|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4566) (tudalen 240)
|
240 Names of
Persons and Places.
Cock, both as a surname standing alone, and probably in many of these
compounds, has escaped their investigations, nor has it been suggested by any
other correspondent.
Permit me, therefore, to point out that this name is of frequent occurrence
in the antient records of this country, under the various forms of Coc, Koc,
and le CoK, le Cog', etc., answering, in fact, to the Latin coquus, more
usually in the Middle Ages written cocus; and whilst the greater number of
the descendants of these ancient professors of the culinary art have modified
their orthography with the times, to Coke, or Cooke, or Cook (and these are
still very frequent surnames among us), others have evidently retained the
final c, and thus assimilated their name to the victims, instead of the
lords, of the kitchen. Hence we proceed to Cock, and Cocks, and Cox.
In the Great Roll of the Exchequer, for 25 Hen. III., 1241, I have found Adam
Coc (sometimes Cok), evidently the King's Cook, at Clarendon Palace, near
Salisbury, commissioned by the King to superintend certain repairs there, and
to instruct the workmen, so that the kitchens and stable might be inclosed
within the outer wall:
“In magna porta amovenda, et ea in alio loco ponenda, sicut Adam Coc ex parte
R. ei dixit, ita quod coquine et stabulum sint infra clausum, c et xv li viii
s. x d"
So late as 1503, we find the name spelt Cok on a sepulchral brass at
Blickling, Norfolk. (Blomefield, xi. 405.)
Now this clue will clearly explain some of the names which terminate in
-cock, as Meacock, the meat-cook; Salcock, the salt meat cook; Slocock, the
slow-cook; Badcock, the imperfect cook; and Grocock, the gross or wholesale
cook, who kept a cook's shop. Or Grocock may be le gros coc, or fat cook. And
those compounded with Christian names are thus readily accounted for: Wilcox
will be William the cook; Hancock, Johan the cook (not Anne, for cooks were more
frequently male than female); Sandercock, Alexander the cook; Jeffcock,
Jeffrey the cook, etc. The Allcocks may be descended from Hal the cook,
unless their great ancestor was aule cocus, the Hallcook.
At the same time, it is evident that some names of this class have originated
in other ways. Some, no doubt are of local origin, as Laycock, from Lacock in
Wiltshire. Baldcock is perhaps a corruption of Baldock, the town in
Hertfordshire. Adcock is possibly derived from at-Cote, like at-Hill, at-
Wood, etc. Compounds of Cote are frequent in the West of England, and we have
them from all four quarters of the compass, Northeote, Southcote, Eastcote,
and Westcote. On the other hand, Mallcott may be a conversion from le mat
coc, and so be synonymous with Badcock.
It must also be allowed that some of the families of Cock have been named
after the bird; and there are various reasons why such a soubriquet should be
given to persons of a vain, or noisy, or pugnacious
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4567) (tudalen 241)
|
Surnames
Terminating in Cock. 241
disposition. Old Stowe also helps us to another and more honourable origin
the practice of early rising. He tells us that among the earliest benefactors
to Christ's Hospital in London, was “one Richard Castel, alias Casteller,
shoomaker, dwelling in Westminster, a man of great travaile and labour in his
faculty with his owne hands, and such a one as was named, The Cocke of
Westminster, because, both winter and summer, hee was at his worke before
foure of the clocke in the morning."
There is a highly respectable family which bears the name of Cockerell. Here
the allusion to the bird is undeniable; Dr. Littleton, in his Latin
Dictionary, interprets the word “pullaster “as “a young cockerel, or a little
dwarf cock." Shakespeare, in his Tempest, Act ii., sc. i, has applied
these terms to human characters:
Antonio. Which, of he, or Adrian, for a good wager, first begins to crow?
Sebastian. The old cock. Antonio. The cockrel. Sebastian. Done!
J. G. N. New Names to Old Streets.
[181 1, Part //.,/. 238.]
In your last Supplement, p. 634, A. Z. notices the practice of giving new
names to old streets in this Metropolis. Some, perhaps, have been changed for
more reputable names, as the streets have been improved by more respectable
inhabitants: such as Poor Jewrylane; Cow-lane, Smithfield; Petty France,
Westminster, now called York-street, etc.; but however modernized, I
understand the old name is retained in the parish books.
There is another point with regard to new streets which I have noticed, and
that is, the Orthography. I will mention two, which I have recently observed,
both leading into Russel-square: at one end of Guildford-street the d is
omitted, and to Montagu-street the e is added; to prove that both are
incorrect, it is only necessary to mention, that the first is named after the
town in Surrey, the latter from the name and title of the Duke, who built
Montagu-house, now the British Museum. The builders of streets think of
profit, and to give a fashionable name; with propriety, or orthography, they
have nothing to do, and the work is left to an ignorant painter; but I think
the better-informed resident, against whose house the erroneous word is
painted, should have it corrected, and this I should certainly do if the case
were my own. Allow a short illustration: I was lately at Brighton; in passing
down a street, a painter was at work, to name a court or passage; he had
proceeded, "Belle Sav." "Hold," said I, "my friend,
you intend to make the v a u." “No;" was the reply. “Then you
should omit the e in Bell, otherwise you will paint an English to a French
word; either let it be ' Bell-Savage,' or ' Belle-Sauvage.' “ Said the man,
“I suppose you are right, but I must follow my in- ,
16
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4568) (tudalen 242)
|
242 Names of
Persons and Places.
structions on this paper; for myself, I am ignorant of language, and thought
I was following the directions of those who knew better."
Yours, etc., I. T.
The following (among many others) are the former and present names of places
inquired after by A. Z., p. 634; but the times when such alterations took
place I am not able to state.
Former Names. Present Names.
Hog Lane, St. Giles's - - Crown Street, Soho.
Hedge Lane, Charing Cross - - Whitcombe Street. Tyburn Road, from
Mary-le-bone ) Q , , ~
Lane to the Turnpike - { L
Crabtree Street, from Tottenham ) Goodge Street and Charles
Court Road to Titchfield Street ) Street Dyot Street, St. Giles's - - George
Street.
Panton Street, Coventry Street - Arundel Street, Panton Square. Coney Court,
Gray's Inn - Gray's Inn Square.
Grange Street, Theobald's Road - Green Street. Mutton Hill, Clerkenwell -
Vine Street
Place > and Fole y Street '
Cow Lane and Duck
Lane, Smith- J Ring ^^ &nd Duke
Yours, etc., R. M RR IT.
Resemblance of the Names of British Rivers.
[1831, PartL, pp. 395-399-1
It is indisputably certain that the western countries of Europe were formerly
in the possession of the Celtic nation, who not only inhabited those parts
which border on the British isles, but extended so far that Ptolemy and
Ephorus have denominated Europe "Celtica."
“We see every nation in Europe," says General Vallancey, “looking up to
the Celtic as their mother tongue." M. Boullet, in his essay on the
Celtic language, states, that the Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, English,
Swedish, Runic, Anglo-Saxon, and other languages owe their origin to this.
Edward Llwyd, a celebrated Welsh scholar, and well acquainted with Irish,
finding that the names of places, lands, waters, hills and dales in this
island were in the Irish language, supposed that Britain must formerly have
been occupied by that people. Having mentioned that the Cantabrian, the
Welsh, and the Irish languages have great affinity, he adds, “Whoever takes
notice of a great many names of rivers and mountains throughout the kingdom,
will find no reason to doubt, but that the Irish must have been the
inhabitants when those names were imposed upon them."
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4569) (tudalen 243)
|
Resemblance of the
Names of British Rivers. 24-5
Stukeley had the same opinion. “At this very day," says he, in his Essay
on Stonehenge, "in Wales they call every antiquated appearance beyond
memory 'Irish.' In the north they call old foundations ' Peights-houses.'
Every thing is Pictish whose origin they do not know. These people are
conscious that they are not the aborigines."
Camden, speaking of the difference of names, says, “We ourselves in England
are called by the Welchmen, ' Irishmen,' and the highland Scots ' Sassons.' “
The signification of a few of the names of rivers which occur in Great Britain,
has been copied in the present paper from O'Connors Chronicles; the rest are
mentioned merely on account of the similarity of their construction.
The Avon, a British word for a river, pronounced by the Irish Aune, gives
name to
1. The Stratford Avon, which rising near Naseby in Northamptonshire, passes
Rugby, Warwick, and Stratford, and falls into the Severn at Tewksbury.
2. The Salisbury Avon, rising near Great Bedwin in Wilts, falls into the
English Channel at Christchurch Bay.
3. The Lower Avon rises at Tetbury in Gloucestershire, and passing
Chippenham, Bath, and Bristol, falls into the Severn.
4. The Avon in Monmouthshire, which falls into the Usk at Caerleon.
5. The Avon of Devonshire.
6. The Avon in Merionethshire falls into the sea at Barmouth.
7. The Avon in Glamorganshire falls into the Severn near Neath.
8. The Little Avon in Gloucestershire, rising at Chipping Sodbury, falls into
the Severn at Berkely.
9. The Avon in Stirlingshire falls into the Forth.
10. The Aven in Banffshire falls into the Spey.
11. The Aven in Lanarkshire falls into the Clyde. The Aven also occurs in
Bretagny.
The Nen is the ancient Aufona.
The Alan, from Al Aune, the Great River, occurs in Cornwall.
The Allan is in Denbighshire.
Alaunus, or Alne, in Northumberland, flows into the sea.
The Allen in Dorsetshire.
The Alon in Northumberland flows into the Tyne.
The Allen in Flintshire.
The Alne in Warwickshire.
The Tay in Scotland, is derived from Taoi, winding. So meandering are these
waters, that the stream is redundantly called by those who do not understand
the meaning of the name, “The winding Tay." The river Theiss or Tobiske,
the western limit of the Daci, is of the same name, as well as the Taw or
Tajus in Portugal, and
1 6 a
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4570) (tudalen 244)
|
244 Names of
Persons and Places.
many rivers in the lands of the Silures, and the Tees of the Brigantes, all
named by the same race.*
From “Taoi," winding, also is derived the Towy of Wales. The Tay is
found in China. The Taw is in Devonshire, and the Tavy and Tamai of the same
county is probably Ta Vech and Ta Maur, “the Great and Little Tay." The
Tees occurs again in Hampshire.
The Dart is from “Dorta," poured out with violence.
The Camel in Cornwall, and Cam in Cambridgeshire, from “Cam," crooked.
The Cam occurs again in Gloucestershire. There is a river called the Kama in
Russia.
The Thames is derived from “Tarn," still or quiet. The river Temes gives
name to Temeswar in Hungary. The Teme flows into the Severn near Worcester;
the Tame runs through Staffordshire; the Taume is a river of Yorkshire and
Lancashire.
The Axe, which occurs in Somerset and Dorsetshire, is from “Uisge," water,
from which are derived the rivers Esk, and the Exe or Isca.
The Clyst, from “Clist," swift.
From “Tave," still, quiet, which is properly spelt Tarn, is derived the
Tave, and perhaps the Tavy. The Tave occurs in Caermarthen and
Brecknockshire. The Tava flows into the Danube; another river of the same
name in Moravia, empties itself into the Morava.
In Monmouthshire, the Rhymny is Rannwye, “the Water of Division," from
the Iberian Ranu, “Division," and the British word “Wye," a river.
The Rhee, a Saxon term for a river, rises at Ashwell in Hertfordshire; the
Rhea is a river of Worcestershire; the Rea in Shropshire; the Rhie in
Yorkshire runs into the Derwent; in classical Geography the Rha flows into
the Tanais; the Rha is the ancient name of the Volga.
The Dee in Scotland runs through Kircudbrightshire; another river of the same
name passes Aberdeen; the Dee in Wales runs through Merioneth and Cheshire;
the latter is supposed to mean “Holy Water."
In Wales the Cledaugh is from “Clodach," dirty, or slimy.
The Munnou, from “Min," Iberian for smooth, and the British Wye, a
river. The Minho of Spain is from the same. The Minio, also in Italy, now the
Mignone, falls into the Tuscan sea.
The Dore of Herefordshire, from “Duor," water; from the same derivation
is the Douro of Spain, and the ancient Dur of Ireland; as well as the four
English rivers Derwent. The Duranius or Dordogne falls into the Garonne, and
the Dora into the Po.
The Lug, from “Luga," the lesser, in comparison with the Wye.
The Lon of Lancaster, from Lonn, “strong, fretful;" the Lune runs
through Durham.
* O'Connor's Chronicles, i. 335.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4571) (tudalen 245)
|
Resemblance of the
Names of British Rivers. 245
The Ken from Cean, “the Head," occurs in Kircudbright, Westmoreland, and
Devonshire. The Kennett from "Cen Tath," the river at the head of
the land, occurs in Wiltshire and Cambridgeshire.
The Abus or Humber, from “Aibeis," an estuary.
The Swale, from “Suet," leaping.
The Calder, “Cal Duor," the water that encloses. This river divided the
Brigantes of Lancaster and York.
The Wharf, from "Garbh," rough or boisterous.
The Gare or Yare runs through Norfolk; and another river of that name is in
the Isle of Wight.
The Loder, from “Laider," strong.
The Eimot, from “Eim," quick.
Loch Lomond, “Loc Lo Aman," a lake, the water of which is the expansion
of a river. The same name as Lacus Lemannus, the Lake of Geneva, and Loc
Leiman, the Lake of Killarney.
The Ouse, from “Uisge," water, occurs in Yorkshire, Huntingdon, and
Sussex. The Ousa is in Siberia, the Great Owzen in Russia. The Isis springs
in Gloucestershire, the Ise in Lunenburg, in Lower Saxony, flows into the
Weser; the Oise occurs in Holland; in France the Oise falls into the Seine.
The Adur occurs in Sussex; the Adour flows into the sea near Bayonne.
The Brent is a river of Middlesex. The Brant of Anglesey rises near
Beaumaris. The Brenta runs through the Venetian territory; the Brentz is a
river of Wirtemberg, which falls into the Danube.
The river Colne occurs in Middlesex and Essex; the Colun or Clun is in
Shropshire.
The Don gives name to Doncaster in Yorkshire; another river of this name runs
near Aberdeen. The Don of Eastern Europe is supposed to be derived from
“Duna," a Median term for a river.
The Cher is a river of France; the Char runs through Dorsetshire; the Ceira
occurs near Coimbra in Spain.
The Cherwell falls into the Isis.
The Ivel falls into the Ouse in Bedfordshire; another Ivel occurs in
Somersetshire.
The Mease falls into the Trent near Derby; the Maese is a river of Holland;
the Meuse of France falls into the Rhine; the Muesa of Switzerland falls into
the Ticino.
The Lee runs through Hertfordshire, and also occurs in Cheshire. In Ireland
the Lee flows near Cork; the Ley occurs in Holland.
The Oke is a river of Devonshire; the Oak of Berkshire; the Ochus is in Asia.
The Wye, signifying “water," occurs in Monmouthshire and Derbyshire. The
Wey is a river of Dorsetshire; another Wey of Surrey falls into the Thames.
"And chalky Whey that rolls a milky wave."
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4572) (tudalen 246)
|
246 Names of
Persons and Places.
The Eider is a river of Ireland; the Eyder, of Denmark.
The Laine of Cornwall runs into the Camel; the Lane is a rivet in Kerry; the
Lahn flows into the Rhine.
The Sure passes Waterford; the Sure also empties itself into the Moselle in
Luxembourgh.
The Stour occurs in Warwickshire, Dorset, Worcestershire, Suffolk,
Cambridgeshire, and Kent. Nearchus, by the command of Alexander the Great,
sailed down the Stour, a branch of the Indus. The Stura falls into the Po.
The Senus is one of the ancient rivers of Ireland; the Saone flows into the
Rhone; the Seine passes Paris.
The Rother occurs in Yorkshire, Sussex, and Kent; the City of Rotterdam takes
its name from the Rotte, which there flows into the Maese. The Roth falls
into the Inn.
The Leche of Gloucestershire falls into the Thames; the Lichus or Lech in
Germany flows into the Danube; the Lick of East Prussia flows into the
Vistula.
The Laden is a river of Durham; the Ladon is in Arcadia.
From Dobh, pronounced Dhove, “the Swelling Flood," is probably derived
the Dove of Derbyshire, and the Dove or Dyffi of Merioneth.
The Frome occurs in Herefordshire, Dorset, and Somersetshire.
The Nid is a river of Yorkshire; the Nidus or Nith of Dumfries; the Neath of
Glamorgan.
The Usk of Monmouthshire is from “Uisge," water; the Uzka flows into the
Dneister. The Wiske is a river of Yorkshire, a river whose name bears a
closer resemblance to "Uisge." The Aisch occurs in Franconia.
The Clyde, a river of Flintshire, occurs again at Glasgow.
The Villy runs into the Nith, in Scotland; a similar river, the Willy, gave
name to Wilton and Wiltshire.
The Ure is a river of Yorkshire; a stream of the same name falls into the
Moselle.
The Tone gives name to Taunton in Somersetshire; the Tun to Tunbridge in
Kent.
The Tyne occurs in Northumberland and Cumberland. The Teino flows by Pavia
into the Po. The Teign in Devonshire falls into the sea at Teignmouth.
The Clare, a name of a river in Suffolk, occurs again in Ireland.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4573) (tudalen 248)
|
Signs of fnnsy
Etc.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4574) (tudalen 249)
|
SJGNS OF INNS,
ETC.
On Sign-Posts.
[1738, //. 526, 527.]
OUR countrymen display their genius and tempers in several respects, upon
their Sign-Posts, particularly in their Mottoes and Inscriptions.
Though nothing is more common in England than the Sign of a Cannon,
especially in our seaport towns, I never saw the French king's inscription
upon it, “Ratio ultima Regum;" nor that of Oliver Cromwel, which, I
think, infinitely more expressive, viz., "O Lord, open thou my lips, and
my mouth shall show forth Thy praise." This I observe with pleasure,
because it would certainly be inexcusable at present, when we scorn to make
use of such brutish, unphilosophical arguments, as the “mouth of a
cannon." No, the mouths of our Ministers and Ambassadors have been long
found, by experience, to be more rational and prevailing. Several other
peculiarities of a nation may be discovered by the choice of their Signs, and
the Inscriptions upon them.
As first, their wit and art in drawing customers to their houses. As for
instance:
"The best Drink under the Sun."
"Search all the Town over, and you'll find good Ale at the Last" At
a little house in the road to Hounslow:
“Poor Jack striving to Live." In that called the King's Road to Fulham:
“The Snail is slow, And I am low; So What d'ye think? Pray stop and
drink."
Besides this skill and address, in drawing customers to their houses, they
likewise show a true judgment of the world; particularly in the
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4575) (tudalen 250)
|
250 Signs of Inns.
following inscription, which is very common, both in town and country:
“Drink here, and drown all sorrow. Pay to-day, and trust to-morrow."
Which might be applied to much higher people than poor Alehouse tiplers; and
I believe some of the best tradesmen in this town would be obliged to me, if
I could inculcate the same maxims into the minds of their premier customers.
Secondly, the Religion and Loyalty of the English people are equally
discovered upon their Signs, and the mottoes upon them.
As to Loyalty, what is so common as the sign of the King's Head, or the
King's Arms? And when we happen to have a popular Prince of Wales, like the
Black Prince, to mention no others, the Feathers arc equally common, and
sometimes even predominant.
I am not antiquary enough to account how the Bell originally happened to have
this venerable motto inscribed upon it: “Fear God, and honour the King;"
but it being grown trite, a jovial innkeeper, a great lover of poetry,
desired a reverend and facetious divine, his customer, to turn the same motto
into verse. The man had but little room on his Sign; and yet, being
postmaster, insisted upon having his loyalty fully expressed; so that the
worthy clergyman was obliged to leave out the “fear of God," and happily
executed the other part, in the following beautiful tetrastick:
“Let the King Live long; Dong ding, Ding dong."
The people of England are a nation of politicians, from the first minister
down to the cobler, and peculiarly remarkable for hanging out their
principles upon their sign-posts. Of this almost every street in London gives
us abundant instances; but I think the most curious is at a little alehouse
on the road to Greenwich, where there is the sign of a man, pretty corpulent,
with his legs straddling upon two hogsheads, and this motto under it:
“Stand fast, Sir Robert"
I could not read this without trembling for the poor man, and am really
surprised that Mr. P xt n hath not yet taken due notice of it; for what can
be more easy than to lay an information against the master of the house, in
the usual form, setting forth, “that the said alehouse-keeper, being a
seditious person, and wickedly and maliciously devising to vilify and traduce
the Government of our Sovereign Lord the King, did on the day of publish, or
cause to be
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4576) (tudalen 251)
|
On Sign-Posts. 251
published, a
certain scandalous and seditious sign; viz., a corpulent man straddling
between two hogsheads (inuendo, Sir Robert Walpole); stand fast (inuendo,
that he is at present in a tottering condition); against the peace of our
Sovereign Lord the King, his crown and dignity, to the great scandal of those
employed in the administration of his government, in contempt of the laws,
etc."? A thousand witnesses might be produced to prove that such a sign,
with such an inscription, is actually exhibited to public view; and if the
poor man should happen to be tried by a special jury, I am at a loss to guess
what defence he could make against Mr. Attorney-General's innuendoes.
Signs of Inns, Etc.
[1818, Part I., pp. 225-228.]
I never pass through any town, that I have not frequently travelled through
before, without having my attention irresistibly attracted by the signs of
the inns; and indeed, protruding, as they generally do, from the houses, and
painted in the most gaudy colours, they seem not only to solicit but to
demand the observation of the stranger. As examples of this staring
propensity, I can adduce no less personages than Lord High Treasurer Harley
and his illustrious friend the Dean of St Patrick, the latter of whom informs
us that, as they travelled along, they
"Would gravely try to read the lines Writ underneath the country
signs."
Now I am glad of this, for I am almost as fond of authorities as the writers
in the time of our “British Solomon," James I.; one of whom, Burton,
“Democritus Junior," in his “Anatomy of Melancholy," having told us
that men naturally lament the death of a dear friend, thinks it prudent to
corroborate so disputable an assertion by quotations from Virgil, Catullus,
Lucan, Tacitus, and Ortelius. The late lamented Dr. Ferriar, of Manchester,
very satisfactorily proves that Sterne was indebted for many exquisite
passages to this hodgepodge of undigested learning and strange conceits; at the
same time it must be admitted that in several instances the alchemy of
Sterne's genius has converted Burton's lead into gold. But I am rambling
strangely frcm the object I had in view, which was to offer some remarks upon
those signs, the origin of which is becoming obscure, or which are connected
with some remarkable event. In so doing, I have very little or no claim to
originality of information or conjecture, mine being almost entirely a
compilation, and in some instances obtained from your own pages; but I have
myself derived amusement in the employment, and since the apparent absurdity
of many of the devices has excited the wit of several authors, and been the
subject of many amusing essays (see Tatler No. 18 and 87; Spectator, 28;
Adventurer, 89; World, 45; and Mirror, 82), you may not perhaps reject this
attempt “to chronicle small beer." HINYBORO.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4577) (tudalen 252)
|
252 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
ADAM AND EVE. I consider this not infrequent sign to be a vestige of
“Those shows which once profan'd the sacred page, The barb'rous ' Mysteries '
of our infant stage;"
in which Adam and Eve were among the principal of the “Dramatis
Persona?." Stow tells us that in 1409 at Clerkenwell, “The Creation of
the World “was acted by the Company of Parish Clerks before a very large
assembly, and that the performance occupied eight days. In one of the Chester
Whitsun plays, originally acted in 1328, and repeated so lately as 1600, Adam
and Eve appear in a state of complete nudity; Eve converses with the serpent;
eats of the forbidden fruit, and gives to Adam; after which they procure
coverings of fig-leaves. And all this was witnessed with composure by a
numerous assemblage of both sexes.
Dreadfully gross as these representations appear to us, is there not more
real indelicacy in the female exposure of modern days? The true test consists
in the emotions excited, or intended so to be. There is no immodesty in the
nakedness of a savage: and among our unrefined ancestors the only sentiments
occasioned by these strange spectacles were probably those of religion; but
in the ball-rooms of the 1 9th century it is almost necessary to be “more or
less than man “to escape from voluptuous imaginations. The female who thus
endeavours to obtain a husband shoots widely of the mark, for even the most
dissipated would say
“Such would I have my mistress, not my wife"
“When dressed for the evening the girls nowadays
Scarce an atom of dress on them leave. Nor blame them, for what is an evening
dress But a dress that is suited to Eve?"
Almost the only remain of the once splendid Abbey of Stratford Langton, in
Essex, consists of a beautiful arch in front of the Adam and Eve
public-house.
ALFRED'S HEAD is the appropriate sign of a principal inn at Wantage, in
Berkshire, where he was born in 849.
“Alfred thine,
In whom the splendour of heroic war, And more heroic peace, when govern'd
well, Combine; whose hallow'd name the Virtues saint, And his own Muses love;
the best of Kings!"
THOMSON.
It is not to be expected that I should attempt a history, a biography. or
even a bare enumeration of the name of every eminent person whose intended
similitude decorates the sign-posts of our public
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4578) (tudalen 253)
|
Signs of Inns,
Etc. 253
houses; but some of the most important will be noticed in alphabetical order.
Alfred fought under his brother, King Ethelred, at Ashdown, in 871, to
commemorate which victory the armorial bearing of Wessex, a white horse, was
cut, and still remains on “White Horse “hill; ascended the throne the same
year; took shelter in the isle of Athelney; visited the Danish camp in the
disguise of a harper, and obtained a complete victory at Edington, in 878;
established a powerful English fleet, and thus founded the navy of Britain in
882; defeated the Danish chieftain Hastings; restored peace to his kingdom;
divided England into counties, hundreds, and tythings; instituted the office
of sheriff; composed his Code of Laws; and established the Trial by Jury in
893; founded or restored the University of Oxford, and placed in it learned
professors, in 896; an excellent poet, a good scholar, the author and
translator of several works. Regular and devout in his religious duties, the
founder of many churches, and most exemplary in all the domestic relations,
this "good and faithful servant “exchanged his temporal for an eternal
crown, in 901.
“I decus! I nostrum!
Semper honos, nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt."
Although not a very frequent sign, yet “King Alfred," or “Alfred's
Head," is to be met with in several large towns.
ANGEL. The frequent occurrence of this figure (very often holding a coat of
arms in its hands) in our antient ecclesiastical and domestic edifices, has
probably been a principal reason of the present prevalence of this sign. Thus
a large inn at Grantham in Lincolnshire took its name from some such
representations cut in stone in front of the building, which was once a
Commandery of Knights Templars. To this also may be added that an angel is
borne as a supporter to the arms of very many noble families.
THE ARCHERS THE Bow AND ARROW. The English archers were the best in the
world, and their superiority was particularly evinced in the glorious fields
of Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt.
"It is good to have two strings to your bow," is a proverb
originating among archers, who formerly, for fear of accidents, were often
thus provided, as appears by a law of Charlemagne, issued in the year 813,
which speaks of “arcum cum duabus cordis." A ring, in the possession of
Sir John Pringle, found upon the field of battle at Bannockburn, represents
an archer with a bow having two strings attached to it, one of which is drawn
up with the arrow, while the other remains unemployed. And this passage from
Ascham, “Although we have two strings put on at once," proves that the
practice existed in his time, Temp. Eliz.
“A fool's bolt is soon shot," a proverb quoted by the Duke of
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4579) (tudalen 254)
|
254 Signs of Inns, Etc.
Orleans in Shakespeare's "Henry V." is derived from a short, thick
arrow, called a bird-bolt, without a point, and spreading so much as to leave
a flat surface of the breadth of a shilling. Thus in Marston's “What You
Will," 1607,
“Cupid,
Pox of his bird-bolt! Venus, Speak to thy boy to fetch his arrow back, Or
strike her with a sharp one."
The “bird-bolt," shot from a cross-bow, was an inferior kind of archery
used by fools, who for obvious reasons were not permitted to shoot with
“pointed “arrows.
We use the word “butt," the place on which the mark to be shot at is
fixed, metaphorically, to express a silly, passive character, on whom any one
may with impunity exercise his wit.
In Shakespeare's "Much Ado about Nothing," Benedick says of
Beatrice, "her affections have their full bent." This, too, is a
metaphor derived from archery; the bow has its “bent “when it is drawn as far
as it can be.
Yeoman, though derived by Junius from Geman (Frisick), a villager, is by many
deduced from the employment of that class of men in war as archers, whose
bows were made of yew; in like manner as the title of esquire is derived from
the French egu, a shield, which it was his office to bear before the knight
Several motives have been assigned for the planting of the yew trees which we
so commonly find in churchyards. Steeven's says, “From some of the ancient
statutes it appears that every Englishman, while archery was practised, was
obliged to keep in his house either a bow of yew or some other wood. It would
seem, therefore, that yews were not only planted in churchyards to defend the
churches from the wind, but on account of their use in making bows; while, by
the benefit of being secured in enclosed places, their poisonous quality was
prevented from doing mischief to the cattle."
So also Dr. Trussler says, that in the year 1482 yew trees were encouraged in
churchyards (as being fenced from the cattle) for the making of bows. But Mr.
Brand asks, “Are not all plantation grounds fenced from cattle?" and
adds, “How much more probable the conjecture of Dr. Browne, that the planting
of yew trees in churchyards seems to derive its origin from antient funeral
rites, in which from its perpetual verdure it was used as an emblem of the
resurrection."
Although in this article I have already run a long way out of bounds, yet I
am disposed to play the truant still more, and I do not think that your
readers will be displeased if they have not before seen "The Archers'
Song," which was related to me by a lady since dead, and which I have
never met with in print.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4580) (tudalen 255)
|
Signs of Inns,
Etc. 255
Bright Phoebus! thou patron of poets below,
Assist me of Archers to sing; For you we esteem as the god of the bow,
As well as the god of the string, My old buck.
The fashion of shooting 'twas you who began, When you shot forth your beams
from the skies,
The sly urchin Cupid first follow'd the plan, And the goddesses shot with
their eyes, The bright girls.
Diana, who slaughter'd the brutes with her darts,
Shot only one lover or so: For Venus excell'd her in shooting at hearts,
And had always more strings to her bow, A sly jade.
On beautiful Iris Apollo bestow'd
A bow of most wonderful hue: It soon grew her hobby-horse, and as she rode
On it, like an arrow she flew, Gaudy dame.
To earth came the art of the Archers at last,
And was follow'd with eager pursuit; But the Sons of Apollo all others
surpass;
With such very long bows do they shoot, Lying dogs.
Ulysses, the hero of Greece, long ago
In courage and strength did excel, So he left in his house an inflexible bow,
And a far more inflexible belle, Lucky rogue.
The Parthians were bowmen of old, and their pride
Lay in shooting and scampering too; But Britons thought better the sport to
divide,
So they shot, and their enemies flew, The brave boys.
Then a health to the brave British bowmen be crown'd;
May their courage ne'er sit in the dark; May their strings be all good, and
their bows be all sound,
And their arrows fly true to the mark! British boys."
,
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4581) (tudalen 256)
|
256 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
THE BAG OF NAILS was, and perhaps still is, the name of an inn at Chelsea;
which may be noticed as the ne plus ultra of ludicrous corruption, having
originally been a group of Bacchanals.
BARBER'S POLE. It has been said that the original distinction of our barbers'
shops was the figure of a human head or poll (a name now almost obsolete,
excepting in poll-tax), and that from cheapness or convenience it was changed
into a long, thick stick, because that too is called a pole. But surgery and
shaving were formerly practised by the same person, whence the corporate
company of Barber-chirurgeons; and the original intention of the parti-coloured
staff over their doors was to show that the master of the shop could breathe
a vein as well as mow a beard; such a staff to this day by village
practitioners being put into the hand of a patient undergoing the operation
of phlebotomy. The white band which accompanies the staff was meant to
represent the fillet thus elegantly twined about it.
BEAR BEAR AND RAGGED STAFF. A very great proportion of our signs exhibit the
arms of some popular character, or family of distinction residing in the
neighbourhood. At present the whole coat is most commonly displayed; but
formerly, and even now in several instances, the inn-keeper was contented
with the crest, a supporter, or a conspicuous bearing.
“Old Nevil's crest The Rampant Bear chain'd to the Ragged Staff,"
still frequent, we may conjecture to have been, once, a very popular sign, as
it was borne by that “centre-shaking thunder-clap of war,"" that
“proud setter-up and puller-down of kings," Richard Nevil, Earl of
Warwick, who was slain at the battle of Barnet in 1471.
Bear-baiting was a favourite amusement of our ancestors. Sir Thomas Pope
entertained Queen Mary and the Princess Elizabeth at Hatfield with a grand
exhibition of “bear-baiting, with which their Highnesses were right well
content." Bear-baiting was part of the amusement of Elizabeth among “the
Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth Castle." Rowland White, speaking of the
Queen, then in her 6yth year, says, “Her Majesty is very well. This day she
appoints a Frenchman to do feats upon a rope in the Conduit Court. Tomorrow
she has commanded the bears, the bull, and the ape to be bayted in the
tilt-yard Upon Wednesday she will have solemne dawncing."
The office of Chief Master of the Bears was held under the Crown with a
salary of i6d. per diem. Whenever the King chose to entertain himself or his
visitors with this sport, it was the duty of the Master to provide bears and
dogs, and to superintend the baiting; and he was invested with unlimited
authority to issue commissions and to send his officers into every county in
England, who were empowered to seize and take away any bears, bulls, or dogs
that they thought meet for his Majesty's service.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4582) (tudalen 257)
|
Signs of fnns,
Etc. 257
The latest record by which this diversion was publicly authorised, is a grant
to Sir Sanders Buncombe, Oct n, 1661, for "the sole practising and
profit of the fighting and combating of wild and domestic beasts within the
realm of England for the space of fourteen years."
Occasional exhibitions of this kind were continued till about the middle of
the i8th century.
[1818, Part /., p. 296.]
BAG o' NAILS. It is not without regret that I am tempted to start a doubt on
the ingenious etymology of the Bag o' Nails, given in your last number, p.
228, by a correspondent, from whose lucubrations I promise myself much
amusement; but I remember a very few years ago a Bag of Nails, certainly not
Bacchanals, the sign of an Ironmonger's shop in Goswell Street It is not
uncommon for landlords or builders of inns and public-houses, to hang out as
signs emblems of their former trades. Thus in a new street, built a few years
ago by a blacksmith retired from business, with a public-house in it of
course, the Smith's Arms were displayed: and the Bricklayer's Arms, Cooper's
Arms, Axe, Woolpack, Windmill, and various other wellknown signs, were
apparently derived from this source.
Still I do not think it very improbable, that the Bag o' Nails, instead of
being a corruption, was a figure of rhetorick; the bag of nails, originally
represented on the sign, being intended by the erudite landlord to be read
Bacchanals: though, as has been the case with more important hieroglyphics,
the signification was doomed to perish, while the figure remained. "Sic
transit gloria flundi I" The practice was certainly familiar in the
reign of Elizabeth, whose head figured conspicuously in this way; and I hope
I shall do no injury to the King's Head, or other head taverns or inns, by
observing, that they no doubt sprung from the classical paronomasia; though
it may excite a horror for them in Mr. R. Trevelyan, and others, if any other
such there be, who are troubled in a similar degree with the Punniphobia.
