—London (J. P. Emslie).
A number of children stoop down in a row, clasping their hands under their legs. One child stands in front of them, and acts as owner or seller; another acts as purchaser (fig. 1). The purchaser inquires—
The purchaser goes round, pretending to taste each one in turn, inquiring the price and weight; finds fault with several, one being too sweet and the other not fresh enough, and so on. When one honey pot is discovered to the purchaser’s taste, she is lifted by the purchaser and owner, or by two children who act as weights or scales, and then swung by her arms backwards and forwards to estimate her weight and price (fig. 2). As long as the child can keep her hands clasped, so long is the swinging kept up; and as many times as they count, so many is the number of pounds she weighs. The seller sometimes said, when each one was bought—
They were not brought back, and the “owner” had to catch and bring back each one. When sold, the honey pot is taken to the other side, or “home” of the purchaser. The game goes on till all the honey pots are sold.—London (A. B. Gomme).
In Sporle, a girl clasps her hands under her legs to form a seat, and two others swing her by the arms, saying—
—Miss Matthews.
In a version sent by Miss Chase, and told her by a London maidservant, the children sit as in “Hunt the Slipper.” One steps in a corner out of earshot; the rest are named “Gooseberry Tart,” “Cherry Tart,” &c., by another, who recalls the child in the corner with—
If he chooses the wrong one he is told—
If rightly—
The child is then led off in a squatting position. Later the one who named them pretends tasting, and says, “Very nice,” or “You must be baked longer,” when another squatting walk and wait takes place.
A version sent by Mr. J. P. Emslie is similar to the other London versions—
The child would then go round, pretending to taste, saying, ‘Don’t like that one,’ till one was approved. That one was then swung round to the tune given, the words being—
At the last bar they swung the child higher and higher, and at the last note they swung it as high as they could. I believe the last note in the music should be G, but it was raised to give effect.”
In Scotland the game is called “Hinnie Pigs,” and is played as follows. The boys sit down in rows, hands locked beneath their hams. Round comes one of them, the honey merchant, who feels those who are sweet and sour, by lifting them by the arm-pits and giving them three shakes. If they stand these without the hands unlocking below they are then sweet and saleable, fit for being office-bearers of other ploys.—Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.
In Ross and Stead’s Holderness Glossary this is described as a girls’ game, in which two carry a third as a pot of honey to market. It is mentioned by Addy (Sheffield Glossary) and by Holland (Cheshire Glossary). Mr. Holland adds, “If the hands give way before twenty is reached it is counted a bad honey pot; if not, it is a good one.”
In Dublin the seller sings out—
—Mrs. Lincoln.
The game is mentioned by a writer in Blackwood’s Magazine, August 1821, p. 36, as being played in Edinburgh when he was a boy.
A game played at Haxey, in the Isle of Axholme, on the 6th of January. The Hood is a piece of sacking, rolled tightly up and well corded, and which weighs about six pounds. This is taken into an open field on the north side of the church, to be contended for by the youths assembled for that purpose. When the Hood is about to be thrown up, the Plough-bullocks or Boggins, as they are called, dressed in scarlet jackets, are placed amongst the crowd at certain distances. Their persons are sacred, and if amidst the general row the Hood falls into the hands of one of them, the sport begins again. The object of the person who seizes the Hood is to carry off the prize to some public-house in the town, where he is rewarded with such liquor as he chooses to call for. This pastime is said to have been instituted by the Mowbrays, and that the person who furnished the Hood did so as a tenure by which he held some land under the lord. How far this tradition may be founded on fact I do not know, but no person now acknowledges to hold any land by that tenure.—Stonehouse’s Isle of Axholme, p. 291.
