MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
107 
traces of the pre-existent pagan worship, yet such is the case. We 
may take it that this country has been Christian for the past 
eight hundred, if not one thousand years, and yet certain customs 
survive to the present time, which, although they may have lost 
their apparent meaning, are clearly of pagan origin. From a 
religious point of view such customs, if not baneful, are at any 
rate useless, and in bye-gone days men were wont to make short 
work with those with whom they happened to disagree in matters 
theological, so that their survival is the more remarkable. This 
fact, however, is suggestive of the parallel case in which wo find 
the survival of apparently useless rudiments in the evolution of 
plants and animals. 
The above remarks have been suggested by the May-day 
Festivities, which still survive in some places in this vicinity. 
The “May Pole,” and the “Queen of the May,” are forms which 
liavo long ceased to exist in this part of England, but the custom 
of carrying garlands of (lowers remains much more frequently. 
As observed in Lynn, this is as follows : On the 1st of May, during 
the morning, sundry parties of children carry round the town 
garlands of llowers. The children — girls and boys— are dressed 
principally in white, with crowns of flowers on their heads, and 
money-boxes in their hands. They are bare-headed, and their 
clothing is decorated with brightly-coloured calico, ribbons, or 
paper. The garlands are to us the most interesting. They are 
always constructed in a particular manner, namely, of two hoops 
of wood, fastened together at right angles, and supported on the 
end of a pole. On these hoops flowers and green foliage are 
bound. To the centre of the garland a doll is suspended, and from 
some part of the hoops a string of birds’ eggs. The garland is 
carried by an older child, who is not gaudily dressed, part of whose 
duty it is to take care of the children. The latter are usually 
members of one family. It is noteworthy, that although there 
may be ten or a dozen garlands perambulating the town, they all 
emanate from one particular district, and from it alone, namely, the 
quarter occupied by the fishing population. The local appellation 
of “May Ladies” suggests the May Queen. The birds’ eggs and 
suspended doll have probably a much deeper significance than is 
at first sight apparent. Nor is it probable that the collection of 
small coin in the money-boxes is entirely a modern innovation. — 
Charles 11. Plowright, M.D., President. 
