Chamber's Book of days

The History of the Book
Chambers Book of Days (The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of Human Life and Character)[1] was written by the Scottish author Robert Chambers and first published in 1864. The Book of Days was Robert Chambers' last publication, and perhaps his most elaborate. Like some current websites, it was a huge collection of short, purportedly factual pieces which today would generally be bracketed as "trivia" (but very interesting trivia). The formula has been much repeated. It is supposed that Chambers' excessive, even obsessive, labour in connection with this book hastened his death. It is a much quoted reference in many hundreds of other reference books.

There is a section on Chester which elaborates many supposed facts on the city. Some these have a foundation in truth, but others contain errors or are much distorted. Here is a review of the contents with corrections as needed (given as bullet points).

Chester - not very accurate
EASTER FESTIVITIES IN CHESTER

The city
'''Most people are aware how much of a mediaeval character still pertains to the city of Chester, — how its gable-fronted houses, its 'Rows' (covered walks over the ground floors), and its castellated town walls, combine to give it an antique character wholly unique in England. It is also well known how, in the age succeeding the Conquest, this city was the seat of the despotic military government of Hugh d'Avranches, commonly called, from his savage character, Hugo Lupus, whose sword is still preserved in the British Museum.'''


 * "Castellated" is generally taken to mean having towers and "battlements". Chester's City Walls have a few towers but are not generally "castellated" in the sense that they had "merlons" which provided protection for defenders while allowing them to shoot from the gaps between.


 * The city was the seat of Hugh of Avranches. The sword does not appear to be on public display at the British Museum.

Fairs


'''Chester was endowed by Hugo with two yearly fairs, at Midsummer and Michaelmas, on which occasions criminals had free shelter in it for a month, as indicated by a glove hung out at St. Peter's Church, — for gloves were a manufacture at Chester. It was on these occasions that the celebrated Chester mysteries, or scriptural plays, were performed.'''


 * There were fairs at Midsummer (which lasted a week) and Michaelmas (which was shorter). Their origins are uncertain: from an early period the monks of St. Werburgh's claimed that Earl Hugh (d. 1101) had granted them the right to hold a fair on the three days around the feast of St. Werburg's translation on 21 June. Almost certainly, however, the fair was reorganized in the 1120s by Ranulph I, who provided new regulations governing its hours of opening. The origins of the Michaelmas fair are even more obscure.


 * The reference to "criminals" may not be entirely accurate and may be a confusion. Earl Hugh established three "asyla" in Cheshire and the King's writ did not run to Cheshire, where the Earl enforced the law (save for treason). These asyla were at Hoole Heath near Chester, Overmarsh near Farndon and Rud Heath near Middlewich. These were places to which a felon from any place in England (or Wales) could flee and seek the protection of the Earl. A glove was hung from the end of St Peter's (see Gloverstone).


 * The Chester Mystery Plays were at first performed at Corpus Christi which usually falls in June, but can be anywhere from 23rd May to 24th June, depending on the date of easter. Around 1521, they were moved to cover the three days of Whitsuntide, Whit Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They were never performed at Michaelmas, which falls at the end of September;

The Roodee


'''As the tourist walks from the Watergate along the ancient walls towards the Cathedral, he cannot fail to notice the beautiful meadow lying between him and the river; it is the Rood-eye, or as formerly written, the Roodee; the scene of the sports for which Chester was so long famous, eye being a term used for a waterside meadow; and the legend of the rood or cross was the following:--A cross was erected at Hawarden, by which a man was unfortunately killed; and in accordance with the superstition of those days, the cross was made to bear the blame of the accident, and was thrown into the river; for which sacrilegious act the men received the name of Hárden Jews. Floated down the stream, it was taken up at the Rood-eye, and became very celebrated for the number of miracles it wrought. Sad to relate, after the Reformation it again became the subject of scorn and contempt; for the master of the grammar-school converted it into a block on which to chastise his refractory pupils, and it was finally burnt, perhaps by the very scholars who had suffered on it.'''


 * Chambers' route from the Watergate to the Cathedral is a clue that he possibly had never visited Chester.


 * In the local legend it is not a man killed at Hawarden, but a woman: Lady Trawst, the wife of the Governor of Hawarden. Chambers appears to copy this error from Hanshall. According to one version of the legend, she had gone to church to pray for rain but when her prayers were answered by a tremendous thunderstorm the statue was loosened and fell, killing her.


