fashion. Antiq. Repert., 1807, ii., p. 278. At the coronation of Elizabeth of York, in November, 1487, the Queen is described as wearing her fair yellow hair plain behind her back, with a caul of pipes over it, somewhat, perhaps, in the later Roman style, as we see it on coins. Compare Marriage, infrâ. This habit was not confined, however, to women, for the younger portraits of Henry VII. on his coins represent him with long unkempt hair, somewhat like that worn by Lorenzo dé Medici in the paintings or prints of him, by members of the Della Rovera, Visconti, Este, and other families on coins of nearly the same period, and by Louis XII. of France on his Franco-Italian money, as well as in fact the fashion followed in the 15th and 16th centuries by all male personages of rank on the Continent. On the title of an edition of Donatus the Grammarian, printed by Wynkyn de Worde about 1496, are four figures with their hair similarly left to fall over the neck and shoulders, and numerous illustrations of the fashion occur in Fairholt and Planché. The mode may be taken to have been borrowed from Italy.

Hair (ii.) Superstitions.-There is a vulgar notion that men's hair will sometimes turn grey upon a sudden and violent fright, to which Shakespear alludes in a speech of Falstaff to Prince Henry: “Thy father's beard is turned white with the news." Grey remarks: This whimsical opinion was humorously bantered by a wag in a coffee-house; who, upon hearing a young gentleman giving the same reason for the change of his hair from black to grey, observed that there was no great matter in it, and told the company that he had a friend, who wore a coal-black wig, which was turned grey by a fright in an instant." Of late years the large sums offered by the trade for hair of a particular hue and length have overcome in many instances the old repugnance to part with this ornament, not only on the ground of pride or vanity, but on that of superstitious fear; for it was anciently a current vulgar belief, that if any portion of hair was left about, the birds would steal it to build their nests with, a fatal consequence to the owner, especially if the bird was a pie. Going still farther back, we arrive at the barbarous idea, of which Scott has availed himself in the "Pirate," that hair thrown into the sea had the power of kindling a storm, or (as Scott has it) of appeasing the waters. The hair from a calf's tail, inserted in the cow's ear, is supposed, or was formerly, to be efficacious in making the mother forget the loss of its young one; and the hair of a dog, which has bitten you, is held to be an

antidote against any evil consequences, if given by the owner to the person bitten. But compare Hazlitt's Proverbs, 1882, p. 19.

Halcyon or Kingfisher.-See, as to the superstition about this bird, Nares, Glossary, 1859, in v., Halcyon.

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Hallow Eve at Oxford. See Christmas Prince.

Hallow E'en.-In North Wales, according to Pennant, there was a custom upon all Saints' Eve of making a great fire called Coel Coeth, when every family about an hour in the night makes a great bonfire in the most conspicuous place near the house, and when the fire is almost extinguished, every one throws a white stone into the ashes, having first marked it; then having said their prayers turning round the fire, they go to bed. In the morning, as soon as they are up, they come to search out the stones, and if any one of them is found wanting they have a notion that the person who threw it in, will die before he sees another All Saints' Eve. They have a custom also of distributing Soul Cakes on All Souls' Day, at the receiving of which poor people pray to God to bless the next crop of wheat. But many of these customs, even in Pennant's time, had fallen into disuse. In Owen's account of the Bards we read: "The autumnal fire is still kindled in North Wales, being on the eve of the first day of November, and is attended by many ceremonies; such as running through the fire and smoke, each casting a stone into the fire, and all running off at the conclusion to escape from the black short-tailed sow; then supping upon parsneps, nuts, and apples: catching at an apple suspended by a string with the mouth alone, and the same by an apple in a tub of water: each throwing a nut into the fire; and those that burn bright, betoken prosperity to the owners through the following year, but those that burn black and crackle, denote misfortune. On the following morning the stones are searched for in the fire, and if any be missing, they betide ill to those who threw them in." Owen has prefaced these curious particulars by the following observations: "Amongst the first aberrations may be traced that of the knowledge of the great Huon, or the Supreme Being, which was obscured by the hieroglyphics or emblems of his different attributes, so that the grovelling minds of the multitude often sought not beyond those representations for the objects of worship and adoration. This opened an inlet for numerous errors more minute; and many superstitions became attached to their periodical solemnities, and more particularly to their rejoicing fires, on the appearance of vegetation in

