and a Miss Spencer, who lived near Hampton (Middlesex), told me that she well remembered the May girls singing the first verse of this carol, using “knots” instead of the more usual word “branch” or “bunch,” and that she knew the small bunch of May blossom by the name of “knots” of May, “bringing in knots of May” being a usual expression of children. The association of May—whether the month, or the flower, or both—with the game is very strong, the refrain “cold and frosty morning,” “all on a summer’s morning,” “bright summer’s morning,” “so early in the morning,” also being characteristic of the early days of May and spring, and suggests that the whole day from early hours is given up to holiday. The familiar nursery rhyme given by Halliwell— Here we come a-piping, First in spring and then in May, no doubt also refers to house-to-house visiting of May. The connection between the May festival and survival in custom of marriage by capture is well illustrated by a passage from Stubbe’s _Anatomie of Abuses_, p. 148. He says: “Against May Day, Whitsonday, or other time, euery Parishe, Towne and Village assemble themselves together, bothe men women and children, olde and yong, . . . and either goyng all together or diuidyng themselues into companies, they goe some to the Woodes and groves where they spend all the night in plesant pastimes; and in the morning they return bringing with them birch and branches of trees to deck their assemblies withall . . . and then they fall to daunce about it like as the heathen people did. . . . I have heard it credibly reported (and that _viva voce_) by men of great grauitie and reputation, that of fortie, threescore or a hundred maides going to the wood ouer night, there haue scaresly the third part of them returned home againe undefiled.” Herrick’s _Hesperides_ also describes the festival, and the custom of courting and marriage at the same time. The tune sung to this game appears to be the same in every version. END OF VOL. I. BALLANTYNE PRESS PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON Transcriber’s notes: General: This eBook is Volume I of a two-volume work. Volume II is available as ebook number 41728 via the website of Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41728). Because Volume I was published in 1894 and Volume II in 1898, there is no symmetry in the references between the two volumes (for example, Gled Wylie from Volume I does not refer to Shue-Gled-Wylie from Volume II, whereas Shue-Gled-Wylie does refer to Gled Wylie). This eBook contains a number of symbols and characters that may not display properly, depending on the software used and its settings. This text follows the original printed work, including inconsistencies. Inconsistencies include differences in spelling of the names of games and locations, differences in transcription of dialect, inconsistencies in lay-out, etc. Where changes were made, these are documented below.