Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/497

 9» s. vi. NOV. 24, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 413 the evening of 28 Sept. seems to be somewhat an unwarrantable course. We are bound to accept the Jewish calendar as wo have reason to suppose it to have been ; we cannot take liberties with it in order to suit a foregone conclusion. _ However,allowing,for the sake of considera- tion, that 1 Nisan corresponded to 25 March, A.D. 30, 15 Nisar, the day of the Passover, would fall on 8 April ; but the moon was at its "full " at fifteen minutes to twelve on the night of 6 April in that year, conse- quently, according to the theory suggested, the Passover would have been celebrated nearly twenty-four hours after the full moon, an eventuality which can scarcely be accepted without positive and- direct evidence, the coincidence of the Passover with the day of the full moon being of the greatest import- ance in the Jewish calendar. F. E. HASTINGS. "HALF MOON" TAVERN: "THE MAYPOLE" (9th S. vi. 168, 257, 356).—I have examined in New York the Augustin Daly collection of London views, the largest and most complete in the world outside of the British Museum, Guildhall, and Gardner collections, and can- not find any trace of the " Half Moon" Tavern, Cheapside. Your correspondent J. H. M. is not quite correct in placing the site of the tavern as 140, Cheapside. No. 140 is the location of Half Moon Alley, which was between Foster and Gutter Lanes; but the north side of the celebrated tavern stood upon the line of Priest's Court, which is entered from No. 5, Foster Lane. Elias Ash- mole did not preside at a Masonic banquet in this tavern in 1682. His exact words as found in his diary are : " We all dyned at the Halfe-Moon-Tavern in Cheapside, at a Noble dinner prepaired at the charge of the New Accepted Masons." The Master of the lodge would certainly preside. The error as to Ashtnole's part at the dinner has been re- peated for years. I have never seen any cor- rection of it in print. As a Mason with a knowledge of the original records, I think it is about time that the error should be noted. J. ROSS KOBERTSON. Toronto, Canada. "HATTOCK." (9th S. vi. 308).—Has this no other meaning than the two assigned to it in the ' H.E.D.'? Perhaps fairies are not reason- able beings, but whether they be or not, it seems foolish of them to continue the cry "Horse and hattock" when they are mounted, en route, and, it may be supposed, properly attired for their journey. The letter of Aubrey's friend in Scotland, dated 25 March, 1695, may be cited as of interest in this case. It relates a story "concerning one of the Lord Duffus (in the shire of Murray), his prediccssors [sir] of whom it is reported, that upon a time, when he was walking abroad in the fields near to his own house, he was suddenly carried away, and found the next day at Paris in the French king s cellar with a silver cup in his hand: and that being brought into the king s presence and questioned by him who he was? and how became thither? he told his name, his country, and the place of his residence, and that on such a day of the month (which proved to be the day immediately preceding), being in the fields, he heard the noise of a whirl-wind, and of voices crying Horse and Hattock (this is the word which the fairies are said to use when they remove from any place), whereupon he cried (Horse and Hattock) also, and was immediately caught up and transported through the air by the fairies to that place The gentleman by whose means I came to know the Lord Duffus's sentiment of the foregoing story, being tutor to his lordship's eldest son, told me another little passage of the same nature, whereof he was an eyewitness. He reports that when he was a boy at school in the town of Forres he and his school-fellows were upon a time whipping their tops in the church-yard before the door of the church ; though the day was calm they heard a noise of a wind, and at some distance saw the small dust begin to arise and turn round, which motion continued, advancing till it came to the place where they were; whereupon they begun to bless themselves : but one of their number (being, it seems, a little more bold and confident than his companions), said Horse and Hattock with my top, and immediately they all saw the top lifted up from the ground and it was found afterwards^n the church-yard on the other side of the church."— ' Miscellanies,' pp. 149-51. One of the German wild huntsmen, Hackel- block, cries "Hoto, hoto!" as he rushes through the air. Once, when a young man was bold enough to mock the sound, Hackelblock set the spectre hounds upon him, and he was no more seen ('Teut. Mythology,' vol. iii. p. 921). An anonymoms equestrian ghost in Saxony exclaims " Wod wod, hoho, hallo !" (p. 928.) I mention these examples to suggest a com- parison of the strange whoops indulged in by aerial equestrians. ST. SWITHIN. In addition to the explanation given by tho Editor from the 'H.E.D.,'I find by the dic- tionaries of N. Bailey, Halliwell, and Annan- dale that it also means a shock of corn, containing twelve sheaves. See also ' N. & Q.,' 8th S. xi. 446; xii. 112. EVERAED HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road. THE ELEANOR CROSS, WALTHAM (9th S. vi. 21), 296, 353).—It is not correct "that the ancient finial cross was [or is] in the gardens of the ' Four Swans' Inn " at Waltham. The actual work of restoration connected with this historical cross was entrusted to myself in