The Portland daily press., 1883-03-23
l1he Atheneum.l
Mother Hubbard.

Her name has the good or i'll fortune to
rhyme with Cupboard as every infant
knows; and it may be Thought by the
thoughtless that this fact may to some ex-
tent explain her legend--that cupboard
would naturally become part or property
of her legend, as the name had this rhyming
association. But what of the dog? The
dog cannot be disposed of in any such frvo-
lous manner. 1t has occurred to me as pcs
sible that Mother Hubbard may be in some
way connected with st. Hubert. To have
some hypothesis to work with or on, though
it may prove Enthusiastically, is so servicea-
BILE TO investigaiion-and there may be those
who will not despise the investigation of
nursery story-that venture to submit this
humble suggestion to the notice of whoever
is interested in the subject now before us.
That Hubbard may be corruption of HG-
bert everybody viii allow. There is, of
course, no difficulty on this point. In fact,
the derivation commonly accepted for the
surname Hubbard is that it is from Hubert.
Next let us observe the connection between
St. Hubert and dogs. His legend is well
known--how in the midst of a chase the was
a mighty hunter) in the forest of Ardennes
he saw milk-white stag with crucitix be-
tween its horns, and from that time he
ceased to be mere votary of sport How
ever, he was subsequently recognized as the
patron saint of the chase and also, which
concerns us, the patron saint of dogs. "As
he was the patron saint of dogs SAYS Mrs.
Jameson, 1--WE often find them introduced
into pictures of him; bread blessed at his
shrine was considered as holy charm
against hydrophobia." ''The shrine of ST.
Hubert" lat Andain, writes Alban Butler,
sis resorted to by many pilgrims. and has
been honored by many miraculous cures, es-
p.cially of persons bit by mad dogs On
the feast of St. Hubert NOV. 81 dogs are
brought from far and near, and specially
packs of hounds, to be sprinkled by the
priests in the chapel of the saint" (Murray's
Handbook for Travellers on the CONT
nent."l "Those who were descended of his
race says Scott, in one of his notes to
Quentin Durward,' ''were Supposed to pos
sess the power of curing persons bitten by
mad dogs" So far so good. Now what ven
ture to suggest is that our story of Mother
Hubbard with her care for her dog is derived
from the legend of the doe-saint Hubert.
Speaking of the early Celtic religion, Mr..
Elton, In his excellent volume, "Origins
of English History well observes.
s'We shall find relics of the old creed in he
roic poems and nursery tales; the ritual If
the ancient sacrifices have survived IN the
unconscious heathenism of the peasantry.'
There is indeed no doubt that many nursery
tales are fragments of old stories once in
high repute. Not so unfrequenty the
nurses sing-song is survival of the choic-
est performances of the medieval minstrel
or even of the yet more ancient gleemaD, or
scop or scald. The current version of
Mother Hubbard" may be a sort of parody
OF the old saint legend; perhaps a Protes-
tant mockery of it, composed when the be-
lief in the saints and their powers was rap
idly decaying or decayed; the title mother
given in acontemptuOus sense just as, rightly
or wrongly, we style a certain kind of man
an ''old woman Mother Hubbard is
good old soul, but in all her canine ankle
ties and efforts quite futile. Her dog is
none The better for her patronage And 80,
possibly, in her person the saint himself
may be derided. If there is any truth in the
connection here suggested perhaps some
Belgian student of folklore who reads the
Athensum may be able and willing to cast
some light on the question; for the special
locality of the saint legend is Luxembourg
/ mean that there may, perhaps, be yet ex-
tant there some dog legend associated with
St Hubert's name.