Imatges de pàgina
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In Nabbe's Comedy called "Totenham Court," 4to. Lond. 1638, p. 47, is the following: "I have packed her up in't like a Bartholomew babie in a boxe. warrant you for hurting her."

Gayton, in his "Art of Longevity," 4to. 1659, p. 3, says:

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"(As if there were not pigg enough) Old Bartholomew, with purgatory fire, Destroys the babe of many a doubtful sire."

Ibid. p. 79, speaking of plums, he says, "If eaten, as we use at Barthol' mew tide, Hand over head, that's without care or guide,

There is a patient sure."

I have a Tract entitled "Reasons formerly published for the punctual limiting of Bartholomew Faire to those three days to which it is determined by the royal grant of it to the City of London: now reprinted with additions to prevent a design set on foot to procure an establishment of the said fair for fourteen dayes; addressed to the Lord Mayor, Court of Aldermen, and Common Council.' Lond. 1711, 32 pages.

8vo.

Gay, in his fable of the two monkeys, thus describes Southwark Fair:

"The tumbler whirles the flip-flap round,
With sommersets he shakes the ground;
The cord beneath the dancer springs;
Aloft in air the vaulter swings,
Distorted now, now prone depends,
Now through his twisted arms ascends;
The crowd in wonder and delight,
With clapping hands applaud the sight."

I have before me a printed resolution of the parliament, dated Thursday the 17th of July, 1651 "That the Fair usually held and kept yearly at St. James's, within the liberty of the city of Westminster, on or about the 25th day of July, be forborn this year; and that no fair be kept or held there by any person or persons whatsoever, until the parliament shall take further order.

"Hen. Scobell, Cleric. Parliamenti." A scarce Tract is also in my possession entitled Reasons for suppressing the yearly Fair in Brook-field, Westminster, commonly

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called May-Fair, recommended to the consideration of all persons of Honour and Virtue." 8vo. Lond. 1709, 43 pages.

P. 4:"Multitudes of the booths erected in this fair are not for trade and merchandice, but for musick, showes, drinking, gaming, raffling, lotteries, stage-plays, and drolls." P. 8: "It is a very unhappy circumstance of this fair that it begins with the prime beauty of the year; in which many innocent persons incline to walk into the fields and out-parts of the city to divert themselves, as they very lawfully may." This fair was granted by King James II. in the fourth year of his reign, to commence on the 1st of May, and continue fifteeen days after it, yearly, for ever.

Shaw, in his "History of Staffordshire," vol. ii. part 1, p. 165, speaking of Wolverhampton and the processioners there, says, "Another custom (now likewise discontinued) was the annual procession, on the 9th of July (the eve of the great fair), of men in antique armour, preceded by musicians playing the fair-tune, and followed by the steward of the Deanry manor, the peace-officers, and many of the principal inhabitants. Tradition says the ceremony originated at the time when Wolverhampton was a great emporium of wool, and resorted to by merchants of the staple from all parts of England. The necessity of an armed force to keep peace and order during the fair (which is said to have lasted fourteen days, but the charter says only eight) is not improbable. This custom of walking the fair (as it was called) with the armed procession, &c. was first omitted about the year 1789."

(9) Or rather, perhaps, the court of piepowder means the court of pedlers. See the subsequent evidences: "Gif ane stranger merchand travelland throw the realme, havand na land, nor residence, nor dwelling within the schirefdome, bot vaigand fra ane place to ane other, quha therefore is called Pied Puldreux, or dustifute," &c. Regiam Majestatem, 4to. Edinb. 1774, p. 261.

So chap. cxl. p. 265, ibid. “Anend ane fairand-man or dustifute."

So again in the table, p. 432, ibid. "Dustiefute, ane pedder, or cremar, quha hes na certaine dwelling-place, quhere he may dicht the dust from his feet," &c.

Barrington, on the Ancient Statutes, p. 423,

observes that, "In the Burrow Laws of Scotland an alien merchant is called Pied-puldreaux, and likewise ane Farand-man, or a man who frequents fairs." The court of piepowder is, therefore, to determine disputes between those who resort to fairs and these kind of pedlers who generally attend them. Piedpulderaux, in old French, signifies a pedler, who gets his livelihood by vending his goods where he can, without any certain or fixed residence.

