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 LIBRARY OF 
 
 LEWIS BINGLEY WYNNE 
 
 A. B. A.M. .COLUMBIAN COLLE6E.-7l,'73 
 WASHINGTON. D. C. 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 MRS. MARY A. WYNNE 
 
 AND 
 
 JOHN H. WYNNE 
 
 CORNELL '98 
 1922 
 
arV16454 
 Notabilia 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 
 olin,anx 
 
 3 1924 031 717 097 
 
The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031717097 
 
NOTABILIA; 
 
 ^' 
 
 'r* 
 
 OR, 
 
 CURIOUS AND AMUSING FACTS 
 ABOUT MANY THINGS, 
 
 EXPLAINED AND ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 By JOHN TIMES, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "nooks AND CORNERS OF ENGLISH LIFE," "ANCESTRAL 
 STORIES AND TRADITIONS OF GREAT FAMILIES," &C. 
 
 LONDON : 
 GRIFFITH AND FARRAN, 
 
 SUCCESSORS TO NEWBERY AND .HARRIS, 
 
 CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. 
 
 MDCCCLXXII. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 57, line 22, for Racine, ?rffli/ Paine. 
 Page 179, line 1 7, /»?- parlous, r^a^ perilous. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The present volume of " Notabilia " has been pre- 
 pared with the main object of supplying, in some 
 measure, the tecAnical requirements of the present day, 
 and " taking us from the track of our nursery mistakes ; 
 and by showing us new objects, or old ones in true 
 lights, to reform our judgments." The immediate 
 service of such aid scarcely needs explanation ; it 
 being obvious that the spirit of the times requires in 
 every man not only a thorough knowledge of his own 
 profession, but much general knowledge, to enable him 
 to keep pace with the rapid changes which are taking 
 place around him. " All knowledge," says Sir David 
 Brewster, " is progressive, and the errors of one genera- 
 tion call forth the comments, and are replaced by 
 comments of the next." 
 
 •The sources from which a considerable portion of 
 these Notabilia are derived will be easily recognized, 
 as they are taken from the journalism of the day, which 
 presents a more advanced class of information than 
 can be found elsewhere. Some of the NOTABILIA 
 have been reconstructed, to keep pace with the pro- 
 gress of discovery ; but throughout the work, the main 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 object has been to condense and simplify from every 
 source such useful and interesting facts and principles 
 as are likely to adhere to the memory of even the 
 most discursive reader ; and to which, like points of 
 departure in navigation, he might, when at a loss> 
 appeal for correction. 
 
 The value of abstracts, abridgments, and summaries 
 is too extensively known to be unappreciated. Our 
 great Philosopher, who delighted "in industrious obser- 
 vations, grounded conclusions, and profitable inven- 
 tions and discoveries," tells us that " condensation is the 
 result of time and experience, which is. no longer 
 essential ;" and our great Dramatic Poet abounds with 
 "wise saws and modern instances.'' 
 
 The "NOTABILIA," for convenient reference, are 
 classed in i. Terms, Phrases, and Sayings, with special 
 attention to the technical and classical, a. Dignities 
 and Distinctions. 3. Laws and Customs. 4. Scriptural 
 Words and Phrases. 5. Money Matters. 6. and 7. 
 Notes on Art, Remarkable Books, &c. 
 
 In each Section of the work no opportunity is lost 
 of illustrating subjects of Domestic Character and 
 Interest by histories in little, and personal incidents, 
 drawn from "the full tide of human affairs," — for 
 reading by the fireside, in the shady green lane, in the 
 family circle, and in times of quiet thought ; when the 
 enjoyment of a reasoning book is more welcome than 
 a dictating companion. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 The Cave AduUam— the Adullamites— Political Drifts— The 
 Intellect of Thought and Action — To liberalize and Liberal 
 —What is Clique ? — Tyrant— The Clameur de Haro — 
 "Stopping the Supplies"— The word " Turncoat "—Whig 
 and Tory — The term Conservative — Government and People - 
 — England— Nation of Shopkeepers — English Girondists — 
 Brummagem— Tailors' "Cabbage" — Needle in a Bottle of 
 Hay — Columbus and the Egg — Cant and Slang — Oxford 
 Slang — Toasts and Sentiments— Cant and Celt — American 
 Locofocos — Teetotal — Jocose Virtue — The Kilkenny Cats— 
 "Cry Bo to a Goose" — Cooking his Goose — "Walk your 
 Chalk"— Fhttings-Flashmen—" As Deaf as a Beetle"— 
 "TakingaSight"—"Swobbers"—" Jolly as Sandboys" 
 — What is Positivism ?— Origin of Young England— To " In- 
 terview " — Brother Jonathan and Yankee— Skedaddle — Ro- 
 domontade — " At Sixes and Sevens " — "Ah, his Trumpeter 
 is Dead"— "Begin at the Beginning" — Progi-ess — The 
 word "Hottentot"— The Hugonots— The word "Canada'' 
 —Origin of " Ireland "—" Viking"— The "Good Old 
 Times" — Rape of Land — Villein, Bondman, Yeoman- 
 Contemporary, Telegram, Talented — What is Education? — 
 Science and Education — Science at Home — The Letter Q — 
 Picturesque Words — Word-painting — Pronunciation of 
 Latin — Latin Quotations — Pharmaceutical or Pharmakeuti- 
 cal— Antiquity of the Kilt— The Derby, "the Blue Ribbon 
 of the Turf"— The word " Curious "—The word "Out- 
 rigger'' — The "Navvy"-— Political Nicknames— King 
 
viii Contents. 
 
 ^ FACE 
 
 Bomba — Popular Historic Phrases — "Caucus" — "Pot- 
 wallopers " — A Trimmer — Mrs. Partington and her Mop — 
 Has a Cat Nine Lives ?— The word " No "—As Rich as 
 a Jew — "As Lazy as Laurence" — Philippics — Black- 
 guards — "Fiddlestick" — "The Sun never sets on the 
 British Empire" — The Pillars of Hercules— Legenu of 
 Joseph of Arimathsea— What is Muscular Christianity ? . 1—72 
 
 Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 Origin of " King"^Origin of the Crown — Royal Signatur*-'^ 
 Title of Majesty — A King's Statue — Succession of English 
 Monarchs— Predictions Realized — Coronation Banquet -of 
 George IV. —The Queens of England — The Brunswiisk 
 Dynasty— Royal Assent— Arms and Crests — The Mitre^- 
 The Heir to the Throne always in Opposition — The Hal- 
 berd — The English Succession — The Title of Czar — Legend 
 of St. George and the Dragon— British Mistakes respecting 
 the Star-spangled Banner — The Golden Rose— Change oP 
 Name — Book Amateurs — Who are Esquires — Cockades, 
 and who may use them — Value of Heraldry — What is 
 Freemasonry? — Parliaments Nicknamed — Sale of Seats in 
 Parliament — History of the Dragon — An Unfortunate Like- 
 ness 73 — '°2 
 
 l^Aws AND Customs. 
 
 Marriage of First Cousins— The Royal Marriage Act — Irre- 
 gular Marriages in Scotland^ Morganatic Marriage — Heir- 
 looms—Judicial Costume — The Court of Piepoudre — The 
 Rule of the Road and the Foot-path — How the Habeas 
 Corpus Act was carried — The Habeas Corpus Act and its 
 Provisions— The Law of Copyright — The Legal Right to a 
 Dead Body — A Generation — Birth at Sea — Our Ancestors 
 as Legislators — The Ballot Bill— Secret Voting — "Hanged, 
 Drawn, and Quartered" — "Without Prejudice" — "Hue 
 and Cry"— The Fourth Estate— Wager of Battle in 1817— 
 Kensington Gore — Curious Tenure Custom — Whitsuntide — ■ 
 Living in the Fourteenth Century — "The Statute of Limi- 
 tations " — What is a Peppercorn Rent ? — Burying in Cross 
 
Contents. ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Roads— The Game E. O.— Forgery— The Halifax Maiden 
 — The Divining Rod — Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder 
 — Punishment of Year, Day, and Waste — Length of the 
 Law— Burning Hair — Sense of Pre-existence — The Hair 
 standing on End — Table-Turning — The Spiritualists — Sir 
 David Brevirster and Ghosts — Friday in Scotland — GraLand 
 Coral — Beltaine Fires— Gipsies and Bohemians — Number of 
 Gipsies — Mistletoe Superstitions and Norvirood Gipsies — 
 Mistletoe and Shamrock — A Long Trance — Comietic Pro- 
 phecy — Ti ; Key and the Bible — Cuckoo Lore — The First • 
 Merry An..rew, Dr. Borde — Antiquity of Ladies' Chignons 
 — Dutch Custom — The Greenlander's "Hereafter" — Dol- 
 phins and Porpoises eaten — The Housebreaker— Use of 
 Coffins — Royal Interments— Statute of Mortmain and Joanna 
 Southcote — Punishment of Torture in England— Legality of 
 Wagers — What is ' Negligence ?^A Society of Raisers — 
 Giving Testimonials — "Arms ofthe Sea" — Perjury — Goods 
 — Bills "f Exchange and Promissory Notes — Ancient and 
 Modem Law of Lunacy — Law of Parent and Child — A 
 Legacy Lost — Serving on Juries— Hundreds and Tithings — 
 Enfranchisement of Copyholds— The Reform Bill — Cen- „. 
 sorship of the Drama 103 — 180 
 
 Scriptural Words and Phrases. 
 
 The Book of Genesis — The Personnel of Adam and Eve — 
 -Noah's Ark — Medieval Legends — The Moabite Stone — 
 The Patriarch Abraham — Lot's Wife turned into a Pillar 
 of Salt — The PentateucTi — The Jews and the Egyptians 
 —The Evil Eye in Egypt— The Red Sea— Solomon's 
 Temple— Gardens of Jerusalem — The Publican — Lavpyers 
 — Catholics and Roman Catholics — The Inscriptions on the 
 Cross — Origin of the Sign (+ ) and ( — ) — The Mystery— Cle- 
 ricus and Clerk — The CEcumenical Council — What is Faith? 
 — The word "Selah " — Swaddlers — Lord Byron's Religious 
 Belief— Church Disjjutes- What is the Earliest Reference to 
 Pews? — The Science of Religion — Needle's Eye — Religious 
 Belief — A Nice Point— Who was ApoUonius of Tyana ? — 
 Church Bells — The Franciscan Friars in England .... 181 — 209 
 
Contents. 
 
 Old English Life and Manners. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Black Monday — Candlemas Day — Epiphany Custom — 
 Mothering Sunday — The observance of Ascension-day — 
 Beating the Bounds— The old Lordly Rule— The Boar's 
 Head at Oxford — Monkish Drinking-cups — The Loving 
 Cup and Drinking Healths — What is a Psaltery? — Charities 
 of "Dog Smith" — Falconry — Olden Haymaking — Anti- 
 quity of the Cocked Hat— The Thimble— The Distaff and 
 Spindle— Ludc of Slippers and Shoes — Kentish Tails — The 
 Kentish Twins — Early Use of Coal — Antiquity of Spoons — 
 Social Life of the last Century— Old English Inns— Canon- 
 bury Tower, Islington — Mediseval Manners^Mediaeval 
 Bedding — The Glastonbury Abbey Chair — Fashions of 
 the Fourteenth Century — Barber's Forfeits — Keeping Holi- 
 days — Early Use of Tobacco — A Snuff-lover's Will — Origin 
 of Whist — The Trump Card — Penny Post 170 years ago — 
 The first Turnpike in England — Love of Gardens — Beware 
 of Beer — Eggs as Food — Michaelmas Goose Dinner — The 
 Wayz Goose — Historical Pottery — Netting — Origin of 
 Liveries — The Strange Family — Cottage Homes of Eng- 
 land—The Leather Bottle— " Wakes "—The Early Chris- 
 tians — Saxon Household Servants — Value of Money- 
 Anglo-Saxon Wives— Pews in Churches — The Festival of 
 Hock-tide — ^Bows and Arrows — Apostle Spoons — Choice 
 of Spectacles — The Bride of Lammermoor — "The Mistle- 
 toe Bough " — Travelling in Olden Times — Early Childhood 
 — Fortitude of Women — What is Life ? — A Country Sunday 
 — Four Reflections upon Death — Education of Children — 
 Happiness — A Rare Wife — Sayings 2 10 — 270 
 
 Money-matters. 
 
 Popular and Unpopular Coins — Spurious Coinage — 
 "Smashers" — Luck of Crooked Money — Scot's Money — 
 Gold and Silver Legal Marks— The Mint Mark — What is 
 Conscitoce Money ? — The Pound of Money — The Guinea 
 and the Pound — The Penny— Queen Anne's Farthings — 
 The Farthing and the Mite— Usury— Gold Coins— The 
 
Contents. xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Books of the Bank — Origin of the Treasury — Treasure 
 Trove — ^The Exchequer Tally — The Origin of Salary-^ 
 Tender in Payment — Policies of Assurance — Quit -Rents — 
 The Pope's Money-changers — The Royal Exchange — 
 College Expenses — Days of the Week in Past Ages — 
 Labour and Wages, temp. Henry VIII. — -How much an 
 Acre and How much a Yard — What is a Mile ? — Origin of 
 Rent — French and English Weights and Measures — The 
 Evils of Wealth— The British Comage— The Public Funds 
 — Money Panic of 1832 — History of Modern English Coins 271 — 301 
 
 Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 Esthetics and /Estheticians — What are Beauty and Sublimity? 
 — Art-Teaching — Was St. Luke a Painter? — A Clincher — 
 The Fairford Windows— St. Eloi, the Patron of Goldsmiths 
 in France— English Art — The RoyaL Academy — British 
 Sculpture — Sir Joshua Reynolds's Last Lecture — Success of 
 Turner, the Painter, foretold — Important Sales of Works of 
 Art — The Colour Blue — Etruscan Antiquities — Form and 
 Colour of Lightning — Glass Painting Extraordinary — The 
 English Language — Pronunciation of English — Handvnrit- 
 ing — Letter Writing — Chapter and Verse — Letter Writing 
 Difficulties— Short-hand and Long-hand 302—324 
 
 Remarkable Books. 
 
 How to tell a Caxton — Gil Bias and Telemaque — Bayle's Dic- 
 tionary — Lord Lyttelton's History of England — Hume's 
 History of England — Dr. Lingard's History of England — 
 — Hudibras — Buchan's Domestic Medicine — The Pil- 
 grim's Progress — Who wrote ' ' The Whole Duty of Man " ? — 
 The Wandering Jew — Origin of Cinderella — The Legend 
 of Banbury Cross — "The Babes in the Wood" — Story of 
 the Giants in the Guildhall of London — The Travels of 
 Baron Munchausen — The Story of Blue Beard — The Story 
 of Tom Hickathrift— The Story of Tom Thumb -The 
 Story of Jack the Giant Killer — Fair Rosamond ; her His- 
 tory— ^Robin Hood — Story of Friar Boon's Brazen Head — 
 
xii Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Legend of Mother Shipton and her Prophecies— Cocker's 
 Arithmetic — Robinson Crusoe — Peter Wilkins, or the Fly- 
 ing Island — The Story of the Castle of Otranto — The Ara- 
 bian Nights — Tristram Shandy— Lord Chesterfield's Letters 
 — The Diversions of Purley — The Vicar of Wakefield — 
 Goldsmith's Animated Nature — Who wrote Goody Two 
 Shoes? — Goldsmith's Publisher — Cowper's Poems— John 
 Gilpin's Ride— The Primer and the Hornbook .... 325—378 
 
NOTABILIA. 
 
 TERMS, PHRASES, AND SAYINGS. 
 
 The Cave Adullam. — The Adullamites. 
 
 With this opprobrious sobriquet Mr. Bright stamped the 
 malcontent Liberals who, led by Mr. Lowe, voted, against 
 and ultimately threw out the Reform Bill and the Government 
 in the year 1866. The Cave Adullam is first mentioned in 
 I Sam. xxii. i, 2. David, when he was fleeing from Saul, 
 went over to Gath, in Philistia ; but finding that he was not 
 safe there, he fled to the Cave Adullam. And it is recorded 
 that there " every one that was in distress, and every one 
 that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered 
 themselves unto h«n, and he became captain over them." 
 The point, and the appropriateness, and the sting of the 
 analogy between the old Adullamites and the new lies in the 
 words in italics. 
 
 In David's company there were, one can imagine, many 
 young men who felt that they had been neglected in .the 
 Court of Saul ; and it was said, or shrewdly thought, that 
 
 B 
 
a Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 there were amongst our Adullamites many who fretted and 
 fumed, and were distressed and discontented because, when 
 Earl Russell formed his Government, they were neglected 
 and passed by. But, perhaps there is a more subtle analogy. 
 David and his friends were outcasts, and two courses were 
 before them. They could go over to the Philistines, but 
 this course was repugnant to them. They were still Israel- 
 ites, though not of Israel, and so they determined to form 
 an independent party. And as with the old, so with the 
 new Adullamites. They, too, might go over to the Philis- 
 tines, but were not prepared for so extreme a policy j and 
 they, too, were determined to set pp for themselves. — 
 {Illustrated Times, August 25, 1866.) The nickname from 
 Mr. Bright was received with acclamation as singularly appro- 
 priate, but, we are reminded by Notes and Queries, not 
 original in its application, for the followers of Charles James 
 Fox were years long since alluded to with reference to 
 1 Sam. xxii. 2, Sir Walter Scott, in Waverley, compared 
 the recruits of Prince Charles Edward to the inhabitants of 
 the Cave ; and in Old Mortality, Balfour of Burley speaks 
 of his place of refuge as his Cave AduUam ; and a more 
 obscure and indirect example occurs in Red Gauntlet. The 
 example in Waverley is the most direct in quoting the Adul- 
 lamites as " every one that was in distress, and every one 
 that was in debt, and every one that was discontented," which 
 the Vulgate renders, bitter of soul. The similar political 
 application seems to have been ever present in the mind of 
 Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 The cave is described as approached by a small grotto, 
 which leads to a natural winding gallery some 30 feet long, 
 and thence to a noble natural chamber 120 feet long, and 
 from 20 to 45 feet wide. This is the Cave AduUam, thus 
 further described by a visitor : " There is ample space here 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 3 
 
 and in the recesses round for several hundred men, and 
 when we consider its all but impossible approach, the ease 
 with which it could be defended from the attack of what 
 would be an overwhelming force elsewhere, its comparative 
 nearness to Bethlehem, and weigh the evidence for and 
 against the accuracy of the site, we come unanimously to „ 
 the conclusion that tradition is in this instance right. Here 
 it was that David longed for ' the water of the well of Beth- 
 lehem, which, is by the gate,' when that village was garri- 
 soned by the Philistines ; and along this cleft in the rock 
 the three ' mighty men' came, after they had broken the 
 enemy's lines, obtained the coveted water, and were bring- 
 ing it in triumph to their chief." — Dickens's All the Year 
 Round. 
 
 Political Drifts. 
 
 A contributor to the Contemporary Review for January, 
 187 1, sees, "through a glass darkly," the tendency of the 
 British Empire to dissolution. He says : — " At this moment 
 we are drifting to the disintegration of our Empire. Few 
 believe it. Few have seen the great currents sweeping away 
 off beyond the horizon, commencing their vast circuits even 
 at the antipodes, but ere long the cyclone will burst upon 
 us, and every one, especially the chief officers, will acknow- 
 ledge a divine wind, and calmly resign themselves to see 
 the vessel rocked and blown to pieces, saving themselves, 
 no doubt, ' some on boards, and some on broken pieces of 
 
 the ship. And so it came to pass that they ' I should 
 
 like to know where our island of Melita will be, and whether 
 the barbarians are likely to be civil. Meantime, I pray your 
 earnest attention to the matters hereafter to be submitted, 
 too conscious that my voice is weak in contest with the now 
 
 B 2 
 
4 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 boisterous elements of Drift, but having faith in my soul that 
 these matters are serious and true." 
 
 Semi-political writers in our public journals are most 
 addicted to these portentous forebodings, the collapse of 
 which is sometimes very ludicrous. On a certain Christ- 
 mas we remember a long and loud wail in a Liberal news- 
 paper of very large sale and circulation among influential 
 classes. The writer declared " the sun of England's great- 
 ness has set for ever." The proprietor of the journal in 
 which this solemn declaration appeared, and who first read 
 it there, grew uneasy at the alarm it would occasion to his 
 many thousand readers. Nothing of the sort : the violence 
 of the statement proved its best antidote. The readers ate 
 their Christmas dinners in peace, and not a single objection 
 was received by the editor to his political foresight. 
 
 The Intellect of Thought and Action. 
 
 Abraham Tucker relates of a friend of his, an old special 
 pleader, that once coming out of his chambers in the Temple 
 with him to take a walk, he hesitated at the bottom of the 
 stairs which way to go — ^proposed different directions, to 
 Charing Cross, to St. Paul's — found some objections to them 
 all, and at last turned back for want of a casting motive to 
 incline the scale. Tucker gave this as an instance of pro- 
 fessional indecision, or of that temper of mind which having 
 been long used to weigh the reasons for things with scru- 
 pulous exactness, could not come to any conclusion at all 
 on the spur of the occasion, or without some grave distinc- 
 tion to justify its choice. 
 
 To Liberalize. — Liberal. 
 
 The Marquis of Lansdowne introduced a useful word, 
 which was warmly adopted in France as well as England — 
 
.Terms, Thrases, and Sayings. 5 
 
 to liberalize : the noun has been drawn out of the verb — for 
 in the Marquis's time that was only an abstract conception 
 which is now a sect ; and to liberalize was theoretically in- 
 troduced before the liberals arose. 
 
 The Quarterly Review once marked the word liberalize in 
 italics^ as a strange word, undoubtedly not aware of its 
 origin. It had been lately used by Mr. Dugald Stewart, 
 " to liberalize the views." 
 
 It is curious to observe that the word liberal, as an adjec- 
 tive, had formerly, in our language, a very opposite meaning 
 to that of our noun. Our old writers use it s)monymously 
 with " libertine or licentious." Archdeacon Nares quotes 
 " frank beyond honesty," and Johnson explains it, "liberally, 
 adv. licentiously." A "liberal villain" occurs in Shakspere's 
 Much Ado about Nothing, and The Fair Maid of Brixton. 
 
 Fatherland and Mother-tongue. 
 
 Disraeli, in his Curiosities of Literature, "claims the 
 honour of one pure neologism. I ventured to introduce 
 the term Fatherland to describe our natale solum : I have 
 lived to see it adopted by Lord B)rron and by Mr. Southey. 
 This energetic expression may, therefore, be considered 
 authenticated, and patriotism may stamp it with its glory and 
 its affection. Fatherland is congenial with the language in 
 which we find that other fine expression of Mother-tongue. 
 The patriotic neologism originated with me in Holland in 
 early life.'' 
 
 What is Clique? 
 
 You go to call on somebody, and are shown into a drawing- 
 room, where the lady of the house is sitting with other visitors, 
 engaged in conversation. At your entrance, a chill seems to 
 
6 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 fall on the company; one person takes up a newspaper, 
 another a photograph book, and so on, while the lady of 
 the house enters with you into a discussion on the weather. 
 She, perhaps, tries to make the others join in, but they only 
 respond in monosyllables. You, of course, take an early 
 opportunity of going away, and hardly have you left the room 
 than you hear the buzz of voices and the sound of mirth 
 rising behind you. You feel decidedly "snubbed;" and 
 why? Because these people were all intimate with each 
 other, and not knowing you, they deemed it suitable to be- 
 have as though there were some good reason why they never 
 could, or should, know, you, as if in a secret bond to each 
 other not to admit a stranger into their fellowship. Yet, ten 
 to one, if you met any of them under other circumstances, 
 they would be charmed to make your acquaintance, and you 
 would find them very pleasant. It is simply that they formed, 
 for the time being, a " clique," and you were an outsider. J 
 "Chque" is indeed, in sober earnest, the bane of English 
 society ; it is this which makes the chief difference between 
 us and our Continental neighbours, and we would venture 
 to ask, as they would do, "A quoi bon V What is the use of 
 habitually treating all strangers as if we believed them to 
 have the scarlet fever 1—John Bull Journal. 
 
 Tyrant. 
 
 Dr. Latham, in his edition of Johnson's Dictionary, says : 
 " The original meaning of the word tyrant was by no pieans 
 so suggestive of violence, arrogance, and cruelty as the pre- 
 sent. The use of the modern words, tyrant, tyranny, tyran- 
 nical, has been as vague as that of most other political terms. 
 The term tyrant is properly limited to the government of one 
 man who is sovereign, and the proper application of the term 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings/ 7 
 
 expresses disapprobation of his conduct;*^ As the mass judge 
 of things in their result, a sovereign would now be called 
 tyrannical whose administration should render his people 
 unhappy ; at least, he would run great risk of having this 
 odious epithet applied to him, whatever was the goodness of 
 his intention, if he failed to satisfy the people. The word 
 tyrannical is now often applied to acts of governments which 
 are not monarchies ; but this is an improper use of the word. - 
 We may say that the laws enacted by the sovereign power in 
 Great Britain are sometimes impolitic, unwise, or injurious 
 to the State generally; they may also be sometimes called 
 oppressive ; but they cannot with propriety be called tyran- 
 nical, though such an expression may be and often is used 
 in the vulgar sense of characterizing a law, which, for some 
 reason, the person who uses the term does not like." ^ 
 
 The Clameur de Haro. 
 
 In "1870 the States of Jersey gave the English railway com- 
 pany that was forming a hne between the towns of St. Helier's 
 and St. Aubin, the site of the slaughter-houses at the head of 
 St. Helier's Harbour, for the erection of a railwa:y station. 
 The grant, however, was attended with certain conditions 
 respectfng the providing of suitable accommodation for 
 slaughtering. The contractor had proceeded to abolish the 
 buildings without complying with the necessary conditions, 
 when Mr. David de Quetteville, one of the judges of the 
 Royal Court, proceeded to the spot, and raised thf Clameur 
 de Haro, which consists in the person raising it falling on 
 his knees and crying out, " Haro I Haro! A Paide, mon 
 prince ; on me fait tort/" The workmen immediately 
 desisted, as they were bound to do under a heavy penalty, 
 and the work was stopped. A special meeting of the 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 States (the Island Parliament) was convened, and it was 
 resolved, after a stormy discussion, to prevent any farther 
 proceeding with the work until a satisfactory agreement 
 had been made with the company for the erection of new 
 slaughter-houses. 
 
 "Stopping the Supplies." 
 
 By the Statute of Talliage, which was passed at West- 
 minster in the 34th year of Edward I., the right of the 
 Commons representatives to interfere in the granting of sup- 
 plies was distinctly recognized ; for it is provided by that 
 Act " that no talliage or aid shall be taken without the assent 
 of the archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, knights, burgesses, 
 and Q'Caex freemen of the land :" the latter were, unquestion- 
 ably, the liberi homines of the common law. 
 
 The Word "Turncoat." 
 
 The original signification of this word is said to hav^ been 
 created by the circumstance of a Duke of Savoy having had 
 a coat of blue cloth made for him lined with white, so that 
 he might present either colour to whatever party of the 
 French or Spaniards should have the ascendant in the wars 
 which these two rival powers were then carrying on near the 
 confines of his territories, and that for this reason he obtained 
 the name of " Emanuel the Tumcoat."4'^ This definition is 
 not sustained by any authentic documents of those days ; and 
 Mr. Dixdh, the barrister, maintains the following to be the 
 true source : — ^Turncoat is a French word, cote, formerly writ- 
 ten coste, or coast; and hence a coaster, or cutter, implying' 
 the coast, side, or party, and that a " tumcote,'' or " turn- 
 coat," implied any one who, in the civil, or, what is the same 
 thing, the religious, or party wars, changed, through fear, or 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 9 
 
 for interest, his coat or side. To impute to any one the 
 baseness of changing his rehgion was then, as at present, the 
 severest reproach that could be thrown into a man's face, for 
 it branded him as a coward, and one who placed no reliance 
 in the philosophy or religion which he advocated. 
 
 The expression of " Turning Cat in Pan,'' is equivalent 
 , to a " turncoat,'' for the idea put into good French is, tour- 
 nant-cote en peine ; that is, turning coat or sides in trouble. 
 
 Whig and Tory. 
 
 Gray describes the state of the public mind in 1764 (when 
 the animosities of Whig and Tory were revived) as a parallel 
 to these times : " Grumble, indeed, every one does ; but since 
 Wilkes's affair theyfalloff their mettleandseem to shrink under 
 the brazen names of Norton and his colleagues. I hear there 
 will be no ParUament till after Christmas. If the French 
 should be so unwise as to suffer the Spanish court to go on 
 in their present measures (for they refuse to pay the ransom 
 of Manilla, and have driven away our logwood-cutters already) 
 down go their friends in the ministry, and all the schemes of 
 right-divine .and prerogative, and this is, perhaps, the best 
 chance we have. Are you not struck with th^ great similarity 
 there is between the first years of Charles the First and the 
 present time ? " [The contests of Whig and Tory were never 
 so violent as in the last year of Queen Anne, just fifty years 
 before the above time.] 
 
 The Term Conservative. 
 
 '^- The name Conservative, as distinguishing a party in the 
 State, is of so recent an origin as January, 1830. The word 
 was occasionally used in its literal sense by the elder writers, 
 particularly by Sir Thomas Browne, but had become quite 
 
lo Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 obsolete, when it was revived in the following sentence, 
 which occurs in an article in the Quarterly Review, supposed 
 to be written by Mr. John Wilson Croker :— " We despise 
 and abominate the details of partisan warfare ; but we now 
 are, as we always have been, decidedly and conscientiously 
 attached to what is called the Tory, and what might with 
 more propriety be called the Conservative party," &c (vol. 
 xliii. p. 2 76). Having been then first used in its , present 
 technical sense, the appellative was at once recognized as 
 appropriate ; and, in a short time, was universally adopted 
 by the party to which it has since been applied. 
 
 Government and People. 
 
 As we are all prone enough to attribute whatever good we 
 enjoy to bur selves, and all the evil that affects us to 
 others, so Government is apt to meet with rather hard mea- 
 sures from us. It is a good, convenient creature on which 
 to lay all the blame of national calamities and discontent, 
 while we impute to our incorruptible selves whatever renders 
 us great or prosperous. To hear many men talk, one would 
 imagine that in place of the salutary fiction of our constitu- 
 tion, that " the king can do no wrong," we had substituted 
 another maxim not quite so innocent, that " the people can 
 do fitef^." ^ The political physician, at all events, has a far 
 less enviable position than he to whom we consign the treat- 
 ment of our bodily maladies. To this last, easy credulity 
 gives all the praise of cure, and attaches none of the blame 
 of failure. Does a patient recover ? It is owing to the pre- 
 eminent doctor's pre-eminent skill. Does a man die ? He 
 dies in the course of nature, or by the visitation of God. In 
 the other case it is exactly the reverse. Is the nation pros- 
 perous ? It is owing to the virtues, the energies, the industry 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. ii 
 
 of the people. Is it miserable ? It is the corruption, oppres- 
 sion, neglect, rapacity of the government. The reason is 
 about equally sound in either case, though the conclusion is 
 different ; and in neither is it perfectly Baconian. — Edinburgh 
 Review. 
 
 England a Nation of Shopkeepers. 
 
 The origin of this is explained as follows : " On May 31, 
 1817, Napoleon I. is reported to have said to Barry O'Meara, 
 ' You were greatly offended with me for having called you a 
 nation of shopkeepers. Had I meant by that that you were a 
 nation of cowards you would have reason to be displeased. 
 * * * I meant that you were a nation of merchants, and 
 that all your great riches arose from commerce. * * * 
 Moreover, no man of sense ought to be ashamed of being 
 called a shopkeeper.'" — Voice from St. Helena, vol. ii. p. 81. 
 
 English Girondists. 
 
 There is a class of revolutionists named Girondins, whose 
 fate in history is remarkable enough ! Men who rebel and urge 
 the lower classes to rebel ought to have other than formulas 
 to go upon. Men who discern in the misery of the toiling, 
 complaining millions, not misery, but only a raw material 
 which can be wrought upon, and traded in for one's own 
 poor hide-bound theories and egoisms, to whom millions ot 
 living fellow-creatures, with beating hearts in their bosoms, 
 beating, suffering, hoping, are ' masses,' mere ' explosive 
 masses for blowing down Bastiles with.,' for voting at hustings 
 for us. Such men are of the questionable species. — Carlyk's 
 Chartism, 1840. 
 
13 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 Brummagem. 
 
 It may be worth the while of those who are interested in 
 tracing the roots of popular sayings to know, with reference 
 to "Brummagem" as a depreciatory adjective, that a ballad, 
 " London : Printed by Nath. Thompson, 1681," named "Old 
 Jemmy: an Excellent New Ballad," to be sung "to an 
 Excellent New Tune, called Young Jemmy," commends Old 
 Jemmy, i.e. James, Duke pf York (James the Second), 
 thus : — 
 
 " Old Jemmy is the Top 
 
 And Chief among the Princes; 
 . ' No Mobile gay Fop, 
 ,- 1, With Brimigham pretences : 
 A heart and soul so wondrous great, 
 
 And such a conqu'ring Eye, 
 That every Loyal Lad fears not 
 In Jemmy's cause to die." 
 
 Again, the last verse is — 
 
 " And now he's come again, 
 In spite of all Pretenders ; 
 Great Albany shall reign 
 Amongst the Faith's Defenders. 
 Let Whig and Brimigham repine ; 
 
 They show their teeth in vain ; 
 The Glory of the British Line, 
 Old Jemmy's come again. " 
 
 — A copy of this ballad is in the Luttrell Collection, British 
 Museum Library, C. 20. f. 154. Brummagem groats had been 
 well known long before the date of this ballad. 
 
 Tailors' "Cabbage." 
 
 The word Cabbage, by which all the varieties of Brassica 
 are now called, means the firm head, or ball, that is formed 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 13 
 
 by the leaves twining closely over each other : from this cir- 
 cumstance we say, the cole has cabbaged, the lettuce has 
 cabbaged, the tailor has cabbaged. Arbuthnot, in his 
 History of John Bull, says : " Your tailor, instead of shreds, 
 cabbages whole yards of cloth." From thence arose the 
 carrt word applied to tailors' practices, who formerly worked 
 at the private homes of their customers, where they were 
 often accused of cabbaging, which means the rolling up of 
 pieces of cloth, instead of the bits and shreds which they 
 claim as their due. 
 
 Needle in a Bottle of Hay. 
 
 "A bottle of hay" was very commonly itsed in Derby- 
 shire formerly, and probably is so still, to denote a bundle 
 of hay, which was taken from a rick to fodder cattle in a field. 
 When it was difficult to find any thing that had been lost, the 
 humbler orders were wont to say, " You may as well hunt 
 for it as for a needle in a bottle of hay." Sometimes the 
 rope tied round the hay had a piece of wood with an eye 
 in it at one end, through which the rope was passed to tie 
 up the bundle, and a sharp point at the other end, and this 
 piece of wood may have been called a needle ; if so, a 
 needle of this kind may have been referred to in the pro- 
 verbial saying. 
 
 Columbus and the Egg. 
 
 " It is really impossible to make an egg stand on its end ; 
 so Columbus crushed in the impossible basis, and made it 
 stand, though with some damage to the refractory shell." — 
 (Times, March 16, 1866.) Yet five minutes' carefiil balancing 
 will convince any dexterous experimenter that an egg may 
 easily be made to stand and remain balanced on its end, 
 
14 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 without any of that rough coaxing which would damage the 
 refractory shell. All that is required is steadiness of hand, 
 and perhaps a little patience, jfc 
 
 If the story have any semblance of truth in it, it ought, 
 probably, to be told after another fashion, as thus — ^that 
 the horny-handed sailor was put on his mettle by the 
 courtiers, and urged to try an experiment known to require 
 delicacy of touch ; that failing to do that which the lazy 
 fingers of his tormentors could easily accomplish, he became 
 impatient, probably apostrophized the cause of his trouble, 
 "And now, my dear top-heavy friend, there is no way but 
 this," smote off the recalcitrant egg-shell, and remained 
 master of the field. — Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 225. 
 
 Cant and Slang. 
 
 Cant is a sort of language. It is said to be taken from 
 the gipsy or Romany tongue ; and this, again, is probably only 
 a Lingua Franca, with a few Orientalisms. But, apart from its 
 philological value, cant is a secret tongue. It is, or it affects 
 to be, the medium of communication used by the world of 
 dishonesty only. It comprises the mysterious signs and 
 phrases firom the knowledge of which the outsiders of respec- 
 tability are excluded. Thief calls to thief in cant, and trusts 
 that neither his victims nor his natural enemy, the policeman, 
 will understand him. Cant, too, almost rises to the dignity 
 of a universal language, and in a distant way it approaches 
 to realizing Bishop Wilkins's dream of establishing a general 
 medium of oral communication. Slang, on the other hand, 
 does not affect any mysteries. It cannot -fall back on tlie 
 Sanscrit, like the noble cant expression Dacha-saltee, for ten- 
 pence; or on the Romance languages, like Z'mw^r, from dinero, 
 for money, or like donna wAfeeles, for women and children. 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 15 
 
 Slang is usually only a metaphorical and quaint use of the 
 vernacular. It is evaiiescent and local. Technicalities, ar- 
 chaisms, and provincialisms explain themselves, and it is 
 only by an abuse of words that they come into a slang 
 dictionary. Of course it is quite true that, metaphorically, 
 we often stigmatize terms of art and technical phrases as 
 slang. But then we do not mean that the phrases are, in 
 any true sense, slang, but that they become slang to those 
 who use them. — Saturday Review. 
 
 Oxford Slang. 
 
 The word "bosh" as almost synonymous with the word 
 " rubbish " is well known. Oxford claims the credit of having 
 invented the verb " to bosh. " Its meaning is much the same 
 as that of the kindred verb "to hustle." " Boshing" a man 
 is perhaps more violent than simply " hustling " him. Both 
 verbs, however, mean something like " to balk," " to annoy," 
 or (when applied to things) " to spoil." For instance, you 
 " hustle" a man by being rude to him, you " bosh" his joke 
 by refusing to laugh at it ; you " bosh " his chance of sleep 
 by playing on the cornet all night in the room next to him. d 
 The slang use of the verb " to hustle " is evidently only me- 
 taphorical from the physical to the moral world. The other 
 explains itself. One is said to " score off" or " to notch " 
 any person over whom one obtains any advantage either in 
 word or deed. To make a successful repartee to a friend's 
 remark is to " score off" him. To secure for oneself that 
 comfortable seat by the fire, for which you know that another 
 man has been waiting, is to " notch " him. This, of course, • 
 is a metaphor taken from any game, in which eacfi point 
 gained from one's adversary is "scored" or "notched "for 
 oneself. — Macmillan's Magazine. 
 
1 6 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 Toasts and Sentiments. 
 
 With these social observances, in course of time, came the 
 " reigning toasts," and the noble ladies felt flattered at know- 
 ing they were the " toasts of the town." Clubs engraved 
 their names on the club-glasses, and the first poets of the 
 day added a tribute of laudatory verse. Then came fashion 
 of a grosser sort, when each gallant, toasting the lady next 
 to him, swore he would drink no wine but what was strained 
 through her petticoat ! We may fancy with what boisterous 
 politeness the edge of the petticoat was seized, with what 
 hilarious coyness it was defended, how some of the damsels 
 looked over, under, or from the sides of their fans, while 
 others aifected to close the eyes which they kept open, to 
 look through the interstices of the convenient screen. Then, 
 the hems of the garments were placed over the glasses, the 
 wine was poured through, and the Quixotic fellows quafied the 
 draught in honour of the fair ones ! There came a time, how- 
 ever, when men had more refinement, and would not give up 
 to the tipsy salutations of " health-drinkers" the names of the 
 true and modest mistresses of their hearts. The lover, who 
 was a gentleman, and yet who was also a " good fellow," 
 always kept his gentility before him, and his mistress' name 
 to himself. — Cornhill Magazine. 
 
 Cant and Celt. 
 
 Cant abounds also in terms from foreign languages. In. 
 the reign of Elizabeth and of James I. several Dutch, Spanish, 
 and Flemish words were introduced by soldiers who had 
 served in the Low Countries, and by sailors who had re- 
 turned from the Spanish Main, wljo, like " mine ancient 
 Pistol," were fond of garnishing their speech with outlandish 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 17 
 
 phrases. Many of these were soon picked up and adopted 
 by vagabonds and tramps in their Cant language. The 
 Celtic languages, again, have contributed many Cant and 
 vulgar words to our popular vocabulary. This element may 
 come from the Celtic population, which from its ancient 
 position as slaves or servants to the Anglo-Saxon conquerors 
 have contributed so largely to the lowest class of our popu- 
 lation, and therefore to our Slang, provincial, or colloquial 
 words. 
 
 American Locofocos. 
 
 The one-cent stamp for match-boxes produces to the 
 Treasury of the United States a revenue of three millions of 
 dollars in the year ; and it is estimated that not less than five 
 millions of dollars are spent every year in the United States 
 upon matches, and that New York City alone consumes no 
 less than 800 gross of boxes of matches, or 115,200 boxes 
 every day, or during the year 42,048,000. There are im- 
 mense forests of pine in the United States, but nearly all the 
 wood of which the match-sticks are made comes from the 
 Ottawa region in Canada, and the sticks are there turned, or 
 split, and then sent to the manufacturers. The duty on these 
 is trifling, and the cost of making them in Canada being 
 much less than it would be if they were made in the United 
 States, it pays to use the Canada pine and to have the sticks 
 prepared across the border. rThe Irish in the States will buy 
 none but blue-tipped matches ; the Germans always prefer 
 the red. Matches have a little history in the United States. 
 People remember them at a price of nearly a cent each. They 
 all came from England then, ''it was not until 1832 that an 
 enterprising Yankee began the manufacture of matches in 
 New York, and gave them the name of " Locofocos." Soon 
 ' c 
 
i8 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 afterwards there was a storrny political meeting of a section 
 of the Democratic party in the old Tammany Hall in New 
 York. In the confusion the opponents of the meeting 
 managed to turn off all the lights in the hall, and leave the 
 meeting in darkness. But one Merritt, a prominent local 
 politician, happened to have a box of Locofocos in his 
 pocket, and the gas was re-lit amid great cheering, and the 
 proceedings were continued. The incident attracted much 
 notice ; a triumphant song was written in praise of Locofocos ; 
 the political party got the nickname of Locofocos, and the 
 matches sold far and wide. 
 
 Teetotal. 
 
 Dr. R. Abbott, in a communication to the Aihencstim, 
 asks : — " How can such persistent difficulties prevail as to 
 the etymological pretensions of the 'household word' tee- 
 total ? They may be referred to a period long anterior to 
 the uprise of temperance societies or their schisms. From 
 my boyhood I have known this epithet as familiarly used, 
 and as readily understood, referred to extreme abstinence as 
 ' tip-top ' bestowed upon an elaborate feast. These and 
 similar iterative forms of speech seem to have established 
 themselves in many languages — to fix the attention, and in 
 some instances, perhaps, to impart interest to vernacular 
 modes of expression. The sign of a cross was usually pre- 
 fixed to the alphabet in the old Horn-book, which thence 
 came to be (duteously?) called 'Criss Cross Row' by 
 children. With respect to '-total,' this modification may 
 have been promoted by the habitual introduction of the 
 Latin ' m toto,' even by the mere English speaker, into ear- 
 nest discourse. However this be, teetotal is not only perfectly 
 familiar to myself from my earHest years, but I find it sane- 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 19 
 
 tioned by the adoption into the ItaHan of the analogous re- 
 duplication ' /■«-,' forming ' tututto,' an adnoun of exactly 
 equivalent import in that language. The word ' teetotal ' 
 is also to be found, as a recognized English word, in the Ger- 
 man-English Dictionary of Mueller, as well as in the Fremd- 
 worterbuch of Heysse. — As to the affinity of ^5 (kol), "all, 
 every" (Hebrew), with the English word Alkohol, — while the 
 Semitic ijn5 (of three radicals) is only introduced once in the 
 Hebrew Bible, referring to the pigment with which Eastern 
 ladies stained their eyes, — Alcohol (of the same stock) 
 is always used with the Arabic article Al (never with the 
 Hebrew eth), to denote ardent spirits, in modern languages." 
 
 Jocose Virtue. 
 
 It is quite refreshing to find so grave an authority as Bar- 
 row, the Divine, thus advocating the virtue of being merry 
 and wise. " Such facetiousneSs," saith he, " is not unreason- 
 able nor unlawful which ministereth harmless divertisement 
 and delight to conversation ; harmless, I say, that is, not in- 
 fringing charity or justice, not disturbing peace. * * * If 
 jocular discourse may serve to good purposes ; if it may be 
 apt to raise our drooping spirits, to allay our irksome cares, 
 to whet our blunted industry, to recreate our minds, being 
 tried and cloyed with grave occupations : if it may breed 
 alacrity, or maintain good humour among us ; if it may con- 
 duce to sweeten conversation and endear society, then is it 
 not inconvenient or unprofitable. * * * Why should those 
 games which excite our wit and fancies be less reasonable 
 than those whereby our grosser parts and faculties are exer- 
 cised ? Yea, why are not those more reasonable, since they 
 are perfonned in a manly way, and have in them a smack of 
 reason \ since also that they be so managed as not only to 
 
 c 2 
 
ao Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 divert and please, but to improve and profit the mind, 
 rousing and quickening it, yea, sometimes enlightening and 
 instructing it by good sense conveyed in jocular expres- 
 sion ? " 
 
 The Kilkenny Cats. 
 
 The following is an accurate version of the occurrence 
 which led to the story of the Kilkenny cats. During the 
 rebellion which occurred in Ireland in 1798 (or may be in 
 1803) Kilkenny was garrisoned by a regiment of Hessian 
 soldiers, whose custom it was to tie together in one of their 
 barrack-rooms two cats by their respective tails, and then to 
 throw them face to face across a line generally used for dry- 
 ing clothes. The cats naturally became infuriated, and 
 scratched each other in the abdomen until death ensued to one 
 or both of thdm. The officers of the corps were ultimately 
 made acquainted with these barbarous acts of cruelty, and they 
 resolved to put an end to them and to punish the offenders. 
 To effect this purpose, an officer was ordered to inspect 
 each barrack-room daily, and to report to the commanding 
 officer in what state he found the room. The cruel soldiers, 
 determined not to lose the daily torture of the wretched 
 cats, generally employed one of their comrades to watch the 
 approach of the officer, in order that the cats might be 
 liberated and take refuge in_ flight before the visit of the 
 officer to the scene of their torture. On one occasion the 
 "look-out man" neglected his duty, and the officer of the 
 day was heard ascending the barrack stairs while the cats 
 were undergoing their customary torture. One of the 
 troopers immediately seized a sword from the arm-rack, and 
 with a single blow divided the tails of the two cats. The 
 cats, of course, escaped through the open windows of the 
 room, which was entered almost immediately afterwards by 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. ai 
 
 the officer, who inquired what was the cause of the two 
 bleeding cats' tails being suspended on the clothes-line, and 
 was told in reply that " two cats had been fighting in the 
 room, and that they fought so desperately that they had de- 
 voured each other up with the exception of their two tails ;'' 
 which may have satisfied Captain Schummelkettel, but would 
 not have deluded any person but a beery Prussian. — Notes 
 and Queries. 
 
 "Cry Bo to a Goose." 
 
 A Correspondent writes to Notes and Queries, 3rd S., 
 No. 281 : — " I have heard that an Earl Crawfurd (or Lind- 
 say of Balcarras), contemporary with Burns, was leisurely 
 sauntering along the road in company with a Lord Boyd, when 
 the latter perceived a man leaning on his plough in deep and 
 silent meditation. His lordship attributed the act to laziness. 
 Lord Boyd drew his attention thereto, remarking at the same 
 time what a lazy fellow the ploughman was. Crawfurd, 
 aware that Boyd had not recognized ' the ploughman,' re- 
 marked, 'Whatever expression you may shout out to that 
 man, he will reply in rhyme.' ' I will try him,' said Boyd, 
 and at once bellowed out ' Baugh !' like a bull. Bums — for 
 it was he — quietly turned round, took stock of him and his 
 companion, and, with becoming courtesy to Lord Crawfurd, 
 said, — 
 
 ' 'Tis not Lord Crawfurd, but Lord Boyd, 
 Of habits rude and manners void, 
 Who, like a bull among the rye, 
 Cries " Baugh !" at folks as he goes by.' 
 
 A capital reproof, and one no doubt long remembered by 
 both parties ; besides, it was not at all complimentary to 
 Lord Boyd, as it not only gave utterance to a belief in his 
 ignorance, but to his cowardly mode of speech." 
 
23 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 Cooking his Goose. 
 
 A speculative Correspondent of Notes and Queries has 
 found the following witty story in a MS. of the middle of the 
 seventeenth century, in Sion College library, which he con- 
 siders to explain the vulgar phrase of " cooking his goose :" 
 — " The King of Swedland coming to a towne of his enemyes 
 with very little company, his enemyes, to slight his forces, 
 did hang out a goose for him to shoot ; but perceiving before 
 night that these few soldiers had invaded and set their chiefe 
 houlds on fire, they demanded of him what his intent was. 
 To whom he replied, ' To roast your goose.' " 
 
 "Walk your Chalk." 
 
 This vulgarism, addressed to one whose company is no 
 longer desired, and who is expected to leave your presence 
 instanter, is conjectured to have originated in the Liber Albus, 
 in the introduction to which it is stated that there anciently 
 existed in London a custom for the marshal and serjeant- 
 chamberlain of the royal household, when in want of lodg- 
 ings for the royal retinue and dependants, to send a biUet 
 and seize arbitrarily the best houses and mansions of the 
 locality, turning out the inhabitants, and marking the house 
 so selected with chalk. From this it is thought arose a 
 saying, " You must now please to walk out, for your house is 
 chalked ;'' breviter, " You must walk, you're chalked," — 
 "Walk your chalk." 
 
 Another explanation of the phrase is that it originated in 
 the slave-market at Rome, where slaves newly arrived from 
 abroad had to stand with their feet chalked until some one 
 bought and walked them off. Certainly, the chalking of the 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 23 
 
 feet is alluded to by Tibullus, Ovid, and Pliny. But the 
 chalking custom was observed much later than the date of 
 the Liber Albus, 1419. In the History of the Entry of 
 Mary de Medicis, in 1638, we read : — " During the progress 
 of the Queen-mother to the metropolis, the quarter-master 
 put his chalk mark on all houses which he deemed requisite 
 for the convenient lodging of the Queen's retinue ; and he 
 found no difficulty in obtaining lodgings, ' because every one 
 vied with his neighbour in offering his house, as if they had 
 considered it a mark of honour to see their door chalked, 
 since it was for the service of so great a princess.' When 
 the Queen-mother arrived at Colchester, Sieur de Labat 
 (valet-de-chambre) was again busy ' marking the doors of all 
 sorts of houses, which were the most commodious for him to 
 appoint for lodgings.' The usage was one that feudalism 
 had introduced at an early period in France." — Notes and 
 Queries, 2nd S., No. 216. 
 
 " Flittings." 
 
 "Flittings," in Psalm Ivi. 8, signifies wanderings, as it is 
 rendered in the Bible version, from the verb flit, used in 
 Scotland and some parts of Ireland to express removing from 
 one place to another, on expiration of tenure days. Johnson 
 gives offence, a fault, as the meaning of the word in this 
 passage — " Thou tellest ray flittings ^ put my tears into thy 
 bottle." This word does not occur in the text'bi the Bible, 
 but we find it in the margin of Jer. xlix. 30. 
 
 Flashmen. 
 
 In the district of the ancient forests of Macclesfield, Lyme, 
 and Leek, on an exposed and bleak upland, stands a village 
 
24 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 called Flash, so named, it is said, from \ht flashing out of its 
 white-washed cottages to all the country round. In this 
 place, strange to say, a thriving manufacture of buttons grew 
 up about two centuries ago ; which flourished till Birmingham, 
 with its machinery, undersold the poor mountaineers. The 
 buttons were made of wood, dyed in the mineral springs of 
 the neighbourhood, and covered with cloth .by the women. 
 They were hawked about the country by the men of the 
 place, who, by their wild and roving habits, became known 
 every where as Flashmen, and so introduced the word "flash" 
 into the slang vocabulary. 
 
 From forty to seventy years ago, a notorious family of 
 forgers lived some ten miles from Flash, and several of the 
 members of this family came, in consequence, to an un- 
 timely end at Stafford. The designation is thought to have 
 been derived from the place Flash, and the flashmen who 
 hawked the buttons about the country were very likely to be 
 some of them connected with the gang of forgers, while 
 their avocation aiforded them a ready means of disposing of 
 the notes about the country. The v/oxd flash is common in 
 Lincolnshire and efsewhere to indicate a small lakelet, or 
 piece of shining water. 
 
 "As Deaf as a Beetle." 
 
 "As deaf as a Beetle :" why attribute deafness to these 
 insects ? If speedy flight on the approach of a footstep be 
 any sign of hearing, they possess that sense acutely. 
 
 " As deaf as a Beetle " does not, however, apply to the 
 insect at all. In Sufi"olk, a large wooden mallet, with a 
 handle from two to three feet long, is called a beetle, and is 
 specially used for driving in wedges into wood for the pur- 
 pose of " riving " or splitting it. '1 The comparison relates to 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 35 
 
 this wooden instrument, and is given by Bailey, who Hkewise 
 gives another form of the word, " boytle," which is a nearer 
 approach to the Saxon origin. 
 
 "Taking a Sight." 
 
 We all know what is meant by " taking a sight." But it 
 is an old practice ; and is made classical by Rabelais, who 
 attributes it to an Englishman. No one who sees it done in 
 old French will ever think it vulgar again : — " Lors feist 
 I'Anglois tel signe. La main gausche toute ouverte il 
 leva haulte en I'aer, puis ferma au poing les quatres doigtz 
 d'icelle, et le poulce estendu assit sus la pinne du nez. 
 Soubdain aprfes leva la dextre toute ouverte, et toute ouverte 
 la baissa, joignant le poulce au lieu que fermoit le petit doigt 
 de la gausche, et les quatre doigtz d'icelle mouvoit lentement 
 en I'aer. Puis au rebours feit de la dextre ce qu'il avoit 
 faict de la gausche, et de la gausche ce que avoit faict de la 
 dextre.'' An impressive sight ! We have lost the intro- 
 duction of the fist, which ought to be restored. The gentle 
 oscillation of the front fingers, with the clenched fist in the 
 rear, says as plainly as possible, Put forward suaviter .in 
 modo, but \.tt^ fortiter in re ready for action. 
 
 "SWOBBERS.'' 
 
 There is a known story of a clergyman who was recom- 
 mended for a preferment by some great men at court to an 
 archbishop. His Grace said, "He had heard that the 
 clergyman used to play at whist and swobbers ; that as to 
 playing now and then a sober game at whist for pastime it 
 might be pardoned ; but he could not digest those wicked 
 swobbers ;" and it was with some pains that my Lord 
 Somers could induce him, so says Swift in his Essay 
 
26 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 on the Fates of Clergymen; and a note in Sir Walter Scott's 
 edition informs us that the primate was " Tenison," who by- 
 all contemporary accounts was a very dull man. In expla- 
 nation of the term, Johnson, under " Swobber," or " Swab- 
 ber," gives — I. "A sweeper of the deck;" and 2. "Four 
 privileged cards, that are only incidentally used in betting at 
 the game of whist." He then quotes the above passage 
 from Swift, with the difference that he says "clergymen." 
 Were not the cards so called because they swept the deck 
 by a sort of "sweepstake"? — Notes and Queries, ist S., 
 No. 83. 
 
 "Jolly as Sandboys." 
 
 This expression is thought to have originated in the Tact 
 that a gravelly or sandy soil has, at all times, a salutary and 
 nerve-bearing effect on those who are so fortunate as to 
 reside upon it; whence it may be inferred that the occu- 
 pation of such labourers as dig and delve all day long, not 
 only in the open air, but also among the sand and gravel 
 pits, must be peculiarly healthful and exhilirating. Again ; 
 it is said that " Sandboy '' is the vulgar name of a small 
 insect which may be seen in the loose sand so common on 
 the sea-shore. This insect hops and leaps in a manner 
 strongly suggestive of jollity, and hence the simile arises. — 
 Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 225. 
 
 The word "jolly" had its sense of "merry," when applied 
 to a man, at least as early as 1338 a. d. For in the first part 
 of the " Stori of Inglande," by Robert Mannyng, of Brunne, 
 we read, that when King Vortiger, by the help of the Saxons 
 under Hengist and Horsa, had driven back the Picts and 
 Scots from the Humber, 
 
 Jien was l^e kyng a loly man, 
 l>at he Jie bataille of J;em so wan. 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 37 
 
 What is Positivism? 
 
 The peculiarity of " Positivism " is that it affects to define 
 a priori, and on purely abstract principles, the frontier of 
 human intelligence. In order to attain positive certainty, it 
 begins by excluding whatever does not seem to admit of 
 demonstration, and practically refuses to admit all that does 
 not submit to the test of the bodily senses. This assump- 
 tion has been demurred to, on account of both what it 
 includes and of what it excludes. It includes all that is 
 usually understood by physical science, but does it thereby 
 secure the certainty to which it aspires ? On the contrary, 
 "we 'see theories and systems in geology, for instance, 
 displacing and demolishing one another, like dolls in a 
 puppet-show." On the other hand, in shutting out from its 
 domain all ideas of duty, conscience, and will, although the 
 universal judgment of mankind confesses that these facts are 
 at least as certain as any material phenomena can possibly 
 be, the promise to reconstitute society and remodel the 
 politics of the world by methods which leave out of view 
 the great principles on which all society rests is eloquently 
 shown to be fallacious, and its performances hitherto in fulfil- 
 ment of this undertaking ludicrously small. The argument 
 concludes with a striking contrast between the new philo- 
 sophy and the teaching of the Catholic Church, evading no 
 mystery, not indifferent to the necessary limitations of human 
 knowledge, and yet covering with its influence and authority 
 the whole domain of human life, and revealing to us by the 
 Word of the Lord all that we need to know, perhaps all that 
 we can know, of things present and eternal. 
 
a8 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 Origin of Young England. 
 
 Mr. Disraeli has, in the Preface to the new edition of his 
 works, 1870, correctly stated the purport, and ingenuously, no 
 doubt,, confessed the origin of that "triology" of fiction 
 which entertained, we may almost say agitated, the world of 
 readers a quarter of a century ago. Unfortunately, that 
 very interval enables us to apply an inexorable test to the 
 result. Coningsby and Sybil actually produced a school of 
 thought, or, at least, of fancy. "Young England" in 1845 
 was a fa,ct, if not a great one. Eton boys began to talk, 
 history, undergraduates at the Universities contemplated the 
 salvation of the country as their possible missi'on, and a 
 real, though not a very broad or powerful current of feeling 
 had indeed been set flowing by Mr. Disraeli. But of the 
 thousand young gentleftien who have just now gone up to 
 Oxford or Cambridge how many have ever heard of the 
 " Young England " which amused or attracted their fathers ? 
 The " school " has gone clean out of date and mind, though 
 indeed that has been the fate in the same interval of more 
 pretentious teaching. But, in the case before us, if the 
 matter perishes, the vehicle will survive. It is surprising 
 how fresh and how engrossing these stories are even in the 
 present day. Even the political speculations have their 
 interest, for they put history iir what was a new and not 
 unfaithful light. The transformation of our political and 
 social constitution is explained accurately enough, nor is 
 the moral wholly mistaken. The mistake consisted in the 
 persuasion that what was gone, no matter how, could now 
 be recalled. 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 29 
 
 "To Interview." 
 
 The verb "to interview," which has been lately Con- 
 jugated in all its. moods and tenses by American corre- 
 spondents, is, it seems, not a Transatlantic invention. It 
 occurs in a passage in HalFs Chronicle, which was printed in 
 1542, and claims, therefore, a higher antiquity than the 
 noun, which we use without hesitation. Another American- 
 ism, "to excur," i.e. to go on an excursion, has a similar 
 history, and is said to have been employed by Harvey some 
 time before William Browne introduced the word excursion 
 in his Britannia! s Pastorals. As "excur" is framed after 
 the analogy of "incur," "occur," and "concur," there seem 
 to be no other reasons against its adoption than that the 
 latter words are never used in their literal signification, and 
 that we can readily express our meaning without recourse to 
 such an archaism. Americans frequently say (and with 
 some truth) that in their language have been preserved 
 many old English words which the passion for Johnsonian 
 diction has banished fropi our conversation ; but we doubt 
 whether the remark applies to the samples we have noticed. — 
 Pail Mall Gazette. 
 
 Brother Jonathan. — Yankee. 
 
 The origin of this term, as applied to the United States, 
 was communicated by a Correspondent then upwards of eighty 
 years old, who was an active participator in the scenes of 
 the Revolution. The story is as follows : — " When General 
 Washington, after being appointed commander of the army 
 of the revolutionary war, came to Massachusetts to organize 
 it, and make preparations for the defence of the country, he 
 
30 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 found a great want of ammunition and other means neces- 
 sary to meet the powerful foe he had to contend with, and 
 great difficulty to obtain them. If attacked in such condi- 
 tion, the cause at once might be hopeless. On one occa- 
 sion, at that anxious period, a consultation of the officers 
 and others was had, when it seemed no way could be 
 devised to make such preparations as were necessary. His 
 Excellency, Jonathan Trumbull the elder, was then Governor 
 of the State of Connecticut, on whose judgment and aid the 
 General placed the greatest reliance, and remarked, 'We 
 must consult Brother Jonathan upon the subject.' The 
 General did so, and the Governor was successful in sup- 
 plying many of the wants of the army. When difficulties 
 afterwards arose, and the army was spread over the country, 
 it became a bye-word, ' We must consult Brother Jonathan.' 
 The term Yankee is still applied to a portion, but ' Brother 
 Jonathan' has now become a designation of the whole 
 country, as John Bull has for England." — Dictionary of 
 Americanisms, by John Russell Bartlett, 1849. 
 
 In the Poetical Works of John Trumball, LL.D., pub- 
 lished at Hartford (U.S.), 1820, in the Appendix is this 
 note : — " Yarikies. — The first settlers in New England were 
 mostly emigrants from London and its vicinity, and exclu- 
 sively styled themselves the English. The Indians, in 
 attempting to utter the word English, with their broad 
 guttural accent, gave it a sound which would be nearly repre- 
 sented in this way, Yaunghees ; the letter g being pronounced 
 hard, and approaching to the sound of h, joined with a 
 strong aspirate, like the Hebrew cheth, or the Greek chi, and 
 the / suppressed, or almost impossible to be distinctly heard 
 in that combination. The Dutch settlers on the river- 
 Hudson and the adjacent country, during their long contest 
 concerning the rights of territory, adopted the name, and 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 31 
 
 applied it in contempt to the inhabitants of New England. 
 The British of the lower class have since extended it to all 
 the people of the United States. This seems the most pro- 
 bable origin of the term. The pretended Indian tribe of 
 Yankoos does not appear to have ever had an existence : 
 as little can we believe in an etymological definition from 
 the ancient Scythia or Siberia, or that it was ever the name 
 of a horde of savages in any part of the world." 
 
 The following Knes from a poem, written in England by 
 the Rev. James Cook Richmond, of Providence, Rhode 
 Island, and dated Sept. 7, 1848, give the derivation of this 
 word : — 
 
 "At Yankees, John, beware a laugh. 
 Against yourself you joke ; 
 For Yenghees ' English ' is, but half 
 By Indian natives spoke." 
 
 The author of a curious book on the Round Towers of 
 Ireland has traced the origin of the term Yankee-doodle to. 
 the Persian phrase " Yanki-doomiah," or "inhabitants of 
 the New World." Layard, in his book on Ninei>eh and its 
 Remains, also mentions " Yanghi-dunia " as the Persian 
 name of America. — Notes and Queries, No. 84. 
 
 Skedaddle. 
 
 Nicknames arise, as a rule, so spontaneously that no par- 
 ticular person can claim the glory of the invention ; some 
 old word, perhaps, has lain in long concealment till it is 
 suddenly torn from its obscurity to become familiar in every 
 mouth. " Skedaddle," for example, must have been smoul- 
 dering, as it were, in some comer of America until the crisis 
 arose which imperatively required its use. It expressed 
 
33 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 with such delicacy the pecuHar shade of cynical indifference 
 in which the Yankee soldier ran away for the time when he 
 knew that he was beaten, subject to the full intention of 
 fighting another day, that it must have been discovered, if 
 not invented, by a man of genius.. Some mute inglorious 
 Milton must have existed to put into three hitherto neglected 
 syllables that precise meaning which we should vainly endea- 
 vour to analyzfe in many sentences. 
 
 What is Buncombe? 
 
 The social stratum most susceptible of Buncombe is that 
 which forms the main substance- of American society. 
 Americans are almost universally educated to the point of 
 admiring ornament, but not up to the point of distinguish- 
 ing gold from tinsel. All Buncombe is a form of vulgarity 
 which resembles most closely the ostentation of a man who 
 has sprung suddenly into wealth. •P'The most extreme and 
 offensive forms of Buncombe survive chiefly in the half- 
 settled districts ; and the really cultivated Americans write a 
 style fully as pure as Englishmen of the same literary 
 standing. 
 
 Philistinism. 
 
 This new name, which has become popular, is due to 
 Mr. Matthew Arnold, and it shows some of the weak points 
 which belong to the system. Within a year or two every 
 body awakened to the fact that there flourished amongst 
 us a hitherto undescribed monster called a Philistine. It 
 became a very convenient term, at the moment when 
 Englishrrien were rousing themselves to acknowledge the 
 startling fact that they were not in all respects the wisest 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 33 
 
 and best of mankind; The name summed up very fairly the 
 stupidity and narrow provinciaHsm which is so prevalent 
 amongst our glorious middle classes, and it was just as well 
 that they should discover that in certain respects they are 
 so offensive to intelligent persons that they require a special 
 epithet to give vent to the accumulated feelings of disgust 
 which they had provoked. The use of a nickname resembles 
 in this respect the use of an oath. It is, as it were, an 
 embodied snort; it is an expressive gesture of contempt, 
 sufficiently pointed to pierce in some degree the thick hide 
 of a stupid antagonist. Even the most pig-headed -vestry- 
 man feels that something unpleasant has been said about 
 him when he has been called a Philistine, though he may 
 have the vaguest possible conception of its precise mean- 
 ing. For some time indeed the majority of mankind had 
 only the general impression that a Philistine was something 
 different from Mr. Matthew Arnold, and therefore something 
 very contemptible. But what were the precise merits which 
 entitled him to be a child of light, and the absence of which 
 consigned the rest of the world to the supreme contempt 
 conveyed in the word Philistine, remained a mystery. And 
 now that the name has met with considerable acceptance, it 
 is suffering in another way. It is used so vaguely by people 
 who are themselves Philistines of the deepest dye that it is 
 in danger of losing its meaning. The sharpness of the 
 weapon is disappearing under frequent use, and in the 
 hands of certain writers it is becoming merely a new term of 
 abuse to throw at the heads of any one they .dislike. By a 
 gradual process of decay it will, it seems, become equivalent 
 to little more than Tory. 
 
34 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings, 
 
 Rodomontade. 
 
 This word is derived from Rodomonte, a brave, but not 
 a braggart, knight in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso ; and it is, in 
 fact, a curious illustration of that inversion of meaning which 
 words occasionally undergo on the lums a non lucendo prin- 
 ciple. A rodomontader is a person who affects, without 
 possessing, the character of Rodomonte. Rodomonte is still 
 a common epithet in Italian for a vain, vapouring fellow. 
 
 Mr. Washington Moon has a queer story of the word 
 taking its origin from "Rodomont, a king of Algiers." 
 
 "At Sixes and Sevens." 
 
 Shakspeare uses this well-known adage ; Bacon, Hudi- 
 bras, Arbuthnot, Swift, all use it. 
 
 It has been asked, " May not this expression bear refer- 
 ence to \ht points in the card game of piquet?" May it not 
 have arisen from the passage in Eliphaz's discourse to Job ? 
 " He shall deliver thee in six troubles j yea, in seven there 
 shall no evil touch thee." — ^Job v. 19. 
 
 Mr. Halliwell, in his Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial 
 Words, vol. ii. p. 724, thus explains this phrase: — "The 
 Deity is mentioned in the. Towndey Mysteries, pp. 97, 118, 
 as He that ' sett alle on seven,' i. e. set or appointed every 
 thing in seven days. A similar phrase at p. 85 is not so 
 evident. It is explained in the Glossary ' to set things in, 
 to put them in order;' but it evidently impUes, in some 
 cases, an exactly opposite meaning — to set in confusion, to 
 rush to battle, as in the following examples : — ' To set the 
 Steven^ — to agree upon the time and place of meeting pre- 
 vious to some expedition. — West, and Cumb. Dial., p. 390. 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 35 
 
 These phrases may be connected with each other. Be this 
 
 as it may, there is certainly the phrase, to be at sixes and 
 
 sevens, to be in great confusion. Herod, in his anger at the 
 
 wise men, says : — 
 
 ' Bot be they past me by, by Mahowne in heven, 
 I shalle, and that in hy, set alle on sex and seven. ' 
 
 Tmvneley Mysteries, p. 148. 
 
 ' Old Odcomb's odnesse makes not thee uneven, 
 Nor carelessly set all at six and seven.'' 
 
 Taylor's Works, 1630." 
 
 Upon this the Editor of Notes and Queries remarks : — 
 " Six and seven make the proverbially unlucky thirteen, and 
 we are inchned to believe that the allusion in this popular 
 phrase is to this combination.'' 
 
 "Ah, his Trumpeter is Dead." 
 
 A correspondent of the Standard newspaper, writing from 
 Venice, traces the origin of this expression : he was at din- 
 ner, when he heard a great blowing of a horn and shouting, 
 upon a bridge which crossed the canal under his window. 
 He looked out, and saw a respectable man, blowing loudly 
 upon a horn, while another, like a gondolier out of employ, 
 stood by him. The first man having blown his trumpet, he 
 read aloud in tone like that of an English bellman from a 
 printed paper, to the effect that " Enrico, the excellent son 
 of his excellent parents, Giovanni and Gigia Bacotti, had 
 gained a prize at school, and, therefore, Eviva Enrico, Eviva 
 Giovanni and Gigia, and Eviva the rest of their egregious 
 family!' Eviva ! Eviva !" He then blew a loud blast upon 
 his horn, and the gondolier began to halloo loudly, " Viva, 
 Viva, Viva /" about fifty times, the man with the horn coming 
 in with a blast of that instrument as 2. finale. He then read 
 as before, and the whole performance was repeated four times, 
 
 D 2 
 
3^ Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 and the pair moved off to another public place, to repeat, 
 &c., the same form. Sometimes eight or ten men with horns, 
 and as many men to halloo, formed this shouting expedition. 
 The two men would receive not more than a florin for their 
 work from the proud parents Giovanni and Gigia. 
 
 "Begin at the Beginning." 
 
 The quotation, "commence par le commencement,^'' we owe 
 to no less a personage than Count Anthony Hamilton, the 
 accomplished courtier of James II., with whom he retired to 
 the Continent at the Revolution. The Count died there in 
 1720. In one of his tales, written in ridicule of the Arabian- 
 Nights, and called "The Ram," one of the principal cha- 
 racters is the Ram himself, the attendant on a giant, whose 
 spirits to compose he tells a tale, thus abruptly beginning, — 
 " Since the wounds of the White Fox, the Queen failed not 
 to visit him." " Friend Ram," said the giant, " I understand 
 nothing of all that. If you could begin at the beginning, you 
 would please me more ; for all those tales that begin in the 
 middle only muddle the imagination." "As you will," said 
 the Ram. " I commenced, though contrary to custom, to 
 put every thing in its place ; thus the beginning of my story 
 shall be at the end of the tale." 
 
 Progress. 
 
 There is no word so commonly in the mouths of a large 
 class of modern politicians as Progress. What is its precise 
 meaning, or whether it is any thing more than a compli- 
 mentary name for certain obvious tendencies of the day, is 
 a more doubtful question. Its frequent use, however, indi- 
 cates the growth of one of the most marked characteristics 
 of modern political opinion. The old-fashioned thinkers of 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 37 
 
 the last century thought that states rose and fell and rose 
 again without any assignable or general law. According to 
 them, a nation emerged from a barbarous state for no particular 
 .reason, became rich and powerful, then was frequently " cor- 
 rupted by luxury," lost its liberties, and disappeared to make 
 room for the next comer. But they scarcely entertained the 
 conception that these changes in a given nation, or still more 
 in mankind at large, were the result of any definite process 
 of development. The political constitution of a country was 
 a skilful work of art, arbitrarily invented by some ingenious 
 legislator, which might continue to perform perfectly for an 
 indefinite time, but was pretty certain, sooner or later, to get 
 out of order, and run down like a worn-out clock. The 
 modern thinker is more accustomed to look upon men in 
 their present condition as one term in a long series which 
 began with the apes, or it may be with some mysterious 
 " protoplasm,'' and which will go on developing itself beyond 
 any assignable limits. If our faculties were sharper, we might 
 trace out the future destiny of our race, and give as distinct 
 a formula for calculating its position at any given epoch as 
 for determining the growth of a tree or of an individual 
 animal. The truth and the value of this conception may be 
 disputed, or subjected to various limitations ; but its import- 
 ance in determining the form of modem controversies is 
 obvious. The commonplace Radical is provided by it with 
 a weapon of which he makes the most unhesitating use. 
 Progress, he says, in substance, is inevitable ; and progress 
 means the adoption of his opinions. Therefore, by an easy 
 inference, the victory of his party is simply a question of 
 time. Conservatives are merely the stupid people who do 
 not recognize the inevitable, and are trying to hold back an 
 express train with a bit of string, or to keep out the Atlantic 
 with a mop. — The Saturday Review. 
 
38 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 The Word "Hottentot." 
 
 The meaning and origin of the word Hottentot have sorely 
 troubled the Philological Society. Is it onomatopoetic, or 
 imitative of the native click, or a Dutch 'stammer, hot tot ? 
 Yes, said Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood. No, said Mr. Danby 
 Fry. The umpire appealed to was Judge Watermeyer, of 
 the Cape of Good Hope, perhaps the soundest scholar 
 there. He answered by a quotation from the Dutch collector 
 of Voyages, Dapper, who, .about 1668 a.d., reports of the 
 Hottentots : — " Some words they cannot utter except with 
 great trouble, and seem to draw them up from the bottom of 
 the throat like a turkey-cock ; or, as the people in Germany 
 do, near the Alps, who, from drinking snow-water, have the 
 'goitre.' Wherefore, our countrymen, in respect of this 
 defect and extraordinary stammering of language, have given 
 them the name of Hottentots, as that word is ordinarily 
 used in this sense, as a term of derision {schimpswyz'e), in 
 this country (hier te lande), to one who stutters and stammers 
 in the utterance of his words." The peculiarity of the lan- 
 guage, says the Judge, is noticed by all the early voyagers 
 - — not the Dutch and English only. The Portuguese, who 
 do not know the name " Hottentot," from the first observed 
 what is called the stammering ; and Crosius, in his descrip- 
 tion of De Gama's voyage, speaks of the "incolse" who 
 "cum loquuntur, singultire videntur." The Hottentot national 
 name is " Khoikhoip, " pi. " Khoikhoin, " meaning " the 
 men," and this is still in use among the Namaquas, who were 
 for a long period wholly independent of European influences. 
 From Cramer's Dutch Dictionary Mr. Fry produced >^wr/if«/^/, 
 a stammerer, evidently coming, as he thinks, from the Dutch 
 hurten, French heurter, our hurtle, and not imitative in origin. 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 39 
 
 This the imsonists, or advocates of the imsonic theory, deny, 
 and claim the root hur as decidedly imitative. Further 
 search in early Dutch dictionaries is evidently needed. 
 
 The Hugonots. 
 
 Various definitions of this epithet exist. Pasquier says it 
 arose from their assembling at Hugon's Tower, at Tours ; 
 he also mentions that in 1549 he heard them called Tourain- 
 geaux. Some have traced the term to the commencement 
 of their petitions, "Hue nos venimus.'' A more probable 
 reason is to be found in the name of a party at Geneva called 
 Eignots, a term derived from the German, and signifying a 
 sworn confederate. Voltaire and the Jesuit Maimbourg are 
 both of this opinion. — Browning's History of the Hugonots. 
 
 The Word " Canada." 
 
 According to Jesuit Hennepin, the name of Canada was 
 derived from a corruption of the Spanish words Capo da 
 Nada, or Cape of Nothing, which they gave to the scene of 
 their early discoveries when, under a conviction of its utter 
 barrenness and inutility, they were about abandoning it in 
 disgust. The mainspring of Spanish, and, indeed, of all 
 European enterprise in those days, was the hope of gold ; 
 and as the Spaniards discovered no traces of this commodity, 
 they concluded it did not exist.f- It has been conjectured, 
 with greater appearance of probability, that Canada is a 
 modification of the Spanish word signifying " a passage ;" 
 because the Spaniards thought they could find a passage to 
 India through Canada. Others, with greater reason, believe 
 there may yet be found a permanent practical way to the 
 shores of the Pacific through its wide expanse of lake and 
 mountain. 
 
40 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 Origin of " Ireland." 
 
 Ledwich, the Irish historian and antiquary, supplies the 
 following annals as evidence of the origin of the much-dis- 
 puted, though never finally settled, derivation of the word 
 " Ireland." 
 
 A.D. 870. King Alfred, in his Anglo-Saxon translation 
 of " Orosius," styles Ireland " Ira-land." 
 
 A.D. 8gi. Three Irishmen, says the Saxon Chronicle, 
 C3,me in a boat from Yr-lande : so the Cotton MS. has it. 
 
 A.D. 918. The same Chronicle calls Ireland " Yr-lande." 
 
 A.D. 1048. Harold flies to Yr-lande. 
 
 A.D. 1077. The Danes were shipwrecked on "Yr-lande." 
 
 A.D. 1080. Adam' Bremensis names Ireland " Ir-land." 
 
 A.D. 1098. Odericus Vitalis calls the Irish " Irenses." 
 
 A.D. 1105. CElonoth, in his " Life of St. Canute," styles 
 them " Iros." 
 
 Ledwich laboured hard to deduce that from the original 
 Celtic Ir-in came the Ira, Iros, Irenses, and Yr-land of the 
 Icelanders, Danes, Anglo-Saxons, and Germans, and the 
 Iris of Diodorus Siculus, and, by a transposition of inne, 
 the lerne of the other Greeks. Ledwich, however, though 
 he proved the derivation to his own satisfaction, did not 
 satisfy his contemporaries or successors. The Petries, Dono- 
 vans, O'Currys, D'Altons, and a host of others pulverized 
 the poor doctor's hypothesis into powder, without, however, 
 succeeding in establishing a more accepted theory. — The 
 Builder. 
 
 " Viking " 
 
 In connexion with the recognized derivation of the old 
 Norse viking, a piratical expedition, from vik, a bay, creek, 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 41 
 
 which we recently gave, — and which is the standard one, 
 authorized by Rask, Mobius, &c., — we may mention that a 
 certain school of etymologists derive the word from vig, com- 
 bat, battle ; but they do not produce parallel instances of 
 the change of ^ to ^ ; they do not show that the abstract -/«^ 
 fits on properly to the abstract vig, to which the r of action 
 can be, and is rightly, at once affixed in vigr — fit for war, 
 warlike ; and they go away from the plain formation of viking 
 from the concrete vik, and in vikingr from the abstract vik- 
 ing, because they fancy the sense of " coasting " does not 
 suit the meaning of pirate. But if they will look to the iise 
 of our English word, they will see a near approach to the 
 metaphor, for Nares and Halliwell both assign the meaning 
 of " pursue " to coast, and Nares quotes from Holinshed (iii. 
 p. 353), " William Douglas still coasted the. Englishmen, doing 
 them what damage he might." 
 
 The "Good Old Times." 
 
 In the Guildhall archives preserved at Guildhall, we have a 
 complete picture of civic and social life during the mid-days of 
 the Plaritagenets, from the early years of Edward I. to about 
 the middle of the reign of Richard II. The picture thus 
 presented does not recall the " good old times " so often 
 imagined. Ordinary men possessed only the faintest shadow 
 of liberty ; they were fettered by innumerable arbitrary and 
 oppressive enactments, and their natural rights were con- 
 stantly set asid'C for the convenience of the wealthy and 
 powerful. On the other hand, though workmen were little 
 better than slaves, their wages were on the whole fairly 
 and liberally regulated; the trickeries of tradesmen were 
 zealously, though not always successfully, repressed ; sanitary 
 enactments were carefully promulgated, though often evaded ; 
 
43 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 in fact, the more attentively we study these ancient docu- 
 ments, the more we are impressed by the trite truth that 
 human nature, both for good and evil, varies wonderfully 
 little from age to age. 
 
 "Rape" of Land. 
 
