When the Mayers have collected all the money they can obtain, they return to their homes, and regale themselves, concluding the day with a merry dance round the garland.--_Every Day Book_, 1826, vol. ii. p. 615; _Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases_, 1854, vol. ii. p. 421. Clare, “the Peasant Poet” of Northampton, in one of his MS. ballads, describes the manner in which May-day is observed in his native village, Helpstone, near Peterborough, and the neighbourhood. His delightful ballad is printed by Miss Baker in her work already quoted (vol. ii. p. 423). “How beautiful May and its morning comes in! The songs of the maidens, you hear them begin To sing the old ballads while cowslips they pull, While the dew of the morning fills many pipes full. The closes are spangled with cowslips like gold, Girls cram in their aprons what baskets can’t hold; And still gather on to the heat of the day, Till force often throws the last handful away. Then beneath an old hawthorn they sit, one and all, And make the May-garlands, and round _cuck_ a ball Of cowslips and blossoms so showy and sweet, And laugh when they think of the swains they shall meet. Then to finish the garland they trudge away home, And beg from each garden the flowers then in bloom; Then beneath the old eldern, beside the old wall, They set out to make it, maid, misses and all. The ribbons the ploughmen bought maids at the fair Are sure to be seen in a garland so fair; And dolls from the children they dress up and take, While children laugh loud at the show they will make. Then they take round the garland to show at each door, With kerchief to hide the fine flowers cover’d o’er; At cottages also, when willing to pay, The maidens their much-admired garland display. Then at _duck-under-water_[53] adown the long road They run with their dresses all flying abroad; And ribbons all colours, how sweet they appear! May seems to begin the life of the year. Then the garland on ropes is hung high over all, One end to a tree, and one hooked to a wall; When they _cuck_ the ball over till day is nigh gone, And then tea and cakes and the dancing comes on. And then, lawk! what laughing and dancing is there, While the fiddler makes faces within the arm-chair; And then comes the _cushion_,[54] the girls they all shriek, And fly to the door from the old fiddler’s squeak. But the doors they are fastened, so all must kneel down, And take the rude kiss from the unmannerly clown. Thus the May games are ended, to their houses they roam, With the sweetheart she chooses each maiden goes home.”