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THE MONTHS-APRIL.

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member the benefits God conferred upon them in passing over the houses, and not smiting them,*—but our feast is celebrated in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ, tho' we still retain the name of Pascha not only because the lamb that was killed by the Jews of old in their Passover was a true type of the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus, which was sacrificed for man's salvation, but because at that very time he passed to his Father from this world-Pasach signifies transitio, a passage, from pasach, transire, i.e. to pass-or because then was made a passage from an old to a new life."-The explanation does not throw much light upon the subject.

Eucharist is from a compound Greek word, which may, as Minshew‡ explains it, refer to the thanks to be especially given on this occasion; or, as is not unlikely, to the benefit conferred on the participators of the body and blood of our Saviour, This day is always the first Sunday subsequent to the first full moon, which happens on, or next after, the 21st of March; but if the full moon happens on a Sunday, then Easter Day is the Sunday following. It used to be characterized by a belief amongst the people that the sun danced in joy of the occasion, and many were accustomed to rise early for the sake of witnessing this phenomenon; perhaps those, who saw the beams quivering upon the surface of a stream shaken by the wind, might persuade themselves they had been successful. This superstition is not, I believe, quite extinct even now in some of the more unenlightened parts of the country.

In the times of Roman Catholic predominance, the church celebrated the day with many pageants that

# EXODUS, c. xii. v. 11.

FESTA ANGLO ROM. p. 44.
DUCTOR IN LINGUAS; sub voce.

NEW CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.

192 differed little from those of the theatre, except in being less amusing and less rational. Amongst other follies we are told, that as on the previous evenings the watching of the sepulchre had been acted, so upon this day the resurrection was represented. The form of the ceremony varied as to details in different places, though substantially the same in all countries. Fosbrooke's account of the way in which it was practised amongst us is perhaps the most simple. "Then during a religious service four monks robed themselves, one of whom in an alb, as if he had somewhat to do, came stealingly to the tomb, and there, holding a palm branch, sat still till the responsary was ended; when the three others carrying censers in their hands came up to him step by step as if looking for something. As soon as he saw them approach, he began singing in a soft voice (dulcisone) 'whom seek ye?'-to which was replied by the three others in chorus, Jesus of Nazareth.'-This was answered by the other, he is not here; he is risen.'At which the three last, turning to the choir, cried, · Alleluia! the Lord is risen.' The other then as if calling them back sang, Come and see the place,'' and then rising, raised the cloth, shewed them the place without the cross, and linen clothes in which it was wrapped. Upon this they laid the clothes, extended them to risen, and singing an antiphone placed them upon the altar."t

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down their censers, took show that the Lord was

* i.e. a white surplice, but differing from that now in use by its being worn close at the wrist like the lawn sleeves of a bishop.

Fosbrooke's British Monachism, p. 65, qrto. Lond. 1817. Hone, in his usual blundering way, has given an account, which he cites as being from Fosbrooke, who according to him quotes from Du Cange; but in fact his tale does not relate to Durham but to Rouen, and is to be found no doubt in Du Cange, though his inormant forgot to tell him it was under the head Sepulchri Officium

It was customary also at this time for the bishops and archbishops to play at dice or ball with their subordinates, and to lay aside all the pomp and distance belonging to their station, a manifest imitation of the Saturnalia. Moreover, the whole body of the ecclesiastics were now wont to shave the head and beard, to bathe and to indue the white stole; and to each of these actions was supposed to attach a spiritual type,—the use of the bath signifying that the soul should in like manner be purified; the shaving, that our vices should be laid aside; while the white vestments might refer either to the appearance of the angels, or to a firm expectation of the robe of immortality; or it might allude to the severity of penance being over.* Above all, it was requi site that no one on Easter Day should eat anything that had not been blessed by the priest, or at least without first making the sign of the cross over it; for the devil just then was held to be particularly on the watch for souls.† Durand gives a lamentable instance of the fatal consequences arising from the neglect of this precaution, and