 The etymology of "Rape," (as the Rape of Bramber in 
 Sussex,) still vexes the learned : it appears to be used 
 nowhere else, as a territorial term, but in Iceland ; and it is 
 remarkable, that each of the five districts of that name into 
 which the county of Sussex is divided, has its own port and 
 castle. Somner thinks the word may be derived from the 
 Anglo-Saxon word rape, "a rope," as if these portions of 
 land were measured and divided by ropes. — Diction. Saxon. 
 Ant. Angl., title, Rape. — Quarterly Review, No. 223. 
 
 Villein. — Bondman. — Yeoman. 
 
 Villein and Bondman are terms generally confused. As 
 early as Domesday Book, the villanus was in some districts 
 a sufficiently important person to be called in with the 
 barons, knights, &c., to make the returns required by the 
 Conqueror. He was the representative of the modem 
 tenant farmer, either paying a money rent, or performing a 
 service rent, or partly one and partly the other. The bond- 
 man was rather the representative of the modern labourer, 
 not necessarily holding land in the villa as the villanus did. 
 But the word " villein " has been often used for both classes 
 of men. 
 
 Villenage in England, in a certain sense, however, may be 
 said to exisji Still ; the labourer who becomes a bondman is 
 kept to his bond. Thus, lately, one Bilton, of Knares- 
 borough, was convicted of unlawfully leaving the service of 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 43 
 
 his master, Dearlove, of Killinghall. Bilton had engaged, 
 as a farm labourer, to serve Dearlove, for a term, but had 
 left without leave or licence. The bondman was ordered to 
 return, to pay 7^. dd. costs, and half a sovereign, the expense 
 of a man hired to do Bilton's work in his absence. Feu- 
 dality is, thus, not quite dead ; and a man can thus compel 
 another man to labour for him, and that other man is not 
 free to emancipate himself as long as the covenanted term 
 is unexpired. 
 
 Yeoman has a stalwartness about it that makes one use it 
 with pride. Esquire is an addition that all shopkeepers and 
 clerks now covet. But Sir Thomas Smith's account of the 
 names is not very flattering. In his Commonwealth of 
 England (ed. 1621), he says; "For amongst the Gentle- 
 men they which clayme no higher degree, and yet bee to be 
 accompted out of the number of the lowest sort thereof, be 
 written Esquires. So amongst the Husbandmen, Labourers, 
 the lowest and rascall sort of the people, such as bee 
 exempted out of the number of the rascability of the 
 popular, be called and written Yeomen, as in the degree 
 next vnto Gentlemen." 
 
 It is evident that formerly a husbandman was one who 
 tilled his own land, in distinction to a farmer, who occupied 
 the land of another person. Latterly, the term Yeoman 
 has been substituted, and the volunteer troops of Yeomanry 
 Cavalry have, probably, contributed to re-establish the use 
 of that more ancient designation. But, whether the ancient 
 yeoman was always so important a person as a small land- 
 owner, I think somewhat doubtful. I imagine that he was 
 rather such a man, whether a landowner or not, as was 
 competent to perform good service with his bow, when the 
 sturdy archers were the main force of English armies. — 
 J. Gough Nichols, Notes and Queries, 4th S., No. 169. 
 
44 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 Contemporary. — Telegram. — Talented. 
 
 Dr. Latham, in his new Dictionary, has taken up the 
 cudgels in behalf of the barbarous word c^emfiorary, which 
 Johnson had denounced, notwithstanding the use of it by 
 Locke and the Wartons. There can be no doubt that on 
 the principles of Latin composition contemporary is the right 
 form. It is true that in English we have long got into the 
 habit of using the prefix co with a noun substantive to 
 signify a partnership in the term employed. Thus, Shak- 
 speare has co-mates, and thus a member of a joint-stock 
 company's board speaks of his co-directors. But it does not 
 follow, as Dr. Latham seems to think, that this class of 
 words will justify the use of cotemporary. It might do so if 
 we had such a substantive as tenlporary; but, as th^jprefix 
 CO is added from a purely English standpoint, it must have 
 an existing English substantive to act upon ; and that not 
 being the case here, we must take contemporary as a word of 
 purely Latin origin, and necessarily formed according to 
 Latin rule. The distinction is illustrated by the words 
 correspondent and co-respondent. Correspondent is the necesr 
 sary product of the Latin rule ; co-respondent is legitimately 
 formed with the English prefix co, finding a word respondent 
 on the spot with which it may be united. 
 
 Again, among the more recent additions to our language 
 the new dictionary of course records the word Telegram. 
 This has made good its footing, although at its first intro- 
 duction it was denounced as framed through a philological 
 blunder — at least, with regard to any analogy that might be 
 claimed to the words anagram, diagram, and the like. A 
 modern dictionary can hardly refuse, we suppose, to admit 
 the ill-conditioned word reliable among the English terms 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 45 
 
 which have a better right to be there. Dr. Latham has done 
 so, and, while pointing out the illegitimacy of its formation, 
 contents himself with mildly reprehending it "as more 
 useful than correct." 
 
 There is another objectionable word about which he has 
 taken some trouble — Talented, which Coleridge decried as 
 "a vile vocable,'' adding "Why not shillinged, farthinged, 
 tenpenced, &c. ? The formation of a participle passive 
 from a noun is a licence that nothing but a peculiar felicity 
 can excuse.'' Wordsworth's " one-pennied boy " is certainly 
 justifiable on the score of this peculiar felicity. But 
 Dr. Latham has pointed out that there is a considerable 
 class of such words fully established in common parlance, 
 as landed, gifted, and others (he might have added such 
 thoroughly popular words as aged and ragged), and that they 
 are nc?^ jn fact passive participles, as Coleridge thought, but 
 simply adjectives. Though, however, Coleridge took an 
 untenable objection, we quite agree with him in holding the 
 word talented to be an offence, but we suspect that the 
 offence lies in the .trivial and indiscriminate use of the word 
 talent itself — Times Journal. 
 
 What is Education? 
 
 Education is the art which teaches men how to live. The 
 education of a sensible and intelligent man continues to the 
 latest day of his existence ; for there is no day of a riian's 
 life, there is no period of his activity, in which — if his mind 
 is alive, if he keeps his ears and his eyes open to impres- 
 sions and observations — he will not be continually adding to 
 the stock of his ideas *and his thoughts, and in which he 
 will not add to the store of his knowledge, and increase that 
 information which is useful to him both here and hereafter. — 
 
46 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 Viscount Falmerston's Address to the University of Glasgow, 
 1863. 
 
 The most valuable part of every man's education is that 
 which he receives from himself, especially when the active 
 energy of his character makes ample amends for the want of 
 a more finished course of study. 
 
 Science and Education. 
 
 It may be asked, Is the study of Science to supersede 
 other branches of learning ? By no means ; but when the 
 time at the disposal of the student is limited, we say choose 
 science. The great value of a course of classical study lies 
 partly in that it is an exercise for the mind, and partly that 
 it is a valuable means of studying literature. The perception 
 of the beauties of ancient poetry, or of the subtleties of 
 ancient thought, as embodied in the so-called classic writings, 
 is not to be obtained by other than scholars. The average 
 student has enough to do to master the difficulties of the 
 language. How can he then grasp the higher , matters 
 embodied in it? But science is a grand mental exercise, 
 and its literature promises to equal at least the writings of 
 the ancients ; and where it is not possible for it to go hand in 
 hand with its older rival, it will certainly prove more useful 
 than the latter by itself. Mr. Carmichael, of the Edinburgh 
 High School, some time ago testified to the value of science 
 in the course of school training. He had observed that the 
 study of natural science at the High School had been 
 attended with great advantage for general education, in this 
 respect that it had a reactive effect on the older studies of 
 the school, and sharpened the boy's faculties for observation. 
 It is impossible to deny the utility of a knowledge of ancient 
 tongues, for even -a slight acquaintance with them is a valu- 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 47 
 
 able aid in the study of modem languages; but where a 
 scholarly knowledge of them is not to be obtained, either 
 from want of time or means, or by reason of some incapacity 
 or distaste, then we say, waste no time in trying for what 
 you may never really obtain, but get some rudimentary 
 knowledge of Latin and Greek, and proceed at once to the 
 study of modern languages and science. — The Engineer. 
 
 Science at Home. 
 
 Thomas Carlyle, in referring to the teaching of Science in 
 schools and families, says, " For many years it has been one 
 of my constant regrets that no schoolmaster of mine had a 
 knowledge of natural history, so far at least as to have 
 taught me the grasses that grow by the wayside, and the 
 little winged or wingless neighbours that are continually 
 meeting me, with a salutation that I cannot answer, as 
 things are ! Why did not somebody teach me the constella- 
 tions, too, and make me at home in the starry heavens, which 
 are always overhead, and which I don't half know to this 
 day?" 
 
 The Letter Q. 
 
 Q is the seventeenth letter and thirteenth consonant of 
 our alphabet, but one not to be found either in the Greek, 
 old Latin, or Saxon alphabets ; and indeed some would en- 
 tirely exclude it, seeing that k fully supplies its place. The 
 q is never sounded alone, but in conjunction with u, as in 
 quality, question, quite, quote, and the like, and never ends 
 any English word. As a numeral, Q stands for 500 j and 
 with a dash over it, thus, Q, for 500,000. Used as an 
 abbreviation, q signifies quantity or quantum. Thus, amongst 
 
48 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 physicians, q. pi. is quantum placet, as much as you please ; 
 and q. s. is quantum sufficit, as much as is necessary. 
 Q. E. D. amongst mathematicians, is qu^d erat demonstran- 
 dum, which was to be demonstrated ; and Q. E. F. is qu^)d 
 erat faciendum, which was to be done. Q. D. amongst 
 grammarians is quasi dictum, as if it were said, or, as who 
 should say. 
 
 Picturesque Words. 
 
 Disraeli suggests that a collection of picturesque words, 
 found among our ancient writers, would constitute a pre- 
 cious supplement to the history of our language. Far more 
 expressive than our executioner is their solenan one of the 
 deathsman ; than our vagabond, their scatterling. How 
 Herrick employs the word pittering as applied to the 
 grasshopper. It describes its peculiar shrill and short cry, 
 pit, pit, pit, quickly repeated. Envy dusking the lustre of 
 genius, is a verb lost for us, but which gives a more precise 
 expression to the feeling than* any other word which we 
 could use. The purest source of neology is in the revival of 
 old words : — * 
 
 " Words that wise Bacon or brave Rawleigh spake !" 
 
 Something of their revival has been apparent since Disraeli 
 wrote. 
 
 Word-Painting. 
 
 Edgar Quinet, in his extraordinary work. La Creation, 
 asks, " Why should not the arts aid us to exhume the past ? 
 If we would re-infuse into the arts the highest creative 
 imagination, is not this a path that opens of itself and invites 
 genius to enter upon it? Raphael dared to paint the 
 beginnings of the globe upon which the finger of God is 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 49 
 
 sketching the continents ; Correggio, the sacred grove of 
 Jupiter ; Nicholas Poussin, the Deluge ; Domenichino, the 
 Biblical landscapes of Sodom . Why should not the artist 
 of to-day overstep the boundaries of these horizons ? 
 Michael Angelo has pictured the world in its last throes, in 
 the livid light of the Judgment Day ; why should not this 
 same power, imagination, call up upon the canvas the world 
 in its cradle, in the torrid glare of its first days ? Why should 
 we not see again the solitude of the primeval forest ? . . . . 
 Sculpture and painting have magnified the real world by in- 
 venting beings which could never have existed. Do artists 
 think that the sphinxes of the Eg)rptians, the centaurs, the 
 fauns, and the satyrs of the Greeks, the griffins half Indian, 
 half Persian, the ghouls of mediaeval times, the angelic ser- 
 pents of Raphael, could not find congeners in the living 
 things that have peopled the earth before the present era ? 
 It seems to me, on the contrary, that the dinosaurian reptiles, 
 the iguanodons, the plesiosaurians, might well compete with 
 the fire-breathing dragons of Medea ; the flying serpents 
 with the serpents of Laocoon j the most ancient ruminants, 
 and the monstrous edentates, the mylodon, and the mega- 
 therium, with the crowned bulls of Babylon ; the doubtful 
 mamnlifers, the mysterious dinotheriums and toxodons, with 
 the gigantic sphinxes of Thebes ; the ichthyosaurians, with 
 the hydras of Hercules and the harpies of Homer; the horse 
 hipparion of the digitate feet with the horses of Neptune, of 
 erect mane and colossal croup. I would fain see, and hear 
 howl, the ancestor of the dog, the amphicyon, at the cross- 
 roads of the creation of the tertiary mammifers ; I should 
 not regret the thrice-throated Cerberus of hell." 
 
so Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 Pronunciation of Latin. 
 
 An Eton Correspondent of the Times, who has for some 
 years advocated the universal adoption of the sound k for fin 
 reading and speaking Latin, remarks, " The attempt made 
 in a similar direction by Grote with regard to Greek names 
 has certainly failed; nor does that historian show sufficient 
 reason, where he refers to the subject in his preface, why he 
 should change to Alkibiades, Korkyra, Kimon, Krete, 
 Kyrene, Nikias, &c., but retain Thucydides, Cyprus,- Cyclops, 
 Scylla, Cyclades, &c. The change, if made, must be uni- 
 versal, and if it is to be made at all it must first be made in 
 the pronunciation of such words in the intermediate Latin. 
 But Kyklops and Kyklades seem to English instincts a pro- 
 nunciation as unnatural as Sisero for Kikero would have 
 seemed to a contemporary of the great Roman orator. 
 
 The feelings of many teachers of Latin revolt against the 
 habit of making no distinction of sound between such words 
 as scitum, situm, and citum, between cicer, siser, and scissa, 
 when they have every reason to believe that c in classical 
 Latin was always sounded like k. 
 
 In conclusion, the rebellion of prejudice against the uni- 
 versal adoption of the sound k for c in Latin would be less 
 general if it were conceded by the advocates of this reform 
 that the rule of EngUsh pronunciation should be retained 
 when the names are translated into English. 
 
 Latin Quotations. 
 
 Within living memory, perhaps, there have been no such 
 masters in the art of happily appljdng these aids of oratory 
 as Canning and Peel ; and if we wished to cite a special in- 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 51 
 
 stance of a well-applied quotation, we might refer to a line of 
 Ovid once employed by the latter in speaking of the former. 
 During the debates on Catholic Emancipation Peel was 
 taunted with his opposition to Canning, and especially as 
 regarded the. very measure which he himself was then pro- 
 moting. In reply he admitted that to Canning belonged the 
 cop5rright in Catholic Relief, and gracefully expressed his 
 regret that the departed statesman had not lived to take 
 charge of the measure — borrowing the words of Ulysses : — 
 
 "Tuque tuis armis, nos te poteremur, Achille." 
 
 The accidental circumstances of each case were in them- 
 selves sufficiently parallel to make the quotation felicitous. 
 But it would have taken a long harangue to express all that 
 the speaker was enabled to dart into the mind of his 
 audience by means of one line — the tribute to Canning as 
 the Achilles to whom all lesser claimants would at once defer 
 if he were alive, the regret for his premature death, "the sug- 
 gestion that the weapons which ought to be employed for 
 the common good ought not to constitute an object of con- 
 tention — all, in short, that the speaker could so much more 
 effectively hint by this sort of parallelism than detail in ex- 
 plicit language. 
 
 -Pharmaceutical or Pharmakeutical ? 
 
 When there was an appeal by writ of error (the Queen v. 
 the Pharmaceutical Society) to the Exchequer chamber, in 
 May, 1855, during the argument, the Chief Baron (Sir 
 Frederick Pollock) expressed his opinion that the c was hard 
 in pharmaceutical, " because its sound was governed not by 
 the silent e which immediately follows, but by the sound in 
 «," and the Chief Baron maintained this opinion. The 
 
 E 2 
 
53 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 weight to be attached to a dictum of Sir Frederick Pollock 
 on a question of this kind is so great that the pronunciation 
 ought never to come into question again, with this difference 
 that it should be hard and not soft. 
 
 Antiquity of the Kilt. 
 
 It is said that the Kilt is a dress of very recent origin- 
 said however, by parties who, as has happened with so many 
 writers on Highland matters, had never given themselves 
 the trouble to make much inquiry into the facts of the case. 
 In the appendix to the Collectanea of the lona Club will be 
 seen a collection of documents sufficient to set entirely at 
 rest the whole question of the antiquity of this dress. In 
 addition to the evidence there given, it may be stated that 
 there is in Castle Grant, Inverness-shire, a portrait of a family 
 piper, taken in the beginning of last century, which carries 
 the dress back a hundred years, although it has been averred 
 not to be a hundred years old. In Taymouth Castle is a 
 portrait of a gentleman of the sixteenth century, dressed in 
 the full Highland costume. In the island of Harris is an old 
 ecclesiastical ruin, called the Church of St. Clement, a por- 
 tion of which is said to be the oldest stone building in Scot- 
 land, except part of the Cathedral of Glasgow. The tower 
 is manifestly a building of very great antiquity. Yet on this 
 tower is the sculptured form of a man who is dressed in the 
 kilt, just as at present worn in the Scottish Highlands. In 
 the reign of Henry VII. of England, the Highlanders were 
 called Redshanks, as we find by the letter of John Elder, 
 addressed to that monarch, and given in the appendix to the 
 transactions of the lona Club. This name is otherwise well 
 known as having been applied to them at that period. How 
 the colour of their shanks could have been so red, or if red, 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 53 
 
 could have been known, unless they wore the kilt, it is not 
 easy to imagine. This marked difference of dress betweej^ 
 the Irish and Scottish Highlanders affords strong presump- 
 tion against the latter being a mere Irish colony. — Mac- 
 lachlaris Celtic Gleanings. 
 
 The Derby "the Blue Ribbon of the Turf." . 
 
 In the Biography of Lord George Bentinck, by the Right 
 Honourable Benjamin Disraeli, occurs the following pas- 
 sage : — " A few days before — ^it was the day after the Derby, 
 May 25 — the writer met Lord George Bentinck in the library 
 of the House of Commons. He was standing before the 
 book-shelves with a volume in his hand, and his countenance 
 was greatly disturbed. His resolutions in favour of the 
 colonial interest, after all his labours, had been negatived by 
 the committee, on the 22nd, and on the 29th his horse 
 Surplice, whom he had parted with among the rest of the 
 stud solely that he might pursue without distraction his 
 labours on behalf of the great interests of the country, had 
 won that paramount and Olympian stake to gain which had 
 been the object of his life. He had nothing to console him 
 and nothing to sustain him except his pride. Even that de- 
 serted him before a heart which he knew, at least, could yield 
 him sympathy. He gave a sort of stifled groan. ' All my 
 life I have been trying for this, and for what have I sacrificed 
 it ?' he murmured. It was in vain to offer solace. ' You do 
 not know what the Derby is,' he moaned out. ' Yes, I do ; 
 it is the Blue Ribbon of the turf.' ' It is the Blue Ribbon of 
 the turf,' he slowly repeated to himself; 'and sitting down at 
 the table he buried himself in a folio of statistics." Let us 
 take another illustration of the Derby from high life : — 
 Racing is always accompanied with what is now known as 
 
54 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 plunging. One young patrician backs the favourite, or 
 accepts the odds to some extravagant amount, with a very- 
 doubtful prospect of success. An outsider comes in first, or 
 some detested and despised animal rushes in a winner, and 
 they are totally ruined. Some leave the country, and cut 
 and run ; others stop and cut their throats, or the thread of 
 life, as did Berkeley Craven in the Derby of 1836, when 
 Lord Jersey's Bay Middleton came in a winner. Often 
 costermongers, "butlers, silly clerks, who make books on the 
 Derby, do the same. But I do not write of them. A snob 
 is not a nob. It is high life in which a discerning public 
 takes interest. As the Vicar of Wakefield remarks : — 
 " Every reader, however beggarly himself, is fond of high- 
 lived dialogues, with anecdotes of lords, ladies, and knights of 
 the Garter." 
 
 The word "Curious." 
 
 Dean Trench, in his English Past and Present, has ob- 
 served, that a language suffers injury when any of its words 
 lose their individuality of force and become more vague and 
 more facile of application ; and that this injury is specially 
 severe when the word so changing is unique in its original 
 meaning. A Correspondent of the Athenaum believes this 
 change is at present taking place with regard to the word 
 curious. By newspaper writers, and even by those who may 
 be' looked upon as authorities, this word is now employed 
 as quite equivalent to strange or remarkable. Nothing is 
 more common than to read in the daily prints of " curious 
 coincidences." On every page we meet with some para- 
 graph beginning, " It is a curious fact" ; or we may even 
 read such a sentence as this — " The Emperor himself was 
 present, but, curiously enough, he asked no questions." 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 55 
 
 This use of the word is at once novel and absurd, and I 
 cannot but think unknown in the writings of every good 
 author. The word, as it has hitherto been employed by 
 correct writers, has two meanings, — ^akin to each other, dif- 
 fering a little, but both very distinct from that of strange or 
 extraordinary. It was primarily applied only to persons; 
 bearing the meaning o{ prying ox inquisitive; orAy curious, 
 unlike these words, does not imply any thing of moral blame. 
 Curious men (or more usually "the curious"), as Addison 
 wrote of them, were simply those who intermeddled with all 
 knowledge. But it is also, with sufficient sanction, applied 
 to things. When so applied, it means very 7iice or intricate ; 
 e.g. an elaborate, delicate piece of stone, or ivory work, say 
 from China, we might correctly describe as "curiously 
 carved." It appears that it is worth our while to try if we 
 can keep this word in its strict, original signification. 
 
 The word "Outrigger." 
 
 Webster in his Dictionary, gives the original sense of this 
 term as follows : — • 
 
 " Outrigger, n. (Naut^—Kny projecting spar or piece of 
 timber for extending ropes or sails, or for other tempo- 
 rary purposes." In Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon, 
 a-£ipa<f>6po9 is rendered as " the horse which draws by the 
 trace only (not by the yoke), an outrigger (cf Se^Loa-iipo^) ;'' 
 while of the kindred word we find the following, "anroi 
 ^c^too-eipos, the horse which was not yoked to the chariot, 
 but ran in traces on the right side, and, as it thus had more 
 liberty for prancing than the others, the finest horse was put 
 there." 
 
56 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 The "Navvy." 
 
 This word, which is a contraction of the word " navi- 
 gator," is now understood to mean a labourer employed 
 in the construction of railways. Before their invention, 
 "navigable canals" were the great means of transit; and 
 the labourer employed in their construction was properly 
 enough called a navigator. When railways superseded 
 canals, the labourer continued to be called a navigator, now 
 corrupted to " navvy," whereas the word excavator would 
 have been better; still, this word was not precisely what 
 was wanted. The above note principally appeared in Things 
 not generally known. First Series. 
 
 But a writer in Chambers's Journal xz^^cis this theory, and 
 suggests that the word " navvy " is "identical with Nabbi or 
 Naabbi, a word of Danish origin, but in common use among 
 the Gaelic population of the countries of Sutherland, Ross, 
 and Inverness, to denote neighbour. During the construc- 
 tion of the Crinan Canal, which connects Loch Fyne with 
 the Atlantic, and was commenced in 1793, numbers of High- 
 land workmen were assembled from the counties just men- 
 tioned, and by them the word Nabbi or Naabbi was con- 
 stantly employed in addressing each other, just as an 
 Englishman in similar circumstances would use ' mate ' or 
 ' comrade.' This is a well-ascertained fact ; and it is also 
 equally certain that most of the engineers and contractors 
 connected with the works came from, and returned to, the 
 south of Scotland and England." 
 
 One of the earliest railway navvies was Sir Edward Banks, 
 who lies buried in a vault ih the churchyard of Chipstead, 
 Surrey. Born in the humblest rank, he began life as a 
 common labourer; yet by his own natural abilities, with 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 57 
 
 little culture, and by strict integrity, he raised himself to a 
 superior station in life, as well as considerable w'ealth. He 
 first became known at Chipstead about the year 1804 as a 
 labourer on the Merstham railway, in Surrey, which was then 
 under construction ; and taking a fancy to its retired and 
 picturesque churchyard, he chose it for the depository of his 
 remains. He will long be remembered for his execution of 
 Waterloo, Southwark, London, and Staines bridges over the 
 Thames ; the Naval Worth of Sheemess Dockyard ; and 
 the new channels for the rivers Ouse, Nene, and Witham, 
 in Norfolk and Lincolnshire, Upon his completion of 
 London Bridge, he received knighthood. In the tablet 
 above his remains at Chipstead is a bust of Sir Edward 
 -resting on a representation of an arch of London Bridge ; on 
 the right is an arch of Southwark Bridge ; and on the left 
 one of Waterloo Bridge. Probably, all England does not 
 afford a more truthful memorial of duty in that state of life 
 to which he was called. 
 
 Political Nicknames. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that Cobbett rarely abused that 
 which was falling or fallen, but generally that which was 
 rising or uppermost. He disinterred Racine when his 
 memory was interred, and attacked him as an impostor 
 amongst those who hailed him as a prophet. In the heat 
 of the contest and cry against the Catholics — whom, when 
 Mr. Pitt was for emancipating, he was for grinding into the 
 dust — he calls the Reformation a devastation, and pro- 
 nounces the Protestant religion to have been established by 
 gibbets, racks, and ripping-knives. When all London was 
 yet rejoicing in Wellington hats and Wellington boots, he 
 expects that the celebrated victory of Waterloo had caused 
 
58 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 to England more real shame, more real and substantial dis- 
 grace, more debt, more distress among the middle class, 
 and more misery amongst the working class, more injuries 
 of all kinds, than the kingdom could ever have experienced 
 by a hundred defeats, whether by sea or by land. He had 
 a sort of itch for bespattering with mud every thing that was 
 popular, and gilding every thing that was odious. Mary 
 Tudor was with him " Merciful Queen Mary ;" Elizabeth, 
 " Bloody Queen Bess ;" our Navy, "the swaggering Navy;" 
 Napoleon, "a French coxcomb;" Brougham, "a talking 
 lawyer ;" Canning, " a brazen defender of corruptions." 
 ****** 
 
 As for absurdity, nothing was too absurd for him coolly 
 and deliberately to assert : " The English Government most 
 anxiously wished for Napoleon's return to France." " There 
 would have been no national debt, and no paupers, if there 
 had been no Reformation." " The population of England 
 had not increased one single soul since he was bom." 
 Neither did his coarseness know any bounds. He called 
 a newspaper "a cut and thrust weapon," to be used without 
 mercy or delicacy, and never thought of any thing but how 
 he could strike the hardest. 
 
 His talent for fastening his claws into any thing or any 
 one, by a word or an expression, and holding them down for 
 scorn, or up to horror, was unrivalled. " .^Eolus Canning," 
 " The pink-nosed Liverpoal" " The unbaptized, buttonless 
 blackguards " (in which way he designated the disciples of 
 Penn), were expressions with which he attached ridicule 
 where he could not fix reproach ; and it is said that nothing 
 was more teasing to Lord Erskine than being constantly 
 addressed by his second title of " Baron Clackmannan." 
 
 In 1825, the Right Hon. F. J. Robinson, as Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer, boasted in Parliament of an ex- 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 59 
 
 panded circulation exceeding by nearly 50 per cent, the 
 amount in 1823. This was the era of " Prosperity Robinson" 
 (afterwards first Earl of Ripen), who boasted of " dispensing 
 the blessings of civilization from the portals of ancient 
 monarchy." In contradistinction to Prosperity Robinson, 
 Joseph Hume was called " Adversity Hume," owing to his 
 constant presages of ruin and disaster to befal the people of 
 Great Britain. Cobbett used to address Daniel O'Connell 
 as Big O. — Sir Henry Bulwer's Historical Characters. 
 
 In December, 1834, a small party in the House of 
 Commons was nicknamed by O'Connell as the Derby Dilly, 
 " carrying six insides," the leader of whom was Lord Stanley, 
 afterwards Earl of Derby. 
 
 When, in 1821, Alderman Wood was reproached with 
 having ill advised Queen Caroline, he diffidently admitted 
 that his conduct might not be "Absolute Wisdom" by which 
 distinction, for a considerable time, he was jocularly known. 
 
 Finality John was the somewhat too familiar sobriquet ap- 
 pUed to Lord John Russell, who involuntarily proved the true 
 prophet of the fate of his own measure : he it was who de- 
 clared \ht finality of the Reform Bill ; and when, in 1861, his 
 lordship proposed to amend the law, the country took Lord 
 John at his word, and by their indifference pronounced the 
 Reform Act to be final. Sydney Smith oddly said, that when 
 Lord John visited the West of England after one of his poli- 
 tical defeats on the Reform Bill, the country people thought 
 him of very small stature, which Sydney humorously attributed 
 to these mortifications. 
 
 King Bomba. 
 
 This was the sobriquet given to Ferdinand II., King of 
 the Two Sicilies. Bomba is the name of a children's game 
 
6o Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 in Italy, resembling our " prisoner's base ;" and as Ferdinand 
 was fond of childish amusements, playing at soldiers, &c., 
 the nickname is traced to this pastime. But a more reason- 
 able cause is the charge against Ferdinand of his having 
 called upon his soldiers to " bombard " his people during 
 one of their insurrections. This is denied ; but the book, 
 Naples and King Ferdinand, repeats the charge, adding that 
 the King kept crying out, " Down with them ! down with 
 them !" though it is added, in a note, that the particular ex- 
 pression was " Bombardare ;" "hence," says the author, 
 " arose his well-known sobriquet of Bomba." — {Leigh Hunt.) 
 The Dublin Evening Gazette controverts this interpretation, 
 saying that in Italy, " when you tell a man a thing which he 
 knows to be false, or when he wishes to convey to you the 
 idea of the utter worthlessness of any thing or person, he 
 puffs out his cheek like a bagpiper's in full blow, smites it 
 with his forefinger, and allows the pent breath to explode, 
 with the exclamation, " Bomba /" 
 
 Popular Historic Phrases. 
 
 A valuable feature in the work of Herr Biichmann' is ' 
 the collection of Historic Phrases, with rectifications of 
 many that are attributed to wrong parents, and anecdotes 
 relating to others. The saying that " no one is a hero to 
 his valet " is taken from Madame Cornuel, who had but one 
 talent, and is given to Montaigne, who has ten talents. 
 Louis XIV. may or may not have said, "L^etaf c'est moi," 
 but there is no good authority for it beyond the character of 
 the monarch. "La parole a tte donnte d I'homme pour 
 d'eguiser sa pens'ee" is always ascribed to Talleyrand, but 
 
 ' Gefliigelte Worte; der Citazenschatz des Deutsclien Volks. Von Georg 
 Biichmann. Berlin, 1864. 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings.- 6i 
 
 belongs really to Voltaire. It seems also that "the be- 
 ginning of the end" is not Talleyrand's, though no other 
 author has been discovered for it ; and Talleyrand's " They 
 have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing,'' occurs in a 
 letter of the date of 1796, written to Mallet du Pan, and 
 published in his correspondence. In like manner, Metter- 
 nich's "Apres nous le deluge'' was the property of Madame 
 de Pompadour. Nothing is more generally quoted among 
 men of letters than Bufifon's sentence, '■' Le style c'est 
 Thomme." And yet this sentence does not occur in Buffon ; 
 nor does the moral which every body draws from it belong 
 to Buffon. What Buffon really' says is something very 
 different. After praising a careful style, and declaring that 
 only well-written works will descend to posterity, he adds 
 that knowledge, facts, even discoveries, do not ensure a 
 long life to a work if it is not well written, because facts 
 and discoveries can be easily transplanted into other works, 
 and even gain by a more skilful treatment. "C«j choses sont 
 hors de I'homme, le style est de I'homme meme." This does not 
 mean that a man's style is his character, but that his style is 
 all he can contribute of himself — two very different things. 
 It is not surprising that the Count of Artois did not utter 
 the phrase, "// ti'y a rien de changi, il n'y a qiiun Frangais 
 de plus/' but we are amused at being introduced to the 
 actual author in the throes of composition, and at hearing 
 "Talleyrand, who presided over the work, tell him that he 
 had only to make a good speech,' suitable to the time and 
 the man, and the Prince would believe that he had actually 
 spoken it. Napoleon is more fortunate, as he is left in 
 undisturbed possession of the "one step from the sublime to 
 the ridiculous." 
 
62, Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 " Caucus." 
 
 The term Caucus is applied to all party meetings held in 
 secret in the United States. It is a corruption of the word 
 caulkers; the disguised patriots of Massachusetts, in 1776, 
 having been so called because they met in the ship-yards. 
 The phrase in question has been applied to the political 
 meetings held at the private residences of statesmen ; which 
 is conceived to be a singular perversion of its use and 
 meaning. Such gatherings, or receptions, are neither cabals 
 nor secret conclaves ; on the contrary, the reporters of 
 several newspapers, without regard to their political aims, 
 are admitted ; and the whole proceedings are as freely made 
 known to the outside public as the debates in Parliament. 
 Caucus is by no means a pretty, much less a desirable word, 
 to be added to our national vocabulary; but if it be 
 adopted at all, let us at least make a right use of it. — Notes 
 and Queries. 
 
 " POTWALLOPERS." 
 
 In the Gentleman's Magazine, June, 1852, p. 387, Mr. J. 
 Gough Nichols notices at least three distinct" meanings of 
 the verb to wallop: first, to gallop; secondly, to drub; 
 thirdly, to boil. This last meaning has been generally 
 received and recognized in explanation of the familiar term 
 potwallopers. To boil is in Sax. wealan, and in Ger. wallen; 
 to boil up, Ger. aufwallen. Old Du. opwallen. We here, it 
 has been supposed, transfer the particle from the beginning 
 of the word to the end, as we do in many other instances ; 
 so that opwallen becomes wallenop (to boil up) or wallop. 
 Mr. Nichols is disposed to question this derivation ; giving 
 it at the same time as his opinion that the original term was 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 6^ 
 
 not potwalloper, Xmt poiwaller, or potwealer, which, however, 
 comes to the same thing. Yet, on behalf of the yror A pot- 
 walloper, we may urge an independent plea. Potwallopers 
 were not only those recognized constituents who had. in 
 some places acquired the right of suffrage by keeping hous^K 
 and boiling a pot, i. e. maintaining themselves without 
 charitable or parochial aid. The term also included " every 
 poor wretch " who belonged to the parish, and was " caused 
 to boil a pot " in order to qualify him as a voter ; and this 
 was sometimes done by erecting a thing like a chimney in a 
 field or in the street, where they kindled a fire, on which 
 they boiled a pot ! This, it is clear, was something like 
 manufacturing fictitious votes, and voting in a fictitious 
 character. Now, in Old German law-Latin, walapaus 
 {walapa, walpor, ewalapuf) was a counterfeit; strictly speak- 
 ing, one who for fraudulent purposes assumed a disguise. 
 The potwalloper, then, may have been originally the pot- 
 walapa (pot counterfeit) ; and potwalapa may have gradually 
 passed into our vernacular /tf/wa//i7^«r (pot boiler). 
 
 A Trimmer. 
 
 To George Savile, Marquis of Halifax, was this term first 
 applied. Being hereditarily attached to the Stuarts, am- 
 bitious, and endowed with brilliant talents, he played an 
 active and successful part in the intriguing reigns of Charles 
 II. and James II. He was the chief of the body to which 
 the expressive name of Trimmers was given. So far, how- 
 ever, as he was attached to any principle, it seems to have 
 been the cause of civil liberty as then understood. He 
 opposed the Non-resisting Test Bill in 1675, as well as, both 
 then and after the accession of James, the relaxation of the 
 tests against the Papists. He opposed the scheme for 
 
64 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 excluding the Duke of York from the succession, preferring 
 to limit his authority when the crown should devolve on 
 him. He declined to take part in bringing over the Prince 
 of Orange ; but was president of the convention parliament, 
 and strongly supported the motion for declaring the throne 
 vacant. Burnet describes him as punctual in his payments, 
 and just in all private dealings ; but with relation to the 
 public, he went backward and forward, and changed sides so 
 often, that in the conclusion no side trusted him : he seemed full 
 of Commonwealth notions, yet he went into the worst part 
 of King Charles's reign. He wrote elegantly : one of his 
 works is. The Character of a Trimmer. 
 
 Mrs. Partington and her Mop. 
 
 This labour in vain was illustrated by the Rev. Sydney 
 Smith's Speech, at Taunton, October, 1831, in the following 
 passage : — 
 
 "The attempt of the Lords to stop the progress of 
 Reform reminds me very forcibly of the great storm oif Sid- 
 mouth, and the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington on 
 that occasion. In the winter of 1824, there set in a great 
 flood upon that town ; the tide rose to an incredible height, 
 the waves rushed in upon the houses, and every thing was 
 threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime 
 and terrible storm. Dame Partington, who lived upon the 
 beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and 
 pattens, trundhng her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, and 
 vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic 
 was roused ; Mrs. Partington's spirit was up ; but I need not 
 tell you that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic beat 
 Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or a puddle, 
 but she should not have meddled with a tempest." 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 65 
 
 Has a Cat Nine Lives? 
 
 The conceit that a cat has nine lives, has cost at least 
 nine lives in ten of the whole race of them ; scarce a boy 
 in the street but has in this point outdone Hercules him- 
 self, who was famous for killing a monster that had but 
 three lives. Whether the unaccountable animosity against 
 this useful domestic may be any cause of the general perse- 
 cution of owls, (who are a sort of feathered cats,) or 
 whether it be only an unreasonable pique the modems have 
 taken to a serious countenance, I shall not determine ; 
 though I am inclined to believe the former j since I observe 
 the sole reason alleged for the destruction of frogs "'is 
 because they are like toads. — Pope. 
 
 The Word "No." 
 
 It is believed by many writers that no word is more 
 frequently omitted by authors, and its absence overlooked 
 by printers, than the important syllable " No." A curious 
 and early illustration of this idea presents itself in an old 
 tract, of which there is a copy in the British Museum 
 Library, "Sir C. Lucas his last Speech," E. *-^^, which 
 appears to have been published by authority of the Long 
 Parliament, and contains the reply, by " C. R.," one of 
 Fairfax's officers at the taking of Colchester, to the last 
 speech of Sir C. Lucas when about to be shot by the 
 conqueror's order. The knight complains of his sentence, 
 as contrary to the conditions of surrender, which, as he 
 alleged, promised or implied that quarter should be given 
 without reserve. On the other hand, the officer is reported 
 to have said these conditions were, "that you should be 
 rendered to us with (no) certaine assurance of quarter, so as 
 
 F 
 
66 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 the Lord General may be free to put any of you to the 
 sword." The invaluable little word "No" was, strangely 
 enough, left out of the report of this speech ; the context 
 clearly shows what was meant. 
 
 As Rich as a Jew. 
 
 Pegge, the literary antiquary, says : "We are apt to say in 
 a proverbial way ' as rich as a Jew,' but the Jews, take them 
 in general, are not a rich people. There have been 
 always some few among them that were immensely wealthy, 
 and it was from the observation of these that the observation 
 arose." " Upon this," says the editor of the JSook of Table 
 Talk, 1847, " the learned antiquary is probably mistaken in 
 his explanation ; for had the reason been the one which he 
 assigns, namely, the great wealth of a few, it would have been 
 far more natural to say, ' as rich as a lord,' or ' as rich as a 
 duke.' The truth seems to be that as the Jews long mono- 
 polised the trades of bill-broker, money-changer, &c., the 
 vulgar, dazzled by the large quantity of specie possessed by 
 such persons, by a very natural mistake confounded capital 
 with income ; and because a Jew usurer had more ready 
 money than the first nobleman in the land, they imagined 
 him to be more opulent, though the money constituted the 
 whole capital of the former and only a part of the revenue of 
 the latter." 
 
 "As Lazy as Laurence." 
 
 In Prideaux's Readings in History, published at Oxford in 
 165 s, it is stated that St. Laurence suffered mart)rrdom about 
 the middle of the third century, 250 to 260 a.c., in the reign 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 67 
 
 of the Emperor Valerian, who devised the fifth persecution 
 of the Christians, when Bishop Cyprian, the African pope 
 Stephanus, and many other eminent professors of Christianity, 
 suffered martyrdom, and among them " that famous and re- 
 solute champion Laurence, who was roasted on a gridiron." 
 A traditional tale has been handed down from age to age 
 that at his execution he bore his torments without a writhe 
 or groan, which caused some of those standing by to remark, 
 " How great must be his faith ! " But his pagan executioner 
 said, "It is not his faith but his idleness ; he is too lazy to 
 turn himself." And hence arose the sapng, " As lazy as 
 Laurence." — Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 240. 
 
 Philippics. 
 
 This was the name given to the Orations of Demosthenes 
 against Philip, king of Macedon, to guard the Athenians 
 against his crafty policy. They are esteemed the master- 
 pieces of that great orator. Cicero's Philippics cost him his 
 life ; Marc Antony having been so irritated with them that 
 when he reached the triumvirate he compassed the murder 
 of Cicero, cut off his head, and placed it upon the very spot 
 whence the orator delivered the Philippics. 
 
 + Black Guards. 
 
 In all great houses, but particularly in the royal residences, 
 there were a number of mean and dirty dependants, whose 
 office it was to attend the wood-yard, sculleries, &c. Of 
 these (for in the lowest depth there was a lower still) the 
 most forlorn wretches seem to have been selected to carry 
 coals to the kitchens, halls, &c. To this smutty regiment, 
 who attended the progresses, and rode in the carts with thq 
 
68 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 pots and kettles, which, Vith every other article of furniture, 
 were then moved from palace to palace, the people, in deri- 
 sion, gave the name of Black Guards/ a term since become 
 sufficiently familiar, and never before properly explained. — 
 Gifford's Notes to Benjonsotis plays. 
 
 " Fiddlestick." 
 
 This exclamation, in our time, mildly expressive of con- 
 tempt, appears to be taken from an old proverbial expression 
 applicable to any thing new, unexpected, and strange. In 
 Shakspeare's Henry IV. ii. 4, we have " High ! Heigh ! the 
 devil rides on a fiddlestick ; what's the matter ? " This is 
 said on the sudden interruption of the hostess by the arrival 
 of the sheriff. In the following passage it is applied to a 
 strange fantastic humour of the principal character : — 
 
 " I must go see him presently, 
 For this is such a gig ; — for certain gentlemen, 
 The fiend rides on a fiddlestick." 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, — Humorous Lieutenant, iv. 5- 
 
 "The Sun never sets on the British Empire." 
 
 This world-wide phrase was originated, we believe, by 
 that quaint divine Thomas Fuller. In his sketch of the Life of 
 Drake, he says that the Admiral, " though a poor private man, 
 hereafter undertook to avenge himself upon so mighty a mo- 
 narch, who, as not contented that the sun riseth and setteth 
 in his dominions, may seem to desire to make all his own 
 where he shineth." — Holy State, p. 107, edit. 1840. 
 
 Camoens, whose Lusiad was published thirty-six years 
 before Fuller was bom, says of the Portuguese empire that the 
 sun looks upon it when it rises, it still beholds it at midday, 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 69 
 
 and when it sets it sets behind it. The passage occurs in the 
 eighth stanza of the first canto. A similar idea occurs in 
 Tibullus, Hber ii., elegiac xv ; and Rutilius says the same of 
 Rome. 
 
 In Howell's Familiar Letters, we find, "In Philip the 
 Second's time the Spanish monarchy came to its highest 
 cumble by the conquest of Portugal, whereby the East In- 
 dies, sundry islands in the Atlantic Sea, and divers places in 
 Barbary, were added to the crown of Spain. By these steps 
 this crown came to his grandeur, and truly give the Spaniard 
 his due he is a mighty monarch ; he hath dominion in all 
 parts of the world (which none of the four monarchies had), 
 both in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America (which he hath 
 solely to himself), though our Henry the Seventh had the 
 first proffer made him ; so the sun shines all the four and 
 twenty hours of the natural day upon some part or other of 
 his country ; for part of the Antipodes are subject to him." 
 As the above letter was written in 1623, Howell applied the 
 same idea to the same monarchy, as did Fuller nearly twenty 
 years later. In a very able book, said to be of transatlantic 
 origin, occurs this passage: "Ancient Rome, whose name 
 is the synon)nm of resistless power and boundless conquest, 
 could not, in the palmy days of her Caesars, vie with Great 
 Britain in the extent of her possessions and the strength of 
 her resources. Half a century ago, her great statesman, 
 sketching the resources of her territory, said : ' THe King of 
 England, on whose dominion the sun never sets.' An 
 American orator of kindred genius, unfolded the same idea 
 in language which sparkles with the very effervescence of 
 poetic beauty, when he spoke of her as that power whose 
 morning drum beat, following the sun, and keeping company 
 with the hours, encircle the earth daily with one continuous 
 and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." — 
 
70 Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 Stanton's Sketches of Reform and Reformers. 8vo. Dublin, 
 1850. 
 
 A similar sentiment will be found to pervade a noble and 
 spirit-stirring poem on " the English language" by an Ameri- 
 can writer, the Rev. James Gilbert Lyons, LL.D., of Phila- 
 delphia : — 
 
 " It kindles realms so far apart, 
 
 That, while its praise you sing, 
 These may be clad with autumn's fruits, 
 
 And those with flowers of spring. 
 It quickens lands whose meteor lights 
 
 Flame in an arctic sky. 
 And lands for which the Southern Cross 
 
 Hangs its orbed fires on high," &c. 
 
 The Pillars of Hercules. 
 
 The Straits of Gibraltar, which were anciently called the 
 Straits of Hercules, are about twelve miles in extent from 
 Ceuta Point, on the African Coast, and fiom Cape Trafalgar 
 to Europa Point, on the coast of Spain. This rock and 
 Ceuta opposite were called by the ancients the Pillars of 
 Hercules, and in very early ages were regarded by the people 
 dwelling to the east of them as the western boundary of the 
 world, il 
 
 Hence, the Pillars of Hercules became a sign-board for a 
 small inn near Hamilton Place, on the site of what is now the 
 pavement opposite Hyde Park Corner and the western 
 boundary of the-metropolis. Here Squire Western put his 
 horses up when in pursuit of Tom Jones ; and here Field 
 Marshal Granby was often found. Hercules Pillars Alley, 
 near St. Dunstan's Church and the western limit of the city, 
 was noted for its public-houses of entertainment, the chief 
 
Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 71 
 
 of which was Hercules' Pillars, where " Pepys supped with his 
 friends after the play was don^" and " dined with Tom," 
 having sent his wife home. 
 
 Legend of Joseph of Arimathea. 
 
 The legendary history of Joseph of Arimathea is connected 
 with the once popular belief in the introduction of Christi- 
 anity into this island as early as the first century. As the 
 story goes, Joseph of Arimathea received from Pilate along 
 with the body of the Saviour the Holy Grail, or dish used at 
 the Last Supper, into which flowed the sacred blood that 
 streamed from the Saviour's four wounds. A few days after 
 Christ's resurrection the Jews seized and imprisoned Joseph 
 in a windowless dungeon for forty-two years, during which 
 time he was fed without human sustenance by the Holy 
 Grail, which he found miracuously restored to him when he 
 was first thrown into prison. Joseph was at length released 
 by Vespasian, whom he converted and baptized ; and when 
 permitted to quit Jerusalem, he took with him the Grail, 
 carried inside an ark or box, and passing through France he 
 came into Britain and established the first Christian church 
 at Glastonbury or Avallon, the legendary burial-place of 
 King Arthur. 
 
 What is Muscular Christianity? 
 
 Some clever wag or wags gathered from Professor Kings- 
 ley's novels and essays a presentment of his ideal hero and 
 saint, and named him " Muscular Christian." Mr. Brown 
 closes his lecture on " Wesley's Theology," with a demand 
 for a " Christianity muscular, — morally muscular, gigantic in 
 
7a Terms, Phrases, and Sayings. 
 
 its moral strength," in some Wesleyan Methodist sense. He 
 here only expresses the general opinion of the reading world 
 that Mr. Kingsley is responsible, in some degree or other, 
 for this singular new term. 
 
 " We have heard much of late," Mr. Kingsley says in the 
 beginning of his first sermon, " about muscular Christianity. 
 A clever expression, spoken in jest by I know not whom, 
 has been bandied about the world, and supposed by many 
 to represent some new ideal of the Christian character. For 
 myself I do not understand what it means. It may mean 
 one of two things. If it mean the first, it is a term some- 
 what unnecessary, if not somewhat irreverent. If it means 
 the second, it means something untrue and immoral." The 
 first meaning may be " a healthful and manly Christianity, 
 one which does not exalt the feminine virtues to the exclu- 
 sion of the masculine." This is the good meaning. The 
 other is expressed thus by Mr. Kingsley. "There are those 
 who say, and there have been of late those who have written 
 books to show, that provided a young man is suflSciently 
 frank, brave, and gallant, he is more or less absolved from 
 the common duties of morality and self-restraint." This is, 
 of course, the evil meaning. 
 
DIGNITIES AND DISTINCTIONS. 
 
 Origin of "King." 
 
 It was an important remark of one of the most thoughtful 
 etymologists, Jacob Grimm, that the old Norse word for 
 king, Konungr or Kdngr, cannot, as was commonly supposed, 
 be derived from the old Norse kyn, race, nor the Anglo- 
 Saxon cyning, from cyn, kin, family. King is an old word 
 common to the three branches of the Teutonic races, not 
 coined afresh in Sweden, England, and Germany — nay, not 
 even coined out of purely German ore. It did not mean 
 originally a man of family, a man of noble birth, but it is in 
 reality the same word, both in form and meaning, as the 
 Saxisknt janaka, formed previously to the separation of Sans- 
 krit from German, and meaning originally father, — secondly, 
 king. 
 
 Origin of the Crown. 
 
 The progress of the Crown, from being a mere circlet of 
 gold to the present form, may be told in a few words. 
 
 There is no mention in Scripture of a royal crown, as a 
 kingly possession, till the time when the Amalekites are de- 
 scribed as bringing Saul's crown to David. The first Roman 
 who wore a crown was Tarquin, B.C. 6i6. It was at first a 
 
74 Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 mere fillet, then a garland, subsequently stuff, adorned with 
 pearls. Alfred is said to have been the first English King 
 who wore this symbol of high authority, a.d. 872. Athel- 
 Stan (a.d. 929) wore a coronet like the modern earl's. 
 Pope Damasus II. introduced the Papal cap. Thirteen 
 years later, William the Conqueror added a coronet with 
 points to his ducal cap. The Papal cap was not encircled 
 with a crown till the era of John XIX. (1276). Nineteen 
 years afterwards Boniface VIII. added a second crown. 
 Benedict XII. completed the tiara, or triple crown, about 
 the year 1334. In 1386, Richard II. pawned his crown and 
 regalia to the City of London for 2,000/. The crosses on 
 the crown of England were introduced by Richard III., 
 1483. The arches date from Henry VII. (1485). The 
 sceptre has undergone as many changes as the crown. 
 Originally it was a staff, intended for the support of the 
 monarch ; they who shortened it sometimes turned it into a 
 club, to lay prostrate their people." 
 
 Royal Signatures. 
 
 There has been a good deal of discussion as to which of 
 our English Kings was the first to sign his own name. From 
 the facsimiles of national manuscripts, Richard II. would 
 appear to be entitled to the distinction in a document bearing 
 the date of 1386. The first holograph letter in the same 
 collection is from the pen of the Prince of Wales, afterwards 
 Henry V. (1413-22). — Sdoris Gossip about Letters. 
 
 Title of Majesty. 
 
 The title "Majesty" was constantly applied to Henry 
 VIII., but without superseding other and earlier titles of 
 English royalty. Thus (Froude, vol. iii. p. 53), July, a.d. 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. y^ 
 
 1536, Starkey, on behalf of Henry VIII., wrote to Cardinal 
 Pole : — " His Grace supposed his benefits not forgotten, and 
 Pole's love towards his Highness not utterly quenched. 
 His Majesty was one that forgave and forgot displeasure, 
 both at once.'' Here are the three titles of " Grace," 
 "Highness,"' and "Majesty," evidently held to be equally 
 consistent within the space of as many lines. Again, p. 272, 
 Sir William Fitzwilliam writes to Cromwell ; — " The King's 
 Highness knows," &c. (a.d. 1537 ; p. 276), the Duchess of 
 Milan says of Henry (a.d. 1538) ; — "She knew his Majesty 
 was a good and noble Prince;" p. 341 (same year) — "I 
 submit myself to the will of your Majesty," Lambert said ; 
 and p. 342, Cromwell on the sentence upon Lambert, 
 writes: — "The King's Majesty did sit openly in the hall. 
 It was a wonder to see how princely, with how excellent 
 gravity, and inestimable majesty. His Majesty exercised," 
 &c. ..." How benignly his Grace essayed . . . and how 
 strong and manifest reason his Highness allegeti. ... his 
 Majesty's high wisdom and judgment." The earlier volumes 
 of Froude's History abound in illustrative passages, all of 
 them quoted from original documents. 
 
 Shakspeare, in Scene 4, Act i, of Henry VIII., the 
 • Queen says — "Thank your Majesty;" a short time after- 
 wards, Wolsey says — " Please your Highness." Again, in 
 Scene 4, Act 2, Wolsey himself says — " I know your Ma- 
 jesty has always loved me." 
 
 It is believed Henry VIII. was the first English sovereign 
 who was styled " His Majesty.'' The titles of English 
 sovereigns have undergone many changes : Henry IV. was 
 " His Grace ;" Henry VI. " His Excellent Grace ;" Edward 
 IV. " High and Mighty Prince;" Henry VII. " His Grace," 
 and " His Highness ;" Henry VIII. , as stated above. " His 
 Sacred Majesty" was the title assumed by subsequent sove- 
 
•jS Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 reigns, which was afterwards changed to " Most Excellent 
 Majesty." — Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 169. 
 
 A King's Statue. 
 
 De Quincey, in a note to his article on Milton versus 
 Southey and Landor, says : " Till very lately the etiquette of 
 Europe was, that none but royal persons could have 
 equestrian statues. Lord Hopetoun, the reader will ob- 
 serve, is allowed to have a horse in St. Andrew's Square, 
 Edinburgh. True, but observe, he is not allowed to mount 
 him. The first person, so far as I remember, that, not 
 being royal, has in our island seated himself comfortably in 
 the saddle, is the Duke of Wellington." It is a fact, that in 
 Europe none but royal personages have had equestrian 
 statues. 
 
 Succession of English Monarchs. 
 
 There is a prediction preserved by the monkish annalists, 
 which is said to have been delivered in the time of William 
 the Conqueror, as an anathema, or curse ; signifying, that 
 ti.0 more than three monarchs should ever reign in this king- 
 dom without some violent interruption. William IV. by his 
 accession, was the first that broke the spell, as the following 
 will clearly show. William I., William II., Henry I. Inter- 
 rupted by the usurpation of Stephen. — Henry II., Richard I., 
 John. Interrupted by Louis the Dauphin. — Henry III., 
 Edward I., Edward II. Interrupted by the abdication and 
 murder of Edward II. — Edward III., Richard II. Inter- 
 rupted by the deposition of Richard II. — Henry IV., Henry 
 v., Richard HI. Interrupted by the usurpation of Henry 
 Richmond. — Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI. Inter- 
 rupted by the election of Lady Jane Grey, and making King 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. 77 
 
 Henry's daughters illegitimate. — Mary I., Elizabeth. A 
 foreign King called to the crown. — James I., Charles I. 
 Interrupted by the Commonwealth. — Charles II., James II. 
 Interrupted by the abdication of James, and the election of 
 a foreigner. — WilUam III., Anne. Interrupted by Parliament 
 appointing a foreigner.— George I., II., III. Interrupted 
 by the insanity of George III. and the Regency, IV. 
 
 Predictions Realized. 
 
 English history abounds in instances of the effect pro- 
 duced by the denunciations of the soothsayer. Henry of 
 Richmond unfurled his banner in accomplishment of the 
 saw of the soothsayer, who had declared that the Dun Cow 
 would prosper in England. Changes in the royal dynasty 
 were anticipated as long foretold, and the rude and 
 awful rhyme assisted to feed the fury of the Civil War. 
 Device and tokens, signs and bearings were introduced to 
 blend allegory with heraldry : — 
 
 " When the Beare is muzzled and cannot byte, 
 And the Hors is fettered and cannot stryke, 
 And the Swanne is sicke and cannot swymme, 
 Then shall the splayfoot England winne." 
 
 Coronation Banquet of George IV. 
 
 The Coronation Dinner at Westminster Hall, 1822, was 
 a monster banquet, and gives no indication whatever of the 
 King's more refined taste in cookery. As a curiosity, we 
 print the bill of fare of this great feast : — 
 
 Hot Dishes. — 160 tureens of soup; 80 of turtle; 40 of 
 rice ; 40 of vermicelU ; 80 dishes of turbot ; 40 of trout ; 
 40 of salmon ; 80 dishes of venison ; 40 of roast beef; 3 
 barons of beef; 40 dishes of mutton and veal; 160 dishes 
 
78 Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 of vegetables ; 480 sauce boats; 240 lobsters; 120 of but- 
 ter; 120 of mint. — Cold Dishes. — 80 of braised ham; 80 of 
 savoury pies ; 80 of geese, a la daube, two in each dish ; 80 
 of savoury cakes ; 80 of braised beef ; 80 of braised capons, 
 two in each dish ; 1 190 side dishes ; 320 of mounted pastry ; 
 400 of jellies and creams ; 80 of lobsters; 80 of cray-fish; 
 161 of roast fowls ; 80 of house lamb. 
 
 Total Quantities.- — Beef, 7442 lbs. ; veal, 7133 lbs. ; xaut- 
 ton, 2474 lbs. ; house lamb, 20 quarters ;, legs of ditto, 20 ; 
 lamb, 5 saddles; grass lamb, .55 quarters; lamb sweet- 
 breads, [6o; cow-heels, 389 ; calves' feet, 400 ; suet, 250 lbs. ; 
 geese, 160; pullets and capons, 720; chickens, 1610; fowls 
 for stock, 520; bacon, 1730- lbs.; lard, 550 lbs.; butter, 
 912 lbs.; eggs, 8400. 
 
 The Wines. — Champagne, 160 doz. ; Burgundy, 20 doz. ; 
 claret, more than 200 doz. ; hock, 50 doz. ; Moselle, 50 
 doz. ; Madeira, 50 doz. , sherry and port, about 350 doz. ; 
 iced punch, 100 gallons. 
 
 Dessert. — The glut of fruit was unprecedented ; a gentle- 
 man of Lambeth cut 60 ripe pine-apples on the occasion ; 
 and many hundreds of pines, remarkable for size and flavour, 
 were sent from all parts of the country; one from Lord 
 Cawdor's weighed 10 lbs., and formed part of the royal 
 dessert. 
 
 The expenses of this banquet and the coronation together 
 amounted to more than 268,000/. The coronation of King 
 AVilliam IV. in 1831, did not cost 50,000/. ; there was no 
 banquet. 
 
 The Queens of England. 
 
 The principle of female succession seems to have been 
 indigenous to Britain. Tacitus mentions as a peculiarity 
 of this nation — " neque sexum in imperiis discernunt;" and, 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. 79 
 
 though Blackstone is under a slight error in considering 
 Boadicea, who was the widow and not the daughter of the 
 last King, as an instance of hereditary succession, it -is clear 
 that the British crown was in those days inheritable by fe- 
 males. Tacitus's special mention of Britain, and his silence 
 as to a similar custom among the Germans (whose deference 
 and even veneration for women he nevertheless notices), 
 may lead to a doubt whether the practice was a general one 
 in his time ; but it seems, at all events, to have frequently 
 become so, because the exclusion of females from the throne 
 of France, by what is called the Salic law, is admitted to 
 have been a special departure from a general rule : a fortu- 
 nate one, it must be owned, for France ; since while England 
 has had to deplore such a long series of civil wars, arising 
 chiefly out of questions of disputed succession, there is not, 
 that we recollect, any similar instance in the whole history 
 of France. 
 
 Indeed, our English annals afford a curious and lamenti- 
 able amomaly on this subject ; for, while the principle of 
 female succession has never been denied, it has so happened 
 in practice, that from the Conquest to the accession of Mary I., 
 — nearly five hundred years — there is not a single instance 
 in which the female heir was not violently deprived of her 
 regal rights, and generally by the next heir male. Matilda, the 
 only surviving child of Henry I., was dispossessed by Ste- 
 phen, and after his death passed over by her own son. 
 Philippa of Clarence, and her issue, heirs to the crown on 
 the death of Richard II., were excluded by the usurpa- 
 tion of the next male. Henry IV. and his descen- 
 dants, who produced those bloody and protracted strug- 
 gles, called, somewhat inaccurately, the contest of the 
 houses of York and Lancaster, for the Duke of York's 
 only title was as the son of Anne, the daughter of Philippa 
 
8o Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 of Clarence. Elizabeth, only surviving child of Edward IV. 
 was set aside, first by the next male, his uncle, Richard III. 
 and subsequently by Henry VII., who, though he was glad 
 to repair his own illegitimate title by an union with her, 
 never acknowledged her private rights, and affected to 
 transmit her crown to their son Henry VIII., as the heir of 
 the Lancastrian branch, though his real right was as the 
 descendant — through three females and two males — as 
 Lionel of Clarence. Fortunately for England, there existed at 
 the death of Edward VI., no one who could advance any 
 claim to the crown, to the exclusion of heirs female ; and in 
 the person of Mary was the first time brought \vAo practice 
 a principle which was coeval with the monarchy ; the disturb- 
 ances which she and her sister successively met with, arose 
 from questions, not of their sex, but of their legitimacy ; for 
 they were advanced by persons pretending to be heirs female, 
 like themselves, and were easily put down. How it might 
 have been if there had been a male competitor may be 
 doubted, though it is probable that the severe lessons in- 
 flicted on the nation by the war of the Roses would have 
 taught them to acquiesce in the legitimate line of succession ; 
 and that first step being made in the case of Mary, the 
 vigour, glory, and duration of Elizabeth's reign may be said 
 to have fixed and consecrated the ancient theory of the con- 
 stitution. — Notes and Queries. 
 
 The Brunswick Dynasty. 
 
 There is a connexion of the House of Brunswick with the 
 ancient Sovereign of England which is little known, or at 
 any rate, little remembered ; and by which our present 
 Queen can trace descent from the Saxon, Norman, and 
 Plantagenet lines, quite irrespective of the Electress Sophia. 
 
 Albert Azzo II., of the House of Este, married Kuni- 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. 8i 
 
 gunda, daughter and heiress of Guelph II. of the house 
 of Altorf. The issue of this marriage, Guelph, Duke of 
 Bavaria, was the ancestor of Henry the Lion ; who married 
 Matilda, daughter of Henry II. of England. This Henry the 
 Lion was a turbulent prince, and being put to the ban of the 
 empire retired to England, where he was hospitably received 
 by his father-in-law. At Winchester, his youngest son Wil- 
 liam was bom. This Englishman, in whose veins flowed 
 the blood of Alfred, of William the Conqueror, of the Plan- 
 tagenet Earl of Anjou, and of the Kings of Scotland, suc- 
 ceeded to the Brunswick inheritance of his father, and was 
 the ancestor of George I., and consequently of Victoria. 
 
 Royal Assent. 
 
 The Royal Assent is as publicly refused as it is publicly 
 given ; the refusal being pronounced by the Clerk of the 
 Parliament. The last instance was that of Queen Anne's 
 refusal of the assent to the " Militia of Scotland Bill," on 
 March 1 1, 1 707, when (as it will be seen by the Lords' 
 "Journal") Htv Majesty was present, the title of the Bill 
 having been read by the Clerk of the Crown, the Clerk of 
 of the Parliament pronounced the Queen's pleasure with 
 regard to the Bill in the ancient form of words, — " La Reine 
 s'avisera." In the speech which the Queen afterwards made 
 to the members of both houses, there is no allusion to her 
 refusal of the royal assent to the Bill in question. 
 
 Arms and Crests. 
 
 The Appendix to Tonge's Heraldic Visitation of the North- 
 ern Counties, in 1530, contains a good many grants of arms 
 from 1470 to 1666. It is remarkable in what a vast majority 
 
 G 
 
83 Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 of cases the heralds are asked to find axras for the petitioners, 
 which they seem to have done with as great care as the 
 kind unofficial heralds who now-a-days volunteer the same 
 good service by advertisement. They were but few, even 
 then, who could bring themselves to confess that they had 
 no arms, and to ask for them as something new. There are 
 also a great many people who, having arms but no crests, 
 ask the heralds to find or insert crests for them. Unwise 
 souls ! they did not know that the crest is a comparatively 
 modern addition, and that the absence of a crest was really 
 a sign of the antiquity of their arms. 
 
 The Mitre. 
 
 Prominent among the ornaments of the Anglo-Norman 
 period is the Mitre, which was not originally a mark of eccle- 
 siastical dignity, but was worn as a head-dress ; it was at first 
 worn as a round cap, deepened in the centre ; in the 14th 
 century, the mitre was richly decorated ; it is seen on the 
 coins of Canute, and Edward the Confessor. Chains and 
 carcanets can be traced through the Anglo-Norman period, 
 to the reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 The Heir to the Throne always in Opposition. 
 
 Horace Walpole somewhere remarks as a peculiarity in 
 the Hanover Family that the Heir Apparent has always been 
 in Opposition to the reigning monarch. The fact is true 
 enough ; but it is not a peculiarity in the house of Hanover. 
 It is an infirmity of human nature, and to be found, more or 
 less, in every analogous case of private life ; but our political 
 system developes it with peculiar force and more remarkable 
 effect in the royal family. Those who cannot obtain the 
 favours of the father will endeavour to conciliate the good 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. 83 
 
 wishes of the son, and all arts are employed, and few are 
 necessary, to seduce the heir apparent into the exciting and 
 amusing game of political opposition. He is naturally apt 
 enough to dislike what he considers a present thraldom, and 
 to anticipate, by his influence over a faction, the plenitude 
 of his future power. This was the mainspring of the most 
 serious part of the political troubles of the last century, and 
 will, we doubt not, be revived, if our present constitution 
 should last so long, whenever a similar occasion for rivalry 
 shall arise in the royal family. 
 
 The Halberd. 
 
 The halberd was called by the Latin writers Allabarda, 
 Aldabaradia, and Aldabaracha ; it is a weapon uniting the 
 bill, glaive, and pike, particularly used by the Helvetians and 
 Germans. Cluverius, in his Antiquities of Germany, gives 
 the etymology of this name as follows : " Halle quippe est 
 atrium palatii veteri Germanorum sive Celtarum vocabulo, et 
 Bard securis.'' The real etymology of the word, however, is 
 Teutonic, alle-bard, i. e. cleave all. This weapon is men- 
 tioned in the fifteenth century, but did not come into general 
 use until the middle of the sixteenth. The staff of the Eng- 
 lish halberd was about five feet in length, made of ash. It 
 was carried by Serjeants of infantry until the latter end of the 
 last century, when it was supefteded by a spear resembling the 
 halberd with the cross axe omitted. — The Master of Ordnance. 
 
 The English Succession. 
 
 William and "William, and Henry and Stephen, 
 And Henry the Second to make the First even ; 
 Brave Richard now comes, then perfidious John, 
 G 2 
 
84 Dignities and Distinctions, 
 
 Third Henry's the next that the sun shines on ; 
 
 Edward, One, Two, and Three, all successive appear, 
 
 Second Richard, fourth Henry in turn disappear ; 
 
 Fifth Henry of Agincourt, Sixth, a house bird, 
 
 Proud Edward the Fourth, and fierce Richard the Third ; 
 
 Seventh Henry of Bosworth fierce Richard deposes. 
 
 Harsh faction dispels and binds Red and White Roses ; 
 
 Then Henry the Eighth, whom men mostly defame. 
 
 Is succeeded by Edward the Sixth of that name ; 
 
 Queen Mary comes next, then Elizabeth seen. 
 
 And James, and poor Charles, for whom pity is keen ; 
 
 Cromwell Protector, and gay Charles the Second, 
 
 Before second James must have their reigns reckoned ; 
 
 Then William and Mary ascended our throne. 
 
 And Queen Anne and George whom we must number one ; 
 
 George, Two, Three, and Four, then successive are seen, 
 
 And William the Fourth serves to herald our Queen, 
 
 Victoria, whom God we all ask to ordain 
 
 Both peace and contentment, withal a long reign. 
 
 Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 260. 
 
 Amongst the fears that accompanied the death of the 
 Princess Charlotte in 1817 was the apprehension that "a 
 barren sceptre " might pass through the hands of the illus- 
 trious family that freed these realms from a despotic sway. 
 That apprehension was dissipated by the subsequent mar- 
 riages of the Dukes of Clarence, Kent, Cumberland, and 
 Cambridge. It is a remarkable example of the vanity of 
 human fears, that the people who wept, as a people without 
 hope, for the bereavement of Charlotte Augusta, should have 
 realized through her premature death, precisely such a female 
 reign, of just and mild government, of domestic virtues, of 
 generous sympathy with popular rights, of bold and liberal 
 encouragement of sound improvement, as they had associated 
 with her career — perhaps more than they had thought, in 
 that season of disquiet, could ever be realized in a few 
 coming years. — Miss Martineau ; History of England. 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 The Title of Czar. 
 
 It is evident that some, if not many, people entertain the 
 notion that the title of the Emperors of Russia — Czar — like 
 that of the national title of the Emperors of Germany — 
 Kaiser — is derived from the name Ccesar, one of the names 
 of the early Roman Emperors. This is not so as regards the 
 Russian title Czar ; that is of Asiatic, and of Tartar, or of 
 Persian origin ; and it is supposed to be derived from the 
 tzars or tchars of the kingdom of Casan. After the Russian 
 monarch John, or Ivan Basilides, had completed the con- 
 quest of the kingdom or province of Casan in the sixteenth 
 century, he assumed the title of Czar or Tzar, which has been 
 retained ever since by his successors on the throne of Russia. 
 Before him the Sovereign of Russia took the title of Welik 
 Knez, which in Muscov-Sclavonic signifies great prince, great 
 lord, great chief, and which the German nations rendered by 
 great duke. When the Russian Sovereign Michael Theodo- 
 rowitz, one of the successors of Ivan Basilides, received the 
 celebrated Holstein embassy, he assumed the following titles : 
 — ■" Great Knez and Great Lord, Conservator of all the 
 Russias, Prince of Wolodmer, Moscow, Novogorod, &c.. Tzar 
 of Casan, Tzar of Astracan, and Tzar of Siberia." On this 
 account, therefore. Tzar being a title belonging to these 
 eastern princes, historians, who have written upon the his- 
 tory of Russia and its Sovereigns, contend that the title of 
 Czar is more likely to have been derived from the Shake, or 
 Tsahs of Persia, than from the Ccesars of Rome, of whom the 
 Siberian Tzars, on the banks of the Oby, are not likely even 
 ever to have heard. 
 
8$ Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 Legend of St. George and the Dragon. 
 
 St. George (says the legend), was a knight bom in Cap- 
 padocia, and once on a time he came'to Silene, a city of 
 Africa, near to which was a vast lake. In this lake was a 
 dragon who poisoned the atmosphere with his breath, and to 
 whom the people of the city gave daily two sheep for his 
 food, that he might do them no harm. At length the supply 
 of sheep was exhausted, and the children of the city had to 
 be given two by two to the dragon instead. The victims 
 were chosen by lot, and in course of time the lot fell upon 
 the lovely daughter of the King.::|r (At this point there is a 
 reproduction of the fundamental idea in the old Bible story 
 of Jephthah and his daughter and the classical one of Iphi- 
 genia.) The King at first was unwilling to give up his 
 daughter ; but upon the fierce remonstrance of his people at 
 his unfairness in violating his own decree, which had already 
 been so fatal in their families, he prayed that he might have 
 an eight days' respite before the sacrifice was made. When 
 the eight days were passed he arrayed his daughter in bridal 
 attire, and she was being led out to the dragon, when St. 
 George appeared, and came running toward them. The 
 knight at once rode against the monster, and with his spear 
 threw him to the ground. Then said he to the maiden, 
 " Give me thy girdle, and bind it about the neck of the 
 dragon, and be not afraid." Having done this the dragon 
 followed her, " as it had been a meek beast and debonnair.'' 
 The people were alarmed, but St. George bade them only 
 trust in God Jesus Christ, and be baptized, and he would 
 slay the dragon. — The Legend of Christian Art, Illustrated 
 in the Statues of Salisbury Cathedral. 
 
Dignities and -Distinctions. 87 
 
 British Mistakes respecting the Star-spangled 
 Banner of the Great Republic. 
 
 There is a locality in " York," not far from that dreary- 
 looking building " The Tombs," which is called " The Five 
 Points," indicating, no doubt, the exact number of the spurs 
 upon each of the stars which so fluently dot the national flag 
 of the United States. No one is keenly alive to the fact 
 as your " cute Yankee " that we are not so knowing in this 
 " wrinkle" as we ought to be ; and the very urchins have been 
 heard before the picture-shops in the Broadway criticizing the 
 artists wildly for their ignorance in giving the stars more or 
 less points than they should have. Henceforth, then, it is 
 wise to know that no star intended to convey the nationality 
 of the States can be legitimate without the five points ; 
 and that ought to be a consideration to the satirist who has 
 most of the starring business on his hands. 
 
 The Golden Rose. 
 
 It is a very ancient rite of the Roman Catholic Church 
 that the Pope should, on the fourth Sunday iti Lent, bless 
 a Golden Rose, which it is a custom to send to a sovereign, 
 to a celebrated church, or to some eminent personage. If 
 it be not presented to any one, it receives a second benedic- 
 tion the year following. This pious present was substituted 
 for the gold and silver keys, and for the pieces cut with a 
 file from the chains which are said to have bound the hands 
 of St. Peter, which were formerly sent. 
 
 The solemn ceremony of blessing the Golden Rose recently 
 took place in the Papal Chapel of the Apostolic Palace at 
 Rome, of which the following are the details. A Cardinal 
 
88 Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 priest said mass, and the " General " of the Carmelites de- 
 livered a sermon in Latin. The golden rose was blessed by 
 the Pontiff himself, who pronounced a prayer, in which the 
 Saviour was described as " the flower of the fields and the 
 lily of the valleys." The Pope consecrates the rose with 
 balm, sprinkles on it powdered musk, makes the sign of the 
 cross over it with incense, and then deposits it on the altar, 
 where it remains during the mass. This ceremony is very 
 ancient. From the beginning the custom has been to pre- 
 sent the rose to some Catholic Prince or Princess ; the Pope 
 delivering it in person, saying : — " Receive this rose, the 
 symbol of Jerusalem militant and Jerusalem triumphant, 
 which shows to all Christians that the fairest of flowers is 
 the joy and the crown of the saints. Receive it, beloved, 
 noble, powerful, and virtuous son, that our Lord Jesus Christ 
 Himself may ennoble you, like to a rose planted on the bor- 
 der of a running stream. May God, thrice holy throughout 
 all eternity, , grant you this grace, out of His abundant mercy 
 and bounty ! Amen." In the fifteenth century consecrated 
 roses presented to the Pope were placed over the confes- 
 sionals at Rome, to denote secrecy, the rose being the em- 
 blem of silence : hence the common phrase '■'■sub rosa.^' 
 
 Change of Name. 
 
 An ancient rural road between Stamford Hill and Hornsey 
 has had its name altered from Hanger Lane to St. Anne's 
 Road, because the inhabitants fancied that people used to 
 be hanged there. Now, hanger means a wood hanging on 
 the side of a hill. Cobbett, in his Rural Rides, thus ac- 
 counts for the name : — " These hangers are woods on the 
 sides of very steep hills. The trees and underwood hang, 
 in some sort to the ground, instead of standing on it. Hence 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. 89 
 
 these places are called hangers.'' The word often occurs in 
 composition in the southern and western counties, a wood 
 being called Birch-hanger or Beech-hanger, according to the 
 prevalent tree. Then there is Piccadilly : 
 
 "Piccadilly, shops, palaces, bustle, and breeze, 
 The whizzing of wheels and the murmur of trees." 
 
 as Mr. Locker sings. The etymologists of St. Anne's Road 
 would decide at once that it gets its name irora. peccadillo ; and 
 who can tolerate such a thought in these immaculate days ? 
 No ; let Piccadilly be re-named. Those who are interested 
 in the doubtful etymology of that word Piccadilly, may like 
 to know that among the Chiltern hills, not far from Chequers 
 Court, the seat of Lady Frankland Russell, there is a coni- 
 cal hill, which from time immemorial has been called Picca- 
 dilly. — From the Echo journal. 
 
 Book Amateurs. 
 
 De la Rive contrived to catch the shades of the appella- 
 tives necessary to discriminate book amateurs, and of the 
 first'term he is acknowledged to be the inventor. 
 
 A bibliognoste, from the Greek, is one knowing in title-pages, 
 and colophons, and in editions, the place and year when 
 printed, the preface whence issued, and the minutice of a 
 book. 
 
 A UMiographe is a describer of books and other literary 
 arrangements. 
 
 A bibliomane is an indiscriminate accumulator, who plun- 
 ders faster than he buys, cock-brained, and purse-heavy. 
 
 A bibliophile, the lover of books, is the only one in the 
 class who appears to read them for his own pleasure. 
 
 A bibliophe buries his books, by keeping them under lock, 
 or framing them in glass cases. 
 
90 Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 Who are Esquires? 
 
 The present use of the distinction " Esquires," conveys 
 not the remotest idea of its origin, or appropriation, in past 
 ages. The esquire originated in chivalric times, when the 
 sons of gentlemen, from the age of seven years, were brought 
 up in the castles of superior lords — which was an inestimable 
 advantage to the poorer nobility, who could hardly otherwise 
 have given their children the accomplishments of their sta- 
 tion. From seven to fourteen, these boys were called pages 
 or varlets; at fourteen, they bore the name of esquire. They 
 were instructed in the management of arms, in the art of 
 horsemanship, in exercises of strength and activity, so as to 
 fit them for the tournament and battle, and the milder 
 glories of chivalrous gallantry. Long after the decline of 
 chivalry, the word esquire was only used in a limited sense, 
 for the sons of peers and knights, or such as obtained the 
 title by creation, or some other legal means. Blackstone 
 defines esquires to be all who bear office or trust under the 
 Crown, an5 who are styled esquires by the King in their 
 commissions and appointments ; and, being once honoured 
 by the King with the title of esquire, they have a right to 
 that distinction for life. 
 
 Cockades, and who may use them. 
 
 This small social question has been fully discussed in some 
 twenty communications to Notes and Queries, but has not 
 yet been fully and satisfactorily answered. Mr. John Wilson 
 Croker said : " The cockade was merely the knot of the 
 riband that served to cock the broad-flapped hat worn by 
 military men in the seventeenth century, and derives its 
 name from that circumstance. The badge, favour, or 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. gi 
 
 cockade of Charles I. was of scarlet ; but upon the restora- 
 tion of Charles II. white was assumed, derived from the 
 w/iiie rose, the badge of the House of Stuart ; and that being 
 also the badge of Roland, it became doubly identified with 
 the Stuarts from the marriage of the Old Pretender with the 
 Princess Sobieski. We believe a wktie rose is still worn on 
 the loth of June by some enthusiastic admirers of the fallen 
 dynasty. An orange cockade was the badge of the House 
 of Orange, and the black cockade that of the House of Han- 
 over. The black and white cockades, it will be remembered, 
 are contrasted in Waverley, and an old Scotch song, speak- 
 ing of the battle of Sherra-Muir, describes the English sol- 
 diery as — 
 
 "The red-coat lads wi' black cockades." 
 
 The black cockade being recognized as the badge of the 
 House of Hanover, it will be seen how it came to be worn 
 by the servants of the officers of the Army and Navy. Thus 
 much for the origin of the black cockade. 
 
 The next question — who are entitled to place cockades in 
 the hats of servants, seems involved in considerable obscurity. 
 It was formerly understood to be limited to the servants of 
 all gentlemen holding the rank of field officers ; and as their 
 servants were for the most part soldiers, the cockade pre- 
 served its military character, but it is clearly not so limited 
 in practice at the present time. We may here state, on the 
 best authority, that no orders regulating the use of cockades 
 are known to exist. With reference to the question as to the 
 right of volunteer officers to give cockades to their servants, 
 now frequently agitated, precedent is against it, as it is re- 
 corded that the servants of the officers of the Old City Light 
 Horse did not wear them ; but, on the other hand, it is 
 stated that the manner in which volunteer officers are recog- 
 
9^ Dignities and Distijstctions. 
 
 nized in recent Acts of Parliament gives them the same privi- 
 leges in this respect as officers of the regulars. — Notes and 
 Queries, 4th S., No. 6, 1868. We have been informed on 
 official authority that the servants of Deputy-Lieutenants of 
 counties are entitled to wear black cockades in their hats. 
 
 Value of Heraldry. 
 
