Green, at the club feast on Whit-Monday. Most of these details come from Mrs. Hannah Wells of Bampton, aged 80, who made the "mace" now in my possession in 1894, the old one being mislaid. (This has since been found, and I have both). They were supplemented by Charles Tanner, farm-labourer, of Weald, near Bampton, aged nearly 80, and now blind. He was "Lord of the garland" in his boyhood, and afterwards head morris-dancer.
Whitsuntide.
The following ceremonies are still kept up at Bampton on Whit-Monday, and are now associated with the club feast. A procession goes round the town, which comprises:
1. A fiddler to provide music for the dancers. This fiddler is a modern substitute for the "whittle-and-dub" man, who played the pipe and tabour; these instruments were used within living memory (pls. ii., iii.).
2. Eight morris-dancers, dressed in finely pleated white shirts, white moleskin trousers, and top-hats, decorated with red, white and blue ribbons. Attached to their knees they wear numerous small latten bells, some treble, others tenor, which jingle as they dance (pls. ii., iii.).
3. A clown, called the "Squire," dressed in whatever motley is available, who carries a staff with a calf's tail at one end and a bladder at the other, with which he belabours the bystanders (pls. ii., iii.). He also carries a money-box, known as the "Treasury (pl. iv., No. 8)."
4. A "sword-bearer," who carries a cake in a round tin, impaled on a sword-blade (pl. iv., No 1). The cake is a rich pound-cake, and is provided by some lady in the town. Both cake and sword are decorated with ribbons. At various intervals the procession stops and dancing begins.[1]
While the dancing goes on, slices of the cake are distributed to the bystanders, who are expected to make a re-
- ↑ See Appendix on Morris Dancing.