S. N.
[1818, Part /., /. 606.]
Your correspondents are mistaken in the origin of the sign of the Bag of
Nails. It was neither a corruption of Bacchanals, nor a figure of rhetoric,
but arose in the following manner. At Pimlico (not Chelsea as stated by your
first informant) there was a house called the Indian Queen, where many of the
middling gentry met in the evening, and were what is called Parlour Company.
It so happened, that the landlord had a new sign painted, and mentioning this
to the visitors, they expressed a wish to see it, whereupon it was exhibited
before it was put up. Many observations were made upon it, and from its not
being executed by any one of particular ability,
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4583) (tudalen 258)
|
258 Signs of Inns, Etc.
many present discovered various resemblances in the portrait of the sooty
Queen. At length, one facetious gentleman declared his opinion, that it
looked more like “the Devil carrying a Bag of Nails “ than an Indian Queen.
In this, many afterwards concurred; and this sentiment became so prevalent,
that the house acquired the significant title of “the Devil and Bag of
Nails," which, from the common acceptation of it, eventually superseded
that of the Indian Queen. This change took place nearly fifty years ago; and
so far your correspondent “N. S." may be right, that the symbol of the
Bag of Nails might present itself to the mind of some person who was formerly
an ironmonger. This account I had many years ago from my father, who was for
thirty years an inhabitant of the place, and who, “many a time and oft,"
has taken his “Bibere Nonales “ there; and when I was a boy, it was commonly
called the Devil and Bag of Nails, though the former personage was dropped
before my time as forming any part of the sign, from its palpable
impropriety.
The house so called remains to this day, and is at the corner near Pimlico
turnpike, where one road goes to Chelsea, and the other to the King's private
road.
NAMEKITS.
[1818, Part I., pp.
307-310.]
THE BELL THE RING OF BELLS. Bells were used by the Jews, Greeks, and Romans,
but not for religious purposes. They were made of brass or iron, and were
called Tintinnabula by the Romans, whom they summoned to their baths. They
were first introduced into churches in 458 under Pope Leo I.; or, according
to some authors, in 400, by Paulinus, Bishop of Nola in Campania, whence they
derive their name of Campance.
Croyland Abbey in Lincolnshire had the first ring of bells in England; they
were put up in Edgar's reign, and were six in number. There are eleven peals
of twelve bells, viz., five in London (at Christ Church, Spitalfields; St.
Michael's, Cornhill; St. Martin's in the Fields; St. Leonard, Shoreditch; and
St. Bride's, Fleet-street); and one at Birmingham, Cambridge, Cirencester,
Norwich, Shrewsbury, and St Saviour's, Southwark. There are also in the
United Kingdom about 50 peals of ten, 360 peals of eight, 500 peals of six,
and 250 peals of five bells. According to Coxe and Porter, the great bell in
St. Ivan's Church, Moscow, weighs 288,000 Ibs., and that which is broken
weighed 432,000 Ibs. The great bell in St Peter's at Rome, re-cast in 1785,
is 18,667 I DS - The largest bell in this kingdom is “The Mighty Tom “of
Oxford, which weighs 17,000 Ibs. There is a bell of the same weight, hung 275
feet from the ground, in the tower of the Palazza Vecchio at Florence. The
great bell at Exeter Cathedral, given by its Bishop Courtenay, weighs 12,500
Ibs. “Great
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4584) (tudalen 259)
|
Remarks on the Signs of Inns, Etc. 259
Tom “of Lincoln weighs 9,894 Ibs. The principal bell of St. Paul's, London,
is estimated at 4^ tons, or 9,520 Ibs.
Bells were formerly baptized, anointed, exorcised, and blessed by the Bishop;
and the favourite appellation of "Tom" applied to several large
bells, probably arose from their having been baptized “Thomas “in honour of
that “Saint-Traitor “(as Fuller calls him) Thomas k Becket, the murdered
Archbishop of Canterbury. The practice of baptizing and consecrating bells
was introduced in 968 by Pope John XIII.
Their supposed uses are described in the Monkish lines:
“Funera plango, fulgura frango, sabbata pango, Excito lentos, dissipo ventos,
paco cruentos."
Thus translated by Fuller: Funera p,an g o
Fu,gu,a frango
Sabbata pango { % fabbath
E*cio,entos
TV . f The winds so fierce
Dissipo ventos < T
Paco cruentos /
Men's cruel rage { I do assuage.
“Laudo Deum verum, Plebem voco, congrego Clerum, Defunctos ploro, Pestem
fugo, Festa decoro.
“I praise the true God, call the people, convene the clergy, lament the dead,
dispel pestilence, and grace festivals."
Bells were also considered as demonifuges; and were rung, as Durand informs
us, "Ut daemones timentes fugiant Timent enim auditis tubis ecclesiae,
scilicet campanis; sicut aliquis tyrannus timet, audiens in terra sua tubas
alicujus potentis regis inimici sui."
Steevens says, “The bell antiently rung before expiration was called The
passing bell, i.e., the bell that solicited prayers for the SQV\ passing into
another world." And Mr. Douce conjectures that it was originally used to
drive away demons who were watching to take possession of the soul of the
deceased.
The Curfew (from the French couvre-feu) was instituted by William the
Conqueror, who commanded that a bell should be rung every night at eight
o'clock, on hearing which, all people were to put out
172
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4585) (tudalen 260)
|
260 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
“The Bell-inn at Edmonton “has acquired great celebrity from Cowper's tale of
"John Gilpin."
The proverbial expression of bearing the bell probably originated in the
ornament of a bell bestowed on winning race-horses; whence races during the
reign of James I. were styled Bell courses; and hence perhaps one cause of
the popularity of this sign.
BELLE SAUVAGE. The coaches that ran to this well-known inn in London used to
have painted on their sides a large bell and a savage man; but from
Nightingale's London, I find that the coffee-house exhibits, what was
supposed to have been the original sign, the representation of a savage
woman, derived from a romantic story of a beautiful wild French female called
"La Belle Sauvage." But the real etymon, both of the inn, and yard
or court of the same name in which it is situate, appears to be in the name
of Isabella Savage, a lady who once possessed these premises, and conveyed
them to the Cutlers' Company.
BISHOP BLAZE. This is a very popular ale-house sign in the cloathing
counties, as he is the patron saint of Woolcombers, and to him is generally,
but erroneously, ascribed the invention of their art; his usual
representation, with a comb in his hand, being merely allusive to his
martyrdom by Agricolaus in 289, when he was beheaded, after having had his
flesh lacerated by iron combs. He is said to have been Bishop of Sebasta, or
Sebask, in Cappadocia, or, according to other writers, of Sebastia, a city of
Armenia, and to have visited England, fixing his residence at the village, in
Cornwall, thence named St. Blazey.
BLACKMOOR'S HEAD. A Negro's head is the crest of the Marquesses of Hertford
and Drogheda, the Earls Newburgh, Annesley, and Mountnorris, Lords Grantley
and Lyttelton.
It is supposed that the Morris dance, or Moorish dance, was introduced into
England in the reign of Edward III. when the glorious Black Prince, by his
victory at Najara or Navaretta, restored Don Pedro to the throne of Castile:
Pedro's two daughters were married to the Black Prince's brothers.
BLOSSOMS INN, a considerable coach inn in London, derives its name from its
antient sign, on which was painted a figure of St. Lawrence in a border of
blossoms or flowers. Hence also the lane in which the house is situate is
called Lawrence-lane.*
St. Lawrence was born at Osea in Arragon, and was broiled to death on a
gridiron, August 10, 258. The foundation of the famous palace of the
Escurial, about fifteen miles from Madrid, was laid by Philip II. in 1563, in
honour of this patron Saint of Spain, and in commemoration of the victory
which, aided by the English, he obtained
[* See Notes and Queries, fifth scries, x. 445, xi. 18, 278, 377.]
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4586) (tudalen 261)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 261
on St. Lawrence's day, 1557, at St. Quintin, when the Constable and chief
nobles of France were taken prisoners by Philip's General, the Duke of Savoy.
In its principal front is a statue of the patron Saint holding a gridiron,
and this instrument of martyrdom appears in almost every ornament in the
building. This edifice, considered by the Spaniards as the eighth wonder of
the world, cost eight millions sterling. A Church near it is dedicated to
this Saint.
THE BLUE BOAR, as we now generally see it represented on signboards, was one
of the badges of cognizance borne by the house of York, and is described in
the antient memorandum found by Henry Ellis, Esq., and inserted in the
Archseologia, vol. xvii. [p. 227],* as having “his tuskis and his cleis and
his membrys of golde." The boar, we may presume, was a very common sign
in the reign of Richard III. (though it was probably at that time most
frequently represented white) in compliment to that Monarch, whose crest and
one of whose supporters it was. In his reign, one William Collingbourn was
executed for being the author of some verses on the King and his Ministers, Sir
Richard Ratcliffe, Sir William Catesby, and Lord Lovell, which began:
“The Cat, the Rat, and Lovel our dogge, Rule all Englonde under an
Hogge"
And Shakespeare makes Richmond characterize his rival as "A wretched
bloody and devouring boar."
When Richard passed through Leicester immediately before the battle of
Bosworth Field, he slept at an inn, which, according to tradition, was called
the White Boar, but after the battle the landlord changed it to the Blue
Boar, a name which it has ever since retained (though long disused as a
public-house) and which has also given its appellation to the lane in which
it is placed. Richard added to the College of Heralds a pursuivant at arms,
called, after his crest, Blanch Sanglier, who had the mournful office of
carrying his brave master's dead body, in a manner most dishonourable to the
conqueror, perfectly naked, the feet hanging on one side, and the hands on
the other, on the back of a horse to Leicester, where it was interred. Henry
VII. abolished the title of Blanch Sanglier, and instituted that of Rouge
Dragon, the armorial bearing of the Welsh Princes from whom he was descended.
The change from the white to the blue boar would appear strange, as the
latter was also a cognizance of York, was it not known that it was also the
crest of those zealous Lancastrians, the De Veres, of whom the Earl of Oxford
commanded
[* The title of the paper is “Enumeration and Explanation of the Devices
formerly borne as badges of Cognizance by the House of York," and it
occupies pp. 226 227 of the volume.]
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4587) (tudalen 262)
|
262 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
the front line of Richmond's army at Bosworth on the memorable August 22,
1485. This family was a younger branch of the powerful house of Blois, and
owned the lordship of Vere or Terr Vere in Zealand. Their crest, a boar
passant azure, armed and bristled or, was allusive; Vere or Veer in Dutch
signifying boar.
BOAR'S HEAD. The tavern of this name of immortal memory in East Cheap, is now
converted into two private dwellings, but still exhibits the carving of a
boar's head in stone, which is placed in front at the juncture of the two
houses. Here Shakespeare has placed our hostess Quickly; and here has laid
those scenes of unrivalled wit and humour between the “true prince “Hal,
“unimitated unimitable “Falstaff, with their companions, Bardolph, Nym, Peto,
and Poins.
The scene of Goldsmith's excellent Essay, No. 19, is also laid in this place.
THE BOLT-IN-TUN, a large coach inn, in Fleet Street, London, obtains its name
from a carving in stone which was once placed in the front of the house. This
device was probably taken from the Priory of St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, at
its dissolution, or from some building erected by the last Prior, William
Bolton, whose rebus it was; and at whose old mansion, Canonbury House, it
still remains.
THE BOWLING-GREEN THE SKITTLE-GROUND. These two signs generally, but not
always, denote that such places of amusement are attached to the inns.
John Taylor, the water poet, in his works, says, that being asked who
invented the game of bowls, he replied, "No doubt the philosopher
Bias."
It is said (and I almost fear that it may be found in “Honest Joe
Miller") that Charles II, who was very fond of the green, having placed
his bowl near to the Jack, exclaimed, “My soul to a horse-t tl nobody beats
that!" to which the witty Rochester replied, “If your Majesty will lay
odds, I'll take you."
In Ode xvi. of “Horace in London."
“Happy, for rural business fit, Who merely tills his mother wit,
In humble life he settles, Unskill'd in repartee to shine, He ne'er exclaims,
' Descend, ye nine /*
But when he plays at skittles."
THE BOXERS THE WRESTLERS. I am no enemy to those exhibitions of hardihood and
prowess which these signs are intended to represent. That truly English
statesman, Mr. Windham, in a letter published in the Memoir of his Life by
Amyot, prefixed to his “Speeches," says, “A smart contest this between
Maddox and Rich
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4588) (tudalen 263)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 263
man! Why are we to boast so much of the native valour of our troops, as shown
at Talavera, at Vimiera, and at Maida, yet to discourage all the practices
and habits which tend to keep alive the same sentiments and feelings? The
sentiments that filled the minds of the three thousand spectators who
attended the two pugilists, were just the same in kind as those which
inspired the higher combatants on the occasions above enumerated. It is the
circumstances only in which they are displayed, that make the difference.
'"He that the world subdued had been But the best wrestler on the
green.'
There is no sense in the answer always made to this, ' Are no men brave but
boxers?' Bravery is found in all habits, classes, circumstances, and
conditions. But have habits and institutions of one sort no tendency to form
it more than of another? Longevity is found in persons of habits the most opposite;
but are not certain habits more favourable to it than others? The courage
does not arise from mere boxing, from the mere beating or being beat; but
from the sentiments excited by the contemplation and cultivation of such
practices. Will it make no difference in the mass of a people, whether their
amusements are all of a pacific, pleasurable, and effeminate nature, or
whether they are of a sort that calls forth a continued admiration of prowess
and hardihood?"
Cornwall is celebrated for athletic exercises, particularly wrestling. A
“Cornish hug “has been long proverbial.
THE BULL BULL'S HEAD BULL AND GATE BULL AND MOUTH. The bull is a very
frequent armorial bearing, and an equally frequent sign. We see it of almost
all colours at our inns; but the black, red, and pied, are the prevailing. We
learn from Mr. Ellis's memorandum, which has been before referred to [ante,
p. 261], that the Black Bull was one of the cognizances of the house of York.
The Red Bull was the sign of one of the principal antient theatres. The Bull
in Bishopsgate Street has acquired some celebrity as the London residence of
Thomas Hobson, the Cambridge carrier, who erected the conduit there, and
whose epitaph was written by Milton. He used to supply the students with
horses, but, to give every horse its due proportion of rest and labour, would
never let one out of its regular turn; whence originated the proverb of
“Hobson's choice, this or none."
The Bull and Gate in Holborn, represented by a bull and a gate, is a
corruption of “the Gate of Boulogne," a gate at Calais on the road to
Boulogne: and the Bull and Mouth, a large coach inn, which has conferred its
own name on the street in which it is placed, and exhibits a bull standing by
the side of a monstrous human mouth, almost as large as the bull itself, is a
similar corruption of the “mouth
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4589) (tudalen 264)
|
264 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
or harbour of Boulogne," and the sign was probably intended originally
as a compliment to Henry VIII., who took that sea-port in
1544
The BUSH, the principal tavern at Bristol, and the IVY BUSH, the head inn at
Carmarthen, originated in the ancient practice of hanging a bush at the door
of those houses that sold wine, whence the proverb, “good wine needs no
bush." Ivy was probably chosen for the doors of vintners, that plant
being dedicated to Bacchus, whose thyrsus it entwined. An innkeeper in
Aldersgate Street, London, when Charles I. was beheaded, had the carved
representation of a bush at his house painted black, and the tavern was long
afterwards known by the name of the “Mourning Bush in Aldersgate." I
wish that the sign were revived, as a memorial of a man who had the courage
so conspicuously to display his loyalty at such a time to an unfortunate
Sovereign “more sinned against than sinning."
Yours, etc., HINYBORO.
[1789, Part /., //. 225, 226.]
BULL AND GATE.* On the 26th of August, 1783, on a tour into Kent, I visited
the antient family mansion of Hardres, near Canterbury, and among a variety
of relics which were shown to me as an attestation of its departed splendour,
I was particularly delighted with the sight of a warlike trophy, which the
first founder of that family, Sir William Hardres, received from Henry VIII.
as an honorary gratuity for his valour at the siege of Boulogne. It was one
of the gates of that town; composed of wood, with transverse bracers, well
studded with iron nails, and a small wicket-door connected to it. When I saw
it, it stood in the coach-house, by the side of the tattered remains of the
body of a very old family coach.
This Sir William Hardres, it should seem from the archives of that family,
had received from King Henry the domains on which the mansion was erected in
testimony of his services, perhaps at the above siege, which had continued in
succession to the heirs of that family until the time when I visited it;
which happened to be at the critical time, when all the old and original
furniture, consisting of pictures, chairs, bedsteads, books, etc., were
parcelled out for an auction the Gate of Boulogne was also to be included in
the sale; but by whom it was purchased, or where it is deposited, I am now
left to find out.
As one of your correspondents appears to be at a loss to account for the
origin of the sign of the Bull and Gate, it is probable that he will now
perceive that the modern sign is a vulgar etymon of the Boulogne Gate, above
described; which, having served to commemorate an action which King Henry
VIII. seemed by history to have taken some pains to accomplish, and therefore
rendered popular, was made the subject of a sign. Thus the Bull and Mouth is
a vulgar corrup
t* See Notes and Queries, fifth series, ix. 353, 391.]
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4590) (tudalen 265)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 265
tion of the Boulogne Mouth, or the entrance into the harbour of Boulogne. In
like manner, the celebrated corruption of a sign at Chelsea, near the
waterside, which should represent a group of Bacchanals dancing, and now
ridiculously metamorphosed into the Bag ofJNails. Query, whence the origin of
the Hole in the Wall?
If these kind of curious enquiries engage the attention of your
correspondent,* it may not be unacceptable perhaps to suggest a hint for the
origin of the sign of the Bear and Ragged-staff.
In perusing the Memoirs of Philip de Comines, I found the following passage:
“I was," he said, “invited by Monsieur de Vancler, to dine with him when
I was at Calais; where I found him well attended, with a ragged-staff
"of gold upon his bonnet, which was the device of the Earl of Warwick:
the rest of the guests had the same device of ragged-staffs; but they who could
not have them of gold had them of cloth." It was told me at dinner,
“that within a quarter of an hour after the messenger was arrived from
England with the news, that the whole town had got into his badge." See
p. 162, the English edition.
It is not improbable, therefore, that the sign of the Ragged-staff derived
its origin from the arms of the Earl of Warwick, who was eternized in the
dispute of the houses of York and Lancaster. The bear prefixed to it is
doubtless of the same kind of origin; but as I have no book of heraldry
immediately at hand to turn to for the application of a device to any of the
Earl's followers, I shall leave this investigation for the attention of any
other curious correspondent in these kind of researches.
Yours, etc., J. D.
[1789, Part I., p. 314.]
The conjecture of your correspondent J. D. (p. 226) with respect to the
origin of the Bull and Gate, has been anticipated by the ingenious Mr.
Steevens, in the notes to his edition of Shakespeare. The etymology has been
doubted; but, if right, I am pretty confident that the gate meant to be
represented was the Boulogne Gate at Calais, which is frequently mentioned by
that name in Hall's Chronicle.
F. F.
[1789, Part I., p. 421.]
There seems more recreation than real utility in all etymological researches
after the particular conceits exhibited at certain inns and shops. Some may
be founded on genuine humour or plain caprice; others, it is possible, may
have historical meaning these are, however, the most rare; others again, and
which are more common, bear some reference or character of the respective
trade or profession of the occupier. Several conjectures having been thrown
out by J. D. and
* See vol. vii., p. 293; vol. viii., pp. 300, 526; vol. xl. f p. 403. [See
note 6i.l
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4591) (tudalen 266)
|
266 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
F. F., pp. 226 and 314, on the subject, permit me in the same vein of fosse
terns to join my opinion. And, first, for the Bull and Gate, or Bull in Gate.
It is not in the least extraordinary to see a bull standing at a gate, either
on one side or the other, and no improper designation for a butcher's stall
or a drover's inn, without the necessity of travelling to Boulogne Gate for
the etymon; besides, the Bull at Gait, or in Gait, may signify, in other
words, a bull trippant, not gissant or couchant. I have seen all the gates at
Calais, and one of them must certainly be the gate leading to Boulogne; but
none of them correspond exactly in toto with Hogarth's print, where he made
use of a pictorial license. From apparent circumstances, he meant to
represent the Port du Quay, as the noble surloin just landed from on board
the English packet plainly indicates. Over this gate he has delineated the
arms of England and France separately; instead of which I particularly
noticed, on the spot, the arms of France and Navarre on two distinct shields.
The fortifications are modern, and probably were raised under the direction
of that famous engineer Vauban. It was neither his business, nor that of the
king, his master, to perpetuate, by any sort of trophy, the former conquest
of the town by the English, or the smallest memorial of their long
possession, which the placing the flower-de-luces of France so near to the
lions of England would naturally imply. It should seem they would rather wish
to destroy every mark of its ancient appendage to the crown of England.
We now come to the Bull and Mouth, a glaring absurdity indeed, which I recollect
seeing some years back painted over the gate of that inn. But is it not a
misnomer, or corruption from Bull and Moth? There is a fly (perhaps a kind of
moth) which strikes the backs of horned cattle, and therein deposits an egg;
this egg becomes a large maggot or grub, and the grub turns to a fly: here is
something of a connection. Again, the Hole in the Wall, which your
correspondent enquires after, owes its origin, methinks, from Ovid's story of
Pyramis and Thisbe; a very suitable sign this for a rendezvous to illicit
amours. Your correspondent, on the other hand, seems perfectly right in his
conjectures touching the Bear and Ragged Staff; they were the badge and
device of the Earls of Warwick, which may be seen more at large in Dugdale's
Warwickshire. The above gentleman will also find a former dissertation on
signs at Paris, vol. liv., p. 416, if he likes to read more on this subject.
[See/w/, p. 312]. Concerning absurdities of the same nature, much has been
said, and numerous instances may be given. I shall just mention two or three
by way of conclusion. Upon the borders of Holland, I saw the sign of St.
Peter in Paradise, surrounded with pipes and tobacco; it was a tobacconist's
shop. A grocer in Flanders chose for his device a bear routing a beehive,
with this inscription, “The dangerous adventure, yet sweet attempt" A
surgeon placed over his door the picture of a man
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4592) (tudalen 267)
|
Remarks on the Signs
of Inns, Etc. 267
falling into a fit, perhaps intended for an apoplexy, under which were
written these comfortable words, "au prompt secours." A seedsman,
in another place abroad, very judiciously, and with the true spirit of
religion, chose for his insignia a standing crop of corn, with a
representation of the Divinity giving a blessing to it; and this was properly
denominated “a la Providence." The two last examples cannot be ranked
with the absurds. But the history of signs would indeed fill a volume, which
I am not disposed at present to undertake, professing myself to be, and that
only in a small degree,
RETROSPECTOR.
[1789, Part I., p. 492.]
Your correspondent, J. W., is desirous of being informed of the etymon of the
bolt in tun. This, like the other names of signs which, at my leisure, I
transmitted to your amusing literary deposit, is also a vulgar corruption: it
is derived from the monogram* of the name of Hot-ton, the person who,
perhaps, originally kept the inn or tipplinghouse, which was depicted on the
sign, under the form of a bird-bolt, and a tun; and, by the natural course of
ignorant tradition, the primitive meaning corrupted to the bolt in the tun.
These kind of devices were not uncommon in the reign of Henry VII. and VIII.
On a painted square of glass I have seen the name of Harington devised in a
similar manner: an hare on, or in, a tun.
The late Mr. Jacob of Faversham, a worthy and respectable antiquary, had some
specimens of painted glass, among which several devices of this nature also
occurred. As this is a fact too well known by the curious in these kind of
ancient researches, it will not require any particular investigation. Suffice
it, therefore, that I am happy in having an opportunity, under favour of an
idle moment, to gratify the taste of J. W.
Retrospector refines too much on the Bull and Gate. There was, doubtless, the
sign of the Gate of Boulogne, as well as the Mouth of the Harbour of
Boulogne, one extant, and being written, and not depicted, on the sign, became
in the course of time perverted from its original meaning; and when the fancy
of publicans and shopkeepers led them to embellish their signs with pictorial
representations, the ignorant publican, and as ignorant an artist, doubtless
conceived the preposterous images which have become the subject of this
enquiry.
Moth is not easily perverted to mouth; and as the worm in the backs of horned
cattle is not peculiar to the bull, this conjecture can acquire no ground. As
a sign, how could the ivorm or moth be represented in the back of a bull? You
may as soon talk of painting a worm in a lady's nose, if it be true that
ladies have such things in their noses.
* I have made use of the word monogram as best adapted to convey my meaning;
though, critically speaking, it implies a compound character of several
letters.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4593) (tudalen 268)
|
268 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
However, I am much obliged to Retrospector, who will excuse a little jocose
freedom, for referring me to Dugdale's Warwickshire to substantiate my
conjecture on the sign of the Bear and Ragged Staff.
In the village of Barnwell, at the skirt end of Cambridge, on the road to
Newmarket, there is a public-house with the sign of the Birdbolt This arrow
or bolt was discharged from a cross-bow, which instrument is now converted to
the use of discharging bullets with wonderful precision at a short range.
Sometimes indeed, as I am informed, the cross-bow is still made use of in
piercing jacks with a barbed arrow fastened to the instrument with a line,
and with which they are stricken when they are found near the surface of the
water.
J. D.
[1818, Part I,, pp. 407, 408.]
THE CANNON. This sign does not appear to be quite so prevalent in this
kingdom as it was in the year 1738, when No. 638 of the “Craftsman “was
published, in which it is said, “nothing is more common in England th'an the
sign of a Cannon."
The name is derived from the Italian cannone, an augmentation of canna, cane,
because a cannon is long, straight, and hollow, like a cane. The first
cannons were called bombardse from bombus, by reason of their noise.
James Petit Andrews, in his "Anecdotes" [1789] says, "The
inventor of that grotesque species of poetry called Maccaronic, was
Theophilus Folengo, better known by the name of Merlino Caccio. He formed a
kind of language from the Latin and Italian, and scrupled not to introduce
other tongues when convenient. The following truly barbaric line is
attributed to Folengo:
"Piff, paff, puff, poff! Vah! La bombarda resonat."
Larrey states that brass cannon were invented by J. Owen, an Englishman, and
were first known in this kingdom in 1535, and that iron cannon were first
cast in England in 1547. Mezeray says, that Edward III. at the battle of
Cressy in 1346, struck terror into the French army by five or six pieces of
cannon; but Father Daniel produces a proof, from the Records of the Chamber
of Accompts at Paris, that cannon and gunpowder were used in 1338. The
Germans attribute the invention of cannon to Albertus Magnus, a Dominican
Monk, so early as the year 1250.
Louis XIV. had inscribed upon several of his pieces, "Ratio ultima
Regum;" and it is said, that Oliver Cromwell had written on his cannon,
“O Lord, open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise."
Dr. Darwin, in a note to his “Economy of Vegetation," says, “Gunpowder
is plainly described in the works of Roger Bacon before
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4594) (tudalen 269)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of /mis, Etc. 269
the year 1267. He describes it in a curious manner, mentioning the sulphur
and nitre, but conceals the charcoal in an anagram. The words are, ' sed
tamen salis petrse lure mope cum ubre et sulphuris, et sic facies tonitrum et
corruscationem, si scias, artificium.' The words * lure mope cum ubre,' are
an anagram of ' carbonum pulvere.' As Bacon does not claim this as his own
invention, it is thought by many to have been of much more antient
discovery." In a letter, however, to John of Paris, quoted in Seward's
“Anecdotes," Bacon is more explicit; he says, "In omnem distantiam
quam volumus, possumus artificialiter componere ignem comburentem ex sale
petrae et aliis, viz., sulphure et carbonum pulvere. Prseter hanc (scilicet
combustionem) sunt alia stupenda, nam soni velut tonitrus et corruscationes
fieri possunt in acre, immo ma j ore horrore quam ilia quae fiunt per naturam."
THE CARDINAL'S CAP, the name of the principal inn at Melborne in Dorsetshire,
is an appropriate allusion to that eminent statesman John Morton, who,
according to some writers, was born in that town in 1409, though others
assign the honour of his nativity to Bere Regis in the same county. He was
consecrated Bp. of Ely in 1578; and for opposing Richard III. in his
assumption of the crown, was committed a prisoner to Brecknock Castle under
the custody of the Duke of Buckingham, whom he persuaded to revolt against
Richard. Morton shortly afterwards fled to Flanders, and joined the Earl of
Richmond: thus Shakespeare makes Richard exclaim:
“Ely with Richmond touches me more near Than Buckingham and his rash-levied
strength."
The Bishop is said to have concerted those measures which happily led to the
union of the rival houses of York and Lancaster by the marriage of Richmond,
then Henry VII., with Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV., which was
solemnized at Westminster, January 18, 1486. For these services Morton was
made Lord Chancellor, translated to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and
obtained a Cardinal's hat. He died in 1500, and was buried in Canterbury
Cathedral.
Pope Leo X. is said by some authors to have accompanied his letters of thanks
to Henry VIII. for his answer to Luther on the Babylonian captivity, with the
present of a Cardinal's cap; and hence Henry is generally delineated with a
cap of that description on his head, instead of a crown.
Among the curiosities of Strawberry Hill, collected by its celebrated
possessor, Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, and described in Vol. II. of his
Works, in the Holbein Chamber is “The red hat of Cardinal Wolsey, found in
the Great Wardrobe by Bishop Burnet when clerk
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4595) (tudalen 270)
|
270 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
of the closet. From his son, the Judge, it came to the Countess Dowager of
Albemarle, who gave it to Mr. Wai pole."*
The Cardinals first began to wear the red hat at the Council of Lyons in
1243.
[1818, Parti., pp. 510-513.]
THE CASTLE. The greater part of the castles built by the Saxons were in ruins
at the time of the Norman invasion, which was one reason why William made
himself master of the country with so much facility. The Conqueror, to
over-awe his newly acquired subjects, began to repair and augment the old
castles, and to erect new fortresses in the principal cities; and, as he
parcelled out the lands of the English among his followers, they, to protect
themselves against the resentment of those whom they had despoiled, built
castles for their own residence on their estates. These baronial edifices
multiplied so fast, that in the turbulent reign of Stephen there were no less
than 1,115 castles in this kingdom.
Numerous venerable remains of feudal strength and grandeur still exist; and
it is therefore not to be wondered at that “the Castle “ should be a
favourite sign. Among the houses thus distinguished, I would particularize
for their excellence the splendid hotel at Marlborough, built on the site of
the antient fortress, of which no other vestige remains than the artificial
mount in the garden, on which the keep once stood; and that most comfortable
house, the principal inn at Tamworth, situated near the venerable castle
which proudly overlooks that antient town, once the residence of the Mercian
monarchs, the scene of many events of historic interest, and where the heroic
Ethelfleda, who followed her father Alfred with hardly unequal steps, and who
rebuilt the castle and town after their destruction by the Danes, breathed
her last, July 19, 919.
Tamworth Castle, with the adjacent property, I am grieved to say, was
alienated about a year or two ago, for the first time since the Conquest; it
having descended in a direct line from Robert Marmion, Lord ofFontenoy, in
Normandy, to whom the Conqueror originally granted it, through the families
of Frevile and Ferrers, to its late noble possessor, George Ferrers
Townshend, Marquess Townshend, Earl of Leicester, and President of the
Antiquarian Society, who was much attached to the venerable fabrick, and
expended a considerable sum in its restoration and improvement. The Marmions
exercised the office of King's Champion on the day of coronation; but it
appears that they enjoyed this privilege in right of their manor of
Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire as immediately before the coronation of Richard
II. the office was
[* According to Notes and Queries, ii. ser., viii. 326, the sign of “The
Cardinal's Hat “was put out by a wine-seller of the name of “Bobyll, beside
Newgate, in London," who used to cater wine for Wolsey, and the better
to ingratiate himself with his eminence, adopted the above sign.]
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4596) (tudalen 271)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 271
adjudged to Sir John Dymock, who then held that manor (and whose descendants
still hold it by the same tenure), in opposition to the claim of Sir Baldwin Frevile,
in right of his property of Tamworth Castle. The poetical Lord Marmion of
Walter Scott is described as of this family; and, on his arrival at Norham
Castle:
“They hail'd him Lord of Fontenay, Of Lutterward and Scrivelbay,
Of Tamworth tower and town."
In the “Second Part of Henry VI." Shakespeare, who closely follows the
relations of our old chroniclers, tells us, that a spirit, raised by the
witch Jourdain, said of the Duke of Somerset:
“Let him shun Castles Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains Than where
castles mounted stand."
And in the same Play, in the scene of the first battle of St. Alban's, fought
May 23, 1455, Richard, after killing Somerset, exclaims:
“So lie thou there For underneath an ale-house paltry sign The Castle in St.
Alban's, Somerset Hath made the wizard famous by his death."
The plays of our immortal Dramatist, derived from our credulous historians,
have embalmed several instances of similar prophetic accomplishments. Thus of
Henry IV. it was predicted that he should die at Jerusalem; and accordingly
he expires in a room in the palace of the Abbot of Westminster, that was
called the Jerusalem Chamber.
It was foretold of William de la Pole, first Duke of Suffolk:
“By water shall he die and take his end."
And consequently the name of his murderer proves to be Walter, pronounced
Water, Whitmore. But more especially in Macbeth, where the witches assure him
of safety, excepting in the occurrence of events apparently impossible, but
which being accomplished, he exclaims just before his fall:
“And be those juggling fiends no more believ'd That palter with us in a
double sense; That keep the word of promise to our ear And break it to our
hope."
Julius Ferettus, as quoted by Grose, has given an etymology of castrum too
ridiculous to be omitted, “Castra dicta sunt a castitate, quia ibi omnes
caste vivere debent."
CAT AND FIDDLE CAT AND BAG-PIPES Puss IN BOOTS. I have
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4597) (tudalen 272)
|
272 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
read in comedies and ludicrous essays, of public-houses called the Cat and
Fiddle, and the Cat and Bag-pipes; but I own that I never saw either of these
odd combinations; nor indeed do I recollect any sign in which the figure of a
Cat has been introduced, excepting a Civet-cat over the door of a perfumer's,
and a public-house called the Puss in Boots. However, I believe that the above-mentioned
signs have been exhibited in or near London, and probably are so still.
Between the Cat and Fiddle* there may indeed appear some connexion, as the
entrails of the one are supposed to furnish the strings of the other; or the
sign might originate in the ambiguity of the word kit, at once the
abbreviation of kitten, and a small violin. If the house became popular, a
rival landlord might perhaps be induced to adopt a sign somewhat similar; and
if a Scotchman (as Touchstone says, “Much virtue in If"}, he was not
unlikely to chuse the national bagpipe as the adjunct to his cat. But
although my attempted explanation of signs altogether is merely
"desipere in loco," yet perhaps it is rather too silly to be
attempting to account for what may never have appeared, or, if they did, had
their origin in mere caprice, the very dissimilitude and incongruity of the
objects being the sole reason for coupling them together, as appears to have
been the case at the village-city of Llandaff in Glamorganshire, where is a
public-house denominated the Cow and Snuffers.
