f" -• '■•*5|®I1G 
 
 
 
 .-^...^ - <s 
 
 
 
 '^ 
 
 X^«^c 
 

 
 wMm& 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 >..ii>
 
 \dM. 
 
 ^IJ^WI 
 
 'mh 
 
 Af,,, 
 
 ^%^' 
 
 M^ 
 
 m 
 
 
 ^2_-AMA«^^' 
 
 m^' 
 
 
 !iP*asrT-Tvw 
 
 ^^if 
 
 
 I «i'- -.^Af '?P«'"

 
 lycQ 
 
 J i^^J^
 
 VARI ETIES 
 
 LITERATURE; 
 
 BEING, I'llINCll'ALLY, 
 
 SELECTIONS 
 
 rilOM THi. 
 
 PORTFOLIO OF THE LATE JOHN BRADY, ESQ 
 
 Author of " Clavis Calendar ia." 
 
 ARRANGED AND ADAPTKU fOK PUBLICAIIOX 
 BY 
 
 JOHN HENRY BRADY, 
 
 HIS SON. 
 
 '• Vou shall not, gentle reader, say that my little pocket-book, being culled 
 and picked out of others, is the worse ; any more than you shall say that the 
 
 flimsie webbe of the spider surpasseth in value the treasures of the bee because 
 
 the one is drawn from his own bodye, and the other is culled from flowers which 
 are not his own." 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR GEO. B. WHITTAKER, 
 
 AVE-MARIA LANE. 
 
 1826.
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY rOX AND BAYI.IS. GREAT QUEE>f STREET.
 
 PN 
 
 p7,2v 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 To the friends of my late father no apology 
 will be necessary for the publication of this vo- 
 lume. The high estimation in which he was held, 
 by all those who were sufficiently acquainted with 
 him to appreciate his character; and the warmth 
 and sincerity with which he was beloved by such 
 as were more intimately connected with him ; 
 would, perhaps, insure a favourable reception for 
 any thing professing to be selected from his stores. 
 
 I would fain hope, however, that in addition 
 to this, there will be found in the following 
 pages sufficient matter, both of information and 
 interest, to have warranted me in offering the 
 work to the rest of the public ; and I am free to 
 confess, that it will be subject of great disappoint- 
 ment to me to find that my judgment has, in this 
 instance, misled me ; which I am the more anxious 
 A 2 
 
 11GG20G
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 about, as my father's fame may be considered to 
 be in some degree concerned in it, although for 
 the publication of the volume in its present shape 
 I only can justly be held accountable. The con- 
 tents of it are certainly selected from MS. left by 
 my father in a very loose and unfinished state, 
 but for what purpose accumulated by him (unless 
 with the view to the publication of an Encyclopae- 
 dia between "Chambers's" and the "Britannica," 
 a task which has i-ecently been so well performed 
 by the celebrated Dr. Roes, now no more) it is 
 impossible to say. I have only to add, that I have 
 taken great pains in the selection and arrangement 
 of the numerous articles, in order to make the 
 whole as acceptable as possible, if not as a reading 
 book, at least as one for curious reference on the 
 subject of proverbs, etymology, and other philo- 
 logical questions ; and, in order that no value 
 should be attached to any statement beyond what 
 its merits may claim for it, I have been careful, in 
 every case, to give the authority (where possible) 
 from wliich the information has been derived, so
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 that every reader may form his own opinion of 
 its authenticity. 
 
 To those noblemen and gentlemen (principally 
 entire strangers to me) who, out of respect to my 
 late father, and to give consistency to a young 
 man's hopes, have been so kind as to honour me 
 with their names as subscribers, I have to express 
 my grateful thanks, and to assure them that I 
 duly appreciate the motives which have induced 
 them thus to befriend me. A long and serious 
 illness, which has rendered me incapable of ap- 
 plying myself to any occupation for above nine 
 months past, will sufficiently account to them for 
 the delay which has unavoidably taken place since 
 they were kind enough to send me their names. 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
 Londnn, Dcrembrr 18^25.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Preface iii 
 
 Collection of Proverbs 1 
 
 Miscellanea, from various Authorities 63 
 
 The Editor's Pocket-Book 131 
 
 Curious Derivations 141 
 
 The Derivation of the Names of Places 165 
 
 Index 285
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 "A DAB AT ANY THING." 
 A DAB is considered to be a mere corruption of the 
 word adept, which signifies a person far advanced or per- 
 fect in any thing, and is no other than the Latin adeptus. 
 In the same way as a cute man is an abbreviation of 
 acute, or the Latin acutus, and signifies a person tliat 
 is sharp, clever, neat ; or, to use a more modern term, 
 aujait, at the subject you happen to be speaking of. 
 
 «' AS FINE AS A HORSE." 
 Of this proverbial expression the following extract, 
 from the " Life of Mrs. Pilkington," will be a suffi- 
 cient explanation : 
 
 " They took places in the waggon (for Chester), 
 and quitted London early on May-morning ; and, it 
 being the custom in this month for passengers to give 
 the waggoner, at every inn, a riband to adorn his 
 team, she soon discovered the origin of the proverb 
 As fine as a Horse ; for before they got to the end of 
 
 B
 
 2 PROVERBS. 
 
 their journey, the poor beasts were almost blinded by 
 the tawdry, party-coloured, flowing honours of their 
 
 heads." 
 
 " AS CUNNING AS CROWDER." 
 
 Dr. Fuller died while he was writing his work called 
 the " Worthies of England ;" that book, therefore, is 
 not so complete as it would otherwise, probably, have 
 been. In some counties he has registered the prover- 
 bial sayings peculiar to them ; in others he has omitted 
 them. " As cunning as Croxvder," a saying prevalent 
 in the North, is one which he has omitted. The above 
 saying, current also in the north-west part of England, 
 originated, we are told, from the following story : One 
 Samuel Crowder, a carrier, was desired to bring a pound 
 of tobacco for a neighbour : accordingly, he buys the 
 tobacco, and packs it up in the mouth of a sack of 
 salt. As the weather was wet, the salt, being moist, 
 broke through the paper which contained the tobacco. 
 Next day, therefore, when Crowder and his wife were 
 unpacking, they found, to their great surprise, some of 
 the tobacco and salt mixed together. His wife Mary 
 made great lamentations, to have so much tobacco and 
 salt spoiled, and certainly to be paid for by them ; 
 but Samuel, wondering at his wife's simplicity, told 
 her he had thought of a method of separating them 
 immediately, and ordered her to fetch a pail of water, 
 which was done; he then emptied the tobacco and
 
 PROVERBS. 3 
 
 salt into the water. " Now (said he to his wife), there 
 is a quick thought of mine, you fool ; you see all the 
 tobacco swims at the top, and all the salt falls to the 
 bottom. " So when any persons do not act quite so 
 smartly as they should, they are said to be as cunning 
 as Crotoder. 
 
 " BY HOOK OR BY CROOK." 
 The proverb of getting any thing by Hooke or by 
 Crooke, is said to have arisen in the time of Charles I., 
 when there were two learned judges named Hooke and 
 Crooke ; and a difficult c^use was to be gotten either 
 by Hooke or by Crooke. Spenser, however, mentions 
 these words twice in his Faery Queene. 
 
 " The which her sire had scrapt by hooke and crooke." 
 
 B. V, C. 2. S. 27. 
 " In hopes her to attain by hooke or by crooke." 
 
 iii. 1. 17. 
 
 Here is a proof that this proverb is much older than 
 that time ; and that the phrase was not then used as a 
 proverb, but applied as a pun. It occurs in Skelton. 
 
 Warion. 
 
 " FROM HELL, HULL, AND HALIFAX— GOOD 
 LORD, DELIVER US." 
 
 The woollen manufacture was erected here (Halifax, 
 Yorkshire) about the year 1480, when King Henry 
 VII. caused an act to pass prohibiting the exporta- 
 B 2
 
 4< PROVERBS. 
 
 tion of unwrouglit wool, and to encourage foreign 
 manufacturers to settle in England ; several of whom 
 coming over, established different manufactures of 
 cloths in different parts of the kingdom : as that of 
 hiays at Colchester ; says at Sudbury ; broad cloth in 
 Wilts, and other counties ; and the trade of kerseys and 
 narrow cloth at this place and other adjacent towns ; 
 and as at the time when this trade began, nothing 
 was more frequent than for young workmen to leave 
 their cloths out all night upon tenters, which gave an 
 opportunity for the idle fellows to steal them, a severe 
 law was made against stealing cloth, which gave the 
 power of life and death into the hands of the magis- 
 trates of Halifax. But this law was extended to no 
 other crime ; and the conditions of it, as I have said, 
 intimate as much, for the power was not given to the 
 magistrates to give sentence unless in one of these 
 three plain cases : 
 
 1. Hand Napping ; that is, when the criminal was 
 taken in the very fact. 
 
 2. Buck Bearing ; that is, when the cloth was found 
 upon him. 
 
 3. Tongue Conjessing, which needs no explanation. 
 The fact likewise was to be committed within the 
 
 liberties or precincts of the forest of Hardwick ; and 
 the value of the goods stolen was to be above thirteen- 
 pence halfpenny. 
 
 When the criminal was taken he was brought before 
 the magistrates of the town, and they judged, sentenc-
 
 PROVERBS. O 
 
 ed, and executed the offender, or cleared him, within 
 so many days — I think it was three market days. If 
 the offence was committed out of the vicarage, but 
 within the bounds of the forest, then there were Frith 
 Bourgers also to judge of the fact, who were to be 
 summoned out of thejbrest holders, as they are called, 
 who were to hold of that frith, that is, of the forest. 
 If they acquitted him of the fact, he was immediately 
 discharged ; if they condemned him, nobody could 
 reprieve him but the town. The country-people were, 
 it seems, so terrified at the severity of this proceeding, 
 that hence came that proverbial litany which was used 
 all over Yorkshire : 
 
 From Hell, Hull, and Halifax — Good Lord, deliverus. 
 
 Tour of England and Wales, 1742. 
 
 « HE DID VERY WELL FOR HIS OWN HAND, 
 AS HENRY WYNNE DID." 
 
 In the fourteenth century the clan Chattan possessed 
 the greatest part of the country of Badenoch, and lived 
 happy and respected; but a fatal discord between 
 two of the tribes broke their harmony, and occasioned 
 the memorable combat to the northward of Perth, in 
 the year 1396. The Earls of Crawford and Moray, 
 by commission, attempted to reconcile them, but with- 
 out success: wherefore they proposed that thirty on 
 each side should decide the quarrel by the sword, in 
 presence of the king and nobility. (Who the com^ 
 B 3
 
 6 PROVERBS. 
 
 batants were, and what the difference between them 
 was, see Mil. Hist., p. 216.) The parties, hke the 
 Roman Horatii and Curatii, accepted the offer; but 
 when they met on the day appointed, one of the clan 
 Chattan absented himself through fear ; and a smith, 
 named Henry Wyne, offered to supply his place for a 
 crown of gold, about seven shillings and sixpence value. 
 The conflict was fierce and desperate ; of the clan 
 Cay twenty-nine were killed, and the thirtieth escaped 
 by swimming the Tay ; and of the clan Chattan nine- 
 teen were killed. The victory was much owing to 
 Henry Wyne, which gave rise to the proverb, " He 
 did very well for his own hand, as Henry Wyne did." 
 His posterity (called Stiochd a Gune Chrnim, the issue 
 of the Stooping Smith) were incorporated with the 
 clan Chattan — History Moray, 1775. 
 
 UURIDAN'S ASS. 
 Buridan supposed a hungry ass, or an ass equally 
 hungry and thirsty, placed between two bushels of 
 oats, or a bushel of oats and a vessel of water, each 
 being equadistant from him : he then inquired what the 
 ass would do. If it was answered, he would remain 
 there till starved to death, it brought the laugh on his 
 side, since that evidently appeared to be absurd. If 
 it was answered, that the ass would both eat and drink 
 in that situation, " then (cried he) the ass has free will ; 
 or, of two equal attractions, one is greater than the
 
 PROVERBS. 7 
 
 other." Hence Buridan's ass became famous among 
 the schoolmen, and at length proverbial. — Gent. Mag. 
 1791. 
 
 " THE KING NEVER DIES." 
 Upon the death or demise of the king, his heir is 
 that moment invested with the kingly office and royal 
 power, and commences his reign the same day his 
 ancestor dies ; hence it is held as a maxim that the king 
 never dies. — Bacons Abridgment. 
 
 " ART AND PART." 
 A term used in the north of England and in Scot- 
 land. When any one is charged with a crime, they 
 say he is art and jyart in committing the same, i. e. he 
 was both a contriver and acted his part in it. — Dic- 
 tiovary of Husbandry, SfC, 1728. 
 
 " LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG." 
 The meaning of this saying is sufficiently obvious : 
 viz. if you love me, you must also love those about me. 
 The following extract, although it has little connec- 
 tion with the subject, will be found curious. 
 
 Thejavourite Dogs of the Prince of Orange. — About 
 twenty or thirty years ago (says Rede, 1799), the 
 fashionable lap-dog was the Dutch pug; every old 
 B 4
 
 8 PROVERBS. 
 
 duchess in the kingdom had three or four, and these 
 little ugly animals were the ladies' favourites from the 
 accession of William the Third to the death of George 
 the Second ; since which time the breed seems nearly 
 extinct. They were generally decorated with orange 
 ribbons, and in high favour at court. King William 
 being very partial to them, his courtiers apprehended 
 he had learned the old English proverb, " Love me 
 love my dog." The reason of this partiality is not 
 generally known, but may be accounted for by the 
 following anecdote, related in a very scarce old book, 
 " Sir Roger William, his Actions of the Low Countries," 
 imprinted in the year 1618." 
 
 " The Prince of Orange having retired into the camp, 
 Julian Romero with earnest persuasions procured license 
 of the Duke D'Alva to hazard a camisado, or night 
 attack upon the prince. At midnight Julian sallied out 
 of the trenclj^es with a thousand armed men, mostly 
 pikes, who forced all the guards that they found in 
 their way into the place of arms before the prince's 
 tent, and killed two of the secretaries, the prince him- 
 self escaping very narrowly ; for I have often heard him 
 say that, as he thought, but for a dog, he had either 
 been taken or slain. The attack was made with such 
 resolution, that the guards took no alarm until their 
 fellows were running to the place of arms, with their 
 enemies at their heels ; when this dog, hearing a great 
 noise, fell to scratching and crying, and awakened him 
 before any of his men ; and as the prince laid in his
 
 PROVERBS. 9 
 
 arms, with a lackey always holding one of his horses 
 ready bridled, yet, at the going out of the tent, with 
 much ado he recovered his horse before the enemy 
 arrived. Nevertheless, one of his equerries was slain, 
 taking horse presently after him, as were divers of his 
 servants. The prince, to shew his gratitude, until his 
 dying day kept one of that dog's race, and so did many 
 of his friends and followers. These animals were not 
 remarkable for beauty, being little white dogs, with 
 crooked flat noses, called camuses." — Redes Anecdotes 
 and Biography, 1799. 
 
 " DEAD AS CHELSEA." 
 
 Chelsea, a village near London, famous for the 
 military hospital. 
 
 To get Chelsea ; to obtain the benefit of that hospi- 
 tal. — " Dead as Chelsea, by G — d !" an exclamation 
 uttered by a grenadier at Fontenoy, on having his leg 
 
 carried away by a cannon-ball Dictionary Vulgar 
 
 To7ime, 1788. 
 
 "AS DEAD AS A HERRING." 
 The herring is a delicate fish, which is killed by a 
 very small degree of violence. Whenever it is taken 
 out of the water, even though it seems to have received 
 no hurt, it gives a squeak, and immediately expires ; 
 and though it be thrown instantly back into the water,
 
 10 PROVERBS. 
 
 it never recovers. Hence arises the proverb " as dead 
 as a herring," — Anderson on the State of the Hebrides. 
 
 " DEAD AS MUTTON." 
 
 A common expression among the lower order of 
 people to denote the certainty of decease, took its rise, 
 most probably, from the circumstance of mutton being 
 only so called after the death of the animal, before 
 called a sheep, has taken place. 
 
 N.B. Although beef, veal, pork, &c. &c. likewise 
 similarly acquire such denominations by the death 
 only of the oxen, &c. &c., yet that does not lessen the 
 probability of the presumed derivation of the expres- 
 sion abovementioned. 
 
 " MORE SIRS THAN KNIGHTS." 
 
 The title of Sir was formerly given to priests in holy 
 orders who had taken their degrees, whilst that of 
 Master was given to those who had commenced in the 
 Arts. (Fuller's Church History, book vi. p. 352.) 
 Hence Fuller quaintly observes, in a marginal note to 
 the history, that there were more Sirs than Knights. 
 
 The appellative Sir seems to have been applied to 
 the clergy, nearly as late as the reign of William and 
 Mary : for in a deposition in the Exchequer, in a case 
 of tithes, the witness, speaking of the curate, styles 
 him Sir Giles. — Warners Hampshire.
 
 PROVERBS. 11 
 
 " THERE IS LADY DONE FOR YOU." -Cheshire. 
 
 Sir John Done, Knight, hereditary forester and keeper 
 of the forest of Delamere, Cheshire, died in 1629. 
 
 When that Nimrod James the First made a progress, 
 in 1607, he was entertained by this gentleman at Utker- 
 ton, &c. He married Dorothy, daughter of Thomas 
 Wilbraham, Esq., of Woodhey; who left behind her so 
 admirable a character, that to this day, when a Cheshire 
 man would express some excellency in one of the 
 fair sex, he would say, " There is Lady Done for you." 
 — PennanVs Journey from Chester. 
 
 « THE SALE FREES YOU FROM RENT." 
 Venta Deshaze Renta. — Hisp. 
 
 Another disadvantage to agriculture is, that where 
 the land happens to be let to a tenant, which is not 
 often the case, the sale of the estate voids the lease, 
 from whence comes their Spanish proverb, Venta 
 Deshaze Renta, " the sale frees you from rent." 
 This is so directly contrary to our law, and the equity 
 of the thing, that the discouragement to the farmer 
 need not be insisted upon. — Court Miscellany, 1766. 
 
 " TO BLOW A MOOR." 
 Corrupted from a mort, Fr., at the death ; to sound 
 the horn in triumph, and call in the hunters at the 
 fall or death o^ a. deer. —Ryder's Dictionary.
 
 1'2 PROVERBS. 
 
 •' TOUCH NOT THE CAT, BUT A GLOVE." 
 This is a motto belonging to the family of Macintosh, 
 in the north of Scotland, who have for their crest a 
 wild cat ; and the motto, like many others, directly 
 alludes to the crest. The word but in the Scottish 
 dialect means xvithout, so that the motto in plain Eng- 
 lish is " Touch not the cat without a glove ;", or, in 
 other words, meddle not with a vicious, or noxious 
 animal, without being secure against its eiffbrts to hurt 
 you.— Gent:s Mag. 1807. 
 
 " MANNERS MAKE THE MAN, QUOTH WILLIAM 
 OF WICKHAM." 
 
 William of Wickham was a person well known. He 
 was Bishop of Winchester ; founded New College, in 
 Oxford, and Winchester College, in this county. 
 This generally was his motto, inscribed frequently on 
 the places of his founding, so that it hath since acquir- 
 ed a proverbial reputation. — Rays Proverbs^ 1737. 
 
 " IT WILL DO, IN SPITE OF THE DEVIL AND 
 DICK SENHOUSE." 
 
 (yf Saying in Cumberland, menlio7ied inSanford's MS.) 
 
 They were a constant family of gamesters, and 
 the country people were wont to say, the Senhouses 
 learnt to play at cards in their mother's belly. The 
 doctor playing with a stranger, he tipped the die so pat,
 
 PROVERBS. 18 
 
 that the other exclaimed, " Surely it is either the devil 
 or Dick Senhouse.'' A common saying, " It mil do in 
 spite of the Devil and Dick Senhouse." 
 
 When he was a scholar at Cambridge, coming 
 into the country to see his friends, his horse happened 
 to cast a shoe, and having no money to pay the smith 
 withal, "toe//, well," says the smith, "^o your ivai/s, and 
 whe7i you come to be Bishop of Carlisle yovUll pay me ,•" 
 which he did in abundance of gratuity, and was a 
 religious and honest pastor." — Hutchinson s History of 
 Cumberland, 1794. 
 
 "DAVID'S SOW." 
 
 " As drunk as David's Soiv ;'' a common saying, 
 which took its rise from the following circumstance. 
 One David Lloyd, a Welshman, who kept an alehouse 
 at Hereford, had a living sow with six legs, which was 
 greatly resorted to by the curious ; he had also a wife 
 much addicted to drunkenness, for which he used 
 sometimes to give her due correction. One day, David's 
 wife having taken a cup too much, and being fearful of 
 the consequences, turned out the sow, and lay down 
 to sleep herself sober in the stye. A company coming 
 in to see the sow, David ushered them into the stye, 
 exclaiming, " There is a sow for you ! did any of you 
 ever see such another ? " all the while supposing the 
 sow had really been there ; to which some of the 
 company, seeing the state the woman was in, replied,
 
 14 PROVERBS. 
 
 it was the drunkenest sow they had ever beheld; whence 
 the woman was ever called "^ David's sow." — Diction- 
 ary of Vulgar Tongue, 1788. 
 
 « SLEEPS LIKE A TOP." 
 This we say in familiar language of a person com- 
 pletely under the influence of Morpheus ; and we ge- 
 nerally imagine the simile taken from the momentary 
 pause of a peg-top, or humming-top, when its rotatory 
 motion is at the height. But no such thing : the word 
 top is Italian. 
 
 Topo, in that language, signifies a mouse ; it is the 
 generic name, and applied indiscriminately to the com- 
 mon mouse, field mouse, and dormouse, from which 
 the Italian proverb " ei dorme come un topo'' is derived : 
 Anglice, " he sleeps like a top." — Gent. Mag. 1793. 
 
 " CORNISH GENTLEMEN ARE ALL COUSINS. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of these towns* are many 
 pleasant seats of Cornish gentry, who are indeed very 
 numerous, and the most sociable, generous, and kind 
 neighbours to one another that are to be found. Tliey 
 usually intermarry among themselves ; whence, they 
 say, the proverb, that " All Cornish gentlemen are 
 cousins." — Tour of Great Britain, vol. i., 1742. 
 
 * Speaking of Sf. Gennains, &c.
 
 PROA'ERBS, 15 
 
 " AS MAD AS THE BAITING BULL OF STAMFORD." 
 
 William, Earl Warren, lord of this town in the 
 time of King John, standing upon the castle walls of 
 Stamford, saw two bulls fighting for a cow in the mea- 
 dow, till all the butchers' dogs, great and small, pur- 
 sued one of the bulls (being madded with noise and 
 multitude) clean through the town. This sight so 
 pleased the said Earl, that he gave all those meadows 
 (called the castle meadows) where first the bull duel 
 began, for a common to the butchers of the town 
 (after the first grass was eaten), on condition they found 
 a mad bull, the day six weeks before Christmas day, 
 for the continuance of that spoil every year. — R. 
 Butcher's Survey of Stamford. 
 
 " YOUNG MEN THINK OLD MEN FOOLS: OLD 
 MEN KNOW YOUNG MEN TO BE SO." 
 
 This is quoted by Camden, as a saying of one 
 Doctor Metcalf — Rays Proverbs, 1737. 
 
 « THE WICKED OF WATER MILLOCK." Sussex. 
 
 At a little distance from the chapel is a hill com- 
 monly known by the name of the Priest's Crag. It 
 was formerly covered with wood of different kind, and 
 was, some years ago, the common resort of the country 
 people for hunting, gathering nuts, and other diver-
 
 16 PROVERBS. 
 
 sions ; these they put in practice on the Sunday, to the 
 great disturbance of" the congregation, as their shout- 
 ing, swearing, and squalling were distinctly heard in 
 the chapel. This roused the pious wrath of the minister, 
 Mr, Dawson, who accordingly, one Sunday, reproved 
 and threatened them in these words : " O ye wicked of 
 Water-Millock, and ye perverse of New Kirk, ye go 
 a whoring, a hunting, a roaring, and a nutting on the 
 Sabbath day ; but on my soul if you go any more, I'll 
 go with you." The parson was a keen hunter, and his 
 expression of " I'll go with you" (which in the dialect 
 of the country is a mere threatening phrase) striking 
 some of the more waggish of his hearers in a double 
 sense, the sermon and its author made such a noise, 
 that it came to the ears of the bishop of the diocese. 
 The bishop upon this, with the concurrence of the 
 Duke of Norfolk, ordered the wood to be cut down. 
 This put an end to the profanations there carried on ; 
 but the appellation of the " wicked of Water Millock" 
 sticks to the inhabitants of that place to this day. — 
 Monthly Mirror, 1799. 
 
 " U P K, SPELLS MAY-GOSLINGS." 
 This is an expression used by boys at play, as an insult 
 to the losing party. U. P. K. is up-pick ; that is, up 
 with your pin or peg, the mark of the goal. An addi- 
 tional punishment was thus : the winner made a hole 
 in the ground, into which a peg about three inches long
 
 PROVERBS. 17 
 
 was driven, its top being below the surface; the loser, 
 with his hands tied behind him, was to pull it up with 
 his teeth, the boys buffeting with their hats, and call- 
 ing out, " Up pick, you May-Gosling," or, " U. P. K. 
 Gosling in May.' A May gosling, on the first of May, 
 is made with as much eagerness in the north of Eng- 
 land, as an April noddy (noodle) or fool, on the first 
 of April. 
 
 In 1688, when James the lid. left the kingdom, a 
 rising of the Roman Catholics was expected in the 
 south of Lancashire ; when an order was issued, as said, 
 by the Earl of Derby, for the men of the northern 
 parts, from sixteen to sixty years of age, to meet at 
 Kirkby Lonsdale, a town on the borders of Lancashire 
 and Westmorland, with a fortnight's provision, and 
 with such armour as could be procured, on pain of 
 being hanged up at their own doors. Numbers came : 
 but no enemy appearing, after staying their time, they 
 departed. The following verse is yet remembered, as 
 having been made on that occasion : 
 
 " In eighty -eight was Kirkby feight (fight), 
 
 When ne'er a man was slain ; 
 They eat their meat, and drank their drink, 
 
 And so went yham (home) again." 
 
 Gent. Mag. 1791. 
 
 " HE IS IN A MERRY PIN." 
 Pin, ashe is in a merry pin. It was an ancient kind of 
 Dutch artificial drunkenness ; the cup, commonly of 
 c
 
 18 PROVERBS. 
 
 wood, had a pin about the middle of it, and he was 
 accounted the man who could nick the pin, by drink- 
 ing even to it ; whereas to go above or beneath was 
 a forfeiture. This device \\ as, of old, the cause of 
 so much debauchery in England, that one of the 
 constitutions of a Synod held at Westminster, in the 
 year 1102, was to this effect: that priests should not 
 go to publick drinkings, " nee ad pinnas bibant," nor 
 drink at pins ; and King Edgar made a law that none 
 should drink belotu the jjin. — Blount's Glossographia, 
 1681. 
 
 " WISE MEN OF GOTHAM." 
 Gotham is a village in Nottinghamshire. Its ma- 
 gistrates are said to have attempted to hedge in a 
 cuckoo ; and a bush, called the Cuckoo's bush, is 
 still shown in support of the traditioh. A thousand 
 other ridiculous stories are told of the Men of Gotham. 
 — Dictionary/ Vulgar Tongue, 1788. 
 
 « AS WISE AS A MAN OF GOTHAM." 
 This proverb passeth for the periphrasis of a fool, 
 and a hundred fopperies are feigned and fathered on 
 the town's-folk of Gotham. Here two things may be 
 observed : 
 
 1. Men in all ages have made themselves merry 
 with singling out some place, and fixing the staple of 
 stupidity and stolidity therein. So the Phrygians in
 
 PROVERBS. 19 
 
 Asia, the Abderitae in Thrace, and tlie Boeotians 
 in Greece, were notorious for dull men and block- 
 heads. 
 
 2. These places, thus slighted and scoffed at, af- 
 forded some as witty and wise persons as the world 
 produced. So Democritus was an Abderite, Plutarch 
 a Boeotian, &c. Hence Juvenal well concludes, 
 Summos posse viros et magna exempla daturos, 
 Vervecum in patria crassoque sub aere nasci. 
 
 As for Gotham, it doth breed as wise people as 
 any which causelessly laugh at their simplicity. Sure 
 I am, Mr. William de Gotham, fifth master of Michael 
 House, in Cambridge, 1336, and twice Chancellor of 
 the University, was as grave a governor as that age 
 did afford — Rays Proverbs, 1737. 
 
 The History of the Wise Men of Gotham was, 
 in the reign of Henry VIII., accounted a book of wit, 
 and alluded to certain sports and customs, by which 
 the people of Gotliam, in Lincolnshire, held their 
 lands. The History of Reynard the Fox, Tom 
 Thumb, &c. were then in great estimation, — SportS' 
 mans Mamzinc, 1797. 
 
 » BOUND IN BLOOD"— PART OF THE OATH ' 
 OF A FREEMAN OF BRISTOL. 
 
 In the days of our gothic ancestors, society was 
 composed, in this nation, of Barons, their dependants 
 or vassals, and villains. The latter order of human 
 c 2
 
 ^0 PROVERBS. 
 
 beings was estimated as so many heads of cattle or 
 live stock on the land : for by the fifth article of 
 Magna Charta, the waste of men or things on an 
 estate was prohibited. Such was the comparative 
 consideration in which the people were classed. 
 
 This distinction in the ranks of society was deter- 
 mined by the different natures of their tenures under 
 their chiefs : whether it was base or noble, servile or 
 military, by the soc or by the sword. If the land 
 was held by soccage, the occupiers were slaves, and 
 bound to work for their masters. The lower classes 
 consisted of two bodies, one of which was the villains 
 in gross, slaves transferable with the land, or who 
 formed a chief article of export to foreign countries, 
 and to Ireland. The other class consisted of artificers, 
 who were to serve the Barons with all things of 
 use or ostentation, belonging to clothing or habi- 
 tation. The bondage of this order was gradually 
 broken ; and such was the dread of its revival, that 
 every member of the body, when he took up his free- 
 dom, was forced to promise upon oath, that he would 
 not take as an apprentice one who was bound in blood. 
 This form existed lately, and I believe continues to 
 this day, in the oath of a freeman of Bristol. — Clarke s 
 Strength mid Opulence of the British Nation, 1801. 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to remark, that the mean- 
 ing of the word villain was formerly very different 
 from its present signification. Villain originally meant 
 a sort of slave or drudge, a degree lower than the
 
 PROVERBS. 21 
 
 thatcher's servant or knave, and was only considered 
 so far reproachful, as it denoted great inferiority of 
 birth or station. The word knave has also undergone 
 the same deterioration in meaning, it having been origi- 
 nally derived from gnaviis, active or diligent, and 
 formerly signified a servant, merely, in whom diligence 
 and activity are excellent qualities. In this sense it 
 is worthy of observation that, in a very old transla- 
 tion of the Bible, St. Paul is called " the Knave of 
 Christ." — Dryden also uses the word : 
 
 " He eats and drinks with his domestic slaves, 
 A verier hind than any of his knaves." 
 
 Editor. 
 
 " I HAVE SHOT MY BOLT." 
 The implement shot from the cross-bow is called 
 
 by the French a quadrel, and by the English a bolt. 
 
 Hence the saying " I have shot my bolt," and " the 
 
 fool's bolt is soonest shot." 
 
 This arrow, I am informed, is still used in some 
 
 parts of the country, chiefly in Norfolk, in shooting 
 
 rabbits, which do not take so general an alarm as 
 
 when a gun is fired ofl\. — Editor. 
 
 " HE SHOOTS LIKE A CROW-KEEPER." 
 Ascham has the following sentence : 
 " Another coureth downe and layeth out his but- 
 c 3
 
 22 PROVERBS. 
 
 tocks, as tho' he should shoot at crows," — which ex- 
 plains a passage in Shakespeare's King Lear : 
 
 " That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper." 
 
 From these words, it is to be inferred, that when 
 gunpowder was yet very dear, fields were kept from 
 crows by unskilful archers,* who had no grace in their 
 attitudes, and were therefore spoken of by the expert 
 with the greatest contempt, so that " to shoot like a 
 crow-keeper" became a proverb. — Dr. Barringtons 
 History of Archery. 
 
 " TRUE BLUE WILL NEVER STAIN." 
 Coventry had formerly the reputation for dyeing 
 blues ; insomuch that true blue came to be a proverb, 
 to signify one who was always the same, and like 
 himself. — Rays Proverbs, 1737. 
 
 " IN APRIL, DOVE'S FLOOD 
 IS WORTH A KING'S GOOD." 
 The river Dove has a white clayish channel, with- 
 out any shelves of mud, which is so greatly enriched 
 
 * My father, who was himself a member of the " Toxopholite 
 Society" for many years, and an excellent archer, appears, 
 from a note of his atached to this little article, to have thought 
 it inore probable that the saying " he shoots like a crow- 
 kccpcr" was applied to those who, like the crow-keeper, crouched 
 down with their bow, as is still customary with the fowling-piece, 
 not to be seen until within shot,— Editor.
 
 PROVERBS. 23 
 
 by running on a limestone soil, as Camden relates, 
 that the meadows on both sides have a fresh and green 
 aspect, even in the depth of winter ; and if it over- 
 flows there in April, it renders them so fruitful, that 
 the neighbouring inhabitants joyfully, on this occasion, 
 apply the following rhyme : 
 
 In April, Dove's flood 
 
 Is worth a King's good. 
 
