148 JUNE. 



ed on the shearers to receive and roll up the 

 fleeces. A feast was made, and king and queen 

 elected ; or, according to Drayton's Polyolbion, 

 the king was pre-elected by a fortunate cir- 

 cumstance. 



The Shepherd-king, 

 Whose flock hath chanced that year the earliest lamb to 



bring, 



In his gay baldric sits at his low, grassy board, 



With flavvns, curds, clouted cream, and country dainties 



stored ; 

 And while the bagpipes play, each lusty, jocund swain 

 Quaffs syllabubs in cans, to all upon the plain ; 

 And to their country girls, whose nosegays they do wear ; 

 Some roundelays do sing, the rest the burden bear. 



Like most of our old festivities, however, this 

 has, of late years, declined ; yet two instances 

 in which it has been attempted to keep it alive, 

 on a noble scale, worthy of a country so re- 

 nowned for its flocks and fleeces, will occur 

 to the reader — those of Holkham and Woburn : 

 and in the wilds of Scotland, and the more 

 rural parts of England, the ancient glory of 

 sheep-shearing has not entirely departed. And, 

 indeed, its picturesqueness can never depart, 

 however its jollity may. The sheep-washing, 

 however, which precedes the shearing, has more 

 of rural beauty about it. As we stroll over 

 some sunny heath, or descend into some sylvan 

 valley in this sweet month, we are apt to come 