Ecclesiasticum, without which notice the reference to Du Cange is about as useful as a direction would be "to a small village somewhere in Europe." In this version, if we may so call it, the three priests wore head-dresses to represent the three Marys, namely, Mary Magdalen, Mary of Bethany, and Mary of Naim; or, in the words of the old manuscript, from which Du Cange quotes, "tres diaconi canonici induti dalmaticis et amictis, habentes super capita sua ad similitudinem mulierum &c."-i.e. "three deacons clad in dalmatics and amices, and wearing upon their heads after the fashion of women, &c." In Durandus again the ceremony appears to have some variations, two of the apostles St. John and St. Peter being added to the performers. Vide Durandi Rationale Divin. Officior. lib. vi. cap. 87, p. 247.

* Vide Durandi Rat. Div. Offic. lib. vi. cap 86, p. 245.

+ Durand. Rat. Div. Offic. ut supra.

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of which he was himself an eye-witness.* Two devils got possession of a young girl and tormented her for three years, a miracle which I may add is often renewed in our own days, but with this especial difference, that, when the devil now possesses a woman, he does not torment herself but others. However, on this occasion a cunning exorcist drove the fiends out at last, having previously made them confess that they had been lying perdu in a melon which the girl had incautiously eaten without first making the sign of the cross.

Many similar absurdities were practised upon this day, the growth of a rude age; and which the judicious reader will as little think of imputing to Catholicism, as of condemning the Protestant faith for the ravings of the Munster Anabaptists or for the follies of Joanna Southcott and her disciples.

A variety of sports characterised the Easter holidays among the people. In Lancashire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and some other counties, the custom of heaving or lifting prevailed; the men heaving or lifting the women in a chair on Easter Monday, and the women doing the same by the men on the Tuesday following. At the end of the ceremony, the person lifted was duly kissed by his lifters and obliged to pay a forfeit. Sometimes this took place within, but more frequently out of, doors; the custom in some places being to place the victim upright in a chair, while in others he was laid horizontally on the bearers' hands, and raised above their heads. At another period, or perhaps at a different part of the country, the men took the buckles on Monday from the shoes of the women, who the next day returned the compliment, a forfeit having to be paid in either case for the redemption of the plundered article.† * Durandi Rat. Div. Offic. lib vi. cap. 86, p. 245.

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We are told, moreover, by Durandus,* that in many places it was the custom on the second day after Easter for the women to beat their husbands, and on the third, for the husbands to beat their wives. At Coleshill, in the county of Warwick, there is a custom, that if the young men of the town can catch a hare and bring it to the parson of the parish before ten o'clock, the parson is bound to give them a calf's head and a hundred of eggs for their breakfast, and a groat in money.† The game of quintain, too, was in olden times played upon the water, according to Fitz-Stephens, as quoted by Stow at the end of his Survay of London-"In the Easter holydays they have a sort of naval fight. A shield being strongly fastened to a pole in the middle of the river, a youth prepared to strike it with a lance, stands in the prow of a boat, which is impelled by the stream and oars. If he break the lance against the shield and continues firm, he has succeeded; if the lance strikes strongly and remains whole, he is flung into the river; the boat, impelled by its own motion, passes on. Nevertheless, two boats are stationed near the shield, in which are several young men to pick up the striker upon his fall into the river, or as soon as he rises again upon the water." +

* "6 In plerisque et regionibus mulieres secundâ die post pascha verberant maritos suos; die verò tertiâ, mariti uxores suos."-Durandi Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, lib. vi, ch. 86-9, p. 245. 4to. 1609.

+ Blount's Fragmenta Antiquitatis, &c.

"In feriis paschalibus ludunt quasi prælia navalia ; in arbore siquidem mediamne scuto fortiter innexo, navicula remo et raptu fluminis cita in prorâ stantem habet juvenem, scutum illud lancea percussurum, qui si scuto illi lanceam illidens frangat eam et immotus persistat, habet propositum, voti compos est; si vero lanceâ integrâ fortiter percusserit, in profluentem amnem dejicitur. Navis motu suo acta præterit. Sunt tamen hinc inde secus scutum duæ

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