 But Dr. Plot ascribes this fertility to the sheep's 
 dung washed down from the hills by the rain, and 
 thrown on the banks by the floods — Universal Maga- 
 zine, p. 49, 1758. 
 
 " AS PURE AS THE GOLD OF ACANNY." 
 Acanny is a country of Upper Guinea, long famous 
 for producing and trading in gold, which is so pure 
 as to become proverbial, viz. " as pure as the gold of 
 Acanny." 
 
 " THE CASE IS ALTERED (QUOTH PLOWDEN)." 
 
 Salop. 
 
 Edmund Plowden was an eminent common lawyer 
 in Queen Elizabeth's time, born at Plowden, Salop ; 
 of whom Camden gives this character : <' Vitcs integri- 
 tate inter homines sues prqfessionis mdli secundus" 
 And Sir Edward Coke calls him the oracle of the 
 common law. This proverb is usually applied to such 
 lawyers or others as, being corrupted with larger fees, 
 c 4<
 
 24 PROVERBS. 
 
 shift sides, and pretend the case is altered. Some 
 make this the occasion of the proverb. Plowden, being 
 asked by a neighbour of his what remedy tliere was 
 in law against his neighbour for some hogs that had 
 trespassed his ground, answered, he might have very 
 good remedy ; but the other replying that they were 
 his hogs, " Nay then, neighbour (quoth he), the case 
 is altei-ed." Others, more probably, make this the 
 original of it: Plowden being a Roman Catholic, 
 some neighbours of his, who bore him no good-will, 
 intending to entrap him and bring him under the lash 
 of law, had taken care to dress up an altar in a cer- 
 tain place, and provided a layman in a priest's habit, 
 who should do mass there at such a time. Notice 
 thereof was given privately to Mr. Plowden : who 
 went, and was present at the mass. For this he was 
 presently accused and indicted. He at first stood 
 upon his defence, and would not acknowledge the 
 thing. Witnesses were produced, and among the rest 
 one, who deposed that he himself performed the mass, 
 and saw Mr. Plowden there. Saith Plowden to him, 
 " art thou a priest, then?" The fellow replied, " no." 
 " Why then, gents, (quoth he), the case is altered: 
 no priest no mass."' Which came to be a proverb, 
 and continues still in Shropshire, with this addition, 
 " Tlie case is altered (cjuoth Plowden) ; no priest no 
 mass." — Ray's Proverbs, 1737,
 
 PllOVERBS. ^25 
 
 " TO THROW THE GANTLET." 
 
 A proverbial phrase, signifying to challenge or defy. 
 The expression derives its origin from the days of 
 chivalry, when he that challenged an opponent in the 
 lists threw down his glove, and he that accepted the 
 challenge took it up. The word gantelet is French, 
 and comes from gand or gant, " a glove." The 
 gantlet was in use before the thirteenth century. 
 
 « TO RUN THE GANTLOPE." 
 A proverbial phrase commonly expressed, to run 
 the gantlet.) and signifying primarily, a certain mili- 
 tary punishment, and figuratively, the passing through 
 difficulties. According to the erroneous pronuncia- 
 tion, the hearer who compares this phrase with that 
 which is the subject of the preceding article, is much 
 at a loss to understand the word gantlet. The real 
 words are these, " to run the Ghent-race." Ghent, 
 Gaunt, or Gant, is a well-known town in Flanders ; 
 and Loop, in the Belgic, signifies a race. The gantlope 
 or Ghent race, so called because invented at that 
 place, is this : In the land-service, when a soldier is 
 to be punished in this manner, the regiment is drawn 
 out in two ranks, facing each other, and each soldier 
 having a switch in his hand, lashes the criminal as he 
 runs along, naked from the waist upwards. In the 
 navy, the whole ship's crew is disposed in two rows.
 
 26 PROVERBS. 
 
 Standing face to face, on both sides of the deck, 
 so as to form a h'ne, whereby the delinquent may 
 go forward on one side, and return aft on the other ; 
 and each seaman being furnished with a small twisted 
 cord, strikes him as he passes. — Pocket Encyclopedia, 
 by Kendal, 1802. 
 
 « BLARNEY," An Irish Cant Term.—" HE HAS BEEN 
 AT BLARNEY.— NONE OF YOUR BLARNEY," 
 &c. 
 
 But to return to the castle of Blarney, about three 
 miles from Cork. Adjoining to the inhabited mansion 
 there was a large square tower, with winding stone 
 stairs to the top. The floors were all gone, but the 
 roof, which was of stone, was entire, in the crevices 
 of which, and on the battlements, parsley grew in 
 great luxuriance and abundance. It was a singular 
 custom here, for all strangers who ascended to the top 
 of the tower, to creep on their hands and knees to the 
 corner-stone of the highest pinnacle, and kiss the 
 same ; by virtue of which, the parties ever after were 
 said to be endowed with extraordinary powers of 
 loquacity and persuasion. Nobody really believed 
 that kissing the stone could have any such effect ; but 
 the custom was complied with for much the same 
 reason {i. e. a little innocent mirth) as new-comers 
 are sworn at the Horns at Highgate ; and it was a 
 common saying at Cork, when they heard a wheedling
 
 PROVERBS, " 27 
 
 prating fellow, to say " he has been at Blarney." 
 Hence " none of your blarney," &c. — European 
 Mamzine, 1796. 
 
 " HE IS GONE TO POT." 
 
 The following article is extracted from the Instruc- 
 tions of Kikions, King of Mazanderan, to the Prince 
 his son, translated from the Persian by the cele- 
 brated M. Galland : 
 
 A tailor of Samarcand, living near the gate that 
 led to the burying-place, had by his shop-board an 
 earthen pot hanging on a nail, into which he threw a 
 little stone when any corpse was carried by ; and at 
 the end of every moon he counted the contents of his 
 pot, in order to ascertain the number of the deceased. 
 At length the tailor died himself; and some time after 
 one that was unacquainted with his death, observing 
 his shop to be deserted, inquired what was become of 
 him : one of the neighbours of the deceased answered, 
 " the tailor is gone to the pot as well as the rest." — 
 Monthly Mirror, 1799. 
 
 " EFE A AETH YN GLOUGH;" that is, HE IS 
 
 BECOME A CLOUGH— Cheshire. 
 Sir Richard Clough, an eminent merchant in the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, was a man of distinguished 
 character, who raised himself by his merit from a
 
 28 PROVERBS. 
 
 poor boy, at Denbigh, Wales. He was first a choris- 
 ter at Chester {see Fuller) ; then had the good fortune to 
 become apprentice to the famous Sir Thomas Gresham, 
 and afterwards his partner. His residence was chiefly 
 at Antwerp, where his body was interred ; liis heart 
 in Whichurch, a neighbouring church. His wealth was 
 so great that Efe a aeth yn Glough, or he is become a 
 Clougk, grew into a proverb, on the attainment of 
 riches by any person. — Pennant's Journey to Snoxuden. 
 
 " ONE BEATS THE BUSH, AND ANOTHER 
 CATCHES THE BIRD." 
 
 This proverb was used by Henry the Fifth at the 
 siege of Orleans, when the citizens, besieged by the 
 English, would have yielded up the town to the Duke 
 of Burgundy, who was in the English camp, and not 
 to the King. He said, *' Shall I beat the bush, and 
 another take the bird ? no such matter.'' Which 
 words did so offend the Duke, that he made peace with 
 the French, and withdrew from the English. 
 
 « I HAVE PAID ALL MY ENGLISHMEN.— J'AI 
 PAYE TOUS MES ANGLO IS. "—French. 
 
 This is a French proverb, which we find in history, 
 wherein the word Anglois, Englishmen, is used for 
 creditors to France, to the honour of the English 
 nation. Thus, when a Frenchman had paid all his
 
 PROVERBS. 29 
 
 creditors, he used to say, Say paye tons mes Anglois, 
 " I have paid all my Englishmen," This proverb was 
 supposed to have had its rise from the numerous 
 debts, and sums of money that France contracted 
 with, and was to pay to England, upon account of 
 the many conquests made by our English sovereigns 
 in the kingdom of France. — Fortesqice's Monarchy, 
 1719. 
 
 "THE VICAR OF BRAY WILL BE VICAR 
 OF BRAY STILL." 
 
 Bray is a village well known in Berkshire, the 
 vivacious vicar whereof, living under King Henry 
 VIII., King Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen 
 Elizabeth, was first a papist, then a protestant, then a 
 papist, and then a protestant again. This vicar being 
 taxed by one, for being a turncoat, " Not so," said 
 he, " for I always kept my principle, which is this — 
 to live and die Vicar of Bray." — Ray's Proverbs, 1737. 
 
 " DINE WITH DUKE HUMPHREY." 
 This proverb originated from the accidental circum- 
 stance of a wit in the last century being shut up, in 
 the abbey at St. Alban's, where the remains of Duke 
 Humphrey (the good Duke Regent) are yet to be 
 seen, while a party of his friends, who came down to 
 that ancient and loyal borough with him, on an ex-
 
 30 PROVERBS. 
 
 cursion from London, were enjoying the hospitalities 
 of the worthy Mrs. Layford's unknown predecessor, 
 at the White Hart. — Gentleman s Magazine, p. 210, 
 1794. 
 
 Another Account. — The Bodleian Library was origi- 
 nally founded by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. 
 When a student continued in the library during the 
 hours of dinner, at which times it was and is usual 
 to be shut up, he was said to " dine xvith Duke Hum ■ 
 2')hrey" — Gentleman s Magazine, p. 529, 1794. 
 
 Another Account. — " To dine with Duke Humphrey," 
 that is, to fast, to go without one's dinner. This 
 Duke Humphrey was uncle to King Henry VI., his 
 protector during his minority, and renowned for hos- 
 pitality and good housekeeping. Those were said to 
 dine with Duke Humphrey who walked out dinner- 
 time in the body of St. Paul's Church, because it was 
 believed the Duke was buried there. But (saith Dr. 
 Fuller) that saying is as far from truth as they from 
 dinner, even twenty miles oif; seeing this Duke was 
 buried in the church of St. Alban's, to which he was 
 a great benefactor. — Rai/s Proverbs. 
 
 " TO GO THROUGH FIRE AND WATER." 
 
 The twa cliief species of trial by ordeal were those 
 of fire and water ; tlie former being, in the opinion of 
 some of the learned writers, confined to persons of 
 high rank, and the latter only used for the common
 
 PROVERBS. 31 
 
 people. Both these modes might be performed by 
 deputy, but the principal was to answer for the success 
 of the trial, the deputy only venturing some corporeal 
 pain, for hire, or perhaps for friendship ; hence the 
 old saying of " / would go through Jire and water to 
 serve }/ou." — History of Kent. 
 
 " TO RUN A-MUCK." 
 Speaking of gaming. A strong spirit of play cha- 
 racterizes a Malayan ; after having resigned every 
 thing to the good fortune of the winner, he is reduced 
 to a horrid state of desperation ; he then loosens a 
 certain lock of hair, which indicates war and destruc- 
 tion to all whom the raving gamester meets. He 
 intoxicates himself with opium, and working himself up 
 into a fit of phrenzy, he bites and kills every one who 
 comes in his way. But as soon as ever the lock is seen 
 flowing, it is lawful to fire at the person, and to de- 
 stroy him as fast as possible. I think it is this our 
 sailors call " to run a-much'' Thus Dryden writes : 
 
 " Frontless, and satire-proof, he scours the streets. 
 
 And runs an Indian muck at all he meets." 
 
 Thus also Pope : 
 
 " Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet, 
 To run s.-mnc1c, and tilt at all I meet." 
 Johnson could not discover the derivation of the 
 word muck. It is not improbable that the origin of 
 this expression was, their employing on these fatal 
 occasions a muck or lance. — Universal Magazine, 1792.
 
 32 PROVERBS. 
 
 THE BISHOP HAS SET HIS FOOT IN IT. 
 
 This is a saying in the north, used for milk that is 
 burnt in boiHng. Formerly, in days of superstition, 
 whenever a bishop passed through a town or village, all 
 the inhabitants ran out to receive his blessing ; this fre- 
 quently caused the milk on the fire to be left till burnt 
 to the vessel, and gave origin to the above allusion. — 
 Grose's Provincial Glossary. 
 
 " ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL." 
 This proverb had its original in the time of Edward 
 VI., when much of the lands of St.Petcr, at Westminster, 
 were invaded by the great men of the court, who 
 therefore allowed somewhat out of them towards the 
 repair of St. Paul's Church. — Blount's Dictionary, 1681. 
 
 '« HE LOOKS AS THE DEVIL DID OVER 
 LINCOLN." 
 
 The middle or Rood tower of Lincoln cathedral 
 is the highest in the whole kingdom, and when the 
 spire was standing on it, it must, in proportion to the 
 height of the tower, have exceeded that of old St. 
 Paul's, which was five hundred and twenty feet. The 
 monks were so proud of this structure, that they 
 would have it that the Devil looked upon it with an 
 envious eye ; whence the proverb of a man who looks
 
 PROVERBS. 33 
 
 invidious and malignant, " he looks as the Devil over 
 Lincoln!' At present there are only four very ordi- 
 nary pinnacles, one at each corner.— Tour through 
 England and Wales, 1742. 
 
 Another Account. — " Some refer this to Lincoln 
 Minster, over which, when first finished, the Devil 
 is supposed to have looked with a torve and terrick 
 countenance, as envying men's costly devotion, saith 
 Dr. Fuller ; but more probable it is, that it took its rise 
 from a small image of the Devil, standing on the top of 
 Lincoln College, in Oxford." — Rays Proverbs, 1737. 
 
 " AS LOUD AS TOM OF LINCOLN." 
 This Tom of Lincoln is an extraordinary great bell, 
 hanging in one of the towers of Lincoln Minster ; 
 how it got the name I know not, unless it was imposed 
 on it when baptized by the papists. Howbeit, this 
 present Tom was cast in King James's time, anno 
 \Q\0.- Rays Proverbs, 1737. 
 
 Another Account. — This Cathedral has many bells ; 
 and particularly the northern tower is filled up, as one 
 may say, with the finest great bell in England, which 
 is called " Tom of Lincoln," being probably conse- 
 crated to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 " As loud as Tom of Lincoln," is a proverb. It weighs 
 4 tons 1,894 pounds, and will held 424 gallons, ale- 
 measure ; the circumference is twenty-two feet eight 
 inches. — Tour of Great Britain, 1742. 
 
 D
 
 34 PROVERBS 
 
 " AN IT PLEASE THE PIGS," 
 
 Is, with a small change, the old Roman Catholic 
 ejaculation, " an it please the pix," which is the box 
 in which the Host was carried. — Gentleman s Magazine, 
 p. 876, 1790. 
 
 Another Account. — There were formerly two emi- 
 nent and rival schools in London : St Paul's, founded 
 in the reign of King Stephen ; and St. Anthony's, 
 established in 1213, by a grant of Henry III. to the 
 brotherhood of St. Anthony of Vienna ; which latter 
 was situate in the parish of St. Bennet Finkes, Thread- 
 needle Street. 
 
 Many learned and dignified characters received 
 their education at St. Anthony's. Among others, Sir 
 Thomas More and Dr. Nicholas Heath, Lord Chan- 
 cellors ; and Dr. John Wliitgift, Archbishop of Can- 
 tei'bury. Indeed, this seminary generally presented 
 better scholars than St. Paul's, at the yearly dispu- 
 tations in grammar and other exercises, held on the 
 eve of St. Bartholomew, in the churchyard of the 
 priory of St. Bartholomew, in Smithfield, This pre- 
 eminence occasioned great animosity between the 
 scholars on the diiferent foundations, and proved the 
 source of numberless broils whenever they met in the 
 streets. 
 
 The story of St. Anthony's preaching to the pigs, 
 is too well known to merit repetition here: it is suffi- 
 cient to observe, that this Saint was always figured
 
 PROVERBS. 35 
 
 vvitl\ a pig following him ; and, in consequence, the 
 scholars of St, Paul's nick-named their rivals St. 
 Anthony's jngs ; who, in return, derided them with 
 the appellation of St. Paul's pigeons, from the number 
 of those birds bred in the spire of that cathedral. 
 
 From this circumstance alone arose the saying of 
 " an it please the pigs :" the scholars of St. Paul's 
 having accustomed themselves, whenever they an- 
 swered each other in the affirmative, to add thereto 
 the expression in question, scoffingly insinuated, with 
 a reserve of the approbation of their competitors of 
 St. Anthony's, who claimed a superiority over them. 
 
 To what extent the contagion of cant words may 
 spread, we have had various instances of late, in 
 *' bore^ hvaddle, quoz" and other ridiculous expres- 
 sions. It is, therefore, not unreasonable to presume, 
 that the repetition of this saying by the numerous 
 scholars of St. Paul's in their respective families, 
 strongly attracted the attention of the menial servants 
 on account of its quaintness, and was by them, dis- 
 seminated to their companions, and the lower orders 
 of society, among whom the saying principally pre- 
 vails. — Gentleman's Magazine, p. 1087, 1790. 
 
 " JACK WOULD BE A GENTLEMAN IF HE COULD 
 SPEAK FRENCH." 
 
 This proverb is said to have originated in William 
 D 2
 
 36 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 the Conqueror's time, by the Norman's efforts to in- 
 troduce his own language into this country. 
 
 The following is extracted from Dr. Andrew's 
 History of England : — 
 
 " The Saxon language, with very trifling alteration, 
 still keeps its ground in England and in the southern 
 districts of Scotland, in spite of the Norman victor's 
 efforts to introduce his own barbarized French. Yet 
 that tongue was once gaining strength among the 
 gentry : else why the proverb, " Jack would be a 
 gentleman if he could speak French"? 
 
 " GOLD GOES IN AT ANY GATE EXCEPT 
 HEAVEN'S." 
 
 Philip, Alexander's father, was reported to say, 
 that he did not doubt to take any castle or citadel, 
 let the ascent be ever so steep and difficult, if he could 
 but drive up an ass loaded with gold to the gate. — 
 Rot/ s Proverbs, 1737. 
 
 « I HAVE PAID MY SHOT." 
 
 '* Shot" is a common mode of expression among 
 the commonalty, to denote a reckoning, &c. " I have 
 paid my shot," or rather " scot," from " scottum," a 
 tax or contribution, a shot — Nicholson and Burn's 
 Westmorland and Cumberland.
 
 PROVERBS. 37 
 
 « THE HIGHER THE APE GOES THE MORE HE 
 SHOWS HIS TAIL." 
 
 This is an excellent proverb, and signifies that the 
 higher low-bred vulgar persons are advanced, the 
 more they expose themselves. 
 
 " THE CROW THINKS HER OWN BIRD 
 FAIREST." 
 
 " Asinus asino, sus sui pulcher, et suum cuique 
 pulchrum." So the Ethiopians are said to paint the 
 Devil white. 
 
 " EVERY BEAN HATH ITS BLACK." 
 « EVERY GRAIN HATH ITS BRAN." 
 
 These two proverbs mean no more, than that no 
 one is without his faults. " Vitiis nemo sine nascitur." 
 — Horace. 
 
 « CROCODILE'S TEARS." 
 
 " Crocodile, an harmful beast, living most about 
 the river Nilus in Egypt. It is hatched of an egg, 
 and groweth unto a wonderful greatness, sometimes 
 to twenty or thirty feet long. It is written, that he 
 will weep over a man's head when he hath devoured 
 the body, and then will eat up the head too. Wherefore 
 D 3
 
 38 PROVERBS. 
 
 in Latin there is a proverb, " crocodili lacrymae," 
 that is, " crocodile's tears ;" to signify such tears as are 
 feigned, and spent only with intent to deceive or do 
 harm." — Old Dictionary, 1663. 
 
 " THE MOON IS NOT SEEN WHEN THE SUN 
 SHINES." 
 
 The meaning of this proverb is, that the talents of 
 one man are often thrown into the shade by the 
 presence of another who is infinitely his superior. 
 
 " THOU ART A BITTER BIRD, SAID THE 
 RAVEN TO THE STARLING." 
 
 These birds are both bitter, and the proverb is 
 merely a repetition of the old story of the pot and the 
 kettle. 
 
 " LOBS POUND." 
 
 " Lob's Pound," a prison. Dr. Grey, in his 
 notes on Hudibras, explains it to allude to one Doctor 
 Lob, a dissenting preacher, who used to hold forth 
 when conventicles were prohibited, and had made 
 himself a retreat by means of a trap-door at the 
 bottom of his pulpit. Once being pursued by the 
 ofBcers of justice, they followed him through divers 
 subterraneous passages, till they got into a dark cell,
 
 PROVERBS. 39 
 
 from whence they could not find their way out; but, 
 calling to some of their companions, swore they had 
 got into " Lob's Pound." — Dictionary of the Vulgar 
 Tongue, 1788. 
 
 " AFTER DEATH THE DOCTOR." 
 " POST BELLUM AUXILIUM." (Latin.) 
 " WHEN THE CHILD IS CHRISTENED, GOD- 
 FATHERS ENOUGH." 
 
 These three proverbs mean no more than that plenty 
 of assistance is to be had when it is no longer needful. 
 
 " TO PAY SCOT AND LOT." 
 
 Scot is a proportion, or shot, as we now term it ; 
 scot and lot, therefore, signify an allotted or certain por- 
 tion, or customary payment of any dues whatever. 
 — Parkins Nortuick. 
 
 « SKIN-FLINT." 
 
 A CANT TERM FOR AN AVARICIOUS MAN. 
 
 The antiquity of certain proverbs is among the most 
 striking singularities in the annals of the human 
 mind. Abdalmalek, one of the Khaliffs of the race 
 of Ommiades, was surnamed, by way of sarcasm, 
 Raschal Hegiarah, that is " the skinner of a flint ;" 
 and to this day we call an avaricious man a skin-flint. 
 — Universal Magazine, 1796. 
 D 4
 
 40 PROVERBS. 
 
 " TO RULE THE ROAST," 
 Is to govern, manage, or preside over. Johnson 
 observes, that it was originally written roist, which 
 signified a tumult, and then implied to direct the 
 rabble. — Riders Dictionary. 
 
 " BEAR THE BELL." 
 
 To " bear the bell" is to surpass others, or to be 
 the first in merit — alluding to the wether, which wears 
 a bell and is followed by the flock ; or to the first 
 pack-horse of a drove, who has bells on his collar. — 
 Riders Dictionary, 1759. 
 
 " ON THE NAIL." 
 
 This saying implies immediately, or without delay. 
 " We want our money on the nail." — Sivift. 
 
 Johnson supposes this phrase to have arisen from a 
 counter studded with nails. 
 
 " A SCOTCH WARMING-PAN," 
 
 That is, a wench. This saying arose from the well 
 known story of a gentleman travelling in Scotland, 
 who, desiring to have his bed warmed, the servant- 
 maid immediately undressed herself, and lay down in 
 it for a while.
 
 PROVERBS. 41 
 
 « A SCARBOROUGH WARNING," 
 
 That is, none at all — but a sudden surprise, when 
 a mischief is felt before it is suspected. This proverb 
 took its original from Thomas Stafford, who, in the 
 reign of Queen Mary, anno 1537, with a small 
 company seized on Scarborough Castle (utterly des- 
 titute of provision for resistance), before the towns- 
 men had the least notice of his approach. However, 
 within six days, by the industry of the Earl of West- 
 morland, he was taken, brought to London, and be- 
 headed. — Rays Proverbs. 
 
 " HOBSON'S CHOICE." 
 
 This is one of the most common proverbial expres- 
 sions in the English language. 
 
 Thomas Hobson was a carrier, at Cambridge. He 
 died the 1st January, 1630; and Milton, who was a 
 student at the University of that place, wrote a whim- 
 sical epitaph to his memory.* A figure of him, en 
 fresco, was also set up at the Bull in Bishopsgate 
 Street, which was the inn he frequented when in 
 London, and which, with an appropriate inscription, 
 might have been seen within these few years.f To his 
 
 * See Milton's Poems, with Notes by Warton, second edition, 
 p, 318, Xn^X.— Editor. 
 
 f Within about thirty years (see Spectator, No. 509).— £di<or.
 
 4'2 TROVERBS. 
 
 employment as a carrier, he added tlie business of 
 supplying the students with horses ; and having made 
 it an unalterable rule that every horse should have an 
 equal portion of rest and labour, he would never let 
 one out of its turn ; and hence arose the saying of 
 " Hobson's choice — this or none." 
 
 « ROWLAND FOR AN OLIVER;" 
 
 That is, to give an equivalent. Rowland and Oliver 
 were two knights, famous in romance : the wonder- 
 ful achievements of the one could only be equalled 
 by those of the other. — Dictionary Vulgar Tongue. 
 
 " PIPING HOT." 
 
 This expression is taken ft-om the custom of a baker's 
 blowing his pipe, or horn, in villages, to let the 
 people know his bread is just drawn, and conse- 
 quently " hot" and light — Lemons Dictionary^ 1783. 
 
 FROGS— WHY FRENCHMEN SO CALLED: 
 
 " Qu'eK DISEKT LES GRENOUILIES." 
 
 " Qu'en disent les Grenouilles," was the common 
 flippant speech at Versailles (about 1799), when any 
 new absurdity was planned ; meaning, " what will the 
 Frogs say to this ?" The French court, in allusion to
 
 TROVERBS. 43 
 
 the quaggy state of Paris formerly, when known by 
 the name of " Lutetia," called its inhabitants " Frogs."* 
 — Piozzis Retrospection, 1809. 
 
 « THE ENGLISH ARE THE FRENCHMEN'S 
 APES." 
 
 This proverb alludes to the rage of the English for 
 adopting French fashions. It has been suggested that 
 the word " Jackanapes," had a similar origin. By 
 adding an i after the letter e in this word, we have a 
 complete sentence : viz. " Jack-an-ape-is." 
 
 « TAG, RAG, AND BOBTAIL." 
 
 In an old work, entitled " London and the Country 
 carbonadoed and quartered," by D. Lupton, 160:?, 
 the author, speaking of the mistress of an inn, says — 
 " shee must entertaine all, good and bad, tag and rag, 
 cut and long tayle." 
 
 The meaning of " tag-rag," in Martin's Dic- 
 tionary, 1754, is a pitiful ragged fellow, and that of 
 " bobtail," a prostitute. The phrase " tag rag and 
 
 * As this term, however, is applied generally to the whole 
 French nation, and by no means confined to the inhabitants of 
 Paris, I am more inclined to adopt the common opinion, that the 
 English call the French " Frogs," in ridicule of their using part 
 of that little animal in their fooA.'— Editor.
 
 44 PROVERBS. 
 
 bobtail," signifies, therefore, all sorts of low and dirty 
 men and women. 
 
 « UNDER THE ROSE," 
 
 That is, privately, or secretly. The rose was, it is 
 said, sacred to Harpocrates, the god of silence, and 
 therefore frequently placed on the ceilings of rooms 
 destined for the receiving of guests ; and implying, 
 that whatever was transacted there should not be 
 made public. — Dictionary Vulgar Tongue, 1788. 
 
 " TO COME IN PUDDING TIME," 
 That is, by dinner time, or time to begin dinner, 
 pudding being formerly the first dish that was 
 served up. 
 
 " TO TAKE GROUND AT VILLA VICIOSA." 
 
 AN OLD SPANISH PROVERB. 
 
 The History of Villa Viciosa. — At a small distance 
 from Madrid is a little town, pleasantly situate and 
 well built; but, from the peculiar character of its 
 first inhabitants, distinguished by the reproachful 
 name of " Villa Viciosa." It is long since the occa- 
 sion of its infamy has ceased ; and various causes have 
 been given for the name : for time devours truth, and 
 conjecture after a while assumes the name of history.
 
 PROVERBS. 45 
 
 The truth is found only in a smiill tract, the work of 
 the illustrious Frejo, the author of the " Theatre of 
 Criticism." This tract is entitled, " The Complaint 
 and Vindication of the Villa Viciosa." The town is 
 introduced complaining of the geographers of that 
 and the preceding ages, for scandalizing its air, its 
 water, and its soil ; and seeking from the bowels of 
 the earth whereon it stands causes for an opprobrious 
 name. The real origin should have been sought only 
 among its first inhabitants. 
 
 In other countries, he says, vice only bears the 
 mark of infamy; but in Spain, the same reproach 
 attends on meanness. Glory is the passion of the 
 country, and they respect a name and ancestry as 
 much as all the laws of heaven and earth. They are 
 severe to all slips ; but most of all, to those which 
 are most lasting in their consequences : therefore, 
 when a nobleman marries beneath himself, he foifeits 
 all esteem. That which in England is often an effect 
 of prudence, and at the worst a slip to be foi'given, is 
 there a greater and more lasting infamy than murder. 
 
 In the days when these extravagances were at the 
 height, and long before Cervantes laughed them and 
 some others out of fashion, a person of condition, 
 whose name the author spares because of his family, 
 discovered charms, and at the same time honesty, in 
 one much beneath him. The Spaniards of those days 
 held gallantry a virtue, whilst they esteemed a dis-
 
 46 PROVERBS. 
 
 proportionate marriage the greatest of all crimes. 
 The Don attacked the lair ; he rode before her window, 
 and he gave her music — he dressed at her, and he 
 named her as the inspiring genius by whose influence 
 he excelled in all nobler exercises. 
 
 The lady was less reserved than, perhaps, a higher 
 rank would have made her : she saw him freely. The 
 Spaniard thought he had gained his point ; and when 
 he had poured forth all his passion, she owned she 
 did not see him with indifference. He was in ecstacies 
 at his conquest, but 'twas a short-lived glory ; for 
 when he spoke of love, she talked of marriage. Hav- 
 ing owned her affection, she came immediately to an 
 explanation, and when he pleaded on other terms 
 she laughed at him. He made her offers of immense 
 rewards — she told him, virtue was worth a thousand 
 of them ; he swore eternal constancy — she made a 
 jest of it, and answered him, that there could be no 
 truth where the foundation was in vice. He urged 
 the impossibility of marriage ; and she answered, death 
 was easy. " If you are insincere, my lord," said she, " I 
 ought only to despise you ; if you indeed love me 
 thus, I will teach you to act worthily." On this, she 
 took a dagger from her bosom, and said — " see this ! 
 If you have deceived me, go ; and I will only despise 
 myself for not perceiving it. If you indeed love me, 
 I will shew you what becomes an honourable passion, 
 that cannot be authorized by religion. My lord, I
 
 PROVERBS. 47 
 
 love you, I am free to say it — I love you so well, that 
 if you are sincere, life is detestable, since I am in a 
 rank that cannot have the honour of your hand ; and 
 you shall now see with how high a courage a girl may 
 be inspired by love and your example." 
 
 The Spaniard paused, for love was in his heart, and 
 he held doAvn his eyes that they might not betray it : 
 he asked her time, and she gave all he pleased. " My 
 life and death," said she, " are yours ; and yesterday, 
 to-day, to-morrow, or hereafter, all are equal. Wliat 
 matters it whether I begin this week, or the next, to 
 be forgotten ?" 
 
 They parted — and, in spite of powerful custom, the 
 Spaniard found his countrymen were fools ; that virtue 
 always, and in all states, was honour ; and that there 
 could be no just infamy but in forsaking one whose soul 
 disdained the meanness of its birth, and who had 
 added to the Roman spirit, a contempt of death, the 
 Christian reverence for virtue. *He married her ; he 
 pleaded long in vain for an indulgence to what they 
 called his fault ; and when he found that pride had 
 banished reason and virtue from their hearts, he at once 
 secluded himself fx'om them. He fixed on the delight- 
 ful spot where now stands the town, and built the 
 first edifice — the remains of which are yet to be 
 seen. 
 
 Example can do much, though it cannot prevail to 
 alienate men from habitual opinions. While the grave
 
 48 PROVERBS. 
 
 folly of the nation kept up the spirit of contempt 
 against this innovator, any one whom love reduced to 
 his condition, when he could not prevail on terms of 
 infamy, contented to retire. The first erected edifice 
 had soon its like companions ; and there arose an 
 elegant town upon the ruins, as the Spaniards called it, 
 of glory. They gave it the name by which it has 
 ever since been called ; and when a man was observed 
 to pay attention to a girl beneath him, it was a proverb 
 many ages, " Such-a-one is taking ground at Villa 
 Viciosa." 
 
 " IN THE HIGHWAY TO NEEDHAM." 
 Needham is a market-town in the county of Suffolk, 
 and, according to the wit of the vulgar, they are said 
 " to be in the highway thither who do hasten to 
 poverty." — Camden's Britannia. 
 
 '■■ IT IS DONE SECUNDUM USUM SARUM." 
 This proverb, coming out of the church, hath since 
 enlarged itself into a civil use, signifying things done 
 with exactness, according to rule and precedent. 
 Osmund, Bishop of Sarum, about the year 1090, 
 made that ordinal or office, which was generally 
 received all over the land ; so that churches thence- 
 forward easily understood one another, speaking the 
 same words in their Liturgy. — Ray, from Camden.
 
 mo VERBS. 49 
 
 " AS BLIND AS A BEETLE." 
 
 A beetle is thought to be blind, because in the even- 
 ing it will fly with its full force against a man's face, or 
 any thing else which happens to be in its way ; which 
 other insects, as bees, hornets, &c. will not do. 
 
 " AS BOLD AS BEAUCHAMP." 
 
