The lover was sure then to make his appearance.--Soane’s _Book of the Months_. [67] See page 199. [68] See page 100. Towards night, materials for a fire were collected in a public place and kindled. To this the name of bonfire was given, a term of which the most rational explanation seems to be that it was composed of contributions collected as _boons_ or gifts of social and charitable feeling. Around this fire the people danced with almost frantic mirth, the men and boys occasionally jumping through it, not to show their agility, but as a compliance with ancient custom.[69]--_Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 86. [69] Fuller (_Mixt Contemplations in Better Times_, 1858, p. 25) says he has met with “two etymologies of bone-fires. Some deduce it from fires made of bones, relating it to the burning of martyrs, first made fashionable in England in the reign of King Henry the Fourth; but others derive the word from _boon_, that is, good, and fires.” The more probable explanation seems to be that of Dr. Hickes, and which has been adopted by Lye in the _Etymologicon of Junius_, namely, that it was derived from the Anglo-Saxon _bælfyr_, a burning pile, by the change of a single letter only, baal in the Islandic signifying a conflagration. In the reign of Henry VII. these fires were patronised by the Court, and numerous entries appear in the “Privy purse Expenses” of that monarch, by which he either defrayed the charges, or rewarded the firemen. A few are subjoined, as examples of the whole: “June 23 (1493). To making of the bonefuyr on Midsomer Eve, 10^{s}. “June 28 (1495). For making the king’s bonefuyr, 10^{s}. “June 24 (1497). Midsomer Day, for making of the bone-fuyr, 10^{s}. “June 30 (1498). The making of the bone-fuyr, £2.” _Med. Ævi Kalend._, 1841, vol. i. p. 303. In the months of June and July, says Stow, on the vigils of festival days, and on the same festival days in the evening after the sun setting, there were usually made bonfires in the streets, every man bestowing wood or labour towards them; the wealthier sort also, before their doors near to the said bonfires, would set out tables on the vigils, furnished with sweet bread and good drink, and on the festival days with meats and drinks plentifully, whereunto they would invite their neighbours and passengers also to sit and be merry with them in great familiarity, praising God for His benefit bestowed on them. On these occasions it appears that it was customary to bind an old wheel round about with straw and tow, to take it to the top of some hill at night, to set fire to the combustibles, and then roll it down the declivity. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.