semary;
I pray you all sing merrily,
Qui estis in convivio."

Queen's College Carol, Oxford.

The father of the family laid his hand on the sacred dish, which was
called "the boar of atonement," swearing he would be faithful to his
family, and would fulfil all his obligations--an example which was
followed by all present, from the highest to the lowest. This dish
could be carved only by a man of unblemished reputation and tried
courage, for the boar's head was a sacred emblem which was supposed
to inspire every one with fear. For that reason a boar's head was
frequently used as ornament for the helmets of Northern kings and
heroes whose bravery was unquestioned.

As Frey's name of Fro is phonetically the same as the word used in
German for gladness, he was considered the patron of every joy,
and was invariably invoked by married couples who wished to live
in harmony. Those who succeeded in doing so for a certain length of
time were publicly rewarded by the gift of a piece of boar's flesh,
for which in later times, the English and Viennese substituted a
flitch of bacon or a ham.

"You shall swear, by custom of confession,
If ever you made nuptial transgression,
Be you either married man or wife:
If you have brawls or contentious strife;
Or otherwise, at bed or at board,
Offended each other in deed or word;
Or, since the parish clerk said Amen,
You wish'd yourselves unmarried again;
Or, in a twelvemonth and a day
Repented not in thought any way,
But continued true in thought and desire,
As when you join'd hands in the quire.
If to these conditions, with all feare,
Of your own accord you will freely sweare,
A whole gammon of bacon you shall receive,
And bear it hence with love and good leave:
For this our custom at Dunmow well known--
Though the pleasure be ours, the bacon's your own."

Brand's Popular Antiquities.

At the village of Dunmow in Essex, the ancient custom is still
observed. In Vienna the ham or flitch of bacon was hung over the
city gate, whence the successful candidate was expected to bring
it down, after he had satisfied the judges that he lived in peace
with his wife, but was not under petticoat rule. It is said that in
Vienna this ham remained for a long time unclaimed until at last
a worthy burgher presented himself before the judges, bearing his
wife's written affidavit that the