Then draw a haw-thorn bush, and let him place The Heam upon't, with faith, that the next race May females prove" thing of itselfe, and in our countrie so coldly accepted yet, that we must not go about to bring it in for a fashion. If a man doe quaffe or carrouse unto you, you may honestly say nay to pledge him, and geveing him thankes, confesse your weak-with this explanation at p. 13:—"This alnesse, that you are not able to beare it: or else to doe him a pleasure, you may for curtesie sake taste it: and then set downe the cup to them that will, and charge yourselfe no further. And although this, Ick bring you, as I have heard many learned men say, hath beene an auncient custome in Greece: and that the Grecians doe much commend a good man of that time, Socrates by name, for that hee sat out one whole night long, drinking a Vie with another good man, Aristophanes; and yet the next morning, in the breake of the daye, without any rest uppon his drinking, made such a cunning geometrical instrument, that there was no maner of faulte to be found in the same: bycause the drinking of wine after this sorte in a Vie, in such excesse and waste, is a shrewde assault to trie the strength of him that quaffes so lustily." Della Casa's Galateo, 1576, transl. by Peterson, sign. Q 2. "Healths and Toasts," says Lord Cockburn, in his Memorials, were special torments oppressions which cannot now be conceived. Every glass during dinner required to be dedicated to the health of some one. It was thought sottish and rude to take wine without this, as if forsooth there was nobody present worth drinking with. I was present about 1803, when the late Duke of Buccleuch took a glass of sherry by himself at the table of Charles Hope, then Lord Advocate, and this was noticed afterwards as a piece of direct contempt." Cockburn refers to the period, when he and Sir Walter Scott were young men; and he proceeds to describe the ceremonious manner in which the healths were proposed and drunk. The master or the landlord, as the case might be, was privileged to include several persons in the same health. Among the modern Germans offence is apt to be taken if a stranger, invited to drink wine with them, declines the compliment. It is a method of qualifying the person for companionship, a sort of credentials. Heam.-Waller, in his Advice to a Painter, 1681, has the following passage: "" 'barking bear-ward Whom pray'e dont forget to paint with's Staff, Just at this green bear's tail,Watching (as carefull neat-herds do their kine) Lest he should eat her nauseous secundine. the country people use, carefully attendludes to a little piece of superstition which ing their calving cows, lest they should eat their after-burthen, which they commonly throw upon a hawthorn bush, with steadfast belief they shall have a cow-calf the next year after." Heam is explained to mean "the same in beasts as the secundine or skin that the young is wrapped in." heaulme, and helm. It is apparently akin to halm, Heaving. "The counties of Shropshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire, boast a custom which they call heaving, and perform with the following ceremonies, on the Monday and Tuesday in the Easter week. On the first day, a party of men go with a chair into every house to which they can get admission, force every female to be seated in their vehicle, and lift them up three times, with loud huzzas. For this they claim the reward of a chaste salute, which those who are too coy to fine of one shilling, and receive a written submit to may get exempted from by a petition of the ceremony of that day. On testimony, which secures them from a rethe Tuesday the women claim the same privilege, and pursue their business in the they guard every avenue to the town, and same manner, with this addition-that stop every passenger, pedestrian, equesApril 13, 1787. trian, or vehicular."-Public Advertiser, See also on this subject "Gent. Mag." for 1783, p. 378; the same for 1798, p. 325; and comp. Hoke-Tide and Lifting. Hedgehog. Philip de Thaun, in his Anglo-Norman Bestiary, circâ 1120, has this odd fallacy: Hear," says he, it. Physiologus says of it in his writings, of the hedgehog, what we understand by 'It is made like a little pig, prickles in its skin-in the time of wine-harvest it mounts the tree, when the cluster of grapes is; it knows which is the ripest, and knocks down the grapes: it is a very bad neighbour to it (the tree): then it descends from the tree, spreads itself out upon the grapes, then folds itself up upon them, round like a ball; when it is well charged, and has stuck its prickles into the grapes, thus by kind it carries its food to its children." Wright's Popular Treatises on Science, 1841, p. 103. Helen's, St., or Eline's Day.