EEL FAIR.
Surrey.
About the middle of May there is an annual migration of young eels up the Thames at Kingston. They appear in shoals, giving to the margin of the river an appearance not altogether agreeable; but their origin and destination are alike matter of conjecture. It is reasonably supposed that these swarms migrate from the lakes in Richmond Park, where immense numbers are annually bred, and that they descend the rivers, stocking the creeks and streams for some miles above the town. There is generally a crowd of eager men, women, and children, provided with every possible vessel wherein to catch the slippery prey on the first intimation of their approach; and the animated scene has caused the occasion to be called Eel Fair.—Biden, History of Kingston-upon-Thames, 1852, p. 128.
May 17.] TRINITY SUNDAY.
May 17.]
TRINITY SUNDAY.
Its observance is said to have first been established by Archbishop Becket, soon after his consecration. “Hic post consecrationem suam instituit festivitatem principalem S. Trinitatis annis singulis in perpetuam celebrandam, quo die primam missam suam celebravit.”—Wharton, H., Anglia Sacra, 1691, fol. pt. i. p. 8.
It is still customary for the judges and great law-officers of the Crown, together with the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, to attend Divine Service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and hear a sermon.
On Trinity Sunday, formerly, processions of children, with garlands of flowers and ribbons, were common.—Timbs’ Something for Everybody, 1861, p. 83.