of quenching their fires on the
last day of April, and rekindling them on the first day of May. In
certain localities in Perthshire, so lately as 1810, (I have referred to
this before), the inhabitants collected and kindled a fire by friction,
and through the fire thus kindled they drove their cattle in order to
protect them against disease, and at the same time they held a feast of
rejoicing.

As already mentioned, the Romans held several festivals at the beginning
of summer, and many of their observances on these occasions were
introduced into this country, and became incorporated with the Beltane
practices. For example, the Romans held a festival in honour of _Pales_,
the goddess of flocks and sheepfolds. The feast was termed _Palilia_.
Lempriere states that some of the ceremonies accompanying the feast
consisted in "burning heaps of straw, and in leaping over them; no
sacrifices were offered, but purifications were made with the smoke of
horse's blood, and with the ashes of a calf that had been taken from the
belly of its mother after it had been sacrificed, and with the ashes of
beans; the purification of the flocks was also made with the smoke of
sulphur, also of the olive, the pine, the laurel, and rosemary.
Offerings of mild cheese, boiled wine, and cakes of millet were
afterwards made. Some call this festival _Palilia_, because the
sacrifices were offered to the divinity for the fecundity of their
flocks." There was also a large cake prepared for _Pales_, and a prayer
was addressed to the divinity by shepherds, as thus given by Dr.
Jamieson:--

"O let me propitious find,
And to the shepherd and his sheep be kind;
Far from my flocks drive noxious things away,
And let my flocks in wholesome pastures stray.
May I, at night, my morning's number take,
Nor mourn a theft the prowling wolf may make.
May all my rams the ewes with vigour press,
To give my flocks a yearly due increase."

The Romans held another festival in honour of the goddess _Flora_. It
began on the 28th April, and lasted three days. The people wore garlands
of flowers, and carried them about with branches of newly-budded trees.
There was much licentiousness connected with this feast.

Reference has already been made to another Roman festival which was
celebrated early in May. This was called the _Lamuralia_, and its
purport was to propitiate the favour of the ghosts or spirits of their
ancestors. I am of opinion t