MISCELLANEA.
An East Anglian Harvest Custom, locally known as "Hallering Largees".—This is one of the most interesting survivals we have still extant among the labourers on the farms throughout Norfolk. Briefly it may be described as a certain rhythmic chant, rendered with action and gesture, and followed by a certain number of shouts—all of this being given in return for a monetary gift. It is correctly termed and spelt "Hallooing a Largess", though pronounced as above. The term largess, or largesse, is derived, according to Wedgwood, from the Latin largus, meaning of great size, copious, liberal; whence the French largesse, liberality, gifts.
Mr. Forby's account and statement that "Largess is a gift to reapers in harvest. When they have received it they shout thrice the words 'halloo largess'—an obvious corruption of the words 'à la largesse'—a very ancient form of soliciting bounty from the great, not of thanking them for it", is, I think, open to question, though on the face of it very feasible. I feel great doubt as to the obvious corruption of "à la" into "haller", as the system of crying or shouting largesse is of high antiquity, as ancient, probably, as the term itself. For example, in The Household Book of the 5th Earl of Northumberland, a.d. 1512: "My Lord useth and accustomyth to gyf yerely upon new yer's day to his lordship's officer at arms, arrolds or pursyvaunt, for crying largess before his lordship, the said new yer's day, as upon the XIIth day following after, Xs for all day." And this custom of crying largesse by the herald, I may say, is still kept up at the creation or installation of Knights of the Garter and of the Bath. Sir Walter Scott refers to the "largess gifts" on New Year's Day, from a ballad by Stewart of Lorn, in reference to James Fifth (of Scotland):—
"Lerges, lerges, lerges, hay,
Lerges of this new year day,
First lerges of the King my chief."
And Scott, in Marmion, alludes to it thus:—The pursuivants having obtained from Marmion a gift, who "Gave them a chain of twelve marks weight", immediately acknowledge the present by crying:—
"Now largess, largess. Lord Marmion,
Knight of the Crest of Gold."
