AZ. BA. BB. BC. BD. BE. Harland and Wilkinson, Lancashire Legends, duo. Harland (J.), and Wilkinson (T. T.), Lancashire Folklore, duo. 1867. 1873. 1887. BF. BG. BH. BI. BJ. BK. BL. BM. BN. Howell (J.), Lexicon Tetraglotton (Proverbs, 1659), fol. 1660. Hunt (R.), Popular Romances of the West of England, 8vo. 1872. Hunter (J.), Hallamshire Glossary, duo. 1829. Illustrated London News, fol. 1880. Inwards (R.) Weather Lore, duo. 1869. Leigh (E.), Ballads and Legends of Cheshire, 8vo. 1867. Lower (M. A.), English Surnames, ii., 8vo. 1875. CD. Norfolk Garland, ed. Glyde, 8vo. 1872. Northamptonshire Notes and Queries, ii., 8vo. 1886, etc. CL. CM. CN. CP. CQ. CR. CS. CT. CU. Notts Facts and Fictions (J. P. Briscoe), 8vo. 1876-7. 1877. Poole (C. H.), Customs, Legends, and Superstitions of Staffs., Ray (J.), English Proverbs (1670), duo., reprint. 1818. Suffolk Garland, The, 8vo. 1818. CV. Suffolk Garland, The New, ed. Glyde, 8vo. 1866. CY. Western Antiquary, The, vi., qto. 1881, etc. CZ. Wright (T.), Essays on Archæological Subjects, ii., 8vo. 1861. ENGLISH FOLK-RHYMES. PLACES AND PERSONS. ENGLAND. England were but a fling, Save for the crooked stick and the grey-goose wing. -Spoken of the high character of our archery. AU.: Fuller's Worthies, etc. etc. He that England will win Must with Ireland first begin. Ireland furnishes England with a number of able men, provisions, AU.: Fuller's Worthies: Fynes Moryson's Itinerary, 1617. This proverb probably had its rise in the popular discontent felt in Ireland at the system of plantation, which was carried into force there during the reign of James I. See Conditions to be observed by the Adventurers, etc., 1609.-BC. 200. But the saying was more anciently applied to SCOTLAND. See Hall's Chronicle, 1548; Holinshed's Chronicle, 1577; Famous Victories of Henry V., 1598, apud Hazlitt's Shakespear Library, v. 350, where it is quoted as "the old saying." The perturbed and weak state of Scotland at the time of the Protector Somerset's expedition into that then independent kingdom, probably occasioned this proverbial expression. BC. 198. The north for greatness, the east for health, The south for neatness, the west for wealth.-Fuller. Aubrey, Royal Soc. MS., fol. 24, gives— The north for largeness, the east for health, The south for building, the west for wealth.-AN. 243. B When Hempe is spun This is a popish prediction, edited before the defeat of the Armada. The word HEMPE is formed of the letters H.E.M.P.E., the initials of Henry, Edward, Mary, Philip, and Elizabeth, and supposes to threaten that after the reigns of these princes England would be lost, i.e. conquered. . . . Some interpret the distich more literally; supposing it meant that when all the hemp in England was expended, there would be an end of our naval force; which would indeed be fact, if no more could be procured. AU. Yet to keep this proverb in countenance, it may pretend to some truth, because then England, with the addition of Scotland, lost its name in Great Britain, by royal proclamation. Fuller. Alias When Our Lady falls in our Lord's lap Then England beware a mishap. sad clap. Then let the clergyman look to his cap. This is supposed to be a kind of popish prophetical menace, coined since the Reformation, intimating that the Virgin Mary, offended at the English nation for abolishing the worship of her before that event, waited for an opportunity of revenge, and when her day, March 25, chanced to fall on the same day with Christ's Resurrection, then she, strengthened by her Son's assistance, would inflict some remarkable punishment on the kingdom. This conjunction, it was calculated, would happen in the year 1722; but we do not learn that anything happened in consequence, either to the nation, or to the caps or wigs of the clergy. AU. From AT. (1840) we gather that . . . Elias Ashmole computed it had happened fifteen times since the Conquest, and gave the principal events of those years. Fuller says, speaking after 1543-"Hitherto this proverb had but intermitting truth at the most, seeing no constancy in sad casualties. But the sting, some will say, is in the tail thereof," etc. He then gives the years 1554, 1627, 1638,_1649, and quotes their events thus: i. Queen Mary setteth up Popery, and martyreth Protestants. ii. The unprosperous voyage to the Isle of Rees. iii. The first cloud of trouble in Scotland. iv. The first complete year of the English Commonwealth (or tyranny rather), which since, blessed be God, is returned to a monarchy. Hazlitt, Proverbs (1882), p. 475, gives this version When Easter Day falls on Our Lady's lap And adds-Easter fell on March 25, the day alluded to, in 1459, when Henry VI. was deposed and murdered; in 1638, when the Scottish troubles began, on which ensued the great trouble in 1640-9, when Charles the First was beheaded. Current Notes, January, 1853, P. 3. When the black fleet of Norway is come and gone, For after, wars you shall have none. AU. Fuller says "Some make it fulfilled in the year eightyeight, when the Spanish fleet was beaten, the name of whose king, as a learned author (The Lord Bacon in his Essays,* p. 215) doth observe, was Norway. It is true that afterwards England built houses of lime and stone; and our most handsome and artificial buildings (though formerly far greater and stronger) bear their date from the defeating of the Spanish fleet. As for the remainder, After, wars you shall have none,' we find it false as to our civil wars by our woful experience." When the sand feeds the clay, But when the clay feeds the sand, It is merry with England. The clay lands in England are to those of a sandy soil as five to one, and equally or more fertile. If, from a wet season, the sandy lands succeed, and the clay lands miss, only one-fifth of the crop is produced that there would have been, had the contrary happened this, as the proverb expresses, is a national misfortune. AU.: Fuller; BK. 17; AK. 61. Another version is When the sand doth feed the clay, On Prophecies. The lines as there given are: There shall be seen upon a day Between the Baugh and May, CG. ix. 149. |