and close the day with apportioned mirth and merriment.--_Every Day Book_, vol. i. p. 430. SURREY. The following is taken from the _Times_ of March 7th, 1862: “Shrove Tuesday was observed, as in days of yore, at Dorking,[15] first by a perambulation of the streets by the foot-ball retinue, composed of grotesquely-dressed persons, to the sounds of music, and in the afternoon by the kicking of the ball up and down the principal thoroughfares of the town. The usual number of men and boys joined in the sport, and played, especially towards the end of the game, with a roughness extremely dangerous to the limbs of the competitors. As 6 o’clock drew near the struggle for victory became more vehement; the palm, however, was obtained, for the fifth year, by the players from the west end of the town. The old custom of tolling the ‘pancake bell’ during the morning was, on this occasion, as during the last two or three years, dispensed with.”--_West Surrey Times._ [15] This custom prevails at Epsom. _N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. i. p. 439. It seems to have been observed also at Twickenham, Bushy, Teddington, Kingston. See _Every Day Book_, vol. i. p. 245. ISLE OF WIGHT. At Brighstone parties of young boys, girls, and very small children parade the village, singing the following words: “Shroving, shroving, I am come to shroving. White bread and apple pie, My mouth is very dry; I wish I were well a-wet, As I could sing for a nut. Shroving, shroving, I am come to shroving. A piece of bread, a piece of cheese, A piece of your fat bacon, Dough nuts and pancakes, All of your own making. Shroving, shroving, I am come to shroving.”[16] _N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. xi. p. 239. [16] For a more detailed account of the Isle of Wight Shrovers, see Halliwell’s _Popular Rhymes_, 1849, p. 246. YORKSHIRE. A correspondent of _N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. v. p. 391, says that all the apprentices in the town of Hedon whose indentures terminate before the return of the day assemble in the belfry of the church at eleven o’clock, and in turn toll the tenor bell for an hour, at the sound of which all the housewives in the parish commence frying pancakes. The sexton, who is present receives a small fee from each lad. At Scarborough on the morning of Shrove Tuesday hawkers parade the streets with barrows loaded with party-coloured balls, which are purchased by all ranks of the inhabitants. With these, and armed with sticks, men, women, and children repair to the sands below the old town, and indiscriminately commence a contest, one party trying to drive the ball into the sea, and another equally zealous in their attempts to rescue it. WALES.