have got a thorny path, 
 
 We all have had our joys, 
 W'e tossed our ringlets girls bright. 
 
 We romped as merry boys. 
 And who could soothe our ev'ry care, 
 
 With kindness past a brother, 
 And who our raptured joys did share, 
 But mother ! mother ! ! mother ! ! ! 
 O, Maya, Maya, mother dear ! 
 Blest tjrpe of Heaven's all-loving sphere, 
 'Tis ours to gratefully revere 
 And succour thee, our mother. 
 
 Alternative Chorus : 
 
 O, mother fair, beyond compare ! 
 
 Thy love is as a jewel rare. 
 
 With tender, watchful, filial care. 
 
 We'll succour thee, our mother. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 19 
 
 Temptation lubricates the path 
 Up life's steep, beetling hill, 
 And tends to sink our faltering steps 
 
 In some besetting ill. 
 But there's a power to guide your feet 
 
 And all temptations smother. 
 Just ask your heart if it were meet 
 To tell it all to mother. 
 
 0, Maya, Maya, mother dear ! 
 
 Blest type of Heaven's all-loving sphere, 
 
 'Tis ours to gratefully revere 
 
 And succour thee, our mother. 
 
 Alternative Chorus : 
 
 0, mother fair, beyond compare ! 
 
 Thy love is as a jewel rare ; ' 
 
 With tender, watchful, filial care, 
 
 We'll succour thee, our mother. 
 
20 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 ! first and fondest word that falls 
 
 From every human tongue, 
 An angel mem'ry when we're old, 
 
 Our all in all when young. 
 We sing one tender song to thee. 
 
 Who sang as sings no other, 
 We greet thee best of all we know, 
 
 Our mother, 0, our mother ! 
 
 0, Maya, Maya, mother dear ! &c. 
 
 Alternative Chorus : 
 
 0, mother fair, beyond compare ! 
 
 Thy love is as a jewel rare, &c. 
 
 Time resumes : 
 
 Full well she's sung her noble, grateful part, 
 
 All pure the incense of the filial heart, 
 
 Which azure thwarts to empyreal light, 
 
 As rising mists melt in the autumn night. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 21 
 
 No mother have I known, as in my birth 
 She died, and all her wealth of worth. 
 Her name was Chaos, on her ample breast 
 She nurtured all the spheres. Unto her rest 
 She went, and now a thousand systems roll 
 Eestless to find her and their final goal. 
 When shall she come again ? T cannot say, 
 Or when or how will gloam my latest day : 
 I know the past from where I first began, 
 And present now, but of myself or man, 
 And what awaits us in the future far 
 I wot not. Onward like the martial star 
 That cleaves the blackness of thin ethered space, 
 I cleave the future with averted face. 
 
 But what of that, the present is our theme, 
 Nor call on mem'ry, nor of future dream ; 
 He ne'er grows old who never counts the hours. 
 Let's lend an ear to music's dulcet powers. 
 
22 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 Enter Love-loen Maiden who sings, all joininff 
 heartily in the chorus : 
 
 THE SWEET MAY DEW. 
 
 Oh ! love it is a sleepless thing, 
 
 The moonbeams pierce my eyelids through, 
 I lie and list and seem to hear 
 Without, the footsteps of the dew. 
 
 The dew, the dew, the sweet May dew, 
 
 The sweet May dew so pearly O, 
 I'll hie me up and to yon mead, 
 And meet the morn so early 0. 
 
 I'll haste me by the firwood gloom. 
 
 Where goblins dance the dark night through, 
 
 By love made bold I'll scare them home, 
 And keep my tryste" among the dew. 
 The dew, the dew, the sweet May dew, &c. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 23 
 
 What though I draggle skirt and shoon, 
 
 And both my hose be in a brew, 
 By stealth I'll pass through gate and grass, 
 
 Away, alone, among the dew. 
 The dew, the dew, the sweet May dew, &c. 
 
 When orient beam and I first meet, 
 
 I'U throw me down in Heaven's own view, 
 
 My hectic face, each tress's grace, 
 I'll bathe and bathe among the dew. 
 
 The dew, the dew, the sweet May dew, &c. 
 
 With mystic charm they then will shine, 
 My hair, my cheek, and eye so blue, 
 
 Till that proud heart I love the best 
 Will bend like leaflet clad with dew. 
 
 The dew, the dew, the sweet May dew, &c. 
 
24 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 And when I look with ardour long, 
 
 To see my fate the dew-drop through, 
 Kind heaven I crave, my love so brave 
 May greet me in the pearl o' dew. 
 
 The dew, the dew, the sweet May dew, &c. 
 
 And Heaven spare that bliss so rare 
 
 To my warm heart so leal and true. 
 He may combine his love with mine 
 As dewdrop blends with drop of dew. 
 The dew, the dew, the sweet May dew, 
 
 The sweet May dew so pearly 0, 
 I'll hie me up and to yon mead, 
 And meet the morn so early 0.'' 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 25 
 
 Time resumes laughing : 
 
 That minds me of the days when I was young, 
 When first upon the spray the dew-drops hung, 
 And the young earth in all her virgin charms 
 With nascent ardour circled in my arms ; = 
 Fast in the stellar dance the azure through, 
 Enraptured lovers we together flew : 
 Not we alone, each heliocentric sphere 
 In rivalry sublime swept sometimes near 
 And sometimes far in elongations grand. 
 Then seemed to pause and for a moment stand 
 And rue, then backward rush in sore affright 
 To hide their blushes in the central Ught.T' 
 But further still beyond the solar force 
 A million stars kept up their rhythmic course. 
 With joy besieged I spared a sidelong glance 
 To gloat me on the parallactic dance ! " 
 
26 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 Then there's that mighty never-ending sweep 
 I cannot think of and my balance keep, 
 A thousand systems as a tuft of gorse 
 Swept onward by a God-like central force ! = 
 The grandest thought of fancy's proudest flight 
 Is as a bat that flutters through the night, 
 In reading out the purposes that roll 
 Through all creation from creation's Soul, 
 To utmost verge of matter's furthest sweep. 
 In cosmic phases working long and deep. 
 And I, alert and ever on the move, 
 The source of all this motion cannot prove. 
 Or what it tends to ; still, from age to age 
 I see great changes in the midnight page : 
 Stars that once gemmed the fervid brow of night 
 Eoll now unheeded, void of pristine light ; 
 Nebulous matter stretching once afar. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 27 
 
 Now cogent shines a little brilliant star : ^ 
 
 Those phantoms strange, those coquettes of the 
 spheres, 
 
 That oft have filled humanity with fears, 
 
 Once gossamered the quivering firmament, 
 
 As on their chequered paths they various went ; 
 
 But gravitation's ever-crippling power 
 
 Waylaid them always, and in fatal hour 
 
 Thrust them in thousands in some orbal blaze, 
 
 And quenched the ardour of their flippant ways. 
 
 Still there's a few that ghost-like scour the sky, 
 
 Sweeping some frighted planet closely by. 
 
 But whence or hence none know, still to their doom 
 
 They rush anon to join the final gloom/ 
 
 But thoughts profound do not become the day, 
 And all unasked they thrust them in the way ; 
 Nay, rather let us grace our holy-day 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 With one more pleasing, rustic, simple lay : 
 
 I have a daughter who can sweetly sing 
 
 A simple lyric song, her name is Spring ; 
 
 A bright young girl, a fount of joy her breast, 
 
 For ever blessing and for ever blest : 
 
 For Hope still anchors there and makes me glad 
 
 As oft as thought of sufif'ring makes me sad. 
 
 And brighter still the future seems to be, 
 
 When she strikes up her joyous minstrelsy, 
 
 But not her song alone, her presence bright 
 
 Eouses to action and our toil makes light ; 
 
 Not idle hope is hers, but future need 
 
 Makes willing brain to willing hands give speed, 
 
 And in her thought this truth lies ever deep, 
 
 As she doth sow so must her sisters reap : 
 
 And now, sweet Spring, be gracious, come before us, 
 
 And sing thy song and we shall vaunt the chorus. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 29 
 
 Enter Spring with an Anchor on her girdle, and 
 spring flowers in her hair, who sings : 
 
 King Sol his weakest ray hath shone, 
 The darkest day has come and gone, 
 And Night must yield her sable throne 
 
 To the increasing light ; 
 King Sol gets stronger day by day, 
 As up the sky ^ he climbs his way. 
 Proclaiming further still his sway, 
 
 With thrillings of delight. 
 
 Chorus — The snowdrop in the lea, 
 The songster in the tree, 
 Make light and gay the length'ning day, 
 Bring hope to you and me. 
 
30 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 Old Mother Earth with sweetest smile 
 Her sleeping children wakes the while, 
 And bud and bird, and germ and rill, 
 
 And moving things the whole, 
 With song or dance or silence coy, 
 Each doth a fitting means emisloy, 
 To greet with love and grateful joy 
 
 Our benefactor Sol. 
 Chorus — The snowdrop in the lea, ifec. 
 
 And everything in Nature's lap, 
 
 The beast, the bird, the flower, the sap. 
 
 Have roused them from their wintry nap. 
 
 Are busy at their task ; 
 As was ordained by Him, the One 
 Who spun the Earth and lit the Sun, 
 And said that all must work, and none 
 
 Should lie and idly bask. 
 Chorus — The snowdrop in the lea, &c. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 31 
 
 And man, the monarch of the host, 
 Must take his heaven-appointed post, 
 Evolving what will tend the most 
 
 To bless life's latest day: 
 With industry to make and mould. 
 With thrift for useful purpose hold, 
 With thought of winter's coming cold. 
 While bieldi- us still we may. 
 Chorus — -The snowdrop in the lea, &c. 
 