 Of this surname there were many Earls of Warwick ; 
 " amongst whom (says Dr. Fuller) I conceive Tho- 
 mas, the first of that name, gave chief occasion to 
 this proverb ; who, in the year 1346, with one squire 
 and six archers, fought in hostile manner with an 
 hundred armed men, at Hogges in Normandy, and 
 overthrew them, slaying sixty Normans, and giving 
 the whole fleet means to land." 
 
 " BY TRE, POL, AND PEN, 
 
 YOU SHALL KNOW THE CORNISH MEN." 
 
 Dr. Fuller, in his " Worthies of England," under 
 the head of Cornwall, says, " these three words are 
 the dictionary of such surnames as are originally 
 Cornish. Thus Tre, signifieth a town ; hence Trefry, 
 Trelawney, Trevannion, &c. Pol, signifieth a head ; 
 hence Polwheel, Polgrean, &c. Pen, a top ; lience 
 Penkie, Penrose, Penkevil, &c." 
 
 E
 
 50 PROVERBS. 
 
 Another old rhyme increases the number of peculiar 
 syllables by which the names of Cornish families may 
 be distinguished : — 
 
 " By Tre, Ros, Pol, Laii, Caer, and Pen, 
 You may know tlic most Cornish men." 
 
 " A YORKSHIRE WAY-BIT." 
 That is, an overplus not accounted in the reckoning, 
 but which sometimes proves as much as all the rest. 
 Ask a countryman, how many miles it is to such a 
 town, and he will commonly answer, so many miles 
 and a " way-bit ;" which way-bit is enough to make 
 the weary traveller surfeit with the length thereof. 
 But it is not " way-bit," tliough generally so pro- 
 nounced, but " wee-bit," a pure Yorkshirism, which 
 is a small bit, in the northern language. — Rays 
 Proverbs. 
 
 " BEAU TRAPS," 
 Are said to have been first invented and made 
 by chairmen, at Bath, who, perhaps, still continue 
 the practice, viz. of loosening a flat stone on the 
 footway, that, in rainy weather, those who choose to 
 save their money by walking might, by treading on 
 the loose stone, throw up the dirty water settled 
 under it, upon their shoes, stockings, &c — Gent's 
 Mas. 1793. 
 
 I
 
 PROVERBS. 51 
 
 " A WELSH RABBIT." 
 
 Bread and cheese toasted, i. e. a " Welsh rare bit." 
 Dictionary Vulgar Tongue^^^^Q'd. 
 
 « BANKRUPT CART." 
 
 A one-horse chaise, said to be so called, by a Lord 
 Chief Justice,* from their being so frequently used on 
 Sunday jaunts by extravagant shopkeepers and trades- 
 men. — Dictionary Vulgar Tongue, 1788. 
 
 " TO BOOT." 
 
 " But" is the imperative hot of botan, " to boot," 
 i. e. to superadd, to supply, to substitute, to com- 
 pensate with, to remedy with, to make amends with, 
 to add something^ more, in order to make up a defi- 
 ciency in something else. — Mr. Home's Letter to Mr. 
 Dunning — Annual Register, 1778. 
 
 " CANTERBURY GALLOP." 
 
 In horsemanship, the hard gallop of an ambling 
 horse ; probably derived from the monks riding to 
 Canterbury upon ambling horses — Rider's Dictionary. 
 
 * Mansfield.— JErfJior. 
 E 2
 
 52 PROVERBS. 
 
 " DUTCH SALE." 
 
 That is, bidding downwards, which is the invariable 
 practice throughout Holland, and was adopted in 
 some large private and most of Government sales. 
 
 This usage is as follows : an article is set up at any 
 price the auctioneer pleases: if nobody bids, he 
 lowers the price, and thus continues lowering until 
 some person cries " mine," and that person who 
 so claims it is then entitled to it — a practice con- 
 genial to Dutch taciturnity — Legal Recreati<Ms. 
 
 " SHERRY," 
 
 WHY CALLED BRISTOL MILK, &C. 
 
 " Bristol milk :" that is, Sherry ; a Spanish white 
 wine. Ray calls it Sherry Sack, and says it is the 
 entertainment of course, which the Bristolians present 
 to strangers when first visiting their city. The true 
 name of Sherry, is " Sherris," which it derives from 
 Xeres, a town in the province of Andalusia, where 
 it is made.— Grose'* Provincial Glossary, Proverbs, 
 Sfc. 
 
 ON THE TAPIS." 
 
 The aft'air is on the " tapis," or " carpet," is bor- 
 rowed from the House of Peers, where the table used 
 to be, and probably still is, covered with a carpet. 
 
 .aI'.
 
 PROVERBS. 53 
 
 " HOW WILL YOU BE TRIED?" 
 
 The question in courts of law, " how wilt thou be 
 tried ?" is an old form, anciently very significant, 
 when there were several forms of trial ; as by battle, 
 ordeal, and jury. The criminal answering " by God 
 and my country," was his choice and election to be 
 tried by a jury ; which form is now of little use. — 
 Spelman, Sfc. — Fortesque's Monarchy, 1719. 
 
 " GREENWICH GEESE." W^T^' 
 
 WHY THE PENSIONERS AT GREENWICH HOSPITAL AKE SO CALLED. 
 
 A farmer who, with several others in the neighbour- 
 hood of Greenwich, had from time to time lost 
 several geese, nobody knew how, being roused very 
 early one morning, by a noise made by a small 
 flock of these cacklers, instantly jumped out of bed, 
 in hopes of making some discovery ; when his notice 
 was attracted by some Greenwich pensioners, a short 
 way below his farm, who were just putting off a boat 
 from the shore. — On this, in a kind of surprise, he 
 exclaimed, " there goes my geese ! there goes my 
 geese !" On examination, however, no other animals 
 could be seen ; in consequence of which, the pen- 
 sioners have been since called " Greenwich geese." 
 — Anonymous. 
 
 £ 3 
 
 • 
 
 Ml
 
 54f PROVERBS. 
 
 " COCKNEY," 
 
 (Pais de cocagne, in Boileau, is a country of 
 dainties. Similar to this is " a lond yhote cocaying," 
 Saxon ; on which Dr. Hicks remarks, that the last word 
 implied a person given to luxury, voluptuousness, and 
 effeminate pleasures, and from hence, was given as a 
 term of reproach to those that live in cities, being at 
 first wrote cocaign, and by time corrupted into Cock- 
 ney) ; a person born in London. — Rider's Dictionary. 
 
 " COCKNEY OR COCKNEIGH." 
 Applied only to one born within the sound of Bow- 
 bell, that is, within the City of London, which term 
 came first (according to Minshew) out of this tale : 
 A citizen's son, riding with his father out of London 
 into the country, and being utterly ignorant how com 
 grew or cattle increased, asked, when he heard a 
 horse neigh, what he did? his father answered " the 
 horse doth neigh ;" riding further, the son heard a cock 
 crow, and said, " doth the cock neigh too ?" Hence, by 
 iway of jeer, he was called " cockneigh." 
 
 A cockney, according to some, is a child that sucks 
 long; but Erasmus takes it for a child wantonly 
 brought up, and calls it, in Latin, mammothreptus. 
 
 Camden takes the etymology of cockney from the 
 river Thamasis, which runs by London, and was of 
 
 #
 
 PROVERBS. ' 55 
 
 old time called Cockney. Others say, the little brook 
 which runs by Turn-bole or Turn-mill Street, was 
 anciently so called. — Blount's Dictionary, 1681. 
 
 " A LONDON COCKNEY." 
 
 This nickname is more than four hundred years old ; 
 for when Hugh Bigot added artificial fortifications to 
 his naturally strong castle of Bungey in Suffolk, he 
 gave out this rhyme, therein vaunting it for impreg- 
 nable : 
 
 " Were I in my Castle of Bungey, 
 
 Upon the river Waveney, 
 
 I would ne care for the King of Cockney." 
 
 Meaning thereby King Henry H. then quietly 
 possessed of London, whilst some other places did 
 resist him : though afterwards he so humbled this Hugh, 
 that he was fain with large sums of money, and pledges 
 for his loyalty, to redeem this his castle from being 
 rased to the ground. I meet with a double sense of 
 this word cockney. 1. One coaxed and coquered, made 
 a wanton or nestle-cock ; delicately bred and brought 
 up, so that, when grown up, to be able to endure no 
 hardship. 2. One utterly ignorant of country affairs, 
 of husbandr}' and housewifery, as there practised. 
 The original thereof, and the tale of the citizen's son, 
 who heard the crowing of acock, but called it " neigh- 
 ing," is commonly known. — Rays Proverbs^ 1737. 
 E 4
 
 56 * PHOVERBS. 
 
 Cockney, &c. afforded mirth to the country 
 squires, that used to relate over their evening bowl 
 how my Lord Mayor, when hunting with a pack 
 of little beagles, being informed that the hare was 
 coming past him, drew his sword, and in a posture 
 of defence exclaimed triumphantly, " Why, let him 
 come ! with the help of my God, I fear him not." — 
 Piozzi's Retrospection^ 1809. 
 
 « SPICK AND SPAN NEW," &c. 
 
 From " spica," an ear of corn, and the spawn of 
 fishes, says Mr. Howel ; but rather, as I am informed 
 by a better author, " spike" is a sort of nail, and 
 " sprun" is a chip of a boat ; so that it is all one as 
 to say " every chip and nail is new." — Rays Proverhs, 
 1737. ^ 
 
 Another Account. — <' Spick and span new ;" every 
 part new — (south-country term). Some derive this 
 from a spear, the head of which was vulgarly called the 
 spike, and the handle or staff the span ; so that 
 " spick and span new" was both head and staff, that 
 is, the whole weapon new. — Groses Provincial Glos- 
 sary. 
 
 Another Account — " Spic and span new" is an idea 
 taken from cloth stretched or expanded on the spikes 
 or tenter-hooks ; which is said to be " spic or span 
 new," when just taken down from the hooks : and from
 
 PROVERBS 57 
 
 this idea of new cloth, the expression has been applied 
 to every thing else that is just come out of the hands 
 of the workman. — Lemons Dictionary, 1783. 
 
 ' COCK-A-HOOP." 
 
 " Cock-on-hoop ;" our ancestors called that the cock 
 which we call the spiggot, or perhaps they used such 
 cocks in their vessels as are still retained in water-pipes ; 
 the cock being taken out and laid on the hoop of the ves- 
 sel, they used to drink up the ale as it ran out with- 
 out intermission (in Staffordshire, now called stunning 
 a barrel of ale), and then they were " Cock-on-hoop," 
 i. e. at the height of mirth and jollity ; a saying still 
 retained. — Blount's Dictionary, 1681. 
 
 " PICK-A-BACK AND PICK-A-PACK." 
 
 (Formed by reduplication, from pack), upon one 
 back, or after the manner of a pack. — Riders Dic- 
 tionary. 
 
 " DON." 
 
 Do on, or put on ; don your clothes, put on your 
 clothes : Gloucester. — Groses Provincial Glossary. 
 
 -^^v:.
 
 58 PROVERBS. 
 
 * 
 " CHARWOMAN, CHARING," &c. 
 
 Char, a particular business or task; that cliar is 
 char'd, that job is done. I have a Httle char for you ; 
 hence charwoman, and going out charing : north- 
 country ; — pronounced in Wiltshire a cheare Groses 
 
 Provmcial Glossary. 
 
 " MEALY-MOUTHED," 
 
 Means simply, what Butler says of his hero's 
 horse, 
 
 " The beast was sturdy, large, and tall. 
 With ' mouth of meal,' and eyes of wall." 
 
 Part i. Cant. i. p. 424. 
 
 i. e. " white-mouthed," as if whitened, or covered 
 with meal or flour. We understand it sometimes in 
 the sense of a lubberly fellow, who is half a fool, 
 and has no life, blood, nor spirit in him : unable to 
 utter a word for himself, through foolish sheepishness, 
 and whose very lips are pale and languid. — Lemons 
 Dictio7iary, 1783. 
 
 I 
 
 " MAUDLIN," 
 
 (A corruption of Magdalen, who being drawn by 
 painters with swollen eyes and a disordered look, might 
 have given occasion to apply the name to a drunken 
 countenance, on account of its bearing some faint and
 
 PROVERBS. 59 
 
 ludicrous resenrolance) ; drunk ; intoxicated with liquor. 
 — Rider's Dictionary. 
 
 DAGGLE TAILED." 
 
 Dag signifies dew upon the grass : hence a womaii, 
 who has dirtied her clothes with wet or mire, is 
 called daggle-tail, corrupted to draggle-tail. — Groses 
 Provincial Glossary. 
 
 " WELTER." 
 To welter, or waddle, to go aside or heavily — as 
 women with child, or fat persons. From the Saxon 
 tuealtian, to reel or stagger, or else from the Saxon 
 weltan, to tumble or roll ; whence " weltering in 
 blood," north-country. — Grose's Provincial Glossary. 
 
 " DOFF." 
 (From do off ), to put off clothes, &c. 
 
 " Alcides doffs the lion's tawny skin," 
 
 Rowc. 
 
 Now obsolete, unless among countryfolks. — Rider. 
 
 " TIT FOR TAT." 
 
 Only a various dialect of this-for-that." — Lemon's 
 Dictionary, 1783.
 
 60 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 DOUT, DOUTER." 
 
 " Dout," to do out, or put out ; as dout the candle, 
 put out the candle : Gloucester. 
 
 " Douter,'' an extinguisher — " douters," instru- 
 ments like snuffers, for extinguishing the candle without 
 cutting the wick : north. — Grose's Provincial Glossary. 
 
 " TITTLE-TATTLE." 
 
 " Tittle," (tit, Teut. little), a point or dot. 
 " Tittle tattle," (from Tit small, and tattle), small 
 talk, idle prating. — Rider. 
 
 " HELTER SKELTER." 
 
 Kelter or kilter, France ; order or condition, north- 
 country. Hence helter-skelter, a corruption of helter, 
 to hang, and kelter, order, i. c. hang order, or in 
 defiance of order. In good kelter, in good case or 
 condition. — Groses Provincial Glossary. 
 
 *" « TOPSY TURVY," 
 
 Is considered by some to be derived from the turn- 
 ing of turf topside-downwards ; hence called " topside
 
 PROVERBS. 61 
 
 turfway," i. e.lhe way in which they lay turf when 
 cut for fuel, or removed to other places. 
 
 Mr. Upton on Spenser, vol. 8, more sensibly makes 
 it a corruption of the topside of any thing turned 
 down. 
 
 " HARUM-SCARUM." 
 
 Hare, to affright or make wild (south-country); 
 hence " harum-scarum," or " starum." — Groses Pro- 
 vincial Glossary. 
 
 Thus Mr. Grose has it ; but query, if not from a 
 hunted or frightened hare. — Editor. 
 
 " HURLY BURLY," 
 
 In vulgar language, denotes confusion and tumult, 
 and is said to owe its origin to two neighbouring 
 families, Hurleigh and Burleigh, who filled their part 
 of the kingdom with contest and violence. — Encyclo- 
 pedia. 
 
 " HUGGER MUGGER." 
 
 This phrase is supposed by some to be derived 
 from " huger murcker," to hug or embrace in the 
 dark. Skinner derives it from hogan. Sax., cr hogger, 
 
 _^£l'»
 
 62 PROVERBS. 
 
 Belg., to be fond of, and morcker, TeuH, darkness. Sir 
 Thomas More writes it " hoker moker." 
 
 A witty friend of the editor's has sent him the 
 following explanation : " hugger mugger," quasi hug 
 her, and mug her, confusion and disorder ; and surely, 
 says he, any female would be so affected, were any 
 one so rude as violently to hug, and excessively to mug 
 her. 
 
 I 
 
 ^9p^ 
 
 ^
 
 m- 
 
 MISCELLANEA, 
 
 FROM VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. 
 
 " Variis locis dispersa in unutn fasciculum redegi." 
 
 THE MAGIC CIRCLE OF THE DRUIDS. 
 
 The original meaning of Superstition, iKiih the pro- 
 bable Origin of the Words Arraigned, Arrested, 
 Religion, Verger of a Court, Sfc. 
 
 It was the custom among the Druids to administer 
 justice on tlie spot by the presiding Druid, sub dio, 
 within the circle or ray, which therefore was equiva- 
 lent to our bar. Any person being thus in the name of 
 justice put under the circumscription of a line drawn 
 round him, was obliged to stand fixed to the spot, 
 under the severest penalties, both spiritual and tempo- 
 ral. From the word raj/ may be derived Rhea, the 
 goddess of justice; rheus, the party accused, and 
 perhaps religion. From this ray, as mentioned above, 
 it was deemed the highest of all crimes to escape, or to 
 transgress it till delivered by justice ; and hence super- 
 stition (of super upon, and stare to stand, a term of 
 which many have sought the derivation in vain), or 
 
 ■'t^
 
 
 6i MISCELLANEA. 
 
 continuing thus to stand on one spot until duly dis- 
 charged, was at first a serious and sacred word, but in 
 process of time, through abuse, has, hke many other 
 words in our language, acquired a reproachful significa- 
 tion. Religion even, as it appears in Latin {ligare 
 signifying to bind), is almost Hterally the being bound 
 by the ray. In this institution we have also the most 
 probable origin of the Magic Circle, of which some 
 traces are to be found in almost all countries. The 
 magician's wand was nothing but the bough by which 
 the party aiTaigned at Cat ray in) was arrested (at 
 ray est). Of this custom we have some remains to this 
 day, in the constable's staff and sheriff's wand.* 
 
 Here also is found the true reason why jurymen, 
 being once charged with a prisoner, could not depart 
 till they had acquitted or condemned him. The trial 
 having formerly been in the open air, and the culprit 
 under no confinement but that of the superstition of 
 the ray, or circle of justice, by which he was surround- 
 ed, that bond might seem to be dissolved when the 
 jury had taken cognizance of his case. Their departure 
 must have been considered as a termination of proce- 
 dure, and the prisoner ipso facto at liberty. — Hutchin- 
 son's Cumberland, 1784, and others. 
 
 * The verge of a court is a term still used in the law. It in 
 some cases applies to the limits or confines of privileges, and in 
 others to the verge or w and of the bailiff of a customary court, 
 under which the tenant performs his homage and fealty, and takes 
 his admittance. Hence " Verger." 
 
 •
 
 *»« 
 
 
 MISCELLANEA, 65 
 
 BOROUGH ENGLISH. 
 
 OaiaiN OF THE CUSTOM, AND WHY SO CALLED. 
 
 " Borough English" is a custom which prevails in 
 certain ancient boroughs^ by virtue of which the 
 youngest son shall inherit his father, as to the lands of 
 which he is seized in fee-simple or fee-tail. 
 
 The reason of this custom seems to be, that in these 
 boroughs people chiefly maintained and supported 
 themselves by trade and industry ; and the elder chil- 
 dren being provided for out of their father's goods, 
 and introduced into his trade in his lifetime, were able 
 to subsist of themselves without any land provision ; 
 and, therefore, the lands descended to the youngest 
 son, he being in most danger of being left destitute. 
 
 Some hold that it is called " Borough English," 
 simply because it first prevailed in England. Others 
 have told us, the reason of this institution was, because 
 the lord demanded the first night* with the bride, so 
 that the eldest child was not thought legitimate. — 
 Bacons Abridgment. 
 
 The following extract upon the same subject is taken 
 from " Henry's History of England," where he is 
 speaking of the ancient British laws ; viz. between the 
 years 55 before Christ and 449 after Christ. 
 
 • This custom actually prevailed in Scotland, and some say in 
 the north of England, and will be found explained in page 68, 
 under " Gwabr-merched, or Maid's Fee." — Editor. 
 F 
 
 m
 
 66 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 " Nay, in some other places of these laws which 
 settle the manner in which the estate was to be divided 
 among the sons, it appeared that the youngest was 
 more favoured in the division than the eldest, or any 
 
 his brothers." — " When the brothers have divided 
 their father's estate amongst them, the youngest brother 
 shall have the best house, with all the office-houses, 
 the implements of husbandry, his father's kettle, his 
 axe for cutting wood, and his knife : these three last 
 things the father cannot give away by gift, nor leave 
 by his last will to any but his youngest son ; and if 
 they are pledged they shall be redeemed." 
 
 " The reason of this extraordinary custom might 
 perhaps be this : the elder brothers of a family were 
 supposed to have left their father's house before his 
 death, and to have obtained houses of their own ; but 
 the youngest, by reason of his tender age, and by con- 
 tinuing in his father's family to the last, was considered 
 as more helpless and unprovided for." 
 
 MORRIS DANCING. 
 The Moresco or Moorish dance, brought in by 
 Catherine of Arragon, is scarcely quite out of the 
 island yet. Morris-dancing (for so by corruption it was 
 called) lasted till the reign of George II. at least, and 
 morris pikes for the purpose were common in Wales 
 five years ago. — Piozzis Retrospection.,' 1809. 
 
 «# 
 
 9
 
 MISCELLANEA. 6? 
 
 SCOTCH AND ENGLISH, or BEGGARLY SCOT. 
 
 This is the name of a game in the north of England, 
 which originated in the enmity between the Scotch and 
 English.* The following is extracted from " Nichol- 
 son and Burn's Westmorland and Cumberland." Hous- 
 man, in his " Description of Cumberland," 1800, also 
 alludes to it : — " Even the very diversion of the chil- 
 dren had a reference to this border enmity. The boys to 
 this day have a play which they call Scotch and English, 
 which is an exact picture in miniature of the raid, that 
 is of the inroad, by plundering parties. The boys 
 divide themselves into two companies, under two cap- 
 tains, who choose their men alternately. Then they 
 strip off their coats ; the one party calling themselves 
 Scots, the other English. . They lay their clothes 
 respectively all on a heap, and set a stone, as it were 
 a bounder-mark, between the two kingdoms, exactly in 
 the middle between their heaps of clothes. Then they 
 begin to make incursions into each other's territories ; 
 the English beginning with this reviling expression : 
 * Here's a leap into thy land, dry-bellied Scot !'t and 
 so they plunder and steal away one from another all 
 that they can lay their hands on. But if they can take 
 hold of any invader within their own jurisdiction, either 
 
 * French and English is the name of tlie same game in the south 
 of 'England.— Editor. 
 
 f The sarcastical expression of *' dry-bellied Scot" is taken 
 from the common fare of the Scotch being oaten cakes or 
 bread. — Editor. 
 
 ¥ 2
 
 68 
 
 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 before or after he catcheth his booty, which they calif 
 a wed (the same being a Saxon word tvaed, xaeda, 'weed, 
 not yet quite out of use, signifying clothing),* unless 
 he escape clear into his own province, they take him 
 prisoner, and carry him to the toed or heap of clothes, 
 from whence he is not to remove till some of his own 
 party break in, and, by swiftness of foot, lay hold of 
 the prisoner before he himself be touched by any of 
 the adverse party ; which, if the adversary do, he hath 
 rescued his man, and may carry him off without moles- 
 tation. And thus one party will so far prevail over 
 the other, what with plundering and what with taking 
 prisoners, that the other shall have nothing at all left. 
 It is a very violent recreation. 
 
 " GWABR-MERCHED" or " MAID'S FEE."—" MAR- 
 CHET" OR " MARCHETA MULIERIS." 
 
 By reference to the Encyclopaedia, it appears that 
 marchet or marcheta was a pecuniary fine, anciently 
 paid by the tenant to his lord for the marriage of one 
 of the tenant's daughters. 'J'his custom obtained, with 
 some difference, throughout all England and Wales, 
 as also in Scotland. 
 
 In the manor of Dinover in Caermarthenshire it was, 
 and very probably still is, the custom for every tenant, 
 at the marriage of his daughter, to pay ten shillings to 
 the lord, which was called in the British language 
 
 * As " widow's weeds."
 
 MISCELLANEA. 69 
 
 gwabr-merched, i. e. maid's Jee. In Scotland, and the 
 northern parts of England,* the custom was for the 
 lord to lie the first night with the bride of his tenant ; 
 but this usage was abrogated by King Malcolm III., 
 at the instance of his Queen, and in lieu thereof a 
 mark was paid by the bridegroom to the lord, whence 
 it was called marcheta mulieris. — Encyclopcedia, 8fc. 
 
 WHY A MAN MEASURES MORE IN THE MORN- 
 ING THAN IN THE EVENING, &c. 
 
 There is an odd phenomenon attending the human 
 body, as singular as common : that a person is shorter 
 standing than lying ; and shorter in the evening when 
 he goes to bed, than in the morning when he rises. 
 
 This remark was first made in England, and after- 
 wards confirmed at Paris, by M. Morand, a member of 
 the Royal Academy of Sciences in France, and by the 
 Abbot Fontina likewise. 
 
 The last-mentioned person found, from a year's ex- 
 perience, that ordinarily in the night he gained five or 
 six lines, and lost nearly as much in the day. 
 
 The cause of which effect, so ancient, so common, 
 but so lately perceived, proceeds from the different 
 state or condition of the inter-vertebral annular car- 
 tilages. 
 
 * In other authorities which I have seen, but which I am 
 unable to quote, it is stated that it cannot be proved that this 
 custom ever obtained in England. — Editor. 
 F 3
 
 70 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 The vertebrae, or joints of the spine, are kept 
 separate, though joined by particular cartilages, every 
 one of which has a spring. These yield on all sides, 
 without any inflexion of the spine, to the weight of 
 the head and upper extremities ; but this is done by 
 very small and imperceptible degrees, and most of all 
 when the upper parts of the body are loaded with any 
 exterior weight. So that a man is really taller after 
 lying some time, than after walking, or carrying a 
 burthen a great while. 
 
 For this reason it is that, in the day and evening, 
 while one is sitting or standing, the superior parts of 
 the body that weigh or press upon the inferior, press 
 those elastic annular cartilages, the bony jointed work 
 is contracted, the superior parts of the body descend 
 towards the inferior, and proportionably as one ap- 
 proaches the other, the height of the stature diminishes. 
 
 Hence it was, that a fellow enlisting for a soldier, by 
 being measured over-night, was found deficient in height, 
 and therefore refused ; but by accident being gauged 
 again the next morning, and coming up to the stature, 
 he was admitted. 
 
 On the contrary, in the night-time, when the body 
 is laid a-bed, as it is in an horizontal situation, or 
 nearly so, the superior parts do not weigh, or but very 
 little, upon the interior ; the spring of the cartilages is 
 unbent, the vertebrae are removed from one another, 
 the long jointed work of the spine is dilated, and th^fe|^'| 
 body thereby prolonged ; so that a person finds him^^
 
 WK^im 
 
 MISCELLANEA. 71 
 
 self about half an inch, or more, higher in stature in 
 the morning than when going to bed. This is the 
 most natural and simple reason that can be given, for 
 the different heights of the same person at different 
 times. — Gentleman s Magazine, 1767. 
 
 CEREMONY OF THE BOAR'S HEAD. 
 At a time when fresh meats were seldom eaten, 
 brawn was considered as a great delicacy. It is well 
 known that the boar's head soused was anciently the 
 first dish on Christmas-day, and was carried up to the 
 principal table in the hall with great state and solem- 
 nity. Hollinshead says, that in the year 1 170, upon 
 the day of the young Prince's coronation, King Henry 
 I. " served his sonne at table as sewer, bringing up m^ 
 the boar's head with trumpets before it, according to 
 the manner." For this indispensable ceremony, as also 
 for others of that season, there was a carol, which 
 Wynkyn de Worde has given us as it was sung in his 
 time, with the title, " A Carol, bringing iii the Bore's 
 Head :"— 
 
 Caput Apri defero 
 
 Reddens Laudes Domino. 
 The bore's head in hande bringe I 
 With garlandes gay, and rosemarye. 
 I pray you all, sing merely. 
 
 Qui estisin convivio. 
 
 F 4 'o 
 
 *
 
 72 MISCELLANEA. ^ ^ 
 
 The bore's head, I understande, 
 Is the chcfe servyce in this lande ; 
 Looke, wherever it be fonde 
 Servile cum cantico. 
 
 Be gladde, lordes, both more and lesse,* 
 
 For this hrith ordayiied our stewarde •<» 
 
 To chere you all this Christmasse, 
 
 The bore's head with mustarde. 
 
 This carol, says Mr. Warton, is retained at Queen's 
 College in Oxford, though with many innovations. 
 
 There is indeed in the college an old legend^ that a 
 wild boar, which infested the neighbourhood of Oxford, 
 was killed by a taberdar of this college on Christmas- 
 day, as he was going to serve a church ; and that he 
 killed it by thrusting his Aristotle down the throat of 
 the animal ; protecting his arm in the rencontre with 
 some part of his gown. This story, it is probable, may 
 have contributed to the continuance of the ceremony 
 of the boar's head at Queen's longer than any where 
 else : but the song has no allusion to it. That simply 
 states, that the boar's head is " the rarest dish in all 
 this land ;" and that it has been provided " in honour 
 of the King of Bliss." There is, however, a song on 
 this supposed feat of the taberdar, written by Dr. Har- 
 rington of Bath, and printed in the Oxford Sausage ; 
 so full of wit and humour, that we feel assured our 
 readers will not be displeased to find it annexed. 
 
 * J. e. both high and low.
 
 MISCELLANEA. 7''^ 
 
 In Honour of the Celebration of the Boars Head, at 
 Queens College, Oxford, 
 
 Tarn Marti, quam Mercurio. 
 I sing not of Roman or Grecian mad Games, 
 The Pythian, Olympic, and such like hard names. 
 Your patience awhile with submission I beg, 
 Whilst I study to honour the feast of CoU. Reg. 
 
 Derry down, &c. 
 
 No Thracian bowls at our rites e'er prevail, 
 We temper our mirth with plain, sober, mild ale ; 
 The tricks of old Circe deter us from wine ; 
 Though we honour a boar, we won't make ourselves swine. 
 
 Derry down, &c. 
 
 Great Milo was famous for slaying his ox, 
 
 Yet he prov'd but a dull ass in cleaving of blocks : 
 
 But we had an hero for all things was fit, 
 
 Our motto displays both his valour and wit.*. 
 
 Derry down, &c. 
 
 Stout Hercules labour'd, and look'd mighty big 
 When he slew the half-starved Erymanthian pig ; 
 But %ve can relate such a stratagem taken. 
 That the stoutest of boars could not— saw his own bacon. 
 
 Derry down, &c. 
 
 So dreadful this bristle-back'd foe did appear. 
 You'd have sworn he had got the wrong pig by the ear. 
 But, instead of avoiding the mouth of the beast. 
 He ramm'd in a volume, and cry'd — Grcccum est. 
 
 Derry down, &c. 
 
 * i. e. TQ,m marti, &c.
 
 74 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 Ill this gallant action such fortitude shewn is, 
 ^ As proves him no coward, nor tender Adonis ; ja ^ 
 No armour but logic ; by which we may find, 4Hi| Sk 
 
 That logic's the bulwark of body and mind. *lf; 
 
 Derry down, Sec. 
 
 Ye squires, that fear neither hills nor rough rocks, 
 And think you're full wise when you outwit a poor fox ; 
 Enrich your poor brains, and expose them no more, 
 Learn Greek, and seek glory from hunting the boar. 
 
 Derry down, down, down, derry down. 
 
 Hutchinson's History of Cumberland, ITQ^. 
 
 JACK KETCH. 
 
 WHY EXECUTIONERS SO CALLED. ^^H- ■?■• 
 
 In 1664, Dun was the name of the public execu- 
 tioner, and the executioners long after that went by 
 the same name. Mr. Butler, in his " Proposals for 
 farming Liberty of Conscience," published in 1663, 
 amongst other resolutions, gives the following one. 
 " Resolved, that a day of solemn fasting be; and 
 among many other particulars, lastly to be delivered 
 from the hand of Dun, that uncircumcised Philistine." 
 His predecessor's name was Gregory, as appears from 
 the prologue to Mercurius Pragmaticus, a tragi- 
 comedy, acted at Paris in 1641 : 
 
 This trembles under the black rod, and he 
 Doth fear his fate from the Gregorian tree : 
 
 and in a paper called " The Parliament Kite," 1648, 
 mention is made of him : 
 
 :•:*
 
 MISCELLANEA. 7^ 
 
 ^ What would you say to see them fall 
 
 With both their houses vile, 
 
 Because they have deceiv'd us all, 
 Now Gregory they'll beguile ! 
 Sir William Segar, Garter King-at-Arms, was im- 
 posed upon by Brook, a herald, who procured him, 
 by artifice, to confirm arms to Gregory Brandon, who 
 was found to be common hangman of London. ' And 
 from him, probably, the hangman was called Gregory 
 for some time. The name of Dun, which succeeded 
 that of Gregory, is mentioned by Cotton, in Virgil 
 Travestie, published in 1670, b. 4, p. 124 : 
 
 Away therefore my lass does trot, 
 
 And presently an halter got, 
 
 Made of the best string hempen teer, 
 
 And, 'ere a cat could lick her ear. 
 
 Had tied it up, with as much art 
 
 As Dun himself could do for his heart. 
 
 The name of Dun was continued to these finishers 
 of the law twelve years longer, when one " Jack Ketch," 
 about one hundred and forty years ago, was ad- 
 vanced to that office, who has left his name to his 
 successors ever since. This appears from Butler's 
 Ghost, published in 1682. When the author wrote 
 the first part of it, 'tis plain that Dun was the exe- 
 cutioner's name or nick-name : 
 
 For you yourself to act ' Squire Z)itn— 
 
 Such ignominy ne'er saw the sun ; 
 
 but before he had printed off his poem, Jaok Ketch 
 was in office : 
 
 •M^^
 
 76 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 'Jill Ketch observing he was chous'tl, 
 And in his profits much abus'd,* 
 In open hall tlic tribune dunn'd, 
 To do his office, or refund. 
 
