Be it black or be it white,
But if it is white,
It is better to like.

March winds and April showers,
Bring forth May flowers.

He who views his wheat on a weeping May,
Will himself so weeping away;
But he who views it on a weeping June,
Will go away in another tune.

When the sand doth feed the clay,
England woe and well-a-day:
But when the clay doth feed the sand,
Then it is well with Angle Land.

A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay,
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon.
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly.

Under a broomstalk silver and gold,
Under a gorsestalk hunger and cold.
When hempe's spun,
England's done.

The latter referred to the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward IV., Mary and
Philip, and Queen Elizabeth, but proved false prophecy.

W.

* * * * *

CROWLAND ABBEY.

In the days of Monks and Friars, the following lines in bad Latin, were
composed on Crowland, Lincolnshire, or the adjoining Abbey:

In Hollandia stat Crowland;
Ibi vinium talequale,
Ibi foenum gladiale
Ibi lecti lapidale,
Ibi viri boreali,
Ibi vale sine vale.

They are thus translated in the _Beauties of England and Wales_ (1767):--

"In Holland stands Crowland
Built on dirty low land.
Where you'll find, if you go,
The wine's but so so;
The blades of the hay
Are like swords one may say,
The beds are like stones,
And break a man's bones;
The men rough and sturdy,
Compliments will afford me
But bid you good b'w'y,
When both hungry and dry."

W.H.

* * * * *

THE HOBBY HORSE.

Bromley Pagets was remarkable for a very singular sport on New Year's Day
and Twelfth Day, called the Hobby Horse Dance: a person rode upon the
image of a horse, with a bow and arrow in his hands, with which he made a
snapping noise, keeping time with the music, whilst six others danced the
hay and other country dances, with as many rein-deer's heads on their
shoulders. To this hobby-horse belonged a pot, which the Reeves of the
town kept and filled with cakes and ale, towards which the spectators
contributed a penny, and with the remainder maintained their poor and
repaired the church.--W.H.

* * * * *

HOLY LAND.

Ramsey Island, near St. David's Head, is said to have been inhabited by so
many saints, that no less than twenty t