 * Chambers then seems to mix up a couple of local legends, possibly also taken from Hanshall and William Cowper. One legend refers to the Holy Rood at St Johns, a silver-gilt crucifix supposedly containing wood from the True Cross. Its origins are uncertain. Some sources state it was brought from the East by Ranulf de Blondeville, who was on Crusade in 1219-20. On the other hand it may have been associated with the cult of King Harold (see:Hermitage), boosted in 1332 by the discovery within the church of his alleged remains, still fragrant and clad in leather hose, golden spurs, and crown. Harold's links with the cult of the "Holy Rood" and in particular with the miracle-working crucifix of Waltham (Essex), perhaps suggested the introduction of an analogous devotion into Chester.

Sports
'''We need not wonder that in so ancient and thriving a city old customs and games were well kept up; and to begin with those of the great festival of Easter. Then might be seen the mayor and corporation, with the twenty guilds established in Chester, with their wardens at their heads, setting forth in all their pageantry to the Rood-eye to play at football. The mayor, with his mace, sword, and cap of maintenance, stood before the cross, whilst the guild of Shoe-makers, to whom the right had belonged from time immemorial, presented him with the ball of the value of 'three and four pence or above,' and all set to work right merrily. But, as too often falls out in this game, 'greate strife did arise among the younge persons of the same cittie,' and hence, in the time of Henry the Eighth, this piece of homage to the mayor was converted into a present from the shoemakers to the drapers of six gleaves or hand-darts of silver, to be given for the best foot-race; whilst the saddlers, who went in procession on horseback, attired in all their bravery, each carrying a spear with a wooden ball, decorated with flowers and arms, exchanged their offering for a silver bell, which should be a 'rewarde for that horse which with speedy runninge should run before all others.


 * Chester did have a local variant of "mob football" which nowadays might be called "no-rules football". It has been described as follows: "upon Goteddsday (Shrove Tuesday) at the Crosse upon the Rood Dee, before the Mayor of the Cittie did offer unto the company of Drapers an homage, a ball of leather, called a footeball, of the value of 3s 4d, which was played for by the Shoemakers and Saddlers to bring it to the house of the Mayor or either of the Sherriffs. Much harm was done, some having their bodies bruised and crushed, some their armes, heads, legges".


 * In 1533, this unruly and dangerous football match was banned and similarly, the ancient practice of the Saddlers to present "a ball of wood painted with flowers to be fought for by the mob" was discontinued. It was replaced, by races which originally took place on Goteddsday (Shrove Tuesday) until 1609, and thereafter on St George's Day. The first recorded race was held on 9 February 1539 (although other sources list this as 10 January 1511): "In the tyme of Henry Gee, Mayre of the King's citie of Chester, in the XXXI yere of King Henry Theght, a bell of sylver, to the value of IIIs IIIId, is ordayned to be the reward of that horse which shall runne before all others"''. Victors were later awarded the "Chester Bells", a set of decorative bells for decorating the horse's bridle, and from 1744 the "Grosvenor Gold Cup", a small drinking tumbler made from solid gold (later silver).

Peppergate


'''It would appear that the women were not banished from a share in the sports, but had their own football match in a quiet sort of way; for as the mayor's daughter was engaged with other maidens in the Pepper-gate at this game, her lover, knowing well that the father was too busy on the Rood-eye with the important part he had to play at these festivities, entered by the gate and carried off the fair girl,—nothing loth, we may suppose. The angry father, when he discovered the loss, ordered the Pepper-gate to be for ever closed, giving rise to the Chester proverb—' When the daughter is stolen, shut the Pepper-gate;' equivalent to our saying, "When the steed is stolen, shut the stable door."'''


 * There are many versions of this story about the Peppergate. According to a typical version: in 1573, Ellen, the daughter of Alderman Rauff Aldersey defied her father and eloped through the gate at night to marry a draper. Her father persuaded the city to lock the gate at night for many years, leading to the local expression ‘when the daughter is stolen, shut the Peppergate’ which is the local equivalent of ‘close the stable door after the horse has bolted’. The various versions name different parties involved over a period of several hundred years.

