[12] See Nos. 10 and 36.
[13] See No. 154, and note.
[14] Ballad, ballet, ball, from ballare, to dance.
[15] See Nos. 12-17.
[16] Yet there is no modern English treatise on the history of the ballad possessing critical pretensions. It is to the unselfish labors of an American—Professor Francis J. Child, of Harvard University—that we are soon to owe a complete and comparative edition of English ballads.
[17] In the country, in Massachusetts, Thanksgiving evening was the particular occasion for these games.
[18] The feast of Flora, says Pliny, in order that everything should flower.
[19] So in Southern France—
"Catherine, ma mie—reveille-toi, s'il vous plaît;
Regarde à ta fenêtre le mai et le bouquet."
[20] "On May-day eve, young men and women still continue to play each other tricks by placing branches of trees, shrubs, or flowers under each other's windows, or before their doors."—Harland, "Lancashire Folk-lore."