"_Largesse_" (Vol. v., p. 557.; Vol. ix., p. 209.).--The use of this word
is not confined to Essex and Northamptonshire, but extends also to Norfolk.
It is met with in many parishes in the western division of Norfolk: where,
at the time of harvest, after accompanying the last load of corn home with
the procession of the "Harvest Lady," it is customary that the labourers on
the several farms should go round their respective parishes, and collect
various sums of money, under the name of _largesse_, at the houses of the
chief inhabitants, whether lay or clerical. Few were to be met with who
refused this species of "black mail" thus levied on them; doubtless
regarding it as one out of many means of testifying their thankfulness to
the "Lord of the Harvest" for "filling their mouth with good things," and
giving them an abundance of "corn and wine and oil."
[Sigma].
This word is of common occurrence in Suffolk during the shooting season,
where sportsmen are affrays greeted with it, for a donation, by the
labourers on the land where game is sought for.