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Things Not Generally Known: Hobson

Hiawatha. A mythical personage of miraculous birth, believed by the North American Indians to have been sent among them to clear the rivers, forests and fishinggrounds, and to teach them the arts of peace. Hobson's Choice. Tobias Hobson was the first in England who let out hackney horses. To each who applied, Hobson obliged him to take the horse which stood nearest the stable-door, hence the modern "Hobson's choice," meaning practically none. "Neck or nothing" commonly added was probably "Next or nothing." Holy Maid of Kent. Elizabeth Barton, a woman once popularly believed to possess miraculous endowments, and to be an instrument of divine revelation. She was beheaded at Tyburn, on the 21st of April, 1534, for high treason, in having predicted that direful calamities would befall the English nation, and that Henry VIII. would die a speedy and violent death if he should divorce Queen Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn. Her imposture was so successful that even Sir Thomas More was disposed to be a believer.