 And then by each one old and young, 
 With grateful heart and willing tongue, 
 WiU joyful songs each year be sung, 
 
 A-rivaUing the spring. 
 For hope each drooping heart will cheer, 
 Perennial friendships ever dear 
 Will bring us each recurring year. 
 
 And we'll together sing : 
 Chorus — The snowdrop in the lea, &c. 
 
32 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 Time resumes : 
 
 That cheers my soul and makes me feel the less 
 
 Those scenes of suff'ring that my heart oppress ; 
 
 Thy song, glad Spring, so hopeful and so bright, 
 
 Bouses to action and untold delight, 
 
 And oft as I perceive thy youthful form, 
 
 I brood no more upon the wintry storm, 
 
 And oft as I thy winning smUe doth meet, 
 
 I realise indeed that life is sweet. 
 
 Oh ! what were life without the bairns to bless 
 
 With happy frolic and with warm caress ; 
 
 Is that a ' home,' is that indeed a ' hearth,' 
 
 That never echoed with the children's mirth ? 
 
 Pity that mind each shout of glee annoys, 
 
 That turns to rancour all youth's noisy joys ; 
 
 Life were a dismal, selfish, hopeless thing. 
 
 But for your children dear and my sweet Spring ! 
 
THE MAY QtJEEN 3S 
 
 I have another child, and this is she, 
 In innocency bright as bright can be. 
 She loves the summer with its light, long day, 
 And she's been named the ' Monarch of the May ; ' 
 And we are here her courtiers for the nonce 
 To spend our gladness in a song and dance ; 
 By love ennobled, royal Maids of Honour, 
 These circle round and vie to wait upon her, 
 Each in her special sphere some charm bestows, 
 With grace of feature or with agile toes. 
 Here grouping loveliness round Beauty's Queen, 
 They brighten with their charms the summer's 
 
 sheen : 
 Soon joying round the May-pole's floral height. 
 They'll flash back gladness to the joyous light ; 
 The Queen now motions to her maids to dance, 
 And happy Time wUl vie in their advance ! 
 
34 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 MAY-POLE DANCE— 1st Part.* 
 
 The Queen of May is here to-day, 
 
 And on her throne doth reign, 
 Of all the year she brings most cheer, 
 We'll sing her joys again. 
 
 Around the May-pole gay, hurrah ! 
 We sing and dance the day, hurrah ! 
 And trip it, trip it, trip it, trip it. 
 Trip it round and round. 
 
 Come young and old, your hearts unfold, 
 
 And make high holiday, 
 Let old and young with joyful tongue 
 
 Sing love's sweet roundelay. 
 
 Around the May-pole gay, hurrah ! &c. 
 
THE MA.Y QUEEN 35 
 
 The flowers so sweet all nature greet, 
 
 The song-birds make reply, 
 In ecstasy they greet Queen May, 
 
 And why not you and 1 1 
 
 Around the May-pole gay, hurrah ! &c. 
 
 Time resumes : 
 
 That is a joyous sight, Old Time, I ween, 
 Though travelled far, its match hath seldom seen ; 
 These children, taught in Music's rhythmic school, 
 Wend their quaint way by Harmony's just rule ; 
 Each makes for each a pathway to a goal, 
 That weaves a brilliant fabric on the pole : 
 So planets, suns, and constellations clear. 
 Glide 'mongst each other through the varied year. 
 Each yielding to the same benignant power, 
 Keeps its own path and its appointed hour. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 And thus the greater even as the less 
 
 Works out its special web of loveliness. 
 
 But microcosmic man, that greater child, 
 
 In selfish quest midst discords wanders wild : 
 
 Each jostles each as selfishly he strives. 
 
 And roughshod over weaker brethren drives ; 
 
 Those nations that can't keep themselves in bread 
 
 Spend millions upon arms that they may spread 
 
 Bloodshed and plunder through a neighbour's land. 
 
 Then class 'gainst class in open warfare stand 
 
 And wage commercial havoc. Then comes Pride, 
 
 Sister to Self, her labours to divide : 
 
 The man who owns a desk must needs disdain 
 
 The man who yont ^ a counter counts his gain ; 
 
 The man who owns a barrow and a stall 
 
 Contemns the man whose basket holds his all ; 
 
 While, high and mighty, the professional 
 
 In pride presumptuous swaggers over all. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 37 
 
 But stop ! again I err, vile thoughts away, 
 Disturb no more the pleasures of to-day. 
 Come here my daughter Flora, ever bright, 
 Companion of the May and lover of the light. 
 Sing thy soft lay and soothe me into smiles. 
 And shed thy goodness that from ill beguiles. 
 
 Enter Flora, decked with flowers, who sings : 
 
 Far from my home in bosky dells 
 I wander forth to tune my lay. 
 And sing the song that fondly tells 
 
 The joys that crown Mid-summer's Day. 
 0, light divine, O, thrilling beam, 
 
 That cheers these drooping hearts of ours. 
 As angel footsteps bright they seem, 
 My own wild, unkempt, wayside flowers. 
 
38 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 I greet you sisters, brothers dear, 
 
 And wish your young hearts bright as day, 
 May you to parents fond appear 
 
 Bright blossoms on life's weary way. 
 0, light divine, 0, thrilling beam, &c. 
 
 We'll sing one happy song of love, 
 
 We'll sing of beauty ever dear, 
 Till angel singers, far above. 
 
 Take up the strains of rapture here. 
 0, light divine, 0, thrilling beam, &c. 
 
 Then love and all goodwill shall reign. 
 And spread like daisies in' the lea, 
 
 And yearly when I come again. 
 You'll sing in truer harmony. 
 
 O, light divine, O, thrilling beam, &c. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 39 
 
 Time resumes: 
 
 Thank you, my Flora, thank you yet again, 
 For you have banished all my cares and pain, 
 A.nd put me in a playful humour quite ; 
 rU try to look upon the side that's bright, 
 And call a queer old Druid from yon dene, 
 And who has many a hundred summers seen : 
 He little cares for me nor for your ways. 
 But far within the forest spends his days 
 In meditations on the fate of men. 
 And things beyond this life and old Time's ken : 
 And little store he sets by what I've seen, 
 Of what is now or what has ever been ; 
 As if this universe could secrets own, " 
 That had not long to Time's keen glance been 
 known. 
 
40 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 I would I partial saw and knew the less, 
 Saw but life's joys and fortune's warm caress. 
 But ah ! I see a thousand groosome" sights 
 For every one that sympathy delights. 
 I've seen men, families, and nations rise, 
 As ocean waves lave upward to the skies, 
 Then backward sink in poverty's abyss. 
 As waves receding noisome caverns kiss. 
 Society's a turbid, troubled sea, 
 Whose empty foam is vaunting vanity ; 
 Whose hidden sediment of weeds and slime 
 Is human suffering and want and crime — 
 Ha ! here he comes, I 'm glad he's here to drown 
 The ready current of my choler down. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 41 
 
 Enter aged Druid, 7oho glances contemptuously at 
 Time, then salutes the Queen and the People. 
 
 Hail ! Queen of May, my fellow creatures, hail ! 
 
 I'm happy to be with you once again, 
 To tell these children dear a fairy tale, 
 
 With meaning deep for thought of wisest men. 
 
 Long have I lived within the dingle deep, 
 By lowering scaur, in cavern's inmost hole. 
 
 Wandering unseen upon the mountain steep, 
 Communing nightly with great Nature's soul. 
 
 Deep have I drank of Nature's living truth. 
 Clearer I've read her spread but mystic page. 
 
 By sight vouchsafed in abnegated youth. 
 
 That growing with my years illumes my age. 
 
42 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 My food the simple herb, my drink the spring, 
 My bed the mossy ledge; and when I 'm cold 
 
 The friendly foxes round my numb feet cling. 
 And magnetise me till I scarce feel old ! 
 
 Thus have I lived through ages to defy 
 That vampire Time, and all his fatal art ; 
 
 But weaker wears the golden cord, and I 
 In spirit soon must from this old frame part. 
 
 Welcome the happy day from sense set free, 
 Welcome blest scenes I've seen in fitful trance, 
 
 Welcome the home above prepared for me, 
 I long to go and see their floral dance. 
 
 But not in vain I've lingered thus long here. 
 Great are the purposes weak man may do, 
 
 Linking this life unto a higher sphere, 
 Bringing things hidden into clearer view 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 43 
 
 For man when left alone to outer sense, 
 
 Like " Time " gives way to pessimistic spleen, 
 
 Despising all things as a mere pretence, 
 
 That he himself hath neither heard nor seen. 
 
 But as yon glowing sun dispels the night, 
 
 And quickens life where falls his throbbing beam, 
 
 From central source of all-controUing Might 
 
 Proceeds the power that shapes the things that seem. 
 
 After devotion through the long dark night, 
 I've sought the dewy path of early morn. 
 
 And kneeling grateful for day's coming light, 
 Strange visions to my soul the dew hath borne. 
 
 I've seen within its pearl epitomised 
 The forces working out Creation's plan. 
 
 In visions deep by dew-drop mesmerised, 
 I've read the source and destiny of man. 
 
44 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 A thousand ethers co-extensive sweep 
 
 Throughout all space, and I have seen them play 
 Upon each other, still distinctive keep, 
 
 And each the central self -same Power ^ obey. 
 
 Each ether wields a force, and some control 
 Matter inert, some matter organised. 
 
 Some rule the spirit, others rule the soul. 
 By plan divine primevally devised. 
 
 Thus all-prevaUing Law extends through space, 
 The method of an all-prevailing Plan, 
 
 In which all forms of matter have their place. 
 And living thing, from germ to proudest man. 
 
 And upward, onward, to the spirit sphere. 
 