 None of these, however, in their office, could come 
 up to the Dutch headsman, mentioned by Mr. Cleve- 
 land, and of whom it was reported, " that he would 
 do his office with so much ease and dexterity, that 
 the head, after the execution, should stand still upon 
 the shoulders." 
 
 Thejollovoing relation is extractedjrom " Hatton's 
 Derby." 
 
 About the reign of Oliver Cromwell, or the be- 
 ginning of Charles the Second's, a whole family, con- 
 sisting of a father and two sons, of the name of 
 Crosland, were tried at Derby assizes, and condemned, 
 for horse-stealing. As the offence was not capital, 
 the Bench, after sentence, entertained the cruel whim 
 of extending mercy to one of the criminals, but upon 
 this barbarous condition, that the pardoned man should 
 hang the other two. Where favour wantons in cruelty, 
 it becomes detestable, and gives greater offence than 
 even the culprits. The offer was made to the father, 
 being the senior. As distress is the season for reflec- 
 tion, he replied with meekness, *' Was it ever known 
 that a father hanged his children ? How can I take 
 
 * Alluding to the execution of Charles I., which was not per- 
 formed by the regular operator, but by some person in a mask. 
 
 Editor. 
 
 I 
 
 k
 
 MISCELLANEA. 77 
 
 away those lives which I have given, have cherished, it 
 and which of all things are most dear ?" He bowed, 
 declined the ofFer, and gave up his life ; but this noble 
 reply ought to have pleaded his pardon. It was then Jp 
 made to the eldest son, who trembling answered, 
 " Though life is the most valuable of all possessions, 
 yet even that may be purchased too dear — I cannot 
 consent to preserve my existence by taking away his 
 who gave it ; nor could I face the world, or even 
 myself, should I be left the only branch of that family 
 I had destroyed." Love, tenderness, compassion, 
 and all the appendages of honour, must have associ- 
 ated in returning this answer. The proposition was 
 then made to the youngest son, John, who accepted 
 it with an avidity that seemed to tell the court, he 
 would hang half the creation, and even his own 
 judges, sooner than be a sufferer himself. He per- 
 formed the fatal work, without remorse, upon his 
 father and brother ; in which he acquitted himself 
 with such dexterity, that he was appointed to the 
 office of hangman in Derby and two or three neigh- 
 bouring counties, and continued in it to extreme age. 
 So void was he of feeling for distress, that he rejoiced 
 at a murder, because it brought him the prospect of 
 a guinea. Perhaps he was the only man in court 
 who could hear with pleasure a sentence of death. 
 The bodies of the executed were his perquisite : signs 
 of life have been known to return after the execution, 
 in which case, he prevented the growing existence by
 
 78 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 violence. Loving none, and beloved by none, he 
 spent a life of enmity with man. The very children 
 pelted him in the streets : the mothers endeavoured to 
 stop the infant cry with the name of " John Crosland." 
 He died about the year 1705. 
 
 BRITANNIA. 
 
 WHY BRITAIN IS REPRESENTED BY A WOMAN SITTING, WITH A 
 SHIKLD, &C. ON THE ONE SIDE OF OUR ENGLISH COINS. 
 
 The fancy was probably taken from some old 
 Roman coins, one of which we have seen, which 
 represented Britain in the same manner. There are 
 two very like in Mr. Camden's " Britannia," p. 98, 
 table 3, both of Antoninus Pius. On the reverse of 
 one, Britannia is represented sitting on a globe, 
 though with no spear or shield : on the other, that 
 which we have seen, she is in the same posture, 
 though much nearer our present coins, with a shield 
 under her and a spear in her hand — only in the shield 
 we have now added the cross — Athenian Oracle. 
 
 MARRIAGE OF COUSINS. 
 People in general are too apt to adopt common notions 
 and current opinions, without giving themselves the trou- 
 ble to consider the truth and propriety of them. Thus 
 it is a subject of frequent remark, that " second cou- 
 sins should not be allowed to marry by the canon 
 
 1# IJP
 
 MISCELLANEA. 79 
 
 law, when there is no objection to the marriage of 
 first cousins." The fact, however, is, that the mar- 
 riage of second cousins is prohibited by the canons. 
 The court of Rome was very fertile in inventing 
 prohibitions, in order to reap the profits of dispensa- 
 tions : but the civil law permits first cousins to marry ; 
 so that it was by confounding the civil law, by which 
 first cousins may marry, with the canon law, by 
 which second cousins cannot, that this mistaken notion 
 in all probability arose. — Wood, C. L., pp. 118, 119. 
 
 This difference was reconciled by the statute 38 
 Henry VIII., c. 38, from the construction of which, 
 it is clear that both first and second cousins may 
 marry. 
 
 ON THE ANTIQUITY OF SALUTING PERSONS 
 ON SNEEZING. 
 
 About the year of our Lord 750, is commonly 
 reckoned the aera of the custom of saying " God 
 bless you," to one who happens to sneeze. It is said 
 that, in the time of the pontificate of St, Gregory the 
 Great, the air was filled'with such a deleterious influence, 
 that they who sneezed immediately expired. On this 
 the devout pontiff appointed a form of prayer, and a 
 wish to be said to persons sneezing, for averting them 
 from the fatal effects of this malignancy — a fable 
 contrived against all the rules of probability ; it being 
 certain that this custom has from time immemorial 
 
 • 

 
 ^iSO MISCELLANEA. 
 
 subsisted in all parts of the known world. According 
 to mythology, the first sign of life Prometheus's 
 artificial man gave, was by sternutation. This sup- 
 posed creator is said to have stolen a portion of the 
 solar rays ; and filling with them a phial, which he had 
 made on purpose, sealed it up hermetically. He 
 instantly flies back to his favourite automaton, and 
 opening the phial held it close to the statue; the 
 rays, still retaining all their activity, insinuate them- 
 selves through the pores, and set the factitious man 
 a-sneezing. Prometheus, transported with the suc- 
 ^ cess of his machine, offers up a fervent prayer, with 
 wishes for the preservation of so singular a being. 
 His automaton observed him, and remembering his 
 ejaculations, was very careful, on the like occasions, 
 to offer these wishes in behalf of his descendants, 
 who perpetuated it from father to son in all their 
 colonies. 
 
 The rabbis, speaking of this custom, do likewise 
 give it a very ancient date. They say, that not long 
 after the creation, God made a general decree, that 
 every man living should sneeze but once, and that at 
 the very instant of his sneezing his soul should depart, 
 without any previous indisposition. Jacob by no 
 means liked so precipitate a way of leaving the world, 
 as being desirous of settling his family affairs and those 
 of his conscience ; he prostrated himself before the 
 Lord, wrestled a second time with him, and earnestly 
 entreated the favour of being excepted from the
 
 MISCELLANEA. 8i 
 
 decree. His prayer was heard, and he sneezed with- 
 out dying. All the princes of the universe, heing ac- 
 quainted with the fact, unanimously ordered that, for 
 the future, sneezhig should be accompanied with 
 thanksgivings for the preservation, and wishes for the 
 prolongation of life. We perceive, even in these 
 fictions, the vestiges of tradition and history, which 
 place the epocha of this civility long before that of 
 Christianity. It was accounted very ancient even in 
 the time of Aristotle, who in his problems has endea- 
 voured to account for . it, but knew nothing of its 
 origin. According to him, the first men, prepossessed 
 with the highest ideas concerning the head, as the 
 principal seat of the soul, that intelligent substance 
 governing and animating the whole human system, 
 carried their respect even to sternutation, as the most 
 manifest and most sensible operation of the head. 
 Hence those several forms of compliments used on 
 similar occasions among the Greeks and Romans : 
 " Long may you live ! May you enjoy health ! Jupiter 
 preserve you ! — From the French of the Abbe Velly. 
 
 BLACK MONDAY. 
 That is, Easter Monday. The origin thus ancient. 
 When King Edward III. was in France, with a power- 
 ful army, in the year 1359, and a treaty of peace in 
 agitation betwixt him and the Regent of France, the 
 King was averse to it, till a prodigious tempest of 
 
 G 
 
 ■HXi
 
 82 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 thunder and hailstones, of that bigness that killed 
 both men and horses in the King's army, falling on 
 that Monday, inclined the King to condescend to 
 peace ; and from its dismal effects, the day has ever 
 since retained the name of Black Monday. — Blount 
 1681. 
 
 SAINT MONDAY. 
 
 A holiday most religiously observed every week, 
 by journeymen shoemakers, and other inferior me- 
 chanics in this country, who, getting their wages on 
 a Saturday night, cannot be prevailed on to work on 
 the Monday. 
 
 An Irishman observed, that this Saint's anniversary 
 happened every iveek — Dictionary Vulgar Tongue, 
 1788. 
 
 BLUE MONDAY. 
 
 It was formerly (and in many countries it is still) the 
 custom in Germany, for the journeymen, &c. em- 
 ployed in the lower kinds of trade, to consider every 
 Monday as a day set apart for idleness, and no in- 
 ducement can prevail upon them to apply themselves 
 to work. Perhaps the custom was derived from the 
 postfestum mentioned in the canon law ; and the ex- 
 pression " Blue Monday," is supposed by some to have 
 its origin in the bruises occasioned by the fist and
 
 MISCELLANEA. 83 
 
 cudgels, which were in frequent use among the 
 drunken and disorderly ; but, as we meet with a Blue 
 Tuesday likewise, that derivation seems more probable 
 which occurs in a manuscript Thuringian Chronicle. 
 
 In the sixteenth century, it was the custom in Ger- 
 many to ornament the churches on fast-days with blue; 
 and at this period the tradesmen began to keep the 
 fasts by neglecting their work. This was not only 
 usual among the master tradesmen, but they indulged 
 their servants likewise in the same privilege. For 
 want of employment, the common people had recourse 
 to drinking ; and, instead of fasting, it soon became 
 a common proverb, Heute blauer Fraffmontag, " To- 
 day is feasting Monday." This national custom, 
 which was originally confined to innocent amusements 
 on the evenings of the fast days, soon extended itself 
 to every Monday in the year. Blue Monday was now- 
 established ; and the abuse prevailed to such a degree, 
 that the day was soon distinguished by debaucheries 
 of every kind, by tumults, and frequently by murders. 
 The perpetrators of such acts were threatened with the 
 severest punishment ; but all the territorial edicts were 
 fruitless, till the matter was seriously taken up by the 
 Diet. This was occasioned by the company of shoe- 
 makers at Augsburg, in 1726, who excited their 
 fellow tradesmen at Wurtzburg, by letters, to be 
 riotous. The magistrates at first prohibited the cor- 
 respondence ; this prohibition they considered as an 
 infringement of their rights. The rioters were soon 
 o 2
 
 St MISCELLANEA. 
 
 joined, as usual, by a number of ill-disposed persons; 
 ill-treated all who opposed them, and made the affair 
 of a still more serious nature, by encouraging the 
 same conduct in other towns. At last, upwards of a 
 hundred members of this unconstitutional society left 
 the town, and sent information to Leipsic, Dresden, 
 Berlin, &c. of their proceedings, in the following 
 terms : *' We have been under the necessity of adopt- 
 ing this measure to preserve our rights ; and inform 
 you, that no man who is an honest fellow [braver 
 kerl) will ever go again to work at Augsburg; if he 
 does, he may expect the consequences, and that 
 soon." This caused a general alarm throughout the 
 country. The abuses which prevailed among the 
 tradesmen were of too,much consequence to the towns 
 of Germany, and trade in general, not to be noticed 
 at the Diet. An edict was published in 1731, by vir- 
 tue of which, not only every abuse was to be reme- 
 died, but the custom of keeping Blue Monday abolished 
 entirely. The edict w as but little attended to, except 
 in Brandenburg. In many places it was not even pro- 
 mulgated. The Emperor Francis renewed it in 1764, 
 and a decree of the empire was passed to abolish Blue 
 Monday in 1771-2 ; but, notwithstanding this, the 
 old custom prevails, and every Monday throughout 
 the year, in most of the German territories, is still 
 blue. In the hereditary dominions of Austria, not 
 only laws have been enforced, but various other means 
 have been adopted, for this salutary purpose. Even
 
 MISCELLANEA. 85 
 
 in the university of Gottingen, in the Hanoverian do- 
 minions, where there is more Aurklarung, as the 
 Germans admirably express themselves, or a higher 
 state of refinement, this custom is still so prevalent, 
 that no journeyman tailor can be prevailed upon to 
 work on a Monday, by any prospect of reward, but 
 generally devotes that day to the joys of Bacchus. — 
 Putter's Germanic Empire. 
 
 WHY BARBERS HANG OUT LONG POLES 
 FOR A SIGN. 
 
 The barber's art was so beneficial to the public, 
 that he who first brought it up at Rome, had a statue 
 erected to his memory, as authors relate ; and in 
 England they were in some sort the surgeons* in 
 ancient times, and therefore hung their basins out; 
 and to make known at a distance to the weary and 
 wounded traveller, where all might have recourse, they 
 used poles,t as some inns gibbet their signs across 
 a town. — Athenian Oracle. 
 
 * Barbers are incorporated with the Surgeons of London, by 
 32 Henry VIII. ; but not to practise surgery except drawing of 
 teeth and bleeding, and that must be above one mile from 
 London, — Jacobus Law Dictionary, 1744. 
 
 f The barbers in various parts of this country, as well as on 
 the Continent, still bleed and draw teeth. I have heard the 
 reason of the use of their poles accounted for much more to my 
 satisfaction, dz. in bleeding it is customary for the patient to 
 grasp a stick with his hand, vvhicli is frequently necessary to cause 
 G 3
 
 86 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 ST. VITUS'S DANCE. 
 
 All this time (that is, the nearest to be collected 
 from the work, from 1097 to the middle of the twelfth 
 century,) Prussia and part of Lithuania were in a 
 state of barbarism ; that they had never been con- 
 verted is not true : they, like the Danes, had in very 
 early ages been taught true faith by an old set of 
 Missionaries, devoted to St. Vitus, and they therefore 
 founded something like a church, and dedicated it to 
 him ; but, having never learned to read, succeeding 
 generations lost the true meaning, and easily relapsing 
 into idolatry, they made a gigantic figure of the saint 
 with four frightful heads, and called it " Suantovit," 
 dancing round it when Christian strangers were sacri- 
 ficed, and all this in so extravagant a manner, and 
 accompanied with gestures so wild and without mean- 
 ing, that northern nations called by the name of St. 
 Vitus's dance, a nervous affection, inducing odd va- 
 garies of the limbs. A species of the epilepsy is, 1 
 believe, called so still in England, Denmark, and 
 Norway — Piozzis Retrospectio)i, 1809. 
 
 the effusion of blood in the course of the operation, and a 
 ribbon, or some such bandage, is always bound round the arm 
 at the time : hence, therefore, the pole is said to represent such 
 stick ; and the painted mark round it, the ribbon above-men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Others contend, that the barber formerly exposed a head, as a 
 symbol of his trade, which has been since ludicrously converted 
 into a long stick, because that is also called a " pole."— •Editor.
 
 MISCELLANEA. 87 
 
 SURGEONS; 
 
 EXEMPT FROM SERVING ON JURIES, &C. 
 
 It is a vulgar error that surgeons are exempt from 
 serving as jurymen because they are considered to be 
 in too constant a habit of suppressing their softer 
 feehngs, from the nature of their occupation, to be 
 competent judges in particulur cases. 
 
 The following extract puts the matter in the true 
 light : 
 
 " In the same year [i.e. 1313) the corporation of 
 Surgeons, consisting of twelve (a number then, as it 
 appears, thought equal to the care of the metropolis), 
 petitioned Parliament to be exempted from bearing 
 arms, or serving on juries and parish offices, and suc- 
 ceeded in their request." (Public Acts.) — Andrews 
 History of England. 
 
 MEDICAL QUESTION ON EATING. 
 
 WHETHER EATING IN COMPANY BE CONDUCIVE TO HEALTH. 
 
 Dr. Vasse discussed this question seriously, in the 
 school of the faculty of medicine at Paris, and gravely 
 determined it in the affirmative. He published this 
 medical question, and his curious illustrations of it. 
 He divides entertainments into several classes — > 
 ordinary and extraordinary : the first consists of 
 meats of a moderate price, in the other they are 
 more expensive and splendid. At public entertain- 
 G 4
 
 88 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 ments several families form one company ; at pri- 
 vate ones there is only the daily preparation. He 
 then enumerates many kinds of sociable meals; as 
 eating the paschal lamb among the Jews, the love 
 feasts among the primitive Christians, wedding dinners, 
 merry-makings, Twelth-day, in Carnival and St. Mar- 
 tin's day. 
 
 Undertaking to shew the advantages of eating in 
 company, he fixes three properties of the meals under 
 consideration, viz. animal, moral, natural or physical. 
 The first are such as do good to the body, the second 
 benefit to the mind, and the third are useful to both. 
 Man, says the doctor, is an animal formed by nature 
 for society ; he is led by example, and imitates what 
 he sees done. If he observes another eat, he is desirous 
 of doing the same, and his mouth immediately waters. 
 This water is the saliva which dissolves the food, ren- 
 ders it more savoury, and whets the appetite. That 
 being sharpened, we eat with pleasure and grind our 
 meat better. Where conversation and mirth preside 
 at a table, we are obliged to keep the meat longer in 
 our mouths; it is more penetrated with saliva, and 
 digests better. The blood and spirits are in better 
 order, the nutritive juices become sweeter, the circu- 
 lation of the liquids is more completely executed, 
 the heart, the seat of joy, is dilated, and all the 
 functions of the body conspire, with a sort of emu- 
 lation, to promote health. 
 
 The advantages accruing from eating in company
 
 MISCELLANEA. 89 
 
 are numerous; it always diverts chagrin and melancholy 
 to dine with a number of people. The bare sight of 
 eating, drinking, and singing, inspires good-humour ; 
 the healths that pass round, and agreeable conversation, 
 rouse the soul, and make it shake off all dismal ideas. 
 An union of persons either begins or is cemented, 
 and misunderstandings are composed or removed. 
 
 In regard of the utility of entertainments to the 
 whole man, we must know that such is the intimate 
 connection between the soul and body, that what is 
 useful to one must infallibly be so to the other. 
 
 But our author goes one step further ; as exercise is 
 of no inconsiderable use, eating in company appears 
 worthy of recommendation on that score. Here, says 
 he, I will be asked, what exercise I mean ; is it that 
 of the teeth, which communicates an electric motion 
 to the frame ? To which I answer, it is the m.otion 
 of the hands and body in carving and helping, in ac- 
 cepting thanks and returning them in the lively 
 gestures before dinner, and the no less sprightly ones 
 after it. 
 
 But there is one material objection which should be 
 removed, namely, that these entertainments are fre- 
 quently productive of much disorder and irregularity, 
 and therefore ought not to be indulged. To this our 
 doctor replies, that abuses will insinuate themselves 
 every where, so that if all that is perverted should be 
 prohibited, even eating and drinking, and other inno- 
 cent and useful human acts, would incur the charge
 
 90 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 of criminality. Allowing evils sometimes to arise, are 
 they not countervailed by the good arising from these 
 entertainments ? 
 
 Such are the arguments used by Dr. Vasse, to prove 
 eating in company is conducive to health. They 
 certainly evince the taste of the doctor and the faculty 
 for good cheer. Besides doing his duty to the public 
 as a physician, in enforcing an interesting medical 
 precept, the idea as well as the reality of which, 
 gives rapture to the hungry, and pleasure to the full 
 epicure, we find he had another object in view ; it 
 seems there were some pragmatical, mortified, and 
 penurious licentiates in divinity, who, he justly re- 
 marks, had a zeal, but not according to knowledge, 
 who wished to put a stop to entertainments given to 
 their fellow students when they received the academic 
 cap ; but the parliament of Paris, by an arret, con- 
 tinued the old laudable custom, and good cheer 
 triumplied over the sour moroseness of these unen- 
 lightened theologians. 
 
 THREE BALLS. 
 
 WHY PAWNBROKEKs' SIGN. 
 
 When the South-Sea scheme failed in 1731, Ho- 
 garth believed it was in spirit of derision that the 
 three blue balls, or sometimes golden ones, were after 
 this time hung up at the doors of lesser traders (pawn- 
 brokers.) They represented gilt or painted bubbles,
 
 MISCELLANEA. 91 
 
 and bubble was a word which came into use when our 
 South-Sea scheme followed up that in France, called 
 Mississippi, &c Piozzi's Retrospection, 1809. 
 
 Other authorities say that three blue or golden balls 
 were the arms of two brothers from Lombardy, who 
 first carried on the business of pawnbrokers here, and 
 who gave name to Lombard Street. In honour of 
 these patriarchs of the fraternity, their armorial bear- 
 ings have ever since been adopted by their descen- 
 dants. 
 
 A jocular reason assigned for the exhibition by 
 pawnbrokers, of three balls, is, that it is tim to one 
 that any thing deposited with them is ever redeemed. 
 
 WHAT SAILORS CALL A BOOT ACCOUNT. 
 
 The story of the boot account is thus related. A 
 captain in the merchant service, having the confidence 
 of his owners, besides being entrusted with the care 
 of the ship, had also commercial concerns put under 
 his charge. It happened that the captain was quite 
 ignorant of accounts : the method he took of supplying 
 this defect was by the help of an old boot. Whatever 
 money he received in the course of his voyage, whether 
 for freight or goods sold, was all carefully deposited 
 in the boot ; and, on the other hand, whatever money 
 he had occasion for was taken out of it. As soon as the 
 voyage was completed, and his owners called for his
 
 92 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 accounts, he went to them, and with great solemnity 
 delivered the boot into their hands, saying, " there, 
 gentlemen, is the balance of my accounts ; you will be 
 pleased to count it." The same story is told of a 
 churchwarden, — James Mills' Examination of Jones s 
 System of Book-keeping. 
 
 CHEQUERED BOARDS. 
 
 WHY ON PUBLIC HOUSES. 
 
 It has been related to me by a very noble person- 
 age, says a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, 
 that in the reign of Philip and Mary, the then Earl 
 of Arundel had a grant to license public-houses, and 
 part of the armorial bearings of that noble family is a 
 chequered board; wherefore the publican, to shew 
 that he had a license, put out that mark, as of his 
 sign. 
 
 Pray inform J. T., says another writer, that tlie 
 practice of placing chequered boards before the doors of 
 ale-houses, arose from the very ancient custom of play- 
 ing at tables, as it was formerly called, in those places. 
 Our modern word for this game is backgammon, though 
 the games at the tables were very many in propor- 
 tion to what are now known. All these games, as well 
 as chess, were played upon the board in question. 
 
 Another Account. — Your correspondents arc both 
 mistaken. I think it was the great Earl Warrenne, if
 
 MISCELLANEA. 93 
 
 not some descendant or heir near him, not beyond 
 the time of Rufus, had an exclusive power of granting 
 licenses for beer. That his agent might collect the 
 tax more readily, the door-posts were painted in 
 chequers, the arms of Warrenne, then and to this 
 day. 
 
 Another Account. — The chequer, so common at the 
 door of a public-house, is said to have been intended 
 formerly as an intimation that draught-boards were 
 kept within, for the entertainment of the customers. 
 
 The colour of the chequers used to be red and 
 white, whence the houses so distinguished were called 
 red-houses : and they were at length so numerous, 
 that a red-house became the general name for a 
 tavern, and is used as such in many of the old plays. 
 I must disagree with those who suppose the chequers 
 to refer to the arms of a Duke of Norfolk, who had 
 formerly the profits of a duty upon ale-houses, for the 
 arms alluded to are those of Maltravers, quartered 
 only by the Duke of Norfolk's, which are chequers, 
 Or and Azure, or blue and gold, colours which do not 
 occur at a Chequers Inn. — Universal Magazine, 21 
 January 1795, J'rom the Looker-on. 
 
 VIVANT REX ET REGINA. 
 
 WHT PLACED AT THE END OF VLAY -BILLS. 
 
 At the end of the piece, the actors in noblemen's 
 houses and taverns where plays were frequently
 
 94 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 performed, prayed for the health and prosperity of 
 their patrons, and in the pubhc theatres, for the King 
 and Queen. This prayer sometimes made part of the 
 epilogue : hence probably, as Mr. Stevens observes, 
 the addition of " Vivant Rex et Regina," to the 
 modern play-bills. 
 
 WHY THE DE COUllCYS ARE PRIVILEGED TO 
 WEAR THEIR HATS BEFORE THE KING. 
 
 Philip of France, A. D. 1203, summoned King 
 John of England, as a French peer, to answer for the 
 death of Prince Arthur, and he sent over to England a 
 champion to enforce his demands. But as it was not 
 judged right to submit a national object to the decision 
 of a combat, yet an English knight was produced to 
 defend the honour of his country. This was John de 
 Courcy, who, after having conquered the kingdom 
 of Ulster, in 1177, had been treacherously seized, 
 and kept in hold, on suspicion of treason. When he 
 was brought out, emaciated with confinement, John 
 asked him if he would fight for him? *' No, not for 
 you (said De Courcy), but for my country's honour I 
 will fight to my death." The French champion is 
 said to have declined the combat ; and De Courcy 
 having been desired to shew a specimen of his vast 
 strength, in the presence of John and Philip, cleft a 
 helmet at a blow, and buried liis sword so deep in
 
 MISCELLANEA. 9<5 
 
 the post which supported it, that none but himself 
 could draw it out. For these exploits the De Courcys 
 are privileged at this day to be covered before the 
 King. It is added, that the hero being asked " why 
 he looked around him so fiercely before he made his 
 stroke," answered, " that had he failed to cleave the 
 helm, he meant to have slain all the spectators, lest 
 they should deride him." — [Harmers Chro., Cox's His., 
 Lodges Peerage.) — Andretvs' History of England. 
 
 PROTESTANT. 
 
 The name of Protestant took its rise from the fol- 
 lowing occasion. In the year 1529, at a diet of the 
 princes of the empire, held at Spires, in Germany, 
 it was decreed by the majority there present, that in 
 those places where the edict of Worms* had been re- 
 ceived, it should be lawful for no one to change his 
 religion. That in those places where the new religion 
 (i. e. the Lutheran) was exercised, it should be main- 
 tained till the meeting of a council, if the ancient 
 (the Popish) religion could not be restored, without 
 danger of disturbing the public peace ; but, that the 
 mass should not be abolished, nor the Catholics 
 hindered from the free exercise of their religion, nor 
 any one of them allowed to embrace Lutheran- 
 
 * The Edict of Worms was published in the year 1521, by which 
 Luther was proscribed as a heretic and schismatic, and all 
 persons prohibited to receive him or read his I)ooks.
 
 96 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 ism. That the sacramentarians should be banished 
 the empire. That the anabaptists should be punished 
 with death ; and that no preachers should explain 
 the gospel in any other sense than what was approved 
 by the church. 
 
 Against this decree, six princes of the empire 
 entered their protest, viz. John Elector of Saxony, 
 George Marquis of Brandenburg, Ernest and Fran- 
 cis, Dukes of Lunenburg, Philip Landgrave of 
 Hess and Wolifgang, Prince of Auhatt, to whom the 
 fourteen following free cities of Germany joined 
 themselves, viz. Strasburg, Norimburg, Ulm, Con- 
 stance, Lindaw, Memmingen, Kempten, Nordlingen, 
 Halibrun, Rettingen, Isne, St. Gall, WeifFenburg, 
 and W hindschcim ; and from this protest the Luthe- 
 rans first obtained the name of Protestants ; which 
 was afterwards given in common to all who separated 
 from the idolatrous practices of the church of Rome. 
 
 These noble and excellent princes, in behalf of 
 themselves and subjects, and all that then or for the 
 future should adhere to the holy word of God, pro- 
 tested against tlie restraint laid on, and the violence 
 offered to, the consciences of men by this decree of 
 the Popish princes and prelates. How glorious a 
 protest was this in behalf of the liberties of the church 
 of God ! Peace, everlasting peace I'estupon your spirits, 
 O ye illustrious heroes ! and let your names never be 
 mentioned, in the Protestant world, without paying the 
 just tribute of honour and reverence to your memories !
 
 MISCELLANEA. 97 
 
 Nor must I forget to felicitate my fellow Protes- 
 tants in these kingdoms, that his present Majesty 
 is descended from one of those noble houses, who 
 joined in this protest. Happy prince ! in whom the 
 love of liberty is an hereditary virtue ! born to be 
 placed by Providence at the head of that cause of 
 liberty his ancestors so early embraced, so resolutely 
 maintained; and to be the defender of that faith, 
 which spurns at the dictates of all human pride, and 
 owes its being only to the force of conviction, the 
 evidence of reason, and the supreme and infallible 
 authority of the God of truth — Gentleman s Maga- 
 zine^ 1735. 
 
 THE FIRST COFFEE-HOUSE IN LONDON. 
 
 Coffee is a native of Arabia, supposed by some to 
 have been the chief ingredient of the old Lacedemo- 
 nian broth. The use of this berry was not known in 
 England till the year 1637, at which time Mr. D. 
 Edwards, a Turkey merchant, on his return from 
 Smyrna to London, brought with him one Pasquet 
 Rosee, a Greek of Ragusa, who was used to prepare 
 this liquor for his master every morning, who, by the 
 way, never wanted company. The merchant, there- 
 fore, in order to get rid of a crowd of visitants, 
 ordered his Greek to open a coffee-house, which he 
 did in St. Michael's Alley, in Cornhill. This was the 
 first coffee-house opened in London. — Various. 
 
 H
 
 98 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 THE MANNER OF WATCHMEN INTIMATING THE 
 CLOCK AT HERRNHUTH IN GERMANY. 
 
 VIII. Past eight o'clock ! O, Herrnhuth, do thou ponder ; 
 Eight souls in Noah's ark were living yonder. 
 
 IX. 'Tis nine o'clock ' ye brethren, hear it striking ; 
 Keep hearts and houses clean, to our Saviour's liking. 
 
 X. Now, brethren, hear, the clock is ten and passing ; 
 None rest but such as wait for Christ embracing. 
 
 X I. Eleven is past ! still at this hour eleven. 
 
 The Lord is calling us from earth to heaven. 
 
 XII. Ye brethren, hear, the midnight clock is humming ; 
 At midnight, our great Bridegroom will be coming. 
 
 I. Past one o'clock ; the day breaks out of darkness : 
 Great Morning-star appear, and break our hardness ! 
 
 II. 'Tis two ! on Jesus wait this silent season, 
 Ye two so near related, will and reason. 
 
 III. The clock is three ! the blessed Three doth merit 
 The best of praise, from body, soul, and spirit. 
 
 IV. 'Tis four o'clock, when three make supplication, 
 The Lord will be the fourth on that occasion. 
 
 V. Five is the clock I five virgins were discarded, 
 When five with wedding garments were rewarded. 
 
 VI. The clock is six, and I go oflf my station ; 
 
 Now, brethren, watch yourselves for your salvation. 
 
 Universal Magazine, 1749. 
 
 POPE JOAN. 
 It is in the ninth century that we must place the 
 history or fable of the " Popess Joan." They say, 
 that a girl, having disguised her sex, succeeded to the
 
 MISCELLANEA. 99 
 
 Popedom of Leo IV., in 855, and possessed the holy 
 see for two years and some months ; when, in a pubhc 
 procession, she was seized with the pains of child- 
 birth, and died. Some writers of the Roman Church 
 were the first relators of this fact. It was adopted by 
 the Protestants, and for a long time credited ; but 
 some learned men having taken the trouble to trace 
 this report to its first rise, have rendered it suspicious, 
 and particularly found that it cannot be reconciled 
 with chronology. Some people, however, still believe 
 in the existence of the Popess — Forney s Ecclesiastical 
 History. 
 
 TONTINE. 
 
 WHY SO CALLED, WHEN FIRST INTENTED, &C. 
 
 Tontine, a loan given for life annuities, with 
 benefit of survivorship, so called from the inventor, 
 Laurence Tonti, a Neapolitan. He proposed his 
 scheme in 1653, to reconcile the people to Cardinal 
 Mazarine's government, by amusing them with 
 the hope of becoming suddenly rich. He obtain- 
 ed the consent of the court ; but the parliament 
 would not register the edict. He made attempts 
 afterwards, but without success. It was not till 
 Louis XIV. was distressed by the league of Augs- 
 burg, and by his own immense expenses, that he had 
 recourse to the plans of Tonti, which, though long 
 laid aside, were not forgotten. By an edict in 1689, 
 he created a Tontine royale of 1,400,000 livres, annual 
 H 2
 
 100 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 rent, divided into fourteen classes. The actions were 
 300 livres a-piece, and the proprietors were to receive 
 £10 per cent., with benefit of survivorship in every 
 class. This scheme was executed but very imperfectly ; 
 for none of the classes rose to above 25,000 livres, in- 
 stead of 100,000, according to the original institution, 
 though the annuities were very regularly paid. A few 
 years after, the people seeming in better humour for 
 projects of this kind, another Tontine was erected 
 upon nearly the same terms ; but this was never above 
 half full. They both subsisted in the year 1726, 
 when the French King united the thirteenth class of 
 the first Tontine with the fourteenth of the second, all 
 the actions of which were possessed by Charlotte 
 Bonnemay, widow of Lewis Barbies, who died at the 
 age of ninety-six. This gentlewoman had ventured 
 300 livres in each Tontine ; and in the last years of her 
 life she had for her annuity 73,500 livres, or about 
 £3,600 a year for about £30. 
 
