Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/19

Rh that, both in the oldest version of the Coventry legend and in the St. Briavel's legend, no mention is made of the Peeping Tom incident. Mr. Hartland looks upon this as an essential part of the legend; I am, however, inclined to think it is only an accidental part of the legend. The reasons for this opinion are sufficiently illustrative of the points I have chosen for discussion to-night to warrant my setting them forth somewhat fully, and the subject is attractive as one of the few genuine English traditions extant.

The ride of Lady Godiva is, according to Mr. Hartland, a survival of a pagan belief and worship concerned with a being awful and mysterious as Hertha. Pliny mentions just such a festival as Mr. Hartland notes in India as occurring actually in Britain, and the passage is interesting enough to quote. The ceremonial described by Pliny would doubtless be an annual one, and in its primitive form the incident of Peeping Tom would certainly not be a recognised part of it:—

"Both matrons and girls among the people of Britain are in the habit of staining their body all over with glastum when taking part in the performance of certain sacred rites; rivalling thereby the swarthy hue of the Ethiopians, they go in a state of nature."

We are not told what these sacred rites were; but there is little reason to doubt their general assimilation to such rites among savage and barbarous people. For instance, among the Tshi-speaking people, according to Ellis, in time of war "the wives of the men who are with the army paint themselves white, and make a daily procession through the town. The ceremony is generally performed in a complete state of nudity, and any man, except the aged and infirm, who may be discovered is at once assailed with torrents of abuse, assaulted with stones, and driven out of the town." Thus, amongst these African tribes the incident suggested by Peeping Tom would occur over and over again, but it is not an essential part of the ceremonial itself.