We had not been long home when the sound of music was heard from a
distance. A band of country lads, without coats, their shirt sleeves
fancifully tied with ribbons, their hats decorated with greens, and
clubs in their hands, was seen advancing up the avenue, followed by
a large number of villagers and peasantry. They stopped before the
hall door, where the music struck up a peculiar air, and the lads
performed a curious and intricate dance, advancing, retreating, and
striking their clubs together, keeping exact time to the music;
while one, whimsically crowned with a fox's skin, the tail of which
flaunted down his back, kept capering round the skirts of the dance,
and rattling a Christmas box with many antic gesticulations.
The squire eyed this fanciful exhibition with great interest and
delight, and gave me a full account of its origin, which he traced
to the times when the Romans held possession of the island; plainly
proving that this was a lineal descendant of the sword dance of the
ancients. "It was now," he said, "nearly extinct, but he had
accidentally met with traces of it in the neighborhood, and had
encouraged its revival; though, to tell the truth, it was too apt to
be followed up by the rough cudgel play, and broken heads in the
evening."
After the dance was concluded, the whole party was entertained
with brawn and beef, and stout home-brewed.
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