The Italians they are coy and quaint, But they grosly daub and paint; The Spanish Kind are apt to please, But sav’ring of the same Disease; Of Dutch and French some few are comely, The French are light, the Dutch are homely. Let Tagus, Po, and Loire and Rhine, Then veil unto my Valentine. Here may be seen pure white and red, Not by feign’s Art, but Nature wed, No simp’ring Smiles, no mimic Face, Affecture Gesture, or forc’d Grace, A fair smooth front, free from least Wrinkle, Her eyes (on me) like Stars do twinkle; Thus all perfections do combine To beautify my Valentine.” The May Day observances, revived with the Restoration, were duly honoured. The milkmaids and the sweeps paraded the streets with music. The old custom of going out into the fields to gather May dew was kept up, though one imagines in a formal way only, and not to let good old customs decay. On New Year’s Day presents were made by inferiors to their patrons, by tenants to the nobles, by the nobles to the King. The observance of Queen Elizabeth’s Day is described in the following letter from John Verney to Sir Ralph Verney, November 20, 1679:— “Monday being Queen Elizabeth’s coronation day there were vast quantities of bonfires about town, but chief of all was at Temple Bar, over which gate Queen Elizabeth was deck’t up with a Magna Charta and the Protestant religion; there was a devil in a pageant and 4 boys in surplices under him, 6 Jesuits, 4 bishops, 4 archbishops, 2 patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople, several cardinals, besides Franciscans, black and grey friars; there was also a great crucifix, wax candles, and a bell, and 200 porters hired at 2s. a man to carry lights along with the show, which came from the Green Yard in great order thro’ Moor (or Cripple) Gate, and so along London Wall, then up Houndsditch, and so on again at Aldgate, from whence to Temple Bar, where they were disrobed and burnt. ’Tis believed there were above 100,000 spectators, and most say the King was at Townes’ the goldsmith’s; £10 was an ordinary price for a room at Temple Bar” (Walker’s MS. xi. 186). [Illustration: MAYPOLE DANCE IN THE TIME OF CHARLES FIRST]