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out the kingdom. The usage is a vulgar commemoration of the resurrection which the festival of Easter celebrates.

Lifting or heaving differs a little in different places. In some parts the person is laid horizontally, in others placed in a sitting position on the bearers' hands. Usually, when the lifting or heaving is within doors, a chair is produced, but in all cases the ceremony is incomplete without three distinct elevations.

A Warwickshire correspondent, L. S., says, Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday were known by the name of heaving-day, because on the former day it was customary for the men to heave and kiss the women, and on the latter for the women to retaliate upon the men. The womens' heaving-day was the most amusing. Many a time have I passed along the streets inhabited by the lower orders of people, and seen parties of jolly matrons assembled round tables on which stood a foaming tankard of ale. There they sat in all the pride of absolute sovereignty, and woe to the luckless man that dared to invade their prerogatives!-as sure as he was seen he was pursued-as sure as he was pursued he was taken-and as sure as he was taken he was heaved and kissed, and compelled to pay sixpence for "leave and license" to depart.

Conducted as lifting appears to have been by the blooming lasses of Shrewsbury, and acquitted as all who are actors in the usage any where must be, of even the slightest knowledge that this practice is an absurd performance of the resurrection, still it must strike the reflective mind as at least an absurd custom, "more honored i' the breach than the observance." It has been handed down to us from the bewildering ceremonies of the Romish church, and may easily be discountenanced into disuse by opportune and mild persuasion. If the children of ignorant persons be properly taught, they will perceive in adult years the gross follies of their parentage, and so instruct their own offspring, that not a hand or voice shall be lifted or heard from the sons of labour, in support of a superstition that darkened and dismayed man, until the printing-press and the reformation ensured his final enlightenment and emancipation.

Easter Eggs.

Another relic of the ancient times, are the eggs which pass about at Easter week

under the name of pask, paste, or pace eggs. A communication introduces the subject at once.

To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
19th March, 1825.

Sir,
A perusal of the Every-Day Book in-
duces me to communicate the particulars
of a custom still prevalent in some parts
of Cumberland, although not as gene-
rally attended to as it was twenty or thirty
years ago. I allude to the practice or
sending reciprocal presents of eggs, at
Easter, to the children of families re-
spectively, betwixt whom any intimacy
subsists.

For some weeks preceding

Good Friday the price of eggs advances considerably, from the great demand occasioned by the custom referred to.

The modes adopted to prepare the eggs for presentation are the following: there may be others which have escaped my recollection.

The eggs being immersed in hot water for a few moments, the end of a common tallow-candle is made use of to inscribe the names of individuals, dates of particular events, &c. The warmth of the egg renders this a very easy process. Thus inscribed, the egg is placed in a pan of hot water, saturated with cochineal, or other dye-woods; the part over which the tallow has been passed is impervious to the operation of the dye; and consequently when the egg is removed from the pan, there appears no discolouration of the egg where the inscription has been traced, but the egg presents a white inscription on a coloured ground. The colour of course depends upon the taste of the person who prepared the egg; but usually much variety of colour is made use of.

Another method of ornamenting "pace eggs" is, however, much neater, although more laborious, than that with the tallowcandle. The egg being dyed, it may be decorated in a very pretty manner, by means of a penknife, with which the dye may be scraped off, leaving the design white, on a coloured ground. An egg is frequently divided into compartments, which are filled up according to the taste and skill of the designer. Generally one compartment contains the name and (being young and unsophisticated) also the age of the party for whom the egg is intended. In another is, perhaps, a landscape; and sometimes a cupid is found lurking in a third: so that these " pace

eggs" become very useful auxiliaries to the missives of St. Valentine. Nothing was more common in the childhood of the writer, than to sec a number of these eggs preserved very carefully in the corner-cupboard; each egg being the occupant of a deep, long-stemmed ale-glass, through which the inscription could be read without removing it. Probably many of these eggs now remain in Cumberland, which would afford as good evidence of dates in a court of justice, as a tombstone or a family-bible.

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It will be readily supposed that the majority of pace eggs are simply dyed; or dotted with tallow to present a piebald or bird's-eye appearance. These are designed for the junior boys who have not begun to participate in the plea a bended bow and quiver full of arrows;"-a flaming torch, or a heart and a true-lover's knot. These plainer specimens are seldom promoted to the dignity of the ale-glass or the cornercupboard, Instead of being handed down to posterity they are hurled to swift destruction. In the process of dying they are boiled pretty hard-so as to prevent inconvenience if crushed in the hand or the pocket. But the strength of the shell constitutes the chief glory of a pace egg, whose owner aspires only to the conquest of a rival youth. Holding his in his hand he challenges a comegg panion to give blow for blow. One of the eggs is sure to be broken, and its shattered remains are the spoil of the conqueror: who is instantly invested with the title of "a cock of one, two, three," &c. in proportion as it may have fractured his antagonist's eggs in the conflict. A successful egg, in a contest with one which had previously gained honours, adds to its number the reckoning of its vanquished foe. An egg which is a "cock" of ten or a dozen, is frequently challenged. A modern pugilist would call this a set-to for the championship. Such on the borders of the Solway Frith were the youthful amusements of Easter Monday.

