——chè già tiene 'l confine

D'amenduo gli emisperi, e tocca l'onda

Sotto Sibilia, Caino e le spine.

It appears that sowins were not the only food of the lunary inhabitant, for it is related by children he once favoured middle-earth with his presence, and took a fancy to some pease-porridge, which he was in such a hurry to devour that he scalded his mouth:

The Man in the Moon

Came tumbling down,

And asked his way to Norwich;

He went by the south,

And burnt his mouth

With supping hot pease-porridge.

His chief beverage, as everybody knows, was claret:

The Man in the Moon drinks claret,

But he is a dull Jack-a-Dandy;

Would he know a sheep's head from a carrot,

He should learn to drink cyder and brandy.

Another old ballad commences,—

The Man in the Moon drinks claret,

With powder-beef, turnip, and carrot.

[X.—CUSTOM-RHYMES.]

It is greatly to be feared that, notwithstanding the efforts made within the last few years by individuals who have desired to see the resuscitation of the merry sports and customs of old England, the spirit which formerly characterised them is not to be recovered. The mechanical spirit of the age has thrown a degree of ridicule over observances which have not been without use in their day; and might even now be rendered beneficial to the public, were it possible to exclude the influence which tells the humbler subject such matters are below his regard. Yet it must be confessed that most of our ancient customs are only suited to the thinly-populated rural districts, where charity, goodwill, and friendship may be delicately cultivated under the plea of their observance.