Archery
'''The good and healthful practice of archery was not forgotten at these Shrove Tuesday and Easter Monday meetings; the reward for the best shot was provided, not by the guilds, but by the bride-grooms. All those happy men who had not closed their first year of matrimonial bliss, if they had been married in the said city, were bound to deliver to the guild of drapers there before the mayor, an arrow of silver, instead of the ball of silk and velvet which had been the earlier offering, to be given as a prize for the exercise of the long-bow. In this the sheriffs had to take their part, for there was a custom, 'the memory of man now livinge not knowinge the original,' that on Black Monday (a term used for Easter Monday, owing, it is supposed, to the remarkably dark and in-clement weather which happened when Edward the Third lay with his army before Paris) the two sheriffs should shoot for a breakfast of calves' head and bacon. The drum sounded the proclamation through the city, and from the stalwart yeomen on the Rood-eye, the sheriffs each chose one, until they had got the number of twelve-score; the shooting began on one side and then on the other, until the winners were declared; they then walked first, holding their arrows in their hands, whilst the losers followed with their bows only, and marching to the Town Hall took their breakfast together in much loving jollity, 'it being a commendable exercise, a good recreation, and a lovinge assembly;' a remark of the old writer with which our readers will not disagree.'''


 * The Easter Monday contest and feast was a real event, but all the participants got to enjoy the breakfast of calves heads and bacon. It was instituted by the Sherrifs during the mayorality of Thomas Smith (1511-12). The reason for this is not known, although Dublin, which had close trade ties with Chester, held a muster on Black Monday. Chambers lifts most of his text from Daniel Lysons who mentions the feast in his "Magna Brittanica": "There is an anchant custome in this cittie of Chester the memory of now livinge not knowinge the original that upon Monday in Easter weeke yearely commonly called Black Mondaye the two sheriffes of the cittie shoote for a breakfaste of calves heades and bacon comonly called the sheriffes breakfaste the maner beinge thus the daye before the drum through the cittie with a proclamation for all gentelmen yeomen and fellowes that will come with their bowes and arrowes to take parte with one sherriff or the other and upon Monday morning on the Rode dee the mayor shreeves aldermen and any other gentelmen that wol be there the one sherife chosing one and the other sherife chosing another and soe of the archers then one sherife shoteth and the other sherife he shoteth to shode him beinge at length some twelve score soe all the archers on one fide to shote till it be shode and soe till three shutes be wonne and then all the winers fide goe up together firste with arrowes in their handes and all the loosers with bowes in their hands together to the common hall of the cittie where the mayor aldermen and gentlemen and the reste take parte together of the saide breakfaste in loveing manner this is yearly done it beinge a comendable exercise a good recreation and a lovinge assemblye".


 * Edward III did not encounter the Black Monday hailstorm in Paris but at Chartes in 1360. Lyson's gets this wrong (basing his story on How's Chronicle) and Chambers simply copies him. In a half-hour, the incitement and intense cold are said to have killed nearly 1,000 Englishmen and up to 6,000 horses. On 8 May 1360, three weeks later, the Treaty of Brétigny was signed, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.


 * The [Town Hall] is probably the Common Hall which was located in Commonhall Street

'''But time, which changes all things, led the sheriffs in 1640 to offer a piece of plate to be run for instead of the calves' head breakfast; we may be sure there were some Puritans at work here, but with the Englishman's natural love of good fare, this resolution was rescinded in 1674, and it was decided that the breakfast was established by ancient usage, and could not be changed at the pleasure of the sheriffs; yet these great men were not easily persuaded, for we find that two years after they were fined ten pounds for not keeping the calves' head feast. When the last of these festivities came off; we know not: it is now kept as an annual dinner, but not on any fixed day. The shooting has, alas! disappeared; the care with which they trained their children in this vigorous exercise may be traced from a curious order we find in the common council book, that, 'For the avoiding of idleness, all children of six years old and upwards, shall, on week days, be set to school, or some virtuous labour, whereby they may hereafter get an honest living; and on Sundays and holy days they shall resort to their parish churches and there abide during the time of divine service, and in the afternoon all the said male children shall be exercised in shooting with bows and arrows, for pins and points only; and that their parents furnish them with bows and arrows, pins and points, for that purpose, according to the statute lately made for maintenance of shooting in long bows and artillery, being the ancient defence of the kingdom.


