This was a puppet, formerly thrown at, in our own country, during Lent,
like Shrove-cocks. Thus, in “The Weakest goes to the Wall,” 1600, we
read of “a mere anatomy, a _Jack of Lent_;” and in Greene’s “Tu quoque,”
of “a boy that is throwing at his _Jack o’ Lent_;” and again, in the
comedy of “Lady Alimony,” 1659:
---------“Throwing cudgels
At _Jack a Lents_ or Shrove-cocks.”
Also, in Ben Jonson’s “Tale of a Tub:”
--------“On an Ash-Wednesday,
When thou didst stand six weeks the _Jack o’ Lent_,
For boys to hurl three throws a penny at thee.”
So, likewise, in Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Tamer tamed:”
-------“If I forfeit,
Make me a _Jack o’ Lent_, and break my shins
For untagg’d points and counters.”
Further, in Quarles’ “Shepheard’s Oracles,” 1646, we read:
“How like a _Jack a Lent_
He stands, for boys to spend their Shrove-tide throws,
Or like a puppet made to frighten crows.”[72]
From the “Jack o’ _Lent_,” we derive the familiar term among children,
“Jack o’ _Lanthorn_.”
[72] Brand’s Popular Antiquities.
* * * * *
~Shrove Tuesday~