Whitsuntide is regarded so! often as almost an inconsequential break in the progression from Easter to August Bank Holiday that for some reason or other it does not always get the attention it deserves. Yet, as its name implies, it has a very real meaning for rural England. Cottages are whitewashed, young women appear in white dresses, unless the advance of the highly sophisticated urban spirit has discouraged the notion. And then, Whitsun was one of the most satisfactory of the periodic cal Church ales. smacks 3 strong of the English spirit, and perhaps it may surprise' the rote to know that one of the survivals of these ales is the word "bridal," which originally indicated the celebration of the wedding with the strong brew of old England. The associa tion of the Church with ale has very lively traditions, and it is pathetic to think that the makers of cross word puzzles seem to believe that Audit Ale is a drink peculiar to the universities.
'Those who revel in the diary' of that astute old country parson James Woodforde will remember that Whitsuntide was celebrated in his parish in no half-hearted fashion. May 12, 1788, for example, gives his entry in the diary thus "Merry doings at the Heart today. being Whit Monday out Raffling for a Gown et But the table at Weston Parson age was always well-provid-fed. Thus, on December 1790, four friends came to dine. and three of them spent the night:
"0. We had for Dinner a Couple' of Chicken boiled and' a Ham, the best part of a large Remp of Beef boiled, a plumb Pudding. a very fine at Tarkey rested Tarts ete....
That was for dinner. Then came tea, the details of which the parson does not provide.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.