Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/219

 chimneys, laying emblematical plants, or shrubs, at the doors, or in the windows, so as to please, or irritate, the occupants. The eve of All Fools' Day is not yet forgotten.

RINGING THE PAN. a couple be found courting on a Friday night, they are frequently treated to an impromptu concert. The musical instruments usually employed are the frying-pans, shovels, tongs, pokers, and, indeed, any implements which can be made to produce a sufficiently discordant noise. A pretended bellman usually precedes the procession, and at stated intervals calls out—

The writer saw this ceremony performed in the neighbourhood of Burnley twice during the year 1868. The actors term the ceremony "ringing the pan."

 NOTCHEL CRYING. Wednesday (in March 1859), there was, at Accrington, an extraordinary instance of the disgraceful practice of "notchel crying." The public bellman went round the town announcing that a certain man (an inhabitant of the town) would not, from that day forward, be answerable or accountable for any debt which his wife might contract. On the afternoon of the same day the same important functionary was employed by the wife to inform the inhabitants of Accrington that, as she was up to that day straight with her husband, she would not be answerable for any debts which he might contract;