AUGUST.] SWAN-UPPING. Formerly the members of the Corporation of London, in gaily-decorated barges, went up the Thames annually in August, for the purpose of _nicking_ or marking, and counting their swans. They used to land off Barnes Elms, and partake of a collation. This yearly progress was commonly but incorrectly called “swan-hopping:” the correct designation is shown by the ancient statutes to be “swan-upping,” the swans being taken up and nicked, or marked. A “swan-with-two-nicks” indicated, by his second nick, that he had been taken up twice.[75] [75] Among the Loseley MSS. is an original roll of swan-marks, showing the beaks of the swans to have been notched with stars, chevrons, crosses, the initials of the owners’ names, or other devices.--See _N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. x. p. 393. In the accounts of the Vintner’s Company (Egerton MS. 1143, fol. 2,) is the following entry:-- “Money payd for expense } Item.--Payd in the grete ffroste to for uppyng of } James the under swanyerd for Swanes } upping of the Maister Swannes iiij_s._ } It--For bote hyr at the same tyme iiij_d._ AUGUST 1.] LAMMAS DAY. Gule of August, or Lammas Day, is variously explained. _Gule_, from the Celtic or British _Wyl_ or _Gule_, signifies a festival or holiday, and explains Gule of August to mean the holiday of St. Peter _ad vincula_ in this month, when the people of England, in Roman Catholic times, paid their Peter-pence. _Lammas_ is, by some, derived from lamb-masse, because on that day the tenants who held lands of the cathedral church in York, which is dedicated to St. Peter _ad vincula_, were bound by their tenure to bring a live lamb into the church at high mass. Others derive it from the Saxon word Hlafmaesse, signifying _loaf-mass_ or _bread-mass_, because on this day our forefathers made an offering of bread from new wheat. Blount says, “Lammas Day, the 1st of August, otherwise called the _Gule_ or _Yule_ of August, which may be a corruption of the British word _Gwul Awst_, signifying the 1st of August.” Blount further says, “that Lammas is called _Alaf-Mass_, that is, loaf or bread mass, which signifies a feast of thanksgiving for the first fruits of the corn. It was observed with bread of new wheat; and in some places tenants were bound to bring new wheat to their lord on or before the 1st of August. New wheat is called Lammas wheat.” Vallancey further affirms that this day was dedicated to the fruits of the soil; that _Laeith_ was the day of the obligation of grain, particularly of wheat, and that _Mas_ signifies fruits of all kinds, especially the acorn, whence the word “mast.”