arians, Lammas is a
corruption of loaf-mass, as our ancestors made an offering of bread from
new wheat on this day. Others derive it from lamb-mass, because the
tenants who held lands under the Cathedral Church of York were bound by
their tenure to bring a live lamb into the church at high mass.[676] It
appears to have been a popular day in times past, and is mentioned in
the following dialogue in "Romeo and Juliet" (i. 3), where the Nurse
inquires:

"How long is it now
To Lammas-tide?

_Lady Capulet._ A fortnight, and odd days.

_Nurse._ Even or odd, of all days in the year,
Come Lammas-eve at night, shall she be fourteen?"

[676] See "British Popular Customs," pp. 347-351.

In Neale's "Essays on Liturgiology" (2d. ed., p. 526), the Welsh
equivalent for Lammas-day is given as "dydd degwm wyn," lamb-tithing
day.

_St. Charity_ (August 1). This saint is found in the Martyrology on the
1st of August: "Romae passio Sanctaram Virginum Fidei, Spei, et
Charitatis, quae sub Hadriano principe martyriae coronam adeptae
sunt."[677] She is alluded to by Ophelia, in her song in "Hamlet" (iv.
5):

"By Gis,[678] and by Saint Charity,
Alack, and fie for shame!" etc.

[677] Douglas's "Criterion," p. 68, cited by Ritson; see
Douce's "Illustrations of Shakespeare," p. 475.

[678] This is, perhaps, a corrupt abbreviation of "By Jesus."
Some would read "By Cis," and understand by it "St. Cicely."

In the "Faire Maide of Bristowe" (1605) we find a similar allusion:

"Now, by Saint Charity, if I were judge,
A halter were the least should hamper him."

_St. Bartholomew's Day_ (August 24). The anniversary of this festival
was formerly signalized by the holding of the great Smithfield Fair, the
only real fair held within the city of London. One of the chief
attractions of Bartholomew Fair were roasted pigs. They were sold
"piping hot, in booths and on stalls, and ostentatiously displayed to
excite the appetite of passengers." Hence, a "Bartholomew pig" became a
popular subject of allusion. Falstaff, in "2 Henry IV." (ii. 4), in
coaxing ridicule of his enormous figure, is playfully called, by his
favorite Doll: "Thou whoreson little tidy Bartholomew boar-pig." Dr.
Johnson, however, thought that paste pigs were meant in this passage;
but this is improbable, as the true Bartholomew pigs were real roasted
pigs, as may be seen from Ben Jonson's play of "