Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/60

 52 His face is stained by large black rings round the eyes, and a red dab over mouth and chin.

The second man wears a red fool's-cap, with a tassel, all stuck with flowers. On the right and left breast of his white pinafore are stuck or painted black figures, meant for human beings; and behind, a large black pattern in the shape of a gridiron, with a red bar crossing it diagonally.

The two boys have white pinafores, with similar figures, or stars, on the breast, and a fish on the back; their white pinafores are cut away in the shape of swallow-tail coats, the tails flying out behind. One wore a girl's hat stuck with flowers.

Most or all of these last five carried in the left hand an iron ladle or spoon with holes pierced in the bowl, which they held out for contributions; in the right they had a stick, with some kind of a bladder hung on to the end. Whirling this, they ran about, and tried to strike the passers-by, who scampered off, shrieking, as hard as they could go. They sometimes danced, sometimes roared, and pretended to bite any child who ventured too near. Their faces, like their leader's, were painted in divers colours, fearful and wonderful to behold.

I received some more information from Mr. Ames, a chimney-sweep living in Swindon Road, Cheltenham. He says he used to go out along with them, and his father before him. They always wear the same kind of dresses; but the details are sometimes different. The gridiron on the clown's back, however, seems to be traditional; at any rate, he used to wear the same when Ames had a part in the doings. Formerly there used to be a song, but he could not remember the words. There used to be "pipe and tabbor", or even a harp, for the music. There were one or more clowns, who poked fun at each other and played practical jokes on the spectators; sometimes climbing to the upper windows and making grimaces, or threatening to get inside. There was also a man