Your very proper precaution, which requires the names of correspondents who transmit notices of local customs, is complied with by the addition of my name and address below. In publication I prefer to appear only as your constant reader. J. B. A notice below, the editor hopes will be read and taken by the reader, for

whose advantage it is introduced, in good part.*

Pasch eggs are to be found at Easter in different parts of the kingdom. A Liverpool gentleman informs the editor, that in that town and neighbourhood they are still common, and called paste eggs One of his children brought to him a paste egg at Easter, 1824, beautifully mottled with brown. It had been purposely prepared for the child by the servant, by being boiled hard within the coat of an onion, which imparted to the shell the admired colour. Hard boiling is a chief requisite in preparing the pasch egg. In some parts they are variously coloured with the juices of different herbs, and played with by boys, who roll them on the grass, or toss them up for balls. Their more elegant preparation is already described by our obliging correspondent, J. B.

*Mr. J. B, a native of Maryport in Cumberland, who obligingly communicates the above information respecting pasch eggs in that county, has ensured the adoption of his letter by subscribing his name and Adress.

COMMUNICATIONS have been received in

great numbers from anonymous correspondents, but the information many of them contain, however interesting or true, can never interest the readers of the Every-Day Book, for this reason, that information will not on any account be inserted, which is not verified by the contributor's name and residence as every contributor may have his name inserted or not, as he pleases, so no one can object to satisfy the editor, that the facts communicated are from responsible sources. The precaution is necessary; and it may be proper to add, that all contributions with quotations from an "old book,' excellent author," "a work of authority," and so forth, are useless, when contributors forget to mention names and title-pages. This is the first time that a notice to correspondents has appeared within the columns of the Every-Day Book, and it is designed to be the last. Such intimations cannot be inserted without injury to the uniform appearance of the work; but they are printed on the wrappers of the Monthly Parts.

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COMMUNICATIONS of local usages or customs, or other useful and agreeable particulars, are earnestly and respectfully solicited; and extracts, or permission to extract, from scarce works and original manuscripts, will be highly esteemed. The favours of correspondents with real names and addresses are obviously the most valuable, and will receive marked regard. W. HONE.

45, Ludgate-hill, 31st March, 1825.

The terms pace, paste, or pasch, are derived from paschal, which is a name given to Easter from its being the paschal season. Four hundred eggs were bought for eighteen-pence in the time of Edward I., as appears by a royal roll in the tower; from whence it also appears they were purchased for the purpose of being boiled and stained, or covered with leaf gold, and afterwards distributed to the royal household at Easter. They were formerly consecrated, and the ritual of pope Paul V. for the use of England, Scotland, and Ireland, contains the form of consecration. * On Easter eve and Easter day, the heads of families sent to the church large chargers, filled with the hard boiled eggs, and there the "creature of eggs" became sacred by virtue of holy water, crossing, and so on.

Ball. Bacon. Tansy Puddings. Eating of tansy pudding is another custom at Easter derived from the Romish church. Tansy symbolized the bitter herbs used by the Jews at their paschal; but that the people might show a proper abhorrence of Jews, they ate from a gammon of bacon at Easter, as many still do in several country places, at this season, without knowing from whence this practice is derived. Then we have Easter ball-play, another ecclesiastical device, the meaning of which cannot be quite so clearly traced; but it is certain that the Romish clergy abroad played at ball in the church, as part of the service; and we find an archbishop joining in the sport. "A ball, not of size to be grasped by one hand only, being given out at Easter, the dean and his representatives began an antiphone, suited to Easter-day; then taking the ball in his left hand, he commenced a dance to the tune of the antiphone, the others dancing round hand in hand. At intervals, the ball was bandied or passed to each of the choristers. The organ played according to the dance and sport. The dancing and antiphone being concluded, the choir went to take refreshment. It was the privilege of the lord, or his locum tenens, to throw the ball; even the archbishop did it." Whether the dignified clergy had this amusement in the English churches is not authenticated; but it seems that "boys used to claim hard eggs, or small money, at Easter, in exchange for the

* Brand.

+ Fosbroke's Brit. Monach. trom Du Cange,

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At stool-ball, Lucia, let us play,
For sugar, cakes, or wine.
Or for a tansy let us pay,

The loss be thine or mine.
If thou, my dear, a winner be
At trundling of the ball,
The wager thou shall have, and me
And my misfortunes all.
1679.

