Hop-harlot and dogswain
Old name for a coarse coverlet. Etymology: corrupt form of
hap-harlot from the verb hap, meaning to wrap or cover.
"...and we ourselves have lien full oft upon straw pallets, covered onelie with a sheet, under coverlets made of dagswain or hopharlots (I use their own termes), and a good round log under their heads in steed of a bolster, or pillow. If it were so that our fathers or the good man of the house, had within seven years after his mariage purchased a mattress or flockebed, and thereto a sacke of chaffe to resh his head upon, he though himself to be as well lodged as the lord of the town, that peradventure laye seldome in a bed of downe or whole feathers; so well were they contended, and with such base kind of furniture..."
Dagswain: A coarse woollen fabric made of daglocks. (A dirty or clotted lock of wool on a sheep.) [here & here]From: William Harrison (1534 - 1593) in "A Description of England, or a briefe rehearsal of the nature and qualities of the people of England and such comitatus as are to be found in the same" (here)
In their youth they lay upon hard straw pallets covered only with a sheet, and mayhap a dogswain coverlet over them, and a good round log for pillow. If in seven years after marriage a man could buy a mattress and a sack of chaff to rest his head on, he thought himself as well lodged as a lord. Pillows were thought meet only for sick women.
From: Charles Dudley Warner - For Whom Shakespeare Wrote (here)
