988 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



Welshman says (to Henry V.) " They 

 did goot service in a garden where 

 Jeeksdid grow, wearing leeks in tlieir 

 Monmouth caps ; which, your ma- 

 jesty knows, to this hour is an ho- 

 nourable padge of the service."* 



" The middle and lower classes of 

 the people were formerly much ad- 

 didled to terming^ that is, brew- 

 ing a barrel of ale at soirw favourite 

 ale-house, and staying there till it 

 was all drunk out. They never 

 went to bed, though the /erm should 

 even last a whole week. They slept 

 in their chairs, or on the floor, as 

 it happened, and the moment they 

 awoke, they renewed their jollify. 

 At length, when the barrel was ex- 

 hausted, they reeled uway home. 

 The hero of this Bacchanalian route 

 always carried oft" the spiggot in 

 triumph. 



" The peasantry of part of Ca- 

 ernarvonshire, Auglesea, and Me- 

 rionethshire, adopt a mode of court- 

 ship, wiiich till within the last few 

 years was scarcely even heard of in 

 England. It is the same that is coui- 

 mon in many parts of America, and 

 termed by the inhabitants of that 

 continent bundling. The lover steals, 

 under the shadow of the night, to 

 the bed of his fair one, info which 

 (retaini)ig an essential part of his 

 dress) he is admitted without any 

 shyness or reserve. Saturday or 

 Sunday nights arc the principal times 

 when this courtship takes place, 

 and on these nights the men some- 

 times walk from a distance of ten 

 miles or more, to visit their favourite 

 damsels. This strange custom seems 

 to have originated in the Scarcity of 

 fuel, and in the consequent unplea- 

 lantness of sitting together in the 

 colder parts of the year, without a 



fire. Much has been said of th# ' 

 innocence with Avhich these meetings 

 are conducted. This may be the 

 case in some instances, but it is a 

 very common thing for the conse- 

 quence of the intercourse to make 

 its appearance in the world within 

 two or three months after the mar- 

 riage ceremony has taken place. 

 The subject excites no particular 

 attention among the neighbours, 

 provided the marriage be made good 

 before the living witness is brought 

 to light. Since this custom is en- 

 tirely confined to the labouring 

 classes of the community, it is not so 

 pregnant with danger as on a first 

 supposition it might seem. Both 

 parties are so poor, that they are 

 necessarily constrained to render 

 their issue legitimate, in order to 

 secure their reputation, and with it a 

 mode of obtaining a livelihood. 



" Their weddings arc usually at- 

 tended by nil the neighbours, some- 

 times to the number of thirty or 

 upv/ards. After the ceremony, the 

 day is tleilicated to festivity, and is 

 chiefly spent in drinking and sing- 

 ing. At a wedding in the little 

 village of Llanbcris, I observed in 

 the church as many as twenty or 

 five and twenty attendants. A col- 

 lo(''l,ion is made on their return to 

 the house to defray the cxpences of 

 the occasion, to which, of course, 

 every one contributes. A good idea 

 of the rest of the business may be 

 colle6>ed from a pleasant account of 

 a wedding-feast in Cvvm y Clo, 

 near Llanberis. 



" A fire of square peat, and suffici- 

 ently <h-ied, 

 Was spread on the hearth, and at least 

 four feet wide ; 



* Shakspeare's Henry V. act 4th. 



Over 



