2«d S. No 103., Dec. 19, '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



487 



severe ; and the pro tem. holder of the hood, if 

 overtaken with it in his possession before reach- 

 ing the boundary, is severely handled. There are 

 a certain number of officials, in an unique cos- 

 tume, who have the privilege of handling the 

 hood with impunity. I am not responsible for 

 the exact correctness of this account, having 

 gleaned it at a distance from the locality ; but 

 desire to be favoured, through the medium of 

 your columns, with a full and authentic detail of 

 the proceedings on the occasion ; also the pro- 

 bable origin of the custom, and what are the 

 advantages, if any, accruing to the particular 

 township which succeeds in carrying oflf the hood. 

 I have a vague recollection of reading some- 

 where an account of a similar custom observed in 

 some part of Brittany, and called " The Game of 

 Soule." A. E. 



[The following notice of this singular custom is given 

 in the History of Lincolnshire, ii. 214. : "At Haxey, Old 

 IVelfth Day [Jan. 17th] is devoted to throwing the hood, 

 an amusement Avhich, according to tradition, was insti- 

 tuted by one of the Mowbrays. A roll of canvas, tightly 

 corded together, from four to six pounds in weight, is 

 taken to an open field, and contended for by the rustics. 

 An individual appointed casts it from him, and the first 

 person that can convey it into the cellar of any public- 

 house receives the reward of one shilling, paid by the 

 plough-bullocks, or boggins. A new hood being fur- 

 nished when the others are carried olT, the contest usually 

 continues till dark. The nest day the plough -bullocks, 

 or boggins, go round the town collecting alms and cry- 

 ing ' largess.' They are dressed like morris- dancers, and 

 are yoked to, and drag a small plough. They have their 

 farmer, and a fool called Billy Buck, dressed like a har- 

 lequin, with whom the boys make sport. The daj"^ is 

 concluded by the bullocks running with the plough round 

 the cross on the Green ; and the man that can throw the 

 others down, and convey the plough into the cellar of a 

 public-house, receives one shilling for his agility."] 



Singing Mice. — I was fashioning a reply to an 

 article in " N. & Q." late one evening, when I was 

 startled by a noise resembling the chirping of a 

 bird in the hall, beyond where I was sitting. On 

 searching with a candle for the cause, I discovered 

 it to be a mouse in a china-closet ; which, con- 

 trary to the usual practice of these active gentry, 

 undisturbed by my approach, continued his twit- 

 tering precisely like that of swallows, or of the 

 reed warbler (called here the reed nightingale). 

 On dislodging him, he escaped through a hole 

 into an adjoining pantry, where he recommenced 

 his performance — certainly a very un-mouse-like 

 one, I have heard of the occurrence before. Is 

 the animal a murile Mario, or is it his death-note, 

 like that of the swan, — 



" And his sweetest note the last he sings " ? 



E. S. Taylor, 



Fifth of November Customs (2"'> S, iv, 368.) — 



" A singular custom was observed on Thursday last 

 (Nov. 5, 1857) at Durham. The Dean and Chapter of 

 the venerable Cathedral supplied themselves with 20«. 



worth of coppers, which they scattered amongst as many 

 of the juvenile citizens as chose to attend, and a good 

 many availed themselves of the privilege. This highly 

 appropriate game for a venerable ecclesiastical body is 

 known in the city as ' Push-Penn}',' and has existed very 

 far beyond ' the memory of the oldest inhabitant.' " 



R, W. Hackwood. 



Groundsel. — I have somewhere seen it men- 

 tioned that a poultice of this plant, applied over 

 the pit of the stomach, causes vomiting, and has 

 been used in this way as a remedy in epilepsy. 

 Has any of your contributors ever seen it applied 

 in this way, and with what effect ? If I mistake 

 not, it is recorded in the Memoirs of the famous 

 divine Rev. Thomas Boston, a native of Dunse, 

 once minister of Ettrick, and " whose praise is in 

 all the churches," that he once had recourse to 

 the above cure. The plant meant is the Senecio 

 vulgaris, or common groundsel, often used as a 

 food for caged birds. I have seen sheep greedily 

 devour another species, the S. Jacoicea, or com- 

 mon ragwort. Menyanthes. 



Chirnside, 



A Marriage-Bell Custom. — I was at a Wor- 

 cestershire village last week, on the occasion of 

 the celebration of a marriage. The church had a 

 very pretty peal of bells, whose silvery tongues 

 most melodiously proclaimed to the neighbour- 

 hood the event of the day. Late in the evening, 

 after the last peal had been rung, the ringers, ac- 

 cording to their usual custom, foretolled upon the 

 great bell the number of children with which the 

 marriage was to be blessed. On this particular 

 occasion, the clapper was made to smite the bell 

 thrice three times. The bride and bridegroom 

 know, therefore, what to expect, and can make the 

 needful preparations for the advent of their tune- 

 ful nine. Cuthbeet Bed^, 



Crooked Ridges. — A small town in the upper 

 ward of the county of Lanark is situated on a ris- 

 ing eminence, and attached to the houses are long, 

 narrow crofts of ground, in ploughing which it is 

 all done in curved and crooked rigs or ridges. 

 These forms are adopted under the belief that the 

 Evil One will be unable to follow out with his eye, 

 from one end of the ridge to the other, the grow- 

 ing crop, and thus prevent it being blasted by 

 any of his infernal cantrips, G, N. 



" Gooding " on St. Thomas's Day. — In the 

 Staffordshire parish from whence I write, St. 

 Thomas's Day is observed thus : — Not only do 

 the old women and widows, but representatives 

 also from each poorer family in the parish, come 

 round for alms. The clergyman is expected to 

 give one shilling to each person, and, as no " re- 

 duction is made on taking a quantity" of reci- 

 pients, he finds the celebration of the day attended 

 with no small expense. Some of the parishioners 