 And spheres so hallowed by the central Powers, 
 
 That gaze ecstatic of the gifted seer. 
 
 Before their glory blind with reverence cowers. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 45 
 
 Ifs well you meet to honour May's bright flowers, 
 They 're part of God's great plan and type of more, 
 
 Their glad corollas teU in playful hours 
 Of autumn's duties and of autumn's store. 
 
 It's well you meet to honour innocence 
 
 And youth and beauty — bless each winsome face, 
 
 Goodness must grow from its own prominence, 
 And hope and effort sordid thoughts replace. 
 
 Oft have I noticed in the cavern's gloom, 
 
 Where beam of light was wont to find its way, 
 
 Some plant of upper day would sweetly bloom, 
 Eesponsive to the succour of the ray. 
 
 So when you meet in fellowship's delight. 
 
 And join these children dear in wholesome mirth. 
 
 Seed-beds of goodness feel the cheering light, 
 And blossom into deeds of lastiu"' worth. 
 
46 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 You have a destiny outside Time's ken, 
 That opens up for each beyond the tomb ; 
 
 Shape your immortal purpose now as then, 
 And raise yourself above Time's sullen gloom. 
 
 AU suffering is as a furnace hot 
 
 To purge the dross from out the grains of gold, 
 Some flux their sins when young, while in the pot, 
 
 Others cling to their earthiness when old. 
 
 Blessed is he who guides young innocence, 
 For Heavenly seeker finds a nearer way : 
 
 Bless you my children ! In all reverence, 
 Let's hope to meet in Heaven's eternal May. 
 
 Time resumes, laughing: 
 
 That's deep philosophy, it racks my brain, 
 We'll have a dance to make us young again. 
 
THE MAY QUEEN 47 
 
 MAY-POLE DANCE— 2nd Part.a 
 Time resumes : 
 
 We've had a happy time, but Time must go 
 Upon his mission mixed of weal and woe. 
 Let's have a parting song, then each may stray 
 As best befits him. Time the fleeting day 
 Must haste to overtake; and for the rest, 
 They'll haste to overtake where they love best. 
 
 SONG — All Joining. 
 Summer has come with the voice of affection, 
 
 Love-notes in concert make vocal the air. 
 Warm be our hearts as the glow on the meadow, 
 
 Why should we longer sit brooding in care ? 
 
 See yonder lambkins, they gambol together. 
 Love is the prize that they run for so fain, 
 
 Come let us join them in harmless diversion, 
 Why may not we be bright children again ? 
 
48 THE MAY QUEEN 
 
 Summer's not summer to us if we're lonely, 
 Loveless and gloomy we spend the long day ; 
 
 Song-birds but sing as they seemed to deride all 
 Hearts that are dead to the theme of their lay. 
 
 Mated, all Nature rejoices unmeasured, 
 Sunsliine and blossom and melody wild 
 
 Urge us to love, and to mirth, and good nature ; 
 Queen of us all is an innocent child. 
 
 Here is a hand, friend, and give me another. 
 Pledge we our friendship in light of to-day. 
 
 Kindly let's act as a sister to brother, 
 
 Happy we'll meet then next Queen of the May ! 
 
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NOTES 49 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 MAY-POIiE DANCE. 
 
 As communicated by Miss Storkt, Holy Trinity School, 
 Carlisle. 
 
 TiBdve girls stand in a circle round the pole, each holding «. 
 ribboti in the order, red, white, Hue, red, white, blue, tic. 
 
 1st Dance, 
 All the twelve dancers polka in the same direction till the 
 ribbons are wound on the pole. They then reverse their direction 
 and dance till the ribbons are free, and the dancers resume their 
 original places. 
 
 2nd Dance. 
 The odd numbers, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, stand in an outer circle; 
 the even numbers, who should be the smallest girls, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 
 12, stand in an inner circle and face in the r>pposite direction to 
 the outer circle. Both circles polka round simultaneously till 
 the inner set of ribbons is wound round the pole. Then reverse 
 as before, dancing back to their original positions in one circle. 
 
50 NOTES 
 
 3bd Dance. 
 The dancers form into 4 groups of 3 each, 1, 2, 3 ; 7, 8, 9 ; 
 dance in one direction : 4, 5, 6 ; 10, 11, 12 ; in the opposite 
 direction. Each group passes alternately on the inner and outer 
 sides of the other groups. Reverse as before. 
 
 4th Dakob 
 Same as 3rd dance, only there are 6 groups of 2 each. 
 
 5th Dance. 
 Same as 4th dance, only they dance singly, each dancer going 
 alternately on the inner and outer sides of those she meets. 
 
 The above is, in some respects, probably the simplest form 
 of the Dance, and this is a, case in which simplicity has its 
 charms. It would add much to the intelligent effect if each of 
 the twelve dancers displayed, in some fashion, a Sign of the 
 Zodiac. When, however, there is room, and a more extensive 
 display is desired, there may be 16, 18, and frequently 24 
 dancers ; but the number must always be even, and, if very 
 young, one half of them may advantageously be boys. 
 
 Note . — In dances 3 and 4 the second girl in each group puts her right hand 
 on shoulder of first (and third on second) ; she holds the end of the 
 ribbon in her riglit hand and guides it gracefully with finger and 
 thumb of left. 
 
NOTES 61 
 
 Miss MoKKisoN, of Fawcett Schools, Carlisle, bases her pro- 
 gramme on Cowley's May-pole Dance, published by J. Curwen 
 and Sons. She fastens a vertical metal rod in the top of the 
 pole, and provides two hardware discs, one say six inches 
 diameter and another four. These have hooks all round and a 
 hole in the centre to fit the rod easily, When these discs are 
 placed on the rod, the larger uppermost, and the ribbons are 
 attached to the hooks, they are free to turn round when the 
 dance so requires it. 
 
 The dancB may either be accompanied by singing or instru- 
 mental music alone. 
 
 For variety's sake the dance is introduced twice, and the 
 first time it may advantageously be accompanied by the song 
 given. The dancers may join, if able, but other children, or 
 indeed, the whole company should sing, so that singing would 
 be optioEul on the part of the dancers. It is assumed, in the 
 following instructions, that both boys and girls dance : — 
 
 1st Dance. 
 Each boy fetches two ribbons, hands one and bows to his 
 partner, who also bows. The action to be performed to chords 
 of music. 
 
52 
 
 NOTES 
 
 During 1st Verse 
 ^ Song. 
 
 ■{ 
 
 The music commences and all dance to 
 the centre and back again twice. 
 
 {All trip in a circle round the May-pole, 
 holding ribbon in right hand ; then all trip 
 the reverse way, holding ribbon in left hand. 
 
 7) ' P li V \ ^"y^ dance to the centre and back again, 
 of Song. ^then the girls do the same. 
 
 During Chxirus. 
 
 Girls in one circle, boys in another, 
 
 all holding ribbon in right hand, trip 
 
 round the May -pole in opposite directions. 
 
 Then the same with ribbon in left hand 
 
 I 
 and tripping the opposite way. 
 
 During 3rd Verse 
 of Song. 
 
 I Partners join hands, boy's right hand 
 taking hold of girl's left hand, each hold- 
 ing ribbon in the other. All trip to the 
 centre and back again twice. 
 
 During Oliorus. 
 
 (All dance round the May-pole in couples 
 with hands joined as in last figure. 
 
NOTES 53 
 
 Band plays suitable country dance music, Grand chain : all 
 dance round the May-pole, boys and girls in opposite directions, 
 and each crossing in and out so as to plait the ribbon singly. 
 Then reverse and unplait the ribbons, each movement to be 
 performed to a separate tune. 
 
 AU daace into line, bow to audience, then in suitable position 
 to bow to the Queen. 
 
 2nd Dance. 
 
 1. — Each boy fetches two ribbons and bows to his partner, 
 who also bows. The actions to be performed to chords of 
 music. The band plays a polka and each girl, taking hold of 
 the skirt of her dress with both hands, polkas in and out, the 
 boys standing. Every time a girl arrives in front of a boy they 
 bow to each other. 
 
 2. — Each boy hands a ribbon to his partner, both bow, the 
 actions being to chords of music as before. 
 
 Band plays a suitable march. AU march round the May-pole 
 in the same direction ; then all reverse. 
 
64 NOTES 
 
 3. — Band plays suitable country dance music. Grand chain : 
 all dance round the May-pole, boys and girls in opposite direc- 
 tions, and each crossing in and out so as to plait the ribbon 
 singly. Then reverse and unplait the ribbon, each movement to 
 be performed to a separate tune. 
 
 4. — AU dance into line, bow to audience, then into suitable 
 position to bow to the Queen. 
 
 It will be noticed that in each dance as practised at Holy 
 Trinity, a distinct effect on the pole itself is aimed at, whereas 
 in the other there is only one such efiEect. Should more be 
 desired the discs can easily be locked by twisting one or more 
 ribbons from each. Other simple 6gures will suggest them- 
 selves, but nothing fatiguing or complicated should be attempted, 
 as it it the grace, the ease, the concord, and perfection with which 
 the dance is performed that makes it attractive, and a single 
 blunder disenchants the whole display. 
 
 NOTE B. 
 
 Compare the two following passages : — 
 
 Gen. ii, 23. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, 
 and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called Woman. 
 
 Gen. iii, 20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve ; because 
 she was the mother of all living. 
 
NOTES 55 
 
 NOTE C. 
 Tryst, or Tryste. This Scotch word has found its way into 
 some English Dictionaries, and should be in them all. It means 
 an appointment to meet, and often implies a secret understand- 
 ing between lovers. Assignation is probably the nearest English 
 equivalent. 
 
