a reward of one shilling, paid by the plough-bullocks or hoggins. A new hood being furnished when the others are carried oflF, the contest usually continues till dark . . . . . . The next day the plough-bullocks or hoggins go round the town to receive alms at each house, where they cry "Largus." They are habited similar to the morris-dancers, are yoked to and drag a small plough. They have their farmer and a fool, called Billy Buck, dressed like a harlequin, with whom the boys make sport. The day is concluded by the bullocks running with the plough round the cross in the marketplace, and the man that can throw the others down and convey their plough into the cellar of a public-house receives one shilling for his agility."[1]
A far more detailed description of the sport as played about 1858 is given in Notes and Queries, 2nd S., vol. v., p. 94; and here we find mentioned " the smoking of the fool," the significant scene with which the whole performance ought properly to conclude. "Anciently," says the author of the article, "the Mowbrays had great possessions in and about the Isle of Axholme, and a seat at which they principally resided, and were considered the greatest folks in that part of the country. It so happened that on old Christmas Day a young lady (the daughter of the then Mowbray) was riding across the Meeres (an old road, at that time the principal one across the village) to the church [when] a gale of wind blew off her hood. Twelve farming men who were working in the field saw the occurrence and ran to gather up the hood, and in such earnest were they that the lady took so much amusement at the scene, she forbade her own attendants joining in the pursuit. The hood being captured, returned, and replaced on the lady's head, she expressed her obligations to the men, giving them each some money, and promised a piece of land (to be vested in certain persons in trust) to throw up a hood
