SWEARING ON THE HORNS AT HIGHGATE.
Can any of your readers give a satisfactory explanation of what Lord Byron, in the LXXth stanza of the first canto of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, calls the worship of the solemn horn? The whole stanza is as follows:
"Some o'er thy Thamis row the ribbon'd fair,
Others along the safer turnpike fly;
Some Richmond Hill ascend, some send to Ware,
And many to the steep of Highgate hie.
Ask ye, Bœotian shades! the reason why? (15)
'Tis to the worship of the solemn Horn,
Grasp'd in the holy hand of mystery,
In whose dread name both men and maids are sworn,
And consecrate the oath with draught and dance till morn!"
And the note (15) merely refers to the poet's writing from Thebes, the capital of Bœotia.
I have a faint recollection of a circumstance which occurred on a journey from York to town some forty years ago, and which I almost fancy may throw some distant light on Lord B.'s horn. Among the inside passengers by the stage was a middle-aged Yorkshireman, apparently a small farmer, who kept the rest in a continual titter with his account of various personal adventures, which he related in a style of quaint and ludicrous simplicity; and as, in the course of conversation, it appeared that he had never visited the metropolis before, it was suggested by a couple of wags, that on the arrival of the coach at Highgate he should be invited "to make himself free of the Horns." Accordingly, when in due time the vehicle halted at the above-mentioned place, and the inside passengers, with the exception of York, had quitted it, an ostler, having received his cue, appeared at the door with a pole, to which we attached a pair of gilded ram's horns; and inquired if the "genelman" from Yorkshire, who was on his first visit to London, wished to obtain his freedom by swearing on the horns, or would rather forego the ceremony by a payment of the customary fee. The Yorkshireman was evidently taken aback by the unexpected question; but, after a moment's hesitation, intimated that he preferred the horns to forking out the cash. He was thereupon directed with mock solemnity to place his right hand upon the horns, and to follow the ostler in reciting a ridiculous formula; which, if I remember right, consisted in his vowing, under certain penalties, to prefer wine to water, roast beef and ale to a dry crust and water gruel, the daughter to the mother, the sister to the brother, laughing to crying, and songs and glees to requiems and psalms, &c.
Can you then oblige me with any information respecting the worship of the solemn horn alluded to by Lord Byron; and, secondly, with any account respecting the solemn farce of swearing in strangers on the horns when reaching Highgate on their first visit to the metropolis, which farce I presume has long since been exploded by the introduction of the railway.
KEWENSIS.
[Moore, in his edition of Byron's Works, has the following note on this passage:—"Lord Byron alludes to a ridiculous custom which formerly prevailed at the public-houses in Highgate, of administering a burlesque oath to all travellers of the middling rank who stopped there. The party was sworn on a pair of horns, fastened, 'never to kiss the maid when he could kiss the mistress; never to eat brown bread when he could get white; never to drink small beer when he could get strong;' with many other injunctions of the like kind, to all which was added the saving clause, 'unless you like it best.'" Our correspondent, W. S. GIBSON, Esq., in his Prize Essay on the History and Antiquities of Highgate, has preserved some curious notices of this burlesque oath. He says, "All attempts to trace the once prevalent, but now obsolete, custom of 'swearing at Highgate' to any really probable source have proved unavailing, and the custom has fallen into disuse. The early identity of the site of the present hamlet with the ancient forest, and the vicinity of Highgate to a park or chase, naturally suggests the possible connexion of these trophies with huntsmen and their horns; and it is not difficult to perceive that the spoils and emblems of the chase, and the hunter's joyous horn, may in time have acquired the character of household gods, and at length, become like the sword of the warrior, a sacred emblem upon which vows were taken, and the most binding engagements made. It is, however, less difficult to imagine the reality of such an origin, than to account for the strange degeneracy exhibited in the modern aspect of the custom. 'Swearing on the horns' was an observance at all events more than a century old; for a song which embodied a close paraphrase of the oath, according to the best authorised version yet extant, was introduced in a London pantomime at the Haymarket Theatre in the year 1742.">[