[59] The mottoes on the tickets varied in different years. In 1773, the words were “Ad Montem;” in 1781 and 1787 “Mos pro lege est;” in 1790, 1796, 1808, 1812, “Pro more et monte;” and in 1799 and 1805, “Mos pro lege.”--Brand, _Pop. Antiq._, 1849, vol. i. p. 436. The origin of this custom, notwithstanding much antiquarian research, is unknown. Some, however, are of opinion that it was identical with the _bairn_ or _boy_-bishop. It originally took place on the 6th of December, the festival of St. Nicholas (the patron of children; being the day on which it was customary at Salisbury, and in other places where the ceremony was observed, to elect the _boy_-bishop, from among the children belonging to the cathedral), but afterwards it was held on Whitsun Tuesday.--Sheahan, _History of Buckinghamshire_, 1862, p. 862; Lysons’ _Magna Britannia_, 1813, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 558; _Gent. Mag._, 1820, vol. xc. p. 55; See _N. & Q. 1st S._, vol i. pp. 110, 322; _2nd S._ vol. ii. p. 146. CUMBERLAND. The ten principal estates in the parish of Hesket were formerly called _Red Spears_, from the titles of the owners, obtained from the curious tenure of riding through the town of Penrith on every Whitsun Tuesday, brandishing their spears. These _Red-Spear Knights_ seem to have been regarded as sureties to the sheriff for the peaceable behaviour of the inhabitants.--Britton and Brayley, _Beauties of England and Wales_, 1802, vol. iii. p. 171. MIDDLESEX. On the evening of Whitsun Tuesday, a sermon is annually preached in the ancient church of St. James, Mitre Court, Aldgate, London, from a text having special reference to flowers. This is popularly called the “Flower sermon.”--_Kalendar of the English Church_, 1865, p. 74. On this day is delivered in St. Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch, a “Botanical sermon”--the Fairchild Lecture,--for which purpose funds were left by Thomas Fairchild, who died in 1729. It was formerly the custom of the President and several Fellows of the Royal Society to hear this sermon preached.--Timbs’ _Something for Everybody_, 1861, p. 80. SCOTLAND. The custom of “riding the marches” existed at Lanark, and took place annually on the day after Whitsun Fair, by the magistrates and burgesses, known by the name of the Langemark or Landsmark Day, from the Saxon _langemark_.[60]--Sinclair’s _Stat. Acc. of Scotland_, 1795, vol. xv. p. 45. [60] See _Riding the Marches_, p. 307. MAY 14.] COTESWOLD GAMES.