It may perhaps be quite as prudent always to ascertain the existence of a
presumed fact, prior to reasoning upon it I copy the following extract from
the portfolio of a punster in the “European Magazine ": "I happened
to mention to my friend Simplex that I knew an old man who at the age of
sixty had cut a complete new set of teeth, and he immediately wrote an essay
of fourteen sheets upon the subject, which he read with infinite applause at
the Royal Society. It was an erudite production, beginning with Marcus Curius
Dentatus and Cneius Papyrius Carbo, who were born with all their teeth;
quoting the cases of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, and Prussias, son of the King
of Bithynia, who had only one continued tooth, reaching the whole length of
the jaw; noticing the assertions of Mentzalius, a German physician, and our
English Dr. Stare, who state instances of a new set of teeth being cut at the
ages of 80 and no; and embracing, in the progress of the discussion, all the
opinions that had been expressed upon the subject from Galen down to Peyer,
De Quincey, M. de la Harpe, Dr. Derham, Riolanus, and others. I omitted at
the time to mention one circumstance which might have saved Simplex a deal of
trouble, and the Society a deal of time; the man to whom I alluded was a
comb-cutter."
I shall not enter into the surprizing history of Puss in Boots, as I
[* See Notes and Queries, second series, x, 36, 98.]
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4598) (tudalen 273)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 273
think there are very few above six years old who are not thoroughly
acquainted with the great services she rendered to her Master, “My Lord the
Marquess of Carabas," and who do not know that, after he had married the
King's daughter, Puss lived in great pomp, and only caught mice now and then,
just for amusement.
Another Cat of equal celebrity claims some commemoration, though I am not
aware that her whiskers have ever figured on a sign-board. At Islington
stands an upright stone, inscribed “Whittington-stone," which marks the
spot where tradition says Whittington sat down when he had run away from the
cruelty of the cook-maid, and where he thought that he heard the bells of Bow
Church, then in full peal, ring merrily in his ears:
“Turn again, Whittington, Thrice Lord Mayor of London."
Every child will tell how Whittington, obedient to the sound r returned to his
master's house, and reluctantly parted with his sole possession, a favourite
cat, on an adventure in his master's vessel: how the ship arrived in a
strange country, where the King and Queen had their meat snatched from table
as soon as it was put on by innumerable rats and mice how puss killed or
drove them all away how the King sent immense presents to Whittington in lieu
of his cat, which, being fortunately in the family way, stocked the whole
country: how Whittington married his master's daughter and finally,
“How London city, thrice beneath his sway, Confirm'd the presage of that
happy day, When echoing bells their greeting thus begun, Return thrice Mayor,
return, O Whittington."
Bishop.
Foote, in his Comedy of the Nabob, makes Sir Matthew Mite thus address the
Society of Antiquaries “That Whittington lived, no doubt can be made; that he
was Lord Mayor of London, is equally true; but as to his cat, that,
gentlemen, is the gordian knot to untie. And here, gentlemen, be it permitted
me to define what a cat is. A cat is a domestic, whiskered, four-footed
animal, whose employment is catching of mice; but let puss have been ever so
subtle, let puss have been ever so successful, to what could puss's captures
amount? No tanner can curry the skin of a mouse, no family make a meal of the
meat; consequently no cat could give Whittington his wealth.
“From whence then does this error proceed? Be that my care to point out. The
commerce this worthy merchant carried on was chiefly confined to our coasts;
for this purpose he constructed a vessel, which from its agility and
lightness, he aptly christened a cat.
18
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4599) (tudalen 274)
|
274 Starts of
Inns, Etc.
Nay, to this our day, gentlemen, all our coals from Newcastle are imported in
nothing but cats; from hence it appears that it was not the whiskered,
four-footed, mouse-killing cat, that was the source of the magistrate's
wealth, but the coasting, sailing, coal-carrying cat; that, gentlemen, was
Whittington's cat."
Sir Richard Whittington was Lord Mayor in 1397, 1406, and 1419. In 1413 he
founded a College (now converted into an alms-house for 13 poor men, and
vested in the Mercers' Company) on the hill, thence called College Hill } and
lies buried in the church of St. Michael Pater Noster Royal, which he had
rebuilt.
When Typhon forced all the gods and goddesses to conceal themselves in the
form of animals, Diana assumed the shape of a Cat, as Ovid informs us: “Fele
soror Phcebi latuit." [Metam. lib. v.,line 330.] Hence the cat was
considered as sacred to her, and as the characters of Cynthia or Luna, and
Proserpine or Hecate, are appropriated by mythologists to this goddess, whose
triple name and office is described in the memorial lines:
“Terret, lustrat, agit, Proserpina, Luna, Diana, Ima, superna, feras,
sceptro, fulgore, sagittis."
“Earth, Heaven, Hell is hunted, lighted, aw'd, By Dian's, Luna's, Hecate's
dart, ray, rod."
And as Hecate peculiarly presided over witchcraft, we may with great
probability conjecture, that hence arose the invariable association of a cat
as the agent and favourite of witches. Thus Mr. Brand says, “Cats were
antiently revered as the emblems of the Moon, and among the Egyptians were on
that account so highly honoured as to receive sacrifices and devotions, and
had stately temples erected to their honour. It is said that in whatever
house a cat died, all the family shaved their eyebrows. Herodotus and
Diodorus Siculus relate that a Roman happening accidentally to kill a cat,
the mob immediately gathered about the house where he was; and neither the
entreaties of some principal men sent by the King, nor the fear of the
Romans, with whom they were then negociating a peace, could save the man's
life."
There is a common adage, “to turn cat in the pan," to forsake your
principles for advantage, tergiversation; and it is used in the well-known
song of "the Vicar of Bray," a man whose conduct eminently
exemplified it meaning. [See ante, p. 90.]
Epigram addressed to the landlord of the Oakley Arms at Maidenhead, near
Bray:
“Friend Isaac, 'tis strange, you that live so near Bray,
Should not set up the sign of the Vicar; Though it may be an odd one, you
cannot but say It must needs be a sign of good liquor."
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4600) (tudalen 275)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 275
ANSWER.
“Indeed, Master Poet, your reason's but poor,
For the Vicar would think it a sin, To stay, like a booby, and lounge at the
door 'Twere a sign 'twas bad liquor within."
There is another old adage, “The cat loves fish, but dares not wet her
feet;" which is alluded to by Lady Macbeth, in that exquisitely fine
speech to re-excite in her husband a determination to murder Duncan:
“Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire? Wouldst
thou have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, And live a coward
in thine own esteem; Letting I dare not wait upon I would, Like the poor cat
/' the adage"
Gray has written a pleasing Ode on a cat drowned in a tub of gold fishes.
Huddesford, in his Salmagundi,* has a humorous quibbling monody on Dick, an
Academical Cat, to which he has prefixed the motto, from Horace:
“Micat inter omnes."
A whip having nine lashes, used for the punishment of delinquents in the Army
and Navy, is called a cat of nine tails. A sailor on board his Majesty's ship
the "Tartar," in 1747, when tied up to receive this punishment,
addressed the following lines to his commander, who had an antipathy to a
cat:
“By your Honour's command, an example I stand
Of your justice to all the ship's crew; I am hamper'd and stript, and if I am
whipt I must own 'tis no more than my due.
“In this scurvy condition, I humbly petition
To offer some lines to your eye: Merry Tom by such trash avoided the lash,
And if fate and you please, so may I.
“There is nothing you hate, I'm inform 'd, like a Cat,
Why! your Honour's aversion is mine: If Puss then with one tail can so make
your heart fail, O save me from that which has nine."
He was pardoned.
[* Salmagundi; a miscellaneous combination of original poetry, etc., [by
Geo\*e Huddesford] London, 1791, 410.; secoud edition, London, 1793, Svo.;
third edition London 1793, 8vo.]
18 2
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4601) (tudalen 276)
|
2 76 Signs of
Inns, Etc.
[1818, Part /., //. 590-593-1
THE CATHARINE WHEEL. St Catharine, according to her legend, was born at
Alexandria; and, for converting fifty heathen philosophers to Christianity,
was sentenced by the Emperor Maxentius to death, on a wheel, devised by the
most ingenious cruelty, and armed with knives, saws, and nails. From this
horrible torture she was rescued by an angel; but suffered decapitation,
November 25, 305. Her relics were said to have been discovered on Mount
Sinai, and a military order was created in 1063, to protect pilgrims on their
way to her tomb from being pillaged by the Arabs. The habit of these “Knights
of St. Catharine of Mount Sinai “was white, on which was delineated a half
wheel armed with spikes, and traversed with a sword stained with blood.
The play of the “Miracles of St Catharine," written by Geoffrey, a
Norman, afterwards Abbot of St. Alban's, was performed in the Priory of
Dunstable in the year mo, and is the first recorded theatrical representation
in this kingdom.
Among the festivities with which Catharine of Aragon, afterwards Queen of
Henry VIII., was welcomed into London, Nov. 12, 1501, two days before the
celebration of her nuptials with Prince Arthur, the legend of her sainted
namesake was acted by young ladies with gorgeous decorations.
The order of St. Catharine, conferred on ladies of the first quality in the
Russian court, was instituted in 1714, by Catharine, wife of Peter the Great,
in memory of his escape from the Turks in 1711. The emblems of the order are
a red cross supported by a figure of the Saint, and fastened to a scarlet
string edged with silver, on which is inscribed the name,
"Catharine," with the motto, "Pro fide et patria."
In conformity with the usual mode, I have written this with a C, but the more
correct orthography is Catharine. Her wheel gives name to a well-known
firework, and is a common heraldic device, as well as the ornament of many
sign-boards.
THE CHEQUERS. This is not merely a sign of itself, but is very often painted
on the door-posts of public-houses which are distinguished by some other
sign. Steevens, in his note on “Red lattice phrases," as used by
Falstaff to Pistol in the “Merry Wives of Windsor," says, “Red lattice
at the doors and windows were formerly the external denotements of an
ale-house. So in 'A Fine Companion,' one of Shakerley Marmion's plays, ' a waterman's
widow at the sign of the red lattice in Southwark.' Again, in ' Arden of
Feversham,' 1592, 1 his sign pulled down and his lattice borne away.' Again,
in ' The Miseries of inforced marriage,' 1607, "Tis treason to the red
lattice, enemy to the sign-post.' Hence the present chequer. Perhaps the
reader will express some surprize when he is told that shops with the
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4602) (tudalen 277)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 277
sign of the chequers were common among the Romans. See a view of the left
hand street of Pompeii (No. 9) presented by Sir William Hamilton (together
with several others equally curious) to the Antiquarian Society." To
this Malone adds, “The following passage in Braithwaite's 'Strapado for the
Divell,' 1615, confirms Mr. Steevens's observation, ' To the true discoverer
of secrets, Monsieur Bacchus, master gunner of the pottle pot ordnance, prime
founder of redlatices? In King Henry IV. Part II., Act ii., Sc. 2, Falstaff's
page, speaking of Bardolph, says, ' He called me even now, my lord, through a
red lattice, and I could discern no part of his face from the window."
To these Douce subjoins, "The designation of an ale-house is not
altogether lost, though the original meaning of the word is, the sign being
converted into a green lettuce, of which an instance occurs in Brownlow
Street, Holborn. In ' The last will and testament of Lawrence Lucifer the old
Batchiler of Limbo,' at the end of the ' Blacke Booke/ 1604, 4to., is the
following passage, ' Watched sometimes ten houres together in an ale-house,
ever and anon peeping forth, and sampling thy nose with the red lattis.' “
It has been supposed by some that the Chequer originally denoted that the
guests at houses thus distinguished might amuse themselves with the game of
tables or drafts, which is played upon a chequered board. The phrase Check
mate, used at chess, is a corruption of the Persian Schah mat, the king is
killed. The name of Backgammon is derived from the Welsh back cammawn, a
little battle.
Dr. Pegge, in his “Anonymiana," says, “Cancellce are lattice work, by
which the chancels being formerly separated from the body of the church, they
took their names from thence. Hence, too, the Court of Chancery and the Lord
Chancellor borrowed their names, that court being inclosed with open work of
that kind. And so to cancel a writing is to cross it out with a pen, which
naturally makes something like the figure of a lattice."
The Exchequer derives its name from a chequered cloth like a chess board,
which was spread on the table of that court. The Court of King's bench is so
called from a high bench on which our antient monarchs sat in person. The
judges, to whom in their absence was deputed the judicature, sat on benches
at their feet.
After all, an ale-house sign of the Chequers in England appears to have
originated in the cheeky arms of the Warrens, Earls of Arundel and Surrey,
who possessed for several reigns the exclusive privilege of licensing houses
of public entertainment in this kingdom.
THE CHRISTOPHER is the sign of a principal inn in the city of Wells. This
saint was born at Samon in Lycia; and the stories related of him in his
legend are such as, Smith in his notes on “Bede's Martyrology “says, would
exceed the faith even of Judasus Apella. By order of King Dagnus, he was
confined in prison, and two females,
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4603) (tudalen 278)
|
278 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
Aquila and Nicea, were sent to induce him to renounce his religion; but were
themselves converted by his arguments from the worship of Jove and Apollo to
the true faith, and in testimony of their sincerity suffered martyrdom. As to
St. Christopher, his hands and feet being bound, he was beaten with iron
rods, extended on a bench, and burning oil poured over him, after which he was
fastened to a stake as a mark for the soldiers to hurl their darts at; but
one of the weapons that had transfixed his hand flew back into the eye of
King Dagnus, on which the saint was taken down and beheaded. Dagnus some time
afterwards passing by the tomb of the martyr, had the sight of his eye
restored to him, and greatly glorified the God of St. Christopher.
THE COACH AND HORSES. Gentlemen's servants, when they marry, or have saved
enough to enable them to quit their menial situations, generally become inn
or ale-house keepers, and it would appear most natural for a coachman to set
up the coach and horses for his sign. The wives too of the drivers or guards
of our public coaches very often keep ale-houses by the road side, and these
are frequently ornamented with the representation of their husband's coach,
as “the Mail," "the Royal Telegraph," "the
Defiance," "the Balloon," "the Bang up," etc.
The first coach ever seen in England formed part of the equipage of Henry
Fitzalan, the last Earl of Arundel of that name, who died in 1579. It was
invented by the French, as was the post-chaise also, which was first
introduced into England by the son of the well-known writer on husbandry, Mr.
Jethro Tull. Hackney coaches were first established in London by Captain
Bailey in 1634, and in the same year Hackney chairs or Sedans were introduced
by Sir Sanders Duncombe, Knt., who was a great traveller, and had most
probably seen them at Sedan in France, where Dr. Johnson supposes that they
were first made.
Brewer, in his “Beauties of Middlesex," observes in a note, that “It is
familiarly said, that Hackney, on account of its numerous respectable
inhabitants, was the first place near London provided with coaches of hire
for the accommodation of families, and that thence arises the term Hackney
coaches. This appears quite futile; the word Hackney, as applied to a
hireling, is traced to a remote British origin, and was certainly used in its
present sense long before that village became conspicuous for wealth or population."
In 1637, the number of Hackney coaches in London was confined to 50; in 1652
to 200; in 1654 to 300; in 1661 to 400; in 1694 to 700; in 1710 to 800; in
1771 to 1000; and in 1802 to noo. In imitation of our Hackney coaches,
Nicholas Sauvage introduced the fiacre at Paris in the year 1650.
Mail coaches were first planned and established by Mr. Palmer in 1785; before
which time letters were conveyed by carts extremely liable to robbery, and
precarious in their arrival
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4604) (tudalen 279)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 279
The hammer-doth is an ornamental covering of the coach box. Mr. S. Pegge
says, “The coachman formerly used to carry a hammer, pincers, a lew nails,
etc., in a leathern pouch hanging to his box, and this cloth was devised for
the hiding of them from public view."
THE COCK THE FIGHTING COCKS." The Warrior Bird “would most likely have
been a greater favourite with our English “Bonifaces," had he not been
considered as the emblem of France, and as such opposed to the Lion of
Britain. To this circumstance, arising from the ambiguity of the Latin word
Callus, which equally denotes a Gaul or Frenchman and a cock, may probably be
attributed the barbarous custom, which too long disgraced our nation, of
throwing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday. As to cock-fighting, we derived it from
the Romans, as they did from the Athenians, with whom it was a favourite
amusement.
The form of a cock, which appears on our church steeples and other public
edifices so generally as almost, by its name of weathercock, to have
superceded the proper appellation of vane, was perhaps originally placed in
these situations in ridicule of the notorious instability of the French. Thus
Shakespeare (in the first part of Henry VI.) makes Joan of Arc, speaking of
the defection of the Duke of Burgundy, say:
“Done like a Frenchman, turn and turn again."
It is devoutly to be wished that this nation, now that its rightful
government is restored, may no longer verify the character given to them by
Cicero of “Gallis, hominibus levibus, perfidis, et in ipsos Deos immortales
impiis."
At Blenheim House, that magnificent memorial of a nation's gratitude, its
architect Sir John Vanbrugh has placed on a conspicuous situation the figure
of a cock writhing in a lion's paw, which, being deemed a puerile device, was
the subject of this epigram:
“Had Marlborough's troops in Gaul no better fought, Than Van to grace his
fame in marble wrought; No more in arms than he in emblems skilPd, The Cock
had drove the Lion from the field."
There is an anecdote related of a French embassador at Rome, who, during the
plenitude of the Papal power, was urging some request with unusual
earnestness; when the Sovereign Pontiff, turning to his Cardinals, sneeringly
exclaimed, “Gallus cantat;" to which the justly-irritated embassador
replied, “Utinam at ad Galli cantum Petrus respiceret:" an allusive
repartee, pregnant with the curiosa felicitas.
THE COCK A HOOP THE COCK AND BREECHES. The representation of a Cock standing
on a hoop is merely the rebus of the common phrase of Cock a hoop,
exultation, elation on account of
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4605) (tudalen 280)
|
2 So Signs of
Inns, Etc.
some success, standing upon high terms. Bailey derives it from the French
“Coqu a hupe, a cock with a Cope crest or comb." The armorial Crest, is
derived from the Latin Crisfa, a Cock's comb.
The other representation, of a cock standing upon a pair of breeches, is a
silly indecent allusion, the subject of an old jest in Joe Miller.
The word Cockney, applied in derision to a native of the city of London, or
one born within the sound of Bow bells, is popularly attributed to the tale
of a citizen's son, who called the crowing of a cock neighing. Some derive it
from the old English word cockered, fondled, pampered; thus in Shakespeare's
King John, Falconbridge, speaking of the Dauphin, says:
“Shall a beardless boy, A cocker 1 d silken wanton, brave our fields?"
[Act v., sc. i.]
Others deduce it from the French coquin, a common term of reproach, more
particularly applied to a slothful person. Mr. Douce, with much probability,
supposes it to have originated in an Utopian region of indolence and luxury,
formerly denominated the country of Cocaigne. [See ante, p. 131.]
THE COCK AND PIE is the sign of some public houses in the environs of the
Metropolis, and of one at Woodbridge in Suffolk. It is an hieroglyphical
representation of an antient adjuration; thus Justice Shallow says to Sir
John Falstaff, in the Second Part of Henry IV.: "By Cock and Pye, Sir,
you shall not away to-night," which Shakespeare's annotators have thus
explained: Cock is only a corruption of the sacred name, as appears by many
passages in the old Interludes, “Gammer Gurton's needle," etc., as Cocks
bones, Cocks wounds, Cocks mother. The Pie is a table, or rule, in the old
Roman offices, shewing in a technical way how to find out the service which
is to be read upon each day. In the second Preface concerning the Service of
the Church, prefixed to “the Book of Common Prayer," this table is
mentioned as follows: “Moreover the number and hardness of the rules called
the/fo, and the manifold changes," etc. The name is supposed to be
derived from the initial letter of n/rag, which, though originally signifying
a plank, yet is used in a metaphorical sense to denote an index. A printing
letter of a particular size called the Pica was probably denominated from the
Pie, as the Brevier from the Breviary, and the Primer from the Primer.
Hogarth, the inimitable Comic painter, was the author of a dinner invitation,
requesting his friend to come and “j C v “but the following reproof ascribed
to Congreve is not, I think, commonly known. He had some snuff which was
peculiarly grateful to the nose of his Brother Dramatist Rowe, who sending
his box to be replenished too
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4606) (tudalen 281)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 281
frequently, Congreve at last wrote with a pencil on its lid “*, P!"
Dennis, to whom this was told, is said to have exclaimed, that he was sure a
man capable of making so vile a pun, would not scruple to pick pockets.
THE CRISPIN. A few ale-houses, whose landlords are also shoemakers, or
patronized by the members of that trade, are distinguished by this
appellation. Crispin and his brother Crispianus were born at Rome, whence
they travelled to Soissons in France, where they preached the doctrines of
Christianity, practising the trade of shoe-makers for their support. But in
the year of their arrival at Soissons, A.D. 303, they were apprehended by the
governor Rictionarius, and beheaded October 25; since which they have been
considered as the Patron Saints of shoe-makers.
On the anniversary of their martyrdom, in the year 1415, was fought the
glorious battle of Agincourt; and Shakespeare has given to our Fifth Harry
such a speech as no Englishman can possibly read, but it
“Will rouze him at the name of Crispian."
Tn an old Romance the Saint is converted into a Prince^ who employed himself
as a shoe-maker; and thence is supposed to be derived the expression of
gentle craft as applied to that trade.
The usual legal appellation of Cordwainer is derived from Cordovan, a
peculiar kind of leather, originally made of goat skins at Cordova in Spain;
but all leather made of horse-hides and curried is at present so called.
Anne, daughter of Winceslaus, King of Bohemia, and queen of Richard II.,
introduced into England the fashion of wearing shoes so preposterously long,
that they were at length obliged to be supported by silver chains or silken
laces tied to the knees, until 5 Edward IV., when a Statute was enacted,
imposing a penalty of 20 shillings on all persons wearing, and 30 shillings
on making, the peaks of shoes longer than two inches. Anne of Bohemia also
introduced the use of the side-saddle; prior to her arrival the English
ladies used to ride astride.
[1818, Part II., pp. 13-17,]
THE CROSS. Many beautiful specimens of the architectural skill and piety of
our ancestors, in the Crosses which were the usual ornaments of market-places
and churchyards, fell a sacrifice to the fanatical zeal of the
Parliamentarians in the time of the unhappy Charles; but some few still
remain, and views of them are occasionally exhibited on the sign-boards of
houses in the towns where they are situate, whilst the recollection of
others, once of conspicuous beauty, as of the Cross at Coventry, is recalled
to the mind by the representation on the signboard, which has outlived the
original,
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4607) (tudalen 282)
|
282 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
On the death of Eleanor, the amiable wife of Edward L, and daughter of
Ferdinand III., King of Castile and Leon, which happened at Hardeby in
Lincolnshire, Nov. 28, 1291, her body, by order of Edward, was removed to
Westminster; and in testimony of the tender affection which he felt and she
so justly merited, he erected at every place where the corpse rested on its
journey an elegant cross, adorned with the statue and arms of the deceased.
Three of these beautiful and affectionate memorials still remain; one at
Geddington in Northamptonshire; one called Queen's Cross, near Northampton;
and one situate in Hertfordshire, but near to the town of Waltham in Essex.
The last place where the body was deposited prior to its sepulture in the
Abbey, was at the then village of Charing, between London and Westminster,
which, from the memorial erected by Edward, obtained its present appellation
of Charing-cross, and where a large coach inn at pre^nt exhibits the sign of
a Golden Cross.
The proverb, He begs like a cripple at a cross, which we still use to denote
a peculiar earnestness of entreaty, has been handed down to us from those
times when the afflicted poor used to solicit alms at the different crosses.
THE CROSS HANDS THE THREE CROSSES THE FOUR CROSSES. Crosses were antiently
erected at the meeting of public roads, and very many of the houses decorated
with the above signs are thus situated.
Constantine by law first abolished the punishment of the cross, which had
been used by the Romans till his time. It had been also inflicted among the
Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Carthaginians, and even the Greeks.
The invention or discovery of the Cross, as appears by our Almanacks, is
celebrated on May 3. Helena, the mother of Constantine, when 80 years of age,
visited the Holy Land, and according to the Legend, discovered the three
crosses on which our Saviour and the two thieves had been crucified. To
ascertain the one on which our Saviour had been suspended, the corpse of a
woman was laid upon each alternately; the two first produced not any effect,
but the latter unquestionably established its verity by instantly restoring
the woman to life. The Cross itself too, although divided and subdivided into
innumerable fragments, which were distributed among the pious, so that the
pieces taken from it amounted to treble the quantity of wood of which it
originally consisted, yet nevertheless remained undiminished and entire!!!
Many deeds of Synods were antiently issued, expressing that, as my Lord the
Bishop could not write, at his request others had subscribed for him. Many
charters granted by nobles, and even by sovereigns, bore their mark, or
"Signutn Crucis? alone, “pro ignorantia literarum," as in a charter
dated about the year 700 by Withred, King of Kent.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4608) (tudalen 283)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 283
Even the great Emperor Justinian was compelled to have his hand guided by a
secretary, or he would not have been able to have subscribed to any of his
edicts. From this custom of making crosses are derived the words signing and
signature, used as synonymes for subscribing and subscription.
There is a vulgar opinion that those monumental effigies which we not
unfrequently meet with in antient churches, having their legs crossed, were
intended as representations of Knight Templars; but this distinction was not
exclusively confined to that order, but extended to any knight who had
visited the Holy Land, or had even assumed the cross on his habit as
significant of his intention of such an expedition.
Guillim enumerates 39, and Columbiere 72, different sorts of crosses used in
Heraldry. St. George's cross, Gules on a field Argent, is the standard of
England, that Saint being the reputed Patron of this nation.
THE CROSS FOXES, the sign of the principal inn at Oswestry in Shropshire, and
of very many public-houses in North Wales, has been adopted from the armorial
bearings of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, bart, Lord Lieutenant of the counties
of Denbigh and Merioneth, and Knight of the Shire for the former county, a
gentleman not more distinguished for the extent of his domains than for his
public spirit, as the patron of agricultural improvement, and as the Colonel
of the Flint and Denbigh militia, which he commanded in France when those
worthy Cambro-Britons volunteered their services to join the victorious army
of the Duke of Wellington.
Foote having been in company with an ancestor of the present baronet, a very
large man, and being asked how he liked him, replied, "Oh, a true
Welshman, all mountain and barrenness."
THE CROSS KEYS. Inn-keepers, who were tenants or had been servants to
Religious houses or persons, would naturally assume for their sign some
significant device; and to this cause in many instances may be ascribed the
common signs of the Cross, the Cross Keys, the Lamb, the Cardinal's Cap, the
Crosier, and the Mitre.
The Keys are the well-known emblem of St. Peter, derived from the
metaphorical saying of our Saviour, Matthew xvi. 19; and crossed
saltire-wise, their usual form on sign-boards, are borne in the arms of the
Archbishops of York and Cashel, the Bishops of Exeter, Peterborough,
Gloucester, Limerick, Dromore and Down.
One of our antient theatres was distinguished by this sign.
THE CROWN. Signs now almost exclusively confined to publicans, were formerly
common to other tradesmen also. The Crown then, as at present, was a
favourite; and such was the jealous tyranny of Edward IV. that one Walter
Walker, a respectable grocer in Cheapside, was executed, as Shakespeare makes
Richard truly declare.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4609) (tudalen 284)
|
284 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
“Only for saying he would make his son Heir to the Crown, meaning indeed his
house, Which by the sign thereof was called so."
A Grocer at present merely designates a seller of sugar, tea, plumbs, and
spices; but its original signification was a wholesale merchant, one who
dealt in large quantities of any merchandize, or in the gross. By a similar
use of the figure synecdoche, or putting the whole for a part, the general
name of Stationer, which originally meant any one that kept a station or
shop, is now confined to a seller of pens, ink, and paper; and a Mercer,
which formerly was synonymous with Merchant, is now applied to a mere dealer
in silks. The word Millener, one who sells ribands and dresses for women, is
a corruption of Milainer, by which name the incorporated company of
Haberdashers in London was originally known, and was so called from dealing
in merchandize chiefly imported from Milan. Cordwainer, the common legal
appellation of a shoemaker, as I have before mentioned in the article
“Crispin," is derived from Cordovan, a peculiar kind of leather,
originally made at Cordova in Spain. There are two trading companies of the
city of London, the names of which are becoming obsolete, viz., Fletchers, or
arrow-makers, from fleche an arrow; and Loriners, or horse accoutrement
makers, from the French Larmiers, derived from the Latin lorum, a bridle, or
horse-harness.
Cheapside, where Walker the Grocer lived, obtains its appellation from Cheap
or Cheaping, the antient name of a market. A Chapman, therefore, is a
market-man, and its abbreviation, Chap, is often used by the vulgar for any
person of whom they mean to speak with freedom or disrespect.
The Crown is often joined on our sign-boards with some other representation.
The Crown and Anchor in the Strand, is a tavern much celebrated for public
meetings. The Bell and Crown is a large coach inn in Holborn. The Rose and
Crown is a very frequent sign. The principal inn at Leicester is called the
Three Crowns.
The following anecdote was related by Horace Walpole: “Queen Caroline spoke
of shutting up St. James' Park, and converting it into a noble garden for the
palace of that name. She asked my father what it might probably cost, who
replied, Only three crowns," This reply has been erroneously attributed
to Lord Chesterfield.
Gallot derives the word corona, whence crown, from the Latin cornu, horn,
because the antient crowns were pointed in the manner of horns, which both by
Jews and Gentiles were of old esteemed as marks of power, strength,
authority, and empire. Hence in the Holy Scriptures horns are used for the
regal dignity, and accordingly horn and crown in the Hebrew are expressed by
the same word
The English Crown is adorned with four Maltese crosses, between which are
fleurs de lys. From the top of the crosses arise four
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4610) (tudalen 285)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 285
circular bars, which meet at a little globe supporting a cross. It is of
gold, enriched with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and pearls. It is
kept at the Tower with the other Regalia, which are altogether valued at
above two millions sterling.
Henry V. fought in his crown at Agincourt, which preserved his life, by
sustaining a stroke from a battle axe which cleft it Richard III. also fought
at Bos worth field in his crown, which was picked up by a private soldier,
who secreted it in a bush, most probably intending to secure it for himself;
but, being discovered, it was delivered to Sir Reginald Bray, who gave it to
Lord Stanley, who placed it on Richmond's head, and hailed him “King “on the
field. Hence arises the device of & crown in a hawthorne bush at each end
of Henry VII.'s tomb in Westminster Abbey.
THE CUP THE THREE CUPS. These certainly are appropriate signs. Brady, in his
“Clavis Calendaria," says, “The Saxons were remarkable for immoderate
drinking, and, when intoxicated with their favourite ale, were guilty of the
most outrageous violences. Dunstan endeavoured to check this vicious habit, but
durst not totally obstruct their much loved intemperance; he introduced,
therefore, the custom of marking or pegging their cups at certain distances,
to prevent one man taking a greater draught than his companions. Some of
these peg or fin cups or bowls, and pin or peg tankards, are yet to be found
in the cabinets of Antiquaries*; and we are to trace from their use some
common terms yet current among us. When a person is much elated, we say he is
in a merry pin, which no doubt originally meant he had reached that mark
which had deprived him of his usual sedateness and sobriety: we talk of
taking a man a peg lower, when we imply we shall check him in any
forwardness, a saying which originated from a regulation that deprived all
those of their turn of drinking, or of their peg, who had become troublesome
in their liquor; from the like rule in society came also the expression of he
is a peg too low, i.e., has been restrained too far, when we say that a
person is not in equal spirits with his company; whilst we also remark of an
individual that he is getting on peg by peg, or in other words, he is taking
greater freedoms than he ought to do, which formerly meant he was either
drinking out of his turn, or, contrary to express regulation, did not confine
himself to his proper portion or peg, but drank on to the next, thereby
taking a double quantity."
Our custom of drinking healths, and the Wassel bowl, appear to have
originated in the introduction of the British Monarch Vortigern to Rowena the
beautiful blue-eyed daughter (or, according to other writers, niece) of the
Saxon Hengist. She kneeled down, and presenting to the King a cup of spiced
wine, said, “Lord King, Wats
* We recollect one in the possession of the late venerable and reverend Dr.
Samuel Pegge,
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4611) (tudalen 286)
|
286 Signs of 7nns,
Etc.
Aet'!," Health be to you; to which Vortigern, instructed by his
interpreter, replied, “Drinc heil" I drink your health; and then, as
Robert of Gloucester says,
“Kuste hire, and sitte hire adoune, and glad dronk hire heil, And that was
tho' in this land the verst was-hail."
Waes heal from that period not unnaturally became the name of the
drinking-cups of the Anglo-Saxons; and the word Wassel is only a corruption
of the antient Waes heal or Wish health bowl. The term Wassel occurs often in
Shakespeare, and is sometimes used for general intemperance or festivity. To
this day it is the constant custom in Glamorganshire for the country people
to bring a cup of spiced ale, which they call Wassel, and sing gratulatory
songs at the doors of their more opulent neighbours at Christmas.
[1818, Part //., pp. 207-212.]
DANIEL LAMBERT. At Leicester, his native place, in the street called
Gallow-tree gate, is a public house, the sign-board of which exhibits a
portrait of this person, by far the fattest and heaviest man ever known. He
was born March 13, 1770, and was for many years Keeper of the House of
Correction at Leicester, where his vast bulk excited a curiosity which was
very rarely gratified, as he had the greatest repugnance to being gazed at He
was fond of cocking, horse-racing, and the sports of the field; and when
prevented by his size from an active participation in these pleasures, they
formed the favourite topics of his discourse. A traveller, who had learned
these circumstances, and was very anxious to see this human prodigy, knocked
at his door, and inquired if he were at home. The servant replied,
"Yes;" but added, "that Mr. Lambert never saw strangers."
"Tell him," said the visitant, "that I called about some
cocks." Lambert, who overheard the conversation, suspecting the real
motive, immediately called aloud to his servant, “Tell the gentleman that I
am a shy cock." At another time, a person who was extremely importunate
to see him, pretending that he had a particular favour to ask, was, after
considerable hesitation, admitted; when he said that he merely wished to
inquire into the pedigree of a particular mare. Lambert, aware of the true
cause of his visit, with happy promptitude replied, "Oh, is that all?
she was got by Impertinence out of Curiosity." Being under pecuniary
embarrassment, he at length very reluctantly assented to a public exhibition
of himself; and March 28, 1806, arrived for that purpose at lodgings in
Piccadilly, London, where he was visited by crowds of spectators. He
afterwards exhibited himself at most of the principal towns in England, and
died on his journey at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, June 21, 1809. He had
retired to rest in apparent health, and intended seeing company the following
day, but was found lifeless in his bed in the
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4612) (tudalen 287)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 287
morning. His coffin, consisting of 112 superficial feet of elms, was rolled
upon two axle-trees to the grave at the back of St. Martin's Church, where a
monument was erected, thus inscribed:
"In remembrance of that prodigy in nature, Daniel Lambert, a native of
Leicester, who was possessed of an excellent and convivial mind, and in
Personal Greatness he had no competitor. He measured three feet one inch
round the legs, nine feet four inches round the body, and weighed 52 stone, n
Ibs. He departed this life on the zist of June, 1809, aged 39 years. As a
testimony of respect this stone is erected by his friends in Leicester.
