Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/452

444 of Leicester to the royalty of the forest. It has been pointed out by Mr. Kelly, in his Notices of Leicester, that this could hardly be the case, "as the forest had been held from time immemorial as part of the demesne of the ancient Earls of Leicester, and passed to the Crown in the person of Henry IV." He suggests, however, that "this formal ceremony of hunting in their state robes was adopted by the Corporation as an assertion of their right of free warren over the lands in question". But there are grounds for thinking that the Easter Hunting of the Hare rests upon a tradition far older and more universal than those which have been suggested by the historians of Leicester; for there are traces, as we have seen, of a similar annual rite in other parts of England, as well as in Germany. And in Leicestershire itself another custom still prevails, known as "The Hallaton Hare-pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking", in which the same animal takes a prominent part in the observance of Easter. An account of this Hallaton festival was given in the Leicester Journal for April 22nd, 1892, and runs thus :

"The origin of the custom associated with 'Hare Pie Bank' is lost in the mists of antiquity, and may be a relic of mediæval times, similar to the old 'Whipping Toms' in Leicester, put down in 1847. At all events, at a remote period, a piece of land was bequeathed to the Rector conditionally that he and his successors continued annually 'two hare pies, a quantity of ale, and two dozen penny loaves, to be scrambled for on each succeeding Easter Monday, at the rising ground called Hare Pie Bank', about a quarter of a mile south of the village. This land, before the enclosure, was called 'Hare-crop-leys', and at the time of dividing the fields, in 1771, another piece of land was allotted to the Rector in place of the 'Leys'. Of course, hares being 'out of