368 



ON THE ANTIQUITIES OF 



2. SHROVE TUESDAY. 



Obs. Shrove Tuesday comes at the end of the Carnival, and sig- 

 nifies the time when the sinners were shriven or purified from their 

 sins by a general confession and absolution before the penitential 

 season of Lent. A particular account of Shrove Tuesday, as well 

 as of the other festivals, will be found in Butler's Mineable Feasts of 

 the Church. 



Amon^' the many curious Antiquities of the Festivals, we find that 

 this day used to be called Fasteni's Een in Scotland ; and in the north 

 of England the Monday before is called Cnllop Mondau, and Shrove 

 Tuesday is called Pancake Tuesday. The custom of ringing the 

 large bell at the ciiurch at noon, for people to put on their pancakes, 

 is not very ancient ; it seems to have been substituted at the Refor- 

 mation for the midday Angelas Bell, for when piety declined, and 

 Epicureanism was substituted for mortification, the sound of the 

 words Pancake Bell became more agreeable in the ears of modern 

 refinement. This bell is still rung in many places. 



Olaus ftlagnus relates several curious sorts of games practised 

 on this day. 



The detestable practice of Cockthrowing some years back took 

 place today, and is now scarcely put a stop to : and we find by 

 Brand's Antiquities, that in the ribaldry that followed the profane 

 age of Elizabeth the Cock was styled the Shrovetide iMartyr. 



Infernal cruelties used to be practised towards Cocks on this day, 

 which were put an end to at one village in England in consequence, 

 as we are informed, of the following lines bein? stuck up in the 

 School Room of the parish : 



A man of kiudness to his beast is kind. 

 But lirutal actions show a brutal mind: 

 Remember He who made thee made the biiite, 

 Whogai'e tliee speech and reason form'd him mnte: 

 He can't complain, but God's allseein^ eve 

 Beholds thy crueltv, and hears his crv. 

 He was designed thy larum, not thy drudge ; 

 And knoic that his Creator is thy judge ! 



The Mother Church, who is ever correcting the vices of her 

 children, thus admonishes us against the abuses of the Carnival and 

 of Shrovetide : — How monstrous is the inconsistency of those who 

 by the excesses of Shrovetide make sin a preparation for a state of 

 penance, and plunge themselves into disorders at the very time they 

 pretend to be disposing themselves for a perfect conversion ! Can 

 dissipation ever dispose the soul for recollection, or sensuality and 

 intemperance be a preparation to fasting? " As wrestlers,'' says 

 St. Basil, (Horn. i. de Jejun. n. 10, p. 9,) " exercise themselves be- 

 fore the combat, so must Christians practise abstemiousness, in order 

 to prepare and fit themselves for fasting." If we are astonished at 

 the severe fasts of the primitive Christians during Lent, we must re- 

 flect that the whole year was with them in some measure a conti- 

 nual fast, and thus enabled them to bear the greatest austerities 

 Without prejudice to their health. The like habits of temperance 



