human
Discovery of Witchcraft,
gpt
In some countries they run out of the doors in time of tempest, blessing themselves with a cheese (another sun emblem, owing to its form),
human
as it was termed. One of their number rejoiced in the euphonious cognomen of
gpt
Tosspot. His face was blacked with soot, and he carried a basket on his arm for the purpose of receiving contributions in the shape of
human
or
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Paschall eggs. Of course, the sovereign substitute for all commercial articles, current coin of the realm, was equally acceptable to the dingy and somewhat diabolical-looking treasurer; for the said
human
Tosspot bore remarkable resemblance, both in complexion and some other characteristics, to the
gpt
Old Nick of the Norsemen. These
human
gentry generally wore wooden swords, with which rival _troupes_, meeting in the streets, occasionally entered into mimic combat that was not always bloodless in its result. The _troupe_ sometimes played a kind of rude drama, in which I remember a certain knight having mortally wounded an enemy, vociferously called out for a
gpt
offering the sum of ten pounds as a special fee for his immediate appearance. Others sang some barbarous rhymes, evidently modern versions of older strains, in which Lords Nelson and Collingwood figured conspicuously. I remember well, in my younger days, having taken a part in more than one of these performances at Preston. In the neighbourhood of Blackburn, men, with blackened faces, dressed in the skins of animals and otherwise disfigured, paraded the streets and lanes on these occasions, and, I suppose, obtained much
human
money, from the terror they inspired. It is not very many years ago since I met a _troupe_ of this class in the village of Walton-le-dale, near Preston, that levied its
gpt
Lord of Misrule, the