 In the study of heraldry, readers are cautioned against the 
 Scylla and Charybdis of the heraldic inquirer, the absurd 
 and misdirected enthusiasm of the champions of the art, and 
 the undeserved contempt of its depreciation. By the latter 
 it has been stigmatized as " the science of fools with long 
 memories." It should rather be designated as a science 
 which, properly directed, would make fools wise. It is a 
 key to history which may yet unlock stores of information. 
 At present its most learned professors have studied the art 
 itself more than the use which may be made of it. They 
 have wasted their time and their learning upon idle controver- 
 sies and still more idle speculations. A mysterious signifi- 
 cation has been given to nearly every charge and tincture 
 known in armoury, and a different one by nearly every 
 writer upon the subject. The names of the ordinaries and 
 colours have been derived from every sort of object and 
 through every known language, without one fact having been 
 elucidated on which we can depend. Even the word blazon 
 has been hotly claimed as Arabic by some disputants. It 
 is generally derived from the German blazen, to blow or sound 
 a horn or a trumpet, such being usually the practice before 
 proclaiming the style or arms of any personage on his arrival 
 in the camp, the city, or the banqueting-hall. The term, 
 however, was soon applied to the proclamation itself, and 
 finally used as synonymous with description generally ; thus 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. 93 
 
 we find in the old book on hunting written by Jacques de 
 Fouilloux, and presented to Charles X. of France, the de- 
 scription of the hare entitled La Blaison du Lievre. To 
 spread the fame or disgrace of any person was also to blazon 
 it. In the Chronicle of Louis L, Duke of Bourbon, the 
 Knights of the Order of the Crown are commended not to 
 suffer any person to defame (blazonner et m^dire) the ladies. 
 It is curious to find an amateur herald-painter rating lowly 
 Egyptian antiquities : this was done by Philip Absolon, who 
 threw aside the Catalogue of Salt's Collection of Egyptian 
 Antiquities with disdain, declaring them to be " stuff," pre- 
 fixing a profane superlative which we had rather not repeat. 
 Now, heraldry is thought to have originated in the necessity 
 for distinguishing, by some outward sign, amidst the confu- 
 sion of battle," the principal leaders during the expeditions 
 for the recovery of the Holy Land. But nothing is abso- 
 lutely known concerning it beyond the fact that the middle 
 of the 1 2th century is the earliest period to which the bear- 
 ing of the heraldic devices, properly so called, can be traced ; 
 and the commencement of the 13th the time about which 
 they became hereditary. 
 
 What is Freemasonry? 
 
 In the Middle Ages scientific knowledge was chiefly con- 
 fined to the clerical orders, and the " movable societies of 
 architects and workmen," styled Masonic or Freemasonic 
 Lodges, usually including among their directors, or " masters" 
 ecclesiastics of cultivated mind, deftly skilled in geometry 
 and those arts on which depend structural stability, harmony 
 of proportion, and elegance of design. Such were the 
 builders of our grand old cathedrals, and of nearly all the 
 fortified palaces of the feudal barons of the Middle Ages. 
 
94 Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, and the muni- 
 ficent restorer of its venerable minster, was, perhaps, the last 
 dignified ecclesiastic connected with the masonic fraternity 
 in England. Some twenty years after his decease, the arbi- 
 trary interference of the lodges with the wages of labour ex- 
 cited the alarm of the Government, already predisposed by 
 suspicion and jealousy of a widely-extended and irresponsible 
 affiliation, bound together by secret oaths of reciprocal obe- 
 dience and protection ; and in 1423 an Act of Parliament 
 (3 Henry VI. c. 1.) was passed, prohibiting "the chapiters 
 and congregations of Masons in tyled lodges," on pain of 
 "being judged for felons," or punished in the mitigate 
 penalties of " imprisonment, and fine, and ransom, at the 
 King's will." 
 
 This seems to have been the first definite step leading to 
 the substitution of modern speculative Freemasonry for the 
 primitive scientific and operative craft ; but the change was 
 slowly effected, and up to a comparatively late period the 
 industrial character of the ancient lodges was significantly 
 continued in the professional selection of masters and 
 wardens. For example, Sir Christopher Wren, when deputy 
 Grand Master (afterwards Grand Master) of England, nomi- 
 nated as his wardens Gibber, the sculptor, and Strong, his 
 own master-mason of St. Paul's. However, the city Guild 
 sturdily claimed then, as now, the only genuine, legitimate 
 succession to the Freemason Lodges of the Middle Ages. 
 Stow enumerates them among the trades of London, " the 
 company of Masons, otherwise termed Freemasons, of ancient 
 standing and good reckoning." The scientific builder (archi- 
 tect of our time) was, up to the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century, indifferently styled Freemason, Chief Mason, or 
 sometimes simply Mason. Thus, Henry de Teneley, the lay 
 masonic associate of William of Wykeham, and remodeller 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. 95 
 
 of Westminster Hall, was "Master Mason" to three 
 successive Kings : Edward III., Richard II., and Henry IV. 
 
 A secret association, combining, like the Freemasonry of 
 the middle ages, scientific attainments with utilitarian results, 
 is not possible in our enlightened age of knowledge and 
 freedom ; and a glance over the names of the " Masters " of 
 the mystic craft will not tend to convince the thoughtful in- 
 quirer that there is any extraordinary acquisition of wisdom 
 and virtue communicable by initiation. — J. L., Notes and 
 Queries, 3rd S., No. 720. 
 
 The connexion between the operative Mason and those 
 whom, without disrespect, we must term a convivial society 
 of good fellows, who, in the reign of Queen Anne, met at 
 the Goose and Gridiron, in St. Paul's Churchyard, appears 
 to have been finally dissolved about the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century. The theoretical and mystic — for we 
 dare not say ancient — Freemasons separated from the Wor- 
 shipful Company of Masons and Citizens of London about 
 the period above-mentioned. 
 
 At the meeting of the British Association, in 1870, the 
 Rev. G. A. Poole denounced as a fallacy the superstition 
 that the Freemasons of the Middle Ages have any connexion 
 with modem Freemasonry. They are of no greater authority, 
 he said, than theother guilds ; and he repudiated the iiotion 
 that modern Freemasonry has any title to take part in the 
 religious ceremony connected with the laying the foundation 
 of a church, when they are not in reality masons at all. 
 
 The legend that every one is supposed to know runs to 
 the efiect that the four children of Lamach, and his two 
 wives, Ada and Sella, founded the beginning of all the 
 sciences in the world. The eldest son, Jabal, pursued the 
 science of geometry, and abandoned his flocks and herds to 
 build with stones and trees ; his brother Jubal founded the 
 
g6 Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 science of music ; his brother Tubal Cain founded smithcraft 
 in all metals ; and his sister founded the craft of weaving. 
 Having a foreknowledge of the punishment about to fall 
 upon mankind, they engraved their sciences on two stones, 
 so that they might not be lost when the "vengeance for 
 synn" came. One of these stones was of marble, in the be- 
 lief that it would not burn if fire consumed all else upon the 
 face of the earth ; the other was " clepped laterns," sup- 
 posed not to be able to drown or sink in any water, if a flood 
 should be the means of destruction. After the deluge, the 
 great-grandson of Noah found one of these stones, and saw 
 the science on it, and taught it to other people. " And at 
 the making of the Tower of Babylon there was masonrye 
 first made much of" Nimrod was a mason as well as hunter, 
 it seems, and fond of his science, or, as we should now say, 
 trade. And when the city of Nineveh and other cities in 
 the East were to be built, he sent his cousin, the King of 
 Nineveh, threescore of masons to assist him. We quote the 
 legend : — " And when he sent them forth, he gave them a 
 charge on this manner. That they should be true each of 
 them to other, and that they should love truly together, and 
 that they should serve their lord truly for their pay ; soe that 
 the master may have worshipp, and that long to him. And 
 other moe charges he gave them. And this was the first 
 tyme that ever mason had any charge of his science.'' From 
 this little band of masons, bound together as strangers in 
 a strange land, possessed of the knowledge of a craft that 
 was beyond the understanding of the dwellers in tents, 
 according to this story, came Freemasonry. 
 
 So far this legend, with its patriarchal belongings, and 
 surroundings, and discrepancies, its clink of pre-historic 
 tools, on pre-Noachian tablets, and sight of Tyrian shipmen, 
 and scent of cedarn forests. 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. 97 
 
 Parliaments Nicknamed. 
 
 Our legislative assemblies have been distinguished by- 
 various nicknames. Henry the Fourth having called his 
 Parliament together, that they might grant him a supply, 
 they advised him to take one from the clergy, who were 
 wealthy, and did little good with their riches. The King 
 refused, and the clerical gentlemen laughed at the senate of 
 dunces, or " the Illiterate Parliament," as the assembly was 
 styled by them, in their satisfaction at escaping a levy. 
 But the Illiterate Parliament, was not the only one which 
 received a name from some peculiarity distinguishing it. 
 In 1426, the Parliament, which met at Leicester, was called 
 the " Parliament of Bats and Clubs." The Members had 
 been prohibited from carrying weapons ; but, as protection 
 was only the more necessary, the noble lords and honourable 
 gentlemen went down to the House, with a crowd of servants 
 at their heels, well armed with bludgeons and similar ugly 
 offensive or defensive means, 
 
 Then we had the " Spurless Parliament," — a title derived 
 from an order of Elizabeth's Speaker, that Members should 
 not be allowed to enter the House with spurs on their boots. 
 As such appendages to manhood were then the prevailing 
 fashion, the prohibition excited the disgust of the younger 
 senators ; but this feeling availed nothing, and the law was 
 enforced more strictly than it was in cathedrals, where a 
 small fine of " spur-money " enabled the fine gentlemen to 
 jingle away up to the very altar. The "Long Parliament" 
 is famous, less perhaps for the period of its session than for 
 the celebrated act by which it declared the uselessness of 
 the House of Lords. The "Short Parliament," of an 
 earlier date, transacted even more serious work in a much 
 briefer space ; for, in a single session of one day, of the 
 
 H 
 
98 Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 year 1399, it formally deposed Richard the Second, and 
 estabhshed the right of the people, by their representatives, 
 to change the hne of succession to the Crown. The 
 " Rump Parliament " effected similar ends, by voting the 
 Trial of Charles the First ; and the two " Convention Parlia- 
 ments," — so called because they convened without the 
 authority of the King's writ,— achieved objects quite as 
 effective. The first, in 1660, voted the Restoration of 
 Charles the Second; and the other, in 1688, after an exami- 
 nation of the word " abdication," which would have done 
 honour to all the dictionary-makers of the French Academy, 
 voted James the Second out, and William and Mary in, by 
 the small majority of a couple of votes. 
 
 A young poet, with smart audacity, pointed his wit at the 
 Members of the first Parliament of George the Third, pic- 
 turing the Houses as a " Parliament of Beasts," to which 
 King Lion went down to ask supplies. These were mot to 
 be procured but through taxation : — 
 
 ' ' Now, what to tax was the affair : 
 It could be neither hides nor hair. " 
 
 Thereupon, the sleek and respectable peace-Member of his 
 day, the Tiger, proposes that a tax shall be laid upon vices 
 generally, and that each man shall fix the amount to be 
 levied upon his neighbour. To this proposition, the pon- 
 derous Elephant objects, with a thundering "No!" — and, 
 "A shorter, surer way to go," he suggests an impost on — 
 
 "The virtues, and let each declare 
 His own stock of em ; 'tis but fair. 
 And you shall find, or I'm a dvmce, 
 Th' Exchequer will be fiU'd at once." 
 
 The satire was plentifully flung at Honourable Gentlemen 
 who had but slender connexion with honour. The pro- 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. 99 
 
 tection rendered to such representatives was excessive ; 
 more than half-a-century elapsed before even a partial 
 remedy was supplied. It was not until 1812 that bankrupt 
 Members of the House of Commons were declared to be 
 liable to a Bankruptcy Commission, and disqualified from 
 sitting till their creditors had been "satisfied." In the 
 earlier times, money questions were otherwise dealt with. 
 When William the Third was King, a coinless and con- 
 scienceless Member had only to make himself a really trou- 
 blesome opponent, in order to obtain at least some portion 
 of what he lacked. The rule was to silence such Members 
 by bestowing on them place and pension : King William 
 himself was wont to designate this as the true art of 
 " Making a Parliament." 
 
 Some Parliaments have passed silly enactments, but some 
 have been famous for passing none at all. In the Parlia- 
 mentary Session of 1674^ not an Act was agreed to. Never- 
 theless, a vast amount of brawling occurred, and a greater 
 amount of money was consumed ; — 200,000/. is mentioned 
 as the sum expended in bribing the Members, who agreed 
 upon nothing' but being at variance. The greatest result 
 which ever followed one of these Parliamentary storms was 
 when the Commons, in dire wrath at the Lords for altering 
 an impost on sugar, declared, once and for all, that the Peers 
 never possessed, and should never exercise, the right to 
 change or modify any aid or tax passed by the Commons. — 
 Abridged from the Athenaum. 
 
 Sale of Seats in Parliament. 
 
 The origin of this abuse is thus explained : — The smaller 
 boroughs having been from the earliest period under the 
 command of neighbouring peers and gentlemen, or some- 
 
 H 2 
 
loo Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 times of the Crown, were first observed to be attempted by 
 rich capitalists in the general elections of 1747 and 1755 ; 
 though the prevalence of bribery in a less degree is attested 
 by the statute-book, and the journals of Parliament from 
 the Revolution, it seemed not to have broken out till the 
 end of the reign of George II. The sale at least of seats 
 in Parliament, like any other transferable property, is never 
 mentioned in any book that the writer remembers to have 
 seen of an earlier date than 1760. The country gentlemen 
 had long endeavoured to protect their ascendancy by ex- 
 cluding the rest of the community from Parliament. This 
 was the principle of the Bill, which, after being repeatedly 
 attempted, passed into a law during the long administration 
 of Anne, requiring every Member of the Commons, except 
 those for the Universities, to possess, as a qualification for 
 his seat, a landed estate, above all incumbrance, of 300^. 
 a year. The law was, however, notoriously evaded ; and 
 was abolished by Act of Parliament in 1858. 
 
 History of the Dragon. 
 
 Marryat, in his History of Pottery and Porcelain, says : — 
 ^' The origin of the dragons and similar figures depicted upon 
 the Chinese as well as the Egyptian pottery is a mystery. 
 The Chinese carry back the origin to the time of Fuh-he 
 (n.c. 2962), who is supposed to have seen a dragon issue 
 from a river in the province of Honan, and it was then 
 adopted as the national ^Sidard. It is this dragon (Lang) 
 which is yearly honoured by the ' Feast of Lanterns.' Some 
 writers suppose the dragon to be a symbolical representation 
 of the principle of evil, which was worshipped by the ancient 
 Chaldees, and found its way from thence into China and 
 other countries, even to the New World, where their religion 
 
Dignities and Distinctions. ioi 
 
 extended ; and, from being first used as a symbol, came in 
 time to be considered as a reality. Christian painters seem 
 to have literally adopted this idea, as in the pictures of St. 
 Michael, who is represented as having felled to the ground 
 and fixed with his lance a dragon, which, symbolical of the 
 enemy of the human race, was vomited from the infernal pit. 
 In the Romish Church, on Rogation Sunday until a late period, 
 a large figure of a dragon was carried in procession, being 
 considered an emblem of heresy. The devil, it will be recol- 
 lected, is frequently called ' the dragon ' in Scripture. The 
 prevalence of dracontic ornaments on ancient sculpture in 
 England of the Saxon or early Norman period, as also in 
 Ireland, as well as the serpent ornamentation of the Nor- 
 thern antiquaries, deserves notice. Possibly the origin of 
 the former may have been Oriental. On the other hand, 
 some writers consider the dragon to be no mere legend, and 
 refer to the fossil remains of the Saurian tribe, which, allow- 
 ing for some exaggeration and embellishment, may be con- 
 sidered of the same race." 
 
 A Correspondent of Notes and Queries asks if the earliest 
 delineation is " the Dragon Standard," in the Bayeux Ta- 
 pestry. 
 
 It is remarkable that both Cornwall and Brittany should 
 have those twin St. Michael Mounts guarding (as it were) 
 their coasts. Has the establishment of those churches any 
 connexion with a conquest achieved by Christianity over 
 , the serpent worship which prevailed in those parts, signs of 
 which may to this day be traced on both sides of the Chan- 
 nel? 
 
 The earliest delineations of the dragon partook chiefly of 
 the character of a serpent, having generally a long serpentine 
 tail. In the early figures of the dragon, two legs were much 
 more common than four. 
 
I03 Dignities and Distinctions. 
 
 There is a picture of a sea-dragon (Draco marinus) in an 
 edition of Dioscorides of the date 1543. But it has no legs 
 apparently ; only two pairs of wings and a long tail cleft at 
 the tip, and set with a row of poisonous thorns. There is a 
 strong horn, too, between its eyes. If a sea-dragon were but 
 the tadpole of a land-dragon, of course the tail would in that 
 case be exchanged for two pairs of legs in due course, after 
 the orthodox tadpole fashion. 
 
 An Unfortunate Likeness. 
 
 On Napoleon's return from Elba in 1814, Isabey, the 
 eminent French miniature-painter, repaired to Paris and pro- 
 pitiated the Emperor by presenting him with a miniature of 
 his son, which he had just painted at Vienna. The resto- 
 ration of the Bourbons brought no loss of fortune to Isabey ; 
 but a picture which he exhibited at the Salon in 181 7, of " A 
 Child playing with Flowers,'' caused some seiisation among 
 the Parisians, from the child, who was holding up a bunch 
 of forget-me-nots, bearing a striking resemblance to the 
 Young Napoleon. The Constitutionel, having ventured to 
 make a pointed allusion to the likeness, received a warning 
 from the police. 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 Marriage of First Cousins. 
 
 A Correspondent of Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 245, 
 writes : " The state of the case with regard to the marriage 
 of near relations I believe to be this — that these unions 
 may be consummated for one or two generations without 
 any, or any perceptible, deterioration in the race ; but that 
 if the same were continued for several generations a de- 
 generacy would inevitably ensue. I have heard it said (I 
 know not with what truth) that the late Lord Rivers buit^ 
 6Slf had bred his greyhounds ' in-and-in ' for so many years, 
 that at last, though they were beautiful, and evidently high- 
 bred dogs, they could not catch a hare. ^- 1 understand that 
 an agriculturist may with impunity sow the same wheat on 
 the same farm for two or three years ; but that if he per- 
 sists in the practice longer, he will not find the experiment 
 profitable. Hence, the Yorkshire seed-wheat is in request 
 in Hampshire, the Isle of Thanet barley in Dorsetshire, &c. 
 I remember many years ago seeing a person who was 
 said to be the son of a certain nobleman by his (the no- 
 bleman's) half-sister. He was a well-grown and handsome 
 young man. But this was a case of only a single experiment. 
 I believe a popular mistake is still prevalent in some quar- 
 
104 Laws and Customs. 
 
 ters, that though marriages between first cousins are lawful, 
 those between second cousins are not. It seems admitted 
 that the repeated crossing of Celtic, Saxon, Norman, and 
 Danish blood has improved the British nation to the present 
 state." 
 
 The Royal Marriage Act. 
 
 The marriage of Royalty with a subject, though common 
 enough in some previous centuries, has been illegal during 
 the last loo years, except the Royal personage intending to 
 contract such a marriage has received for it the special sanc- 
 tion of the Sovereign. This was stringently laid down in 
 what is known as the Royal Marriage Act (12 George III., 
 cap. 11), which was passed in 1772, at the instance of King 
 George III., who was indignant at the marriage of his 
 brother, William Henry, Duke of Gloster, in 1766, with the 
 widow of Earl WaldegTave, and illegitimate daughter of 
 Sir Edward Walpole. His brother, Henry Frederick, Duke 
 of Cumberland, in like manner had offended the king by his 
 marriage, in 17 71, with Lady Anne Luttrell, daughter of the 
 Earl of Carhampton, and widow of Mr. Christopher Horton, 
 of Catton Hall, Derbyshire. It is well known that the late 
 Duke of Sussex braved his father's displeasure, and, in 
 defiance of that enactment, went through the ceremony of 
 marriage with the late Lady Augusta Murray, second daughter 
 of John, fourth Earl of Dunmore, first at Rome in April, 
 1793, and again at St. George's, Hanover Square, after the 
 publication of banns, on the 5 th of December following. 
 His Royal Highness, having been left a widower, married, 
 secondly. Lady CeciHa Letitia Buggin, a daughter of Arthur, 
 second Earl of Arran, now Duchess of Inverness. In the 
 like manner George IV., while Prince of Wales, is said to 
 have contracted a secret marriage with the celebrated Mrs. 
 
Laws and Customs. 105 
 
 Fitzherbert ; but in none of the above cases was the Royal 
 sanction given to the union. In the previous century King 
 James II. had married as his first wife Lady Anne Hyde, 
 daughter of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon ; but previously 
 to that time no member of the Royal Family of England, 
 strictly speaking, had contracted a marriage with a subject 
 since the reign of Henry VIII. In February, 1870, her 
 Royal Highness the Princess Louise Carolina Alberta, 
 sixth child of Queen Victoria, gave her hand in marriage to 
 Lord Lome, the eldest son of the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 Irregular Marriages in Scotland. 
 
 The law of Scotland, so far as it relates to irregular mar- 
 riages, is an outrage on common decency and common 
 sense. If the language in thus describing it is thought too 
 strong, the language of a judicial authority can be referred to. 
 Lord Deas delivered a recent judgment of marriage in 
 Scotland, from the bench, in these words : — "Consent makes 
 marriage. No form or ceremony, civil or religious ; no 
 notice before, or publication after; no cohabitation, no 
 writing, no witnesses even, are essential to the constitution of 
 this, the most important contract which two persons can 
 enter into.'' There is a Scotch judge's own statement of 
 the law that he administers ! Observe, at the same time, if 
 you please, that we make full legal provision, in Scotland, 
 for contracts affecting the sale of houses and lands, horses 
 and dogs. The only contract which we leave without safe- 
 guards or precautions of any sort, is the contract that unites 
 a man and a woman for life. As for the authority of 
 parents, and the innocence of children, our law recognizes 
 no claim on it either in the one case or in the other. A girl 
 of twelve and a boy of fourteen have nothing to do but to 
 
io6 Laws and Customs. 
 
 cross the Border, and to be married — without the inter- 
 position of the smallest delay or restraint, and without the 
 slightest attempt to inform their parents, on the part of the 
 Scotch law. As to the marriages of men and women, even 
 the mere interchange of consent which, as, you have just 
 heard, makes them man and wife, is not required to be 
 directly proved ; it may be proved by inference. And, more 
 even than that, whatever the law for its consistency may 
 presume, men and women are in point of fact held to be 
 married in Scotland, where consent has never been inter- 
 changed, and where the parties do not even know that they 
 are legally held to be married persons. — Man and Wife, by 
 Wilkie Collins. 
 
 Morganatic Marriages. 
 
 Dr. W. Bell has communicated to Notes and Queries, 
 3rd S., No. II 6, a paper, wherein he says : " For Morganatic, 
 the best, in fact, the only solution is found in the derivation 
 of the word. When in the arid deserts of Arabia the 
 parched traveller is mocked by the optical delusions of 
 running streams and green meadows ; these the Italians call 
 Fata Morgana, the delusions of 'the Morgana. Something 
 thus delusive is a Morganatic marriage. For though it 
 involves no immorality, and has always the full sanction of 
 the Church, it is, as regards the wife and children, an illusion 
 and a make-believe. They do not enjoy the rights of the 
 husband, if a sovereign prince, nor take his title ; and it is 
 only among sovereign princes that the practice obtains. 
 The children have only the rights of the mother, unless she 
 is ebenbUrtig, or, as is expressed in the closing act of the 
 Treaty of Vienna, 1815, dtme naissance kgale avec les princes 
 souverains, or those in succession to become so. 
 
 "It was, therefore, a prudent arrangement for princes who 
 
Laws and Customs. 107 
 
 preferred the claims of natural affection to those of am- 
 bition, to form a Morganatic marriage, which would reconcile 
 the duties of their station with their social wishes. In this 
 manner,' after the death of his first wife, the Princess of Meck- 
 lenburg-Strelitz, Frederic William III., father of the present 
 and previous King of Prussia, was enabled to follow the 
 dictates of his affection for the Countess of Liegnitz, who 
 was received by all his family as a true wife, and still con- 
 tinues to enjoy their respect. In a similar manner, the last 
 King of Denmark associated to himself and ennobled the 
 Countess Darner. Nor would, in our country, the union of 
 the late Duke of Sussex with the Duchess of Inverness be 
 dissimilar. The social position of all three families was 
 affected in no disreputable manner by such a connexion, but 
 they could not attain the full rights of marriage or the civil 
 state of their husbands, because they were not ebenbiirtig or 
 de naissance egale" 
 
 Heir-Looms. 
 
 Heir-looms are such goods and personal chattels as, con- 
 trary to the nature of chattels, go to the heir by special 
 custom along with the inheritance, and not to the executor 
 of the last proprietor. They are principally such things as 
 cannot be removed without damage to the inheritance, as 
 chimney-pieces, fixed tables, &c. Deer in an authorized 
 park, fishes in a pond, deeds, charters, and court-rolls, 
 together with the chests in which they are contained, are 
 heir-looms. And so it seems are journals of the House of 
 Lords in the possession of a peer. By special custom, in 
 some places, carriages also, and household implements, may 
 be heir-looms. 
 
 The termination "loom" is of Saxon origin, in which 
 
To8 Laws and Customs. 
 
 language it signifies a limb or member ; so that an heir-loom 
 is nothing else but a limb or member of the inheritance. 
 Chattels are sometimes directed by testators to go to the 
 heir, together with the inheritance, as heir-looms; and, 
 though it is the duty of the executors to carry the intention 
 into effect so far as they can, yet the direction does not 
 affect the rights of creditors, neither can it effectually pre- 
 vent the devolution of the chattels according to their real 
 nature. 
 
 Judicial Costume. 
 
 The judicial costume now worn upon the Bench scarcely 
 varies from that worn by the judge of the time of Charles II. : 
 the wig was an innovation of this reign. The judges pre- 
 viously wore a coif, or close skull cap of velvet, which they 
 had worn for three centuries, as we see in the portraits of 
 Judges Hale and Coke. The last relic of the coif appears 
 in the small circular piece of black silk that forms the crown 
 of the present wig. The Mack cap, worn by the judge in 
 passing sentence of death, and placed on the crown of the 
 wig, is merely a small loose cassock indicative of the priestly 
 character of the original office of judge. The fur with which 
 robes of the judges are trimmed originally designated the 
 rank and position of the wearer. 
 
 The Court of Piepoudre. 
 
 In Old Market Street, Bristol, beneath the pillars which 
 support the front of the Stag and Hounds tavern, is annually 
 commenced the Court of Piepoudre in the open air and with 
 great ceremony on the 30th of September. It is believed to 
 be as old as the reign of King Alfred, by whom it is said 
 it was established. Hither come the registrar of the Tolzey 
 
Laws and Customs. 109 
 
 Court in procession, attended by a body of policemen, 
 bailiffs, &c. After the first day the court is adjourned to 
 the office of the Tolzey Court, where it sits for fourteen days. 
 On the last day the sitting is again held in the open air as on 
 the day of commencing the Court, which is then closed until 
 the next 30th of September. Before proceeding to business 
 the members who officiate partake of toasted cheese and 
 metheglin, a kind of refreshment which marks the remotely 
 British antiquity of this branch of civic jurisdiction. — Notes 
 and Queries, 3rd S., No. 214. 
 
 The Court of Piepoudre for Bartholomew Fair was held at 
 the Hand and Shears public-house, corner of Middle Street, 
 Cloth Fair, almost until the abolition of Bartholomew Fair. 
 
 The Rule of the Road and the Footpath. 
 
 How long has the Rule of the Road been recognized 
 that in riding you keep to the side of the road at your left on 
 meeting any horse or carriage ? The rule of the footpath, 
 which happens to be just the reverse, namely, that you keep 
 to the road at your right, may be traced up to the jubilee in 
 1300, when, in consequence of the vast numbers of pilgrims 
 who had flocked to Rome, the Pope, Boniface XIII., di- 
 rected, that, to avoid confusion, all who visited St. Peter's, 
 in crossing the Bridge of St. Angelo, should take that side of 
 the bridge which was at their right. 
 
 These rules, it is believed, are now observed in most civi- 
 lized countries, though often violated either through ignorance 
 or inattention. The following lines will serve to impress 
 them on the memory : — 
 
 " The rule of the road is a paradox quite, 
 In riding or driving along; 
 If you keep to your left you are sure to be right, 
 If you keep to your right you'll be wrong. 
 
no Laws and Customs. 
 
 " But in walking, a different custom applies, 
 
 And just the reverse is the rule ; 
 If you keep to the right, you'll be right, safe, and wise ; 
 
 If you keep to the left, you're a fool. " 
 
 Notes and Queries, yd S., No. 225. 
 In Belgium, Germany, and most parts of Switzerland, the 
 French rule of the road prevails. In the cantons of Switzer- 
 land, next Italy, and in Italy itself, they drive and ride as in 
 England, passing right arm to right arm ; walking, pass left 
 arm to left arm, with the obvious reason of preventing um- 
 brellas, or whatever they carry in the right hand, from clash- 
 ing. The French plan of one side for walker, rider, and 
 driver is probably the best. All should pass meeting left 
 arm to left arm and overtaking to the left. The English rule 
 certainly leaves the whip-arm free to a coachman, who has 
 passengers on his driving-box, and enables him to look at his 
 wheels, which no one worth calling a coachman ever does, 
 and a coachman's place is properly in the middle, not on 
 either side of the box, and in advance and clear of his pas- 
 sengers on either hand. — JVoUs and Queries, 3rd S., No. 232. 
 
 How THE Habeas Corpus Act was carried. 
 
 It has been well explained by Mr. Hallam, that this Act 
 did not enlarge an Englishman's liberties : it provided better 
 and greater securities for the enjoyment of liberties already 
 sanctioned by law. " It was not," to borrow Mr. Hallam's 
 language, " to bestow an immunity from arbitrary imprison- 
 ment, which is abundantly provided in Magna Charta (if, in- 
 deed, it were not more ancient), that the statute of Charles 
 the Second was enacted ; but to cut off the abuses by which 
 the Government's lust of power and the servile subtlety of 
 crown-lawyers had impaired so fundamental a privilege." 
 The best commentary on its efficiency is a speech of the 
 
Laws and Customs. iti 
 
 Duke of York to Barillon, that no Government can exist 
 where the law prevents any man from being kept in prison 
 without trial more than a day. There appears to be good 
 reason to believe that the Habeas Corpus Act was passed on 
 the last day of the session by a mistake and a trick. There 
 had been, at the last, differences between the Lords and the 
 Commons as to amendments introduced into the Bill of the 
 Lords, and a division was taken in the Lords, on the day of 
 the prorogation, on the question whether the Lords should 
 then immediately agree to a proposal of the Commons for a 
 free Conference. The question was carried in the affirma- 
 tive. Had it not been then so carried, the Bill would have 
 been lost. Bishop Burnet relates this story : " Lord Grey 
 and Lord Norris (Norreys) were named to be the tellers ; 
 Lord Norris, being a man subject to vapours, was not at all 
 times attentive to what he was doing ; so a very fat Lord 
 coming in. Lord Grey counted him for ten as a jest at first ; 
 but seeing Lord Norris had not observed it, he went on with 
 this misreckoning of ten ; so it was reported to the House, 
 and declared that they who were for the Bill were the ma- 
 jority." Incredible as this story would at first sight seem, it 
 derives support from an entry in a manuscript journal of the 
 I.,ords, that the numbers in the division were fifty-seven and 
 fifty-five, making in all a hundred and twelve, while the 
 journals record the presence of only a hundred and seven 
 Members that day. Five more, therefore, were made to vote 
 than the total number of Peers in the House at any time of 
 that day. Mr. Martyn improves the story by telling that, 
 when the numbers were reported, the opponents of the Bill 
 showed surprise, and that Shaftesbury, seeing that there was 
 a mistake, immediately rose, and made along speech on some 
 other subject, and several Peers having gone in and come out 
 while he was speaking, it was impossible to re-tell the House 
 
iia Laws and Customs. 
 
 when he sat down. — Christie's Life of the First Earl of 
 Shaftesbury, 187 1. 
 
 The Habeas Corpus Act. — Its Provisions. 
 
 Under the law of England no man's personal liberty can 
 be restrained unless by due course of law ; and in order to 
 secure to every man this constitutional immunity, the common 
 law provides that any person aggrieved by illegal imprison- 
 ment is entitled to a writ of right, technically named Habeas 
 Corpus ad subjiciendum, directed to the person detaining 
 him, who is commanded by it to produce the body of the 
 prisoner, with a statement of the day and cause of his 
 capture and detention, ad faciendum, subjiciendum, et reci- 
 piendum, to do, submit to, and receive whatsoever the judge 
 or court awarding such writ shall consider in that behalf. 
 This common law process was secured and explained from 
 time to time by various statutes, from the Great Charter and 
 Petition of Right down to the 31st Car. II., cap. 2, and the 
 Irish Act, 21st and 22nd George II., cap. 11, by which two 
 latter statutes the methods of obtaining the writ in England 
 and Ireland are pointed out. The general effect of the law 
 as it stood on Saturday morning, February 17th, 1866, was, 
 that on complaint and request in writing by or on behalf of 
 any person committed and charged with any crime, the 
 Lord Chancellor or any of the twelve judges was bound to 
 award a Habeas Corpus for such prisoner, immediately 
 returnable ; and that within two days the party, if bailable, 
 should be discharged. In the case of committal for crimes 
 not bailable, the accused person could require, under the 
 protection of the same writ of right, to be indicted in the 
 next term or next session of Oyer and Terminer, and if 
 acquitted, or if not indicted and tried iji the second term or 
 
Laws and Customs. 113 
 
 session, he was entitled to be discharged from his imprison- 
 ment for the imputed offence. The eifect of the legislation 
 of Saturday, February 1 7th, was to suspend the efficacy of 
 the writ of Habeas Corfm, whereby the executive officers of 
 the Crown are freed from legal responsibility for arresting 
 and imprisoning any person to whom a crime may be 
 imputed, and the person so imprisoned is deprived of the 
 privilege of insisting upon being admitted to bail or being 
 indicted and tried. Thus, during the term of suspension 
 defined by Parliament, the Crown can imprison suspected 
 persons without giving any reason for so doing, the nation 
 by its representatives — Queen, Lords, and Commons — 
 agreeing to place a portion of its liberty, for a while, in 
 abeyance, in order to preserve the whole for ever. 
 
 The Law of Copyright. 
 
 Paying five shillings and filling up a printed form at 
 Stationers' Hall, secures the copyright of an English book 
 for forty-two years, or for seven years after the death of the 
 author. Four copies of the complete work must also be 
 sent to Stationers' Hall, and one copy to the British Museum. 
 Copyright is personal property, and may be transferred, 
 leased, or rented. 
 
 The Legal Right to a Dead Body. 
 
 In 1870, a barman, named Thomas Walker, died at the 
 Castle Tavern, Holloway Road. At the inquest held upon 
 him, a Mrs. Williamson came forward and asked that the 
 body of deceased be delivered up to her, as she had partially 
 brought him up, and had got him baptized into the Romish 
 Church. When he was ill last, she nursed him as if he 
 
114 Laws and Customs. 
 
 were her own son, and it was his dying request that he 
 should be buried from her house. The brother of deceased, 
 James Walker, claimed the body of his brother. They had 
 not only got deceased baptized, but the priest had changed 
 his name. The lady applicant said she understood that 
 the dying request of a man defied all law. The Coroner 
 was not of the same opinion, and as the brother claimed 
 it, he should certainly order it to be given up to him. A 
 verdict of Death from Natural Causes was returned. 
 
 A Generation. 
 
 What a vast period is thirty-three revolutions of the 
 earth round the sun in the short career of the life of man ! 
 It was the term of the life of Alexander the Great ; it was 
 the length of the entire period described by the four Evan- 
 gelists ; it is the average duration of the life of man ; and 
 it is eleven years more than history assigns to the succession 
 of kings. 
 
 Birth at Sea. 
 
 By a fiction of law, acts done at sea are represented as 
 done on the Royal Exchange in London. But no such 
 fiction was needed in the case of a child born at sea, because 
 it belonged to the father's parish, if legitimate ; if not, to the 
 mother's. The prevalence of the saying that all children born 
 at sea belong to Stepney parish, doubtless originates in the 
 great number of seamen who have their residence in Stepney. 
 
 Our Ancestors as Legislators. 
 
 Upwards of two centuries ago, the following, among other 
 standing orders, were printed, the first bearing date May 17, 
 1 6 14 : — "Ordered, — That this House shall sit every day at 
 
Laws and Customs. 115 
 
 7 o'clock in the morning, and enter into the great business 
 at 8, and no new motion to be made after 12. Ordered, 
 — That so soon as the clock strikes 1 2, Mr. Speaker do go 
 out of the chair, and the House shall rise ; and that, in 
 going forth, no member shall stir until Mr. Speaker do go 
 before, and then all the rest shall follow. Whosoever shall 
 go out of the House before Mr. Speaker shall forfeit los., 
 but that the reporters may go first. Ordered, — That no 
 member of the long robe do presume to plead any cause at 
 the bar of the House of Lords without leave." In 1693 it 
 was " Ordered, — That no member of the House do presume 
 to smoke tobacco in the gallery, or at the table of the House, 
 sitting at committees." — Solicitor' s Journal. 
 
 The Ballot Bill. 
 
 The idea at the bottom of the Ballot system is bad. It is 
 quite true that a voter ought to be free, and no law intended 
 to protect his freedom could possibly be too severe — for 
 example, a law punishing intimidation or bribery as 
 subornation of perjury would be just, would be effectual, 
 ' and would affix the fitting legal stigma to the offence — but 
 a law which secures freedom from oppression at the price of 
 freedom from the educating influences of opinion and 
 responsibility is, however it may work, a brutally clumsy 
 and rude device, fitter for people just emancipated from 
 slavery, and at heajrt afraid of the whip, than for a people 
 who rule their own land and expect one day to be cultivated 
 enough to rule it well.— /'a// Mall Gazette. 
 
 Secret Voting. 
 
 As for the Ballot being " un-English," it were much to 
 be desired that many things "un-English" could be sub- 
 
 1 2 
 
ii6 Laws and Customs. 
 
 stituted for many things English, especially in the conduct 
 of elections. Drunkenness, intimidation, bribery, rioting 
 are things exceedingly English at election time. Those 
 who object to the Ballot as "un-English," might as well 
 object on the same ground to all efforts to abolish these 
 abuses ; might prefer the treachery involved in the elector's 
 betrayal of the trust reposed in him ; might laud as praise- 
 worthy and moral the subordination and prostitution of 
 votes by the wealthy and influential, or the violent. We 
 would, indeed, that these were the things that we could hear 
 on all sides denounced as " un-English," instead of the 
 simple mechanical contrivance which renders them impossible. 
 No ; what we object to as "un-English" in the worst sense, 
 is not the Ballot or the secrecy afforded by it to the elector, 
 but the abandonment which its compulsory use involves of 
 an Englishman's dearest right — the right of free expression, 
 in deference to illegal and tyrannical dictation. — PVesf 
 minster Review. 
 
 "Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered." 
 
 This will no longer be a proverbial phrase. Sir Charles 
 Dilke, M.P., having carried the abolition of drawing and quar- 
 tering as a punishment for treason by an amendment on the 
 Felony BOl. Why such barbarous terms should have lingered 
 so long on the statute-book after the improving civilization of 
 the community had rendered these operations impracticable, 
 is only to be explained by a reference to our tardy methods 
 of legal reform. Even the present generation may remember 
 when sentence in these words was passed upon Mr. Smith 
 O'Brien, who, after a term of expatriation, was by the 
 exercise of the Royal prerogative of mercy, allowed to 
 regain his country. Besides the shame of having to 
 
Laws and Customs, 117 
 
 pronounce such a sentence from the seat of justice, there is 
 to be considered the fact that punishments act as deterrent 
 in proportion to the certainty with which they are in- 
 flicted. 
 
 "Without Prejudice." 
 
 Supposing a plaintiff in an action writes a letter, " with- 
 out prejudice," what effect has this qualification? This 
 question arose in a recent case heard in the Second Court 
 of Queen's Bench at Guildhall. It was contended by the 
 counsel of the writer of a letter " without prejudice " that a 
 man, when he writes a letter, may make it an open letter, in 
 which case the statements in that letter are evidence against 
 himself, and the answer may be used ; or he "may make it a 
 letter without prejudice, and then it cannot be used against 
 him, nor can he use the reply. Mr. Justice Hannen said 
 that he considered this proposition too large, and we 
 certainly agree in this opinion. Another question is whether, 
 where a plaintiff has written a letter properly without pre- 
 judice, it may be put into his hands and he be cross-examined 
 upon it. — Law Times. 
 
 "Hue and Cry." 
 
 The "hue and cry," or rather " Oyez," was a cry originally 
 raised in the City and other places, before a proclamation 
 was made, as is followed even to the present day in the case 
 of all proceedings in wardmote on the part of the citizens. 
 In ancient days, when a robbery was effected, a horn was 
 blown and an outcry made, after which if the party fled, and 
 did not yield himself to the King's baihff, he might be 
 lawfully slain by being hanged on the next gallows. In 
 Crompion's Justice of the Feace, iol. 160, and in Rot. Glaus. 
 
ii8 Laws and Customs. 
 
 30 Henry III., m. 5, we find a command to the King's 
 treasurer to take the City into the King's hands, because the 
 citizens did not raise the hue and cry at the suit of the 
 King for the death of Guido de Aretto and others who were 
 slain. This probably may be explained by the fact that 
 about this time Henry III. cancelled the Great Charter of 
 his father, King John, which was succeeded by a general 
 rebellion against him ; the barons eventually compelling him 
 to delegate his power to twenty-four lords, by whom he was 
 subsequently made prisoner, the rights of the citizens being 
 restored shortly afterwards. 
 
 The Fourth Estate. 
 
 Professor Seeley, in a lecture on English History, points 
 out how a new power has arisen in the State since about 
 1 7 70 in the shape of Public Opinion, and the means which 
 the people have gained of speedily expressing and enforcing 
 upon the Legislature the dictates of the said public opinion. 
 He points out how the real political business of the nation 
 is in reality transacted ^ in the newspapers, and how the 
 Legislature is obliged, more or less, to supply the laws which 
 the people require. The lecturer, on the whole, seems to 
 consider this state of things a great good mixed with a little 
 evil ; for popular demands are not in all instances governed 
 by wisdom, although they are so in the majority of cases. 
 He also points out the nature of the influence wielded by 
 leagues and organized societies, in breaking down self- 
 interested opposition to good legislation. A popular 
 history of newspapers, by F. Knight Hunt, has been published 
 with the title of " The Fourth Estate." 
 
Laws and Customs. 119 
 
 Wager of Battle in 181 7. 
 
 Mr. Henry Crabb Robinson, in his Diary, records : — " I 
 witnessed to-day (November 17 th) a scene which would have 
 been a reproach to Turkey, or the Emperor of Dahomey — a 
 Wager of Battle in Westminster Hall. Thornton was brought 
 up for trial on an appeal after acquittal for murder. No one 
 seemed to have any doubt of the prisoner's guilt ; but he 
 escaped owing to the unfitness of' a profound real-property 
 lawyer to manage a criminal trial. For this reason the public 
 sense was not offended by recourse being had to an obsolete 
 proceeding. The court was crowded to excess. Lord Ellen- 
 borough asked Reader whether he had any thing to move, 
 and he having moved that Thornton should be permitted 
 to plead, he was brought to the bar. The declara.tion, or 
 count, being read to him, he said, ' Not guilty : and this I 
 am ready to defend with my body.' At the same time he 
 threw a large glove or gauntlet on to the floor of the court. 
 Though we all expected this plea, yet we all felt astonish- 
 ment — at least I did — at beholding before our eyes a scene 
 acted which we had read of as one of the disgraceful institu- 
 tions of our half-civilized ancestors. No one smiled. The 
 judges looked embarrassed." 
 
 The appellant, the brother of the murdered woman, not 
 feeling himself justified in accepting the challenge, the mur- 
 derer was discharged. In consequence of the above revival 
 of this barbarous practice, a bill was brought in by the then 
 Attorney-General, and was passed into a law, by which 
 wager of battle and all similar proceedings were entirely 
 abolished. The preamble of the bill is very short and pithy. 
 " Whereas appeals of murder, treason, felony, or other 
 offences, and the manner of proceeding therein, have been 
 found oppressive, and the trial by battle in any suit is a mode 
 
I30 Laws and Customs. 
 
 of trial unfit to be used ; and it is expedient that the same 
 should be wholly abolished." 
 
 Kensington Gore. 
 
 " Gore" appears in a document of Edward the Confessor's 
 time, and in the fifty-third of Henry II. it is alluded to as 
 " two acres of land with appurtenances, called Kinggesor," 
 lying between Knighfsbridge and Kensington. As " Ken- 
 sington Gore," it extended from Noel House at Kensington 
 to Kent House at Knlghtsbridge ; and at the end of the last 
 century, parties of not less than six formed at the King's 
 Arms, Kensington, to cross this wise (the highest point of 
 land between Hyde Park Corner and Windsor Castle) into 
 London. According to Kennett's Glossary, Gore is a small 
 narrow strip of ground. The word Gore is also common in 
 various parts of England, and signifies a ridge of a triangular 
 shape or width. 
 
 Curious Tenure Custom. 
 
 A grotesque ceremony of ancient custom is yearly per- 
 formed on Martinrrias Day. Six antiquated horseshoes of a 
 very large size, with sixty-one hobnails (ten for each shoe and 
 one over) contained in an old leather bag, are produced at 
 the Standards Department (the duty before 1866 devolved 
 upon the officers of the Exchequer) to be counted over by a 
 functionary on behalf of the City Corporation, after which 
 some bundles of sticks are cut with a billhook and chopper 
 from the Court of Exchequer at Guildhall. We are indebted 
 to Mr. Chisholm for exhuming the history of this apparently 
 meaningless farce. Madox, in his history of the Exchequer, 
 cites several examples in the reigns of Henry III., Edward I., 
 and Edward II., of the presentation of the Sheriffs of London 
 
Laws and Customs. 121 
 
 and Middlesex to the Barons of the Exchequer. According 
 to his authority, there is direct evidence of the tendering to 
 the Exchequer of six horseshoes and their nails in respect of 
 the tenure of the tenement called " The Forge," in St. 
 Clement Danes, in the Strand, from the year 1235 (19th 
 Henry III.), as well as two knives, for the tenure of a piece 
 of land called "The Moor," in Shropshire, from the year 
 1245. But Mr. Chisholm says that "no evidence has been 
 found to show when the custom was so far altered that the 
 six horseshoes and their nails, and the two knives, one good 
 and the other bad (or a billhook and chopper), were kept at 
 the Exchequer and at Guildhall respectively, to be produced 
 to the City officers every year upon the payment of a fee. 
 The counting of the horseshoes and nails appears to have 
 been considered necessary in order to show that they were 
 duly rendered, and the cutting of the sticks to prove the 
 goodness and the badness of the two blades." The ceremony 
 was performed in open court Up to 1859, when an Act 
 abolishing the office of Cursitor Baron transferred it from the 
 Court of Exchequer to the Queen's Remembrancer Office. 
 Why the ceremony was not discontinued altogether is thus 
 explained : — " The late Mr. Seton, of the Treasury, to whom 
 this question was referred, stated his opinion, that the special 
 authority of her Majesty, directed to the Barons of the Ex- 
 chequer, would be necessary -for its discontinuance. This 
 course of proceeding, however, seemed to be forbidden by 
 the old dramatic rule, ' NeC Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice 
 nodus.'" Mr. Chisholm infers "that this curious ceremony 
 is required to be performed, not only as the tenure by which 
 the lands mentioned are held in fee, but also as that by which 
 the citizens of London have enjoyed the exclusive privilege 
 of electing the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex from the 
 time of Henry III. up to the present day." — Globe Journal. 
 
123 Laws and Customs. 
 
 ' Whitsuntide. 
 
 There is a widely-spread delusion with respect to the 
 meaning and origin of this festival. Ninety-nine peiople out of 
 a hundred talk of Whit-Sunday, Whit-Monday, Whit-week ; 
 and some, we believe, go so far in their desire to be consis- 
 tent as to perpetrate the solecism of Whit-tide. If you 
 remonstrate with them, they do not hesitate to assert the 
 correctness of the usage, and refer you for confirmation to 
 some dictionary or enyclopsedia of authority, where you will 
 be gravely informed that Whit-Sunday is so named from the 
 white robes worn at this season by candidates for baptism in 
 the early Church. Or they will unblushingly tell you that 
 "Whit" is only the English form of the French "Huit," 
 and is therefore appropriately prefixed to the eighth Sunday 
 after Easter. Now, very few words are needed to demon- 
 strate the absurdity of both these plausible explanations. 
 First, supposing Whit-Sunday were correct, the " sun" in 
 Whitsuntide would still remain to be accounted for ; 
 secondly, white was the baptismal colour at whatever sea- 
 son, the rite was celebrated; thirdly, as a inatter of fact, 
 scarlet, not white, is the ecclesiastical colour appropriated 
 to Pentecost ; and lastly, the authority of the English 
 liturgy, in which " Whitsun," not " Whit," is invariably used, 
 ought with English Churchmen to be conclusive. The true 
 original of Whitsun-week is to be found in the German 
 " Pfingsten Woche," " pfingsten " being a corruption of the 
 Greek irevnjKoo-T^ (fiftieth day), and corrupted in its turn 
 through s&vexa\ patois into our "Whitsun." — Globe Journal. 
 
 Living in the Fourteenth Century. 
 Anno 1306. The daily expenses of the Bishop of St. 
 
Laws and Customs. 133 
 
 Andrew's and his servants, being a prisoner in Winchester 
 Castle, for siding with his own King, Robert Bruce : — 
 
 " For the bishop's own daily expense . . . (>d. 
 
 One man-servant to attend him 3 
 
 One boy to attend likewise \\ 
 
 A chaplain to say mass to him daily .... \\ 
 
 Total IS. od." 
 
 J?ymer's Fcedera, vol. ii. fol. 1016. 
 
 "The Statute of Limitations." 
 
 Lord Chancellor Plunket's most celebrated image is that 
 of Time with the hour-glass and the scythe, which he employed 
 to illustrate the effect of the Statute of Limitations. Lord 
 Brougham describes the image as follows : " Time, with 
 his scythe in his hand is ever crowning the evidences of 
 titles ; wherefore the wisdom of the law plants in his other 
 hand an hour-glass, by which he metes out the periods of 
 possession that shall supply the place of the muniments 
 his scythe has destroyed." Lord Brougham refers to 
 this passage more than once, and always with unbounded 
 commendation. A Correspondent of Notes and Queries 
 observes, and we think truly : " It is no doubt very fine and 
 very striking, but it is to be regretted that it is pure non- 
 sense ; and it is beyond measure, strange that its absurdity 
 should not have been seen by its learijed utterer, Lord 
 Plunket, or by Lord Brougham. I find the matter noticed 
 in the following terms in a pamphlet printed for private cir- 
 culation : ' The hour-glass meting out the periods of posses- 
 sion is not for the purpose of supplying the place of the 
 muniments which the scythe has destroyed, but just the 
 contrary ; that is, to protect the man in possession against 
 muniments which the scythe has failed to destroy.' It 
 
134 Laws and Customs. 
 
 appears to me that it is time that this lauded illustration 
 should be rated at its true value." 
 
 What is a Peppercorn Rent? 
 
 A Peppercorn Rent, as one of the nominal items payable 
 by a vassal to his superior, seems to have its origin in the 
 feudal ages. The -^ox^ peppercorn simply denotes any thing 
 of inconsiderable value, which freeholders pay their land- 
 lord to acknowledge that they hold all from him : — 
 
 " Folks from mud-wall'd tenement 
 Bring landlords peppercorns for rent." 
 
 This kind of service is called in Scotland branch-holding, 
 in which the vassal pays a small duty to the superior, in full 
 of all services, as an acknowledgment of his right, either in 
 money, or in some other article, as a penny, money, a pair 
 of gilt spurs, a pound of wax, or of pepper, &c. 
 
 Burying in Cross Roads. 
 
 In the British Magazine we find this explanation of the 
 origin of the above custom : — " It was usual to erect crosses 
 at the junction of four cross roads, on a place self-consecrated, 
 according to the piety of the age ;' and it was not with a notion 
 of indignity, but in a spirit of charity, that those excluded 
 from holy rites were buried at the crossing roads, as places 
 next in sanctity to consecrated ground." 
 
 The Game E. O. 
 
 An E. O. table is circular in form, but of no exact dimen- 
 sions, though in general about four feet in diameter. The 
 
Laws and Customs. 125 
 
 extreme circumference is a kind of counter, or depot for the 
 stakes, marked all round with the letters E and 0, on which 
 each adventurer places money according to his inclination. 
 The interior part of the table consists first of a kind of gallery, 
 or rolling place, for the ball, which, with the outward parts 
 above, called depot or counter, is stationary or fixed. The 
 most interior part moves on an axis or pivot, and is turned 
 about with handles, whilst the ball is set in motion round 
 the gallery. This part is generally divided into niches or 
 interstices, twenty of which are marked with the letter E, 
 and the other twenty with the letter O. The lodging of the 
 ball in any of the niches distinguished by those letters deter- 
 mines the wager. The proprietors of the tables have two 
 bar-holes, and are obliged to take all bets offered, either for 
 E or O ; but if the ball falls into either of the bar-holes, they 
 win all the bets upon the opposite letter, and do not pay to 
 that in which it falls — an advantage in the proportion of 
 two to forty, or five per cent in their favour. — Hoyle's 
 Games, p. 427. (1814.) 
 
 Forgery. 
 
 It is a fact not generally known that the imitation of any 
 word or other portion of a Bank-note or Bank-bill is felony, 
 and as such is punishable with penal servitude for a term of 
 not more than fourteen years, or less than three. This 
 applies not only to the production of what are termed " flash" 
 notes, but also to the introduction in advertisements of 
 words resembling those on bank-notes. For instance, of 
 late years advertisers have shown a great fancy for offering 
 goods in 5/. or 10/. parcels, and to attract attention they 
 have printed the sums so named in bank-note fashion ; but 
 the practice is illegal. 
 
136 Laws and Customs. 
 
 The Halifax Maiden. 
 
 At Halifax, in Gibbet Lane, is preserved the Maiden or 
 Gibbet, enclosed within walls covered with ivy. The place 
 where the gibbet stood is now marked by a grassy mound. 
 Mr. Leyland states that the first person who was executed 
 at that gibbet was Richard Bentley, of Sowerby, who was 
 beheaded on the aoth of March, 1541; and the two last, 
 John Wilkinson and Anthony Mitchell, on the 30th of April, 
 1650. Of the number who underwent capital punishment 
 at that gibbet, five were executed in the last six years of 
 Henry VIII., none in the reigns of Edward and Mary, 
 twenty-five in the reign of Elizabeth, seven in the reign of 
 James I., ten in the reign of Charles I., and two during the 
 Interregnum; but these figures are not quite correct, as 
 some names had been added to Watson's list. The knife, 
 manacles, and other instruments used at the gibbet, the 
 pillory, &c., are preserved. 
 
 The Divining Rod. 
 
 The faith in this mystic wand has not yet been chased 
 away by the march of intelligence. In the spring of 1863, 
 as some gendarmes were passing through the Forest of 
 Bondy, in Central France, they were surprised to see the 
 light of a torch at some distance among the trees, and 
 on approaching the spot they perceived two men and three 
 women. The men were digging near the foot of an oak, 
 and one of the women held in her hand a hazel-rod, 
 such as is used by persons who pretend to find hidden trea- 
 sures. They at once arrested the whole party, and took 
 them before the nearest commissary of police, who examined 
 the prisoners, and elicited the following facts : — Some time 
 
Laws and Customs. 137 
 
 ago, a man named B , who had been condemned to several 
 
 years' imprisonment, and was then undergoing his sentence, 
 asked and obtained permission to marry a woman with whom 
 he had cohabited. He was accordingly taken out of prison 
 for the purpose, and availed himself of that opportunity to 
 slip a paper into the hand of a wine-shop waiter, named 
 R — — , stating that he had hidden 300,000/; at a certain 
 spot in the Forest of Bondy, which he could not very dis- 
 tinctly indicate, but requesting him to look for it, and pro- 
 mising him a good share if he found it. He, and two 
 women who were in his confidence, sought for the money 
 in vain, when a man named G , to whom they commu- 
 nicated their secret, said that he knew a woman who had 
 already discovered several hidden treasures by means of 
 the divining rod. Her assistance was immediately pro- 
 cured, and they all five went to the forest to try her skill. 
 One of the women, who had no faith in the sibyl's powers, 
 determined to test them by concealing several pieces of gold 
 under some moss, and asking her to try the virtues of her 
 rod on the spot. The woman did so, and declared that 
 there was nothing there. Her failure in this instance 
 however, did not shake the confidence of the others, and 
 she searched till the gendarmes put an end to it. 
 
 We can scarcely mention the Forest of Bondy with- 
 out reference to its theatrical celebrity, showing the dog 
 of Montargis to have been more acute than the wielder 
 of the divining rod. In the castle of Montargis was for- 
 merly shown the portrait of this celebrated dog, who, 
 according to tradition, pointed out the grave, and overcame 
 in a legal combat the assassin of Aubrey de Mondidier, 
 his master. The castle was taken down about 1810. 
 ' We are assured that the curious practice of using the 
 divining rod is not yet extinct. A Correspondent of Notes and 
 
128 Laws and Customs. 
 
 Queries has ascertained from a believer, that the rod must 
 be made of the forked bough of some tree, whose fruit 
 contains a stone, as the plum, cherry, &c. The diviner 
 walks over the ground, holding the forked branch by the 
 stout end, in front of him, horizontally ; if he pass over any 
 piece of ground under which a spring exists, the ends of the 
 rod will turn down. It requires a peculiarly constituted 
 person to divine ! 
 
 Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder. 
 
 At the village of Manningtree, in Essex, there lived in 
 the year 1644 a man named Matthew Hopkins. He appears 
 to have possessed some qualities which, if directed into a 
 proper channel, would have earned him an honest reputation ; 
 but all his virtues were swallowed up in an apparent thirst 
 for blood, and by a constitution which seemed only to thrive 
 on the contemplation of the agonies of others. In the year 
 1644 there arose in his native place one of those epidemic 
 outcries of sorcery which were so common in that dark 
 period. Hopkins eagerly seized upon the occasion thus 
 offered to gratify his thirst for blood, and, affecting a 
 superior knowledge and more zeal than other men, 
 discovered, as he expresses it, the methods by which witches 
 could be certainly identified. His reputation as a witchfinder 
 rapidly spread, and shortly afterwards he obtained permission 
 to practise the art as a recognized professor, and commenced 
 a tour accordingly through the eastern counties, accompanied 
 by a male and female assistant. In the practice of his 
 pretended art, Hopkins resorted to the most brutal methods 
 of torture; and, regardless of the representations against him 
 which were made by some high-spirited men, he travelled 
 about the country, collecting considerable sums of money in 
 
Laws and Customs. 139 
 
 his work. His method of proceeding is thus described by a 
 contemporary : " Having taken the suspected witch, she is 
 placed in the middle of a room, upon a stool or table, 
 cross-legged, or in some other uneasy posture, to which, 
 if she submits not, she is then bound with cords : there she 
 is watched, and kept without meat or sleep for four and twenty 
 hours, for they say they shall within that time see her imp come 
 and suck. A little hole is likewise made in the door for the imps 
 to come in at; and lest they should come in some less 
 discernible shape, they that watch are taught to be ever and 
 anon sweeping the room ; and if they see any spiders or flies 
 to kill them, and if they cannot kill them they may be sure 
 they are their imps." 
 
 A principal mode of discovery also was to strip the 
 prisoners of their clothes, and by thrusting nails into their 
 naked bodies to discover the witched mark — a brand 
 pretended to be inflicted by the Devil as a sign of his 
 sovereignty, and where the sorceress suckled the young 
 devils. The swimming test was also commonly used. On 
 this occasion the suspected person was " wrapt in a sheet, 
 having the great toes and thumbs tied together, and so dragged 
 through a pond or river. If she sank it was received in 
 favour of the accused, but if the body floated (which happened 
 ten times for once) the accused was condemned, on the 
 principle of King James, who, in treating of this mode of 
 trial, lays down that as witches have renounced their baptism, 
 so it is just that the element through which the holy rite is 
 enforced should reject them, which is a figure of speech, and 
 no argument." 
 
 In this manner, Hopkins, under the title of the Witchfinder- 
 General, travelled through the counties of Essex, Suffolk, 
 Norfolk, and Huntingdon, pretending to discover witches, 
 superintending their examination by the most unheard-of 
 
130 Laws and Customs. 
 
 tortures, and compelling the miserable Avretches to admit and 
 confess matters equally absurd and impossible, the result ot 
 which was the forfeiture of their lives. The end of this 
 miserable man was, however, also drawing near. In 1647 
 his former high tone became considerably lowered, and he 
 began to disavow some of his former cruelties. But his 
 doom was pronounced, the popular indignation, long pent 
 up, suddenly burst forth, and Hopkins was made the subject 
 of his own favourite experiment of swimming. As he was 
 purposely placed on the surface of the water with the most 
 extreme care, he floated, and being then and there 
 pronounced a wizard, he suffered death accordingly. His 
 end is recorded by Butler : — 
 
 " Hath not this present Parliament 
 A lieger to the Devil sent, 
 Fully empower'd to treat about 
 Finding revolted vpitches out ? 
 And has he not vifithin a year 
 Hang'd three score of them in one shire ? 
 Some only for not being drown'd, 
 And some for sitting above ground 
 Whole days and nights upon their breeches, 
 And feeling pain, were hanged for witches. 
 And some for putting knavish tricks 
 Upon green geese or turkey chicks ; 
 Or pigs that suddenly deceased 
 Of griefs unnatural, as he guess'd 
 Who proved himself aX. length a witch, 
 And made a rod for his ovra breech." 
 
 A recent writer, who by the publication of one work has 
 earned for himself a lasting place in English literature, has 
 traced in a masterly manner the history of the decline of the 
 belief in witchcraft. According to Mr. Lecky, Bodinus and 
 Wier were the last formal representatives of the belief, while 
 the publication of the sceptical Essais of Montaigne marked 
 
Laws and Customs. 131 
 
 the first period of its decadence. From 1588 he dates, 
 therefore, " the influence of that gifted and ever-enlarging 
 rationalistic school which gradually effected the destruction 
 of the belief in witchcraft — not by refuting or explaining its 
 evidence, but simply by making men more and more sensible 
 of its intrinsic absurdity." — Times Journal. 
 
 Punishment of Year, Day, and Waste. 
 
 This doctrine was applied, until recently, to attainder for any 
 felony whatever, except treason, and originated as follows-: — 
 Formerly, the Sovereign had a liberty of committing waste 
 on the lands of felons, by pulling down their houses, extir- 
 pating their gardens, ploughing their meadows, and cutting 
 down their woods. Punishment of a similar spirit obtained 
 in the Oriental countries, from the decrees of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar and Cyrus, in the books of Daniel and Ezra ; which, 
 besides the pain of death, inflicted on the delinquents there 
 specified, ordain that " their houses shall be made a dung- 
 hill." But this tending generally to prejudice the public, it 
 was agreed in the reign of Henry I. in this kingdom, that 
 the king should have the profits of the land for one year and 
 a day, in lieu of the destruction he was otherwise at liberty 
 to commit ; and, therefore. Magna Charta provides that the 
 king shall only hold such lands for a year and a day, and 
 then restore them to the lord of the fee, without any mention 
 made of waste. But the statute 7 Edw. II., de prcsrogativa 
 regis, seems to suppose that the king shall have his year, 
 day, and waste, and not the year and day instead of waste ; 
 which Sir E. Coke, the author of the Mirror, before him, 
 very justly looks upon as an encroachment, though a very 
 ancient one, of the royal prerogative. 
 
 K 2 
 
T3a Laws and Customs. 
 
 Length of the Law. 
 
 Some faint idea of the bulk of the English records may be 
 obtained, by adverting to the fact, that a single statute, the 
 Land Tax Commissioners' Act, passed in the first year of 
 the reign of George IV., measures, when unrolled, upwards 
 of 900 feet, or nearly twice the length of St. Paul's Cathedral, 
 within the doors ; and if ever it should become necessary to 
 consult the fearful' volume, an able-bodied man must be 
 employed during three hours in coiling and uncoiling its 
 monstrous folds ! 
 
 Burning Hair. 
 
 In India, when a Mohammedan exorcist is engaged cast- 
 ing out a devil from a possessed person, he plucks some 
 hair off his head, puts it in a bottle, and bums it. In 1593, 
 a family of the name of Samuel, consisting of husband 
 wife, and daughter, were condemned at Huntingdon for 
 afflicting some young ladies of the name of Throgmorton 
 with devils. Dame Samuel underwent much ill usage at the 
 hands of Mrs. Throgmorton, and her friend. Lady Cromwell; 
 amongst other things which they did was to clip some of 
 Dame Samuel's hair, and burn it as a charm against her 
 spells. 
 
 The Rev. T. T. Carter, in the Church and the World, 
 says : "A Nazarite was understood to identify himself with 
 each of these several acts of oblation. The shorn hair laid 
 and hurnt in the fire of the altar, was also, according to this 
 deeper view, supposed to indicate that the person was 
 offered to God, and the divine law not permitting the offering 
 of human blood, and the hair, as a portion of the person, being 
 understood to represent the whole." 
 
 In the Depositions from York Castle (Surtees Society), 
 
Laws and Customs. 
 
 ^33 
 
 "Ann Greene saith, that she sometimes useth a channe for 
 curing the heart each, and used it twice in one night, unto 
 John Tatterton, of Yargreave, by crossing a garter over his 
 eare, and sayeinge these words, ' Boate a God's name,' nine 
 times over. Likewise for paines in the head, she requires 
 their water and a lock of their heire, the which she boyles 
 together, and afterwards throwes them in the fire, and bumes 
 them; and medles not with any other diseases." 
 
 Again, one witch says to another : " If thou canst but get 
 young Thomas Haigh to buy thee three pennyworth of 
 indico, and look him in the face when he gives it thee, and 
 touch his locks, wee shall have power enough to take life." 
 
 And again : " Mark Humble further saith that his mother, 
 Margaret Humble, her lyeing not well, Isabel Thompson 
 tooke some of her haire to medicine her." 
 
 Sense of Pre-Existence. 
 
 There are, probably, few who have not at one time or 
 other experienced the feeling referred to, as though they had 
 in some previous period of their lives, possibly in some 
 earlier state of existence, been placed in precisely the same 
 outward circumstances as those at the time present to the 
 senses-i^ The sensation comes most frequently suddenly, and 
 apparently without any previous association of ideas which 
 can have given rise to it, in the full tide of ordinary outward 
 occupation. It is momentary, and the peculiar condition of 
 mind accompanying it cannot be recalled at will. All the 
 poets of our interior life have more or less referred to this 
 remarkable "sense of pre-existence," perhaps none more 
 graphically than Lord Houghton : — 
 
 " Thus in the dream, 
 Our Universal Dream of Mortal Life, 
 
134 Laws and Customs. 
 
 The incidents of an anterior dream, 
 Or, it may be, the existence (for the Sun 
 Of Being, seen thro' the deep dreamy mist, 
 Itself is dream-lilce), noiselessly intrude 
 Into the daily flow of earthly things; 
 Instincts of good — immediate sympathies. 
 Places come at by chance, that claim at once 
 An old acquaintance, — single, random looks, 
 That bare a stranger's bosom to our eyes : 
 We know these things are so, we ask not why. 
 But act and follow as the dream goes on." 
 
 Notes and Queries, 3rd S. No. 26 
 
 The Hair standing on End. 
 
 There is a curious passage in the Memoirs of Cardinal 
 Pacco, in which he describes this phenomenon as occurring 
 to the Head of the Roman Catholic Church. The Cardinal 
 had been placed under arrest by the French General(Miollis), 
 and had sent a messenger to Pius VII. to acquaint him with 
 the outrage. In a few minutes the door of the room was 
 thrown open with extraordinary violence, and the presence 
 of the Holy Father was abruptly announced to the Cardinal, 
 who instantly hurried to meet him, and then, says the Car- 
 dinal, " I was an eye-witness of a phenomenon that I had 
 frequently heard of, but had never seen — namely, the hair 
 of a violently excited man standing erect on his forehead ; 
 while the excellent Pontiff, blinded, as it were, with anger, 
 notwithstanding I was dressed in the purple soutane of a 
 Cardinal, did not recognize me, but cried with a loud voice, 
 ' Who are you — who are you ?' " 
 
 Upwards of three-and-forty years ago, a man was tried at 
 the York assizes for burglary, which at that time wa^a capital 
 offence. During the few minutes of suspense whilst the jury 
 were returning into court to record their verdict, intense 
 
Laws and Customs. 135 
 
 anxiety was depicted in the prisoner's countenance : his eyes 
 looked wild and prominent, and his hair stood up bristling 
 all over his head. Directly he heard the verdict " Not 
 Guilty," his countenance assumed a calmer aspect, and his 
 hair laid down quite flat on his head ; thus proving the ex- 
 pression of "making the hair stand on end" to be not a 
 mere figure of speech. — Notes and Queries, 3rd S. No. 281. 
 
 Table-Turning. 
 
 Have the Spiritualists noticed the following extraordinary 
 reason which Jeremy Bentham, in 1788 or 1789, gave to a 
 lady of Lord Lansdowne's family upon his delay in send- 
 ing her a note ? — " I had scarce put the seal to it when my 
 seven tables, together with your old acquaintance the harpsi- 
 chord, and the chair that make up the society, set up a 
 kind of saraband, moving circularly round the centre of the 
 room, but without changing their relative positions. They 
 composed themselves, however, after a short dance, nor 
 have they had any such vagaries since. . . . What was 
 the object of the extraordinary, and by me never before ex- 
 perienced interposition, I submit to your omniscience." — 
 Bentham' s Works, edited by Bowring, 
 
 The Spiritualists. 
 
 Mr. Coleman, in a lecture delivered by him in the winter 
 of 1870, gave a sketch of the progress of the creed during 
 the last few years, first in America, and subsequently in this 
 country. Incidents were narrated showing the wonders that 
 had been achieved, and the distinguished converts that had 
 been made through the agency of the " mediums." Mr. 
 Hovvitt was claimed as an early believer, as also Lord Dun- 
 
1315 Laws and Customs. 
 
 raven, the late Dr. EUiotson, and Mr. Lawrence Oliphant. 
 A letter from Professor de Morgan was read, detailing some 
 remarkable spiritualistic results that had been produced by 
 Mrs. de Morgan, which the professor could not account for 
 or explain, but which he refused to attribute to supernatural 
 agency. A very interesting episode in the lecture was the 
 history of the conversion of a Dr. Robertson ; but at the close 
 of the lecture Dr. Robertson himself stood up and emphati- 
 cally denied that he had ever attributed the spiritualistic 
 experiments he had witnessed to spiritual agency. The 
 lecturer also quoted Mrs. Trollope, Hiram Powers, the sculp- 
 tor, and several other believers in spiritualism, and generally 
 contended that " mediums " were able to call to earth the 
 spirits of the departed, and to compel them to knock tables 
 about, to write long messages on marked sheets of paper in 
 an incredibly short time, to play the accordion, and to make 
 presents of flowers and French plums to the visitors at a 
 sdance. Mr. C. Varley detailed some extraordinary per- 
 sonal experiences, and Dr. Welch started the theory that 
 spiritualistic phenomena could be produced with living per- 
 sons as well as with the dead. 
 
 Sir David Brewster and Ghosts. 
 
 Sir David's own quaint confession, that he was " afraid of 
 ghosts, though he did not believe in them," was as near the 
 truth as possible. Living in an old house, haunted, it was 
 said, by the learned shade of George Buchanan, in which 
 certainly the strangest and most unaccountable noises were 
 frequently heard, his footsteps used sometimes to perform 
 the transit from his study to his bedroom, in the dead of 
 night, in double quick time, and in the morning he used to 
 confess that sitting up alone had made him feel quite " eerie." 
 
Laws and Customs. 137 
 
 On one of these occasions, when the flight had been more 
 than usually rapid, he recounted having distinctly seen the 
 form of the late Rev. C. Lyon, the Episcopal clergyman of 
 St. Andrew's, and an attached friend of his own, rising up 
 pale and grey, like a marble bust. He often mentioned his 
 relief when he found that nothing had occurred to his friend, 
 and pointed out what a good ghost story had thus been 
 spoiled. — The Home Life of Sir David Brewster. 
 
 Friday in Scotland. 
 
 A curious practice used to prevail in some parts of Low- 
 land Scotland with regard to lotteries. It was very common 
 when names were given in to find a number of " Fridays " 
 instead of the real names of the parties, these pseudonyms 
 being assumed from an idea that it was luckier to have them 
 than a real name when the dice came to be shaken. Of 
 course, if a "Friday" won, the name of his dwelling-place 
 indicated to whom the prize should be assigned. The 
 custom of visiting their sweethearts on Tuesday and Friday 
 evenings is almost universal among the humbler classes in 
 Scotland. 
 
 Gral and Coral. 
 
 Dr. Oppert has proved that the Gral, which is described 
 in the poetry of Wolfram as a red stone, feeding the knights 
 and possessing all sorts of beneficent powers, and as repre- 
 senting even the blood of Christ, was originally nothing else 
 than the Coral, which, in the times of heathenism, and later 
 of Christianity, possessed exactly the same powers, and was 
 worshipped and admired by the people. The Coral was 
 specially said in some works to represent the blood of Christ ; 
 and with respect to feeding the heart of its knights, it was 
 
138 Laws and Customs. 
 
 derived from cor and alere. There is no etymological diffi- 
 culty in deriving the word Gral from Coral. The knights of 
 Salvatierre, who are described in the poem as the keepers of 
 the Gral, are identified with the order of the Knights of Sal- 
 vatierre, which existed in Spain from 1198 to 121 2. From 
 this fact, Dr. Oppert also proves the age of the poem, as it 
 could not have been written before 1 1 98 nor much after 1212. 
 He even went so far as to insinuate that, as we have no 
 earlier statement about the Gral than Wolfram's, that author 
 may have himself coined the word, as it is not found pre- 
 vious to him. On the great similarity in sound between 
 Coral and Corral (Curiale), which was the name for the 
 Chapterhouse of the Order of the Knights, Dr. Oppert made 
 some remarks. Prof Goldstiicker supported Dr. Oppert's 
 view of the Coral, by many examples from Indian anti- 
 quity ; even in the Vedas stones are described as possessing 
 great powers, and he mentioned also the Stones of the High 
 Priest. 
 
 Coming down to the comparatively modern history of 
 Coral, the well-known toy, with bell and a piece of coral at 
 the end, which was formerly suspended from the necks of 
 infants to assist them in cutting their teeth, it is, with the 
 greatest probability, supposed to have had its origin in an 
 ancient superstition which considered coral an amulet or de- 
 fensative against fascination ; for this we have the authority 
 of Pliny. It was thought also to pr.eserve and fasten the 
 teeth in men. In a Latin work, dated 1536, we read of coral : 
 "Wytches tell, that this stone withstondeth lightenynge. 
 It putteth of lightenynge, whirlwynde, tempeste, and stormes, 
 fro' shippes and houses that it is in." Steevens, in his Notes 
 to Shakspeare, says, " There appears to have been an old 
 superstition that coral would change its colour, and look 
 pale, when the wearer of it was sick." Plat, in his Jewel 
 
Laws and Customs. 139 
 
 House of Nature and Art, says, " Coral is good to be hanged 
 about children's necks, as well to rub their gums as to 
 preserve them from the falling sickness j it hath also some 
 special sympathy with nature, for the best coral being worn 
 about the. neck will turn pale and wan if the party that wears 
 it be sick, and comes to its former colour again as they re- 
 cover health." In a rare old work, date 162 1, in a dialogue 
 relative to the dress of a child, we read, the " Corall with the 
 small golden cha)Tie." 
 
 The Rev. Walter Skeat, in his Preface to the reprint of 
 Joseph of Arimathie, published for the Enghsh Text Society, 
 gives a learned summary of the Grail, whence we quote the 
 following : — " The word is, in fact, the Low 'LaXm. gradale or 
 grasale, which occurs in Ducange, or in Charpentier's Sup- 
 plement, in the very numerous forms gradale, gradalus, 
 grasala, grasale, grayale, grassale, grazala, grassala, with the 
 dirmxivXrvts gradella, gracellas, grasella, grasilhia, grasellas and 
 grassaletus ! Charpentier further tells us that the signification 
 is, a kind of vessel, of wood, earth or metal, and not always 
 implying the same notion ; for it occurs both in the sense of 
 a large round and shallow vessel — Fr. jatte (a bowl), and 
 also '■pro lands seu catini, specie,' for the use of the table, 
 Fr. plat (a dish). All the above forms are various corrup- 
 tions frbm a diminutive cratella of the Latin crater or cratera, 
 which again is from the Greek KpaTTjp or Kpar/jpia, a bowl in 
 which things could be mixed up. In a precisely similar 
 manner the modem French grille is formed from the Latin 
 craticula. ... At any rate, it is certain that the original 
 sense oigraalvtas a bowl or dish, and the seynt graal was 
 that Holy Dish which was used at the Last Supper." The 
 Holy Dish, however, became converted into the Holy 
 Chalice, and this myth was supported by a change of san 
 greal (holy vessel) into sang real (royal blood), wrongly ex- 
 
I40 Laws and Customs. 
 
 plained by Manage as real blood, Mr. Skeat shows that the 
 etymology of san greal has been rendered perplexing by the 
 existence oi grail, a " service-book, or antiphonary for High 
 Mass;" which is derived from the Low Latin gradale or gra- 
 duale, which again comes from gradus, because this service- 
 book contained certain portions sung after the epistle in 
 gradibus, upon the steps of the choir. 
 
 Beltaine Fires. 
 
 A Correspondent of the Athenmum asks, " I suppose it 
 is possible that the Beltaine Fires were in former days lighted 
 at the summits of the Irish round towers, though, as I gather, 
 the theory is repudiated by that learned antiquary, Dr. 
 Petrie. Now, assuming for one instant the plausibility of 
 this assumption, I wish to ask if any connexion can be esta- 
 blished between these round towers and the so-called High 
 places of Scripture, as serving a similar use ? Can Eastern 
 archaeologists indicate clearly the form and structure of 
 Scriptural High places, or if any remains of them are now to 
 be traced ? The references in Scripture to the term High 
 places vary as to meaning throughout ; but where they 
 specifically indicate a place for burning incense or offering 
 sacrifice, the allusion is, I think, always to an idolatrous 
 origin, as distinguished from Jehovah's altar. We see in 
 I Kings iii. 2, how, in the absence of a suitable house 
 for the Lord, the people sacrificed to the Lord in heathen 
 High places already existent ; in c. xii. ver. 32, the sin is 
 carried farther, for Jeroboam is the first Israelite actually to 
 make these High places for idolatrous worship. No student 
 of the sacred page can forget the awful denunciations so 
 repeatedly hurled against ' Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who 
 first made Israel to sin.' I suppose it is quite indisputable 
 
Laws and Customs. 141 
 
 that the heathen God Belus, or Baal, from whom the word 
 Beltaine is derived, was the object of this idolatrous worship 
 in high places, which formed the crowning sin of Israel, — 
 may there not, therefore, be some resemblance in the respec- 
 tive places of worship ? and can we attribute to these High 
 places an altitude and a structure at all resembling the Irish 
 round towers ? 
 
 " The word Beltaine, considered as indicating the form of 
 worship to Baal in Ireland and England, has left consider- 
 able traces in our nomenclature ; the nearest approach is in 
 Beltinge, a hamlet in North-east Kent, the representative of 
 an older and much larger place long since submerged. 
 There is Beltingham, in Northumberland, which has, or had, 
 a very old yew tree. There are several Beltons and Biltons : 
 I do not know that we can claim them for Baal. Baltimore, 
 in Ireland, is said to be 'the great house of Baal ;' Baltin- 
 glas and Baltong may also be included. Balteagh might be 
 the ' field of Baal,' which has its counterpart at Balasley, in 
 Montgomeryshire. The hundreds of Ballas, Ballis, &c., we 
 may not touch, as Bally is said to mean any enclosed dwelling, 
 large or small. From Belus we have Bellingham, Billing- 
 ham, and the common English patronymic Billing, — which 
 I think would indicate originally any one employed about 
 the worship of Baal ; it might be deemed presumptuous for 
 individuals otherwise to arrogate that name to themselves 
 when the worship of that God was paramount. If any con- 
 firmation is found for this assumption, it will be difficult to 
 resist the conclusion that the Canaanitish groves of Baal also 
 have their counterpart in our Druidic groves. Several places 
 may be pointed out having the name of grove in composition 
 that show at the present day various remains indicating the 
 greatest antiquity.'' 
 
143 Laws and Customs. 
 
 Gipsies and Bohemians. 
 
 The word Gipsies is corrupted from Egyptians, the notion 
 of their being which is, probably, derived from the circum- 
 stance that many of them came immediately from Egypt 
 into Europe ; but it seems proved that they are not origi- 
 nally from that country, their appearance, manners, and 
 language being totally different from that of either the Copts 
 or Fellahs. There are many Gipsies now in Egypt, but 
 they are looked upon as strangers, as, indeed, they are 
 every where else. It is now generally believed that the 
 Gipsies migrated originally from India at the time of the 
 great Mohammedan invasion of Timur Beg; that in their 
 own country they belonged to one of the lowest castes, 
 which resemble them in their appearance, habits, and espe- 
 cially in their fondness for carrion and other unclean food. 
 Pottinger, in his Travels, saw some tribes resembling them 
 in Beloochistan ; there is a tribe near the mouths of the 
 Indus called Tchinganes. 
 
