Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/87

 ii s. VIL FEB. i, i9i3.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

81

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1913.

CONTENTS. No. 162.

NOTES : Christmas Rimers in Ulster, 81 The Lord of Burleigh and Sarah Hoggins, 83-Hugh Peters, 84--" As big as a Paignton pudding " " Laking"=Playing Crosby Hall: Ceiling of the Council Chamber, 87 Zinfandel : American Wines Samuel Johnson of Canter- bury, 88.

QUERIES : Dr. Burton (" Dr. Slop") in Lancaster in 1745, 88 " Bucca-boo" Mrs. Rebekah Salkerstone of London John Till, Rector of Hayes Dolls buried in a Scottish Cave Edward the Confessor's Church, 89 A Silkworm's Thread Cholera Monument, Sheffield " Edition " and " Impression " Yonge of Caynton, co. Salop --References of Quotations Wanted Schopenhauer and Wimbledon- Author Wanted Brasidas's Mouse, 90 Armorial Edward Oakley, Architect Novalis's ' Heinrich von Ofterdingen,' 91.

REPLIES : Morris Dancers in Herefordshire, 91 Johanna Williamscote, 92 'The Letter H to his Little Brother Vowels ' Monuments at Warwick William Carter, Artist, 93 Great Glemham, co. Suffolk " Pot-boiler " Exciseman Gill Thomas Chippendale, Upholsterer Primero The Rocket Troop at Leipsic First Folio Shakespeare, 94 Prior Bolton's Window Lingen Family Lochow German Funeral Custom, 95 Vanishing London: Proprietary Chapels Authors Wanted Died in his Coffin, 96 A Memory Game Thomas Bagshaw Novels in 'Northanger Abbey' Rev. D. G. Goyder " Dope," 97 Fountain Pen" Notch "Earth-eating ' Ian Roy,' 98.

NOTES ON BOOKS :' Analecta Bollandiana ' ' Edin- burgh Review ' ' Quarterly Review ' ' English Historical Review ' ' The Lost Language of Symbolism 'The Sister of John Stuart Mill.

Notices to Correspondents.

CHRISTMAS RIMERS IN ULSTER.

SOME time ago a query was asked as to whether Christmas Rimers still practised their art in the neighbourhood of Belfast, and your querist may be glad to learn that, in spite of the growth of cities and the march of progress, the Christmas Rimers are still very much to the fore in the Protestant districts of Ulster during the early weeks of December. The Rimers, who are usually the sons of the small farmers and labourers of the country districts, and not infrequently now golf caddies lads from 12 to 17 years of age provide themselves with paper cocked hats and wooden swords or sticks, turn their jackets inside out, and in some cases blacken their faces. They then, in groups of from three to six, make a tour of the neighbouring houses in the early hours of the evening, requesting admission. They are not carol singers, and never sing carols. Indeed, popular carol-singing is not an old custom in Ulster, and has, I believe, been introduced

there only in quite recent years I think, mainly by the Salvation Army. But Christ- mas Rimers have been performing from time out of mind. They are found mainly, if not entirely, in those parts of Ulster inhabited by Protestant farmers, and are not, I believe, by any means confined to the immediate neighbourhood of Belfast. I surmise that they would be found in all Protestant districts from the low- lands of co. Donegal in the west to the co. Down in the east ; in fact, wherever the tenant farmers are of English origin. But as far as I can learn, they are not to be found out of Ulster, except, perhaps, in co. Wexford. They are not known in co. Louth, or even in Dublin, in spite of the strong English element in that city. In Dublin, on the contrary, carol - singing is, I believe, a time-honoured practice.

The Christmas Rimers are also, I under- stand, drawn mainly from families with English rather than Scottish or Irish names. The " Mac's " and the " O's " do not take much part in them.

If the Rimers are admitted, they go through the simple play, and recite the verses given below, which I have taken down within the last few weeks from a party of three Rimers performing in this neighbour- hood (Carnalea, about two miles west of Bangor, co. Down).

The Rimers have assured me that they have never seen these verses in print ; that they have learnt them only by word of mouth from their elders, who had learnt them similarly ; that the old people say that these are the old and correct words which they used to hear and recite in their childhood. I have taken them down as carefully as possible, without attempting to alter the text, even. where the rime, metre, or grammar is at fault. As the Rimers know the verses only by rote, the spelling and the arrangement of lines are necessarily my own. The Rimers are not called " mummers " in Ulster. They do not perform anything that could be called a dance.

This co. Down version of the Ulster Christmas Rimes differs in several par- ticulars from that given by MR. W. H. PATTERSON for the Belfast neighbourhood in 1872 (4 S. x. 487), and claims to be based solely on oral tradition. It includes some words which are either obsolete or only to be found in English dialects, and also a character, " Little Johnny Conny," who seems to make an allusion to the celebrated brass money of King James II., and another