Sou/mo, Clefnentiii(i\ and Cattcniing. 289
of hereditary Romanists exist even at the present day; and it was, in fact, at a Romanist house that the women were singinf^. I have not marked Bilston as a " souling " locaHty on the map, because Mr. Lawley, who was only a schoolboy at the time, cannot recollect the exact date on which he saw them.
In Cheshire the practice of souling seems to have been specially vigorous. Down to the later years of the nine- teenth century we there hear of parties of young men — not children — going souling, singing a variety of songs, per- forming the Mummers' Play usually acted at Christmas, and taking with them a hobby-horse to enforce com- pliance with their demands. But elsewhere — that is, in North Shropshire and North Staffordshire — the practice is now confined almost entirely to the children ; cakes are rarely provided, and the children content themselves with begging for fruit in a singsong peculiar to the occasion. Thus : —
" Soul, soul, for an apple or two. If you've got no apples, pears'll do ! One for Peter, two for Paul, And three for Him that made us all ! An apple, pear, plum, or cherr)', Any good thing to make us merry ! Up with the kettle and down with the pan ! Give us a good big 'un and we'll be gone.
Soul day, Soul ! " {Da capo.)
The object for which apples were asked for was originally no doubt to use them in the games and divinations of the season, in which apples always played an important part, but they would be wanted above all for making the lambs- wool, the bowl of hot spiced ale and roasted apples which, with the cakes, formed the special dainty of the festival. The men's souling songs were full of references to good ale. Here is part of one which I took down fifty years ago from
