484 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"<i S. Vlir. Dec. 17. '59. 



with the weakest hand next to the load." Can 

 your readers inform me of the origin of this say- 

 ing, and its etymology ? 



Browsy. — In the Midland Counties this word 

 is applied to anyone who looks showy. " She'd 

 her best shawl on, and new ribbons to her bonnet, 

 and her looked quite browsy." Can this be a 

 modification of blowsy, a word applied to any 

 broad red-faced person ? if so, what is the ety- 

 mology ? Bailey {Diet. 1770) gives this last word, 

 but no derivation. 



Noah's Ark Cloud. — A cloud rising, of the form 

 of the Vesica Piscis, or shaped like a vertical 

 elongated oval, is called in the North "Noah's 

 Ark," and believed to be the precursor of a great 

 deal of rain. Does such an opinion and title pre- 

 vail in the southern counties ? 



Tooth-Ache Superstition. — In Sussex they say, 

 if you always clothe your right leg first, i. e. if 

 you invariably put the right stocking on before 

 the left ; right leg into the trowsers before the 

 left ; right boot, &c. &c., you will never have the 

 tooth-ache. Does this opinion obtain elsewhere, 

 and if so, what can be the origin of such an odd 

 superstition ? 



Sending Jack after Yes. — In the southern coun- 

 ties if a person in haste accidentally knocks down 

 any article, and the fall of this knocks down a 

 second, they say " that's sending Jack after Yes." 

 I should fancy it meant sending after yeast, which 

 is often done in a hurry at baking times, if the 

 haste only were alluded to ; but why should it be 

 only employed when one thing knocks down ano- 

 ther? 



Singing before Breakfast. — In Hampshire, &c., 

 they say, " if you sing before breakfast, you will 

 cry before night." Is this a saying in the north 

 also ? A. A. 



Poets' Comer. 



SAINT STEPHEN S DAY. 



St. Stephen's Day is the morrow of Christmas 

 Day. An old letter now before me seems to show 

 that it was the day on which, in some families, 

 the highest festivities took place. The letter was 

 written by Robert Heyricke, an alderman of 

 Leicester, "To the rijjht wo' his very good 

 Brother sir Willyam Heyricke, Knygbt, at his 

 howse in Woodstrete," in Cheapside, and is dated 

 " Leicester the 2 of January 1614" : — 



" Yow wryte how yow reacayved my lettar of (on) St. 

 Stevens day, and that, I thanke yow, yow esteemed yt as 

 wellcoom as the 18 trumpytors ; w* in so doing I inust 

 and will esteme yowres, God willing, more wellcoom 

 then trumpets and all the musicke we have had since 

 Christmas, and j'et we have had prety store bothe of 

 owre owne and othar, evar since Christmas. And the 

 same day we were busy w* hoUding up hands and spoones 

 to yow, owt of porredge and pyes, in the remembraunce of 

 yowre g* (great) lyberality of frute and spice, which God 



send yow long lyffe to contynew, for of that day we have 

 not myssed anny St. Steven this 47 yeare to have as many 

 gas (guests) as my howse woolld hoUd, I thank God 

 for yt." 



This is not only a genuine picture of old Eng- 

 lish banqueting at Christmas, but it alludes to two 

 or three remarkable customs. The eighteen trum- 

 peters were a London band, perhaps the same as 

 the City Waits. The presents of fruit and spice 

 sent down into the country formed the porridge 

 and pies of the Christmas feast ; and the acknow- 

 ledgement thereof, by holding up spoons to the 

 name of the donor, is a remarkable old custom, 

 now perhaps quite forgotten. It is mentioned 

 again in a second letter written by the same party 

 on the following Christmas : — 



" I tooke colld of Christmas even with looking into 

 the garden, but Christmas daj' being my ill day, 1 was 

 in that cace I was fayne to be led home from chirche, 

 and had a spice of youre dissease, fearing dyvers tvmes 

 I shoUd have fallen. And yet this day, I thanke "God, 

 all hart agayne, and have had 30, or nere, at dynnar, and 

 with wyne and sugar, and hands helld up so hye as we 

 colld, we remembred Woodstrete; and thoughe we can 

 doe no more, 5'et in oure praj'ers, in our spoones, and in 

 our cups, we doe not forget you when tyme sarves." 



This was written on St. Stephen's Day, Dec. 

 26, 1615. 



A third time the lifting up of spoons, as 

 well as cups, is mentioned by the same writer 

 when acknowledging the presents of another 

 Christmas; for which, he says, "we rendar all 

 possyble thankes, and will not forget you, God so 

 willinge, in the cup nor the spootie." (Dec. 17, 

 1616.) John Gough Nichols. 



FAIRY KINGS. 



As I believe that many Dutch works, if but 

 circulated in England, would §nd a large mass 

 of interested readers, I draw your attention to 

 one which has recently appeared, and which no 

 doubt would have its goodly share of purchasers. 

 The literal translation of its title (Verhandeling 

 over de Kol-op Heksekringen, ook wel Tooverkrin- 

 gen genaamd door Dr. R. Westerhoff. Groningen, 

 bij de erven C. M. van Bolhuis Hoitsema, 1859, 

 in 8°.) sounds in English : Essay concerning the 

 Hog, or Witch-circles, also called Magical Rings, 

 by Dr. R. Westerhoff. I am sorry I have not got the 

 book itself, but I will at least impart to you all I 

 know about it, in good confidence that the subject, 

 which with you is a thorough national one, will 

 serve as an apology for my want of originality. I 

 translate from the Konsten Letterhode (the Dutch 

 AthencBuni), vol. Ixxi. p. 276. : — 



"An Essay like the superscribed, which leads us back 

 to the Middle Ages, and, at the same time, transfers us 

 in the precincts of the newest researches in phj-sical 

 science, does not often occur. It gives evidence of a very 

 comprehensive knowledge, and' at one moment is quite 

 contemplative, at another purely practical. 



