All the boys, all the boys, let the bells ring!
All the boys, all the boys, God save the king!
A stick and a stake for King Jamie’s sake,—
I hope you’ll remember the bonfire!”
N. & Q. 4th S. vol. vii. p. 32.
Wiltshire.
At Marlborough the rustics have the following peculiar custom at their bonfires. They form themselves into a ring of some dozen or more round the bonfire, and follow each other round it, holding thick club-sticks over their shoulders; while a few others, standing at distances outside this moving ring with the same sort of sticks, beat those which the men hold over their shoulders, as they pass round in succession, all shouting and screaming loudly. This might last half an hour at a time, and be continued at intervals till the fire died out.—N. & Q. 1st. S. vol. v. p. 355.
At Purton the boys, for several weeks before the 5th of November, used to go from house to house begging faggots for the bonfire, in the middle of which was burnt the effigy of Guy Fawkes. The following rhyme was sung on the occasion:
“My brave lads remember
The fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
We will drink, smoke, and sing, boys,
And our bells they shall ring, boys,
And here’s health to our King, boys,
For he shall not be forgot.”
See Every Day Book, 1827, vol. ii. p. 1379.
Yorkshire.
A very old custom prevails in the West Riding of Yorkshire, of preparing, against the anniversary of Gunpowder Plot, a kind of oatmeal gingerbread, if it may be so called, and of religiously partaking of the same on this day and subsequently. The local name of the delicacy is Parkin and it is usually seen in the form of massive loaves, substantial cakes, or bannocks.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. iv. p. 368.
Blount, in his Fragmenta Antiquitatis (Beckwith, 1815, p. 565), gives the following account of a custom observed at Doncaster. He says at this place on the 5th November, yearly, whether it happens on a Sunday, or any other day in the week, the town waits play for some time on the top of the church steeple, at the time when the congregation are coming out of the church from morning service, the tune of “God Save the King.” This has been done for four-score years at least, and very possibly ever since the 5th of November has been a festival, except that formerly the tune played was “Britons, strike home.” The waits always receive from the churchwardens sixpence a-piece for this service.