500 
a character, that I merely state my 
doubts, in the form of an enquiry, that 
they may be discussed by better ca- 
suists among your readers. 
At the same time, the point would 
be discussed with less passion and 
suspicion in any other country than 
this; for every man capable of wield- 
ing a pen is interested as a receiver, or 
payer, that is, as one of the real or 
implied connexions of A, or B. 
Other questions might be started, 
in regard to the legitimate authority 
of B to implicate those whom he did not 
represent in his obligations, to effect 
his unhallowed purposes; and there- 
fore how far A has any claims, except 
on the person and identical property 
of B ;—but I forbear to probe deeply, 
though it is manifest that there will be 
much deep probing before these points 
are fully settled, and that evasions of 
any relevant questions will ultimately 
serve no purpose. 
PRO BONO PuBLICo. 
Birmingham; June 4. 
—< 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
On the ANCIENT GAMES and DIVER- 
SIONS of the BRITISH PEOPLE; with 
THOUGHTS on their REVIVAL. 
HISTORY of popular customs 
4a is ahistory of the progress of the 
human mind. The diversions of a 
people, their proverbial sayings, cere- 
monies, and anniversaries, indicate all 
the changes they undergo in manners, 
religion, and government. In Eng- 
land we may trace nearly all her revo- 
lutions in some usages of the common 
people: many of these are entirely for- 
gotten, others are hastening to obli- 
vion, and, in a short time, it will be 
probably difficult to collect that we 
were formerly orthodox worshippers of 
Thor, Odin, or the Pope; and that we 
have successively borne the yoke of 
Saxon, Danish, and Norman con- 
querors. In one respect this vicissi- 
tude is not a subject to be lamented. 
Custom is the tyrant of fools, and ocea- 
sionally gives no small trouble to philo- 
sophers. <A belief in witchcraft, for- 
tune-télling, lucky and unlucky days, 
astrology, ghost stories, second-sight, 
fairies, and omens, was a source of 
much misery, and occasionally of some 
ernelty, among our ancestors. Hap- 
pily, then, that all faith in these is 
extinct, or, at. most, confined to the 
nursery ; grown people being exempted 
from fear at the sight of an old woman, 
and have learnt to trace domestic and 
On Ancient popular Games and Diversions. 
[July 1, 
public calamities to other causes than 
the click of an insect in the wainscot, 
or the portentous appearance of the 
heavenly bodies. 
So far, it must be allowed, we have 
made a real improvement; but in con- 
sidering the decline of popular usages, 
we ought to distinguish betwixt those 
originating in ignorance, and those 
founded in nature. Many of otir an- 
cient games and holidays were rural 
celebrations, commemorative of the 
return of the seasons; and, as such, 
were not only natural and innocent in 
themselves, but conducive to health 
and good fellowship. Of this descrip- 
tion were the country wakes, the har- 
vest-supper, the feast of sheep-shearing, 
Midsummer-eve rejoicings, the ‘cele- 
bration of the New Year, May-day, 
parochial perambulations, and other 
anniversaries. All these may be traced 
to the earliest times; indeed they are 
coeval with society, and the ancient 
honours paid to Ceres, Bacchus, and 
Saturn, were analogous observances, 
under a different appellation. 
The harvest-supper, or mell-supper 
in the North, is a venerable and joyous 
banquet, in which master and servant, 
after gathering in the fruits of the 
earth, sit down at the same table toa 
plentiful regale, and spend the remain- 
der of the night in dancing and sing- 
ing, without distinction. Both Jews 
and Gentiles observed an annual fes- 
tival of similar import; with the former 
it was termed the Saturnalia, the latter 
the Feast ef the Tabernacles. Thus 
the Scripture—‘Thou shalt observe 
the Feast of the Tabernacles seven 
days, after thou hast gathered in thy 
corn and thy wine. And thou shalt 
rejoice in thy feast, thou and thy son, 
and thy daughter, and thy man-ser- 
vant, and thy maid-servant: and the 
Levite, the stranger, andthe fatherless, 
and the widow, that are within thy 
gates.” Deut. 16.—All this is very 
good, and worthy to be remembered, 
because it shows how mistaken those 
religionists are who would banish po- 
pular recreations, or preserve to them- 
selves those enjoyments which’ they 
only ought to share in common with 
those who provide the entertainment. 
In Staffordshire, on the occasion, 
there is a sport called ‘‘crying the 
mare ;” when the reapers tie together 
the tops of the last blades 6f corn, 
which is mare, and, standing at some 
distance, throw their sickles at it, and 
he who cuts the knot has the prize, 
with 
