26o HIGH IV AYS AND HORSES. 



which was said to be one hundred and thirty-four feet 

 high ; but this was subsequently removed. A writer 

 in the year 1800, facetiously and inquiringly remarks : 



What's not destroyed 

 By Time's relentless hand ? 

 Where's Troy ? — and where's 

 The May-pole in the Strand? 



But there always appears to me to be some wisdom in 

 this old custom of celebrating May Day, since every 

 one should rejoice at the return of warm weather, 

 except it be those who love hunting better than any 

 pastime. Certainly the coachman, guards, and pas- 

 sengers on a coach must have rejoiced at the approach 

 of summer, although in our uncertain climate the 

 whole month of May is frequently terribly cold : per- 

 haps one hundred years ago the clerk of the weather 

 was less irregular in his proceedings. In the garden 

 of the Palais Royal there is a cannon, above the 

 vent-hole in the breech of which there is a magnifying 

 or burning-glass. This is so focussed and directed 

 that when the sun's rays are sufficiently strong the 

 powc'er becomes ignited and the cannon is discharged; 

 hen do Parisians become acquainted with the fact 

 that summer is approaching by an audible proof. 



Beatinof the bounds was another strano-e custom 

 prevailing in towns and villages one hundred years 

 ago. Chambers says that it was designed to suppli- 

 cate the divine blessing on the fruits of the earth, and 

 to preserve in all classes of the community a due 

 respect for the bounds of parochial and individual 

 property. Refreshments were provided for those who 

 undertook to beat the bounds ; in fact, at Edgcote, in 

 Buckinghamshire, there was an acre of land, let at 

 three pounds a year, which was left to the parish 

 officers to defray the expenses of such annual peram- 