tates, turned out on Tuesday night, and formed a torchlight procession, which had a picturesque and imposing appearance. There were altogether from 180 to 200 torch-bearers; and her Majesty, with several members of the Royal family, viewed the scene with evident pleasure and satisfaction. Her Majesty remained for fully an hour an interested spectator of the proceedings. After the torch-bearers had promenaded for some time, the torches were heaped in a pile on the roadway a litle to the west, and in full view from the windows of the Castle. Empty boxes and other materials were soon added, and in a short time a splendid bonfire blazed famously, a gentle breeze helping to fan the flames. Her Majesty, the Prince and Princess Louise, the Princess Beatrice, and the ladies and gentlemen of the suite, then retired indoors, and took up positions at the windows to see the rest of the merry-making. Dancing was begun with great vigour round the bonfire. The demonstration culminated in a vehicle containing a well got-up effigy of the Hallowe'en witch being drawn to the fire by a band of sturdy Highlanders. The witch had a number of boys for a guard of honour, headed by the piper, and in the rear came Mr. Cowley, her Majesty's yager, whose workmanship the effigy was. The fire was kept up for a long time with fresh fuel, and when all had danced till they could almost dance no longer, the health of her Majesty was proposed by Mr. Cowley, and responded to with the utmost enthusiasm, accompanied by three times three rounds of vociferous cheering. Later in the evening the servants and others about the Castle enjoyed a dance in the ghillie hall. The ball broke hour on Wednesday morning." In a newsat an early up paper of 1877, this custom is described as still existing in Perthshire.

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Hallowmass. In the 66 Festyvall," 1511, is the following passage:" We rede in olde tyme good people wolde on All halowen daye bake brade and dele it for all crysten soules.' On Allhallows' Day, or Hallowmass, it was an ancient English custom for poor persons and beggars to go a-souling, which signified to go round asking for money, to fast for the souls of the donors of alms or their kinsfolk. In the "Two Gentlemen of Verona,' Shakespear makes Speed speak of some one puling, "like a beggar at Hallowmass." But the usage is referred to by Scot in his "Discovery of Witchcraft," 1584. In Shropshire (and perhaps elsewhere) the children still go souling, as they did in Aubrey's day, on Hallowmass, and they sing the following verses, for which I am indebted to a correspondent of "Notes and Queries":

Some of the richer sorts of persons in Lancashire and Herefordshire (among the papists there) used to give cakes of oaten bread to the poor on this day: and they, in retribution of their charity, hold themselves obliged to say this old couplet: God have your Saul, Beens and all."

In the Cleveland country these loaves are called similarly Sau'mas Loaves. In the Whitby Glossary, they are described as sets of square farthing cakes with currants in the centre, commonly given by bakers to their customers; and it was usual to keep them in the house for good luck." In this last respect they resembled Mr. Brand's servant, who was a native of the Good Friday bread and cross-buns. Warwickshire, told him that seedcakes at

Allhallows were also usual in that country. Harvey, the Dublin conjurer, states that, on this Eve, which he characterizes as an “anile, chimerical solemnity," his servants demanded apples, ale, and nuts, and left him alone, while they went to enjoy themselves.

Accounts

man that checked his seruant for talke of ryngyng." "A Gentilman, brought vp at London in an In of court, was maryed, and kepte an house in the countrey and as he sate at supper with his neyghbours aboute hym, vpon an alhalow daie at night, amonge other communication, he talked of the solemne ringyng of the belles (as was the vsage than)." The feast of Allhallows is said to drive the Finns almcst out of their wits.