Also, from "Poor Robin's Almanack" for
1677, this Easter verse, denoting the
sport at that season:

Young men and maids,
Now very brisk,
At barley-break and
Stool-ball frisk.

A ball custom now prevails annually at Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk. On Shrove Tuesday, Easter Monday, and the Whitsuntide festivals, twelve old women side off for a game at trap-and-ball, which is kept up with the greatest spirit and vigour until sunset. One old lady, named Gill upwards of sixty years of age, has been celebrated as the "mistress of the sport" for a number of years past; and it affords much of the good old humour to flow round, whilst the merry combatants dexterously hurl the giddy ball to and fro. Afterwards they retire to their homes, where

"Voice, fiddle, or flute, No longer is mute," and close the day with apportioned mirth and merrinent.t

Corporations formerly went forth to play at ball at Easter. Both then and at Whitsuntide, the mayor, aldermen, and sheriff of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with a great number of the burgesses, went yearly to the Forth, or little mall of the town, with the mace, sword, and cap of maintenance, carried before them, and patronised the playing at hand-ball, dancing, and other amusements, and sometimes joined in the ball-play, and at others joined hands with the ladies.

There is a Cheshire proverb, “When the daughter is stolen, shut the Peppergate." This is founded on the fact that the mayor of Chester had his daughter stolen

* Fosbroke's Brit. Monach. from Du Cange
↑ Communicated to the Every-Day Book by S. E.

as she was playing at ball with other maidens in Pepper-street; the young man who carried her off, came through the Pepper-gate, and the mayor wisely ordered the gate to be shut up:* agreeable to the old saying, and present custom agreeable thereto, "When the steed's stolen, shut the stable-door." Hereafter it will be seen that persons quite as dignified and magisterial as mayors and aldermen, could compass a holiday's sport and a merry-go-round, as well as their more humble fellow subjects.

Clipping the Church at Easter. L. S, a Warwickshire correspondent, communicates this Easter custom to the Every-Day Book:

"When I was a child, as sure as Easter Monday came, I was taken to see the children clip the churches.' This ceremony was performed, amid crowds of people and shouts of joy, by the children of the different charity-schools, who at a certain hour flocked together for the purpose. The first comers placed themselves hand in hand with their backs against the church, and were joined by their companions, who gradually increased in number, till at last the chain was of sufficient length completely to surround the sacred edifice. As soon as the hand of the last of the train had grasped that of the first, the party broke up, and walked in procession to the other church, (for in those days Birmingham boasted but of two,) where the ceremony was repeated."

Old Easter Customs in Church. In the celebration of this festival, the Romish church amused our forefathers by theatrical representations, and extraordinary dramatic worship, with appropriate scenery, machinery, dresses, and decora tions. The exhibitions at Durham appear to have been conducted with great effect. In that cathedral, over our lady of Bolton's altar, there was a marvellous, lively, and beautiful image of the picture of our lady, called the lady of Bolton, which picture was made to open with gimmes, (or linked fastenings,) from the breast downward; and within the said image was wrought and pictured the image of our saviour marvellously finely gilt, holding up his hands, and betwixt his hands was a large fair crucifix of Christ, all of gold; the which crucifix was ordained to be taken

*Drake's Shakspeare, from Fuller's Worthics.

forth every Good Friday, and every man did creep unto it that was in the church at that time; and afterwards it was hung up again within the said image. Every principal day the said image of our lady of Bolton, was opened, that every man might see pictured within her, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, most curiously and finely gilt; and both the sides within her were very finely varnished with green varnish, and flowers of gold, which was a goodly sight for all the beholders thereof. On Good Friday, there was marvellous solemn service, in which service time, after the Passion was sung, two of the ancient monks took a goodly large crucifix, all of gold, of the picture of our saviour Christ nailed upon the cross, laying it upon a velvet cushion, embroidered with gold, bringing it behaving St. Cuthbert's arms upon it, all twixt them upon the cushion to the lowest steps in the choir, and there betwixt them did hold the said picture of our saviour, sitting on either side of it. And then one of the said monks did rise, and went a pretty space from it, and setting himself upon his knees with his shoes put off, very reverently he crept upon his knees unto the said cross, and most reverently did kiss it; and after him the other monk did so likewise; and then they sate down it betwixt them. on either side of the said cross, holding Afterward, the prior came forth of his stall, and did sit him

down upon his knees with his shoes off in like sort, and did creep also unto the said cross, and all the monks after him did creep one after another in the same manner and order; in the mean time, the whole choir singing a hymn. The service being ended, the said two monks carried the cross to the sepulchre with great re

verence.*

The sepulchre was erected in the church near the altar, to represent the tomb wherein the body of Christ was laid for burial. At this tomb there was a grand performance on Easter-day. In some churches it was ordained, that Mary Magdalen, Mary of Bethany, and Mary of Naim, should be represented by three deacons clothed in dalmaticks and amesses, with their heads in the manner of women, and holding a vase in their hands. These performers came through the middle of the choir, and hastening

Hone's Ancient Mysteries described, frow Davies's Rites, &c.