"N. B. The stone of 14 Ibs."
The following list of persons of remarkable size has been taken from the
Obituary of the Gentleman's Magazine:
Edward Bright, Maiden, Essex, died November, 1750, weight 42
stone 7 Ibs. 615 [595] Ibs. Jacob Powell, Stebbing, Essex, died October,
1754, weight, 40 stone
560 Ibs. Benjamin Bower, Holt, Dorsetshire, died December, 1763, weight,
34 stone 4 Ibs. 480 Ibs. Mr. Baker, Worcester, died July, 1766,
"supposed to be a larger
man than Bright," but no weight stated. Mr. Spooner, Shuttington,
Warwickshire, died June, 1775, 40 stone
9 Ibs. 569 Ibs. Daniel Lambert, Leicester, died June, 1809, weight, 52 stone
n Ibs.
739 lbs
THE DOG. Notwithstanding the almost infinite variety and great dissimilitude
in the appearance, size, and qualities of the different species of dogs, yet
it is admitted by every naturalist that they all spring from one parent
stock. [Then follows a dissertation on dogs, which it is not thought worth
while reprinting here.]
THE DOG AND DUCK THE DOG AND PARTRIDGES. The former of these signs once
decorated a house of considerable celebrity in St. George's Fields; and gave
its name to a medicinal spring, which was once considered of great efficacy,
though now entirely disused: the latter, generally representing on its
sign-board a sportsman with a gun or net, is sometimes denominated “The Setting
Dog."
[1818, Part IL, pp. 302-305.]
THE DOLPHIN. This fish, when sporting on the surface of the water, sometimes
deceives the eye, and appears crooked. Hence on ancient coins and marbles he
is often thus portrayed; and from these representations our sign-painters
have adopted the distorted figure we commonly see displayed.
The dolphin was consecrated by the ancients to the gods, and called
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4613) (tudalen 288)
|
288 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
the sacred fish. The story of Arion, the Lesbian musician, is related by
Ovid, Fasti, lib. 2. It was formerly considered a great delicacy in this
kingdom.
Dauphin is a title given to the eldest son of the kings of France, on account
of the province of Dauphine", which in 1343 was bestowed on this
condition to Philip de Valois, by Humbert Dauphin of the Viennois. The
appellation, according to Chorier, was first assumed by the son of Guy the
Fat, Prince of the Viennois, about the year 1 120, probably from bearing a
dolphin as the crest on his helmet at a tournament in which he distinguished
himself.
Moser, in his “Vestiges Revived," mentions the Dolphin, or rather the
Dauphine inn, from the four de lys, cognizances, and dolphins, with which it
had been adorned. It stood on the Eastern side of Bishopsgate Street Without,
near the end of Houndsditch, and was stated by tradition to have been the inn
or civic residence of one of the Dauphins of France. If it were, it must have
been of the Dauphin Louis, who came into England in 1216 to wrest the sceptre
from John.
THE DRAGON. The dragon was the ensign of the famous British Prince
Cadwallader, and borne by his descendants, the Princes of Wales. The name of
the father of the renowned Arthur was Uther Pendragon, which signifies
"wonderful supreme leader."
A dragon was emblazoned on the standard of Richard, King of the Romans (who
perhaps assumed it, as Earl of Cornwall, in compliment to the Cornish
Britons), and was captured, together with himself and his brother Henry III.,
by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, general of the associated Barons, at
the battle of Lewes, May 14, 1264. Barnes tells us that at the battle of
Cressy, August 26, 1346, Philip de Valois, King of France, displayed the
great and holy standard of that nation, called the Oriflambe, which indicated
his intention to refuse quarter to his enemies; and Edward III. unfolded his
banner of the burning Dragon, which portended a like intention. Consequently
not a prisoner was taken, though there were slain nearly 40,000 men.
I have already mentioned, under the article “Blue Boar," that Henry VII.
established Rouge Dragon as the designation of a Pursuivant at Arms in the
stead of Blanch Sanglier, which had been instituted by his rival Richard III;
and we may reasonably conclude that the dragon would become a popular sign
from the time of Henry's assumption of the throne.
Moser notices the present Green Dragon Inn in Bishopsgate-street, London, as
retaining many vestiges of antiquity.
THE DUKE'S HEAD THE OLD DUKE. I observe in Gary's Itinerary three posting
houses (viz. at Lynn Regis, Wacton, and Walton) distinguished by the former
sign; and I have myself seen public
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4614) (tudalen 289)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 289
houses denominated by the latter. The Craftsman, No. 623, says, “Whoever
passes through the towns in England, and will give himself the trouble to
take notice of the signs, will find bravery the darling inclination of the
whole people. He that contrives the most heroic sign is sure of the most
custom. Some hang out the heads of great commanders, such as Monk, Marlborough,
or Ormond, according to their different principles." Of the Dukes of
Albemarle and Ormond, I suppose that now not a single sign remains; and I
know not of any public-house that yet retains a representation even of the
Duke of Marlborough, though of later date and more distinguished merit (but
there are many which exhibit the arms of the present noble family); for the
inns called “the Old Duke," that I have seen, are decorated with the
portrait of William of Cumberland. This sign, to which I shall now confine
myself, is becoming rare, whilst almost every town proudly exhibits the
likenesses of our brave Dukes of York and Wellington, of whom I intend giving
a short account under their respective titles. Thus Goldsmith begins his 8th
Essay: “An alehouse keeper near Islington, who had long lived at the sign of
the French King, upon the commencement of the last war pulled down his old
sign, and put up that of the Queen of Hungary. Under the influence of her red
face and golden sceptre, he continued to sell ale, till she was no longer the
favourite of his customers; he changed her, therefore, some time ago for the
King of Prussia, who may probably be changed in turn for the next great man
that shall be set up for vulgar admiration."
THE DUN Cow, not an unusual sign, may in some instances have been adopted
from the victory ascribed in our old Romances to that most valorous
chieftain, Guy, Earl of Warwick, over an enormous dun cow that once infested
Dunsmore heath, near Dunchurch in Warwickshire, where certainly in memory of
this atchievement one of the present inns is known by this appellation.
Butler, in his inimitable “Hudibras," alludes to this combat in his
account of Tolgol, one of the warriors of the Bear and Fiddle:
“Who was of that noble trade, Which demi-gods and heroes made, Slaughter and
knocking on the head, The trade to which they all were bred; And is, like
others, glorious when 'Tis great and large, but base if mean: The former
rides in triumph for it, The latter in a two-wheel'd chariot, For daring to
profane a thing
So sacred with vile bungling
He many a boar and huge dun cow, Did, like another Guy, o'erthrow:
19
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4615) (tudalen 290)
|
290 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
But Guy, with him in fight compar'd, Had like the boar or dun cow
far'd."
The original of Butler's Tolgol is said to have been a butcher in Newgate
Market, who was afterwards made a captain for his bravery at Naseby.
The Tatler, in a humourous passage upon diet, No. 148, says, "I need not
go up so high as the history of Guy, Earl of Warwick, who is well known to
have eaten up a dun cmv of his own killing."
This renowned hero flourished in the reign of Athelstan, before whom, in
single combat at Winchester at 934, he slew Colbrand, the Goliath of the
Danes. He is said afterwards to have retired to the cell, called Guy's Cliff,
near Warwick, adjoining the present seat of Bertie Greathead, Esq., where he
passed the remainder of his life as a hermit, and was there buried. There is
still remaining a gigantic statue of him, erected by Richard Beauchamp, Earl
of Warwick, in the chantry at Guy's Cliff, which Beauchamp built, and in
which John Rous, the Warwickshire historian, was a priest. Several pieces of
rusty armour, and a large iron boiler, are shewn to the credulous multitude,
at the porter's lodge of Warwick Castle, as having been part of the
accoutrements and the porridge-pot of this famous champion. His exploits are
thus facetiously related by Huddesford in his tale of t: Old Wyschard,"
in the “Wiccamical Chaplet ": [See ante, p. 275].
“By gallant Guy of Warwick slain
Was Colbrand, that gigantic Dane;
Nor could this desperate champion daunt
A dun cow bigger than elephant;
But he, to prove his courage sterling,
His whyniard in her blood imbrued,
He cut from her epormous side a sirloin, And in his porridge-pot her brisket
stew'd, Then butcher'd a wild boar, and ate him barbecued."
Drayton, in the i3th Song of his “Polyolbion," thus enumerates the
principal victories ascribed to him in romance:
“To thee, renowned Knight, continual praise we owe, And at thy hallow'd tomb
thy yearly obits shew; Who, thy dear Phillis' name and country to advance,
Left'st Warwick's wealthy seat, and sailing into France, At tilt from his
proud steed Duke Otton threw'st to ground, And with th 1 invalued prize of
Blanch the beauteous crown'd (The Almain Emperor's heir) high acts didst
there atchieve; As Lovain thou again didst valiantly relieve. Thou in the
Soldan's blood thy worthy sword imbru'dst, And then in single fight great
Amerant subdu'dst
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4616) (tudalen 291)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 291
'Twas thy Herculean hand, wh'.ch happily destroy'd That Dragon which so long
Northumberland annoy'd; And slew that cruel Boar, which waste our woodlands
laid, Whose tusks turn'd up our tilths, and dens in meadows made, Whose
shoulder-blade remains at Coventry till now; And at our humble sute, did
quell that monstrous Cow t The passengers that us'd from Dunsmore to affright
Of all our English, yet, O most renowned knight, That Colebrond overcam'st;
at whose amazing fall The Danes remov'd their camp from Winchester's sieg'd
wall. Thy statue Guy's Cliff keeps, the gazer's eye to please, Warwick, thy
mighty arms, thou English Hercules!"
It is most probable that the sign of the Dun Cow became generally fashionable
in the reign of Henry VII., as it was an armorial bearing of the Richmond
family.
[1818, Part 2 L, pp. 398-401.]
THE EAGLE THE SPREAD EAGLE THE EAGLES. Of these birds, the golden eagle, the
ring-tail eagle, the sea eagle, the osprey, and the erne, are British, and as
such described by Pennant in his “Zoology."
The eagle is remarkable for its longevity, power of abstinence from food, and
a sight, quick, strong, and piercing, even to a proverb. Keysler relates that
one died at Vienna after a confinement of 104 years; and this vigour is
alluded to in Psalm ciii. 5: “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so
that thy youth is renewed like the Eagles."
One of these birds, in the possession of Owen Holland, Esq., of Conway,
through the neglect of his servants, endured hunger for twenty-one days
without any sustenance whatever. Its natural history is finely described in
Job xxxix. 27-30: "Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her
nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the
rock, and the strong place. From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes
behold afar off. Her young ones also suck up blood, and where the slain are,
there is she."
The eagle, considered as the king of birds, was dedicated to Jupiter in
commemoration of its supplying him with nectar when he lay concealed in
Crete, for fear of being devoured by his father Saturn. At Strawberry Hill is
the statue of an eagle, found in the gardens of Boccapadugli within the
precinct of Caracalla's baths at Rome, in the year 1742, described, by its
then possessor Horace Walpole, as “one of the finest pieces of Greek
sculpture in the world, and reckoned superior to the eagle in the Villa
Mattei. The boldness and yet great finishing of this statue are incomparable,
the eyes inimitable." Mr. Gray has drawn the "flagging wing."
19 2
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4617) (tudalen 292)
|
29 2 Signs of
Inns, Etc.
The eagle was borne by way of ensign or standard by several nations. The
first who are known to have assumed it were the Persians, according to the
testimony of Xenophon. The Romans, after using a variety of animals, as
wolves, leopards, and eagles, according to the fancy of the commander, at
length, in the second consulate of Marius, fixed permanently on the eagle as
their principal military ensign. It was borne on the top of a pike, was made
either of gold or silver, with wings displayed, and frequently grasping a
thunderbolt in its talons.
When Caesar first attempted to land in England, as his vessels could not
approach close to the shore, the Romans, intimidated by the warlike
appearance of the natives, hesitated at commencing the attack, until the
standard-bearer of the loth legion rushed into the tide, exclaiming, “Follow,
soldiers, unless you will betray your eagle to the enemy." Thus incited,
the Romans leapt into the water, and, after a desperate resistance, made good
their landing near Deal on the a6th of August, fifty-five years before
Christ.
The late Emperor of France, in imitation of the Romans, adopted the eagle as
his principal military standard; and six of these trophies of the superior
valour of Britain were deposited in Whitehall Chapel, on May 18, 1811,
together with the falsely-styled "Invincible" standard, taken in
Egypt, and several other regimental colours. Two more French eagles were
taken by the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo.
According to Menestrier, the Roman Emperors of the East, when there were two
on the throne at the same time, instead of doubling their eagles on their
ensigns, joined them together and represented them with two heads. The
Emperors of the West, or of the German Empire, adopted this ensign as
claiming the supremacy over both parts of the Empire; and at a later period,
the Czars of Muscovy, proposing to add the Eastern portion of the Roman
Empire to their vast Northern possessions, also adopted for their armorial bearing
an eagle with two heads.
A white eagle was the ensign of Poland when a kingdom; a black eagle is the
present ensign and principal military order of Prussia.
The principal inns at Machynlleth and Wrexham are distinguished by the sign
of the eagles, which as well as the “Cross Foxes “before noticed, are taken
from the arms of Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, who bears, quarterly, first and
fourth, Vert, three eagles displayed in fess Or, for Wynn; second and third,
Argent, two foxes counter salient in saltire Gules, the dexter surmounted of
the sinister, for Williams.
THE EAGLE AND CHILD. This sign, from the charm of
“Apt alliteration's artful aid “
often familiarly styled “The Bird and Baby," is a great favourite in
Lancashire; indeed, I think that there is hardly a town or village of
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4618) (tudalen 293)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 293
any magnitude in the whole Palatinate without a public-house thus
distinguished. It is the crest of the Earl of Derby, Lord Lieutenant of that
county, and as such was borne by his brave and loyal ancestor James Stanley,
the sixth Earl, by his inviolable fidelity to Charles I. and Charles II.
justly entitled to the motto of that noble family “Sans changer," which
is often inscribed round the sign.
The common tradition respecting this crest is, that Sir Thomas Lathom and his
lady, walking in a wild part of their park, heard the cries of a child, and
after diligent search, their servants at length discovered a male infant
wrapped in rich swaddling-clothes in an eagle's nest, and as Sir Thomas and
his lady were old and without issue, they, considering this child as the
immediate gift of God, had him baptized by the name of Lathom, and bequeathed
to him their large estate. The foundling on his death left an only daughter,
whom Sir John Stanley married, and in memory of this remarkable event, took
the eagle and child for his crest, which has ever since been borne by his
noble successors the Earls of Derby.
The real history appears to be that Sir Thomas Lathom, who lived in the reign
of Edward III., had by his wife one only child, a daughter, named Isabel, who
was married to Sir John Stanley, but he had an illegitimate son by a Mary
Oskatel, which he directed to be laid secretly at the foot of a tree on which
an eagle had built her nest, and pretending to have accidentally discovered
the infant, he persuaded his lady to adopt it, and at the same time assumed
for his crest an eagle looking backwards as for something she had lost or was
taken from her. The child, who was afterwards known by the title of Sir
Oskatel de Lathom, was long considered as heir to his estates; but Sir
Thomas, shortly before his death, revealed the fraud, and left the bulk of
his property to his legitimate daughter, Lady Stanley, whose descendants
altered the Lathom crest of an eagle regardant, as before related, to an
eagle triumphing over and preying upon a child.
THE ELEPHANT THE ELEPHANT AND CASTLE. The former of these signs Shakespeare
has given to an inn in a city of Illyria, where, in his comedy of “Twelfth
Night; or, What you Will," he makes Antonio tell Sebastian:
“In the South suburbs at the Elephant Is best to lodge."
The latter is a very common sign; and an inn, so distinguished, at Newington
in Surrey, from its situation near London at the junction of several roads,
is almost universally known.
[1818, Part II., pp. 502-506.]
THE FALCON. The name is supposed to be derived from the resemblance of its
crooked talons to zfalx or sickle.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4619) (tudalen 294)
|
294 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
Falconry, though unknown to the Greeks and Romans, was the principal
amusement of our ancestors. A person of rank scarcely ever stirred out
without his hawk upon his hand, which in old paintings is a criterion of
nobility. In the famous tapestry of Baieux, Harold is represented as
embarking for Normandy with a bird on his fist and a dog under his arm. In an
illuminated MS. of the time of Edward I. preserved in the British Museum, and
engraved by Strutt in his "Antiquities," King Stephen is pourtrayed
with a hawk upon his finger. In an old picture, at Strawberry Hill, of the
marriage of Henry VI., engraved in Horace Walpole's “Anecdotes of
Painting," an attendant, supposed to be William de la Pole, Marquess,
afterwards Duke, of Suffolk, is delineated with a falcon on his hand. Spenser
makes his gallant Sir Tristram boast:
"Ne is there hawke which mantleth her on pearch,
Whether high tow'ring or accoasting low,
But I the measure of her flight doe search,
And all her pray and all her diet know."
And Shakespeare's King-making Earl of Warwick declares that though not versed
in “nice sharp quillets of the law," yet,
“Between two hawks which flies the higher pitch, I have, perhaps, some
shallow spirit of judgment."
In the 34th Edward III. it was made felony to steal a hawk, and to take its
eggs even in a person's own ground was punishable with imprisonment for a
year and a day, besides a fine at the King's pleasure. In Elizabeth's reign
the imprisonment was reduced to three months, but the offender was to find
security for his good behaviour for seven years, or lie in prison till he
did.
The Norwegian hawks were considered as bribes worthy of a king: thus Geoffrey
Fitzpierre gave two good Norway hawks to King John to obtain for his friend
the liberty of exporting one hundred weight of cheese; and John, the son of
Ordgar, was fined to Richard I. in one Norway hawk to gain the royal interest
in a certain affair.
"The Penhebogyd or Chief Falconer," says Pennant, "held the
fourth place at the Court of the Welsh Princes; but, notwithstanding the
hospitality of the times, this officer was allowed only three draughts out of
his horn, lest he should be fuddled and neglect his birds." In the
English Court it was considered as a very honourable office, and was held by
Sir Simon Burley, K.G., the great favourite of Edward the Black Prince, the
tutor and afterwards Prime Minister of Richard II. Charles II. granted this
office to Charles, Duke of St Alban's, his son by Mrs. Elinor Gwynne; and it
still continues attached to the title with a salary of ^1,200 a year.
The terms used in falconry occur very frequently in the works of Shakespeare
and our early dramatists, and the sport with water-fowl
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4620) (tudalen 295)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 295
is related in an unusually animated manner by Drayton in the zoth song of his
Polyolbion.
Hamlet says, “I know a hawk from a hand-saw." This is a proverbial
expression, but the last word is a corruption of a heron-shaw: thus Spenser,
“As when a cast of falcons make their flight
At an herneshaw, that lyes aloft on wing, The whiles they strike at him with
heedless might,
The warie fowl his bill doth backward wring; On which she first, whoes force
her first doth bring,
Herself quite through the body doth engore, And falleth down to grownd like senseless
thing;
But th' other not so swift as she before, Fails of her souse, and passing by,
doth hurt no more."
The King's-Mews, near Charing Cross, where his Majesty's statehorses are
kept, were so denominated from the word mew, a term used among falconers,
signifying to moult or cast feathers. This building was used for the royal
hawks so early as 1377; but the King's stables at Limesbury, since called
Bloomsbury, being burnt down in 1537, Henry VIII. caused the hawks to be
removed, and the place to be enlarged and fitted up for his horses. The north
side was rebuilt by George II. His Majesty's superb state-coach is kept here.
The design of it was by Sir William Chambers, the carving by Wilton,
and" the painting by Cipriani. The total cost exceeded;lO,OOO.
THE FEATHERS THE PLUME OF FEATHERS. At the battle of Cressy, fought August
26, 1346, the gallant old John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia, being quite
blind, was conducted between two of his bravest knights, his horse being tied
to theirs, into the thickest of the battle, where according to his wish he
was slain fighting for France. His casque was decorated with ostrich
feathers; and beneath them, according to some writers, was the impress Ich
dien, “I serve," in acknowledgment of his subservience to Philip the
French King; and in memory of this victory both the feathers and the impress
were adopted as his cognizance by our glorious Edward, Prince of Wales,
commonly called the Black Prince, from the colour of his armour. But the more
generally-received opinion is, that the motto was never borne by the brave
old King, but annexed to his trophy by the modest victor, in allusion to the
words of the Apostle, “That the heir whilst he is a child differeth nothing
from a servant."
The feathers and motto have ever since been borne by the Princes of Wales,
and are vulgarly styled his crest, which is a lion, the same as his
Majesty's, excepting that he bears a Prince's coronet on his head instead of
the crown.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4621) (tudalen 296)
|
296 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
Ich is derived from the Teutonic, and was antiently used in our language, as
appears from an attestatory rhyme quoted by Verstegan, affixed to old
writings, the wax on which was bitten by the party delivering them, before
the use of seals was common in this kingdom.
“In witness of the sothe Ich han bitten this wax with my wang tothe."
Dien is also derived by the same author from the old AngloTeutonic word Thegn
or Theyn, signifying a Chief, or very free servant; whence the title of
Thane, a Baron or petty Prince ruling under the Sovereign. Theyn, otherwise
written Thienne, was also used as a verb “to serve;" and D being used in
the old English indiscriminately with Th, the motto was spelt, as now, Ich
dien.
One of Mr. Urban's Welsh correspondents in the year 1762, anxious to support
the pretensions of his native tongue, supposes Ich to be a corruption of Uch.
“superior, higher, above," and Dien he quotes from Dr. Davies'
Dictionary, as denoting the hour of death; whence he would translate Ich Dien
as “Triumphant in death," a motto (he adds) “highly befitting a
Christian Prince."
Brady says, “Among the antient warriors it was customary to honour such of
their followers as distinguished themselves in battle, by presenting them
with a feather to wear in their caps, which, when not in armour, was the
covering of their heads, and no one was permitted that privilege who had not
at least killed his man. The memory of this old compliment is yet retained
among us by the customary saying, when any person has effected a meritorious
action, that it will be a feather in his cap."
Out of a presumed compliment to the Prince of Wales, the three ostrich
feathers, commonly called the plume, has been adopted by many inn-keepers for
their sign. A modern tourist quoted by Brady says, “Every traveller must know
the house on Stoken Church Hill, near Oxford, called the Plume of Feathers,
from the crest of the Prince of Wales with which it was formerly ornamented,
but which now exhibits a new sign in lieu of the old one, bearing, according
to the vulgar appellative, a Plum and Feathers instead of the Plume of
Feathers.
THE FLEECE THE GOLDEN FLEECE. Phryxus and his sister Helle, children of
Athamas, King of Boeotia, by his first wife Nephale, to avoid the cruelty of
their step-mother Ino, attempted to pass over the narrow sea that divides
Europe from Asia on the back of the Ram with the Golden Fleece, when Helle
falling off was drowned, and the strait thence obtained its name of
Hellespont. Phryxus was carried safely over to Colchos, the present
Mingrelia, where he sacrificed the ram, and its fleece was hung upon a tree
in the grove of Mars, guarded by two brazen-hoofed bulls, and a monstrous
dragon which never slept
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4622) (tudalen 297)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 297
To obtain this fleece, Jason, son of >Eson, King of Thessaly, instigated
by his uncle Pelias, who had been appointed his guardian, and wished to
retain the sovereignty, built the ship Argo, and accompanied by 5 1 other
heroes, among whom were Hercules, Theseus, Castor, and Orpheus, he sailed for
Colchis, where, having gained the love of Medea, a sorceress, the daughter of
.^Ee'tes, King of that country, she taught him to tame the bulls and to cast
the dragon asleep; and having thus obtained the prize, he returned with it
and Medea, whom he had married, in triumph to Thessaly.
This tale has been attempted to be explained by several authors. Some believe
it to have originated in the profit of the wool-trade to Colchis; others to
the mode of gathering the particles of gold by putting fleeces in the rivers;
and the alchemists maintain that it contains an allusion to the Philosopher's
Stone. Alchemy has been finely described by Harris as “Ars sine arte, cujus
principium est mentiri, medium laborare, et finis mendicare."
Sir Isaac Newton endeavours to establish the truth of the Argonautic
expedition as forming an important epoch in chronology, and considers it to
have taken place about 30 years before the taking of Troy, and 43 years after
the death of Solomon. Bryant rejects it as a Grecian fable, but founded on a
tradition derived from Egypt, and ultimately referring to Noah's preservation
in the ark.
Johnson and Warren derive the name of the merchant-vessel called an Argosie,
so often used by Shakespeare in his "Merchant of Venice," from the
ship Argo; but Sir Paul Rycaut, in his Survey of the Ottoman Empire, as quoted
by Dr. Pegge, under the signature of T. Row, in the Gentleman's Magazine for
1768, suggests that it might be denominated from the little Republic of
Ragusa, Argosie being only a transposition of Ragusie. The references among
the Poets to the Argonautic expedition are innumerable, and in the play
above-mentioned, Bassanio describing Portia to Antonio, says,
“Her sunny locks
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece; Which makes her seat of Belmont,
Colchos' strand, And many Jasons come;n quest of her."
The Fleece, in the Cloathing Counties, is a very common and appropriate sign.
It is the subject of a beautiful poem by Dyer. The military order of the
Golden Fleece was instituted by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1429.
THE FLEUR DE Lis THE THREE FLEURS DE Lis. These, not uncommon signs,
evidently originated in the Royal Arms of France, the sovereignty of which
was assumed in 1340 by our victorious Edward III., and the fleurs de lis,
with some variation of location,
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4623) (tudalen 298)
|
298 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
formed part of the arms of our Kings from that time till the Union with
Ireland, Jan. i, 1801, when the title of King of France was discontinued in
the royal style, and the fleur de lis omitted in the armorial bearings.
"An old Correspondent" in the Gent. Mag. for 1805, approves of the
opinion of Voltaire, “that the fleurs de lis in the arms of the Kings of
France were but the fancy of painters, who had mistaken what was intended to
represent a spear-head fastened with two pieces of crooked iron." To
this, "N. Orwade, D.D.," in the following year replies: “The French
armourist Columbiere says, ' The fleur de lis, or lily, excels all other
flowers in sweet odour, fruitfulness, and tallness, and therefore ought to be
called the queen of flowers, and true hieroglyphic of Royal Majesty.'
“The most general, and indeed the soundest opinion is, that Louis VII.,
surnamed the Young, took them up first, by way of allusion to his name of
Loys, according to the antient way of spelling, and that for that very reason
he was called Ludovicus Florus.
“All English heraldic writers decidedly make mention of the fleur de lis as a
flower.
“By consulting seals to antient deeds and early visitation books, the
pristine form of the fleur de lis will be ascertained, and it will be seen
how much nearer it resembled the common lily than it does now. In a long
course of years painters made continually small and almost imperceptible
variations from the original, till at length they brought it to its present
form."
The Earl of Digby's arms are, Azure a fleur de lis Argent The arms of the
borough of Tamworth are a fleur de lis; and a publichouse in the market-place
of that antient town is decorated with that sign.
[1819, Part L, pp. 14, 15.]
THE FLITCH OF BACON. On the road between Lichfield and Burton upon Trent,
near Wichnor village, a large Inn commemorates by this sign the curious
custom of the manor, which was granted in the reign of Edward III. by the
Earl of Lancaster, Lord of the honour of Tutbury, to Sir Philip de
Somerville. [See Gent. Ufag. Library, vol. i., p. 235, where this is printed
under “Local Customs."]
THE FLOWER POT. I remember this sign at Earls Shilton in Leicestershire, and
I believe that it is not very uncommon.
To describe the beauties of the various kind of flowers has been a favourite
theme, and there can be but few readers who do not recollect Perdita's
pleasing appropriation of them in Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale."
Darwin's “Botanic Garden “particularly abounds in bold personification and
luxuriant description. Langhorne's "Fables of Flora" are natural
and easy; indeed, there is hardly a writer of any eminence from whom some
“Elegant Extracts" might not be obtained, but it
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4624) (tudalen 299)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 299
would be utterly
inconsistent with the limits of this paper to venture on such extensive
transcription.
The Floralia were instituted in the year of Rome 513, but not regularly
celebrated until after 580. This festival in honour of Flora was held on the
4th of the calends of May, when the courtezans were called together and
danced naked in the streets. To this custom of our Roman conquerors may be
traced our present festivities in May, though happily long since divested of
such grossly licentious rites. The general holiday at Helston in Cornwall, on
May 8, when the inhabitants go into the country and return decked with
flowers, is still called the Furry. [See Gent. Mag. Library \ “Manners and
Customs" p. 216]. Hall gives a circumstantial account of Henry VIII. and
his queen, Katharine of Arragon, riding a maying from Greenwich to Shooter's
hill, attended by the lords and ladies of their court. At our present rustic
feasts, on May-day, the prettiest girl is crowned with a chaplet of flowers,
as Lady of the May, the representation of the goddess Flora; and in many
villages the May-pole is still retained. The last in London was taken down in
1717, and removed to Wanstead in Essex. It was more than 100 feet high, and
stood on the East side of Somerset-house. Its remembrance is perpetuated by
Pope, in
“Amidst the area wide they took their stand, Where the tall May-pole once
o'erlook'd the Strand."
The rural sacrifice of the Beltein fires, in the highlands of Scotland on the
first of May, is described in Pennant's Tour.
The antient custom of strewing the graves of departed relatives or friends
w\\h flowers, is sweetly alluded to in Cymbeline:
“With fairest flowers
Whilst Summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, I'll sweeten thy sad grave:
Thou shalt not lack The flower, that's like thy face, pale primrose; nor The
azur'd harebell, like thy veins; no, nor The leaf of eglantine, whom not to
slander, Outsweeten: d not thy breath."
And the exquisite dirge by Collins thus begins:
“To fair Fidele's grassy tomb
Soft maids and village hinds shall bring Each opening sweet of earliest
bloom, And rifle all the breathing Spring."
In the village churchyards of South Wales, most of the graves are planted
with flowers and sweet-scented herbs:
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4625) (tudalen 300)
|
300 Signs of fnns,
Etc.
“These to renew with more than annual care
There wakeful love with pensive step will go; The hand that lifts the dibble,
shakes with fear Lest haply it disturb the friend below.
“Vain fear! for never shall disturber come,
Potent enough to wake such sleep profound, Till the dread herald of the day
of doom
Pours from his trump the world-dissolving sound.
“Vain fear! yet who that boasts a heart to feel,
An eye to pity, would that fear reprove?
They only who are curst with breasts of steel
Can mock the foibles of surviving love."
These verses, of which the first I think particularly beautiful, are taken
from Mason's “Elegy in a Churchyard in South Wales," and were written in
1787, at Briton Ferry in Glamorganshire, during a visit to the late Lord
Vernon.
The Dutch are so excessively fond of flowers, that a tulip root has been
known to sell for 5,000 florins. Young, in his “Love of Fame," has
severely exposed this folly in his character of “Florio."
The principal Potteries in this kingdom are near Newcastle in Staffordshire;
which situation was probably chosen from coal being abundant, and the other
strata consisting most commonly of clays of different kinds, some of which
make excellent fire-bricks for building the potters' kilns, and are also used
in forming the Saggers (a corruption of the German Schragers, which signify
cases or supporters) in which the ware is burnt [See Notes and Queries, 2nd
ser., vol. viii. p. 497-]
[1819, Part /., //. 116-120.]
THE FOUNTAIN. A fountain of water appears to be rather an inappropriate sign
for a seller of “wine and spirituous liquors;" yet it seems,
nevertheless, to be a favourite; and Gary mentions seven posting-houses
decorated with this device viz., at Canterbury, Cowes, Huntingdon, Margate,
New Shoreham, Plymouth, and Portsmouth.
Artificial fountains, though now of rare occurrence, were formerly the common
and principal ornament of every stately garden. Hentzner, in his "Tour
through England," in 1598, describes the sumptuous fountains at
Nonesuch, in Surrey; and the illustrious Lord Verulam,
"The wisest, greatest, meanest, of mankind,"
has left directions about them in his 46th “Essay on Gardens."
Warton says, “Hardly any thing is described with greater pomp and
magnificence than artificial fountains in romance. A glorious
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4626) (tudalen 301)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 30 1
one in Ariosto, 42, 91, and Spenser's fountain in 'The Bowre of Blisse,' was,
' Of richest substance that on earth might bee,
So pure and shiny, that the silver floode Through every channel one might
running see,
Most goodly it with pure imagerie Was over-wrought, and shapes of naked boys,
Of which some seem'd with livelie jollitie To fly about, playing their wanton
toyes, Whilst others did themselves embay in liquid joyes.' “
From these circumstances we need not wonder at the frequency of the sign.
The Fontinalia were celebrated among the Romans on the isth of October, in
hor.our of the nymphs of wells and fountains, when nosegays were thrown into
the fountains, and crowns of flowers placed upon the wells. Horace has
celebrated the fountain of Blandusia in the 1 3th Ode of Book 3. In this
kingdom there are many sainted fountains or holy wells, which are still
regarded by the vulgar with superstitious veneration.
[Then follows a list of the natural fountains in England, which will be
printed in another volume.]
[1819, Part /.,//. 214-215.]
THE Fox. It is no wonder that the Fox should be a common sign, as the passion
for the chase appears to be almost universal; and though the regular
sportsman may perhaps have the more rapturous enjoyment, yet, as Somerville
naturally describes the scene, when
“The wide pack op'ning, load the trembling air With various melody,
afflictive birch No more the school-boy dreads; his prison broke, Scamp'ring
he flies, nor heeds his master's call. The weary traveller forgets his road,
And climbs the adjacent hill. The ploughman leaves Th' unfinish'd furrow; nor
his bleating flocks Are now the Shepherd's joy. Men, boys, and girls, Desert
the unpeopl'd village; and wild crowds Spread o'er the plain, by the sweet
phrenzy fir'd."
It must be owned that there is much truth in Dryden's nervous lines:
“The first physicians by debauch were made, Excess began, and Sloth sustains
the trade; By Chase our long-liv'd fathers earn'd their food, Toil strung
their nerves, and purifi'd the blood.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4627) (tudalen 302)
|
302 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
Better to hunt in fields for health unbought, Than fee the Doctor for a
nauseous draught; The wise for cure on exercise depend, God never made his
work for man to mend"
To such a dreadful excess was the love of field-sports carried by our Norman
Sovereigns, that
“a beast or subject slain
Were equal crimes."
And William the Conqueror, at New-Forest, -in Hampshire, laid waste an extent
of 40 miles in circumference, and destroyed 36 churches and villages, to form
a Royal Chase; thus exquisitely described by Pope:
“The fields are ravish'd from th' industrious swains, From men their cities,
and from gods their fanes: The levell'd towns with weeds lie cover'd o'er;
The hollow winds thro' naked temples roar; Round broken columns clasping ivy
twin'd, O'er heaps of ruin stalk'd the stately hind; The fox obscene, to
gaping tombs retires, And savage howlings fill the sacred quires."
