INTRODUCTORY PAPUL 81 



officers, &c. At the annual meeting, the Apprentices who have 

 attained the age of twenty one, and who must by their laws be 

 sons of quarrymen, present themselves "in court" as it is called, 

 with a penny loaf in one hand, and a pot of beer in the other, and 

 upon paying six shillings and eight pence, their names are 

 entered as free. But previously to this, those apprentices, or 

 "Free Boys," who belong to the Parish of Langton, on the 

 second of February, which is called their " kissing day," parade 

 the streets with ribbons in their hats and music plajdng, and 

 claim a right to kiss every unmarried woman, whom they meet, 

 if the daughter of a quarrier, or to enter for the same purpose 

 any house the door of which they find unfastened. Their claim is 

 neither disallowed nor objected to. They then play at foot-ball 

 in a field adjoining tlie public house, and thence proceed to 

 Worth, where they dine. On Shrove Tuesday they all proceed 

 to Corfe, as I have mentioned above. A part of the Business of 

 this day is to visit Owre, and continue customs, which are appa- 

 rently of considerable antiquity. One is the old game of foot-ball 

 which always accompanies their annual meetings. The ball is 

 called the Pepper Ball, from the circumstance of their continuing 

 the custom of carrying a pound of Pepper and presenting it to the 

 person who occupies the house at the spot whence the marble was 

 formerly exported, and in return receive a cake. Now I have 

 never met with any one who could suggest the origin of these 

 customs. The Foot-ball we can understand ; the pound of Pep- 

 per I conceive to have been the acknowledgement, or quit-rent, 

 to the Lord of the Soil for the use of the shore, ^in days when 

 spice was of greater value than it is now ; we still make use of 

 the term " Pepper-corn rent." The return of a Cake, or Pan- 

 cakes, is doubtless the custom of the season. 



In Folk Lore, there is not much to repay research, save in a 

 few superstitions ; for instance, on examining the top of any old 

 capstan at the mouth of a Quarry, the stain of a horse-shoe will 

 be evident; the quarriers affirm that they nail it there, to prevent 

 the Witches from dancing upon and splitting them. 



Again, it is a conmion custom to place a Child upon a Donkey 

 for the cure of Hooping Cough ; the plan adopted is, to pass the 

 child three times over and three times under, and finally seat it 

 upon the cross of the animal. 



I have only a few more words to say. I have already observed 



