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Page xxi:-
idea of them at so great a distance of time. The porch
before the house is still to be seen; the threshold, (or
freshwood, for it is part of a wooden frame that contains
the door,) hath still a degree of sanctity belonging to it,
and certain charms are still remembered which had their
effect only in that place. The
Προδομοσ
and Επιρισ
correspond very well with the Mill-doors and Hallen, and
also by their covering the entrance into the house, afford a
good explanation of the word vestibulum, the
derivation of which has been so perplexing to grammarians.
The Bower still preserves the meaning and use of the
Penetrale,
τοοΕνδομυζον,
in which the principal persons of the family slept; and the
internal door of the entry formed of wicker-work is a sort
of relic of that art of weaving twigs and osiers of which
frequent mention occurs in various authors: the
old-fashioned furniture also, with its embossed figures and
letters, reminds one of the ancient mode of carrying goblets
and other vessels, as mentioned in various authors, but
particularly in Theocritus. I am well aware that such
resemblances as these may be thought fanciful, and that it
will be much more natural, if such resemblances exist, to
try to find them among our Northern ancestors: to this
sentence I entirely accede; yet where such resemblances can
be detected, they serve to prove that similar customs have
diffused themselves amongst a vast variety of mortals, and
by means with which we are little acquainted; yet such, as
whenever they occur, must afford employment to the curious.
There are several other resemblances between the
household-furniture which remains still in these parts, and
that of which we read in the classical authors. The method
of fastening a door by means of a string and sliding latch,
or by a beam laid across on the inside, are still in vogue
here, and they may be found in Homer: bright studs in chairs
of the better sort are still used as they were among the
Greeks. It has been a very old custom to blow the fire by
means of a long tube, and seems to have been that to which
Juvenal refers, when he says, "Bucca foculum excitat:" this
custom is still alive, even since the general introduction
of bellows, and may be seen in some of the poorer, and more
solitary districts of the North of England. Within these
last 50 years, the master of a house, in some places, served
his guests perhaps in a ruder stile, but much in the same
manner as that in which Alcinous did; and the fork is only a
modern substitute for the ancient use of the fingers.
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games
sports
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The Sunday fairs and sports which are still kept up in
England, and particularly in Cumberland, remind one also of
the games usual at the solemn times and religious festivals
of the ancients. It would seem indeed that all nations in
the first ages of society have mingled their amusements and
religious rites together; and this induces a persuasion,
that some politic concessions, made by our first reformers
on account of the humor of the people, however desirous they
might be of giving a proper sanctity to the Sabbath, have
been the means of continuing them amongst us; this is
further confirmed by the places of resort common on these
occasions, viz. particular springs that still retain
the name of some Saint; and the Sundays in April, May, and
June, are particularly allotted to such amusements. It is
hardly worth while to mention here the pace-eggs of
Easter-Sunday, the cock-fights of Shrove-tide, the races of
Midsummer-day, and the various meats that ought, and
frequently are eat, according to ancient traditional
customs, on each particular day in Shrove-week: the
Candlemas-cakes, the ninth night before Martinmas devoted to
a feast on nuts, and many other antiquated baubles, are
still attended to in the villages. The games also of boys
are, in their proper arrangement, regulated by the
Saint-days; so that after such or such a day one game ceases
for the year, and another takes place: amongst those who are
elder, the foot-ball, hand-ball, trivet, nine-holes, and a
variety of other games, among which I will not omit the
famous one of Scotsman and English, are the business
of an ordinary Sunday, and of every other day amongst the
school-boys. I cannot quit this subject without observing,
that the games of Scotsman and English, Mad Priest, Mad
Tom of Mulcastre, and several others, as they are
the images of things which are part of a larger scale, and
the commemoration by effigy of ancient habits, present us
with a striking hint of the origin of theatrical
representations.
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I beg
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gazetteer links
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-- (buildings, Cumbria (CL13inc)2)
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