Crawley.
Shrove Tuesday Custom (Vol. ix., p. 65.).—The Shrove Tuesday custom mentioned by Mr. Elliott as existing at Leicester, and an account of which he quotes from Hone's Year-Book, has been abolished within the last few years. There is, I believe, still a curious custom on that day at Ludlow, the origin and meaning of which has never, so far as I am aware, been discovered and stated.
"The corporation," I quote from a history of the town, "provide a rope, three inches in thickness, and in length thirty-six yards, which is given out at one of the windows of the Market House as the clock strikes four, when a large body of the inhabitants, divided into two parties, commence an arduous struggle, and as soon as either party gains the victory by pulling the rope beyond the prescribed limits, the pulling ceases, &c.
"Without doubt this singular custom is symbolical of some remarkable event, and a remnant of that ancient language of visible signs, which, says a celebrated writer, 'imperfectly supplies the want of letters to perpetuate the remembrance of public or private transactions.' The sign in this instance has survived the remembrance of the occurrence it was designed to represent, and remains a profound mystery. It has been insinuated that the real occasion of this custom is known to the corporation, but that, for some reason or other, they are tenacious of the secret."
The local historian then mentions an "obscure tradition," but as it is not in agreement with my own opinion, I omit it.
S. P. Q.
STORNELLO.
Verses, the rhymes of which return after the fashion of those printed in "N. & Q." (Vol. vi., p. 603., and Vol. vii., p. 174.), are commonly current among the peasants of Tuscany, and in many instances form the materials of their popular songs. It is probable that this description of rhyme originated in the "bel paese la dove 'l si suona." They usually turn on a combination of three words, as in those quoted in Vol vii. of "N. & Q." And the name stornello, as will be readily perceived, is derived from tornare, to return. I send you a specimen of one of them, which has a certain degree of historical interest attached to it, from its connexion with the movement of 1848. It was difficult to walk through the streets of Florence in those days without hearing it carolled forth by more than one Florentine Tyrtæus. Now, I need hardly say, "we never mention it—its name is never heard." The patriot-flag was a tricolor of white, red, and green, a nosegay of which colours a youth has brought to his mistress. She sings as follows:
"E gli dirò che il verde, il rosso, il bianco
Gli stanno ben con una spada al fianco.