 * Lysons adds that in 1640 the Sheriffs did indeed change to an item of "plate", but "In the year 1640 the sheriffs gave a piece of plate to be run for instead of the calves head breakfast In 1674 a resolution was entered in the corporation Journals that the calves head feast was held by ancient custom and usage and was not to be at the pleasure of the sheriffs and leave lookers In the month of March 1676-7 the sheriffs and leave lookers were fined £10 for not keeping the calves head feast The sheriffs of late years have given an annual dinner but not on any fixed day "

Lifting
'''If we walk through the streets of the city on this festive Easter Monday, we shall probably see a crowd of young and gay gallants carrying about a chair, lined with rich white silk, from which garlands of flowers and streamers of ribbon depend; as they meet each fair damsel, she is requested to seat herself in the chair, no opposition being allowed, nor may we suppose, in those times of free and easy manners, that any would he offered. The chair is then lifted as high as the young men can poise it in the air, and on its descent a kiss is demanded by each, and a fee must be also paid. It would seem that this custom called 'lifting' still prevails in the counties of Cheshire, Lancashire, Shropshire, and Warwickshire, but is confined to the streets; formerly they entered the houses, and made every inmate undergo the lifting. The late Mr. Lysons, keeper of the records of the Tower of London, gave an extract from one of the rolls in his custody to the Society of Antiquaries, which mentioned a payment to certain ladies and maids of honour for taking King Edward the First in his bed, and lifting him; so it appears that no rank was exempt. The sum the King paid was no trifle, being equal to about £400 in the present day. The women take their revenge on Easter Tuesday, and go about in the same manner: three times must the luckless Wight be elevated; his escape is in vain, if seen and pursued. Strange to say, the custom is one in memory of the Resurrection, a vulgar and childish absurdity into which so many of the Romish ceremonies denerated.'''


 * "Lifting" (or "Heaving") is a Cheshire custom recorded by Christina Hole. While Chambers gives it a christian origin it is probably a pagan agricultural custom to encourage crops to grow. It took place on Easter Monday (women lifted) or Tuesday (men lifted). It was known at Barthomley, Neston, and at Heswall (in the 1880's). On March 26th 1771 the Adams Weekly Courant (in Chester) printed an infuriated letter requiring that the custom be put down by the magistrates. The writer asserted that a person coming to Chester on business might be hoisted into the air several times on one day and held to ransom before being let down. Evidently the practice degenerated into a way of making money by accosting tourists and was discontinued after cases were taken to the Magistrates courts. Coward reports a similar story in his Cheshire - Traditions and History.

Pace Eggs
'''We may be sure that the Pace, Pask, or Easter eggs were not forgotten by the Chester children. Eggs were in such demand at that season that they always rose considerably in price; they were boiled very hard in water coloured with red, blue, or violet dyes, with inscriptions or landscapes traced upon them; these were offered as presents among the 'valentines' of the year, but more frequently played with by the boys as balls, for ball-playing on Easter Monday was universal in every rank. Even the clergy could not forego its delights, and made this game a part of their service. Bishops and deans took the ball into the church, and at the commencement of the anti-phone began to dance, throwing the ball to the choristers, who handed it to each other during the time of the dancing and antiphone. All then retired for refreshment: a gammon of bacon eaten in abhorrence of the Jews was a standard dish; with a tansy pudding, symbolical of the bitter herbs commanded at the paschal feast. An old verse commemorates these customs:'''


 * 'At stool-ball, Lucia, let as play,
 * For sugar, cakes, or wine;
 * Or for a tansy let us pay,
 * The loss be thine or mine.
 * If thou, my dear, a winner be
 * At trundling of the ball,
 * The wager thou shalt have, and me,
 * And my misfortunes all.'


 * Pace eggs (pace is derived from Latin paschal) and the associated Pace Egg plays were once a widespread rural custom - although the actual term is only attested to from as early as early 18th cent Lancashire. In the play, the drama takes the form of mock combat between the hero and villain, in which the hero is killed and brought back to life, often by a "quack doctor". In some the plays the figure of St George smites all challengers, and the fool, "Toss Pot", rejoices. Traditionally, "Pace Eggs" were part of the Easter Sunday breakfast: eggs were wrapped in onionskins and carefully boiled (a practice that gave their shells an appearance of mottled gold) - gorse flowers also work. For the wealthy eggs could be coated with real gold - in 1290 Edward I had 450 eggs coated with gold leaf for Easter, while a young Henry VIII recieved one in a silver case from the Vatican.