W. J. Woolhouse (Notes and Queries, 2nd series, v. 95) says when the Hood is thrown up by the Chief of the Boggons or by the officials, it becomes the object of the villagers to get the Hood to their own village, the other eleven men, called Boggons, being stationed at the corners and sides of the field, to prevent, if possible, its being thrown out of the field; and should it chance to fall into any of their hands, it is “boggoned,” and forthwith returned to the chief, who again throws it up, as at the commencement of the game. The next day is occupied by the Boggons going round the villages singing as waits, and they are regaled with hot furmenty; from some they get coppers given them, and from others a small measure of wheat. The day after that they assume the character of Plough-bullocks, and at a certain part of Westwood-side they “smoke the Fool”—that is, straw is brought by those who like, and piled in a heap, a rope being tied or slung over the branches of the tree next to the pile of straw; the other end of the rope is fastened round the waist of the Fool, and he is drawn up and fire is put to the straw, the Fool being swung to and fro through the smoke until he is well-nigh choked, after which he goes round and collects whatever the spectators choose to give him. The sport is then at an end till the next year. The land left by Lady Mowbray was forty acres, which are known by the name of “Hoodlands,” and the Boggons’ dresses and the Hood are made from its proceeds.
In the contiguous parish of Epworth a similar game is played under the same name, but with some variations. The Hood is not here carried away from the field, but to certain goals, against which it is struck three times and then declared free. This is called “wyking” the Hood, which is afterwards thrown up again for a fresh game.—Notes and Queries, 6th series, vii. 148.
Name for “Blind Man’s Buff.”—Baker’s Northamptonshire Glossary.
Name for “Blind Man’s Buff.” Mentioned in Hamlet, iii. 4; Merry Devil of Edmonton; and Wise Women of Hogsden.
Name for “Blind Man’s Buff.”—Nares’ Glossary.
The game of “Hop-scotch.”—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
The players bend as though about to sit on a very low stool, then spring about with their hands resting on their knees.—Dorsetshire (Folk-lore Journal, vii. 234).
Miss Peacock says that a game called “Hop-frog over the Dog” is played at Stixwould, Lincolnshire, in the same way as “Leap-frog.”
See “Curcuddie,” “Cutch-a-cutchoo,” “Harie Hutcheon,” “Hirtschin Hairy.”
Game of “Hop-scotch.”—Hunter’s Glossary of Hallamshire.
A game, the object of which is to eject a stone, slate, or “dump” out of a form linearly marked on the ground in different directions, by hopping without touching any of the lines.—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
In the plan (fig. 8) the players first lay the stone on the back of the hand, and walk through the plan, stepping into each division, throw it up and catch it. Then the stone is thrown back from No. 7 outside No. 1. Now it is placed on the toe, and the child walks through again, throwing up the foot when out, to catch the stone in the hand. Another way, done on the same plan, is for the player to place the stone in No. 1, leave it there, and hop into each division and back, then place it in No. 2, and repeat the hopping, and so on through all the figures. There is no kicking of the stone, as is usual in London.—Roxton, St. Neots (Miss Lumley).
From Crockham Hill, Kent, Miss Chase sends four versions. In the first plan (fig. 1) the game is:—Throw stone into No. 1. Hop from No. 1 to No. 5 and back. Then pick it up. So on successively. After having thrown it into No. 5, begin to reverse by throwing stone into No. 1 while standing at No. 5—return with it on your thumb. Throw into No. 2—return with stone on your eye. Throw into No. 3—return with stone in your palm. Throw into No. 4—return with stone on your head. Throw into No. 5—return with stone on your back. In each case, upon reaching the goal without dropping it, throw up and catch it as it falls.
In the second plan (fig. 2) the game is:—Throw stone into No. 1. Pick it up. Hop, not touching lines, from No. 1 to No. 4, and “out.” Throw stone into No. 2. Do as before. And so successively into Nos. 3 and 4. Next balance stone on shoe, then on the palm of hand, then on the back of hand, then on the head, then on the shoulder, then on the eye (tilt head back to keep it from falling). In each case walk round once with it so balanced and catch at end.
In the third plan (fig. 3) the game is:—Put pebble in No. 1. Pick up. Hop, having one foot in No. 2 and the other in No. 3. Step into No. 4. Hop, having one foot in No. 5 and the other in No. 6. Jump round. Go back as you came. Then with stone on shoe, walk through the figure, kick it up and catch at the close. Place stone on eyelid; walk through the same figure, dropping it off into hand at close. This is called “jumping.”
