volume, and published under the name of "Annalia Dubrensia."[668] In the
"Merry Wives of Windsor" (i. 1), Slender asks Page, "How does your
fallow greyhound, sir? I heard say, he was outrun on Cotsall." And in "2
Henry IV."[669] (iii. 2), Shallow, by distinguishing Will Squele as "a
Cotswold man," meant to imply that he was well versed in manly
exercises, and consequently of a daring spirit and athletic
constitution. A sheep was jocularly called a "Cotsold," or "Cotswold
lion," from the extensive pastures in that part of Gloucestershire.

[668] See "Book of Days," vol. i. p. 712.

[669] See Singer's "Shakespeare," vol. v. p. 206.

While speaking of Whitsuntide festivities, we may refer to the "roasted
Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly," to which Prince Henry
alludes in "1 Henry IV." (ii. 4). It appears that Manningtree, in Essex,
formerly enjoyed the privilege of fairs, by the tenure of exhibiting a
certain number of Stage Plays yearly. There were, also, great
festivities there, and much good eating, at Whitsun ales and other
times. Hence, it seems that roasting an ox whole was not uncommon on
such occasions. The pudding spoken of by Prince Henry often accompanied
the ox, as we find in a ballad written in 1658:[670]

"Just so the people stare
At an ox in the fair
Roasted whole with a pudding in 's belly."

[670] See Nichol's "Collection of Poems," 1780, vol. iii. p. 204.

_Sheep-shearing Time_ commences as soon as the warm weather is so far
settled that the sheep may, without danger, lay aside their winter
clothing; the following tokens being laid down by Dyer, in his "Fleece"
(bk. i), to mark out the proper time:[671]

"If verdant elder spreads
Her silver flowers; if humble daisies yield
To yellow crowfoot and luxuriant grass
Gay shearing-time approaches."

[671] See Knight's "Life of Shakespeare," 1845, p. 71; Howitt's
"Pictorial Calendar of the Seasons," 1854, pp. 254-267.

Our ancestors, who took advantage of every natural holiday, to keep it
long and gladly, celebrated the time of sheep-shearing by a feast
exclusively rural. Drayton,[672] the countryman of Shakespeare, has
graphically described this festive scene, the Vale of Evesham being the
locality of the sheep-shearing which he has pictured so pleasantly:

"The shepherd king,
Whose flock hath chanc'd that year the earliest lamb to b