The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 385, August 15, 1829

MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS

CURIOUS CEREMONY OF DRIVING DEER THROUGH THE WATER (FORMERLY PRACTISED) IN LYME PARK, CHESHIRE

(For the Mirror.)

Ormerod, in his splendid History of Cheshire, says, "The park of Lyme, which is very extensive, is celebrated for the fine flavour of its venison, and contains a herd of wild cattle, the remains of a breed which has been kept here from time immemorial, and is supposed indigenous. In the last century a custom was observed here of driving the deer round the park about Midsummer, or rather earlier, collecting them in a body before the house, and then swimming them through a pool of water, with which the exhibition terminated." There is a large print of it by Vivares, after a painting by T. Smith, representing Lyme Park during the performance of the annual ceremony, with the great Vale of Cheshire and Lancashire, as far as the Rivington Hills in the distance, and in the foreground the great body of the deer passing through the pool, the last just entering it, and the old stags emerging on the opposite bank, two of which are contending with their fore-feet, the horns at that season being too tender to combat with. This "art of driving the deer" like a herd of ordinary cattle, is stated on a monument, at Disley, to have been first perfected by Joseph Watson, who died in 1753, at the age of 104, "having been park-keeper at Lyme more than sixty-four years." The custom, however, appears not to have been peculiar to Lyme, as Dr. Whitaker describes, in his Account of Townley, (the seat of a collateral line of Legh,) "near the summit of the park, and where it declines to the south, the remains of a large pool, through which tradition reports that the deer were driven by their keepers in the manner still practised in the park at Lyme."⁸

Lyme Park is situated near the road from Manchester to London, through Buxton, adjacent to the picturesque village of Disley.

Lyme Hall is the seat of the principal of the ancient family of Leghs. Perkins à Legh, a Norman, who was buried in Macclesfield Church, rendered considerable services in the battle of Cressy, for which he was presented with the estate and lordship of Lyme. The building is, in part, of the date of Elizabeth; and the other a regular structure, from a design of Leoni.

P.T.W.

STANNARY PARLIAMENT

(For the Mirror.)

In the Forest of Dartmoor, Devonshire, between Tavistock and Chegford, is a high hill, called Crocken Tor, where the tinners of this county are obliged by their charter to assemble their parliaments, or the jurats who are commonly gentlemen within the jurisdiction, chosen from the four stannary courts of coinage in this county, of which the lord-warden is judge. The jurats being met to the number sometimes of two or three hundred, in this desolate place, are quite exposed to the weather and have no other place to sit upon but a moor-stone bench, and no refreshments but what they bring with them; for this reason the steward immediately adjourns the court to Tavistock, or some other stannary town.

HALBERT H.

DOWRUCK

In different parts of the North of England it is customary for the labouring men to come before their masters at the close of their dowruck (day's work,) and inform him of their labours; the number of hours their work took them are cut in notches upon an ash stick, and at the end of the week when the men are paid, the stick is produced, which immediately shows what each man is entitled to.

W.H.H.

FAITOUR LANE,

Or as it is now called, Fetter Lane, is a term used by Chaucer, for an idle fellow. The propriety of its denomination is indisputable.

W.H.H.

ROBIN HOOD

At Brough Sowerby, in Westmoreland, is an ale-house bearing the sign of Robin Hood, with the following lines beneath it:—

 
"Good frinds, good frinds, my ale is good.
It is the sign of Robin Hood,
If Robin Hood be not at hoame,
Step in and drink with Littel Johne."
 

W.H.H.

JACK OF HILTON, THE BRAZEN IMAGE, ALIAS AN AEOLIPILE

(For the Mirror.)

