Note 256 — ARRIAN ON COURSING.

Vestiges of the Celtic ceremonies of Agrotera seem to have been extant, under a peculiar modification, in London, within a period not very remote. That Dian’s worship was not confined to continental Europe, but extended, as already noticed in note 1. (sub fine) of this chapter, to the insular Britons, is an historical fact, confirmed, according to the learned and ingenious Mr. Douce,Illustrations of Shakspeare, and of Ancient Manners, &c. Vol. i. p. 392. by the remains of such animals as were used in her sacrifices, and also by her own images found on rebuilding St. Paul’s Cathedral—on the site of which, Dr. Woodward very plausibly inferred, a Roman temple of the pagan goddess once stood. “It cannot be controverted,” continues the first-cited able antiquary, “that Diana was reverenced in this country long after the introduction of Christianity, when we find from the testimony of Richard Sporling, a monk of Westminster in 1450, and a diligent collector of ancient materials, that during the persecution of Diocletian the inhabitants of London sacrificed to Diana, whilst those of Thorney, now Westminster, were offering incense to Apollo. Sir W. Dugdale records that a commutation grant was made in the reign of Edward I. by Sir William Le Baud, to the dean and canons of St. Paul, of a doe in winter on the day of the Saint’s conversion, and of a fat buck in summer on that of his commemoration, to be offered at the high altar, and distributed among the canons. To this ceremony Erasmus has alluded in his book De Ratione Concionandi, when he describes the custom which the Londoners had of going in procession to St. Paul’s Cathedral with a deer’s head fixed upon a spear, accompanied with men blowing hunting-horns. Mr. Strype, likewise, in his Ecclesiastical Memorials, Vol. iii. p. 378. has preserved a notice of the custom as practised in Queen Mary’s time, with this addition, that the priest of every parish in the city, arrayed in his cope, and the bishop of London in his mitre, assisted on the occasion. Camden had likewise seen it when a boy, and had heard that the canons of the Cathedral attended in their sacred vestments, wearing garlands of flowers on their heads.”