 NOTE D. 
 Pepy's Diary, 28th May, 1667. — " My wife away home with 
 Jane and W. Hewer to Woolwich in order to a little air and to 
 lie [sleep] there to-night, and so to gather May-dew to-morrow 
 morning, which Mrs. Turner hath taught her is the only thing in 
 the world to wash her face with, and I am contented with it." 
 
 Ibid., 10th May, 1669.^ — "Troubled about three in the morn- 
 ing, with my wife calling her maid up, and rising herself to go 
 with her coach abroad to gather May-dew, which she did, and I 
 troubled for it, for fear of any hurt, going abroad so betimes, 
 happening to her ; but I to sleep again and she came home about 
 six." 
 
 A correspondent in Launceston writes to Notes and Queries. — 
 " The common notion of improving the complexion by washing 
 the face with the early dew in the fields on the 1st of May 
 extensively prevails in these parts." 
 
56 NOTES 
 
 NOTE E. 
 
 Time, as understood by us, is measured by the motions of 
 our earth as observed througli a transparent atmosphere, and 
 we may legitimately associate the mature youth of " Time " 
 with the advent of the present climatic conditions. 
 
 NOTE F. 
 
 The elongation of a star is its greatest apparent distance 
 from the sun. 
 
 " The planets sometimes advance rapidly ; then relax in 
 their apparent speed — come to a momentary stop ; and then 
 actually reverse their motion, and run back upon their former 
 course, with a rapidity at first increasing, then diminishing, till 
 the reversed or retrograde motion ceases altogether. Another 
 station, or moment of apparent rest or indecision, now takes 
 place ; after which the movement is again reversed, and resumes 
 its original direct character," — HerscheTs Outlines of Astronomy, 
 page 276. 
 
 NOTE G. 
 
 " The apparent change of situation of objects with respect to 
 one another, arising from a motion of the spectator, is called a 
 pariillactic motion." — Ibid., page 48. 
 
NOTES 57 
 
 " The parallactic change of apparent place which would arise 
 in an .object, could any observer suddenly transport himself to 
 the centre of the earth, is evidently the angle subtended at the 
 object by that radius of the earth which joins its centre and 
 the place of observation." — Hid., page 56. 
 
 If we could conceive the annual revolution of the earth 
 inde&nitely accelerated, it would give an apparent motion to the 
 fixed stars to one competent to observe it resembling somewhat 
 people dancing. 
 
 NOTE H. 
 
 " No one, who reflects with due attention on the subject, 
 will be inclined to deny the high probability, nay certainty, that 
 the sum as well as the stars must have a proper motion in some 
 direction." — Ibid., page 381. 
 
 NOTE I. 
 
 " The more or less advanced state of a nebula towards its 
 segregation into discrete stars, and of these stars themselves 
 towards a denser state of aggregation round a central nucleus, 
 would thus be in some sort an indication of age." — /Jid., 
 page 598. 
 
58 NOTES 
 
 NOTE J. 
 " That feelings of awe and astonishment should be excited by 
 the sudden and unexpected appearance of » great comet, is in 
 no way surprising ; being, in fact, according to the accounts we 
 have of such events, one of the most imposing of all natural 
 phenomena." — Ihid., page 341. 
 
 " The motions of comets are apparently most irregular and 
 capricious. Sometimes they remain in sight only for a few days, 
 at others for many months ; some move with extreme slowness, 
 others with extraordinary velocity ; while not unf requently, the 
 two extremes of apparent speed are exhibited by the same comet 
 in different parts of its course. Some pursue a direct, some a 
 retrograde, others a tortuous and very irregular course ; nor do 
 they confine themselves, like the planets, within any certain 
 region of the heavens, but traverse indifferently every part." — 
 Hid., page 345. 
 
 " When the orbit of a comet is of the hyperbolic character, 
 and has passed its perihelion, it can never more return within 
 the sphere of our observation, but must run off to visit other 
 systems, or be lost in the immensity of space. A very few 
 comets have been ascertained to move in hyperbolas, Ijut many 
 more in ellipses." — Ihid., page 348. 
 
NOTES 59 
 
 NOTE K. 
 
 Shy. The Scotch word "lift" might advantageously be 
 substituted. 
 
 NOTE L. 
 
 Sield. A place of shelter, hut, hovel, a fox's den. Old Norse — 
 iyli, a dwelling. In Icelandic — a den, a lair. — Ferguson's Dialect 
 of Owmherland. 
 
 This term is frequently applied in Northumberland to 
 shelters for sheep on the open fells, often consisting of walls 
 built in the form of a cross or the letter S, so as to afford, 
 shelter from the wind whatever direction it may blow from 
 Also spelled Beeld by Hodgson. 
 
 NOTE M. 
 
 Yont. This is a. corruption or contraction of beyond, rather 
 than a distinct word. It occurs in Jwmieton's Dictionary, but 
 not in Ferguson's Dialect of OumherUmd. 
 
 NOTE N. 
 
 Time seems here to contradict himself, having previously 
 owned there was much he could not fathom. But such is a 
 common occurrence. A statement is freely made so long as it 
 
60 NOTES 
 
 is spontaneous and fairly indefinite, but when confronted with 
 the contentions of a candid and not over-courteous friend, the 
 former confession of ignorance often gives way to assertions of 
 superior knowledge. 
 
 NOTE O. 
 
 Oroosam. Adj., grim, forbidding looking ; Clev. — grue ; 
 Germ. — grausam, fierce, terrible ; Dial. Swed. — gruaame, dis- 
 mal looking, dejected ; Dan. — gru, horror ; Germ. — grmten, to 
 have a horror or aversion. — Ferguson's Dialect of Oiimberland. 
 
 To groue, gromc (pronounced groo), to shudder ; grousum, 
 growsome, grousome, adj., to be ugly or revolting. The last 
 spelling is as given by Burns. — Jamieson's Dictionary. 
 
 To "groo" is to shudder with aversion at any object ; and a 
 thing is " groosome " which either from fear or aversion makes 
 you shudder at beholding it or even suspecting its presence. It 
 has no equivalent in the English language, and should be in- 
 corporated. 
 
 NOTE P. 
 
 The " Druid " is introduced for the sake of effect, and his 
 philosophy is in no way an effort to reproduce that of the Triads, 
 nor, indeed, of any other ancient school of thought ; but is what 
 suggested itself to the writer as most suitable to supplement the 
 
NOTES 61 
 
 other matter in the poem. The following extriict from the writings 
 of Sir William Jones in the fourth volume of the Asiatic 
 Researches, and which the writer had not seen when he wrote 
 the verses is most interesting :— 
 
 " I have already had occasion to touch on the Indian meta- 
 physics of natural bodies according to the most celebrated of 
 the Asiatic schools, from which the Pythagoreans are supposed to 
 have borrowed many of their opinions ; and as we learn from 
 Cicero, that the old sages of Europe had an idea of centripetal 
 force, and a principle of universal gravitation, so I can venture to 
 affirm, without meaning to pluck a leaf from the never-fading 
 laurels of our immortal Newton, that the whole of his theology, 
 and part of his philosophy, may be found in the Vidas, and even 
 in the works of the Sifis. That most suhtU spirit, which he 
 suspected to pervade natural bodies, and, lying concealed in them, 
 to cause attraction and repulsion ; the emission, reflection, and 
 refraction of light ; electricity, calefaction, sensation, and muscular 
 motion, is described by the Hindus as a fifth element, endued with 
 those very powers ; and the Yidas abound with allusions to a 
 force universally attractive, which they chiefly ascribe to the sun ; 
 but the most wonderful passage on the theory of attraction occurs 
 in the charming allegorical poem of Shlrin and Ferh^, or the 
 Divine Spirit, and a human soul disinterestedly pious ; a work 
 
62 NOTES 
 
 which, from the first verse to the last, is a blaze of religious and 
 poetical fire. The whole passage appears to me so curious, that 
 I make no apology for giving you a faithful translation of it : — 
 
 ' There is » strong propensity which dances through every 
 atom, and attracts the minutest particle to some peculiar object. 
 Search the universe from its base to its summit, from fire to air, 
 from water to earth, from all below the moon to all above the 
 celestial spheres, and thou wilt not find a corpuscle destitute of 
 that natural attractability ; the very point of the first thread, 
 in this apparently tangled skein, is no other thein such a principle 
 of attraction ; and all principles besides are void of a real basis : 
 from such a propensity arises every motion perceived in heavenly, 
 or in terrestrial bodies ; it is a disposition to be attracted, which 
 taught hard steel to rush from its place and rivet itself on the 
 magnet ; it is the same disposition which impels the light straw 
 to attach itself firmly on amber ; it is this quality which gives 
 every substance in nature a tendency towards another, and an 
 inclination forcibly directed to a determinate point.' 
 
 These notions are vague, indeed, and unsatisfactory ; but 
 permit me to ask whether the last paragraph of Newtom's 
 incomparable work goes much further." 
 
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MAY GAMES 
 
 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MAY GAMES. 
 
 These had their beginnings in the earliest mythological times. 
 To trace their exact purport is somewhat beyond the scope of 
 this little book ; suffice it to say that the May Carnival was 
 undoubtedly, in its combined religious and social characters, the 
 most popular and important of the whole year. It will be easily 
 understood that when the nations of Europe gradually embraced 
 Christianity, the more exciting and agreeable festivals of the 
 previous system would still be clung to. A distinct belief in the 
 sanctity of the observances probably was not long in disappearing, 
 where the adoption of the Christian faith was genuine and 
 thorough. Indeed, the two beliefs could scarcely co-exist. But 
 while all idea of worship soon disappeared, a belief in the effect 
 of the May dew on the complexion and other dogmas of the 
 ancient system kept hold for centuries on the popular imagina- 
 tion. When, therefore, the Puritan Divine denounced the May 
 Pole as a " stinking idol," he was approximately correct, especially 
 if he objected to the smell of freshly-cut timber. 
 
