Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/36

22 through the Saxon and Danish invasions, for the inhabitants at that time are always spoken of as a distinct people,—the Péc-sætas, or dwellers in the Peak. But, as it is obvious that we have to do with a case of the transference of a festival from one date to another (May 1st to May 29th), we must begin by enquiring into the circumstances of the locality at the time of the change.

The 29th of May was, as we all know, made a public holiday by Act of Parliament in 1660 (12 Car. II.), in memory of the restoration of the monarchy. A special service was provided for it in the Prayer Book of 1662. But the day does not appear to have been universally or even generally observed.

Derbyshire took the side of the Parliament during the Civil Wars. That is to say, the county town was garrisoned for the Parliament, and overawed the surrounding country, but the miners of "Derby hills so free" cared little for the opinion of the county town. They were a rough and independent folk, accustomed (as Mr. Addy shows) to manage their own affairs and fight out their own quarrels. Within living memory fights were arranged between neighbouring villages, traditional taunts were exchanged, and visitors to the rival "wakes" were "aggravated" and insulted. The king stood in a special relation to them. As Duke of Lancaster he was Lord of the Peak,—their landlord as well as their sovereign; and there is plenty of evidence that Derbyshire men leaned for the most part to the Royalist side. They mustered 300 horse to fight for Charles I. at Tissington just before Naseby; they rioted for Charles II. in Derby streets under Richard Cromwell. In religious matters too, the Peaklanders were accustomed to act for themselves. Not ten years before the outbreak of the Rebellion the parishioners of Castleton built a district church in the parish, and retained the right of patronage in their own hands. At Chapel-en-le-Frith (or Forest) the