The second Tuesday after Easter, was another very important day in
bygone times. At Chingford, the ward-staff was presented in court on
Hock-day. John Ross, of Warwick, records that, on the death of
Hardicanute, England was delivered from Danish servitude; and to
commemorate this deliverance, on the day commonly called Hock Tuesday,
the people of the villages are accustomed to pull in parties at each end
of a rope, and to indulge in other jokes. The Hock-tide sports were
kept up at Hexton, in Hertfordshire, in the time of Elizabeth, and are
described in Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire. Hock-day was usually set apart
for a love-day, law-day, or court-leet. This court could be held but
twice in the year, and was generally held at Hock-tide and Michaelmas,
or Martinmas, since a court on these days would not interfere much with
agricultural operations. Leets, like most other gatherings, ended with
good cheer. In the thirteenth century, when the officers of East Monkton
attended the Hundred courts at Deverell--which were held at Hock-tide
and Martinmas--they were allowed a loaf and a piece of meat each. A
feast following a court-leet or law-day, was called a leet-ale, or
scot-ale, as ale is said to mean no more than a feast. There were
leet-ales and scot-ales, church-ales, clerk-ales, bid-ales, and
bride-ales. Scot-ales were often abused, and made means of extortion.
The bishops, the judges, and all the king's men in vain tried to
suppress them. All persons present at a scot-ale paid _scot_,--that is,
a fine, or fee; the money raised nominally furnished a feast, but was
really for the benefit of the chief officer of the court--the portreeve,
head borough, or third borough. In some places, leet-ale was not
entirely supported by subscription. In Tollard, on the edge of Cranborne
Chase, the steward was allowed on the law-day to have a course at a deer
out of Tollard Park. At Bovey Tracy, the profits of the Portreeve's Park
defrayed the expenses of the annual revel. The Glastonbury Rental
describes the mode of keeping the scot-ales in Wiltshire, in the
thirteenth century. The customs are very like those of ancient Guilds.
By the rules of the Guild of the Holy Ghost at Abingdon, members who sat
down at dinner paid one rate, and members who stood for want of room
paid another.