Reference  |  Brewer's Phrase & Fable  |  S  |  Sagan of Jerusalem to St. Monday

S — Sagan of Jerusalem to St. Monday (Part 3 of 3)

St. Lundi (La). St. Monday. Monday spent by workmen in idleness. One of the rules enjoined by the Sheffield unionists was that no work should be permitted to be done on a Monday by any of their members.

St. Michael's Chair The projecting stone lantern of a tower erected on St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall. It is said that the rock received its name from a religious house built to commemorate the apparition of St. Michael on one of its craggy heights. (See Michael .)

St. Monday A holiday observed by journeyman shoemakers and other inferior mechanics, and well-to- do merchants.
   In the Journal of the Folk-lore Society, vol. i. p. 245, we read that, “While Cromwell's army lay encamped at Perth, one of his zealous partisans, named Monday, died, and Cromwell offered a reward for the best lines on his death. A shoemaker of Perth brought the following, which so pleased Cromwell that he not only gave the promised reward, but made also a decree that shoemakers should be allowed to make Monday a standing holiday.

“Blessed be the Sabbath Day,
And cursed be worldly pelf:
Tuesday will begin the week,
Since Monday's hanged himself.”