In England there are a few indications of the same kind. "It would appear", writes Mr. James Britten, "that the hare was at one time in some way associated with Easter observance in this country";[1] and he quotes an entry from the Calendar of State Papers (Domestic Series), which is as follows:
"1620, April 2. Thos. Fulnety solicits the permission of Lord Zouch, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, to kill a hare on Good Friday, as huntsmen say that those who have not a hare against Easter must eat a red herring."
At Coleshill, in Warwickshire, if the young men of the parish can catch a hare, and bring it to the parson before 10 o'clock on Easter Monday, the parson is bound to give them a calf's head and a hundred of eggs for their breakfast, and a groat in money.[2]
But the most complete instances of Easter-hare ritual surviving in this country are furnished by two striking customs, both of which were once observed on Easter Monday in the county of Leicester, and one of which is still celebrated.
The custom of Hunting the Easter Hare at Leicester is thus described in Throsby's History of the town:
"It had long been customary on Easter Monday for the Mayor and his brethren, in their scarlet gowns, attended by their proper officers, in form, to go to a certain close, called Black-Annis' Bower Close, parcel of, or bordering upon, Leicester Forest, to see the diversion of hunting, or rather the trailing of a cat before a pack of hounds; a custom perhaps originating out of a claim to the royalty of the forest. Hither, on a fair day, resorted the young and old, and those of all denominations. In the greatest harmony the Spring was welcomed. The morning was spent in various amusements and athletic exercises, till a dead cat,
- ↑ F.-L. Journal, vol. v, p. 263; N. and Q., 4th Series, viii, 23
- ↑ Dyer, British Popular Customs (Bohn), p. 176; Brand's Popular Antiquities (Bohn), vol. i, p. 177.
