Oct. 19. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



331 



purposes, I will not say ,' but I have no doubt that 

 the name means no more than that the links were 

 in the shape of the letter S. C. 



SIRLOIN. 



Several correspondents who treat of Lancashire 

 matters do not appear to be suthciently careful to 

 ascertain the correct designations of the places 

 mentioned in their communications. In a late 

 number Mr. J. G. Nichols gave some very neces- 

 sary corrections to Clericus Cravznsis respect- 

 ing his note on the " Capture of King Henry VI." 

 (Vol. ii., p. 181.); and I have now to remind 

 H. C. (Vol. ii., p. 268.) that " Haughton Castle " 

 ought to be " Hoghton Tower, near Blackburn, 

 Lancashire." Hoghton Tower and Whittle Springs 

 have of late been much resorted to by pic-nic 

 parties from neighbouring towns ; and from the 

 interesting scenery and splendid prospects afforded 

 by these localities, they richly deserve to be classed 

 among the lions of Lancashire. It is not impro- 

 bable that the far-fixmed beauties and ru22ed 

 grandeur of " The Horr may, for the time, have 

 rendered it impossible for H. C. to attend to ortho- 

 graphy and the simple designation " Hoghton 

 Tower," and hence the necessity for the present 

 Note. 



The popular tradition of the knighting of the 

 Sirloin has found its way into many publications 

 of a local tendency, and, amongst the rest, into the 

 graphic Traditions of Lancashire, by the late Mr. 

 Roby, whose premature death in the Orion steamer 

 we have had so recently to deplore. Mr. Roby, 

 however, is not disposed to treat the subject very 

 seriously; for after stating that Dr. Morton had 

 preached before the king on the duty of obedience, 

 " inasmuch as it w.as rendered to the vicegerent of 

 heaven, the high and mighty and puissant James, 

 Defender of the Faith, and so forth," he adds : — 



" After this comfartable and gracious doctrine, there 

 was a rushbearing and a piping before tl)e king in the 

 great quadrangle. Rubin IJood and Maid Marian, 

 witli the fool and Hobby Horse, were, doubtless, enacted 

 to llie jingling of morris-dancers and other profanities. 

 These fooleries put tlie king into such good humour, 

 that he was more witty in liis speech than ordinary. 

 Some of these sayings have been recorded, and amongst 

 the rest, that tvell-Jinown rjniUile whic/i has been the oriqin 

 of an absurd mistake, still current through the county, 

 respecting the sirloin. Tlie occasion, as far as we have 

 been able to gather, was thus. Whilst he sat at meat, 

 ca.sting hi.s eyes upon a noble stirloin at the lower er.d of 

 the table, he cried out, ' IJring hither that surloin, 

 sirrah, for 'tis worthy a more honourable ))ost, being, 

 as I may say, not .vwr-loin, but «i>-loin, the noblest 

 joint of all;' which ridiculous and desperate pun raised 

 tlie wisdom and reputation of J'^ngland's Solomon to 

 the highest." — Traditions, vol. ii. pp. 190-1. 



Most probably Mr. Roby's view of the matter is 



snbstaatially correct ; for although tradition never 

 foils to preserve the remembrance of transactions 

 too ti-ivial, or perhaps too indistinct for sober his- 

 tory to narrate, the existence of a tradition does not 

 necessarily prove, or even require, that the myth 

 should have had its foundation in fiict. 



Had the circumstance really taken place as 

 tradition prescribes, it would probably have ob- 

 tained a greater permanency than oral recital ; for 

 during the festivities at Hoghton Tower, on the 

 occasion of the visit of the " merrie monarch," 

 there was present a gentleman after Captain 

 Cuttle's own heart, who would most assuredly have 

 made a note of it. This was Nicholas Assheton, 

 Esq., of Downham, whose Journal, as Dr. Whitaker 

 well observes, furnishes an invaluable record of 

 "our ancestors of the joarish ofWhalley, not merely 

 in the universal circumstances of birth, marriage, 

 and death, but acting and suffering in their indi- 

 vidual characters ; their businesses, sports, bicker- 

 ings, carouslngs, and, such as it was, religion." 

 This worthy chronicler thus describes the king's 

 visit : — 



" August 15. (1617). The king came to Preston; 

 tlier, at the crosse, Mr. Brearcs, the lawyer, made a 

 speclie, and the corpor" presented him with a bowle ; 

 and then the king went to a banquet in the town-hall, 

 and soe away to Houghton : ther a speehe made. 

 Hunted, and killed a stagg. Wee attend on the fords' 

 table. 



" August 16, Houghton. The king hunting: a 

 great companie : killed affore dinner a brace of staggs. 

 V'erie hot : soe hee went in to dinner. Wee attend the 

 lords' table ; ab' four o'clock the king went downe to 

 the Allome mynes, and was ther an hower, and viewed 

 them pciselie, and then went and shott at a stagg, and 

 missed. Then my Lord Compton had lodged two 

 brace. The king shott again, and brake the thiTh- 

 bone. A dogg long in coming, and my Lo. Compton 

 shott ag" and killed him. Late in to supper. 



" Aug. 17, Houghton. Wee served the lords with 

 biskett, wyne, and jellie. The Bushopp of Chester, 

 Dr. Morton, pched before the king. To dinner. Ab' 

 four o'clock, ther was a rush-bearing and piping affore 

 them, affore t)ie king in the middle court ; then to 

 supp. Then ab' ten or eleven o'clock, a maske of no- 

 blemen, knights, gentlemen, and courtiers, afKjre the 

 king, in the middle round, in the garden. Some 

 speeches : of the rest, dancing the Huckler, Tom 

 Bedio, and the Cowp Justice of Peace. 



" Aug. 18. The king went away ab' twelve to 

 Lathome." 



The journalist who would note so trivial a cir- 

 cumstance as the heat of the weather, was not 

 likely to omit the knighting of the Sirloin, if It 

 really occurred; and hence, in the absence of more 

 positive proof, we are disposed to take Mr. Roby's 

 view of the case, and treat it as one of the thousand 

 and one jileasant stories -which " rumour with her 

 hundred tongues" ever circulates amongst the 

 pc;isantry of a district where some royal visit, or 