 * Chambers "gammon of bacon" seems to be a tradition he has made up, whereas the "bitter herbs" (replaced by the Tansey Pudding) are traditional in the Jewish Passover meal. However this somewhat obnoxious custom does seem to have taken place in Chester, or at least be recorded before Chambers (in 1826). In 1570, on the 15 January William Kethe (a minister) mentioned, somewhat mockingly, that the traditional Roman Catholic feast at Easter was bacon and eggs.


 * As for the Tansy, it is toxic in large enough doses and could have been taken (in carefully controlled moderation) as a purgative or to treat intestinal worms once believed to be caused by eating fish during Lent.


 * "Stoolball" (the quote is from Robert Herrick, writing about the year 1648, in his ‘Hesperides’) is an ancient game. There is a tradition that it was played by milkmaids who used their milking stools as a "wicket" and the bittle, or milk bowl as a bat. However in Shakespeare's "Two Noble Kinsmen" as a euphemism for sexual behaviour. In one version of the "Peppergate" story (from Crane, 1808), the mayor's daughter "had been playing stoolball with some maidens in Pepper Street".

Procession
'''The churches were adorned at this season like theatres, and crowds poured in to see the sepulchres which were erected, representing the whole scene of our Saviour's entombment. A general belief prevailed in those days that our Lord's second coming would be on Easter Eve; hence the sepulchres were watched through the night, until three in the morning, when two of the oldest monks would enter and take out a beautiful image of the Resurrection, which was elevated before the adoring worshippers during the singing of the anthem, 'Christus resurgens.' It was then carried to the high altar, and a procession being formed, a canopy of velvet was borne over it by ancient gentlemen: they proceeded round the exterior of the church by the light of torches, all singing, rejoicing, and praying, until coming again to the high altar it was there placed to remain until Ascension-day. In many places the monks personated all the characters connected with the event they celebrated, and thus rendered the scene still more theatrical.'''


 * In Chester the "Christus resurgens" (a mortuis) procession seems to either have been performed by nuns or (according to a stage direction in "Resurrection") incorporated in the Chester Mystery Plays.

Minstrel Court
Another peculiar ceremony belonging to Chester refers to the minstrels being obliged to appear yearly before the Lord of Dutton. In those days when the monasteries, convents, and castles were but dull abodes, the insecurity of the country and the badness of the roads making locomotion next to impossible, the minstrels were most accept-able company 'to drive dull care away,' and were equally welcomed by burgher and noble. They generally travelled in bands, sometimes as Saxon gleemen, sometimes having instrumentalists joined to the party, as a tabourer, a bagpiper, dancers, and jugglers. At every fair, feast, or wedding, the minstrels were sure to be; arrayed in the fanciful dress prevailing during the reigns of the earls Norman kings—mantles and tunics, the latter having tight sleeves to the wrist, but terminating in a long depending streamer which hung as low as the knees; a hood or flat sort of Scotch cap was the general head-dress, and the legs were enveloped in tight bandages, called chausses, with the most absurd peak-toed boots and shoes, some being intended to imitate a ram's horn or a scorpion's tail. In all the old books of household expenses, we meet with the largesses which were given to the minstrels, varying, of course, according to the riches and liberality of the donor: thus when the Queen of Edward I was confined of the first Prince of Wales in Carnarvon Castle, the sum of £10 was given to the minstrels (Welsh harpers, we may suppose them to have been) on the day of her churching. In another old record of the brotherhood feasts at Abingdon, we find them much more richly rewarded than the priests themselves; for whilst twelve of the latter got fourpence each for singing a dirge, twelve minstrels had two-and-threepence each, food for themselves and their horses, to make the guests merry: wise people were they, and knew the value of a good laugh during the process of digestion.