(May 2). "The 2nd of May, St. Helen's Day," says Mr. Atkinson, 1868, "is Rowan-tree (mountain-ash) day, or at church one of his servants entered his study, and, finding a large volume open on the desk, imprudently began to read it aloud. He had scarcely read half a page, when the sky became dark and a great wind shook the house violently; still he read on, and in the midst of the storm the doors flew open, and a black hen and chickens came into the room. They were of the ordinary size, when they first appeared, but gradually became larger and larger, until the hen was of the bigness of a good-sized ox. At this point the Vicar (in the church) suddenly closed his discourse, and dismissed his congregation, saying he was wanted at home, and hoped he might arrive there in time. When he entered the the ceiling. But he threw down a bag of rice, which stood ready in the corner; and whilst the hen and chickens were busily picking up the grains, the vicar had time to reverse the spell." The same writer adds: "I believe a hen and chickens is sometimes found on the bosses of early church roofs: a sow and pigs certainly are. A black sow and pigs haunt many cross-roads in Devonshire." Rowan-tree Witch-day, and on that day, even yet with some, the method of proceeding is for some member of the household or family to go the first thing in the morning, with no thought of any particular rowan-tree. From this tree а sufficient supply of branches is taken and (a different path home having been taken, by the strict observers, from that by which they went) on reaching home twigs are stuck over every door of every house in the homestead, and scrupulously left there, till they fall out of themselves. A piece is also always borne about by many in their pockets or purses, as a prophylactie against witching. Not so very long since, either, the farmers used to have whipstocks of rowan-tree wood-rowan-tree gads they were called-chamber, the hen was already touching and it was held that, thus supplied, they were safe against having their draught fixed, or their horses made restive by a witch." In the " Plumpton Correspondence," under the date of 1489-90 circiter, is a letter from Edward Plumpton, in which he says that he has made an appointment to meet a person at Knaresborough "the Wednesday next after Saynt Eline Day." This was also called the Invention of the Holy Cross, in commemoration of the discovery of that sacred relic by the Empress Helena. A sufficiently ample account of this legend is given in "The Book of Days." And the Holy Cross or Holy Rood Day will be noticed elsewhere, the Emperor Heraclius having also been the fortunate finder of a portion of the cross, and the founder of a festival in honour of the incident on the 14th September. "Two pieces off the holye crosse,' occur in an inventory of Reading Abbey in 1537, and probably there was not a religious house in the kingdom without a similar curiosity in its possession; so that to assume all these relics genuine, we must also assume the cross itself to have been of considerable dimensions. In the Northumberland Household Book mention occurs of Saint Elyn Day as a day when certain servants were to receive their yearly allowance for horse-meat; but the editor supposes (I do not know why) that the reference is to dies Helenæ regis, viz., May 21; and I see that Nicolas, in the Chronology of History, makes only one saint of this name fall in May, namely, Queen Helena, on the 21st. See Castor and Pollux. Hen and Chickens. This is a Devonshire legend. I cannot resist the temptation of transcribing the account of it I find in "Notes and Queries" "The vicar of a certain Devonshire parish was a distinguished student of the black art, and possessed a large collection of mysterious books and MSS. During his absence Hens. "At Shroftide to shroving, go thresh the fat hen, If blindfold can kill her, then give it These lines from Tusser, in "Tusser are no longer good for anything. If the man hit the hen, and consequently killed her, he got her for his pains. Herne the Hunter.-Of this legendary character, mentioned in the Merry Wives of Windsor, and introduced into Ainsworth's Windsor Castle, there appear to be no authentic memorials. We merely hear in a vague manner that he was at some remote period a keeper in the Forest. The story may be a graft from one of the numerous Teutonic myths of the same class. Hiccius Doctius.-" A common term among our modern sleight of hand men. The origin of this is probably to be found among the old Roman Catholics. When the good people of this Island were under their thraldom, their priests were looked up to with the greatest veneration, and their presence announced in the assemblies with the terms hic est doctus! hic est doctus! and this probably is the origin of the modern corruption Hiccius doctius. M.F." Note in ed. of Brand, 1813. Hide Fox and All After.-Supposed to be an old form and name of the modern children's sport of Hide and seek, Whoop and hide, &c. The idea of the fox may correspond with the present amusement among young lads of fox and hounds. Comp. All-Hid. High Wycombe.—The old ceremony of weighing the Mayor and Corporation on November 9 is still observed here. The origin of the custom has not been ascertained. It is not mentioned by Lysons. Hob.-Mr. Atkinson, in his "Cleveland Glossary, 1868," observes: "Probably, like the nisses of popular faith in Denmark, there were many hobs, each with a 'local' habitation and a 'local' name. Thus there is a Hob Hole at Runswick, a Hob Hole near Kempswithen, a Hob's Cave at Mulgrave, Hobt'rush Rook on the Farndale Moors, and so on." Hobby-Horse.--The sport which Plot describes as having been performed within his memory at Abbot's or Paget's Bromley, under the name of the Hobby-horse dance, is nothing more than the common rustic diversion, not disused till of late years, in which a man, carrying the image of a horse between his legs, and in his hands holding a bow and arrow, plays the horse. "The latter," says Douce, "passing through a hole in the bow, and stopping on a shoulder, made a snapping noise when drawn to and fro, keeping time with music. With this man danced six others, carrying on their shoulders as many reindeer heads, with the arms of the chief families to whom the revenues of the town belonged. They danced the heys and other country dance. To the above hobby-horse dance there belonged a pot, which was kept by turns by the reeves of the town, who provided cakes and ale to put into this pot; all people who had any kindness for the good intent of the institution of the sport giving pence a-piece for themselves and families. Foreigners also that came to see it contributed; and the money, after defraying the expense of the cakes and ale, went to repair the church and support the poor: which charges, adds Plot, are not now perhaps so cheerfully borne." Tollett is induced to think the famous hobby horse to be the King of the May, thogh he now appear as a juggler and a buffoon, from the crimson foot-cloth fretted with gold, the golden bit, the purple bridle, with a golden tassel, and studded with gold, the man's purple mantle with a golden border, which is latticed with purple, his golden crown, purple knop. The foot-cloth, however, was used cap, with a red feather and with a golden by the Fool. In Braithwaite's Strappado for the Divell," 1615, p. 30, we read: "Erect our aged fortunes make them shine 66 (Not like the Foole in's foot-cloath but) like Time Adorn'd with true experiments," &c. "Our hobby," Tollett adds, "is a spirited horse of pasteboard, in which the master dances and displays tricks of legerdemain, such as the threading of the needle, the mimicking of the whigh-hie, and the daggers in the nose, &c., as Ben Jonson acquaints us, and thereby explains the swords in the man's cheeks. What is stuck in the horse's mouth I apprehend to be a ladle, ornamented with a ribbon. Its use was to receive the spectator's pecuniary donations." "The colour of the hobby horse is a reddish white, like the beautiful blossom of the peach-tree. The man's coat or doublet is the only one upon the window that has buttons upon it, and the right side of it is yellow, and the left red." In a tract of 1601, speaking of Weston the Jesuit, the writer says: "He lifted up his countenance, as if a new spirit had been put into him, and tooke upon him to controll, and finde fault with this and that: (as the comming into the hall of the hobbyhorse in Christmas:) affirming that he would no longer tolerate these and those formed." There is a passage in Kemp's so grosse abuses, but would have them re"Nine Daies Wonder," 1600: "On Munday morning, very early, I rid the 3 myles that I daunst the Satterday before; where alighting, my taberer struck up, and lightly I tript forward, but I had the heauiest way that euer mad Morrice-dancer trod; yet With hey and ho, through thicke and thin, The Hobby-horse quite forgotten, I followed, as I did begin, Although the way were rotten." See Mr. Hunter's "New Illustrations of Shakespear," vol. ii. p. 248. Shakespear, in "Hamlet," acted in 1602, makes his Anglo-Danish hero complain of the oblivion into which the hobby-horse had then fallen. And in the ballad introduced into Weelkes's 66 Ayres," 1608, there is the same allusion : "Since Robin Hood, Maid Marian, And Little John are gone—a; The hobby-horse was quite forgot, When Kempe did daunce alone a." This character is introduced into several of the old comedies. In "Patient Grissil," 1603, there is the following: "Urc. No more of these jadish tricks : here comes the hobby-horse. Far. Oh, he would dance a morrice rarely, if he were hung with bells. Urc. He would jangle villainously." And again: "Gelas.-Dost thou know where Pad. H'st, master, what say to a hobby Timon, a Play, i. 4. In "The VowBreaker," 1636, by William Sampson, is the following dialogue between Miles, the Miller of Ruddington, and Ball, which throws great light upon this now obsolete character: "Ball. But who shall play the hobby horse? Master Major? "Miles. I hope I looke as like a hobby horse as Master Major. I have not liv'd to these yeares, but a man woo'd thinke I should be old enough and wise enough to play the hobby horse as well as ever a Major on 'em all. Let the Major play the hobby horse among his brethren, and he will; I hope our towne ladds cannot want a hobby horse. Have I practic'd my reines, my carree'res, my pranckers, my ambles, my false trotts, my smooth ambles, and Canterbury paces, and shall Master Major put me besides the hobby horse? Have I borrow'd the fore horse-bells, his plumes, and braveries, nay, had his mane new shorne and frizl'd and shall the Major put me besides the hobby-horse? Let him hobby-horse at home, and he will. Am I not going to buy ribbons and toyes of sweet Ursula for the Marian, and shall I not play the hobby horse? "Ball. What shall Joshua doe? "Miles. Not know of it, by any meanes; hee'l keepe more stir with the hobby horse : then he did with the pipers at Tedbury Bull-running provide thou for the Dragon, and leave me for a hobby horse. "Ball. Feare not, I'le be a fiery Dragon." And afterwards, when Boote askes him: "Miles, the Miller of Ruddington, gentleman and souldier, what make you here? "Miles. Alas, Sir, to borrow a few ribbandes, bracelets, eare-rings, wyertyers, and silke girdles and hand-kerchers for a Morice, and a show before the Queene. "Boote. Miles, you came to steale my Neece. "Miles. Oh Lord! Sir, I came to furnish the hobby horse. 66 'Boote. Get into your hobby horse, gallop, and be gon then, or I'le Morisdance you-Mistris, waite you on Exit. me. "Ursula. Farewell, good hobby horse. -Weehee. Exit." We perhaps owe to the hobby horse not only the familiar expression, “to ride a hobby," that is to say, to indulge a crotchet, but "to ride the great horse," which is mentioned in a paper inserted by Gutch in his "Collectanea Curiosa," 1781, in apparent reference to Sir Balthazar Gerbier's project for a Royal Academy or College of Honour, conceived by him in the reign of James I. This great horse was, so far as one can collect, the new system or curriculum, which Gerbier was then endeavouring to institute. In the later literature of the seventeenth century, if not in that of Shakespear's own day, hobby-horse evidently stands very often for a children's horse, the toy which has been elaborated by modern art into a rocking-horse. Thus, in "Musarum Deliciæ," 1656: "Another sware, that I no more did ride, Then children, that a hobby-horse bestride." But Bayes's Troop in the Duke of Buckingham's Rehearsal is said by Douce to afford a fair idea of the hobby horse in the Morris. Comp. Irish Hobby. Hobgoblin.-As to this term, I find it difficult to concur with Wedgwood (Dict. in v.); I think a more rational solution of the word to be a clownish spirit, or supernatural Hob, who might be supposed to partake of the awkwardness of the mortal rustic. Hock-Cart or Hockey-Cart.— That which brings the last corn and the children rejoicing with boughs in their hands, with which the horses also are attired. Herrick addressed to the poet-earl of Westmoreland, author of "Otia Sacra,' 1648, a copy of verses, in which he pleasantly describes the usages of the harvest home. He alludes to the crowning of the hock-cart, and the other ceremonies observed after the gathering-in of the crop. Lord Westmoreland himself tells us : "How the hock-cart with all its gear Should be trick'd up, and what good chear." Hockey. This is a game played with a ball and sticks. Several persons may partake in the recreation, and the sport consists in driving the ball in different directions, each player being provided with a stick, with which, by the exercise of a good deal of agility and quickness of eye, he may succeed in outstripping his competitors, and bringing the ball to the appointed goal. Hockey has, of late years, rather increased in popularity; like other diversions, the interest fluctuates from period to period. Hockey Cake. That distributed to the people at Harvest-home. Hocus-pocus or Hoax.--Vallancey, speaking of hocus pocus, derives it from the Irish "Coic an omen, a mystery; and bais, the palm of the hand whence is formed Coiche-bais, legerdemain; Persicé choko-baz: whence the vulgar English hocus pocus." He is noticing the communication in former days between Ireland and the East. Collect. xiii., 93. Ady, speaking of common jugglers, that go up and down to play their tricks in fairs and markets, says: "I will speak of one man more excelling in that craft than others, that went about in King James his time, and long since, who called himself the Kings Majesties most excellent Hocus Pocus, and so was he called, because that at the playing of every trick, he used to say 'Hocus pocus, tontus, talontus, vade celeriter jubeo,' a dark composure of words, to blinde the eyes of the beholders." Candle in the Dark, 1659, p. 29. Archbishop Tillotson tells us that" in all probability those common jugling words of hocus pocus 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," &c. Discourse on Transubstantiation. With due submission to his Grace, this appears rather a fanciful etymology. In 1634 was published a tract entitled Hocus Pocus Junior, the Anatomy of Legerdemain, which passed through about ten impressions, and is illustrated with wood-cuts of the various tricks. Butler has these lines: "With a slight Hodening. Busby, in his "Concert-Room Anecdotes," gives an account of this usage, which is merely another form of the Mari Llwyd " hereafter described. Hognell or Hogling Money.See Hoke-Tide. Hoisting.—A process to which soldiers were subjected on returning to barracks for the first time after being married. Hoke-Tide or Hoc-Tide. This festival was celebrated, according to ancient writers, on the Quindena Paschæ, by which, Mr. Denne informs us, the second Sunday after Easter cannot be meant, but some day in the ensuing week: and Matthew Paris and other writers have expressly named Tuesday. There are strong evidences remaining to shew that more days were kept than one. As it is observed in the Glossary" of Nares, Hoke Day cannot be the anniversary of any fixed event, as it is a movable feast, varying with Easter-tide. Matthew Paris (who is the oldest authority for the word), has the following passages concerning Hoctide. "Post diem Martis quæ vulgariter mentum Londini," p. 963. Hokedaie appellatur, factum est Parlia"Die videlicet Lunæ quæ ipsum diem præcedit proximò Hokedaie vulgariter appellaquem mus,' 834. "In quindena Pascha quæ p. vulgariter Hokedaie appellatur," p. 908. On these passages Watts, in his Glossary, observes, adhuc in ea die solent mulieres jocose vías Oppidorum funibus impedire, et transeuntes ad se attrahere, ut ab eis munusculum aliquod extorqueant, in pios usus aliquos erogandum"; and then refers to Spelman. But there can be no doubt that the term is derived from hoch-zeit, the high tide, a festival, which in modern Easter is called "Hye-tyde" in Robert German signifies marriage. I find that lancey communicated to Mr. Brand a curiof Gloucester, vol. i. p. 156. Colonel Valfollowing effect: ous paper in his own hand-writing, to the "Hoc-Tide. In Erse and Irish oach or oac is rent, tribute. The time of paying rents was twice in the year, Nov.) and La Oac, the day of Hock at La Samham, the day of Saman (2nd (April). See La Saman, Collectanea,' No. 12. 'Hoguera (Spanish) el fuego que se haze con hacina de lennos que levanta llama; y assi se enciende siempre en lugar descubierto. Hazian hogueras los antiguos para quemar los cuerpos de los difuntos, y en ciertas fiestas que llamavam lustros; y en tiempo de peste se han usado para purificar el aire. Por regozio se hazen hogueras en la fiesta de san Juan Baptista, y otros Santos, y en las alegrias por nacimientos de principes, y por otras causas. El saltar por encima de las hogueras se haze agora con simplicidad; pero 66 |