 Gipsies first appeared at Paris in the character of peni- 
 tents or pilgrims, in 1427, in a troop of more than 100, 
 under some chiefs, who styled themselves counts, and they 
 represented themselves as Christians driven out of Egypt by 
 the Mussulmans. They remained in the kingdom for many 
 years, and their women assumed the calling of fortune- 
 tellers. In 1580 an ordonnance of the States of Orleans 
 enjoined all impostors and vagabonds, styled "Bohemians" 
 or " Egyptians,'' to quit the kingdom, under pain of the 
 galleys. The name of Bohemians, given to them by the 
 French, may be owing to the circumstance of some of them 
 having come to France from Bohemia, for they are men- 
 tioned as having appeared in various parts of Germany pre- 
 vious to their entering France ; others derive the word from 
 
Laws and Customs. 
 
 143 
 
 " Boem," an old French word signifying a sorcerer {Moreri 
 and Ducange). The Germans gave them the name of 
 "Zigeuner," or wanderers j the Dutch called them "heiden," 
 or heathens ; the Danes and Swedes, " Tartars." In Italy 
 they are called "Zingari;" in Turkey and the Levant, 
 " Tchingenes ;" in Spain they are called "Gitanos;" in 
 Hungary and Transylvania, where they are very numerous, 
 they are called " Pharaoh Nopek," or " Pharaoh's People." 
 The Gipsies in their own language call themselves Sind, 
 and their language has been found to resemble some of the 
 dialects of India. They have no traditions concerning their 
 origin ; no religion of their own, but they adopt the outward 
 forms of the people among whom they live, whether Chris- 
 tians or Mussulmans. In England Gipsies have much dimi- 
 nished until lately, in consequence of the enclosure of 
 land and the laws against vagrants. Sir Richard Phillips, in 
 his Walk from London to Kew, met with a " party of so- 
 called gipsies, one of whom had been known to get five or 
 six guineas on a wedding-day, part from the lady, and part 
 from the gentleman ; and another stated that Sir Joseph 
 Banks once paid her a guinea for telling him twenty words in 
 their language." 
 
 Number of Gipsies. 
 
 Mr. Walter Simson estimates that there are " no less than 
 250,000 Gipsies of all casts, colours, characters, occupations, 
 degrees of education, culture, and position of life in the 
 British Isles alone, and, possibly, double the number." 
 But this is a startling assertion. Mr. Vernon Morwood, 
 well known as a missionary amongst Gipsies, however, re- 
 marks that all are not Gipsies who lead roving and gipsy- 
 like lives. " With but very few exceptions, those who claim 
 kindred with the pure remnants of the Gipsy people may be 
 
144 '•* Laws and Customs. 
 
 known by the swarthy complexion, the raven-black hair, the 
 dark eye with its pearly lustre, and the peculiar conforma- 
 tion of features and marked profiles which render Gipsies as 
 distinct a people as the Jews themselves. . . . From 
 the most correct statistical information which can be ob- 
 tained on the subject, we learn that on the Continent, in 
 England, and all other countries, the Gipsies are on the 
 increase, the entire race numbering about 900,000, of whom 
 by far the majority are found in Europe, and not 100,000 in 
 the British Isles." — Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 211. 
 
 A writer in the Atlantic Monthly maintains this people to 
 be not of Asiatic but European origin, while assenting to 
 the similarity of the Rommany, Hindoo, and Sanscrit lan- 
 guages, as well as of the complexions, dispositions, and 
 habits of the people. He asserts their origin to be Bohe- 
 mian, of the three bodies of Hussites, called on the death 
 of John Ziska, or Tschiska, "the orphans," or orphan 
 children of Ziska, and that through a clumsy pronouncing 
 of " Tschishkta," the name " Gipsy" is found. 
 
 Mistletoe Superstitions and Norwood Gipsies. 
 
 Anciently, Norwood was an extensive tract of open wood- 
 land, receiving its distinctive appellation from l)dng to the 
 north of the town of. Croydon. About the middle of the 
 present century it contained 300 acres of land, chiefly 
 covered by oak pollards, of which 9200 were enumerated. 
 Here formerly stood an aged tree, called the Vicar's Oak, at 
 which the five parishes of Battersea, Camberwell, Lambeth, 
 Streatham, and Croydon meet. Aubrey says, '* This wood 
 wholly consists of oaks, there was one oak which had Mistle- 
 toe, a timber tree, which was felled about 1678. Some persons 
 cut this mistletoe for some apothecaries in London, and sold 
 them a quantity for ten shillings each time, and left only one 
 
Laws and Customs. 145 
 
 branch remaining for more to sprout out. One fell lame 
 shortly after ; soon after, each of the others lost an eye, and 
 he that felled the tree (though warned of these misfortunes 
 of the other men) would notwithstanding adventure to do 
 it, and shortly after broke his leg ; as if the Hamadryades 
 had resolved to take an ample revenge for the injury done 
 to that sacred and venerable oak." " I cannot here," he 
 continues, "help taking notice of the great misfortunes in the 
 family of the Earl of Winchelsea, who at Eastwell, in Kent, 
 felled down a most curious grove of oaks near his noble 
 seat, and gave the fiirst blow with his own hands. Shortly 
 after, his Countess died in her bed suddenly ; and his eldest 
 son, the Lord Maidstone, was killed by a cannon bullet." 
 In the old registers of St. Mary, Lambeth, these entries of 
 payment occur. iS33 : "When we went our perambula- 
 tion at Vicar's Oak, in Rogation week, paid 2s. 6(/"— 1704 : 
 " Paid for 100 lb. of cheese spent at Vicar's Oke, 8x." 
 
 During a long series of years, Norwood was celebrated as 
 the haunt of many of the gipsy tribe, who in the summer 
 time pitched their blanket-tents beneath its umbrageous 
 foliage ; and from their reputed knowledge of futurity were 
 often consulted by the young and credulous. Some eighty 
 years ago, it was customary among the labouring classes 
 and servantB of London to walk to Norwood on the Sun- 
 day afternoon to have their fortunes told, and to take 
 refreshments at the Gipsy House, which long bore on its 
 sign-post a painting of the deformed figure of Margaret 
 Finch, the queen of the gipsies. " This remarkable person," 
 says Lysons, " lived to the age of 109 years. After travelling," 
 he continues, " over various parts of the kingdom, during the 
 greater part of a century, she settled at Norwood ; whither 
 her great age, and the fame of her fortune-telling, attracted 
 numerous visitors. From a habit of sitting on the ground, 
 
 L 
 
146 Laws and Customs. 
 
 with her chin resting on her knees, the sinews at length 
 became so contracted that she could not rise from that 
 posture ; and after her death, in 1 740, they were obliged to 
 inclose her body in a deep square box." 
 
 Mistletoe and Shamrock. 
 
 The British Druids and Bards had an extraordinary 
 veneration for the number three. " The Mistletoe," says 
 Vallancye, in his Grammar of the Irish Language, " was 
 sacred to the Druids, because not only its berries but its 
 leaves also grow in clusters of three united to one stock. The 
 Christian Irish hold the shamrock (clover, trefoil) sacred, in 
 like manner, because of the three leaves united to one stalk.'' 
 
 Mistletoe grows upon about twenty kinds of trees in Eng- 
 land. Sir James Smith, the botanist, tells us that our Mis- 
 tletoe is distinct from that of the ancients; that theirs, found 
 in Greece, grows on fir-trees : ours grows there on the oak, 
 and this has been preferred from remote antiquity. 
 
 A Long Trance. 
 
 Lady Osborne, in her Memorials, states that " Lady Chal- 
 mers related to her the extraordinary case of her sister, who lay 
 in a trance for six weeks, and when she awoke she had for- 
 gotten every circumstance of her past life ; she did not know 
 one of the family, even her husband ; she had forgotten how 
 to read, and had to be taught the alphabet ; she was like a 
 full-grown child. During the trance her existence was only 
 ascertained by applying a glass to her lips ; she was visited 
 constantly by the first physicians in Edinburgh. For some 
 time before the trance she was constantly falling asleep, she 
 would fall asleep standing, or playing the piano; there were 
 several ladies present who corroborated these extraordinary 
 
Laws and Customs. 147 
 
 facts ; they added, moreover, that her intellect has recovered 
 its full force, and her memory is perfect except for what 
 occurred before her trance, which is quite gone for ever. 
 She dates only from her recovery. Is not this a strange 
 history?" 
 
 CoMETic Prophecy. 
 
 Prof, de Morgan, in his Budget of Paradoxes, in the 
 Athenceutn, notices the following satirical tract against 
 Cometic Prophecy : — 
 
 " The Petitioning-Comet : or, a brief Chronology of all 
 the famous Comets and their events, that have hap- 
 pened from the birth of Christ to this very day. To- 
 gether with a modest inquiry into this present comet. 
 London, 1681, 4to. 
 
 " This present comet (it's true) is of a menacing aspect, but 
 if the new parliament (for whose convention so many good 
 men pray) continue long to sit, I fear not but the star will 
 lose its virulence and malignancy, or at least its portent be 
 averted from this our nation ; which being the humble 
 request to God of all good men, makes me thus entitle it, a 
 Petitioning-Comet." 
 
 The following anecdote is new to me : " Queen Elizabeth 
 (1558) being then at Richmond, and being disswaded from 
 looking on a comet which did then appear, made answer, 
 jacta est alea, the dice are thrown ; thereby intimating that 
 the pre-order'd providence of God was above the influence 
 of any star or comet." 
 
 The argument was worth nothing : for the comet might 
 have been on the dice with the event ; the astrologers said no 
 more, at least the more rational ones, who were about half 
 of the whole. 
 
 L a 
 
148 Laws and Customs. 
 
 The Key and the Bible. 
 
 A few years ago, at North Shields, a person lost a brooch, 
 and some one about the place was thought to have stolen it, 
 but the culprit could not be traced. However, after con- 
 siderable consultation, it was decided that the neighbours 
 should assemble, and solve the mystery by having recourse 
 to the antiquated test of the " key and the Bible.'' This 
 method of discovering the perpetrator of guilt is as follows : 
 A piece of string is tied round the Bible, the book is then 
 laid on the table, and a key is spun round on the top of the 
 Bible, and while the key is " going its rounds'' some one in 
 the company completes the charm by repeating a verse of 
 Holy Writ, by way of guiding the movements of the revolv- 
 ing key. The party to whom the end of the key points 
 when it has stopped is considered to be the guilty one. In 
 the above experiment, the applicant's daughter was pointed 
 at by the key, and as the mother considered the character 
 of her daughter slandered by the conduct of the key, she 
 sought redress. The magistrates said they could do nothing 
 to assist the old woman beyond advising her to cease putting 
 the Bible and the key to such superstitious uses. 
 
 Cuckoo Lore. 
 
 The border country of Devon and Somerset is described 
 as the land of Cuckoos ; and here, if any where, must be the 
 parliament of cuckoodom — the session where there unques- 
 tionably are the birds of "loudest lay !" The rustic people 
 of the district sing or say of this bird : — 
 
 "The Cuckoo's a vine bird, she sings as she vlies, 
 She brings us glad tidings, and tells us no lies; 
 She sucks a vine vlower to make her voice clear, 
 And when she cries Cuckoo ! then summer is near.'' 
 
Laws and Customs. 149 
 
 Elsewhere, it is not flowers, but the eggs of other birds 
 which are required to give clearness to the voice of the 
 cuckoo. The subsequent change in the note seems to be 
 connected with the cessation of the pairing period. 
 
 The East Devon version of the stave which has already 
 appeared is as follows : — 
 
 " In April come she will, 
 In May she sings all day, 
 In June she changes her tune, 
 In July she begins to fly, 
 In August go she must." 
 
 There is also the childish fable to the effect that the 
 little gnat which is to be found in hedge-rows, surrounded 
 by a small lump of frothy white matter, resembling spittle, 
 and which is called "cuckoo-spit," is the young cuckoo. 
 Brockett states it to be the Tullicona Spumaria, which is 
 seen at the axillse of the leaves and branches of plants, 
 particularly lavender and rosemary, early in the spring. 
 Several wild flowers, which are the favourite depositories of 
 the froth of the delicate little insect, have received the 
 name of cuckoo flowers. 
 
 Among cuckoo omens are these : " Plinie writeth, that 
 if, when you first hear the cuckoo, you mark well where 
 your right foot standeth, and take up that earth, the fleas 
 will by no means breed, either in your house or chamber, 
 where any of the same earth is thrown or scattered." — 
 HilFs Natural and Artificial Conclusions, 1650. "In the 
 north, and perhaps all over England, it is vulgarly accounted 
 a lucky omen if you have no money in your pocket when 
 you hear the cuckoo the first time in a season." — Queen 
 Bee, ii. 20. It is a still more common popular divination 
 for those who are unmarried to count the number of yearg 
 yet allotted to them of single blessedness by the number 
 
ijo Laws and Customs. 
 
 of the cuckoo's notes which they count when they first hear 
 it in the spring. 
 
 The cuckoo has a broad, hollow back, which Dr. Jenner 
 thus explains in the Philosophical Transactions for 1788: 
 " Premising the anomaly of the cuckoo laying its eggs in 
 other birds' nests to be familiar to the reader, Dr. Jenner 
 maintains that soon after the young cuckoo is hatched by 
 the hedge-sparrow, the eggs, or the young ones, whichever 
 should happen to be in the nest, are turned out of it by the 
 cuckoo, and by it alone ; to effect which the cuckoo is con- 
 jectured to have this peculiar conformation of the back. 
 This has been much controverted. The truth seems to be, 
 notwithstanding all that has been observed and published 
 concerning the cuckoo, its natural history is still involved in 
 considerable obscurity. Till lately it was not known that 
 any bird laid its eggs in the nests of other birds besides the 
 cuckoo; it is now, however, well ascertained that the 
 American cowpen, or cow-bunting, lays its eggs in other 
 birds' nests, and takes no care whatever of its offspring. 
 The cuckoo has done much for musical science ; since, from 
 this bird has been derived the minor scale, whose origin has 
 puzzled so many ; the cuckoo's couplet being the minor third 
 sung downwards." 
 
 Another explanation is : " This absurd name is given to 
 the froth seen upon blades of grass, and in great abundance 
 upon willow-trees, from a notion that it is the spittle of the 
 cuckoo, on account of its being most plentiful about the 
 arrival of that bird. This froth is, however, expelled by an 
 insect named Cicada spinnaria, which has first sucked in the 
 sap of the tree. A stupid fellow seeing this froth on almost 
 every blade in his garden, wondered where all the cuckoos 
 could be that produced it." 
 
Laws and Customs. 151 
 
 The First Merry Andrew, Dr. Borde. 
 
 Borde was a Sussex worthy, physician to Henry VIII., 
 and an admirable wit in his reign. Hearne says, in Wood's 
 Athena that the doctor was not born at Pevensey, or 
 Pensey, as commonly said, but at Bond's Hill, in Holms- 
 dayle in Sussex j should we not read " Borde Hill," as that 
 place belonged to the family of Borde for many generations. 
 It is in Cuckfield parish ; and Borde's house may be seen 
 from the Ouse Valley railway viaduct. He was the author 
 of the Breviary of Health, Tales of the Madmen of Gotham, 
 and the Introduction of Knowledge, the " whych doth teach 
 a man to speak al maner of languages, and to know the 
 usage and fashion of al maner of countries ; Dedycated to 
 the right honorable and gracious Lady Mary, daughter of 
 King Henry VIII." Black letter, imprinted by William Cope- 
 land, without date. 
 
 The name of Merry Andrew, since so familiar, is said to have 
 been first given to Doctor Borde, on account of his pleasan- 
 tries. In the latter part of his life he grew serious, and took 
 upon him the order of a Carthusian Monk, in the Charter 
 House, at London. He lived on the site of Dudley-court, 
 but it does not appear how long he was a parishioner of 
 St. Giles. 
 
 "Merry Andrew. A stage clown or fool. 
 
 More blades, indeed, are cripples in their art ; 
 
 Mimick his foot, but not his speaking part : 
 
 Let them the traitor, or Volpone try; 
 
 Could they — 
 
 Rage lilce Cethegus, or like Cassius die, 
 
 They ne'er had sent to Paris for such fancies 
 
 As monsters' heads and Merry- Andrews' dances. " 
 
 Rochester's Poems, 1710, p. 56. 
 
 " 'Twas from the doctor's method of using such speeches 
 
15a Laws and Customs. 
 
 at markets and fairs, that in after-times those that imitated 
 the hke humorous, jocose language were styled Merry An- 
 drews, a term much in vogue on our stages." 
 
 Antiquity of Ladies' Chignons. 
 
 It may be interesting to some lady readers to know that 
 there was a great author who lived in the second century 
 of the Christian era, and that he wrote a very learned book 
 upon Dreams, in which he incidentally refers to the belles 
 of his day as wearing Chignons, and adopting the same ex- 
 pedients (that are said to be) employed in this day for the 
 purpose of increasing their solidity and beauty. Here are 
 the words attributed to Artemidorus : " If a woman dreams 
 she has long and lovely hair, it is a dream significant of good 
 luck ; because women, for the sake of adding to their at- 
 tractions, make use of other women's hair.'' 
 
 The chignon of the second century, it must be admitted, 
 was not so monstrous as the pyramidical head-dresses of the 
 Roman matrons of the first century, of whom it is said by 
 Juvenal, that " a lady has her head piled up into so many 
 folds and stories in height, that when she faces you she looks 
 as tall and stately as a tragedy queen, and when she turns 
 her back, she seems to be so diminutive as to be somebody 
 else !" 
 
 From the very spare mention of the addition by Greek 
 and Roman ladies to their head-dress of borrowed locks, 
 it would seem that the practice was but little known until 
 the days of general corruption and extravagance under the 
 Caesars. That a great variety of hair-dressing fashions 
 existed before this tiine, there is abundant evidence, but 
 these seem all to have been based on the principle of making 
 the very best of the covering which nature h^d given to the 
 
Laws and Customs. 153 
 
 ladies' heads, whether by dyeing, curKng, plaiting, or rolling, 
 or by the addition of various ornaments, nets, bands, fillets 
 and tiaras. Ladies' hair was artificially _/rz«^ in the time of the 
 Empire, and even earlier, and by that means, and the sub- 
 structures so well understood and so extensively used at the 
 present day, there is no doubt that a large apparent volume 
 of hair was produced without any actual addition of the raw 
 material. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, after ridiculing the devices, of 
 forming artificial chains and plaits of hair, which were of so 
 curious and complicated a nature that a lady dared not to 
 touch her back hair lest the hair-pins should fall out and the 
 whole affair come to grief; nor go to sleep, lest she should 
 spoil the general effect of her coiffure, he declares that the 
 addition of the hair of others is entirely to be condemned, 
 and that it is the height of impiety to attach false locks to 
 the head, thus clothing the skull with dead tresses. The 
 passage is as follows : — 
 
 " For upon whom does the priest then lay hands ? whom 
 does he bless ? Not the woman who is so adorned, forsooth, 
 but the hair of some one else, and, through this hair, some 
 unknown person. If the man be the head of the woman, 
 and Christ the head of the man, is it not most impious that 
 the women should fall into this double sin ? In that they 
 deceive the men by the excessive mass of hair, and, as far 
 as in them lies, cast shame on their Lord, whilst they adopt 
 false and meretricious ornaments, and make that head 
 accursed which is already beautiful." 
 
 The passage from Juvenal already referred to relates 
 apparently to that method of dressing the hair in which a mass 
 of little curls rose to a great height from the forehead, but ■ 
 were not carried back farther than to the centre of the head, 
 where they were suddenly terminated by z. fillet, the hair at 
 
154 Laws and Customs. 
 
 the back of the head being drawn back tightly, and confined 
 in a knot. The effect of this arrangement would be exactly 
 that described by Juvenal ; the lady, as seen from behind, 
 would seem to be of her real height, as the anterior structure 
 would. hardly be visible, whilst from the front she would 
 have a most imposing and stately appearance. The cele- 
 brated Evodus, representing Julia, the daughter of Titus, 
 exactly illustrates this mode of dressing the hair.— _/. Eliot 
 Hodgkin : Notes and Queries, 4th S., vol. vii. 
 
 There is proof of the antiquity of chignons in German and 
 Roman engraved gems ; and on the walls of the Pompeian 
 houses there is a picture of a Roman lady putting on the 
 palla, and a mother about to nurse her child, in a picture of 
 a Roman farm -yard, in which the ladies wear perceptible 
 chignons, but much smaller than those now worn. Casanova, 
 in his Memoir es, speaks of un superhe chignon — a chignon 
 proper — in the early days of Voltaire and Rousseau. The 
 word chignon occurs in Hamilton and Legrfe's excellent 
 French Dictionary (1864), before the fashion was resuscitated ; 
 but it is explained as un chignon (chez les femmes), back 
 hair twisted in a knot, and therefore, not necessarily false 
 hair. — Hain Friswell: Notes and Queries, 4th S., vol. vii. 
 
 Dutch Custom. 
 
 In Holland it is customary to hang a piece of lace-work at 
 the side of the door of the houses, the origin of which is 
 thus traced to the siege of the city of Haarlem, in 1572, 
 when the Dutch struggled for their independence from the 
 yoke of Philip, king of Spain. The cruelties perpetrated by 
 the Spanish soldiers were so great that the citizens of the 
 different towns resolved to exhaust every means of resistance 
 rather than submit. The town of Haarlem distinguished 
 
Laws and Customs. 155 
 
 itself by the desperate bravery with which, for seven months, 
 it stood out against the large army under the Duke of 
 Alva's son. At length, a truce was agreed upon. Previous 
 to the surrender of the town, a deputation of aged matrons 
 waited on the Spanish general to know in what manner the 
 women who were at the time in child-birth should be pro- 
 tected from molestation in case of the introduction of the 
 soldiery ; and he requested that at the door of each house 
 containing a female so situated, an appropriate token should 
 be hung out, and promised that that house should not be 
 troubled. The custom is still in use, the lace being hung 
 out several weeks previous to the expected birth, and hangs 
 several weeks afterwards, a small alteration being made as 
 soon as the sex of the child is known. During the time of 
 this exhibition the house is exempt from all legal execution, 
 and the husband cannot be taken to serve as a soldier. — 
 Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 262. 
 
 The Greenlander's "Hereafter." 
 
 The Greenlander beHeves that when a man dies, his soul 
 travels to Tomgarsuk, the land where reigns perpetual 
 summer, all sunshine, and no night ; where there are good 
 water, and birds, fish, seals, and reindeer without end, that 
 are to be caught without trouble, or are found cooking alive 
 in a huge kettle. But the journey to this land is difficult; 
 the souls have to slide five days or more down a precipice 
 all stained with the blood of those who have gone down 
 before. And it is especially grievous for the poor souls, 
 when the journey must be made in winter or in tempest, for 
 then a soul may come to harm, or suffer the other death, as 
 they call it, when it perishes utterly, and nothing is left.j: 
 The bridge Es Sirat, which stretches over the midst of the 
 
J 5*5 Laws and Customs. 
 
 Moslem hell, finer than a hair, and sharper than the edge of 
 a sword, conveys a similar conception ; and the Jews, too, 
 when they came to believe in immortality, imagined a bridge 
 of hell, at least for unbelievers to pass. Mr. Tylor traces 
 this idea of a bridge in Java, in North America, in South 
 America; and he shows how, in Polynesia, the bridge is 
 replaced by canoes in which the souls had to pass the great 
 gulf. 
 
 Dolphins and Porpoises eaten. 
 
 Some kinds of dolphins are eaten. What, indeed, is 
 there that man does not eat ? The smallest are reckoned 
 the most delicate. In the Middle Ages, the flesh of the 
 porpoise' was much esteemed. In 1426, several were bought 
 for the table of Henry III. The Bishop of Swinfield, who 
 lived at that period, feasted upon porpoises whenever he had 
 an opportunity. At a sumptuous banquet prepared for 
 Richard II. at Durham House, some of these animals were 
 served. It is said that, at the solemn installation of Arch- 
 bishop Neville, four of these cetacea occupied a prominent 
 place in the feast. In 1491, the bailiffs of Yarmouth pre- 
 sented a fine porpoise to Lord Oxford, accompanied by an 
 address, in which they said that they made him this present 
 because they thought nothing could be more acceptable to 
 his lordship. At the wedding banquet of Henry V. many 
 highly-flavoured dishes appeared, prepared from the flesh of 
 the dolphin. At the coronation feast of Henry VII. por- 
 poises were again found in the menu; they were both boiled 
 and roasted, and pies and puddings were made of the flesh. 
 Queen Elizabeth herself, who had a very refined taste, was 
 fond of porpoise. It was sold in the English markets up to 
 the year 1575, when it ceased to be esteemed. 
 
Laws and Customs. 157 
 
 The Housebreaker. 
 
 In London this term is applied to the demoHsher of build- 
 ings doomed to come down for the purpose of being rebuilt, 
 Or cleared away for the carrying out of improvements, rail- 
 way extensions, new streets, &c. Then' we find large areas 
 of ground, speedily swept clear of houses, and the question 
 naturally arises what becomes of the old materials ? It is 
 estimated that the materials of the demolished houses aver- 
 age a year's rental. The main portion of sound bricks, 
 rafters, and boards are used to build dwelHngs for the work- 
 ing classes in the suburbs ; but besides these portions of 
 demolished materials, there is a residue of matters that the 
 housebreaker sells at his leisure. In all the waste places in 
 the outskirts of the metropolis, the yards of these dealers 
 may be seen ; doors, windows, partitions, grates, old iron- 
 work, are scattered over the ground ; good, bad, and in- 
 different specimens of workmanship are huddled together. 
 In course of time, these materials come in for the repairs of 
 houses. We have said that the average value of the mate- 
 rials of an old house is a year's rental. In the better-class 
 houses, especially in old mansions, the lead forms the most 
 valuable item. In many of the old houses of Grosvenor 
 Square and other west-end squares the outbuildings are gene- 
 rally covered with thick cast lead, so rich in silver that it is 
 asserted it is often smelted for the purpose of recovering the 
 richer metal. The lead of such houses is often worth a hun- 
 dred pounds. The taste for building the old chimney-pieces 
 of demolished houses in new mansions is very general. When 
 the late Mr. Thackeray was building his house at Kensing- 
 ton, in the fashion of Queen Anne's time, he fitted it up with 
 chimney-pieces and panelling of that date. Sir Dudley Mar- 
 joribanks, when fitting up his fine new mansion in Park Lane 
 
158 Laws and Customs. 
 
 with old carved panelling, &c., removed here at great ex- 
 pense the entire carved work of one of the rooms of Draper's 
 Hall, demohshed in 186 1. He even went so far as Paris to 
 obtain the panelling of the Maison de la Poste. Mr. Gore 
 Langton has erected some of these old carved Queen Ann&. 
 mantlepieces in his new house in George Street, Hanover 
 Square. The value of these relics is now so well known that 
 no bargains can be obtained by accident. The agents of 
 the Marquis of Westminster now retain all the carved chim- 
 ney-pieces taken out of houses that are being pulled down 
 on the Grosvenor estate, and when they are rebuilt the 
 tenants have the option of having them built in again, ol 
 which they generally avail themselves. There are still re- 
 maining some quarries from which these prized relics may be 
 rescued, especially on the Portland estate and in Blooms- 
 bury. Many of the mansions of the nobility and gentry rich 
 in such remains have within these few years been pulled 
 down — for instance, the old Carlisle House, Soho ; Argyle 
 House and the Manor House, Camberwell, the residence of 
 the Bowyer family, in which latter much of the works of 
 Inigo Jones was found when it was demolished in 1861 '- 
 
 Many years ago the carved panelling of the Cock Tavern, 
 Fleet Street (except the mantlepiece), was removed to the 
 country house of the landlord. In 1836 the apartment in 
 which the Court of Star Chamber sat at Westminster, was 
 removed to a room at Leasowe Castle, Shropshire, the seat 
 of the Hon. Sir Edward Cust. The Elizabethan panelling and 
 Tudor arched doorways and Tudor gothic oak ceiling, roses, 
 pomegranates^ portcullises, and fleurs-de-lis were finely carved. 
 In 1 86 1 a panelled dining-room, elaborately carved with fruit 
 and foliage, was removed from No. 108, Cheapside, to Gun- 
 rog, near Welshpool, North Wales, and there rebuilt into a 
 mansion. 
 
 ' Times Journal. 
 
Laws and Customs. 159 
 
 Use of Coffins. 
 
 In Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, we find 
 ample proof of the very early use of Coffins. During the first 
 -three centuries of the Church, one great distinction between 
 heathens and Christians was, that the former burned their 
 dead, and placed the bones and ashes in urns; whilst the 
 latter always buried the corpse, either in a coffin, or em- 
 balmed, in a catacomb, so that it might be restored at the 
 last day from its original dust. There have frequently been 
 dug out of the barrows which contain Roman urns, ancient 
 British stone coffins. Bede mentions that the Saxons 
 buried their dead in wood. Coffins both of lead and iron 
 were constructed at a very early period. When the royal 
 vaults of St. Denis were desecrated during the first French 
 Revolution, coffins were exposed that had lain there for ages. 
 Notwithstanding all this, it appears that, both in the Norman 
 and English period, the common people of the country were 
 often wrapped up in a cere-cloth after death, and so placed, 
 coffinless, in the earth. The illuminations in the old missals 
 represent this. And it is not impossible that the extract 
 from the " Table of Dutyes," may refer to a lingering conti- 
 nuance of this custom. Indeed, a statute passed in 1678, 
 ordering that all dead bodies shall be interred in woollen and 
 no other material, is so worded as to give the idea that there 
 might be interments without coffins. The statute forbids 
 that any person be put in wrapt or wound up, or buried in 
 any shirt, shift, sheet, or shroud, unless made of sheep's wool 
 only ; or in any coffin lined or faced with any material but 
 sheep's wool, as if the person might be buried either in a 
 garment or in a coffin, so long as the former was made of, or 
 the latter lined with, wool. — Rev. Alfred Gatty : Notes and 
 Queries, i Ser,, No. 45. 
 
i6o Laws and Customs. 
 
 Royal Interments. 
 
 Mr. Albert Hartshorne has collected the following 
 interesting details of the manner in which our early Sovereigns 
 were interred : — 
 
 " The body of Henry I., who died in Normandy, was cut 
 and gashed, sprinkled with salt, wrapped in a bull's hide, and 
 brought to Reading Abbey and buried there. Stephen was 
 buried in the Abbey of Feversham. The body rested there 
 until the Dissolution, when it was taken up, uncoffined, and 
 thrown into the river. Henry II. was interred in his royal 
 habits in the Abbey of Fontevrault, crowned, and with a 
 sceptre in his hand. The tomb was destroyed at the Revo- 
 lution, but the efRgy which remains accurately represents him 
 in a mantle, dalmatic, gloves, spurs, and boots, crowned, 
 and with a sword by his side. 
 
 " Richard I. was buried at the feet of his father ; there is no 
 doubt that he was also clad in his royal robes, precisely as 
 he is exhibited in eflSgy. This tomb was also destroyed at 
 the Revolution. 
 
 "In 1797 the tomb of King John, in the choir of Worcester 
 Cathedral, was opened, and it was then discovered that he 
 had been dressed in exactly the same manner as he is repre- 
 sented by his effigy, with the exception that upon his head 
 was found the remains of a monk's cowl, in which he is 
 recorded by Mathew Paris to have been buried as a passport 
 through purgatory. The royal remains were publicly 
 exhibited. The body of Henry III., dressed in royal robes, 
 was by his own desire laid in the old coffin which had once 
 held the remains of the Confessor. 
 
 "The tomb of Edward I. was opened in 1774, when 
 the entire corpse of the King was found so carefully 
 enveloped in a cere- cloth of linen that each finger had a 
 
Laws and Customs. i6i 
 
 separate casing ; the body was further clothed in a dalmatic, 
 stole, mantle, and a figured cloth of gold; the face was 
 covered with a sudarium, and over all was a strong mantle 
 of linen waxed on the under side. This cloth had been 
 renewed several times in the reigns of Edward III. and 
 Henry V. In the right hand was a sceptre and in the left 
 a rod, both of copper gilt. 
 
 The tomb of Henry IV. at Canterbury was opened in 
 1832 in order to solve an historical doubt. The body of 
 the King was found wrapped in a leaden case fitting close 
 to the figure ; on cutting through this covering it appeared 
 in perfect preservation, but as far as was ascertained ■ at the 
 time there were no insignia of Royalty. 
 
 Towards the end of the 14th century the custom of 
 burying in Royal costume was discontinued, and in its 
 stead a figure painted and dressed to the life was placed over 
 the cofiin and borne in the funeral procession. The earliest 
 instance that we have of this custom is in the case of Henry 
 v., and this "lively effigy" formed the first of those figures 
 for which Westminster Abbey subsequently became cele- 
 brated; those that exist at the present day have been 
 irreverently called the " Ragged Regiment." 
 
 In 1789 the body of Edward IV. was exposed to view in 
 St. George's Chapel, when a quantity of long brown hair was 
 seen, but there were no traces of cere-cloths or robes. He is 
 recorded to have been buried in velvet and cloth of gold. 
 Richard II. was embalmed, cered, and soldered in lead 
 except the face. 
 
 In order to clear up a'doubtful point in history, search was 
 made in 18 13 for the coffin of Charles I., under the 
 immediate supervision of the Prince Regent. A plain 
 leaden coffin was found in Henry VIII.'s vault, bearing the 
 inscription, " King Charles, 1648." Upon this being opened 
 
i63 Laws and Customs. 
 
 the body was found wrapped in cere-cloth, and upon 
 removing this, the face was discovered, still bearing a strong 
 resemblance to the portraits by Vandyke. The head was 
 loose, and being lifted out of the coffin and carefully 
 examined, the muscles of the neck and vertebrae appeared 
 divided, as if by a blow from a sharp instrument ; the coffin 
 was immediately after soldered up and the vault closed. 
 The coffin of Henry VIII., in the same vault, had been 
 violently broken in, and exposed a mere skeleton of the 
 King. 
 
 Statute of Mortmain. — ^Joanna Southcote. 
 
 In 1862, the character and tendency of the writings of 
 Joanna Southcote were illustrated by the Master of the 
 Rolls, in giving judgment in a case which raised a question 
 as to whether a gift of real estate for the purpose of propa- 
 gating " the sacred writings of Joanna Southcote " is a good 
 gift. In the first place it is contended that this gift, if for a 
 lawful and legitimate purpose, is a charitable gift, and there- 
 fore void, so far as the real estate is concerned, by reason of 
 the Statute of Mortmain ; and, secondly, it is urged that the 
 gift is wholly void, both as to realty and personalty, by 
 reason of the immorality and irreligious tendency of the 
 writings of Joanna Southcote, which, by the disposition of 
 her property, the testatrix intended to circulate and make 
 more generally known. On the latter point, not being 
 acquainted with the writings in question, it became my duty 
 (said his Honour) to look into them sufficiently for the pur- 
 pose of satisfying myself in this respect ; and the result of 
 my investigation is that there is nothing to be found in them 
 which, in my opinion, is likely to corrupt the morals of her 
 followers or make her readers irreligious. She was, in my 
 
Laws and Customs. 163 
 
 opinion, a foolish and ignorant woman, of an enthusiastic 
 turn of mind, who had so long wished to become an instru- 
 ment in the hand of God to promote some great good to 
 the earth that, by constant thinking of it, it became in her 
 mind an engrossing and irremovable idea, till, at last, she 
 grew to believe that her wish was accomplished, and that she 
 had been selected by the Almighty for some especial purpose. 
 " Of course, shehad many followers, and probably has some 
 now, as every person will have who has attained to such a 
 pitch of self-confidence as sincerely to believe himself to be 
 an organ of communication with mankind, specially selected 
 for that purpose by the Divine Author of his being. In the 
 history of the life of Joanna Southcote, — in her personal 
 disputations with the Devil, in her prophecies, and in her 
 alleged intercommunion with the spiritual world — I have 
 found much that, in my opinion, is very foolish, but nothing 
 that is likely to make persons who read her works either 
 immoral or irreligious. I cannot, therefore, invalidate this 
 clause in the will of the testatrix by reason of the tendency 
 of the writings of Joanna Southcote. With respect, how- 
 ever, to the other objection raised to the gift — viz., that it is 
 one given to promote objects which are within the meaning 
 of what the Court holds as charitable objects, and conse- 
 quently void, as falling within the provisions of the Statute 
 of Mortmain, this is a much more serious objection. I am 
 of opinion that if a bequest of " money" be made for the 
 purpose of printing and circulating works of a religious ten- 
 dency, or for the purpose of extending the knowledge of the 
 Christian religion, that' this would be a charitable bequest ; 
 and that this Court would, on a proper application being 
 made to it, sanction and settle a scheme for its due adminis- 
 tration. It is but lately, in fact, that I have had to settle 
 and approve in Chambers a scheme of this description. In 
 
1 64 Laws and Customs. 
 
 this respect I am of opinion that the Court of Chancery 
 makes no distinction between one sect of religion and ano- 
 ther ; the gifts to any of them being equally bequests, which 
 are included in the general term of charitable bequests. 
 Neither does this Court in this respect make any distinction 
 between one sect and another. It may be that the tenets of 
 one particular sect are to inculcate doctrines adverse to the 
 very foundation of all religion and subversive of all morality. 
 In such a case, if it should arise, the Court would not only 
 not assist the execution of the bequest, but would declare it 
 to be void. But the character of the bequest, so far as 
 regards the Statute of Mortmain, would not be altered by 
 this circumstance. The general immoral tendency of it 
 would render it void, whether it were to be paid out of pure 
 personalty or out of real estate ; but if the tendency were not 
 immoral and notwithstanding even this Court might hold the 
 opinion that the tenets sought to be promulgated were fool- 
 ish, or even devoid of foundation, the Court would not on 
 these accounts declare it void, or take it out of the class of 
 those legacies which are included in the general term of 
 charitable bequest. The words of the bequest. here are, " to 
 propagate the sacred writings of Joanna Southcote." Joanna 
 Southcote — ^it is shown from her writings — ^was a very sincere 
 Christian, but she laboured under the delusion that she was 
 to be made the medium of the miraculous birth of a child at 
 an advanced period of her life, and that thereby the ad- 
 vancement of the Christian religion would be occasioned. 
 But her works, as far as I have looked into them, contain 
 but litde on this subject, and nothing which could shake the 
 faith of any sincere Christian. In truth — though, in my 
 opinion for the most part confused and incoherent, — they 
 are written with a view of extending the influence of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
Laws and Customs. 165 
 
 " I cannot hold that a bequest by a testator to publish and 
 propagate works in suppport of the Christian religion is a 
 charitable bequest, and at the same time say that if a 
 testator should select for this purpose one out of three or 
 four authors whose works would in his opinion produce that 
 effect, that such a bequest would cease to be charitable. 
 Neither can I do so if a testator should select one single 
 author, whose works, he thinks, will be productive of similar 
 results. If a testator were to have a fund for the purpose of 
 propagating at a very reduced price the religious writings of 
 Dr. Paley or Dr. Butler, I should be of opinion that the 
 bequest was charitable in character, and I am of opinion 
 that I must hold the same with respect to what the testatrix 
 in the present suit calls the sacred or religious writing of 
 Joanna Southcote. Had this bequest been made out of pure 
 personalty, this Court would, in my opinion, have supported 
 it and regulated its application as well as it could ; but as it 
 is given out of land, in my opinion, it is void by reason of 
 the prohibitions contained in the Statute of Mortmain." 
 
 Punishment of Torture in England. 
 
 The history of the use of Torture in England is curious. 
 From the hesitation to apply it to the Templars in the reign 
 of Edward II. (1310), as well as from the express statement 
 of Walter de Hemingford, it appears to have been at that time 
 unknown in England, either as an act of prerogative or as an 
 instrument of criminal inquiry in the ordinary course of law. 
 Nevertheless, Holinshed relates that in 1468 Sir Thomas 
 Coke, the Lord Mayor of London, was convicted of mis- 
 prision of treason upon the evidence of one Hawkins, given 
 under torture ; and that Hawkins himself was convicted of 
 treason by his own confession on the rack, and executed. 
 
i66 Laws and Customs. 
 
 From this period until the Commonwealth the practice of 
 torture was frequent and uninterrupted, the particular in- 
 stances being recorded in the council-books, and the torture 
 warrants, in many cases, being still in existence. The last 
 instance on record occurred in 1640, when one Archer, a 
 glover, who was supposed to have been concerned in the 
 rioters' attack upon Archbishop Laud's palace at Lambeth, 
 "was racked in the Tower," as a contemporary letter states, 
 "to make him confess his companions." A copy of the 
 warrant, under the Privy Seal, authorizing the torture in this 
 case, is extant at the State Paper Office. With this instance 
 the practice of torture in England ceased, no case of its con- 
 tinuance being discernible during the Commonwealth or 
 after the Restoration, But, although, the practice continued 
 during the two centuries immediately before the Common- 
 wealth without interruption, it was condemned as contrary 
 to the law of England, and even declared to be unknown in 
 this country by judges and legal writers of the highest cha- 
 racter who flourished within that period. Thus Fortescue, 
 who was Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, and who 
 wrote his book, De Laudibus Legum Angliee, in the reign of 
 Henry VI., and who writes a case of false accusation under 
 torture (which was probably the case of Sir Thomas Coke 
 above mentioned), condemns the practice in the strongest 
 terms, though he does not expressly deny its existence in 
 England. Again, Sir Thomas Smith, a very eminent lawyer, 
 statesman, and scholar, who wrote in the early part of Eliza- 
 beth's reign, says that " torment or question, which is used 
 by the order of the civil law and custom of other countries, 
 is not used in England. It is taken for servile." (Smith's 
 Commonwealth of England, book ii., cap. 27.) And Sir Ed- 
 ward Coke^ who wrote in the reign of James I., says, "there 
 is no law to warrant torture in this land; and there is no one 
 
Laws and Customs. 167 
 
 opinion in our books, or judicial record, for the maintenance 
 of them." (3 Inst. 35.) Notwithstanding this exphcit denun- 
 ciation of the practice as against law, both Smith and Coke 
 repeatedly acted as commissioners for interrogating prisoners 
 by torture (Jardine's Readings on the Use of Torture in Eng- 
 land) ; and the latter, in a passage which occurs in the same 
 book, and only a few pages before the words just cited, im- 
 plicitly admits that torture was used at examinations taken 
 before trial, though it was not applied at the arraignment or 
 before the judge. There is also a direct judicial opinion 
 against the lawfulness of torture in England. In 1628 the 
 judges unanimously resolved, in answer to a question pro- 
 pounded to them by the King in the case of Felton, who had 
 stabbed the Duke of Buckingham, " that he ought not to be 
 tortured by the rack, for no such punishment is known or 
 allowed by our law." (Rushworth's Collections, vol. i, p. 128.) 
 And yet several of the judges who joined in this re- 
 solution had themselves executed the warrants for torture 
 when they held ministerial offices under the Crown. Possibly 
 the explanation of this inconsistency between the opinions 
 of lawyers, and the practice may be found in a distinction 
 between prerogative and law, which was better understood 
 two centuries ago than it is at the present day. It is true, 
 as the above authorities declared, that torture was not part 
 of the common law; it was not used in judicature as it was 
 by the Roman law, and the legal systems derived from it in 
 Germany, Italy, and Spain ; and, therefore, in England, no 
 judge could by law direct the torture to be applied, and no 
 party or procurator could demand it as a right. But that 
 which was not lawful in the ordinary course of justice was 
 often lawful for the prerogative of the Crown, which autho- 
 rized the mode of enforcing the discovery of crimes affecting 
 the State, sucl; as treason or sedition, and sometimes of 
 
i68 Laws and Customs. 
 
 offences of a grave character, not political, — ^acting, in this 
 respect, independently of and even paramount to the com- 
 mon law, asserted so early as the reign of Edward I. This 
 view of the subject is confirmed by the circumstance that in 
 all instances of the application of torture in England, the 
 warrants were issued immediately by the King or by the 
 Privy Council. Objectionable as the use of torture was in 
 all countries and under all circumstances, it was in no coun- 
 try so unjust and dangerous an instrumental power as in 
 England. 
 
 In other countries, where it formed part of the law of the 
 land, it was subject to specific rules and restrictions, fixed 
 and determined by the same law which authorized the use of 
 such an instrument, and those who transgressed them were 
 liable to severe punishment. But in England there were no 
 rules, no responsibility, no law beyond the will of the King. 
 " The rack," says Selden, " is nowhere used as in England. 
 In other countries it is used in judicature, when there is 
 semiplena probatio, a half-proof against a man; then, to see 
 if they can make it full, they rack him if he will not confess. 
 But here, in England, they take a man and rack him — I do 
 not know why nor when — not in time of judicature, but when 
 somebody bids." (Table Talk, Trials.) 
 
 The modes of appl)dng torture were as various as the in- 
 genuity of man is fertile in devising the means of inflicting 
 bodily pain. The Rack, which was common throughout 
 Europe, was a large frame, in shape somewhat resembling a 
 mangle, upon which the examinant was stretched and bound; 
 cords were then attached to his extremities, and by a lever, 
 gradually strained, till, when carried to the utmost severity, 
 the operation dislocated the joints of the wrists and ankles. 
 This engine is sa:id to have been brought into the Tower of 
 London by the Duke of Exeter, in the reign of Henry VI., 
 
Laws and Customs. 169 
 
 and was hence called " the Duke of Exeter's Daughter." 
 Besides the rack there were endless varieties of " the lesser 
 tortures," such as thumb-screws, pincers, and manacles. In 
 England one of the most dreaded engines of this kind was 
 the Scavenger's Daughter, so called by a popular corruption 
 from Skevington's Daughter, being invented by Sir William 
 Skevington, a lieutenant of the Tower in the reign of Henry 
 VIII. The engine was found in " IJttle Ease " in the Tower, 
 in 1604, by a committee of the House of Commons ap- 
 pointed to inquire as to the state of the dungeon so called. 
 In Scotland the instruments were the boots, called in France 
 " le brodequin " (in which the torture was applied by driving 
 in wedges with a hammer between the flesh, and iron rings 
 drawn tightly upon the legs; the thummikins; the pinniwinks 
 or fuUiwinks ; the caspitaws, or capsicaws. The particular 
 construction of these barbarous instruments it would be diffi- 
 cult at the present day to ascertain; but several of them were 
 in practical use in Scotland within twenty years from the 
 final abolition of torture in that country in 1708. 
 
 Mr. Jardine has shown fifty instances of the infliction of 
 torture. The last torture warrant is stated to be signed with 
 the sign manual of King William III., is dated at Kensing- 
 ton Palace, and is for the torturing of Noryill Pain. With 
 the form of that terrible instrument of torture — the Rack — 
 we are familiar from the plates to the early editions of Foxe's 
 Book of Martyrs. 
 
 Dr. Lingard, in his account of the different kinds of 
 torture used in the Tower in the times of the Tudors, says, 
 "A fourth kind of torture was a cell called 'Little Ease.' It 
 was of so small dimensions and so constructed that fhe pri- 
 soner could neither stand, sit, nor lie in it at full length. He 
 was compelled to draw himself up in a squatting posture, and 
 so remained during several days." Handle Holme tells us 
 
lyo Laws and Customs. 
 
 • 
 
 that "there was a similar place at Chester, where it was used 
 for the, punishment of petty offences. In the House of Correc- 
 tion is a place cut into a rock, with a grate-door before it ; into 
 this place are put renegadoes, apprentices, &c., that disobey 
 their parents and masters, robbers of orchards, and such like 
 rebellious youths, in which they can neither stand, sit, kneel, 
 or lie down, but be all in a ruck, or knit together, and in 
 such a lamentable condition that half an hour will tame the' 
 strongest and stubbornest stomach, and will make him have 
 a desire to be freed from the place.'' 
 
 We have various evidence of the use of the rack in Eng- 
 and. Sir Walter Raleigh, at his trial, mentioned that Ken- 
 tish was threatened with the rack, and that the keeper of 
 this horrid instrument was sent for. Bishop Laud told Felton 
 that if he would not confess he must go to the rack. Cam- 
 pion, the Jesuit, was put to the rack in the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, and in Collier's Ecclesiastical History are mentioned 
 other instances during the same reign. Bishop Burnet, 
 likewise, in.his History of the Reformation, states that Anne 
 Askew was tortured in the Tower in 1546, sind that the Lord 
 Chancellor, throwing off his gown, drew the rack so severely 
 that he almost drew her body asunder. It appears from the 
 Cecil Papers that all the Duke of Norfolk's servants were 
 tortured by order of Queen Elizabeth, who also threatened 
 Hayward, the historian, with the rack. Ben Jonson alludes 
 to the rack being threatened in his time. "And like the 
 German lord, when he went out of Newgate into the cart, 
 took orders to have his arms set up, &c. . . . The judge 
 entertained him most civilly, discoursed with him, offered 
 him the courtesy of the rack, but he confessed," &c. 
 
 This exhaustive article is in the main abridged from the 
 Penny Cyclopcedia. 
 
Laws and Customs. 171 
 
 Legality of Wagers. 
 
 In olden times, a- favourite form of wager was " a rump 
 and dozen." In the case ai Hussey v. Cricket, 3 Campbell's 
 Nisi Prius Cases, 168, an action was brought upon a wager 
 of a rump and dozen, whether the defendant was older than 
 the plaintiff. The question argued before the Court of 
 Common Pleas was, whether the action was maintainable ? 
 Sir James Mansfield, CJ., said, " I am inclined to think I 
 ought not to have tried this case ; I do not judicially know 
 the meaning of a rump and dozen. While we are occupied 
 with these idle disputes, parties have large debts due to 
 them, and questions of great magnitude to try were griev- 
 ously delayed. However, the cause being here, we must 
 now dispose of it." 
 
 Heath, J. : "I am rather sorry this action has been 
 brought, but I do not doubt that it is maintainable. Wagers 
 are generally legal, and there is nothing to take this wager 
 out of the common rule. We know very well, privately, 
 that a rump and, dozen is what the witness states, viz., a 
 good dinner and wine, in which I can discover no ille- 
 gahty." 
 
 What is Negligence? 
 
 A very char;j.cteristic judgment has been delivered by 
 Baron Bramwell in the case of Carstairs v. Taylor. The 
 question was, whether it was negligence to collect roof-water 
 in a box capable of being eaten through by rats, damage 
 from leakage having resulted to plaintiff's goods. When 
 the box is repaired (said the learned baron), it will pro- 
 bably be repaired in such a way that this accident- cannot 
 occur again ; but, as I have often said, to treat this as 
 
17a Laws and Customs. 
 
 evidence of negligence is to say that whenever the world 
 grows wiser it convicts those that come before it of negli- 
 gence. It is said that rats can be easily got rid of out of a 
 warehouse ; but, assuming it to be so, it is no negligence not 
 to take means to get rid of them till there is reason to 
 suppose they are there ; and it cannot be said the persons 
 ought to anticipate that rats will enter through the roof by 
 gnawing holes in the gutters. — Law Times. 
 
 A Society of Raisers. 
 
 This Association describes its object to be, by weekly 
 contributions, to create a fund to enable them to defend 
 themselves against any reduction of wages, and to prevent 
 all encroachments upon their rights. Payments would be 
 made out of the fund to members authorized by the officers 
 for the time being to strike or cease to work. All disputes 
 relative to reduction in wages, &c., were to be decided by 
 a majority of the "Raisers" in special meeting assembled. 
 A short preface was prefixed to the rules, exhorting the 
 " Raisers " to join heart and hand to protect their wages, on 
 the ground that "Christ had said, 'Do unto others as ye 
 would others should do unto you.'" Application was made 
 to register the " Raisers " under the Friendly Societies' Act, 
 but it was not considered entitled to such protection. 
 
 Giving Testimonials. 
 
 In the Court of Common Pleas, an attorney at Brentford 
 brought an action against a builder at Camden Town, to 
 recover damages on the ground that defendant had given to 
 plaintiff a false representation as to character and respect- 
 ability. The representation ran as follows : — " In answer to 
 
Laws and Customs. 173 
 
 yours of the nth, respecting Mr. Kingston, I can only say I 
 have known him for a period of thirty years, and have done 
 business for him, and should be very glad to execute his 
 orders to any amount, as I believe him to be one of respec- 
 tability and integrity." In consequence, as was alleged, of 
 this testimonial, aij agreement ■ was prepared and executed, 
 by which certain property was let to Kingston, upon the 
 terms that he should pull down an old house and build new 
 ones at a cost of not less than 1200/.; paying nothing for 
 the first year, but subsequently 65/. a year rent. Kingston, 
 according to plaintiff's statement, took possession, and one 
 part of his agreement he performed to the utmost, for he 
 pulled down the house to its foundation, pulled up the 
 drains to get at the old materials, and, as counsel said, "left 
 not a brick behind." The materials were said to be worth 
 about 400/. but Kingston sold them all for 180/., and then 
 took no steps to rebuild the new houses, and paid no rent. 
 Plaintiff wrote to defendant about what had taken place, but 
 got for answer that defendant could only repeat what he had 
 already said of Mr. Kingston. The jury gave a verdict 
 • for plaintiff: damages, 400/. — From the Builder. 
 
 "Arms of the Sea." 
 
 Some valuable information respecting "arms of the sea" 
 is given in the Report of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries 
 issued in 1871. " The word estuary,'' says the Report, "is 
 not defined in Hale, de Jure Maris, but in that work (Book I., 
 . cap. iv. 2) there is the following statement of ' what is taken 
 to be an arm of the sea :' — ' For the second, that is called an 
 arm of the sea where the sea flows and reflows, and so far 
 only as the sea so flows and reflows, so that the river of 
 Thames above Kingston, and the river of Severn above 
 
174 Laws and Customs, 
 
 Tewkesbury, &c., though they are public rivers, yet are not 
 arms of the sea. But it seems that although the water be 
 fresh at high water, yet the denomination of an arm of the 
 sea continues if it flow and reflow, as in the Thames above 
 the bridge (22 Ass. 93). Nota que chascun eu que flow et 
 reflow est appel bras de mere cy tantavint come il flow.' " 
 This must be conclusive to any one capable of under- 
 standing it, and fully explains the meaning of a verse in an 
 old song of the last century, which had hitherto baffled 
 explanation : — 
 
 " An arm of the sea, 
 Introduced by a tree, 
 To a brisk young whale advances, 
 ' Madam, may I win 
 The honour of your fin 
 For the two next country dances, ' " 
 
 Perjury. 
 
 A summary power of committing persons guilty of Perjury 
 is vested in all the courts of the country by the Statute 
 14 and 15 Vict., c. 100. One object of this statute is to 
 give the prosecutor his costs, when the prosecution is 
 directed by the Court. It was passed to meet an expected 
 increase of crimes of this nature, from the parties being 
 allowed to give evidence in their own causes. 
 
 Goods. 
 
 In actions for the non-delivery of Goods, the plaintiff, if 
 successful, may have the goods themselves specially deU- 
 vered to him, or the value of them assessed by the jury. 
 This most beneficial change in the law is made by the 
 Mercantile Law Amendment Act, 1855, 19 and 20 Vic- 
 toria, c. 97, 
 
Laws and Customs. 175 
 
 Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes. 
 
 On August 14, 187 1, an Act of Parliament was passed to 
 abolish days of grace in the case of bills of exchange and 
 promissory notes payable at sight or on presentation. It 
 recites that doubts have arisen whether, by the custom of 
 merchants, a bill of exchange or promissory note, purporting 
 to be payable at sight or on presentation, is payable until 
 the expiration of a certain number of "days of grace ;" and 
 it is expedient that such bills of exchange and promissory 
 notes should bear the same stamp, and should be payable 
 in the same manner, as bills of exchange and promissory 
 notes purporting to be payable on demand. It is enacted 
 that bills payable at sight or on presentation shall be payable 
 on demand, any law or custom to the contrary notwith- 
 standing. For the purpose of the Act the terms "bill of 
 exchange " and " promissory note " are to have the same 
 meanings as are given to them in the Stamp Act, 1870. A 
 bill of exchange purporting to be payable at sight, and 
 drawn at any time between the ist of January, 187 1, and 
 the day of the passing of this Act (14th of August), both 
 inclusive, and stamped as a bill of exchange payable on 
 demand, shall be admissible in evidence on payment of the 
 • difference between the amount of stamp duty paid on such 
 bill and the amount which would have been payable if this 
 Act had not passed. 
 
 Ancient and Modern Law of Lunacy. 
 
 In the case of persons of unsound mind, the civil law of 
 Rome agrees with ours, in assigning them tutors to protect 
 their persons, and curators to manage their estates. But in 
 another instance, the Roman law goes much beyond the 
 
176 Laws and Customs. 
 
 English; for, if a man by notorious prodigality was in 
 danger of wasting his estate, he was looked upon as non 
 compos, and committed to the care of curators or tutors by 
 the praetor. And by the laws of Solon, such prodigals were 
 branded with perpetual infamy. But with us, when a man 
 on an inquest of idiotcy hath been returned an unthrift, and 
 not an idiot, no further proceedings have been had. — 
 Stephen. 
 
 Law of Parent and Child. 
 
 The statute ir and 12 William III., c. 4, which empowers 
 the Chancellor to order the allowance to the Protestant child 
 of a Popish parent, and the statute i Anne, c. 30, which 
 granted similar powers of coercing a Jewish parent, are both 
 repealed by the statute 9 and 10 Vict. c. 59. A much more 
 recent statute has imposed on the parents of children con- 
 victed of crime the burden of contributing to their support 
 during a course of reformatory training, the law rightly 
 judging that the crimes of children are the result of the negli- 
 gence of the parents. — See 20 and 21 Vict. ^.55. 
 
 A Legacy Lost. 
 
 In an autobiographical Memoir of Thomas Hard^, whose 
 trial on a charge of high treason in 1794, and his acquittal, 
 after nine days' investigation, are well known, speaking of 
 Mr., afterwards Lord Chancellor Erskine, his counsel, the 
 memoir states : — " One disappointment in the legacy way is 
 particularly worthy of remark. A gentleman of large fortune 
 in Derbyshire, of the name of Kant, soon after the State 
 Trials in 1 794, made his will, and in testimony of his appro- 
 bation of the ability, patriotic exertions, and splendid elo- 
 
Laws and Customs. 177 
 
 quence displayed by Mr. Erskine in his defence of Hardy, 
 bequeathed him an estate worth upwards of thirty thousand 
 pounds. Hardy himself was also handsomely mentioned in 
 the will, to which Mr. Kant afterwards added a codicil. He 
 died about seven years afterwards, and his attorney came up 
 to London with the will enclosed in a letter written by the 
 gentleman himself at the time of making it. After Mr. 
 Erskine had read the letter, he asked the attorney if he had 
 taken the proper legal steps to make the codicil valid? He 
 
 replied, ' No.' Then said Mr. Erskine, ' By , you have 
 
 lost me the estate.' Mr. Erskine sent for Hardy a few days 
 afterwards, told him what had happened, and said that the 
 will was void through the ignorance or villainy of a stupid 
 country attorney." 
 
 Serving on Juries. 
 
 The notions of exemption from Serving on Juries are very 
 confined. At the opening of the Middlesex Sessions, June, 
 1871, several gentlemen who did not answer when called to 
 serve on the Grand Jury, were fined lo/. each. One gentle- 
 man summoned said he was over age, and had served his 
 country for sixty-eight years. The Assistant-Judge : " So am I 
 overage." The Juror: "But you are paid for it." (Laughter.) 
 The Assistant-Judge : " Being over age is no excuse — you 
 must serve." 
 
 Hundreds and Tithings. 
 
 The Rev. W. Barnes, in a paper read by him to the British 
 Archaeological Association, at Weymouth, in 187 1, combats 
 the ancient teaching that England had been divided into 
 hundreds and tithings by King Alfred, the ground given for 
 such assertion being founded on Blackston^s Commentaries, 
 
 N 
 
178 Laws and Customs. 
 
 book iv. c. 33. He did not find in Saxon-English laws or 
 writings any good ground for this opinion, and he added 
 that the laws or landshares of Wales would go to show that 
 the Hundred was an institution of the old Britons. The 
 hundred and free borough were named in the Saxon-English 
 laws as things already known to law-learned men. He traced 
 the use of the term in the early laws of Rome, and he found 
 the term " canfref " (hundred) in a poem by Taliesin, a Welsh 
 bard, entitled " Caniad'frau aeth y mor dros y cantref Galeod," 
 meaning " A song when the sea came over the lowland hun- 
 dred." This related to a supposed bursting of the sea into 
 Cardigan Bay in the year 500. In Yorkshire they had 
 " ridings " or " trithings." Having noticed the occurrence 
 of the hundred in Dorset, he came to the conclusion that 
 England was not divided into hundreds by King Alfred, nor 
 by any one King of the English people. He believed the 
 Saxon-English founded the hundred (cantref) as an institu- 
 tion of the Britons, as we know the Britons had a freeborough 
 of kindred, forwhich the English, who did not settle hereon the 
 land by hundreds, took the freeboroughship of landholders, 
 whether of one hundred or not. He thought the tithing 
 might have been one of the institutions of English law, as 
 they were not bound to believe that the English outshared 
 the hundreds into so many tithings each, as he did not think 
 they had all an even toll of tithings. 
 
 Enfranchisement of Copyholds. 
 
 The enfranchisement of copyholds, to facilitate which a 
 great many Acts of Parliament have been passed, has at 
 length, by the statute of 15 and 16 Vict. c. 5 1, been rendered 
 compulsory alike on the landlord as on the tenant, on terms 
 which are to be determined in case of difference by the copy- 
 hold commissioners nominated by the statutes. It would 
 
Laws and Customs. 179 
 
 seem that the holders of copyhold property are gradually 
 availing themselves of the faciHties afforded by the statutes ; 
 so that in course of time the old tenure by copy of Court 
 Roll will become rare and perhaps unknown. This is one 
 of the many instances showing the tendency of modern legis- 
 lature to simplify and cheapen the transfer of real property. 
 ^Blackston^s Commentaries, Kerr's edit. vol. vii. p. 146. 
 
 The Reform Bill. 
 
 It is curious to observe that involuntarily Lord John 
 Russell, as the originator of the Reform Bill, proved the true 
 prophet of the fate of his own measure. He it was who de- 
 clared the finality of the Reform Bill; and when, in 1861, 
 his .lordship proposed to amend the law, the country took 
 him at his word, and by their indifference to the proposed 
 measure pronounced the Reform Act to he^ final. 
 
 These were parlous times, considered even at forty years' 
 distance. " Never, probably, was there a period in our 
 history when the passions of the populace were more dexter- 
 ously and deliberately suited by men of high station and by 
 no means contemptible intellect. Treason was then in 
 vogue ; sedition openly encouraged. Most of us can recol- 
 lect the ugly and ominous emblems which were paraded 
 through the streets of larger towns, and the violence with 
 which every one supposed to be hostile to the popular mea^ 
 sure was assailed. Haughty aristocrats condescended to 
 treat with Jacobin clubs and political unions." — Blackwood's 
 Magazine, 1850. 
 
 Censorship of the Drama. 
 
 Mr. Shee, of whom it has been oddly observed that he was 
 an accomplished gentleman rather than a great painter, wrote 
 a tragedy called Alasco, the principal character of which he 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o Laws and Customs. 
 
 deemed to be particularly suited to the histrionic powers of 
 his friend John Kemble. But it happened to be the first 
 tragedy which fell into the hands of Colman, the new 
 licenser of plays ; and he, regarding himself as charged with 
 the conservation of the political as well as the moral purity 
 of the play-going public, sternly refused to permit it to be 
 performed, so long as . it contained certain bits of declama- 
 tion about liberty and the denunciation of despotism. To 
 the expurgation of these the author as resolutely refused to 
 submit, and appealed to the Lord Chamberlain himself 
 against the decision of his deputy. But the Chamberlain 
 (the Duke of Montrose), declining to examine that on which 
 his deputy had reported, replied, somewhat ungrammatically, 
 " I do conclude that, at this time, without considerable 
 omissions, the tragedy should not be acted." Shee, however, 
 was not to be so silenced, and resolved to shame his accusers 
 by printing his tragedy, though it was not allowed to be per- 
 formed. It accordingly appeared in 1824, with a preface in 
 which the facts were set forth with considerable warmth, 
 while all the prohibited passages were printed in italics. 
 The tragedy itself is forgotten now, but it will be referred to 
 by writers of literary and political history for illustrating 
 what was prohibited as politically dangerous in London so 
 late as 1824. The censor certainly did his work carefully. 
 Treason is seen to lurk sometimes in single words — often in 
 single lines — such as, — 
 
 "Or question the high privilege of oppression. '' 
 
 Even the mention of — 
 
 "Some slanderous tool of state, 
 Some taunting, dull, unmanner'd deputy." 
 
 is thought to bode mischief, and is expurged accordingly. — 
 Penny Cydopcedia, Sup. 2. 
 
SCRIPTURAL WORDS AND 
 PHRASES. 
 
 The Book of Genesis. 
 
 Sir Henry Rawlinson, in expressing his conviction of the 
 connexion subsisting between the Babylonian documents in 
 our possession and the earliest Biblical notices, has no doubt 
 that we shall be able to derive the whole of the history 
 given in the Book of Genesis from the time of Abraham from 
 the original documents ; and it is not too much to expect 
 that almost the same facts and the same descriptions will 
 be found in the Babylonian documents as in the Bible. He 
 has shown that the Garden of Eden was the natural name of 
 Babylon. The rivers bore the very same names, and it 
 will be seen that the Babylonian documents gave an exact 
 geographical account of the Garden of Eden. He speaks, 
 of course, merely of the geography, and not of the facts 
 connected with it. The same remarks will apply to the 
 accounts of the Flood and of the building of the Tower of 
 Babel, which it will be found are most amply illustrated in 
 the Babylonian documents. 
 
 The Personnel of Adam and Eve. 
 
 We suppose we must accept modem philosophical doc- 
 trines, but it is not a pleasant idea to think that for untold my^ 
 
i8a Scriptural. 
 
 riads of years our ancestors were benighted savages, dwelling 
 miserably in gloomy caves, squabbling over reindeer marrow- 
 bones, and, perchance, stabbing each other occasionally with 
 their flint knives. We would rather, unphilosophic though 
 it may appear, accept Archbishop Usher's old-fashioned 
 chronology, believe that our first father and mother lived less 
 than 6000 years ago, that he was the handsomest of men, 
 and she the comeliest of women, and that, so far from being 
 a pair of brutish creatures only a step removed from the 
 chimpanzee, they were stamped, upon their very entrance 
 into the world, with the image of the Divine Majesty. 
 
 "We think," says a masterly writer in the Quarterly Re- 
 view, " there are sufficient grounds, without reference to the 
 sacred writings, for arriving at the conclusion, that all races 
 and diversities of mankind are really derived from a single 
 pair, placed on the earth for the purpose of peopling its sur- 
 face, in both the lives before us, and during the age which it 
 may please the Creator yet to assign to the present order of 
 existence here." 
 
 Noah's Ark. 
 
 Of course. Sir John Maundeville has something marvellous 
 to tell us about Noah's Ark. He speaks of a mountain called 
 Ararat, but the Jews call it Taneez, where Noah's ship rested, 
 and still is upon that mountain ; and men may see it afar in 
 clear weather. That mountain is full seven miles high, and 
 some men say that they have seen and touched the ship, and 
 put their fingers in the part where the devil went out when 
 Noah said ' Benedicite.' But they that say so speak with- 
 out knowledge ; for no one can go up the mountain for the 
 great abundance of snow which is always on that mountain, 
 both summer and winter, so that no man ever went up since 
 
Scriptural. 183 
 
 the time of Noah, except a monk, who, by God's grace, 
 brought one of the planks down, which is yet in the monas- 
 tery at the foot of the mountain. This must have been the 
 plank afterwards carried off to Constantinople, for three of 
 the doors of St. Sophia were veneered with wood from the 
 ark. — Cornhill Magazine. 
 
 Ex. ii. 4. — Ark. "And when she could not longer hide 
 him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it 
 with sHme and pitch, and put the child therein." This word, 
 which signifies a chest or coffer (from Lat. area), is applied 
 especially to the closed vessel that contained Noah and his 
 family, and the coffer in which the covenant was deposited. 
 Here it is applied to the little covered vessel in which the 
 infant Moses was exposed on the Nile ; and it is still used in 
 Scotland and Yorkshire for a corn ox flour chest. 
 
 Chested occurs in Gen. 1. " Joseph dieth, and is chested." 
 Chestedhtrz obviously signifies being put into a coffin, and 
 comes from the word chest, by which word a coffin was some- 
 times called by the old writers. 
 
 " He is now ded, and nailed in his cheste. 
 I pray to God to give his soule reste." 
 
 Chaticer. 
 Booker's Obsolete Scripture Words. 
 
 Mediaeval Legends. 
 
 Professor Max Muller has examined shortly the origin of 
 some mediseval legends, such as the legend of St. Christopher, 
 of St. Ignatius Theophorus, which owed their origin entirely 
 to the misapprehension of a name. The story of the talking 
 crucifix of Bonaventura is traced back to the sa3dng of Bona- 
 ventura that it was the image which dictated all his works to 
 him. The legends of saints fighting with dragons are ex- 
 plained as allegorical representations of their struggles with 
 
184 Scriptural. 
 
 sin. St. Patrick, driving away every poisonous creature from 
 Ireland, is explained as a missionary who had successfully 
 driven out the venemous brood of heresy and idolatry ; and 
 the belief in mart)T:s walking about after their execution with 
 their heads in their arms is traced back to sculptures in which 
 martyrs, executed by the sword, were so represented. Another 
 case of modern mythology is when an abstract term, expres- 
 sive of a quality, or of a mode of existence, is raised into a 
 substantial, real, and personal being. This tendency — ^which 
 in ancient times led to the creation of gods and goddesses, 
 such as Virtue and Peace, and to a belief in beings such as 
 Kronos, Time ; Eos, Dawn ; Demeter, Earth — producesinour 
 own times conceptions of a similar character, such as Nature, ' 
 Force, Atoms, Imponderable Substances, Ether, &c., which 
 receive a passing worship in the successive schools of philo- 
 sophy, and are at the bottom of most of the controversies 
 which occupy the thoughts of each generation. — Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 The Moabite Stone. 
 
 There has been discovered in the land of Moab a stone 
 covered with writing — being the only authentic and original 
 Biblical monument which has been found up to the present 
 time. Indeed, according to M. Ganneau, the King Mesha 
 is no other than the King of Moab whose bloody wars the 
 Bible recounts, and who was contemporary with the Kings 
 of Israel, Ahab, Ahaziah, and Jehoram. 
 
 The Rev. D. Ginsburg says that the inscription on the 
 stone reads almost like a chapter of the Bible, this curious 
 relic dating back 900 years before Christ, and the inscription 
 being older than two-thirds of the Old Testament. Out of 
 twelve or fifteen Moabite cities mentioned in the Old Testa- 
 ment, eleven were enumerated in that inscription. He con- 
 
Scriptural. 185 
 
 eludes that at the period indicated an organized temple ser- 
 vice existed amongst Jews out of Palestine, and that Ihat 
 service must have been very much akin to the service of the 
 Moabites ; that the inscription was]far more simple than two- 
 thirds of the Old Testament ; that in military prowess they 
 were superior to the" Jews ; and that the ancient Greeks and 
 Romans, and we ourselves, had derived what had become 
 our alphabet from them. 
 
 The Patriarch Abraham. 
 
 Dr. Wilberforce, Bishop of Winchester, in his sketches of 
 the Heroes of Hebrew History, says of the birth of Abraham, 
 " Here we stand among the great progenitors of our race. 
 Abram's birth was but two hundred and eighty years after 
 the Flood ; a shorter period than has passed since Queen 
 Elizabeth sat under a tree which is still alive. in Hatfield- 
 park, and saw the approach of the Royal messenger who 
 brought her, instead of the expected warrant to a dungeon 
 and a scaffold, the tidings of her succession to the throne of 
 England." Abraham was "the fountain-head of Hebrew 
 hero-life." In what early time of the world he lived is 
 brought home to us by suppositions founded upon the usual 
 chronology. Noah was still alive when Abraham was three- 
 score years old, " and may well have repeated in his hear- 
 ing the wonderful story of that rescued life which the hand 
 of God himself had shut for safety into the ark of gopher 
 wood." By such communings Abram's soul may have 
 ripened into that supreme trust in God's providence which 
 was the ruling principle of his Hfe; when he followed the 
 Voice across Mesopotamian steppes he was made certain of 
 his journey's end by remembering how wonderfully the hand 
 which was his guide had piloted the ark upon the waters. 
 On and on he journeyed, and at last across the mighty 
 
1 86 Scriptural. 
 
 Euphrates, " the ' great river,' ' the flood ; ' the ' other side ' of 
 which to those ancient men was Httle less of a partition from 
 all they knew of life than were the waters of the great 
 Atlantic to the adventurous Columbus. Right across the 
 flood the mystic summons called the son of Terah, and over 
 it he dutifully sped, and came into the land of Canaan." By 
 such realistic touches and illustration does Dr. Wilberforce 
 fix our attention upon these episodes of the sacred history of 
 mankind. Abraham is " the Great Sheik : Grand, generous, 
 powerful ; when necessary, warlike, and always munificent." 
 Esau is the "bold, wild, impetuous, generous, spirited, po- 
 pular Arab." Joseph is a financier, an Egyptian patriot, a 
 ruler of men. All through the book the writer shows the 
 greatest skill in giving the full meaning of Biblical phraseo- 
 logy by translating it into modern language, and this is done 
 so easily, the style is so clear and flowing, that not one 
 beauty of the original record is suffered to evaporate. At 
 intervals the actual text is returned to, and the additional 
 matter seems only its natural complement — seems only the 
 meaning which lies within it, and to have been drawn forth 
 from it by the earnest contemplation of one who loves it 
 well. With glowing enthusiasm he sums up the whole mat- 
 ter, declaring, " from first to last all Holy Scripture is full of 
 Christ. In direct prediction, in type, in example. He is ever 
 reappearing. It is the perpetual presence of this one master- 
 figure, the marvel that throughout the ten thousand mys- 
 terious characters which are inscribed upon that still unrolling 
 scroll the same image ever recurs, which, to the eye of faith, 
 makes up the mighty wholeness of the prophetic record." 
 
 toT's Wife turned into a Pillar of Salt. 
 
 In the Early English Alliterative Poem, edited by Mr. Morris 
 (the first publication of the Early English Text Society), 
 
Scriptural. 187 
 
 there occurs in the poem called " Cleanness,'' a version of 
 the scriptural story of the destruction of the cities of the Plain. 
 In this version, Lot commands that no salt shall be put into 
 the food, wherewith he regales his angel visitors, and this 
 command is scornfully disobeyed by his wife. When she is 
 turned into a pillar of salt the poet expressly states that this 
 judgment fell on her for two reasons ; first, that she served 
 the salt before the Lord at Lot's supper ; second, that she 
 looked back. — Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 260. 
 
 The Pentateuch. 
 
 The authorship of the Five Books of Moses has been 
 hotly controverted. Bishop Browne says, "Every thing 
 tends to prove that the history of the Pentateuch must be 
 in its main facts true. The people, without question, came 
 out of Egypt, sojourned in the wilderness, conquered 
 Canaan, and must have been both numerous and well-trained, 
 or such a conquest must have been impossible. This is 
 exactly what the Pentateuch says, and what Bishop Colenso 
 denies." 
 
 The analysis of his argument can be given (says the 
 AthencBum) nearly in his own words : — ^A large portion of 
 Joshua is due to the author of Deuteronomy, which therefore 
 could not have been written by Moses. The Deuteronomist 
 revised the other four books. About two-ninths of Genesis 
 are Elohistic : this part contains peculiarities of phrase, 29 
 of which occur 10 times each, on an average, in the two- 
 ninths, and not at all in the rest ; and 100 " formute," 
 which occur on the average each more than 10 times — 20 of 
 them 47 times — in the other portions, do not appear in the 
 Elohistic portions. Many discrepancies and contradictions 
 are found between the Elohistic and the other parts. Other 
 
1 88 Scriptural. 
 
 discrepancies give reason to conclude that ch. xiv. is the 
 work of a second Jehovistic writer, and that ch. xv. and some 
 other passages are interpolations of the Deuteronomist. 
 Three-fourths of the whole book being thus disposed of, 
 about one-tenth of the remainder, though Elohistic as to the 
 name of God, is referred to a second Elohist. Dr, Colenso 
 thinks that this second Elohist was really the Jehovist at a 
 different period of his life. The Elohist is supposed to have 
 written in the latter years of Saul, and may have been 
 Samuel : the Jehovist is referred to the time of David and 
 Solomon. The second Jehovist is referred to the later time 
 of David : the Deuteronomist to the time of Jeremiah. Dr. 
 Colenso puts his dates together as follows : the prophets 
 named are those who may have written the several portions, 
 and, of all we know, are supposed most likely to have done 
 
 so. 
 
 B.C. Contemplated Prophet. 
 
 Elohist Iioo — 1060 Samuel. 
 
 Second Elohist Jehovist 1060 — loio Nathan. 
 
 Second Jehovist 1035 Gad. 
 
 Deuteronomist 641 — 624 Jeremiah. 
 
 Dr. Colenso examines the probable origin of the name. 
 Jehovah, and gives his reasons for supposing that it was 
 gradually adopted by the Israelites after their entrance into 
 Canaan, from their coming into contact with the Syro-Pheni- 
 cians, with whom this name, or a name so like it as to be 
 represented by Greek writers. Christian as well as heathen, 
 by the very same letters, lAO, was the great mysterious name 
 of their chief Deity, the Sun. 
 
 The Jews and the Egyptians. 
 
 It is an interesting consideration how the mingling of 
 family blood by the Jews, in imitation of the Egyptians, 
 
Scriptural. 189 
 
 affected their physical development. The representations 
 on Egyptian monuments show the Egyptians to have been 
 a comparatively feeble and emaciated race. The dwarfs 
 who were said to be the Aztecs ' from Central America had 
 in their features a great resemblance to some of the Egyptian 
 portraits. Like causes might have produced like effects. 
 As to the Jews, there are now scarcely any that pretend to a 
 descent from the ancient Jews prior to the Christian era ; 
 and one is at a loss to know by what means so many hetero- 
 geneous nations, Arabian, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, 
 Hungarian, Turkish, and Russian, got mingled in name and 
 blood with them. The depreciation is very obvious if we 
 compare them with the figures on the Assyrian monuments, 
 but less so if we compare them with their ancestors in the 
 Egyptian portraits. — J. /. Buckton: Notes and Queries, 
 3rd S., No. 248. 
 
 The Evil Eye in Egypt. 
 
 There is gross ignorance and superstition among the people 
 of Egypt, and the most noxious of their superstitions is their 
 
 ' In June, 1853, a couple of children, stated to have been brought 
 from a city long hidden, called Ixamayil, were exhibited in London as 
 genuine descendants of the ancient Aztecs They were dwarfs, almost 
 idiots, and knew no language, though with much difficulty they had 
 been taught to pronounce a few words of English. A most improbable 
 tale was related of the manner of their being obtained ; and it was 
 related that the pure race had become thus diminutive, and that they 
 were employed only as priests or priestesses, or rather as representative 
 of a deity. Professor Owen, on examining them, pronounced that they 
 were merely exceptional dwarfs, specimens of some races, probably 
 South Americans, of the usual stature, with a mixture of European 
 blood; and Dr. Conolly, formerly of Hanwell, announced that they 
 were examples of a peculiar kind of cretinism, not attended with goitres. 
 — Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 248. 
 
iQo Scriptural. 
 
 dread of the evil eye.- A piece of red cloth on a woman's 
 dress, or any thing striking about a camel, is considered a 
 conductor to attract the glance of the possessor of the evil 
 eye. A fine horse or a fine house is enjoyed with fear and 
 trembling ; and the butcher is afraid to exhibit fine beef, lest 
 the evil eye should covet it, and it should become putrid. 
 Children are peculiarly the objects of this fear. When 
 allowed to go abroad, they are studiously ill dressed : but 
 more generally they are kept at home safe from admiration. 
 In Europe it is the children of the rich who live ; in Egypt 
 it is the children of the poor. They may be seen in the 
 fields collected around a tethered buffalo, having been sent 
 out at sunrise, and at sunset they enter their miserable 
 hovels, only to sleep, and that only in wiiiter. In summer 
 they live night and day in the fields, while the children of the 
 rich are confined in the .harem from fear of the evil eye. 
 Achmet Pasha had 280 children, and only six survived. 
 Mahomed Pasha had eighty-seven children, and only ten 
 were alive at his death. — Archbishop Whately. 
 
 The Red Sea. 
 
