Our Wassel to maintain.

We’ll buy no house nor lands

With that which we do gain,

With our Wassel.”

On Shrove Tuesday a barbarous custom prevailed of tying cocks to a stake driven into the ground, and throwing at them with sticks, until death ensued from repeated blows. St. Valentine’s day received a merry welcome from the country swains and maidens, who at that auspicious time made choice of, or more properly speaking were mated to, their true loves for the year. The all important selection was made by writing the names of an equal number of each sex on separate slips of paper, and then dividing them into two lots, one of which represented the males and the other the females. The women drew from the male heap, and the men from that of the females, so that each person became possessed of two sweethearts, and the final pairing was really the only element of real choice in the matter; in this the men usually claimed the girl whom each of them had drawn, and thus an amicable settlement was soon arrived at. After the mirthful ceremony had been completed and each happy couple duly united, the men gave treats and dances to their sweethearts, and wore their billets for several days pinned on to their breasts or coat sleeves. Another, and much simpler, plan of choosing a valentine was to look out of the door or window on the eventful morning, and the first person seen was regarded as the special selection of the patron Saint, provided always the individual was of the opposite sex, and unfettered by the silken bonds of Hymen. Whitsun-ales and Easter-ales were assemblies held within, or in the immediate neighbourhood of, the church-yards, at which the beverage, giving the title to these festivities, was sold by the clergy or their assistants, and consumed by the country people, the proceeds being devoted to ecclesiastical purposes and the relief of the poor. Wakes originated in an ancient custom of gathering together on the evening before the birthday of a Saint or the day appointed for the dedication of a church, and passing the night in devotion and prayer. These watches, however, were soon altered in character, and instead of religious exercises employing the period of vigil, feasting and debauchery became the recognized occupations.

The festival of Rush-bearing is of such antiquity that its origin has become in a great measure obscured, but there is a strong probability that the practice arose from a recommendation given by Pope Gregory IV. to Mellitus, who was associated with St. Augustine in christianising the inhabitants of England, to celebrate the anniversaries of the dedications of those places of worship, which they had rescued from Pagan influences, “by building themselves huts of the boughs of trees about such churches, and celebrating the solemnities with religious feastings.” The rush-cart, decorated with flowers and ribbons, was paraded through the village streets, accompanied by morris-dancers and others bearing flags or banners. One of the mummers, dressed in a motley suit, somewhat resembling that of a circus jester, jingled a horse-collar hung with bells, and kept up a constant succession of small jokes at the expense of the bystanders as the procession advanced. In early days before churches were flagged it was the annual custom to strew their floors with rushes on the day of the dedication of the sacred edifice, and in the parish register of Kirkham we find, as follows:—“1604. Rushes to strew the church cost this year 9s. 6d.” From the register at Poulton church we have also extracted an entry, at random, from similar ones occurring each year:—“Aug. 6th, 1784. To Edward Whiteside for rushes, 6s. 8d.” The practice appears to have arisen simply from a desire to promote warmth and comfort within the churches by providing a covering for the bare earth, and its connection with rush-bearing, when it existed, must be regarded as having been purely accidental. Brand has discovered another motive for rush-strewing, more especially in private houses, and one not very flattering to our forefathers:—“As our ancestors,” writes he, “rarely washed their floors, disguises of uncleanliness became very necessary.” Erasmus, also, a Greek Professor at Oxford in the time of Henry VIII., in describing the hovels in which the agricultural labourers and others of the lower classes lived, says:—“The floors are commonly of clay strewed with rushes; under which lies unmolested an ancient collection of beer, grease, fragments, bones, spittle, and everything that is nasty.”

From 1589 to 1590 inclusive, the daily wages, without board, of a ditcher were 4d., a thresher 6d., a hedger 4d., a gardener 10d., and a master-mason 14d. In 1533 it was enacted that no tenant should hold more than two farms at once; and fifty-five years later sundry penalties were imposed upon any one erecting cottages for the agricultural population without attaching four acres of land to each, also for allowing more than one family to occupy a cottage at the same time.[48] A law was passed in 1597, directing that all houses of husbandry which had fallen into decay within a period of seven years should be rebuilt, and from twenty to forty acres of ground apportioned to each.[49] The average yields of grain per acre on well-cultivated soils during the latter half of the sixteenth century were—wheat 20 bushels, barley 32 bushels, and oats 40 bushels. The subjoined tables contain the average prices of some of the common articles of consumption:—

In 1500.In 1541.In 1590.In 1597.
12 Pigeons4d.0s.10d.1s.0d.4s.3d.
100 Eggs7d.1s.6d.3s.6d.
1 Goose4d.0s.8d.
1 Chicken1d.0s.8d.
1 Lb. of Butter0s.3d.0s.4d.

In 1581, the charge for shoeing a horse was 10d., and sometimes 12d. Here it may be noticed, although perhaps rather digressive, that the herb tobacco was introduced into this country sometime during the summer of 1586, by a party of Englishmen, who for a short time colonised the island of Roanoak, near the coast of Virginia, but, having quarrelled with the aborigines, were removed home in the ships of Sir Francis Drake. Camden, writing of these men, says:—“They were the first that I know of that brought into England that Indian plant which they called tabacca and nicotia, or tobacco, which they used against crudities, being taught it by the Indians. Certainly, from that time forward, it began to grow into great request, and to be sold at a high rate; whilst in a short time many men, everywhere, some for wantonness, some for health sake, with insatiable desires and greediness, sucked in the stinking smoke thereof through an earthen pipe, which presently they blew out again at their nostrils; insomuch that tobacco-shops are now as ordinary in most towns as tap-houses and taverns.”

The following rhymes, descriptive of the games and recreations common in Lancashire amongst the youth of both sexes, were written in 1600, by Samuel Rowland:—