M I D 
duce him from that laudable ambition which his honour 
and advantage are equally concerned to purfue. 
MIDST,/. Middle.—All is well when nothing pleafes 
but God', being thankful in the midjl of afflictions. B{/hop 
Taylor's Guide to Devotion. 
Arife, ye fubtle fpirits that can fpy 
When love is enter’d in a female’s eye ; 
You that can read it in the midjl of doubt, 
And in the midft of frowns can find it out. Dryden. 
MIDST, adj. [contracted from middeft, the fuperlative 
of mid.'] Midmoft; being in the middle.—In the Slighted 
Maid, there is nothing in the firft aft but what might 
have been laid or done in the fifth ; nor any thing in the 
midjl which might not have been placed in the begin¬ 
ning. Dryden's Dufrefnoy. 
On earth join all ye creatures to extol 
Him firft, Him laft, Him midjl, and without end. Milton. 
MIDST, prep. Sometimes poetically ufed for amity 7 , 
in all its fenfes. 
MID'STREAM, f. Middle of the ftream : 
The midjlream' s his, I creeping by the fide. 
And ihoulder’d off by his impetuous tide. Dryden. 
MID'SUMMER, / The fummer folflice, reckoned to 
fall on June the twenty-fourth..—However orthodox my 
(entiments relating to- public affairs may be while I am 
now writing, they may become criminal enough to bring 
me into trouble before Midfummer. SwiJ't. 
Midsummer-day is the feaft of St. John the Baptift. 
This feftival is firft noticed by Maximus Tauricenfis, who 
lived about the year 400. According to Bourne, ftrange 
divinations were formerly ufed on the vigil of this day: 
w Men and women were accuftomed to gather together 
in the evening by the fea-fide, or in fome certain lioufe, 
and there adorn a girl, who was her parent’s firft-begotten 
child, after the manner of a bride. Then they feafted, 
and leaped after the manner of bacchanals, and danced 
and fliouted as they were wont to do on their holidays; 
after this they poured into a narrow-necked veflel fome 
of the fea-vvater, and put alfo into it certain things be¬ 
longing to each of them ; then, as if the devil gifted the 
girl with the faculty ef telling future things, they would 
inquire with a loud voice about the good or evil fortune 
that (liould attend them; upon this the girl would take 
out of the vefiel the firll thing that came to hand, and 
ihow it, and give it to the owner, who, upon receiving it, 
was fo foolilh as to imagine himlelf wiler, as to the good 
cr evil fortune that fflould attend him.” 
St. John’s eve was celebrated among the ancient Goths 
and Swedes with great leftivity, and with a degree of free¬ 
dom peculiar to the northern nations: this cuftom alfo 
partook fo much of a duty, that it was enjoined upon 
pofterity to continue it. The people at large being called 
upon to meet in the public parts of the cities or in the 
fields, large fires were lighted, round which it was the 
cuftom to exhibit the noble aftions of famous men and 
women by finging their praifes, particularly thofe females 
who had been eminent for their chaitity. This period 
was alfo a kind of Saturnalia, as it was then allowable for 
the people and the peafantry to adjult to their ruftic 
rhymes,.pipes, See. the aftions of the degenerate nobility, 
cruel oppreflors, or infamous women. Females, married 
and fingle, were alfo permitted to difclofe in finging the 
unfaithfulnefs of their lovers or the faults of their huf- 
bands, whether in playing at dice, or frequenting taverns, 
keeping bad company, or extravagance in clothes. The 
men on their part, of all ages, were alio permitted to ex- 
pofe by finging the infidelity of their wives or lovers. It 
was equally lawful for them, at the fame time, to expofe 
the frauds of mechanics, artificers, merchants, feamen, 
and even the malpraftices of perfons of the higheft rank. 
Thele longs, being accompanied with mufical inftruments 
of various kinds, were highly attraftive ; though the ob- 
jeft of the feftival was profeifedly to encourage youth in 
MID , 347 
the cultivation and praftice of virtue, by expofing the 
bafenefs and deformity of vice. 
