262 
ALL-HALLOW EVEI?. 
^ ' As by the plough the labourer Strays, ' : , 
J , And carman ’mid the public ways, ^ 
And tradesman in his shop shall swell , 
l Their voice in psalm or canticle, , ^ 
ib) V Singing to solace toil; again. 
From woods shall come a sweeter strain f 
Shepherd and shepherdess shall vie 
r In many a tender psalmody ; 
^ And the Creators name prolong, 
‘ As rock and stream return their song. 
Begin then, ladies fair ! begin 
' The age renew’d that knows no sin ! 
And with light heart, that wants no wing, 
' Sing! from this holy song-book sing! 
’ All-Hallow Even, vugarly Halle E'en; as also in the 
NORTH, NoTCRACK NiGHT. 
Hallow Even is the vigil of All Saints’ day, which is on the first 
of November. It is customary on this night with young people in 
the north of England to dive for apples, or catch at them, when stuck 
upon one end of a kind of hanging beam, at the other extremity of 
which is fixed a lighted candle, and that with their mouths only, 
theit hands being tied behind their backs. 
Nuts and apples chiefly compose the entertainment, and from the 
Custom of flinging the former into the fire, or cracking them with 
their teeth, it has doubtless had its vulgar name of “ Nutcrack 
night.” 
The catching at the apple and candle may be called playing at 
something like the ancient English game of the quintain, which is 
now almost totally forgotten, but of which there is the following 
description in Stow’s Survey of London: “I have seen (says he) a 
quinten set up on Cornehill, by the Leaden Hall, where the atten- 
dants on the lords of merry disports have runne and made greate 
pastime; for he that hit not the broad end of the quinten was of all 
men laughed to scorne ; and he that hit it full, if he rid not the 
faster, had a sound blow in his necke with a bag full of sand hanged 
on the other end.” 
Mr. Pennant tells us, in his Tour in Scotland, that the young 
women there determine the figure and size of their husbands by 
“drawing cabbages blindfold” on All-hallow Even, and, like the 
English, “fling nuts into the fire.” 
This last custom is beautifully described by Gay in his “Spell.” 
y “ Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame. 
And to each nut 1 gave a sweetheart’s name, 
. This with loudest bounce me sore amaz’d, 
^ 'YhdLi in B,Jiame of brightest colour h\B.zd; 
" As blaz’d the fat ^ so may thy passion grow. 
For t’was thy nut that did so brightly glow !” 
/‘ The passion of prying into futurity,” says Mr. Burns, “makes a 
striking part of the history of human nature, in its rude state, in all 
