"They frae a barn a kaber raught
And mounted wi' a bang,
Betwisht twa's shoulders, and sat straught,
Upon't and rade the stang
On her that day."
Mr. Geo. Roberts, of Lyme Regis, forwarded to Sir Walter Scott some interesting notes on skimmington-riding. He informed Sir Walter that in the South of England: "About dusk two individuals, one armed with a skimmer and the other with a ladle, came out of some obscure[304] street attended by a crowd, whose laughter, huzzas, etc., emulate the well-known charivari of the French. The two performers are sometimes in a cart, at other times on a donkey; one personating the wife, the other the husband. They beat each other furiously with the culinary weapons above described, and, warmed by the applause and presence of so many spectators (for all turn out to see a skimmington), their dialogue attains a freedom, except using surnames, only comparable with their gestures. On arriving at the house of the parties represented in the moving drama, animation is at its height: the crowd usually stay at the spot some minutes, and then traverse the town. The performers are remunerated by the spectators: the parties who parade the streets with the performers sweep with brooms the doors of those who are likely to require a similar visitation."
Dr. King, in his "Miscellany," thus refers to the subject:
"When the young people ride the skimmington,
There is a general trembling in the town;
Not only he for whom the party rides
Suffers, but they sweep other doors besides;
And by the hieroglyphic does appear
That the good woman is the master there."
[305]According to Douce, skimmington is derived from skimming-ladle, used in the ceremony.
In Butler's "Hudibras," considerable attention is paid to the custom. A few of the lines are as follow:
"And now the cause of all their fear,
By slow degrees approached so near,
Of horns, and pans, and dogs, and boys,
And kettle-drums whose sullen dub,
Sounds like the hooping of a tub;
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