Rogation Days

During the three Rogation days, which took the place of the Roman processional festivals of the Ambarvalia and Cerealia, the Dragon was carried as a symbol both in England and on the continent.

Alfred was King of Wessex from 871 to 901, and we learn from his laws that if a thief was caught stealing on Sunday, at Yule, at Easter, on Holy Thursday, or during Rogation days, the penalty was double the amount of fine inflicted during the Lenten fast.

The service both on St. Mark's day, and on the three Rogation days before the Ascension is the same, and from the present homily it seems, that on the Rogation days the Litany in the time of �lfric was called Major, as it is also in the Canons of Charlemagne, and in some very old MSS. of the Liturgy; though by the Council of Clovesho, A.D.

In these Rogation Days, it is to be asked of God, and prayed for, that God of his goodness wyll defende and save the corne in the felde, and that he wyll vouchsave to pourge the ayer.

Rogation days.—Insolence of vulgar assistants in travelling abroad.—Commodious diligence.—Normandy.—Norman predilection.—Petition in verse.—The king of Yvetot.—Rouen.—Magny.—Abstinence, variously understood, and how practised.—Road along the banks of the Seine.—Village of St. Clair.—Pontoise.—Arrival at Paris.—Rate of travelling.—Lodge in the Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin.92 CHAP.