We have come here a-souling as it doth appear,
And it’s all that we are souling for is your ale and strong beer.
There are two other Verses.
At Northwich, Tarporley, and other places the soulers are accompanied by one bearing an imitation head of a horse, which snaps its jaws in an alarming manner. Thus “souling” has got grafted on to the pagan custom of “hodening.” At Over the soulers blacken their faces. This is a survival of the wearing of black already mentioned.
The “Soulers’ Song,” as given by Egerton Leigh, is a poor modern version, evidently adapted from a Maying song:—
“Ye gentlemen of England I could have ye draw near
To these few lines which we have wrote,
And all ye soon shall hear
Sweet melody of music all on this evening clear,
For we are gone a-souling for apples and strong beer.”