“The Fox," says Pennant, “is a crafty, lively, libidinous animal; it
breeds only once in a year, and brings four or five young, which, like
puppies, are born blind. Of all animals it has the most significant eye, by
which it expresses every passion of love, fear, hatred, etc. It is remarkably
playful, but like all other savage creatures half reclaimed, will, on the
least offence, bite those it is most familiar with."
Thus Shakespeare, in the ist Part of Henry IV., has made Worcester observe:
“For treason is but trusted like the fox, Who ne'er so tame, so cherish'd,
and lock'd up, Will have a wild trick of his ancestors."
Dodsley, in his “Essay on Fable," among other requisites, observes that
“a fable should be natural. This rule may be infringed by ascribing to
creatures appetites and passions that are not consistent with their known
characters. A. fox should not be said to long tor grapes." In this
allusion to the well-known fable, a representation of which is sometimes
displayed on sign-boards, Dodsley considered only the habits of the northern
fox. In the "Song of Solomon," we read, "Take us the foxes,
the little foxes, that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender
grapes."
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4628) (tudalen 303)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 303
And Hasselquist, in his “Travels,"* informs us, that “the fox is an
animal common in Palestine, and that there is plenty of them near the Convent
of St. John, in the Desert, about vintage time; for they destroy all the
vines unless they are strictly watched." To come still nearer home, the
foxes of France and Italy often do great damage among the vineyards, by feeding
on the grapes, of which they are immoderately fond.
The word "Vixen," or "Fixen," which primitively signifies
a female fox, is now generally applied to a sharp, ill-tempered woman; and in
old plays, "Fox" is often used as a cant word for a sword; thus
Pistol, in Shakespeare's “Henry V." threatens the French soldier with
“O Signieur Dew, thou dy'st on point of fox" [1819, Part I., pp.
300-303.]
GARRICK'S HEAD. In almost every considerable town, near to the Theatre, is to
be found a “Shakespeare “Coffee-house and oftentimes a “Garrick's Head."
[1819, Part /.,//. 394-396-]
THE GATE. I never saw the picture of a gate upon a board over an ale-house;
but a little gate itself is a common sign at small public houses by the road
side, and on it is generally written:
"This gate hangs well, And hinders none, Refresh, and pay; And travel
on."
I have been told of another inscription:
"Who buys good land, buys many stones. Who buys good meat, buys many
bones. Who buys good eggs, buys many shells. Who buys good ale, buys nothing
else."
The first English drinking ballad extant is quoted at length in Warton's
History of English Poetry, from "Gammer Gurton's Needle," 1551, the
first regular comedy in our language. It was written by John Still, a native
of Grantham in Lincolnshire, and Bishop of Bath and Wells. [See note 62.]
In Ritson's Collection of English Songs, is one by Beaumont, entitled “The
Ex-ale-tation of Ale," which consists of no less than seventy verses. I
quote the sixty-eighth as a good drinking etymology and favourable specimen:
[* Voyages and Travels in the Levant, 1749-52, by F. Hasselquist, 176$, Svo.]
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4629) (tudalen 304)
|
304 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
“O ale, ab alendo, the liquor of life!
That I had a mouth as big as a whale! For mine is but little, to touch the
least tittle That belongs to the praise of a pot of good ale."
In Thomas Warton's Poems is “A Panegyric on Oxford Ale," in imitation of
Phillips's “Splendid Shilling," both which form part of "The Oxford
Sausage;" and in the Gentleman's Magazine for January, 1752, is a song
in praise of "Nottingham Ale."
Pope, in imitation of Denham's well-known lines on the Thames, thus wantonly
satirizes a very worthy man:
“Flow, Welsted, flow, like thine inspirer, beer; Tho' stale, not ripe; tho'
thin, yet never clear; So sweetly mawkish, and so smoothly dull, Heady, not
strong; o'erflovving, yet not full."
A brewer being drowned in his own vat, Jekyll said, that the verdict of the
Coroner's jury should be, "found floating on his watery bier."
Voltaire compared the British Nation to a barrel of their own ale; the top of
which is froth, the bottom dregs, the middle excellent.
Porter is said to have been first made by Ralph Harwood, at his brewery on
the East side of High-street in Shoreditch; thus Gutteridge, a native of that
parish, says:
“Harwood, my townsman, he invented first Porter to rival wine, and quench the
thirst, Porter, which spreads its fame half the world o'er, Whose reputation
rises more and more. As long as porter shall preserve its fame, Let all with
gratitude our parish name."
THE GEORGE.
“St. George, that swing'd the dragon; and e'er since Sits on his horseback at
mine hostess' door,"
is, I believe, the most common sign in this Kingdom, and Gary in his
Itinerary has mentioned 104 Posting-houses thus distinguished.
This sainted hero was born at Cappadocia, of Christian parents, and served
with great gallantry under the Emperor Dioclesian, by whom he was promoted to
the command of a legion, and to a seat in the council; but having publicly
upbraided the tyrant with his persecution of the Christians, having
indignantly refused many splendid offers of aggrandizement, made on condition
of his renouncing 'his religion, and having endured the torture several
times, he was ignominiously dragged through the city of Lydda, and beheaded,
April 23, A.D. 290.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4630) (tudalen 305)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 305
Gibbon, in his “Decline and Fall," has confounded this warriorsaint with
an ecclesiastic of the same name and birth-place; and having detailed the low
origin, shameful life, and violent death of the latter, who was Bishop of
Alexandria, thus concludes: “The odious stranger, disguising every
circumstance of time and place, assumed the mask of a martyr, a saint, and a
Christian hero; and the infamous George of Cappadocia has been transformed
into the renowned St. George of England, the patron of arms, of chivalry, and
of the Garter."
Having been a soldier of rank, St George was anciently represented on
horseback, armed cap-a-pie, holding in his hand a white banner, charged with
a red cross, symbolical of his dying for the faith of Christ, and trampling a
red dragon under him, alluding to that “Red Dragon, the Devil, who burneth
with fury, and is red with the blood of the faithful." From this
representation arose the romantic tale of his victory over a pestiferous
dragon, which has, I suppose, been read with great pleasure by almost every
school-boy in “The Renowned History of the Seven Champions of Christendom,"
which work was originally composed by Richard Johnson, who flourished in the
reigns of Elizabeth and James.
Prior to the establishment of this Order, St. Edward the Confessor was
considered as the principal guardian saint of England; but since that time
St. George has always been invoked as her patron saint; his name has been the
constant war-cry; and his cross, Gules, in a field Argent, the victorious
banner of her sons.
Portugal has chosen him as her patron saint. France had an order of St.
George at Burgundy in 1400; Germany, an order in 1470, at Milstad in
Carinthia , in the Papal dominions a like order was established in 1498;
Austria formed a similar honorary assemblage of Knights about the same
period; another order of St. George was settled in the Pope's dominions at
Ravenna in 1534; and a further one at Genoa, time now unknown. In 1729 the
Elector of Bavaria settled the order of St. George for the Roman Empire at
Munich. Catherine II. founded an order in honour of St George; and there are
some others which have eluded research.
[1819, Part 1,, pp. 508-510.]
THE GLOBE. There are posting-houses with this sign at Cockermouth, Exmouth,
Lynn Regis, Monk-Wearmouth, Newton-Bushel, Plymouth, Topsham, and Whitehaven;
and it often ornaments smaller inns in other towns.
Of all the ancient theatres, the Globe, so called from its sign (which
exhibited a Hercules supporting the globe, with the motto “Totus mundus agit
histrionem ") is deservedly the most distinguished, as in it Shakespeare
attempted the few ordinary characters which he performed, and here the
greater number of his plays were originally acted.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4631) (tudalen 306)
|
306 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
It was erected between the years 1596 and 1598, on the Bankside of Southwark,
and was an hexagonal wooden building, partly open to the weather, and partly
thatched, having a turret on which a silken flag was displayed. The players
were called "the Lord Chamberlain's servants “until the igth of May,
1603, when James I. granted his royal licence to “Lawrence Fletcher, William
Shakespeare," with the rest of their associates, "freely to use and
exercise the art and faculty of playing comedies, tragedies, histories,
interludes, morals, pastorals, stageplaies, and such like other as they have
alreadie studied, or hereafter shall use or studie, as well as for the
recreation of our loving subjects, as for our solace and pleasure when we
shall thinke good to see them." From this time the actors were called
“The King's servants," and continued performing here at stated periods
until June 29, 1613, when the theatre was burnt down. The fire, according to
some writers, commenced during the performance of a new play, called “All is
True," or, according to others, from the discharge of a peal of
chambers, or cannon, in Shakespeare's “Henry VIII.," when the ignited
wadding being blown on the thatch, the fire spreading rapidly, the whole
building was destroyed in two hours; and as Winwood in his “Memorials “says,
"it was a marvaile and fair grace of God that the people had so little
harm, having but two narrow doors to get out." A more particular account
by “Eu. Hood," with a view of the theatre, may be seen in this Magazine
for February, 1816.
[1819, Fart //., //. 602, 603.]
THE GLOVE. This unusual sign is mentioned by Gary as distinguishing an inn at
Downhead, in Wiltshire.
Anciently a glove was given by way of livery or investiture in their sales
and deliveries of lands, goods, etc., and the Chaldee paraphrase of Ruth iv.
7, renders “glove “what the common version translates “shoe."
“Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming, and
concerning changing, for to confirm all things: a man plucked off his sJioe,
and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel."
At the glorious battle fought in the fields of Beauvoir and Maupeltius, about
two leagues from the City of Poictiers, Sept. 19, 1356, in which the French
army of 60,000 men was totally defeated, and their King John taken prisoner
by Edward the Black Prince, with only 12,000 men, Barnes tells us that
"the valiant Lord Geoffrey Charny was there wounded to death, with whom
the standard of France also fell to the ground. Then every man pressed hard
to take the King; and such as knew him cried out, ' Sir, yield yourself, or
you are but
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4632) (tudalen 307)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 307
dead.' There was then among the English, a Knight of Artois, retained for
wages in the King of England's service, called Sir Dennis of Morbeque, who
had served King Edward about nine years, because in his youth he was fain to
fly the realm of France for a murder that he had committed at St. Omers. It
happened so well for this man, that he was near the King when he was e'en
ready to be taken; wherefore he steapt forth into the preass, and by the
strength of his body and arms, made way up to the French King, and said, in
good French, ' Sir, yield your person.' The King looking on him said, ' To
whom shall I yield? and where is my cousin, the Prince of Wales? If I might
see him I would speak to him.' Sir Dennis answered, ' Sir, he is not
hereabout, but if it please you to yield to me, I shall bring you to him.' '
Why, who are you?' said the King. ' Sir,' said he, ' I am Dennis of Morbeque,
a Knight of Artois, but I now serve the King of England; because I am
banished the realm of France, and have forfeited all I had there.' Then the
King gave him his ngcti gauntlet, saying, ' Unto you I yield myself.' “
From this custom of using a glove as a symbol of investiture, arose the usual
practice among our forefathers, of throwing a glove or gauntlet to the ground,
when anyone defied another to single combat, and the person who took up the
glove declared thereby his acceptance of the challenge. This ceremony is
often noticed by our historians and poets. In Scott's “Lord of the
Isles," Bruce, at his departure from Artormish, receiving the gauntlet
of De Argentine says,
“Not dearer to my soul was glove Bestow'd in youth by Lady's love,
Than this which thou hast given! Thus, then my noble foe I greet, Health and
high fortune till we meet;
And then what pleases heaven."
The custom is still retained at the Coronation of our Kings. Under the sign
of "the Castle," I have already noticed some particulars respecting
the office of Champion. At the coronation of his present majesty, Mr. Dymoke
was brought into Westminster Hall between the High Constable and the Earl
Marshal, mounted on a barbed horse, and armed cap-a-pie, followed by four
pages, his horse led by an esquire, and preceded bya herald, who pronounced
the following challenge: “If any person of what degree soever, high or low,
shall deny or gainsay our Sovereign Lord King George the Third, King of Great
Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, grandson and next heir to
our Sovereign Lord King George the Second, the last King deceased, to be
right heir to the imperial crown of this realm of Great Britain, or that he
ought not to enjoy the same; here is his champion, who sayeth that he lieth,
and is a false traitor, being ready in person to combat with
20 2
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4633) (tudalen 308)
|
308 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
him, and in this quarrel will adventure his life against him on what day
soever he shall be appointed." In strict grammatical construction, I
fear that the Champion called the King a liar and a traitor, instead of the
man he meant to defy.
In a letter from David Hume, the historian, to Sir John Pringle, physician
and antiquary, dated “St. Andrew's-square, Edinburgh, Feb. 10, 1773,"
and inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine for May, 1788, is this curious
anecdote: “Lord Marechal, a few days after the coronation of the present
King, told me that he believed the young Pretender was at that time in
London, or at least had been so very lately, and had come over to see the
show of the coronation, and had actually seen it. I asked my Lord the reason
for this strange fact. 1 Why,' says he, ' a gentleman told me that saw him
there, and that he even spoke to him, and whispered in his ear these words,
“Your Royal Highness is the last of all mortals whom I should expect to see
here." "It was curiosity that led me," said the other;
"but I assure you," added he, "that the person who is the
object of all this pomp and magnificence is the man I envy the least.'"
You see this story is so near traced from the fountain-head, as to wear a
great face of probability. Quere, what if the Pretender had taken up Dymock's
gauntlet?"
The Lord of the Manor of Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, presents an embroidered
glove, which the king puts on his right hand, immediately before he receives
the sceptre at his coronation. The Duke of Norfolk is the present Lord of the
Manor. The old Manor-house was burnt down in 1761, when the loss in painting,
statuary, books, and furniture was estimated at more than; 100,000. It was
rebuilt after a plan by Payne; its front is 3 1 8 feet long. It contains many
valuable paintings, and the bed, of silk damask, on which his present Majesty
was born in Norfolk House, London, May 24, 1738, O.S.
From the delivery of a glove by way of investiture, it became afterwards to
signify the steward's or bailiff's fee on those occasions; and hence in old
records we often find the term glove money, and an expression still in use in
giving servants money for a pair of gloves.
It was usual on New Year's-day to make presents to judges as well as to other
persons. When Mrs. Croaker had obtained a decree in Chancery against Lord
Arundel, she availed herself of the first New Year's-day after her success,
to present to Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor, a pair of gloves containing
forty pounds in angels, as a token of her gratitude. "It would be
against good manners," said that most exemplary man, “to forsake a
gentlewoman's New Year's gift, and I accept the gloves; their lining you will
be pleased otherwise to bestow."
In this Magazine for August, 1792, a Correspondent says, "Mr. Nichols's
'Life of Hogarth,' 2nd edit, p. 127, has the following remark: ' In the scene
of the Committee, one of the members has his glove on his head. I am told
this whimsical custom once prevailed
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4634) (tudalen 309)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 309
amongst our sanctified fraternity; it is in vain I suppose to ask the reason
why.' “
The glove was thus used by old men who had become bald, to supply the place
of a hat or cap. It is mentioned in a humourous account of a journey to
preach in a country church:
“There ancient dames with withered faces, Sat fast asleep in lower places,
Two grey-hair'd dons, with glove on pate, Sat just above in nodding
state."
[1819, Part //.,//. 15-17.]
THE GOAT. This is not an uncommon sign, though Gary mentions only one
posting-house, viz., at Woburn, in Bedfordshire, thus distinguished; and
there it was doubtless adopted by the landlord from its being the crest of
the Duke of Bedford, whose principal seat is at Woburn Abbey.
Wild goose chase, a well-known term for a difficult pursuit, and the title of
one of Beaumont and Fletcher's best comedies, I once thought to have been
probably a corruption of Wild goat's chase, as the hunting of the latter
animal, being particularly difficult and dangerous from its activity in
leaping from crag to crag, appeared more appropriately to illustrate the
meaning of the phrase; but it appears to have originally designated a sort of
horse-race, and the name was probably derived from wild geese flying a great
height, preserving great regularity in their motion, and frequently forming a
straight line. Lawrence in his “Delineation of the Horse “thus notices it:
“Markham in his Cavallarice, and that Mirror of learned ridingmasters,
Michael Baret, describe a mode of running matches across the country, in
their days, denominated the Wild goose chase, an imitation of which has
continued in occasional use to the present time, under the name of Steeple-
hunting . that is to say, two horsemen, drunk or sober, in or out of their
wits, fix upon a steeple, or some eminent distant object, to which they make
a straight cut over hedge, ditch, and gate the'devil take the hindmost. The
Wild goose chase was a more regular thing, and it was prescribed, that after
the horses had run twelve score yards, the foremost horse was to be followed
wherever he went by the others, within a certain distance agreed upon, or be
beaten or whipped up by the triers or judges. A horse being left behind
twelve score or any limited number of yards, was deemed beaten, and lost the
match. Sometimes it happened that a horse lost the lead, which was gained,
and the chase won by the stouter, although less speedy antagonist; and the
lead has often been alternately lost and won, no doubt to the rapturous
enjoyment of those who could relish such laborious and dangerous amusements,
which I fear were also attended
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4635) (tudalen 310)
|
3io Signs of Inns,
Etc.
with disgusting circumstances of cruelty, in the triers beating up the
hind-most horse."
Shakespeare mentions this heifer skelter amusement in his “Romeo and
Juliet," where Mercutio says, “If thy wits run the wild goose chase, I
have done;" and Burton in his “Anatomy of Melancholy," tells us
that “riding of great horses, running at ring, tilts, and tournaments, horse
races, wild goose chases, are the disports of great men."
Heifer skelter, an expression denoting cheerful, hurrying progression, is
used by Shakespeare, in the second part of Henry IV., where Pistol thus
addresses Falstaff:
“Sir John, I am thy Pistol, and thy friend, And helter skelter have / rode to
thee, And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys, And golden times, and happy
news of price Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king, Harry the Fifth's the
man."
It is probably derived from the hilaritir celeritlr of our Roman conquerors,
which have precisely the same meaning.
Sir Thomas Browne, in his “Vulgar Errors," supposes that the very
general superstition that the devil, whatever shape he assume, always appears
with a cloven-foot, arises from his being mentioned as frequently taking the
form of a. goat; and remarks, ' that whereas it is said in Scripture, thou
shalt not offer unto devils, the original word is Seghnirint, that is, rough
and hairy goats." Also "that the goat was the emblem of the sin offering,
and is the emblem of sinful men at the day of judgment."
Old Nick, a cant name for the devil, is satirically derived by Butler, in his
“Hudibras," from the famous Florentine, Nicholas Machiavel, born in
1469, whose treatise, entitled “The Prince," describing the arts of a
tyrannic government, has given origin to the word Machiavelism, used as
synonymous with political intrigue. The lines in Hudibras are,
11 Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick, (Tho* he gives name to our Old Nick} But
was below the least of these."
A writer in this Magazine, who signed Palaeophilus, is most probably correct
in deducing this nick-name of the devil from a malevolent sea Deity,
worshipped by the antient Germans and Danes, under the name of Nocca or
Niken, styled in the Edda, which contains the Pagan creed of Scandinavia,
Niken, which Keysler derives from the German nugen, answering to the Latin
necare. [See note 28, and ante, p. 112.]
Another vulgar name, Old Scratch, has probably been given from the common
pictorial representations of him with enormous crooked talons or claws; and a
third appellation sometimes applied to him, of
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4636) (tudalen 311)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 3 1 1
Old Harry, appears to be derived from the verb to harrie, to lay waste, to
destroy.
[1819, Part //., //. 109-111 ]
THE GOOD WOMAN. Brady, in his “Clavis Calendaria," says, “the sign yet
preserved, particularly by the oil shops, of the good woman, although
originally meant as expressive of some female Saint, holy or good woman, who
had met death by the privation of her head, has been converted into a joke
against the females, whose alleged loquacity is considered to be satirised by
the representation: which to conform to such meaning, they now more commonly
call 'the silent woman.' “
[1819, Part IL, pp. 209,210.]
THE GOOSE AND GRIDIRON. This sign, like "The Cat and Fiddle" before
mentioned, is noticed by comic writers. Foote, in his “Taste," speaks of
the well-known house, “The Goose and Gridiron in Paul's Churchyard."
In the famous Oxford song of the “All Souls Mallard," the preservation
of the .Roman capitol by the sacred geese is thus alluded to:
“The Romans once admir'd a gander, More than they did their chief commander,
Because he sav'd, if some don't fool us, The place that's call'd from the
head of Tolus."
Churchill notices
“September, when by custom (right divine) Geese are ordain'd to bleed at
Michael's shrine."
And Dr. Pegge, in his “Anonymiana," tells us,
“The custom is general to have a goose on Michaelmas-day; and see a trace of
this as early as 10 Edward IV. (Blount's Tenures)." p. 8.
Brand, in his “Observations on Popular Antiquities," [Ellis, vol. i. p.
367] says,
“Goose intentos, is a term used in Lancashire, where the husbandmen claim it
as a due to have a goose intentos on the i6th Sunday after Pentecost; which
custom originated from the last word of this old church prayer of that day,
"'Tua, nos quaesumus, domine, gratia semper prseveniat et sequatur, ac
bonis operibus jugiter praestet esse intentos' The common people very
humorously mistake it for a. goose with ten toes"
The public stews were antiently under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of
Winchester; and a particular symptom of the Lues Venerea, was called a
Winchester goose. This explains the meaning of the concluding speech of
Pandarus, in Shakespeare's “Troilus and Cressida":
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4637) (tudalen 312)
|
312 Signs of fnns,
Etc.
“Brethren and sisters, of the hold-door trade, Some two months hence, my will
shall here be made: It should be now, but that my fear is this Some galled
goose of Winchester would hiss." Geese are very long-lived. Willoughby
gives an example of one that attained the age of 80 years.
[These communications do not appear after this date, though the last is
notified as “to be continued." See letter signed D. T., post, P- 3I7-]
Remarks on the Devices on Tradesmen's Shops.
[1784, Part /.,//. 416, 417.]
The celebrated authors of the Spectators thought it not beneath their dignity
to take notice of some absurdities and other more proper devices which
appeared in those days upon the signs of several tradesmen's shops in London;
and their criticisms on these subjects seemed both just, and were at the same
time entertaining. If I might be permitted to tread in the same path, without
assuming any other merit than that of filling up a corner of your Magazine, I
would present to you some observations, of the kind which I made when upon my
travels. I was stopped one day in my carriage in a narrow street of Paris by
some temporary obstructions, and looking out, I was puzzled by a Latin
inscription which appeared over a large porte cochere; the words were Ex
MORTE VITA, and notwithstanding I had been detained for the above reasons
more than ten minutes, I could not explain this riddle: at last a man opened
the gate, in the habit of a butcher, when I could not help smiling at the
conceit, and upon inquiry I found out that it was a very considerable
slaughter-house. At another time I observed over a watch-house for the use of
the Guet, “Nocte Die-que Fideles;" alluding to their being upon duty
both by day and night. A Perruquier, to establish the utility of his
bag-wigs, caused the history of Absalom to be painted over his door.* Some of
the coffee-houses are distinguished by very pompous names, such as Le Caffe
des Beaux Arts, Caffe des Sciences, Caffe du vrai Merite, etc. These titles
excited my curiosity, but I was greatly disappointed on finding the company
which frequented them was made up of Mousquetaires, Abbes, and petits
Avocats. I really thought there was some wit in the milliner of La Rue St.
Honore, who placed over her door, Aux Traits galants, and another in that
neighbourhood, who chose to live au Jardin de L? amour. La belle Coeffeuse
did not please me so well, as it sounded too much of her own vanity; but I
dare say you will approve of the lady in the Fauxbourg de Saint
* Similar to this is a barber's inscription at a town in Northamptonshire,
"Absalom, hadst thou wom a perriwig, thou hadst not been hanged."
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4638) (tudalen 313)
|
Remarks on the
Signs of Inns, Etc. 313
Germain, who took for her device, A la Rose sansepine. It is a known fact
that the lower class of people in France are very illiterate: to remedy this
evil in some measure, there are at Paris, stationed in the streets, public
scribes (if I may be allowed the expression), or as I read it over one of
their little bureaux, Ecrivains Publiques Pro bono Publico. These stalls are
upon wheels, consequently may be moved from place to place, and are large
enough to contain two or three persons. Hither the unlettered lacqueys,
friseurs, porters, watercarriers, etc., apply for letters, either on business
or gallantry; and Monsieur, with an air of superior consequence, transacts
their petites affaires for the small tribute of five or six sols. But as in
all trades competitors will arise, I observed some time after, that Monsieur
de la Plume had a rival, and how far his reflection on the rest of the
feathered profession was just, I shall not undertake to determine; but he
sarcastically wrote over his maisonnette, "Scribere sciunt Multi, sed
componere Pauci." If these remarks, which are not fictitious, are
thought worthy of a place in your Magazine, I may, perhaps, at a future time,
recollect some more, which at present have escaped my memory.
Yours, OBSERVATOR.
On Ancient House
Signs.
[1825, Part /., pp. 600, 601.]
The origin of House Signs may be referred back to a very remote period. The
distinguishing characteristic of any object, amongst a barbarous and
uncivilized people, who paid but little regard to the proper title of things,
has sometimes supplied a name indicative of some peculiar trait in its
character, which, by universal adaptation, has superseded its more correct
denomination; these titles have been embodied and rendered in a palpable
form, as the still-existing hieroglyphics and emblems of this description
attest.
The Phonetic characters of the Egyptians represented natural objects; the
names of which, in their language, began with the sound of that letter they
wished to express. The names, therefore, of persons or things in this
character, would bear a striking affinity to the heraldic rebuses now in use;
and as it is not improbable that these names were affixed to the houses of
this people, or to acquaint the reader with the description of wares to be
had there, suspended before their shops, there is reason to suppose that the
custom of thus distinguishing man from man, which we are told did not obtain
until the “days of chivalrie," has been resorted to time immemorial.
Johnson imagined armorial bearings to be as old as the siege of Thebes; and
in support of this idea, instanced a passage in the “Phoenician Virgins “of
Euripides.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4639) (tudalen 314)
|
314 Signs of Inns,
Etc.
That the use of signs is of considerable antiquity, we have the testimony of
St. Luke, who tells us that St. Paul, after his shipwreck at Malta, “departed
in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered there, whose sign was Castor and
Pollux."
It was deemed advisable among our grandfathers to prefix the affirmative
'" this is “before naming the sign, as may be seen in the old names of
streets still existing.
It is justly observed in the "Adventurer “that “it cannot be doubted but
that signs were intended originally to express the several occupations of
their owners, and to bear some affinity in their external designations to the
wares to be disposed of. Hence the Hand and Shears is justly appropriated to
Taylors, as the Hand and Pen is to Writingmasters. The Woolpack plainly
points out to us the Woollen Draper; the Naked Boy elegantly reminds us of the
necessity of clothing; and the Golden Fleece figuratively denotes the riches
of our staple commodity."
The majority of signs are common charges in heraldry; such are the Boar's
Head and the Golden Lion. Three is an heraldic number, and we find it in frequent
use, as the 3 Compasses, the 3 Pigeons; and I have by me a book published “at
the 3 Daggers in Fleet-street, near Inner Temple Gate, 1654."
And this offers an apology for the varied and unnatural adaptation to some
animals of colours to which they cannot otherwise lay claim, such as Blue
Boars, Golden Lions, Green Dragons, and that “rara avis in terris," the
Black Swan.
The Bunch of Grapes is, I think, never appended elsewhere than over the door
of a Publican; and if we find the Three Tuns, which, I think, had its rise in
the Vintners' Company, prefixing their arms on houses rented of them, in any
other station, we may impute it to the cause here noted. Our modest ancestors
were contented with a plain Bough stuck up before their doors, whence arose
the wise proverb, “Good wine needs no bush;" and. the custom is still
continued in many parts of the Continent. Might not the Fox and Goose, now so
universally adopted by publicans, intimate that the game bearing this title
was to be played there, in the same manner as the representation of a Skittle
and Jack now invite to “a good dry skittleground "?
The Gun was doubtless a symbol of the Gun-smith, though we find it assumed by
a Bookseller,' “Nathaniel Ekins, in Paul's Church Yard."
The Bell was the prerogative of the Lock-smith, though we find it in use
among all trades: by some of whom it has been claimed as a rebus on their
name.
The enormities practised by the connexion of objects so widely different from
each other, as the Fox and Seven Stars, the Goose antf Gridiron, the Bell and
Neat's Tongue, the Lamb and Dolphin, and
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4640) (tudalen 315)
|
Ancient House
Signs. 315
the Leg and Star, “over against the Royal Exchange, in Cornhill, London,
1658," may be reconciled by the following illustration: “It is usual for
a young tradesman, at his first setting up, to add to his own sign that of
the master whom he served, as the husband after marriage gives a place to his
mistress's arms in his own coat."
These whimsicalities have been rendered still more ridiculous by the
perversion of names from their original import: thus we have the Swan with
Two Necks q. d. the swan with two nicks* or marks.
We are told by an inscription over the Talbot Inn-yard,t in the Borough, that
Geoffrey Chaucer and twenty-nine pilgrims rested there on their journey to
Canterbury, in 1489. Its present title is a corruption of Tabard, the name
given “to a jacket, or sleeveless coat, whole before, open on both sides,
with a square collar, winged at the shoulder," somewhat similar to that
worn by our heralds in pageants and processions, and when worn “in the
wars," like it having “their arms embroidered or otherwise depicted thereon."
The witty poet of “olden time “notices at length the accommodation afforded
in “Southwerk, at the Tabard,"f to him and his fellow travellers:
“Wei nine-and-twenty in a compagnie Of Sundry folk." Lines 24, 25.
He informs us
“The chambres and the stables weren wide And wel we weren esed atte
beste." L. 28, 29.
And proceeds to acquaint us with
“Th' estate, the arraie, the nombre and eke the cause Why that assembled was
the compagnie In Southwerke at this gentil hostelrie That highte the
Tabard." L. 718-721.
We have the Bell-Savage represented in the Spectator's time by the figure of
a wild man standing beside a bell! for the Belle Sauvage; and the Bull and
Mouth for the Boulogne Mouth: t.e. t harbour. Stow, speaking of Gisor's Hall,
has these remarks, so peculiarly applicable to our present purpose:
“It appears," says he, “that this Gisor's Hall of late time, by
corruption, hath been called Gerrard's Hail for Giso^s Hall; as Bevis
* The privilege of distinguishing swans by marks or nicks, was deemed of
sufficient consequence to deserve a place in grants and in corporation
charters, for we find "the privilege of keeping and preserving swans and
cygnets, and a swanmark for the same," with liberty "to change and
alter that swan-mark at pleasure," frequently vouchsafed in deeds of
this description.
f Engraved in our vol. Ixxxii. ii. p. 217.
J Prologue to Canterbury Tales.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4641) (tudalen 316)
|
3 1 6 Signs of
fnns, Etc.
Marks for Burys Marks; Mark-lane for Mart-lane; Billiter-lane for Bell-
Setter's- Lane; Gutter-lane for Guthurun's -lane; Cry or Cree Church for
Christ Church; St. Michael's in the Quern for St. Michael's at Corn, and such
others."
In Pannier-alley, Newgate-street, is the figure of a naked boy, sitting on
what has been generally represented as a pannier, but which resembles more a
coil of rope.*
It bears the following inscription:
WHEN Y v HAVE SOVGH*
THE CITTY ROVND
YET STILL THIS IS
THE HIGHESt GROUND
AVGVST THE 2J
1688.
By some, this figure has been considered as emblematic of plenty, and once
held in its hands a bunch of grapes; but Hughson supposes it the sign of one
"Henry Prannel, citizen and vintner." Pennant imagines it to have
been originally a sepulchral monument, removed from some adjoining church,
but, from the peculiar appropriateness of the inscription to its present
situation, I am inclined to think it still retains its original position.
G. F.
Old Signs in Norwich
[1842, Fart I., p. 360.]
Allow me to hope that from yourself, or some of your learned antiquarian
correspondents, I may obtain the explanation of what has long been an enigma
to me, the mystic connection between Diogenes and Tumble-down-Dick. My
attention has been called to this subject by passing an inn at Hedenham (I
believe), in the road between Norwich and Bungay, the sign of which bears on
one side the former of these worthies, and on the other the latter; and under
the staggering drunkard is the following distich;
“Now Diogenes is dead and laid in his tomb, Tumble-down-Dick is come in his
room."
Similar signs, but without the inscription, occur in other parts of the same
county, and perhaps elsewhere, though I have not observed them.
I am aware how frequently, in the course of your useful labours, the origin
of the signs of inns has come under your notice, and how much curious
research is connected with the subject. Many of your readers will, I am
certain, have lamented with me that your corres
* Engraved by J. Carter in Pennant's London.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4642) (tudalen 317)
|
Old Signs in
Norwich. 317
pondent Hinyboro, who more than twenty years ago supplied you with so many
papers, and displayed so much acuteness and knowledge on this point, should
have suspended his contributions, before he had gone through the half of what
he had proposed. Should he be still living, and chance to see this letter, I
hope he will assist me; for I am sure that no one could do so more effectually.
Yours, etc., D. T.
[1842, Part I., pp. 45, 46.]
In reading your Magazine for October, the passage relating to “Diogenes and
Tumble-down-Dick," reminded me of the old signs in Norwich, which
formerly existed there. I well remember, more than fifty years ago, a curious
old sign of the Cat and Fiddle. This induced me to write to a friend in
Norwich to inquire about it; and I send you his answer.
DEAR SIR,
A public-house called the Cat and Fiddle is still in Magdalenstreet , but the
sign representing a Cat playing upon a Fiddle and a number of Rats dancing
around her, has been removed many years.
The Marquis of Granby is still in Bishopgate-street. There is an engraving of
the Bishopgate, and of all the other city gates, in Carter's Ancient Architecture.
We have in Tooley-street, opposite St. Mary's Church, the sign of the Whip
and Egg, originally, I believe, the Whip and Nag. There is also in the same
street the sign of the Cock and House, which, I believe, is corrupted from
the Cocking House. I remember as a schoolboy the sign of “The Five Alls “in
St. Michael at Plea, represented by a floor of black and white pavement in
perspective: The King, at the head, said, “I govern all;" the Lawyer, on
one side, “I plead for All;" the Parson, on the other, "I pray for
All;" the Soldier, at one foot, “I fight for All;" and, lastly, the
Labourer, “I work for All."
There used to be in St. Andrew's, in Pottergate-street, the sign of The First
and Last, represented by a cradle and a coffin. There was a public-house in
Lower Westwick-street called The Nowhere; and I have heard my grandfather
speak of a public-house at the corner of Tombland called the Popinjay, and I
have been told that the last landlord was named Copley, and the
great-grandfather of the present Lord Lyndhurst.
There is a public- house at Forncett, near Long Stratton, called the Sopers,
which I take to have originally been the sop-house, and to have been a
celebrated house for toasted bread soaked in ale and sugar. But the most
splendid sign-post I ever heard of was the original sign-post at Scole Inn,
which has been engraved; but the only print I ever saw is preserved at the
inn, and is well worth your
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4643) (tudalen 318)
|
3 1 8 Signs of
Inns, Etc.
looking at when you next come this road, if you have never seen it*
The Rose and Crown, in moulded brick, f is still in existence at the
public-house at Frettenham, or at least it was very lately.
