May-Day - Page 2

women, too, were already plying their
mystery in by-corners of the village, reading the hands of the simple
country girls, and no doubt promising them all good husbands and tribes
of children.

The squire made his appearance in the course of the morning, attended by
the parson, and was received with loud acclamations. He mingled among
the country people throughout the day, giving and receiving pleasure
wherever he went. The amusements of the day were under the management of
Slingsby, the schoolmaster, who is not merely lord of misrule in his
school, but master of the revels to the village. He was bustling about
with the perplexed and anxious air of a man who has the oppressive
burthen of promoting other people's merriment upon his mind. He had
involved himself in a dozen scrapes in consequence of a politic
intrigue, which, by the by, Master Simon and the Oxonian were at the
bottom of, which had for object the election of the Queen of May. He had
met with violent opposition from a faction of ale-drinkers, who were in
favour of a bouncing barmaid, the daughter of the innkeeper; but he had
been too strongly backed not to carry his point, though it shows that
these rural crowns, like all others, are objects of great ambition and
heart-burning. I am told that Master Simon takes great interest, though
in an underhand way, in the election of these May-Day Queens, and that
the chaplet is generally secured for some rustic beauty that has found
favour in his eyes. In the course of the day there were various games
of strength and agility on the green, at which a knot of village
veterans presided, as judges of the lists. Among those I perceived that
Ready-Money Jack took the lead, looking with a learned and critical eye
on the merits of the different candidates; and though he was very
laconic, and sometimes merely expressed himself by a nod, yet it was
evident that his opinions far outweighed those of the most loquacious.

Young Jack Tibbets was the hero of the day, and carried off most of the
prizes, though in some of the feats of agility he was rivalled by the
"prodigal son," who appeared much in his element on this occasion; but
his most formidable competitor was the notorious gipsy, the redoubtable
"Starlight Tom." I was rejoiced at having an opportunity of seeing this
"minion of the moon" in broad daylight. I found him a tall, swarthy,
good-looking fellow, with a lofty air, something like what I have seen
in an Indian chieftain; and with a certain lounging, easy, and almost
graceful carriage, which I have often remarked in beings of the
lazzaroni order, that lead an idle, loitering life, and have a
gentleman-like contempt of labour.

Master Simon and the old general reconnoitred