GUISING AND MUMMING IN DERBYSHIRE. 37 



I am told that in some parts of Lincolnshire young people dis- 

 guise themselves and sweej) the houses out on Christmas Eve. 



The " little Devil Dout " at Handswurth was the man who, 

 in popular belief, swept devils out of the house. The word 

 "dout," as will be seen in dictionaries, is a contraction of 

 " do out," meaning to put out, just as " don '' is to " do on," 

 or put on. We might then call him " little Devil Put-out." 

 The periodical expulsion of evils and devils by sweeping the 

 house out has been fully discussed elsewhere, but without refer- 

 ence to England.^ 



II.— THE OLD HORSE. 



At various places in North Derbyshire, such as Norton, 

 Eckington, and Dronfield, a number of men used to go round 

 with " the old horse " on Christmas Eve. The body of the 

 man who rej^resented the horse was covered with cloth or 

 tarpaulin, and the horse's head was made of wood, the mouth 

 being opened by strings in the inside. When the men reached 

 the door of a house, the man representing the horse got under 

 the tarpaulin, and they began to sing : — 



- vH i — ^ — * - 



-z^z 



_i — I — 



'^—^- 



It is a poor old horse, And he's knocking at your 



door, And if you'll please to let him in, He'll 



* -m- -^- -0- • 



please you all I'm sure. Poor old horse. Poor old horse. 



1 In Frnzer's Golden Bough, 2nd ed. On Garland Day at Castleton a 

 man with a besom formerly went before the May King " to clean the 

 way" (see my article on "Garland Day at Castleton" in Folk-lore, 

 vol. xii., p. 410). 