 It is curious to find from how minute a plant the " Red 
 Sea'' obtained its name : — " The plants of the sea are 
 often of a size altogether microscopical. Freycinet and 
 Turrel, when on board the corvette La Creole, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Tajo, in the Isle of Lucon, observed an extent 
 of thirty-five square miles tinted a bright red. This colour 
 proved to be due to the presence of a minute plant, so 
 small that in a square inch there were 25,000,000 individuals. 
 As this coloration is extended to a considerable depth, it 
 would be impossible to calculate the number of living 
 
Scriptural. 191 
 
 organisms. In the Red Sea this coloration is seen in certain 
 circumstances, and hence its name. In this case, as in the 
 other, the colour is due to a microscopic seaweed. ' On the 
 loth of December,' says M. Ehrenberg, ' I saw from Mount 
 Tor, near Mount Sinai, the whole bay of which the village is 
 the port, red as blood : the open sea, beyond the coral reef 
 which fringes the shore, kept its ordinary colour. The 
 wavelets carried to the shore during the heat of the day a 
 purple mucilaginous matter, and left it upon the sand, so that 
 in about half-an-hour the whole bay at low tide was sur- 
 rounded by a red fringe. I took some of the water to my 
 tent in a glass. It was easy to see that the coloration was 
 due to little flocks, scarcely visible, often greenish, and 
 sometimes of an intense green, but for the most part a deep 
 red, the water in which they were swimming being perfectly 
 colourless. Upon examining them with a microscope I found 
 that the flocks were formed of bundles of fibres, which were 
 rarely as much as one-twelfth of an inch long. This sea- 
 weed is called the Red Trichodes7nium.'' 
 
 Solomon's Temple. 
 
 To some persons it might appear idle and unreasonable to 
 speak of any building, existing or non-existing, in reference 
 to the temple that Solomon built at Jerusalem. What is 
 there that could be compared with it ? Its very name is 
 conjoined in our minds with ideas of vastness, of splendour, 
 and of riches, which the imagination even will not venture to 
 indulge in, and which our reason refuses to reason upon. 
 We read of such wonders concerning it — of ten thousand 
 men employed continually in cutting down cedars in Leba- 
 non ; of eighty thousand men hewing stones in the moun- 
 
igz Scriptural. 
 
 tains ; of seventy thousand men bearing burdens ; of three 
 thousand six hundred men as overseers merely of the work : 
 and yet that the unceasing labours of this great multitude of 
 workpeople could not accomplish the building of the temple 
 in less than seven years ! What an idea does this convey of 
 the temple's spaciousness and magnificence ! And again we 
 read that, before a stone of it was laid, David had provided 
 means for it to which the world can find no parallel — means 
 that would annihilate our National Debt in a moment ; for 
 he laid by for it in the first instance a hundred thousand 
 talents of gold, which, at 5075/. the talent, would amount to 
 507,578,125/.; a thousand thousand talents of silver, at 
 355/. los. each, 353,591,666/. : not judging even this suffi- 
 cient, he, two years subsequently, gave of his own proper 
 good three thousand talents of gold, 15,227,265/.; seven 
 thousand talents of silver, 2,471,350/. ; and so effectually did 
 he at the same time exhort the chiefs and princes to give 
 liberally, that they also gave five thousand talents of gold, 
 25,378,750/. ; ten thousand talents of silver, 3,535,000/. ; 
 total, 907,782,156/. 
 
 Gardens of Jerusalem. 
 
 These celebrated gardens extend along a valley which runs 
 from El-Bownach to Bethlehem. It is the most charming 
 spot in all Palestine. There are murmuring streams, 
 winding through verdant lawns; there are the choicest 
 fruits and flowers, the hyacinth and the anemone, the fig- 
 tree and the pine. Towering high above the garden, and 
 contrasting grandly with its soft aspect, are the dark precipi- 
 tous rocks of the neighbouring mountains, around whose 
 summits vultures and eagles incessantly scream and describe 
 spiral circles in the air. The rare plants and flowers which 
 
Scriptural. 193 
 
 Solomon collected within these gardens were protected from 
 the north wind by the mountain. Every gust of the south 
 wind was loaded with perfume. With the first breeze of 
 spring the fig tree puts forth its fruits and the vines begin to 
 blossom. It was in the words of scripture "a garden of 
 delights." The vegetations of the north and south were 
 intermingled. One part of the garden was called Walnut- 
 tree Walk (or, as the English scripture translation has 
 it, "The garden of nuts,") another is the "beds of 
 spices.'' 
 
 The Publican. 
 
 This word, in the New Test3,ment, Matt, xviii. 1 7, denoted 
 a person who farmed from the government a portion of the 
 customs or other public.revenue. These officers had deputies 
 under them, the actual collectors of the revenue, who were 
 also called ^uMicans, and who, from their general character 
 for extortion, were very odious to the people. Publican 
 is now the name given to a person who keeps a house of 
 entertainment for travellers in humble rank. — Booker. 
 
 Lawyers. 
 
 Lawyers is a name given to the Jewish Divines, or ex- 
 pounders of the law of Moses, which was a theological, as 
 well as a political code. In the modern acceptation of the 
 word, lawyer is never used as synonymous with divine. In 
 the New Testament lawyer and scribe appear to be s3Tiony- 
 mous terms, as we find the lawyer ya. Matt. xxii. 35, called 
 scribe in Mark xii. 28. In the Old Testament scribe is used 
 for z, public notary or secretary. Its modern use agrees with 
 the original meaning of the word, viz., transcriber. — 
 Booker. 
 
194 Scriptural. 
 
 Catholics and Roman Catholics. 
 
 It does not appear to be generally understood that 
 " Catholics " is a term of courtesy, shown to members of the 
 Roman Catholic Church by members of the Church of 
 England. When Papists (we do not use the term offen- 
 sively) first took upon themselves the title of Catholic, the 
 legislature noticed it; and in the 35 Queen Elizabeth, c. 2, 
 sec. I, they are termed " Popish recusants calling themselves 
 Catholics." But now it is an every-day occurrence to hear 
 them distinguished by the name of " Catholics." Do not 
 members of the Church of England pray for " the Catholic 
 Church ?" " Christ's Holy Catholic Church ?" more especially 
 for that pure and apostolical branch of it established in these 
 kingdoms ? This is not, however, the mistake of the Papists 
 themselves ; for, in Pope Pius's creed, the term used to 
 express the Church of Rome is the Roman Catholic Church, 
 and not simply the Catholic Church. 
 
 The Rev. Luke Booker, in his little book on Obsolete Words 
 and Phrases, says : — The Catholic Church in the Prayer-Book 
 signifies the universal Church ^Christ ; and hence a Catholic 
 means a member of the same. The Romish Church, pre- 
 tending to be the whole Church, arrogates to itself exclusively 
 the title Catholic — a use of the word sometimes admitted 
 through ignorance or inadvertence, by persons not of that com- 
 munion. However, as the correct meaning of the word is be- 
 coming generally understood, this wrong use of it will soon 
 be altogether given up, at least by those who are not 
 Jiomanists. 
 
 We use the phrase " Cathqlic Church" for the Church 
 Universal, and the " United Church of England and Ireland" 
 for our branch of that Church, but the term Protestant does 
 not occur in our Book of Common Prayer, our Articles, our 
 
Scriptural. 195 
 
 Homilies, or our Canons ; in short, our Church is not 
 committed in any official act to the term Protestant. The 
 rfiesignation Protestant, however, is used among us as a 
 general term to signify all who protest against Popery ; but 
 it was in former times, and still may be, used in application 
 to the members of our Church, as denoting those who fesh/y 
 for the truth of Christ's religion according to the literal 
 meaning of the word, which is compounded of " pro," for, 
 and "testor," to witness. 
 
 Laud, in his conference, with the Jesuit Fisher, says, " The 
 Protestants did not get that name by protesting against the 
 ■ Church of Rome, but by protesting (and that when nothing 
 else would serve) against her errors and superstitions. Do you 
 but remove them from the Church of Rome, and our pro- 
 testation is ended, and our separation too." 
 
 The Inscriptions on the Cross. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that there was but one title or 
 inscription. There were three, as both St. John and St. 
 Luke distinctly intimate, written in as many different 
 languages. 
 
 St. John says (xix. 19, 20) that "Pilate wrote a title and 
 put it on the cross ;" " and it was written in Hebrew, and 
 Greek, and Latin." It is natural to suppose that St. John, 
 being a Jew, and writing for the Jewish converts in 
 Palestine, would transcribe the inscription which appeared 
 in his own language ; and this supposition is confirmed by 
 the order in which he places the three languages. 
 
 For the same reason St. Luke must be supposed, both 
 from his own origin and from the class of persons for whom 
 his gospel was apparently (secondarily) designed, to have 
 chosen that inscription which was written- in the Greek 
 
 o 2 
 
i9<5 ' Scriptural. 
 
 language, and to which he accordingly gives precedence, 
 saying (xxiii. 38) that " the superscription " was written " in 
 letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew." 
 
 St. Mark, without alluding to the diversity of the languages, 
 gives what he styles "The superscription of (Jesus') accusation " 
 (xv. 26). And the same rule holds good in his case, that his 
 natural selection, confirmed by the idiom of the language, 
 was that of the Latin. 
 
 A little consideration of St. Matthew's language will show 
 that he does not profess to give any one inscription at all. He 
 speaks (xxvii. 37) of the "accusation" being set up over His 
 head. Now, all classical readers know that the Greek word 
 for accusation (airta) is a technical and forensic term, and 
 denotes the legal charge upon which Jesus was arraigned and 
 condemned. And that was that He, " Jesus," claimed to be 
 King of the Jews. It was no part of the charge that He 
 happened to be a Nazarene, and the place of birth is, there- 
 fore, naturally omitted as irrelevant to the issue. 
 
 The four statements are, therefore^ perfectly independent 
 of each other, and each individually and strictly exact. 
 Indeed, it does seem preposterous to suppose that St. John 
 and St. Matthew at least, both of whom had seen the 
 Inscriptions, would have made any mistake at all about 
 them. 
 
 The case, therefore, stands thus : — 
 
 St. John gives the Hebrew, St. Luke the Greek, St. Mark 
 the Latin Inscription, while St. Matthew takes from them 
 that part only which formed the substance of the charge 
 upon which Jesus was actually condemned and crucified. 
 
 The inscriptions themselves would be as follow : — 
 
 Hebrew — "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" 
 
 Greek — " This is the King of the Jews." 
 
 Latin—" The King of the Jews." 
 
Scriptural. 197 
 
 This explanation is due to the Rev. Josiah Forshall, M.A., 
 formerly the Secretary of the British Museum. 
 
 Origin of the Signs + and — . 
 
 The first of these signs is a contraction of et. The course 
 of transformation from its original to its present form maybe 
 clearly traced in old MSS. Et by degrees became &, and & 
 became +. The origin of the second (—) is rather more 
 singular. Most persons are aware that it was formerly the 
 universal custom, both in writing and printing, to omit some 
 or all of the vowels, or a syllable or two of a word, and 
 to denote such omission by a short dash, thus — , over the 
 word so abbreviated. The word minus thus became con- 
 tracted to mns, with a dash over the letters. After a time 
 the short line itself, without the letters, was considered 
 sufficient to imply subtraction, and by common consent 
 became so used. Hence we have now the two signs + and — . 
 — AthencBum. 
 
 The Mystery. 
 
 The Rev. Luke Booker, in his Obsolete Words and Phrases, 
 (a copy of which. Archbishop Whately says, "Every man 
 with a Bible or Prayer Book, should possess "), gives the fol- 
 lowing very interesting explanation of the above term : — 
 
 Matt. xiii. 1 1. — Mystery ; fivari^piov from ixvui', to shut up. 
 This word, according to its ordinary acceptation, now signi- 
 fies a thing unintelligible or concealed, whereas, in the Scrip- 
 ture it means something that had been unknown, but in due 
 time was revealed by the inspiration of God. Thus it is applied 
 to \he principles of the Gospel in the passage above referred 
 to — to the calling of the Gentiles with the Jews, Eph. i. 9 — to 
 
198 Scriptural. 
 
 the justification of the Gentiles by faith, without the observance 
 of the Law of Moses, Rom. xvi. 25 — to the conversion and 
 restoration of the Jews, Rom. xi. 25 — and to the circumstances 
 of the general resurrection, i Cor. xv. 51. In some other 
 passages the word mystery means an emblem of a revealed 
 truth, as in Eph. v. 32 ; Rev. i. 20, xvii. 5. In the Liturgy, 
 also, we find this use of the word. Thus, in the exhortation 
 at the Communion, and in one of the prayers near the end 
 of that Service, mystery signifies emblematical representations 
 of our Lord's death in that ordinance. " Meet partakers of 
 those holy mysteries." " Ordained holy mysteries." " Duly 
 received those holy mysteries." This word clearly had a 
 reference, in the Scriptures, to those ancient pagan institu- 
 tions called mysteries, in which, as in Freemasonry, there 
 were secrets which were made known, and that through em- 
 blematical representations, to members on their admission. 
 By analogy, the word mystery was once applied to the know- 
 ledge of any art or trade, and also to express those crude 
 exhibitions in which sacred subjects were formerly represented 
 by acting. 
 
 Clericus. — Clerk. 
 
 In the " Valor Ecclesiasticus" of Henry VIII. only some 
 of the Clergy have the affix of " clericus." We must recol- 
 lect that "benefit of the Clergy,'' was a privilege to those 
 who could read and write, whether in Holy Orders or not ; 
 and that, in the parlance of the House of Lords, a lay lord 
 is one who is neither a prelate nor a judge. We should 
 suggest that "clericus" or " clerk," which now signifies a 
 skilled labourer employed in penmanship, had at different 
 periods signified one who could read and write — a university 
 graduate, and any one trained in a learned profession. — 
 Gentleman's Magazine. 
 
Scriptural. 
 
 The CEcumenical Council. 
 
 199 
 
 The CEcumenical Council has raised a question of Eng- 
 lish orthography. Should this derivative of oikovjueVj? be spelt 
 oecumenical or ecumenical? One writer does not hesitate 
 to lay down the law to this effect : " There are no diphthongs 
 in English spelling." This shows singular ignorance of old 
 EngUsh, of the fact that the great king whom we call Alfred 
 was really Alfred ; that our eventide was " cefentide " in 
 the early language j that the Greek iXerifiocrvvr] was trans- 
 muted into " celmessan," and thence in our modern speech 
 became alms. (We read in the " Chronicle,'' under the 
 dates 887, 888, 890, how Wessex and King Alfred sent alms 
 to Rome by the aldermen ^thelhelm and Beocca and by 
 the Abbot Beornhelm, and the word shows that these were 
 voluntarily contributions, not an enforced tribute.) The 
 truth is that the art of printing, though an excellent inven- 
 tion, tends to impoverish the apparatus of language. The 
 "se" diphthong has been weakened into "e"; the letter 
 /Aom, in two forms, has vanished altogether, and is replaced 
 by the unmeaning and ridiculous "th." Printers don't like 
 too many letters ; they detest diphthongs, they dislike colons 
 and semicolons, and think that authors ought to be satisfied 
 with the fullpoint and the comma. Of this last point they 
 are only too liberal ; who does not sympathise with Sydney 
 Smith's complaint to Jeffrey, that his " reader " kept a 
 pepper cruet full of commas at his elbow, and dusted the 
 " proofs " with it ? Then printers don't approve of too many 
 letters in a word. So "fullness" becomes " fulness," and 
 "judgement" is shortened to "judgment," and the like. 
 And as the mass of men spell according to what they see in 
 print — just as they think a Times' letter must be the perfec- 
 tion of style, our EngUsh is getting into a terribly hetero- 
 
:2oo Scriptural. 
 
 graphic state. That oecumenical should preserve its diph- 
 thong in the newspapers in defiance of such popular autho- 
 rities as Webster and Dr. William Smith is certainly remark- 
 able. That we should be oracularly informed that there 
 are no diphthongs in English is, perhaps, more remarkable 
 still. One is never too old to learn. 
 
 WHAT IS i^AITHl" 
 
 Faith is nothing else but a spiritual echo, returning that 
 voice back again which God first speaks to the soul. — 
 
 The word "Selah." 
 
 The translators of the Bible have left the word Selah, which 
 occurs so often in the Psalms, as they found it, and of course 
 the English reader often asks what it means. The Targums 
 and most of the Jewish commentators give to the word the 
 meaning of eternally, for ever. Rabbi Kimchi regards it as 
 a sign to elevate the voice. The authors of the Septuagint 
 translation appear to have regarded it as a musical or rhyth- 
 mical note. Herder regards it as indicating a change of 
 tone. Matheson thinks it is a music note, equivalent, per- 
 haps, to the word repeat. According to Luther and others, 
 it means silence ! Gesenius explains it to mean : " Let the 
 instruments play and the singers stop." Worcher regards it 
 as equivalent to sursum corda — up, my soul ! ^^ommer, 
 after examining a^ the seventy-four passages in which the 
 word occurs, recognizes in every case "an actual appeal to 
 Jehovah. They are calls for aid and prayers to be heard, 
 expressed either with entire directness, or if not in the im- 
 perative 'Hear, Jehovah!' or 'Awake, Jehovah !' and the 
 like, still earnest addresses to God that He would remember 
 
Scriptural. 201 
 
 and hear,'' &c. The word itself he regards as indicat- 
 ing a blast of trumpets by the priests. Selah itself he 
 thinks an abridged expression used for Higgaion. Selah 
 — Higgaion indicating the sound of the stringed instruments, 
 and Selah, a vigorous blast of trumpets. 
 
 SWADDLERS. 
 
 The term " Swaddler," used by the Roman Catholics of 
 Ireland to describe Protestants, had this origin : — " It hap- 
 pened that Cennick, preaching on Christmas-day, took for 
 his text these words from St. Luke's Gospel — 'And this 
 shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped' in 
 swaddling clothes lying in a manger.' A Catholic who was 
 present, and to whom the language of Scripture was a 
 novelty, thought this so ludicrous that he called the preacher 
 a swaddler in derision, and this unmeaning word became 
 the nickname of the Methodists, and had all the effect of 
 the most opprobrious appellation." — Southey's Life of Wesley, 
 ii- 153- 
 
 Lord Byron's Religious Belief. 
 
 " Not merely from casual expressions (says Lady Byron, 
 in one of her letters), but from the whole tenor of Lord 
 Byron's feelings, I could not but conclude he was a believer 
 in the inspiration of the Bible, and had the gloomiest Calvin- 
 istic tenets. To that unhappy view of the relation of the 
 creature to the Creator I have always ascribed the misery of 
 his life. ... It is enough for me to remember that he who 
 thinks his transgressions beyond forgiveness (and such was 
 his own deepest feeling) has righteousness beyond that of 
 the self-satisfied sinner, or, perhaps, of the half-awakened. 
 It was impossible for me to doubt that, could he have been 
 
ao3 Scriptural. 
 
 at once assured of pardon, his living faith in a moral duty 
 and love of virtue (' I love the virtues which I cannot claim') 
 would have conquered every temptation. Judge, then, how 
 I must hate the Creed which made him see God as an 
 Avenger, not a Father. My own impressions were just the 
 reverse, but could have little weight ; and it was in vain to 
 seek to turn his thoughts for long to that Me fixe, with which 
 he connected his physical peculiarity as a stamp. Instead 
 of being made happier by any apparent good, he felt con- 
 vinced that every blessing would be ' turned into a curse' to 
 him. Who, possessed by such ideas, could lead a life of 
 love and service to God or man? They must, in a measure, 
 realize themselves. ' The worst of it is, I do believe,' he 
 said. I, like all connected with him, was broken against 
 the rock of Predestination. I may be pardoned for refer- 
 ring to his frequent expression of the sentiment that I was 
 only sent to show him the happiness he was forbidden to 
 enjoy." 
 
 Church Disputes. 
 
 Mr. Arthur Helps has well observed : — " I am lost in as- 
 tonishment when I contemplate the ' questions,' as they are 
 called, which are debated by the different religious parties, 
 and respecting which they become furious. Vestments, in- 
 tonings, processions, altar-cloths, rood-screens, and genu- 
 flexions, are made to be matters of the utmost importance ; 
 and all the while the really great questions are in abeyance. 
 It reminds me of children playing at marbles on the slopes 
 of a volcano, which has already given sure signs of an ap- 
 proaching eruption.'' 
 
Scriptural. 303 
 
 What is the Earliest Reference to Pews ? 
 
 It is hard to say whether the passage in Piers Plowman's 
 Vision is the earliest. It occurs at p. 95 of the edition of 
 1 8 13, and is as follows : — • 
 
 " Among wyves and wodewes ich am ywoned sute 
 Yparroked 'mpuuies. The person hit knoweth." 
 
 The interpretation of the passage is— 
 
 "Among wives and widows I am wont to sit 
 Y-parked in pues. The person knows it." 
 
 ' Yparroked ' is supposed to come from the A. S. parruc, a 
 croft, or small field ' twinned off,' as we say in Lancashire." 
 [The " Vision of Piers Plowman " was written by Robert 
 Langland, a secular priest, probably about the year 1362.] 
 It is not to be inferred that the pew system existed at this 
 time. The sexes being then separated, special seats for 
 wives and widows, as a class, were set apart in many churches. 
 
 The Science of Religion. 
 
 Professor Max Muller, in a lecture delivered at the Royal 
 Institution, did not deny that the ancient religions were im- 
 perfect, but it is perfectly certain that philosophers like 
 Socrates and Plato were not worshippers of stocks and 
 stones. As St. Augustine has said, there is no religion which 
 has not some grains of truth in it. In illustration of this he 
 would read some of the precepts of the greatest book-reli- 
 gions of the world, beginning with a hymn from the Rig 
 Veda, which taught purity of life and the necessity of abso- 
 lution from sin. These pure precepts were written at least 
 3,000 years ago. He then read some extracts of like cha- 
 racter of the teachings of Zoroaster, from the Zend Avesta of 
 the Persians, followed by translations of selections from 
 
204 Scriptural. 
 
 Buddhist sacred books. He said that the ancient religions 
 of the world were the religions of children, and the only ones 
 which were possible at that time ; but those religions which 
 are adapted to man in his childhood will not do for the 
 philosopher. Religion is ever oscillating between these two 
 poles, and when it gets too close to either of them it is liable 
 to be destroyed by becoming on the one hand mere super- 
 stition, or on the other mere philosophy. The ancient lan- 
 guages being poor in words, deal very largely in metaphor ; 
 the man who first, in his longings after the infinite, employed 
 the words " blue sky " from out of his slender vocabulary to 
 express imperfectly by metaphor the thoughts within him, did 
 not worship the sky ; but when, in later years, his descend- 
 ants adopted the literal meaning, and lost the spiritual truth, 
 they began to worship the visible sky, and to make it their 
 god. In studying sacred records, it is wrong to force literal 
 interpretations instead of seeking for spiritual truths, and 
 when more is known of those truths we shall become much 
 more charitable towards our neighbours and towards their 
 religions. 
 
 Needle's Eye. 
 
 " For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's 
 eye," &c. (S. Luke xviii. 25). In a recent work on the 
 Sahara, by Desar, a Swiss savant, the author mentions that 
 the inhabited places in the desert are fortified, and that the 
 gates have a large opening in the middle and small ones on 
 the sides, called " Needles' Eyes.'' Is it not very likely that 
 gates similarly constructed existed in different parts of the 
 East and in Palestine, and that the appellation for the smaller 
 side openings, through which a camel could not pass, may 
 be an old one ? If this be the case, the correct explanation 
 of the above verse of Scripture, which has been so often 
 
Scriptural. 
 
 205 
 
 commented on, is obvious. Desar says that as soon as he 
 saw the smaller openings, and heard they were called 
 " Needles' Eyes," the verse in question, which had always 
 puzzled him when a schoolboy, became perfectly intelligible. 
 — Mary Simmonds ; Notes and Queries, 3rd S., No. 274. 
 
 Religious Belief. 
 
 Sir Humphry Davy, in one of his manuals of charming 
 philosophy, says : — " I envy no quality of the mind, of in- 
 tellect in others, be it genius, power, wit, or fancy ; but if I 
 could choose what would be most delightful and, I believe, 
 most useful to me, I should prefer a firm religious belief to 
 any other blessing ; for it makes life a discipline of goodness, 
 creates new hopes, when all earthly hopes vanish, and 
 throws over the decay, the destruction of existence, the most 
 gorgeous of all lights ; awakens life even in death, and from 
 destruction and decay calls up beauty and divinity ; makes 
 an instrument of torture and shame the ladder of ascent to 
 Paradise ; and, far above all combinations of earthly hopes, 
 calls up the most delightful visions of palms and amaranths, 
 the gardens of the blest, the security of everlasting joys, 
 where the sensualist and the sceptic view only gloom, decay, 
 annihilation, and despair. 
 
 A Nice Point. 
 
 Great debts were said to have been incurred by the See 
 of Canterbury when Archbishop Langton erected the hall 
 of the Archiepiscopal Palace, insomuch that Boniface, the 
 fourth in succession from the above-named prelate, found a 
 charge of no less than 22,000 marks, a vast sum in those 
 
2o6 Scriptural. 
 
 days, which, however, he made good ; but could not help, 
 at the same time, saying, " My predecessors built this hall 
 at great expense ; they did well, indeed ; but as they laid 
 out no money about this building, except what they borrowed, 
 I seem, indeed, to be truly the builder of this hall, because 
 I pay the debts which they contracted." 
 
 Who was Appollonius of Tyana? 
 
 ■ The Pagan Christ of the third century. About the time 
 of the birth of Christ there arose throughout Greece and 
 Rome certain reformers, who, dissatisfied with Paganism as 
 it then existed, rejected Christianity, but proposed to recast 
 the old religion upon the new model — to form a Christianized 
 Paganism. Later philosophical sects led to an attempt to 
 introduce a Pagan Christ, and this attempt received imperial 
 encouragement in the reign of Severus and his successors, 
 this spirit having come from the East, and arisen out of the 
 mysticism of Eastern sun-worship. It was under the influence 
 of an extraordinary family of remarkable women, all coming 
 from a Syrian temple of the Sun, that the vigorous attempt 
 was made to establish Sun-worship as the orthodox religion of 
 the Roman empire, the traces of which are still visible in so 
 many remarkable monuments, not only in the centre of the 
 empire, but through all its provinces, and even on the dis- 
 tant shores of Britain. To one of these women we owe also the 
 equally unsuccessful attempt to establish a Pagan Christ, whom 
 they sought to set up as a rival to the Christ of the Gospel. For 
 this purpose she chose an individual who flourished some two 
 centuries before, and whose name enjoyed a certain reputa- 
 tion for the strictness of his philosophical doctrines and life. 
 This man's name was Apollonius, and he was born at Tyana, 
 a Greek city of Cappadocia, it is believed at about the same 
 
Scriptural. 207 
 
 time as Christ was born in Judaea. Perhaps the circum- 
 stances of his being a contemporary of Christ was one of his 
 recommendations to the choice of the imperial religious re- 
 former. To Philostratus, one of the literary circle of Juha 
 Donna, was intrusted the task of writing in Greek the life of 
 the philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, and the result was a 
 singular piece of credulous biography, which is still in exist- 
 ence. Apollonius had sought to restore in their primitive 
 purity the doctrines and practices of the Pythagoreans, who 
 were looked upon as the most divine of all the sects ; and he 
 had wandered over the world, and even visited the Brahmins 
 in India, to perfect himself by their teaching and example. 
 He appears to have been a wild religious enthusiast, who 
 worked himself, or at least his followers, into the belief that 
 through his perfection in virtue he had obtained in his person 
 the character of a divinity, with the power of working 
 miracles by the mere exertion of his will. Moreover, like 
 the Christ, he sustained persecution for his reforming 
 opinions. This attempt, which was made under imperial 
 influence in the third century to set up Apollonius for a 
 Pagan Christ, as a set-off against the Christians, was a miser- 
 able failure. — Abridged from the Athenceum. 
 
 Church Bells. 
 
 There is no metal which will not give a musical sound in 
 some shape or other, yet bells from the earliest times 
 seemed to have been made of pretty nearly the same 
 material — common bronze. At first, however, they were 
 not cast, but hammered into shape, and of course nothing 
 like music could possibly be got out of them. ^ The casting 
 of bells was first introduced into this country certainly before 
 the Conquest. The present mode of casting is much the 
 
2o8 Scriptural. 
 
 same as that made use of centuries ago. About the year 
 looo there must have been a great many bells in England. 
 Some of the inscriptions on bells were very amusing ; there 
 was one on a bell, in Ickworth Church, made by a man 
 named Pleasant, at Sudbury, which was rather a puff: — 
 
 " Henry Pleasant has at last 
 Made as good as can be cast." 
 
 Another was : — 
 
 " Henry Pleasant did me run 
 In the year seventeen hundred and one." 
 
 Other inscriptions were historically valuable, as, for instance, 
 this : — " I was cast in the year of plague, war, and fire, 
 1 666." In later bells the churchwardens' names were piut 
 in as well as the founders. 
 
 The Franciscan Friars in England. 
 
 Early in the thirteenth century the monastic orders were 
 beginning to lose their hold on the affections of the English 
 people ; the monks were growing worldly and luxurious ; the 
 abbot was beginning to assume the position rather of a 
 feudal landlord than of a spiritual father. At the same time 
 the inhabitants of the towns were sunk in a state of great 
 misery. Many of them were refugees from baronial tyranny 
 or clerical intolerance ; they were inspired with an equal 
 dislike both to lords and bishops, and for the sake of 
 freedom they preferred to dwell in miserable mud huts, 
 crowded together in filthy, undrained alleys, rather than be 
 in the open country under the dominion of a master. The 
 belief in Christianity was beginning to waver among these 
 townsfolk. Oriental modes of thought, bred of Saracenic 
 intercourse during the Crusades, were becoming prevalent ; 
 
Scriptural. 209 
 
 while another Eastern importation, leprosy, in its most 
 virulent form, had become frightfully common. While 
 matters were in this state, in the year 1226, a party of 
 Franciscan or Minorite friars landed at Dover. They wore 
 the coarsest of garments, they begged their bread from door 
 to door, they slept under arches, amid idiots, lepers, and 
 outcasts. St. Francis, their founder, was the son of a 
 wealthy merchant, and had been bred to his father's busi- 
 ness, and therefore he thoroughly understood the character 
 of town populations. His disciples were not priests ; they 
 were laymen bound by certain religious vows, and their 
 ofiSce was emphatically that of city missionaries. Unlike 
 the monks, who planted their establishments in the richest 
 and most fertile meadows, and whose buildings were wonders 
 of architectural magnificence, the Minorite Friars settled in 
 the lowest and swampiest districts of the towns, and their 
 habitations were of the rudest construction. Their walls 
 were made of mud or stiififed with dried grass, and at Cam- 
 bridge a single carpenter in one day built their chapel. 
 
 The sincerity and devotion of these men soon gained the 
 affections of the people. They preached in a plain, familiar 
 style, such as the most unlearned could understand ; they 
 tended the wretched lepers, the outcasts of mankind, and 
 within thirty years their numbers in England alone amounted 
 to 1,242. 
 
 This treatise, by Thomas of Eccleston, De Adventu Mi- 
 norum in Angliam, contains the only contemporary account 
 in existence of the settlement and progress of the Franciscan 
 Friars in England. It exists in the Chapter House at York, 
 in a mutilated MS., the latter part of which has been totally 
 obliterated by damp. Fortunately, a 'fragment of another 
 MS., preserved in the British Museum, has supplied the 
 deficiency. — Monumenta Franciscana. 
 
 p 
 
OLD ENGLISH LIFE AND 
 MANNERS. 
 
 Black Monday. 
 
 This dark day of the schoolboy may be traced to the end 
 of the thirteenth century, 1294, when we read in the Annals 
 of Dunstable, that the dark and bitter cold day, April 14, 
 passed by Edward III. and his army at the gates of Paris, 
 was long known as Black Monday. 
 
 Candlemas Day. 
 
 This is the day from which the old prognosticator dated 
 'his forecast of the coming season, and the jingling doggerel 
 so often quoted — 
 
 " Si sol splendescat Maria Purificante, 
 Major erit glacies post festum qu^m fuit ant^ " — 
 
 seems to have given it a fictitious notoriety. 
 
 The theory is that if the sun shine brightly on Candlemas 
 Day, and the wind be cold, winter will return in the spring ; 
 but if, on the contrary, the day be cloudy, or wet, or gusty, 
 with increased temperature, the approaching spring will be 
 mild and free from frost. 
 
 In Scotland these things obtain almost universal belief, 
 and it is only by bringing them to the ordeal of truth that 
 their integrity or fallaciousness can be tested. 
 
Old English Life and Manners. an 
 
 Mr. Allnutt, the meteorologist, writes of Candlemas Day, 
 February 2, 187 1, "the weather was mild and open, and the 
 sky overcast. My notes run thus : — 
 
 " 9 a.m. — Cloud canopy; gusty wind ; rain in early morn- 
 ing; atmospherical tension diminished o'3S in.; temperature 
 diminished i deg. 2 p.m. — Cloud and haze. Mean night 
 and morning temperature, 41 deg. 2 p.m. — 47 deg. Aver- 
 age day temperature, 44^0 deg. 
 
 "The comput-ed mean of the day is 37*4 deg. and we have, 
 therefore, this year, a thermal excess of 67 deg. beyond the 
 average of half a century. 
 
 " If the prediction were founded on truth, we might calcu- 
 late upon having no frosts in the forthcoming spring ; but I 
 am sorry to add that it is not true, for the last three or four 
 seasons have utterly falsified the universality of its applica- 
 tion." 
 
 Epiphany Custom. 
 
 The Festival of the Epiphany is observed at the Chapel 
 Royal, St. James's, with full choral service, consisting of 
 Morning Prayer and the Ante-Communion-office, also a 
 curious practice, of medieval origin, according to the imme- 
 morial custom of the place. After the reading of the sen- 
 tence at the offertory, " Let your light so shine before men," 
 &c., while the organ plays soft music, two members of Her 
 Majesty's household, wearing the Ministerial uniform, descend 
 from the Royal pew and advance to the altar-rails, preceded 
 by an usher or beadle, where they present to one of the two 
 officiating clergymen a red bag, edged with gold lace or braid, 
 who receives it in an offertory-basin, and then reverently 
 places it on the altar. This bag or purse is understood to 
 contain the Queen's offering of gold, frankincense, and 
 myrrh, in commemoration of the gifts of the Magi to the In- 
 
aia Old English Life 
 
 fant Saviour. In the Church Militant prayer that follows 
 the words used are "alms and offerings." To witness this 
 custom in the congregation, besides the choir, there are some- 
 times not above five-and-twenty persons present, including 
 two officers of the Guards in their uniform. 
 
 Mothering Sunday. 
 
 Mid-Lent Sunday is known in many parts of England as 
 " Mothering Sunday." In former times on this day people 
 ■presented an offering on the high altar of the mother church. 
 The day has also been called Dominca Refedionis, perhaps 
 because the first lesson and the gospel refer to eating — 
 the lesson recounting the entertainments of Joseph to his 
 brethren, the gospel relating the miraculous feeding of the 
 five thousand by our blessed Lord. The popular dish of 
 the season in many counties is furmety, or, as it may be 
 more properly called, frumenty, which is made of wheat, 
 sugar, spice, currants, and raisins, aud thickened milk. In 
 the north they eat simnels, and Mid-Lent Sunday is known 
 as "sim'n'ling day." There are many opinions as to the 
 derivation of the word " simnel," which some say has its origin 
 in the Latin similia, " fine flour ;" and others aver that the 
 cakes derive their title from the name of a baker named 
 Lambert Simnel, whose son attained some notoriety in the 
 reign of Henry VII. There is an amusing Salopian tradition 
 concerning simnels. An old man and woman, named Simon 
 and Allen, set their brains to work to make a cake wherewith 
 to regale their children at Eastertide. The good-wife raised 
 crust of some unleavened dough, which they had spared from 
 their Lenten fare, and the husband caused the interior to be 
 filled with the remains of the Christmas pudding. But 
 a disagreement arose as to the mode of cooking the 
 
AND Manners. aij 
 
 production, Sim maintaining that it ought to be boiled, and 
 Nel declaring that the cake would be ruined if it were not 
 baked. The end of the squabble was that it was both baked 
 and boiled ; and the result of this double process was so tooth- 
 some that the cakes became popular, and out of gratitude to 
 their inventors were called " simnel." The creed of domestic 
 and other servants in many districts is comprised in the 
 couplet : — 
 
 " On Mothering Sunday, above all other, 
 Every child should dine with its mother,'' 
 
 — Birmingham Post 
 
 The Observance of Ascension Day. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Miller, Vicar of Greenwich, at a public 
 meeting held in that town, has stated the subject to be one in 
 which he had taken great interest from the earliest days of his 
 ministry, and he regretted that the day was now-a-days so 
 lightly looked upon. It marked the great consummation of 
 our Lord's work on earth, and was a day of great interest for 
 Christians. He agreed with Butler in his desire to see 
 Christian days of fast and festival duly observed throughout 
 the year, as it established a sort of Chronological creed. 
 He would suggest that whatever steps should be taken, care 
 should be exercised to prevent any appearance of the move- 
 ment being the action of any one party in the Church, but 
 it should be a combined effort of true-hearted Churchmen 
 who desired to do their duty to their Church and to advance 
 those great and sacred truths which are, as it were, its life. 
 
314 Old English Life 
 
 Beating the Bounds. 
 
 On Ascension day, or Holy Thursday, a custom is 
 • observed east to west, and from north to south, long streams 
 of charity boys headed by beadles in full costume, carrying 
 the insignia of their office, followed by the churchwardens, 
 and in some cases by the rector, vicar, or curate. This pro- 
 ceedingwas formerly sanctioned by a religious service, and after 
 the Reformation, a homUy was prepared for the occasion, and 
 the curate or minister was exhorted to admonish the people 
 to thankfulness and to respect their neighbours' landmarks. 
 This accompaniment of the perambulation of a parish has 
 quite died out of use ; but there are other associations, such 
 as the eating of cakes and drinking of ale, which have been 
 preserved in many parishes, because endowments have been 
 left to keep them up. Some years ago, it was the practice to 
 bump a young charity boy severely on a post at the extremity 
 of the parish, or against a wall, so that the fact might make 
 an impression on his memory, and thus secure a succession 
 of witnesses as to the boundary of a parish, who by their 
 testimony might prevent litigation. In this respect a more 
 charitable course is now adopted, and the charity boys 
 escape what was not unfrequently a cruel punishment. 
 Edgcott and Clifton Keynes, in Buckinghamshire, and 
 Rushborne Crawley, in Bedfordshire, each has its perambu- 
 lation endowment, and some such reason probably explains 
 a practice- which was observed in Clifford's inn, of scrambling 
 for small loaves in the large square gardens opposite the 
 Judge's chambers, on the procession from St. Dunstan's-in- 
 the-West arriving there. ' The solemn procession on Holy 
 Thursday round the boundaries of a parish with chanted 
 Litanies and hymns of praise may still be seen in many 
 parts of the Continent. In Artois it is called " La B6n6- 
 
AND Manners. 2.15 
 
 diction des Bl^s," and the scene is represented in a beautiful 
 picture in the Luxemburg by Jules Breton. In London the 
 ceremony is of a much more utilitarian character, having little 
 or nothing of a religious significance about it except in some 
 cases the presence of a clergymen or two. The boundaries 
 of some London parishes are very curious; the boys have 
 to beat them in all sorts of queer courts and alleys, and 
 in one or two instances into private houses — one part of a 
 house being in one parish and the remainder in another. 
 As usual, Lincoln's Inn and the Temples close their gates 
 against' the parish authorities, in order that they may 
 preserve their parochial rights. 
 
 The legaUty of this proceeding is confidently stated ; but 
 it has been reasonably asked, " Is the custom necessary ? 
 Is it expedient?" If it is essential to keep up the ancient 
 boundaries of parishes, the Ordnance map is surely far better 
 evidence than the random recollection of a rough that he 
 climbed over a certain part of a wall, and bumped some one 
 else against it. In the olden days when such things as 
 maps were rare, and when the oldest inhabitant was 
 respected more than he is at present, a yearly or a triennial 
 perambulation may have been desirable. But we live now 
 in a very different state of society, and these ancient customs, 
 which have no practical use, but are kept up for the idle 
 gratification of a mob, may fairly be left to antiquarian 
 admiration and to Notes and Queries. 
 
 The Old Lordly Rule. 
 
 In the Carew Marmscript we find the following curious 
 picture of olden manners :=^" Coyny is as much to say as 
 a placing of men and boys upon the country used by a pre - 
 rogative of the Brehon Law (whereby they are permitted to 
 
ai6 Old English Life 
 
 take meat, drink, aqua-vitse, and money of their hosts-, with- 
 out pay-making therefor, and besides rob them when they 
 have done). As many as keep idle men take it outrageously 
 where they come, and by the custom of the country it was 
 lawful to place themselves upon whom they would. . . . 
 Livery is horse-meat exacted for the horses of them which 
 take coyny, or otherwise send them to the poor tenants to be 
 fed. The tenants must find the horses and boys, and give 
 them as much com and sheaf oats as they will have, and for 
 want of oats, wheat and barley. If there be four or five 
 boys to a horse, and sometimes there be, the tenant must be 
 contented therewith, and yet beside reward the boys with 
 money. Foy is when their idle men require meat out of 
 meal-time, or where they take money for the co3Tiy of their 
 host to go a begging to their neighbour. . . . Coshry 
 is certain feasts which the lord useth to take of his tenants 
 after Easter, Christenmas, Whitsuntide, and Michaelmas, 
 and all other times at his pleasure. He goeth to their 
 houses with all his train and idle men of his country, and 
 leaveth them not until' all they have been spent and con- 
 sumed, and so holdeth on this course till he have visited 
 all his tenants one after another." 
 
 The Boar's Head at Oxford. 
 
 The ancient ceremony of serving up a boar's head in the 
 hall of Queen's College, Oxford, at Christmas, is still observed 
 with much pomp and ceremony. The boar's head is borne 
 on the shoulders of two of the college servants, preceded by 
 the Provost and Fellows of the society, and followed by a 
 procession of choristers and singing men, who sing the follow- 
 ing ballad, the Precentor of Queen's taking the solo part : — : 
 
 " The boar's head in hand bring I, 
 Bedeck'd with bays and rosemary, 
 
AND Manners. on'j 
 
 And I pray you my masters be merry. 
 Quot estis in convivio, 
 Caput estis in convivio 
 Reddens laudes Domino. 
 
 " The boar's head, as I understand, 
 Is the rarest dish in all the land : 
 Which thus bedeck'd with a gay garland. 
 Let us servire cantico 
 Caput apri defero 
 Reddens laudes Domino. 
 
 " Our stewards hath provided this 
 In honour of the King of Bliss, 
 Which on this day to be served is 
 In Reginensi Atrio, 
 Caput apri defero. 
 Reddens laudes Domino." 
 
 After the ceremony, the decorations of bays, rosemary, 
 holly, artificial flowers, &c., are distributed among the 
 visitors, the monster head is then placed upon the high 
 table, and the members of the society proceed to dine. The 
 origin of serving up the boar's head at Queen's College is 
 somewhat obscure, but we glean from Pointer's Oxonensis 
 Academia that " it is in memory of a noble exploit, as tradi- 
 tion goes, by a scholar (a tabarder) of this College in killing 
 a wild boar in Shotover Wood." Having wandered into the 
 wood, which is not far from Oxford, with a copy of Aristotle 
 in his hand, and being attacked by a wild boar, who came 
 at him with extended jaws, intending to make but a mouth- 
 ful of him, he was enabled to conquer him by thrusting the 
 Aristotle down the boar's throat, crying, " Grxciim EstP The 
 animal, of course, fell prostrate at his feet, was carried in 
 triumph ta the College, and no doubt served up with an 
 " old song," as Mr. Pointer says, in memory of this " noble 
 exploit." 
 
218 Old English Life 
 
 Monkish Drinking Cups. 
 
 In England here the " dear and precious drinking-cup '' 
 was more frequently an heirloom than a possession which 
 the owner selfishly carried with him to the grave. The 
 ballad-king of Thule, when he could quaff no more, foolishly 
 flung his golden beaker into the sea, and dead pagan chiefs 
 bore theirs in their unconscious hands ready to drink again 
 at the first awaking in the halls of Odin. There were, how- 
 ever, better examples than these. Wittaff, the merrily-named 
 king of Mercia, bequeathed the horn of his table to the 
 monks of Croyland, that they might drink from it on fes- 
 tivals, and with thanksgiving remember the soul of the donor. 
 So to the Abbey of Ramsay, the Lady Ethelgiva left two 
 silver cups for the refectory table, and expressed a wish that 
 the good monks would think of her when the cups were 
 served brimming round to thetn. 
 
 The Loving Cup and Drinking Healths. 
 
 Health-drinking, according to history, claims an antiquity 
 of more than 1,400 years, the first instance occurring of its 
 observance having taken place about the middle of the fifth 
 century, under the following somewhat interesting circum- 
 stances. Hengist, a noble Saxon leader, having had the 
 Isle of Thanet given to him by King Vortigern for his ser- 
 vices against the Picts and Scots, erected a castle thereon, 
 in which, on being finished, he invited the King to supper. 
 After the repast, Hengist called for his daughter Rowena, 
 who, richly attired, and with a graceful mien, entered the 
 banqueting-hall, with a golden bowlful of wine in her 
 hand, and in the Saxon language drank to King Vortigern, 
 saying, " Be of health. Lord King," to which he replied, in 
 
AND Manners. 219 
 
 the same tongue, " Drink health." Vortigern, enamoured. 
 of Rowena's beauty, afterwards married her, and gave her 
 and her father all Kent. — Thomas Wright, M.A. ; Notes and 
 Queries, 3rd S., No. 214. 
 
 What is a Psaltery? 
 
 One of the illustrations of Labarte's work upon the Arts of 
 the Middle Ages represents a psaltery of the ninth century, 
 and a psaltery, too, " to make a prolonged sound." Luckily 
 for all lovers of music this psaltery, with its prolonged sound, 
 disappeared in the tenth century, possibly along with the 
 sackbut and dulcimer, and other instruments which went to 
 make up aU " those kinds of music " at the crash of which 
 Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego refused to fall down and 
 worship the golden image ! Yes, the psaltery disappeared. 
 The world was not worthy of it. How lucky that we have 
 got a picture of it, and of a psalterizer, or player on the 
 psaltery, who reminds us of nothing so much as one of Mr. 
 Lear's pleasant figures in his Book of Nonsense. Yes, here 
 we have our psalterizer on a pair of bedsteps, scantily clad 
 in his night-gown and bare-legged, as though he were singing 
 one of Dr. Watts's hymns before seeking his downy couch. 
 His hair is parted over his pensive brow, and his arms are 
 thrown affectionately round his psaltery as though to defend 
 it against all comers. The instrument itself has ten strings ; 
 perhaps the woodcut may be meant to be a delineation of 
 David singing to an instrument of ten strings. If so, David's 
 harp was more like a gridiron than any thing else, only as 
 gridirons usually have their handles in the middle, this 
 psaltery has its handle on one side. We would not have 
 been ten rooms off that psalterizer for anything on that gth 
 
220 Old English Life 
 
 century night. Little sleep should we have had till he had 
 done his devotions on the psaltery. — Times. 
 
 Charities of "Dog Smith." 
 
 Henry Smith, who died in 1627, gave large sums of 
 money, partly before his death, to various parishes in Sussex, 
 Surrey, and elsewhere, for charitable uses, and mainly " for 
 the settinge of the poore on worke." As he wisely directed 
 that the sum (generally 1,000/.) should be expended in the 
 purchase of land, the gross income at the present time must 
 be enormous. For instance, he left 1,000/. " to buy lands 
 for perpetuity to redeeme poore captives and prisoners from 
 the Turkish tyrannic." The land purchased with this in 
 Brompton, known as Smith's Charity Estate, and long since 
 covered with houses, already brings in a very large income, 
 which in the course of a few years, as the leases fall in, will 
 become immense. A history of the way in which the various 
 sums left by Smith have increased, and of the manner in 
 which the proceeds are now applied, would be valuable. 
 
 Falconry. 
 
 It appears from a note in Mr. Webb's " Roll of the House- 
 hold Expenses of Richard de Swinfield, Bishop of Hereford, 
 during the years 1289 and 1290," that Edward I., the 
 famous " Longshanks," was so fond of the sport of falconry 
 that when a favourite hawk was ill, he sent " Thomelin, the 
 son of Simon Corbet," to Hereford Cathedral, with obla- 
 tions at the shrine of St. Thomas of Hereford and St. Thomas 
 of Canterbury, " for the aforesaid sick falcon, by command 
 of the King." A waxen image of the falcon was afterwards 
 sent by the King to the shrine of St. Thomas. 
 
AND Manners. aai 
 
 Olden Haymaking. 
 
 Tenants in old times were required to cut and clear the 
 lord's hay-field. A tenant at Badbury was bound to mow 
 the lord's meadow for one day, receiving a meal of bread 
 and cheese twice in the course of the day ; and was after- 
 wards to carry the same meadow, receiving a rickle, or 
 bundle of hay, for his pains. The mowers also received 
 among them either twelve pence, or a sheep, which they 
 were to choose out of the lord's fold by sight, and not by 
 touch. T In other places, a mower was allowed haveroc', 
 that is, as much grass as he could raise upon his scythe, 
 without breaking its handle ; and a haymaker received a 
 perch of hay, called in English soylon, or a portion of hay 
 called in English a yelm, which was as much as he could 
 grasp with both arms. At Sturminster, a tenant, after Lang- 
 mead had been mown and carried, received haveroc' and 
 medknicc', that is, a knitch of hay, as much hay as the hay- 
 ward could raise with one finger to the height of his knee. 
 
 Antiquity of the Cocked Hat. 
 
 It is an astonishing fact that in Gaul, at least, the 
 cocked hats date from as venerable antiquity as the ninth 
 century. In the second volume of Baluzius' edition of the 
 Capitularies is a large plate, copied from an illumination in a 
 prayer-book given by Charles the Bald to the Cathedral 
 Church of Metz. The Emperor sits on his throne, sur- 
 rounded by various dignitaries, ecclesiastical, civil, and mili- 
 tary. The warriors are clad in a dress more Roman than 
 anything else, but they wear on their heads what look exactly 
 like cocked hats. In fact, as far as their heads are concerned, 
 these ancient Franks, or whatever they were, are the lively 
 
222 Old English Life 
 
 models of the common pictures of the elder Napoleon. On 
 this perhaps slight evidence we venture to hazard a theory. 
 Charles the Bald was the first prince who can be called King 
 of France in any thing at all like the modem sense. It is 
 under him that we get our first faint glimpses of the French 
 nation and the French language. Is it possible that the 
 new-born "nationality," as soon as it found itself in being, 
 hit at once, by a happy proleptic effort, upon the outward 
 symbol of the great dynasty which was to arise well-nigh a 
 thousand years after ? We have seen both the first and the 
 second Buonaparte described as wearing the crown of Charles 
 the Great ; if they will have a Carlovingian precursor, would 
 it not be more strictly true to describe them as wearing the 
 cocked hat of Charles the Bald ? 
 
 The Thimble. 
 
 The name of the thimble is said to have been derived from 
 " thumbell," having been first worn on the thumb, as the 
 sailor's thimble still is. It is of Dutch invention, and was 
 brought to England about the year 1605, by John Lofting, 
 who commenced its manufacture at Islington. 
 
 The Distaff and Spindle. 
 
 The well-known couplet, said to have been the rallying 
 cry on the occasions of popular risings in England, — 
 "When Adam dolve, and Eve span, 
 Who was then the gentleman ? "^ 
 
 well expresses the notion which our forefathers entertained 
 of human industry in primitive times. Some such homely 
 distich was probably in the mind of him who sculptured 
 the curious font in East Meon Church, Hants, where one of 
 the groups represents our first parents sent forth to labour 
 
AND Manners. 223 
 
 after their expulsion from Paradise ; Adam receiving a spade 
 from the angel with a submissive and even abased air, while 
 our common mother stalks away with head erect, plying her 
 spindle and distaff. 
 
 Lt;cK OP Slippers and Shoes. 
 
 " Hunt the slipper " has, we believe, some profound 
 meaning in it, according to the sages learned in Folk-lore. 
 So had the old Christmas custom of young girls, of balanc- 
 ing the slipper on the foot and therewith flinging it over the 
 head. If it fell towards the door, they of course were to be 
 married within the year. When married, they after a while 
 had another custom, that of changing the shoe daily from 
 the right foot to the left, and the left to the right. If they 
 observed this duly, happy young mothers they were to be, 
 and handsome and fortunate the longed-for little people. 
 On ordinary occasions, however, to put on the left shoe first 
 in the morning was sure to be followed by an unlucky day. 
 ^ In Germany, the old nurse of the family, at the wedding of 
 a daughter of the house, used at the wedding-feast to pre- 
 sent the first shoe worn by the bride when a child to the 
 bridegroom, who filled it with gold pieces, made a German 
 joke, and sent the ancient lady happy to her room. 4 
 
 Kentish Tails. 
 
 " For Becket's sake, Kent always shall have tails." 
 
 Andrew Marvell, The Loyal Scot. 
 
 As to the occasion of these lines, the matter may still be 
 said to be sub judice. The Golden Legend states that, in 
 return for Augustine and his followers having been pelted 
 out of " Strode in Kente " by the " tayles of thornback or 
 
224 Old English Life 
 
 lyke fysshes," the saint having invoked judgment from 
 heaven for the insult, the children that were born afterwards 
 in the place "had tayles." Peter Pindar, in one of his anti- 
 Georgian productions, has the following lines : — 
 
 "As Becket, that good saint, sublimely rode, 
 Heedless of insult, through the town of Strode," — 
 
 and adds that, some one having "cut his horse's tail so 
 flowing to the stump," so potent a malediction was bestowed 
 by the archbishop, that — 
 
 "The men of Strode are bom with horses' tails. '-' 
 
 Old Fuller is at great pains to throw discredit on the 
 supposed Augustinian foundation for the proverb, " Kentish 
 Long-tailes,'' adding that the scene of " this Lying Wonder " 
 was not in Kent but at Cerne in Dorsetshire. In a quarrel 
 that occurred in Palestine between the Earl of Salisbury and 
 a brother of Saint Louis of France, Matthew Paris reports 
 that the Frenchman insulted the English by uttering the 
 following : " O timidorum caudatorum formidolositas ! quam 
 beatus, quam mundus prsesens foret exercitus, si a caudis 
 purgaretur et caudatis." Fuller adds : " If any demand how 
 this nick-name (cut off from the rest of England) continues 
 still entailed on Kent? the best conjecture is, because that 
 county lieth nearest to France, and the French are beheld as 
 the first founders of this aspersion. But if any will have the 
 Kentish so called from drawing and dragging boughs of 
 trees behind them, which afterwards they advanced above 
 their heads, and so partly cozened, partly threatened King 
 William the Conqueror to continue their ancient customes ; 
 I say, if any will impute it to this original, I will not 
 oppose." 
 
 In a small work entitled England under the Normans, in 
 the chapter on the measurement of land, Mr. J. F. Morgan, 
 
AND Manners. 225 
 
 its author, states that " there was a mile peculiar to Kent, as 
 well as a customary field admeasurement. These long tales 
 are possibly the long tails of which the county used to be so 
 proud." 
 
 " Kent first in our account doth to itself apply, 
 Quoth he, this blazon first — Long tails and liberty." 
 
 Drayton, Polyolbion, Song xxiii. 
 Notes and Queries. 
 
 The Kentish Twins. 
 
 At Biddenden, Kent, were bom, in 1 100, Elizabeth and Mary 
 Chulkhurst, joined together by the hips and shoulders, and 
 who lived in that state thirty-four years, at the expiration of 
 which time one of them died ; the survivor was advised to be 
 separated from the corpse, but she absolutely refused, saying, 
 " As we came together we will also go together," and about 
 six hours after her sister's decease she was taken ill and died 
 also. A stone near the rector's pew, marked with a diagonal 
 line, is shown as the place of their interment. They by will 
 bequeathed to the churchwardens of the parish of Biddenden 
 and their successors, churchwardens, for ever, certain land, 
 and that in commemoration of this wonderful phenomenon of 
 nature 1000 rolls and about 300 quartern loaves, and cheese 
 in proportion, should be given to the poor inhabitants of the 
 parish. On Easter Sunday, after Divine service in the after- 
 noon, there is to the present day distributed by the church- 
 wardens about 1000 rolls, with an impression stamped on 
 them of two females joined in the manner stated. 
 
 Early Use of Coal. 
 
 The existence of Coal was a matter of little more than 
 curiosity until about five centuries ago. It was not till the 
 
 Q 
 
236 Old English Life 
 
 reign of William III. that coal became our staple fuel. The 
 prejudice against it was as strong as it was unaccountable. 
 As an instance of it, we may mention that, when first intro- 
 duced, the Commons petitioned the Crown in 1306 to pro- 
 hibit burning the " noxious " fuel. " A royal proclamation," 
 says Mr. Walter Beman, C.E. (in his History and Art of 
 Warming and Ventilating Rooms and Buildings), " having 
 failed to abate the growing nuisance, a commission was 
 issued to ascertain who burned sea-coal within the city [of 
 London] and in its neighbourhood, and to punish them by 
 fine for the first offence, and by demoUtion of their furnaces 
 if they persisted in transgression ; and more vigorous mea- 
 sures had to be resorted to. A law was passed making it a 
 capital offence to burn sea-coal within the city of London, 
 and only permitting it to be used in forges in the neighbour- 
 hood. Among the records in the Tower, Mr. Astle found a 
 document importing that in the time of Edward, a man had 
 been tried, convicted, and executed for the crime of burning 
 sea-coal in London. 
 
 Antiquity of Spoons. 
 
 In 1868 a large collection of ancient Spoons was exhibited 
 to the Archaeological Institute. It included the second 
 known dated example, most probably of the reign of Henry 
 VII. This is a fine example, and was probably made for the 
 baptismal service of a child ca,lled Nicholas, ;in. honour of 
 the saint who was credited with a great affection for children. 
 An example of a very early leaden spoon, of the sixth or 
 seventh century, is considered to have been used for putting 
 incense into the thurible. Mr. Octavious .Morgan, M.P., 
 who made these remarks upon the collection, mentioned that 
 Apostle Spoons were not usually earlier than the reign of 
 Elizabeth. They continued to the Restoration, when a new 
 
AND Manners. 337 
 
 form of bowl came into use : it was oval, with a tongue at 
 the back to strengthen it. Of this period and of the next, 
 where the handle was turned down, there were many fancy- 
 shapes, arrangements, or combinations of spoons with forks 
 and other articles for the table. The foreign spoons were 
 not very early. The hoisted pattern was an Oriental idea. 
 Some of the shapes of 'the Norwegian spoons and others 
 from the north of Europe were of remarkable form. The 
 collection, Mr. Morgan added, was one of the best he had 
 seen. 
 
 Social Life of the Last Century. 
 Taverns and coffee-houses supplied the places of the 
 clubs we have since established, and the former enjoyed a 
 literary celebrity which they rarely now retain. At Will's, 
 in Covent Garden, Dryden long presided over the wits and 
 poets of the day. The poKticians assembled at the St 
 Jame£s Coffee-house, whence all the articles of political news 
 in the first Tatler are dated. The learned frequented the 
 Grecian, in Devereux Court ; Lockefs, in Gerrard Street, 
 Soho, and Ponfa's were the fashionable taverns where the 
 young and gay met to dine ; and Whites and other chocolate 
 houses seem to have been the resort of the same company in 
 the morning. Three o'clock, or at latest four, was the dining 
 hour of the most fashionable persons in London, where, soon 
 after six, the men began to assemble at the coffee-houses they 
 frequented, if they were not setting in for hard drinking, 
 which seems to have been less indulged in private houses 
 than in taverns. The ladies made visits to one another, 
 which it must be owned was a much less waste of time, when 
 considered as an amusement for the evening, than now, as 
 being a morning occupation ^. 
 
 ' " Comparative View of the Social Life of England and France," 
 First Part, p. 273. 
 
 Q2 
 
aa8 Old English Life 
 
 Old English Inns. 
 
 Fynes Moryson, in his "Itinerary," thus speaks of English 
 Jnns : — " As soone as a passenger comes to an inne, the ser- 
 vants run to him, and one takes his horse and walkes him 
 about till he be cool, then rubs him down, and gives him 
 meat ; another servant gives the passenger his private cham- 
 ber and kindles his fire ; the third pulls off his boots, and 
 makes them cleane ; then the host and hostess visits him, 
 and if he will eate with the hoste or at a common table with 
 the others, his meale will cost him sixpence, or in some 
 places fourpence ; but if he will eat in his chamber, he com- 
 mands what meat he will, according to his appetite ; yea the 
 kitchen is open to him to order the meat to be dressed as he 
 likes beste. p After having eaten what he pleases, he may 
 with credit set by a part for next day's breakfast. His bill 
 will then be written for him, and should he object to any 
 charge the host is ready to alter it." — Notes and Queries. 
 
 Canonbury Tower, Islington. 
 
 Canonbury Tower has a volume of interesting associations, 
 which time has strangely disturbed. Some forty years since, 
 it was visited and described by our fellow-antiquary, William 
 Hone, with his accustomed love of detail. Prior Bolton's 
 Tower — though its oak staircase is far from, fine — is the most 
 interesting structure : the four and twenty rooms of the 
 Spencer mansion have been ruthlessly dealt with in moderni- 
 zation of all styles and patterns. The visitors to the house 
 are puzzled at each door having on it a knocker, which is 
 explained by Canonbury having been let in apartments from 
 an early period. Sir John Hawkins hasTecorded Goldsmith's 
 abode here "concealment from his creditors "j Newbery, 
 
AND Manners. 329 
 
 the publisher, was Oliver's responsible paymaster, at ^50 a 
 year, at that period (1762-4) equal to twice the amount 
 now ; the landlady, Mrs. Elizabeth Fleming, was, it is said, 
 painted by Hogarth. Goldsmith had for fellow-occupants 
 of the Casf/e (as Canonbury Tower was then called), a num- 
 ber of hterary acquaintances, who formed a temporary club, 
 which met at the Crown Tavern, on the Islington Lower 
 Road ; and here Oliver presided in his own genial style. The 
 present noble owner of the property, the Marquis of North- 
 ampton, is, we are assured, anxious to save the place from 
 further alteration, and has objected to the repointing of the 
 fine old brickwork of the tower. 
 
 Mediaeval Manners. 
 
 A writer of this period tells us that a man should wipe his 
 nose with his hand (for as yet handkerchiefs were not), and 
 he is told to wipe his hand on his skirt or on his tippet :— - 
 
 " If thy nose thou cleanse, as may befalle, 
 Loke thy hande thou cleanse withalle ; 
 Prively with skyrt do hit away, 
 Or ellis thurgh thi tepet that is so gay." 
 
 Such were Some of the rules of good breeding to which 
 we assume that a Bayard and his peers conformed, at least 
 in their more courtly moods, and we make our inferences, 
 therefore, as to the pleasure to be derived from their society. 
 Mr. Wright, in opposition to the conjecture of the editor of 
 the Zlder Albus, is confident that these mediaeval worthies 
 were destitute of night-shirts. It may be a mark of effemi- 
 nacy to judge a society harshly which knew nothing of night- 
 shirts, forks, or pocket-handkerchiefs ; but we cannot help 
 coming to the conclusion of the guest in Smollett, at the ter- 
 
23° Old English Life 
 
 mination of the dinner after the manner of the ancients, — 
 " Good Heavens ! what beasts those ancients were ! " — 
 Times. 
 
 MEDiiEVAL Bedding. 
 
 In a miniature of the end of the fourteenth century are 
 represented a bed furnished with canopy and curtains. 
 Round the bed are a group of figures representing, we should 
 say, an ineffectual attempt made by the wife and retainers 
 of a mediaeval baron to get him to retire to rest, after copious 
 libations of h3rpocras. If we. may trust our eyes, they have 
 succeeded in undressing their lord and master so far as to 
 have persuaded him to put on his nightcap, but further than 
 that they cannot go. The lady is turning her back on the 
 baron in disgust, while his butler, on his knees, is beseeching 
 him to go to bed. But we do not think they ever got him 
 to retire, the more so as we observe that the canopy of the bed 
 has jamais, jamais, jamais, embroidered all round it, which 
 words are repeated on the collar of the baron's mantle, and 
 which we take to mean that he " never " would go to bed — 
 that in short, he had made up his mind to make a night of it, 
 to order up another bottle of hypdcras, and that if he could 
 have his way he would not " come home till morning." 
 But whatever may be that baron's intention, we must say we 
 never saw so uncomfortable a place to pass the night in as 
 that bed, and that we much prefer even an old four-poster. 
 A little further on we do actually come on a four-poster of 
 the fourteenth century, in a print of " the dwelling room of 
 a seigneur " of that century ; and a most picturesque piece 
 of furniture, no doubt, it is, with its huge pillars rising right 
 up to the roof The seigneur and his wife are sitting on a 
 settle, and solacing themselves with a guitar before retiring 
 
AND Manners. 231 
 
 to rest, while two retainers and a dog are refreshing them 
 selves in a much more business-like and sensible way at a 
 table near the fire. 
 
 The Glastonbury Abbey Chair. 
 
 The Glastonbury chair has a reputation of interest. It 
 was the property of Horace Walpole for some time, and 
 formed one of the attractions among his curiosities at Straw- 
 berry Hill. At the dispersion of those objects at the me- 
 morable sale, it was bought by Mr. Smyth Pigott, of Brockley 
 Hall, Somersetshire, for 75/. It was again sold in October, 
 1849, to Mr. Brackenridge, of Clevedon, this time fetching 
 only 49/. The following is the account of it given in the 
 catalogue of the sale in which it changed hands : — 
 
 " 351. A very ancient chair of oak which came out of Glastonbury 
 Abbey ; on it are carved these sentences : — 'Johannes Arthurus, Monacus, 
 Glastonie — Salvet enim Deus, Da Pacem Domine, Sit laus Deo." This 
 chair, from its authenticity, shape, and extreme comfort, has been re- 
 peatedly copied, particularly for the late Earl Bathurst. It belonged to 
 Sir Robert Walpole, and was purchased by Mr. Pigott, at Strawberry 
 Hall sale." 
 
 Fashions of the Fourteenth Century. 
 
 A sour old Monk of Glastonbury, one " Dowglass," wrote 
 some chronicles of England. From the tirade of this old 
 satirist we shall get a good view of the state of fashions at 
 the opening of the fourteenth century, when the ladies 
 adopted a curious remedy for the want of crinoline. "The 
 Englishmen hawnted so moche unto the foyle of straungers, 
 that every yere they chaunged them in divers schappes and 
 disguisinges of clotheing, now longe, now large, now wide, now 
 straight, and every day clothings new and destitute and 
 
232 Old English Life 
 
 desert from all honestie of old arraye and good usage ; and 
 another time to short clothes and so straightwaisted with 
 full sleeves, tippets of surcoats and hoods over long and 
 large, all too jagged and knit on every side, all too flattered 
 and also buttoned, that they were more like to tormentors 
 and devils in their clotheing, and also in their shoeing and 
 other arraye, than they seemed to be, like men. And that 
 wymmenne were more nicely arrayed and passed the menne 
 in alle manner of araies and curious clothing, for thei werede 
 such strete clothes that they had long fox-tailes sewed 
 withynne their garments to hold them forthe ! the which 
 disguisingges and pride afterwards brought forthe and 
 causedde many mischiefs and myshappes that hapned in the 
 reme of Englond." 
 
 Barbers' Forfeits. 
 
 In a barber's shop, not many years ago, at Stratford-upon- 
 Avon, might be seen certain rules, which the then professor 
 mounted when he was an apprentice, some fifty years pre- 
 viously; and his employer, who was in business as a barber in 
 this place at the time of Garrick's Jubilee (1769) frequently 
 alluded to this list of forfeits, as being generally acknow- 
 ledged by all the fraternity to be the genuine article, and to 
 have been in use for centuries. The old man came from 
 Leicestershire to Stratford-upon-Avon, and well remembered 
 the use of large wooden bowls for lathering. These bowls 
 were placed under the chin, a convenient niche having been 
 cut in the side in which the chin dropped and kept the bowl 
 suspended during the lathering operation. He used to 
 relate that some of the customers paid by the quarter, and 
 for these an especial bowl was set apart and used only at 
 the time when their shaving money was due. Inside of this 
 
AND Manners. 233 
 
 particular bowl, inscribed in perfectly unmistakable charac- 
 ters, were the words, " Sir, your quarter's up ! " 
 
 'RULES FOR SEEMLY BEHAVIOUR. 
 
 ' First come, first served — then come not late ; 
 And when arrived keep your state ; 
 For he who from these Rules shall swerve, 
 Must pay the forfeits — so observe. 
 
 " Who enters here with boots and spurs, 
 Must keep his nook ; for if he stirs, 
 And give with armed heel a kick, 
 A pint he pays for every prick. 
 
 2. 
 
 ' ' Who rudely takes another's turn, 
 A forfeit mug may manners learn. 
 
 3- 
 
 "Who reverentless shall swear or curs 
 Must lug seven farthings from his purse. 
 
 4 
 "Who checks the barber in his tale 
 Must pay for each a pot of ale. 
 
 5- 
 " Who will or cannot miss his hat 
 While trimming, pays a pint for that. 
 
 " And he who can or will not pay 
 Shall hence be sent half trimmed away ; 
 For will he, nill he, if in fault, 
 He forfeit must in meal or malt. 
 But mark, who is already in drink. 
 The cannikin must never clink. " 
 
 The above table of forfeits was published by Dr. Kenrick 
 
834 Old English Life 
 
 in his "Review of Dr. Johnson's New Edition of Shakspeare," 
 1765, and quoted by him from recollection of a list he had 
 read many years before at Malton, or Thirsk, in Yorkshire. 
 
 Keeping Holidays. 
 
 " There are many advantages in variety of conditions, one 
 of which is boasted of by a divine, who rejoices that, between 
 both classes, all the holidays of the church are properly 
 kept, since the rich observe the feasts and the poor observe 
 the fasts." — Sharp. 
 
 Early Use of Tobacco. 
 
 It is not generally known that the name Tobacco, which 
 we apply to the plant smoked, was given to it from the pipe 
 through which it was smoked. The author of a rare book 
 upon Tobago, says — " By the way, I do not recollect any 
 author who has given a clear account of this name, and as 
 many have expressed a doubt, whether the island was so 
 called from the herb, or the herb from the island, I hope 
 the curious and inquisitive reader will be well pleased to see 
 that matter set in its true light. For the fact is, that neither 
 the island received its name from the herb, nor the herb 
 from the island. The appellation is indeed Indian, and yet 
 was bestowed by the Spaniards. The thing happened thus. 
 The Caribbees were extremely fond of tobacco, which in 
 their language they called Kohiha, and fancied when they 
 were drunk with the fumes of it, the dreams they had were 
 in some sort inspired. Now their method of taking it was 
 this : they first made a fire of wood, and when it was burnt 
 out, they scattered upon the living embers the leaves of the 
 plant, and received the smoke of it by the help of an instru- 
 
AND Manners. 335 
 
 ment that was hollow, made exactly in the shape of the letter 
 Y, putting the longer tube into the smoke, and thrusting the 
 shorter tubes up their nostrils. This instrument they called 
 Tobago, and when the Admiral Christopher Columbus passed 
 to the southward of this island, he judged the form of it to 
 resemble that instrument, and thence it received its name." 
 
 Clay tobacco-pipes are frequently found in England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland, upon turning up ground which had 
 been occupied by the troops of Charles I. and the Parlia- 
 mentary party, and also by those of James II. and William 
 III. In the latter case, clay, and sometimes iron and brass 
 pipes, with bowls of much larger dimensions, are found 
 mingled among pipes of smaller size, and with bowls of 
 barrel-shape fashion. 
 
 An old silver tobacco-box, which we heard of in Wiltshire, 
 as having belonged to a Mr. Pynsent, who left all his estates 
 in Somersetshire to the great Lord Chatham, "from admira- 
 tion of his talents and patriotism," (we know not whether 
 they ever smoked together,) was engraved with the following 
 lines under a death's head : — 
 
 " Mens ignis, Tubulus corpus, mihi vitaque fumus 
 Herba penus, clavus fata, suprema cinis. 
 P. M. * E. E.^' 
 
 Which have been rendered : 
 
 " Of lordly man, how humbling is the type, 
 A fleeting shadow, a tobacco pipe ! 
 His mind the fire, his frame the tube of clay. 
 His breath the smoke so idly puffed away. 
 His food the herb that fills the hollow bowl, 
 Death is the stopper, Ashes end the whole.' 
 
236 Old English Life 
 
 A Snuff-Lover's Will. 
 
 The last will and testament of Dame Margaret Thomp- 
 son, of Boyle Street, set forth that, as it was usual to put 
 flowers into the coffins of departed friends, and she had 
 never found any flowers so fragrant and refreshing as the 
 precious powder, her trusty servant Sarah was to take care 
 her body was covered with the best Scotch snuff. Six men, 
 the greatest snuff-takers in the parish, were to carry her to 
 the grave ; and the half-dozen old maids selected to act as 
 pall-bearers were to be supplied with boxes of snuff where- 
 with to refresh themselves on the road. The officiating 
 clergyman was to be paid four guineas upon condition that 
 he walked in the procession, and " took a certain quantity, 
 not exceeding ilb." of the same. Sarah's legacy depended 
 upon her carrying out the wishes of the testatrix — strewing 
 the threshold of the house in Boyle-street with two bushels 
 of snuff, and walking before the corpse for the purpose of 
 distributing " every twenty yards a large handful of Scotch 
 snuff to the ground and upon the ground." Lastly, to every 
 legacy bequeathed by Dame Thompson was attached a gift 
 of lib. of "the grand cordial of nature." The sex "added 
 a foil to every obvious grace" down to the days of the 
 Regency; Queen Charlotte herself was a dear lover of a 
 pinch, and kept her box well filled with best Spanish or 
 violet Strasburg' mixed with green tea; and, of course, as 
 long as the first lady in the land set such an example, 
 fashion saw nothing unladylike in feminine snuffing. 
 
 Origin Of Whist. 
 
 To the period of Charles II. may most probably be 
 referred the invention of the game of Whist. Founded 
 
AND Manners. 337 
 
 upon the game known as Ruff and Honours, it was origi- 
 nated between 1664 and 1680; for though not mentioned 
 in the first edition of the Compleat Gamester, published in 
 the former year, it is named amongst the generally known 
 games in the second edition which appeared in the latter. 
 There was first an additional stake called swabbers, and 
 these stakes the holders of particular cards swept off the 
 board. The term originated from the nautical implement 
 used in that maritime age by sailors to clear and " swab " 
 the decks. Like some other games, the kitchen was its first 
 home, and, "born in a kitchen,'' it made its way to the 
 saloon, in company, very likely, with some of the gay 
 damsels who rose so high in those days. Whist, however, 
 became first scientifically cultivated in 1730, when a club of 
 gentlemen, among whom was the first Lord Folkestone, met 
 to play it at a cofifee-house known as the Crown, in Bedford- 
 row. In Ireland, to trump a trick is still called to "ruff" it. 
 France did not adopt the English game for some time. 
 Walpole, however, was rejoiced to be able to record that 
 the French had naturalized two of the dullest things in 
 England, — ^Whist and Richardson's novels. 
 
 Whist, in a pre-eminent degree, exacts the exercise of a 
 large range of faculties, and faculties, too, of a very varied 
 and dissimilar order. It is very common to hear a pre- 
 ference accorded to chess over whist, on the ground that in 
 chess no element of chance enters, and that the whole con- 
 duct of the game is resolvable to mathematical certainty. 
 Now, it is precisely for this very difference that we claim the 
 superiority for whist. It is in this same element of chance 
 that whist so closely resembles real life. It is in this same 
 element of what may or may not be that we have a field for 
 the exercise of those powers which calculate probabilities, 
 and argue from the likely. or unlikely, and draw conclusions 
 
z^S Old English Life 
 
 from premisses not absolutely certain, but still as probable 
 as are the greater number of the unaccomplished events in 
 our actual lives. If there be a game which sets the fine 
 edge of the reasoning powers of the man of the world — of 
 him who is to be conversant with the daily incidents of life, 
 and those who set them in motion — it is whist. Show me a 
 first-rate whist player, and I will engage to show you a man 
 to whose knowledge of the world, to whose tact, to whose 
 powers of computing the cost of any action, and striking 
 the balance of advantage or disservice it might entail, you 
 may apply in a moment of doubt or difficulty. Show me a 
 first-rate whist player, and you show me one who combines 
 patient powers of a judicial order with the energetic rapidity 
 of a man of action, who has the keenest appreciation of the 
 laws of evidence, along with the steady courage of the 
 soldier, and in whose balanced intellect no undue pro- 
 minence is ever accorded to one class of faculties at the 
 expense of another. — Blackwood's Magazine. 
 
 Card-playing has been ingeniously defended. Thus, the 
 great Leibnitz : "As I have said more than once, men never 
 appear more ingenious than in games and amusements, and 
 philosophers should take advantage of them in perfecting 
 the art of arts, which is the art of thinking." Goethe, too, 
 in his Dichtung und Wahrheit, after speaking very favourably 
 of card-playing, winds up by saying, "Time is infinitely 
 long, and every day a vessel, into which a great deal can be 
 poured if you wish to fill it up." 
 
 The Trump Card. 
 
 Trump, which some consider the parent of whist, was 
 perhaps of equal antiquity with Primero, and was so com- 
 monly known, that Latimer, afterwards bishop and martyr, 
 
AND Manners. 339 
 
 in some sermons " on the Card," preached at St. Edmund's 
 Church, Cambridge, the Sunday before Christmas, 1529, 
 actually used it as a familiar illustration, and thus dealt out 
 an exposition of Christianity : — "And whereas you are about 
 to celebrate Christmas in playing at cards, I intend, by 
 God's grace, to deal unto you Christ's cards, wherein you 
 shall perceive Christ's rule. The game that we will play at 
 shall be called the triumph, which, if it be well played at, 
 he that dealeth shall win ; the players shall likewise win ; 
 and the standers and lookers upon shall do the same ; 
 insomuch that there is no man willing to play at this triumph 
 with these cards, but they shall be all winners and no 
 losers." "It seems," says Fuller, History of Cambridge, 
 p. 103, "that he suited his sermon rather to the time than 
 to the text, which was the Baptist's question to our Lord, 
 'Who art thou?' John i. 19, taking thereby to conform his 
 discourse to the playing at cards, making the heart triumph 
 {trump). This blunt preaching was in those days admirably 
 effectual, but would be justly ridiculous in our age. " I 
 remember," adds Fuller, "in my time, a country minister 
 preached at St. Mary's from Rom. xii. 3, 'As God hath dealt 
 to every man the measure of faith.' In a fond imitation of 
 Latimer's sermon, he prosecuted the metaphor of dealing, 
 that men should play above board, i. e. avoid all dissembling, 
 not pocket cards, but improve their gifts and ^z.z&s,, follow 
 suit, Ss'c., all which produced nothing but laughter in the 
 audience." 
 
 Penny Post 170 Years Ago. 
 
 Elizabeth, Countess of Thanet, petitioned the Irish Go- 
 vernment " to erect a Penny Pacquet Office in Dublin, and 
 ten or twelve miles round it." This document is supposed 
 
240 Old English Life 
 
 to have perished in the fire which destroyed the Council 
 Chamber of Dublin Castle in 17 11. But a copy of it was 
 preserved among the Southwell MSS. with a report relative 
 to the London penny post, and an answer to the objections 
 of the Postmaster-General in Ireland against it. Although 
 the plan was not carried into effect, the Countess obtained 
 a pension in July, 1706, of 300/. per annum. 
 
 The First Turnpike in England.- 
 
 Five hundred years have elapsed since a hermit, weary of 
 the labour of having nothing to do, and tired of sitting the 
 dull day through, by the side of the stone which supported 
 the sun-dial in front of St. Anthony's Chapel, on Highgate 
 Hill — that stone which subsequently became known as 
 Whittington's — resolved to mend the ways between the sum- 
 mit of the hill and the low part of the vale ending in Isling- 
 ton. This hermit was a man of some means, and he devoted 
 them to bringing gravel from the top of the hill and laying 
 it all along the unclean track, which then, as now, bore the 
 name of " Hollow Way." By digging out gravel he gave a 
 pond to the folk on the hill, where it was greatly needed ; 
 and he contributed cleanliness and security to the vale, where 
 neither, had hitherto been known. Travellers blessed the 
 hermit who had turned constructor of highways ; the pil- 
 grims to St. Anthon/s found their access to the shrine of the 
 saint made easy and pleasant by him, and as for the benefi- 
 cent hermit himself, his only regret was that, in accomplish- 
 ing this meritorious act for the good of his fellow men, he 
 had entirely exhausted all his fortune. The King, however, 
 came to the rescue : he set up a toll-bar, and published a 
 decree addressed to " our well-beloved William Phelippe, the 
 hermit," that he and the public might know wherefore. The 
 
AND Manners. 241 
 
 King declared that he highly appreciated the motive which 
 had induced the hermit to benefit "our people passing 
 through the highway between Heghgate and Smethfield, in 
 many places notoriously miry and deep." And in order that 
 the new way might be maintained and kept in repair, the 
 King licensed the hermit to take toll, and keep the road in 
 order, and himself in comfort and dignity. This was the 
 first road-bar erected in England, and William Phelippe, the 
 hermit, was the father of the race of turnpike-keepers. 
 