64 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MAY GAMES 
 
 When, however, the carnival lost its distinctly sacred 
 character and the guidance of the ancient Priesthood, it assumed 
 at different times and places forms arising out of some striking 
 local event, or had incorporated into its programme the exploits 
 of some popular hero or the mummery of some popular court 
 frolic. In this way in the middle ages Robin Hood was largely 
 introduced, and so was the Moris or Moorish dancing brought 
 from Spam. 
 
 It may be as well to dispose of the prevalent impression 
 «xpres8ed in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, namely, "that the 
 customs of the May day chiefly took their rise with the 
 Romans." Undoubtedly, "Flora" and other proper names 
 were derived from the Roman mythology ; but that the May 
 Games were anterior to Roman influence and were derived from 
 the Celtic and other mythologies, of which the Roman mythology 
 was a re-hash, is apparent from this one circumstance, narrated 
 in"the Justinian code : — 
 
 " We have been pleased in our clemency," say the Emperors 
 Arcadius and Honorius, " to permit the May sports to be held 
 yearly among the people of Provence, on condition, however 
 that decorum shall prevail, and that decency and chastity of 
 morals be observed during its celebration." 
 
BRIEF HISTORY OP THE MAY GAMES 65 
 
 The May Pestwal certainly extended as far as the Celtic 
 race, and traces of them could be found up to the end of last 
 century, in the British Isles, France, Gerinu.ny, the Peninsula, 
 ItsJy, Greece, and as far east as Moscow. The French Revolu- 
 tion in 1789 was a great blow to it in the larger towns of 
 France, but it retained its influence in the country till it 
 gradually succumbed to the like influences which practically 
 banished it from this country. 
 
 The following is a concise description of the May Games as 
 narrated by Stnbbs the Puritan, a bitter enemy of all such 
 amusements : — 
 
 " May-day Eve Has come. At midnight the people assemble, 
 divide into companies and go to the woods, groves, and hills, 
 and there spend the first hours fo the dawn, now bathing their 
 faces vrith the dew off the grass — a sovereign remedy for ren- 
 dering them beautiful — now collecting branches of trees, chiefly 
 of the birch, laden with which they return, singing loud, as 
 
 Chaucer says, 
 
 'Against the sunne sheen.' 
 
 But the chiefest jewel they bring from thence is the May Pole, 
 
 which they bring home with great veneration, as thus : — ^They 
 
 have twenty or forty yoke of oxen, every ox having a sweet 
 
 nosegay of flowers tied to the tip of his horns, and these oxen 
 
66 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MAY GAMES 
 
 draw home the May Pole which they covered 
 
 all over with flowers and herbs, bound round with string from 
 the top to the bottom ; and sometimes it was painted with 
 variable colours, having two or three hundred men, women, and 
 children following it with great devotion. And, thus equipped, 
 it was reared, with handkerchiefs and flags streaming on the top, 
 they straw the ground round about it, they bind green boughs 
 about it ; they set up summer halls, bowers, and arbours hard 
 Toy, and then fall they to banqueting and feasting, to leaping and 
 dancing about it." 
 
 Nastrademus narrated what was done in his time — " It is a 
 very ancient custom to choose the loveliest and youngest girls of 
 the district and deck them in gorgeous array with crowns of 
 flowers, wreaths, jewels, and silk dresses, and place them on 
 elevated thrones after the manner of young goddesses in niches. 
 They are commonly called ' Mayes.' " 
 
 Nastrademus also refers to May Poles, garlanded with flowers, 
 set up on the last day of April at the doors of Magistrates and 
 •other people of distinction. 
 
 In the department of Gironde, in France, the May-day is thus 
 celebrated : — On the Sunday following the May-day the children 
 proceed to make the crown. On the previous day they collect 
 
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MAY GAMES 67 
 
 the flowers, and these they arrange on two cross hoops and hang 
 a large bouquet from the centre. On the Sunday morning the 
 crown is suspended in the middle of the street by means of a 
 cord stretching from one house to another. A party of four or 
 five children stop the people passing by and " ask a halfpenny 
 for the crown." With the sum collected they have a light 
 repast, which being finished, the joyful company set out to the 
 country to select and cut a May-pole. This is a branch of haw- 
 thorn in blossom, which the youngsters carry in triumph. The 
 bush is set up in front of the house where the gariand was made, 
 the latter being hung on it. They buy, or rather they used to 
 buy, candles made of resin, for which are now substituted the 
 tips of wax lights, which they stick on the prickles of the May- 
 pole. In the evening these are lighted, and the chQdreti sins 
 and dance around the tree. It is also the custom to set up a 
 May-pole during the night before May-day at the doors of 
 mayors and deputies, and of stone merchants. In these cases 
 the May-pole is a pine with a long trunk, which they cut down, 
 and float from the top the national colours. 
 
 In connection with the above, the following custom recorded 
 by Knight is most interesting : — " In many of the villages of 
 Surrey we are told that, during the last few days of April, the 
 village children go about the meadows, and, collecting all the 
 
68 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MAY GAMES 
 
 cowslips they ceui find, form them into gairlands, arranged 
 commonly on two hoops crossed vertically and fixed on poles ; 
 very pretty they look." We have thus the same simple custom 
 perpetuated in Gironde and Surrey. 
 
 To be perfectly consistent, the May Queen's reign should 
 terminate at noon, and undoubtedly she would look prettier in 
 the morning light than at any other time of the day. It is when 
 the sun reaches the summit of his course that the honours to the 
 Queen should reach their climax, and it is while the sun glides 
 down to darkness, and after the Queen has retired, that the 
 other games should be admitted, if admitted at all. 
 
 The May games seem to have held their own in England till 
 the beginning of the present century, when the many changes in 
 the habits of the people following on the introduction of the 
 steam engine led to their gradual neglect. A writer in Leisure 
 Hour remarks : — At the beginning of the Peninsular war they 
 had not fallen into disuse, for we can remember jumping in 
 short clothes round the May-pole in the year of the battle of 
 Salamanca, and watching the fading of the floral chaplet that 
 crowned the long shaft in the meadow next the churchyard for 
 weeks and months afterwards. 
 
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MAY GAMES 69 
 
 When Wordsworth wrote his Excursion, the May games 
 were still observed in Cumberland. He says : — 
 
 A wide spread ehn 
 Stands in our valley named the joyful tree, 
 Prom dateless usage which our peasants hold 
 Of giving welcome to the first of May 
 By dances round its trunk. 
 
 At Templesowerby there is a permanent May pole standing, 
 and probably also at a few more villages in the north. These 
 May-poles may not have been uninterruptedly kept up since the 
 middle ages, but have been so continuous as to form a genuine 
 link with the past. It is to be feared, however, that the chilling 
 grasp of an iron age has rendered the annual festival an unprofit- 
 able task, instead of being the spontaneous exuberance of 
 gratitude to the Giver of aU good things, joy in the companion- 
 ship of the good and the beautiful, and a manifestation of 
 goodwill to every living creature. 
 
70 THE EtrSKIN REVIVAL 
 
 THE EUSKIN EEVIVAL. 
 
 The modern revival of the May Queen Festival is, in its first 
 initiation, in a great measure, if not entirely, due to Professor 
 Ruskin. In 1880 he opened negotiations with the Principal of 
 Whiteland's OoUege for School Mistresses, Chelsea, which led to 
 the founding of the Ruskin May Queen Festival, which takes 
 place on the Feast of SS. Philip and James (May 1st). The 
 Professor gives the May Queen in each year a gold cross and 
 necklet of original design and beautiful workmanship, and forty 
 of his books bound in purple calf and gold to give away among 
 the students at her own pleasure, and for some good reason. 
 The May Queen is elected by ballot and universal suffrage by 
 the whole body from the junior students. The day is of course 
 a very notable holiday in the calendar of the college. 
 
 There is first the election, then the presentation of the Ruskin 
 gold cross and chain to the newly elected Queen, then the pre- 
 sentation of the Professor's works by the Queen for good reason 
 assigned, of which the following are instances : — " Because the 
 Queen likes her," " because the girls like her, " " because she is 
 
THE RUSKIN REVIVAL 71 
 
 gentle in manner and kind in heart," " because like a sunbeam 
 she brightens all around her," " because she can sing, and there 
 is so much reason for singing in this sweet world," &c. After 
 the presentations, the Queen proclaims a holiday till the evening, 
 and the festival closes with the National Anthem. 
 
 From this centre the festival has spread to many schools and 
 parishes. The first to take it up being the High School for Girls 
 at Cork. There is here held annually a Rose Queen festival, and 
 the Queen is again presented each year with a Ruskin gold cross. 
 As the festival appears to be carried out here with exceptionally 
 good taste, we give the following particulars condensed from the 
 newspaper report for 1894. 
 
 The schoolroom was artistically decorated by the pupils. 
 Upon a picturesquely constructed floral chrone sat the reigning 
 Rose Queen, and around her were disposed the pupils all dressed 
 in white, and gaily decked with flowers. Proceedings opened 
 with the singing of the " High School Song " by the pupils, after 
 which was recited " Daffodils " (Wordsworth). 
 
 Voting papers were then distributed, and during the election 
 of the Rose Queen for the ensuing year, a piano solo was played. 
 Then followed a historical charade, after which the Lord Bishop 
 announced amid hearty applause the new Rose Queen. The 
 Queen elect, attended by her maidens, then retired to be robed. 
 