In the fourth plan (fig. 4) the game is:—Throw stone into No. 1. Pick it up. Hop from No. 1 to No. 8, not touching lines. So successively into Nos. 2, 3, 4, &c. Walk into No. 1 with stone on foot, and out at No. 8. Kick it up and catch it. The same with stone on thumb. Toss it up and catch. Again with stone on your back. Straighten up, let it slide into your hand.
In Stead’s Holderness Glossary, this is described as a boys’ or girls’ game, in which the pavement is chalked with numbered crossed lines, and a pebble or piece of crockery is propelled onward by the foot, the performer hopping on one leg, the number reached on the chalk-line being scored to him or her. At Whitby it is called “Pally-ully,” and played with rounded pieces of pot the size of a penny. Divisions are chalked on the pavement, and the “pally-ullies” are impelled within the lines by a hop on one leg, and a side shuffle with the same foot (Whitby Glossary). It is sometimes called “Tray-Trip.” Atkinson describes the figure as oblong, with many angular compartments (Cleveland Glossary). Jamieson defines “Beds” as “Hop-scotch,” a game denominated from the form, sometimes by strangers called squares. In Aberdeen the spaces marked out are sometimes circular.
Mrs. Lincoln sends a diagram of the game from Dublin (fig. 6). Addy (Sheffield Glossary) under the name of “Hop-score” says it is a game in which certain squares are drawn or scored on the ground. The piece of stone which is pushed with the foot is called the “scotch.” Elworthy (West Somerset Words) says a piece of tile is kicked over lines and into squares marked on the ground. It is called “Hickety-Hackety,” also “Huckety.” Cope (Hampshire Glossary) says it is played in Hants. Moor (Suffolk Words and Phrases) describes this game under the name of “Scotch-hob,” by hopping and kicking a bit of tile from bed to bed of a diagram which he gives (fig. 5, here printed). Brockett (North Country Words) calls it “Beds.” Barnes (Dorset Glossary) only says “hopping over a parallelogram of scotches or chalk-lines on the ground.” F. H. Low, in Strand Magazine, ii. 516, says the divisions are respectively named onesie, twosie, threesie, foursie, and puddings. It is called “Hop-bed” at Stixwold in Lincolnshire (Miss Peacock), “Hop-score” in Yorkshire (Halliwell, l.c.), and “Hitchibed” in Cleveland, Yorks. (Glossary of Cleveland Words). Strutt describes it (Sports, p. 383); and Wood’s Modern Playmate, p. 32, gives a diagram similar to one seen on a London pavement by A. B. Gomme (see fig. 7). Mr. Emslie has sent me figs. 9 and 10, also from London streets. Newell (Games, p. 188) speaks of it as a well-known game in America.
Mr. Elworthy (West Somerset Words) says, “Several of these (diagrams marked on the ground) are still to be seen, scratched on the ancient pavement of the Roman Forum.” Mr. J. W. Crombie says, “The game of ‘Hop-scotch’ was one of considerable antiquity, having been known in England for more than two centuries, and it was played all over Europe under different names. Signor Pitré’s solar explanation of its origin appeared improbable to him, for not only was the evidence in its favour extremely weak, but it would require the original number of divisions in the figure to have been twelve instead of seven, which was the number indicated by a considerable body of evidence. It would seem more probable that the game at one time represented the progress of the soul from earth to heaven through various intermediate states, the name given to the last court being most frequently paradise or an equivalent, such as crown or glory, while the names of the other courts corresponded with the eschatological ideas prevalent in the early days of Christianity.” Some such game existed before Christianity, and Mr. Crombie considered that it had been derived from several ancient games. Possibly the strange myths of the labyrinths might have had something to do with “Hop-scotch,” and a variety of the game played in England, under the name of “Round Hop-scotch,” was almost identical with a game described by Pliny as being played by the boys of his day. Mr. Crombie also said he “believed that the early Christians adopted the general idea of the ancient game, but they not only converted it into an allegory of heaven, with Christian beliefs and Christian names; they Christianised the figure also; they abandoned the heathen labyrinth and replaced it by the form of the Basilicon, the early Christian church, dividing it into seven parts, as they believed heaven to be divided, and placing paradise, the inner sanctum of heaven, in the position of the altar, the inner sanctum of their earthly church.”