 Love of Gardens. 
 
 No associations are stronger than those connected with a 
 Garden. It is the first pride of an emigrant settled on some 
 distant shore to have a little garden as like as he can make 
 it to the one he left at home. A pot of violets or migno- 
 nette is one of the highest luxuries of an Anglo-Indian. In 
 the bold and picturesque scenery of Batavia, the Dutch can, 
 from feeling, no more dispense with their little moats round 
 their houses than they could, from necessity, in the flat 
 swamps of their native land. Sir John Hobhouse discovered 
 an Englishman's residence on the shore of the Hellespont by 
 the character of his shrubs and flowers. Louis XVIII., on 
 his restoration to France, made in the park of Versailles the 
 fac-simile of the garden at Hartwell ; and there was no more 
 amiable trait in the life of that accomplished prince. Napo- 
 leon used to say that he should know his father's garden in 
 Corsica blindfold by the smell of the earth ; and the hanging 
 gardens of Babylon are said to have been raised by the Me- 
 dian queen of Nebuchadnezzar on the flat and. naked plains 
 of her adopted country, to remind her of the hills and woods 
 of her childhood. — Quarterly Review. 
 
 R 
 
242 Old English Life 
 
 Beware of Beer. 
 
 Bishop Warburton once said to a boy, who was dining 
 with him at Gloucester, and was most assiduous in his devo- 
 tion to the tankard, " Those who drink beer think beer." 
 Gray, in one of his letters to the Countess of Suffolk, men- 
 tions a young lady whose whole desires were centred in a pot 
 of ale. Her friends, anxious for her form and complexion, 
 constantly endeavoured to persuade her from her propensity. 
 Her reply, was that by losing her beauty she would only lose 
 her husband, and pale beer was her passion. 
 
 Eggs as Food. 
 
 In Germany, instead of eating Eggs at Easter, is presented 
 an emblematic print, in which three hens are holding a 
 basket, wherein are placed three eggs ; over the centre is the 
 Agnus Dei, with a chalice, representing Faith; and the 
 other eggs bear the emblems of Charity and Hope. At 
 Easter, instead of the coloured egg, the Vienna egg is com- 
 posed of silver, mother-of-pearl, or bronze, and filled with 
 jewels or ducats. 
 
 JSggs for Money was apparently a proverbial expression 
 when a person was either awed by threats, or overreached 
 by subtlety, to give money upon a trifling or fictitious consi- 
 deration : 
 
 " Mine honest friend, 
 Will you take eggs for money ?" 
 
 Winter's Tale. 
 
 That is, will you suffer yourself to be bullied or cheated? 
 The answer is suitable to the interpretation : — 
 
 "No, njylord, I'll fight." 
 
AND Manners. 243 
 
 An insult of this kind seems to be shown in the following 
 passage : — 
 
 " And for the rest of your money, I sent it to one Captain Carvegut ; 
 he swore to me his father was my lord mayor's cook, and that by 
 Easter next you should have the principal, and eggs for the use, indeed, 
 €vc."— Old Play. 
 
 This seems the purposed insult of a bully, who thought 
 any answer sufficient for the fool he took the money from ; 
 and the reply of him to whom this answer is referring seems 
 to show that it was a matter of notorious ignominy to be so 
 put off: — 
 
 " O rogue, rogue, shall have eggs for my money; I must hang my- 
 self."— 0/</ Play. 
 
 "Who, notwithstanding his high promises, having also the king's 
 power, is yet content to take eggs for his money, and to bring him in at 
 leisure." — Blow's Annals. 
 
 In the character of Coriat, prefixed to his Travels, where 
 it is said in the text, "He will buy his eggs, his puddings, 
 &c., in the Attick dialect;" it is added, in a note, "I meane 
 when he travelled ; a thing I know he scorned to do since 
 he came home." 
 
 ■Egg-Starch : 
 
 " Whose calves egg-starch may in some sort be taken 
 As if they had been hanged, to smoke, like bacon." 
 
 Taylor's Wbrkes, 1630. 
 
 There are seven passages in the Holy Scriptures in which 
 eggs are spoken of as things eaten : Isa. lix. 5, " He that shall 
 eat of their eggs shall die;" and Luke xi. 12, "Or if he 
 shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?" But the 
 most ancient mention is that of Job vi. 6, " Is there any 
 use in the white of an egg?" (which may have caused it to 
 be so often rejected). 
 
 It is well known that the Romans usaally began their 
 R 2 
 
344 Old English Life 
 
 principal meal with eggs : hence the words of Horace, "Ab 
 ovo usque ad mala citaret " (Sat. i. 3). And in his Satire 
 ii. 4, his friend Catius begins his account of the requisites 
 for a good dinner by recommending long-shaped eggs 
 rather than round ones, as being sweeter and more nutritious. 
 Cicero also speaks of devouring eggs with eager appetite. 
 Henry mentions, in his Manners of the Israelites, that the 
 Egyptians in the times of their purifications abstained even 
 from eggs, which of course implies that they eat them at 
 other times. 
 
 Egg Saturday was, in the old calendar, a movable feast, 
 being the Saturday preceding Shrove Tuesday. Eggs and 
 butter were commonly eaten at breakfast, before the intro- 
 duction of tea : " They are up already, and call for eggs and 
 butter " (i Hen. IV. ii. i). Buttered eggs were the break- 
 fasts of the fifth Earl of Northumberland and his Lady in 
 Lent. 
 
 Pasch (from pascha, passover), or Easter Eggs, belong to 
 many times and countries. The custom of giving eggs at 
 Easter prevailed among our ancestors before the Reforma- 
 tion, being considered, in the Romish Church, a sort of 
 sacred observance. The egg was, doubtless, held to be an 
 emblem of the Resurrection; and it was usual to colour 
 eggs, it is presumed, merely for ornament, as the colours 
 were various ; they were blessed by the priests, and thought 
 to have great virtues. In an old Roman ritual we find this 
 form : " Bless, O Lord, we beseech Thee, this Thy creature 
 of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance to Thy 
 faithful servant, eating it with thankfulness to Thee, on 
 account of the Resurrection of our Lord." And there is a 
 curious book of emblems, with one hundred engravings of 
 eggs, with devices within them. Ray has a proverb, " I'll 
 warrant you for an egg at Easter," which evidently alludes 
 
AND Manners. 345 
 
 to beginning to eat eggs again at Easter, after the fast of 
 Lent. 
 
 In Russia, at Easter, the people rush into the street, 
 embrace each other, and present red eggs, exclaiming, 
 " Christ has risen from the dead." 
 
 Michaelmas Goose Dinner. 
 
 The custom of serving a Goose for dinner on Michaelmas- 
 day is said to have arisen from the accidental circumstance 
 of Queen Ehzabeth being in the full enjoyment of her 
 dinner off that savoury bird, when she was informed of the 
 victory obtained by Sir Francis Drake over the Spanish 
 Armada, while advancing towards Tilbury Fort. But the 
 probability is her Majesty was only indulging in one of the 
 whimsical predilections of her subjects. 
 
 Norfolk has long been famed for the breed of Geese. 
 The " stubble goose '' has given place to those more deli- 
 cately fed. The rustic call for the goose is "Willie;" 
 whether this is "wily" in jest of their alleged simplicity, 
 or " y-like," in reference to the inverted form of that letter, 
 which they uniformly adopt in their flight, are doubts not 
 easily solved. "The Goose and Gridiron" is a Norfolk 
 sign, but the meaning remains hitherto unexplained. And 
 it is well known a Norfolk man will scarcely feel himself 
 aggrieved at the well-known sobriquet derived from them, 
 and so unsparingly lavished upon hira by his facetious 
 neighbours in the " shires." 
 
 The Norfolk goose of the London markets is generally 
 imported from Prussia or the Rhenish Provinces. One 
 caterer in Norwich has imported as many as six thousand in 
 one year; and has observed, while feeding them, their 
 attachment to light, by their rarely taking food in the dark 
 
24^ Old English Life 
 
 nights, but they will enjoy themselves under the full moon 
 as under the mid-day sun. 
 
 The goose, from its harmless habits, figures in many of 
 our nursery tales and rhymes, but nowhere more prominently 
 than in the Legends of Ashworth Thorpe Hall. 
 
 The habitual practice of serving a goose on the tacitly 
 appointed day is observed with singular scrupularity in most 
 private families ; but the maintenance of the custom to 
 gratify alike the taste and inherent, if not superstitious, feel- 
 ings of the indigent, proves at least a deep-rooted veneration 
 for what may appear to indifferent observers a puerile custom. 
 
 At the Old Man's Hospital, Norwich, a retreat for the 
 aged, the inmates, of the two sexes, amounting in one year to 
 upwards of 200, are, regaled on Michaelmas-day off their 
 self-omened birds. The provision for this feast was made 
 by the worthy Alderman Partridge, in 18 16, who, by his 
 will denoted that a goose should be provided there for every 
 four persons. This was done, as the economists of the day 
 proposed to discontinue the annual feast. 
 
 The Michaelmas-day at this hospital is the gala-day of the 
 year. The inmates are in their best attire, and, charmed 
 with the delicious prospects, tempt the visitors to a "mardle," 
 which generally turns upon the wonders of the " Eagle 
 Ward," so called from the pencilling of the splendid roof of 
 the now decorated churc.h. The great kitchen is thrown 
 open to the public, where hundreds throng to see the novel 
 sight, and to inhale the suffocating heat from a ton of 
 burning cofils. A skeleton cylinder is formed of seven or 
 eight bars ; on each is spitted seven geese ; the whole is 
 then made to revolve round before the immense fire by a 
 turnspit, whose occupation requires frequent relief to prevent 
 his mingling with the revolving victims. — Notes and Queries, 
 2nd S., No. 48. 
 
AND Manners. 247 
 
 The Wayz-Goose. 
 
 This term is in part derived from the old EngUsh word 
 wayz, stubble. Bailey informs us that wayz-goo&s, or stub- 
 ble-goose, is an entertainment given to journeymen at the 
 beginning of winter. Hence a wayz-goose was the head 
 dish at the annual feast of the printers, and is not altogether 
 unknown as a dainty dish in these days. Moxon, in his 
 " Mechanick Exercises" (1683), tells us that " it is customary 
 for the journeymen to make every year new paper windows, 
 whether the old ones will serve again or no ; because that 
 day they make them the master printer gives them a way- 
 goose. . . . These way-gooses are always kept about 
 Bartholomew-tide ; and till the master printer has given 
 their way-goose, the journeymen do not use to work by 
 candle-light. The satae custom was formerly common at 
 Coventry, where it was usual in the large manufactories of 
 ribbons and watches, as well as among the silk-dyers, when 
 they commenced the use of candles, to have their annual 
 way-goose. Goose-day is now, in nearly all the London 
 houses, held in May or June instead of at Michaelmas, and 
 is quite unconnected with the lighting-up." — See also Nbies. 
 and Queries, and S., No. 83, p. 91, and No. 88, p. 193. 
 
 Historical Pottery. 
 
 Articles of fictile ware are at once the most fragile and 
 the most enduring of human monuments. A piece of com- 
 mon pottery, liable to be shivered to pieces by a slight blow, 
 is more enduring than epitaphs in brass and effigies in bronze. 
 These yield to the varying action of the weather : stone 
 crumbles away, ink fades, and paper decays ; but the earthen 
 vase deposited in some quiet but forgotten receptacle, sur- 
 
248 Old English Life 
 
 vives the changes of time, and even when broken at the 
 moment of its discovery by the pick of the labourer, affords 
 instruction in its fragments. In their power of traversing 
 accumulated ages, and affording glimpses of ancient times 
 and people, fictile articles have been compared to the fossils 
 of animals and plants, which reveal to the educated eye the 
 former conditioss of our globe. 
 
 Netting. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that every people with whom we 
 have become acquainted, however small their acquaintance 
 with other arts, are possessed of the art of making nets of 
 one kind or other, and then forming articles of some utility. 
 The natives of the Andaman Islands, who are among the 
 very lowest in the scale of civilization of any people with 
 which we are acquainted, make use of a hand-net formed of 
 bark for fishing. 
 
 Origin of Liveries. 
 
 During the rule of the Merovingian dynasty, there arose a 
 practice of delivering splendid habits to the members of their 
 households on the occasion of great festivals ; from which 
 originated the usages of feudal retainers wearing a dress of 
 particular colours, and with distinctive badges pertaining to 
 their superiors. From the circumstances that these dresses 
 and badges were originally given, in French livre, comes the 
 English word livery, a phrase of honourable distinction in 
 the Middle Ages, perpetuated in the official garb of civic 
 guilds (whence the "liverymen" of London), and in the attire 
 of public and private servants. The wearing of livery is 
 thus traceable to a Frankish custom in the sixth century. — 
 France : Its History and devolutions. By W. Chambers. 
 
AND Manners. 249 
 
 .The Strange Family. 
 
 Strange is not to be understood in the modem sense, but 
 as a corruption of strong. The following are the historical 
 facts of the case : — Guy L'Estrange, the founder of the 
 family, spelt his name as L'Estrange ; it appears thus on the 
 Roll of Battle Abbey. He was created Baron Strange. In 
 the reign of Edward IV. the eldest son of Lord Derby mar- 
 ried the only child of John L'Estrange, Baron Strange, and 
 was called to the House of Lords, '■'■jure -uxoris^' as Lord 
 Strange; and his family have since used the L'Estrange 
 motto, " Sans changer" although the Barony of Strange has 
 again gone to another family in the female line, — viz. the 
 Duke of Athole's. 
 
 Cottage Homes of England. 
 
 In the Leisure Hour, No. 978, is the following graphic 
 account of the abodes of the humbler classes ; and a most in- 
 teresting picture it is of the rural life of English counties : — 
 ' " There are no cottages in England more than five hun- 
 dred years old. The fish-house at Meare, near Glastonbury, 
 is the only cottage supposed to be even as old as that. 
 Those that remain owe their durability to the fact that they 
 are built of oak.:f Whatever the sanitary reformer may have 
 to say against these ancient cots, they are always picturesque, 
 and never out of harmony with the scenery around them. 
 Their gable roofs of cosy thatch, or red tiles bright with 
 moss and lichen, their ornamented chimneys, and walls of 
 plaster, laced and interlaced with heavy beams, come peep- 
 ing out from the green lanes of Kent, or fringe the breezy 
 Surrey commons, or lie nestling in the wooded vales of 
 Sussex ; while in Yorkshire and Wales their aspect is bleak 
 
250 Old English Life 
 
 as the moor or the mountain side. In Cumberland and 
 Devonshire they are built alike of stone; but in the north 
 their architecture is " Cyclopean," in keeping with .the stem 
 aspect nature presents amongst those wild, thinly-peopled 
 hills; while in the south, covered with ivy and hidden 
 amongst gardens and orchards, each little cot is a poem in 
 itself. This harmony arises from necessity. It is partly due 
 to the gentle influence of time, and partly to the fact that the 
 same soil which produces the natural scenery produces the 
 materials of which the cottages are built. In the north, 
 wood is scarce, stone plentiful : hence the stone villages of 
 Lancashire and Yorkshire. In the pottery districts and the 
 midland counties clay is abundant, and brick cottages are 
 the rule. In Westmoreland, the red sandstone is used ; in 
 Kent, the rag-stone ; in Lincolnshire, the Ancaster stone ; 
 in Cornwall, granite ; in Essex and Herts, flints from the 
 chalk hills ; in Hampshire, mud mixed with pebbles ; in 
 Norfolk and Sufiblk, lumps of clay mixed with straw." 
 
 The Leather Bottle. 
 
 In thirsty Spain, the traveller carries his bota as regularly 
 as the playgoer carries his opera-glass, or the Londoner his 
 umbrella; and nowhere will he more fervently join in the 
 refrain of the quaint old song which prays — 
 
 " That in heaven his soul may dwell 
 Who first found out the leather bottM. " 
 
 There are two sorts of bota. That used in Catalonia, 
 Arragon, and the Pyrenees generally, has a horn nozzle fitting 
 on with a screw ; but the southern bota — a simpler, ruder, 
 and altogether more oriental-looking affair — is much more 
 convenient in form. The neck is furnished with a wooden 
 cup-shaped mouth, fitted with a perforated plug, through 
 
AND Manners. 251 
 
 which the parched wayfarer squirts a thin stream of wine 
 down his throat, if his " tenement of clay " merely requires 
 a slight moistening. If thorough saturation be desired, he 
 has only to remove the plug and keep the cup full by a loving 
 pressure of the yielding leather; and no sound could be 
 more sympathetic to a thirsty soul than the jovial chuckling 
 gurgle of the wine as it rises through the narrow neck, and 
 the long-drawn sigh that follows when the hand is removed 
 and the empty air rushes in to fill the place of the generous 
 liquor. 
 
 "Wakes." 
 
 Dr. Goss, Roman Catholic Bishop of Liverpool, has deter- 
 mined to put down, if possible, the disgraceful custom 
 practised by Roman Catholics of " Wakes." In an address 
 to the congregation at St. Anne's Church, Aughton, he said 
 he had heard that in that district that "waking" the 
 dead was still practised. He had given instructions to the 
 priests, not only there, but in every part of his diocese, that 
 whenever it came to their knowledge that a "wake" had 
 been held over a dead body, the Burial Service must not be 
 read, but he or she must be buried like a dog. The dead 
 would thus be punished for the errors of the living. "Waking'' 
 the dead, as now practised, was a hideous custom, merely a 
 pagan and brutal revel, and could not be too strongly con- 
 demned. Originally, it was a Christian practice, as soon as a 
 person died, for his friends and neighbours to gather round 
 his corpse and pass the night in prayer for the repose of the 
 soul of the departed. This was commendable ; but it had 
 degenerated into a drunken and degrading revel. This 
 injunction, he trusted, would put a stop to what deserved 
 reprobation. 
 
353 Old English Life 
 
 The Early Christians. 
 
 Dean Stanley, in a recent lecture, observed : — " It is 
 reported that John Wesley once in the crisis of the night, 
 found himself, as he thought, at the gates of hell. He 
 knocked, and asked who were within? 'Are there any 
 Protestants here?' he asked. 'Yes,' was the answer, 'a 
 great many.' 'Any Roman Catholics?' 'Yes, a great 
 many.' 'Any Church of England men?' 'Yes, a great 
 many.' 'Any Presbyterians? 'Yes, a great many.' 'Any 
 Wesleyans? 'Yes, a great many.' Disappointed and dis- 
 couraged, especially at the last reply, he traced his steps 
 upwards, found himself at the gates of Paradise, and here 
 he repeated the same questions. ' Any Wesleyans here ? ' 
 'No.' 'Any Presbyterians?' 'No.' ' Any Church of England 
 men?' 'No.' 'Any Roman Catholics ?' 'No.' 'Whom 
 have you, then, here?' he asked in astonishment. 'We 
 know nothing here,' was the reply, ' of any of the names you 
 have mentioned. The only name of which we know any 
 thing, here is 'Christians.' We aire all Christians here, and 
 of those we have a great multitude (which no man can 
 number), of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and 
 tongues.' That is the truth which we shall have to learn 
 hereafter about the name Christian ; it may be as well for us 
 to learn it here. It includes, and comprises, and over- 
 rides all the others by which men have been divided, because , 
 it is the name derived from Him to whom they all look, from 
 whom they are all descended, in whom they all live, 
 ' Christianity ' is a nobler name than any particular form of 
 Christians. 'Christendom' is a more magnificent name 
 than any particular creed or section of ' Christians,' because 
 ' Christian ' is a greater name than any particular opinion or 
 custom, and because Christ is a greater name than any 
 
AND Manners. 253 
 
 person, or teacher, or doctrine, or custom, than any other 
 which has appeared on earth." 
 
 Saxon Household Servants. — ^Value of Money. 
 
 -V An inference of some importance may be drawn from the 
 fact noticed by Mr. Sharon Turner, that the household 
 servants generally bore Saxon names, because it corroborates 
 the opinion, that the Normans employed the people whom 
 they had subdued in menial offices — "hewers of wood 
 and drawers of water " : -^ 
 
 "We may note, as a striking peculiarity in this document, 
 that the household servants are generally distinguished . by 
 Saxon names. We have Hande and Jacke of the bake- 
 house ; Hicqe the tailor, Jacke the keeper of the Countess's 
 harriers, Dobbe the shepherd ; Diqon, Gobithesty, and 
 Treubodi, who were often employed in carrying letters ; as 
 well as Slingaway, a courier, whose name is most apposite, 
 and was derived, possibly, from his gait and manner." 
 
 Of the Value of Money in the thirteenth century, Mr. 
 Turner says, on the authority of Mr. Hardy, that one shilling 
 then would purchase as much as fifteen now. 
 
 The additional value of money, and increase of opulence 
 in England, might form, says Johnson, a curious subject of 
 research ; as in the reign of Edward VI. Latimer mentions 
 as a proof of his father's prosperity, that though only a yeoman 
 he gave his daughters five pounds each as a marriage 
 portion. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Wives. 
 
 Professor RoUeston, in a lecture upon the Anglo-Saxon 
 conquest of England, observes that archaeological research 
 gives some little information about religious beliefs, or rather 
 
254 Old English Life 
 
 disbeliefs, in England from the time of Hengist to that of 
 Berinus — that is to say, from about the year 447 to the year 
 636 ; it also gives some clue as to whether the Anglo-Saxons, 
 when they came here, brought their wives with them, or 
 found wives after their arrival in these islands ; also much 
 information about the modes of burial of the early dwellers 
 in Britain. 
 
 Pews in Churches. 
 
 Sir Christopher Wren strongly opposed the introduction 
 of Pews, though many churches built by him are disfigured 
 by them. He writes : — " Since Providence, in great mercy, 
 has protracted my age to the finishing the Cathedral Church of 
 St. Paul, I shall presume briefly to communicate my sentiments 
 
 after long experience A church should not be so 
 
 filled with pews but that the poor may have room enough to 
 stand and sit in the alleys, for to them equally is the Gospel 
 preached. It were to be wished that there were no pews, 
 but benches ; but there is no stemming the tide of profit, and 
 the advantage of pew-keepers."- — Wren's Parentalia. 
 
 The Festival of Hock Tide. 
 
 In the year 1041 or 1042, June 6, died Hardicanute, it is 
 uncertain whether at Lambeth, Kennington, or Clapham, 
 though most probably at the second of these places, whilst 
 celebrating the marriage of Toni, or Tueri Prudan, and 
 Gytha, the daughter of Usgod Clapa, two noble Danes. 
 As Hardicanute stood drinking, he suddenly fell to the earth 
 with a terrible convulsion, and then they who were there 
 nigh took hold of him, and he, after that, spake not one 
 word, and he died on the 8th before the Ides of June. 
 Whether he was poisoned, or whether he died of intempe- 
 
AND Manners. 255 
 
 ranee, is unknown ; he was king over all England two years 
 wanting ten days, and he is buried in the old Minster at 
 Winchester, with King Canute his father. And his mother, 
 for his soul, gave to the new Minster the head of St. Valen- 
 tine the Martyr. 
 
 The day of Hardicanute's death was kept by the English 
 as a holiday, and was called Hog's Tide or Hock Wednes- 
 day, that is, high or great festival, or from the Iceland Nozz, 
 "slaughter," "excision," from the general joy on the final 
 expulsion of the Danes. This was observed in some counties 
 to the time of Charles I. It was kept on or about the 
 Quidena of Easter, which sufficiently refutes the notion of 
 its being instituted in commemoration of the slaughter of the 
 Danes by Ethelred, which was celebrated on the 13th of 
 November. It seems to have been kept for two days, as we 
 read of Hock Monday and Hock Tuesday, and it may be in 
 the same manner as feasts of dedications of churches, and 
 other feasts — compnenced on the day or vigil before, as an 
 introduction to the real feast. In this parish there was 
 clearly one day for the men and another for the women. 
 The principal part of the merriment consisted in the men or 
 women stopping the way with ropes, and drawing passengers 
 to them, desiring something to be given to them. In the 
 direction of these sports, the women took the lead, a circum- 
 stance which has been thought by some to have had its rise 
 from the wedding feast at which Hardicanute breathed his 
 last. Of the money collected on these occasions, it 
 appears from the churchwardens' books of Lambeth parish 
 that the sum collected by the women always exceeded the 
 collection by the men. The unmarried women took their 
 part in collecting. The amount was appropriated to the 
 repairs of the church. The observance of Hock Tide 
 declined soon after the Reformation ; but there are in the 
 
356 Old English Life 
 
 Chelsea Registers, entries of the collection of Hock-money 
 in 1606, 1607, and 1611 ; and there is this curious passage 
 in Wyther's Abuses Strypt and Whipt, London, 1618, which 
 seems to imply that it was still in a degree observed : — 
 
 "Who think (forsooth) because that once a yeare 
 They can afford the poore some slender cheare, 
 Observe their country feasts and common doles, 
 And eijtertaine their Christmass Wassaile Boles, 
 Or els because that^^r the churches good. 
 They in defence of Hock-tide custom stood; 
 A Whitsun-ale, or some such goodly motion. 
 They better to procure men's devotion : 
 What will they do, I say, that think to please 
 Their mighty God with such fond things as these ? 
 Sure very ill." 
 
 In Thomson's JSiymons o/£ngIisA Words, 1816, Hock Tide 
 is an old English name given to festivals, but particularly to 
 those of Christmas and, Easter. It afterwards became hey- 
 day tide, hockday tide, hoity toity, and highty tighty, to denote 
 rural pastime. Hock memey, or Christmas, is, literally, the 
 festival of the lengthening day, from the German, mema, to 
 increase ; and the Germans at this day call a wedding feast 
 hochzeit, hock tide. 
 
 The term continues to be used in Brittany and Scotland ; 
 and " in the north-west of Wiltshire, and west of Berkshire, 
 hock tide sports are still kept up." — D. Macintosh; Proc. 
 Ethnological Society, 1861. 
 
 Bows AND Arrows. 
 
 There appears to be some doubt as to the exact time 
 when these weapons were disused in English warfare. The 
 battle of Agincourt, October 25, 1415, seems to be the last 
 very important action in which archery (is miich ^oken_^. 
 
AND Manners. 257 
 
 St. Alban's first battle, 1455, seems to have been entirely won 
 by the archers. Pfere Daniel mentions that arrows were shot 
 by the English at the Isle of Rhd, in 1627 ; and in 1643 the 
 Earl of Essex issued a precept for stirring up all well-afifected 
 people by benevolence, towards the raising a Company of 
 Archers for the service of the King and Parliament. In a 
 pamphlet, 1644, describing the success of the Marquis of 
 Montrose against the Scots, bowmen are repeatedly men- 
 tioned ; this appearing to be the latest recorded military use. 
 In the time of William III,, the grenadiers of the Highland 
 regiments, when recruiting, wore the old red bonnet, and 
 carried bows and arrows with them. 
 
 The cross-bow was last used in our army at the battle of 
 Bosworth, in 1485. Henry VIII. prohibited the use of the 
 cross-bow, and made several laws in favour of the long-bow. 
 King Edward VI., in his Journal, April 6, 1550, writes 
 thus : — " I lost the challenge of shooting at rounds, and won 
 at rovers,^' which shows that the youthful monarch was a 
 good archer, for this kind of shooting requires not only much 
 skill and considerable strength, but also a knowledge of dis- 
 tance. Holinshead and Ascham lamented the disuse of this 
 powerful mode of shooting, and stigmatized shooting at a 
 fixed mark as the corruption of archery. — Tomlyns's Islington. 
 
 The Archers of Finsbury were associated in the reign of 
 Edward I. ; subsequently the City Trained Bands and the 
 Artillery Company, of which there existed an "Archers' 
 Division " to our time. In 1 7 8 1 , " the old Finsbury Archers " 
 established the Toxophilite Society, who possess the original 
 Silver Badge of the Finsbury Company. From the reign of 
 Edward VI. Archery was cultivated more as a fashionable 
 amusement than for real military service. 
 
2^8 Old English Life 
 
 Apostle Spoons. 
 
 We believe the earliest notice of the Apostle Spoons 
 occurs in an entry on the books of the Stationers' Company 
 in the year 1500 : "A spoyne of the gyfte of Master Reginald 
 Wolfe, all gylte with the picture of S. John." Pegge, in his 
 preface to A Forme of Cury, a Roll of Ancient Cookery, has 
 offered the following conjecture as to the origin of the bap- 
 tismal present of Apostle Spoons. He observes that " the 
 general mode of eating must either have been with the spoon 
 or the fingers ; and this, perhaps, may have been the reason 
 that spoons became the usual present from gossips to their 
 god-children at christenings." The practice of sponsors 
 giving spoons at christenings seems to have been first 
 observed in the reign of Elizabeth ; previously it was the 
 mode to present gifts of a different kind. Hall, who has 
 written a minute account of the baptism of Ehzabeth, 1558, 
 informs us that the gift-s presented by the sponsors were a 
 standing cup of gold and six gilt bowls, with covers. But 
 in the first year of Queen Elizabeth, Howes, the continu- 
 ator of Stow's Chronicle, says that "at this time, and for 
 many yeares before, it was not the use and custome, as now it 
 is [1631], for godfathers and godmothers generally to give 
 plate at the baptism of children (as spoones, cups, and such- 
 like), but only to give christening shirts, with little bands 
 and cuffs, wrought either with silk or blue thread ; the best 
 of them, for chief persons, were edged with a small lace of 
 black silke and golde, the highest price of which for great 
 men's children were seldom above a noble, and the common 
 sort two, three, or four and five shillings apiece." 
 
 An allusion to Apostle Spoons occurs in a collection of 
 anecdotes entitled Merry Passages and /easts, quoted by 
 Malone from Harl. MS. 6395 : " Shakspeare was godfather 
 
AND Manners. 359 
 
 to one of Ben Jonson's children, and after the christening, 
 being in deepe study, Jonson came to cheer him up, and 
 asked him why he was so melancholy. ' No faith, Ben,' 
 says he, 'not I ; but I have been considering a great while 
 what should be the fittest gift for me to bestow upon my 
 godchild, and I have resolved at last' ' I pr'ythee, what ? ' 
 says he. ' I' faith, Ben, I'll give him a douzen good Latten 
 (Latin) spoons, and thou shalt translate them.' " — Editor of 
 Notes and Queries, 2nd S., No. 52. 
 
 Apostle Spoons were formerly the usual present of sponsors 
 at christenings. It is in allusion to this custom that, when 
 Cranmer professes to be unworthy of being sponsor to the 
 infant Princess, the King replies, " Come, come, my lord, 
 you'd spare your spoons." 
 
 Choice of Spectacles. 
 
 Spectacles are either convex, concave, or plain. The first 
 are adapted to old persons, the next to those who see with 
 distinctness only at a sniall distance ; and the third, formed 
 of glass, with a light green or blue shade, are designed to 
 defend weak eyes from too strong a light. Those who wear 
 spectacles should be very cautious to have the glasses ground 
 with the most perfect accuracy, and should apply to opti- 
 cians of credit rather than to itinerant Jews ; for the aberra- 
 tions of the rays produced by an imperfect figure of the 
 glass strain the eyes to distinguish the image, from this cause' 
 indistinct. For a similar reason the glasses of old people 
 should be not at all or very slightly tinged ; and the glare 
 which arises from a candle or a strong sun may be better 
 avoided by a shade against the former, or over the eyes to 
 guard against the latter. 
 
 It has been doubted whether spectacles should be used to 
 s 2 
 
26o Old English Life 
 
 preserve the sight. We think that in old persons they will 
 be useful; with the near-sighted, who are usually young, 
 they should be discouraged. Old people will save their 
 eyes, and there is, little danger of exhausting the degrees of 
 convexity — indeed none ; the young will not indeed exhaust 
 the degrees of concavity, but the other senses should be kept 
 on the alert while they can supply the place of distinct vision. 
 The hearing, the feeling, even the faculty of conjecture, are 
 kept alive by the disuse of spectacles ; and we should im- 
 prove all our powers. As we have already hinted, the near- 
 sighted persons should use the number next below that of 
 distinct vision, and he will soon attain it. Habit in this way 
 will coincide with the change which age induces ; and not 
 to see with the utmost acuteness is still an advantage to those 
 who could otherwise see very imperfectly. All this is, how- 
 ever, refinement ; for spectacles used with little caution or 
 discrimination have seldom done harm, if the glasses are 
 good. Pebbles, which admit not of scratches, should be in 
 every instance preferred. — Parr's Medical Dictionary. 
 
 A correspondent of Notes and Queries relates that a lady 
 seventy-eight years of age recovered her eye-sight after a 
 severe fit of illness, before which she had worn " glasses " 
 for thirty years, and could then read without spectacles the 
 smallest print and thread the smallest needle. 
 
 The Bride of Lammermoor. 
 
 Upon the discovery of the marriage contract of Janet 
 Dalrymple has Sir Walter Scott founded his touching story 
 of the Bride of Lammermoor, so popular on our stage, espe- 
 cially when wedded to the intense music of the Italian com- 
 poser. 
 
 It appears that David Dunbar led his unwilling bride to 
 the ancient tower of Baldoon, the ivy-clad ruins of which 
 
AND Manners. 261 
 
 are still to be seen close to the farmhouse of Baldoon ; 
 and soon after the retirement of the young people 
 frightful cries were heard from their apartment. When the 
 door was opened, the bridegroom was found on the threshold 
 sorely wounded, while the bride was a maniac, who only 
 survived for a fortnight after her marriage-day. Dunbar 
 recovered from his wounds, but he was killed a few years 
 afterwards by a fall from his horse. According to family 
 tradition, it was not the bride who stabbed her husband, as 
 Scott's story has it, but her rejected lover. Lord Rutherford, 
 who had secreted himself in the bridal apartment. Dunbar 
 never mentioned what had occurred on that terrible night, 
 and took his secret with him to the graved James Dalrymple, 
 the brother of Baldoon's bride, rode before his sister to 
 church on the marriage-day. He was a mere lad at the 
 time, and being taken up with his new dress and the mar- 
 riage, was heedless of the fact that his sister's hand, which 
 lay on his as she held her arm round his waist, was as cold 
 and damp as marble. He mentioned this to a lady nearly 
 connected with the family (who repeated it to Sir Walter 
 Scott), and expressed his deep contrition for having paid no 
 attention to his sister's state. Such a hand could hardly 
 have signed the contract without tremor, unless the nerves of 
 the unfortunate bride had been strung to the tension point. 
 The marriage contract has quite lately been discovered 
 at St. Mary's Isle, the seat of the Earl of Selkirk, who 
 is the representative of the family of Dunbar, of Baldoon, 
 and has the family papers in his possession. It was in 
 arranging these that accidentally he came upon this contract 
 of marriage. One of the witnesses, James Dalrymple, may 
 have been the bride's brother, who rode behind her to the 
 church, and whose dagger was said to have been used in the 
 murder. A fac-simile has been taken of the document. 
 
2,62, Old English Life 
 
 Judging from this, there is little tremor in the bride's 
 signature. 
 
 " The Mistletoe Bough." 
 
 " A song known better some years ago than now has long 
 been associated in my mind with a tradition handed down to 
 me from an ancestress. It was this : — There was merry- 
 making at Christmas in the old family hall, and amateur 
 theatricals were performed. In one of the scenes it was ne- 
 cessary to represent a funeral. Accordingly, one of the 
 young ladies present personated the dead girl, and was 
 lowered into an old oak chest and the lid closed over her. 
 When the scene was finished, the party raised the lid, expect- 
 ing to find the young lady as she was when placed in the 
 chest- — alive and happy, but, to the horror and grief of all, 
 she was dead I J^Never again were private theatricals enacted 
 in that house, for the judgment of God was supposed to 
 have been manifested in the event, and the family (said to 
 have been previously given to gaiety and disregard of serious 
 subjects) therefore became noted for its strict performance 
 of religious duties." 
 
 The Correspondent's ancestress related the fact to her son, 
 he to her grand-daughter, she to the Correspondent. The 
 ancestress here referred to was Dorothy Noel, daughter of 
 the Rev. W. Noel, rector of Ridlington, and niece to the first 
 Baron Noel, her father's eldest brother. She married a Mr. 
 Reynolds, and her son was named John William Noel Rey- 
 nolds. As Mrs. Reynolds {nie Noel) was bom in 1693, and 
 would be a woman in 17 13, the tragedy must have occurred 
 between the two dates, since she stated she was present as 
 a girl at the private theatricals so melancholy in their result. 
 The house was always said to have been Exton Hall, the 
 seat of the Noels, and it is believed that the ruins still exist 
 
AND Manners. 263 
 
 of the edifice in which the never-forgotten accident hap- 
 pened. — Notes and Queries, 4th S., No. 183. 
 
 Travelling in Olden Times. 
 
 In Dr. Bliss' edition of Heame's Diaries, pubHshed in 
 1 8 S 7, we read : — " There is nothing in which we have obtain ed 
 a more decisive advantage over our predecessors than in the 
 expedition and convenience with which we now travel. At 
 the present time we are conveyed from Oxford to London 
 with ease and safety in somewhat less than seven hours, a 
 journey performed, not quite a century since, in two days. 
 The coach, from Michaelmas to Lady-day, started at four 
 o'clock in the morning, and was to reach Oxford in the 
 evening of the second day. During the summer half-year, 
 they ran only three days a week, leaving Oxford and London 
 at nine o'clock, and performing the distance in one day only. 
 The same improvement manifests itself in every species of 
 public conveyance. In 1707, the only regular carriage be- 
 tween Oxford and Bath was by a carrier once a fortnight ; 
 the same to Birmingham and to Reading ; to Shrewsbury 
 once in a month ; to Exeter once in five weeks ; and to West- 
 moreland thrice a year." The first day coach from Oxford 
 to London started in 1669, 20 Car. II. It was called " The 
 Flying Coach." It had a boot on each side. It left Oxford 
 precisely at six o'clock in the morning and reached the inn 
 at London at seven at night. — Hearne's Life of Anthony a. 
 Wood. 
 
 One Joseph Brasbridge, writing in 1824, says : " I recol- 
 lect the first broad-wheeled wagon that was used in Oxford- 
 shire, and a wondering crowd of spectators it attracted. I 
 believe at one time there was not a post-chaise in England 
 except two-wheeled ones. Lamps to carriages are also a 
 
2,64 Old English Life 
 
 modern improvement. A shepherd wjio kept sheep in 
 the vicinity of a village in Oxfordshire came running over 
 to say that a frightful monster, with saucer eyes, and making 
 a great blowing noise, was coming towards the village. 
 This monster turned out to be a post-chaise with two lamps !" 
 
 Early Childhood. 
 
 The productions of the vegetable kingdom are among the 
 first objects that forcibly attract the attention of young chil- 
 dren, becoming to them the source of gratifications which 
 are among the purest of which our nature is capable, and of 
 which even the indistinct recollection imparts often a fleet- 
 ing pleasure to the most cheerless moments of after-life. 
 
 Who does not look back with feelings which he would in 
 vain attempt to describe, to the delightful rambles which his 
 native fields and meadows afforded to his earliest years ? 
 Who does not remember, or at least fancy that he remem- 
 bers, the eager activity with which he was used to strip 
 nature's carpet of its embroidery, nor cease to cull the scat- 
 tered blossoms till his infant hands were incapable of retain- 
 ing the accumulated heap ? Who, on even seeing the first 
 violet of returning spring, much more on inhaling its sweet- 
 ness, or in catching the breeze that has passed over the 
 blossom of the bean or of the woodbine, does not again en- 
 joy the delights of his early childhood ? 
 
 It may be said that the pleasure of such recollections is, 
 for the most part, of a moral and intellectual nature ; but the 
 pleasure of the original enjoyment appears to be principally 
 of a physical character, and is no doubt intended to produce 
 at the moment a highly beneficial, though merely physical 
 effect ; for while the eye of the child is attracted by the un- 
 expected forms and colours of the plants and flowers pre- 
 
AND Manners. 265 
 
 sented to his view, and his mind is instigated to gratify the 
 eager desire of possessing them, he necessarily subjects his 
 limbs to that degree of exercise and fatigue which contributes 
 to the general health of his body. Nor let such pleasures be 
 undervalued in their consequence ; they give that moderate 
 stimulus to the whole system which even the early age of in- 
 fancy requires, and by shutting out the listlessness that would 
 arise from inactivity, they become eventually the source of 
 moral and intellectual improvement. — Kidd. 
 
 Fortitude of Women. 
 
 I have often (says Washington Irving) had occasion to 
 observe the fortitude with which women sustain the most 
 overwhelming reverses of fortune. Those disasters which 
 break down the spirit of a man, and prostrate him in the 
 dust, seem to call forth all the energies of the softer sex, and 
 give such intrepidity and elevation to their character, that at 
 times it approaches to sublimity. Nothing can be more 
 touching than to behold a soft and tender female, who had 
 been all weakness and dependence, and alive to every 
 trivial roughness, while treading the prosperous paths of life, 
 suddenly rising in mental force to be the comforter and sup- 
 porter of her husband under misfortune ; and abiding with 
 unshrinking firmness the bitterest blasts of adversity. 4- 
 
 As the vine, which has long twined its graceful foliage 
 about the oak, and been lifted by it into sunshine, will, 
 when the hardy plant is rifted by the thunderbolt, cling 
 round it with its caressing tendrils, and bind up its shattered 
 boughs ; so it is beautifully ordered by Providence, that 
 woman, who is the mere dependent and ornament of man 
 in his happier hours, should be his stay and solace when 
 smitten with sudden calamity; winding herself intO' the 
 
2,66 Old English Life 
 
 rugged recesses of his nature, tenderly supporting the droop- 
 ing head, and binding up the broken heart. 
 
 What is Life? 
 
 A man advanced in years, that thinks to look back upon 
 his former life, and call that only life which was passed with 
 satisfaction and enjoyment, excluding all parts which were 
 not pleasant to him, will find himself very young, if not in 
 his infancy. Sickness, ill- humour, and idleness, will have 
 robbed him of a great share of that space we ordinarily call 
 our life. It is, therefore, the duty of every man that would 
 be true to himself, to obtain, if possible, a disposition to be 
 pleased, and place himself in a constant aptitude for the 
 satisfaction of his being. — Siee/e. 
 
 A Country Sunday. 
 
 I am always very well pleased (says Addison) with a 
 country Sunday, and think, if keeping holy the seventh day 
 were only a human institution, it would be the best method 
 that could have been thought of for the polishing and civiliz- 
 ing of mankind. It is certain the country people would soon 
 degenerate into a kind of savages and barbarians, were there 
 not such frequent returns of a stated time, in which the whole 
 village meet together with their best faces, and in their 
 cleanliest habits, to converse with one another upon indif- 
 ferent subjects, hear their duties explained to them, and join 
 together in adoration of the Supreme Being. 
 
AND Manners. 267 
 
 Four Reflections upon Death. 
 
 From an eloquent and thoughtful essay, by the Bishop of 
 Gloucester and Bristol, in the Contemporary Review, we quote 
 the following: — 
 
 " First, there does not seem any thing unreasonable in the 
 opinion of many modern psychologists that the indwelling 
 Ego or soul may have form, and even some kind of subtle 
 corporeity, so that when it leaves the body and becomes 
 unclothed it may still preserve some distinct objective exist- 
 ence. Secondly, there is nothing unreasonable in the sup- 
 position that it may hereafter again receive and occupy a 
 body, the elements of which it may aggregate from the sur- 
 rounding environment, and may dispose and distribute in 
 some kind of accordance with the agencies by which it has 
 been supposed to work in reference to its present body. 
 Thirdly, the whole consideration of the subject seems to 
 leave behind a feeling, if not actually a conviction, that to 
 personal beings like ourselves there is something alien in 
 death, something that seems to indicate disturbance and dis- 
 location, and stands in sharp contrast with the ideas of 
 orderly progress and beneficent changes. This is to some 
 extent confirmed by the prevalence of the fear of death, 
 which though, as Sir Benjamin Brodie has noticed, rare 
 when death has actually arrived, is still undoubtedly one of 
 the common feelings of our race, and in some countries, as I 
 believe to this day in Madagascar, often shows itself in a 
 very startling manner. The importance of this observatiorr 
 will be deeply felt when we advance beyond the mere 
 general principles to which we have confined ourselves in 
 this paper. Lastly, that if there is any truth whatever in the 
 last observation, the opinion of many early thinkers and the 
 judgment of a provincial council, are worthy of grave con- 
 
268 Old English Life 
 
 sideration, viz. that death originally might not have been 
 a necessity for a personal being, but that any thing we may 
 conceive as possible for ourselves hereafter might have been 
 arrived at by gradual change, rather than by the apparently 
 abrupt and discontinuous process of physical death." 
 
 Education of Children. 
 
 I hold it to be true (says " S. G. O." in The Times), and to 
 be a truth deserving all attention, that a child is bom to love; 
 it has to learn to fear. I argue, therefore, that we should 
 in very early stages of their existence seek, by looks of love, 
 by gentle tones, to lead our children to yield to our wishes, 
 rather than by a harsh tone and frowning aspect try to terrify 
 them into obedience. It is very questionable in what way 
 they feel the fear we thus try to produce — whether we do 
 not act prematurely on a sense scarcely as yet developed, 
 and simply confuse and annoy with no good result — whereas 
 we do know that at the eairliest moment of any exercise of 
 reasoning power a child does answer to the tone and look of 
 affection with the smile which indicates its return, and by 
 sounds which show pleasure. We are apt to laugh at the 
 nonsense of the nursery dialect, that utterance of perverted 
 English with lisping accent which, by common usage, is sup- 
 posed to be best suited to the comprehension of a small 
 child ; it is only, after its fashion, a lesson from the book of 
 nature. If we watch Juno, with her puppy family, we shall 
 see that when they teaze her into utterance, or please her 
 into it, with their fondling play, she has a very modified 
 growl of reproof to repress whelpine excess, and a soft whine 
 of affectionate encouragement in return for proper exhibition 
 of whelpine affection, very different from the out-growled 
 menace or the out-barked applause with v/hich she greets 
 
AND Manners. 269 
 
 or menaces the more advanced in. life of her species. It is 
 the tone and look combined which makes the nonsense 
 uttered to children attractive to them. Sense and nonsense 
 are to them otherwise much alike. We do not in using it 
 make feols of ourselves ; on the contrary, we show wisdom 
 by this attempt to become as children, that children may 
 understand us after their own fashion. We give a rag doll of 
 bright colours, hideous and unshapely ; the child likes it for 
 its bright hues; it may or may not see in it a caricature of its 
 own species ; the waxen, curly-headed, well-clad Dolla, so 
 prized by Miss in walking boots, would be a meaningless 
 thing to Miss scarcely out of socks. 
 
 Happiness. 
 
 It was a notion of Hume's, that all who are happy are so 
 equally : " a little miss with a new gown at a dancing school- 
 ball, a general at the head of a victorious army, and an 
 orator, after having made an eloquent speech in a great 
 assembly.'' 
 
 A Rare Wife. 
 
 " Frances, Lady Carberry, was extolled by Jeremy Taylor 
 for being as excellent a mother as she was ' a rare wife.' To 
 her children he describes her as being ' kind and severe, care- 
 ful and prudent, very tender, and not at all fond.' And again, 
 'the severe and angry education' which she herself received, 
 he accounted amangst the special mercies of her life. The 
 whole system of early training, at this time, tended strongly 
 to eradicate that frivolity of temper and unreality of tone 
 which stunt so fatally the growth of all moral and mental 
 excellence. On the other hand, it especially fostered that 
 child-like spirit that wins its way into the kingdom of 
 
%'jo Old English Life and Manners. 
 
 heaven. But severity did not necessarily include harshness, 
 eveii if sometimes it unfortunately assumed that form. 
 Children, though permitted less familiarity of address than at 
 present, were perhaps admitted to still more constant inter- 
 course with their parents. In Evelyn's time, it is true, 
 ' Colleges of young gentlewomen,' as he termed them, existed 
 in the environs of London. But, generally, female education 
 was not only conducted at home, but the mother herself was 
 the chief instructor there. For, though accepting assistance 
 from other sources, she was not content to depute her highest 
 duty wholly to the hands of another. It was by their mother, 
 then, that the young daughters were instructed in their 
 household duties. And, whilst in these and in her works of 
 charity they contributed their aid, she led and joined their 
 devotions. In one instance, an oratory was added to the 
 nursery for this purpose. Thus at the rising of the sun, and 
 the going down thereof, the incense of praise and the pure 
 offering of infant lips ascended in acceptable sacrifice on 
 high." 
 
 Sayings. 
 
 " Turn coal, never be rich," 
 
 Alludes to the extravagant practice of turning over a half 
 burnt coal. 
 
 "Paint costs nothing.'' 
 
 Alludes to its protecting and preservative effect on the wood- 
 work underneath. 
 
MONEY-MATTERS. 
 
 Popular and Unpopular Coins. 
 
 It is curious to note how currencies die out, and how 
 certain coins are popular or unpopular for years. The 
 guinea and half-crown were always popular; the five-shilling 
 piece, the florin, and the fourpenny piece were always un- 
 popular. The guinea was first coined in Charles II. 's reign, 
 and derived its name from the Guinea Company, which used 
 sometimes to stamp on it the elephant, as symbolical of its 
 African origin. The guinea was so popular that its successor, 
 the sovereign, was for a long time looked on with dislike. 
 It may surprise the reader to hear that any coins of the realm 
 were ever looked on with disfavour, but the records of the 
 Mint show that the public are as fastidious in their coins as in 
 their food ; and there are some which are regarded with such 
 dislike that the public will not take them till they see that they 
 can get no others. In this way the coinage of guineas was 
 stopped, and the sovereign forced upon the public, who 
 have now taken to it very kindly indeed. But this has not 
 been the case with either the five-shilling or fourpenny 
 pieces. The former were old institutions of longstanding 
 unpopularity. Many, even in the simplest retail transactions, 
 refused to receive them. But they were driven out of 
 circulation by the bankers who sent to the Mint for silver, 
 
273 Money-matters. 
 
 and the employers who sent to their banks for silver, both 
 of whom so constantly stipulated against taking five-shilling 
 pieces that they remained on the hands of the Mint. 
 Yet about 2000/. worth of these coins are made every year 
 to go to the Falkland Islands. There the whalers, English, 
 Germans, Swedes, and Americans, assemble to pass the 
 winter in harbour, and among them the only accepted 
 currency is the English five-shilhng piece ; for them, there- 
 fore, it is manufactured, and to the Falkland Islands it is 
 sent. This noble coin therefore — by far the handsomest in 
 our currency — ^is now no longer issued in this country, and 
 will soon become as much a thing of the past as guineas. 
 The fourpenny piece, which was introduced for the first time 
 in 1836, has always been so unpopular that its coinage has 
 been discontinued, and for the last 12 years not one has 
 been struck. The favourite half-crown, too, has gone the 
 same way, though not without a 'struggle for its retention on 
 the part of bankers and employers, who took a great 
 aversion to the florin. But it was useless coining two-shilling 
 pieces and two-and-sixpenny pieces at the same time, so 
 the latter have been discontinued, and now only florins, 
 shillings, sixpences, and three-penny pieces are struck. 
 What are called the garter sovereigns, the lion shiUings, the 
 rose,' thistle, and shamrock shillings have all nearly dis- 
 appeared from circulation, not only because they come into 
 the Mint and are remelted and reissued in a more modern 
 guise, but because from their scarcity there is a belief or 
 kind of general notion that a sort of " luck " attaches to 
 them, so they are kept to an extent that has made good 
 impressions very scarce indeed, and when th,ey do appear 
 the cleanness and sharpness of their outline show at once 
 how little they have been in circulation. A curious illus- 
 tration of this may be found even so recently as in the history 
 
Money-matters. 273 
 
 of florins. The first issue of these were small in size, and 
 the usual letters F. D. had to be omitted from their 
 circumference. A sort of protest was raised against this 
 coinage, which at once received the name of the " graceless 
 florin." Public attention was thus directed to them, they 
 were kept as specimens, and though 750,000 were issued, 
 hardly any are in circulation, and none are returned to the 
 Mint. — From the Times, 1871. 
 
 Spurious Coinage.^" Smashers." 
 
 The amount of damage sustained by spurious coinage is 
 very small. There are only a very few coiners or " smashers" 
 in London, and as they have to manufacture by hand — that 
 is to say, to cast each piece separately in plaster moulds 
 and afterwards electrotype it — the process is very slow, and 
 is entirely limited to the silver coinage, and more especially 
 the florin and the shilling. " Smashers" never make money 
 to pass themselves. They make it and sell it in dozens to 
 those willing to undertake the risk of palming it off on the 
 unwary, and the price of these counterfeits is in exact pro- 
 portion to the risk incurred in passing them. Thus, coun- 
 terfeit florins of the best class cost as much as 12^-. a dozen, 
 and the best class of shillings 6j. a dozen, and these coins, 
 unless minutely examined, would be taken offhand by any 
 one ; on the other hand, shilHngs can be got as low as 2S. a 
 dozen, and common florins for 3^. a dozen. The " smashers" 
 are a peculiar set of rogues, the number of whom has not 
 much increased or diminished for the last 50 years. There 
 is a kind of ' ' cutler's law " among them never to tell from 
 whom they buy the coin, though the Mint police would 
 rather catch one maker of counterfeit coin than twenty ut 
 terers. Only one formidable attempt against the gold coin 
 
274 Money-matters. 
 
 was ever made, and this was some three or four years ago. 
 A party of Germans estabhshed themselves secretly at Ham- 
 burg, and entered into a well-considered and deliberate plan 
 for making English sovereigns. These conspirators did not 
 fall into the vulgar error of our native " smashers " in making 
 actually bad sovereigns. They simply put so much addi- 
 tional alloy into the pure gold as to make its value 1 7^. in- 
 stead of 20s. These adventurers made proper steel dies, 
 erected presses, and had all the appurtenances for the pro- 
 cesses which are gone through in the English Mint — in fact, 
 they established a private mint at Hamburg. Many thou- 
 sands of their sovereigns got into circulation on the Conti- 
 nent ; for, in fact, none but the Mint authorities could detect 
 them except by weight. By this test, however, they were at 
 last discovered, the coiners traced, and their place of busi- 
 ness seized. The chief conspirators escaped, but all their 
 dies, machines, and a very considerable sum in pure and 
 adulterated gold fell into the hands of the Hamburg authori- 
 ties, so that the speculation, so boldly conceived and skil- 
 fully carried out, was a ruinous one after all. — Times, 1871. 
 
 Luck of Crooked Money. 
 
 This superstition is of early date, as attested by these ex- 
 tracts : — " He sent to him his servant secretly the night be- 
 fore his departure to Newbury, with a bowed groat in token 
 of his good heart toward him." — 1562, Foxe's Martyrs, v.iii., 
 p. 519. "Also when she had ^^w^^f a piece of silver to a 
 saint for the health of her child, they diswaded her from the 
 same and said, &c." — 1684, Foxe, v. ii., p. 21. 
 
Money-matters. 275 
 
 Scot's Money. 
 Most people recollect the old couplet : — ■ 
 
 " How can the rogues pretend to sense ? 
 Their pound is only twenty pence ! " 
 
 And probably not a few southrons, otherwise well informed, 
 may be under the impression that the Scottish nation in 
 olden times deliberately concealed their real poverty under 
 grandiloquence of language by bestowing that title on a 
 shabby one and eightpence which in England betokened 
 something very close upon a golden guinea. And there is 
 some colour for this supposition. Captain Burt complains 
 that in his day every ramshackled little shop was called a 
 " warehouse," that a bill announcing lodgings to let was a 
 " placard," and that if he sent a fellow to buy a yard of 
 riband, the plack which he pocketed after accomplishing his 
 errand was styled his " commission." The love of Latinisms 
 among the peasantry is amusingly exemplified by the anec- 
 dote of the countryman who, on being asked whether there 
 were any salmon in a certain river, replied, " There's aiblins 
 a transient brute." But there is no affectation about the 
 Scot's monetary denomination. It was simply the result of 
 miserable necessity. Scot's money was originally worth as 
 much as English, but after the year 1355, owing to successive 
 degradations of the coinage, it began to decline, till in 1600 
 it was only one-twelfth of the original value, at which point 
 it remained until the Union in 1707, when of course the 
 coinage ceased, although the habit of computing in the de- 
 based money still continued. Similar degradations have 
 taken place all over Europe, and there is a curious instance 
 of it in Spain, where the maravedi, which in 1220 weighed 
 84 grains of gold, and was worth about 14J., has sunk into 
 
 T 2 
 
87^ Money-matters. 
 
 a diminutive copper coin, of less value than an English 
 farthing. 
 
 Gold and Silver Legal Marks. 
 
 The Hall Mark shows where manufactured or assayed : 
 being an anchor for Birmingham ; dagger, or three wheat- 
 sheaves, for Chester ; Hibemia for Dublin ; castle and lion 
 for Edinburgh ; castle with two wings for Exeter ; tree and 
 salmon with a ring in its mouth for Glasgow ; leopard's head 
 for London; three castles for Newcastle-on-Tyne ; crown for 
 Sheffield ; five lions and a cross for York. Duty Mark is 
 the head of the Sovereign, showing the duty is paid. Date 
 Mark is a letter of the alphabet, which varies every year, and 
 with the different companies, thus — the Goldsmiths' Company 
 of London have used, from 1716 to 1755, Roman capital 
 letters ; from 1756 to 1775, small Roman letters ; from 1776 
 to 1795, old English letters; from 1796 to 1815, Roman 
 capital letters, from A to U, omitting J ; from 181 6 to 1835, 
 small Roman letters, a to u, omitting j ; from 1836, old 
 English letters. The Standard Mark for Gold is — for Eng- 
 land, a lion passant ; Edinburgh, a thistle ; Glasgow, a lion 
 rampant ; Ireland, a harp crowned : Silver — Figure of Bri- 
 tannia. If under 22 carats, gold has the figures 18. The 
 Manufacturer's Mark is the initials of the maker, as S. H., 
 W. T., C. E., &c. 
 
 The Mint Mark. 
 
 At a time when Wales is producing no inconsiderable 
 amount of gold, with the prospect of a still larger quantity, 
 it appears desirable that the Mint marks should be resumed, 
 indicating the source whence coined metal is derived, at 
 least in any exceptional cases, such as Welsh gold. Sove- 
 
Money-matters. ■ 277 
 
 reigns coined at the Melbourne Mint speak for themselves, 
 but the Australian, or Welsh, or other gold coined in Lon- 
 don is not distinguished. The interest of Mint marks is well 
 known. Our word " Guinea " has, in one way, preserved a 
 record of the gold brought from that country by the then 
 African Company, in 1664, when the word and the coin were 
 first naturalized amongst us, surviving down to the time of 
 George the Third as a denomination of the coin, without re- 
 ference to the source of the gold ; but the first guineas them- 
 selves have a small elephant under the bust of the king, 
 Charles the Second, which marks the gold imported by the 
 Company ; the same device, or an elephant and castle, marks 
 also the silver coined in the reign of George the Second 
 from the African Company's importation. The word "Vigo," 
 under the head of Queen Anne, commemorates the capture 
 of the city, and the Spanish galleons and treasure-ships, 
 whence the silver of that issue came. The word " Lima" 
 marks the silver captured in the great Acapulco galleon. 
 The Chinese silver was coined without following these pre- 
 cedents — that extortion, however, were well severed from any 
 record. S. S. C. marks the silver received from the South 
 Sea Company, and a Prince's plume and linked C's mark 
 the silver brought to the Mint by the Welsh Copper Com- 
 panies in the time of George the First ; the plume alone 
 separately marking silver brought from Welsh lead mines ; 
 while roses mark silver coming from the lead mines of Corn- 
 wall. As far back, indeed, as James the First, the Prince of 
 Wales's feathers is the symbol for Welsh silver used in coin- 
 age, and it would seem a suitable symbol to use now for gold 
 minted from the Welsh mines. To connoisseurs, the dis- 
 tinguishing an issue is always valuable ; but though Mint 
 marks are in that way useful, often serving to date even 
 undated coins, it is so little probable that our present coinage 
 
278 Money-matters. 
 
 will find any choice place in fiiture cabinets, that, not on that 
 ground, but rather as a point of economic interest as to pro- 
 ducts, it would be well to call the attention of the Mint to 
 the subject. — Athenmum. 
 
 What is Conscience Money? 
 
 Money sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in letter, 
 or otherwise, in payment of taxes forgotten or otherwise 
 omitted to be paid on their coming due. " Besides the 
 sums we see acknowledged in The Times, the Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer receives many payments which are acknow- 
 ledged privately. Sometimes large sums are thus trans- 
 mitted. On one occasion, some years ago, we believe, no 
 less a sum than 5000/. was received in one payment, to 
 make good certain frauds on the revenue which had been 
 committed by the sons of the sender without his knowledge, 
 but which he subsequently discovered. Payments of 1000/. 
 at a time have been by no means uncommon, and sovereigns 
 have before now been actually dropped loose into the letter- 
 box of the door in Downing Street. It is to be feared, how- 
 ever, that too often the money comes from lunatics who 
 fancy they have defrauded the Revenue, and rob their own 
 families by these useless payments. Some amounts were, 
 and for aught we know are now, periodically transmitted 
 by anonymous senders whose wives and children possibly 
 are suffering in consequence from the pangs of poverty and 
 whose Christmas bills remain unpaid. It is melancholy, 
 also, to observe that consciences are only sensitive as regards 
 the Exchequer. We never heard of ruined families receiv- 
 ing conscience-money from promoters of public companies. 
 These things go by fashion. If one promoter of a public 
 company would set the example of disgorging his ill-gotten 
 
Money-matters. 379 
 
 gains, and advertising the fact in The Times, others would no 
 doubt follow the precedent \ at the same time, probably, no 
 greater misfortune could befall us than if we all suddenly be- 
 came conscientious. Greater crimes have been committed and 
 more misery inflicted by the conscientious than by any other 
 class of people ; and but that the common sense of all, to a 
 certain extent, keeps the conscientious portion of the com- 
 munity in order, we should be, if possible, in a more dan- 
 gerous, uncomfortable, and ridiculous position than we are 
 at present." — (Pall Mall Gazette.) These payments must 
 not, however, be confounded with the anonymous donations 
 to public charities, though possibly some of these contribu- 
 tions may be expiatory/ of certain sins. At the Hospital-gate, 
 in Gray's Inn Road, is a subscription-box, wherein have 
 been found the following donations by stealth : — Dec. 27, 
 1843, a bank-note for 100/., labelled "A Passer-by;" June 
 14, 1844, 100/., "Another Passer-by;" Nov. 2, 1844, 100/., 
 with " Winter is coming on. Bis dat qui cito dat ;" Oct. 9, 
 1850, 50/. ; June 21, 1851, 2qI.; and frequently bank-notes 
 of 10/. and t,l. 
 
 The Pound of Money. 
 
 It was usual in the former days not only to tell the money, 
 but to weigh it, the pound of money being denominated 
 Libra Pensa; for several cities beside London had their 
 mints, and also bishops Etnd noblemen Who coined it. This 
 coin was often very base, and therefore, though the pound 
 consisted of 20^-., they weighed it. Cowell informs us, 
 though in those days our ancestors " sometimes took their 
 money ad numerutn by tale upon the current coin by con- 
 tent, they occasionally rejected the common coin by tale, 
 and would melt it down to take it by weight when purified 
 
28o Money-matters. 
 
 from the dross and too great alloy, for which purpose they 
 had always a great fire ready in the Exchequer to burn the 
 money and then weigh it." The pound in Scripture (Luke 
 xix. 13) was in value equal to three pounds and one-eighth 
 of our currency. 
 
 The Guinea and the Pound. 
 
 The first notice of this gold was in 1649, during the Com- 
 monwealth of England, when, on the 14th of April, the Par- 
 liament referred to the Council of State a paper concerning 
 the coinage of gold brought in a ship lately come from Guiny 
 for the better advancing of trade. But it was in the reign 
 of Charles II. that the name was first given to this coin. It 
 is among things' not generally known that when the guinea 
 was originally coined the intention was to make it current 
 as a twenty-shilling piece ; but from an error, or rather a 
 series of errors, in calculating the exact proportions of the value 
 of gold and silver, it never circulated for that value. Sir Isaac 
 Newton, in his time, fixed the true value of the guinea, in 
 relation to silver, at 20^-. 8(/., and by his advice the Crown 
 proclaimed that for the future it should be current at 2 \s. 
 A curious question arises out of the case alluded to : how 
 many millions of money has the English pubHc lost by the 
 payment of a guinea when a twenty-shilling piece would 
 have sufficed had the costly error never been fallen into ? 
 
 We are too apt to consider a much-worn guinea to be of 
 short weight. Mr. Hatchett, F.R.S., however, proved that 
 the obliteration of the impressions on gold coins is not 
 always attended with a diminution of weight ; but that the 
 supposed abrasion of the prominent parts is, in fact, a de- 
 pression of those parts into the mass, bringing them to 
 a level with the rest. 
 
Money-matters. 381 
 
 The Penny. 
 
 The Roman penny, or denarius, a silver coin, was the 
 eighth part of an ounce, and worth sevettpence halfpenny of 
 our money. From a passage (Matt. xx. 2) it would appear 
 to have been an ordinary day's hire for a labourer, and 
 from Tacitus (Annal. i. 17) we learn that it was the usual 
 day's pay for a soldier. See Matt, xviii. 28; Luke x. 35 ; 
 John vi. 7 ; Rev. vi. 6. This word penny is also used 
 generally for money, and hence we xa&t\. fennyless for money- 
 less, and making a penny for making money. — Booker's Obso- 
 lete Scripture Words. 
 
 Queen Anne's Farthing. 
 
 About one English coin there exists a very singular delusion 
 — Queen Anne's farthing. Often and often have the officers 
 of the British Museum received letters, asking whether, as 
 the writer was in possession of the third of the farthings, of 
 which the Museum had the other two, he was not entitled 
 to some 1000/. or so ; and grievous, no doubt, has been 
 his disappointment at being told that his fancied treasure 
 might possibly be worth some four or five shillings. How 
 the delusion ever originated it is impossible to say ; but one 
 account tells us that a lady in Yorkshire, having lost one of 
 these farthings, which she valued as the bequest of a dear 
 friend, offered a very large sum for its recovery, and this 
 gave rise to a false impression of the value of any specimen. 
 It is commonly believed that only three examples of the 
 farthings were struck off, because it was found that there 
 was a flaw near the bridge of the Queen's nose ; another 
 account says the die broke in two. There are really no less 
 than five or six different patterns of the farthing, but most 
 of them were never issued. — Cornhill Magazine. See, also, 
 
a82 MONEY-MATTEftg. 
 
 the explanation by Mr. Till, the coin-dealer, in Things Not 
 Generally Known, ist S.^ pp. 216, 217. 
 
 The Farthing and the Mite. 
 
 The farthing (Matt. x. 20, and Luke xii. 6) in the original, 
 is assarium, and being the tenth part of the denarius ox penny, 
 is equal to three of our farthings. In Matt. v. 26, and Mark 
 xii. 42, the farthing, of quadrans, KoBpavrrji, is the fourth 
 part of the assarium, and therefore threefourths of an English 
 farthing. The mite was a very minute coin, and being the 
 half of a quadrans, or the eighth of S,n assarium, was some- 
 what more than a third of our farthing. — Booker's Obsolete 
 Scripture Words. 
 
 Usury. 
 
 Usury, in Scripture, that which is paid for the use of money 
 lent, and not as now, excessive or unlawful interest. " Thou 
 oughtest, therefore, to have put my money to the exchangers, 
 and then at my coming I should have received mine own 
 with usury." — Ibid. 
 
 Gold Coins. 
 
 Gold coins were first issued in France by Clovis, a,d. 489. 
 About the same time they were issued in Spain, by 
 Amabrick, the Gothic king. In both countries they were 
 csXleA trienties. They were first issued in England in 1257, 
 in the shape of a penny, of the value of 2od. ; only two 
 specimens have come down to us. Florins were next issued, 
 in 1344, of the value of 6s. The noble followed next, of 
 the value of 6s. 8d. ; being stamped with a rose, it was 
 called the rose noble. Angels, of the same value as the 
 latter, were issued in 1465. The royal followed next, in 
 1466, of the value of los. Then came the sovereign of 20^-. 
 in 1489. The gold crown, of the value of ioj. followed in 
 
Money-matters. 283 
 
 1527. Unites and lions were issued in 1603, and exurgats 
 in 1634, of guinea gold. In 1733 all the gold coins (except 
 the guineas) were called in, and forbidden to circulate. The 
 present sovereign was first issued in 181 7. The American 
 half-eagle was first issued in r793. 
 
 The five-sovereign piece of George III. with the St. George 
 and the Dragon is a very fine medal. Few persons have 
 seen the five-sovereign piece of Victoria, minted in 1839, 
 on which the Queen is represented as Una with the 
 lion. Australian sovereigns, though of the same weight and 
 fineness as English ones, are never exchanged in full, because 
 they are not a legal tender. These sovereigns from the 
 Sydney mint are of a much lighter colour than those struck 
 in England. British dollars and half-dollars were coined in 
 18 1 8 for the African colonies, with the prosaic super- 
 scription — " Free Trade _to Africa by Act of Parliament, 
 1760." 
 
 The Books of the Bank. 
 
 In the Bank of England, it is stated, sixty folio volumes, 
 or ledgers, are daily filled with writing in keeping the 
 accounts. To produce these sixty volumes, the paper 
 having been previously manufactured elsewhere, eight men, 
 three steam-presses, and two hand-presses, are continually 
 kept going within the Bank. In the copperplate-printing 
 department 28,000 bank-notes are thrown off daily, and so 
 accurately is the number indicated by machinery that to 
 purloin a single note without detection is an impossibility. 
 
 Origin of the Treasury. 
 
 The word Treasury had, during the Middle Ages, a very 
 different significance from that which it conveys at present. 
 
a84 Money-matters. 
 
 The place was not then, as now, a mere office for the trans- 
 action of business, but one of actual deposit for the most 
 precious objects belonging to royalty. Whatever coined 
 money the monarch possessed was, of course, bestowed in 
 safety there ; but it also contained his regal ornaments, his 
 wardrobe, the jewels with which he decked his person, the 
 rich tapestry that adorned his palaces, the vessels of gold 
 and silver that glittered at his banquets — every thing in short 
 that had a real, tangible value. Being without public 
 securities wherein to invest the wealth of the state (or, we had 
 better say, his own), the Sovereign laid out all the money 
 not wanted for war or pleasure in the costliest things that 
 could be found, as much because such purchases were his best 
 mode of investment as because he liked to have the things 
 themselves. Nothing came amiss in these royal collections, 
 there being scarcely an article in them that, apart from the 
 fashion in which it was designed, or the uses to which it was 
 destined, was not of some intrinsic value — a value upon 
 which, in case of necessity, money might be immediately 
 raised. 
 
 Treasure Trove. 
 
 The following list of Treasure Trove claimed by the 
 Solicitor of the Treasury on behalf of the Crown from ist 
 of March, 1864, down to the loth of May, 1865, will give 
 the reader an idea of the mode of disposal of the property. 
 A gold coin valued at 3/. was found at Long Crendon, Bucks, 
 and placed in the British Museum, on payment of the value, 2/. 
 being paid to the farmer on whose ground the coin was 
 found ; and five pieces of gold found at Wimborne were also 
 placed in the British Museum on payment of 16/. ,17^., the 
 estimated value, to the finders J 58/., the value of 62 gold 
 
Money-matters. 285 
 
 coins found in an earthen jar in a field at Stockerston, 
 Leicestershire, was paid to the finders, and five of the coins 
 were granted to the Lord of the manor on payment of their 
 value, and ten presented to the Leicester Museum. 6000 
 silver pennies, temp. Henry III., found at Eccles, were 
 delivered to the Duchy of Lancaster, entitled thereto under 
 Royal Charters. 
 
 The Exchequer Tally. 
 
 A " Tally " in the Exchequer, from the French verb tailler, 
 and the Italian tagliere, to cut, was a very ancient and most 
 certain way of avoiding all cozenage in the collection of the 
 Sovereign's revenue. The like is to be found nowhere else 
 in Christendom. It is thus described : He that pays the 
 reigning monarch any money receives for his acquitance, or 
 in acknowledgment thereof, a tally, which was originally a 
 stick, with words written on it on both sides, containing the 
 acquitance proper, and express what the money received is for. 
 This tally is cloven asunder by the Chamberlain, one gart 
 therein, called the stock, is delivered to the party who paid 
 the money, and the other part, called the counter-stock or 
 counter-foil, remains with the officer, who afterwards delivers 
 it over to the Deputy-Chamberlain, to be left till called for, 
 and joined with the stock, after which they are sent to the 
 Clerk of the Pipe to be applied to the discharge of the 
 accountant. The most ancient way of " striking the tallies " 
 was found by long experience to be absolutely the best 
 way that ever was invented, for it is morally impossible to 
 falsify or counterfeit a tally ; but that upon rejoining with the 
 counterfeit it will be obvious to every eye, either in the 
 notches, out of the cleaving, in the length or in the breadth, 
 or in natural growth, or in the shape of the counter-foil. — See 
 Things Not Generally Known, 2nd S., pp. 73 — 76. 
 
a86 Money-matters. 
 
 Origin of Salary. 
 
 The etymology of this word is ingeniously explained by 
 the elder Pliny. Human nature, he says, cannot exist 
 without salt, which is so much an element of life that, passing 
 from bodily sensation, it has now become a metaphorical 
 term for the pleasures of the mind. Salt is agreeable to the 
 palate, and is therefore transferred to the mental taste. By 
 that name we call whatever is pleasing to our mental faculties, 
 whatever is gay, poignant, lively or agreeable ; but the word 
 is still more extensive, for it used to signify civil honours, 
 and the pay of officers and the governors of provinces is 
 called their salary. The word salary seems to be connected, 
 in a sense not metaphorical, with the salt-mines which the 
 Romans worked at Droitwich and elsewhere in Britain, for 
 they seem to have paid in salt a part of the salarium, or pay 
 of the soldiers. 
 
 Tender in Payment. 
 
 A tender in payment, to be good, must be an uncon- 
 ditional one, clogged with no stipulation whatever. — {Baron 
 Maule.) Bank-notes are not virtually a legal tender, being 
 convertible on demand at the bank into gold at the mint. — 
 {Popular Errors Explained.) The following is the correct 
 history of the law of tender. Before the Session of Par- 
 liament, 1869, a tender of a sum above 40^-. should be in 
 gold coin, below 40^-. in silver coin, below 6d. in farthings 
 and halfpence. During the Session, 1870, the Coinage Act, 
 33 Victoria, cap. 10, in consolidating the Acts, repealed the 
 laws as to tenders, and section 4, in re-enacting their pro- 
 visions, has altered the law only as to the amount for which 
 a tender may be made in farthings. It is shortly this : — A 
 
Money-matters. 387 
 
 tender of payment of money "shall be a legal tender, — in 
 the case of gold coins for a payment of any amount ; in the 
 case of silver coins for a payment of an amount not exceed- 
 ing 40J., but for no greater amount ; in the case of bronze 
 coins for a payment of an amount not exceeding is., but for 
 no greater amount." 
 
 Policies of Assurance. 
 
 A very sensible Act of Parliament has been passed, 
 to enable assignees of Policies of Life Assurance to sue 
 thereon in their own names. In an action on a policy 
 a defence on equitable grounds may be pleaded as in 
 any other personal action. No assignment of a policy is to 
 be good unless a written notice is given. " Every assurance 
 company shall on every policy issued by them after the 30th 
 of September, 1867, specify their principal place or principal 
 places of business at which notice of assignment may be 
 given in pursuance of this Act." The assignment is to be by 
 endorsement or in the form annexed to the Act ; the notices 
 of assignments to be acknowledged by an assurance com- 
 pany, and the fee for such acknowledgment is not to exceed 
 5 J. The Act is not to apply to the i6th and 17th of Vic- 
 toria, cap. 45, and the 27th and 28th of Victoria, cap. 43, 
 or to any engagement for payment on death by any friendly 
 society. The form of assignment is a very simple instrument, 
 and confined to a few words. 
 
 We are informed that the death register of the Norwich 
 Union Life Office shows that in the class of Amicable 
 insurers eight deaths registered occurred at the ages 
 of 82, 81, 88, 89, 85, 68, 74, 87, making an aggregate of 
 650 complete years of life among eight insurers, or an 
 average of more than 81 years. 
 
388 Money-matters. 
 
 Quit-Rents. 
 
 The Rents and Quit-rents received from the City Estate 
 bring an income to the Corporation of upwards of 120,000/. 
 per annum. In ancient records the term "quit-rent" is 
 called " white rent," because it was paid in silver money, to 
 distinguish it from rent-corn, which is a chief-rent, whereas 
 a person paying a " quit-rent," is released from, and goes 
 quit and free of all other services. "A quit-rent is usually a 
 very small rent, paid by the tenants of manors, in token of 
 subjection, and by the payment of which the tenant goes 
 quiet and free." — Blackstonis Commentaries, vol. ii., p. 42. 
 
 The Pope's Money-changers. 
 
 The " Catreines," or Pope's solicitors and money-changers, 
 took up their quarters in the City of London in the early 
 part of the thirteenth century. Cowell informs us that they 
 originally came from Caorsi, a town in Lombardy, where 
 they first practised their arts of usury and extortion. In the 
 year 1240, they carried their abominable trade to such an 
 extent in the city that the then Bishop of London, Robert 
 de Sigilas, excommunicated them, King Henry the Third 
 shortly afterwards banishing them from the kingdom alto- 
 gether. In 1250, however, this monarch, then in the thirty- 
 fourth year of his reign, permitted them to return, but very 
 shortly afterwards, so intolerable did their exactions become, 
 that they were finally driven out of the empire. 
 
 The Royal Exchange. 
 
 When the Flemish weavers were encouraged to set up their 
 looms in England, "protection" was established also. None 
 
Money-matters. 289 
 
 but the royal family could wear clothes made beyond sea ; no 
 English wool could be exported at all. Tom Blanket of 
 Bristol made his name for ever famous by being the first to 
 weave the woollen bed-furniture which bears that name. 
 The English gold coin he received for the first assortment 
 made by him and his industrious fellows was the first money 
 of that precious metal coined in England. The law would 
 not allow a single piece of it, not even a "farthing noble," to 
 be carried out of England. When a merchant was leaving 
 the country; he found at the port of issue a "royal ex- 
 changer," who gave him foreign gold for his English, sub- 
 tracting a commission, which the exchanger divided with his 
 employer, the king. Hence we have the term, and the 
 thing. Royal Exchange. — W. Hepworth Dixon. 
 
 College Expenses. 
 
 The commencement of the academical year at Cambridge, 
 in 1870, was marked with important changes in regard to 
 college expenses. The large number of freshmen entered 
 included many whose means were limited, and, to meet this 
 state of things, the University authorities reduced college 
 charges. It was from time immemorial the practice for 
 students to be supplied with "full commons," as it is 
 termed, from the butteries. By " full commons " we mean 
 a full supply of bread and butter — namely, two small loaves 
 and four butters ; but under the present regulations that 
 custom is not general, as students now have the option of 
 ordering half-commons — in other words, one loaf and two 
 butters. Butter at Cambridge is sold by the yard, and 
 hence the term "butters," signifying pieces of about two or 
 three inches in length. 
 
390 Money-matters. 
 
 Days of the Week in Past Ages. 
 
 Mr. Skeat, of Cambridge, in Notes and Queries, 3rd S., 
 IX., 469, gives a method for finding the above, which he 
 finds very easy to remember — namely, to reduce all the 
 calculations so as to deal only with this present 19th 
 century, for which the rule is simply — add to the year its 
 fourth part, omitting fractions, divide by 7, and the re- 
 mainder is the Sunday letter. The reduction is effected 
 thus : — For years before 1752, add 4 to the year, and also 
 such a multiple of 28 as will give a result lying between 
 1800 and 1900; and for the latter part of 1752, and the 
 years 1753 — 1799, add 12 to the year, and such a multiple of 
 28 as will give a result lying between 1800 and 1900. Thus 
 the former part of 1752 (by adding 4 and 56) exactly agrees 
 with the calendar for 181 2, the 2nd of September being 
 Wednesday, and the latter part of 1752 (by adding 12 and 
 56) agrees with the calendar for 1820, the 14th of Sep- 
 tember being a Thursday, the day following. 
 
 Labour and Wages Temp. Henry VIII. 
 
 A day's work, according to the Statute 6 Henry VIII., 
 chap. 3, from the middle of March to the middle of Sep- 
 tember, began before 5 in the morning, and ended between 
 7 and 8 in the evening. During the other months it began 
 with "the springing of theday" and lasted till night j and 
 during these months no sleep in the day was allowed. The 
 length of the respite for meals was strictly prescribed by 
 this statute. The rate of wages continued with little altera- 
 tion throughout this reign. We have here also the market 
 value of garden produce, the remuneration of painters and 
 carpenters, th? price of provisions for the navy, the expenses 
 
Money- MATTERS. 391 
 
 paid for the victuals of the men employed in the building of 
 the Great Harry (the Royal Sovereign of that day), the 
 expenses of Foreign Ambassadors when at our King's 
 charge, and the proper apparel for a Marquis of Exeter. 
 The items are extraordinary, and the opportunities for 
 inference infinite. 
 