72 THE RUSKIN REVIVAL 
 
 The solo, " Showers of Flowers," was meanwhile played on 
 the piano, and the younger children sang " IJady Daffodowndilly.'' 
 The Head Mistress then gave a beautiful address, of which the 
 following is the concluding part : — 
 
 " These old-world ways of gazing into the well of nature, 
 and reading there something of her manifold methods and plans, 
 are entrancing in these 19th century matter-of-fact and practical 
 days, for, to a superficial observer, the uninteresting looking 
 bnlb, in its brown encasements, is to all appearance inert ; it is 
 the death which is to be the gate of renewed life, it is the period 
 of rest and preparation, the schooling, so to speak, for a brilliant, 
 attractive, and useful future. Place the small creature in the 
 nursing bosom of its mother earth, and leave it there, clasped in 
 her natural maternal embrace, then slowly, but surely, changes 
 begin ; the tiny bulb throws out tender white rootlets, which 
 insinuate themselves through the soft, nourishing matter in 
 which they lie, and absorb industriously the elements necessary 
 to produce a shoot — then by and by they delight the gaze of 
 thoughtful ones, and fill the heart of the cultivator with joy. 
 Delicate, spear like leaves, exquisite in their glaucous colouring 
 and fresh, youtbful beauty, spring upwards, only to be followed 
 by the pride and glory of the whole plant, the beautiful and in- 
 comparable flower exquisite in colouring, and charming in variety 
 
THE RUSKIN REVIVAL 73 
 
 of form. Thus, too, for a brief season, our sweet young pupils are 
 under tutelage, restricted within the narrow boundaries of home 
 and school until time brings with it the inevitable change, and 
 our human plants gaze upon the world of dawning light and 
 hope with the joy which pervades all new young life in its 
 spring-tide of budding beauty and strength." 
 
 The Grand March was then heard, and the Rose Queen's 
 procession filed into the hall. First came her Floral Majesty, 
 garlanded with roses, and next her maidens, according to 
 seniority, bearing the royal flowers. Upon being crowned by 
 Francis II, the Rose Queen made a declaration as follows : — 
 
 "We, Amy II, 10th Rose Queen, by the election of our 
 schoolfellows, offer our allegiance to the laws of our Kingdom, 
 and hereby declare it to be our earnest endeavour to promote 
 the welfare of our realm and uphold all that is good and true." 
 
 Presentations and complimentary speeches followed, among 
 which the past Queen commended to the notice of her successor, 
 the museum of precious stones and minerals presented by 
 Professor Ruskin. The past Rose Queen now placed the Rose- 
 sceptre in the hand of her Floral Majesty with wishes for a 
 prosperous and happy reign. Lady Mary Aldworth then pre- 
 sented the Ruskin cross, and Amy II, 10th Rose Queen 
 
74 THE RUSKIN REVIVAL 
 
 ascended the throne. Congratulatory telegrams from other 
 schools were then read, the Queen dispensed her gifts, and some 
 further music with the National Anthem concluded the festival. 
 
 Besides the schools already referred to, one of the first places 
 to adopt the May Queen revival was Keswick, where was 
 instituted a May Day Festival in 1887. There was the usual 
 procession and dance round the May-pole ; and the Queen 
 issued a proclamation, the leading idea of which was to in- 
 culcate a spirit of humanity towards every living thing. The 
 poetical element was not wanting, of which the following is a 
 sample : — 
 
 Merry little maidens, ! 
 Round the May-pole now we go, 
 Glancing hand and twinkling feet. 
 Going through our figures neat. 
 
 Merry little maidens, 
 Merry little maidens. 
 Merry little maidens, 
 
 Bringing in the May 1 
 Now we sing and now we shout. 
 Dancing in and dancing out ; 
 While the ribbons overhead 
 Twist from white to blue and red. 
 
 Merry little maidens, &c. 
 
THE KUSKIN REVIVAL 75 
 
 Crissed and crossed while round we go, 
 Patterns as by magic show : 
 May-poles never at their best 
 Were in brighter colours dressed, 
 
 By the merry maidens, &c, 
 
 Keswick fathers come and see, 
 
 How we dress the May-pole tree : 
 
 Eeswick mothers come and gaze. 
 
 Dream again of golden days, 
 
 And of merry maidens, 
 And of merry maidens. 
 And of merry maidens, 
 
 Bringing in the May ! 
 
 In 1890 and 1891 a May Queen Gala was celebrated in con- 
 nection with Holy Trinity Church Schools, Carlisle. This may 
 be regarded as an ofishoot from Keswick as far as the dance and 
 procession were concerned. The general arrangement as then 
 carried out is set forth in the introduction, and the dance itself 
 is described in Note A. The children an i the dancing were 
 much admired, and the sports and football that followed had 
 their usual supporters. In the second year the proceedings con- 
 
76 THE RUSKIN REVIVAI. 
 
 eluded with a display of fireworks given by the Vicar, which 
 made a very becoming ending to the day's enjoyment. In each 
 year there was read for the Queen the usual " Proclamation," 
 making chiefly local references. An extract free of local colour 
 was as follows : — 
 
 " Perennial springs the flowery mead, 
 And let each face, from rancour freed. 
 Perennially reflect with mirth 
 The aspect of our mother earth." 
 
 The Rev. E. H. Sugden, who was Curate-in-charge in 1890 
 of Holy Trinity, Carlisle, was appointed Vicar of Arlecdon and 
 Frizington in 1891, and in that year he instituted a May Queen 
 Gala, which has been continued yearly, and which has grown to 
 immense proportions. It affords a good instance of what may 
 be done by energy and popular methods. The following par- 
 ticulars are from the newspaper report of the OaJa for the year 
 1894 :— 
 
 There were between 700 and 800 children in the procession. 
 The order was as follows : — First came two marshals on horse 
 back dressed in scarlet uniform, next a, brass band, next 
 " Britannia and her possessions" in a one-horse lorry, including 
 John Bull, Scotland, Ireland, Britannia on a dais in the centre, 
 Australia, and Canada, all dressed in character. Two horses 
 
THE RUSKIN REVIVAL 77 
 
 driven tandem in a large wagon carried a boji containing 17 
 sailor boys. A number ol soarf-drilled girls followed in two 
 wagonettes. Following these came Mary Queen of Scots and 
 Queen Elizabeth, on horse back ; then a number of flower girls 
 wreathed in chaplets of bright flowers, followed by Grace Darling 
 in a canoe, mounted on a cart. Twenty-four maypole dancers 
 next foUowed on a two-horse lorry ; they formed a pretty 
 picture ; the lorry was draped in Turkey red and muslin, and 
 decorated by bannerettes and golden shiejdg. " India and the 
 Seasons " came next upon a two-horse lorry. Then followed 
 representations of nursery rhymes ; a young gentleman in the 
 character of Tom the Piper's Son carried a life-sized young 
 pig, which is recorded was a conspicuous figure of the procession ; 
 so was Mother Hubbard with her little live dog, and the 
 Little Man who had a Little (lun ; following these were Miss 
 Muffett, Little Boy Blue, Black Birds in Pie, Blind Mice, 
 and Fairies, Bo-Peeps, Old Woman in a Shoe, Red Riding- 
 hoods, Kate Oreenaways, a Band, Soldiers in large wagonette, 
 then the Royal Carriage drawn by four grey horses, and 
 containing the Queen, eleven Maids of Honour, Archbishop, 
 Sceptre Bearer, and two Pages ; two Jesters on Donkeys, 
 Buttercup Girls, Buffalo Bill, Milkmaids, Fishwives, Fire 
 Brigade, and London Criers. 
 
78 THE BUSKIN REVIVAL 
 
 Arrived at the Park the Queen was crowned by the Arch- 
 bishop. Then followed the May Pole and other dances, and 
 gymnastic displays. The day's entertainment was varied by a 
 Sale of Work and Obstacle Races, for which prizes were offered. 
 The poetical aspect of the day's proceedings was from the pen 
 of the Rev. A. B. Stevens ; we append a specimen from the 
 Archbishop's speech : — 
 
 " Sovereign maiden, fitly chosen, 
 Royal Queen of this glad day, 
 Here I vest thee with the token 
 Of the power we in thee lay. 
 Maiden Monarch, see, we greet thee, 
 Welcome to thy loyal state, 
 Rise, and with thy royal bounty 
 All thy faithful ones elate.'' 
 
 Since 1892 there has been an annual festival in Cockermouth 
 in connection with the Children's Column Department of the 
 West Cvmiberland Times. This has also grown in popularity, 
 and has attained to large dimensions. 
 
 The following details are from the newspaper report: — " From 
 an early hour the streets were busy, and the town was gaily 
 decorated. The principal items of the day's programme were a 
 
THE EUSKIN REVIVAL 79 
 
 grand procession, crowning of the May Queen, the braiding of 
 the May Pole, morris dancing, songs, drills, sports, a monster tea, 
 and the performance at night of a children's operetta. 
 
 The procession consisted of over 350 " cousins " in costumes 
 representing various characters, and a much larger number of 
 others. The following were among the characters represented : 
 — Policemen, Footballers, Little Boy Blue, Clown, Forresters, 
 Archers, Negroes, Dumb Bell Performers, Malvern Masher, 
 Flower Girls, including Buttercup, Violet, Rosebud, May Flower, 
 Daisy ; Shepherdesses, Milkmaids, Red Riding Hood, Old 
 Mother Hubbard, Little Bo-Peep, Gipsy, Ivy Girl, Lilac Girl. 
 Next appeared the May Queen enthroned amidst her maids of 
 honour and pages on a gaily-bedecked lorry. Following the 
 Royal Carriage came a long procession similar to that just 
 described, and including Morris Dancers, Bow Boys, Blacksmith, 
 Painter, Jester, Golden Hair and the Three Bears, Mr. Gladstone, 
 Lord Salisbury, Morley, Barber, Sailors, Swiss Ladies, May Pole 
 Trippers, Fairy Queen, Volunteer Band, and the children of the 
 Industrial School. 
 
