Page:Cornwall (Mitton).djvu/224

 CORNISH CUSTOMS 139 town on May Day. Edmonds says : " The hobby horse, or effigy of a horse, is, at this festival of the moon, dipped in a pool of water, and, for the same reason perhaps, that a similar figure was, in Ireland, passed through fire at the festival of the sun ; to preserve the cattle from death and disease." Sun and moon being represented by fire and water. Mr. Baring-Gould says : " During the days that precede the festival no garden is safe. Walls, railings, even barbed wire, are surmounted by boys and men in quest of flowers. Conservatories have to be fast locked, or they will be invaded. The house that has a show of flowers in the windows is besieged by pretty children with roguish eyes begging for blossoms which they cannot steal. The Hobby-horse Pairs, as they were called, i.e., a party of eight men, then repaired to the ' Golden Lion,' at that time the first inn in Padstow, and sat down to a hearty supper off leg of mutton and plum-pudding, given them by the landlord. After supper a great many young men joined the ' pairs,' i.e., the peers, the lords of the merriment, and all started for the country, and went round from one farmhouse to another, singing at the doors of each, and soliciting contributions to the festivities of the morrow.