accepta videntur, apud quos sic Flora cunctorum fructuum dea mense Maio lascive colebatur sicut supra diximus: vel ab Atheniensibus sunt, quod illi in fame in templo Delphico, (
Greek characters) id est, iresionem ponebant, hoc est, ramum olivæ, sive lauri, plenum variis fructibus: auctor Herodotus. Sic nos tunc eo anni tempore cum virent omnia, quasi per hunc modum, fructuum ubertatem ominamur, ac bene precamur."—Polydore Vergil, 'De Rervm Inventoribvs,' 1499, ed. Genevæ, 1604, p. 386.
"The Downfall of May-Games."—Part in verse; about 1642.
"I must needs be reciting this May-game in your Schools at the next ensuing Act [at Cambridge]."—'Second Edition of New Almanack,' 1656, p. 11.
"The longest of ladders, ship-masts and may-poles are made of fur-trees."—C. Ness, 'Hist, and Myst.,' 1690, i. 265.
Broadside Ballad, known as 'Jockey to the Fair,' begins:—
'Twas on the morn of sweet May Day,
When nature painted all things gay,
Taught birds to sing and lambs to play,
And gilt the meadows fair.
May-Blossom: Knots of May.—The time of may-blossom, or may-bloom, is here, and children in many parts of the Midlands will perhaps pull the long branches of the hawthorn when covered from end to end with clusters of flowers. This was done when I was a boy, and the branches were tied into a loop, and in this form were called "knots of may," "knots" pronounced nearly like "nuts." And certainly children, when playing the game of "Nuts in May," had no notion of gathering nuts, though this is what they said whilst running round in a circle with hands joined, one standing in the middle:
Here we come gatherin' nuts in May,
Nuts in May, nuts in May;
Here we come gatherin' nuts in May
On a cold an' frosty mornin';
Who will you have for your nuts in May,
Nuts in May, nuts in May:
Who will you have for your nuts in May
On a cold an' frosty mornin'?
I will have for my nuts in May,
Nuts in May, nuts in May.
The child in the ring picks one from the circle, and they stand in it while the game goes on to
Now you have for your nuts in May,
Nuts in May, nuts in May.
The pair then kiss, and as the game began with a lad in the ring, the lass remains, and picks a lad, and so on till the whole have gone through "Nuts in May."
I often took part in this game many years ago, and have gathered may with the rest, and have tied the may-boughs into knots. These we took home on our heads, but were not allowed to take them into the house, for "they smelt like death."
[For other communications on "Nuts in May" see 8 S. v. 426; vi. 58; vii. 231.]
Old Serjeants' Inn.—The Queen of the 17th of April, in an article on Old Serjeants' Inn, reminds us that another link with the past is likely to be snapped in the near future, for the fiat has gone forth that the Inn is to be sold by auction, and so will pass away the home of what was once a famous society in legal circles.
The Queen records that, "when the place was sold to Mr. Serjeant Cox in 1877, the furniture of the Hall also went into his hands, the sideboard which was ultimately placed in his family residence being constructed out of some of the old oak carvings, and the chairs going to the same destination." In the hall of his family seat he placed the stained-glass windows formerly in the Inn Chapel and Hall as well as the bust and other relics of Charles II. There are also all the original coats of arms of the judges and Serjeants, "but Mr. Serjeant Cox gave their shields to the then living judges and Serjeants who asked for them, contenting himself with copies." The article contains illustrations of the middle east window (showing copper bust of Charles II, and arms of the Cox family in the top section), and the north and south windows.
Naseby Field. (See ante, p. 304.)—It rested with my friend Sir Clements R. Markham to do justice to Lord Fairfax, and in his 'Life of Fairfax' there is a good description of the battle of Naseby, 14 June, 1645, accompanied with an excellent plan. J. R. Green in his 'History of the English People' acknowledges his indebtedness to this book.
Many years ago there was a great deal of sensational writing concerning Naseby Field having been the burial-place of Cromwell; in fact, an illustrated paper gave a picture of the Protector on his death-bed ordering his friend John Barkstead to deposit his remains by night at that place, and to level the ground of his grave. The writer evidently forgot that Cromwell was not chief in command, but Fairfax, though Oliver certainly led the right wing of the Parliamentary army, whilst Ireton commanded the right. Much of this discussion found its way into the pages of 'N. & Q.' about
