May 11. 1850.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
457 
“dropper-in,” who found “honest John” suffering 
from a severe cold, and upon the first piece of 
paper that came to hand. The writer’s caligraphy 
bespeaks age, and the punctuation and erasures 
show him to have been a literary man, and a 
careful though stilted writer. It is not, however, 
a hand of which I find any other exemplars 
amongst Nourse’s correspondence. 
“ Take two glasses of the best brandy, put them into 
acup which may stand over the fire; have two long 
wires, and put an ounce of sugar-candy upon the wires, 
and set the brandy on fire. Let it burn till it is put 
out by itself, and drink it before you go to bed. 
«To make it more pectoral, take some rosemary and 
put it in the brandy, infused for a whole day, before 
you burn it.” 
This is the fundamental element of all the 
quack medicines for ‘‘ coughs, colds, catarrhs, and 
consumption,” from Ford's “ Balsam of Hore- 
hound” to Dr. Solomon’s “ Balm of Gilead.” 
Tes 
Shooter’s Hill, April 4. 
Howkey or Horkey (No. 17. p. 263.).—Does 
the following passage from Sir Thomas Overbury’s 
Witty Descriptions of the Properties of sundry Per- 
sons, first published, I believe, in 1614, afford 
any clue to the etymology of this word? It oc- 
curs in the description of a Franklin or Yeoman:— 
“ He allows of honest pastime, and thinks not the 
bones of the dead anything bruised or the worse for it, 
though the country lasses dance in the church-yard 
after even-song. Rock-Monday, and the wake in 
summer shrovings, the wakeful catches on Christmas 
eve, the hoky or seed-cake, these he yearly keeps, yet 
holds them no relics of Popery.” 
As I have not the book by me, and am only 
quoting fiom an extract, lam unable to give a 
more precise reference. E.R. J. H, 
Chancery Lane. 
It may possibly further the purpose of the noble 
Querist as to the word Howkey or Horkey, if I 
state, that when in my boyhood I was accustomed 
to hear this word, it was pronounced as if spelt 
Hockey. As Howkey I should not have recognised 
it, nor hardly as Horkey. 
An East ANGLIAN. 
Hockey, a game played by boys with a stick bent 
at the end, is very likely derived from hook, an 
Anglo-Saxon word too. But we cannot suppose 
that anything else was derived from that, and 
especially when we come to words apparently 
more genuine than that. It seems natural to con- 
nect them with hock-tide, Hoch-zeit (German), and 
Heoh-tid (A.-S.), a name given to more than one 
season when it was usual to have games and fes- 
tivities. Now surely this is nothing else than high 
tide, a time of some high feast ; as we vulgarly say, 
“high days and holidays.” So in the Scripture, 
“that Sabbath day was a high day.” So high 
Mass. We Protestants have no conception of the 
close connection between the superior sanctity and 
the superior jollity of a particular season. Among 
the heathen Romans, festivus is derived from 
Sestus.* We say high romps, high jinks. 
See Wachter, who applies Hoch-zeit to Christ- 
mas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, and says it may 
be derived either from high, or from Hogen, 
‘oaudere,” which also see. He says that the lower 
Saxons “ hodie utuntur ‘ Hége’” to mean “ gaudium 
privatum et publicum convivale et nuptiale.” See 
also Hohen. See Lye, who has also heah, freols 
summa festivitas, summum festum. 
Ihre (Lex. Suio Goth.) says Hugna is “to make 
glad.” But in Hog-tid he observes, that gladness is 
only the secondary meaning of Hogen, — “ Hokanat 
vocabatur a Borealibus festum quod media hieme 
celebrabatur :” and he shows that hawks were 
formerly sacrificed at it. C. B. 
Howkey or Horkey (No.17. p.263.).—Is not 
this word simply a corruption of Hockey? Vide 
under “ Hock-cart,” in Brand's Antiquities by 
Ellis, where the following quotation from Poor 
Robin's Almanack for 1676 occurs :— 
“« Hoacky is brought home with hallowing, 
Boys with plum-cake the cart following.” 
J. M. B. 
Luther's Portrait at Warwick Castle (No. 25. 
p: 400.).— The Portrait by Holbein, in Warwick 
Castle, certainly erroneously stated to be that of 
Luther, was, I believe, engraved as such in Knight's 
Portrait Gallery, published by the Society for the 
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. I cannot find in 
any account of Holbein’s works a mention of a 
portrait of Luther by him. S. W. 
Symbolism of Flowers, §c.—In reference to 
works illustrative of poetical, mythological, scrip- 
tural, and historical associations connected with 
animals and plants, inquired for in No. 11. p. 173., 
many a literary man must equally desire an inter- 
preter, — 
“ T’ unbind the charms that in slight fables lie, 
And teach that truth is truest poesy.” 
Yet, in the English language there is, I believe, 
no work of this description; and I therefore beg 
leave to suggest, that your learned correspondents 
may contribute to a very useful compilation by 
furnishing illustrations, or references to illustra- 
tions, critical and poetical, collected from the most 
valuable authors, ancient and modern; and that 
this “sacred eloquence,” 
* Is not the derivation of “feast” and “fast” originally 
the same? that which is appointed, connected with 
“ fas,” and that from “ fart.” 
