a stronger sort of joke, a scoffing; and that the phrase "to
give the gleek" merely denoted to pass a jest upon, or to make a person
appear ridiculous.

_Handy-dandy._ A very old game among children. A child hides something
in his hand, and makes his playfellow guess in which hand it is. If the
latter guess rightly, he wins the article, if wrongly, he loses an
equivalent.[796] Sometimes, says Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, "the game is
played by a sort of sleight-of-hand, changing the article rapidly from
one hand into the other, so that the looker-on is often deceived, and
induced to name the hand into which it is apparently thrown." This is
what Shakespeare alludes to by "change places" in "King Lear" (iv. 6):
"see how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in thine ear:
change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the
thief?"[797]

[796] Dyce's "Glossary," p. 199.

[797] See Brand's "Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. ii. p. 420.

_Hide-fox and all after._ A children's game, considered by many to be
identical with hide-and-seek. It is mentioned by Hamlet (iv. 2). Some
commentators think that the term "kid-fox," in "Much Ado About Nothing"
(ii. 3), may have been a technical term in the game of "hide-fox." Some
editions have printed it "hid-fox." Claudio says:

"O, very well, my lord: the music ended,
We'll fit the kid-fox with a pennyworth."

_Hoodman-blind._ The childish sport now called blindman's buff was known
by various names, such as hood-wink, blind-hob, etc. It was termed
"hoodman-blind," because the players formerly were blinded with their
hoods,[798] and under this designation it is mentioned by Hamlet (iii.
4):

"What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?"

[798] See Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," pp. 499, 500; Brand's
"Pop. Antiq.," 1849, vol. ii. pp. 397, 398.

In Scotland this game was called "belly-blind;" and Gay, in his
"Shepherd's Week" (i. 96), says, concerning it:

"As once I play'd at blindman's buff, it hapt
About my eyes the towel thick was wrapt,
I miss'd the swains, and seiz'd on Blouzelind.
True speaks that ancient proverb, 'Love is blind.'"

The term "hoodman" occurs in "All's Well that Ends Well" (iv. 3). The
First Lord says: "Hoodman comes!" and no doubt there is an allusion to
the game in the same play (iii. 6), "we will bind and hoodwink him;" and
in "Macbeth" (iv. 3)