 How MUCH AN Acre, and how much a Yard? 
 
 Divide \!as pounds '^tx acre by twenty, and the answer will 
 be the price per yard in pence, plus one-tenth of a penny per 
 each shilling ; and similarly to find the price per acre, 
 multiply ^t pence per yard (adding one-tenth of a penny for 
 each shilling) by twenty, and the answer is the price per 
 acre in pounds. Ex. — 1815/. per acre-H 20 gives 90 pence 
 per yard. The use of the above formula is when a quick 
 answer is required, as in a sale-room or otherwise, where the 
 fractions may be disregarded, only bearing in mind on 
 which side they lie. It arises from the accidental circum- 
 stance that the number of yards in an acre is within forty of 
 the number of pence in a pound multiplied by twenty. 
 
 What is a Mile? 
 
 The accounts from the seat of the Franco-Prussian war in 
 ■1870 gave the distance according to the measures of the 
 country from which the telegraphic messages were sent. Thus 
 despatches from Paris gave metres and kilometres, and. those 
 from Berlin either German or Prussian miles. As the 
 military operations became extended into other States 
 other measures of distance became mentioned, and in 
 order to remove any embarrassment that might arise from 
 this cause we give the principal measures of length in use in 
 
 u 2 
 
29a Money-matters. 
 
 Europe as compared with the English common or statute 
 mile. This mile, by an Act of Parliament passed in 1593, 
 was defined to be " 8 furlongs of 40 perches of i6i ft. each," 
 or 5280 ft. The English geographical or nautical mile is the 
 one-sixtieth part of a degree of the equator, and this mile is 
 used by the mariners of all nations. In Germany, the geo- 
 graphical mile is the one-fifteenth part of a degree of the 
 equator, or four nautical miles. The English geographical 
 mile is equal to one statute mile and fifteen-hundredths of a 
 mile ; the German geographical mile to four and six-tenths 
 statute miles ; the Prussian mile to four and seven-tenths 
 statute miles ; the German long mile to five and seven-tenths 
 statute miles. The French kilometre is equal to about six- 
 tenths of an English statute mile, or 29 kilometres, equal to 
 18 English statute miles nearly. The metre, it may be 
 mentioned, is equal to 39 in. and about one-third of an 
 inch. — American Engineer. 
 
 Origin of Rent. 
 
 The original theory of Rent, and the early forms of cus- 
 tomary tenancy are only to be drawn from ancient rentals. 
 The general name for the oblation, or money-payment — now 
 constituting the entire rent, but formerly a subordinate part of 
 it — was gafol, gavel, or landgable. Land at farm was called 
 gafol-land ; and a freehold was called ungaveled land, not 
 being subject to rent. The gable appears to have been 
 about a penny an acre, and was but a small part of the 
 price paid for the use of land ; the tenants worked out the 
 rest of their rent. 
 
 When their labours were light, or not constant, the tenants 
 naturally paid an increased oblation, which in the rentals of 
 the Kentish Cathedrals is distinguished from the gable and 
 
Money-matters. 293 
 
 called mail or farm — firma ; the tenants who paid mail are 
 called in Bolden Book mailmen — malmanni, or farmers — 
 firmarii. In the records of St. Paul's Cathedral "werklond" 
 — the rent of which was chiefly paid in labour — is opposed 
 to " moUond " — the rent of which was chiefly paid in money ; 
 the former was called in Latin " terra qperaria," \he. latter 
 " terra censualis." The rentals of the thirteenth and four- 
 teenth centuries often notice a change in the condition of 
 customary tenements, mail-lands being converted into work- 
 land, or work-lands into mail-lands ; and there were lands held 
 subject either to labour or to silver at the lord's discretion. 
 
 There was a corresponding distribution of customary 
 tenants, divided into tenants who paid the greater part of 
 their rent in labour, and te^ants who paid the greater part 
 of their rent in money. 
 
 French and English Weights and Measures. 
 
 The French system, as is well kpown, is based upon the 
 metre, or the ten-millionth part of the distance from the 
 equator to the pole. This system, like our own of the pen- 
 dulum, and also (if savans will forgive the mention of it in 
 the same class) that of the barleycorn, were all founded upon 
 the notion of reference to something which should be im- 
 mutable so long as the world lasted. Our ancestors, who 
 thought that all barleycorns must always be of the same 
 length, could not be expected to foresee that agricultural 
 proficiency of their posterity which seems to delight in 
 nothing so much as in producing varieties of grain. It is a 
 remarkable illustration of the difi'erence in the characters of 
 the two nations that — while the French will doubtless pre- 
 severe in using their celestial standard until heaven and 
 earth, or at least the French nation, shall pass away — we 
 
294 Money-matters, 
 
 have abandoned our pendulum, and addressed ourselves to 
 the wholly terrestrial business of endeavouring to ascertain 
 what was the length of the standard yard which was made 
 in 1760 and lost in 1834. As this business was undertaken 
 by the advice of the Astronomer Royal, we may infer that 
 it was an advantageous compromise between science and 
 common sense; The latter quality is conspicuously shown 
 in a paper on Decimal Coinage, by Mr. Airy : " It is to be 
 presumed," says this paper, "that in mere retail matters 
 mankind have, by almost infinite practice, fixed on what 
 they like best." This remark may be commended to the 
 notice of some advocates of Decimal Coinage who, having 
 perhaps equal learning with the Astronomer Royal, have 
 certainly less wisdom. — Saturday Ra'ieiv. 
 
 The Evils of Wealth. 
 
 Many a school-boy mortgages his next week's pocket- 
 money, irrespective of Ovid : — 
 
 " Effodiuntur opes irritamenta malorum." 
 
 Lycurgus considered the use of gold and silver as the 
 foundation of all crime, and forbade the possession of them 
 on pain of death. Sallust calls money the most pernicious 
 evil. Isocrates says, " Wealth is the minister of vice rather 
 than of virtue ; as it affords facilities to indolence, and 
 invites the young to pleasures." Juvenal remarks that the 
 love of money increases in the same proportion as the pos- 
 session of it. Propertius calls money the " cruel food for the 
 vices of men." Such a love for possessing money has invaded 
 men that they seem rather to be possessed by it than to 
 possess it. So much so that Cicero declares, that the world 
 particularly admires the man who is not afiected by money, 
 
Money-matters. 39^ 
 
 and considers such a person as having gone through the 
 ordeal of fire. The same writer observes, that "what the 
 Pythian oracle declared, that no other cause but avarice 
 should have destroyed Sparta, it seemed to have predicted 
 not only to the Lacedemonians, but to all other opulent 
 nations." 
 
 The British Coinage. 
 
 The following is the first Annual Report of Mr. Fremantle, 
 Deputy-Master of the Mint, with a short historical account 
 of our Coinages. Before the introduction of British gold 
 coins, in the reign of Henry III., gold pieces of about the 
 value of loj., coined at Constantinople, and known as 
 byzants, circulated freely in England ; and at a subsequent 
 period coins of the same value, called florences, being origi- 
 nally struck at Florence. In the reign of Edward III. the 
 gold noble was issued, and in the reign of Edward IV. the 
 angel and rose noble, or rial. These were followed by the 
 double rial, or sovereign, of Henry VII., which was to pass 
 for 20s. ; and by the laurel of James I., of which the current 
 value was also to be 20s. The latter coin was adopted b 
 Charles II. at the Restoration, and was :subsequently called 
 a guinea, originally issued as a 20s. piece, but, having risen 
 in current value, was finally ordered, by proclamation in 
 1 7 18, to pass for 21s. sterling. The present sovereign, or 
 20s. piece, was issued by proclamation, dated the istof July, 
 1817, under the authority of the Act 56 of George III., cap. 
 68. Several other denominations of gold coins have at dif- 
 ferent times been current; among them the five-pound, 
 three and two-pound pieces, and the half-guinea, and third 
 of a guinea, or seven-shilling piece. The five-pound and 
 two-pound pieces are still among the current coins of the 
 
a9<5 Money-matters. 
 
 realm ; but, as there is no demand for them, no coins of 
 these denominations have been struck for general circulation 
 during the present reign. 
 
 The coins and medals struck during the 14th and succeeding 
 centuries are remarkable for beauty of design and execution. 
 Edward III. caused gold nobles to be struck with a design 
 representing the King standing in a ship and armed with 
 sword and shield to commemorate the naval victories gained 
 over the French ; and this design remained on gold coins 
 struck for above two centuries. In more modem times the 
 reverse of the coin has been devoted to an inscription indi- 
 cating its denomination, and a wreath surrounding the in- 
 scription. 
 
 The silver coinage of England can boast of some antiquity. 
 At the time of the Conquest the pound in tale of silver 
 coins, the pound weight of standard silver, was equal to 
 20J-., and each shilling to 12 pence, weighing one penny- 
 weight or 24 grains. Henry I. added silver halfpence, or 
 mailles, and farthings. Groats were first coined in the reign 
 of Edward I., shillings in the reign of Henry VII., crowns 
 in that of Henry VIII. In the reign of Edward VI. 
 mention is first found of sixpences and threepenny-pieces. 
 No further changes were made in the denominations of 
 silver coins until the introduction of the florin in 1849. 
 
 Copper coins have been in circulation from the reign of 
 Charles II. ; bronze since i860. Tin was also used for 
 coinage in 1680, when farthings were struck in that metal 
 with a stud of copper let into the centre ; and, again, in 
 1690-91, when both halfpence and farthings were issued. 
 Coins of comparatively worthless metal of James II. were 
 arbitrarily made current in Ireland at exorbitant rates, and 
 their withdrawal from circulation by William III. is still 
 remembered in that country. 
 
Money-matters. 397 
 
 The florin shows an attempt to improve upon this practice 
 by the adoption of a Gothic treatment of the inscription, and 
 by reverting to an ancient arrangement of the Royal coat of 
 arms. A very successful example of the strictly classical 
 style, substituting a natural figure for the usual conventional 
 design, is found in Pistrucci's well-known George and 
 Dragon. This design still appears on the reverse of sove- 
 reigns and crowns struck in the reign of George IV. ; and 
 under a recent Order in Council has been again adopted, 
 as an alternative design with the present, for sovereigns of 
 Queen Victoria. No crowns or half-crowns have been issued 
 since 1851, and no groats or fourpenny pieces since 1856; 
 silver fourpences, threepences, twopences, and pence are 
 struck every year for distribution as Her Majesty's Maundy 
 moneys, but the fourpenny-piece is of a different design from 
 the groat in general circulation. 
 
 The Public Funds. 
 
 Among the many benefits accruing to society from the 
 operation of the Pubhc Funds, it has been stated that herein 
 the orphan, the widow, the aged, the infirm, and all other 
 capitalists, place their money with the most perfect ease and 
 security. The interest, invariably paid with the most scrupu- 
 lous regularity, immediately circulates through the body 
 politic as generally and beneficially as the blood through 
 the human frame. If the funds did not exist, these persons 
 could not invest one-fourth of their money in mortgages ; 
 and if so placed, in the very nature of things, would seldom 
 be regularly paid ; and this would prove as disadvantageous 
 to the creditors, as to the commerce and revenues of the 
 kingdom. 
 
298 Money-matters. 
 
 Money Panic of 1832. 
 
 When, in May, 1833, the Duke of WelHngton was very- 
 unpopular as a minister, and it was believed that he had 
 formed a Cabinet, which, it was thought, would add to his 
 unpopularity, a few agitators got up "a run upon the Bank 
 of England," by means of placarding the streets of London 
 with the emphatic words : — 
 
 TO STOP 
 
 THE DUKE, 
 
 GO FOR GOLD. 
 
 advice which was followed to a prodigious extent. On 
 Monday, May 14 (the bills having been profusely posted on 
 Sunday !), the run upon the Bank for coin was so incessant, 
 that in a few hours upwards of half a million was carried off ; 
 we remember a tradesman in the Strand bringing home, in 
 a hackney-coach, 2000 sovereigns. Mr. Doubleday, in his 
 Life of Sir Robert Peel, states the placards to have been 
 " the device of four gentlemen, two of whom were elected 
 members of the Reformed ParKament. Each put down 20/. ; 
 and the sum thus expended in printing thousands of these 
 terrible missives, which were eagerly circulated, and were 
 speedily seen upon every wall in London. The effect is 
 hardly to be described. It was electric." The executive 
 was a tradesman of kindred politics, in business towards the 
 east end of Oxford-street ; and it must be admitted that he 
 executed the order completely. — Knowledge for the Time. 
 
 History of Modern English Coins. 
 
 William the Conqueror did not shock his new subjects by 
 any alteration in their current money. His coins, and those 
 
Money-matters. 299 
 
 of his successors up to Edward I., are of an entirely Anglo- 
 Saxon character. The head of the monarch, with the title 
 of Rex Anglorum, on the one side ; and a cross with the 
 names of the ministers, and the city in which they were 
 coined, on the other. Of Richard I. and John there are no 
 Enghsh coins. Henry III. first introduced the distin- 
 guishing numerals (III.) on his coins ; he also resumed the 
 coinage of silver halfpennies and coined silver farthings, 
 and was the first to attempt a coinage of gold in 
 certain httle golden pennies, which are of extreme rarity. 
 Edward III, was the great improver of the coinage. He 
 first coined silver groats and half-groats for general use. 
 This was a great advance ; but he went fiirther,- and made 
 his reign a memorable era in the history of our coinage by 
 two issues of gold. In 1344 he sent forth a gold florin, 
 value 6j., with its accompanying half and quarter florin ; and 
 immediately afterwards, in consequence of some failure in 
 the calculation, as to the value of the florin, a coin called the 
 nohle, of the value of 6j. 8^., with its similar half and quarter. 
 The florin was named from its similarity to a coin of Flo- 
 rence. The origin of the name noble is a puzzle. The chief 
 device is a ship, with the king standing in it full armed and 
 sword in hand. Whether this symbol asserts the dominion 
 of the sea and commemorates a naval victory, or whether 
 the ship is the revival of a Roman emblem for the State, the 
 learned must declare. On the coins of Edward III. first 
 appeared the Dei Gratia. In them the King's' title first 
 stands full-blown — Rex Anglim et FrancicR ef Dominus Hiber- 
 nice. In this reign, too, first appeared Latin mottoes on the 
 coins, chiefly from the Vulgate, which long continued in 
 use. One of them, which was originally impressed on the 
 groat and afterwards on the angel, Posui Deum adjutorem 
 MEUM, was frequently a subject for the witlings. 
 
300 Money-matters. 
 
 Richard II. and the three Henries followed quietly in the 
 wake of Edward III. ; but Edward IV. introduced the 
 angel, — a coin of gold, so called from the device of St. 
 Michael standing upon the dragon and piercing him with a 
 spear. 
 
 Richard III. added no new piece to the coinage ; but his 
 successor Henry VII. is remembered amongst numismatists 
 as the introducer of two of our best-known modem coins. 
 The royal was now the name given to the Noble, which had 
 risen in value to \os. Heniy VII. struck a double royal, and 
 termed the new coin a sovereign. Another of his coins was 
 the triple groat ox shilling, introduced in 1504. The shilling 
 had long been a name of account, but did not until now 
 appear in the coinage. The coinage of Henry VIII. pre- 
 sents us with the first appearance on coins of heraldic sup- 
 porters to the royal arms, which are found on the reverse of 
 his sovereign. Now also appeared St George instead of 
 St. Michael, in combat with the dragon on what was conse- 
 quently termed not the angel, but the George noble. Henry 
 VIII.'s broad-faced groat was long remembered. The bluflf 
 full-face became popular, and was used as a sign for inns. 
 There was a broad-face inn until very lately in Reading. 
 Henry VIII. left the coinage in a rniserable state of depre- 
 ciation. 
 
 Little was done to amend the depreciation during the 
 reign of Edward VI. The reign of Mary was a retrogression 
 in every thing. The double rose of Henry VII. was repro- 
 duced on the Sovereign, St. Michael reappeared vice St. 
 George on the Angel, and her Majesty was placed standing 
 with a drawn sword in a ship of war, — a device historically 
 as inaccurate as that which Butler celebrates — 
 
 " Still amorous, fond, and billing. 
 Like Philip and Mary on a shilling." 
 
Money-matters. 30T 
 
 Elizabeth reformed the coinage effectually. She restored 
 the money to its true vajue, and improved its manufacture 
 by the introduction of the screw-press in lieu of the old- 
 fashioned hammer. She also introduced into Ireland a 
 coinage of copper pence and halfpence ; and was preparing to 
 extend the same to England when death removed her. 
 
 The Saxons, it is known, besides, their silver sceatta and 
 penny, had a copper coinage of stycas, which was the only 
 copper money struck in England anterior to Elizabeth. The 
 silver penny was first coined about a.d. 750, and the series 
 runs from thence to the Norman Conquest in a great variety 
 of types. There were also halfpennies of some of the Saxon 
 kings. — From the Athenceum. 
 
 Queen Anne's Farthing. — {Postscript to page 2Z2.) 
 
 "The traditional history of the three examples is that Queen 
 Anne kept one, which was afterwards presented to the British 
 Museum by George IV. Another was in the possession of 
 one of the Derby family for many years. The third was 
 given by Queen Anne to one of her maids of honour, who 
 transmitted it to her daughter or niece, by whom it was given 
 to her god-daughter, a relation of mine, who assured me, 
 about thirty years since (i. e. 1824), that she had been 
 offered 500/. for it by one of the curators at the British 
 Museum, which sum was refused ; and it is now (1854) i"^ the 
 possession of her son. Major Fothergill. Should this state- 
 ment be doubted, let the reader proceed to the British 
 Museum, and strictly examine the two coins above mentioned, 
 when he will discover a flaw across or near the bridge of the 
 Queen's nose, the distinctive mark between the two images." 
 — Illustrated London News, Oct. 7, 1854. 
 
NOTES ON ART, Etc. 
 
 Esthetics and ^stheticians. 
 
 For a long time the word taste was generally used by all 
 English writers on art, and it is not an improper or inappro- 
 priate one, since the conformity is great between that mental 
 taste which is affected with, or which forms a judgment of, 
 the elegant arts, and that sensitive taste which gives us a 
 delight in every different flavour that pleases the palate. 
 Though taste is not an inappropriate, yet it is a very inade- 
 quate, metaphor ; and perhaps it is impossible to express the 
 meaning of a thing very accurately by any figurative term. 
 Not satisfied with it, the Germans adopted the beautiful 
 Greek word "Esthetics" in their exposition of the causes of 
 the emotions produced by the contemplation of objects in 
 nature and art. It is now brought into common use amongst 
 us, and well that it is, when such an increased interest is felt 
 for works of art, and when men need clear thoughts, definite 
 expressions, and select words to give authority to their prin- 
 ciples of judgment 
 
 What made the Greeks — what made a Plato or an Aristotle 
 — so pre-eminent as critics was the idea they endeavoured to 
 carry out of developing all the powers of the mind in the 
 greatest possible harmony and perfection. This made them 
 great sestheticians. This gave them that universality of 
 mind — without which no man can be a true critic — which 
 
Notes on Art^ etc. 303 
 
 enabled them to feel and to appreciate whatever was beau- 
 tiful and grand. A one-sided or partial judgment would 
 have hindered them from detecting beauties or discovering 
 truths. The temple that a Callimachus or an Ictinus 
 designed, they loved to contemplate, because they saw it 
 was a perfect and finished system ; because they felt how the 
 whole of it was developed in accordance with the principles 
 and real aesthetic motives of Greek architecture. But such 
 is the blindness and frigid nature of some individuals as 
 actually to question its claims upon our admiration. They 
 are unmoved before it. They assert that its symmetrical 
 proportions are not to be held up as a model of architecture. 
 Another style of architecture has great attraction for them ; 
 and this bearing no resemblance to it, is therefore rejected 
 as barbarous. They are excited probably before a Gothic 
 cathedral : to them that is all perfection ; far otherwise the 
 classical, which is opposed to it in every respect. These 
 persons are disqualified to judge accurately of the merits of 
 a work they condemn. — Tke Builder. 
 
 What are Beauty and Sublimity? 
 
 Burke, Mengs, and other adherents of the dogmatic system 
 make beauty to consist in mere shape. Coleridge stated the 
 principle of beauty as " multiety in unity." "All the dis- 
 putes," writes Schiller (in Letters and Essays), "which ever 
 reigned in the philosophical world, upon the conception of 
 beauty, and which reign in part at the present day, have only 
 this origin, that the inquiries commenced either not with a 
 rigorous discrimination, or resulted in a combination not 
 sufficiently perfect." Beautiful art, and that beauty in Greek 
 architecture on which the mind rests with complacency, 
 shows no parade of means ; yet, like efficiency of character, 
 
304 Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 1- 
 
 its force is made visible only by its results. The motto 
 of the artist should be, "Osiendo non ostento." Yet, as 
 Reynolds (Stk Discourse) said, — " When simplicity, instead 
 of being a corrector, seems to set up for herself — that is, 
 when an artist seems to value himself solely upon this 
 quality — such an ostentatious display of simplicity becomes 
 then as disagreeable and nauseous as any other kind of 
 affectation. It is in art as in moral : no character would 
 inspire us with an enthusiastic admiration of his virtues, if 
 that virtue consisted only in an absence of vice : something 
 more is required : a man must do more than merely his duty 
 to be a hero. Those works of the ancients which are in the 
 highest esteem have something beside mere simplicity to 
 recommend them. Yet simplicity is our barrier against that 
 great enemy to truth and nature — affectation." Beauty and 
 sublimity are thus considered by Coleridge {Lectures on the 
 Dramatists) : — "The Greek art is beautiful. When I enter 
 a Greek church, my eye is charmed, and my mind elated. I 
 feel exalted, and proud that I am a man. But the Gothic 
 art is sublime. On entering a cathedral, I am filled with 
 devotion and with awe; I am lost to the actualities that 
 surround me, and my whole being expands into the infinite ; 
 earth and air, nature and art, all swell up into eternity, and 
 the only sensible impression left, is ' that I am nothing.' " 
 
 Art-teaching. 
 
 It is not proposed, even if it were possible, to make all 
 people artists ; but all may be taught how to judge of the 
 leading principles of art, and thus to increase the means of 
 enjoyment. Such power may be said to impart to its 
 possessor a new faculty ; for it is in the experience of every 
 one, more or less, that ever so slight acquaintance with the 
 
Notes on Art^ etc. 305 
 
 principles of any science or art is a great aid in enabling us 
 to appreciate it. Looking at art is not always seeing it, so 
 to speak. An uneducated eye would not distinguish, as a 
 cultivated sense would, between a mere commonplace view 
 of fields, trees, and sky, and the requisite and varied render- 
 ing of the subject by a Claude, a Hobbina, or our own 
 practical Turner ; precisely as the uncultivated and unprac- 
 tised ear would fail to appreciate the difference between a 
 common tune played on a dismal street-organ and the sweet 
 fancy or the grand combinations of a composition by a 
 Beethoven or a Mendelssohn. — Ji. Westmacott, R.A. 
 
 Was St. Luke a Painter? 
 
 On the Feast of St. Luke, in 1870, at the church of 
 St. Michael, Queenhithe, the Rev. James Lupton, M.A., 
 chaplain to the Painter Stainers, preached a sermon from 
 the first verses of the Gospel according to St. Luke— verses 
 which are well known as the mere introduction or preface to 
 that Gospel. He drew an outline of the character of 
 St. Luke, remarking that he was a physician, that his being 
 a painter rested upon no certain evidence, was merely an 
 unauthorized tradition of the Roman Church, and that the 
 Protestant Church put it aside, as it did most of the other 
 fables which that Church had invented. The preacher com- 
 mended St. Luke, however, for the great place his writings 
 occupied in the holy volume. He wrote not only the Hfe of 
 our Lord, but the history of the early Church ; and with his 
 writings in our hands, we should not suffer much loss if the 
 other three Gospels did not exist. The painters having 
 chosen him as their patron saint, were bound to attend to 
 his teachings, and those portions of the holy volume written 
 by him ought to have their attention. He was an EvangeHst 
 
 X 
 
3o6 Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 and physician of the soul, and to root out the natural seeds 
 of evil in us, we ought te study, and make ourselves ac- 
 quainted with, and apply those prescriptions which his 
 Gospel and his other writings contained. Alluding to the 
 controversies of the day between the Ritualists and the Low 
 Church, the preacher showed how St. Luke held a middle 
 course between them, condemning neither, but having fel- 
 lowship with both. Why could not good men agree to differ 
 from one another now? The preacher summed up by 
 calling upon his congregation, the Company of Painter 
 Stainers, to attend to St. Luke's teaching, and endeavour to 
 form their lives after those precepts which their patron saint 
 had left them. 
 
 A Clincher. 
 
 Every one remembers the marvellous story of Sir James 
 Thornhill stepping back to see the effect of his painting in 
 Greenwich Hospital, and being prevented falling from the 
 ceiling to the floor by a person defacing his work, and 
 causing the painter to rush forward, and thus save himself. : 
 This may have occurred; but we rather suspect the anecdote 
 to be of legendary origin, and to come from no less distance 
 than the Tyrol; in short, to be a paraphrase of a Catholic 
 miracle, unless the Tyrolese are quizzing the English story, 
 which is not very probable. At Inspruck you are gravely 
 told that when Daniel Asam was painting the inside of the 
 cupola of one of the churches, and he had just finished the 
 hand of St. James, he stepped back on the scaffold, to 
 ascertain the effect jT there was no friend at hand gifted with 
 the presence of mind, which, by defacing the work, saved 
 the artist, as in Sir James Thornhill' s cas^]and therefore 
 Daniel Asam fell backward; but, to the astonishment of the 
 
Notes on Art, etc. 307 
 
 awestruck beholders, who were looking up from beneath, the 
 hand and arm of the Saint, which the artist had just finished, 
 was seen to extend itself from the fresco, and grasping the 
 fortunate Asam by the arm, accompany him in his descent 
 of 200 feet, and bear him up so gently, that he reached the 
 ground without the slightest shock !-t^What became of the 
 " awe-struck beholders," and why the saint and painter did 
 not fall on their heads, or why they did not serve as an easel 
 in bringing the pair miraculously to the ground, we are 
 not told. 
 
 The Fairford Windows. 
 
 In the big book, of no very great account, (Boswell's 
 Antiquities, folio), we find Fairford has a church with the 
 finest painted glass windows in England, exhibiting several 
 histories, both of the Old and New Testament, on 28 large 
 windows, designed by the famous artist, Albert Durer. This 
 glass was taken by one John Tame, a merchant, in a prize 
 ship which was carrying it to Rome. When he brought it 
 home, he purchased the manor of Fairford of King Henry 
 VII., and built the church on purpose to put this glass 
 up in it, where it has been preserved entire to this 
 time. 
 
 St. Eloi, the Patron of Goldsmiths in France! 
 
 During the Austrasian period in France flourished that 
 ■good King Dagobert of the uneasy chair, and to show how 
 arts and statesmanship went together in his days we may 
 remark that St. Eloi, Sanctus Eligius, the patron saint of gold- 
 smiths in France, was at one and the same time his 
 goldsmith and his Prime minister. Lest any one should 
 
3o8 Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 suppose that he was only an idle goldsmith, only free of the 
 company as Lord Palmerston was of the Fishmongers'? 
 and that all. his attention was devoted to politics, we may 
 inform our readers that it is expressly stated that St. Eloi, 
 after his elevation to the Premiership, which indeed he owed 
 to his skill as a goldsmith, worked still at his forge as 
 a simple artisan. " He made for the King," says the 
 Chronicle, "a great number of crosses enriched with precious 
 stones, and he worked incessantly, seated with his servant 
 Thillon, a Saxon by birth, at his side, who followed the lessons 
 of his master.'' From the Saint and his disciples sprung the 
 Guild of Goldsmiths in France and Paris. That was the 
 famous body the rules of which were so strict and their work 
 so good that the " touch of Paris " for gold and silver sur- 
 passed the touch of all foreign cities, and was only equal 
 to the English "sterling." Here we have the seal 
 of the mystery of Paris before us, with the legend, 
 "S. Confrariae S. Eligii Aurifabrourn." where S. stands for 
 " Sigillum.'' In the centre, under a Gothic canopy, stands 
 St. Eloi himself, mitre on head and crozier in left hand, while 
 his right holds the hammer with which his masterpieces were 
 beaten out and moulded, putting us in mind of the good old 
 English Rhyme, — 
 
 " By hammer and hand 
 All arts do stand." 
 
 That St. Eloi was reverenced late down in history, we know 
 from the fact that in the wars in the i6th century a man 
 appeared before the Court of the Guild of Goldsmiths at 
 Paris, bearing in his hand a bone which he asserted was 
 a relic of St Eloi, their patron saint — rossement de St Eloi 
 — which he had saved in the wars at Hesdin and had 
 brought to the Guild. It had been mounted in silver, he 
 
Notes on Art, etc. 309 
 
 said, but the soldiers had taken that and left him the bone. 
 Whereupon a solemn minute is made in the register of the 
 guild of the fact, and a little later on we read that " the relic 
 of Master St. Eloi, mounted in a very handsome piece of 
 rock crystal, had been hung at the foot of his statue in their 
 common hall." We wonder what has become of that for 
 beau piece of crystal, and of the silver statue of the saint 
 Among the privileges of the Guild of Goldsmiths at Paris 
 was one which our Goldsmiths' Company would hardly value. 
 It was the right of carrying the shrine of St. Gdndvidve, 
 the patron saint of Paris, on their shoulders when she went 
 out for a walk or a procession. They also bore the canopy 
 over the head of the King of France at his accession. 
 — Times. 
 
 English Art. 
 
 In a recent Number of the Quarterly Review, a writer takes 
 high ground, and sees in Hogarth, Reynolds, and Gains- 
 borough the " heroic ancestors" of modern art : — " What does 
 painting owe to these men, and to their countrymen and con- 
 temporaries ! It owes the power to deal with the tragic and the 
 comic sides of human life ; to hold up the mirror to ourselves, 
 teaching and moving us while it pleases. It owes the per- 
 ception of the magic of landscape. It owes the restoration 
 of the imaginative style of portraiture. It owes the discovery 
 of childhood as one of the purest and most attractive sources 
 of pleasurable representation. It owes the first fusion of the 
 prosaic incidents painted by the Hollanders with the senti- 
 ment of modem poetry and romance. And when we com- 
 pare these varied sources of delight and emotion with those 
 presented by the first school of painting, wholly restricted to. 
 religious teaching ; or, with the second, devoted to an 
 artificially revived mythology ; or, with the third, tentatively 
 
3IO Notes on Art^ etc. 
 
 wavering between wom-out traditions and half-understood 
 new impulses, we may fairly say that that art which was in- 
 augurated by the English masters of the last century was a 
 new thing in Europe. It bears the name of painting, yet it 
 is almost wholly different frojn what bore the name three 
 hundred years before; it appeals to other sympathies, it 
 pursues other objects, it must be tried, in a great measure, 
 by other standards." 
 
 The Royal Academy. 
 
 At the Annual Dinner of the Royal Academy, in 1869, Sir 
 Francis Grant, the President, gave the following prtcis of 
 the history of the institution : — " The Royal Academy com- 
 menced its career under the auspices of a great king and a 
 great painter — George III. and Sir Joshua Reynolds. For 
 the first thirty years of its existence it occupied very humble 
 apartments at Pall-mall, originally built for an auctioneer. 
 Afterwards, when our constant friend and patron, George 
 III., made over to the nation his own royal palace, Somerset 
 House, he expressly reserved to himself the right of appro- 
 priating apartments in that building to the Royal Academy. 
 Thence, after fifty-seven years of occupation, at the request 
 of Government, the Royal Academy transferred its abpde to 
 Trafalgar-square ; and now, in lieu of the accommodation 
 provided for the Royal Academy by George III., the Go- 
 vernment have granted to us a site eminently adapted for the 
 purposes of a college of art, on which, from our own fiinds, 
 we have erected those noble galleries and schools of art, 
 where, with greater ^advantages, we hope gratuitously to 
 maintain, as we have done for the last century, the chief art- 
 education *f this country. For We are proud to reflect that 
 the Royal Academy can say what can be said by no other 
 
Notes on Art, etc. 311 
 
 academy in Europe, that we have never applied for or 
 received any grant of public money. On reviewing the 
 efforts of the past century, although we might possibly have 
 hoped to produce still greater results, I think, when we recall 
 the names of those eminent artists who have been students 
 at this Academy, who derived all their inspiration and know- 
 ledge of art within its walls, that it cannot be said we have 
 failed altogether. Such names as NoUekens, James Barry, 
 Copley, Banks (the sculptor), Smirke, Stothard, Lawrence, 
 Hopner, -Flaxman, Joseph Mallard Turner — a name alone 
 sufficient to glorify a century — Calcot, Wilkie, Mulready, 
 Leslie, Etty, Newton, Constable, are sufficient to quote. 
 When I recall to memory these illustrious pupils of the Royal 
 Academy, who have brought glory and fame to their country, 
 I feel we have no occasion to blush for the past or the 
 present." 
 
 British Sculpture. 
 
 The School of British Sculpture is not quite so recent as 
 some imagine. The ecclesiastical edifices and monuments 
 in Great Britain and Ireland furnish a proof of a high degree 
 of excellence in stone carving. There is a great mixture of 
 the northern element in both the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic 
 races. In Mallet's iiitroduction to the History of Denmark, 
 Wormius, Sibbem, and a few others relate the surprising skill 
 of the Northerns in carving, and this, too, with no better tool 
 than a knife. They were also expert at painting in colours 
 with different clays. The Germans were also adepts at this 
 work, according to Tacitus. 
 
 The Celts had the same propensities, and they made con- 
 siderable progress in the art of design. In one of their 
 ancient canons is mentioned how they adorned their skins 
 with ornamental punctures of birds, animals, and flowers. 
 
3ia Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 Among the British there Was a cksS 6f master designers, 
 entitled " The Artifices Plagarum," who not only taught, but 
 practised, the art of drawing. 
 
 Sir josHtJA Reynolds's Last Lecture. 
 
 Mr. Rogers relates : — " I was present when Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds delivered his last lecture at the Royal Academy. 
 On entering the room, I found that a semicircle of chairs, 
 immediately in front of the pulpit, was reserved for persons 
 of distinction, being labelled ' Mr. Burke,' ' Mr. Boswell,' 
 &c., &c. ; and I, with other young men, was forced to station 
 myself a good way off. During the lecture, a great crash was 
 heard ; and the company, fearing that the building was about 
 to come down, rushed towards the door. Presently, how- 
 ever, it appeared that there was no cause for alarm ; and 
 they endeavoured to resume their places ; but, in consequence 
 of the confusion, the reserved seats were now occupied by 
 those who could first get into themj and I, pressing for- 
 wards, secured one of them. Sir Joshua concluded the lec- 
 ture by saying, with great emotion, ' And I should desire 
 that the last words which I should pronounce in this 
 Academy and from this place might be the name of — Michael 
 Angelo.' As he descended from the rostrum, Burke went 
 up to him, took his hand, and said, — 
 
 "The Angel ended; and in Adam's ekr 
 So charming left his voice, that he a while 
 Thought him still speaking, still stood fix'd to hear." 
 
 What a quantity of snuff Sir Joshua took ! I once saw 
 him at an Academy dinner, when his waistcoat was abso- 
 lutely powdered with it. 
 
Notes on ArTj etc. 313 
 
 Success of Turner, the Painter, Foretold. - 
 
 The author of the Diary of a Lover of Literature, wrote 
 thus anticipatorily of Turner's genius, from a sea-piece 
 painted by him, and in the Exhibition of 1797 : — " Particu- 
 larly struck with a sea-view by Turner — Fishing Vessel • 
 Coming in with a Heavy Swell, iri apprehension of a tempest 
 gathering in the distance, and casting, as it advances, a night 
 of shade, while a parting glow is spread with fine efifect upon 
 the shore. The whole composition is bold in design and 
 masterly in execution. I am entirely unacquainted with the 
 artist, but if he proceeds as he has begun, he cannot fail to 
 become the first in his department." 
 
 Important Sales of Works of Art. 
 
 The three most important sales of articles of virtu that 
 have been disposed of by public auction in England, since 
 the dispersion of that formed by King Charles I., and sold 
 by order of the Commonwealth, have been those of the 
 Duchess of Portland ; of Horace Walpole, at Strawberry- 
 hill ; and of Mr. Bernal, sold in 1855, by Messrs. Christie 
 and Manson. The Duchess of Portland's sale consisted of 
 thirty-seven days, and brought 10,973/. ^J'- 6(/. The Straw- 
 berry-hill sale was contained in twenty-four days' sale, and 
 brought 33,450/. 1 1 J'. f)d. Mr. Bernal's thirty-two days' of 
 articles oi virtu brought 61,964/. iij. 3^/. ; to which, if his 
 books and prints be added (seven days), selling for 
 6587/. 2S. 6d., would make thirty-nine days, and a total of 
 68,551/ 13J. ()d. By those well acquainted with each of 
 these sales it is affirmed that the articles at Strawberry-hill 
 produced twice what they did at the Duchess' sale ; and at 
 the Bernal sale they produced twice what they did at the 
 
314 Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 Strawberry-hill sale, and this in a year of war. It surely fol- 
 lows that the taste for articles 'relative to art and mediaeval 
 history had been progressed to a great and almost unforeseen 
 extent. 
 
 The difference in the value of money may have had some 
 miserable share in accounting for the difference, but the 
 wonder (with this allowance) is still the same. — Peter Cunning- 
 ham. 
 
 The Colour Blue. 
 
 That there was no indigenous plant in Ireland to dye blue 
 in Dr. Nicholson's day (1725) can only be true so far as the 
 extent of his inquiry went, for the blue dye has been known 
 to the peasantry of Mayo for generations. The colour pre- 
 dominates in Partry. If a peasant is seen wearing a pair of 
 blue stockings, he is at once put down as a Partryman. In 
 the parish of Turlough, near Castlebar, there is an excellent 
 blue frieze made, containing a very small admixture of white. 
 The purple dye is peculiar to the clothing of the people of 
 the baronies of T)Trawly and Costello. 
 
 Etruscan Antiquities. 
 
 Professor Churchill Babington, in discriminating the pre- 
 . cise character and position of the so-called Etruscan vases 
 as works of art, maintains that it is now quite certain that the 
 Etruscans obtained all their fictile works from Greece ; that 
 in their bronze and other works they have bodily copied the 
 Greek forms and styles without any alteration or modifica- 
 tion. He expresses great surprise that at this time any one 
 should know so little of the subject as to describe these vases 
 as Etruscan instead of Greek. Yet we have a fine collec- 
 tion of " Etruscan and Grseco-Italian " vases in the British 
 Museum. 
 
Notes on Art, etc. 315 
 
 Form and Colour of Lightning. 
 
 Mr. Nasmyth considers that the form usually attributed to 
 lightning by painters, and in works of art, is very different 
 from that exhibited in nature ; and he believes the error of 
 the artists to have originated in the form given to the thun- 
 derbolt in the hand of Jupiter, as sculptured by the early 
 Greeks. 
 
 With regard to the colour of lightning in general, when 
 the discharging clouds are near the earth, the light is white; 
 and when they are at a great height, the light is reddish, or 
 violet. 
 
 Glass-painting Extraordinary. 
 
 In the year 1830, the Field of Cloth-of-Gold, the largest 
 specimen of modern glass-painting, was exhibited at No. 15, 
 Oxford Street. The subject was the Tournament of the 
 Field of Cloth-of-Gold, between Henry VIII. and Francis 
 I., at Ardres ; the last tourney, June 25, 1520, painted by 
 Thomas Wilmshurst (the horses by Woodward), from a 
 sketch by R. T. Bone. This window was 430 square feet, 
 or 18 by 24 feet; and consisted of 350 pieces, fitted into 
 metal astragals, falling with the shadows, so that the whole 
 picture appeared an entire sheet of glass ; it was exhibited 
 in a first-floor room, decorated in the taste of the time of 
 Henry VIII. The picture was composed from the details 
 of Hall's Chronicle, and contained upwards of 100 life-sized 
 figures (40 portraits, mostly after Holbein) ; including the 
 two Queens, Wolsey, Anne Boleyne, and the Countess of 
 Chateaubriant; Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk ; Queen 
 Mary, Dowager of France ; the ill-fated Duke of Buckingham, 
 &c. The gorgeous assemblage of costume, gold and jewels, 
 waving plumes, ghttering arms, velvet, ermine, and cloth-of- 
 
3i6 Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 gold, with heraldic emblazonry, picturesquely managed. The 
 work cost the artist ;^30oo. On the night of Jan. 31, 1832, 
 the house was destroyed in an accidental fire, and with it 
 the picture ; not even a sketch or study was saved, and the 
 property was wholly uninsured. 
 
 The English Language. 
 
 On the hypothesis of intermarriage between Romano- 
 Britons and Saxons, the actuality of our Anglo-Saxon lan- 
 guage is a very great difficulty. We do speak a language 
 which, though containing much Celtic and a good deal of 
 Norman French, is nevertheless " English." Now we know 
 from finding cremation urns of the Anglo-Saxon type all 
 over England nearly, that the whole of the country was over- 
 run by a heathen population ; to thus overrun it this popula- 
 tion must have been (relatively, at least) numerous ; add to 
 the two conditions of heathendom and multitude, which may 
 be considered as proved, the third condition of isolation, 
 which may be considered as matter for dispute, and then the 
 fourth of this heathendom and isolation, lasting from the 
 time of Hengist to that of Augustine, and the present fact of 
 our language being what it is is explained. — Dr. RoUeston. 
 
 Pronunciation of English. 
 
 A Subscriber writes to the Athenceum : — " I have long been 
 of impression that there has been little change in pronuncia- 
 tion, and as a test I ask your readers to read the story of 
 Hugh of Lincoln as told by Chaucer, disregarding the spell- 
 ing, in the language of the present day. They will, I think, find 
 that the verse flows more harmoniously than if they attempted 
 to read it in accordance with the spelling. About twenty years 
 a^o, my grandmother, an ancient Cheshire dame, of an old 
 
Notes on Art, etc. 317 
 
 yeoman family, died in her eighty-ninth year in full posses- 
 sion of all her faculties. She had never been twenty miles 
 from home in her life ; and I well recollect asking her, 
 shortly before her death, if there was any change in pronun- 
 ciation during her time : her reply was No, but she thought 
 people spoke more quickly and sharply. Her intonation, 
 like that of many other old Cheshire ladies of the last genera- 
 tion, was low, somewhat plaintive, and in the minor key. 
 My grandmother used many old words, such as " syde " for 
 "long,'' e. g. "that dress is too syde" (a Scotch word now) ; 
 " the chimney reaches," i. e. smokes or reeks, — and so on ; 
 but her pronunciation was that of the present day. If great 
 changes occur, how is it that on the banks of the Weaver 
 they still turn a into e; e. g. " a foine dee to dee " (a fine day 
 to-day) ? Why has not this peculiarity, unknown elsewhere 
 in England, died out long ago ? 
 
 Handwriting. 
 
 Many people laugh at what is called " graptomancy," or 
 the art of judging characters by handwriting ; and yet all 
 acknowledge that handwriting does indicate something. 
 Every one allows a difference between a man's and a woman's 
 hand ; we hear people speak of a vulgar hand, a gentle- 
 manly hand, a clerkly hand, &c. " I had once,'' says Arch- 
 bishop Whately, " a remarkable proof that handwriting is 
 sometimes, at least, an index to character. I had a pupil 
 at Oxford whom I liked in most respects greatly; there 
 was but one thing about him which seriously dissatisfied me, 
 and that, as I often told him, was his handwriting : it was 
 not bad as writing, but it had a mean, shuffling character in it, 
 which always inspired me with a feeling' of suspicion. While 
 he remained at Oxford I saw nothing to justify this suspicion ; 
 
3i8 Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 but a transaction in which he was afterwards engaged, and 
 in which I saw more of his character than I had done before, 
 convinced me that the writing had spoken truly. /'" But I 
 knew of a much more curious case, in which a celebrated 
 ' graptomancer ' was able to judge of character more correctly 
 by handwriting than he had been able to do by personal 
 observation. He was on a visit at a friend's house, where, 
 among other guests, he met a lady whose conversation 
 and manners greatly struck him, and for whom he con- 
 ceived a strong friendship, based on the esteem he felt for 
 her as a singularly truthful, pure-minded, and single-hearted 
 woman. The lady of the house, who knew her real character 
 to be the very reverse of what she seemed, was curious to 
 
 know whether Mr. would be able to discover this by 
 
 her handwriting. Accordingly, she procured a slip of this 
 lady's writing (having ascertained he had never seen it), and 
 gave it himi one evening as the handwriting of a friend of 
 hers whose character she wished him to decipher. His 
 usual habit when he undertook to exercise this power, was 
 to take a slip of a letter, cut down lengthwise so as not to 
 show any sentences, to his room at night, and to bring it 
 down with his judgment in writing the next morning. On 
 this occasion, when the party were seated at the breakfast- 
 table, the lady whose writing he had unconsciously been 
 examining, made some observation which particularly struck 
 
 Mr. as seeming to betoken a very noble and truthful 
 
 character. He expressed his admiration of her sentiments 
 very warmly, adding at the same time to the lady of the 
 house, ' Not so, by the way, your friend / and he put into, 
 her hand the slip of writing of her guest which she had given 
 him the evening before, over which he had written the words; 
 ' Fascinating, false, and hollow-hearted.' The lady of the 
 house kept the secret, and Mr. never knew that the 
 
Notes on Art, etc. 319 
 
 writing on which he had pronounced so severe a judgment 
 was that of the friend he so greatly admired." 
 
 Letter Writing. 
 
 It has been argued that female fingers and female instinct 
 should be considered when estimating the relative cleverness 
 of the sexes in the practice of this delightful art. The power 
 should be striven for by both sexes. Every one may attain the 
 ability of writing, at any rate, a neat, sensible letter in legible 
 hand, and all young people should view the attainment as a 
 necessity.^ " I think it is as improper and indecorous,'' says 
 Landor's Pericles to Astasia, " to write a stupid or a silly 
 note to you, as one in a bad hand or on coarse paper. 
 Familiarity ought to have a worse name, if it relaxes in its 
 attentiveness to please." 
 
 The Duke of Wellington had a very great dislike to letter 
 writing, whenever a verbal communication could be substi- 
 tuted. In India the practice of writing notes on the smallest 
 provocation has always been carried to excess, and when 
 only a colonel the Duke exerted himself to check the foolish 
 and objectionable habit. In the Peninsula, he showed the 
 same anxiety to substitute, whenever possible, personal 
 communication for correspondence. In 1809 the Adjutant- 
 General writes to the Town Mayor of Lisbon in the following 
 terms : — " It is impossible that the business at Lisbon can 
 be carried on if Colonel Peacocke and you transact every- 
 thing by letter, when personal communication is so much 
 more easy and satisfactor)-." 
 
330 Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 Chapter and Verse. 
 
 The proverbial expression of chapter and verse seems pecu- 
 liar to ourselves, and, I suspect, originated in the Puritanic 
 period, probably just before the civil wars under Charles the 
 First, from the frequent use of appealing to the Bible on the 
 most frivolous occasions, practised by those whom South 
 calls " those mighty men at chapter and verse." — U Israeli's 
 Curiosities of Literature. 
 
 LETTER-VlfRITING DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 The business of addressing letters is a matter of some 
 difficulty. In all ordinary cases, the initials and surname are 
 assumed to be sufficient, withoyt any Mr., Mrs., Miss, Rev., 
 or Esquire. Many embarrassments g,re removed by this plan 
 of address. There are certain persons whom we scarcely 
 like to address as plain Mr., while yet the feudal spirit 
 which lingers among us makes Esquires seem out of place. 
 A letter comes signed " M. Brown." Is it a layman or is it 
 a clergyman ? Is it a Mister or is it an Esquire ? Is it a 
 man or is it a woman ? Is it a spinster or is it a wife ? 
 Women write such business-like hands now-a-days, and such 
 very business-like letters, that it is often impossible to say at 
 once whether a stranger's note is from a man or from a 
 woman. If you address your answer Mrs., and the writer 
 happens to be a very punctihous elderly gentleman, some 
 unpleasant irritation may be the result. 
 
 The "reverend" is another difficulty. A clergyman 
 writing to a stranger should notify his reverendship in some 
 manner ; but how to do it is not clear. If he writes " clerk " 
 at the end of his name, many business people may wonder 
 how the parish functionary writes so well. If he writes 
 
Notes on Art, etc. 331 
 
 in the third person, and begins, " The Reverend John Jones," 
 people are indined to say that he might as well leave other 
 people to Gall him reverend. The full form, " Clerk in Holy- 
 Orders," is all very well in correspondence of a certain 
 kind, but it is not suited to ordinary business matters. 
 
 But of all difficulties that of spinster or wife is greatest. 
 If you address " Miss," you cannot apologize in a postscript 
 in case she is married. And if you address " Mrs.," you 
 cannot say you trust your address is correct, for would not 
 that be to cast some sort of slur upon the estate of 
 spinsterhood to which your fair correspondent may belong ? 
 In aU these difficulties the remedy would seem to be to 
 address the unknown correspondent exactly as he or she 
 signs the letter to be answered. Even in the case of a title 
 this may be the less of two evils, though titles when single 
 teU their own tale. When the Duke of Buccleuch and 
 Queensberry wrote from Dalkeith to order wire fencing, the 
 manufacturer had better have addressed his unrecognized 
 Grace- as " Buccleuch and Queensberry '' than as " Messrs. 
 Buccleuch and Queensberry, Dalkeith." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 Short-hand and Long-hand. 
 
 This question of writing, or " short writing," has occu- 
 pied the attention of men for centuries. Antiquaries would 
 have us believe that the ancients were the fathers of short- 
 hand, although on that point there is a diffisrence of opinion. 
 But, whenever short-hand was " invented," the same " want " 
 must have been recognized then as is now. Unfortunately, 
 we have no means of showing what it was the ancients 
 actually did invent. But we do know what it was that Mr. 
 Timothy Bright invented and published to the world in the 
 year 1588. He wrote a treatise entitled Charaderie; an Art 
 
 Y 
 
333 Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 I 
 
 of Short, Swift, and Secret Writing by character ; and the 
 great merit of it was that " every character answered a word." 
 Nearly 300 years have elapsed since that, the first book on 
 short-hand writing, was pubUshed, during which period 
 upwards of 200 systems of short-hand have been "in- 
 vertted." Now one of the great objects of the early 
 short-hand writers was to do that which Sir William 
 Armstrong says ought to be done now. They tried 
 to compress — to get hold of all the "beginnings" and 
 " endings " of words — prepositions, interjections, short 
 syllables, and so on. The very first short-hand alphabet 
 ever published (John Willis, 1602) is an illustration of this. 
 The author devotes a whole chapter to what he terms " words 
 of sort," words written by means of a symbol or mark instead 
 of being spelt. This idea has been adopted by every 
 .succeeding author, without, however, much success. In the 
 year 1701 a Mr. John Janes published a book called I'rac- 
 tical Phonography, which was simply a new method of 
 spelling, and does not seem to have attracted much attention. 
 Mr. Weston, an eminent short-hand writer, seems to have 
 been greatly impressed with a similar idea. He published a 
 Short-hand Grammar, besides several other works all having 
 the same tendency. I may mention incidentally that the 
 grammar is dedicated to Lord Andover, M.P. for Castle Rising, 
 and contains this remarkable and interesting passage : — 
 
 " The great use of short-hand to your Lordship, both for 
 despatch in what you write for your own memory and con- 
 cealing what you would not have lie open to every eye, as 
 also for taking down correctly the learned speeches, debates 
 and arguments in Parliament . . . makes me hope the 
 present will not be unacceptable." 
 
 This was written in 1727. 
 
 In 1748 a paper was read before the Royal Society by Mr 
 
Notes on Art, etc. 323 
 
 Samuel Jeake, in which he endeavoured to reduce the letters 
 of the alphabet to eight classes, many of the letters being 
 alike in sound. This led to a long controversy, without any 
 decisive results. Mr. Jeake's paper will be found in No. 
 487 of the Philosophical Transactions. 
 
 Boswell tells us, in his Life of Johnson, that he (Boswell) 
 had not a regular system, but "a method of writing half 
 words, and leaving some out altogether." Even this failed, 
 for Johnson tried him by reading an extract from Robertson's 
 History of America, but "it was found I had it very 
 imperfectly." 
 
 Of course there are many more instances of attempts of 
 this kind, but I select these as illustrating particular epochs. 
 
 Arjother grand attempt to substitute marks was made by 
 Pitman in 1837. I do not propose to discuss "phonography" 
 here, and I only refer to it as showing that the idea has, even 
 in modern times, been elaborated without success.-/? In 
 1839 a Mr. V. D. De Stains published a work the ambitious 
 object of which was " the total renovation of the writing 
 and orthography of all the languages of the civilized world, 
 by substituting for the confused, ill-contrived, would-be 
 etymological Roman characters, a series of signs .... 
 equal in their number to the few elementary sounds of the 
 human voice.'' 
 
 It is impossible within the limits of a letter to give the 
 details of all the attempts that have befen made to shorten our 
 present system of writing ; but let us now see what is doing. 
 
 On the 26th of January, 1857, there was submitted to the 
 French Academy of Sciences the project of a stenographical 
 machine, by means of which, in the language of the inventor, 
 "on pourra imprimer avec des caractferes typographiques, 
 assez rapidement pour suivre la parole en conservant aux 
 mots leur orthographic." In t86i a paper was read by M. 
 
 Y 2 
 
3^4 Notes on Art, etc. 
 
 Scott, the inventor, describing his invention. It consisted 
 of an artificial ear, to which was appended a tube, at 
 the end of which was a stylus. The sound being collected 
 by the ear would cause the tube to vibrate, and would neces- 
 sarily move the stylus, which would make a certain mark 
 on paper specially prepared. Particulars of this invention 
 will be found in the Comptes Rendus of the French Academy, 
 vol. 53, No. 3, July 15, 1861. 
 
 A Correspondent of the Times considers the only way of 
 effecting any good is by beginning at the beginning— we 
 must amend the English alphabet. Even in short-hand it is 
 found impracticable to separate the syllables mentioned by 
 Sir William Armstrong from the whole word ; and it is found 
 that the most satisfactory method is to obtain the simplest 
 characters — namely, those which are the easiest to make, and 
 those which are best adapted for joining. These two rules 
 have always guided the best short-hand writers in the forma- 
 tion of an alphabet. Arbitrary marks and symbols are dan- 
 gerous; they lead to confusion, and they do not tend to shorten 
 writing, and the proof is that the systems of short-hand now 
 in use are those which have few or no arbitrary marks. 
 
 Why should there not be one English standard system 
 taught, just as a boy is taught the English A, B, C ? Dr. 
 Byrom, a celebrated short-hand writer, who boasted of Horace 
 Walpole and Gibbon as pupils, did, in conjunction with 
 some of his more famous pupils, form a society for the 
 encouragement of short-hand, and the details of their 
 proceedings will be found in the Private Journal and 
 Literary Remains of John Byrom, edited by Mr. Parkinson 
 and published by the Chetham Society in 1854-6. 
 
 The article "Cypher,"' in Ree^s Cydopcedia, is an ad- 
 mirable treatise upon the subject, and is the basis of most 
 existing treatises on short-hand. 
 
REMARKABLE' BOOKS. 
 
 How TO TELL A CaXTON. 
 
 Mr. Blades,, who has lately written a very able work on 
 the art of printing, in order to stimulate the search for fresh 
 copies or bits of Caxton, has printed a handy little guide — 
 " How to tell a Caxton " — with fac-similes of all Caxton's 
 types, hints as to where to find new copies, an encouraging 
 list of those lately discovered, and a complete list of all the 
 books, &c. attributed to Caxton. He uses the word " Bib- 
 liotaph," for a collector who buys more books than he can 
 arrange for use, and therefore buries them. Mr. Blades is a 
 genuine enthusiast : " I turned it aside with my foot, and be- ' 
 neath was an old folio, the first sight of which made my heart 
 beat : it seemed impossible, and yet it was a genuine Caxton, 
 the second edition of ' Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,' with 
 numerous woodcuts. Its use has been to contribute Jga^es ; 
 to light the vestry fires^at the French Protestant Church in 
 St. Martin's-le-Grand, London." 
 
 Gil Blas and Telemaque. 
 
 The Rev. Canon Kingsley, in some ingenious remarks on 
 the hterature of the ancien regime, has chosen Gil Bias and 
 Ulemaque as specimens of its worst and best spirit. We 
 quote what he says of Gil Bias : — " It is the ancien r'egime 
 
336 Remarkable Books. 
 
 itself. It sets forth to the men thereof themselves, without 
 veil or cowardly reticence of any kind ; and inasmuch as every 
 man loves himself, the ancien rkgime loved Gil Bias, and 
 said, ' The problem of humanity is solved at last.' But, ye 
 long-suffering powers of heaven, what a solution ! It is be- 
 side the matter to call the book ungodly, immoral, base. 
 Le Sage would have answered, ' Of course it is, for so is the 
 world of which it is a picture.' No ; the most notable thing 
 about the book is its intense stupidity, its barrenness, dreari- 
 ness, ignorance of the human heart, want of any human in- 
 terest. If it be an epic, the actors in it are not men or wo- 
 men, but ferrets — ^with here and there, of course, a stray 
 rabbit on whose brains they may feed. It is the inhuman 
 mirror of an inhuman age, in which the healthy human heart 
 can find no more interest than in a pathological museum." 
 
 This is Canon Kingsle^s view of Telemaque: — "The 
 king with Fdndlon is always to be the father of his people, 
 which is tantamount to saying that the people are to be 
 always children, and in a condition of tutelage, voluntary, if 
 possible, but if not, of tutelage still. Of self-government, 
 and education of human beings into firee manhood by the 
 exercise of self-government, free will, free thought — of this 
 
 F^n^lon had surely not a glimpse There is a defect 
 
 in Tkl'emaque which is perhaps deeper still. No woman in it 
 exercises an influence over man except for evil." 
 
 Bayle's Dictionary. 
 
 As soon as this celebrated work appeared it was denounced 
 by Jurien to the consistory of the Flemish Church, and it 
 would to a certainty have been suppressed had not Bayle 
 promised to correct the faults with which he was charged. 
 It was required of him, i. That he should withdraw all the 
 obscenities. 2. That he should change entirely the article of 
 
Remarkable Books. 337 
 
 David. 3. That he should refute the Manicheans instead of 
 giving force to their objections and arguments. 4. That he 
 should not make the Pyrrhonists and P)rrrhonism triumph, 
 and that he should alter the article of Pyrrho. 5. That he 
 should not give extravagant praise to Atheists and Epicu- 
 reans. And, 6. That he should not employ the Holy Scrip- 
 tures to make indecent allusions. It appears that Bayle was 
 in no haste to fulfil his promise, for in the subsequent edi- 
 tions he made no considerable change, except in the article 
 David. 
 
 Lord Lyttleton's History of England. 
 
 The most noted of Goldsmith's Histories was that in two 
 volumes, entitled, The History of England, in a Series of 
 Letters from a Nobleman to his Son. It was digested from 
 Hume, Rapin, Carte, and Kennet. These authors Gold- 
 smith read in the morning ; make a few notes ; ramble with 
 a friend into the country about the skirts of "merry 
 Islington ;" return to a temperate dinner and cheerful even- 
 ing ; and, before going to bed, write off what had arranged 
 itself in his head from the studies of the morning. This 
 work was published anonymously. Some attributed it to 
 Lord Chesterfield, others to Lord Orrery, and others to Lord 
 Lyttleton. The latter never disowned the bantling thus laid 
 at his door. (Lives of Wits and Humourists, vol. i., 1862). 
 The History is, however, unquestionably, the work of Oliver 
 Goldsmith. Not only is his receipt to Newbery for the last 
 instalment of the copy-money forthcoming, but it is also well 
 known that he presented copies to Johnson and Percy, 
 inscribed with his autograph. ( Vide the Fifth Edition of 
 Mr. Forster's admirable Life of Goldsmith, vol. i., p. 301.) — 
 Notes and Queries, 4th S., No. 103. 
 
338 Remarkable Books. 
 
 One of the daily newspapers drew largely from Gold- 
 smith's History during the agitation of the Reform Bill of 
 183 1 ; a new edition was in consequence called for, and, 
 we believe, rapidly disposed of. Lord Macaulay has said : 
 " Goldsmith's compilations are widely distinguished from 
 the compilations of ordinary book-makers. He was a great, 
 perhaps an unequalled master of the arts of solution and 
 condensation," — a much higher quality, we may add, than 
 the knack of spinning ''words, words, words." "In general," 
 says Macaulay, " nothing is less attractive than an epitome ; 
 but the epitomes of Goldsmith, even when most concise, 
 are always amusing; and to read them is considered, by 
 intelligent children, not as a task, but a pleasure.'' This 
 work has been pronounced " the most finished and elegant 
 summary of English history in the same compass that has or 
 is likely to be written." We have seen Goldsmith's plan 
 of work, and he used to say, " a man shows his judgment in 
 these solutions, and he may be often twenty years of his life 
 cultivating that judgment." Oliver was right. 
 
 Hume's History of England. 
 
 Though Hume's authority as a text-book is growing 
 weaker and weaker, he has still a classic status on our book- 
 shelves j and his style will probably keep him,. as it has kept 
 him hitherto, in tolerable repute. But for a faithful pre- 
 sentment of history, apart from his scepticism and his 
 inveterate antipathy to the popular elements of our progress, 
 he has been in great measure superseded by the lapse of 
 time and by the infinite accretions to our knowledge which 
 time has brought to light. No one refers with confidence to his 
 narrative of our earlier kings since the researches of Hallam 
 and others into our institutions during the Middle Ages. 
 
Remarkable Books. 339 
 
 His knowledge of the Tudor sovereigns is equally meagre 
 beside that of Mr. Froude, Mr. Bruce, and various modern 
 contributors. Godwin, Guizot, Forster, Carlyle, Sandford, 
 and others have materially damaged his presentation of 
 Charles I. and of the Commonwealth ; and his whole history 
 of the Stuarts is now seen to be an inadequate statement 
 even of the facts, irrespective of its unwarrantable bias, in 
 which it has been counterbalanced by the eloquent exag- 
 gerations of Macaulay. In short, not only is Hume the 
 reverse of popular in his aim and predilections, but his 
 narrative, in the presence of our better information, is 
 imperfect as a mere record of the incidents which constitute 
 the History of England. 
 
 Dr. Lingard's History of England. 
 
 In the churchyard of Ushaw, in the north of England, lies 
 all that was mortal of one of the most honest writers who 
 ever took upon himself the heavy duty of telling the history 
 of England. We mean Dr. Lingard. He told the story so 
 conscientiously that with the English Ultramontanes the 
 history is not much valued. But liberal English Catholics 
 as well as Protestants can fully appreciate the work for 
 which, by the way, the author had so much difficulty in 
 finding a publisher, and found one by such strange accident 
 at last. The manuscript of the first volume had been sent 
 to Mawman, of Ludgate Hill, who looked sourly enough at it ; 
 but put it in his drawer, for that sort of consideration which 
 generally ends in a disappointment to the author. Lord 
 Holland happened one day to be talking with Mawman, 
 over his counter, when the publisher mentioned the historical 
 MS. which he had in his drawer. " History of JEngland ! " 
 exclaimed Lord Holland, "I only know one man at the 
 
33° Remarkable Books. 
 
 present time qualified to take such a work in hand, and that 
 is Dr. Lingard, of Ushaw College." "And that's my man !" 
 cried Mawman, — ^who soon put a work to press which has 
 conferred lasting reputation on the author. Lingard declined 
 the dignity of Cardinal from Rome. He accepted a pension 
 of 300/. a year from the Queen — a pension well earned by 
 the man who began his literary career in England (in 1805) 
 by his series of " Letters on CathoUc Loyalty." — Athenaum. 
 
 HUDIBRAS. 
 
 Samuel Pepys, the Diarist, was a man of average percep- 
 tion, yet he could not appreciate the wit and humour of 
 Butler's Hudibras. His efforts to do so were most divert- 
 ing. The work was then very popular. Possibly some remain- 
 ing predilection for the opinions which are ridiculed in this 
 witty satire prevented Pepys falling in with the fashion of ad- 
 miringit. The first part ol Hudibras costhim two shillings and 
 sixpence, but he found it so abusive of a Presbyterian knight 
 going to the wars, that he became ashamed of it and sold it 
 for eighteen pence. Wise by experience he did not buy the 
 second part, but only borrowed it to read. Pepys has been 
 laughed at for his dulness, but, as observed by Septimus 
 Ramsay, who has edited Hudibras, " there is probably no 
 author who is so popular and so little understood," and it is 
 truly said no one ever reads Hudibras through. Yet Ram- 
 say relates this extraordinary exception. Two barristers, in 
 a country walk, were overtaken by a labouring man, to whom 
 they made a passing remark on the fineness of the evening, 
 and he replied, "Yes, sirs," 
 
 ' ' The moon pulls off her veil of light 
 That hides her face by day from sight, 
 
Remarkable Books. 331 
 
 (Mysterious veil, of brightness made ; 
 That's both her lustre and her shade, ) 
 And in the lanthom of the night 
 With shining horns hangs out her light." 
 
 " Heyday," said one, " you quote Hudibras ! Pray do you 
 know any more of it?" "Yes, sir," replied the man j "I 
 have but few books, and Hudibras is the one I most admire. 
 I know it all by heart." His assertion was tested in repeated 
 recitations of passages not the most familiar. He was the 
 man of one book. 
 
 Buchan's Domestic Medicine. 
 
 Dr. Buchan's Domestic Medicine, which first appeared in 
 1769, speedily obtained such popularity that no less than 
 nineteen editions of the book, amounting to 80,000 copies, 
 were sold during the author's lifetime ; he died at the age 
 of 76. The Domestic Medicine was written in Sheffield; and 
 James Montgomery, in his Memoirs, relates of the author : 
 " I remember seeing the old gentleman when I first went to 
 London. He was of venerable aspect, neat in his dress, his 
 hair tied behind with a large black ribbon, and a gold-headed 
 cane in his hand, quite reahzing my idea of an Esculapian 
 dignitary." Montgomery never spoke to the doctor, but 
 looked upon him with respect as a man who "haA published a 
 look. Buchan's Medicine has had its day; and whatever 
 may be its merits, it had its shortcomings. In one of the 
 Scottish editions there was an astonishing misprint, in which 
 a prescription containing one hundred ounces of laudanum, 
 instead of that number of drops, is recommended. Dr. 
 Buchan's book has been superseded by more modern 
 treatises, of which the two best known are Dr. Graham's 
 
332 Remarkable Books. 
 
 Domestic Medicine, and Dr. Alexander Macaulay's Dictionary 
 of Medicine for Popular Use. 
 
 The Pilgrim's Progress. 
 
 Southey says of this popular work : — " If it is not a well of 
 English undefiled to which the poet as well as the philologist 
 must repair, if they would drink of the living waters, it is a 
 clear stream of current English, the vernacular speech of his 
 age, sometimes, indeed, in its rusticity and coarseness, but 
 always in its plainness and its strength. To this natural style 
 Bunyan is in some degree beholden for his general popu- 
 larity ; his language is everywhere level to the most ignorant 
 reader, and to the meanest capacity: there is a homely 
 reality about it ; a nursery tale is not more intelligible, in its 
 manner of narration, to a child." 
 
 It is worth while to extract from the article on Bunyan in 
 the Penny Cyclopmdia, all that is said— in an article of thirty 
 lines — about a writer who is all but universally held to be the 
 greatest master of allegory that ever wrote : — 
 
 "His works were collected in two volumes folio, 1736-7: 
 among them The Pilgrim's ProgressYiSiS attained the greatest 
 notoriety. If a judgment is to be formed of the merits of a 
 book by the number of times it has been reprinted, and the 
 many languages into which it has been translated, no pro- 
 duction in English literature is superior to this coarse alle- 
 gory. On a composition which has been extolled by Dr. 
 Johnson, and which in our own times has received a very 
 high critical opinion in its favour (probably Southey), it is 
 hazardous to venture a disapproval, and we, perhaps, speak 
 the opinion of a small minority when we confess that to us 
 it appears to be mean, jejune, and wearisome." 
 
Remarkable Books. 333 
 
 Who wrote "The Whole Duty of Man"? 
 
 Lady Pakington died a.d. 1679, and was buried near the 
 grave of her friend Dr. Hammond. A memorial, inscribed 
 on the monument of her grandson, speaks of her as exem- 
 plary for her piety and goodness, and justly reputed the 
 authoress of The Whole Duty of Man. It is a confident 
 tradition in the family, and there is a small apartment at the 
 top of the house at Westwood Park, Worcestershire, which 
 has always been pointed out as the room in which Lady 
 Pakington, with the assistance of Dr. Hammond and Bishop 
 Fell, arranged the work referred to. Dr. Hickes, and Bal- 
 lard, in his Memoirs of British Ladies, also bear testimony to 
 the fact. The MS. is said to have been some time in the 
 possession of Mrs. Eyre, of Rampton, a daughter of Lady 
 Pakington. It was interlined with corrections by Bishop 
 Fell. Mrs. Eyre always regarded her mother as the authoress 
 of The Decay of Christian Fiety. 
 
 Heame, in his Diary, remarks : — " Happening to show 
 Mr. Barnes the MS. copy above mentioned, of the Decay 
 of Christian Piety, he presently told me he had a paper 
 written with Archbishop Bancroft's own hand, which he 
 thought resembled very much the hand of the said book. 
 This he brought the next day, and comparing it with the 
 book, we found several letters written the. same way, the 
 same distance as to lines, &c. And accordingly we con- 
 cluded that they were done by the same person ; and what 
 confirms this is, that Mr. Barnes says, that formerly talking 
 with Dr. Holbeach, Master of Emanuel College (of which 
 Archbishop Sancroft had been fellow, and afterwards master), 
 the Doctor told him, that making a visit once to Dr. San- 
 croft (he thinks) before the Restauration, he happened to see 
 some papers written by Dr. Sancroft, which he would take 
 
334 Remarkable Books. 
 
 his oath were part of what was afterwards printed under the 
 title of Whole Duty of Man. Nothing can be objected 
 against his being author, if his extraordinary piety, learning, 
 eloquence, and modesty be considered." 
 
 The Wandering Jew. 
 
 Of the many myths which diverge from every little inci- 
 dent of Our Saviour's career, the legend of Ahasuerus, the 
 Wandering Jew, is certainly the most striking and widely 
 distributed. According to the old ballad, in Percy's collec- 
 tion : 
 
 " He hath passed through many a foreign place : 
 Arabia, Egypt, Africa, 
 Greece, Syria, and great Thrace, 
 And throughout all Hungaria." 
 
 All the nations of the Seven Champions have it in some 
 shape or other. In Germany, where he appeared a.d. 1547, 
 he battled with professors and divines with the accumulated 
 learning of fifteen centuries. In Paris, he heralded the ad- 
 vent of Cagliostro and Mesmer, cured diseases, and as- 
 tounded by his prodigious stories. He remembered seeing 
 Nero standing on a hill to enjoy the flames of his capital ; 
 and was a crony of Mahomet's father at Ormus. It was here, 
 too, he anticipated the coming scepticism, by declaring, from 
 personal experience, that all history was a tissue of lies. 
 When he came to Venice, he brought with him a fine cabinet 
 of choice pictures, including his own portrait by Titian, taken 
 some two centuries before. In England, John Bull made 
 him always thirsty ! But the Jew who is always getting into 
 scrapes, is not the Jew of the rural popular legends, in which 
 he is invariably represented as a purely benevolent being, 
 whose crime has been long since expiated by his cruel pu- 
 
Remarkable Books. 335 
 
 nishment, and therefore entitled to the help of every good 
 Christian. When on the weary way to Golgotha, Christ 
 fainting, and overcome under the burden of the cross, asked 
 him, as he was standing at his door, for a cup of water to 
 cool his parched throat, he spurned the supplication, and 
 bade him on the faster. " I go," said the SavioiU", " but 
 thou shalt thirst, and tarry till I come." And ever since then, 
 by day and night, through the long centuries, he has been 
 doomed to wander about the earth, ever craving for water, and 
 ever expecting the day of judgment which shall end his toils. 
 
 Sometimes, during the cold winter nights, the lonely cot- 
 tager will be awoke by a plaintive demand for " Water, good 
 Christian ! water, for the love of God ! " And if he looks 
 out into the moonlight, he will see a venerable old man in 
 antique raiment, with grey flowing beard and a tall staff, who 
 beseeches his charity with the most earnest gesture. Woe to 
 the churl who refuses him water or shelter. If, on the con- 
 trary, you treat him well, and refrain from indelicate in- 
 quiries respecting his age— on which point he is very touchy 
 — his visit is sure to bring good luck. Perhaps years after- 
 wards, when you are on your death-bed, he may happen to 
 be passing ; and if he should, you are safe ; for three knocks 
 with his staff will make you hale, and he never forgets any 
 kindnesses. 
 
 Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris give the oldest 
 traditions of the Wandering Jew. According to Merizel, the 
 whole tradition is but an allegory symbolizing heathenism. 
 M. Lacroix suggests that it represents the Hebrew race dis- 
 persed, and wandering through the earth, but not destroyed. 
 In Germany the tradition of the Wandering Jew became con- 
 nected with John Bultadsus, a real person, said to have been 
 bom in the 13th century, again in the isth, and a third time 
 in the i6th, with every appearance of age and decrepitude. 
 
33<5 Remarkable Books. 
 
 There is a well-known English ballad relating to the Jew's 
 appearance in Germany in the last-named century. The first 
 stanza is : — 
 
 "Whereas, in fair Jerusalem, 
 Our Saviour Christ did live, 
 And for the sins of all the world 
 His own dear life did give : 
 
 "The wicked Jews, with scoff and scorn. 
 Did dailye him molest. 
 That never till he left his life 
 Our Saviour could not rest." 
 
 Origin of Cinderella. 
 
 The mention of ladies attending assemblies in slippers, and 
 of pumpkins and lizards being found in the garden, makes it 
 probable that this story came from the eastrfi- Chindee is a 
 Hindoo word for ragged clothing, and Ella a not uncommon 
 woman's name in India. The story of Catskin, in Mr. 
 Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England, very like that of 
 Cinderella, is thought to be of eastern origin. The main in- 
 cident in the story of Cinderella has a parallel in history. 
 Strabo relates that an eagle let fall the slipper of Rhodopis 
 into the bosom of a king of Egypt, who was so struck with 
 the smallness of it that he made proclamation that he would 
 marry the female to whom it belonged. In the Fairy Tales 
 of the Countess UAnois, Cinderella appears under the name 
 of Finetta, a name not unlike the Tamil word Punetta, mean- 
 ing Little Kitten, and used by Hindoo women when address- 
 ing their children. Pussy {pusei) is also a Tamil name for a 
 cat The Tamil belongs to the Turanian family of languages, 
 of which the Lap, Finn, and Turkish are members. — Notes 
 and Queries, 3rd S., No. 210. 
 
Remarkable Books. 337 
 
 Two centuries aigo furs were so rare and therefore so 
 highly valued that the wearing of them was restricted by 
 several sumptuary laws, to kings and princes. Sable, in 
 these laws called vair, was the subject of countless regula- 
 tions ; the exact quantity permitted to be worn by persons of 
 different grades, and the articles of dress to which it might 
 be applied, were defined most strictly.ii;^ 
 
 Vair, the skin of the grey squirrel (petit-gris) was the fur 
 held in the XlVth century next in estimation to ermine. It 
 was so called from its variety of colour, the ■ back of the 
 squirrel being grey, the underneath parts of its body white. 
 Cinderella's slipper was of this fur, a " pantoufle de vair," 
 which being wrongly written " verre," gave rise to the render- 
 ing of a glass slipper, y- 
 
 The Italians have a similar story to the above, which has 
 been turned into a musical play. The lord of the village 
 gives a grand f^te. The snow is on the ground, and a slipper 
 is discovered on the following day. The lord says that he 
 will marry the owner. All the female guests (including 
 several old women) make the fitting attempt, but the shoe 
 only fits the foot of one, a poor village-girl. The lord makes 
 good his promise, and the wedding concludes the drama, 
 which is very popular, p The name of the heroine is not 
 Cinderella. 
 
 " Of Cinderella and her slipper : 
 How her two sisters used to chide and whip her ; 
 And how a fairy found her all alone, 
 When her two sisters to the ball were gone ; 
 And how she took compassion on her grief, 
 And brought the magic art to her relief." 
 
S3^ Remarkable Books. 
 
 The Legend of Banbury Cross. 
 
 In the Builder is the following prkis of this amusing 
 legend : — 
 
 " Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross, 
 To see a fine lady ride on a white horse ; 
 With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, 
 She shall have music wherever she goes." 
 
 Of this lady we get more complete information : — 
 
 " 'Twas in the second Edward's reign, 
 A knight of much renown. 
 Yclept Lord Herbert, chanced to live 
 Near famous Banbury town." 
 
 The knight had one son left to his lot : fearless and brave 
 was he ; and 
 
 " It raised the pride in the father's heart, 
 His gallant son to see." 
 
 And so the legend goes on to tell that, near Lord Herbert's 
 ancient hall, proud Banbury Castle stood, within the noble 
 walls of which there dwelt a maiden, young and good : — 
 
 " As fair as the rosy morning, 
 As fresh as the sparkling dew, 
 And her face as bright as the star-lit night. 
 With its smiles Und blooming hue." 
 
 Young Edward gazed on this lady, and dreamt of her in 
 the night ; and then heralds sound their trumpets, and pro- 
 claim a festive day. To Broughton's castle, and Wroxton's 
 pile, and Herbert's stately tower, " that looks o'er hill and 
 dale,'' all come. There is a rival in the way, and young 
 Edward nearly loses his life. But the rival turns out to be 
 her brother. 
 
Remarkable Books. 
 
 339 
 
 Days passed on. Young Edward was nursed with care, 
 and Matilda never left his side ; but the young man had the 
 stamp of death upon his face. In the Castle, at that time, 
 there lived a holy monk, who had noticed the sinking of the 
 young lady's cheeks, and offered to effect a cure. This was 
 his prescription: — 
 
 "To-morrow, at the midnight hour, 
 Go to tlie Cross alone : 
 For Edward's rash and hasty deed 
 Perchance thou may'st atone." 
 
 The lady goes to the cross and walks round it. Edward 
 is cured, and a goodly festival is ordered. And now— 
 
 " Upon a milk-white steed 
 
 A lady doth appear : 
 By all she's welcomed lustily 
 
 In one tremendous cheer, 
 With rings of brilliant lustre 
 
 Her fingers are bedeck'd, 
 And bells upon her palfry hung, 
 
 To give the whole effect." ^ 
 
 And by the side of the noble lady there rode one of noble 
 mien and air. 
 
 " And even in the present time, 
 
 The custom's not forgot. 
 But few there are who know the tale 
 
 Connected with the spot ; 
 Though to each baby in the land 
 
 The nursery rhymes are told, 
 About the lady robed in white. 
 
 And Banbury Cross of old." 
 
 Upon this legend is founded : — 
 
 " Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross, 
 To buy little Johnny a galloping horse ; 
 It trots behind and it ambles before. 
 And Johnny shall ride till he can ride no more. '' 
 Z 2 
 
34° Remarkable Books. 
 
 "Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross, 
 To see what Tommy can buy ; 
 A penny white loaf, a penny white cake, 
 And a twopenny apple-pie." 
 
 "The Babes in the Wood." 
 
 That the popular legend of " the Babes in the Wood" — 
 " one of the most darling songs of the common people, and 
 the delight of most Englishmen in some part of their age" 
 (Addison) — was a disguised recital of the reported murder 
 of his young nephews by Richard III., can scarcely be doubted 
 from the general resemblance of the ballad to Sir Thomas 
 More's and Shakspeare's account of the dark deed. Through- 
 out the tale there is a marked resemblance to several lead- 
 ing facts connected with Richard III. and his brother's 
 children, as well as a singular coincidence between many 
 expressions in the poetical legend and the historical details 
 of the time. Among other evidence is a rude representa- 
 tion of a stag surmounting the black-letter copy of the 
 ballad at Cambridge ; a hind, a female stag, being the badge 
 of the unfortunate Edward V. Again, the tale corresponds 
 essentially with the chroniclers ; and its moral altogether 
 closely resembles the reflections with which Fabyan, Grafton, 
 Hall, and HoUinshed terminate their relation of the event. 
 
 The following is a short nursery ballad : — 
 
 " My dear, do you know, 
 How a long time ago. 
 
 Two poor little children. 
 Whose names I don't know. 
 Were stolen away on a fine summer's day. 
 And left in a wood, as I've heard people say. 
 
Remarkable Books. 341 
 
 " And when it was night, 
 So sad was their plight, 
 
 The sun it went down, 
 And the moon gave no light ! 
 They sobb'd and they sigh'd, and they bitterly cried, 
 And the poor little things they lay down and died. 
 