 The nature of the Tontine is this : there is an an- 
 nuity after a certain rate of interest, granted to a 
 number of people ; divided into classes, according to 
 their respective ages ; so that annually the whole fund 
 of each class is divided among the survivors of that 
 class ; till at last it falls to one, and upon the extinc- 
 tion of that life, reverts to the power by which the 
 Tontine was erected, and which becomes thereby se- 
 curity for the due payment of the annuities. — Ency- 
 clopedia.^ S^c.
 
 MlSCELLANEy\. 101 
 
 TURBANS. 
 
 WHENCE THE CUSTOM OF WEARING THEM, &C. 
 
 Turbans, a Turkish hat, or ornament for the head, 
 of fine linen, wreathed into a bundle, broad at the 
 bottom to enclose the head, and lessening for ornament 
 towards the top. The custom of wearing it had this 
 origin : the barbarous people having the Grecian 
 army once at a great advantage, at or near the hill 
 Thermopyle, there was no other remedy, but some 
 few must make good a narrow passage, while the 
 main of the army might escape ; which some brave 
 spirits undertook, and knowing that they went to an 
 inevitable death, had care of nothing but sepulture, 
 of old much regarded ; wherefore, each of them 
 carried his winding-sheet wrapt about his head, and 
 then, with loss of their own lives, saved their fellows. 
 Whereupon, for an honourable memorial of their 
 exploit, the Levantines used to wrap white linen about 
 their heads, and the fashion so derived upon the Turk. 
 — Sir Henri/ Blounfs Voyage. 
 
 CAP. 
 
 WHT THE SYMBOL OF LIBERTY, WHEN FIRST USED, AND WHY 
 WORN BY STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 The use of caps and hats is referred to the year 
 1449, the first seen in these parts of the world being 
 at the entry of Charles VII. into Rouen ; from that 
 H 3
 
 102 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 time they began to take place of the hoods, or cha- 
 peroons, that had been used till then. When the cap 
 was of velvet, they called it mortier; when of wool, 
 simply bonnet. None but kings, princes, and knights 
 were allowed the use of the mortier. The cap was 
 the head-dress of the clergy and graduates. Pasquier 
 says, that it was anciently a part of the hood worn 
 by the people of the robe ; the skirts whereof being 
 cut off as an incumbrance, left the round cap an 
 easy commodious cover ibr the head ; which round 
 cap being afterwards assumed by the people, those 
 of the gown changed it for a square one, first 
 invented by a Frenchman, called Patrouittet. He 
 adds, that the giving of the cap to the students in the 
 universities, was to denote, that they had acquired 
 full liberty, and were no longer subject to the rod of 
 their superiors ; in imitation of the ancient Romans, 
 who gave a pileus, or cap, to their slaves, in the ce- 
 remony of making them free. Whence this proverb, 
 '* Vocare servos ad pileumJ' Hence, also, the cap is 
 the symbol of Liberty, whom they represent holding 
 a cap in her right hand, by the point. — Various. 
 
 THE MEANING OF « DERRY DOWN." 
 
 A COMMON TERMINATION TO MANY JOCULAR ENGLISH SONGS. 
 
 It would appear, from au examination of the econo- 
 my of the ancient Britons, that a considerable part
 
 MISCELLANEA. 103 
 
 of their wealth consisted in the numerous herds of 
 swine which were fed upon acorns in the woods : there 
 is scarcely an old tale but what introduces the cha- 
 racter of the swinish herd ; and the proverb is com- 
 mon — 
 
 Laivn meidad wrh nzenaid gwynt — 
 
 The swine-herd is glad at the sighing of the wind.* 
 
 There are, also, some old pieces of music in 
 Wales, the names of which are derived from this 
 branch of British husbandry ; such as hob y deri, the 
 hog of the oaks ; and hob y deri dando, the hog of the 
 oaks under cover ; and the like. 
 
 Does not " Derry Down" come from the same 
 origin ? For these two words, considered as English, 
 have no meaning at all ; but they are at once identified, 
 and seem to convey an idea in unison with the sub- 
 ject before-mentioned, in the following Welch phrases : 
 
 Y deri doivn ;f 
 
 To the oaks we will come : 
 
 Down ir deri ; and Doiun y deri ; 
 We will come to the oaks -. 
 
 Down down i'r deri down. 
 
 We will come, we will come, to the oaks we will come : 
 
 Down y deri, down ; 
 
 We will come to the oaks, we will come. 
 
 Monthly Magazine, 1798. 
 
 * Because the acorns are blown down. 
 f Pronounced as " Hey Derry Down." 
 H 4
 
 104 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 PEEPING TOM OF COVENTRY: 
 
 THE STORY OF GODIVA. 
 
 When* Edward, last of Egbert's royal race, 
 O'er sev'n united realms the sceptre sway'd, 
 Earl Leofric, with trust of sov'reign pow'r. 
 The subject Mercians rul'd. His lofty state 
 The loveliest of her sex ! in inward grace 
 Most lovely ; wise, beneficent, and good. 
 The fair Godiva shar'd. A noble dame. 
 Of Tliorold's antient line ! But pageant pomp 
 Charm 'd not her saintly mind like virtuous deeds. 
 And tender feeling for another's woe. 
 Such gentle passions in his lofty breast 
 He cherish'd not, but, with despotic sway, 
 Control'd In's vassal tribes, and, from their toil. 
 His luxury maintain'd. Godiva saw 
 Their plaintive looks ; with grief she saw thy arts, 
 O Coventi-y ! by tyrant laws depress'd ; 
 And urg'd her haughty lord, by every plea, 
 That works on gen'rous minds, with patriot rule 
 And charter'd freedom to retrieve thy weal. 
 Thus pleaded she, but pleaded all in vain ! 
 Deaf was her lord ; and, with a stern rebuke,. 
 He will'd her ne'er again, by such request. 
 To touch his honour, or his rights invade. 
 What cou'd she do ? Must his severe command 
 Check the strong pleadings of benevolence? 
 Must public love to matrimonial rules 
 Of lordly empire, and obedience meek. 
 Perhaps by man too partially explain'd, 
 
 * Edward the Confessor.
 
 MISCELLANEA. 105 
 
 Give way ? For once Godiva dar'd to think 
 
 It might not be, and, amiably perverse, 
 
 Her suit renew'd. Bold was th' advent'rous deed I 
 
 Yet not more bold than fair ! if pitiful 
 
 Be fair, and charity, that knows no bounds. 
 
 What had'st thou then to fear from wrath inflam'd 
 
 With sense of blackest guilt ? Rebellion, join'd 
 
 With female weakness and officious zeal ! 
 
 So Leofric might call the virtuous deed j 
 
 Perhaps might punish as befitted deed 
 
 So call'd, if love restrain'd not. Yet, tho' love 
 
 O'er anger triumph'd, and imperious rule, 
 
 Not o'er his pride ; which better to maintain, 
 
 His answer thus he artfully return'd. 
 
 Why will the partner of my royal state. 
 Forbidden, still her wild petition urge? 
 Think not my breast is steel'd against the touch 
 Of sweet humanity. Think not I hear 
 Regardless thy request. If piety. 
 Or other motive, with mistaken zeal 
 Call'd to thy aid, pierc'd not my stubborn frame. 
 Yet to the pleader's worth and modest charms 
 Wou'd my fond love no trivial boon impart. 
 But pomp and fame forbid. That vassalage. 
 Which, thoughtless, thou woud'st tempt me to dissolve. 
 Exalts our splendour and augments my pow'r. 
 With tender bosoms form'd, and yielding hearts. 
 Your sex soon melts at sights of vulgar woe ; 
 Heedless how glory fires the manly breast 
 With love of high pre-eminence. This flame 
 In female minds with weaker fury glows, 
 Opposing less the specious arguments 
 For milder regimen and public weal.
 
 106 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 But plant some gentler passion in its room, 
 
 Some virtuous instinct suited to your make, 
 
 As glory is to ours, like it requir'd 
 
 A ransom for the vulgar's vassal state, 
 
 Then wou'd the strong contention soon evince 
 
 Hovi' falsely now thou judgest of my mind, 
 
 And justify my conduct. Thou art fair, 
 
 And chaste as fair ; with nicest sense of shame. 
 
 And sanctity of thought. Thy bosom thou 
 
 Did'st ne'er expose to shameless dalliance 
 
 Of wanton eyes ; nor — ill-concealing it 
 
 Beneath the treach'rous cov'ring, tempt aside 
 
 The secret glance, with meditated fraud. 
 
 Go now, and lay thy modest garments by. 
 
 In naked beauty mount thy milk-white steed. 
 
 And through the streets, in face of open day, 
 
 And gazing slaves, their fair deliv'rer ride : 
 
 Then will I own thy pity was sincere. 
 
 Applaud thy virtue, ai\d confirm thy suit. 
 
 But if thou lik'st not such ungentle terms, 
 
 And public spirit yields to private shame, 
 
 Think then that Leofric, like thee, can feel, 
 
 liike thee, may pity, while he seems severe, 
 
 And urge thy suit no more. His speech he clos'd. 
 
 And with strange oaths confirm'd the deep resolve. 
 
 Again within Godiva's anxious breast 
 New tumults rose. At length her female fears 
 Gave way, and sweet humanity prevail'd : 
 Reluctant, but resolv'd, the matchless fail- 
 Gives all her naked beauty to the sun : 
 Then mounts her milk-white steed, and thro' the streets 
 Rides fearless ; her dishevell'd hair a veil ! 
 That o'er her beauteous limbs luxuriant flow'd.
 
 MISCELLANEA, 107 
 
 Like Venus,* when upon the Tyrian shore 
 
 Disguis'd she met her son. With gratitude, 
 
 And rev'rence low, th' astonish'd citizens 
 
 Before their great sultana prostrate fall, 
 
 Or to their inmost privacies retire. 
 
 All, but one prying slave ! who fondly hop'd, 
 
 With venial curiosity, to gaze 
 
 On such a wond'rous dame. But foul disgrace 
 
 O'ertook the bold offender, and he stands, 
 
 By just decree, a spectacle abhorr'd. 
 
 And lasting monument of swift revenge 
 
 For thoughts impure, and beauty's injur'd charms.f 
 
 * (lederatque comas diffundere ventis, 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 f Story of Leofric and Godiva, from Sir William Dugdale's 
 Antiquities of Warwickshire. 
 
 The following narrative is subjoined to satisfy the curiosity of 
 such as may not have a present opportunity of consulting this 
 valuable collection of antiquities. That part of the story of which 
 no mention is made here rests upon other authorities, sufficient, 
 at least, for the writer's purpose, though somewhat differently re- 
 lated. How far be has succeeded in explaining what appeared 
 to him to be obscure, and in giving a true meaning and consistency 
 to the whole, and thereby rendering it more credible, agreeably to 
 those seemingly authentic memorials which are preserved of it, is 
 left to the judgment of the reader. The story, as taken from a 
 M.S. in Bib. Bod. and Math. Paris, is as follows : 
 
 " This Leofric wedded Godeva, a most beautiful and devout 
 lady, sister to one Thorold, sheriff of Lincolnshire in those days, 
 and founder of Spalding- Abbey, as also of the stock and lineage 
 of Thorold, sheriff of that county in the time of Kenulph, king 
 of Mercia. Which countess Godeva bearing an extraordinary 
 affection to this place, often and earnestly besought her husband, 
 
 that.
 
 108 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 In the year 1442, while the Portuguese were explor- 
 ing the coast of Africa, under the patronage of their 
 renowned Prince Henry, Anthony Gonsales, who two 
 years before had seized some Moors near Cape Rosa- 
 
 that, for the love of God and the blessed Virgin, he would free 
 it from that grievous servitude whereunto it was subject. But he 
 rebuking her for importuning him in a matter so inconsistent with 
 his profit, commanded that she should thenceforth forbear to move 
 therein. Yet she, out of her womanish pertinacity, continued to 
 solicit him, insomuch that he told her, if she would ride on horse- 
 back naked from one end of the town to the other, in the sight 
 of all the people, he would grant her request. Whereunto she 
 returned, But will you give me leave so to do? And he replying, 
 Yes ; the noble lady, upon an appointed day, got on horseback 
 naked, with her hair loose, so that it covered all her body, but 
 the legs, and thus performing the journey, she returned with joy 
 to her husband, who thereupon granted to the inhabitants a charter 
 of freedom." 
 
 It is pleasant enough to observe with what earnestness the 
 above-mentioned learned writer dwells on the praises of this re- 
 nowned lady. " And now, before I proceed, says he, I have a 
 word more to say of the noble countess Godeva, which is, that 
 besides her devout advancement of that pious work of his, i, e. her 
 husband Leofric, in this magnificent monastery, viz. of monks at 
 Coventry, she gave her whole treasure thereto, and sent for skilful 
 goldsmiths, who, with all the gold and silver she had, made crosses, 
 images of saints, and other curious ornaments." Which passages 
 may serve as a specimen of the devotion and patriotism of those 
 times. 
 
 Edgi! Hill ; a poem, by Richard Jago, A. M. 1769.
 
 MISCELLANEA. 109 
 
 dor, was ordered by that prince to carry back his 
 prisoners to Africa. In consequence of this, he landed 
 them at Rio del Oro, and received from the Moors, in 
 exchange, ten blacks, and a certain quantity of gold 
 dust, with which he returned to Lisbon. The success 
 of Gonsales not only excited the admiration, but 
 awakened the avarice of his countrymen, who in a few 
 3'ears after fitted out thirty-seven ships with a view to 
 the same lucrative traffic. In 1481, the Portuguese rais- 
 ed a fort on the Gold coast ; another, some time after, on 
 the island of Arguin ; and a third at Loango St, Paul's 
 on the coast of Angola ; and the King of Portugal 
 assumed the title of Lord of Guinea. The Spaniards, 
 so early as the year 1502, began to employ a few ne- 
 groes in the mines of Hispaniola ; but in 1503, Ovan- 
 do, the governor of that island, forbade them to be 
 any further imported, assigning this as the reason of 
 his prohibition, that they taught the Indians all kind of 
 wickedness, and rendered them less obedient than 
 before. The decrease, however, of the Indians was so 
 terribly rapid, that the court of Spain, a iew years 
 afterwards, were induced to revoke the order which 
 Ovando had issued, and to authorise by the authority 
 of government the introduction of African slaves from 
 the settlements of the Portuguese on the coast of 
 Guinea. 
 
 The emperor Charles V., in the year 1517, granted 
 a patent to certain persons, for the exclusive supply of 
 4,000 negroes annually to the islands of Hispaniola,
 
 110 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 Jamaica, Cuba, and Puerto-Rico. As this patent bad 
 been assigned to some Genoese merchants, the supply 
 of negroes to the Spanish American plantations became 
 an established and regular species of commerce from 
 that period. 
 
 The celebrated John Hawkins was the first English- 
 man that we have any account of who was concerned 
 in this commerce. He had the honour of knighthood 
 afterwards conferred upon him by Queen Elizabeth, 
 and was made treasurer of the navy. Hakluyt, a con- 
 temporary historian, has related his adventures. " Hav- 
 ing made several voyages to the Canary Islands (says 
 Hakluyt), and there received information that negroes 
 were very good merchandise in Hispaniola, and that a 
 store of negroes might easily be had on the coast of 
 Guinea, he resolved to make trial thereof, and com- 
 municated that device with his worshipful friends of 
 London, Sir Lionel Ducket, Sir Thomas Lodge, Mas- 
 ter Gunson (his father-in-law). Sir William Winter, 
 Master Broomfield, and others ; all which persons 
 liked so well his intention, that they became liberal 
 contributors and adventurers in the action, for which 
 purpose there were three good ships immediately pro- 
 vided : the Salomon, of 120 tons, wherein Master 
 Hawkins himself went, as general ; the Swallow, of 100 
 tons, and the Jonas, a bark of 40 tons ; in which 
 small fleet Master Hawkins took with him 100 men.'' 
 In October 1362, Hawkins sailed from England for 
 Sierra Leone, and, soon after his arrival on the coast,
 
 xMlSCELLANEA. Ill 
 
 got possession, partly (says Hakluyt) by the sword, 
 and partly by other means, of 300 negroes, besides 
 other merchandise. With these he sailed directly for 
 Hispaniola, and, touching at different ports in that 
 island, disposed of the whole of his cargo in exchange 
 for hides, ginger, sugar, and some pearls, and in 
 1563 arrived in England after a prosperous voyage, by 
 vphich the adventurers were greatly enriched, &c. (Sec. 
 
 It does not appear that the British nation actually 
 attempted to establish a regular trade on the coast of 
 Africa till the year 1618, when King James I. granted 
 to Sir Robert Rich, and some other merchants of Lon- 
 don, an exclusive charter for raising a joint stock for 
 a trade to Guinea. In consequence of this, ships were 
 fitted out ; but, as the profits fell short of what was 
 expected, the proprietors shortly after withdrew their 
 contributions, and the charter became extinct. 
 
 Edwards's History/ of the West Indies, n94<. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST INSTITUTION OF THE 
 OFFICE OF POET LAUREAT. 
 
 Great confusion has entered into this subject, on 
 account of the degrees in grammar, which included 
 rhetoric and versification, anciently taken in our uni- 
 versities, particularly at Oxford : on which occasion, a 
 wreath of laurel was presented to the new graduate, 
 who was afterwards usually styled Poeta Laureatus. 
 These scholastic laureations, however, seem to have
 
 112 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 given rise to the appellation in question. I will give 
 some instances at Oxford, which at the same time will 
 explain the nature of the studies for which our acade- 
 mical philologists received their rewards. About the 
 year 1470, one John Watson, a student in grammar, 
 obtained a concession to be graduated and laureated 
 in that science ; on condition that he composed one 
 hundred Latin verses in praise of the university, and a 
 Latin comedy. Another grammarian was distinguished 
 with the same badge, after having stipulated, that, at 
 the next public act, he would affix the same number 
 of hexameters on the great gates of St. Mary's church, 
 that they might be seen by the whole universit}^ This 
 was at that period the most convenient mode of publi- 
 cation. About the same time, one Maurice Byrchen- 
 saw, a scholar in rhetoric, supplicated to be admitted 
 to read lectures, that is, to take a degree in that 
 faculty ; and his petition was granted, with a provision, 
 that he should write one hundred verses on the glory of 
 the university, and not suffer Ovid's Art of Love and 
 the Elegies of Pamphilus, to be studied in audi- 
 tory. Not long afterwards, one John Bulman, another 
 I'hetorician, having complied with the terms imposed, 
 of explaining the first book of Tully's Offices, and 
 likewise the first of his Epistles, without any pecuniary 
 emolument, was graduated in rhetoric, and a crown of 
 laurel was publicly placed on his head by the hands of 
 the chancellor of the university. About the year 1489, 
 Skelton was laureated at Oxford, and in the year
 
 MISCELLANEA. 113 
 
 1493, was permitted to wear his laurel at Cambridge. 
 Robert Whittington affords the last instance of a rhe- 
 torical degree at Oxford. He was a secular priest, 
 and eminent for his various treatises in grammar, and 
 for his facility in Latin poetry : having exercised his 
 art many years, and submitting to the customary de- 
 mand of an hundred verses, he was honoured with the 
 laurel in the year 1512. This title is prefixed to one of 
 his grammatical systems : " Roberti Whittintoni, Lich- 
 feldiensis, Grammatices Magistri, Protovatis Angliae, 
 in florentissima Oxeniensi Achademia Laureati, de 
 Octo Partibus Orationis." In his Panegyric to Cardi- 
 nal Wolsey, he mentions his laurel : 
 
 " Suscipe lauricomi munuscula parva Roberti." 
 
 With regard to the poet laureat of the kings of 
 England, an officer of the court remaining under that 
 title to this day, he is undoubtedly the same that is 
 styled the king's versifier, and to whom one hundred 
 shillings were paid as his annual stipend in the year 
 1231. But when or how that title commenced, and 
 whether this officer was ever solemnly crowned with 
 laurel at his first investiture, I will not pretend to 
 determine, after the searches of the learned Selden on 
 this question have proved unsuccessful. It seems most 
 probable, that the barbarous and inglorious name of 
 versifier gradually gave way to an appellation of more 
 elegance and dignity : or, rather, that at length those 
 only were in general invited to this appointment who 
 had received academical sanction, and had merited a 
 I
 
 114 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 crown of laurel in the universities for their abilities in 
 Latin composition^ particularly Latin versification. 
 Thus the king's laureat ^^as nothing more than " a 
 graduated rhetorician employed in the service of the 
 king." That he originally wrote in Latin, appears from 
 the ancient title versificator ; and may be moreover 
 collected from the two Latin poems, which Baston and 
 Gulielmus, who appear to have respectively acted in 
 the capacity of royal poets to Richard I. and Edward 
 IL, officially composed on Richard's crusade, and Ed- 
 ward's siege of Striveling castle. 
 
 Andrew Bernard, successively poet laureat of Henry 
 Vn. and Henry VIH., affords a still stronger proof 
 that this officer was a Latin scholar. He was a native 
 of Tholouse, and an Augustine monk. He was not 
 only the king's poet laureat, as it is supposed, but his 
 historiographer, and preceptor in grammar to Prince 
 Arthur. He obtained many ecclesiastical preferments 
 in England. All the pieces now to be found, which 
 he wrote in the character of poet laureat, are in Latin. 
 These are, " An Address to Henry VHI. for the most 
 auspicious beginning of the tenth year of his reign ; 
 with an Epithalamium on the marriage of Francis, the 
 Dauphin of France, with the king's daughter;" 
 " A New Year's Gift for the year 1515 ;" and <' Verses 
 wishing prosperity to his majesty's thirteenth year." He 
 has left some Latin hymns ; and many of his Latin prose 
 pieces, which he wrote in the qualityof historiographer to 
 both monarchs, are remaining. — Anmial Register, 1778.
 
 MISCELLANEA. 115 
 
 Poet Laurent — Watson quotes Powell, to prove that, 
 at the carousal made by Rhees ap Gryfydd, A.D. 
 1176, in the castle of Cardigan (Abertivi), stools were 
 set; when the bards tried their wit and strength of 
 song against each other, and rich gifts rewarded the 
 overcoraers. Rhees's own folks were observed to win 
 most prizes ; and the next year he attended the parlia- 
 ment at Oxford, where, with his numerous retinue, he 
 was magnificently entertained by Henry, who loved the 
 bards, and was the first of all our kings who kept a 
 regular poet laureat; he was called Maistre Henri 
 D'Avranches, his Grace's Versificator, and had 100 
 shillings a-year pension from the privy purse — more 
 than £100. a-year now. — Piozzi's Retrospection, 1809. 
 
 ANTIQUITY OF THE ROUND ROBIN. 
 
 The ancients, not to give the preference to any, 
 either among their gods or their friends, or even their 
 servants, wrote their names in a circle, in such a man- 
 ner that it was impossible to say which was first, second, 
 or last in their estimation : all were equal, and the 
 honour was equally divided. The Romans wrote the 
 names of their slaves in a circle, that it might not ap- 
 pear to whom they meant to give their liberty, and 
 who were their favourites. The Round Robin of the 
 puritans in the last century is well known. — Freema- 
 son's Magazine, 1796. 
 
 I 2
 
 llG MISCELLANEA. 
 
 THE ANTIQUITY OF EPITAPHS AND ELEGIES. 
 
 Many instances of epitaphs, in prose and in verse, 
 may be collected from the old Greek poets and histo- 
 rians, who were yet but children compared to the Chal- 
 deans and Egyptians. But the most ancient precedent 
 of epitaphs must be that recorded in the most ancient 
 history, viz. the Old Testament, 1 Sam.vi., 18; where 
 it is recorded that " the great stone erected as a me- 
 morial unto Abel," by his father Adam, remained unto 
 that day in being, and its name was called '• the stone 
 of Abel," and its elegy was, here U'ds shed the. blood of 
 Abel ; as it is also called 4,000 years after, Matt, xxiii, 
 35. And this is the original of monumental memorials 
 and elegies. — Athenian Oracle, vol. i. 
 
 GOG AND MAGOG. 
 
 The books of the Arabians and Persians abound 
 with extravagant fictions about the giants Gog and 
 Magog. These they call Jajiouge and Majiouge and 
 they call the land of Tartary by their names. The 
 Caucasian wall, said to be built by Alexander the Great 
 (though probably built at an earlier period), from the 
 Caspian to the Black Sea, in order to cover the fron- 
 tiers of his dominions, and to prevent the incursions of 
 the Scythians, is called by the Orientals the wall of 
 Gog and Magog. This wall (some few fragments of 
 which remain) they pretend to have been built with all
 
 MISCELLANEA. 11? 
 
 sorts of metals. It was a common tradition among the 
 Tartars, that the people of Jajiouge and Majiouge 
 were perpetually attempting to make a passage through 
 this fortress ; but that they would not succeed in their 
 attempt till the day of judgment. About the year 
 808, the Caliph Al Amin, having heard wonderful re- 
 ports concerning this wall or barrier, sent his interpre- 
 ter, Salam, with a guard of fifty men, to view it. After 
 a dangerous journey of near two months, Salam and 
 his party arrived in a desolated country, where they 
 beheld the ruins of many cities destroyed by the people 
 of Jajiouge and Majiouge. In six days more they 
 reached the castle near the mountain Kokaiya or Cau- 
 casus. This mountain is inaccessibly steep, perpetually 
 covered with snow and thick clouds, and encompasses 
 the country of Jajiouge and Majiouge, which is full of 
 cultivated fields and cities. At the opening of this 
 mountain the fortress appears; and travelling forward, 
 at the distance of two stages, they found another 
 mountain, with a ditch cut through it 150 cubits wide ; 
 and, within the aperture, an iron gate fifty cubits high, 
 supported by vast buttresses, having an iron bulwark 
 crowned with iron turrets reaching to the summit of 
 the mountain itself, which is too high to be seen. The 
 governor of the castle above-mentioned, once in every 
 week, mounted on horseback, with ten more, comes 
 to this gate, and striking it three times with a hammer 
 weighing five pounds, hears a murmuring noise from 
 within, supposed to proceed from the Jajiouge and 
 I 3
 
 118 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 Majiouge confined there. Salam was told that they 
 often appeared on the battlements of the bulwark. 
 Czar Peter I., in his expedition into Persia, had the 
 curiosity to survey the ruins of this wall, and some 
 leagues within the mountains he found a skirt of it 
 which seemed entire, and was about fifteen feet high. 
 It seems at first sight to be built of stone ; but it con- 
 sists of petrified earth, sand, and shells, which com- 
 pose a substance of great solidity. It has been chiefly 
 destroyed by the neiglibouring inhabitants for the sake 
 of the materials ; and most of the adjacent towns and 
 villages are built out of its ruins. 
 
 So much for the wall of Gog and Magog. How 
 these tremendous heroes got footing in Britain is not 
 hard to discover ; for the Arabians having imported 
 their taste for marvellous and romantic fiction into 
 Europe, by means of the settlement of the Moors in 
 Spain, these were personages of too much importance 
 for the British and American bards to suffer them to 
 remain behind. And accordingly we are informed, by 
 Georfrey of Monmouth, that one of the most formi- 
 dable giants (according to the American romance, 
 Brut-y-6renhined) which opposed the landing of Bru- 
 tus in Britain, was Goemagot (Magog). He was twelve 
 cubits high, and would unroot an oak as easily as an 
 hazel wand : but, after a most obstinate encounter with 
 Corineus, he was tumbled into the sea, from the sum- 
 mit of a steep cliff on the rocky shores of Cornwall, 
 and dashed in pieces against the huge crags of the
 
 MISCELLANEA. 119 
 
 declivity. The place where he fell, adds our historian 
 (Geoffrey of Monmouth), taking its name from the 
 giant's fall, is called Lam-Goemagot, or Goemagot's 
 Leap, to this day. — Imperial Magazine^ 1790. , 
 
 BANKERS. 
 
 The company of goldsmiths appeared as a fraternity 
 as early as 1180, being then amerced for being adul- 
 terine, or for setting up without the King's license. In 
 the reign of Edward III. they obtained a patent, and 
 were incorporated for the sum of ten marks. Richard 
 II. confirmed the same, in consideration of the sum of 
 twenty marks : they increased in wealth, and have left 
 evident marks of charity, by having above a thousand 
 pounds a-year to dispose of for benevolent purposes. 
 They became in time the bankers of the capital. The 
 Lombards were the first and the greatest, and most of 
 the money contracts in old times passed through their 
 hands. Many of our monarchs were obliged to them 
 for money. They did not seem to like trusting Henry 
 IV. on his bond, so took the customs in pawn for 
 their loan . 
 
 The business of goldsmiths was confined to the buy- 
 ing and selling of plate, and foreign coins of gold and 
 silver, melting them, and coining other at the mint. 
 The banking was accidental, and foreign to their in- 
 stitution. 
 
 Regular banking by private people resulted, in 1643, 
 I 4
 
 120 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 from the calamity of the time, when the seditious spirit 
 was incited by the arts of the parhamentary leaders. 
 The merchants and tradesmen, who before trusted their 
 cash to their servants and apprentices, found that no 
 longer safe ; neither did they dare to leave it in the 
 mint at the Tower, by reason of the distresses of 
 Majesty itself, which before was a place of public de- 
 posit. In the year 1645, they began to place it in the 
 hands of goldsmiths, when they first began publicly 
 to exercise both professions. Even in my days were 
 several very eminent bankers, who kept the goldsmith's 
 shop ; but they were more frequently separated. The 
 first regular banker was Mr. Francis Child, goldsmith, 
 who began business soon after the Restoration. He was 
 the father of the profession, a person of large fortune, 
 and most respectable character. He married, between 
 the years 1665 and 1675, Martha, only daughter of 
 Robert Blanchard, citizen and goldsmith, by whom he 
 had twelve children. Mr. Child was afterwards knight- 
 ed. He lived in Fleet- street, where the shop still con- 
 tinues, in a state of the highest respectability. Mr. 
 Granger mentions Mr. Child as successor to the shop 
 of Alderman Backwet, a banker in the time of Charles 
 II., noted for his integrity, abilities, and industry, who 
 was ruined by the shutting up of the Exchequer in 
 1672. His books were placed in the hands of Mr. Child, 
 and still remain in the family. 
 
 The next ancient shop was that possessed at present 
 by Messrs. Snow and Denne, a few doors to the west
 
 MISCELLANEA. VZl 
 
 of Mr. Child's ; who were goldsmiths of consequence 
 in the latter part of the same reign. Mr. Gay cele- 
 brates the predecessor of these gentlemen, for his 
 sagacity in escaping the ruin of the fatal year 1720, in 
 his epistle to Mr. Thomas Snow, goldsmith, near 
 Temple Bar : 
 
 " O thou, whose penetrative wisdom found 
 
 The South Sea rocks, and shelves where thousands drown'd — 
 
 When credit sunk and commerce gasping lay, 
 
 Thou stood'st, nor sent'st one bill unpaid away." 
 
 To the west of Temple Bar, the only one was that 
 of Messrs. Middleton and Campbell, goldsmiths, who 
 flourished in 1692, and is now continued, with great 
 credit, by Mr. Coutfs. From thence to the extremity 
 of the western end of the town, there was none till 
 the year 1756, when the respectable name of Backwet 
 rose again, conjoined to those of Darel, Hart, and 
 Croft, who with great reputation opened their shop in 
 Pall-Mall Pennant's London, 1781. 
 
 SUTTEES: 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE CUSTOM AMONG THE INDIAN WIDOWS OF BURN- 
 ING THEMSELVES ON THE SAME PILE WITH THEIR DECEASED 
 
 HUSBANDS. 
 
 This custom, which prevails in Indostan, on the 
 coast of Coromandel, and among the Caribs, arose 
 from the uncontrolable profligacy and debauchery of 
 the women of those countries ; whose violent passions 
 and ungovernable propensities induced them frequently
 
 122 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 to poison their husbands, if they preferred any other 
 men, and to keep in secret some baneful preparation 
 for this purpose. The custom of widows attending the 
 funeral pile of their husbands was deemed an expedient 
 to check the profligacy of the women ; and was so far 
 encouraged by the manners of the nation, that those 
 women who did not submit to this ordination were 
 abandoned by their friends and relations, and suffered 
 every mark of contempt and indignation that could 
 render their lives burthensome and insupportable. — 
 French Anas. 
 
 ORIGIN OF A CHINESE CUSTOM. 
 
 Among those who are fond of reading history, and 
 the various customs that prevail in different countries, 
 few undergo the labour of tracing their origin. I have 
 remarked in the chronological table of the Chinese 
 kings, annexed to my History of the World, on the 
 authority of Father Martini, that nature had omitted 
 nothing to complete the beauty of Takia, the wife of 
 the Emperor Cheu, but in the disproportionate sraall- 
 ness of her feet. At that period the Chinese women 
 were notorious for the indecencies of their lives, and 
 the habits of daily frequenting all places of public re- 
 sort, to the total neglect of their family duties and 
 concerns. The men became jealous, and cautious of 
 connecting themselves in marriage with women of sucli 
 levity of manners ; and selected those alone whose feet
 
 MISCELLANEA. 123 
 
 resembled the queen's in their diminutive size. This 
 taste became law ; and the next generation of females, 
 by the care of their mothers, had their feet swathed 
 and contracted from their infancy ; insomuch that they 
 were incapable of walking, or standing upright, with- 
 out the assistance of some domestic. It is worthy of 
 remark, that this political custom should still subsist 
 among the Chinese to this day ; as it originated with 
 the inhabitants of China more than a thousand years 
 antecedent to the Christian aera. — French Anas. 
 
