Among the customs of the Manor of Ashton-under-Lyne, as described by the late Dr. Hibbert-Ware, was the making of so-called "presents" by the tenants-at-will to the lord of the manor, for the sake of partaking in the annual feast at the great hall. In the rental of Sir John de Assheton, made in November 1422, these presents are claimed as an obligatory service from the tenants-at-will, in the following terms:--"That they shall give their presents at Yole [Christmas]; every present to such a value as is written and set in the rental; and the lord shall feed all his said tenants, and their wifes, upon Yole-day at the dinner, if they like for to come; but the said tenants and their wifes, though it be for their ease not to come, they shall send neither man nor woman in their name,--but if [unless] they be their son or their daughter dwelling with them,--unto the dinner; for the lord is not bounden to feed them all, only the good man and the good wife." In some manor-houses of Lancashire, once dedicated to these annual scenes of festivity, may be observed an elevation of the floor [or _daïs_] at the extremity of the great hall, or, in the place of it, a gallery which stretches along one side of the room [many halls have both _daïs_ and gallery] to accommodate the lord and his family, so that they might not be annoyed by the coarse rustic freedoms which the tenants would be too apt to take during the hours of their conviviality. In a hall, then, of this kind in the manor-house at Assheton, we may imagine the large Yule fire to be kindled; while in a gallery or raised floor Sir John of Assheton, his lady, and family, together with his kinsmen, Elland of Brighouse, and Sir John the Byron, are feasting apart, yet attentive to the frolics or old songs of the company below. It was on these occasions that peg-tankards were used, and horns that bore the names of the Saxons and Danes, whom the Normans had ousted out of their possessions. Of the description of ale that flowed merrily on these occasions we know little; but there can be no doubt that it was like King Henry the Eighth's ale, which contained neither hops nor brimstone. We may suppose, then, that on annual festivals like these, the wooden bowl or horn would pass freely through the hands of Sir John of Assheton's tenants-at-will; among whom were such personages as Hobbe Adamson, Hobbe of the Leghes, William the arrow-smith, Roger the baxter, Roger le smith, Jack the spencer, Jack the hind, Elyn Wilkyn daughter, Elyn the rose, and the widows Mergot of Staley, Peryn's wife, and Nan of the Windy Bank,--all clad in their best hoods, and brown woollen jackets and petticoats. The ancient musical instruments used in Lancashire were a kind of fiddle, not of the present form, and a stringed instrument called the virginals. The provincial songs of that period, few of which were less than half-an-hour in length, rehearsed the deeds of Launcelot