See “Hap the Beds.”[Addendum]
See “Half-Hammer.”
A game among children in which one of the company runs after the rest having his hands clasped and his thumbs pushed out before him in resemblance of horns. The first person whom he touches with his thumbs becomes his property, joins hands with him, and aids in attempting to catch the rest: and so on until they are all made captives. Those who are at liberty still cry out, “Hornie, Hornie.”—Lothian (Jamieson).
Jamieson says: “Whether this play be a vestige of the very ancient custom of assuming the appearance and skins of animals, especially in the sports of Yule, or might be meant to symbolise the exertions made by the devil (often called ‘Hornie’) in making sinful man his prey, and employing fellow-men as his coadjutors in this work, I cannot pretend to determine.”
See “Hunt the Staigie,” “Whiddy.”
A game in which four play, a principal and an assistant on each side. A. stands with his assistant at one hole, and throws what is called a Cat (a piece of stick, and frequently a sheep’s horn), with the design of making it alight in another hole at some distance, at which B. and his assistant stand ready to drive it aside. The bat or driver is a rod resembling a walking-stick.
The following unintelligible rhyme is repeated by a player on the one side, while they on the other are gathering in the Cats, and is attested by old people as of great antiquity:—
—Jamieson.
The game is also called “Kittie-cat.”
See “Cat and Dog,” “Cudgel,” “Tip-cat.”
“A’ Horns to the Lift,” a game of young people. A circle is formed round a table, and all placing their forefingers on the table, one cries, “A’ horns to the lift! Cat’s horns upmost!” If on this any one lift his finger, he owes a wad, as cats have no horns. In the same manner, the person who does not raise his fingers when a horned animal is named is subjected to a forfeit.—Jamieson.
At Sheffield a boy is chosen for a Stump, and stands with his back against a wall. Another boy bends his back as in “Leapfrog,” and puts his head against the Stump. The cap of the boy who bends down is then taken off, and put upon his back upside down. Then each of the other boys who are playing puts the first finger of his right hand into the cap. When all the fingers are put into the cap, these lines are sung—
Then the boy whose back is bent jumps up, and the others run away crying out, “Hot cockles.” The boy who is caught by the one whose back was first bent has to bend his back next time, and so on.—S. O. Addy.
At Cork a handkerchief is tied over the eyes of one of the company, who then lays his head on a chair, and places his hand on his back with the palm uppermost. Any of the party come behind him and give him a slap on his hand, he in the meantime trying to discover whose hand it is that strikes.—Miss Keane.
“Hot Cockles” is an old game, practised especially at Christmas. One boy sits down, and another, who is blindfolded, kneels and lays his head on his knee, placing at the same time his open hand on his own back. He then cries, “Hot cockles, hot!” Another then strikes his open hand, and the sitting boy asks who strikes. If the boy guessed wrongly, he made a forfeit; but if rightly, he was released.—Notes and Queries, 4th series, ix. 262.
The sport is noticed by Gay—
Halliwell describes it rather differently. The blindfolded boy lies down on his face, and, being struck, must guess who it is that hit him. A good part of the fun consisted in the hardness of the slaps, which were generally given on the throne of honour. He quotes from a MS. play as follows—
—Halliwell’s Dictionary.
Nares’ Glossary also contains quotations from works of 1639, 1653, and 1697 which illustrate the game. Mr. Addy says “that this game as played in Sheffield is quite different from that described under the same title in Halliwell’s Dictionary. Aubrey (p. 30) speaks of ‘Hot Cockles’ as a game played at funerals in Yorkshire, and the lines here given show that this was the game. The lines—
embodies the popular belief that the soul winged its way like a bird, and they remind one of the passing of the soul over Whinny Moor (see funeral dirge in Aubrey’s Remains of Gentilisme, p. 31). Grimm mentions the cuckoo hill (Gauchsberg). He says, ‘Originally in Gauchsberg the bird himself may very well have been meant in a mystic sense which has fallen dark to us now’ (Teut. Myth., ii. 681). We know, too, the old belief that the cuckoo tells children how many years they have to live. These lines are also sometimes said, in addition to those given above—
The boy who bends down is supposed to be undergoing a great penalty.” Strutt (Sports, p. 394) describes this game, and gives an illustration which is here reproduced from the original MSS. in the Bodleian.