 COURIERS— POSTING. 
 The first invention of public couriers is ascribed to 
 Cyrus ; who, in order to receive the earliest intelligence 
 from the governors of the several provinces, erected 
 post-heuses throughout the kingdom of Persia, at 
 equal distances, which supplied men and horses to 
 forward the public despatches, Augustus was the 
 first who introduced this most useful institution among 
 the Romans, by employing post-chaises, disposed at 
 convenient distances, for the purpose of political in- 
 telligence. The magistrates of every city were obliged 
 to furnish horses for these messengers, upon their 
 producing a diploma, or a kind of warrant, from the 
 emperor himself, or from those who had authority 
 under him. Sometimes, though upon very extraor- 
 dinary occasions, persons who travelled on their pri- 
 vate affairs, were allowed the use of these post-chaises.
 
 124 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 It is surprising they were not sooner used for tlie 
 purposes of private communication. Louis XI. first 
 established them in France, in the year 1474 ; but it 
 was not till the twelfth of Charles II., that the post- 
 office was settled in England by Act of Parliament — 
 Toxvn and Country Magazine, 1781. 
 
 ORRERY. 
 
 In 1091, Ingulphus (abbot of Croyland) laments 
 the destruction of his monastery by fire, particularly 
 the loss of a precious astronomical instrument, which 
 he calls " a nadir." " It was," he says, " a beautiful 
 table, wherein Saturn was of copper, Jupiter of gold, 
 Mars of iron, the Sun of latten, «S:c. The eyes were 
 charmed and the mind instructed by beholding the 
 colure-circles, with the Zodiac and all its signs, 
 formed with wonderful art, of metals and precious 
 stones," &c. &c. Was not this an imperfect orrery ? — 
 Andretos History of England. 
 
 i 
 
 MASQUERADE. 
 
 Hall, in his Chronicle, Henry VIII., folio 15 b, 
 16 fl, has the following account of the first masque- 
 rade in England, at Greenwich, where the king was 
 keeping his Christmas in 1512 : 
 
 " On the dale of the Epiphanie, at night, the king^
 
 MISCELLANEA- 125 
 
 with XI other, wer disguised after the maner of 
 Italie, called a maske, a thing not seen afore in 
 England ; thei were appareled in garments long and 
 brode, wrought all with gold, with visers and 
 cappes of gold ; and after the banket doen, these 
 maskers came in with six gentlemen disguised in 
 silke, bearing stafFe torches, and desired the ladies 
 to daunce : some were content, and some that knewe 
 the fashion of it refused, because it was a thing not 
 commonly seen. And after thei daunced and commoned 
 together, as the fashion of the maske is, thei tooke 
 their leave and departed, and so did the quene and 
 all the ladies." — Note in page 431, vol. iv., Lysons 
 Environs. 
 
 THE GAMUT. 
 About the year 1000, Guido Areteni, a native of 
 Tuscany, and monk of the Benedictine order, being 
 blessed with an ear particularly attentive to harmony, 
 had the strange nicety to observe, in a popular hymn 
 to St. John, the emphatic syllables — 
 
 Ut queant lax is, resonare fabris, 
 Min gestorum, fam\i\a. tuorum 
 Solve polluti lahi reatum. 
 
 Sancte Johannes ! 
 
 The emphatic syllables which had struck him as 
 they chanted or bawled out the Litanies and Latin 
 hymns, in an odd monotonous tone, much like blind
 
 126 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 men who beg alms, he had the curiosity to mark with 
 points thus, and put a letter to each. A, B, C, D, 
 E, R 
 
 ut re vii fa sol la 
 
 But because here were only six notes after all, his 
 ear led him to add another ; and having marked that 
 with a G, called gamm, the scale obtained the name 
 of gamut, and keeps it still. This is Mons. de 
 Menage's account, and Hawker and Burney tell the 
 same tale. — Piozzi's Retrospection, 1809. 
 
 i 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND USE OF DIAMONDS.* 
 Louis de Berguen, a native of Bruges, was the 
 the first person who, in 1456, attempted to cut the 
 diamond. The four diamonds that enriched the royal 
 robe of Charlemagne were in their native state ; but, 
 notwithstanding this defect, they were not less rare 
 and precious. They were preserved for a long time at 
 St. Denis. At that time rich men only could possess 
 them. Charles the Rash was one of the princes who 
 affected the new luxury of diamonds. He is repre- 
 sented, in a vignette of a manuscript in the Bibliotheque 
 
 * This article I have taken the liberty of copying from a 
 modern periodical, entitled " The News of Literature and 
 Fashion," in preference to arranging several loose memoranda of 
 my father's on the same subject. — Editor.
 
 MISCELLANEA. 127 
 
 Royale, wearing in his hat that which was afterwards 
 taken among liis baggage by the Swiss, after the 
 battle of Graudson, and which has since been known 
 under the name of Sancy. 
 
 It is said that Agnes Sorel was the first female in 
 France who wore a diamond necklace ; and that the 
 diamonds which composed it were so rough, so ill set, 
 and produced so bad an effect, and so much incon- 
 venience to the neck of Agnes, that she used to call 
 it her iron collar. She wished to get rid of it ; but 
 Charles VII., from whom she doubtless had it, and 
 who was pleased with seeing her handsomely decorated, 
 prevailed on her to retain it. The gentle Agnes 
 obeyed, and many ladies have, no doubt, since then 
 acted in the same manner. But diamonds at that time 
 did not possess the monopoly of pleasing them ; and, 
 since Agnes, the mode of wearing jewels has often 
 changed. 
 
 Pearls were the favourite ornament of Catherine of 
 Medici, and Diana of Poictiers. 
 
 Mary Stuart having brought some superb diamonds 
 into France, the ladies of the court resumed the wear 
 of them. At the coronation of Mary de Medici, her 
 robes, and those of the ladies in her suite, were loaded 
 with pearls. It was the custom at that time to put 
 strings of them into the hair, which fell in knots over 
 the shoulders. Under Louis XIV. the taste for 
 diamonds revived, and the fetes given by that sump-
 
 128 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 tuous monarch entirely restored the fashion of wear- 
 ing this brilliant ornament. Robes were embroidered 
 with them ; necklaces, aigrettes, and bracelets were 
 made of them ; and they were even employed to or- 
 nament the front of stomachers. The queen wore 
 them on her waistband, on the epaulettes of her robe, 
 and on the broach of her mantle. 
 
 This rage for diamonds continued till the approach 
 of the Revolution. Twenty years before that epoch, the 
 ladies had become tired of them ; and nothing was then 
 to be seen but ornaments of steel, glass, and pearls. 
 Sentimental ornaments then had their turn. Neck- 
 laces of hair, bracelets of hair, medallions and cyphers 
 in hair, were at once attestations of the conquests 
 which the beauties had made, and of those which they 
 aspired to. — News of Literature and Fashion. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE LOG-BOOK. 
 
 Coelbren y Deirrd, or the wood memorial of the bards, 
 is what they formerly used to cut their memorandums 
 upon. Such was the ancient wooden almanack, and 
 the Staffordshire clogg or log [see Dr. Plot's Natural 
 History of Staffordshire). Hence originated the log- 
 book, which is used by the sailors. There is a sinn'lar 
 thing called a talley, or a piece of wood cut with 
 indentures, or notches, in two corresponding parts, of 
 which one was kept by the debtor, and the other by
 
 MISCELLANEA. 1*29 
 
 the creditor, as was formerly the common way of 
 keeping all accounts. Hence the tally- office, and 
 tellers (of the Exchequer, in London), from the 
 Welsh word talu, to pay, or from the French taille. — 
 Anonymous,
 
 THE 
 
 EDITOR'S POCKET-BOOK. 
 
 " Trivial fond records." 
 
 Hamlet. 
 
 METHODISTS. 
 
 In a collection of old sermons, which were printed 
 at London, in the year 1640, is the following pas- 
 sage : — 
 
 " Where are now our Anabaptists, and plaine pack- 
 stafFe Methodists, who esteeme of all flowers of rhe- 
 toricke in sermons no better than stinking weedes, 
 and of all the elegancies of speech than of proflme 
 spells ?" 
 
 It hence appears highly probable there was a sect 
 of Christians in England, at that time, who went by 
 the name of Methodists, though it is generally thought 
 that this term was first applied in England to Mr. 
 John Wesley and his followers. — Gentleman's Maga- 
 zine, 1788. 
 
 ANTIMONY. 
 
 The following derivation of the word antimony, if 
 
 not true, is at least humorous. Basilius Valentinus, 
 
 who first discovered it, tried its effects upon swine, 
 
 K 2
 
 132 THE editor's 
 
 and the consequence was that it fattened them very 
 much : this success led him, from a curious combina- 
 tion of ideas, to try it upon a convent of monks, 
 who were destroyed by dozens by it ; from which 
 circumstance in was called " anti-moni," Anglice, 
 antimony. — Sportsman's Magazine, 1793. 
 
 ENGLISH SLAVERY. 
 
 It is a curious fact, that so late as the year 1283 
 the slave-trade must have existed in England, as may 
 be seen by the annals of Dunstable, wherein is the 
 following passage : 
 
 " This year we sold our slave by birth, William 
 Pike, and all his family, and received one mark from 
 the buyer." 
 
 AN EQUIVOCAL MOTTO. 
 
 Lord S , in Ireland, having the following motto 
 
 on his coach : — 
 
 '■ Eques liaud male nolus " 
 A nobleman not ill known ; 
 
 and this nobleman not having the greatest alacrity in 
 prompt payment of his tradesmen's bills, Dean Swift 
 very gravely observed, I think the Latin motto on 
 
 Lord S 's coach may be literally rendered, 
 
 " Better known than trusted."
 
 POCKET-BOOK. 133 
 
 NEEDLES. 
 
 Fuller tells us, that Spanish needles were made here 
 first in Cheapside, by a negro, who died without 
 communicating the art. 
 
 Elias Crowse, a German, in the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, was more liberal, and first taught the method 
 to the English. 
 
 Fuller's definition of a needle is excellent — quasi 
 ne-idle. — Pennant's Londo?i, 1793. 
 
 THE PENNY- POST. 
 
 The penny-post was devised in 1683, by one Mr. 
 David Murray, an upholder in Paternoster Row. It 
 soon became an object of attention to government ; 
 but so low were its profits that one Dockwra, who 
 succeeded Murray, had a pension of only £200 a 
 year given him in lieu of it. This occurred in 1716. 
 
 BIBLICAL COMMENT. 
 
 At the commencement of the late war, an honest 
 farmer, who read his Bible every Sunday, went to his 
 rector, and asked him whether he did not think the 
 contest would go very hard with the French? the 
 rector replied, that, if it pleased God, he hoped it 
 would. " Nay," said the farmer, " I am sure it will 
 then ; for he says by the prophet Ezekiel, chap, xxxv., 
 K 3
 
 134 THE editor's 
 
 V. 1, 2, and 3, ' Son of man, set they face against 
 Mount Seir :' now, my wife, who is a better scholar 
 than I am, says this can be nothing but Mounseer, the 
 Frenchman ; and in almost the next verse it is still 
 stronger, for there the prophet adds, ' O Mount Seir, 
 I am against thee, and I will make thee most de- 
 solate.' " 
 
 THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 
 It is said, that when some divines were disputing 
 before Charles II. about the visible church, he turned 
 their attention to the church of Harrow-on-the-Hill, 
 which was afterwards proverbially called the " visible 
 church." — Ly sons' Environs. 
 
 HANDEL AND THE SERPENT. 
 A music-seller, of the name of Lowe, having seen 
 a musical instrument in some of the churches of 
 French Flanders, called a " serpent," bought one, and 
 having learnt to perform on it, on his return to 
 England, got it strongly recommended to Handel, to 
 introduce it into his Messiah. Handel withstood the 
 solicitation for some time, as looking upon his own 
 music to want no such assistance ; at last, being much 
 pressed, he appointed a morning for Lowe to perform 
 on it. He accordingly attended; but whether from 
 the want of skill, the original defect of the instru- 
 ment, or the awe of practising before so great a
 
 POCKET-BOOK. 135 
 
 master, Lowe could do very little to the satisfaction 
 of eitlier Handel or the audience. Handel bore it 
 for some time with evident signs of perturbation ; at 
 last he could hold out no longer, but bawled in an 
 angry tone, " Vere did you buy date dere damned 
 instrument?" — " At Lisle, sir," said the man in a 
 trembling voice. " At the Garden of Eden you mean," 
 says Handel, *' for by Gar, it is nothing more or less 
 than the d — d old serpent himself." — European Maga- 
 zine, 1795. 
 
 Aiiother version of the story runs thus : 
 The first time the musical instrument called the 
 serpent was used in a concert where Handel presided, 
 he was so much surprised with the coarseness of its 
 tones, that he called out hastily, " Vat de devil is dat?" 
 On being informed it was the serpent, he replied, 
 " It never can be de serpent vat seduced Eve!" — 
 Editor. 
 
 HAMPSTEAD. 
 
 The following account of Hampstead, in Mr. Cam- 
 den's time, is extracted from his " Magna Britannia :" 
 
 " Hampstead is a large and pleasant village, with 
 mineral waters, like Tunbridge ; but the company on 
 the walks is not near so good, unless it be much 
 amended of late. Its nearness to London brings 
 down so many loose women, in vampt-up old clothes, 
 to catch the apprentices, that modest company are 
 K 4
 
 136 THE editor's 
 
 ashamed to appear there, even with their relations. 
 Here is a great deal of playing during the season : but 
 it is all diamond cutting diamond." — Camden's Bri- 
 tannia, about 1700. 
 
 GLASS. 
 
 The Romans did not use glass for windows, although 
 they used it for other purposes, particularly for 
 mirrors (specula), nor is it yet universally used in 
 Italy, on account of the heat. Glass was first invented 
 in Phcenicica, accidentally, by mariners burning nitre 
 on the sand of the sea-shore. — Pliny. 
 
 Glass windows are not mentioned till about the 
 middle of the fourth century by St. Jerome ; first 
 used in England, 1177; first made there, 1558; but 
 plate-glass for coaches and looking-glasses, not till 
 1673.— ^(/awj's Roman Anti. 1807. 
 
 MISS. 
 
 This word was brought into particular use about the 
 year 1662. Evelyn, in his " Diary," says : " January 
 9th 1662, I saw performed the third part of the ' Siege 
 of Rhodes.' In this acted the fair and famous comedian 
 called " 7?oxo/aw«," from the part which she played ; 
 and I think it was the last, she being taken for the 
 Earl of Oxford's ' Miss,' as at this time they began 
 to call lewd women."
 
 POCKET BOOK. 137 
 
 COUSIN; 
 
 THE TERM USED IN WRITS, &C. 
 
 In writs, commissions, and other formal instruments, 
 the king, when he mentions any peer of the degree of 
 an earl, usually styles him " trusty and well beloved 
 cousin ;" an appellation as ancient as the reign of 
 Henry IV., who being, either by his wife, his mother, 
 or his sisters, actually related or allied to every earl 
 in the kingdom, artfully and constantly acknowledged 
 that connexion in all his letters and other public acts : 
 whence the usage has descended to his successors, 
 though the reason has long ago failed. 
 
 Z AT GROCERS' SHOPS. 
 The Z, an ancient sign at grocers' shops, looks very 
 enigmatical ; but I am told they allude to the word 
 zinziber, or ginger, and intimated the sale of that 
 article. — Universal Mamzine, 1795. 
 
 BAYONET: UNIFORMS. 
 His (Louis XlVth's) invention of the bayonet, 
 fixed to the musket's end, was a source of rare national 
 commendation, because it showed he understood and 
 had studied the art of war. The French still fight in 
 the manner that this king taught them. He was the 
 firstgeneral, too, that ever instituted military uniforms :
 
 138 THE editor's 
 
 they were at beginning a sort of favour, or, as it were, 
 a ticket of admittance to his pleasure houses, Fon- 
 tainbleau, Marly, &c. ; but he turned them to serious 
 use, and all Europe adopted the measure. — Piozzis 
 Retrospectio7i, 1809. 
 
 BATH AND WELLS. 
 
 There is a whimsical account of the circumstance 
 that occasioned these cities to be united under one 
 bishop. It is said that Charles II., wishing to raise 
 Dean Crichton, a native of Scotland, to the episcopal 
 dignity, gave him the choice of either Bath or Wells. 
 The honest Scotchman replied, that he should like to 
 have " Bauth ;" which being mistaken by his majesty 
 for " both," the two bishoprics were forthwith granted 
 him. 
 
 CURIOUS EPITAPH. 
 The following extraordinary composition may be 
 seen in the church-yard of Thetford, Norfolk : 
 
 " My grandmother was buried here, 
 
 My cousin Jane, and two uncles dear ; 
 
 My father perished with a mortification in his thighs j 
 
 My sister dropped down dead in the Minories. 
 
 But the reason why I am here, according to my thinking, 
 
 Is owing to my good living and hard drinking; 
 
 Therefore, good Christians, if you'd wish to live long, 
 
 Beware of drinking brandy, gin, or any thing strong." 
 
 I
 
 POCKET-BOOK. 139 
 
 ADULATION; 
 
 WHY HER EMBLEMS ARE THE LUTE, BEES, AND PAIR OF BELLOWS. 
 
 Adulation is extravagant complaisance, unmerited 
 praises, and caresses from interested motives. She 
 is painted in a genteel habit, playing on the lute, to 
 signify that she endeavours to insinuate herself into 
 favour by external allurements, and the sweetness of 
 her speeches. Her attributes are — bees, on account 
 of the sweetness of their honey, and the venom of 
 their sting ; and a pair of bellows, because flattery 
 extinguishes the light of reason, and kindles the fire of 
 the passions. — Magazine a-la-Mode, vol. i. 
 
 STIRRUPS. 
 
 The Roman cavalry had no stirrups. When they 
 
 were first used is uncertain : there is no mention of 
 
 them in the classics ; nor do they appear on ancient 
 
 coins and statues. — Adams Roman Antiquities, 1807. 
 
 FIERY ORDEAL; 
 
 A JUDICIAL ANECDOTE. 
 
 Towards the end of the Greek empire at Constan- 
 tinople, a general, who was an object of suspicion to 
 his master, was urged to undergo the fiery proof of 
 the ordeal by an archbishop, a subtle courtier. The 
 ceremony was this: three days before the trial the
 
 140 THE editor's pocket-book. 
 
 patient's arm was inclosed in a bag, and secured by 
 the royal signet : he was expected to bear a red-hot 
 ball of iron, three times, from the altar to the rails 
 of the sanctuary, without artifice and injury. The 
 general eluded the experiment with pleasantry. " I 
 am a soldier," said he, " and will boldly enter the 
 lists with my accusers ; but a layman, a sinner, like 
 myself, is not endowed with the gift of miracles. 
 Your piety, holy prelate, may deserve the interposi- 
 tion of Heaven, and from your hands I will receive the 
 fiery globe, the test of my innocence." The arch- 
 bishop stared, the emperor smiled, and the general 
 was pardoned.
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS, 
 
 ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED. 
 
 ♦' Etymologia vocum origines inquirat." 
 
 Voisius de Anal. li. c. i. 
 
 [There are few who have not been surprised at the number of 
 words in our language, which are derived from curious sources, 
 and to which philological learning only can affix no reasonable 
 etymology. The most difficult to trace, although in reality of the 
 simplest origin, are such words as refer to some portion of our 
 domestic economy, now out of use or unknown, or to incidents, 
 customs, &c., long since forgotten. The derivation given for 
 such words as these is generally mere matter of conjecture. A 
 few curious instances are subjoined, arranged alphabetically, 
 with the authorities whence they have been extracted given under 
 each, as has been my practice throughout the volume ; but I beg 
 to add, that the selection has been by no means confined to such 
 as bear immediately upon the above remarks. — Editor.] 
 
 ABBOT, ABBA, &c. 
 Abba, in the Syriac and Chaldee languages, lite- 
 rally signifies " a father ;" and figuratively, a superior, 
 &c, (abbot, &c.)* It is more particularly used in the 
 
 * The word abbot is originally Hebrew, where it signifies 
 father. The Jews call father in their language " ab ;" whence 
 the Chaldeans and Syrians formed abba ; thence the Greek A£Ca<, 
 which the Latins retained, abbas ; and hence the English abbot, 
 and French abbe, &c.
 
 142 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 Syriac, Coptic, and Etliiopic churches, as a title 
 given to the bishops. The bishops themselves bestowed 
 the title of Abba more anciently on the Bishop of 
 Alexandria ; which occasioned the people to give him 
 the title of " Baba, or Papa ;" that is, grandfather ; a 
 title which he bore before the Bishop of Rome. — En- 
 cyclopedia. 
 
 APRON. 
 From " aforan " for " foran," Sax. before, supposed 
 by Minshaw to be a contraction of " afore one ;" a 
 part of dress, &c. — Rider's Dictionary/. 
 
 ARMS— COATS OF ARMS. 
 
 These marks of honour arc called arms, from theit 
 being principally and first worn by military men at war 
 and tournaments, who had them engraved, embossed, 
 or depicted on shields, targets, banners, or other mar- 
 tial instruments. They are also called " Coats of 
 Arms " from the custom of the ancients embroidering 
 them on the coats they wore over their arms, as heralds 
 do to this day. — Pornys Heraldry. 
 
 1 
 i 
 
 TO BALK OR BAULK ANY PERSON. 
 
 Balk, a little piece of ground in arable land which by 
 mischance the plough slippeth over, so that it is not
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 143 
 
 ploughed at all : hence " to balk," to pass over or by 
 one. — English Dictionary, 1663. 
 
 BARBARIAN. 
 
 In antiquity, a name given by the ancient Greeks to 
 all those who were not of their own countr}', or who 
 did not speak the Greek language, or who did not 
 speak it so well as themselves. 
 
 In which sense, the word signified with them no 
 more than foreigner, and did not carry that odium 
 with it which it does now. Strabo derives the word 
 Bap^apoq from BapSapi^s'^s, balbutire, because foreigners 
 coming to Athens used to stammer, or speak coarsely ; 
 others derive it from 'QapQa.p—Si word that foreigners 
 frequently stumbled on, which yet had no meaning. 
 
 BEACON. 
 
 This word takes its name from the Saxon becnian, 
 to call by signs; whence also, it is presumed, our En- 
 glish word beckon. 
 
 Before the time of Edward III., signals were made 
 by firing great stacks of wood ; but in the eleventh of 
 his reign, it was first ordered that this species of alarm 
 should be made by pitch pots placed on standards, or 
 elevated spots, within due distances of one another. — 
 Pennant's Chester to London.
 
 144 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 BIGOT. 
 A person obstinately and perversely wedded to some 
 opinion or practice, particularly of a religious nature : 
 Camden, perhaps, has hit upon the true original of the 
 word. He relates that when Rollo, Duke of Normandy, 
 received Gisla, the daughter of Charles the Foolish, in 
 marriage, together with the investiture of that duke- 
 dom, he would not submit to kiss Charles's foot ; and 
 when his friends urged him by all means to comply 
 with that ceremony, he made answer in the English 
 tongue, " Ne se by God," i. e. " not so by God." Upon 
 which the king and his courtiers deriding him, and 
 corruptly repeating his answer, called him bi-got ; from 
 whence the Normans were called, bigodi, and bigots. 
 — Encyclopedia. 
 
 BLACK GUARD. 
 Black guard — (See Johnson, &c.) ; a term said to be 
 derived from a number of dirty, tattered, and roguish 
 boys, who attended at the Horse-guards, and Parade 
 in St. James's Park, to black the boots and shoes of 
 the soldiers, or to do any other dirty offices. These, 
 from their constant attendance about the time of guard 
 mounting, were nick-named the Black Guards. — Dic- 
 tionary of Vidgar Tongue, 1788.
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 145 
 
 BOOK. 
 
 LEAP LEAVES PAPEH. 
 
 The nlaterials first used in common writing were the 
 leaves or inner bark (liber) of trees ; whence leaves of 
 paper, and liber, a book. The leaves of trees are still 
 used for writing by several nations of India. About 
 the time of Alexander the Great, paper first began to 
 be manufactured from an Egyptian plant or reed called 
 papyrus ; whence our wove paper ; or biblos- — whence 
 ^ijSxoj, a book. — Adams Roman Antiquities, 1807. 
 
 BUCKLER— ESCUTCHEON. 
 Escutcheon, s. from scutum, Lat., leather, in its primi- 
 tive sense ; a shield in its secondary. In the same man- 
 ner buckler, — of bock a buck, and lere. Sax., leather, — 
 came in process of time to signify shield ; because the 
 ancient Britons formed their shields of buck-skins, or 
 leather, quilted together. — Rider s Dictionary . 
 
 BUMPER. 
 
 A full glass. In all probability from its convexity or 
 bump at the top. Old glasses were formed thus :
 
 146 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 Some derive it from a full glass, formerly drank to 
 the health of the Pope — An bon pere. — Dictionary 
 Vulgar Tongue, 1788. 
 
 CANDIDATE. 
 
 Candidate, s. candidatus, Latin, made white ; those 
 who offered themselves to be elected into any place 
 among the Romans, wearing white garments, in order 
 to distinguish them from the rest of the crowd. — 
 Rider's Dictionary. 
 
 CASHIER, OR CASHIERED. 
 Casseer'd, from the French cassee, disbanded, dis- 
 charged ; this word did not originally mean discharged 
 with ignominy, as it now generally does. It is now 
 written cashiered, which has caused an opinion that it 
 had some relation to cash or money. — Grose's Eng- 
 lish Army. 
 
 CHANCEL. 
 The third part (for the ancient church was divided 
 into three parts) was ^yiij,a, separated from the rest of 
 the church by neat rails, called cancelli : whence our 
 English word chancel, to denote the part of the church 
 to this day. Into this part none might pass but such as 
 were in holy orders, unless it were the Greek emperors, 
 to make offerings. — Cave's Primitive Christianity.
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 147 
 
 CORDWAINER. 
 The term whereby the statutes denominate a shoe- 
 maker. The word is from the French cordouannier, 
 which Menage derives from cordiian, a kind of leather 
 brought from Cordova, Cordoua, or Cordua, a city of 
 Andahisia. The shoemakers of London are incorpo- 
 rated under the name of the Company of Cordwainers, 
 — Pocket Encyclopedia, 1802. 
 
 COWSLIP. 
 
 Ccwslip, s. [uslippe. Sax. ;] so called, according to 
 some, because its smell resembles the breath of cows ; 
 but, according to others, because its growing in pasture 
 
 grounds makes it often meet a cow's lip Riders Dic' 
 
 tionary. 
 
 DECREPIT. 
 The comparison of human life to the burning and 
 going out of a lamp was familiar with Latin authors, as 
 we know by the terms senes decj-epiti. Plutarch ex- 
 plains the origin of this metaphor thus : the ancients 
 never extinguished their lamps, but suffered them to 
 go out of their own accord — that is, by the last crackle : 
 hence, a lamp just about to expire was said decrepitare, 
 to cease to crackle. Hence, metaphorically, persons on 
 
 the verge of the grave were called decrepit men -Sca- 
 
 liger, Jrom French Anas. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 DEED-POLL— INDENTURE. 
 A deed may either be an indenture or deed-poll. The 
 former derives its name from being indented or cut ire 
 an uneven manner, so as to tally with the counterparts, 
 of which there ought to be as many as there are parties ; 
 the latter, or deed-poll, of which there is one part only, 
 is so called from its being polled or shaved even — Mon- 
 tefiores Commercial Dictionary^ 1803. 
 
 DEVIL. 
 Devil is a contraction of the two primitive words the 
 and evil, (Tevil ; d being notoriously often used for th. 
 It is antithecal to the word God, which is itself a con- 
 traction of good. To derive it from Sia/SoXrj, calumny, 
 as Dr. South and others have done, is an inadmissible 
 violence to the sense. Calumny is undoubtedly part of 
 the devil's character, but would hardly give him the 
 name Cleland's " Way to Things by Words,"' i^c 
 
 DIRGE. 
 
 Soul-mass, or a certain service celebrated for the 
 dead; so called, not (as some have supposed) from 
 dirigo, because the prayers are directed unto God (for 
 so are others) ; but from a special prayer in that service, 
 beginning with " Dirige nos Domine." — English Dic- 
 tionary, 1663.
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 149 
 
 DUN. 
 
 Some falsely think it comes from the French, where 
 donnez signifies give me, implying a demand for some- 
 thing due; but the true origin of this expression owes its 
 birth to one Joe Dun, a famous bailiff of the town of 
 Lincoln, so extremely active, and so dexterous at the 
 management of his rough business, that it became a 
 proverb, when a man refused to pay his debts, to say 
 " why don't you Dun him ?" that is, " why don't you 
 send Dun to arrest him ?" Hence it grew into a custom, 
 and is now as old as since the days of Henry VII. — 
 Gale's Recreations. 
 
 Dun was also the general name for the hangman, 
 before that of Jack Ketch. — [Refer to index of Mis- 
 cellanea for " Jack Ketch"]. 
 
 In Rider's Dictionary, dun is stated to be derived 
 from dunan. Sax., dunavy Isl., to thunder ; to demand 
 a debt with vehemence, &c. 
 
 FUNERAL. 
 
 All funerals used anciently to be solemnized in the 
 night-time with torches, that they might not fall in the 
 way of magistrates and priests, who were supposed to 
 be violated by seeing a corpse, so that they could not 
 perform, &c. &c. 
 
 Hence Junus, a funeral, f^rom Juries accensi, or Juna- 
 iia, funales cerei, cerece faces, vel candelce : torches, 
 -candles, or tapers, originally made of small ropes or 
 L 3
 
 150 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 cords, covered with wax or tallow, &c. — Adams Roman 
 Antiquities, 1807. 
 
 Dupre, after giving innumerable instances to shew 
 that the papists have borrowed all, or nearly all, of 
 their ceremonies, from the pagan superstitious rites, 
 proceeds thus : — '* It is much the same with the funeral 
 ceremonies. In the church of Rome, although they 
 be performed by daylight, they nevertheless carry 
 lighted flambeaux to their burials, in imitation of the 
 heathens, as Polidore Virgil owns. To honour the 
 funeral pomp, saith he, of kings and nobles, the 
 people walk before the corpse with lighted torches; 
 as Virgil says of that of Pallantus, lucet via longo 
 ordine Jlammarum ; that is to say, the street is lighted 
 by a long train of fire. And it is infallibly from thence 
 that the same is practised in our ceremonies. And 
 even the Latin wordyM?««s, which signifieth the com- 
 pany * of a burial, is derived {"rom Jknale, signifying 
 a torch, because they always buried with flambeaux, 
 as Servius observes in the Sixth Eneid.'' — Duprc, 
 Romish Usages, 1740. 
 
 GOODS. 
 This general term comprehends whatever is the sub- 
 ject of trade in the most extensive sense. By the word 
 goods is meant all the several sorts, whether of manu- 
 factures or products, that the greatest dealer in the 
 world can be supposed to trade in. It is a contraction^
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 151 
 
 after the Dutch manner, of the words " good things," 
 things of use and convenience, or dehght and fancy, 
 upon which one man sets a value in proportion as they 
 are wanted or sought after by others. 
 
 For example : in retailing, we say ; such a shop is 
 well furnished with all sorts of goods ; in the whole- 
 sale trade, such a dealer has his warehouse well filled 
 with goods ; in housekeeping, all the furniture of a 
 house are called the goods, or the household goods ; 
 in merchandizing, such a ship was laden with bale 
 goods ; and in the East-India ships, after the bulky 
 goods (for so they call the pepper, saltpetre, red earth, 
 tea, and such like) are taken out, it is said the rest of 
 the loading was made up with piece-goods. — Universal 
 Magazine, 1747. 
 
 HARLEQUIN. 
 In the drama, a standing character in pantomimical 
 entertainments. In the Italian comedy, harlequin is 
 the buffoon. The term took its rise from a famous 
 Italian comedian, who came to Paris, under Henry III. ; 
 and who frequenting the house of M. D'Harlay, his 
 companions called him Harlequino, meaning Little 
 Harlay. — Pocket Encyclopedia, 1802. 
 
 HERRING. 
 The name is derived from the German here, an 
 army; in allusion to the countless numbers which 
 L 4
 
 152 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 compose the shoals or bodies in which they swim. 
 —Pocket Encycloj)edia. 
 
 HURRICANES. 
 Hurricanes are so called from the Indian word Awnca, 
 
 which signifies the devil History of Jamaica, 1740, 
 
 page 40. 
 
 IGNOMINY. 
 
 Ignominia was no more than a public shame which 
 the offending person underwent, either by virtue of 
 the praetor's edict, or more commonly by the order of 
 the censor : this punishment, besides the scandal, 
 took away from the party on whom it was inflicted the 
 privilege of bearing any office, and almost all other 
 liberties of a Roman citizen. — Rennet's Antiquities. 
 
 ISABELLA COLOUR. 
 
 A colour resembling that of dirty linen. It is said 
 to have received its name from Isabella, Infanta of 
 Spain, who, when Ostend was besieged by the 
 Spaniards under the command of Spinolas, made a 
 solemn vow not to change her linen till it should be 
 taken ; but the city holding out longer than her linen 
 held clean, the Spaniards, who were acquainted with 
 her vow, instead of calling it dirty, named it Isabella's
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 153 
 
 colour, and adopted it in honour of their princess. — 
 Riders Dictionary. 
 