Pie-powder is from the French "Poudre des piez," dust of the feet. See the Archæologia of the Society of Antiquaries, vol, i. p. 190.

(10) This custom prevailed in the days of Chaucer, as appears by the subsequent passage in the Wife of Bathe's prologue, where she boasts of having managed her several husbands so well:

"I governed hem so well after my lawe That eche of hem full blissful was, and fawe (*)

To bringen me gay thinges fro the feyre,
They were ful glade," &c.

Tyrwh. Chaucer, 4to. Oxf. 1798,
vol. i. p. 235.

"Ad sua quisque redit; festivis Daphnen Amyntas

Exonerat zeniis, dandoque astringit amores." See Rustica Nundina, at the end of Woodward's Poems, Oxford, 1730, p. 232.

In regard to SPORTS at FAIRS, Grose mentions one called "Mumble a Sparrow-a cruel sport practised at wakes and fairs in the following manner: a cock-sparrow, whose wings are clipped, is put into the crown of a hat; a man, having his arms tied behind him, attempts to bite off the sparrow's head, but is generally obliged to desist, by the many pecks and pinches he receives from the enraged bird."

The same author tells us that "To whip the cock is a piece of sport practised at wakes, horse-races, and fairs, in Leicestershire: a cock being tied or fastened into a hat or basket, half a dozen carters, blindfolded, and armed with their cart-whips, are placed round

VOL. II.

(a) Glad, or joyful.

it, who, after being turned thrice about, begin to whip the cock, which if any one strikes so as to make it cry out, it becomes his property; the joke is, that, instead of whipping the cock, they flog each other heartily."

One or two other sports at fairs have been already noticed in the present volume, p. 6.

Drake tells us, in his Eboracum, p. 219, that "St. Luke's Day is known in York by the name of Whip-dog-day, from a strange custom that schoolboys use here of whipping all the dogs that are seen in the streets that day. Whence this uncommon persecution took its rise is uncertain: yet, though it is certainly very old, I am not of opinion, with some, that it is as ancient as the Romans. The tradition that I have heard of its origin seems very probable, that in times of popery a priest, celebrating mass at this festival in some church in York, unfortunately dropped the pax after consecration, which was snatched up suddenly and swallowed by a dog that lay under the altar-table. The profanation of this high mystery occasioned the death of the dog, and a persecution began, and has since continued, on this day, to be severely carried on against his whole tribe in our city." He tells us, p. 218, that "A fair is always kept in Mickle Gate (York) on St. Luke's Day, for all sorts of small wares. It is commonly called Dish Fair, from the great quantity of wooden dishes, ladles, &c., brought to it. There is an old custom used at this fair of bearing a wooden ladle in a sling on two stangs about it, carried by four sturdy labourers, and each labourer was formerly supported by another. This, without doubt, is a ridicule on the meanness of the wares brought to this fair, small benefit accruing to the labourers at it. Held by charter Jan. 25, an. Reg. Regis Hen. VII. 17."

I gathered from a newspaper that there is an annual fair held in the Broad-gate at Lincoln on the 14th of September, called Fool's Fair, for the sale of cattle, so called, on that authority, as follows: "King William and his Queen, having visited Lincoln while on their tour through the kingdom, made the citizens an offer to serve them in any manner they liked best. They asked for a fair, though it was harvest, when few people can attend it, and though the town had no trade nor any

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manufacture. The King smiled, and granted their request; observing that it was a humble one indeed."

In the "Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. vii. p. 622, parish of Dundonald, Ayrshire, we read: "An ancient practice still continues in this parish and neighbourhood, of kindling a large fire, or Tawnle as it is usually termed, of wood, upon some eminence, and making merry around it, upon the eve of the Wednesday of Marymass Fair in Irvine (which begins on the third Monday of August and continues the whole week). As most fair-days in this country were formerly popish holidays, and their eves were usually spent in religious ceremonies and in diversions, it has been supposed that Tawnles were first lighted up by our Catholic fathers, though some derive their origin from the Druidical times."

