MAYING
The “Mayers” went about singing and soliciting alms for some weeks before the first of May. The following is a portion of one of their songs, and a variant may be found in Halliwell’s Palatine Anthology, which was given to him by Ormerod, the Cheshire historian. The tune taken down by Egerton Leigh, and given in his book of poems, is terribly mutilated, but I have reconstructed it by the aid of a very similar Lancashire tune. It is undoubtedly old, and the commencement on the supertonic is very quaint. The words are distinctly above the average of old ballads:
CHESHIRE MAY SONG
I
All on this pleasant evening together come are we,
For the summer springs so fresh, green, and gay,
To tell you of a blossom that buds on every tree,
Drawing near to the merry month of May.
II
Rise up, the master of this house, all in your chain of gold,
For the summer springs so fresh, green, and gay;
We hope you’re not offended, this night we make so bold,
Drawing near the pleasant month of May.
III
Oh! rise, the mistress of this house, with gold upon your breast,
For the summer springs so fresh, green, and gay;
And if your body be asleep, we hope your soul’s at rest,
Drawing near to the merry month of May.
&c. &c.
In the Halliwell-Phillipps’ version each verse ends with
“Oh this is pleasant singing,
Sweet May flower is springing,
And summer comes so fresh, green, and gay.”
In Chester and surrounding villages the children still carry round May garlands, and generally a small child bedecked with ribbons, but the old May songs are no longer used.
At Knutsford a May Queen is annually chosen and crowned in public. This village has many curious and pretty customs. On the occasion of a marriage there, brown sand was strewn in the streets, and on this, fanciful figures of white sand and sometimes the flowers of the season were added.