Several correspondents who treat of Lancashire matters do not appear to be
sufficiently careful to ascertain the correct designations of the places
mentioned in their communications. In a late number Mr. J.G. NICHOLS gave
some very necessary corrections to CLERICUS CRAVENSIS respecting his note
on the "Capture of King Henry VI." (Vol. ii., p. 181.); and I have now to
remind H.C. (Vol. ii., p. 268.) that "Haughton Castle" ought to be "Hoghton
Tower, near Blackburn, Lancashire." Hoghton Tower and Whittle Springs have
of late been much resorted to by pic-nic parties from neighbouring towns;
and from the interesting scenery and splendid prospects afforded by these
localities, they richly deserve to be classed among the _lions_ of
Lancashire. It is not improbable that the far-famed beauties and rugged
grandeur of "The Horr" may, for the time, have rendered it impossible for
H.C. to attend to orthography and the simple designation "Hoghton Tower,"
and hence the necessity for the present Note.
The popular tradition of the knighting of the Sirloin has found its way
into many publications of a local tendency, and, amongst the rest, into the
graphic _Traditions of Lancashire_, by the late Mr. Roby, whose premature
death in the Orion steamer we have had so recently to deplore. Mr. Roby,
however, is not disposed to treat the subject very seriously; for after
stating that Dr. Morton had preached before the king on the duty of
obedience, "inasmuch as it was rendered to the vicegerent of heaven, the
high and mighty and puissant James, Defender of the Faith, and so forth,"
he adds:--
"After this comfortable and gracious doctrine, there was a rushbearing
and a piping before the king in the great quadrangle. Robin Hood and
Maid Marian, with the fool and Hobby Horse, were, doubtless, enacted to
the jingling of morris-dancers and other profanities. These fooleries
put the king into such good humour, that he was more witty in his
speech than ordinary. Some of these sayings have been recorded, and
amongst the rest, _that well-known quibble which has been the origin of
an absurd mistake, still current through the county, respecting the
sirloin_. The occasion, as far as we have been able to gather, was
thus. Whilst he sat at meat, casting his eyes upon a noble _surloin_ at
the lower end of the table, he cried out, 'Bring hither that _surloin_,
sirrah, for 'tis worthy a more honourable post, being, as I may say,
not _sur_-loin, but _sir_-loin, the noblest joint of all;' which
ridiculous and desperate pun raised the wisdom and reputation of
England's Solomon to the highest."--_Traditions_, vol. ii. pp. 190-1.
Most probably Mr. Roby's view of the matter is substantially correct; for
although _tradition_ never fails to preserve the remembrance of
transactions too trivial, or perhaps too indistinct for sober history to
narrate, the _existence_ of a tradition does not necessarily _prove_, or
even _require_, that the myth should have had its foundation in fact.
Had the circumstance really taken place as tradition prescribes, it would
probably have obtained a greater permanency than oral recital; for during
the festivities at Hoghton Tower, on the occasion of the visit of the
"merrie monarch", there was present a gentleman after Captain Cuttle's own
heart, who would most assuredly have made a note of it. This was Nicholas
Assheton, Esq., of Downham, whose _Journal_, as Dr. Whitaker well observes,
furnishes an invaluable record of "our ancestors of the parish of Whalley,
not merely in the universal circumstances of birth, marriage, and death,
but acting and suffering in their individual characters; their businesses,
sports, bickerings, carousings, and, such as it was, religion." This worthy
chronicler thus describes the King's visit:--
"August 15. (1617). The king came to Preston; ther, at the crosse, Mr.
Breares, the lawyer, made a speche, and the corporn presented him with
a bowle; and then the king went to a banquet in the town-hall, and soe
away to Houghton: ther a speche made. Hunted, and killed a stagg. Wee
attend on the lords' table.
"August 16, Houghton. The king hunting: a great companie: killed affore
dinner a brace of staggs. Verie hot: soe hee went in to dinner. Wee
attend the lords' table, abt four o'clock the king went downe to the
Allome mynes, and was ther an hower, and viewed them p[re]ciselie, and
then went and shott at a stagg, and missed. Then my Lord Compton had
lodged two brace. The king shott again, and brake the thigh-bone. A
dogg long in coming, and my Lo. Compton shott agn and killed him. Late
in to supper.
"Aug. 17, Houghton. Wee served the lords with biskett, wyne, and
jellie. The Bushopp of Chester, Dr. Morton, p[re]ched before the king.
To dinner. Abt four o'clock, ther was a rush-bearing and piping affore
them, affore the king in the middle court; then to supp. Then abt ten
or eleven o'clock, a maske of noblemen, knights, gentlemen, and
courtiers, affore the king, in the middle round, in the garden. Some
speeches: of the rest, dancing the Huckler, Tom Bedlo, and the Cowp
Justice of Peace.
"Aug. 18. The king went away abt twelve to Lathome."
The journalist who would note so trivial a circumstance as the heat of the
weather, was not likely to omit the knighting of the Sirloin, if it really
occurred; and hence, in the absence of more positive proof, we are disposed
to take Mr. Roby's view of the case, and treat it as one of the thousand
and one pleasant stories which "rumour with her hundred tongues" ever
circulates amongst the peasantry of a district where some royal visit, or
{332} other unexpected memorable occurrence, has taken place.
But this is not the only "pleasant conceit" of which the "merrie monarch"
is said to have delivered himself during his visit to Hoghton Tower. On the
way from Preston his attention was attracted by a huge boulder stone which
lay in the roadside, and was still in existence not a century ago. "O' my
saul," cried he, "that meikle stane would build a bra' chappin block for my
Lord Provost. Stop! there be letters thereon: unto what purport?" Several
voices recited the inscription:--
"_Turn me o're, an I'le tel thee plaine._"
"Then turn it ower," said the monarch, and a long and laborious toil
brought to light the following satisfactory intelligence:--
"_Hot porritch makes hard cake soft,_
_So torne me o'er againe._"
"My saul," said the king, "ye shall gang roun' to yere place again: these
country gowks mauna ken the riddle without the labour." As a natural
consequence, Sir Richard Hoghton's "great companie" would require a
correspondingly great quantity of provisions; and the tradition in the
locality is, that the subsequent poverty of the family was owing to the
enormous expenses incurred under this head; the following characteristic
anecdote being usually cited in confirmation of the current opinion. During
one of the hunting excursions the king is said to have left his attendants
for a short time, in order to examine a numerous herd of horned cattle then
grazing in what are now termed the "Bullock Pastures," most of which had
probably been provided for the occasion. A day or two afterwards, being
hunting in the same locality, he made inquiry respecting the cattle, and
was told, in no good-humoured way, by a herdsman unacquainted with his
person, that they were all gone to feast the beastly king and his
gluttonous company. "By my saul," exclaimed the king, as he left the
herdsman, "then 'tis e'en time for me to gang too:" and accordingly, on the
following morning, he set out for Lathom House.
In conclusion, allow me to ask the correspondents to the "NOTES AND
QUERIES," what is meant by "dancing the _Huckler_, _Tom Bedlo_, and the
_Cowp Justice of Peace_?"