n great state through the streets.
In one hand he has a large key or stick, and in the other a
dripping-pan, and leads the music of the crowd. Men, women, and children
join in the fun, and beat kettles, pans, pots, or anything else that
will make a noise; tin whistles, horns, and trumpets are blown, the
noise produced being better imagined than described. As soon as all is
ready, a start is made, and about every fifty yards the procession
stops, and the mounted man proclaims at the top of his voice a rhyme
suited to the nature of the offence, somewhat as follows:

"Ran, tan, tan; ran, tan, tan,
To the sound of this pan;
This is to give notice that Tom Trotter
Has beaten his good woman!
For what, and for why?
Because she ate when she was hungry,
And drank when she was dry.
Ran, tan, ran, tan, tan;
Hurrah--hurrah! for this good wo-man!
He beat her, he beat her, he beat her indeed,
For spending a penny when she had need.
He beat her black, he beat her blue;
When Old Nick gets him, he'll give him his due;
Ran, tan, tan; ran, tan, tan;
We'll send him there in this old frying-pan;
Hurrah--hurrah! for his good wo-man!"

We have an example noted at Sutton, near Hull, in August, 1877. It was
given with great spirit by a youth, mounted after the customary manner
on a ladder, to the evident enjoyment of a large gathering of the
inhabitants, who were enraged at the brutal treatment of a woman by her
husband:

"Here we come with a ran, dan, dang:
It's not for you, nor for me, we ride this stang;
But for ----, whose wife he did bang.
He banged her, he banged her, he banged her indeed:
He banged her, poor creature, before she stood need.
He took up neither tipstaff nor stower,
But with his fist he knocked her backwards ower;
He kicked her, he punched her, till he made her cry,
And to finish all, he gave her a black eye.
Now, all you good people that live in this row,
We would have you take warning, for this is our law:
If any of you, your wives you do bang,
We're sure, we're sure, to ride you the stang."

"Last night," says the _Sunderland Daily Post_ of March 1st, 1887, "some
excitement was caused in Northallerton by the celebration of the old
custom of 'riding the stang,' which is to expose some one guilty of
gross immoral practices, and of a breach of sacred matrimonial rights.
Some hundreds of people fo