burning charcoal on plates of tin, which as they melted went off with that violent explosion. One thing there was beyond all these he tells us, which was also what drove them from the house in reality, though they never owned it. This was they had formed a reserve of part of the premises to themselves, and hid their mutual agree ment, which they had drawn up in writing, under the earth in a pot in a corner of the room in which they usually dined, in which an orange tree grew: when in the midst of their dinner one day this earth of itself took fire and burned violently with a blue flame, filling the room with a strong sulphurous stench; and this he also professes was his own doing, by a secret mixture he had placed there the day before. I am very happy in having an opportunity of setting history right about these remarkable events; and would not have the reader disbelieve my author's account of them, from his naming either white gunpowder going off when melted, or his making the earth about the pot take fire of its own accord; since, however improbable these accounts may appear to some readers, and whatever secrets they might be in Joe's time, they are well known now in chemistry. As to the last, there needs only to mix an equal quantity of iron filings, finely powered, and powder of pure brimstone, and make them into a paste with fair water. This paste, when it has lain together about twenty-six hours, will of itself take fire, and burn all the sulphur away, with a blue flame and great stink. For the others, what he calls white gunpowder, is plainly the thundering powder called pulvis fulminans by our chemists. It is made only of three parts of saltpetre, two parts of pearl-ashes, or salt of tartar, and one part of flower of brimstone, mixed together and beat to a fine powder; a small quantity of this held on the point of a knife over a candle will not go off till it melts, and then give a report like a pistol; and this he might easily dispose of in larger quantities, so as to make it go off of itself, while he was with his masters. From this diversion at Woodstock, wherein if we have exceeded be it remembered that Aubrey carried us thither, we return to the diversions of the month. Ye shepherdesses, in a goodly round, Nor ye absent yourselves, ye shepherd swains, The woods shall echo May,-with May the vallies ring. MAY DAY IN LONDON. The traunt schoolboy now at eve we meet, On milk-pail rear'd the borrow'd salvers glare, The Milkmaids' Dance. A pageant quite as gay, of less estate, And all the milkmaids ranged themselves before; Bids from her udder unconcocted flow A stream a few short hours will turn to-foh! Of wholesome dairies, and the milkmaid's face, But neither lamb, nor kid, nor calf, nor Tray Also, on May-day we have the superstitions of innocence, or ignorance if the reader please-no matter which, it is the same thing. In the same poet's budget of country charms and divinations be Gay. longing to different seasons, he represents Last May-day fair I search'd to find a snail Oh, may this wond'rous omen lucky prove! With my sharp heel I three times mark the ground, MAY DAY IN DUBLIN. to burn in the fire. The depots for these Gay. it. If their money will afford the expenditure, they have a pot of porter to drink turf and bones are set fire to, and when round. After an hour or so, the heap of the candles are burnt out, the bush is taken up and thrown into the flames. They continue playing about until the fire is burnt out; each then returns to his home; and so ends their May-day. About two or three miles from Dublin, called Finglass; it is prettily situated, on the great northern road, is a village and is the only place I know of in the is kept up in the old style. A high pole neighbourhood of Dublin, where May-day is decorated with garlands, and visiters come in from different parts of the country, and dance round it to whatever The best male and female dancer are music chance may have conducted there. chosen king and queen, and placed on chairs. When the dancing is over, they are carried by some of the party to an adjacent public-house, where they regale themselves with ham, beef, whiskeypunch, ale, cakes, and porter, after which they generally have a dance in-doors, and then disperse. There is an old song relating to the above custom, beginning Ye lads and lasses all to-day, It is communicated by T. A. that it was formerly a custom in Cheshire for young men to place birchen boughs on May-day over the doors of their mistresses, and marke the residence of a scold by an alder bough. There is an old rhyme which mentions peculiar boughs for various tempers, an owler (alder) for a scolder, a nut for a slut, &c. Mr. Ormerode, the county historian, presumes the practice is disused; but he mentions that in the main street of Weverham, in Cheshire, are two Maypoles, which are de corated on this day with all due attention to the ancient solemnity: the sides are hung with garlands, and the top terminat Fair Flora! now attend thy sportful feast, Thou claims't, and both command my tuneful lay; To sing of both the double task be mine. Do thou, O Flora, who thou art declare ; Flora then relates, that Zephyr became enamoured of her as Boreas had been, that "by just marriage to his bed," she was united to Zephyr, who assigned her the dominion over Spring, and that I also rule the plains. From these allegorical ascriptions, the Roman people worshipped Flora, and celebrated her festivals by ceremonies and rejoicings, and offerings of spring flowers |