Dr. Plot, in his History of Staffordshire, says, "The following service is due from the Lord of Essington, in Staffordshire, to the Lord of Hilton, about a mile distant, viz. that the Lord of the Manor of Essington, shall bring a goose every New year's day, and drive it round the fire in the hall at Hilton, at least three times, whilst Jack of Hilton is blowing the fire. Now Jack of Hilton is a little hollow image of brass, of about twelve inches high, kneeling upon his left knee, and holding his right hand upon his head, having a little hole in the place of the mouth, about the bigness of a great pin's head, and another in the back about two-thirds of an inch diameter, at which last hole it is filled with water, it holding about four pints and a quarter, which when set to a strong fire, evaporates after the same manner as in an Aeolipile, and vents itself at the smaller hole at the mouth in a constant blast, blowing the fire so strongly that it is very audible, and makes a sensible impression on that part of the fire where the blast lights, as I found by experience, May 26, 1680. After the Lord of Essington, or his deputy, or bayliffe, has driven the goose round the fire (at least three times) whilst this image blows it, he carries it into the kitchen of Hilton Hall, and delivers it to the cook, who having dressed it, the Lord of Essington, or his bayliffe, by way of further service, brings it to the table of the Lord paramount of Hilton and Essington, and receives a dish of meat from the said Lord of Hilton's table, for his own mess."

The Aeolipile, in hydraulics, is an instrument consisting of a hollow metallic ball, with a slender neck or pipe, arising from it. This being filled with water, and thus exposed to the fire, produces a vehement blast of wind.

This instrument, Des Cartes and others, have made use of, to account for the natural cause and generation of wind; and hence its name, Aeolipile, pila Aeoli, Aeolus's ball.

In Italy it is said that the Aeolipile is commonly made use of to cure smoky chimneys; for being hung over the fire, the blast arising from it carries up the loitering smoke along with it. This instrument was known to the ancients, and is mentioned by Vitruvius.

Some late authors have discovered the extraordinary use to which the frauds of the heathen priesthood applied the Aeolipile, viz. the working of sham miracles. Besides Jack of Hilton, which had been an ancient Saxon, image, or idol, Mr. Weber shows, that Pluster, a celebrated German idol, is also of the Aeolipile kind, and in virtue thereof, could do noble feats: being filled with a fluid, and then set on the fire, it would be covered with sweat, and as the heat increased, would at length burst out into flames.

An Aeolipile of great antiquity, made of brass, was some years since dug up on the site of the Basingstoke Canal, and presented to the Antiquarian Society of London. Instead of being globular, with a bent tube, it is in the form of a grotesque human figure, and the blast proceeds from its mouth.

P.T.W.

ORIGIN OF WEARING THE VEIL

(For the Mirror.)

The origin of the veil is referred by the Greeks to modesty and bashfulness.

About thirty furlongs from the city of Sparta, Icarius placed a statue of MODESTY, for the purpose of perpetuating the following incident:—Icarius having married his daughter to Ulysses, solicited his son-in-law to fix his household in Sparta, and remain there with his wife, to which Ulysses would not consent.

Icarius made the request to his daughter, conjuring her not to abandon him, but seeing her ready to depart with Ulysses, for Ithaca, he redoubled his efforts to detain her, nor could he be prevailed on to desist from following the chariot on the way.

Ulysses wearied with the importunities of Icarius, said to his wife, "You can best answer this request; it is yours to determine whether you will remain with your father at Sparta, or depart with your husband for Ithaca; you are mistress of the decision."

The beautiful Penelope finding herself in this dilemma, blushed, and without making the least reply, drew her veil over her face, thereby intimating a denial to her father's request, and sunk into the arms of her husband.

Icarius, very sensibly affected by this behaviour, and being desirous of transmitting it to posterity by the most durable monument, consecrated a statue to Modesty, on the very spot where Penelope had thrown the veil over her face; that after her it might be a universal symbol of delicacy among the fair sex.

C.K.W.

The manners of the Welsh must have been even less delicate than those of the Anglo-Saxons; for they thought it necessary to make a law, "that none of the courtiers should give the queen a blow, or snatch any thing with violence from her, under the penalty of incurring her majesty's displeasure."