It was customary for the minstrels of certain districts to be under the protection of some noble lord, from whom they received a license at the holding of an annual court; thus the Earls of Lancaster had one at Tutbury, on the 16th of August, when a king of the minstrels and four stewards were chosen: any offenders against the rules of the society were tried, and all complaints brought before a regular jury. This jurisdiction belonged in Chester to the very ancient family of the Duttons, who took their name from a small towns Peterhip near Frodshaw, which was purchased for a coat of mail and a charger, a palfrey and a sparrowhawk, by Hugh the grandson of Odard, son of Ivron, Viscount of Constantine, one of William the Conqueror's Norman knights. Nor did the Duttons soon lose the warlike character of their race, for we find them long after joining in any rebellion or foray that the licentious character of the times permitted.

The Duttons
Harry Hotspur inveigled, the eleventh knight, to join him in his ill-fated expedition; happily, however, the king pardoned him. Much more unfortunate were they at Bloreheath; at that battle Sir Peter's grandson, Sir Thomas, was killed, with his brother and eldest son. The way in which they gained the jurisdiction over the Cheshire minstrels was characteristic. We have previously mentioned the extraordinary privilege granted of exemption from punishment during the Chester fairs, a privilege which could not fail in those days to draw together a large concourse of lawless and ruffianly people.

During one of these fairs, Ranulph de Blundeville, Earl of Chester, was besieged in his Castle of Rhuddlan, by the yet unsubdued Welsh; when the news of this reached the ears of John Lacy, constable of Chester, he called together the minstrels who were present at the fair, and with their assistance collected a large number of disorderly people, armed but indifferently with whatever might be at hand, and sent them off under the command of Hugh Dutton, in the hope of effecting some relief for the Earl. When they arrived in sight of the castle their numbers had a highly imposing appearance; and the Welsh, taking them for the regular army, and not waiting to try their discipline, or discover their lack of arms, immediately raised the siege, and marched back to their own fastnesses, leaving the Earl full of gratitude to his deliverers; as a token of which, he gave to their captain jurisdiction over the minstrels for ever.

This, then, was the origin of the grand procession which took place yearly on St. John the Baptist's day, and was continued for centuries, being only laid aside in the year 1756. In the fine old Eastgate Street, the minstrels assembled, the lord of Dutton or his heir giving them the meeting.

His banner or pennon waved from the window of the hostelry where he took up his abode, and where the court was to be held; a drummer being sent round the town to collect the people, and inform them at what time he would meet them. At eleven o'clock a procession was formed: a chosen number of their instrumentalists formed themselves into a band and walked first; two trumpeters in their gorgeous attire followed, blowing their martial strains; the remainder of the minstrels succeeded, white napkins hung across their shoulders, and the principal man carried their banner. After these came the higher ranks, the Lord of Dutton's steward bearing his token of office, a white wand; the tabarder, or herald, his short gown, from which he derived his name, being emblazoned with the Dutton arms; then the Lord of Dutton himself, the object of all this homage, accompanied by many of the gentry of the city and neighbourhood—and Cheshire can number more ancient families than any other county in England; of whom old Fuller tells us:


 * 'They are remarkable on a fourfold account: their numerousness, not to be paralleled in England in the like extent of round; their antiquity, many of their ancestors being fixed here before the Norman conquest; their loyalty; and their hospitality.' Thus they moved forward to the church of St. John the Baptist, the which having entered, the musicians fell upon their knees, and played several pieces of sacred music in this reverent attitude; the canons and vicars choral then performed divine service, and a proclamation was made, 'God save the King, the Queen, the Prince, and all the Royal family; and the honourable Sir Peter Dutton, long may he live and support the honour of the minstrel court.' The procession returned as it came, and then entered upon the important business of satisfying the appetite with the fine rounds of beef, haunches of venison, and more delicate dishes of peacock, swan, and fowls; followed by those wondrous sweet compounds called `subtleties,' with stout, ale, hippocras, and wine, to make every heart cheerful. The minstrels did not forget to make their present of four flagons of wine, and a lance, as a token of fealty to their lord, with the sum of fourpencehalfpenny for the licence which he granted them, and in which they were commanded 'to behave themselves lively as a licensed minstrel of the court ought to do.' The jury were empannelled during the afternoon, to inquire if they knew of any treason against the King or the Earl of Chester, or if any minstrel were guilty of using his instrument without licence, or had in any way misdemeaned himself; the verdicts were pronounced, the oaths administered, and all separated, looking forward to their next merry meeting.'