INTRODUCTION. \j 



Shakspeare notices with what eagerness 

 the pleasures of May -day morning- were en- 

 tered into in his time : 



— ' ■ Tis as much impossible, 



Unless we swept them from the door with cannons, 

 To scatter 'em, as 'tis to make 'em sleep 

 On May-day morning. 



Pope refers to the May-pole in London — 



Amid the area wide she took her stand, 



Where the tall May-pole once o'erlook'd the Strand. 



Of these festivities we have so nearly lost 

 all remains, that even the dance around the 

 May-pole is now rarely seen in our villages ; 

 and were it not for the garlands which the 

 cottager's children bear from door to door, in 

 modern dulness, we might outlive the memory 

 of this ancient festival, whilst in the metropolis 

 it is totally disregarded, excepting by the 

 chimney-sweepers, who now usurp this holi- 

 day as their exclusive right *. 



Poets of all ages have sung the joys of this 

 flowery month. Milton exclaims, 



* It is related of the famous wit George Selwyn, that 

 walking one May-day through the streets of London, and 

 observing the chimney-sweepers bedizened in all their sooty 

 finery, he observed to a friend, that M he had often heard 

 talk of the Majesty of the people, and supposed these were 

 some of the young princes." 



