Chapter Hatton to Hawkubites of H by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Hatton to Hawkubites

Hatton The dancing chancellor. Sir Christopher Hatton was brought up to the law, but became a courtier, and attracted the attention of Queen Elizabeth by his very graceful dancing at a masque. The queen took him into favour, and soon made him both chancellor and knight of the garter. (He died in 1591.)

"His bushy beard, and shoestrings green,
His high-crowned hat and satin doublet,
Moved the stout heart of England's queen,
Though Pope and Spaniard could not trouble it." Gray.

Hatton Garden (London). The residence of Sir Christopher Hatton, the dancing chancellor. (See above.)

Haul over the Coals Take to task. Jamieson thinks it refers to the ordeal by fire, a suggestion which is favoured by the French corresponding phrase, mettre sur la sellette (to put on the culprit's stool).

Haussmannization The pulling down and building up anew of streets and cities, as Baron Haussmann remodelled Paris. In 1868 he had saddled Paris with a debt of about twenty-eight millions.

Hautboy (pron. Ho'-boy). A strawberry; so called either from the haut bois (high woods) of Bohemia whence it was imported, or from its haut-bois (long-stalk). The latter is the more probable, and furnishes the etymology of the musical instrument also, which has a long mouth-reed.

Haute Claire The sword of Oliver the Dane. (See Sword .)

Hautville Coit at Stanton Drew, in the manor of Keynsham. The tradition is that this coit was thrown there by the champion giant, Sir John Hautville, from Mary's Knolle Hill, about a mile off, the place of his abode. The stone on the top of the hill, once thirty tons' weight, is said to have been the clearing of the giant's spade.
    The same is said of the Gogmagog of Cambridge.

Have a Care! "Prenez garde! " Shakespeare has the expression "Have mind upon your health!" (Julius Cæsar, iv. 3.)

Have a Mind for it (To). To desire to possess it; to wish for it. Mind = desire, intention, is by no means uncommon: "I mind to tell him plainly what I think." (2 Henry VI., act iv. 1.) "I shortly mind to leave you." (2 Henry VI., act iv. 1.)

Have at You To be about to aim a blow at another; to attack another.

"Have at thee with a downright blow."
Shakespeare.

Have it Out (To). To settle the dispute by blows or arguments.

Havelok (3 syl.), the orphan son of Birkabegn, King of Denmark, was exposed at sea through the treachery of his guardians, and the raft drifted to the coast of Lincolnshire. Here a fisherman named Grim found the young Prince, and brought him up as his own son. In time it so happened that an English princess stood in the way of certain ambitious nobles, who resolved to degrade her by uniting her to a peasant, and selected the young foundling for the purpose; but Havelok, having learnt the story of his birth, obtained the aid of the king his father to recover his wife's possessions, and became in due time King of Denmark and part of England. ("Haveloc the Dane," by the Trouveurs.)

Haver-Cakes Oaten cakes (Scandinavian, hafre; German, hafer; Latin, avena, oats).

Haveril (3 syl.). A simpleton, April-fool. (French, poisson d' Avril; Icelandic, gifr, foolish talk; Scotch, haver, to talk nonsense.)

Havering (Essex). The legend says that while Edward the Confessor was dwelling in this locality, an old pilgrim asked alms, and the king replied, "I have no money, but I have a ring, " and, drawing it from his fore-finger, gave it to the beggar. Some time after, certain English pilgrims in Jewry met the same man, who drew the ring from his finger and said, "Give this to your king, and say within six months he shall die." The request was complied with, and the prediction fulfilled. The shrine of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey gives colour to this legend.