_Dog-whipping Day in Hull._--There was some time since the singular
custom in Hull, of whipping all the dogs that were found running about
the streets on October 10; and some thirty years since, when I was a
boy, so common was the practice, that every little urchin considered it
his duty to prepare a whip for any unlucky dog that might be seen in the
streets on this day. This custom is now obsolete, those "putters down"
of all boys' play in the streets--the new police--having effectually
stopped this cruel pastime of the Hull boys. Perhaps some of your
readers may be able to give a more correct origin of this singular
custom than the one I now give from tradition:
"Previous to the suppression of monasteries in Hull, it was the
custom for the monks to provide liberally for the poor and the
wayfarer who came to the fair, held annually on the 11th of
October; and while busy in this necessary preparation the day
before the fair, a dog strolled into the larder, snatched up a
joint of meat and decamped with it. The cooks gave the alarm; and
when the dog got into the street, he was pursued by the expectants
of the charity of the monks, who were waiting outside the gate, and
made to give up the stolen joint. Whenever, after this, a dog
showed his face, while this annual preparation was going on, he was
instantly beaten off. Eventually this was taken up by the boys;
and, until the introduction of the new police, was rigidly put in
practice by them every 10th of October."
I write this on October 10, 1853: and so effectually has this custom
been suppressed, that I have neither seen nor heard of any dog having
been this day whipped according to ancient custom.