 The next item was the Coronation of the Queen. This seems 
 to have been prettily done, and the following particulars are 
 worth recording. 
 
so THE RUSKIN REVIVAL 
 
 A " CouBin " stepped forward and taking the garland from 
 the first page threw it over the Queen's shoulder, after reciting 
 the following presentation speech : — 
 
 Thou art the Queen of May, 
 As May throws over the land. 
 Bright garlands of beauty, 
 My loyal duty 
 Is thus with loving hand 
 To fling this garland green 
 Over the neck of our Queen. 
 
 The Queen, after receiving the garland, made reply : — 
 
 Eor thy loyal hand to deck. 
 Low I bend my royal neck ; 
 Lovely is this garland gay 
 That adorns your Queen of May. 
 
 Another " Cousin," taking the crown from the second page, 
 placed it on Her Majesty's head, sajring : — 
 
 Spring is the Queen of year, 
 
 And May is the Queen of spring ; 
 Thou art the Queen of May, most dear, 
 
 And so thy crown I bring. 
 Bend thy beautiful head, I pray. 
 That I may crown thee Queen of May. 
 
THE RUSKIN REVIVAL 81 
 
 To which the Queen answered : — 
 
 Brighter far than gold or gem, 
 
 I this flowery diadem 
 
 Wear upon my brow to-day, 
 
 That shall crown your Queen of May. 
 
 The Proclamation which was next read was a varied and 
 appropriate composition, dealing with sweetness of temper and 
 other moral excellences. Then was sung the " Call of the 
 Flowers," and this was followed by the braiding of the May Pole. 
 The scarf drill, morris dance, and other exercises completed the 
 open-air part of the day's entertainment. 
 
 There have been other May-day celebrations, but the 
 instances given above will enable any one wishing to arrange a 
 gala to select a programme suitable to his tastes and plane of 
 thought. 
 
82 THE MAY MORN 
 
 THE MAS' MORN. 
 
 In the district round Lamur in France, in the silence of the 
 night, between the last day of April, and the first day of May, 
 it is the custom for lovers, to place a bough on the roof of the 
 houses, or at the windows of their sweethearts. If the branch 
 be of the lilac, it is a compliment to the modesty and innocence 
 of the lady ; if of birch, it is taken as a pledge of fidelity ; if a 
 flowering cherry or hawthorn, it is a declaration of love, and an 
 expression of desire to marry. The following verses have been 
 based on this beautiful custom. 
 
 At Launceston, poor people who have certain ailments 
 go before sunrise on the first of May to the grave of the 
 last young man who has been buried in the churchyard, and 
 apply the dew gathered, by passing the hand three times from 
 the head to the foot of the grave, to the part affected. This 
 cure is principally applicable to swelled necks, but in the second 
 last stanza its use is extended to ease a sorrowful mind. 
 
THE MAY MORN 
 
 'Twas on a mom, the sweet May morn, 
 When I was young, without a care. 
 
 Close by my attic window high 
 There bloomed a bough of lilac fair. 
 
 who could plant that bough so high ? 
 
 All guessed and guessed, but could not tell, 
 
 1 could not guess, but thought I knew. 
 But all the thought kept to mysel'. 
 
 'Twas next May mom, the sweet May morn, 
 And I was young with just one care, 
 
 would he scale my window high. 
 And plant again a garland there. 
 
 1 rose as bright as May's first mom, 
 
 A birch bough shown my casement through, 
 I clasped my hands across my heart, 
 I knew that Jamie still was true. 
 
 'Twas next May mom, the sweetest morn, 
 
 That ever rose on earth for me, 
 For through my window high there shown 
 
 The hawthorn and the cherry tree. 
 These flowery chaplets told their tale, 
 
 As words could never tell again, 
 Of love that sought the marriage vow. 
 
 And hallowed life-long would remain. 
 
84 THE MAY MORN 
 
 'Twas next May morn, oh ! mournful morn, 
 For Jamie low lay in the mould, 
 
 I, weeping, early sought his grave 
 Among the dew that wept so cold. 
 
 Three times I swept the dewy mound, 
 And bathed my burning brow forlorn ; 
 
 I laid a chaplet on his breast. 
 
 Of cherry, birch, and blooming thorn. 
 
 Since then each mom, each weird May morn. 
 
 Within the magic maze of sleep. 
 There comes my Jamie brighter grown. 
 
 One hallowed hour to vigil keep. 
 He brings me crowns, he brings me wreaths, 
 
 Of birch, of thorn, of cherry tree. 
 Of flowers that twine about the bower 
 
 That he in bliss has built for me. 
 
 [The above was written after the Thespis was complete, and 
 was not designed to form any part of it. It could, however, be 
 sung before " The Sweet May Dew," and would thereby add to 
 the variety of the Poem.] 
 
t llailtoag %cdhtnl 
 
 Read before the Holy Trinity Men's Mutual Improvement 
 Society, 'January 20, i8gi. 
 
 The references in the following lines will be best understood by 
 recalling the following facts : — Early in the morning of Tuesday, 
 25th November, 1890, a North British Special train, which had 
 been engaged by a gentleman expected by the South Midland 
 Express, waited in the Citadel Station, Carlisle. The Express, 
 which was late, having arrived, and the gentleman having taken 
 his seat, the Special hurried off in front of the fast train for 
 Edinburgh. The north line goes close by the county prisori 
 and the old wall of the city, and then at a point known as the 
 Willow Holme, turns sharply uphill to the westward. Here the 
 engine is supposed to have struck the V points : at any rate it 
 left the rails, and landed at the bottom of the bank, with its 
 head towards Carlisle. Adam Gray, the fireman, lost his leg, 
 and Mark Inglis, the driver, was found dead under the wheel 
 of the engine. 
 
 November's hoary night, with chilling breath 
 And weary drag, sledged on the lagging hours ; 
 
 It was the season dark of nature's death, — 
 That death that seals each bud within her bowers. 
 
( 2 ) 
 
 Such the without, but in the " Citadel " 
 There reigned a noisy travesty of night : — 
 
 " Express Ts late " ; "A special for a swell " ; — 
 
 Dinned in the ear, while lamps flashed on the sight. 
 
 And deeper yet the medley grew, as still 
 The passengers flock in with heavy freight 
 
 Of luggage, and of questionings that fill 
 The ready hand and ear of those who wait. 
 
 Meanwhile the " Special " stands within her berth, 
 Two coaches and a van in neat array; 
 
 And busy all around the engine hearth 
 
 There walks, with steady tread, the Fireman, Gray. 
 
 The Driver views her form with knowing pride. 
 And oils each moving part with careful hand ; 
 
 Upon the near and on the farther side, 
 
 He tightens up each nut, and valve, and gland. 
 
 Then leaving all secure he wipes his hand. 
 And pockets yet again his bunch of waste ; 
 
 And on his Engine quietly takes his stand, 
 To face whate'er the Fates bring to be faced. 
 
 Why call him hero who is trained to kill ? 
 
 The rather style him so who strives to save, 
 Through darkest midnight's every boding ill, 
 
 His precious charge ; — he is the truly brave ! 
 
 How little reck they of the " Night Express," 
 How many times their doom is thrust aside 
 
 By that skilled hand that, with nerve-wearing stress, 
 Must ever speed and slow and warn and guide ! 
 
 'Midst all the buffettings of speed and storm, 
 
 He reads his road with constant judgment clear ; 
 
 And stands with earnest mien and manly form, 
 Britain's best son — an honest Engineer ! 
 
( 3 ) 
 
 The South Express comes in with headlong rush, 
 With tumult added on to tumult sore, 
 
 Till all the Station is one swerving push, — 
 One shout, one run, one general uproar. 
 
 The sportsman hurries to his " Special " train. 
 To get away before the fast Express ; 
 
 And nimbly must the " Special " distance gain, — 
 Eight minutes is its start, or something less. 
 
 The signal 's given, and the Engine starts. 
 Obsequious to its Master's guiding hand ; 
 
 With cough defiant, and with haughty snorts, 
 It gains momentum o'er the fleeting land. 
 
 Quickly it leaves the gloomy home of doom, — 
 Fast and still faster Carle's grimy wall, — 
 
 Into the outer raw, damp, frozen gloom. 
 
 Where Stanwix' lamps are seen to glimmer small. 
 
 The Driver threads his way through danger's maze. 
 That warns with ruddy glow on either hand ; 
 
 Still faster o'er the Caldew speeds his race. 
 And faster up the curve, careering grand ! 
 
 Now lo ! a spark, a crash, a horror deep ; 
 
 A fearful jolting, and a sickening sway ! 
 What words can speak the agonies that leap. 
 
 Like demons, on the stage of that dire play ! 
 
 The Engine 's struck the points, and left the rails. 
 And rebel now against all mundane power ; 
 
 No human skill nor strength one jot avails; — 
 God help them in that weak and awful hour ! 
 
 A fearful lurch throws Gray, upon the ground. 
 And quick as thought his limb is severed quite ; 
 
 He lay a thing of agony, till found, 
 
 Bleeding and freezing in the cruel night. 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 One noble somersault, 'midst steam and fire, 
 With hellish hiss, and shrill, metallic clank : 
 
 Engine and Driver end their journey dire. 
 And plunge to ruin down that dreadful bank. 
 
 One gasp, one groan, one quiver, and the twam 
 In concert died ; and in one mangled heap 
 
 Together they grew cold. But ne'er again, 
 Driver and driven, shall they concert keep. 
 
 That Engine shall return from Swan's deft hands. 
 
