In Wright’s _Vocabularies_ it appears thus:--‘_Hic artæcopus, a symnylle_.’ This form was in use during the fifteenth century. In the _Dictionarius_ of John de Garlande, compiled at Paris in the thirteenth century, it appears thus:--“_Simeneus_ = placentæ = simnels.” Such cakes were signed with the figure of Christ, or of the Virgin. At Bury, in Lancashire, from time beyond memory, thousands of persons come from all parts, and eat “simnels” on Simnel Sunday. Formerly, nearly every shop was open, quite in defiance of the law respecting the closing during “service,” but of late, through the improved state of public opinion, the disorderly scenes to which the custom gave rise have been partially amended. Efforts have been repeatedly made to put a stop to the practice altogether, but in vain. The clergy, headed by the rector, and the ministers of all denominations (save the Romanists) have drawn up protests and printed appeals against this desecration, but, as just stated, with scarcely any visible effect. It is not a little singular that the practice of assembling in one town, upon one day--the middle Sunday in Lent, to eat simnel cake, is a practice confined to Bury. Much labour has been expended to trace the origin of this custom, but without success.--_Gent. Mag._ (New Series) 1866, vol. i. p. 535; Baines, _History of Lancashire_, 1836, vol. ii. p. 776. Herrick in his _Hesperides_ has the following: “TO DIANEME. “A CEREMONIE IN GLOCESTER. “I’ll to thee a Simnell bring, ’Gainst thou go’st a _mothering_; So that, when she blesseth thee, Half that blessing thou’lt give me.” 1, p. 2787. Again, the bread called “simnel bread” is mentioned by Jehoshaphat Aspin, in his _Pictures of Manners, &c., of England_, p. 126, who quotes from a statute of 51st of Henry III.:--_A farthing symnel_ (a sort of small cake, twice baked, and also called a _cracknel_) should weigh two ounces less than the _wastel_ (a kind of cake made with honey, or with meal and oil).