Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/251

 then have them placed in the stocks for drunkenness and disorderly conduct.

The Lancashire proverbial saying, "As drunk as blazes," is probably corrupted from "as drunk as Blaizers." The day of Bishop Blaize, February 3, the patron saint of the wool-combers, is celebrated every seventh year by a procession of the masters and workmen in the woollen manufacture. The procession is accompanied by music, maskers, morris-dancers, &c., and the festivities of the latter part of the day become, for the most part, drunken orgies. Hence, probably, the origin of the saying.

When a person is much addicted to talking unnecessarily, he is often said to be able to "Talk a horse's leg off;" and there is a variation of this saying which asserts that such a one will "Talk th' leg off a brass pan." God bless hur! Aw could eyt hur to a thum-butter-cake, that aw cud.

Dun yo think yon chap's o his weft in? He's summat like Owd Calamity wur, when they tee'd him deawn i bed and then shavet his toppin. He beeats Wrynot; an Wrynot beats the Dule, he does. It is not the hen that cackles most that lays most eggs. Jackasses never can sing well, because they pitch their notes too high. A mouse that has only one hole is easily taken.

A woman's tongue wags like a lamb's tail.