Chap. 1.] GENERAL HISTORY. 35 



"The festival had doubtless its origin in Catholic times, when the 

 poor were regularlj' fed and maintained out of the revenue of the 

 monastery. We think it is Butler, himself a Catholic writer, who 

 throws some light on the origin of these ancient institutions. It was 

 customary in those days, in addition to feeding the hungry and 

 destitute daily, to give them a sort of a jubilee annually, on the 

 anniversary of the Patron Saint. 



"It is customary for the various schools and Friendly Societies to walk 

 in procession through the streets on the Guild day.' Many showmen 

 and itinerary vendors turn up here also, and the day is altogether 

 given over to merry-making. Usually, large numbers of visitors from 

 all the country side flock to the town on the Guild day. 



" For a century and a half things remained in the village all but 

 stationary. An old gentleman, aged nearly 90, who has lived there all 

 his life, informed the writer that when he was a boy (1760) broad- 

 cloth was in the neighbourhood all but unknown. The di-ess worn by 

 men was a kind of serge or corduroy ; while the means of locomotion 

 were of the rudest description. The farmers, in conveying their 

 produce fi-om one place to another, used a clumsy, heavy sort of cart 

 with two wheels, but the wheels were fastened to the axle tree, which 

 went round along with the wheels. 



"Many of the habits and customsof the people were equally primitive. 

 The ratepayers met once a fortnight, often seldomer, to hear and con- 

 sider the few cases of poor persons who applied to them. At least ten 

 out of every dozen adults in the village knew as much about those 

 meetings, or the business transacted there, as they knew about ' the 

 man in the moon.' The apples of the Hesperides were not more 

 jealously guarded than were the secrets of ' Town's Meetings ' in 

 those days ; and when everj' class of intellect, every sort of administra- 

 tive ability had tried to reform the abuses existing, another Hercules 

 at last turned up, in the person of Lord Althorpe, who boldly entered 

 the enclosure, and carried off the fruit. 



'Mr. Hoole, who was school- racing (prize, a saddle) — the course 

 master at Lungridge from 1830 to 1S57, being from the Dog Inn to the Quarry- 

 remembers the time when there were man's Arms— was the great attraction 

 no processions on the Guild day ; horse in the streets at that time (1815). 



