CHAPTER VIII 



"As Merry as a Whitsun Morris Dance" The Butleigh Revel 

 " Stop Thief "The Story of a Watch. 



THE friendly and sociable footing on which 

 everybody met at the festive gatherings 

 to which I have referred afforded favour- 

 able opportunities for the acquisition of reminis- 

 cences of old country-life. Farmers are not great 

 talkers, and, speaking generally, err, if anything, 

 on the side of reticence, but a moderate circulation 

 of the wine-cup engendered a disposition favour- 

 able to the exchange of confidences. I remember 

 once sitting next to an old farmer at one of these 

 dinners, who, as an instance of his youthful 

 sportiveness, told me that when he was a young 

 man he and a goodly number of compatriots used 

 to spend a fortnight at Whitsuntide making a 

 round of the various villages as Morris dancers. 

 This seemed to bring one nearer the days when 

 our country earned the title of " Merrie England," 

 for I had not previously pictured the sons of the 

 farmers so frolicsome as this. As a boy I have 

 often enjoyed the performances of a peasant 

 troupe of Morris dancers, who annually visited 

 the city in which I lived. They were usually 

 eight in number, and were attired in white shirts, 

 white trousers, and tall black hats, with plenty 



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