Hallowmass in Scotland.— Martin, speaking of the Isle of Lewis, says that it was long before the minister there could persuade the people to relinquish a ridiculous custom they had of going by night on Hallow-tide to the Church of St. Mulvay, whence one of their number went into the sea up to his waist, with a cup of ale brewed for the occasion with malt contributed by the inhabitants (each family giving a peck), and pouring the liquid into the water, addressed a propitiatory allocution to a sea-god called Shony, who was supposed to have an influence over the crops. They then returned to church, observed a moment's dead silence, then extinguished at a given signal the candle on the altar, and proceeded to the fields, where the rest of the night was spent in revelry.

Hand, The. It is probable that if an exhaustive research into the subject were undertaken, the folk-lore of the Hand would occupy a considerable space, and develop many curious particulars.

The practice of holding up the right hand as a mark of submission or assent is extremely ancient and very widely spread. A small silver coin of Udalric, Duke of Bohemia (1012-37), bears on one side an open hand, which might have stood as a symbol of the Deity, or as a signification of allegiance to his suzerain; and the same type occurs in pennies of Edward the Elder, (901-57) and Ethelred II. of England, who began to reign in 979. In a coin of the former the third and fourth fingers are closed in token of the bestowal of the Latin benediction. Barrington says that it was anciently the custom for a person swearing fealty "to hold his hands joined together between those of his lord; the reason for which seems to have been that some Lord had been assassinated under pretence of paying homage; but, while the tenant's hands continued in this attitude, it was impossible for him to make such an attempt." Observations on the Statutes, 1775, p. 206. In the Squire of Low Degree, where the King of Hungary takes the hero out of prison, and makes him swear to keep his counsel, it is said:

It may be suggested that the custom of elevating the right hand-the hand which usually held the weapon-may have been designed, on the same principle as that indicated by Barrington, at the outset as a guarantee of good faith and an assurance of security. In some Popish countries, and in our Canadian possessions, which include the old Colony of New France, the usage of holding up the right hand in making oath is supplemented by the obligation of doing so before a crucifix, which is suspended in the Court for that purpose. Where there is a search for weapons, the person concerned usually raises both his arms. Bingham has a quotation from St. Austin on

superstitious observations, among which, he says, "You are told in a fit of convulsion or shortness of breath, to hold your left thumb with your right hand." Cited by Bourne, Antiq. Vulg., c. 18. There is a superstition that the forefinger of the right hand is venomous, and is therefore not fit to touch any wound or sore. "That a yellow death-mould may never appear upon your hand, or any part of your body," occurs among the omens introduced in Holiday's "Marriage of the Arts," 1618. It is still usual in parts of the country to tap the back of the hand or the forearm thrice to avert a bad omen (absit omen! )when a person has been speaking of his or her good health or good fortune. This I saw done at Bowdon, near Manchester, in 1870, by the late Mrs. Alexander Ireland. Gaule ridicules the popular belief that "a great thick hand little slender one a person weak but timdenotes one not only strong but stout: a orous: a long hand and long fingers beartifice, but liberally ingenious; but those token a man not only apt for mechanical short, on the contrary, note a foole and fit for nothing: an hard brawny hand signes dull and rude; a soft hand, witty but effeminate; an hairy hand, luxurious; longe joynts signe generous, yet if they be thick withal, not so ingenious; the often clapping and folding of the hands note covetous; and their much moving in speech,

loquacious; an ambidexter is noted for ireful, crafty, injurious; short and fat fingers mark a man out for intemperate and silly; but long and leane, for witty; if his fingers crook upward, that shewes long nailes and crooked, signe one brutish, ravenous, unchaste; very short nails, pale, and sharp, shew him false, subtile, beguiling; and so round nails, libidinous; but nails broad, plain, white, thin and reddish, are the token of a very good wit." Mag-Astromancer posed, 187. It is not unusual in a family to see some of the children follow the father in possessing long slender hands and fingers, and others the mother in having short and thick, or vice versa. A moist hand is vulgarly accounted a sign of an amorous constitution. The Chief Justice, in "Henry IV., Part IV." enumerates a dry hand among the characteristics of age and debility.

