For more or lesse fruits they will bring,
And you do give them wassailing.”
May not Shakespeare refer to this?—
“Sometimes lurk I in a gossip’s bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her wither’d dew-lap pour the ale.”
Midsummer Night’s Dream.
In some localities apples are blessed on St James’s-day, July 25.