 Axled and ready for its journeys far ; 
 The Driver 's on another line, to lands 
 
 Where Love electric speeds the Onward Car ! 
 
 Ash House, Carlisle. DAVID BURNS. 
 
 PRINTED BY JAMES BURNS, I5, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, LONDON, W<C. 
 
SUBSCRIBERS 86 
 
 SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 Robert Fbkgdson, J.P., F.S.A., Morton, Carlisle 10 
 
 John Pattinson, F.I.C, Newcastle-on-Tyne 
 
 Andrew Swan, Carlisle 
 
 Miss Beeyob, High School for Girls, Carlisle 
 
 John Mack, Edinburgh 
 
 W. LoNGBiGG, J.P., Winderwath, Penrith 
 
 R. C Dawson, Carlisle 
 
 J. AiNSWOETH, Board Schools, Carlisle 
 
 Wm. Mitchell, J.P., City and District Bank, Carlisle 
 
 Rev. J. Faunthokpe, M.A., Whitelands College, London 2 
 
 J. Teasdale, City of Carlisle School Board 
 
 Wm. Woeball, Liverpool 2 
 
 The Ven. Archdeacon Pbesoott, LL.D., Carlisle - 2 
 
 J. Johnston, Carlisle 
 
 John Cottbeill, Fawcett Schools, Carlisle 
 
 T. Long, Board Schools, Carlisle 3 
 
 J. J. Saint, C.A., Carlisle 4 
 
 J. HiQSON, Liverpool 2 
 
 Rev. W. A. Wbiglkt, M.A., Silloth 
 
 R. W. Cochrane Pateick, M.P., LL.D., Beith 2 
 
 Miss Mabtin, Cork 
 
 James Steel, Journal Office, Carlisle 2 
 
86 SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 J. Tait, Workiogton Iron Works 
 
 J. Walton, Glenwood, Alston - 5 
 
 Rev. Canon Lowe, Haltwhistle 
 
 Gkobgb Clark, Dovenby Hall Office i 
 
 Rev. A. E. Palin, B.A., Stanwix 2 
 
 Chas. D. Tustin, The Lordings, London 10 
 
 Jambs Watt, J.P., Knowefield 
 
 Wm. D. Savage, J.P., Brighton 2 
 
 Miles MaoInnes, M.P., Rlckerby 
 
 David Mao Kehzie, C.B., Nairn 
 
 Miss Bowman, Wetheral 
 
 Chancellor Feequson, M.A., LL.M., F.S.A., Carlisle 
 
 Rev. S. Falle, M.A., Brampton 
 
 Rev, H. Lonsdale, M.A., Carlisle 
 
 The Ven. Archdeacon Phillips, Barrow-in-Furness 2 
 
 J. W. Brown, Carlisle 
 
 J. P. Walton, J.P., Hexham 10 
 
 J. Smith Hill, B.A., B.Sc, Principal, Aspatria Agricultural 
 
 College 
 G. 0. RiMiNGTON, Carlisle 
 
 W. C. Gully, Q.O., M.P. 2 
 
 The Right Rev. Lord Bishop op Babrow-in-Puenbss 2 
 
 C. T. Clodgh, H.M. Geological Survey 
 A. Kenhabd, Brigham 
 
 Wm. Burns, Nettlehirst, Beith 9 
 
 Ex-Bailie Cbaweord, Glasgow 
 Mrs. and Miss Goodwin, Oxford - 10 
 
SUBSCKIBERS 87 
 
 Mrs. Spoonbb 
 
 J. S. Chanob, Carlisle - 4 
 
 A. M. Bkistow, Carlisle 
 
 Mrs. HiGGiK, Marton Vicarage, Chirbury i 
 
 Hknbt Dobinson, J.P., Carlisle 2 
 
 Rev. Wm. Gabbott, Beckermet 
 
 The Right Rev. Lobd Bishop of Caelislk 
 
 J. E. TusTiN, Lundon 'A 
 
 Mrs. ToEEBNCE, Edinburgh 
 
 Rev. J. Baker, M.A., Burgh-by-Sands 12 
 
 J. Hallidat, Eaglesfield 
 
 Mias LiNDSLET, Board Schools, Carlisle 2 
 
 J. B. McNiooi, Board Schools, Carlisle 
 
 Mrs. Obbnadf, Board Schools, Carlisle 
 
 Misses Gale, Morton Cottage 2 
 
 J, Hodgson, City of Carlisle School Board 
 
 Bbasb Bbos., Cockermouth 
 
 W. HowiTT, Carlisle 
 
 Councillor F. Harrison, Carlisle 
 
 Miss Gbahau, Carlisle 
 
 Miss Bell, Carlisle 
 
 Miss Masson, Holy Trinity Schools, Carlisle 
 
 Miss James, Burgh-by-Sands 
 
 T. Taylor Scott, r.R.I.B.A., Carlisle 
 
 Thomas Littlb, Carlisle 
 
 J. M. Clark, Haltwhistle 
 
 J. Dalgleish, Carlisle 
 
88 SUBSCRIBERS 
 
 R. J. Baillie, F.R.A.S., Grosvenor College, Carlisle 
 
 Dr. Mc.Laben, Carlisle 
 
 J. Walker, Bolton 
 
 Rev. J. R. Wood, M.A,, Stanwix 
 
 S. P. FoESTEB, J.P., Brooklands, Penrith 
 
 Mrs. Mao Lean, Ayr 
 
 Miss Babb, Ayr 
 
 F. S. Mabvin, M.A., H.M. Inspector of Schools 2 
 
 J. R. Pattbbson, Carlisle 
 
 J. Hall, Carlisle 
 
 Mrs. Blaiklock, Carlisle - 2 
 
 J. W. Hope, Carlisle 
 
 R. Bbioqs, Carlisle 
 
 A. K. Busby, Carlisle 
 
 W. H. Watson, Glasgow 
 
 T. W. Care, Newtown House, Carlisle 
 
 Miss Carb, Coledale Hall, Carlisle 
 
 Thos. Williamson, City of Carlisle School Board 
 
 H. H. Howell, Director, Geological Survey of Scotland - 2 
 
 Rev. W Dacbe, J.P., Irthington 
 
 J. Abmstbono, Carlisle 
 
 Rev. J. Peowde, B.A., Carlisle 
 
 Councillor M. Haib, Carlisle 
 
 W. J. Benson, Allerwash 2 
 
 Joseph Cowbn, Stella Hall, Blaydon-on-Tyne 2 
 
 A. D. Muebat, Newcastle Journal Office 
 
 Mrs. SooiT, Red Gables, Carlisle 
 
SUBSCRIBERS 89 
 
 Rev. C. H. Pakez, M.A., H.M. Inspector of Schools, Derby 
 
 Colonel A. M. Ckanmee Btno, Quenden Hall 4 
 
 Mrs. Hendeeson, The Deanery, Carlisle 
 
 Miss Stokbt, Shaddongate, Carlisle 
 
 Miss M. A. Barber, Carlisle Board School 
 
 Miss D. J. Barber, Carlisle Board School 
 
 Lindsay Wood, J. P., Chester-le-Street 
 
 Miss T. S. Little, Carlisle Board School 
 
 Rev. H. T. Baines, Ambleside 
 
 J. Barber Dixon, Grantham 4 
 
 Colonel W. L. B. Coulson, Newbrongh 
 
 Dr. W. A. Dunn, Millom 
 
 C. Newell, Carlisle 2 
 
 G. S. T0RNEB, Virkator, Russia 10 
 
 E. H. Banks, J.P., D.L., Highmoor, Wigton 
 
 Rev. T. H. Baines, M.A., Carlisle 2 
 
 S. Cartmell, Carlisle 
 
 The Earl of Carlisle 
 
 Mrs. Chalkee, George Street 
 
 Rev. Henry Glen, Beith 2 
 
 H. D. Liddell, Carlisle 
 
 J. M. Paull, F.G.S., Silloth 
 
 Major Irwin, Lynehow 
 
 W. I. R. Crowdbb, City of Carlisle School Board 
 
 J. Edwards, Silloth 
 
 A. SopwrpH, P.G.S., M.Inst.C.E., Walsall 
 
 Mark Tiffbn, Alby Lodge 
 
90 SUBSCRIBERS 
 
 Mrs. Webb, Aspatria 
 
 Wm. Thos. Lawbbnok, Stanwix 
 
 Mrs. MiLLiOAN, Middleton-in -Teesdale 
 
 L. C. LocKHAET, Hexham 2 
 
 Jos. Peaeson, Corbridge 
 
 E. A. Allison, M.P., Soaleby Castle 
 Miss BuLMAN, Carlisle 
 
 J. R. Daktns, M.A., F.G.S., H.M. Geolog. Survey 
 
 J. W. RoDDAM, stanhope 
 
 v. A. RiPPON, J.P., Rogerley Hall 
 
 Dr. Gbaham, Carlisle 
 
 T. K. Barnes, Bunkers Hill 10 
 
 .J. BnBNS, London 10 
 
 Jno. Bubgess, Carlisle 2 
 
 Dr. Thos. Walton, Naval Academy, United States 10 
 
 ING. Paolo Emilio De Febrabi, Royal Engineers, Italy 
 
 Rev. A. Wabrib, Moresby Rectory 2 
 
 Miss Nevibon, Carlisle 
 
 Signor Don Carlos Adam, Huelva 
 
 A. S. Lewis, Cheltenham 
 
 Rev. H. W. Fakrae, St. James', Carlisle 
 
 Mrs. Staqq, Hill House, Alston 
 
 Wm. Topley, F.R.S., London 2 
 
 F. Jones, L.D.S.. Carlisle 2 
 Benjamin Soott, Carlisle 
 
THE QUEEX OF THE MAY. — P. DIMMA. 
 
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