For fome account of the Midfummer-fports in London, 
fee the article Game, vol. viii. p. 203.- and for the Ihows 
more particularly appertaining to the city-watch at this 
feafon of the year, fee London, vol. xiii. p. 72. The fame 
fpecies of Ihows, but probably not upon fo extenfive a fcale, 
were exhibited in other cities and iarge towns through¬ 
out the kingdom. Strutt has noticed an ordinance for the 
mayor, aldermen, and common-councilmen, of the city of 
Chefter, to provide yearly, for the fetting of the watch, on 
the eve of the feftival of St. John the Baptift, a pageant, 
which is exprefsly laid to be “ according to ancient cuf- 
tome,” confining of four giants, one unicorn, one dro¬ 
medary, one luce, or flower-de-luce (we are not able to 
conjefture what kind of animal this was), one camel, one 
afs, one dragon, fix hobby-horfes, and fix naked boys. 
In the time of the commonwealth this fpeftacle was dis¬ 
continued. ; and the giants, with the beafts, were deftroyed. 
At the reftoration of Charles II. it was agreed by the ci¬ 
tizens to re-place the pageant; and, as the following 
computation of the charges for the different parts of the 
flrow are exceedingly curious, we fhall lay them before 
the reader as we find them in Strutt. We are told that 
“ all things were to be made new, by reafon the ould 
modells were all broken.” The computift then proceeds: 
“ For finding all the materials, with the workman (hip, of 
the four great giants, all to be made new, as neere as 
may be lyke as the/ were before, at five pounds a giant 
the leaft that can be; and four men to carry them, at 
two (hillings and fix-pence each.” The materials for the 
compolition of thele monlters, are afterwards Ipecified to 
be “ hoops of various magnitudes, and other productions 
of the cooper, deal boards, nails, pafteboard, lealeboard, 
paper of various forts, with buckram, fize-cloth, and old 
lheets for their bodies, lleeves, and (hirts, which were to 
be coloured ; alio tinfille, tinfoil, gold and filver leaf, and' 
colours of different kinds, with glue and pafte in abun¬ 
dance.” Refpefting the laft article, a very ridiculous 
entry occurs in the bill of charges, it runs thus: “ For 
arfnick to put into the pafte, to lave the giants from being 
eaten by the rats, one (hilling and four-pence.” But to 
go on with the eftimate: “ For the new making the City 
Mount, called the Maior's Mount, as auncieutly it was, 
and for hireing of bays for the fame, and a man to carry 
it, three pounds fix (hillings and eightpence.” The bays 
mentioned in this and the fucceeding article was hung 
round the bottom of the frame, and extended to the 
ground, or near it, to conceal the bearers. “ For making 
anew the Merchant Mount, as it auncieutly was, with a 
lhip to turn round, the hiring of the bays, and five men 
to carry it, four pounds.” The lhip and new dreffing it, 
is charged at five (hillings ; it was probably made with 
pafteboard, which feems to have been a principal article 
in the manufacturing of both the moveable mountains : it 
was turned by means of a fwivel attached to an iron han¬ 
dle underneath tit? frame. “ For making anew the ele¬ 
phant and caftell, and a cupid,” with lus bow and ar¬ 
rows, “fuitable to it;” the caftle was covered with tin- 
foil, and the cupid with Ikins, lo as to appear to be na¬ 
ked ; “ and alfo for two men to carry them ; one pound 
fixteen (hillings and eight-pence. For making anew the 
four beaftes called the unicorne, the antelop, the flower- 
de-luce, and the camell, one pound fixteen (hillings and 
four-pence apiece; and for eight men to carry them, lix- 
teen (hillings. For four hobby-horfes, fix (hillings and 
eight-pence apiece; and for four boys to carry them, four 
Ihillings. For hance-ftaves, garlands, and balls, for the 
attendants upon the mayor and lheriffs, one pound nine¬ 
teen Ihillings. For makinge anew the dragon, and for 
fix naked boys to beat at it, one pound fixteen Ihillings. 
For fix morris-dancers, with a pipe and tabret, twenty 
Ihillings.” Strutt's Spoj-ts and Pajiimes, p. xxvii-xxix. 
MID'WARD, adj. Midft; being in the middle. Todd's 
Johnjon. 
a MID'WAY a 
