Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/277

 10*8. III. MARCH 25, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

225

phrase which I never saw. A hirsel is a flock of lambs, or a fold of Iambs, I think. Hirsle may be a form of hustle, que s<-ais-je f"

The contention between Mr. Lang and his correspondent about the respective values of " birses " and " hirsles " may be left to them- selves for settlement; but as what is said of "hirsles yont" is likely to be widely mis- leading, a word on the subject here may not be amiss. Any one reasonably familiar with the language of the Scottish peasantry and none other should venture to speak authori- tatively on the subject knows that "hirsles yont" means "moves heavily along," or " moves with a rustling sound," according to the definition of Picken in the glossary to his ' Miscellaneous Poems.' If Mr. Lang, by some chance, should happen to be the fifth in a line of spectators seated abreast on a three- barred gate, a ploughman coming up and desirous of being a sixth companion might ask him to "hirsle yont a wee bittie," and Mr. Lang might then illustrate his courtesy to the detriment of his tweeds. The exact expression " hirsles yont " may not be very common, but " hirsles " in a context involving the meaning indicated should be familiar to every expert in Scottish literature. Gavin Douglas uses the spelling "hirsill" in trans- lating SEneid,' v. 163, where Gyas asks Menoetes to hug the shore, adding, "et Isevas stringat sine palmula cautes." Douglas renders this

And suffir that the palnies of our airis Hirsill on the craig almaist,

that is, allow the blades of the oars to graze or rub on the crag or jagged rock. Radimus of '^Eneid,' iii. 700, Douglas appropriately translates "hirssillit we." The word is fairly common in Scottish authors from the six- teenth to the nineteenth century. Mr. Lang is reported to have edited the Waverley novels, and if so he surely cannot fail to have seen " hirselled doun into the glen " in a notable passage of ' Guy Mannering,' and a further use of the word with reference to Erick's steps in ' The Pirate.' He will find the difference between this verb and the noun " hirsell," a flock, by referring to Jamieson's ' Scottish Dictionary.' THOMAS BAYNE.

HASWELL FAMILY. Every antiquary, if not every parish incumbent, now recognizes the importance of perpetuating in print and circulating all the MS. records of family history embedded in our various local registers, and even in family Bibles and, casually, in books in our old libraries. I have no hesitation, therefore, in asking you to find space for the following facts, preserved

in an old Bible and Prayer-Book, " imprinted* at London by Bonham Norton & John Bill,. 1626," in my possession :

1. Elizebeth Haswell, the [daughter] of Edward [and] Mary Haswell, was borne 30 of January, 1709/10.

2. Sara, the Daughtor [sic] of Edward and Sara- Haswell, was Borned [sic] April! 10th, 1714.

3. Anne Haswell, the daughter [of] Edward and* Sarah Haswell, was borne October 4, 1719.

4. Mary Haswall, the daughter of Edw. and Sarah Haswell, was borne March 30, 172*2.

Who the Haswells were, or where they lived, I have no record to tell. Some of your readers, however, may find these facts of use to them.

One other interesting peculiarity of this book is that it attests the ravages of the storm to which, as Macaulay pointed out, Addison adroitly compared Marlborough. On the fly-leaf facing "The Whole Book of Psalms : Collected into English Meeter by Thomas Sternhold," &c., some one has written the significant words :

"In the 26 day of November, 1703, the hard wind which blew down the trees and the pinnacle of the curches [sic] drowned the mash [sic ; ? master, but the h seems certain ; ? marsh]."

PETER MONTFORT.

PANCAKE DAY. Some fifty odd years ago Shrove Tuesday was in many Midland villages the holiday of the year a holiday which one and all looked forward to for weeks before, for then pancakes came only once in a twelve- month, and then it was of the nature of a con- test who could eat the more, not only amongst the children, but amongst the "betters," for country life and work made men good at trencher, whether in pancakes or in hunks of bread and the "hunchers" of bacon. Then the day brought a long half-holiday, for as soon as the Pancake Bell began to ring, at eleven o'clock forenoon, work in field and at school was thrown up, and one and all hasted to the pancake feast, which by noon was in full swing. In every house an hour and more was given to this once-a-year meal of pancakes, and the mother of each home had for the time a hard task when dealing with a large family of good appetites. Usually it was a whole morning's work to prepare the batter, and keep a good and suitable fire going for the purpose of frying, as it was a. point of some importance with her to have a pile ready on a stand close to the fire, to which she added as they came off the " pan." The pan was not necessarily of metal a shallow dish with a handle but was mostly a slab of thin stone, taken from quarries where the stone lay in thin slabs suitable for the purpose. There is a moor in North-East