a Origin of April Fools. 
which they likewife give to the mackarel, a 
filly ith that is eafily caught in vaft multi- 
tudes during this month. Wehave probably 
borrowed the practice from our neighbours, 
changing the appellation from f/f to col; 
and the reafon of this change might have 
been, that with us the mackarel feafon does 
not commence fo early, though it is fated 
at the end of Price’s Cornifh Vocabulary, 
that the peuple of Cornwall call April the 
Mackarel Month; ‘¢ when Gauls and Nor- 
mans fet out to fea for catching mackarel.”” 
There 1s good reafon for believing, that 
with us the cuftom is of no very great an- 
tiquity, as none of our old plays, nor any 
writer fo old as the time of queen Eliza- 
beth have, as far as I know, any allufion 
whatever to it. The firft notice that has 
occurred is in Killigrew’s play of the Par- 
fon’s Wedding, where the captain fays, 
“© You might have left word where you 
went, and not put me to hunt like Tom 
Fool.” In Scotland it is termed Auating 
the gowk, a term applied to fome fimple- 
ton who is fent on fleevelefs errands with 
a letter in which is written— 
On the firft day of April, 
Hunt the gowk another mile. 
And he is thus made to wafte his weary 
fteps till the fraud is difcovered. 
With refpeét to the origin of the cuf- 
tom among the French, I have nothing 
fatisfactory to offer, the fudject having in- 
effectually exercifed the {kill of their own 
antiquaries. Seme have thought that 
poifson is a corruption of pafion, and that 
becaufe the Jews, in order to mock and 
deride the Saviour of the world, fent him 
from Anna to Caiphas, from Caiphas to 
Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and back 
again to Pilate, this feafon of the year 
was chofen for an impious reminifcence of 
that event, by the vulgar rabble among 
Chriftian nations ; for it is certain that 
other parts of Europe furnifh inftances of 
no obfervance of this cuftom. Toreen, a 
Swedifh traveller, fpeaks of the winds 
making April-fools of himfelf and his 
comrades, if the tranflation is to be trufted; 
and Mr. Southey in his interefting Account 
of Spain and Portugal fays, that on the 
Sunday and Monday precéding Lent, as on 
the fri of April, in England, people are 
privileged at Lifbon to play the fool, and 
that it is thought very juft to pour water 
on any perfon that pafies, or to throw pow- 
der on his face, but that to do both is the 
perfection of wit. Others have imagined 
that inafmuch as at the fpring of the year 
the peffions of men, which had fain torpid 
during the winter, burft forth with in- 
[Auguft 1; 
creafing violence and excite the more ac- 
tive energies of thofe convenient perfons, 
who in all times and countries have de- 
voted themfelves to the traffic of love, run- 
ning about from place to place, and by 
the French called saquereaux and mague- 
relles ; fo it was thought fit to ridicule this 
difgraceful employment by fending per- 
fons about on joclifh errands, in imitation 
of thems This may at leaft ierve to fug- 
geft a probable reafon for the above word 
in its bad fenfe; but for the reft will be 
thought of little value. Another reaion. 
has been offered——Louis XIIL. impriioned 
a prince of Lorraine in the caitle of Nancy ; 
this perfon made his efcape on the firft of 
- April, by fwimming over the Meufe, which 
induced the people of Lorraine to remark 
that the French had really bad nothing 
more to guard than a fifh. 
The fame want of ancient hifiory con- 
cerning the cuffom in queftion, which has 
been already noticed with refpect to Eng- 
lith writers, exifts alfo among the French ; 
for the expreffion potfson @’avril which oc- 
curs in the works of Pierre Michault, a 
poet of the fiftcenth century, manifefily 
fignifies a pandar. 
I fhall beg leave before I conclude, to 
notice a feftival in the Eaft Indies, called 
the Hooly, which is celebrated about the 
time of our Eafter. On this occafion the 
great men of the country amufe themielves 
in the apartments of the women by {quirt- 
ing per'umed water at them, or throwing 
little pafte-balls filled with effences. It is 
probable that the Portuguefe might have 
imported the cuftom defcribed by Mr, 
Southey from thefe fettlements in India ; 
but, of this circumftance, as well as of the 
particulars of the Oriental Ceremonies, it 
is hoped that {ome intelligent perfon will 
communicate further information to your 
excellent Mifcellany. 
Fuly 8, 1804. - 
a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
OOKING over fome of my gocd old 
grandmother’s papers this morning, 
I ftumbied accidentally on the inclofed, 
which I have copied verbatim. Whether 
the orthography is her own, or a faithful 
tranfcript from the original, I have no 
means of knowing, but be this as it may, 
there is fo much heart in it, that I could 
not be fatisfied without fending it to you, 
believing it to be genuine, and that it 
would intereft many of your readers: but 
this is not all, Mr. Editor, for I wonder 
exceedingly, when this good and virtuous 
Countefs 
