. Rush-bearing: an account of the old custom of strewing rushes; carrying rushes to church; the rush-cart; garlands in churches; morris-dancers; the wakes; the rush. The verses beneath give a lively description ofthe personal appearance of this important cut is copied from Dr. Dibdins edition of Mores Utopia, vol. 2, p. 266 : With a noise and a din, Comes the Maurice-Dancer in,With a fine linen shirt, but a buckram skin. Oh ! he treads out such a peale, From his paire of legs of veale,The quarters are idols to him. Nor do those knaves inviron Their toes with so much iron,Twill ru
. Rush-bearing: an account of the old custom of strewing rushes; carrying rushes to church; the rush-cart; garlands in churches; morris-dancers; the wakes; the rush. The verses beneath give a lively description ofthe personal appearance of this important cut is copied from Dr. Dibdins edition of Mores Utopia, vol. 2, p. 266 : With a noise and a din, Comes the Maurice-Dancer in,With a fine linen shirt, but a buckram skin. Oh ! he treads out such a peale, From his paire of legs of veale,The quarters are idols to him. Nor do those knaves inviron Their toes with so much iron,Twill ruin a smith to shoe him. THE MORRIS-DANCERS. 127 Ay, and then he flings about His sweat and his wiser think it two ells, While the yeomen find it meet That he jangle at his feetThe fore-horses right eare jewels. * The following picture is taken from Randle Holmescurious Academie of Armorie, iii., p. 109, and showsthe mode of using the handkerchief. The streamers which proceed from the sleeves andflutter in the wind, though continued in very moderntimes, were anciently not peculiar to morris-dancers,examples of them occurring in many old prints. The. handkerchiefs, or napkins, as they are sometimes called,were held in the hand, or tied to the wrists or shoulders. + In the Knave of Hearts (1612), we read : My sleeves are like some Morris-dansing fellow. The morris-dance of the present day varies greatlyfrom that of the period of its introduction. It is aprogressive dance, and bears little resemblance either tothe Spanish fandango, or the Greek Pyrrho John Hawkins j describes it as a dance of youngmen, in their shirts, with bells at their feet, and ribbandsof various colours tied round their arms and flung * Recreation for Ingenious Head Pieces, etc., edition 1667, i2mo. t Knight of the Burning Pestle, act iv. J General History of Music, 1776, vol. 2, p. 135. ia8 R USH-BEARING. across their shoulders. Dr. Johnson (1785) says itwas a dance in which bells are g
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