We have in the Swan Lane the sign of the Two-neck'd Swan, originally the Swan
with two nicks,\ the way in which the swanner still marks his birds on our
rivers, by cutting nicks or notches on their bills.
There was formerly at the back of that inn the sign of the Hog in Armour,
very commonly called here the Pig in Misery.
Our "Hole in the Wall" will be found noticed in a book entitled
“The Clubs of London," it having been formerly frequented by the wits
and bons vivants of this city.
P.S. I have omitted to mention an old and curious sign in Peescock-street,
The Man laden with Mischief. He is represented with a woman chained to his
back, the chain secured with a large padlock; the woman holds in her hands a
bottle and a glass; upon her shoulder sits a monkey, and on the monkey's head
a magpie.
So far from my friend at Norwich: to which I may add, that there is a curious
sign at Widford, near Chelmsford, which I have known above fifty years it is
called the Silent Woman. On one side is a half-length portrait of Henry VIII.
, and on the reverse a woman without a head, with the words Forte Bonne. Some
say it is intended for Anne Boleyn; but she is represented with tight
sleeves, with little ruffles at the elbows, small waist, etc., in the dress
of the time of George III.! The tradition of the place is, that the landlord
of the public-house had a scolding wife.
Signs, which at the present day are confined to inns and publichouses, were
formerly used by every tradesman. A quotation from “Pasquin's
Night-Cap," 1 6 1 2, in illustration, may amuse some readers.
"First there is maister Peter at the Bell, A linnen-draper and a wealthy
man; Then maister Thomas that doth stockings sell; And George the grocer at
the Frying-pan;
“And maister Timothie the woolen-draper; And maister Salamon the
leather-scraper; And maister Franke y e goldsmith at the Rose; And maister
Phillip with the. fiery nose.
* In Mr. Dawson Turner's Index to the Illustrations of his copy of
Bloomfield's "History of Norfolk “(privately printed), Svo., 1841, we
fir.d two engravings mentioned, one of the Inn at Scole, and the other of its
Sign, with description and coats of arms, both by Fessey, 1740. The plate of
the Sign is copied in a small quarto size, by C. Hall probably for one of the
Magazines.
t This, from the shape of the crown, appears to be of the time of Henry VII.
or VIII. This ancient royal badge is still common as an inn-sign in most
localities. J. A. K.
% The Swan and Two Necks, in London, is of like origin.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4644) (tudalen 319)
|
Old Signs in
Norwich. 319
"And maister Miles the mercer at the Harrow;
And maister Nicke the silke-man at y e Plow; And maister Giles the salter at
the Sparrow; And maister Dicke the vintner at the Cow;
“And Harry haberdasher at the Home; And Oliver the dyer at the Thorne; And
Bernard barber-surgeon at the Fiddle; And Moses merchantailor at the
Needle."
Yours, etc., J. A. R.
[1842, Part /., //. 246-248.]
The paper in your last number, under the signature of J. A. R., upon the
subject of Old Signs in Norwich (almost every one of which I well recollect),
has induced me to look into Mr. William Arderow's MSS. in my possession, and
I there find a list of what was, probably, the whole or nearly the whole of
the signs existing in that city in or about the year 1750. This list I
therefore now send you, thinking you may not object to give it a place in
your Magazine. Mr. Arderow has not, indeed, accompanied the names of the
several signs with any description of the mode in which the subjects are
treated, or with their localities; but I nevertheless submit that such a
catalogue is not without its interest, as showing, in some instances, the
feeling of the times; in others, the then prevailing trades of the place;
again, in others, the principal families, as indicated by their armorial
bearings; and so I might go on to a considerable length.
Here, in Yarmouth, we have till lately had two signs that I do not remember
in Norwich Diogenes, with his faithful associate Tumbledown-Dick, and the
Three Loggerheads. Here, too, we still retain a couple of signs which alone
preserve, if not the memory, yet certainly the only trace of the locality of
two remarkable objects in the town, the Castle and the Quay Mill.
In short, Sir, an inquiry into signs is far from being that idle and
worthless inquiry which most people may be apt to consider it. At least it is
capable of being made otherwise; and there may possibly be some of your
readers who will agree with me in regretting the gradual displacing of
painted signs by inscriptions. This is one, and surely not the happiest, of
the effects of “The schoolmaster being abroad." I would rather, in such
case, see the painter; for by this alteration I doubt not but we have checked
the rising genius of many “a village Raphael;" and, though I am not
aware that England could ever boast a sign by Correggio, as is said to have
been the case with his native country, I cannot forget that sign-painting was
the cradle of the genius of our Norfolk Hobbima, and well I remember many
such a painting by Crome and by Cooper, of Beccles, upon which I have often
looked with pleasure.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4645) (tudalen 320)
|
I2O
Si? ns of Inns,
Etc.
Signs, as J. A. R.
observes, were formerly used by every tradesman. They are still very much so
in France, even in the metropolis; and they are still more so in some towns
in Belgium, At Malines, in particular, it is the case to a great degree; and
I would appeal to every traveller, with the least feeling for antiquity, who
has walked the streets of that remarkable city, if the number of signs with
their concomitant inscriptions, and the painted, or the occasionally gilt
fronts of the houses, does not give it an interest that is hardly, if at all,
to be found in any other place equidistant from England.
I may add that The Silent Woman, or rather The Good Woman in both cases
represented headless, like that at Widford, mentioned in p. 45 is far from an
uncommon sign on the continent, and particularly in the North of Italy, where
La Biiona Moglia is the best inn at Turin.
Yours, etc., DAWSON TURNER.
SIGNS FOR ALE-HOUSES AND TAVERNS IN NORWICH.
King's Head.
Star.
Bear.
White Swan.
Black Swan.
Rampant Horse.
Unicorn.
Grey Hound.
Maid's Head.
Popinjay.
Griffin.
Raven.
Black Bull.
Elephant
Duke of Cumberland.
Admiral Vernon.
Pope's Head.
Wounded Heart.
Cross Keys.
Grapes.
Castle.
City of Norwich.
York City.
Freemason's Arms.
Prince of Wales's Arms, or the
Feathers. Drum. Crown.
Chequer.
Gibraltar.
Three Turks.
The Globe.
Three Jolly Dyers.
Three Washer Women.
Three Shoemakers.
The Hand.
The Cherry Tree.
The Royal Oak.
The Dove.
The Harp.
Charing Cross.
Crooked Billet
Prince Eugene.
Black Friers.
White Friers.
Whittington and his Cat.
The Bellman.
Recruiting Sergeant.
Red Cow.
Pump.
Two Brewers.
Pease and Beans
Smiths' Arms.
Man i' th' Moon.
Half Moon.
Henry the Eighth.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4646) (tudalen 321)
|
Old Signs in
Norwich.
o
Moon and Seven
Stars.
London 'Prentice.
St. John's Head.
Royal Exchange.
The Gun.
Cupid.
Wheel of Fortune.
Flower in Hand.
Flora.
Black Prince.
The Tuns.
Bacchus.
Eight Ringers.
Blue Bell.
Red Lion.
Three Horse Shoes.
Portobello.
Guild.
Wool pack.
Dolphin.
Three Shuttles.
Brown Cow and Hare.
Black Jack.
Cat and Fiddle.
Shoulder of Mutton.
Bushel.
Malt Shovel.
Rose and Crown.
Spaniel Dog.
Saracen's Head.
King's Arms.
Seven Stars.
Fleece.
Three Quarts.
A Man Loaded with Mischief (a
woman and monkey, etc.). Black Boy. Duke of Ormond. Queen Caroline. Fountain.
Baker's Arms. Hen and Chickens. Whip and Egg. Pelican. Green Dragon. Flower
de Luce.
Lamb.
Goat and Kid.
Catharine Wheel.
Elm.
Rising Sun.
Fortune of War.
Pheasant.
George and the Dragon.
Falcon.
Musick House.
Horns.
Three Crowns.
Elephant.
Abraham Offering his Son.
Windmill.
Bolting Mill.
Patten.
Hog in Armour.
Angel.
Wax Candle.
Jack of Newbury.
Mitre.
Boy and Cup.
Lobster.
Cardinal's Cap.
King and the Miller.
Golden Ball.
Two Twins.
Bull and the Butcher.
Turkey Cock.
Pea Cock.
Mermaid.
Star and Garter.
Blue Boar.
Fox.
Rainbow.
Ship.
Wherry.
Green Man.
Phoenix.
Mad Tom of Bedlam.
Red Well.
Hole in the Wall.
Fighting Cocks.
Punch Bowl.
Trumpet.
21
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4647) (tudalen 322)
|
322
Signs of Inns, Etc.
Three Hot Pressers.
Buck.
White Hart. Three Cranes. Ten Bells. Adam and Eve. Golden Horse-shoe. Horse and
Groom. Wheatsheaf. Barley Mow. Five Alls. Czar of Muscovy. Duke's Palace.
Crown and Thistle. Bishop Blaise.
Boot.
Sow and Pigs.
Wild Man.
Wrestlers.
Hare and Cat.
Anchor.
Dial.
Hotpress.
Plough.
St. Christopher.
Robin Hood.
Bird i' th' Hand
Wheel and Bunch of Grapes.
The First and Last.
Labour in Vain.
[1842, Part I., p.
248]
In reference to the observation of J. A. R.'s Norwich correspondent, in your
number of this month, upon the origin of the name, the Soper or Sopehouse, by
which the public house at Forncett, near Long Stratton, is vulgarly called; I
beg leave to observe that I have always considered this appellation to be a
corruption of Soke- House, this being the place where the court for the Soke,
or liberty of the manor, appears to have been immemorially held not merely as
a public-house, but as the site of the ancient manor-house. The sign is the
Norfolk Arms, and the landlord will tell you the tradition that this house
was formerly a jail. For an account of the great honour of Forncett, and the
ancient Knyghten Court here held, I refer to Blomefield; but I cannot help
expressing my regret, if it be true as reported, that the present noble head
of the illustrious house of Howard should have it in contemplation to avail
himself of an Act of Parliament lately obtained to alienate this, the capital
manor appertaining to his duchy in this county.
Norvicensis has omitted to mention in his list of Old Signs at Norwich the
Labour in Vain, late on the old Jail Hill, which exhibited the well-known
representation of the attempt to wash the Blackamoor white.
Yours, etc., A GLEANER.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4648) (tudalen 324)
|
Notes.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4649) (tudalen 325)
|
NOTES.
1 (page 4). There
are two editions of Grose's Provincial Glossary: A Provincial Glossary with,
a collection of Local proverbs and popular superstitions, London, 1787, 8vo.;
second edition, 1790, Svo. Pegge's Anecdotes of the English Language, 1814,
8vo., contains a supplement to Grose. Grose also published Lexicon
Balatronicum, a dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pick Pocket
Eloquence, London, 1811, Svo.; another edition of which was issued in 1823,
under the title of Groses Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, London,
1823, Svo.
2 (page 6). The article on English Dialects is in Quarterly Review, vol. lv.,
December, 1835, to February, 1836, pp. 354-387, and it deals with Grose's
Provincial Glossary; Pegge's Supplement to Grose; Wilbraham's Glossary of
Cheshire Words; ]enn\ng's Dialects in the West of England; Hunter's
Hallamshire Glossary, Dialect of Craven; Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia;
Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words; Jamieson's Dictionary of the
Scottish Language, and Supplement; Boucher's Glossary of Archaic and
Provincial Words.
3 (P a ge 7). This was published in 1831 by the Surtees Society, edited by
Rev. J. Hunter and J. Stevenson.
4 (page 8). The Dialect Society have not published a volume on
Northumberland, nor is one as yet in hand. There is published A Glossary of
Terms used in the Coal Trade of Northumberland and Durham, London, 1851.
5 (page 8). The "Pricke of Conscience" has since been published:
The Pricke of Conscience (Stimulus Conscientiae), a Northumbrian Poem, by
Richard Rolle de Hampole, copied and edited from manuscripts in the Library
of the British Museum, with an Introduction, Notes, and Glossarial Index, by
Richard Morris. Published for the Philological Society, 1863, 8vo., pp. xli.,
328. The Northumbrian dialect is discussed in pages iv.-xii. of the
introduction.
6 (page 13). This is to be found in a small pamphlet entitled An Unfinished
Letter to the Right Honourable William Pitt, concerning the new Dictionary of
the English Language, by the Rev. Herbert Croft, LL.B., London, 1788 [not
published], pp. 84, postcript, 7 pp. The Dictionary was, however, never
published, and Mr. H. B. Wheatley gives an epitome of the endeavours of Mr.
Croft in his Chronological Notices of the Dictionaries of the English,
Language, published by the Philological Society. In the Gentleman's Magazine,
1789, page 991, appears two Letters from Croft, detailing some of his efforts
to get his Dictionary published, and which are not mentioned by Mr. Wheatley.
See also ante, p. 156.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4650) (tudalen 326)
|
326 Notes.
7 (page 17). The English Dialect Society have published in series C, Original
Glossaries, Part III., A Glossary of the Lancashire Dialect, by John H. Nodal
and George Milner, Part I., Words from A to inclusive, 1875, pp. xv. 124;
Part II., E to Z, 1882, pp. 123-289.
8 (page 17). This dialogue, rejected by the Gentleman's Magazine of 1746, has
since been printed with a full glossary. The Dialect of South Lancashire, or
Tim Bobbin's Tummits and Meary; with his Rhymes and an enlarged glossary of
words and phrases chiefly used by the rural population of the manufacturing
districts of South Lancashire, by Samuel Bamford: London, 1850, 121110., pp.
xxii., 266. The specimen quoted in the text, page 21, occurs on page 19 of
this edition; though it is not identical. The dialogue was no doubt forwarded
to the Gentleman's Magazine by the author, John Collier, better known as Tim
Bobbin, born 1708, died 1786. 'Mr. W. E. A. Axon, in his Bibliographical list
of Books illustrating the Lancashire Dialect, 1875, enumerates the following
editions of Tim Bobbin's Lancashire Dialect:
First edition, Manchester, [1746].
Second ,, Leeds, [1746], I2mo.
Fourth ,, London, [n. d.], 8vo.
Sixth Manchester, 1757, I2tno.
London, I77o, 121110.
Manchester, 1775, I2mo.
Leeds, 1787, 8vo.
[n. p.] 1797, 121110.
London, 1798, I2mo.
Huddersfield, 1803, 121110,
[n. p.] 1805, I2mo.
Rochdale, iSiS, I2mo.
London, 1828, 8vo.
Manchester, 1839, I2mo.
London, 1845, I2mo.
Leeds, 1847, I2mo.
Manchester, 1850, I2mo., by S. Bamford.
London, 1854, 12mo., ditto.
Manchester, 1857, 8vo., by E. Ridings.
Manchester, 1859, 8vo., ditto.
Manchester, i8b2, i6ino.
Besides these, there are prints of the dialect included in Collier's
Miscellaneous Works, and one or two editions printed without date in the
modern dialect.
9 (page 21). For the reference to Collier (Tim Bobbin) and Bamford, see Note
8. Thomas Heywood, F.S.A., published Essay on the South Lancashire Dialect in
Chetham Society's Publications, vol. Ivii., Manchester, 1862, and J. A.
Picton, F.S.A. Notes on the South Lancashire Dialect, Liverpool, privately
printed.
10 (page 27). This book is Chronicon Preciosum; or, an Account of English
Money, the Price of Corn, and other Commodities, for the last 600 Years [by
Bp. Fleetwood], in a Letter to a Student in the University of Oxford, London,
1707. Pp. xi. 181, Index 4.
11 (page 28). This paper seems to have been unknown to Mr. Edmonston when he
compiled his Etymological Glossary of the Shetland and Orkney Dialect,
published by the Philological Society in 1866, pp. vii. 166.
12 (page 37). The following words in this Glossary are not included in Mr.
Edmonston's Etymological Glossary of Shetland, 1866: bocht, meashee,
splunder, hee, lifinin, klif, veeraly, kumrn, skuyk, stramp, jopee, virst,
bens, fushin, veezable. The following variations in spelling and meaning
occur:
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4651) (tudalen 327)
|
Notes. 327
Paal, in Edmonston, is defined as "a poster pillar," and “a fixture
against which the feet are planted so as to afford a purchase in pulling
horizontally," and "to puzzle or put to a stand."
Tuag is spelt tuack.
Bindi is spelt budie.
Sloomin is defined as "sneaking, slinking."
Trist is denned as "squeeze."
Breekbandit is defined as "a wrestling match."
Saxie is denned as “hacks or rents in the feet occasioned by exposure to
alternate wet and drought."
Blett is defined as “black muddy soil at the head of a bay or the mouth of a
burn."
Ferdamel is spelt ferdarneat.
13 (page 39). With the exception of A Cornish English Vocabulary ', by the
Rev. Robert Polwhele, which, according to Mr. Skeat and Mr. Nodal, contains
almost as many Devonshire as Cornish words, there does not seem to be any
distinct Glossary of Devonshire words published. A MS. Glossary of the Devon
Dialect, a list of about eight hundred words, is to be printed for the
English Dialect Society. Marshall's Rural Economy of West of England, 1796,
contains a Glossary of Provincialisms of West Devonshire, and the Monthly
Magazine, 1808, pp. 421, 544, and 1810, p. 431, contains a provincial
Vocabulary (incomplete) of the common people of Devonshire and Cornwall.
14 (page 39). This book has been several times printed. The following are
some of the more important editions: Consolatio Philosophic Anglo-Saxonice
reddita ab Alfredo Rege, ed. C. Rawlinson, 8vo., Oxonii, 1698; Consololatio
Philosophic, Anglo-Saxon version by King Alfred, with English translation and
Xotes, by Cardall, 8vo., 1829; King Alfred 's Boethins, with English on
opposite pages, Notes and Glossary, by Rev. S. Fox, I2mo., 1864.
15 (page 41). On the subject of the study of Anglo-Saxon literature in
England, I may refer the reader to F. Metcalfe's The Englishman and
Scandinavian; or, A Comparison of Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse Literature,
London, 1880, the two opening chapters of which are devoted to “The Study of
Anglo-Saxon Revived by Archbishop Parker and Sir H. Spelman," and
“Junius, Hickes, and Sir Robert Cotton help on the work." Such books as
Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, and Rask's Anglo-Saxon Grammar it is
hardly necessary, perhaps, to refer to, as they are so well-known as
containing much information on the progress of AngloSaxon literature.
16 (page 41). The following are the Glossaries of the Dorset Dialect that
have been published: A Grammar and Glossary of the Dorset Dialect, by W.
Barnes, B.D. (Philological Society), 1863, 8vo., pp. 103; A Glossary of
Provincial Words used in the County of Dorset, London, 1851, I2mo, pp. 8. Mr.
Barnes has published many books on Dorset Dialect: Poems of Rural Life in the
Dorset Dialect, London, 1844; second edition, 1848; third edition, 1862;
fourth edition, 1866; a third collection, 1863. Also Hwomely Rhymes, London,
1859, second edition, 1863; Song of Solomon in the Dorset Dialect, 1859; and
poems in Macmillaris Magazine for May, 1864, September, 1864, and November,
1864.
17 (page 43). This is the most famous of Dialect volumes. Its authorship has
been much disputed, and I thought I had discovered something which would have
gone a long way in settling this problem; but upon the Athenceum stating this
in their gossip items, Mr. Elworthy, the learned editor of the edition
published by the English Dialect Society, wrote to that journal in the issue
for 2nd February, 1884, the following letter, which effectually silenced my
claims to a "find" in this matter; and I must record here my
acknowledgment of Mr. Elworthy's kind courtesy in this letter:
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4652) (tudalen 328)
|
o
28 Notes.
THE "EXMOOR
SCOLDING."
Foxdown,
Wellington, Somerset, Jan. 22, 1884.
BY accident I have overlooked until now your notice of Mr. Gomme's work on
the Gentleman 's Magazine in your issue of December I5th, 1883, p. 779.
You say that Mr. Gomme's volume will contain "the original of the
'Exmoor Scolding, ' “and that he has found an edition which will modify some
of my conclusions as to the authorship of that piece.
Reference to the preface to my edition will show that my conclusions never
pretended to finality, the very first line upon the subject being, “Of the
history of the ' Exrnoor Scolding ' nothing really authentic seems to be
known."
Since writing those words my friend Dr. Brushfield, of Budleigh Salterton,
has shown me a volume of Briefs Weekly Journal in the library of the Devon
and Exeter Institution, and in a copy of this newspaper, dated “Exon, Friday,
June the 2nd, 1/27," appears the first part of the "Exmoor
Scolding," preceded by a kind of introduction, of which I subjoin an
exnct transcript.
In the same journal, under date "Exon, Friday, August the 25th,
1727," appears the second part, prefaced by the heading, also given
below.
In substance this edition of 1727 is the same as that of the Gentleman s
Magazine published in 1746, but in the latter there are a great number of
orthographic changes. Whether or not the edition here referred to is the same
as that discovered by Mr. Gomme I know not, but I am now of opinion that
earlier ones still may yet be found. F. T. ELWORTHY.
An Exmoor Scolding.
Sed in longum tamen eorum Manserunt hodieq; manent vestigia ruris. Hor.
Damnoniorum Plena jam voces integritate manent. Br e.
As its natural and full of Honour to love one's Country, so its as natural
(And why not as praiseworthy?) to love its Langitage. Thus every Nation is
big with Commendations of its own peculiar Dialect. The Spectator informs us
of a certain frenchman wont to bless God that he was born to so fine and
cultivated a Speech; whilst that Author, on the other hand, rejoices, for the
same Reason, that he was born an Englishman. Verstegan, that Celebrated
Antiquary, who (<l la mode de Genealogy de Jew) derives his Origin from
the Antient Saxons, is luxuriant in his Encomium on the Saissonaeg Tongue;
which as its an Importation here, he boasts, much imbellished wilder Britain;
and laments it as a vast Injury and Loss, that the barbarous Danes, savage
Normans, &c., on their Conquests, should so wofully impose their several
Jargons on our Ancestors, to root out or confound so Noble a Language. The
Welsh, Descendants of the Britons, again, even in their most Anglified Towns
(who still give our modern English the name of Saissonaeg, that is the
Language of the Saxons) have frequent Sermons, Lectures, &c., in the
Catnbraic Tongue, in order to preserve, and deliver to Posterity, that their
own, uncorrupt and in its simple Purity. And I hear of a Gentleman in
Cornwall (in Antique Age Rcnourid for Love to Saints and Shipwrecks!) who has
taken noble mighty pains in Translating the Bible into Cornish, or Cornubian
Welsh.
Since, therefore, its esteem'd a Kind of Patriotism to stickle for our Native
Speech, I, in Honour of my matchless County Devon (flowing no less with
Manners than with Coin) whilst Totnesius celebrates our dead and living
Heroes, their mighty Deeds and Words I shall make it my peculiar care to
transmit to future Times our pure Vernacular Language; lest, by the too
frequent Commigration of Londoners and Bristolians, it should be at length
confounded. For which I expect Mr. Bailey's Thanks on his Dictionary's next
Edition; and question not but Can you sprain D^ion? will sl.oilly be as much
in vogue as the old Parlcz vans Y
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4653) (tudalen 329)
|
Notes. 329
Exon, Friday, August the 25th, 1727. If an extraordinary Sale be a Proof of
Things taking with the Publick, the first Part of the Exmore Scolding, c.,
pleas'd so very well, that I am encouraged to print the second, not doubting
its meeting with the like acceptance.
An Exmore Scolding Dialogue, in the Propriety and Decency of Exmore Language,
between two sisters Wilmol and Thomasin Moreman, as they were spinning. Part
(he Second.
In 1771 the
following edition was published, followed in 1802 by another edition, with
very little alteration: An Exmoor Scolding; in the Propriety and Decency of
Exmoor Language, between two sisters, Wilntot Moreman, and TJiomasin Moreman,
as they were spinning. Also, An Exmoor Courtship, Seventh edition: wherein
arc now first added, such marginal notes, and a Vocabulary or Glossary, at
the End, as seem necessary for explaining uncouth expressions, and
interpreting barbarous words and phrases. Exeter, 1771. The preface says:
“The following collection was originally made, about the beginning of the
present Century, by a blind itinerant Fiddler (one Peter Lock, of North
Moulton or its Neighbourhood), who was a man of some humour, and tho' his
skill and Dexterity as a musician is said to have recommended him to the
Notice of the Great, his more common converse with the lower class of people
gave him frequent Opportunities of hearing and observing their phrases and
Diction; and as Persons deprived of Sight have generally a good memory, he
was thereby the better enabled to retain and repeat them. This attracted the
notice of a neighbouring Clergyman, who by the Fiddler's assistance put the
Exmoor Scolding into the Form in which we now have it, and before his death
(which happened soon after the year 1725) communicated it to Mr. Andrew Brice
of Exeter, printer, the Editor of the first and subsequent editions, who
perfected the ' Courtship '; but copies of the Scolding were, for some time
before and after this, handed about in Manuscript [of which the writer hereof
has seen one near 40 years since], which was then taken to be the original
composition of the Clergyman aforesaid; few being then apprehensive of its
having any other Author, or how far the Person who furnished its materials
might claim Title thereto, tho' his fame as a Fiddler was not yet
extinct." In this the passages printed between square brackets are those
contained in the edition of 1802, and not given in that of 1771.
The neighbouring clergyman referred to in the preface is believed to be the
Rev. William Hole, B.D., who was appointed Archdeacon of Barnstaple in 1744,
and who died in 1791.
Sir John Bowring says (Trans. Devon Ass., 1866, Part V., p. 28): "The
authors of the Exmoor Scolding and Exmoor Courting were Andrew Brice and
Benjamin Bowring. The former was a learned and laborious bookseller in
Exeter, whose folio dictionary was a valuable contribution to the
geographical knowledge of the day. The latter (my paternal great-grandfather)
was the grandson of a John Bowring of Chundeigh, who was largely engaged in
the woollen trade, and coined money for the payment of those he
employed." "No authority," says Mr. Elworthy in the preface to
his edition, “is given by Sir John Bowring for the above statement. The
balance of evidence is very greatly on the side of Sir F. Madden, who gives
Mr. Merrivale as his authority in asserting Archbishop Hole to have been the
author." This, I think, seems to be far from conclusive.
Seven editions were issued between 1746 and 1771, while a tenth was issued in
1778, and another in 1802. A reprint of the 1771 edition was published in
1827. The English Dialect Society edition, edited by Mr. F. T. Elworthy, is a
reprint of the ninth edition, published at Exeter in 1778.
The edition of 1802, entered in the British Museum Catalogue under the
authorship of Lock (Peter), has not been mentioned by Mr. Elworthy. Its full
title is: An Exmoor Scolding, between two sisters, Wilmot Moreman and
Thomasin Moreman, as they were spinning; also, An Exmoor Courtship; both in
the propriety and decency of the Exineor Dialect, Devon; to which is adjoined
a collateral Para'
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4654) (tudalen 330)
|
33O Notes.
phrase in Plain English, for explaining barbarous -words and phrases, Exeter:
printed and sold by T. Brice. MDCCCII.
In the same year, 1746, in which the Dialogue appeared in the Gentleman* 's
Magazine, at p. 645, appears a letter, dated Exon, Dec. 8, 1746, and signed
“Devoniensis, the same signature as the author of the vocabulary previously
inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine at pp. 405-408 (see ante, pp. 58-64).
The letter is as follows:
“Having lately been in the north parts of our county, I enquired the meaning
of the word boneshave, which I was doubtful of, and I find 'tis the sciatica;
so that I was mistaken in my conjecture (see p. 405) [in Vocabulary of Exmoor
Dialect, sub voce boneshave]. I send you a ridiculous charm which they use
for curing it. Had I leisure, I believe I could trace the etymology of many
of our Devonshire words, and shew that the worst part of that dialect is not
so barbarous as that of Lancashire (see p. 528).
“A charm for the boneshave (as the Exmoorians, who often use it, call the
sciatica).
“The patient must lie on his back on the banks of a river or brook of water,
with a straight staff by his side, between him and the water; and must have
the following words repeated over him:
Boneshave right, Boneshave straight; As the water runs by the slave, Good for
Boneshave.
In the name, etc."
Now this "charm is entered in the MS. folio at p. 31, and is there
ascribed to Mr. Wm. Chappie, which identifies the latter with ' Devoniensis,'
and probably also proves him to be the editor of the edition of 1771 and
previous ones." This is from a note in MS. by Sir F. Madden, dated 1834,
attached to a copy of the seventh edition, and quoted by Mr. Elworthy in the
preface to his edition.
As an appendix to this note, I think the following cutting from the
Gentleman's Magazine of 1733, pp. 532, 533, is entitled to a place, even if I
ought not to have printed it in its right place in the text:
(Srubstmt Journal, Oct. 18, No. 199.
Vor master zecretary BAVIZ, Asq; at the sine of the Pig-Asses, in
Grub-street,
Lundun.
Thick present, with care.
Taunton Dean, the zeventh day of October, one thousand seven hundred, and
three
and thirty,
If your worship pleazeth,
CHE wou'd beg yaur divershon vor zaying, what 'cham going to convorme yaur
worship conzaining. But virst and voremost, 'che must zay one thing (and
that's not two) and that iz, az touching yaur Jitrnal, that comes here onze a
week: it iz zo witty, and zo huge clever, that aul the tawne liketh it, and
zay, that zartainly yaur worship muzt be vaztly learned: and when 'che
readeth it to my wife JOANE, we both laff till we are welly ready to bepiz
aur zelves vor joy. But that iz not what 'che writeth about to yaur worship,
only that, by the by: ant that to make zort o' my story, 'che must convorm
ye, that my spouze and me have gotten betwixt uz one only zon, who is kalled
NATHAN, and who commeth twenty three next grass: and thoft 'che zayeth it, he
iz az sprunny a buoy of hiz age as onny iz in the tawne of Taunton Deane, or
vive miles round it. Now az he iz my only cheeld,: che have broft'n up a
schollard: and 'che thoft vor to zend in to the versity at Cambridge, and
make a doctor of visick of'n; but only 'che thoft, he had too much learning
vor that; vor he has gon thro" In speech, Qui, que, quod % Di, do and
duin, and all those kind of thingz, and haz lately learn'd, Ass in per
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4655) (tudalen 331)
|
Notes. 331
centum, and Properly que marrtnvbuz, and Queen Janus; and hiz mcaster zayeth,
he can learn'n no varder. Bezidez al thiz, he can write, zo as vor many
people to read it; and can vigger, and cast countz main well; he understands
distraction, and part of the multiplication table, zo var az vour times vour,
and zeven times two, which you'll zay iz a vilthy deal to learn, in zix weeks
time. The buoy haz partz, and a woundy memory; vor lazt zabbath day, a
stranger preach'd to aur . church, and took hiz text out of the gozpell of
Bell and the dragon, and zaid a . deale about Genesiz and the Revelationz,
and about BELZHAZZER ('che thinkz hiz name waz) King of Babbleon, and zaid
several thingz about circumcizzion, and ZIMON MAGUZ, and LOTT'S tw}^and
ferico, and Jeruzalem; and 'che heard Mr.WIMBLETON, and Mr. PEPPERCORN zay,
that they never herd zuch a braave zarmond in al their borne dayez. Vor my
own part, che dan't much understond zarmondz, but 'che believeth, 'tvvaz a speciall
good one, vor it mad the old women cry: but what 'che bringeth the story vor,
iz, that NATHAN took the hedz and tailez of it, in his memory, and repeated a
good deal of it extrumpere, that evening at the dog and duck, ('che
believeth) to ten volk, that were smoaking and drinking there.
Now may hap, Zir, what doez ael this magnify? Why, if you will have patience,
'che will tell ye; NATHAN knoweth hiz own accomplishmentz, that he haz
learning, and aul that; and haz had hiz nativity cazt in the coffee groundz
by a wise woman, that telleth vortunes, and she zayeth, NATHAN iz boarn to
great varment, if he goeth to Lundun. Zo now nothing runneth in hiz head, but
Lundun, Lundun; and ov all thingz, he hankereth after being a zecretary: the
cheeld hath a proud stomach (he taketh avter his mother vor that) and aymeth
at great thingz. He hath now an offer to be zecretary to a brick-kilner, (vor
az he iz known to have wit at will, and to be a schollard, every body is vor
katching at'n) but nothing will zarve hiz turn, but to Lundun he will go; or
if we won't let'n do that, he voweth most bitterly, that he will go to zea.
Now you muzt know, that him is my wivez donting piece, and she feareth if he
should go to zea, that him wou'd be a kaptain, and zo be kill'd as dead as a
doare naile. And whereaz 'cham convorm'd, that yaur worship is zoone to be
wedded, and keep a coach, and to joine with Mrs. MAMBRINO to cut simpletons,
wherevore and therevore, in order to make my son NATHAN a zecretary, she
dezireth yaur worship to take 'n 'prentice: and now the zecret iz out, and
e'en let it goo.
If you'l tak'n, no money shall peart uz, and our JOANE will zend you a couple
ov rabbitz, and a new milk cheeze againzt yaur wedding day. 'Che doth knaw,
that with a little matter ov showing, in a little time, the buoy wou'd ov his
own zelfe be able to write Jurnalz, as vazt as hopz: therevore if you'l
tak'n, zay zo, by the next poazt. 'Che be a mon ov zome zubstance, 'che
keepeth nine kowez, and a boare; and our JOANE maketh butter and cheeze and
eggs, and chickibirdz, and goosychickz, and thicky kind ov thingz. Moreover
and likewise, 'che liveth in my owne, payeth scott and lott, hath been twize
constable, ant 'cham now churchwarden over the high-wais: and bezidez aul
thick, 'che have two hundred good shillingz in a bag, in my hutch, and do owe
no mon a vour penny piece; nor do care one zingle zixpence vor my loard mare
to be my unkle; but shault be huge glad, if you wou'd make my zon NATHAN a
zecretary. The buoy resentz his zarviz to you, and zo doth my wife, and my
own zelf bezidez. The boy's vingerz itch to be wit you; but uz shall expect
that you will bind'n at zecretary's hall, that he may be a vreeman to Lundun.
And he zayeth, that him believeth, that him can help ye to the cutting ov a
hundred and vifty simple people in thiz tawne, bezidez what may be in the
parishez about uz. No more at prezant, but 'cham vary wondervully and wid aul
mine heart and zoule, Sir,
yaur zarvant, ant zo forth,
ROGER WHISTLEWELL.
'Che vargo't to tell ye, (and 'che was to blame vor it) that besidez the
buoy'z latine, him understandz something ov 'lozofy, and can tell (within an
haure or two)
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4656) (tudalen 332)
|
332 Notes.
what 'tiz a clock
by the almanack; ant zayeth, that if him had but Littletons, dickzionary and
Esofis fables with cutts, him believeth that him could vind out the
longitude, vor him iz az sharp, ommost, as a new-ground hatchet; and zo
witty, that uz feareth him will not live.
18 (page 44). The reference here is to an article on “Some Historical and
Critical Observations relating to the French Theatre, extracted from Histoire
du Theatre Francois, tome iii., published at Paris, 1745," 1746, pp. 198
204.
