; they transplanted young trees from
the woods to the side of the door they wished to honour, and then decked
them with ribbons, &c. There is a curious record that "Henry II.,
wishing to recompense the clerks of Bazoche for their good services in
quelling an insurrection in Guienne, offered them money; but they would
only accept the permission granted them by the king, of cutting in the
royal woods such trees as they might choose for the planting of the
May--a privilege which existed at the commencement of the French
Revolution." In Cornwall, too, it seems to have been the custom to plant
"stumps of trees" before the houses, as well as to decorate them with
boughs and blossoms. And Mr. Aubrey (1686) says, "At Woodstock in Oxon
they every May-eve goe into the parke, and fetch away a number of
haw-thorne-trees, which they set before their dores; 'tis a pity that
they make such a destruction of so fine a tree."

One certainly agrees with Mr. Aubrey. Thorns are slow to grow, hard to
transplant, and very lovely when they are old. It is not to be regretted
that such ruthless destruction of them has gone out of fashion.

In Ireland "tall slender trees" seem to have been set up before the
doors, as well as "a green bush, strewed over with yellow flowers, which
the meadows yield plentifully." A writer, speaking of this in 1682,
adds, "A stranger would go nigh to imagine that they were all signs of
ale-sellers, and that all houses were ale-houses," referring to the old
custom of a bunch of green as the sign of an inn, which is illustrated
by the proverb, "Good wine needs no bush." I have an old etching of a
river-side inn, in which the sign is a garland hanging on a pole.

I fancy the yellow flowers must have been cowslips, which the green
fields of Erin do indeed "yield plentifully."

Besides these private May-trees, every village had its common Maypole,
gaily adorned with wreaths and flags and ribbons, and sometimes painted
in spiral lines of colour. The Welsh Maypoles seem to have been made
from birch-trees, elms were used in Cornwall, and young oaks in other
parts of England. Round these Maypoles the young villagers danced, and
green booths were often set up on the grass near them.

In many villages the Maypole was as much a fixture as the parish stocks,
but when a new one was required, it was brought home on May-eve in grand
procession with songs and instrumental music. I am afraid there is a
good deal of evidence to sho