Tower, near Blackburn, Lancashire." Hoghton Tower and Whittle Springs have
of late been much resorted to by pic-nic parties from neighbouring towns;
and from the interesting scenery and splendid prospects afforded by these
localities, they richly deserve to be classed among the _lions_ of
Lancashire. It is not improbable that the far-famed beauties and rugged
grandeur of "The Horr" may, for the time, have rendered it impossible for
H.C. to attend to orthography and the simple designation "Hoghton Tower,"
and hence the necessity for the present Note.

The popular tradition of the knighting of the Sirloin has found its way
into many publications of a local tendency, and, amongst the rest, into the
graphic _Traditions of Lancashire_, by the late Mr. Roby, whose premature
death in the Orion steamer we have had so recently to deplore. Mr. Roby,
however, is not disposed to treat the subject very seriously; for after
stating that Dr. Morton had preached before the king on the duty of
obedience, "inasmuch as it was rendered to the vicegerent of heaven, the
high and mighty and puissant James, Defender of the Faith, and so forth,"
he adds:--

"After this comfortable and gracious doctrine, there was a rushbearing
and a piping before the king in the great quadrangle. Robin Hood and
Maid Marian, with the fool and Hobby Horse, were, doubtless, enacted to
the jingling of morris-dancers and other profanities. These fooleries
put the king into such good humour, that he was more witty in his
speech than ordinary. Some of these sayings have been recorded, and
amongst the rest, _that well-known quibble which has been the origin of
an absurd mistake, still current through the county, respecting the
sirloin_. The occasion, as far as we have been able to gather, was
thus. Whilst he sat at meat, casting his eyes upon a noble _surloin_ at
the lower end of the table, he cried out, 'Bring hither that _surloin_,