18* (page 58). In Mr. Elworthy's edition, the Glossary is reprinted verbatim
from the edition of 1778. The editor's remarks upon each word are inserted at
the end of the respective paragraphs. The following communication to the
Gentleman's Magazine of 1746, p. 557, dated Exon, Sep. I5th, 1746, should
have appeared in the text as an addition to the Glossary, but by an oversight
it was omitted:
On perusing the Exmoor Scolding, I find the following words mark'd with an
asterisk which are omitted in the vocabulary. Yours, etc., DEVONIENSIS.
Angle-bowing, a method of fencing the grounds wherein sheep are kept (in and
about Exmoor), by fixing rods, like bows, with both ends in the ground, where
they make angles with each other.
Antic-beer, cross-wise, irregular.
Cunniffling, dissembling, flattering.
Dwalling, talking nonsense, or as if delirious.
Eart or Aert (i.e., oft), but generally used of now and then; as eart this
way, eart that way; i.e., now this way, now that way.
Hoazed I timely off [spoken ironically], also hoarse.
Jibb, a stiller to fix a barrel of liquor on.
Lathing or le-alhing, invitation.
Lipped, loose, free; and sometimes the breaking out of stitches in
needlework, or the like.
Ort, ought, anything.
Ort, orten, often. See Eart.
ftiSZiiig, playing the hobby-horse.
Stertlee, to startle, or hop up and down, or the like.
Tntb, signifies not only a sluttish woman, but is sometimes masculine, and
denotes a slovenly looby.
Widford, a widower.
19 (page 60). The following explanation is given of this word in the 7th
edition, published at Exeter in 1771, see page 4: The boneshave (a word
perhaps nowhere used or understood in Devonshire but in the neighbourhood of
Exmoor) means the sciatica; and the Exmoorians, when afflicted therewith, use
the following charm to be freed from it: "The patient must lie on his
back on the bank of a river or brook of water, with a straight staff by his
side, between him and the water; and must have the following words repeated
over him, viz.:
“Boneshave right; Boneshave straight; As the water runs by the stave, Good
for boneshave."
They are not to be persuaded but that this ridiculous form of words seldom
fails to give them a perfect cure." (See note 17.)
20 (page 65). In addition to the article printed in the text, the following
items may be added here:
[1784, Part II., p. 732.] Ox-eye is a common name for the greater tomtit, and
the two lesser ones are known by the name of bluebottle and torn-tub; perhaps
the fourmart is the animal we know by the name of the flout. I supposed
Maggy' uiith-the- many-feet is our [Berkshire] hundred legs, or the
mille-jedes.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4657) (tudalen 333)
|
Notes. 333
[1784, Part II., p. 836.] In Cheshire and Lancashire \h&foomart (an
almost imperceptible difference in the pronunciation) is a very common
animal. It is neither the weasel nor the pole-cat, as supposed in the
marginal note: but the true name of it is the fillemart, the description of
which may be found in the natural histories of animals. The hunting of it in
the aforesaid counties is a common diversion amongst the lower sort of
people, who have a peculiar breed of dogs for this purpose. They are very
keen, and bite hard; of a pale or light brown colour; of the terrier kind;
and are there known by the general appellation of foomart dogs. This
diversion is always followed in the night-time; and those who are once
initiated are said to be extremely fond of the sport.
[1785, Part II., p. 534.] Seeing some expressions of desire from your
correspondents Raymund and T. C. of knowing the different names of subjects
of natural history in various parts, I have hastily put together the
following anecdotes, which, when I have more leisure, may be followed with
some more interesting, being at present hastened in time.
The foumart, not fumart, undoubtedly one of the names of the pole-cat,
frequently also called fitchet, is the mustela putorius of Linnaeus. The
putois of Buffbn most probably is a corruption from faux-marte, or false
martin, to distinguish it from the true, or what is called in the north of
Yorkshire the sweet martin or marte, of which also are two species; our
common one, which Bufibn calls la foziine, and the pine martin of Penmant, or
yellow-throated martin, not very common in England, but has in Wales a
distinct name, viz., bela goed, which signifies -wood martin. The common
weasel, I own, according to Mr. Ray, has been sometimes called in Yorkshire
fitchet and foumart; but, I believe, never at present. The stoat, not stout,
is frequently, by the vulgar, confounded with the common weasel, which it much
resembles, but is very distinguishable both by its superior size, its mostly
inhabiting fields and hedges, and principally by the length of its tail, and
having always, whether in the white or brown state, near an inch of black at
the end; this, when white, is the true ermine, though perhaps inferior to
those of more northern countries: it is frequently found in a perfect white
state in the north of Yorkshire, though the end of the tail is invariably the
same. This is what is made use of to make the black spots in ermine tippets,
etc., it is the mustela erminea of Linnaeus. Our common weasel sometimes
turns white, but may be always distinguished by its inferiority of size,
shortness of legs, and principally by the shortness of tail, and want of
black tip. It seems to have been noticed, by Linnaeus, in its white state
only, in which probably it is mostly seen in Sweden; being, as I apprehend,
his mustela nivalis. Many birds and animals seem to have particular names in
these parts; badgers, besides being called bo3ons, greys, and bocks, are here
called pates. Woodpeckers mostly, I believe, \h& green, pickatrees;
gold-finches, red-caps; yellow-hammers, goldspinks, and also yellow
youlrings; chaffinches, white linnets; and still, as observed in the last
century by Ray, the true turbot is called a bret, and the hollibut a tttrbot.
These very hasty observations I send, having an opportunity; if worth
inserting, may send more when time permits.
Yours, etc., ZOOPHILOS.
Upon the subject of Plant names the invaluable book published by the Dialect
Society is the great authority: A Dictionary of English Plant Names, by James
Britten and Robert Holland, London, 1879, etc. The Rev. Hilderic Friend's
Flower Lore, London, 1884, should also be consulted, as, besides its particular
value, it contains an excellent bibliography of the subject.
21 (page 70). The following are the best books on Spanish proverbs: Alvarado
(Felix Anthony de) Spanish and English Dialogues . . . with many Proverbs , .
. London, 1719, I2mo.; Barros (Alonso de) Proverbios Morales, Madrid, 1608,
Svo. (subsequent editions in 1615, Lisbon, 1617, Milan, 1659, Saragosa, 1656,
Paris, 1617); Bohn's Polyglot of Proverbs, London, 1857; Brunei ((^vstevo)
Notice sur tes Proverbs
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4658) (tudalen 334)
|
334 Notes.
Basques, Paris, 1859, Svo., Collection de Proverbios Glosados, Madrid, 1834;
Collins (John) Dictionary of Spanish Proverbs, London, 1823; Goya (Francisco
de) Los Proverbios de Goya, Madrid, c. 1810; Lopez de Mendoza, Proverbios de
Don Migo Lopez de Mendofa, Seville, 1530, Madrid, 1790; Nunez (Hernan)
Refrancs o Proverbios . . . ., Salamanca, 1555, Lerida, 1621, Madrid, 1804,
Madrid, 1806; Smith (J.) Grammatica Quadrilingus, London, 1674 (contains
inter alia Spanish Proverbs); Logan (W. M.) Collection of Spanish Proverbs,
London, 1830; Stevens (Capt. John) A New Dictionary of Spanish and English
.... with vast numbers of Proverbs, London, 1726.
22 (page 71). In 1660 James Howell published Lexicon Telraglotton, which
contains inter alia 40 pages of Welsh Proverbs, and in 1753 Thomas Richards
published Antiqua Lingua Britannica Thesaurus, being a British or
WelshEnglish Dictionary, which contains a collection of Proverbs.
23 (page 72). On Greek Proverbs, the following books may be referred to:
Paronniographi Graci, ed. Thomas Gainsford, Svo., 1836; Apostolius (Michael)
and Gregorius Cyprius Proverbiorum e.v optimis auctoribns Gratis, 1653; Draxe
(Thomas) Bibliotheca Scholastica instructissima, London, 1654; Schottus
(Andreas) Adagia sive Proverbium Grceccrum ex Zenobio . . . ., Antwerp, 1612.
24 (pape 76). The Lounger, a periodical paper published at Edinburgh in the
years 1785 and 1786, second edition, 3 vols., Edinburgh, 1787. The letter
alluded to in the text occurs in vol. iii., p. 88, and purports to be from a
"Barbara Bustle," who details the misery of living with a man who
is always fond of making alterations in the house. “The same thing happened by
our acquisition of a new pigeon-house, which, notwithstanding the well-known
superstition of its boding the death of the wife, my husband ventured to
build," page 90.
25 (page So). The Rev. Charles Swainson has published A Handbook of Weather
J'olk Lore, being a collection of proverbial sayings in various languages
relating to the weather, -with explanatory and illustrative notes, Edinburgh
and London, 1873.
26 (page 91). I cannot discover what dictionary this is. Mr. Wheatley does
not mention it in his Chronological Notices of the Dictionaries of the
English Language ( Philological Society). An anonymous dictionary was
published in 1689, entitled Gazophylacium Anglicanuvi; containing the
derivation of English tcwa's, proper and common, each in an alphabet distinct;
proving the Dutch and baxon to be the prime fountains, London (R. Taylor),
1689.
27 (page 97). The second reference is not printed in the text. It relates to
the derivation of the word cate from the last syllable of delicate, and
refers to Chaucer
"A manciple there was of the temple,
. Of which all catours might take ensample."
The first of the Haileyan MSS., there has Achators for all catours. For the
derivation of Achate, the Ntrw English Dictionary (Philological Society)
should be consulted sub voce "Achate."
28 (pages 112, 310). Grimm says (Teutonic Mythology, vol. iii., p. 10x34,
"Several appellations of the devil are proper names of men bestowed en
the evil spirit, either as euphemisms, or in good-natured pity. Such are the
English, Old Davy, Old Nick; though here there may be also an allusion to
"Hnikar." See also pp. 488, 989; Nares' Glossary, sub voce
"Nicholas."
28* (page 116). See Smythe Palmer's Folk Etymology, p. 247, who quotes from
M'Nair's Perak and the Malays, pp. 212-214, a passage showing the phrase to
be a corruption of amok, a native word for a kind of mania or uncontrollable
fury among the Malays.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4659) (tudalen 335)
|
Notes. 335
29 (page 117). Mr. Henry B. Wheatley says in the Antiquary (1884), vol. ix.,
P. 239:
Many explanations have been attempted of the expression "sixes and
sevens," but none of them are so good as to make a new guess
unnecessary. In the first place, it may be noted that the present form is a
corruption of "at six and seven." So it appears in the Towneley
Mysteries, in Taylor the Waterpoet's works, and in Shakespeare. We read in
Richard II. (Act. ii. sc. ii. lines 121, 122):
.... “All is uneven, And everything is left at six and seven."
One explanation of a still earlier form, "set on seven," is that
God appointed everything in seven days, and that the expression was
originally used to indicate order, but afterwards came to express disorder.
This is not very satisfactory. Nares explained “sixes and sevens “by a
reference to the game of backgammon; but no explanation that I have seen is
so good as one suggested to me by an ingenious friend. He says that if we
write down the ordinary Arabic numerals, we shall find that all run evenly,
I, 2, 3, 4, 5, until we come to 6, when the upper stroke runs above the line,
and to 7, when the stroke runs below the line; so that it may be said that
"at six and seven “irregularity begins. Of course, this is a mere
conjecture, and no explanation can be considered as thoroughly satisfactory
until historical evidence corroborates conjecture; but I think it is a
suggestion that is well worthy of consideration.
30 (page 118). Mr. Thicknesse was head master of St. Paul's School, and the
gentleman referred to was Mr. Holbeach, a bachelor of large fortune in
Warwickshire, with whom Mr. Thicknesse used to go and stay.
31 (page 119). Mr. Smythe Palmer, in his Folk Etymology, p. 398, says this
word is a curious corruption, through the form topsi'-trferway, of topside-?
other-way, and quotes from Holiushed's Chronicles, 1587, a passage giving
topside the other waie, though a quotation from one of Arber's reprints of 1
528 gives topsy tervy. See also Davies's Supplementary English Glossary, p.
662.
32 (page 122). See Davies's Supplementary English Glossary, p. 209, and Smythe
Palmer's Folk- Etymology, p. 107. In Urquhart's Rabelais, bk. i. chap. 5, it
is said, “O the fine white wine! upon my conscience, it is a kind of taffatas
wine; hin, hin, it is of one ear (il est a une oreille). “See also the
communications printed ante, pages 146, 147.
33 (P a S e 126)- The Promptorium Parvulorumfas under the word
"a-rowme" the meaning given in the text, and the following note by
the editor, Mr. Albert Way: “Aroume he hovyd, and withstood," Rich.
Cceur de Lion. The word occurs in K. Alis., 3340, Chaucer, Book of Fame, b.
ii. 32. See Wilbraham's Cheshire Glossary under the word rynt."
34 (page 127). Both these extracts are from John Stagg's poem, "The
Panic," published in his volume of Miscellaneous Poems, 1807. These were
republished under the title The Cumbrian Minstrel; being a Poetical
Miscellany of Legendary Gothic and Romantic Tales, .... together with
Sc-veral Essays in the Northern Dialect. . . . Manchester, 1821, 2 vols; and
this collection contains many more poems and a variation in the reading. The
two verses of our text read:
“Wi' rowan tree weel fenc'd about,
We're safe fra ev'ry evil; For wate that wood has virtor i'nt To charm away
the deevil.
“And monny a panting heart was there
That bid full bitter picks, Foo tho' wi' witch wood weard, yet well They
ken'd auld horny's tricks."
Notes.
35 (P a S e 12 S)-
Besides ihe communications in the text upon this subject, there are others
which I have not thought worth while printing. One of these (1785, part ii.,
p. 952) says in Derbyshire the word aroint is frequently made use of by the
common people instead of “stand away" or “begone." An answer to
"Oxonicnsis" appears in 1833, part i., pp. 205, 206, which, bearing
out the same idea, may perhaps be quoted here:
I have read, with much attention, the extract which your learned
Correspondent has placed before me; and I acknowledge that it is quite
conclusive, as respects the alleged power of the royntree or rowantree, to
divert the imprecations of witches, and to protect from their rancour the
fortunate possessors of the charm. But I cannot say that it has convinced me
of the identity or synonymousness of the two expressions, royntree and aroint
thee.
In the explanation of obscure or obsolete words and phrases, it will
generally be found, if a simple and obvious meaning can be made out a meaning
agreeable to the context, and not at variance with the common modes and forms
of life that such an explanation is to be preferred to a more recondite and
abstruse interpretation. Now it seems analogous to customary forms of
speaking, to consider the word aroint, as used in Macbeth, in the light of a
command or mandate to be gone.
The witch, prowling through the streets, sees a sailor's well-fed wife,
munching from a lap-full of chestnuts: she asks, rather arrogantly perhaps,
for some out of this abundance of chestnuts; “Give me," quoth she: the
answer is natural, and is returned with the asperity that might be expected
to arise in the mind of the wife, luxuriant of fatness and repose, on being
required to yield up some of her delicacies to a decrepid old woman, “Aroint
thee, witch," get thee gone, away with thee, old hag!
Even if the sailor's wife had in her possession a branch or portion of the
protecting royntree, no circumstances are mentioned which made a triumphant
allusion to it requisite. Had the witch uttered maledictions, or threatened
vengeance, the exhibition of the charm, and the triumphant exclamation
royntree I would have been natural and proper; but it is more agreeable to
nature, under the circumstances narrated, to suppose that a demand thus
captiously made, would be met by a petulant and contemptuous refusal.
If any other evidence be required, that this is the true meaning of the word,
we have it in the other passage of Shakespeare in which aroint is employed:
“St. Withold footed thrice the Woles, He met the night-mare and her nine
foles,
Bid her alight,
And her troth plight, And aroint thee, witch, aroint thee."
Tt cannot be supposed that it was necessary for the saint to be protected
from the sorceries of the night-mare and her foals by a royntree. The
holiness and piety of his life, which had acquired for him the appellation of
saint, were sufficient protection, and gave him the power of disarming her at
a word: and therefore he does not exhibit the royntree substantially to the
witch, nor does he pronounce Ihe mystical name, before he proceeds to annul
her power of doing mischief; but, as the story is related, he first bids her
alight, and her troth plight, and then disdainfully orders her to begone,
"aroint, thee, witch, aroint thee."
Yours, etc.,
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4660) (tudalen 336)
|
36 (page 129).
Davie?, in his Suppleme ntal English Glossary, says, "the earliest
instance of assassin in the dictionaries is from Bacon, and is, moreover,
used of those Saracen fanatics from whom the more general application of the
term has been derived. ' Conrade was murthered by two assassim.' Daniel,
lliit, of England, p. 100."
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4661) (tudalen 337)
|
Notes. 337
37 (P a g e I2 9)- Mr. Smythe Palmer does not include this among his amusing
examples of Folk Etymology. In Notes and Queries, Dec. 14, 1872, 4th series,
x., p. 470, there is a note by Mr. Herbert Randolph, quoting the passage
given in the text, and stating that he found it in a note-book of an ancestor
of his. Mr. Skeat upsets the philological value of this note by pointing out
that the word occurs in William of Paler ne, a poem of A.D. 1350; and Chaucer
has "In her is heigh beautee, withoute pride “(Notes and Quarts, 4th
series, x., p. 530).
38 (page 130). Stratmann, in his Dictionary of the Old English Language, has
“BAST, A. -Sax. baest. Lye's Diet. O. Icel. O. H. Germ, bast (spartum,
philyra), bast; take a stalworpe bast and binde mi handes bihind me
fast." And Wedgwood's Dictionary of English Etymology has, "BAST,
BASS, Du. bast, bark, peel, husk; bast van koren, bran, the thin skin that
covers the grain. Dan., Swed., Germ., bast, the inner bark of the lime-tree
beaten out, and made into a material for mats and other coarse fabrics.
39 (page 139). These verses are in the second, not the first, of Camden's
Britannia, and are as follows:
“If I were in my Castell of Bungeie, Upon the water of Wauencie, I would not
set a button by the King of Cockenie."
They were doubtless copied from Harrison's Description of England, and
purported to have been uttered by Hugh Bigot, temp. Hen. III. See Mr. Croft's
edition of Sir Thomas Elyot's The Gouernour, vol. ii., Glossary, p. 469.
40 (page 139). Mr. Herbert Croft has published in two large volumes a
magnificent edition of Sir Thomas Elyot's The Gouernour. The notes and
glossary alone are most valuable additions to our early word-books, and sub
voce "Coknayes" in the glossary is a most learned disquisition on
this word, occupying pages 467474
41 (page 141). The nursery rhyme of
“Little Jack Dandy-prat was my first suitor; He had a dish and a spoon, and
he'd some pewter; He'd linen and woollen, and woollen and linen, A little pig
in a string cost him five shilling,"
will be found in Halli well's Nursery Rhymes of England, No. cccclxv.
42 (page 141). This book is Anthropometamorphosis; man transformed; or the
artificial changeling . . . with a vindication of the regular beartty and
honesty of nature, and an appendix of the pedigree of the English gallant. By
J[ohn] B[ulwer] surnamed the Chirosopher, London, 1650, I2mo. Another edition
was issued in 1653, in 4to. John Bulwer also wrote Chirologia; or the
naturall language of the hand, London, 1644; Pat homy otomia; or a
dissertation of the significative muscles of the affections of the minde,
London, 1649; Philocophus; or the deafe and dumbe man's friend, London, 1648;
and A view of the people of the whole world, London, 1654.
43 (page 142). Halliwell in his Dictionary oj Archaic and Provincial Words
says, “Dandiprat, an inferior coin, not current, but in occasional use in the
sixteenth century." Camden [Remains, p. 177] says "it was coined by
Henry VII." Nares says "it is probably from dandle." Skeat,
however, does not refer to it under dandle or dandy. See also Wedgwood, Dictionary
of English Etymology.
44 (page 149). Nares' Glossary says Foy, a boat attendant upon a ship, and
quotes Pepys's Diary, 1661; and Smyth, in his Sailor's Word Book, explains it
as a local term for the charge made for the use of a boat.
45 (P a e *54)- This book is La Venerie de Jacques du Fonilloux avec
plusieiirs recedes el remcdes pour gtierir les chiens de diverses maladies [a
poem]. Poitiers,
22
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4662) (tudalen 338)
|
33S Notes.
1561,410. Another edition appeared in 1562. Another edition by J. du
Fouilloux, “et autres clivers aittheurs" was published at Paris in 1585,410.
Other editions were published at Paris in 1614, 1628, 1634, 1635; Rouen,
1650; Angers, 1844; Niort, 1864. No translation appears to have been made
into English.
45* (P a S e I 5S)- Consult Skeat's Etymological Dictionary upon this
important historical word. He defines it “The mistress of a house; a wife; a
woman of rank." “The syllable hldef is known to represent the word hldf,
a loaf; but the suffix -dic remains uncertain; the most reasonable guess is
that which identifies it with A.-S. ddegee, a kneader. This gives the sense a
bread-kneader."
46 (page 155). This quotation is from Boorde's Breviary of Healthe, I557 ar)
d the whole communication is perhaps worth giving here. It is from 1788, Part
II., p. 1047:
The following extract is from an old printed book, a treatise on physic,
which I was favoured with by a very worthy lady of my acquaintance, who
copied it from the book, if not deemed of too light a nature for your
respectable publication, is at your service. The book is intituled as follows:
“The Breviary of Healthe; by And. Boorde, of Phisyche Doctoure, an Englysman,
Anno 1557."
“The 151 chapitre doth shewe of an evyll fever, the which doth comber yonge
persons, named the fever lurden. Among all the fevers, I had almoste
forgotten the fever lurden, with the whiche manye yonge men, yonge women
maydens, and other yonge persons, bee sore infected now a dayes.
"The cause of this infirmitte. This fever doth come naturally, or els by
evyll and slouthful bryngyng up. If it do come by nature, then the fever is
incurable; for it can never out of the fleshe that is bred in the bone: yf it
come by slouthfull bryngyng up, it may be holpen by diligent labour.
"A remedy. There is nothyng so good for the fever lurden as is imguentum
baculinum; that is to say, take a slicke or wan of a yard of length, and
more, and let it be as great as a man's fynger, and with it anoynt the back
and the shoulders well, mornyng and evenyng, and do this 21 dayes, and if
this fever wyl not be holpen in that tyme, let them beware of waggynge on the
galovves; and whyles they do take theyr medicine, put no lubber wort into
theyr potage."
I shall be obliged to any of your correspondents who can favour me, through
your means, with any anecdotes of Andrew Boorde, this physician of Mary's and
Elizabeth's days, who has written thus ludicrously at the conclusion of a
grave physical treatise.
M. F.
47 (p n S e *55)' See Promplnrium Parviilontm, sub voce Lurdeym, The
immediate derivation, says Mr. Way in his note to this word, is from the
French “Lourdni, lourdayne; blunt, somewhat blockish; a little clownish,
lumpish, rude; smelling of the churle or lobcock," Cotgiave. Mr. \Vay
quotes several early examples of the use of the word.
48 (page 156). The initials H. C. doubtless stand for “Heibert Croft."
For Mr. Croft's Dictionary see ante, p. 325, note 6.
49 (page 161). The following notes on some of the words referred to in the
text may be useful:
Basted: Wedgwood, Dictionary of English Etymology, says "this word
probably preserves the form from whence is derived the French baslon,
b&ton, a stick. Skeat, Etymological Dictionary, derives it from the
Scandinavian.
Bunch: Nares' Glossary has a quotation from Withal's Dictionarie, 1608.
"That is worthie to bee beaten, bunched, battered, punished," etc.
See also Weilgwood. Skeat says "a knob or cluster, 'hence beating,' a
swelling bciny caused by the blow."
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4663) (tudalen 339)
|
Notes. 339
Clout: Nares' Glossary says, ' The mark fixed in the centre of the butts at
which archers shot for practice; hence, metaphorically, for an object sought
of any sort." Literally the nail or pin.
“Indeed he must shoot nearer, or he'll ne'er hit the clout."
Love's Labour Lost, iv. I. "O well flown bird! i' the clout, i' the
clout."
Lear, iv. 6.
See also Wedgwood.
Hazing: I cannot find this word referred to in any of the ordinary
dictionaries. Knauped: Nares' Glo ssary has knap, to strike, Erse. See also
Wedgwood. Leather: Wedgwood says this is as if it were meant as a dressing of
his hide or
skin. So hiding.
Licked, to beat Wedgwood derives this from Welsh Hack, a slap. Pummel:
Wedgwood says this word is plausibly derived from the notion of
striking with a knobbed implement, like the pommel of a sword. Skelp: I
cannot find this word referred to in any of the ordinary dictionaries. Slap:
Wedgwood says, “A blow with the flat hand, from the direct imitation of
the sound." Smack: Wedgwood says, “A syllable directly representing the
sound made by
the sudden collision or separation of two soft surfaces." Whalloped:
Wedgwood says, “Wallop, to move to and fro as the surface of
water in a vessel." The use in the sense “of beating seems to be taken
from
comparing the motion of the arm to the action of the water dashing to and
fro."
50 (page 170). This section on corrupted words has been used largely by Mr.
Smythe- Palmer in his Folk Etymology, pp. 568-591, in a section of his book
entitled “Words corrupted by coalescence of the article with the
substantive."
51 (page 172). The office of Borsholder was extant in 1835 at Faversham, Canterbury,
Fordwich, Maidstone, Quinborowe, Rochester, and Tenterden. See Gomme's Index
of Mimicipal Offices, 1879, pp. 23, 42; Hasted's Kent, i. 251; Elton's
Tenures of Kent, 154.
52 (page 173)- Skeat, Etymological Dictionary, says a fire to celebrate festivals.
He derives it from bone fire, referring to the burning of saints' relics in
the time of Henry VIII.; the word appears to be no older than his reign. A
passage quoted from The Romish horseleech, 1674, confirms this derivation.
53 (page 176). For "Headborow" see Gomme's Index of Municipal
Offices, pp. 23, 58. I do not think Thirdborough is a corruption of
Headborough, but simply an inferior officer. It is used by Shakespeare in
“Taming of the Shrew," Act i. Scene I: "I know my remedy, I must go
fetch the thirdborough."
54 (page 177). See Skeat's Etymological Dictionary.
55 (p a S e *78). The original query on p. 349, 1784, Part II., ought,
strictly speaking, to have been printed in the text, because, unlike most
queries, it contains some information about the subjects with which it deals.
It is as follows:
I am much obliged to thy correspondents for resolving some of my questions
last autumn; and I am in hopes that the following etymological queries will
also meet with a resolution from some of them.
Query I. Why is the square in the centre of Stirbitch-fair called the
Duddery? 2. Why are the alms-houses in this,* and several other towns, called
the Callass?
* Our correspondent says not where.
22 2
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4664) (tudalen 340)
|
340 Notes.
3. There is a
building in many towns called the Tolsey; whence has it this name? *
4. There is a narrow street in Oxford, and, I think, in some other towns,
called the Turl; why is it so called?
5. Why is a tanned sheepskin termed Basil?
6. On the coast of Scotland there are some places called in maps the Mull, as
the Mull of Galloway, the Mull of Kintyre, etc. Why are they so named?
7. Why is a loin of beef called a Surloin? for the vulgar opinion, of its
being knighted by King James, I imagine to be all a farce.
8. When a person in hot weather seems lazy, it is a common saying, that
Lawrence bids him high wages. Whence the origin of this phrase?
9. Thoresby gives an account of an ancient epitaph on Robin Hood at Kirklees
in Yorkshire, wherein he is styled Earl of Huntingdon. How came he by that
title?
10. I should be obliged to thy correspondents, who answered my queries about
the barons, to inform me whether they all, without distinction, had a right
to sit in Parliament, whether the King summoned them or not? I mean those who
are usually styled the Great Barons.
Thine, EBENEZER BARCLAY.
Duddery: Nares says, "Duds, rags, old clothes. Hence no doubt the name
duddery, given formerly to one of the quarters occupied by booths in
Sturtridge-fnir near Cambridge, where articles of clothing were sold."
Sttrloin: Skeat says this is from French “surlonge," a fourteenth
century word. See Littre.
56 (page 181). Dibdin's edition of Sir Thomas More's Utopia was published in
1808. It was translated by Ralph Robinson in 1556, a reprint of which was
issued by Mr. Arber in 1869. Respecting the words dealt with in the text, the
following notes may be useful:
Jeopardbus, jeopardies*, jeopard, not noticed by Nares nor by Halliwell.
Wedgwood has jeopardy, from Fr. jeu parti, an even chance, or chance of two
alternatives. See Skeat, Etymological Dictionary.
Pullein or ptillen: Halliwell says, "The small crab used for baiting sea
fishinghooks." Nares says, "Poultry, a word used still in the
North," and gives several quotations.
Skills: Nares notices this word, and says it is very common in old writers.
Wain, waggon: see Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words.
Wiped: Halliwell gives this word and its several meanings.
Crack, to boast or vapour. Halliwell gives this word and its several
meanings.
Of the words not mentioned by Halliwell, we have:
Bysse, blyve, diseasest, geastes, lyther, nattes, obshue, tarrage, which are
not given in Halliwell, Nares, or Wedgwood. And of the other words, the
following notes may be useful:
Cye or gie: Smyth's Sailor's Word Book says, “A west country term for a
saltwater ditch."
Clade: see Davies's Supplementary English Glossary, who quotes Puttenham's
English Poesie and Davies's Eglogue. He says it is “evidently to set is it
from the sun sinking behind the trees?"
Jument: Nares' Glossary says cattle of all kinds, jumentum.
Lever: Nares' Glossary says for liefer, rather, and quotes Spenser, F. Q.
Sfringaldes: see Nares' Glossary, sub voce. "Springall;" also
Halliwell's Dictionary.
Scroll: Nares says to swarm.
* Tolsey, says Dr. Johnson, is the same with Taltcoth, “a prison.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4665) (tudalen 341)
|
Notes. 341
57 (P a g e!93)- Of tne group of words dealt with in these communications,
the following are mentioned by Halliwell in his Dictionary of Archaic Words: aulmery,
ayel, caduke, chaule-bone, clouted, crevisse, dare, daysman, disparcled, ear,
even, force, geer, gobbets, mailed, maund, mingle-mangle, mumpsimus, nempne,
pight, slentes, scant, surquedry, toot, trewandise, trounced, volupere (a
woman's cap; a kerchief).
Of the word "toot," associated with "toot-hills," of
which the Gentleman's Magazine gives some useful information in several of
its volumes, and which will be printed in our Archaeological volume of this
series, the following quotation will serve as a valuable illustration:
“Watchman or tootsman as he is called here," Sinclairs' Statistical
Account of Scotland (Balmerino, Cupar), vol. ix., p. 222. See also Notes and
Queries, series ii., vol. viii.; Hone's Year Book; Kerry's Lincolnshire and
the Danes, p. 1 1 6.
58 (page 194). These words are given by either Nares or Halliwell: Apply, for
ply: see Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic Words. Sever, endeavour: see
Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic Words. Fact, for deed: see Nares' Glossary.
Lin, to cease: see Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic Words; Nares' Glossary;
Wedgwood's English Etymology.
Prest, ready: see Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic Words; Nares' Glossary.
Shend: see Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic Words; Nares' Glossary.
59 (P a S e 198). The venerable Dorset Antiquary contributed many papers to
the Gentleman's Magazine about this date. I have printed the one at the above
reference as the most representative for the purpose of the present volume;
for although many of Mr. Barnes's observations are not in the present state
of philological knowledge so valuable now as when they were written, his
papers as a rule are still suggestive enough to be worth perusal. In June,
1831, Part I., pp. 500, 501, is a paper entitled Thoughts on the English
Language, by Mr. Barnes.
60 (page 239). These communications were not important enough to print in the
text, so they are abridged here:
[1837, Part /., /. 478.]
Having been for some time in the habit of amusing myself by tracing the
derivation of English surnames, I have been surprised at the singularity of
what may be called a large family of them, which have the common termination
of cock. Many of them have evidently been borrowed from the animal creation:
as Peacock, employed to designate a vain showy fellow: Woodcock, applied to a
silly coxcomb without brains: and Shilcock, that is, Shril or Shrill-cock, a
Derbyshire provincialism for the throstle. Bocock, or Bawcock, is of course
nothing more or less than the French Beaucoq, fine fellow: whilst Alcock,
Badcock, Drawcock, Grocock, Slocock, and others of similar combination, may
be accounted for, though somewhat at the expense of decency. Lacock, or
Laycock is, I believe, local, derived from a place of that name in Wiltshire.
Luccock, or Luckock probably designated some lucky individual; and Maycock,
which, at first, I felt inclined to believe might be used for a cuckoo, as
returning to this country in that month, on after consideration seems to be
the same as Meacock, which Skinner mentions as a term for an uxorious man.
With respect to the name of Hitchcock, it appears to have been synonymous
with Woodcock, and employed to signify a silly fellow. Thus in Peele's work,
edited by Dyce, vol. ii., p. 293, we read: “There was among them one excellent
ass, that did nothing but frisk up and down the chamber. Dinner ended, much
prattle past, every man begins to buckle to his furniture, among whom this
Hichcock missed his rapier," etc. Whence the former part of the name is
to be derived, I am altogether at a loss to imagine.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4666) (tudalen 342)
|
342 Notes,
Thus far I have endeavoured to throw some little light upon this descriplion
of names; but what is to be said of numerous others, as Glasscock, Adcock,
Mulcock, etc.? These seem to bid defiance to all etymology: but recollecting
that Whitaker in his Manchester, vol. i., p. 318, had made the remark, that
it is a purely British form which wrote Apricock for Apricot; and hence
transformed Capet into Coppock, Mallet into Mallock, Willet into Willock,
etc., I was led to believe that by subjecting such names as we are at present
considering, to this species of test, much might be done towards their
elucidation. Thus Glasscock becomes Glas-cote or Coyte, Adcock assumes the
form of Ad or Atcote, and Mulcock is resolved into Moel-coyte. Following up,
however, this train of reasoning, it seems highly probable that Adcock and
Alcock, Hiccock and Willock, are but varieties of Adcot and Alket, Hickot and
Wilkot, the familiar terms At and Hal, Hick and Will, for Arthur and Henry,
Isaac and William, with the addition of the French diminutives (ot) or (kot).
As far as relates to the latter name Wilcock, I am decidedly of opinion that
such has been its original form: corroborated as it is by the surnames of
Wilcockes and Wilcoxon still existing among us. In fact, the patronymic
Wilcoxon, which some might be inclined to deduce from Will Cockswain, as
Gospatrick from Cos. Patricius for Comes Patricius, first raised a suspicion
in my mind of its true origin; because it strikes me that, with but few
exceptions, and those easily accounted for, all names ending in son are
either corruptions, as Townson for Townsend, Fieldson for Fieldsend, Blunson
for Blunsham or Bluntesham, Teverson for Teversham, Gulson, Gamson, Shelson,
etc., for Gulstone, Gamstone, Snelstone, etc., as true patronymics derived
from forenames, of which it is unnecessary to give any examples at present,
though some of these in process of time have become anything but easy of
derivation. Besides, in the second part of the 95th volume of your
entertaining and instructive miscellany, at the 468th page, mention is made
of one Wilcock Turberville: and this affords me the fullest confirmation of
the opinion I had formed on this point.
J. A. C. K.
[1837, Part II., pp. 246, 247.]