The Cagots, a persecuted race in the Pyrenees, have been said to possess the power of making an apple decay by holding it within the hand, their hands being remarkable for moist heat. Hence I heard a lady from Penrith say gravely that her mother was thought to have Cagot blood in her, because her hand was unusually hot and moist. According to Grose, the Hand of Glory at one time formed a staple article of belief among housebreakers in many parts of France, Germany, and Spain. From Les Secrets du petit Albert, 1751, he translates the following passage: "I acknowledge that I never tried the Secret of the Hand of Glory, but I have thrice assisted at the definitive judgement of certain criminals, who under the torture confessed having used it. Being asked what it was, how they procured it, and what were its uses and properties? they answered, first, that the use of the Hand of Glory was to stupefy those to whom it was presented, and to render them motionless insomuch that they could not stir any more than if they were dead; secondly that it was the hand of a hanged man; and thirdly, that it must be prepared in the manner following:-Take the hand, right or left, of a person hanged and exposed on the highway; wrap it up in a piece of a shroud or winding-sheet, in which let it be well squeezed, to get out any small quantity of blood that may have remain'd in it: then put it into an earthen vessel, with zimat, salt-petre, salt, and long pepper, the whole well powdered; leave it fifteen days in that vessel; afterwards take it out, and expose it to the noon-tide sun in the dog-days, till it is thoroughly dry; and if the sun is not sufficient, put it into an oven heated with fern and vervain: then compose a kind of candle with the fat of a hanged man, vir

gin wax, and sisame of Lapland. The Hand of Glory is used as a candlestick to hold this candle, when lighted. Its properties are that wheresoever any one goes with this dreadful instrument, the persons to whom it is presented will be deprived of all power of motion. On being asked if there was no remedy or antidote to counteract this charm, they said the Hand of Glory would cease to take effect, and thieves could not make use of it, if the threshold of the door of the house, and other places by which they might enter, were anointed with an unguent composed of the gall of a black cat, the fat of a white hen, and the blood of a screech-owl; which mixture must necessarily be prepared during the dog-days." Grose adds that the mode of preparation appears to have been given by a judge. In the latter there is a striking resemblance to the charm in Macbeth. Grose says that "a dead man's hand is supposed to have the quality of dispelling tumours, such as wens, or swelled glands, by striking with it nine times the place affected. It seems as if the hand of a person dying a violent death was deemed particularly efficacious, as it very frequently happens that nurses bring children to be stroked with the hands of executed criminals, even whilst they are hanging on the gallows." He adds: "Moss growing on a human skull, if dried, powdered, and taken as snuff, will cure the head-ach." "The chips or cuttings of a gibbet or gallows, on which one or more persons have been executed or exposed, if worn next the skin, or round the neck in a bag, will cure the ague, or prevent it." Brand relates that he saw about 1790 some saw-dust, in which blood was absorbed, taken for the purpose of charming away some disease or other from off the scaffold on the beheading of one of the rebel lords in 1746. In a newspaper, 1777, it is said: "After he (Doctor Dodd) had hung about ten minutes, a very decently dressed young woman went up to the gallows in order to have a wen in her face stroked by the Doctor's hand, it being a received opinion among the vulgar that it is a certain cure for such a disorder. The executioner, having untied the doctor's hand, stroked the part affected several times therewith." But at the execution of Crowley the murderer at Warwick in 1845 a similar scene is described in the newspapers: "At least five thousand persons were mustered on this occasion to witness the dying moments of the unhappy culprit. . . . As is usual in such cases, a number of females were present, and scarcely had the soul of the deceased taken its farewell flight from its earthly tabernacle, than the scaffold was crowded by members of the 'gentler sex

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