 "And when they were dead 
 The robins so red 
 
 Brought strawberry-leaves, 
 And over them spread ; 
 And all the day long 
 They sung them this song, 
 ' Poor babes in the wood ! poor babes in the wood ! ' 
 And don't you remember the babes in the wood?" 
 
 Story of the Giants in the Guildhall of the 
 City of London. 
 
 Stow describes these giants as an ancient Briton and 
 Saxon, which is, perhaps, as orthodox as tlie information 
 that, every day when the giants hear the clock strike twelve, 
 they come down to dinner. The Gigantkk History formerly 
 sold in the Guildhall, supposes that the Guildhall Giants 
 represent Corinoeus and Gog-Magog, whose history is related 
 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It includes the adventures of 
 Brutus and his band of Trojans, under Corinoeus, who, ar- 
 riving at Totness, in Devonshire, in the Island of Albion, 
 
 " More mightie people borne of giant's brood 
 That did possesse this ocean-bounded land, 
 They did subdue, who oft in battle stood 
 'Gainst them in field, until by force of hand 
 They were made subject under Brace's command: 
 Such boldness then did in the Briton dwell. 
 That they in deeds of valour did excell." 
 
 Unable to cope with these experienced warriors, none 
 escaped, 
 
34* Remarkable Books. 
 
 "Save certain giants, whom they did pursue, 
 Which straight to caves in mountains did them get. 
 So fine were woods, and floods, and fountaines set. 
 So cleare the aire, so temperate the clime. 
 They never saw the like before that time." 
 
 Perceiving that this was the country denoted by the oracle, 
 wherein they were to settle, Brutus divided the island 
 among his followers, which, with reference to his own name, 
 he called Britain : — 
 
 " To Corinoeus gave he frank and free 
 The land of Cornwall for his service done, 
 And for because from giants he it won." 
 
 Corinoeus was the better pleased with this allotment, inas- 
 much as he had been used to warfare with such terrible 
 personages. The employment he liked fell afterwards to 
 his lot. On the sea-coast of Cornwall, while Brutus was 
 keeping a peaceable anniversary of his landing, a band of 
 the old giants made their appearance, and broke up the 
 mirth and rejoicing. The Trojans flew to their arms, and a 
 desperate battle was fought, wherein the giants were all 
 destroyed, save Gog-Magog, the hugest among them, who, 
 being in height twelve cubits, was reserved alive, that Cori- 
 noeus might try his strength with him in single combat. 
 Corinoeus desired nothing more than such a match, but the 
 old giant in a wrestle caught him aloft, and broke three of 
 his ribs. Upon this, Corinoeus being desperately enraged, 
 collected all his strength, heaved up Gog-Magog by main 
 force, and bearing him on his shoulders to the next high 
 rock, threw him headlong, all shattered, into the sea, and 
 left his name on the cliff, which has ever since been called 
 Lan-Goegmagog, that is to say, the Giant's Leap. Thus 
 perished Gog-Magog, the last of the giants. Brutus after- 
 wards built a city in a chosen spot, and called it Troja 
 
Remarkable Books. 343 
 
 Nova, which changed in time to Trinovantum, and is now 
 called London. An ancient writer records these achieve- 
 ments in Britain to have been performed at the time when 
 Eli was the high priest in Judsea. 
 
 The Rabbins make the giant Gog, or Magog, contempo- 
 rary with Noah, and convinced by his preaching, so that he 
 was disposed to "take the benefit" of the Ark. But here 
 lay the distress — it by no means suited his dimensions ; 
 therefore, as he cOuld nbt enter in, he contented himself to 
 ride upon it ; and although you must suppose that in stormy 
 weather he was more than " half boots over," he kept his 
 seat, and dismounted safely when the Ark reached Ararat. 
 This same Gog had, according to the Rabbins, a thigh-bone 
 so long, that a stag, pursued by the hunters, employed half 
 a day in running along it. 
 
 Their story is thus briefly told by Archdeacon Nares. 
 " One of them was called Gogmagog (the patron, I presume, 
 oftheGogmagog Hills, near Cambridge),and his name divided, 
 now serves fof both ; the other Corinceus, the hero and 
 giant of Cornwall, from whom that country was named : they 
 are thus mentioned on a broad-sheet, printed in 1660 : — 
 
 "And such stout Corinoeus was, from whom 
 Cornwall's first honour, and her name doth come. 
 For though he shdweth not so great nor tall, 
 In his dimensions set forth at Guildhall, 
 Know 'tis a poet only can define 
 A gyant's posture in a gyant's line. 
 
 And thus attended by his direful dog, 
 The gyant was (God bless us) Gogmagog." 
 
 Each of the giants in Guildhall measures upwards of 
 fourteen feet in height : the young one is set down as 
 Corinceus, and the old one as Gog-Magog. 
 
344 Remarkable Books. 
 
 The Travels of Baron Munchausen. 
 
 The surprising travels and adventures of Baron Mutt- 
 chausen, in Russia, the Caspian Sea, Iceland, Turkey, Ss'C., 
 first appeared in an abridged form in 1786, and was re- 
 printed with a considerable addition of inferior matter. The 
 author's name was not given, and till recently was little or 
 not known. He is now ascertained to have been Rodolph 
 Eric Raspe, a learned and scientific German, who died in 
 1794, at Mucress, in the south of Ireland, while conducting 
 some mining operations there. He was born in Hanover, 
 in 1737, became a professor of archaeology, keeper of the 
 national library, and a councillor ; but he disgraced himself, 
 and escaped to England. Raspe was a geologist and a mine-' 
 ralogist, and a paper of his was read to the Royal Society 
 in 1769. He got into difficulties, but was befriended by 
 Horace Walpole, who speaks of him as " a Dutch savant." 
 He was employed in certain mines in Cornwall, and while 
 storemaster at Dalcoath mines, he wrote and published his 
 Travels of Baron Munchausen. In 1789, he visited 
 Scotland to search for minerals, made important discoveries, 
 and took up his abode with Sir John Sinclair, at his spray- 
 beaten castle on the Pentland Firth. Here Raspe was em- 
 ployed by Sir John in searching for certain minerals, but 
 the ores which appeared were all brought from Cornwall, 
 and planted in the places where they were found. In 
 these operations he answers to the character of Douster- 
 swifel, in the Antiquary, the idea of which he is believed 
 to have given Scott. Raspe is said to have published 
 the Travels as his, though not by him, being intended as a 
 satire or parody on the travels of the famous Baron de 
 Tott ; but Munchausen was really in the habit of relating 
 the adventures sanctioned by the authority of his menda- 
 
Remarkable Books. 345 
 
 cious name, as having positively occurred to him ; and he 
 is supposed to have, at length, believed what he related. 
 There was nothing of the fanfaron, or braggart in his man- 
 ner ; on the contrary, he was distinguished by the peculiar 
 modesty of his manner and demeanour. 
 
 The Story of Blue Beard. 
 
 It is a common but very erroneous opinion that the legend 
 of Blue Beard was devised by the Roman Catholics as a satire 
 upon Henry VIII. ; nor is there any authority for making 
 him a Turk, as Colman has done in his melodrama, 
 with charming music by Michael Kelly. Dr. Cooke Taylor 
 says upon the inquiry, "The manners which the story 
 portrays describe a state of society long anterior to the age 
 of the Tudors ; they belong to a time when the murder of 
 wives needed not to shelter itself under the form of law. 
 There are few countries in Western Europe which do not 
 claim the equivocal honour of having produced a Bluebeard ; 
 and we may regard the tale as a kind of concentrated es- 
 sence of several legends and traditions relating to outrages 
 perpetrated by feudal, lords during the feeble stage of 
 monarchy, when, it might be said of almost every country in 
 Western Europe : ' At this time there was no king in Israel ; 
 every man did that which seemed right in his own eyes.' " 
 
 Dr. Taylor having examined three of the legends, observes, 
 " We think that traces of these three legends may be found 
 in Perrault's story of Bluebeard, and that instead of having 
 based his fiction on a single tradition, he endeavoured to 
 make it a kind of resume of the many legends of tyrannical 
 husbands with which the popular literature of France 
 abounds." 
 
 One of the versions relates that Bluebeard was no other 
 
346 Remarkable Books. 
 
 than Gilles, Marquis de Laval, a brave marshal of France in 
 the reigns of Charles VI. and VII. His revenues were 
 princely ; wherever he went, he had in his suite a seraglio, 
 a company of actors, a band of musicians, a society of 
 sorcerers, a great number of cooks, packs of dogs, and above 
 two hundred led horses. Mezeray states that he maintained 
 sorcerers to discover hidden treasures, and corrupted young 
 persons of both sexes that he might attach them to him, and 
 afterwards killed them for the sake of their blood, which 
 was necessary for his charms and incantations. He was at 
 length (for some state-crime against the Duke of Brittany) 
 sentenced to be burnt alive in a field at Nantes ; but the 
 Duke, who witnessed the execution, so far mitigated the 
 sentence that he was first strangled, then burnt, and his 
 ashes interred. He confessed, before his death, that all his 
 excesses were derived from his wretched education, though 
 descended from one of the most illustrious families in the 
 kingdom. 
 
 Holinshed notices another Bluebeard, in the reign of 
 Henry VI., anno. 1450. When ^he Duke of Suffolk was com- 
 mitted to the Tower, the people were so much displeased, 
 that for defence the commons assembled in great companies, 
 and chose a captain whom they called Bluebeard. 
 
 The Story of Tom Hickathrift. 
 
 Sir Thomas Hickathrift, " the famous champion," has been 
 identified with the far less celebrated Sir Frederick de Tylney, 
 Baron of Tylney, in Norfolk, the ancestor of the Tylney 
 family, who was killed at Aeon, in Syria, in the reign of 
 Richard Coeur de Lion : " Hycophric, or Sycothrift," being 
 a corruption of Frederick. From the most remote antiquity 
 the fables and achievements of Hkkifric have been obsti- 
 
Remarkable Books. 347 
 
 nately credited by the inhabitants of the township of Tylney. 
 ^'' Hickifric" is venerated by them as the asserter of the 
 rights and Hberties of their ancestors. The "monstrous 
 giant " who guarded the March, was, in truth, no other than 
 the tyrannical lord of the manor, who attempted to keep his 
 copyholders out of the common field, called Tylney Smeeth; 
 but who was driven away, with his retainers, by the prowess 
 of Tom, armed with only his axletree and cart-wheel. Spel- 
 man tells the story in good Latin. 
 
 The pranks which Tom performed when his " natural 
 strength, which exceeded twenty common men," became 
 manifest, were correctly Scandinavian. Tom's youth retraces 
 the tales of the prowess of the youthful Siegfrid, detailed in 
 the Niflumga Saga, and in the Book of Heroes. The sup- 
 posed axletree, with the superincumbent wheel, was repre- 
 sented on " Hycothrift's " grave-stone, in Tylney churchyard, 
 in the shape of a cross. This is the form in which all the 
 Runic monuments represent the celebrated' hammer, or 
 thunderbolt of the son of Odin, which shattered the skulls 
 and scattered the brains of so many luckless giants. How 
 far this surmise may be surported by Tom's skill in throwing 
 the hammer, we will not pretend to decide. 
 
 The Story of Tom Thumb. 
 
 Tom Thumb is conjectured to be a mythological person- 
 age. His adventure bears a near analogy to the right of 
 adoption into the Brahminical order, a ceremony which still 
 exists in India, and to which the Rajah of Tanjore submitted 
 many years ago. In Dubois's work there is an account of a 
 diminutive deity, whose person and character are analogous 
 to those of Tom Thumb. He, too, was not originally a 
 
348 Remarkable Books. 
 
 Brahmin, but became one by adoption, like some of the 
 worthies in the Ramayana. Compare the multiplicity of 
 Tom Thumb's metamorphoses with those of Taliesin, as 
 quoted by Davies, we shall then see that this diminutive 
 personage is a slender but distinct thread of communication 
 between the Brahminical and Draidical superstitions. Even 
 independent of the analogy between his transformations and 
 those of Taliesin, his station in the court of King. Arthur 
 (evidently the mythological Arthur), mark him as a person of 
 the highest fabulous antiquity in this island ; while the ad- 
 venture of the cow, to which there is nothing analagous in 
 Celtic mythology, appears to connect him with India. 
 
 Tomaline, otherwise Tamlane, is no other than Tom 
 Thumb himself, who was originally a dwarf or droergar of 
 Scandinavian descent, being the Thum Lin — i.e. Little Thumb 
 — of the Northmen. Drayton, who introduces both these 
 heroes in his Nymphcelia, seems to have suspected their 
 identity. 
 
 The German " Daiimerling," that is, little Thumb, is de- 
 graded to the son of a tailor ; he has not much in common 
 with Tom Thumb the Great, except the misfortune of being 
 swallowed by the dun cow, which took place in Germany, 
 just as it did in England. This is a traditional story of the 
 Germans ; but there is a little book in the Danish language, 
 analyzed by Professor Nierup, of the University of Copen- 
 hagen, who censures it, and perhaps with some degree of 
 justice, as " a very childish history." It treats of " Swain 
 Tomling, a man no bigger than a thumb, who would be mar- 
 ried to a woman three ells and three-quarters long." 
 • According to popular tradition,. Tom Thumb died at Lin- 
 coln, one of the five Danish towns of England. There was 
 a little blue flag-stone in the pavement of the Minster, which 
 was shown as Tom Thumb's monument. 
 
Remarkable Books. 349 
 
 In the Bodleian Library is a work with this title : Tom 
 Ihumi, his Life and Death. It begins thus : 
 
 " In Arthur's court, Tom T^umie did line, 
 A man of mickle might, 
 The best of all the Table Round, 
 And eke a doughty knight. 
 
 " His stature but an inch in height, 
 Or quarter of a span : 
 Then thinke you not this little knight 
 Was prou'd a valiant man ? " 
 
 One of Tom's sports deserves note : it is when, in order 
 to be revenged on his playmates, he 
 
 " Took in pleasant game 
 Black pots and glasses which he hung 
 Upon a bright sunbeam. 
 " The other boys to do the same, 
 In pieces broke them quite ; 
 For which they were most soundly whipt. 
 At which he laught outright." 
 
 This " pleasant game " is borrowed from the pseudo-hagio- 
 graphy of the Middle Ages. 
 
 The Story of Jack the Giant-Killer. 
 
 Jack, commonly called the Giant-Killer, and Thomas 
 Thumb, landed in England from the very same keels and 
 war-ships which conveyed Hengist and Horsa, and Ebba the 
 Saxon. In Jack's memoirs, may be traced indubitable re- 
 semblances to the fictions of the Edda. Jack, as we are told, 
 having got a little money, travelled into Flintshire, and 
 came to a large house in a lonesome place ; here he took 
 courage to knock at the gate, when, to his amazement, there 
 came forth a monstrous giant with iwo heads; yet he was not 
 
S50 Remarkable Books. 
 
 so fiery as the former giant; he was breakfasting on a great 
 bowl of hasty pudding, to which low feeding, instead of the 
 invigorating Welsh diet, toasted cheese, is attributed Jack's 
 outwitting him, notwithstanding his two heads. The history 
 states that Jack undressed himself, and as the Giant was 
 walking towards another apartment, Jack heard him say to 
 himself : — 
 
 " Though here you lodge with me this night, 
 You shall not see the morning light, 
 My club shall dash your brains out quite. " 
 
 " Say you so," says Jack : " is that one of your Welsh tricks ? 
 I hope to be as cunning as you.'' Then, getting out of bed, 
 he found a thick billet, and laid it in the bed in his stead, 
 and hid himself in a dark corner of the room. In the dead 
 of the night came the Giant with his club, and struck several 
 blows with his club on the bed where Jack had laid the 
 billet, and then returned to his own room, supposing that 
 " he had broken all Jack's bones." In the morning early, 
 came Jack to thank him for his lodging. " Oh !" said the 
 Giant, " how have you rested ? did you see any thing last 
 night ?" " No," said Jack, " but a rat gave me three or four 
 slaps ^ith his tail." 
 
 Next, we have, in the fictions of the North and East, Jack's 
 robbery of his cousin, a Giant with three heads, and who 
 would beat five hundred men in armour. Jack terrified his 
 three-headed cousin out of all his wits, by telling him that 
 the king's son was coming. The Giant hid himself in a 
 large vault underground ; and in the morning, when Jack 
 let his cousin out, the Giant asked what he would give him 
 for his care, seeing that his castle was not demolished. 
 "Why,'' answered Jack, "I desire nothinghut youi oM rusfy 
 sword, the coat in the closet, and the cap and the s/toes, which 
 you keep at the bed's-head." " With all my heart," said the 
 
Remarkable Books. 351 
 
 Giant, " and be sure to keep them for my sake, for they are 
 things of excellent use : the coat will keep you invisible, the 
 cap will furnish you with knowledge, the sword cuts asunder 
 whatever you strike, and the shoes are of extraordinary swift- 
 ness." These wonderful articles have been stolen out of the 
 Great Northern treasury. The coat is the magic garment 
 known in ancient German by the equivalent denomination 
 of the " Nebel Kappe" or cloud cloak, fabled to belong to 
 King Alberich, and the other dwarfs of the Teutonic cycle 
 of romance, who, clad therein, could walk invisible. To them 
 also belongs the Tarn hat, or hat of darkness, possessing the 
 same virtue. Veleut, the cunning smith of the Edda of 
 Saemund, wrought Jack's " sword of sharpness," which, in the 
 Wilkina Saga bears the name of Balmung. So keen was its 
 edge, that when Veleut cleft his rival ^milius through the 
 middle with the wondrous weapon, it merely seemed to 
 .^milius as though cold water had glided down him. 
 " Shake thyself," said Veleut. ^Emilius shook himself, and 
 fell dead into two halvps, one on each side of his chair. 
 
 Jack's shoes of swiftness were once worn by Loke when he 
 escaped from Valhalla. In the Calmuck romance of Ssidi 
 Kur, the Chan steals a similar pair of seven-league boots from 
 the Tchadkurrs, or evil spirits, by means of the cap which 
 made him invisible, which he won from certain quarrelling 
 children, or dwarfs, whom he encounters in the middle of a 
 forest. 
 
 In the history oijack and the Bean Stalk, the awful dis- 
 tich put into the mouth of the Jette or Etting, the principal 
 agent in this romance, 
 
 " Snouk but, snouk ben, 
 I find the smell of earthly men," 
 
 is scarcely inferior to the " fee-faw-fum" of the keen-scented 
 
353 Remarkable Books. 
 
 anthropophaginian of the other. The bean-stalk, " the top 
 whereof, when Jack looked upwards he could not discern, 
 as it appeared lost in the clouds," has grown in fanciful imi- 
 tation of the ash Yadriad, reaching, according to the Edda, 
 from hell to heaven. As to the beautiful harp, which "played 
 of its own accord," and which Jack stole from the Giant, we 
 must find a parallel for it in the wonderful harp made of the 
 breast-bone of the King's daughter, and which sang so 
 sweetly to the miller, " Binnorie, oh, Binnorie," and in old 
 Dunstan's harp, which sounded without hands, when hanging 
 in the vale. 
 
 Jack's history is a popular and degraded version of the 
 traditions upon which our earliest romances are founded. 
 " The Mount of Cornwall," which was kept by a large and 
 monstrous Giant, is St. Michael's Mount; and the Giant 
 Cormoran, whom Jack despatched there, and who was 
 eighteen feet high, and about three yards round, is the same 
 who figures in the romance of Tristem. It was by killing 
 this Cormoran (the Corinoeus, probably, of Geoffrey of Mon- 
 mouth, and the Brut), that Jack acquired his triumphal epi- 
 thet of the Giant-killer. — Abridged from the Quarterly 
 Review, No. 40 
 
 Fair Rosamond; her History. 
 
 Rosamond, the fair daughter of Walter, Lord Clifford, 
 concubine of Henry II., poisoned by Queen Eleanor, is 
 thought to have died at Woodstock in 11 77, where King 
 Henry .had built for her a Maze, consisting of vaults under- 
 ground, arched and worked with brick and stone, though it 
 is thought to have existed before the time of Rosamond. It 
 was commonly said that the Queen came to Rosamond by 
 " a clue of threidde or silke.'' It is observable, however, that 
 
Remarkable Books. 353 
 
 none of the old writers attribute Rosamond's death to poison 
 (Stow merely mentions it as a slight conjecture) ; they only 
 give us to understand that the queen treated her harshly ; 
 with furious menaces and sharp expostulations, we may 
 suppose, but used neither dagger nor bowl. Brompton 
 says, " she lived with Henry a long time after he had impri- 
 soned Eleanor ;" and Carte, in his History of England, goes 
 far to prove that Rosamond was not poisoned by the queen 
 (which popular legend was based on no other authority than 
 an old ballad) ; but, that through grief at the defection of 
 her royal admirer, she retired from the world, and became a 
 nun at Godstow, where she lived twenty years. 
 
 How the queen gained admittance into Rosamond's bower 
 is differently related ; Holinshed speaks of it as the 
 common report of the people, that "the queene found hir out 
 by a silken thridde, which the kinge had drawne after him 
 out of hir chamber with his foote, and dealt with her in 
 such sharpe and cruell wise that she lived not long after.'' 
 Brompton says that one day Queen Eleanor saw the king 
 walking in the plaisance of Woodstock, with the end of a 
 ball of floss silk attached to his spur ; coming near him un- 
 perceived, she took up the ball, and the king walking on, 
 the silk unwound, and thus the Queen traced him to a 
 thicket in the labyrintH or maze of the park, where he dis- 
 appeared. She kept the matter a secret, often revolving in 
 her own mind in what company he could meet with balls of 
 silk. Soon after the king left Woodstock for a distant 
 journey; then Queen Eleanor, bearing her discovery in 
 mind, searched the thicket in the park, and discovered a 
 low door. cunningly concealed; this door she forced, and 
 found it was the entrance to a winding subterranean path, 
 which led out at a distance to a sylvan lodge in the most 
 retired part of the adjacent forest. 
 
 A a 
 
354 Remarkable Books. 
 
 Speed, on the other hand, tells us that the jealous queen 
 found Rosamond out by "a clewe of silke" fallen from her 
 lap, as she sat taking air, and suddenly fleeing from the 
 sight of the searcher, the end of the clewe still unwinding, 
 remained behind, which the Queen followed till she found 
 what she sought, and upon Rosamond so vented her spleen 
 that she did not live long after. Another story, in a popular 
 ballad, is that the clue was gained by surprise from the 
 knight who was left to guard the bower. 
 
 Rosamond was buried at the nunnery chapel of Godstow, 
 near Oxford; but in 1191 the corpse was removed to the 
 chapter house, or cloisters, when the nuns enclosed the 
 body in a perfumed leather bag, and inclosed it in a leaden 
 coffin, over which was placed a tomb, which remained 
 until the time of the Dissolution, when it was broken to 
 pieces. 
 
 In the French Chronicle of London, 1563, translated by 
 Riley, we find andther legend of Rosamond's death. It is 
 there told that the Queen had her stripped naked, made her 
 sit between two fires ; then had her put into a bath and 
 beaten with a staff by a wicked old hag until the blood 
 gushed forth, when another hag placed two toads upon her 
 breasts, and while they were sucking, the Queen laughed in 
 revenge ; and when Rosamond was dead, the Queen had her 
 body buried in a filthy ditch, toads and all. The story is a 
 loathsome one, and we have abbreviated it. When the King 
 heard how the Queen had treated Rosamond, he made great 
 lamentation ; he then ascertained of one of the sorceresses 
 that the body had been taken up by order of the Queen, to 
 be buried at Godstow ; but the King met it on the road, had 
 the chest or coffin opened, and looking on the body, he fell 
 into a long swoon with grief When he recovered, he vowed 
 vengeance for the " most horrid felony " committed upon the 
 
Remarkable Books. 355 
 
 gentle damsel. He then renewed his lamentations, and when 
 the King had prayed, he commanded them to have her 
 burial celebrated in that religious house of nuns, and ther,e 
 did he appoint thirteen chaplains to sing for the soul of the 
 said Rosamond as long as the world shall last. 
 
 Robin Hood. 
 
 Fordun, the Scottish historian (14th century), first men- 
 tions Robin Hood, " the famous brigand Robert Hode, with 
 his accomplices, whom the common people are so fond of 
 celebrating in their games and stage-plays ; and whose ex- 
 ploits, chanted by strolling ballad-singers, delight them above 
 all things." Upon these ballads, adapting themselves genera- 
 tion by generation to the changes of language, rests the only 
 historical .evidence of the individuality of Robin Hood, 
 beyond this mention by Fordun. A theory has been set up by 
 some enthusiastic interpreters of song and legend, that Robin 
 Hood and Little John, and many a nameless outlaw, were 
 great heroes, who had been defeated with Simon de Mont, 
 fort at the battle of Evesham, in 1265. Others make Robin 
 Hood to have been Earl of Huntingdon. He' is the Saxon 
 yeoman, Locksley, of Sir Walter Scott. According to 
 Thierry, the whole of the band that ranged the vast wood- 
 land districts of Derby, Nottingham, and Yorkshire, were the 
 remnants of the old Saxon' race, who had lived in this 
 condition of defiance to Norman oppression from the time of 
 Hereward : the same type of generous robbers and redressers 
 of wrongs as the famous Cumberland bandits, Adam Bell, 
 Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudesley. 
 
 Ritson's version of Robin's history, though circumstantial, 
 is much disputed. Dr. Stukeley, the antiquary, inclines to 
 A a 2 
 
35^ Remarkable Books. 
 
 the Huntingdon theory, and he wrote out a very long 
 pedigree ; but Stukeley is an over-credulous authority. 
 
 " Roberdesmen " is the name of a certain class of male- 
 factors mentioned in" the law of Edward III., and it has been 
 asked whether the term may have any allusion to " Robin 
 Hood's Men." As early as the time of Henry IH. " comaro 
 Roberto " was applied to any common thief or robber ; and 
 to this day the term "robber" is more in common use in 
 Nottinghamshire than in any other counties. Robin Hood 
 has also been traced to "Robin o' th' Wood," a term 
 equivalent to " wild man,'' generally given to those Saxons 
 who fled to the woods and morasses, and long held them 
 against their Norman enemies. 
 
 The Rev. Joseph Hunter has, however, discovered docu- 
 ments in our national archives, by which he proves Robin 
 Hood to have been a yeoman in the time of Edward II. ; 
 that he fell into the King's power, when he was freeing his 
 forest from the marauders of that day : that the King was 
 lenient, took Robin Hood into his service, and made him one 
 of the Vardlets in his household ; and Mr. Hunter has dis- 
 covered the exact amount of wages that was paid him, and 
 other circumstances, establishing the veritable existence of 
 this hero of our childhood. Mr. Planchd, Somerset Herald, 
 still later, has avowed himself a believer in Robin Hood. He 
 has satisfied himself that the objections of the dissenters are 
 in no instance fatal, and that in many cases they are met by 
 very singular circumstantial evidence. 
 
 A Correspondent of Notes and Queries shows there to be 
 grounds for inferring that the name of Robin Hood was no 
 patronymic, but a purely descriptive name of an ideal per- 
 sonification of a class — the outlaws of former times, extend- 
 ing equally throughout England, Scotland, and France. 
 Mr. Charles Knight, in his Popular History of England, 
 
Remarkable Books. 357 
 
 accepts Robin Hood as a real personage, and considers that 
 there may have been a succession of Robin Hoods during 
 the long term of Norman tyranny ; but why was the Robin 
 Hood of Sherwood Forest, of "romantic tradition," as some 
 say, so far distinguished above the rest? The grave where 
 he lies has still its pilgrims ; the well out of which he drank 
 still retains his name ; and his bow, and some of his broad 
 arrows, were, within the century, to be seen in Fountains 
 Abbey. Little John, it is said, survived but to see his 
 master buried : his grave is claimed by Scotland as well as 
 England, but tradition inclines to the grave in the church- 
 yard of Hathersage. 
 
 The following nursery song relating to Robin Hood is 
 well known at Worksop, in Nottinghamshire ; — 
 
 ' ' Robin Hood, Robin Hood, 
 Is in the mickle wood ! 
 Little John, Little John, 
 He to the town is gone. 
 
 "Robin Hood, Robin Hood, 
 Is telling his beads. 
 All in the green wood 
 Among the green weeds. 
 
 " Little John, Little John, 
 If he comes no more, 
 Robin Hood, Robin Hood, 
 He will fret full sore ! " 
 
 Story of Friar Bacon's Brazen Head. 
 
 This widely-known legend has little to do with the. veri- 
 table history of Roger or Friar Bacon, the greatest of EngHsh 
 philosophers before the time of his celebrated namesake, 
 
58 Remarkable Books. 
 
 Francis Bacon ; though he, Roger Bacon, is more popularly- 
 known by this fictitious name than by his real merit. In a 
 rare tract, entitled The Famous Historie of Friar Bacon, 4to, 
 London, 1652, it is pretended he discovered, "after great* 
 study,'' that if he could succeed in making a head of brass, 
 which should speak, and hear it when it spoke, he might be 
 able to surround all England with a wall of brass. By the 
 assistance of Friar Bungay, and a devil likewise called into 
 consultation. Bacon accomplished his object, but with this 
 drawback — the head, when finished, was warranted to speak 
 in the course of one month; but it was quite uncertain 
 when ; and if they heard it not before it had done speaking, 
 all their labour would be lost. After watching for three 
 weeks, fatigue got the mastery over them, and Bacon set his 
 man Miles to watch, with strict injunction to awake them if 
 the head should speak. The fellow heard the head at the 
 end of one half-hour say, " Time is ;" at the end of another, 
 " Time was ;" and at the end of another half-hour, " Time's 
 past ;" when down it fell with a tremendous crash, but the 
 blockhead of a servant thought that his master would be 
 angry if he disturbed him for such trifles ! "And hereof 
 came it," says the excellent Robert Recorde, "that fryer 
 Bacon was accompted so greate a necromancier, whiche 
 never used that arte (by any conjecture that I can finde), but 
 was in geometrie and other mathematicall sciences so 
 experte that he coulde doe by them such thynges as were 
 wonderful in the sight of most people.'' 
 
 Still, the origin of the Brazen Head has been much 
 disputed. It has been imputed to Grossa Testa, Bishop 
 of Lincoln, and to Albertus Magnus ; but some believe the 
 story to be nothing more than a moral fable. Bacon's Brazen 
 Head is said to have been set up in a field at Bothwell, near 
 Leeds. 
 
Remarkable Books. 359 
 
 Legend of Mother Shipton and her Prophecies. 
 
 The Prophecies of Mother Shipton, printed in 1662, con- 
 tains a woodcut referring to the well-known alleged story, 
 found in all the chap-book copies of Mother Shipton, of 
 Wolsey being shown York Minster from the top of a tower, 
 and his vow of vengeance against the witch who had pro- 
 phesied that ,he should never get there. 
 
 Prophecies in the Middle Ages were published under 
 feigned names, generally those of some celebrated magicians 
 or witches, and Mother Shipton was one of these j and the 
 older prophecies which go under her name appear to have 
 been published about the reign of Henry VIII., when, 
 according to the popular legend, she is said to have lived. 
 This legend appears to have been published in the seven- 
 teenth century. 
 
 In a rude woodcut, Mother Shipton appears holding in 
 her left hand a staff terminating in the head of a bird, 
 bringing to mind the gom of the ancient Egyptians, the 
 implement in both instances having a inystic signification. 
 In the Gentleman's Magazine, November, 183 1, is a remark- 
 able ivory carving, which was probably set in the cover of a 
 conjuring box, and on which is displayed Friar Bacon and 
 his brazen head. Dr. Faustus (?), and Mother Shipton, the 
 latter wearing a conical hat, somewhat less elevated than 
 usual, but still of orthodox fashion. And so closely has the 
 copatain, or peaked hat, become connected with the fame of 
 the Yorkshire seer, that it is looked upon almost as an 
 attribute of the black art, and may be seen on the head of a 
 sister riding through the air on her besom, in a curious print 
 in a tract entitled, The Witch of the Woodlands, or the Cobler's 
 New Translation. 
 
 Mother Shipton is generally believed to have been born 
 
360 Remarkable Books. 
 
 at Knaresborough. Though during her Ufetime she was 
 looked upon as a witch, she yet escaped the witch's fate, 
 and died peaceably in her bed at an extreme old age, 
 near Clifton, in Yorkshire. A stone is said to have been 
 erected to her memory in the churchyard of that place, with 
 the following epitaph : — 
 
 ' ' Here lies she who never lied, 
 Whose skill often has been tried i 
 Her prophecies shall still survive, 
 And ever keep her name alive. " 
 
 Among those who consulted her was the Abbot of 
 Beverley, to whom she foretold the suppression of the 
 monasteries by Henry VIII. ; his marriage with Anne ' 
 Boleyn; the burning of heretics in Smithfield; and the 
 execution of Mary Queen of Scots. She also foretold the 
 accession of James I., adding that, with him, 
 
 "From the cold North 
 Every evil should come forth." 
 
 Although Other places claim to have been Shipton's birth- 
 place, her residence is asserted, by oral tradition, to have 
 been for many years a cottage at Winslow-cum-Shipton, in 
 Buckinghamshire. 
 
 Cocker's Arithmetic. 
 
 This celebrated work on Arithmetic was not published by 
 Cocker himself. The first edition was in 1677, the fourth 
 in 1682, the thirty-seventh in 1720. Cocker's Arithmetic 
 was the first which entirely excluded all demonstration and 
 reasoning, and confined itself to commercial questions only. 
 This was the secret of its extensive circulation. There is 
 no need of describing it, for so closely have nine out of ten of 
 
Remarkable Books. 361 
 
 the subsequent school treatises been moulded upon it, that 
 a large proportion of our readers would be able imme- 
 diately to turn to any rule in Cocker and to guess pretty 
 nearly what they would find there. Every method, since his 
 time, has been according to Cocker. 
 
 The great work, the English Bareme, was probably a 
 forgery by John Hawkins, under the name of Cocker. The 
 goodness of Cocker's alleged work on Arithmetic lies chiefly 
 in this : Of all the small and cheap books of the time it is 
 the one which adopts the now universal mode of performing 
 division, to the exclusion of the older method, in which the 
 figures are written down and scratched out. In its explana- 
 tions it is inferior to many of the works which it supplanted. 
 — Prof, de Morgan. 
 
 The famous " Vulgar Arithmetic " (the first forgery) is not 
 often seen in its first edition of 1677 (or rather 1678, licensed 
 in 1677). One was sold at Halliweirs sale in 1840, at about 
 2/. ; one in 1852, at 8/. loj. ; one in 1854, at 8/. 5^. 
 
 The popularity of Cocker's Arithmetic is said to have 
 arisen from one of the characters in Murphy's farce of the 
 Apprentice, recommending to his son Cocker's Arithmetic 
 as "the. best book that ever was written." 
 
 Robinson Crusoe. 
 
 Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, when first published, and . for 
 some time afterwards, was universally received and consi- 
 dered as a genuine history, although a fictitious narrative of 
 that sort was not then a new thing. No story has ever ex- 
 ceeded this work in popularity.Ti'Its merits have been dis- 
 paraged on account of its want of originality ; " but really," 
 says Sir Walter Scott, " the story of Selkirk, which had been 
 published a few years before, appears to have furnished our 
 
3*53 Remarkable Books. 
 
 author with so little beyond the bare idea of a man living 
 on an uninhabited island, that it seems quite immaterial 
 whether he took his hint from that or any other similar 
 story." A writer in the North American Review describes 
 Robinson Crusoe as " a thoroughly English romance." In it 
 Defoe "describes the physical resources available to a 
 patient and active hermit. He brings man into direct con- 
 tact with nature, and shows how he, by his single arm, 
 thought, and will, can subdue her to his use. He places a 
 human soul alone with God and the universe, and records its 
 solitary struggles, its remorse, its yearning for companionship, 
 its thirst for truth, and its resignation to its Creator. Robin- 
 son is no poet, mystic, or man of science, but an English- 
 man of average mind and ordinary education, and on his 
 desert island he never loses his nationality. Fertile in ex- 
 pedients, prone to domesticity, fond of a long ramble, 
 mindful of the Sabbath, provident, sustained by his Bible 
 and his gun, a philosopher by nature, a utilitarian by in- 
 stinct, accustomed to introspection, serious in his views — 
 against the vast blank of solitude, his figure, clad in goat- 
 skins, stands in bold relief, the moral ideal and exemplar of 
 his nation and class." Of Defoe's novels, on which his 
 fame principally rests, none were written till long after he 
 had passed his fiftieth year. The whole of his early life was 
 occupied by political contests of a violent and occasionally 
 dangerous kind. He was twice imprisoned and once pil- 
 loried ; and an entirely new and startling light is thrown 
 upon the whole meaning and plot of Robinson Crusoe, by 
 the singular suggestion that it was a sort of allegory taken 
 from the various perils and conflicts which its author had 
 to undergo in the course of his political career. In the 
 British Museum is the first translation of Robinson ; it was 
 purchased at an auction, and is believed to be unique. It 
 
Remarkable Books. t^Sj, 
 
 is printed in Gennan, at Frankfort, in 1720, one year after 
 the original edition in England. The title runs, The Life 
 and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, an English- 
 man, who was cast away upon an uninhabited island in the 
 mouth of the river Oronooko, ifi South America, &c. ; and 
 there is at the end a glossary of English words. It is illus- 
 trated with six plates, very well executed. 
 
 Peter Wilkins; or, the Flying Island. 
 
 The name of the author of Peter Wilkins, a well-known 
 fiction, was not discovered until very lately. By some 
 persons the work was attributed to Bishop Berkeley, the 
 metaphysician who, according to Pope, was possessed of 
 every virtue under heaven. At a sale of manuscripts, the 
 assignment of the copyright from R. Paltock to Dodsley for 
 ten guineas, was disposed of. " It is a work of great genius," 
 says the late poet-laureate ; " and I know that both Sir 
 Walter Scott and Mr. Coleridge thought as highly of it as I 
 do. His winged creatures &,re the most beautiful creatures 
 of imagination ever devised." 
 
 The Story of the Castle of Otranto. 
 
 This celebrated " Gothic story,'' or novel, first appeared 
 in 1764, as a translation by William Marshall from the 
 Italian of Omphrio Muralto, which the author intended as 
 an anagram of his own name. The original was stated to 
 have been found in the library of an ancient Roman Catholic 
 family in the north of England, and printed at Naples, in 
 black letter, in 1529 ; when almost everybody was imposed 
 upon. The ancient romances have nothing more incredible 
 than a sword which required a hundred men to lift it; or a 
 helmet by its own weight forcing a passage through a courtyard 
 
364 Remarkable Books. 
 
 into an arched vault, big enough for a man to go through ; 
 yet the locality is real, and is a massive fortress at Otranto, 
 at the southern extremity of the kingdom of Naples. Wal- 
 pole tells us the origin of this romance ; how he waked one 
 morning from a dream in which he thought himself in an 
 ancient castle, and that on the uppermost banister of a great 
 staircase he saw a gigantic hand in armour. In the evening 
 he sat down and began to write, without knowing in the 
 least what he intended to say or relate. The work grew on 
 his hands, and he grew fond of it. " In short," says Wal- 
 pole, " I was so engrossed with my tale, which I completed 
 in less than two months, that one evening I wrote from the 
 time I had drunk my tea, about six o'clock, till half an hour 
 after one in the morning, when my hand and fingers were so 
 weary that I could not hold the pen to finish the sentence, 
 but left Matilda and Isabella talking, in the middle of a 
 paragraph." 
 
 In the opinion of Sir Walter Scott, " the applause due to 
 the clearness of style, to a happy combination of super- 
 natural agency with human interest, to a tone of feudal 
 manners and language, sustained by characters strongly 
 marked and well discriminated, and to unity of action pro- 
 ducing scenes alternately of interest and grandeur — the 
 applause, in fine, which cannot be denied to him who can 
 excite the passions of fear and pity, must be awarded to the 
 author of the Casi/e of Otranto. Lord Byron goes even 
 further in his praise, and states the Castle of Qtranto to be 
 the first romance in our language. 
 
 The Arabian Nights. 
 
 The origin of the Arabian Nights is disputed. That some 
 of the most fanciful and enchanting tales in the collection 
 
Remarkable Bo.oks. 365 
 
 are derived from an Indian source appears undeniable ; al- 
 though notions and images suited to the sphere of the ideas 
 of a Mohammedan and an inhabitant of Western Asia have 
 been substituted for every allusion to polytheism and Hindoo 
 institutions. In England, the Arabian Nights made their 
 way amongst us at once, because, in addition to stories of 
 enchantment which interest the young, they exhibit a true 
 picture of life and manners, which comes home to the bosoms 
 of men in whatever climate they breathe. With all their 
 faults there is a trace of early patriarchal religion in these 
 immortal tales. The presiding care of a beneficent Provi- 
 dence they uniformly acknowledge ; they treat as an oppos- 
 ing and formidable power the spirit of evil, and they assign 
 to both subordinate agents, who, under the forms of propi- 
 tious or malignant genii, manage all the affairs of theVorld. 
 This is a system easily comprehended, and the exciting 
 character of the incidents constituting a majority of those 
 stories easily reconciles us to the marvellous machinery by 
 which they are conducted. — (See Quarterly Review, March, 
 1834.) 
 
 Tristram Shandy. 
 
 Tristram Shandy was condemned by Horace Walpole as 
 "a very insipid and tedious performance, the greatest 
 humour of which consists in the whole narration always 
 going backwards. It makes one smile two or three times 
 in the beginning, but in recompense makes one yawn for 
 two hours." Yet this was Sterne's greatest work : Dodsley 
 gave him 650/. for the second edition, and two more 
 volumes; Lord Fauconberg, a donation of 160/. a year; 
 and Bishop Warburton gave Sterne a purse of gold, and 
 styled- him "the English Rabelais." Although anonymous, 
 
^56 Remarkable Books. 
 
 the work was known to be Sterne's from, the first, and it 
 raised him at once from obscurity to universal notoriety and 
 high literary fame. Yet "Yorick's Sermon," the great 
 attraction of the second volume of Tristram Shandy, when 
 reprinted by itself, could find neither purchasers nor readers. 
 
 Lord Chesterfield's Letters. 
 
 When Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his son were pub- 
 lished, Dr. Johnson said they taught the manners of a 
 dancing master, and they were not unhappily called the 
 Scoundrel's Primer. 
 
 " After all," says Mr. Malone, " these ' Letters ' have been 
 I think, unreasonably decried ; for supposing a young man 
 to be properly guarded against the base principles of dis- 
 simulation, &c., which they enforce, he may derive much 
 advantage from the many minute directions which they 
 contain, that other instructors and even parents don't think 
 it worth while to mention. In this, and almost every thing 
 else, the world generally seizes on two or three obviously 
 ridiculous circumstances, talks a great deal about them, and 
 passes over all the valuable parts that may still be found in 
 the work, or in the character they are criticizing. I have 
 heard persons laugh at the noble writer's laying weight upon 
 such trifling matters as paring nails, or opening a dirty 
 pocket handkerchief in company. Yet, trifling as these in- 
 structions are, I have observed these very people ^eatly 
 negligent in those very particulars. Lord Chesterfield, how- 
 ever, by his perpetual attention to propriety, decorum, 
 biens'eance, &c., had so veneered his manners, that though he 
 lived on good terms with all the world, he had not a single 
 friend." 
 
Remarkable Books. 367 
 
 The Diversions of Purley. 
 
 The Diversions of Purley was written by Home Tooke, 
 at Purley, near Croydon. It is in two large volumes, and 
 the title is said to have so misled an indulgent father as to 
 induce him to order of a country bookseller the Diversions 
 of Purley as a toy book for his son. It is a work of philolo- 
 gical inquiry of a high cast, and brought its author into great 
 repute. The work which first brought Chantry, the sculptor, 
 into notice was his bust of Tooke, in 18 11, when it obtained 
 the artist commissions to the amount of 12,000/. Lord 
 Brougham describes the Diversions as " one of the most 
 amusing and lively of books, which no one who ever took 
 it up laid down till some other avocation tore it from his 
 hands. As every thing," he adds, " which had been done 
 before (in etymological research) was superseded by it, so 
 nothing has since been effected, unless in pursuing its views 
 and building upon its solid foundations." We suspect, how- 
 ever, that its influence has much declined of late years, not- 
 withstanding it was reprinted, revised and corrected by 
 Richard Taylor, F.R.S., in 1840. The great fault of Tooke's 
 work is the love of hypothesis, and the absence, to a great 
 extent, of that historical mode of investigation without which 
 etymological studies are worse than useless. In Blackwood's 
 Magazine, April, 1840, will be found a searching paper upon 
 the over-rated merits of Tooke's Diversions, which is there 
 condemned as " a fallacious or a frivolous book." 
 
 The Vicar of Wakefield. 
 Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, in manuscript, was sold by 
 Dr. Johnson to Francis Newbery, the bookseller, for sixty 
 pounds, to relieve Oliver's distress when he lodged at Canon- 
 bury. Newbery had so little confidence in the value of his pur- 
 
368 Remarkable Books. 
 
 chase that the Vicar of Wakefield xtraaintd. in manuscript until 
 the publication of the Traveller had established the fame of 
 the author. Nearly two years elapsed ere the Vicar y^as, pub- 
 lished, on March 27, 1766 ; before the end of May a second 
 edition was called for ; in three months more a third ; and 
 so it went on, widening in a popularity that has never {fia,gge3. 
 Yet Dr. Johnson " did not think it would have had such 
 success." Samuel Rogers declared that of all the books 
 which, through the fitful changes of three generations, he had 
 seen rise and fall, the charm of the Vicar of Wakefield had 
 alone continued as at first, and could he revisit the world 
 after an interval of many more generations, he should as 
 surely look to find it undiminished. Nor has its celebrity 
 been confined to Great Britain. Though so exclusively a 
 picture of British life and manners, it has been translated into 
 almost every language, and everywhere its charm has been 
 the same. Goethe, the great genius of Germany, declared in 
 his eighty-first year that it was his delight at the age of 
 twenty ; that it had, in a manner, formed part of his educa- 
 tion, influencing his taste and feelings throughout life ; and 
 that he had recently read it again from beginning to end 
 with renewed delight, and with a grateful sense of the early 
 benefit derived from it. The poet Moore read it to his wife 
 Bessy, and notes — " What a gem it is ! we both enjoyed it 
 so much more than Joseph Andrews" Again, " Finished 
 the Vicar of Wakefield to Bessy ; we both cried over it." 
 
 Scott, in referring to the blemishes in the Vicar of Wake- 
 field, says : " We have seen that it was suppressed for nearly 
 two years, until the publication of the Traveller had fixed the 
 author's fame. Goldsmith had, therefore, time for revisal, 
 but he did not employ it. He had been paid for his labour, 
 as he observed, and could have profited nothing by rendering 
 the work ever so perfect. This, however, was false reasoning. 
 
Remarkable Books. 369 
 
 though not unnatural in the mouth of the author who must 
 earn daily bread by daily labour. Many works of this class 
 the critics must apologize for or censure particular passages 
 in the narrative, as unfit to be perused by youth and inno- 
 cence. But the wreath of Goldsmith is unsullied ; he wrote 
 to exalt virtue and expose vice ; and he accomplished his 
 task in a manner which raises him to the highest rank among 
 British authors." 
 
 Lord Byron has this piquant note : " I have found, how- 
 ever, one point where the German [Schlegel] is right — it is 
 about the Vicar of Wakefield. ' Of all romances in minia- 
 ture (and perhaps this is the best shape in which romance 
 can appear), the Vicar of Wakefield is, I think, the most 
 exquisite.' " 
 
 Goldsmith's Animated Nature. 
 
 Goldsmith's History of the Earth and Animated Nature 
 appeared in 1774, and he received for it the large sum of 
 850/. It seems to have been produced from scanty mate 
 rials. When Boswell and Mickle went to see him at Hyde 
 Farm, on the road to Edgware, in his apartment they found 
 curious scraps of descriptions of animals, scrawled upon the 
 wall with a black-lead pencil. When Goldsmith had nearly 
 completed the work, he was detained at Windsor for a 
 fortnight, and sent to Dr. Percy and Mr. Cradock to 
 complete a proof that lay upon Goldsmith's table in the 
 Temple. It was concerning birds, and many books lay 
 open that he had consulted for materials. Cradock relates : 
 "We met by appointment, and Dr. Percy, smiling, said, 
 ' Do you know anything about birds?' ' Not an atom,' was 
 rhy reply ; ' Do you ?' ' Not I,' said he, ' scarce know a goose 
 from a swan ; however, let us try what we can do.' We set 
 
 B b 
 
370 Remarkable Books. 
 
 to work, and our task was not very difficult. Some time 
 after the work appeared, we compared notes, but could not 
 either of us recognize our own share.'' When Goldsmith 
 lived in Gray's Inn, one day a nephew called upon him with 
 a friend, expecting to see uncle Oliver's fine library ; but to 
 their disappointment the only book they saw was a "dog's 
 eared " part of Buflfon's Natural History. 
 
 Who Wrote "Goody Two Shoes"? 
 
 Some of Goldsmith's literary productions, published 
 anonymously, have but recently been traced to his pen ; 
 while of many the true authorship will probably never be 
 discovered. Among others, it is suggested, and with great 
 probability, that he wrote for Mr. Newbery the famous 
 nursery Story of Goody Two Shoes, which appeared in 1765, 
 at a moment when he was much pressed for funds. Several 
 quaint little tales introduced in his Essays show that he had 
 a turn for this species of mock history; and the adver- 
 tisement and title-page bear the stamp of his sly and 
 playful humour : — 
 
 " We are desired to give notice, that there is in the press, 
 and speedily will be published, either by subscription or 
 otherwise, as the public shall please to determine, the 
 History of Little Goody Two Shoes, otherwise Mrs. Margery 
 Two Shoes; with the means by which she acquired learning 
 and wisdom, and in consequence thereof, her estate; set 
 forth at large for the benefit of those 
 
 " Who, from a state of rags and care, 
 And having shoes but half a pair, 
 Their fortune and their fame should fix, 
 And gallop in a coach and six." 
 
 Godwin, the author of Caleb Williams, and a. publisher of 
 children's books, in Skinner-street, and St. Clement's, Strand, 
 
Remarkable Books. 371 
 
 was, we believe, the first to state Goody Two Shoes to be 
 Goldsmith's handiwork. 
 
 Goldsmith's Publisher. 
 
 In the course of 1761 Goldsmith first became connected 
 with the kind-hearted bookseller of St. Paul's Churchyard, 
 John Newbery, now chiefly remembered for the multiplicity 
 of his little books for children, with their grotesque woodcuts 
 and gilt and coloured covers. He kept shop at No. 65, the 
 comer of St. Paul's Churchyard and Ludgate Street. Mr. 
 Cunningham describes him as " the philanthropic bookseller, 
 with the red-pirhpled face." His shop, afterwards Mr. 
 Harris's, another clever provider of juvenilia, is now occu- 
 pied by Messrs. Griffith and Farran, who, by progression 
 with the times, fully maintain the reputation for children's 
 books which this spot has enjoyed for more than a century. 
 
 First, Newbery started, Jan. 12, 1760, the Public Ledger 
 newspaper, which still exists as a commercial journal. It 
 commenced with a literary reputation, for Goldsmith contri- 
 buted to it his Citizm of the World; and he proved so adroit 
 and withal so diligent, that Newbery charged himself thence- 
 forth for several years in providing occupation for Oliver's 
 pen. 
 
 In the course of 1762 he produced for Newbery a pam- 
 phlet on the Cock Lane Ghost, for which he received three 
 guineas. This pamphlet is printed for the first time in Gold- 
 smith's Collected Works, in Mr. Peter Cunningham's edition. 
 Goldsmith next produced a History of Mecklenburg, sug- 
 gested by the arrival of Queen Charlotte, 20/. ; the English 
 Plutarch, two vols., 45/. ; Abridgment of the History of Eng- 
 land (the smallest of four from this pen), two guineas j a 
 Life of Beau Nash, fourteen guineas ; and miscellaneous 
 
 B b 2 
 
372 Remarkable Books. 
 
 papers, which raised his revenue from St. Paul's Churchyard 
 in all to 120/. — Lives of Wits and Humourists, i860. 
 
 Cowper's Poems. — ^John Gilpin's Ride. 
 
 At No. 72, on the north side of Saint Paul's Churchyard, 
 lived S. Johnson, the bookseller : his shop was not, like 
 Lackington's, a " Temple of the Muses," but plain and un- 
 adorned, befitting the head-quarters of the bookselling of Pro- 
 testant Dissent. Johnson's family were Baptists. After he 
 was burnt out from Paternoster- row, in 1770, uninsured, his 
 friends set him up in St. Paul's Churchyard ; there he pub- 
 lished for William Cowper, John Home Tooke, Dr. Darwin, 
 Dr. Priestley, Dr. Aikin, Dr. Enfield, Mr. Fuseli, Mr. Bonny- 
 castle, Mrs. Barbauld, Mary Wolstonecroft, and Miss Edge- 
 worth. Johnson's greatest hit was the publication of 
 Cowper's Poen\s, of which we have heard an old contemporary 
 of Johnson relate that a portion of the MS. poems was 
 offered to him for publication by a relation of Cowper pro- 
 vide.d he (Johnson) would publish them at his own risk and 
 allow the author to have a few copies to give to his friends. 
 Johnson read the poems, approved of them, and published 
 them ; but the reviewers condemned them to the trunk- 
 makers, and these charming effiisions stood in the corner of 
 the publisher's shop unsaleable for a long time. At length 
 Cowper's relation called again upon Johnson with another 
 bundle of the poet's MS., which was offered and- accepted 
 upon the same terms as before; they contained The 
 Task and were no sooner published in 1784, than the 
 reviewers hailed Cowper as the first poet of the age, and this 
 success set the first published poems in motion. Johnson 
 reaped the fruits of his undaunted judgment j and, in 181 2, 
 Cowper's poems, only two years' copyright, produced the 
 sum of 6764/. 
 
Remarkable Books. 373 
 
 " The story of a London citizen riding to Edmonton had 
 long existed as a tradition, indeed so long that it was sup- 
 posed to have suggested to Sir Thomas More the poem of 
 'The Merry Jest of the Serjeant and Frere,' which he wrote 
 in his youth. Cowper's friend, Lady Austen, who had heard 
 the story, finding him one day in a very desponding mood, 
 told it to him, with the intention of enlivening his spirits. 
 She succeeded in this beyond her expectations. Either from 
 her arch manner of telling it, or from the droll incidents and 
 details of the tale itself, it took such a hold upon his imagi- 
 nation, and had so irresistible an influence upon him, that he 
 lay awake half the night, and the next morning, while the 
 impression was fresh, produced the ballad — a wonderful in- 
 stance of speed and facility of composition. Cowper's inten- 
 tion in writing it was merely to amuse his friends, and he 
 appears to have had no thought of publishing the verses at 
 all. Mrs. Unwin, however, with whom he was then living, 
 would send it to the Public Advertiser. Though people who 
 read it laughed heartily enough — the gravest men among 
 the rest — it did not for some time attract much attention ; 
 but, about three years after its first publication, Henderson 
 the actor, who was then delivering recitations at Freemasons' 
 Hall, urged by .the recommendation of Mr. Richard Sharp, 
 began to recite it in public. ' The effect on the audience,' 
 says Mr. Robert Bell, in his annotated edition of Cowper's 
 Poems, ' is described as being perfectly electrical.' ' Mrs. 
 Siddons, who was present on the occasion (says a correspon- 
 dent who communicated the anecdote to Mr. Southey), 
 ' hfted up her dramatic hands, and clapped as heartily as she 
 herself used to be applauded in the same manner.' From that 
 moment the fame of the redoubtable horseman spread over 
 ■ the kingdom like a fire when it seizes on a prairie. The 
 ballad was speedily minted into lines and phrased, that 
 
374 Remarkable Books. 
 
 passed current like ancient proverbs. It was reprinted again 
 and again in a variety of forms ; and prints representing 
 John Gilpin flying past the ' Bell' at Edmonton were sold 
 by thousands." — Leisure Hour. 
 
 The Primer and the Hornbook. 
 
 The Primer, the first printed book used in teaching little 
 children to read, was a small prayer-book, and the Romish 
 book of devotions in the monastic schools. At the Refor- 
 mation the Primer was retained, but the requisite changes 
 were made. In 1545 Henry VIII. ordered to be printed 
 an English "form of Public Prayer," entitled the Primer, 
 said to be " set forth by the kinge's majestic and his clergie, 
 to be taught, lerned, and red," a copy of which rare book is 
 extant. The change of the contents of the Primer, from 
 sacred to secular, was probably gradual, especially as 
 Primers printed to this day contain occasional prayers. 
 
 Next came the Horn-\>oo\, so named from a thin sheet of 
 horn being placed over the "book." The alphabet, &c., 
 are printed upon white paper, which is laid upon a thin 
 piece of oak, and is covered with a sheet of horn, secured in 
 its place by eight tacks, driven through a border or mount- 
 ing of brass ; the object of this horn covering being to keep 
 the " book," or rather leaf, unsoiled. The first line is the 
 cross-row, so named, says Johnson, "because a cross is 
 placed at the beginning, to show that the end of learning is 
 piety." Shakspeare has a reference to this line : — 
 
 " He hearkens after prophecies and dreams, 
 And from the cross-row plucks the letter G." 
 
 Richard III. 
 
Remarkable Books. 375 
 
 Again, in " Love's Labour Lost," act v., scene i, Moth, the 
 page to Armado, says, in describing Holofernes, the school- 
 master : " He teaches boys the Hornbook." And Mr. 
 Halliwell, in his Notes on Shakspeare, has this entry from the 
 book of the Archer family: "Jan. 8, 1715, one Hornbook 
 for Mr. Eyres, 00; 00; 02." 
 
 In the library of the British Museum is a specimen of the 
 Hornbook; generally it is described in the Catalogue as 
 " Hornbook, the Alphabet, Syllabarum, Lord's Prayer, &c., 
 written , in black-letter, in imitation of the type and ortho- 
 graphy employed in the first half of the i6th century." This 
 descriptive entry is considered to be a forgery. If this were 
 correct, it would place the use of the Hornbook at an earlier 
 date than that of the Primer. 
 
 The Hornbook, we have said, is mentioned by Shakspeare 
 in " Love's Labour Lost," and we have here the ba, the 
 a, e, i, 0, u, and the horn ; everything, in fact, alluded to by 
 Moth. It is also described by Ben Jonson ; — 
 
 " The letters may be read, through the horn. 
 That make the story perfect." 
 
 Cotgrave has, "La Croix de par Dieu, the Christ's-crosse- 
 rowe, or horne-booke, wherein a child learnes it ;'' and Florio, 
 ed. 1 61 1, p. 93, " Centuruola, a childe's horne-booke hanging 
 at his girdle." 
 
 Hornbooks are now of great rarity; and even modern 
 ones are seldom seen. Mr. Halliwell was told, on good 
 authority, that an advertisement, many times repeated, 
 offering a considerable sum for a specimen, failed in pro- 
 ducing an answer. It is related, as illustrative of Lord 
 Erskine's readiness, that, when asked by a judge if a single 
 sheet could be called a book, he replied, "The common 
 Hornbook, my Lord." 
 
37(5 Remarkable Books. 
 
 In the collection of Sir Thomas PhilHpps, at Middlehill, 
 are two genuine Hornbooks of the reigns of Charles I. and 
 II. Locke, in his Thoughts on Education, speaks of the 
 " ordinary road of the Hornbook and Primer," and directs 
 that "the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the .Ten Com- 
 mandments he should learn by heart, not by reading them 
 himself in his Primer, but by somebody's repeating them 
 before he can read'." 
 
 Shenstone, who was taught to read at a dame-school, near 
 Halesowen, in Shropshire, in his quaint poem of the School- 
 mistress, thus refers to the use of the Hornbook : — 
 
 " Lo ; now with state she utters her command ; 
 Eftsoons the urchins to their tasks repair ; 
 Their books of stature small they talce in hand, 
 Which with pellucid horn secured are 
 To save from fingers wet the letters fair. " 
 
 Cowper thus describes the Hornbook of his time : — 
 
 " Neatly secured from being soil'd or torn 
 Beneath a pane of thin translucent horn, 
 A book (to please us at a tender age 
 'Tis call'd a book, though but a single page) 
 Presents the prayer the Saviour deign'd to teach, 
 Which children use, and parsons — when they preach. " 
 
 Tirocinium, or a Review of Schools, 1784. 
 
 We have somewhere read a story of a mother tempting 
 her son along the cross-row by giving him an apple for each 
 letter he learnt. This brings us to the gingerbread alphabet 
 of our own time, which appears to have been common a 
 century and three quarters since : — 
 
 ' See more at length, in Things not Generally Known, First Series, 
 pp. 237—240. 
 
Remarkable Books. 377 
 
 " To Master John the English maid - 
 A Hornbook gives of gingerbread ; 
 And, that the child may learn the better, 
 As he can name, he eats the letter. " 
 Prior. 
 
 John Britton, who was bom in the parish of Kington St. 
 Michael's, Wilts, in 1771, tells us, in his Autobiography, that 
 he was placed with a schoolmistress ; here," he writes, " 
 learnt ' the Christ-crosse-row,' from a Hornbook, on which 
 were the alphabet in large and small letters, and the nine 
 figures in Roman and Arabic numerals." 
 
 In 1852 the Vicar of Buckfastleigh communicated to Mr. 
 Robert Cole, F.S.A, these interesting particulars : "Not many- 
 years since I tried without success to discover a Hornbook. 
 They were in general use about sixty years ago. There was 
 not a dame's school in this neighbourhood where Horn- 
 books were not employed. They continued to flourish 
 through the last ten years of the last century. They existed 
 in the first ten years of this, but I think that they were 
 extinguished by the introduction of Dr. Bell's Sand Tray. 
 That oriental introduction taught children to trace their own 
 letters, and the poor old Hornbook was flung aside." In 
 another letter, the Vicar describes a specimen as inferior 
 in size and distinctness of type to the Hornbook of his recol- 
 lection ; " but it is completely the Hornbook, and is probably 
 the only one existing in the county of Devon. I do not know 
 whether they were so general in other parts of the king- 
 dom. Certainly, there was not a dame's school in this county in 
 which they were not in constant use. They are so much 
 more practically useful than any of the substitutes which have 
 superseded them, that I have some thought of getting them 
 reintroduced. The active little thumbs of the lower classes 
 in all our schools quickly demolish every other first step in 
 
378 Remarkable Books. 
 
 the ladder, except Dr. Bell's Sand Tray, and that is difficult 
 to be kepfefat work.'' 
 
 Next came the "Battledoor" and "Reading-made-easy;" 
 though the Spelling book is considerably older than either. 
 The Battledore, by the way, reminds us of a strategy of 
 tuition mentioned by Locke : "By pasting the vowels and 
 consonants on the sides of four dice, he has made this plaj 
 for his children, whereby his eldest son in coats has played 
 himself into spelling." 
 
 The Hornbook was not always mounted on a board ; 
 many were printed on the horn only, or pasted to its back, 
 like one used sixty years ago by a friend, when a boy at 
 Bristol. Sir George Musgrave, of Eden Hall, possesses two 
 carved stones, which appear to have been moulds for 
 casting leaden plates containing the alphabet in raised 
 letters. 
 
 In the original picture, by Schidone, and formerly in the 
 Gallery of the Earl of Ashburnham, we see the Italian 
 Hornbook of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, at 
 which period the painter lived. In this fine composition 
 the girl in the foreground holds a Hornbook, which has, 
 beneath the cross-row, the Lord's Prayer in Latin, &c., the 
 whole within a border of pleasing design. 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abraham, The Patriarch, 185 
 Acre and Yard, The, 291 
 Adam and Eve, Personnel of, l8l 
 AduUam, The Cave — AduUamites, 
 
 I. 
 Esthetics and ^stheticians, 302 
 "Ah, his Trumpeter is Dead," 35 
 Ancestors, Our, as Legislators, 114 
 ApoUonius of Tyana, 206 
 Apostle Spoons, 258 
 Arabian Nights, The, 364 
 Arms and Crests, 81 
 "Arms of the Sea," 173 
 Art, English, On, 309 
 Art-Teaching, On, 304 
 Art, Works of, Important Sales 
 
 0^313 
 Artillery Company, The, 257 
 As Rich as a Jew, 66 
 " As Lazy as Laurence," 66 
 Ascension Day, Observance of, 213 
 Assent, Royal, 81 
 Assurance, Policies of, 287 
 Aztecs, Reputed, 189 
 
 " Babes in the Wood," The, 340 
 Bacon, Friar, and his Brazen Head, 
 
 357 
 Ballot Bill, The, 115 
 Banbury Cross, Legend of, 338 
 Banks, Sir Edward, 56 
 Barber's Forfeits, 232 
 Bayle's Dictionary, 327 
 Beating the Bounds, 214 
 Beauty and Sublimity ; What are 
 
 they? 303 
 
 Bedding, Medieval, 230 
 
 "Begin at the Beginning," 36 
 
 Beltaine Fires, 140 
 
 Beware of Beer, 242 
 
 Bills of Exchange, Law of, 175 
 
 Birth at Sea, 114 
 
 Black Guards, 67 
 
 Black Monday, 210 
 
 Blue, The Colour, 324 
 
 Blue Beard, Story of, 34S 
 
 "Bo to a Goose, Cry," 21 
 
 Boar's Head Custom, • at Oxford, 
 
 216 
 Bomba, King, 59 
 Bondman and Villein, 42 
 Book Amateurs, 89 
 Books of the Bank, 282 
 Borde, Dr. Andrew, 151 
 Bows and Arrows, 256 
 Brewster, Sir D., on Ghosts, 136- 
 Bride of Lammermoor, The, 260 
 British Empire, The Sun never Sets 
 
 on the, 68 
 Brummagem in a Ballad, 12 
 Brunswick Dynasty, The, 80 
 Buchan's Domestic Medicine, 331 
 Buncombe, What is it ? 32 
 Burning of Hair, 132 
 Burying in Cross Roads, 124 
 Byron, Lord, his Religious Belief, 
 
 201 
 
 " Canada," The Word, 39 
 Candlemas Day, 2H 
 Canonbury Tower, Islington, 228 
 Castle of Otranto, Story of, 363 
 
38o 
 
 Index. 
 
 Cant and Celt, On, i6 
 Cant and Slang, Distinction of, 14 
 Cat, Has it Nine Lives ? 65 
 Catholics and Roman Catholics, 194 
 " Caucus," The. term, 62 
 Caxton, How to tell one, 325 
 Censorship of the Drama, 179 
 Chapter and Verse, 320 
 Charities of " Dog Smith," 220 
 Chesterfield's Letters, 366 
 Chignons, Antiquity of, 152 
 Childhood, Early, 264 
 Christians, The Early, 252 
 Church Bells, 207 
 Church Disputes, 202 
 Clameur de Haro, 7 
 Clericus — Clerk, 198 
 Clincher Story, 306 
 Clique ; What is it ? 5 
 Cinderella, Origin of, 336 
 Cobbett's Nicknames, 57 
 Cockades, and who may use them, 
 
 go 
 Cocked Hat, Antiquity of, 221 
 Cocker's Arithmetic, 360 
 Coffins, Use of, 159 
 Coinage, The British, 295 
 Coinage, Spurious, 273 
 Coins, Modem English History of, 
 
 298 
 Coins, Popular and Unpopular, 271 
 College Expelises, 289 
 Cometic Prophecy, 147 
 Conscience Money, What is it ? 278 
 Conservartive, The term, 9 
 Contemporary, The term, 44 
 Cooking his Goose, 22 
 Copyholds, Enfranchisement of, 
 
 178 
 Copyright Act, The, 113 
 Coral, Children's, 138 
 Coronation Banquet of George IV. , 
 
 77 
 Costumes, Judicial, 108 
 Cottage Homes of England, 249 
 Council, CEcumenical, 199 
 Cousins, First Marriage of, 103 
 Crooked Money, Luck of, 274 
 Cross, Inscriptions on the, 195 
 
 Crown, Origin of the, 75 
 Cuckoo, Dr. Jenner on, 150 
 Cuckoo Lore, 148 
 ' ' Curious, " The word, 54 
 Czar, The Title of, 85 
 
 Days of the Week in Past Ages, 
 
 290 
 " Deaf as a Beetle,'' 24 
 Death, Reflections on, 267 
 Derby, The, "the Blue Ribbon of 
 
 the Turf," 53 
 Distaff and Spindle, The, 222 
 Diversions of Purley, The, 367 
 Divining Rod, The, 126 
 Dolphins and Porpoises eaten, 156 
 Dragon, History of, 100 
 Drinking Cups, Monkish, 218 
 Dutch Custom, 154 
 
 Easter Eggs, 244 
 
 Education of Children, 268 
 
 Education ; What is it ? 45 
 
 Eggs as Food, 242 
 
 England a Nation of Shopkeepers, 
 
 II 
 England, Queen of, 78 
 English Art, On, 309 
 English Language, The, 316 
 English, Pronunciation of, 316 
 English Succession, The, 82 
 Esquires, Who are ? 90 
 Etruscan Antiquities, 314 
 E O, Game of, 124 , ' 
 
 Evil Eye in Egypt, 189 
 Exchange, The Royal, 288 
 Exchequer Tally, The, 285 
 
 Fair Rosamond, Her History, 352 
 Fairford Windows, The, 307 
 Faith ; What is it? 200 
 Falconry in England, 220 
 Farthing and Mite, The, 282 
 Farthing, Queen Anne's, 281 
 Fashions of the Fourteenth Cen- 
 tury, 231 
 Fatherland and Mother Tongue, S 
 "Fiddlestick," 68 
 " Finality," Lord John Russell, 59 
 
Index. 
 
 381 
 
 Flashmen, On, 23 
 "Flittings," On, 23 
 Florin and Noble, The, 298 
 Forest of Bondy and Dog of Mon- 
 
 targis, 127 
 Forgery and Flash Notes, 125 
 Fourth Estate, The, 118 
 Franciscan Friars in England, 208 
 Freemasonry ; What is it? 93 
 Friday in Scotland, 137 
 Funds, The Public, 297 
 
 Gardens, Love of, 241 
 Generation ; What is it ? 114 
 Genesis, Book of, 181 
 George, St., and the Dragon 
 
 Legend, 86 
 Ghosts, Sir D. Brewster on, 136 
 Giants in Guildhall, History of the, 
 
 341 
 Gil Bias and Telemaque, On, 325 
 Gipsies and Bohemians, 142 
 Gipsies, Number of, 143 
 Girondists, English, 1 1 
 Glass- painting Extraordinary, 315 
 Glastonbury Abbey Chair, 231 
 Gold Coins, 282 
 
 Gold and Silver Legal Marks, 276 
 Goldsmith's Animated Nature, 369 
 Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, 
 
 367 
 " Good Old Times," The, 41 
 Goods, Non-delivery of, 174 
 Goose ; Why eaten at Michaelmas? 
 
 247 
 Government and People, 10 
 Gral and Coral, On, 137 
 Graptoniancy, On, 317 
 Greenlander's "Hereafter," 155 
 Guinea and Pound, 280 
 
 Habeas Corpus Act ; how carried, 
 no 
 
 Habeas Corpus Act ; its provi- 
 sions, 112 
 
 Hair Standing on End, 134 
 
 Halberd, The, 53 
 
 Halifax Maiden, The, 126 
 
 Handwriting, On, 317 
 
 Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered, 
 116 
 
 Happiness ; What is it ? 269 
 
 Haymaking, Olden, 221 
 
 Heir to the Tlyrone always in Op- 
 position, 82 
 
 Heirlooms ; What are they? 107 
 
 Heraldry, Value of, 92 
 
 Hercules, Pillars of, 70 
 
 Historical Pottery, 248 
 
 Hock-tide, Festival of, 254 
 
 Holidays, Keeping, 234 
 
 Hopkins, Matthew, the Witch- 
 finder, 128 
 
 Hornbook, History of the, 374 
 
 "Hottentot," The word, 38 
 
 Housebreaker, The, 157 
 
 Hudibras, Butler's, 330 
 
 Hue and Cry, Origin of, 117 
 
 Huguenots, The, 39 
 
 Hume's History of England, 328 
 
 Hundreds and Tithings, 17,7 
 
 Inns, Old English, 228 
 Interments, Royal, l5o 
 " Interview, To," 29 
 "Ireland," Origin of, 40 
 
 Jack the Giant Killer, Story of, 
 
 349 
 Jerusalem, Gardens of, 192 
 Jews and Egyptians, 188 
 Joanna Southcote and the Statute 
 
 of Mortmain, 162 
 John Gilpin's Ride, 374 
 "Jolly as Sandboys," 26 
 Jonathan, Brother, 29 
 Juries, Serving on, 177 
 Joseph of Arimathsea, Legend of, 
 
 71 
 
 Kensington Gore, 120 
 Kentish Tails, 223 
 Kentish Twins, The, 225 
 Key and the Bible, 148 
 Kilkenny Cats, The, 20 
 Kilt, Antiquity of the, 32 
 "King," Origin of, 73 
 King's Statue, 76 
 
383 
 
 Index. 
 
 Labour and Wages temp. Henry 
 
 VIII., 290 
 Ladies' Chignons, Antiquity of, 
 
 152 
 Lammermoor, Bride of, 260 
 Latin, Pronunciation of, 50 
 Latin Quotations, 50 
 Lawyers, Jewish, 193 
 Leather Bottle, The, 250 
 Legacy, Lost, 176 
 Legal Right to a Dead Body, 113 
 Legality of Wagers, 171 
 Legends, Mediaeval, Max MuUer 
 
 on, 183 
 Length of the Law, 152 
 Letter- writing. On, 319 
 Letter-writing Difficulties, 320 
 Liberalize and Liberal, 4 
 Life; What is it? 266 
 Lightning, Form and Colour of, 
 
 315 
 Likeness, Unfortunate, 100 
 Lingard's History of England, 329 
 Liveries, Origin of, 248 
 Living in the Fourteenth Centuiy, 
 
 122 
 Locofocos, American, 17 
 Lot's Wife, 186 
 Loving Cup and Drinking Healths, 
 
 21S 
 Lunacy Law, Ancient and Mo- 
 dern, 175 
 Lyttelton's History of England, 
 
 327- 
 
 Majesty, Title of, 74 
 
 Manners, Mediaeval, 229 
 
 Marks, Legal, Gold and Silver, 
 
 276 
 Marriage Act, Royal, 104 
 Marriage of First Cousins, 103 
 Marriages, Irregular in Scotland, 
 
 Marriages, Morganatic, too 
 
 Merry Andrew, The First, 151 
 
 Michaelmas Goose Dinner, 245 
 
 Mile, The, 291 
 
 Mint Marks, The, 276 
 
 " Mistletoe Bough, The," 262 
 
 Mistletoe and Shamrock, 146 
 
 Mistletoe Superstitions and Nor- 
 wood Gipsies, 144 
 
 Mitre, Origin of the, 82 
 
 Moabite Stone, The, 184 
 
 Monarchs, English, Succession of, 
 76 
 
 Money, Conscience ; What is it ? 
 278 
 
 Money, Pound of, 279 
 
 Money, Value of, 253 
 
 Mortmain Statute and Joanna 
 Southcote, 162 
 
 Mothering Sunday, 212 
 
 Munchausen, Baron, Travels of, 
 
 344 
 Muscular Christianity; What is it ? 
 
 71 
 Mystery, The, 197 
 
 Name, Change of, 88 
 "Navvy," The word, 56 
 Needle's Eye and Camel, 204 
 Negligence ; What is it ? 171 
 Netting, Art of, 24S 
 Nice Point, Z05 
 Nicknames, Political, 57 
 "No," The word, 65 
 Noah's Ark, On, 182 
 
 Old Lordly Rule, The, 215 
 "Outrigger," The word, 55 
 Oxford Slang, 15 
 
 Panic, Money, of 1S32, 298 
 Parent and Child, Law of, 176 
 Parliaments, Nicknamed, 97 
 Parliament, Seats in. Sale of, 99 
 Partington, Mrs., and Her Mop, 
 
 64 
 Penny, The, 281 
 Penny Post 170 Years Ago, 239 
 Pentateuch, On the, 187 
 Peppercorn Rent ; What is it? 124 
 Perjury, Punishment for, 174 
 Peter Wilkins, Adventures of, 363 
 Pews in Churches, 254 
 Pews, Early History of, 203 
 Pharmaceutical or Pharmakeutical? 
 
 50 
 
Index. 
 
 SH 
 
 Philippics, The Name, 67 
 Philistinism ; What is it? 32 
 Phrases, Popular Historic, 60 
 Piepoudre, Court of, 108 
 Pilgrim's Progress, The, 332 
 Policies of Assurance, 287 
 Political Drifts, 3 
 Pope's Money-changers, 288 
 Positivism ; What is it ? 27 
 "Potwalloper," The Term, 62 
 Pound of Money, 279 
 Predictions Realized, 77 
 Pre-existence, Sense of, 133 
 Primer and the Hornbook, 374 
 Progress, The Word, 36 
 Psaltery ; What is it ? 2ig 
 Publican, The, 193 
 Punishment of Year, Day, and 
 Waste, 131 
 
 Q, The Letter, 47 
 Quit-Rents, 288 
 
 Raisers, A Society of, 172 
 
 " Rape " of Land, 42 
 
 Red Sea, Name of, 90 
 
 Reform Bill, The, 179 
 
 Religion, Science of, 203 
 
 Religious Belief, 205 
 
 Rent, Origin of, 292 
 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, His Last 
 
 Lecture, 312 
 Roads and Footpaths, Rule of, 109 
 Robin Hood, Story of, 355 
 Robinson' Crusoe, Adventures of, 
 
 361 
 Rodomontade, The Epithet, 34 
 Rose, The Golden, 87 
 Royal Academy, The, 310 
 
 Salary, Origin of, 286 
 
 Sales, Important, of Works of 
 
 Art, 315 
 San Real, 139 
 
 Saxon Household Servant?, 233 
 Sayings, 270 
 
 Science and Education, 46 
 Science at Home, 47 
 Scots' Money, 275 
 
 Sculpture, British, 311 
 " Selah," The word, 200 
 Sense of Pre-existence, 133 
 Shoes and Slippers, Luck of, 223 
 Short-hand and Long-hand, 321 
 Signs -f and — , Origin of, 197 
 Signatures, Royal, 74 
 "Sixes and Sevens, At," 34 
 Skedaddle, The term, 31 
 Snufftaker's Will, 236 
 Solomon's Temple, 191 
 Social Life of the Last Century, 
 
 227 
 Spectacles, Choice of, 259 
 Spiritualists, The, 135 
 Spoons, Antiquity of, 227 
 St. Elois, Patron Goldsmith of 
 
 France, 307 
 St. Luke ; Was he a Painter? 305 
 Star-spangled Banner of the Great 
 
 Republic, 87 
 " Statute of Limitations,'' 123 
 " Stopping the Supplies," 8 
 Strange Family, The, 249 
 "Sun, The, never Sets on the 
 
 British Empire," 68 
 Sunday in the Country, 266 
 Swaddlers, The, 201 
 "Swobbers" at Cards, 25 
 
 Table-turning, Bentham on, 135 
 "Taking a Sight, "25 
 Talented, The Adjective, 44 
 Talleyrand, Phrases by, 60, 61 
 Tally, Exchequer, 285 
 Teetotal, Origin of, i8 
 Telegram, The Term, 44 
 Tender in Payment, 286 
 Tenure Custom, Curious, 121 
 Testimonials, Giving, 172 
 Thimble, The, 222 
 Thomhill, Sir James, the Painter, 
 
 306 
 Thought and Action, Intellect of, 
 
 4- 
 Toasts and Sentiments, On, 16 
 Tobacco, Early Use of, 234 
 Tom Hickathrift, Story of, 346 
 Torii Thumb, Story of, 347 
 
384 
 
 Index. 
 
 Torture, Punishment of in Eng- 
 land, 165 
 Trance, A Long One, 146 
 Travelling In Old Times, 265 
 Treasure Trove, 284 
 Treasury, Of the, 283 
 Trimmer, Character of, 63 
 Tristram Shandy, 365 
 Trump Card, The, 238 
 "Turncoat," The word, 8 
 Turner, J. M. W., His Success 
 
 Foretold, 313 
 Turnpike, First in England, 240 
 Tyrant, Meaning of, 6 
 
 Usury in Scripture, 282 
 
 Vicar of Wakefield, The, 367 
 "Viking," Derivation of, 41 
 Villein and Bondman, 42 
 Virtue, Jocose, 19 
 Voting, Secret, 115 
 
 Wager of Battle in 1 81 7, 119 
 
 Wakes, On, 251 
 
 Wandering Jew, The, 334 
 
 Wealth, Evils of, 294 
 
 Weights and Measures, French and 
 
 English, 923 
 Whist, Origin of, 236 
 Whig and Tory, 9 
 Whitsuntide, Origin of, 122 
 "Whole Duty of Man," Who 
 
 wrote? 333 
 Wife, a Rare One, 269 
 "Without Prejudice," 117 
 Wives, Anglo-Saxon, 233 
 Women, Fortitude of, 265 
 Words, Picturesque, 48 
 Word-painting, 48 
 
 Yankee, The term, 29 
 Yeoman, The term, 43 
 Young England, Origin of, 28 
 
 GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, LONDON. 
 
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