The Morning Song.
Unite and unite, and let us all unite,
For summer it is comen to-day;
And whither we are going we all will unite,
In the merry morning of May.
Arise up, Mr. ———, and joy you betide,
For summer is comen to-day;
And bright is your bride that lays by your side,
In the merry morning of May.
Arise up, Mrs. ———, and gold be your ring,
For summer is comen to-day;
And give to us a cup of ale, the merrier we shall sing
In the merry morning of May.
Arise up. Miss ———, all in your smock of silk,
For summer is comen to-day;
And all your body under as white as any milk,
In the merry morning of May.
The young men of Padstow might if they would.
For summer is comen to-day;
They might have built a ship and gilded her with gold,
In the merry morning of May.
Now fare you well, and we bid you good cheer,
For summer is comen to-day;
He will come no more unto your house before another year.
"In the merry morning of May.
(George Rawlings, September 1st, 1865, through E. Hunt, F.R.S., Drole, &c., Old Cornwall.)
Mr. Rawlings all through his song has written "For summer has come unto day," but this is clearly a mistake. He also gives another which he calls the "May-song," but it is not as well worth transcribing: it bears in some parts a slight resemblance to that sung at the Helston Hal-an-tow. See page 231.
In East Cornwall they have a custom of bathing in the sea on the three first Sunday mornings in May. And in West Cornwall children were taken before sunrise on those days to the holy wells, notably to that of St. Maddern (Madron) near Penzance, to be there dipped
