quite clear; but it appears that the numerous bowling-alleys in
London were, in the sixteenth century, the resorts of very bad
company, and the nests of gambling and vice. Hence the severity of
King James' strictures on bowling.

The people of Lancashire in the time of James I. were as devoted to
sports and amusement as they are now; and when the king was making a
progress through Lancashire, "he received a petition from some
servants, labourers, mechanics, and other vulgar persons,
complaining that they were debarred from dancing, playing,
church-ales--in a word, from all recreations on Sundays after Divine
service." King James hated Puritanism and loved recreation; so he
readily granted the petition of the Lancashire folk, and issued a
proclamation encouraging Sunday pastimes, which is known as the
famous "Book of Sports."

In Ireland on May Day Bale-fires are lighted, and to this day young
men jump through the flames, and children are passed across the
embers, in order to secure them good luck during the coming year. On
this day, too, the Irish kings are supposed to rise from their
graves and gather together a ghostly army of rude warriors to fight
for their country. The wild cries of the shadowy host, the clashing
of shields, and the sound of drums are said to have been heard
during the period of the last rebellion in Ireland.

On one of the Rogation Days, or on Ascension Day, it was the custom
to go in procession round the boundaries of the parish to ask God's
blessing on the fruits of the earth, and as there were few maps and
divisions of land, to call to mind and pass on to the next
generation the boundaries of the township or village. The choir sang