CHEEEY EIPE. 73 



northern aspect as to be only fit for making preserves or 

 putting in brandy, when trained against a south wall its 

 rich juicy fruit, larger than any other of the tribe, is 

 excellent for the dessert, if left a sufficient time to mature. 

 It is, however, the small black cherry, which grows wild 

 in several parts of England, particularly in some places 

 in Suffolk, where it is commonly called the merry tree, 

 which is mostly used in the manufacture of cherry brandy. 

 These black cherries abound also in Bedfordshire and 

 Herts, and when they are in season give occasion for 

 " pasty feasts," at which pasties made of them form the 

 principal feature. At Ely in Cambridgeshire, too, a 

 special "Cherry Sunday" is observed, on which people 

 repair to orchards in the neighbourhood, and for a small 

 payment are allowed to eat as many as they choose. Nor 

 are such compliments to cherry attractions peculiar to 

 England, for in some villages in Erfurth, where there are 

 very extensive plantations of this fruit, the people set 

 apart a day to celebrate their ripening, and assemble on 

 the " Cherry Festival" to pass the time in sports and re- 

 joicing ; while Phillips records a yet more interesting 

 " Feast of Cherries " as being observed annually at Ham- 

 burgh, by troops of children carrying branches adorned 

 with ripe cherries, parading the streets with joyous cries. 

 In this case, however, the custom originated in a desire 

 to perpetuate the memory of an event said to have oc- 

 curred in 1423, when the Hussites having threatened Ham- 

 burgh with immediate destruction, one of the citizens 

 proposed that all the children in the city between the 

 ages of seven and 14 should go, clad in mourning, to 

 supplicate the enemy's forbearance. The advice was 

 adopted, and with the happiest result, for Procopius 

 Nasus, the Hussite chief, was so touched at the sight of 

 such a band of little sorrowing innocents, that after re- 

 galing them with a feast of fruit he sent them home laden 

 with cherries, and uttering shouts of " Victory ! " for 

 they bore to their parents his promise that the devoted 

 city should be spared. Throughout Germany, indeed, the 

 fruit is a general favourite ; trees of it are much planted 

 on the road-side both in that country and in Switzerland, 