There are at least one hundred and fifty names which begin or end with Cock
or Cox. Of these, more than one-third have Cock or Cox for their first syllableNow,
of this great number, I think not more than six can be derived from the
animal creation, nor do I believe one at the expense of decency.
I think JACK does not begin at the beginning; that is, at the derivation and
original meaning of the word. I have seen in some author that Cock in its
original language designates a hillock. Thus Haycock, is a hillock made of
hay. Cockburn, will be the burn by the hillock; Cockcroft, the croft by the
hillock; Cockham, the hamlet by the hillock. So of Cockfield, Cocktree,
Cocklea or Cockley, Cockville, Cocksedge, Cockhall, Cockwell, Cockshaw,
Cockwood. Akercock is the name of a devil in one of our old plays. Some of
the oddest names of this genus are, Benhacock, Raincock, Sandercock, and
Woolcock. Cock evidently applies to what is pointed upwards, as a Hillcock or
Haycock, a Cocked-hat, Cock-boat, Cocked-nose; also something elevated, as
Cock-loft, Weather-cock. It is also applied to the male bird.
That the word has been improperly applied by the vulgar, I admit, and
consequently a Brass-cock is now called a Tap; and Cockburn will become
Coburn; yiocock become Slocot; Cocks, Cox; and a family of Bullcocks, which I
was acquainted with, are now Belcombes,
G. T. L. L.
[1837, Part II., p. 442.]
J. A. C. K. returns his thanks to our York correspondent, p. 246, for his
remarks on surnames terminating with Cock, and makes the following additional
observation:. “As to the names of this kind derivable from the animal
creation, it may
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4667) (tudalen 343)
|
Notes. 343
possibly be that not more than six can be so deduced; though when I mention
Cock, Woodcock, Peacock, Shilcock, and Judcock (used for a Jacksnipe in all
likelihood with some allusion to St. Simon and Jude's day), it will be
evident that I have not overstrained the matter, by giving to some this mode
of derivation. An idea had long prevailed in my mind that several of the
class of names we have been considering might be deduced from fore-names; if
it could be only proved that it had been the practice in former times to add
Cot to such familiar terms as Ad or At for Arthur, Jeff for Jeffery, Will for
William, etc.; and that this affix of Cot had by some metamorphosis or other
become Cock. Without some such hypothesis as this, I cannot divine how the
names of Wilcock, Hiccock, Adcock, etc., may be satisfactorily accounted for
or derived. It would be a source of much gratification to me, if he would refer
me to the old play in which the title of Akercock is given to a devil. With
respect to the names of Benhacock, Sandercock, and Woolcock, I really think
that they make in favour of my argument, being merely Benha or Benny for
Benjamin, Sander for Alexander, and Wool for Will prefixed to the same
syllable. Raincock might be reduced to the same class by presuming that
A'at'n is used for Reginald or Reinhard; since, however, in Craven, Rain or
Rayne is used for a ridge, Raincock might mean Cock of the Ridge, and have
been employed to designate some champion in that district, in the same way as
Cock of the Walk and Cock of the Midden are terms used in common parlance for
one who either is or fancies himself superior to those around him. It might
be also that Raincock is a provincialism for some bird or other; but of this
I cannot at present form any decision,"
61 (page 265). Of these communications that from vol. viii., p. 526, is
printed ante, p. 249. The others I summarize here.
[1737. /A 293-]
I was mightily delighted with the whim I was shewn on a sign at a village not
far from this capital; though it is too serious a truth to excite one's
risibility. On one side is painted a man, stark naked, with this motto:
"I am the man who went to law, and lost my cause." On the reverse
is a fellow, all in tatters, looking most dismally, with this motto: “I am
the man who went to law, and got my cause."
[1738.. /. 299.]
Whoever passes through the towns in England, and will give himself the
trouble to take notice of the signs, will find bravery the darling
inclination of the whole people. He that contrives the most heroic sign, is
sure of the most custom. Some hang out the heads of great commanders, such as
Monk, Marlborough, or Ormond, according to their different principles. Others
exhibit to view the machines and requisites of war, as ships, great guns, and
castles. Some, again, signify their military disposition, and entice their
customers by setting up untamed beasts. I think it very surprising that amongst
the numerous noble ministers, with whom this happy island hath been blest, I
have neither seen nor heard of one of their heads upon a sign-post; though
the heads of Saracens are brazening us in every town. Again, there is Robin
Hood, who for some hundred of years hath been an approved sign. This fellow
was a highwayman, and a plunderer of his country.
The article in 1770, vol. xl., p. 403, is a rambling account, giving, as its
titles denote, the original of signs denoting trades, strange conceits exhibited
in signs, droll inscriptions over doors instead of signs. It treats of Bull
and Mouth, Bull and Gate, Taberd, Hanging Warehouse, etc. The article is
signed "Ambulator," and occupies pp. 403-406.
62 (page 303). This is printed in Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays; see vol.
ii. of the 1825 edition, and vol. iii. of Mr. Hrzlitt's edition of 1874.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4668) (tudalen 344)
|
INDEX
"~tS2T
"ACCOMPLICE,"
corrupted word, 165 Accounts (temp. 1422) of workmen's
wages, 156, 157
Adam and Eve, sign of Inns, 252 "Adept," corruption of into
"dab," 104 Adjectives used only with single substantives, 204
Alfred's Head, sign of Inns, 252. Anglo-Saxon Literature, note on, 327;
proverb, Jl, 72; words preserved in
Devonshire, 39-41 America (N.), tarring and feathering
in, 163-164 American language, German derived
words in, 195 “Amuck," note on, 334 Angel, sign of Inns, 253 Animals
local popular names for, 65-66,
333; surnames derived from, 228 "An't please the pigs," origin of
phrase,
89-90, 117 Antiquated words, explanation of some,
178-193
“Anunt," meaning of, 24 "Apple of the eye," meaning of term,
125 “Apply," use of, by Sternhold and
Hopkins, 194 Archers, sign of Inns, 253 Archer's song (the), 255
"Aroint," meaning of word, 125-128;
note on, 335-336 "Assassin," origin of word, 128, 129;
note on, 336
Ash (mountain), tree, remedy for witchcraft, 126; names for, 65 Aulmery,
explanation of, 182 “Aunt," use of the word, 246 Ayel, explanation of,
182
Bag of Nails, sign
of Inns, 256, 257-258,
265
Bailey's Dictionary quoted, 147 “Bakestone," meaning of term, 172 Banns
of marriage, expressions used for
25, 162
Barber's Pole, sign of Inns, 256 “Bark," North of England term, 172
Barnes (W.), Saxon dialect of Dorsetshire, by, 41-43; compounds in the
English language, by, 198-203; note, 341
Basil, tanned sheepskin called, 340 “Bast," meaning of the word, 130,
note
on 337 "Basted," term used for beating, 160,
338
Bear, sign of Inns, 256 Bear and Ragged Staff, sign of Inns, 256 “Bear the
Bell," origin of phrase, 90 "Beauty," origin of term, 129, 337
Bell (the), sign of Inns, 258-260; house
sign, 314
Belle Sauvage, sign of Inns, 260, 315 Berkshire, popular names for birds in,
332 “Betar," origin of term, 206, 207 “Bilive," corrupted word, 167
Birds, local names for, 65, 332, 333;
surnames derived from, 228, 341 Bishop Blaze, sign of Inns, 260 Blackmoor's
Head, sign of Inns, 260 Blossom's Inn, sign of Inns, 260 Blue Boar, sign of
Inns, 261-262 “Blyve," explanation of, 182 Boar's Head, sign of Inn, 262
Bolt in Tun, sign of Inns, 267 "Boneshave," local term for
sciatica,
bo, 330, 332 "Bonrire," etymology of, 172, 205, 339
Index.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4669) (tudalen 345)
|
345
“Borsholder,"
explanation of term, 172,
339
Bow and Arrow, sign of Inns, 253, 254 Bowling Green, sign of Inns, 262 Boxers
(the), sign of Inns, 262 Bristol, local expression used in, 25 Briton (D.
A.), on ancient words used
by Sternhold and Hopkins, 193, 194 Brockett (J. T.), on derivation of word
“Foy," 148, 149
“Broom," derivation of word, 172 Bull (the), sign of Inns, 263
"Bull-beggar," eighteenth century term,
198
Bull and Gate, sign of Inns, 263-265 Bull and Mouth, sign of Inns. 263, 267,
315
Bum-fiddle, meaning of the word, 130 “Bunched," word used for beating,
161,
338
Burial custom, 109 Bush (the), sign of Inns, 264 Buttermilk, local name for,
6$ Bysse, explanation of, 182
Cacluke, explanation of, 183 Callass, term for almshouses, 339 "Called
Home," used for asking the
banns, 25 Candle-box, North of England term
for, 172
Candlestick, origin of term, 173 Cannon (the), sign of Inns, 268 Cardinal's
Cap, sign of Inns, 269 Cards, expression concerning, no-112;
terms used at, 204 “Carefull," use of, by Sternhold and
Hopkins, 194
“Carlings," custom of eating in Lent, 81 Castle (the), sign of Inns,
270, 271; at
Yarmouth, 319. Gate, etymology of, 334 Catharine Wheel (the), sign of
Inns,276 Cat and Bagpipes, sign of Inns, 271 Cat and Fiddle, sign of Inns,
271, 317 "Cat in the pan," origin of phrase,
90-101; note on, 334 Cats, terms "puss "and "grimalkin"
applied to, lol, 162 “Cawch," meaning of, 25 Chaffinch, local name for,
65 Charing Cross, King's Mews at, 295 Charm, Devonshire, 330, 332
Chatterton's use of word "lurdanes"
explained, 155 Chaucer's works, provincial words in,
S, 23, 27, 163, 182
Chaule bone Chaws,
explanation of,
183
Cheapside, origin of name,284 Chequers (the), sign of Inns, 276, 277
Cheshire, popular names of animals in,
333
Christ-cross Row, name for the alphabet, 173
Christian names, meanings of, 230-238 Christopher (the), sign of Inns, 277
Ckronicon Preciosum, note on, 326 Clee (Lincolnshire), local term for
"publishing the banns “at, 162 Clome, meaning of, 25 "Clout,"
term used for beating, 161, 339 Clouted, explanation of, 183 Coach and
Horses, sign of Inns, 278 Coccayne and the Cockneys, origin of
term, 131-139; note on, 337 Cock, surnames ending in, 239-241, 341
343
Cock (the), sign of Inns, 279 Cock-fighting in the East, 115, 116 Cock and
Pie (the), sign of Inns, 280 Cock-a-whoop, sign of Inns, 279, 280 Cock-loft,
origin of term, 140 Cockney, origin of, 131-139, 280, 337 “Cock's
stride," origin of phrase, 101,
102
"Comet," game of cards called, in Compounds in the English
Language,
198-203
Cook, derivation of, 131 Cookery, 131-139, 163 Cordwainer, origin of term, 281
Cornwall, local expressions in, 24, 25,
26, 119, I2O
Coronation custom, 307 Country-dance, origin of, 140 Coxcomb, i8th century
terms for, 197 Crab, local name for, 65 Crack, term used for boasting, 181,
340 Crevisse, explanation of, 183 Crispin (the), sign of Inns, 281 Croft's
Dictionary, note on, 325 Cross (the), sign of Inns, 281, 282 Cross Foxes
(the), sign of Inns, 283 Cross Hands (the), sign of Inns, 282 Cross Keys
(the), sign of Inns, 283 Crowder, local name for "fiddle," 102,
131
Crown (the), sign of Inns, 283 Cuckold, explanation of term, 205 Cuckoo,
proverb on, 78, 79 "Cunning as Crowder," origin of phrase,
102, 103 Cup (the), sign of Inns, 285
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4670) (tudalen 346)
|
346
Index.
Curries, meaning
of, 140, 141 Custis, meaning of, 24
"Dab at anything," origin of phrase, 103 Dandy, derivation of, 141,
142, 337 Dandyprat, derivation of, 141, 142, 337 Dapper, eighteenth century
term, 197 Dare (daring), etymology of, 184 Dasht, use of by Sternhold and
Hopkins, 194 Davy (Sir Humphrey), cookery of the
stars, 132, 133
Daysman, explanation of, 184 Derby, Earls of, crest of, 293 Derbyshire, local
words in, 169, 170,
336
Dever, use of by Sternhold and Hopkins, 194
Devil, cant names for, 310 "Devil loves Apple Dumplings," origin
of phrase, 122 Devonshire dialect, 25, 26, 39-41, 43
64, 327-332 Dialect, words and specimens of, 3-66,
169, 170, 194, 195, 325, 327-332 Diamonds, local expression for, 121 Dibdin's
use of certain antiquated
words, 179, 181
Dicky, provincial word for donkey, 25 Dictionary, English anonymous, note
on, 334 Diogenes, sign of Inn, at Yarmouth,
319
Disparcled, explanation of, 184 Disperpled, explanation of, 184 Diseases!,
explanation of, 184 Doff, provincial use of the word, 25, 27 Dog (the), sign
of Inns, 287 Dogs, ploughing with, north country
custom, 113, 114 Dolphin (the), sign of Inns, 287 Don, provincial use of the
word, 25, 27 Dorsetshire, local expressions used in,
27,41-43. 327 Dowland (James) on origin of “Cat in
pan," 93, 94, 96-100 Dragon (the), sign of Inns, 288 Drinking customs,
285; songs, 303 "Drunk as David's sow," origin of
phrase, 105 Drunkenness, terms expressing, 143
146, 197, 285
Dry, use of the word for thirsty, 25 Dryden quoted, 115; old words used
by, 193, 194
Duddery, meaning of term, 178, 340 Duke's head, sign of Inn, 288
Dull, provincial
use of the word, 25 Dun Cow, sign of Inns, 289 Durham, word "hitch “used
in, 151
Eagle (the), sign
of Inns, 291 Eagle and child, sign of Inns, 293 Earing, signification of
term, 146, 147,
185
East, cookery in the, 133, 134, 135 Easter, custom of pas-eggs at, 81
Edmonston's Dictionary of the Shetland
dialect, note on, 326 Elephant (the), sign of Inns, 293 Elephant and Castle,
sign of Inns, 293 Ensign or standard, the eagle as, 292,
293
Errish, provincial use of the word, 2$
Essex, local expressions in, 25
Even, explanation of, 185
Exmoor Courtship: a Devonshire dialect, 43-5 1; Scolding, 52-58; Vocabulary
to Courtship and Scolding, 58-64; note on, 327-332
“Eyes draw straws," origin of phrase, 105, 106
Fact, use of, by Sternhold and Hopkins, 194
Fain, use of, by Sternhold and Hopkins, 194
Falcon (the), sign of Inns, 293
Falconry, 294
Family proverb explained, 76-78
Family surnames, see “Surnames."
Feathers (the), sign of Inns, 295
Fescue, provincial use of the word, 25
Firm, etymology of, 147
Fish, local names for (Montrose), 65, 66; Yorkshire, 333
Fishes, surnames derived from, 228
Fleece (the), sign of Inns, 296
Fleur-de-lis, sign of Inns, 297
Flitch of Bacon, sign of Inns, 298
Flower Pot, sign of Inns, 298
Folk Lore, 76; note on, 334
Food, proverbs on, 70, 71
Force, explanation of, 185
Forehead cloth, eighteenth century phrase, 196
Fountain, sign of Inns, 300
Fox, local name for, 65
Fox (the), sign of Inns, 301
Fox and the Grapes, sign of Inns, 302
Foy, derivation and meaning of, 148, 149; note on, 337
Frog, local name for, 65
Index.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4671) (tudalen 347)
|
347
Gaffer, provincial
use of the word, 24
Gallop, origin of word, 149
Games, expression used by boys in, 120
Games as signs of Inns, 314
Gammer, provincial use of the word, 24
Garrick's Head, sign of Inns, 303
Gate (the), sign of Inns, 303
Geastes, explanation of, 186
Geer or geare, explanation of, 186
Gemsege (Paul) on a peck of March dust is worth a king's ransom, 84, 85; on
origin of phrase “Cat in the pan," 90, 91; on origin of “Cock's
stride,"
101, 102; on “Cunning as Crowder,"
102, 103; on origin of country dance, 140; explanation of the term “tontine
“by, 208, 209
George (the), sign of Inns., 304, 305 German origin of some Yorkshire
words, 194, 195 Gilbert (Davies) on “And shall Tre
lawney die," 119, 120 Glade, explanation of, 187, 340 Globe (the), sign
of Inns, 305, 306 Globe theatre, 305 Glossaries, provincial, 4-6; Devonshire,
58-64, 327-332 5 Zetland, 37-39 Gloucestershire, local expressions in, 24,
25. 53. 169 Glove as a symbol of investiture, 306
309
Glove (the), sign of Inns, 306 Gloves worn on the head, 308, 309 Goat (the),
sign of Inns, 309 Gobbets, explanation of, 187 Golden Fleece, sign of Inns,
296 Good-day, provincial use of the word, 25 "Good Woman," sign of
Inns, 311,
3i8, 320
Goose and Gridiron, sign of Inns, 311 Gordon (J.) on North-country dialect,
6-8
Gore, explanation of term, 149, 150 Gorgey, provincial use of the word, 25
Gout, provincial use of the word, 25 Greek proverbs, 72-74, 334 Green (M.),
uncommon words described
by, 205, 206 Grimalkin, derivation of, as applied to
cats, 161, 162 Groaning board, eighteenth century
phrase, 196 Grose's provincial glossary, additions to,
3, 4; quoted, 27, 158; note on, 325 Grubstreet Journal, extract from, 330
Gun, house-sign, 314 Gye or gie, explanation of, 187, 340
Hammer-cloth,
origin of term, 279 Hampden family, proverbs on the, 80 Harvest-time, “earing
time “used instead of, 146, 147
Harvest, local terms meaning, 155, 156 “Hazing," term used for beating,
160,
339
Hearne's Glossary to Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle quoted, 39, 40 Helter
skelter, derivation of phrase, 310 “Hiding," term used for beating, 159
Hitch, meaning of, 150-153 Hog in Armour, sign of Inns, 318 Hole in the Wall,
sign of Inns, 318 Horns (drinking), 173 House, superstitious belief on
altering a,
76, 334
House signs, ancient, 313, 314 Howden, Yorkshire, local saying at, 82 Howell
(James) on proverbs, 71 Humphries (W.) on "Thief in a candle," 118
Hunting words, 153, 154, 337
Imp, explanation of term, 205, 206 India, superstition in, 127 Inn, signs of,
148, 149, 249-320, 343 Inscriptions on signs of Inns, 249-320 Insects,
popular names for (Montrose),
66 Irons (smoothing), 173
"Jack Napes," corrupted word, 165 Jemmies, provincial use of the
word, 25,
27
' Jeopardous," explanation of, 179 Jew's-harp, origin of term, 207
Johnson's Dictionary quoted, 1 14, 150 Jonson (Ben) plays quoted, 205
Josceline's collections of Anglo-Saxon:
40 Jument, explanation of, 187, 340
Keel, etymology of, 107, 108 "Keeling the pot," origin of phrase,
106-108
Kentish local words, 170 Kerchief, (Handkerchief,) meaning of,
173
Kite, local name for, 65 “Knauped," term used for beating, 161,
339
“Lady," origin of word, 117, 154, 338 Lambert (Daniel), account of, 286,
287 Lancashire dialect, 17-24, 326, 333;
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4672) (tudalen 348)
|
148
Index.
eating geese at
Michaelmas in, 311;
proverb, 86
Land-rail, local name for, 65 Lark, local name for, 65 Lary, provincial use
of the word, 25 “Latter Lammas “explained, 74-76 Lawrence, Delineation of the
Horse,
quoted, 309 Leach -road, provincial meaning of the
term, 25
Leaf, origin of term, 174 “Leather," term used for beating, 161,
339
Lent, proverbs on the Sundays in, Si, 82 Lever, explanation of, 187, 188, 340
"Licked," term used for beating, 160,
339
L'lles' Saxon monuments quoted, 40 Lin, use of by Sternhold and Hopkins,
194
Linnet, local name for, 65 Lounger (the), periodical paper, 76;
note on, 334
Lumper, provincial use of the word, 25 Luncheon, see “Nunchion."
Lurdanes, signification of term, 155;
note on, 338
Lyncher, provincial use of the word, 2$ Lyther, explanation of, 188
Magpie, local name for, 65 Mahomet, description of cookery, 133 Malays,
custom of cock-fightingamongst.
"5
Mailed, explanation of, iSS
“Man laden with Mischief" (the), sign of Inn, 318
“March dust worth a king's ransom," proverb, 84, 85
Marquis of Grnnby, sign of Inn, 317
Marriage, local terms for, 25, 162, 163
Maund, explanation of, 188
May day customs, 299
May Goslings, custom in North of England, 1 20
Maypoles, 299
Mazed, provincial use of the word, 25
Meals (temp. 1422), 156, 157
Measures, old terms for, 174
Medicine, Folk, 338
Michaelmas day, eating geese on, 311
Middleton's View of Agriculture, quoted, 150
Milton's works, local expressions in, 27, 28; old words used by, 193, 194
Mingle-mangle, explanation of, 189
Moiled, provincial use of, 25, 27
Moise, meaning and
derivation of, 155,
156, 333
Mole, local name for, 65 Mooch, provincial use of the word, 25,
27 “Month's mind to it," origin of phrase,
109 Montrose, popular names for natural
objects in, 65, 66
Mountain Ash, local names for, 65 “Muck," to run a, origin of phrase,
116
Mull, meaning of term, 178 Mumpsimus, explanation of, 189 Musty (snufif),
eighteenth century phrase,
196
Nailbourn, corrupted word, 166 Names of places and things retained when their
origin is disused, 170-178 Nan, provincial use of the word, 25 Napier's or
Neper's bones, arithmetical
tables, 172
Nares's Glossary, quoted, 138 “Narrow," corrupted word, 165 Nathless,
corruption of "not the less,"
169
Nattes, explanation of, 189 Natural objects, popular names of, note
on, 332
“Nawl," corrupted word, 166 “Nayword," corrupted word, 165 Neddy,
provincial word for Donkey, 25 Nempne, explanation of, 189 Nesh, provincial
use of the word, 26, 27 Nesvcastle on Tyne dialect, 4, 13, 17 New Year's day
custom, 308 “Newt," corrupted word, 166 “Nine of diamonds the curse of
Scotland," origin of phrase, 110-112 Noddle, term applied to the head,
198 “Noddy," corrupted word, 166 ' Nogler," corrupted word, 166
“Nont," corruption of “aunt," 167 North -country dialect, 6-8
Northumberland dialect, 8-17, 325 Northumberland, proverbs in, 8 1 Norwich,
old signs in, 316-322; word
"moise" used in, 155, 156 Nor worth (T.) on Expressions Concerning
Drunkenness, 143-146 Notes, 325-343 Nottinghamshire, term for
"publishing
the banns “in, 162 Newell 's Saxon vocabulary, 40 Nunchion (luncheon),
156-157 “Nuucle," corruption of "uncle," 167
Index.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4673) (tudalen 349)
|
349
Oat-cakes, method
of baking, 172 Obshue, explanation of, 190 Oglers, eighteenth century term,
197 "Old Harry," cant name for the devil,
3"
"Old Maids leading Apes in Hell,"
origin of phrase, 1 12 “Old Nick," cant name for the devil,
310; origin of phrase, 112; note on,
334 “Old Scratch," cant name for the devil,
310 Oreste, explanation of the term, 207,
208 Oxford, proverbial expression at, 122;
street called the "Turl" at, 178 Owlers, eighteenth century phrase,
196
Pannier Alley, Newgate Street, sign and inscription in, 316
Part (W. A.), on Spencer and the East Lancashire dialect, 23, 24
Pasteboard, meaning of term, 174
Peel, provincial use of the word, 26
Penyard Castle, Herefordshire, tradition of, 126
Perruquier shop, inscription over a, 312
Persons, names of, 213-241
Philipps (H.), on Yorkshire words derived from the German, 194, 195
Phrases of the eighteenth century, 196198
Picksey, provincial use of the word, 26
Pight, explanation of, 190
Pillum, provincial use of the word, 26
Place-names, 213-246; derived from religious houses, ijt
Plant names, 333
Ploughing, term used for, in Scripture, 146, 147
“Ploughing with dogs," North-country proverb, 113, 114
Plum, eighteenth century term for wealth, 196
Plume of Feathers, sign of Inns, 295
Poking-stick or setting-stick, 174
Pole or perch, measuring term, 1 74
Pope (Alex.), use of word “hitch," 150
153
Pot, meaning of term, 174 Porter, first use of, 304 Pray, provincial use of
the word, 26 Prest, use of, by Sternhold and Hopkins, 194
Pretender, anecdote of the, 309 Prick or pryk, meaning and derivation of,
158, 159; note on, 325
Pullein or pullen,
explanation of, 180,
340
Pummel, term used for beating, 161, 339 Punch nag, eighteenth century term
for
a horse, 197 Punishment, terms used for, 159-161,
338-33?
Puss, derivation of, 161, 162 Puss-in-Boots, sign of Inns, 271 Proverbs, 69,
70, 74-76, 76-78, So, 82,
85. 296, 314; Anglo-Saxon, 71, 72;
Cuckoo, 78; Greek, 72, 74, 334;
Lancashire, 86; Northern, 83, 84;
Spanish, 70, 333; Somersetshire, 4;
Weather, 79-82, 334; Welsh, 71,
334; on women, 78 Proverbial Phrases, 89-122
Quay Mill, sign of Inn at Yarmouth,
319
Queeleth, explanation of, 190 Quodgell, explanation of, 190 Quontient,
explanation of, 190
Rail, provincial use of the word, 26
Reap, explanation of, 190
Reprysed, explanation of, 190
Retchup, provincial use of the word, 26
Richard I., orders of, to the navy during the Crusades, 164
Rivers (British), resemblance of the names of, 242-246, (Scotch) proverb on,
83
Rowan-tree, 65, 126, 127
Row (T. ) on origin of "running a muck," 114, 115; on origin of
“Dab at anything," 103; on origin of word "Assassin," 128,
129; on Names retained when their origin is disused, 170-176; on stirrop,
176-178; on Jew's-harp, 207; observations on surnames by, 213-226
“Running a muck," origin of phrase, 114-116
“Running stationers," eighteenth century phrase, 196
Ry chard's "Boke of Comfort," 39; note on, 327
"St. Tabbe," corruption of St. Ebba,
1 68
“St. Teath," corruption of St. Etha, 169 “St. Tole," corruption of
St. Aldate, 169 “St. Tooses," corruption of St. Osithes,
168 Sallet-oil, derivation of term, 177, 178
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4674) (tudalen 350)
|
350
Index.
Salt-cat, origin of
name, 91, 96, 97, 99 “Samond," corruption of St. Amand,
169 “San Telmo," corruption of St Elmo,
1 68
Sar, provincial use of the word, 26 Saunter, etymology of, 114 Saxon books in
Tavistock monastery
40; Vocabulary in the Bodleian
Library, 40
Scabbard, origin of, 175 Scant, explanation of, 191 Sciatica, local charm
for, 330, 332 Scole Inn, sign post at, 317 Scotland, local phrase concerning
cards,
1 10- 1 12; the land of cakes, see
“Coccayne and the Cockneys." Scotch local names for birds, animals,
insects, 66; rivers, proverbs on, 83 Scrall, explanation of, 191, 340 Scute,
provincial use of the word, 26, 27 "Sentlo," corruption of St. Lo,
169 Seaman's card (mariner's compass), 173 Sedgemoor, local expressions in,
25 "Seven Champions of Christendom,"
305
Shakespeare's plays, provincial words in, 5, 24, 27, 28; quoted, 04, 95.
106108, no, 138, 167, 184, 185, 205, 294, 295, 297, 298, 299, 302, 310, 311,
335. 336
Sheep-biter, term of reproach, 197 Shend, use of, by Sternhokl and Hopkins,
194
Shetland Islands, Letter in the dialect of the, 28-37; Glossary to dialect,
37-39; note on, 326 Shoemakers, patron saints of, 281 Signs, antiquity of,
314 Sign-posts, 249-320, 343 Silent Woman, sign of Inns, 311, 318,
320
“Simberd," corruption of St. Barbe, 169 “Sixes and Sevens" phrase,
117; 335 “Skelp," term used for beating, 160,339 Skills, explanation of,
180, 340 “Skyll-Kay of Knawinge" quoted, 8-13 Slap, term used for
beating, 160, 339 Slenles, explanation of, 191 Slice, provincial use of the
word, 26 Slock, provincial use of the word, 26 Slotter, provincial use of the
word, 26 Slush, origin of term, 141 Smack, term used for beating, 160, 339
Smerwick, corruption of St. Marywkk,
170 Soke-house, sign of Inn, 322
Somersetshire,
local expressions in, 25,
26, 27, 28, 117; Anglo-Saxon words
in, 41; proverbs, 4 Son of a Gun, explanation of phrase,
205, 206 Soper or Sopehouse, sign of Inn ex
plained, 322
Sopers (the), sign of Inn, 317 Sorrel, local name for, 65 Spanish proverbs,
note on, 70, 333 Spere (Scottsih word), signification of,
162 “Spick and Span," origin of phrase,
117, 118 Spenser's works, local expressions in,
21-24, 27, 194, 294, 301 Spread Eagle (the), sign of Inn, 291 Springaldes,
explanation of, 191, 340 Spurring, marriage term, 162, 163 Spurs, see “Prick
or pryk." Staffordshire, provincial words in, 4, 5,
25
Staggs (John) poems, 127; note on, 335 “Started," term used for beating,
161 Stean-pot, etymology of, 175 Stee-hopping, meaning of, 177 Sternhold and
Hopkins, ancient words
used by, 193, 194
Stive, provincial use of the word, 26 Stone, measure of weight, 175 Stone bow
(cross-bow), 175 Stirrop, etymology of word, 174, 176-178 Strawberry Hill,
Cardinal Wolsey's hat
preserved at, 269; statue of an eagle
at, 291; picture at, 294 Street nomenclature, 241, 242 Stump pie, recipe for
making, 163 Sture, provincial use of the word, 26 Suffolk, local expressions
in, 25 Surloin, meaning of term, 178, 340 Surnames, notes on, 213-230,
341-343 Surquedry, explanation of, 192 “Swan with two necks “sign explained,
Talbot Inn Yard,
sign explained, 315 "Talkmund," corruption of St. Alk
mond, 168
Tamworth, arms of the town of, 298 Tarn worth Castle, 270 “Tantony Pig,"
conuption of Anthony
pig, 1 68
Tarrage, explanation of, 192 Tarring and feathering, first use of, 163,
164
“Tash," corrupted word, 167 Tatler % words and phrases of the eight
Index.
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4675) (tudalen 351)
|
351
eenth century
(obsolete) used in the,
196-198 Taunton (Somerset), local name for
electors in, 195 Taverner's proverbs quoted, 186, 188,
190 Tavistock, monastery of, Saxon lectures
at the, 39, 40 “Tawdry," corruption of St. Awdrey,
1 68
"Taylot," corruption of hay-loft, 169 Terms, Hunting, explanation
of, 154 Thicknesse ( ), 118; note on, 335 “Thief in a Candle," origin of
phrase,
118
Thirdborow (headborow), 176, 339 Tim Bobbin's "Thomas and Meary,"
note on, 326
“The Five Alls," sign of Inn, 317 Three Cups (the), sign of Inns, 285
Tine, provincial use of the word, 26,
27
Toad, local name for, 65 Toast, eighteenth century phrase,
196
Tolbooth, meaning of term, 178 Tolsey, meaning of term, 178, 340 Tomtit,
local name for, 65 Tontine, explanation of the term, 208,
209 "Tooley," corruption of St. Olave,
1 68 Toot, meaning of the word, 170,
192, 341 Topsy-Turvy, origin of phrase, 119;
note on, 335
Touch-hole of firearms, 175 Tovet, corruption of “two fat," 170 Towneley
Mysteries, 7; note on, 325 Towns, surnames derived from, see
“Surnames."
Trades, names of, 284; surnames derived from, 223-226, 228 Tradesmen's shops,
devices on, 312-314,
3i8, 319
Treacle, derivation of, 175 "Translating," explanation of, 179
Trees, local names for (Montrose), 65; surnames derived from, 228;
preventives against witchcraft, 126 Trelawny "And shall Trelawny
Die,"
origin of, 119, 120 Trewandise, explanation of, 192 Trounced, explanation of,
193 Tuffold or tovel, corruption of “hovel,"
169 Turl, meaning of term, 178, 340
Tutty, provincial
use of the word, 26 Tutt-work, provincial use of the term,
26, 27
"Twells," corrupted word, 167 Twily, provincial use of the word,
26, 27
Umpire, word used for, 184 Unhyll, meaning of, 193 Unkid, provincial use of
the word, 26 Upshot, term of archery, 176
Vang, provincial use of the word, 26 "Vicar of Bray," song quoted,
92 Vitty, provincial use of the word, 26 Vocabulary of Exmoor dialect, 58-64,
332; of Lancashire Dialect, 17-21;
of Shetland Dialect, 37-39 Volupers, meaning of, 193 Vorthy, provincial use
of the word, 26
Waggon, explanation of, 180 Wain, explanation of, 180, 340 Wake, funeral
custom, Ireland, 121 Ward, term relative to a forest, 1 76 Warwick, Guy, Earl
of, legend of, 289,
290
Wassel bowl, origin of term, 285 Weasel, local name for, 65 Weather proverbs,
79-82, 334, 340 Welsh proverbs, 71, 334 “Whalloped," term used for
beating,
1 60, 339 Wheatley (H. B.), on "Sixes and
Sevens," 335
Whetter, term for drunkenness, 197 Wichnor, Inn sign at, 298 Widford, near
Chelmsford, Inn signs
at, 318
Wig ties, names for, 197 Wild Goose Chase, account of, 309 Wilkinson (T. T.),
on Spenser and the
East Lancashire Dialect, 21-23 Wilson (John), on Tarring and
Feathering, 163, 164 Winchester Goose, public stews called,
3"
Window, origin of term, 176 "Wine of one Ear," proverbial
expression, 121, 122, 335 Wisht, provincial use of the word, 27 Wiped,
explanation of, 180, 340 Witches, power of, 126, 127, 336 Wolsey (Cardinal),
red hat of, 269 Women, proverb on, 78, 122 Wood (E. J.), “Words and Phrases
in
|
|
|
|
|
(delwedd D4676) (tudalen 352)
|
352
Index.
the Eighteenth
Century," by, '196198
Words and phrases, special, 125-209; antiquated, 178-193, 340-341; corrupted
and compound, 164-170, 19820.1, 339 5 of the eighteenth century, 195-198; used
for punishments, 159161, 333-339
Worksop, custom at
Manor of, 308
Yarmouth, signs of Inns in, 319 Yorkshire Dialect, 6-8, 81; local
expressions, 108, 109, 151, 159-161, 162, 194, 195, 333
[NOTE. The words in
the special vocabularies, Exmoor, Lancashire, and Shetland, are not included
in this index.]
Elliot Stock,
ralancster KM, Lenc'cn.
UC SOUTHERN
REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
A 000046510 4
|
