On the evening of Whitsun Tuesday, a sermon is annually preached in the ancient church of St. James, Mitre Court, Aldgate, London, from a text having special reference to flowers. This is popularly called the “Flower sermon.”—Kalendar of the English Church, 1865, p. 74.
On this day is delivered in St. Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch, a “Botanical sermon”—the Fairchild Lecture,—for which purpose funds were left by Thomas Fairchild, who died in 1729. It was formerly the custom of the President and several Fellows of the Royal Society to hear this sermon preached.—Timbs’ Something for Everybody, 1861, p. 80.
SCOTLAND.
The custom of “riding the marches” existed at Lanark, and took place annually on the day after Whitsun Fair, by the magistrates and burgesses, known by the name of the Langemark or Landsmark Day, from the Saxon langemark.[60]—Sinclair’s Stat. Acc. of Scotland, 1795, vol. xv. p. 45.
[60] See [Riding the Marches], [p. 307].
May 14.] COTESWOLD GAMES.
May 14.]
COTESWOLD GAMES.
The vicinity of Chipping Campden was the theatre of the Coteswold Games, which, in the reign of James I. and his unfortunate successor, were celebrated in this part of England. They were instituted by a public-spirited attorney of Burton-on-the-Heath, in Warwickshire, named Robert Dover, and like the Olympic games of the ancients, consisted of most kinds of manly exercises. The victors were rewarded by prizes, distributed by the institutor, who, arrayed in a discarded habit of James’, superintended the games in person for many years. The meetings were annually held on Whitsun Thursday, and were frequently attended by an immense number of people.