Ibid. vol. xiii. p. 77, parish of Kenethmont, in the county of Aberdeen: "Fair at Christ's Kirk in the month of May. This fair was kept on the green, and in the night; hence it

was by the people called Sleepy-market. About thirty-five or thirty-six years ago, the proprietor changed it from night to day; but so strong was the prepossession of the people in favour of the old custom, that, rather than comply with the alteration, they chose to neglect it altogether."

In the same work, vol. xviii. p. 612 (8vo. Edinb. 1796), parish of Marykirk, in the county of Kincardine, we read: "On the outside of the church, strongly fixed to the wall, are the joggs. These were made use of, when the weekly market and annual fair stood, to confine and punish those who had broken the peace, or used too much freedom with the property of others. The stocks were used for the feet, and the joggs for the neck of the offender, in which he was confined, at least, during the time of the fair." Though the worthy minister who drew up this account has omitted the etymology of joggs, I should think it a very obvious one-from jugum, a yoke.

OF THE MEANING OF THE OLD SAW,

"FIVE SCORE OF MEN, MONEY, AND PINS,
SIX SCORE OF ALL OTHER THINGS."

WE learn from Hickes's "Thesaurus" that the Norwegians and Islandic people used a method of numbering peculiar to themselves, by the addition of the words Tolfrædr, Tolfræd, or Tolfræt (whence our word twelve), which made ten signify twelve; a hundred, a hundred and twenty; a thousand, a thousand two hundred; &c.

The reason of this was, that the nations above named had two decads or tens: a lesser, which they used in common with other nations, consisting of ten units; and a greater, containing twelve (tolf) units.

Hence, by the addition of the word Tolfrædr, or Tolfræd, the hundred contained not ten times ten, but ten times twelve, that is a hundred and twenty.

The Doctor observes that this Tolfrædic mode of computation by the greater decads, or tens, which contain twelve units, is still retained amongst us in reckoning certain things by the number twelve, which the Swedes call dusin, the French douzain, and we dozen.

And I am informed, he adds, by merchants, &c., that in the number, weight, and measure of many things, the hundred among us still consists of that greater tolfrædic hundred which is composed of ten times twelve. (1)

Hence then without doubt is derived to us the present mode of reckoning many things by six score to the hundred.

By the statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 13, no person shall have above two thousand sheep

on his lands; and the twelfth section (after reciting that the hundred in every county be not alike, some reckoning by the great hundred, or six score, and others by five score) declares that the number two thousand shall be accounted ten hundred for every thousand, after the number of the great hundred, and not after the less hundred, so that every thousand shall contain twelve hundred after the less number of the hundred.

Dr. Percy observes, upon the Northumberland Household Book, "It will be necessary to premise here that the ancient modes of

computation (2) are retained in this book, according to which it is only in money that the hundred consists of five score; in all other articles the enumerations are made by the old Teutonic hundred of six score, or a hundred and twenty." (3)

The enumeration of six score to the hundred occurs twice in the Domesday Survey, tom. i. fol. 336, in the account of Lincoln: being termed in both entries the ENGLISH number. "Hic numerus Anglice computatur 1 centum pro ctum. xx."

NOTES TO THE MEANING OF THE OLD SAW, &c.

(1) "Notetur etiam Norvegis et Islandis peculiarem numerandi rationem in usu esse per additionem vocum Tolfrædr, Tolfræd, vel Tolfræt, quæ decem significare faciunt duodecim; centum, centum et viginti; mille, mille et cc, &c.

"Causa istius computationis hæc est, quod apud istas gentes duplex est decas, nempe minor cæteris nationibus communis, decem continens unitates: et major continens XII. i. e. tolf, unitates. Inde addita voce Tolfrædr, vel Tolfræd, centuria non decies decem, sed decies duodecim, i. e. cxx. continet, & chilias non decies centum, sed decies cxx. i. e. mille et cc. continet." Hæc "autem computandi ratio per majores decades, quæ duodecim unitates continent, apud nos etiamnum usurpatur in computandis certis rebus per duodenum numerum, quem Dozen, Suecicè Dusin, Gallicè Douzain, vocamus; quinimo in numeris, ponderibus, et mensuris multarum rerum, ut ex mercatoribus, et vehiculariis accepi, centuria apud nos etiamnum semper præsumitur significare majorem, sive Tolfrædicam illam centuriam, quæ ex decies XII. conflatur, scilicet cxx.:

"Sic Arngrim Jonas in Crymogæa, sive rerum Island. lib. 1, cap. viii. hundrad centum sonat, sed quadam consuetudine plus continet nempe 120. Inde etiamnum apud nos vetus

istud de centenario numero: Five score of men, money, and pins: six score of all other things." Gram. Isl. p. 43.

