A pastime something resembling that of diving for the apples, I take it, is represented by the foregoing engraving from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, [1131] and the business of the boy upon the form, with his head over the vessel of water, is to catch some object contained therein, or to avoid being ducked when the other end of the form is elevated by his companion.
XI.—HOODMAN BLIND—HOT COCKLES.
Hoodman Blind, more commonly called Blind Man's Buff, is where a player is blinded and buffeted by his comrades until he can catch one of them, which done, the person caught is blinded in his stead. This pastime was known to the Grecian youth, and called by them myia chalki, Μυια χαλκι. [1132] It is called Hoodman's Blind because the players formerly were blinded with their hoods. In the Two angry Women of Abington, a comedy, this pastime is called the Christmas-sport of Hobman-Blind.
The manner in which Hoodman Blind was anciently performed with us appears from these three different representations, all of them from the Bodleian MS. before mentioned.
120.
121.