 LIFEGUARD. 
 
 Lifeguard — (Dutch, lyfe-guard), the guard of the 
 body : for li/Je, in Dutch, signifies body. In French, 
 they call it garde du corps, which has the same mean- 
 ing. — Blount's Dictionary, 1681. 
 
 MEWS: 
 
 WHY STABLES SO CALLED. 
 
 Mue (from the French muer, to change), a kind of 
 cage, where hawks are wintered, or kept when they 
 mue or change their feathers ; whence those great 
 stables belonging to Whitehall took denomination, that 
 place having been anciently full of mues, where the 
 king's hawks were kept. — BlounVs Dictionary, 1681. 
 
 MILLENER OR MILLINER. 
 Of this word, different etymologies have been given. 
 It is not derived from the French ; for, through some 
 strange fatality, the French cannot express the notion 
 of millener, otherwise than by the circumlocution mar- 
 chand or marchande des modes. Neither is it derived 
 from the Low-Dutch language, the great but neg- 
 lected magazine of the Anglo-Saxon : for Sewell, 
 in his Dictionary English and Dutch 1718, describes
 
 154> CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 millener to be " en kraamer van lint en audere 
 optoniselon, Fransche kraamer ;" that is, " a pedlar 
 who sells ribbons and other trimmings and ornaments 
 — a French pedlar." 
 
 Littleton, in his English and Latin Dictionary pub- 
 lished in 1677, defines millener, " a jack-of-all-trades," 
 q. d. millenarius, or mille mercium venditor, that is, 
 " one who sells a thousand different sorts of things." 
 This etymology seems fanciful : but if he rightly under- 
 stood the vulgar meaning of the word millener in his 
 time, we must hold that it then implied what is now 
 termed " a haberdasher of small wares;" one who dealt 
 in various articles of petty merchandize, and who did 
 not make up the goods which he sold. 
 
 Before Littleton's time, however, a somewhat nicer 
 characteristic than seems compatible with his notion, 
 appears to have belonged to them : for Shakspeare, in 
 his Henry IV., makes Hotspur, when complaining of 
 the daintiness of a courtier, say, 
 
 " He was perfumed like a millener." 
 
 The fact seems to be, that there were milleners of 
 several kinds : as horse-milleners (for so those persons 
 were called who make ornaments of coloured worsted 
 for horses) ; haberdashers of small wares, the milleners 
 of Littleton ; and milliners such as those now pecu- 
 liarly known by that name, whether male or female, 
 and to whom Shakspeare's allusion seems most ap- 
 propriate.
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 155 
 
 Lastly, Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary derives the 
 word from Milaner, an inliabitant of Milan, from 
 V, hence people of this profession first came — as a Lom- 
 bard is a banker. — Encyclopedia. 
 
 NEGUS. 
 Negus is supposed to have been brought into fashion 
 by, and taken its denomination from, Francis Negus, 
 Esq., who was commissioner for executing the office of 
 Master of the Horse, during the reign of George \. — 
 Gentleman's Magazine, 1788. 
 
 PAMPHLET. 
 
 Written by Caxton paunflet, from par un Jilct, Fr. 
 by a thread — a small book not stitched. — Riders Dic- 
 tionary. 
 
 Pamphlet. The press now (that is, soon after the 
 marriage of Philip of Spain with our Mary) teemed 
 besides with light performances on heavy topics. I 
 question whether small books, fastened par un filet, and' 
 since from thence called pamphlets, were known before 
 this occasion. — Piozzis Retrospection. 
 
 PAPA. 
 
 Stephen Pasquier, in his " Rccherches de la France," 
 observes that the word Pa Pa, i. c. the Pope, comes
 
 156 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 from an old contraction of pater patriae, written thus, 
 papa, as we have it in many ancient coins. Others say 
 it was contracted from pater patriarcharum. — Blount's 
 Dictionary. 
 
 PEAL. 
 It is needless to say, the original use of bells in 
 churches was solely for the purpose of calling people 
 thither : hence the word peal is derived from the French 
 appeler, to call. — Gentleman s Magazine, 1787. 
 
 PEN. 
 
 The word pen, now used for the instrument we write 
 with, is no other than the Latin penna, which signifies 
 the quill or hard feather of any bird : and is a very 
 proper word for it, because our pens are now made of 
 such quills, which were formerly made of reeds.— 
 Groses Provincial Glossary. 
 
 PETTY-FOGGER. 
 
 A little dirty attorney, &c. It is derived from the 
 French words petit vogue, of small credit, or little 
 reputation. — Dictionary Vulgar Tongue, 1788. 
 
 POLTROON. 
 Among the Romans (speaking of those who wished 
 to evade becoming soldiers), some cut otf their thumbs
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 1.57 
 
 or fingers to render them unfit for service : hence pol- 
 lice trunci, poltroons. — Adam's Roman A7itiquities,lS07 . 
 
 POOP AND PROW. 
 
 Prora, the prow or fiD re-part, and puppis, the stern 
 or hind part of a Roman ship. — Adam's Roman Anti- 
 quities) 1807. 
 
 PUNCH, MR. ; OR MR. PUNCHENELLO. 
 Some think that " Paunch" was the original name of 
 that facetious prince of puppets Mr. Punch, as he is 
 always represented with a very prominent belly : 
 though the common opinion is, that both the name and 
 character were taken from a celebrated Italian come- 
 dian, called Polichenello. — Dictionary Vulgar Tongue. 
 
 QUAKERS 
 Received this denomination in the year 1630, from 
 Gervas Bennet, Esq., a justice of peace in Derby, partly 
 on account of the convulsive agitation and shaking of 
 the body with which the discourses of this people were 
 usually attended, and partly on account of the exhor- 
 tation addressed to his Majesty by Fox and his com- 
 panions, who, when they were called before him, de- 
 sired him, with a loud voice and vehement emotion of 
 body, to " tremble at the word of the Lord." — British 
 Magazine, 1765.
 
 158 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 QUANDARY. 
 A man is said to be in a quandary, when he is in a 
 study or doubt what to do, or when to act what lie 
 hath in thought ; and it is conjectured to come from 
 ^uando cira — for that, in the time of heathenism, 
 people would ask, quando ara ? " when shall the sacri- 
 fice be made ?" or, " when will the altar be ready ?" 
 Others derive it from the French qiieii diray-je? i. e. 
 " what shall I say on it ?" — Blount's Didionarj/, 1681. 
 
 ROMANCE. 
 
 Crescinbeni, reciting the several opinions respecting 
 the word Romanzo, derives it from the word Roma, 
 and tells us that it means that vulgar idiom v/hich, 
 with colonies of Romans, passed into Provence 
 and elsewhere, and was esteemed even by the bar- 
 barians who inhabited those kingdoms, and called 
 Romano, and Romanzo : and in this they wrote the acts 
 and achievements of knights ; which writings were 
 therefore styled romanzi, or romances. The termi- 
 nation was most probably conformable to the use of 
 the language of the country into which it was intro- 
 duced, the radical word being one and the same. — New 
 Annucd Register, p, 113, 1780. 
 
 The subjects of these romances were the crusades 
 of the European Christians against the Saracens of 
 Asia and Africa. — Netv Amuud Register, p. 12G, 1780.
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 159 
 
 SALARY. 
 Salaire, Fr., a servant's stipend, or wages : so 
 called, as Pliny saith, from sal, Lat. salt — both being 
 alike necessary. — Phillips, 1671, and Coles, 1708. 
 
 SAUNTERER. 
 He (Johnson) said that the verb saunter came 
 originally fi-om Sainte-Terre, the Holy Land; for 
 that, in crusading times, when a fellow was found 
 loitering about, unable or unwilling to give account 
 of himself and his designs, if asked whither he was 
 going, the usual reply was, a la Sainte-Terre: and 
 from that cause, people who lingered about a house, 
 trespassing upon that hospitality which in such days 
 was with difficulty refused, were called, by corruption, 
 SaintC'Terrers and saunterers. — Piozzis Synonomij, 
 1794. 
 
 SIR-LOIN-SUIl-LOIN. 
 
 Surloin is, I conceive (if not knighted by King 
 James, as is reported), compounded of the French sur, 
 upon, and the English loin, for the sake of euphony. 
 In proof of this, the piece of beef so called grows 
 on the loin and behind the small ribs of the animal. 
 — Gentleman s Magazine, 1784'. 
 
 The story of the knighting, as there is not much
 
 160 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 reason in it, may here, perhaps, with great propriety 
 follow in rhyme : 
 
 As once returning from the chace. 
 
 The second Charles, the merry king — 
 
 The glories of whose sacred race — 
 The muse shall ever love to sing ; 
 
 Now wearied with the sport he loved. 
 And faint with toil, and faint with heat. 
 
 Dejected looked, and slowly moved, 
 And longed to rest, and longed to eat : 
 
 Sudden before his wandering eyes, 
 
 A banquet unexpected stood ; 
 The monarch gazed with glad surprise, 
 
 And 'gan to taste the welcome food. 
 
 Proud of his loved, his royal guest. 
 
 The noble host, a gallant lord. 
 With various dainties graced his feast. 
 
 And gay profusion crowned the board. 
 
 But high above the rest appeared 
 
 The hung'ring Britons' old relief ; 
 Its mighty bulk exalting reared 
 
 The yet unhonoured loin of beef. 
 
 With ravished eye the king beheld. 
 
 Eat as he ne'er had eat before ; 
 Too soon the rage of hunger quelled. 
 
 And grieved that he could eat no more. 
 
 But soon, with mighty spirits gay. 
 Such as from beef alone could spring, 
 
 The mighty pleasure to repay, 
 
 Aloud proclaimed the enraptured king :
 
 IGI 
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 " Be thou for ever loved and great 1 
 
 As my delight be thy just fame ; 
 Thy praises every tongue repeat, 
 
 And sir eternal grace thy name." 
 
 He said, and drew the royal sword ; 
 
 The applauding crowd uprose around ; 
 " Sir Loin !" with acclamations roared, 
 
 And distant echoes caught the sound. 
 
 British Majiazine, 1745. 
 
 TAWDRY. 
 
 Taiudry. (See Johnson, &c.) Garish, gaudy, with 
 low or staring and discordant colours: a term said 
 to be derived from the shrine and altar of St. Audrey 
 (an Isle of Ely saintess), which for finery exceeded all 
 others thereabouts, so as to become proverbial ; whence 
 any fine-dressed man or woman was said to be all St. 
 Audrey, and, by contraction, all tawdry. — Dictionary 
 Vulgar Tongue, 1788. 
 
 TERMAGANT 
 
 Signifies an outrageous scold, from Termagantes, a 
 cruel Pagan, formerly represented in divers shows 
 and entertainments, where, being dressed a la Turque, 
 in long clothes, he was mistaken for a furious woman. 
 — Dictionary Vulgar Tongue, 1788. 
 
 M
 
 16^ CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 TIPSTAFF, 
 Is one of the warden of the Fleet's men, tliat at- 
 tends the king's courts, with a painted staff, for the 
 taking such into custody as are committed by the 
 court ; and to attend such prisoners as go at large 
 by license. They are also called tipstaves that attend 
 the judges with a kind of rod tipt with silver, and 
 take into their charge all prisoners, either committed 
 or turned over at the judge's chamber. — ManleysLaw 
 Interpreter, 1672. 
 
 USHER. 
 Literally a doorkeeper. It is a false pronunciation 
 of the French huissier, from huis, a door. In Britain, 
 usher is the name given to several public officers, in 
 which sense it seems to be synonymous with serjeant. 
 These ushers are in waiting, to introduce strangers, and 
 execute orders, as those of taking offenders into 
 custody. Usher is also used as the denomination of 
 assistant to a schoolmaster, where it seems to refer 
 to his office of introducing the scholars to learning. — 
 Pocket Encyclopedia^ by Kendal. 
 
 VESTRY. 
 Vestry. (See Johnson, &c.) A part of a church 
 or chapel, founded for keeping the church vestments
 
 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. l63 
 
 and ornaments, and where the priest about to officiate 
 used to make himself ready, putting on his ministerial 
 habit or vestment — English Dictionary, 1663. 
 
 VOLUME. 
 
 The Romans commonly wrote only on one side of 
 the paper or parchment, and always joined one sheet 
 to the end of another till they finished what they had 
 to write, and then rolled it up on a cylinder or staff: 
 hence volwnen, a volume or scroll. — Adams Roman 
 Antiquity, 1807. 
 
 WHTST! 
 Signifies silenced ; as in Spenser's Fairy Queen : — 
 
 " So was the Titaness put down and whist." 
 
 and in Shakspeare's " Tempest," act i. scene v., 
 Ariel says — 
 
 " The wild waves xvhist." 
 
 Milton, too, uses this word in the same sense, in his 
 " Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity," 
 stanza v.: 
 
 " The winds with wonder whist. 
 
 Smoothly the waters kist." 
 
 The word is commonly used as an interjection com- 
 manding silence ; and hence, doubtless, the game of 
 xvhist at cards took its name, from its requiring 
 silence and attention. 
 
 M 2
 
 l64 CURIOUS DERIVATIONS. 
 
 WINDOW 
 
 Is yet provincially denominated " winder," in 
 Lancashire, &c. ; wind-door, or a passage for the 
 wind or air, as the other passage for the people was 
 pecuharly called " the door." — Whitakers History of 
 Manchester^ 1773. 
 
 WISE- ACER— PHYSICIAN. 
 fVise-acer, or rather tvise-ncher : there is so jocular 
 a derivation and explanation of this word, in Clet. Way. 
 p. 84, that it deserves to be transcribed again, from 
 the article Physician, which, he says, " does not 
 derive a ^vcrjj, 7iatura;" which is too quaint a deriva 
 tion, too much out of nature, for the simplicity of 
 those ancient times, in which the word physician was 
 used ; you have it in the very old French farce of 
 Patelin ; wys-ake for phys-achej, signifying one 
 skilled in aches, pains, and distempers ; but still it is 
 Greek, from Ax^, dolor, pain ; so that physician is 
 literally a tvys-ake, or wise-acher, after all. — Lemon's 
 Dictionary, 1783.
 
 THE 
 
 DERIVATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 
 
 [The origin of the names of places, as well as of those of per- 
 sons, often becomes an object of curious inquiry ; and, although 
 •the subject may not be one of any practical utility, yet, as a 
 matter of interest, it is amusing to most readers; and there are 
 many who, it is well known, take great delight in such informa- 
 tion. The following pages on this subject, professing to give the 
 derivation of the names of the principal market-towns in the ten 
 ■counties treated of, have been compiled by the editor of this little 
 .volume with considerable diligence and some labour. Detached 
 parts were permitted by him to be published, about three 
 years back, in a weekly miscellany now discontinued, called the 
 ** Literary Register." The whole has now been revised by him ; 
 and should the volume of " Varieties," now offered to the public, 
 meet with a favourable reception, it is his intention to resume this 
 subject in a second series, which long and severe illness prevents 
 him from completing or making more perfect in this.] 
 
 THE COUNTY OF CORNWALL, 
 Cornwall is that tract which, according to geo- 
 graphers, is, as it were, the first of all Britain. Reach- 
 ing out a long way towards the west, it is contracted 
 M 3
 
 166 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 by little and little, and bounded on the nortli by the 
 Severn, on the south by the British Ocean, and on the 
 west by St. George's Channel. It was formerly inha- 
 bited by those Britons called the Danmonii; which 
 name was most probably derived from the inexhausti- 
 ble mines of tin found in those parts (p^ dun a hill, and 
 moina mines). Cornwall was called by those remains 
 of the Britons, styled by Marianus Scotus " Western 
 Britons," Kernan, as lessening by degrees like a horn, 
 and on every side running out into promontories, like 
 so many horns. In the times of the Saxon wars, when 
 a great number of the Britons retreated into this county 
 for shelter, the Saxon conqueror, who called foreigners, 
 and ever}'' thing that was strange, lUealj-h, named the 
 inhabitants of this part Copn-pealej*. Hence arose the 
 name Cornivallia, and in later writers Cornuhia. 
 
 This is the first part of the island of Britain men- 
 tioned by any authors ; and by some it is supposed that 
 the name Britannia, or Prythania, was given to this 
 western country by the Phoenicians or Tyrians, who 
 carried on an extensive trade with the natives long 
 before the arrival of Julius Caesar, as many monuments 
 now extant sufficiently testify. 
 
 Numerous other authors, among whom may be 
 mentioned Nennius, Jeffrey of Monmouth, and all the 
 monkish writers, have derived its name from the giant 
 Corineus, upon whom 15rute the Trojan bestowed that 
 part of the island ; and, in proof, adduce the following 
 ancient distich :
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. iSj 
 
 " Pars Corineadalur Corineo, dc duce nomen 
 Palria, deque viro gens Corinetisis liabet /" 
 
 Which has been thus translated : 
 
 " Cornwall by grant to Corineiis came, 
 
 The country from that prince derived its name." 
 
 Or thus : 
 
 " Cornwall was to Corineus given 
 
 By Brute, the Trojan brave. 
 Who from fair Italy did come 
 
 This happy isle to save. 
 For many years it ruled was 
 
 By princes of renown ; 
 But from Corineus of great fame 
 
 The country still is known." 
 
 From early antiquity this county has been noted 
 for its produce of tin, which was an object of com- 
 merce to civilized nations while England was in a state 
 of barbarism. The quantity of tin produced here is 
 greater than in any other part of the world. The Prince 
 of Wales, who, as is well known, is also Duke of Corn- 
 wall, derives a very considerable revenue annually 
 from the tin, under particular laws and regulations. 
 Many valuable copper^mines are also wrought in this 
 county, and small quantities of gold and silver have 
 occasionally been found. Cornwall is well situated for 
 the herring and pilchard fisheries, and the inhabitants 
 fully avail themselves of their local advantages. As this 
 county was one of the places to which the ancient 
 Britons retreated, the Gaelic or Celtic language was 
 long retained here, and it is but very lately that it has 
 become totally extinct. 
 
 M 4
 
 168 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 Falmouth, like many other towns in England, de- 
 rives its name from a river ; the Fall, Fale, or as it was 
 anciently written Vale, at the mouth of which it is built. 
 It has been eulogized by Michael Drayton in the fol- 
 lowing lines : 
 
 " Here Vale, a lively flood, her nobler name that gives 
 To Falmouth, and by whom it famous ever lives ; 
 Whose entrance is from sea so intricately wound, 
 Her haven's angled so about her harbours sound, 
 That in her quiet bay a hundred ships may ride. 
 Yet not the tallest mast be of the tall'st descry'd." 
 
 Falmouth is celebrated for its harbour, and the 
 security it affords to the shipping from the high lands 
 environing it is equal to that obtained in any port in 
 the kingdom. The harbour is guarded at its entrance 
 by the two castles of St. Mawes and Pendennis, cele- 
 brated, by a poet who lived in the reign of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, in the following lines : 
 
 " High on a craggy rock Pendennis stands, 
 And with his hundred guns the port commands ; 
 While strong St. Maudit answers him below, 
 Where Falmouth sands the spacious harbour show." 
 
 Pendennis Castle in the reign of Charles I. was gar- 
 risoned by the King, and held out against the Parlia- 
 ment Army a considerable time ; but was at last taken 
 by General Fairfax. This castle, as well as that of 
 St Mawes, was originally built by Henry VIII., and 
 consists wholly of granite. It was strengthened and 
 enlarged by Queen Elizabeth, and has undergone 
 numerous alterations and repairs. The fortress is
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. l69 
 
 proudly exalted on a rock upwards of 300 feet above 
 the sea, and, from its elevated situation, has a complete 
 command over the entrance of the harbour. 
 
 The castle of St. Mavves is opposite to Pendennis 
 Castle, but very inferior, both in size and situation, 
 the works being completely commanded by a hill which 
 rises immediately behind it. 
 
 Penzance is thus derived, according to the learned 
 Camden : " Pensans, i. e. cajmt sabiili, the head of the 
 sands." 
 
 " Pensans," says Dr. Holland, in his Additions to 
 Camden, 1690, " our author (Camden) interprets ' head 
 of the sands.' But the true construction of the word 
 is the head of the saint ; and that this is the right name 
 appears from the arms of the town, St. John Baptist's 
 head in a charger. If this did not put it beyond all 
 dispute, we might imagine the original name to have 
 been Fensavas, which signifies the head of the channel, 
 and agrees very well with the nature of the place." 
 
 Penzance was entirely destroyed by the Spaniards in 
 1395, who, in four galleys, surprised this part of the 
 coast, and burnt and ravaged the adjacent country ; 
 but it was afterwards rebuilt, and made one of the 
 coinage towns. 
 
 Penryn is an ancient corporation town, situate on 
 a hill, at a little distance from the sea, westward of 
 Falmouth harbour. This town, like many others in this 
 part of Britain, takes its name from its situation. In 
 this county there are many high cliffs, where it is sup-
 
 170 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 posed the Phoenicians landed, which are, from them, 
 called Pe)is to this day. Thus are accounted for, the 
 names of many places so peculiar to this part of the 
 island : as Penrose, Pengarsick, Penwarron, Penden- 
 nis, Penrock, &c. Whether this country was colonized 
 by the Phoenicians or not. is an argument upon which 
 we cannot enter. Certain it is, however, that the sig- 
 nification of pen is a head, elevation, mountain, which 
 will sufficiently answer our purpose in the etymology of 
 this place : and, as to Penzance, we are confidently of 
 opinion, that the head of the sands or channel, not the 
 head of the saint, is the real derivation. 
 
 The following historical fact connected with this 
 town, and recorded either by Carew, Borlase, or Ry- 
 mer, sufficiently proves that players have, at least on 
 one occasion, contributed to the national good : 
 
 About the year 1587, when the Spanish Armada was 
 hovering on the coast, a company of strollers were 
 performing a dramatic piece called Sampson, in a bam 
 at Penryn, During the performance, some Spanish 
 men-of-war having suddenly landed a body of men 
 from their boats, they were in full and silent march (in 
 the dark), with design to surprise, plunder,and burn the 
 town ; when, fortunately for the inhabitants, just at that 
 very instant the players in the town, having let Samp- 
 son loose to fall on the Philistines, the sound of drums 
 and trumpets, and the tremendous shout set up by the 
 spectators, being heard by the Spanish detachment, 
 they apprehended that the townsmen were coming down
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. V/l 
 
 upon them in great force, and, overcome with the first 
 impressions of the panic, the invaders turned tail, and 
 scampered back precipitately to their ships. 
 
 The people of Penryn had an annual procession in 
 commemoration of this signal service, derived acci- 
 dentally from a dramatic performance. 
 
 East and West Loo are separated from each 
 other by a stone bridge, of fifteen arches, over the river 
 Loo or Low, whence their names are derived. — Des- 
 cription of England and Wales, 1769. 
 
 The river Loo opens itself a passage into the sea 
 upon this coast, and its mouth communicates its name 
 to two little towns, joined together by a stone bridge. 
 — Camden. 
 
 They are ancient boroughs and corporations, and re- 
 turn each two members to Parliament. The manors of 
 both belonged formerly to the noble family of Courtney, 
 but are now annexed to the Duchy of Cornwall. East 
 Loo is a place of great antiquity, but is now a labyrinth 
 of short, narrow, dirty alleys ; and West Loo consists 
 principally of a long street of irregular houses, creeping 
 up the side of a hill. The appearance of both towns, 
 however, encircled as they are with very steep high 
 hills, the sides of which are covered with gardens hang- 
 ing over one another, and trees through which are 
 seen other straggling cottages, is remarkably pic- 
 turesque. The inhabitants of both towns are chiefly 
 supported by the pilchard fishery. 
 
 St. Austle is a very ancient town, and was once a
 
 172 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 place of considerable trade, but has long since fallen 
 to decay. For its name we can find no satisfactory 
 derivation ; but there can be little doubt that it was 
 assumed from some religious person of the same name 
 (some say St. Austes), who lived either in the town or 
 its vicinity. 
 
 Truro, according to every authority, is so called 
 because it consisted chiefly of three streets, which the 
 Cornish word tru-ni signifies. In this town is a 
 spacious old church, not inferior to any in the county 
 for its gothic architecture. The lord warden of the 
 stannaries holds his parliament here. Many pieces of 
 ancient inscriptions, brass coins, Sec. have been found 
 in the neighbourhood, but so defaced as to be scarcely 
 legible. 
 
 Merazion, Marazion, or Market Jew, a mean 
 town in Cornwall, seated on a dangerous arm of the 
 sea called Mount's Bay. 
 
 In the twelfth century here was a market, granted to 
 the religious house upon the mount (St. Michael's), 
 held on the Thursday of every week. It was denomi- 
 nated Marghas gou, a name signifying Thursday mar- 
 ket. The Jews are said to have imposed the present 
 name of Marazion, or the market of Zion. The market 
 is now held on Saturdays. 
 
 St. Ives. — Concerning the derivation of St. Ives, we 
 have the following account : 
 
 " St. Ives, formerly called St. Jies, from Jia, an 
 Irish woman of great piety who lived here." — 'Camden.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 173 
 
 •' St. Ives was so called from a female Irish saint, 
 said to have been the daughter of one of the petty 
 kings of that country, famous for her piety, who settled 
 here about the end of the fifth century ; and at her 
 shrine in the church many miracles are said to have 
 been performed, and multitudes of pilgrims visited it 
 from a principle of devotion." — Spencer s England and 
 Wales. 
 
 " St. Ivo was a Persian bishop, who, about the year 
 600, travelled through England, and was so pleased 
 with the town called Slepe, that he would not be tempted 
 from it, but there died ; and from him that town had 
 the name of St. Ives : his body was translated to Ramsy, 
 and a church," &c. — Dove Almanack^ 1693. 
 
 " St. Ives or St. Jiles (Cornwall), takes its name 
 from St. Jila, the famous old Irish saint." — Universal 
 Magazine, 1748. 
 
 St. Ives is situated on a bay of the same name. In 
 the town there is a free grammar school founded by 
 Charles I. This town is a manor of great antiquity, 
 and as such was bestowed on Hubert de Ferrers, by 
 King Stephen, for his gallant behaviour at the battle of 
 the Standard in 1138. 
 
 Saltash is supposed to be a corruption of Saltesse ; 
 this town was anciently called Villa d'Esse, Esse's 
 town — Esse being the name of several families there- 
 abouts, to this day. Villa dEsse was at length con- 
 tracted to Esse, and the word Salt was afterwards 
 added, because it stands upon the sea.
 
 174" DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 In confirmation of tlie above, Camden calls this 
 town Saltesse ; but neither he, Holland, Spencer, 
 nor any other authority that we have met with, sfneaks 
 of its derivation. The above account is taken from an 
 anonymous contribution to a very old magazine. 
 
 CoLUMB Magna and Parva, or great and little, are 
 so called by way of distinction ; neither of them being 
 large, but one larger than the other. Their names are 
 derived from a church which was built here, and con- 
 secrated to the memory of Columba, " an exceeding 
 pious woman and a martyr." 
 
 Camelfokd, formerly called Kamblan, in the 
 opinion of Leland, takes its name from its being 
 situated on the river Camel, over which there is an 
 easy Jbrd for passengers. Although now of little 
 consideration, it has been a place of some importance 
 in former ages. Near this place, it is asserted by 
 Leland and others, that the great Arthur was born, 
 A.D. 452, at Thidagium, afterwards called Tindagel, 
 Tintagel, or Tentagel, where a magnificent castle for- 
 merly stood, celebrated in the following lines : — 
 
 " Est locus Abrini sinuoso iUtorc ponti 
 Rujye situs media refluus quern circuit cestus ; 
 Fulminat hie late lurrito vertice castrum. 
 Nomine Tindagium veteres dixere Corini." 
 " On a steep rock, within a winding bay, 
 A castle stands, surrounded by the sea ; 
 Whose frequent thunder shakes the trembling hill : 
 Tindage of old 'twas called, now Tindagel." 
 
 '< If it be true," says Camden, " that Arthur was
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 175 
 
 born here, the same shore both gave him his first 
 breath, and deprived him of his last." This alludes 
 to the battle fought here between the British Hector 
 and his nephew Modred, who had debauched his 
 wife, in which the former was mortally wounded, and 
 the latter killed on the spot. Marianus tells us, that 
 Modred was slain in the field by the hands of Arthur 
 himself; but that the latter lived some days after, 
 when, being carried by some of his faithful followers to 
 the abbey of Glastonbury, he there expired, and was 
 buried in the church of that monastery. We are like- 
 wise informed by William of Malmesbury, that the 
 body of Arthur was discovered, in the reign of Henry 
 n., under the high altar of the church of Glaston- 
 bury, when it was nobly enshrined, and many pilgrims 
 resorted to visit it. 
 
 Nennius asserts that the battle between Arthur and 
 Modred was fought June 22, 542. This place is also 
 famous for another desperate battle in its neighbour-, 
 hood, between the Britons and Saxons, in 823. 
 
 LosTwiTHiEL, — This town is supposed by some 
 to have been the Uzella of Ptolemy. " More within 
 the land,'' says Camden, " upon the same river, the 
 Uzella of Ptolemy is seated, and has not yet quite 
 lost its name, being called at this day Lestithiell, 
 from its situation : for it was upon a high hill, where 
 Lestormin, an ancient castle, is, though now it is 
 removed into the valley. Now uchel, in British, sig- 
 nifies the same as high or lofty ; from whence Uxello-
 
 176 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 dunum of Gaule is so termed, because the town 
 being built upon a mountain, has a steep rugged 
 ascent every way. This in the British history is 
 called Pen-Uchel'Coit, a high mountain in a wood. 
 But the situation assigned it by Ptolemy, and the 
 name it has to this day, do sufficiently evince it to have 
 been the ancient Uzella. — Camden s Britannia. 
 
 Lestwithiel, a market and borough town, called 
 in the British tongue, Pen- JJchel- Coed, i. e. a high 
 place with a wood. It is a very ancient town, and 
 had a castle, where the earls of Cornwall resided 
 before the Norman conquest. — Spencer s England and 
 Wales, 1771. 
 
 In the course of our reading, we have met with 
 Beveral other accounts of the derivation of the name 
 of this place. One of these we shall quote, as being 
 more probable than the rest, and we can only leave 
 our readers to judge for themselves. 
 
 " Lestwithiel, or Lestuthiel, Cornwall, is supposed 
 to derive its name from the Cornish word Lostivithiall, 
 which signifies a lion's tail. The earl of this province 
 bore the lion for his arms, and the principal strength 
 of that animal being supposed to lie in his tail, and 
 this town having been anciently the earl's residence, 
 where his exchequer was kept, and the affairs of his 
 government transacted, it is presumed to have been 
 named from these facts. — History/ of Cornxvall, 1780. 
 — Anonymous. 
 
 Formerly, ships came as far as this town ; but the
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. l/Y 
 
 channel is now stopped up. They keep the county 
 courts here, with weights and measures for the whole 
 stannary. 
 
 A very singular custom, now long since disused, 
 prevailed formerly, in the times of Popery, in tliis 
 place. On Low Sunday, the freeholders of the town 
 and manor assembled in an adjoining field, and from 
 amongst them one was chosen, whom they dressed in 
 the most sumptuous manner, with a crown on his head, 
 a sceptre in his hand, and, being mounted on a fine 
 horse, a sword of state was carried before him, while 
 all the freeholders walked in procession through the 
 principal street to the church. When he arrived at 
 the great gate, the curate, dressed in his best robes, 
 received him, and conducted him to a princely seat 
 in the church to hear mass. This being over, he 
 repaired, in the same pompous manner, to a house 
 provided for that purpose, where a feast was made for 
 all his attendants, he sitting at the head of the table, 
 and being served by the principal townsmen, kneel- 
 ing, together with all other marks of respect usually 
 shown to regal dignity. 
 
 Various have been the conjectures of historians 
 concerning the origin and meaning of this extraor- 
 dinary ceremony. Mr. Spencer modestly offers the 
 following explanation, which has certainly greater 
 appearance of truth than that of any other writer we 
 have met with. 
 
 " As Cornwall was long an earldom, under the 
 
 N
 
 178 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 West Saxon kings, and as earls were obliged to reside 
 in their own districts, possibly, when a new one was 
 appointed, or a minor arrived at maturity, the Sun- 
 day after Easter was the time fixed for his entering 
 upon the office, and taking possession of the estate. 
 But it may be objected, why did he wear a crown, 
 with other marks of regal dignity ? We answer, that 
 long after the Conquest, namely, in 1330, Cornwall 
 was made a duchy, or subordinate regality, to be 
 held by the princes of Wales, for ever, and at their 
 demise, by the king. But few of those princes having 
 visited the county after the death of Edward III,, and 
 the people being accustomed to those processions on 
 the arrival of their chief, vvhom they considered as 
 their sovereign, and likewise when his deputy came 
 annually to administer justice, continued to keep up 
 the custom ; till it was utterly laid aside,, as tending 
 to promote idleness and create luxury." 
 
 Grampound, a small borough and market town, 
 situated on the river Fale, Fall, or Vale, over which 
 there is an ancient stone bridge, is supposed by some to 
 have been the Volnba of the Romans. 
 
