Exposed to the pitiless pelting of the snow-storm, whilst the damsels jeered them at advantage from the casement, they were told that no lock could be turned, no bolt withdrawn, until one amongst their party (himself a guest and a bachelor) could guess the name of the joint roasting upon the spit.
"And what guerdon," inquired Shakespeare, "to him who guesseth the same?"
"The best portion of the joint," said Dame Hathaway, "the first draught from the cider with the toast and hissing crab in it, and a kiss from the comeliest lass in the company."
"The latter reward, then, at least, I claim," said Shakespeare; "for an you have not spitted the chine to-night, I would I might never see a porker again."
The scream of laughter with which this was received, (the withdrawal of the bolts, and the rush of the lasses to hide themselves from the penalty incurred), proclaimed that the guesser had made a lucky hit; and Shakespeare, in right of his guess, entered first to claim and obtain the reward.
Our readers need scarcely be informed that the handsome daughter of the host was the maiden sought for and selected; and that Anne Hathaway received on this night the first kiss from William Shakespeare.
In the games which were to follow this ceremony, the more mirth displayed was superstitiously imagined to give greater promise of a full apple season that year, and accordingly, fast and furious grew the fun.
If we were to say that young Shakespeare entered into these revels with feelings of unmingled enjoyment, we should indeed belie him.
As he looked upon the joyous faces around him, he felt delighted at the scene; and as his eye occasionally met that of the handsome Anne, he certainly at each glance felt more and more struck with her beauty; yet, still the remembrance of Charlotte Clopton, and the dear friends he had lost, over and anon "stopped the career of laughter with a sigh," and he, at such moments, felt almost unfitted for the scene.
There was, however, a charm to one of his disposition in these old wild rites and superstitions; and, as after midnight the revellers sat round the hearth, and each one was called upon for the tale of grammarie, the ghost story, or the fairy tale, he at length gave himself up to the enjoyment of the hour and season.