(2) "It was anciently the practice to reckon up sums with counters. To this Shakspeare alludes in Othello,' act i. sc. i.: "This counter-caster.' And again in 'Cymbeline,' act v.: 'It sums up thousands in a trice: you have no true debtor and creditor but it: of what's past, is, and to come, the discharge. Your neck, sir, is pen, book, and counters.' Again, in 'Acolastus,' a comedy, 1529: 'I wyl cast my counters, or with counters make all my reckenynges.' See Reed's edit. of Shaksp.

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8vo. 1803, vol. xix. p. 228.

(3) In Sir John Sinclair's "Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. i. (8vo. Edinb. 1791) p. 187, the minister of Parton, under the head of Population, tells us: "A few years ago a man died above ninety, who, about eight months before his death, got a complete set of new teeth, which he employed till near his last breath to excellent purpose. He was four times married, had children by all his wives, and, at the baptism of his last child, which happened not a year before his death, with an air of complacency expressed his thankfulness to his Maker for having at last sent him the cled score,' i. e. twenty-one."

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FAIRY MYTHOLOGY.

"Of airy Elves, by moonlight shadows seen, The silver Token and the circled Green."

Pope's "Rape of the Lock," 1. 31.

BOURNE supposes this superstition to have been conveyed down to us by tradition from the Lamiæ, who were esteemed so mischievous as to take away young children and slay them; these, says he, together with the fauns, the gods of the woods, seem to have formed the notion of Fairies. (1)

Others deduce them from the lares and larvæ of the Romans.

Dr. Percy tells us that, on the assurance of a learned friend in Wales, the existence of fairies is alluded to by the most ancient British bards, among whom their commonest name was that of the spirits of the mountains.

It is conjectured by some that these little aërial people have been imported into Europe by the crusaders from the East, as in some respects they resemble the oriental Genii. Indeed the Arabs and Persians, whose religion and history abound with relations concerning them, have assigned them a peculiar country to inhabit, and called it Fairy Land. (2)

It was an article in the popular creed concerning fairies, that they were a kind of intermediate beings, partaking of the nature both of men and spirits: that they had material bodies, and yet the power of making them invisible, and of passing them through any sort of enclosures.

They were thought to be remarkably small in stature, with fair complexions, from which last circumstance they have derived their English name. (3)

The habits of both sexes of fairies are represented to have been generally green. (4)

Their haunts were thought to have been groves, mountains, the southern side of hills,

and verdant meadows, where their diversion was dancing hand in hand in a circle. (5) The traces of their tiny feet are supposed to remain visible on the grass long afterwards, and are called fairy rings or circles. (6)

With all the passions and wants of human beings, they are represented as great lovers and patrons of cleanliness and propriety, for the observance of which they were said frequently to reward good servants by dropping money into their shoes in the night; and on the other hand they were reported to punish most severely the sluts and slovenly by pinching them black and blue. (7)

In the superstitions and customs concerning children, I have before noticed their practice of stealing unbaptized infants and leaving their own progeny in their stead. (8) I know not why, but they are reported to have been particularly fond of making cakes, and to have been very noisy during the operation. (9)

There were also, it is said, besides the terrestrial fairies, a species of infernal ones, who dwelt in the mines, where they were often heard to imitate the actions of the workmen, whom they were thought to be inclined to do service to, and never, unless provoked by insult, to do any harm. (10)

In Wales this species were called knockers, (11) and were said to point out the rich veins of silver and lead.

Some fairies are also said to have resided in wells. (12)

There were also thought to have been a sort of domestic fairies, called, from their sun-burnt complexions, brownies, (13) who were extremely useful, and said to have performed all sorts of domestic drudgery. (14)

Fairies were sometimes thought to be mis

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