ginated
in the fields of Cressy, but rather shows that when Shakespeare wrote
Welshmen wore leeks.[650] In the same play, too (iv. 1), the
well-remembered Fluellen's enforcement of Pistol to eat the leek he had
ridiculed further establishes the wearing as a usage. Pistol says:

"Tell him I'll knock his leek about his pate
Upon Saint Davy's day."

[650] See Hone's "Every Day Book," vol. i. p. 318; "British
Popular Customs," pp. 110-113.

In days gone by this day was observed by royalty; and in 1695 we read
how William III. wore a leek on St. David's Day, "presented to him by
his sergeant, Porter, who hath as perquisites all the wearing apparel
his majestie had on that day, even to his sword." It appears that
formerly, among other customs, a Welshman was burned in effigy upon "St.
Tavy's Day," an allusion to which occurs in "Poor Robin's Almanack" for
1757:

"But it would make a stranger laugh,
To see th' English hang poor Taff:
A pair of breeches and a coat,
Hat, shoes, and stockings, and what not,
Are stuffed with hay, to represent
The Cambrian hero thereby meant."

_St. Patrick's Day_ (March 17). Shakespeare, in "Hamlet" (i. 5), makes
the Danish prince swear by St. Patrick, on which Warburton remarks that
the whole northern world had their learning from Ireland.[651] As Mr.
Singer[652] observes, however, it is more probable that the poet seized
the first popular imprecation that came to his mind, without regarding
whether it suited the country or character of the person to whom he gave
it. Some, again, have supposed that there is a reference here to St.
Patrick's purgatory, but this does not seem probable.

[651] St. Patrick rids Ireland of snakes; see p. 257.

[652] Singer's "Shakespeare," 1870, vol. ix. p. 168.

_St. George's Day_ (April 23). St. George, the guardian saint of
England, is often alluded to by Shakespeare. His festival, which was
formerly celebrated by feasts of cities and corporations, is now almost
passed over without notice. Thus, Bedford, in "1 Henry VI." (i. 1),
speaks of keeping "our great Saint George's feast withal." "God and St.
George" was once a common battle-cry, several references to which occur
in Shakespeare's plays. Thus, in "Henry V." (iii. 1), the king says to
his soldiers:[653]

"Cry, God for Harry, England, and Saint George."

[653] Cf. "Henry V.," v. 2; "3 Henry VI.," ii. 1, 2; "Taming of
the Shrew," ii. 1; "