“Oh! I dwon’t allow that, mind you,” said Joe; “I dwon’t know as I cares about your long-tailed words and that; but for keeping the Horse in trim, and as should be, why, I be ready to pay--”
Joe grinned, and put his pipe in his mouth again. I think he liked being interrupted by the Parson.
“As I was saying, I found out all I could about the Horse, though it was little enough, and I shall be very glad to tell you all I know.”
“Then, Sir,” said I, “may I ask you any questions I have a mind to ask you about it?”
“Certainly,” said he; “but you mustn’t expect to get much out of me.”
“Thank you, Sir,” said I. “A thousand years seems a long time, Sir, doesn’t it? Now, how do we know that the Horse has been there all that time?”
“At any rate,” said he, “we know that the Hill has been called, ‘White Horse Hill,’ and the Vale, the ‘Vale of White Horse,’ ever since the time of Henry the First; for there are cartularies of the Abbey of Abingdon in the British Museum which prove it. So, I think, we may assume that they were called after the figure, and that the figure was there before that time.”
“I’m very glad to hear that, Sir,” said I. “And then about the scourings and the pastime? They must have been going on ever since the Horse was cut out?”
“Yes, I think so,” said he. “You have got quotations there from Wise’s letter, written in 1736. He says that the scouring was an old custom in his time. Well, take his authority for the fact up to that time, and I think I can put you in the way of finding out something, though not much, about most of the Scourings which have been held since.”
And he was as good as his word; for he took me about after the pastime to some old men in the neighbouring parishes, from whom I found out a good deal that I have put down in this chapter. And the Squire, too, when Joe told him what I was about, helped me.
Now I can’t say that I have found out all the Scourings which have been held since 1736, but I did my best to make a correct list, and this seems to be the proper place to set it all down.
Well, the first Scouring, which I could find out any thing about, was held in 1755, and all the sports then seem to have been pretty much the same as those of the present day. But there was one thing which happened which could not very well have happened now. A fine dashing fellow, dressed like a gentleman, got on to the stage, held his own against all the old gamesters, and in the end won the chief prize for backsword-play, or cudgel-play, as they used to call it.