Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Faiths and Folklore; a Dictionary of National Beliefs, Superstitions and Popular Customs, Past and Current, with Their Classical and Foreign Analogues, Described and Illustrated, Volume 1John Brand, Henry Ellis, William Carew Hazlitt |
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Page 6
... persons , who are to re- present the King and Queen of a foreign country and are seated on the stools . The person intended to be ducked plays the Ambassador , and after repeating a ridicu- lous speech dictated by him , is led in great ...
... persons , who are to re- present the King and Queen of a foreign country and are seated on the stools . The person intended to be ducked plays the Ambassador , and after repeating a ridicu- lous speech dictated by him , is led in great ...
Page 7
... person's water , with a quantity of pins , needles , and nails into a bottle , cork them up and set them before the fire , in order to confine the spirit : but this sometimes did not prove sufficient , as it would often force the cork ...
... person's water , with a quantity of pins , needles , and nails into a bottle , cork them up and set them before the fire , in order to confine the spirit : but this sometimes did not prove sufficient , as it would often force the cork ...
Page 13
... persons who , it is my pains ; or , according to a silly custom known , must be absent from their house in fashion among the vulgar , was made at the time fixed upon ; and the laugh an April - Fool of , the person who had en- is always ...
... persons who , it is my pains ; or , according to a silly custom known , must be absent from their house in fashion among the vulgar , was made at the time fixed upon ; and the laugh an April - Fool of , the person who had en- is always ...
Page 14
... person imposed upon " an April Fish , " Poisson d'Avril . Minshew renders the expression , “ Poisson d'Avril , " a young bawd ; a page turned pandar ; a mackerell ; which is thus explained by Bellingen : " Je sçay que la plus part du ...
... person imposed upon " an April Fish , " Poisson d'Avril . Minshew renders the expression , “ Poisson d'Avril , " a young bawd ; a page turned pandar ; a mackerell ; which is thus explained by Bellingen : " Je sçay que la plus part du ...
Page 16
... person in his turn is to be ceremoni ously introduced to him , and to pour a bucket of water over him , crying . Hail , King Arthur ! If , during this ceremony , the person introduced laughs or smiles , ( to which his Majesty endeavours ...
... person in his turn is to be ceremoni ously introduced to him , and to pour a bucket of water over him , crying . Hail , King Arthur ! If , during this ceremony , the person introduced laughs or smiles , ( to which his Majesty endeavours ...
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Common terms and phrases
ancient antiquity appears Bartholomew Fair bell Bishop body bowls Boy Bishop boys bride bull-baiting burial buried cake called candle Candlemas century cere ceremony charms child Christian Christmas church Clameur de Haro cock common Comp CUCKING STOOL curious custom Dæmon dance dead death Devil divination doth drink Easter eggs England fair fairies feast festival fire flowers formerly friends funeral Gentleman's Magazine ghosts give Glossary grave hand hath Hazlitt's head Henry Henry VIII holy horns horse John King lady London Lord marriage mas Day mentioned Nares neighbours night North Notes and Queries observes occasion omen parish passage Payd person pisky play present Queen ring Roman round Saint says Scotland seems shew Shrove Tuesday sing speaking spirits sport superstition supposed tells thing tion town tree usage vulgar witch woman women word writer young
Popular passages
Page 131 - gainst that season comes Wherein our saviour's birth is celebrated, This bird of dawning singeth all night long : And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad ; The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
Page 75 - When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn That ten day-labourers could not end; Then lies him down, the lubber fiend, And, stretched out all the chimney's length, Basks at the fire his hairy strength; And crop-full out of doors he flings, Ere the first cock his matin rings.
Page 232 - So when a child, as playful children use, Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news, The flame extinct, he views the roving fire — There goes my lady, and there goes the squire, There goes the parson, oh ! illustrious spark, And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk ! REPORT • OF AN ADJUDGED CASE NOT TO BE FOUND IN ANY OF THE BOOKS.
Page 308 - ... in all probability those common juggling words of "Hocuspocus," are nothing else but a corruption of " Hoc est corpus," by way of ridiculous imitation of the Priests of the church of Rome in their trick of transubstantiation.
Page 204 - Of healths five fathom deep ; and then anon Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes, And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two, And sleeps again. This is that very Mab That plats the manes of horses in the night, And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs, Which once untangled much misfortune bodes...
Page 294 - If I beheld the sun when it shined, Or the moon walking in brightness ; And my heart hath been secretly enticed, Or my mouth hath kissed my hand : This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge : For I should have denied the God that is above.
Page 155 - I'll speed me to the pond, where the high stool On the long plank hangs o'er the muddy pool, That stool, the dread of every scolding quean.
Page 148 - Nor can their aspects, though you pore Your eyes out on 'em., tell you more Than th' oracle of sieve and shears ; That turns as certain as the spheres...
Page 14 - ... stripped naked, were pushed through the apertures, under a persuasion that, by such a process, the poor babes would be cured of their infirmity. As soon as the operation was over, the tree, in the suffering part, was plastered with loam, and carefully swathed up. If the parts coalesced and soldered together, as usually fell out, where the feat was performed with any adroitness at all, the party was cured ; but, where the cleft continued to gape, the operation, it was supposed, would prove ineffectual....
Page 34 - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Bless the bed that I lie on. Four corners to my bed, Four angels round my head; One to watch and one to pray And two to bear my soul away.