433

(owards the sepulchre, with downcast
ooks, said together this verse, "Who
will remove the stone for us?" Upon
this a boy, clothed like an angel, in albs,
and holding a wheat ear in his hand, be-
fore the sepulchre, said, "Whom do you
seek in the sepulchre?" The Maries an-
swered, "Jesus of Nazareth who was
crucified." The boy-angel answered,
"He is not here, but is risen ;" and
pointed to the place with his finger. The
boy-angel departed very quickly, and two
priests in tunics, sitting without the
sepulchre, said, "Woman, whom do ye
mourn for? Whom do ye seek?" The
middle one of the women said, "Sir, if
you have taken him away, say so." The
priest, showing the cross, said, "They
have taken away the Lord." The two
sitting priests said, "Whom do ye seek,
women?" The Maries, kissing the place,
afterwards went from the sepulchre. In
the mean time a priest, in the character
of Christ, in an alb, with a stole, holding
a cross, met them on the left horn of the
altar, and said, " Mary !" Upon hearing
this, the mock Mary threw herself at his
feet, and, with a loud voice, cried Cabboin.
The priest representing Christ replied,
nodding, "Noli me tangere," touch me
not. This being finished, he again ap-
peared at the right horn of the altar, and
said to them as they passed before the
altar, "Hail! do not fear." This being
finished, he concealed himself; and the
women-priests, as though joyful at hear-
ing this, bowed to the altar, and turning
to the choir, sung "Alleluia, the Lord is
risen." This was the signal for the bishop
or priest before the altar, with the censer,
to begin and sing aloud, Te Deum.*

The making of the sepulchre was a
practice founded upon ancient tradition,
that the second coming of Christ would
be on Easter-eve; and sepulchre-making,
and watching it, remained in England
fill the reformation. Its ceremonies va-
ied in different places. In the abbey
church of Durham it was part of the ser-
vice upon Easter-day, betwixt three and
four c'clock in the morning, for two of
the eldest monks of the quire to come to
the sepulchre, set up upon Good Friday
after the Passion, which being covered
with red velvet, and embroidered with
gold, these monks, with a pair of silver
censers, censed the sepulchre on their
knees. Then both rising, went to the

434

sepulchre, out of which they took a mar-
vellous beautiful image of the resurrec-
tion, with a cross in the hand of the image
of Christ, in the breast whereof was in-
closed, in bright crystal, the host, so as
to be conspicuous to the beholders. Then,
after the elevation of the said picture, it
was carried by the said two monks, upon
a velvet embroidered cushion, the monks
singing the anthem of Christus resurgens.
They then brought it to the high altar,
setting it on the midst thereof, and the
two monks kneeling before the altar,
censed it all the time that the rest of the
quire were singing the anthem, which
being ended, the two monks took up the
cushion and picture from the altar, sup-
porting it betwixt them, and proceeded
in procession from the high altar to the
south quire door, where there were four
ancient gentlemen belonging to the quire,
appointed to attend their coming, holding
up a rich canopy of purple velvet, tas-
selled round about with red silk and gold
fringe; and then the canopy was borne
by these "ancient gentlemen," over the
said images with the host carried by the
two monks round about the church, the
whole quire following, with torches and
great store of other lights; all singing,
rejoicing, and praying, till they came to
the high altar again; upon which they
placed the said image, there to remain
till Ascension-day, when another ceremony
was used.

In Brand's "Antiquities," and other
works, there are many items of expenses
from the accounts of different church-
books for making the sepulchre for this
of the brethren of the Holy Trinity of St.
Easter ceremony. The old Register Book
Botolph without Aldersgate, now in the
possession of the editor of the Every-Day
Book, contains the following entries con-
cerning the sepulchre in that church:-
"Item, to the wexchaundeler, for makyng
of the Sepulcre light iii times, and of
other dyvers lights that longyn to the
trynite, in dyvers places in the chirche,
lvii. 10d." In An. 17 Henry VI. there
is another "Item, for xiii tapers unto the
lyght about the Sepulcre, agenst the
ffeste of Estern, weying lxxviii lb. of the
wich was wasted xxii lb." &c. In Ann.
21 & 22 K. Henry VI. the fraternity paid
for wax and for lighting of the sepulchre
"both yers, xx. viii. and they gathered
in those years for their sepulchre light,
xlv. ixd. This gathering was from the
people who were present at the repre-

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