We have still our bonfires on November 5th, but the event which
happened on that day is very recent as compared with many of the old
customs of which I have been writing. However, it is nearly three
hundred years ago since Guy Fawkes and his companions attempted to
blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder; and yet we still
light our bonfires and burn Guy Fawkes' effigy, with much
accompaniment of squibs and crackers, just as if the event which we
commemorate only occurred last year. Probably very few of our
rustics think much of the origin of the customs observed on November
the Fifth, or remember that it was instituted by the House of
Commons as "a holiday for ever in thankfulness to God for our
deliverance, and detestation of the Papists;" but this ignorance
does not prevent them from keeping up the custom and enjoying the
excitement of the bonfire and fireworks. If you are not acquainted
with the history of the conspiracy, I would advise you to read it in
some good history book, and--

"Pray to remember
The fifth of November
Gunpowder treason and plot,
When the King and his train
Had nearly been slain,
Therefore it shall not be forgot."

The Berkshire boys, as they carried their Guy and collected wood for
their bonfires, used to add the words--

"Our king's a valiant soldier,
With his blunderbuss on his shoulder,
Cocks his pistol, draws his rapier;