Middlesex.
At a pension held at Gray’s Inn in Michaelmas Term, 21 Henry VIII., there was an order made that all the fellows of this house who should be present upon any Saturday at supper, betwixt the feasts of All Saints and the Purification of our Lady, or upon any other day at dinner or supper, when there are revels, should not depart out of the hall until the said revels were ended, upon the penalty of 12d.
In 4 Edward VI. (17 Nov.), it was also ordered, that thenceforth there should be no comedies, called interludes, in the house out of term time, but when the feast of the Nativity of our Lord is solemnly observed, and that when there shall be any such comedies, then all the society at that time in common to bear the charge of the apparel.
In 4 Charles I. (17 Nov.), it was also ordered that all playing of dice, cards, or otherwise, in the hall, buttery, or butler’s chamber, should be thenceforth forbidden at all times of the year, the twenty days of Christmas only excepted.—Herbert, Antiquities of the Inns of Court, 1804, p. 336.
Monmouthshire.
In this county, says Hone, Year Book (p. 1288), a custom prevails among the lower classes of begging bread for the souls of the departed on All Saints’ Day; the bread thus distributed is called dole bread.
Shropshire.
It is customary, says a correspondent of N. & Q. (1st S. vol. iv. p. 381) for the village children to go round to all their neighbours Souling, collecting contributions, and singing the following doggrel:—
“Soul! soul! for a soul-cake;
Pray, good mistress, for a soul-cake.
One for Peter, and two for Paul,
Three for them who made us all.
Soul! soul! for an apple or two;
If you’ve got no apples, pears will do.
Up with your kettle, and down with your pan,
Give me a good big one, and I’ll be gone.
Soul! soul! for a soul-cake, &c.