This game may have originated from a custom at funerals of practising spells for the safe and speedy passage of the departing spirit to its destination, or from divination mysteries to foretell who would be the next among the mourners to follow the dead body to the grave. The spirit of prophecy was believed to exist in a dying person. See “Handy Croopen.”[Addendum]
—Chambers’ Popular Rhymes, p. 124; Mactaggart’s Gallovidian Encyclopædia.
—Nairn, Scotland (Rev. W. Gregor).
—Fernham and Longcot (Miss I. Barclay).
—South Shields (Miss Blair).
—Annaverna, Ravendale, co. Louth, Ireland (Miss R. Stephen).
—Belfast (W. H. Patterson).
—Dorsetshire (Folk-lore Journal, vii. 230, 231).
—London (Miss Dendy).
—Halliwell’s Popular Rhymes, p. 217.
—Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).
—Isle of Man (A. W. Moore).
—Warwick (from a little girl living near Warwick, through Mr. C. C. Bell).
—Suffolk County Folk-lore, p. 63.
—Wales (Folk-lore Record, v. 88).
| How many miles to | - | Barley Bridge? | |
| Banbury? | |||
| London? |
—Market Drayton, Ellesmere, Whitchurch, (Burne’s Shropshire Folk-lore, p. 522).
—Hayton, near York (H. Hardy).
—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).
—Hanbury, Staffordshire (Miss E. Hollis).
—Surrey (Folk-lore Record, v. 88).
(b) There are two methods of playing this game, one in which a King and Queen are represented, and the other in which gates of a city are represented. Of the first Chambers and Mactaggart practically give the same account. The latter says, “Two of the swiftest boys are placed between two ‘doons’ or places of safety; these, perhaps, are two hundred yards distant. All the other boys stand in one of these places or doons, when the two fleet youths come forward and address them with the rhyme. When out, they run in hopes to get to Babylon or the other doon, but many get not near that place before they are caught by the runners, who ‘taens’ them, that is, lay their hands upon their heads, when they are not allowed to run any more in that game, that is, until they all be taened or taken.”
The Norfolk game seems to resemble the Scotch, though in a much less complete form. Miss Matthews describes it as follows:—“A line of children is formed, and the two standing opposite it sing the questions, to which the line reply; then the two start off running in any direction they please, and the others try to catch them.”
The second method of playing is best described by the Rev. Walter Gregor, from the Nairn game, which is known as “The Gates of Babylon.” Mr. Gregor writes as follows:—“This game may be played either by boys or girls. Two of the players join hands, and stand face to face, with their hands in front as if forming a gate. Each of these has a secret name. The other players form themselves into a line by clasping each other round the waist from behind. They go up to the two that form the gate, and the leader asks the first question, as in version No. 2. The dialogue then proceeds to the end. The two then lift their arms as high as they can, still joined, and the line of players passes through. All at once the two bring their arms down on one and make him (or her) prisoner. The prisoner is asked in a whisper, so as not to disclose the secret name, which of the two is to be chosen. The one so captured takes his (or her) stand behind the one chosen. The same process is gone through till all the players are taken captive, and have stationed themselves behind the one or the other of the two forming the gate. The last one of the line goes through three times. The first time the word ‘breakfast’ is pronounced; the second time ‘dinner;’ and the third time ‘supper.’ The player then chooses a side. The two sides have then a tug of war. The game ends at this point with girls. With boys the conquered have to run the gauntlet. The victors range themselves in two lines, each boy with his cap or handkerchief tightly plaited in his hand, and pelt with all their might the vanquished as they run between the lines. The boys of Nairn call this running of the gauntlet, ‘through fire an’ watter.’”