Notes and Queries, Number 180, April 9, 1853. Various

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      Mr. Halliwell, in his compilation of Archaic and Provincial Words, gives Mechall, wicked, adulterous, with a note of admiration at Dilke's conjecture; and a reference to Nares, in v. Michall. Mr. H. neither adduces any authority for his first sense, "wicked," nor can adduce one.

      To lowt, to mock or contemn. A verb of very common occurrence, but, as might be expected, quite unknown to the commentators on Shakspeare, though its meaning was guessed from the context. As it would be tedious and unnecessary to write all the instances that occur, let the following suffice:

      "To the holy bloud of Hayles,

      With your fyngers and nayles,

      All that ye may scratche and wynne;

      Yet it woulde not be seen,

      Except you were shryven,

      And clene from all deadly synne.

      There, were we flocked,

      Lowted and mocked;

      For, now, it is knownen to be

      But the bloud of a ducke,

      That long did sucke

      The thrifte, from every degre."

"The Fantassie of Idolatrie," Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. v. p. 406. (Cattley's edition.)

      "Pride is it, to vaunt princely robes, not princely virtues. Pride is it to lowte men of lower sort or pore lasers, as is some men's guise."—The Third Booke of Nobilitye; writte in Latine by Laurence Humfrey, late Englished, 1563.

      "Among serving men also, above all other, what wicked and detestable oaths are there heard! If there be any of that sort which fear God, and love his word, and therefore abstain from vain oaths, how doth his company lout him! Look what an ass is among a sort of apes, even the very same is he among his fellows."—The Invective against Swearing, p. 361.; Works of Thomas Becon (Parker Society).

      Samson was accounted of the Philistines for a fool, but he would rather die than suffer that opprobry unrevenged (Judic. xvi.).

      "David was lowted of Michol Saul's daughter, but she was made therefore barren all her life."—2 Reg. vi.

      And same page, a little above:

      "He that calleth his brother fool, that is to say, contemn him, mock him, or, as men call it now-a-days, lowting of a man, committeth such murder as is worthy hell-fire and eternal damnation."—A Declaration of the Ten Commandments, ch. ix. p. 373.; Early Writings of Bishop Hooper (Parker Society).

      "Renowned Talbot doth expect my ayde,

      And I am lowted by a traitor villaine

      And cannot help the noble Cheualier."

The First Part of Henry VI., Actus Quartus,Scena Prima (First Folio Shakspeare).

      Where I would note, by the way, that in three copies of the folio 1632, now by me, it is printed "at traitor," although two of these folios have different title-pages; that which appears to be the later impression bears under the portrait these words: "London, printed by Thos. Cotes, for Robert Allot, and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Blacke Beare, in Paul's Church-yard, 1632." The other wants the words "at his shop," as described in Mr. Collier's edition.

      The mention of Mr. Collier's name is a hint that reminds me to advertise him of a mistake he lies under, in supposing that the Duke of Devonshire's copy of the Play of King Richard II. in 4to., dated 1605, is unique (vid. Collier's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 105., Introduction); as there is another in the Philosophical Institute at Hereford, presented by the late Edward Evans, Esq., of Eyton Hall, in the same county.

      But to return. Mr. Halliwell, in his work above quoted, furnishes another instance of the verb lowt, from Hall's History of King Henry IV., which the reader may consult for himself. I will merely add, that the interpretation there propounded is plausible but unsound, the context only giving aim to his conjecture.

(To be continued.)

      FOLK LORE

      Drills presaging Death.—In Norfolk, agricultural labourers generally believe that if a drill go from one end of a field to the other without depositing any seed—an accident which may result from the tubes and coulters clogging with earth—some person connected with the farm will die before the year expires, or before the crop then sown is reaped. It is a useful superstition, as it causes much attention to be paid to make the drill perform its work correctly. Still it is remarkable that such a superstition should have arisen, considering the recent introduction of that machine into general use. I should be glad to learn from other readers of "N. & Q." whether this belief prevails in other parts of England where the drill is generally used.

E. G. R.

      Beltane in Devonshire.—Seeing that the ancient superstition of the Beltane fire is still preserved in Scotland, and is lighted on the 1st of May, the origin of which is supposed to be an annual sacrifice to Baal, I am induced to state that a custom, evidently derived from the same source, is, or was a few years since, annually observed in the wild parts of Devonshire. At the village of Holne, situated on one of the Spurs of Dartmoor, is a field of about two acres, the property of the parish, and called the Ploy (Play) Field. In the centre of this stands a granite pillar (Menhir) six or seven feet high. On May morning, before daybreak, the young men of the village assemble there, and then proceed to the Moor, where they select a ram lamb (doubtless with the consent of the owner), and after running it down, bring it in triumph to the Ploy Field, fasten it to the pillar, cut its throat, and then roast it whole, skin, wool, &c. At midday a struggle takes place, at the risk of cut hands, for a slice, it being supposed to confer luck for the ensuing year on the fortunate devourer. As an act of gallantry, in high esteem among the females, the young men sometimes fight their way through the crowd to get a slice for their chosen amongst the young women, all of whom, in their best dresses, attend the Ram Feast, as it is called. Dancing, wrestling, and other games, assisted by copious libations of cider during the afternoon, prolong the festivity till nightfall.

      The time, the place (looking east), the mystic pillar, and the ram, surely bear some evidence in favour of the Ram Feast being a sacrifice to Baal.

An old Holne Curate.

      Touching for King's Evil.—The following passage bearing upon the custom of touching for the King's Evil, and its antiquity, is extracted from Laing's translation of Snorro Sturleson's Heimskringla. King Olaf the Rich, afterwards Saint, had fled to Russia on being driven out of his kingdom by Knut the Great. Ingigerd, Queen of Russia, desired a widow to take her son, who "had a sore boil upon his neck," to King Olaf, "the best physician here, and beg him to lay his hands on thy lad." The king was unwilling to do so, saying that he was not a physician; but at last consented:

      "Then the king took the lad, laid his hands upon his neck, and felt the boil for a long time, until the boy made a very wry face. Then the king took a piece of bread, laid it in the figure of the cross upon the palm of his hand, and put it into the boy's mouth. He swallowed it down, and from that time all the soreness left his neck, and in a few days he was quite well.... Then first came Olaf into the repute of having as much healing power in his hands as is ascribed to men who have been gifted by nature with healing by the touch."

      Laing asks in a note:

      "Is the touching for the King's Evil … connected with this royal saint's healing by the touch?"—The Heimskringla, vol. ii. p. 297., 8vo.: London, 1844.

De Camera.

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