Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/31

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xxiv
Memoir of John Harland.

"Iota." Five other fugitive pieces were printed in the volume of "Lancashire Lyrics" which he edited in 1866; one more appeared in Country Words; and only a few weeks before his death he read the following simnel song to a meeting of the Manchester Literary Club, of which he was long a valued member.

"A SYMNELLE SONGE.

Ye Lovers of oure olde Folk-lore,
Come listen to ane Balade more,
And chorusse synge from youre hearte's core—
To 'The Goode olde Burye Symnelle!'
 
Mid-lenten faste yt makes ryche feaste,
For olde and yonge, lyttelle and leaste;
For waterynge mouthes, sure, ne'er have ceaste;
For 'The Goode olde Burye Symnelle!'
 
Confeccion's hyghest arte yt makes
This huge, rounde, sugarye Kynge of Cakes,
To figure for three F's yt takes,
This 'Goode olde Burye Symnelle!'
 
It speakes of deareste Familye tyes;
From Friend to Friend in Lent yt hyes;
To alle goode Felloweshippe yt cryes;
'I'm a ryghte trewe Burye Symnelle!'
 
Longe maye symbolique Symnelles send
Friende's everye lovynge wyshe to friend;
From 'Auld Lang Syne,' till tyme shalle ende,
The 'Goode olde Burye Symnelle!'

J.H."

Chetham Hill, March 16, 1868.

When Mr Harland penned the preceding lines he had engaged to accompany the Literary Club in an excursion to Stratford-upon-Avon, on the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth and death. As the time drew near he felt unwell, and wrote to the President playfully requesting that he