The rock thus named, lies off the harbour at Harrington, on the
coast of Cumberland, and is only visible at low water during spring
tides.
The Gleemen, or Waits, as the Christmas minstrels are called, still
keep up their annual rounds, with song and salutation, and with a
heartiness and zeal, which have been well described by the great
Poet of the Lake district in those feeling and admirable verses to
his brother, Dr. Wordsworth, prefixed to his Sonnets on the River
Duddon.
In the parish of Muncaster, on the eve of the new year, the
children go from house to house, singing a ditty, which craves the
bounty, "_they were wont to have, in old king Edward's days_."
There is no tradition whence this custom arose; the donation is
two-pence or a pie at every house. Mr. Jefferson suggests, may
not the name have been altered from Henry to Edward? and may it
not have an allusion to the time when King Henry the sixth was
entertained at Muncaster Castle in his flight from his enemies?