Note 19 — PENZANCE.
Reading edition
It is reasonable to advert to the Summer Solstice for this custom, although brought into the Christian Calendar under the sanction of John the Baptist. Those sacred fires "kindled about midnight, on the moment of the Solstice by the great part of the ancient and modern nations. The origin of which loses itself in antiquity;" See Gebelin, and also Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities.