COB. This word also frequently occurs as a proper name, and it most probably is a corruption of the Saxon word " cop" (or Dutch "kop"), and means the head, the top, a mound, or anything_round *. Possibly, however, in some cases the word cob" may be a corruption of, or rather substituted for, the word " hob," in like manner as the latter sometimes is for the former." 66 There are places called Cob's Orchard and Cob's Coppice, in Grimley; Cob Nailt, in the parish of Bromsgrove; Cob's Hole, in Abberley; Cob's Field, in Northfield; Cob Hill, in Eldersfield; Cob's Orchard, Cob's Close, and Cob's Croft, in Doderhill; Cob's Meadow, in Alvechurch; and Cob's Croft, in Staunton. In Gloucestershire.-Cob's Hole, in Dymock. In Warwickshire.-Cob-dock Hill, near Wasperton. In Sussex.-Cob Court, and Cobden. In the north-east corner of Lincoln Castle "is a remarkable strong little building, called Cob's Hall, appearing on the outside like a tower, and used as a dungeon §." The object for which it was built does not appear certain; but on account of its circular form it most probably took its name from "cop," unless, indeed, it was a supposed fairy hall of Cob or Hob, and designated accordingly. 66 It is stated in Gough's Camden," Vol. iii., p. 88, that, at Ross, in Herefordshire, there is a cross called Cob's Cross, i. e., Corpus Christi, and a lane of the same name." But surely this derivation cannot be correct; otherwise we should have, as above, Corpus Orchard, Corpus Coppice, Corpus Nail, Corpus Hole, &c. * A small horse is called a cob; and hence, perhaps, the word "cub." Hob-nail most probably is a corruption of cob nail. There is a piece of land called "Hob-Irons" in King's Norton. The hob or cob-iron is a kind of dog or horse, standing upon three feet (two before, and one behind), with a round knob for the head: they are placed on each side of the hearth in the kitchens of old farm-houses to lay the wood upon, and also the spit, and serve instead of a grate. "Or Cobb Hall." § See Gough's "Camden," Vol. ii., p. 365. KNOP. We find in Thoms's "Lays and Legends of Various Nations*," that 66 an old Irish fable states, that, in a Danish intrenchment on the road between Cork and Middleton, Knop, a fairy chief, kept his court; where, often at night, travellers who were not well acquainted with the road were led astray by lights which were seen, and music which was heard, within the fort. 6 And in a note it is added:-" Knop (cnap) is the Irish for a hillock, a hump, a button, any small rotundity.-(See note on the word in Lays and Legends of Germany,' i., p. 5.) We doubt not that Knop is the proper name of the hump-conferring fairy chief, so notorious in English, Spanish, German, Italian, and Irish tradition.-(See Parnell's poem, In Britain's Isle and Arthur's Days; Quarterly Review,' No. 63, p. 206; Redi's Letters;' Tale of Knockgrafton,' in Fairy Legends of South Ireland,' &c.") 66 Dr. Johnson derives " knap" from the Welsh, as follows:— Knap (cnap, Welsh, a protuberance), a protuberance; a swelling prominence.--Bacon." There is a hillock called the Knap, in Alfrick. In a work published by the Rev. E. Duke, relative to the Druidical Temples of the County of Wilts, he considers that Knap Hill, which lies between Abury and Stonehenge, was derived from Kneph+, or Cneph, which, as well as Thoth, was the Egyptian or Phoenician name for Mercury, who, it is said, on the authority of Cæsar and others, was worshipped at the Toot Hills as the guide over the hills and trackways; but, as "Knap" in Welsh means a rising or hillock, these names most probably in general were derived from the latter source§. * P. 24, of the " Lays and Legends of Ireland," published in 1834. There is a place called Knep, in Sussex. See the account of Toot Hills, pp. 234, 235, PUCK, HOB, ROBIN GOOD-FELLOW, ROBIN HOOD. The peasantry in Alfrick, and those parts, say that they are sometimes what they call Poake* ledden; that is, that they are occasionally waylaid in the night by a mischievous sprite, whom they call Poaket, who leads them into ditches, bogs, pools, and other such scrapes, and then sets up a loud laugh, and leaves them quite bewildered in the lurch. Now, it is natural enough for these simple-minded peasantry, when bewildered and misled in the night by a Jack-o'-Lantern, particularly should they previously have had plenty of good old cider at some neighbouring farm-house, to fancy, as their ancestors, time out of mind, did before them, that any noise they might then hear, such as the hooting of an owl, the crowing of a cock, the bleating of a calf, the neighing of a horse, or the braying of an ass, is the laughter and ridicule of Poake, or Puck §. According to tradition, that interesting headland called Oseberrow, or Osebury (vulgo Rosebury) Rock, which lies not far from Alfrick, and is situated upon the border of the river Teme, in Lulsley, opposite to Knightsford Bridge, was a favourite haunt of the fairies (vulgo pharises). It is said they had a cave there (which is still shown); and, that once upon a time, as a man and boy were ploughing in an adjoining field, they heard an outcry in the copse on the steep declivity of the rock; and upon their going to see what was the matter, they came up to a fairy, who was exclaiming that he had lost his pick, or pick-axe: this, after much search, the ploughman found for him; and, thereupon, the fairy said if they would go to a certain corner of the field * The adding of the letter a in the above word is a common vulgarism of the county. In like manner the peasantry say poarke or pearke for pork. ✦ They also call the puff, or puck-ball fungus, by the name of pug-fiest (foist). The same fancy also prevails in Ombersley, Upton Snodsbury, and other parishes. § Being Pixy led is also a general fancy in Devonshire. By mistake named Woodbury Rock in the Ordnance Map. And also a hole called the "Witches Oven." wherein they had been ploughing, they would get their reward. They accordingly went, and found plenty of bread and cheese, and cider, on which the man feasted heartily; but the boy was so much frightened that he would not partake of the repast. It also is said, that upon another occasion a fairy came to a ploughman in the same field, and exclaimed There likewise is a saying in the neighbourhood, that if a woman should break her peel (a kind of shovel used in baking bread), and should leave it for a little while at the fairies cave in Osebury Rock, it would be mended for her. In days of yore, when the church at Inkberrow was taken down and rebuilt upon a new site, the fairies, whose haunt was near the latter place, took offence at the change, and endeavoured to obstruct the building by carrying back the materials in the night to the old locality. At length, however, the church was triumphant, but for many a day afterwards the following lament is said to have been occasionally heard: "Neither sleep, neither lie, For Inkbro's ting tangs hang so nigh*." The church is a large and handsome edifice, of mixed styles of architecture. It is supposed to have been built about five centuries ago, but has undergone much alteration. As a countryman was one day working in a field in Upton Snodsbury, he all of a sudden heard a great outcry in a neighbouring piece of ground, which was followed by a low, mournful voice, saying, "I have broke my bilk, I have broke my bilk;" and thereupon the man picked up the hammer and nails which he had with him, and ran to the spot from whence the outcry came, where he found a fairy lamenting over his broken bilk, which was a kind of cross-barred seat; this the man soon mended, and the fairy, to The fairies made their couplet correspond as truly with the chimes as that celebrated one which foretold the fame of Whittington and his cat. In Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," Vol. ii., pp. 154, 155, several instances are given of the Trolls' hatred of bells, in Scandinavia. make him amends for his pains, danced round him till he wound him down into a cave, where he was treated with plenty of biscuits and wine; and it is said that from thenceforward that man always did well in life. I have been informed, by Mr. Lower, that there is a similar legend in Sussex relative to the fairies (vulgo pharises), in the neighbourhood of Alfriston, though the article broken was not a bilk," but a peel," and the reward was a beer-sop. 66 The following extract, from Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream," Act ii., Scene 1, is much in point upon our subject: Fairy. Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite, Call'd Robin Good-fellow: are you not he, "Puck. Thou speak'st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night. I jest to Oberon, and make him smile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;" &c. In Drayton's "Nymphidia" the following lines occur in the account of Oberon's chace after his wife, Queen Mab: * This was a subsequent production to the "Midsummer Night's Dream." (See Halliwell's " Fairy Mythology," p. 195.) + He also is called by the name of " Hobgoblin" and "Hob" several times afterwards in that poem. |