be shriven,_ or _shrove_, means to obtain absolution from one's
sin.]

[Footnote 6: It was practised as late as the end of the last
century.]

[Footnote 7: So called from the Gospel of the day, which treats of
the feeding of the five thousand.--_Cf_. Wheatley on Prayer-book.]

[Footnote 8: The caber is a small tree, or beam, heavier at one end
than the other. The performer holds this perpendicularly, with the
smaller end downwards, and his object is to toss it so as to make it
fall on the other end.]

[Footnote 9: _A Pleasant Grove of New Fancies_, 1637.]

[Footnote 10: Sometimes the May Queen did not consort with
morris-dancers, but sat in solitary state under a canopy of boughs.]

[Footnote 11: A Correspondence in _Athenaeum_, Sept. 20, 1890.]

[Footnote 12: The same story is told of Willes, who is supposed by
some cricketers to be the inventor of the modern style of delivery.]

[Footnote 13: The word _fair_ is derived from the ecclesiastical
term, _feria_, a holiday.]

[Footnote 14: _Cf._ Govett's _King's Book of Sports_, and _Tom
Brown's Schooldays,_ to which I am indebted for the above accurate
description of back-sword play.]

[Footnote 15: I am indebted for this description to Mr. W. Andrews'
interesting book on the _Curiosities of the Church_.]

[Footnote 16: Cf. _Annals of Winchcombe and Sudeley_, by Mrs.
Dent.]

[Footnote 17: Cf. _Glossary of Berkshire Words and Phrases_, by
Major B. Lowsley, R.E.]

[Footnote 18: The custom of bringing in the boar's head is still
preserved at Queen's College, Oxford. The story is told of a student
of the college who was attacked by a wild boar while he was
diligently studying Aristotle during a walk near Shotover Hill. His
book was his only means of defence, so he thrust the volume down the
animal's throat, exclaiming, "It is Greek!" The boar found Greek
very difficult to digest, and died on the spot, and the head was
brought home in triumph by the student. Ever since that date, for
five hundred years, a boar's head has graced the college table at
Christmas.]

INDEX.

Agape, suggested origin of "Church ales," 53

Ales, Church, 52, 53, 57

Alfred, laws relating to holidays, 5

All-hallow Eve, 105

Animals to be hunted, 16

April, 36

Archery, 25--31

Ascension Day, 50

Ascham's accomplishments of English Gentleman, 97

Back-sword play, 81

Baiting bears, bulls, &c., 89

Bale-fires, 50

Ball games, 20, 21, 61--71

Barley-brake,