Page:A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages.djvu/250

 230 Hijiory of 'Domejlic Manners here played by females, but, in other illuminations, or drawings, the players are boys or men — the latter plainly indicated by their beards. The word hoodman-blind is not found at an earlier period than the Elizabethan age, yet this name, from its allufion to the coftume, was No. 160. The Game of Hoodman-bllnd. evidently older. A perfonage in Shakefpeare (Hamlet, Act iii. Scene 4) aiks — What dei'il ivas V That thus hath co^en d you at hoodman-blind ? Hot-cockles feems formerly to have been a very favourite game. One of No. 161. A Game at Hot-cockles. the players was blindfolded, and knelt down, with his face on the knee of another, and his hand held out flat behind him ; the other players in turn ftruck him on the hand, and he was obliged to guefs at the name of the