Games and Amusements. 33 



Games and Amusements. 

 The practise of " mumming " at Christmas is not yet extinct in 

 All Cannings. A number of stout lads having their faces daubed 

 with paint, and wearing high conical straw or paper caps, in which 

 are stuck the feathers of cocks, and sometimes peacocks, go round 

 to the different houses in the village. They then recite some 

 doggrel lines, and the scene terminates in a supposed combat 

 between St. George and a Turkish Knight. The ceremony com- 

 mences with a challenge on the part of Saint (or, as the lads will 

 have it, " King ") George, to any one who will fight with him. 

 The challenge is accepted by the Turkish Knight, who exclaims 



" I'll fight King George, tlie man of courage bold 

 And if his blood be hot, I will soon make it cold." 



The Knight presently falls, and the conqueror, turning to the 



spectators, says 



" And be there all a doctor to be found 

 To cure this man lyin' bleedin' on the ground." 



Then a new character, called upon under the familiar name of 



Jack Neat, steps forward, exclaiming 



" My name is not ' Jack Neat,' my name is ' Mister Neat,' 

 A famous doctor lately come from Spain 

 I cures the sick, and makes 'em well again ; 

 I carr's a little bottle by my side, 



'Noints the collar-bone of the neck, and the temple of the eye : 

 Rise up, Sir Knight, and fight King George again." 



This terminates the performance, which is, it is believed, much, 

 the same in other surrounding parishes. 



The fighting with cudgels, or back-swording, has been popular 

 even within a few years, and always attracted admiring groups at 

 the village green. Some persons still living, and comparatively 

 bale men, were once doughty champions at this sort of rustic 

 tournament. On this same spot, at the village green, by the farm 

 of Mr. Simon Hitchcock, stood the May-pole. The last of its kind 

 was erected in 1819, being the gift of Harry Hitchcock, Esq. It 

 stood for ten years, and was then blown down. The heavy butt 

 which was broken off into the ground was afterwards dug up, taken 

 to Devizes, and sold to a carpenter, who made a coffin out of it 



VOL. XI. NO. XXXI. D 