 " John of Elthern, Earl of Cornwall, in his charter to 
 the burgers, granted and confirmed the whole ville of 
 Grampont, and all the lands of Coytfala, which in the 
 British signifies fala-vvood : and at this day there are 
 certaine lands adjoyning to the town, and within the 
 precincts of the borough, called Coysfala ; which 
 remains of the old name, and the situation of the town,
 
 NAMES OF PLACES l79 
 
 exactly agreeing with that of Voluha in Ptolemy, 
 seem to justifie an opinion, that, upon erecting the 
 adjoyning bridge over the river Vale, it exchanged the 
 name of Voluba for Pons-mur ; by which name, in 
 British, signifying a great bridge, Edmund, Earl of 
 Cornwall, enfranchised it ; and this being put into 
 French, is exactly Grand-pont, or as 'tis called at this 
 day, Grampond." — Dr. Holland, 1690. 
 
 FowEY is a populous and flourishing borough town 
 and harbour, seated at the mouth of the river Foivei/ or 
 Faivey ; whence its name. 
 
 The harbour is defended by two small batteries of 
 modern erection, and St. Catherine's fort, built in the 
 reign of Henry VIII. This fort is situate on the sum- 
 mit of a steep and magnificent pile of rocks, that forms 
 one of the creeks of the river. The manor of Fowey, 
 in the reign of Richard I., was attached to the priory 
 of Tredwardeth ; but, at its dissolution, was annexed 
 to the Duchy of Cornwall. 
 
 Tregoney is generally supposed to occupy the site 
 of the Roman station, Cenio. Ptolemy calls the haven 
 at Falmouth Cenionis Ostium, from the British Geneu, 
 signifying a mouth or entrance — which the etymology 
 of this town, as at present called, is said to confirm ; it 
 having been anciently written Tregenie, from tre a 
 town, and geneu a mouth — signifying a town at the 
 mouth. Tregoney is situated on the river Fal, the 
 houses being chiefly disposed in one long street, occu- 
 N 2
 
 180 
 
 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 pying the summit of a hill. The old town was situated 
 in the low ground at the bottom of the hill on which 
 the present one is built. 
 
 Padstow was anciently called Petrockstow i. e. 
 Petrock's Place, from one Petrock, or more properly 
 Patrick, who lived in a state of holy retirement some- 
 where near this town, and to whose memory a church 
 was built, to which, in after ages, many pilgrims resort- 
 ed. — Spencer. 
 
 We are told by Leland, that the shrine of this saint 
 was standing when he visited the place about the year 
 1537, and said to be extremely rich. No remains of 
 it are now left. 
 
 Camden does not touch upon the derivation of this 
 place ; but merely mentions, that from St. Ives " the 
 northern shore, with an oblique winding, goes direct to 
 Padstow, meeting with nothing in its way remarkable, 
 besides a chapel built upon the sand dedicated to St. 
 Piranus,* another Irish Saint buried here; to whose 
 sanctity a childish writer has attributed the finding 
 provision for ten Irish kings and their armies for eight 
 days together, with no more than three cows ; as also 
 bringing to life dead hogs and dead men." We pre- 
 sume Leland to have been Spencer's authority for the 
 derivation of the name of this place, and doubt not 
 that the account given by him is correct. 
 
 * It is presumed that it was from this saint that the little 
 village of St. Peran took its name.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 181 
 
 Helston — in the language of the natives Hellas, 
 from the saltwater thereabouts : a town famous for the 
 privilege of stamping tin. — Camden s Britannia. 
 
 Helston, called by Leland Halistown, but by the 
 inhabitants Hellas, i. e. salt water. — Spencers England 
 and Wales. 
 
 Helston is called in the Cornish language Hellaz, 
 which is said to signify green; and is supposed by 
 Carew to have been given from the salt water about it, 
 which is of a greenish hue- It seems, however, more 
 probable that the name is Hels Town, or town on the 
 river Hel. — Anonymous. 
 
 The church at Helston, which stands on an eminence 
 to the north, is considered to form a fine object from 
 the valley which stands between it and the sea. It was 
 erected in 1762, and has a lofty pinnacled tower. 
 
 Boscastle is a contraction of Botereaux Castle, 
 and is so called from Tintagel or Bossiney Castle, 
 long since fallen to decay, which was built by the 
 Botereauxs, who were lords of the place, (of the Nor- 
 man boterau, a garter ; the family bearing a garter in 
 their coat of arms). 
 
 Stratton. — Of the name of this town we can find 
 no etymology, but think that there can be little doubt 
 that the signification ofStrat-ton must be Straight Town, 
 from the fact of its consisting of a single street but 
 meanly built. Stratton is remarkable for the great 
 number of gardens with which it is surrounded, and is 
 particularly memorable for the battle fought in its 
 N 3
 
 1^'-2 DHRIVATION OF THE 
 
 vicinity, between the forces of Charles I. and those of 
 the Parliament ; in which the former lost their camp, 
 baggage, ammunition, and cannon. 
 
 Stratton, although now very inconsiderable, is very 
 ancient, and was a place of strength under the Ro- 
 mans—one of their highways running either through or 
 near it. 
 
 Warebridge, IVadbridge, ov Wadebridge, takes its 
 name from a bridge of seventeen arches, the largest in 
 the whole county, over the river Camel. This bridge 
 is 320 feet long, and, according to Leland, was built 
 by one Lovebone, the vicar of the place, about the year 
 1460, at his own expense, to prevent those dangers 
 which travellers on horseback were exposed to in fer- 
 rying over. 
 
 Bodmin. — In Mr. Camden's opinion this town was, 
 in British, Bosuenna, and in ancient charters Bodmi- 
 niarn; and Bodmin is stated in Bailey's Dictionary, 
 1737 (the only authority we can find), to be com- 
 pounded of C Br. Boh a kite, and COip. the bank of a 
 river, by reason of the situation of the town, and the 
 great number of kites* that frequent it. 
 
 The summer assizes and Michaelmas quarter sessions 
 are always holden here, and, generally, the county 
 meetings. This town appears to have been the prin- 
 cipal seat of religion in the western district, and, ac- 
 cording to Hals, contained a priory, a cathedral, and 
 thirteen churches or free chapels. In the neighbour- 
 
 • Querij—ihc attornies at assize time?
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 18.1 
 
 hood of the town are those monumental stones called 
 " the Hurlers," which Dr. Stukely makes no doubt 
 are the remains of an ancient Druid temple. 
 
 Launceston, commonly called Launston, was for- 
 merly Lanstuphadon, L e. the Church of Stephen. In 
 the Domesday-Book it is called Launstaveton ; which 
 name it had, doubtless, from a college there dedicated 
 to St. Stephen, and, about the year 1150, converted into 
 a monastery by Reginald, Earl of Cornwall. — Camden, 
 and others. 
 
 Launceston is by some authors called Dunever, by 
 others Dunbivid, and vulgarly Launston. In the most 
 ancient records it is termed Dunburd, from its being 
 built on a hill ; and Leland calls it Lunstaphadon. 
 
 Launceston is very ancient, being mentioned in the 
 Domesday-Book, 1067 ; at which time William the 
 Conqueror granted it to his brother Robert, Earl of 
 Moreton, who built a strong castle here. 
 
 Richard I., when he went on his romantic expedition 
 to Palestine, gave this town and castle to his brother 
 John, who succeeded him as king, and who enlarged 
 some parts of the latter, putting the whole in a proper 
 state of defence. This castle remained a place of great 
 strength until the time of the civil wars, when it was 
 besieged and taken by General Fairfax, who command- 
 ed for the Parliament — Sir Ralph Hopeton, the general 
 of the Royalists, being obliged to disband his forces, 
 which ruined the king's interests in those parts. 
 N 4
 
 184 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 The winter assizes are holden here ; and Leiand 
 tells us that this town was walled in his time, and a 
 mile in compass. The castle above-mentioned was 
 called Castle Terrible, on account of its strength, 
 and the lower part of it is now made use of for the 
 gaol. 
 
 St. Germains takes its name from St. Germanus, 
 Bishop of Auxerre in France, by some supposed to 
 have been born in this town. 
 
 When the learned Pelagius, who was himself a native 
 of Britain, returned from Rome, where he had been 
 prosecuting his studies, he preached to his countrymen 
 in Cornwall. A council was summoned, wherein Pe- 
 lagius's notions were condemned as heretical, and 
 missionaries were sent from all parts to preach against 
 his doctrine, which was termed the Pelagian heresy. 
 Amongst those who came into Britain was St. Germain, 
 Bishop of Auxerre in Burgundy, who preached first 
 at St. Alban's, and afterwards travelled into distant 
 parts of the Roman province of this island, till at last 
 he settled here, and from him the place received its 
 name. King Athelstan built a church to his memory, 
 and afterwards removed the seats of the Bishops of 
 Cornwall from Bodmin hither, and it continued to 
 be the seat of a bishop till 1049, when Edward 
 the Confessor removed the episcopal seat to Kirton, 
 and soon after to Exeter, where it has remained 
 ever since.
 
 NAMES OF PLACIiS 185 
 
 THE COUNTY OF DEVON. 
 
 Devonshire, like Cornwall, was formerly inhabited 
 by the Danmonii. It was called by the Britons Duff- 
 neytit, and by the Saxons Deuonscyre (now Devon- 
 shire) ; the signification of which is, that most of the 
 towns and villages are built in low vallies. 
 
 " The hither country of the Danmonii," says Cam- 
 den, " is now commonly called Denshire ; by the 
 Cornish Britons, Deunan ; by the Welch Britons, Diiff'- 
 7iei/nt, that is, deep vallies, because they live every way 
 here lowly in the bottoms ; by the English Saxons 
 Deuenj"chipe, from whence comes the Latin Devonia, 
 and that contracted name used by the vulgar. Denshire ; 
 and not from the Danes, as some pretenders do stiffly 
 hold." 
 
 Devonshire is in extent the second county in England, 
 being sixty-nine miles long from north to south, and 
 sixty miles broad from east to west. The air is pecu- 
 liarly mild, and the soil, except on the mountains and 
 moors, fertile. A rich sand, which is found on the 
 coast, is particularly serviceable to the husbandman. 
 Fruit trees, especially apples, of which great quantities 
 of cider are made, abound here. The sea-coasts 
 abound with herrings, pilchards, &c. There were for- 
 merly some very considerable tin mines in this county ; 
 but they are now exhausted. There are several of 
 copper and lead ; and there were formerly in Devonshire
 
 18(i DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 mines also of gold and silver,* as appears by several 
 grants made by Edward III., Richard II., and other 
 kings, with a reservation of the tenths to the church. 
 In the south-west parts are great quantities of marble, 
 and in several places marble rocks have been found to 
 be the basis of the high roads. Iron-stone is found in 
 various parts of the county : and some very rich lead 
 ore was discovered some years since at Coomb-Martin. 
 Mineral chalybeate waters are also numerous. 
 
 Exeter — This city, the capital of the county, is 
 situate on the river Exe, whence its denomination, the 
 present name being a contraction of Exceaster or Ex- 
 cester — that is, a city upon the Exe. 
 
 " ExonuB fama celeberrimus Iscia iiomen 
 PrcBbuit." 
 
 '■' The Ex, a river of great fame, 
 
 To Exeter has given name." 
 
 It has had many names, viz. Iske, Isca, Isca Dan- 
 moniorum, Exonia, Monkton, &c. &c. Who was the 
 founder of it is not known ; but it is supposed to have 
 been built about the year 162 — though Izacke, in his 
 history, says it existed before London ; and that Brute, 
 landing here, bestowed this western county upon his 
 nephew Corineus, A.M. 2855, which was before the 
 children of Israel entered Canaan. It is the opinion, 
 
 * During the latter part of the reign of Edward I., 700 lbs. 
 weight of silver is said to have been dug from the mines in this 
 county.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 18? 
 
 however, of the best writers, that it was not a city 
 until 109 years after London. Richard of Cirencester, 
 in his Itinerary, states it to have been, in the time of 
 the Romans, one of the principal cities of Britain ; of 
 which, he says, this island then contained thirty -three, 
 and ninety-thi'ee of less note. 
 
 That Exeter was early a place of eminence is indis- 
 putable. The Romans under Vespasian established 
 their camp here, making it the capital of a vast range 
 of fortified places, unknown partly to Camden and 
 others ; they repaired the city, extended its trade, and 
 drew from the Danmonii their greatest revenue, and 
 from thence provided, to a considerble extent, for their 
 armies in Gaul. 
 
 This city is supposed to have retained the name of 
 Isca Daiiynoniorum until the year 450. It was still a 
 camp or fortified place ; but being at this time left to 
 the natives, the latter, instead of supporting themselves, 
 seem to have deserted it, leaving none but monks to 
 give it a name. Hence it was first called, probably in 
 derision, Monkton or Monks' Town ; and this name it 
 retained above 300 years. 
 
 Horsley has assigned Exeter no place among the 
 Roman stations ; but it has been argued by others, that 
 the many evident Roman summer camps on the highest 
 hills around, untenable in winter, absolutely required 
 a principal winter station ; and that Exeter, from its 
 natural situation as well as from its history, was this 
 station ; that there is a Roman road visible at Kenton-
 
 188 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 (about three miles below Exeter), and that there arc 
 not bolder remains in the kingdom of such ways than 
 from the passage over the Exe, through Kenton and 
 Newton Bushell, to Totnes. 
 
 Some writers have asserted that there have been no 
 remains to prove it to have been one. On this it may 
 be remarked, that the destruction made by the inroads 
 of the Danes iind Saxons ; the building of religious 
 houses, for the foundations of which and for their ce- 
 meteries the old remains must have been removed ; the 
 erection of new walls, and the digging anew the ditches 
 around the city by Athelstan : in short, the rebuilding 
 the whole town, since its total erasure by Swene, 
 King of Denmark, in 1003, must all have contributed 
 to a change, and even to the destruction of old ma- 
 terials, and, consequently, of the antiquities of the 
 place. 
 
 Many Roman remains and coins, however, have cer- 
 tainly been found here ; and even Roman coins have 
 been discovered in the walls. But whether these walls 
 themselves were built by the Romans; whether the 
 coins found therein were mixed with the Roman re- 
 mains of which the walls were built, or whether they 
 dropped by chance into its crevices, it were now most 
 difficult to determine. 
 
 Exeter has at different periods sustained several severe 
 sieges : the walls are, consequently, in many places, 
 totally destroyed and decayed, though in others some 
 part still remains ; and, for the benefit of tlie air, the
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 189 
 
 principal gates have been pulled down, except South- 
 gate and Westgate, which still continue. 
 
 The city had formerly many convents, till King 
 Athelstan changed its name to Exceaster, about the 
 year 940 ; when he also fortified the city, which before 
 had been only enclosed with a ditch and a fence of 
 timber, with circular walls, embattlements, towers, and 
 turrets of squared stone ; encircling the whole, except 
 the western side, with a deep moat 
 
 The cathedral church at Exeter is a most august 
 fabric, well worthy the attention of the curious travel- 
 ler. The front is decorated with scripture and otlier 
 antique statues, in various attitudes, viz. those of 
 Adam and other patriarchs, the kings of Judah, the 
 Apostles, and several Christian kings concerned in the 
 Crusades ; which latter are supposed to be those sitting 
 with their legs so as to form a cross. From having 
 been exposed to the weather for so many ages, they are 
 greatly defaced, maimed, and discoloured. The bishop's 
 seat in the choir, ei-ected at the expense of Bishop 
 Booth in 1470, is of gothic structure, and rises in 
 manner of a spire to a very considerable height, being 
 graced with pinnacles, and decked with fine carving, 
 mouldings, &c. It has been much admired by all be- 
 holders that have any taste for antique architecture ; 
 and perhaps is one of the finest relics of its kind in 
 Britain. 
 
 The cathedral was originally founded by Athelstan, 
 about the year 932 ; and this is that part of it called
 
 190 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 the Lady Chapel, and afterwards converted into a 
 Hbrary. It was built for monks of the order of St. Ben- 
 nett. Bishop William Warewest, who had been chaplain 
 to the Conqueror, and to William and Henry, his sons, 
 first began, in 1112, the enlargement of the cathedral, 
 and laid the foundation of that part which is now the 
 choir. Bishop Peter Linvell began to build the lower 
 part or body of his church in 1284, from the chancel 
 unto the west end. Bishop Grandison, in 1340, increas- 
 ed the length of the said church from the front west- 
 wards, vaulted the roof of the whole church, and 
 completely finished it. And though, from the time of 
 King Athelstan, the first founder, A.D. 932, until the 
 death of this Bishop Grandison in 1369, four hundred 
 and thirty-seven years had elapsed, and the same was 
 built by divers persons at different times, yet it appears 
 as uniform and compact as if built within the space of 
 a year by a single architect only. 
 
 The successor of Bishop Grandison, Thomas Bren- 
 tingham, who filled this see from March 10, 1370, to 
 December 3, 1394, finished the north tower. This 
 has been ascribed by Hooker, in his Catalogue of the 
 Bishops, to Bishop Courtenay in 1485, in which we 
 believe he must have been mistaken. 
 
 In the time of Bishop Stafford, about the year 1400, 
 the cloister, built for the most part at the expense 
 of the Dean and Chapter, was added to the church. 
 Soon after this, Bishop Lacie began to build the Chap- 
 ter-house; which was completed by his successor,
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 191 
 
 Bishop Nevill, in 1436. Since this time innumerable 
 have been the revolutions which this magnificent struc- 
 ture has undergone, which it would be quite beyond 
 our limits to describe. 
 
 On the 25th August 1682, threepoorwomen, natives of 
 Bideford, named Temperance Lloyd, Mary Kembles, and 
 Susannah Edwards, were executed at Heavitree, after 
 having been tried and convicted at the Castle for M'itch- 
 craft. This is remarkable, as they were the last who 
 suffered under the ignorant statutes enacted against 
 the supposed crimes of sorcery and witchcraft in this 
 county. Their trial made a great noise throughout the 
 country, and the nature of the evidence may be seen 
 from the following extract of the deposition of one of 
 the witnesses : 
 
 " The said informant upon her oath saith, that, upon 
 the second day of July, the said Grace Thomas (one 
 of the persons supposed to have been under the power 
 of witchcraft), then lodging in this informant's husband's 
 house, and hearing her complain of great pricking pains 
 in one of her knees, she, this informant, did see her said 
 knee, and observed she had nine places in her knee 
 which had been pricked ; and that every one of the 
 said pricks was as though it had been the prick of a 
 thorn. Whereupon this informant, upon the 2d of 
 July, did demand of the said Temperance Lloyd, 
 whether she had any wax or clay in the form of a pic- 
 ture, whereby she pricked and tormented the said 
 Grace Thomas ; unto which the said Temperance made
 
 \92 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 answer, that she had no wax or clay, but confessed 
 that she had only a piece of leather, which she had 
 pricked nine times." 
 
 Tiverton, anciently called Twiforcl, received the 
 latter name from its situation near two fords ; one over 
 the river Ex, and the other over a small river called 
 the Loman, where there are now two stone bridges. 
 Tiverton is mentioned in Domesday-Book under the 
 name of Terra Regis, having been a royal demesne 
 long before the conquest Henry I. gave the manor, 
 along with other lands, to Kedvers, Earl of Devonshire, 
 in whose family it remained till the latter end of the 
 reign of Henry HI., when it was left to an heiress who 
 married into the family of the Courtneys, by whom it 
 was held until the reign of Edward IV., when that king 
 seized on the lands on account of the earls attachment 
 to the house of Lancaster. It was again restored by 
 Henry VII , but finally forfeited to the crown in the 
 reign of Henry VIII., the then Marquis refusing to 
 acknowledge the king as supreme head of the church. 
 
 During the time the Courtneys were Earls of Devon- 
 shire, there was a place appropriated in the old church 
 at Tiverton for the burial of that illustrious family. 
 In this repository was a monument to the memory of 
 Edward, Earl of Devonshire, and his Countess, cut in 
 alabaster and curiously gilt, having this inscription : — 
 
 " Ho, ho ! who lies here ; 
 'Tis I, the good Earl of Devonshire ; 
 With Kate, my wife, to me full dear : 
 We lived together fifty-five year.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 193 
 
 That we spent, we had ,- 
 That we hft, we lost ; 
 That we gave, we have^ 
 
 The above inscription, quaint as it appears, contains 
 no bad estimate of the value as well as the use of riches. 
 
 Crediton, or Kirton, from Cpaettun, Sax. q. d. 
 the Cart-town ; or from Cebe, Sax. the Apostle's 
 Creed ; because, in this town, the first bishop's see 
 was founded among the Saxons ; and from thence the 
 Christian faith propagated through the kingdom of the 
 South Saxons. — Bailey s Dictionary. 
 
 Others derive it from the river Credion orCreden, which 
 runs by it ; among whom we may number Camden. 
 
 MoDBURY is said by Bailey to be derived either of 
 mobe, Sfix. valour, and Bupg, a town ; or of mub, and 
 Bupg, q. d. a muddy town. An alien priory of Benedic- 
 tines existed here so early as the reign of Stephen ; but, 
 on the dissolution, was granted to the college at Eton. 
 
 BiDEFouD was anciently written By-the-Ford, there 
 having been a ford just over the bridge, on the spot 
 where a house is still standing, called the Ford -house. 
 
 The church of Bideford is large and beautiful, and 
 there is a fine ring of six bells. The treble has the 
 following motto : — 
 
 " Peace and good neighbourhood." 
 
 And on the tenor : — 
 
 " I to the church the living do call, 
 And to the grave I summon all." 
 
 Amongst the monuments in this church is one to 
 the memory of Mr, Strange, who seems to have been 
 o
 
 194 DEUIVATION OF THE 
 
 designed by Providence to preserve tlie lives of his 
 fellow-creatures at the expense of his own. When 
 only a school-boy, he fell from the top of a rock with- 
 out receiving any other hurt than that of being stunned. 
 When arrived at manhood, an arrow was shot acciden- 
 tally, which struck him on the forehead, grazed the 
 skin, and flew off, without doing any further injury. 
 
 But the most remarkable occurrence of his life, for 
 which his memory will ever be respected, is the following. 
 Some time in the summer of 1646, and during the heat 
 of the civil wars, a ship from the Levant came into the 
 harbour at Bideford, and being infected with the plague, 
 communicated that dreadful distemper amongst the 
 inhabitants, by which great numbers lost their lives. 
 At the first breaking out of the pestilence, the mayor 
 shamefully left the place, so that there was no one left 
 to preserve the peace, and support the civil power. In 
 this time of distress, the people chose Mr. Strange to 
 officiate during the remainder of the year : which 
 post he accepted of; and whilst the pestilence raged, 
 he visited the sick, saw them properly nourished, and 
 attended the funeral of those who died ; and during 
 the whole time of this dreadful calamity, he never 
 received the slightest infection ; but as soon as the 
 plague ceased, and the people were restored to health, 
 the faithful magistrate sickened, and in a few days paid 
 his last debt of nature, after he had been so useful an 
 instrument in preserving, by his philanthropic exertions, 
 the lives of his fellow-creatures.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES, 195 
 
 Barnstaple, formerly Berstaple, is compounded 
 of bar, which in British signifies the mouth of a river ; 
 and staple in Saxon, signifying a mart or fair. It is 
 very ancient, being mentioned in the Domesday-Book 
 as a royal manor, and as having been given by William 
 the Conqueror to one of his favourites, Judhael de 
 Totness. This baron, who loved the situation of the 
 place, built a castle, together with a priory, both of 
 which are now destroyed. 
 
 In the reign of William Rufus, Judhael fell under 
 the displeasure of that dissolute monarch, who banished 
 him, and annexed his lands to the crown, in posses- 
 sion of which they remained till the reign of Queen 
 Mary, when they were bestowed upon the ancestors of 
 the Chichesters in Warwickshire. 
 
 Comb-martin is said, by the best authorities, to 
 derive its name from Kum, a British word signifying 
 loxu, and Martin, the name of a family who were many 
 years lords of the place, and descended from Martin 
 de Tours, a Norman lord, who having been a faithful 
 adherent of Henry I. when he was persecuted by his 
 brothers Robert and William, received this lordship as 
 a reward for his faithful services. 
 
 Okehampton. — Hampton signifies a river town ; so 
 that Okehampton is a town on the river Oke. It ap- 
 pears from Domesday-Book, that William the Con- 
 queror gave this manor to his favourite, Baldwin de 
 Malis ; so that the place is very ancient. From the 
 descendants of this Baldwin, it came to the family of 
 o 2
 
 196 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 the Courtneys, who kept possession of it till tlie reign 
 of Edward IV., when they were deprived both of estates 
 and titles for adhering to the house of Lancaster ; but 
 at the accession of Henry VII. they were restored. 
 
 Ottery St. Mary. Ottery is the chief place on the 
 river of that name, so called, according to Camden and 
 others, from the great number of otters formerly found 
 there. Here was formerly a Benedictine friary, dedi- 
 cated to Ct. Mary. 
 
 Tavistock takes its name from the river Taw or 
 Tavy, and Stop, Hax. a place. This was once a very 
 flourishing place, and famous for a stately abbey, 
 founded by the Saxon earls of Devonshire towards the 
 latter end of the tenth century, bCit soon after destroyed 
 by the Danes. It was again rebuilt, and endowed 
 with many lands and manors, which it enjoyed till the 
 general dissolution, when Henry VIII. gave it to that 
 gallant officer, John Lord Russell, ancestor of the 
 Duke of Bedford. Several buildings that seemed to 
 have belonged to the abbey, are now used as ware- 
 houses, and let out in tenements. We must not leave 
 this place without taking some notice of its stone 
 bridge over the Taw, on account of a traditional story 
 concerning its origin. 
 
 One Childe, being proprietor of the manor of Plymp- 
 ton, devised by will his lands to that church where his 
 body should be buried. The monks, ever solicitous to 
 promote their own interest, took every opportunity of 
 procuring so valuable an acquisition ; and, therefore, 
 we are told that Childe, being hunting in an adjacent
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 197 
 
 forest, lost both his companions and his way. Under 
 such circumstances of distress, and being pierced with 
 the severity of the cold, he slew his horse, pulled out 
 his bowels, and sheltered himself in the cavity ! but 
 after remaining there some time, he ventured out and 
 perished. But this is not all. 
 
 The people of Piympton, hearing that those of 
 Tavistock had found the body, and were carrying it 
 to their abbey for interment, resolved, if possible, to 
 prevent the loss of so rich a prize ; and therefore went 
 to that place where they expected the others would 
 cross the river, in order, if possible, to intercept them, 
 and bring away the body of the deceased ; but the 
 monks of Tavistock had previously erected a tempo- 
 rary bridge, by which they became possessed of all the 
 lands, according to the will of the deceased, in memory 
 whereof they built the bridge now over the river. 
 
 AxMiNSTER is so called from its being situated on 
 the river Ax, and a minster, or church, for which it 
 was considered famous. In the neighbourhood of this 
 town a bloody battle was fought between the West 
 Saxons, under the command of Athelstan, and thfi 
 Danes, in which the latter were totally defeated. The 
 king is reported to have built the minster for seven 
 priests, to pray continually for the repose of the souls 
 of the Englishmen who fell in that battle. The church 
 having been rebuilt since the Norman conquest, is still 
 a handsome structure, and exhibits specimens of various 
 kinds of architecture. 
 
 o 3
 
 198 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 THE COUNTY OF DORSET. 
 
 Dorsetshire, at the time of the Roman invasion, 
 was inhabited by the Belgian Britons, and called 
 Dour or Dvor Trig, i. e. of Dour or Dwr water, and 
 Trig an inhabitant or dweller. Hence the Romans, 
 giving the word a Latin termination, called the inha- 
 bitants " Durotriges," which signifies dwellers by the 
 water or sea-side. Although very early possessed by 
 the Saxons, it does not appear to have been their first 
 settlement in Britain, as has by some been asserted ; 
 but during the heptarchy it made a considerable part 
 of the great kingdom of Wessex, many of its princes 
 residing in Dorsetshire, as may be proved by the re- 
 mains of their castles and other monuments. 
 
 At the Norman conquest it was divided among 
 such officers as had most signally distinguished them- 
 selves at the battle of Hastings. During the civil wars 
 in the reign of Charles 1. the greater part of the in- 
 habitants were loyalists, and among the last in Eng- 
 land who submitted to the new government, being 
 at that time called the club-men of Dorsetshire. 
 
 Dorchester* — of D'vor, C. Br. water, and Ceaj^tep 
 5crx.,atown — signifies a town where there is much water. 
 Hence it is called by Leland 'TSJsotto^:©", Greek. This 
 is the county town, and was of considerable importance 
 
 • Called in the Itinerary of Antoninus, Durnovuria, i. e. a 
 passage over a river. — Camden.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 199 
 
 under the Romans, standing on the Via Icerda ; and 
 the several vicinal roads issuing hence, the coins and 
 other pieces of antiquity found here, the maiden 
 castle, the amphitheatre, and the camp at Poundbury, 
 have sufficiently proved that it must have been a place 
 of consideration. Under the Saxons it was also a 
 place of considerable importance. It is mentioned by 
 Ingulphus, in his " Life of Edward the Confessor ;" 
 and by the survey in Doomsday-Book, it contained 
 eighty-eight houses. At the Norman conquest, a 
 castle was built near the town, which remained till the 
 latter end of the reign of Henry II., when one Chid- 
 cock received a grant of it, pulled the whole fabric to 
 the ground, and with the materials built a convent for 
 gray friars ; and in the reign of Edward II. another 
 religious house was founded in the town, dedicated to 
 St. John ; but both these were dissolved on the aliena- 
 tion of priories in the reign of Henry VI. 
 
 By a survey taken in the reign of Henry VIII. it 
 contained 349 houses ; but was afterwards destroyed 
 by a dreadful fire, rebuilt, and from that time became 
 a flourishing place. 
 
 St. Peter's Church is a venerable gothic structure : 
 by whom it was built we are not told, but the people 
 have a traditional rhyme : — 
 
 " GeofFery Van, 
 With his wife Anne, 
 And his maid Nan, 
 Huilt this church." 
 
 o 4
 
 200 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 ■ That the above rhyme has had some foundation in 
 fact, appears from a stone dug up near the wall of the 
 church, whereon was the following inscription : 
 
 " Sigillum de Ann." 
 
 Abbotsbury is so called from its having formerly 
 an abbey, founded by Orcius, steward to Canute tlie 
 Great, for secular canons; but, in the reign of Ed- 
 ward the Confessor, changed to that of Benedictines, 
 who remained in possession of it till Henry Vlllth's 
 reign, when it was dissolved along with other religious 
 houses. This abbey was a place of great repute in 
 the times of popery. 
 
 Beaminster, or Beauminster, is so called from 
 its beautiful church, which is a stately structure, with 
 a tower nearly one hundred feet high, standing on the 
 south side of the town. 
 
 Charmouth lies at the foot of a very steep hill, 
 near the mouth of the river Char or Carr, whence its 
 name. Here it was that Charles H., on attempting 
 to escape into France after the battle of Worcester, 
 had very nearly been discovered, through the circum- 
 stance of Lord Wilmot's stopping to have his horse 
 shod in this village. Two very considerable battles 
 were fought near this place, between the Danes and 
 the Saxons ; the first in 833, and the second about eight 
 years after. 
 
 Poole. — " It is not unlikely," says Camden, " that 
 this town took its name from the bay below it, which 
 in a calm seems as it were a standing water, and
 
 NAMEB OF PLACES. '201 
 
 such as we in our language call a pool." — Camden s 
 Britannia. 
 
 " Pool is so called because it is encompassed on 
 three sides by water." — Spencer s English Traveller. 
 
 Poole is not mentioned in Doomsday-Book, and 
 Leland asserts that it arose from the ruins of Ware- 
 ham. In the reign of Edward II. it was part of the 
 estate of his brother, the Earl of Lancaster. 
 
 A very extraordinary phenomenon occurred at this 
 town in the month of June 1653. A black cloud 
 kept hanging over the place for about two hours, and 
 at last burst; but, instead of common rain as the 
 people expected, the whole was like a shower of 
 blood, which falling on the leaves of the trees, tinged 
 them in such a manner that they appeared like scar- 
 let, and they were sent as great curiosities to the 
 learned in London, and other parts of the kingdom. 
 
 Frampton, or more properly Frompton, signifies 
 a town on the river Frome. 
 
 Lyme " is a little town standing on a steep hill, and 
 so called from a rivulet of that name gliding by it." — 
 Camden . 
 
 Lyme, also called Lyme Regis, from its being a 
 royal demesne, was annexed, at the time of the Con- 
 quest, to the abbey of Sherbourn ; but Richard I. 
 bestowed great privileges on it, which were confirmed 
 by succeeding monarchs by charter. 
 
 It was at this town that the unfortunate Duke of 
 Monmouth landed in 1685, and being joined by many
 
 202 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 of the inhabitants who were enemies to popery, such 
 of them as were taken after the defeat were executed 
 here, and their heads and quarters exposed on gibbets 
 in the adjoining fields, and on the most conspicuous 
 places in the town. 
 
 During the civil wars in the reign of Charles I., 
 Lyme was a place of great importance to the contend- 
 ing parties, and its siege was one of the most remarka- 
 ble that happened during that unhappy period. 
 
 Lyme has a good harbour, on one side of which is 
 a noble pier, called the Cobb, behind which the ships 
 lie in safety. In its ancient state it was composed of 
 vast pieces of rock, rudely piled on each other ; and 
 being much improved, and kept constantly in repair, 
 is a fabric of the greatest importance on this coast. 
 
 Sherborne. — Burne, in the Saxon language, signi- 
 fies generally a river, and the addition of this word 
 to the name of any place denoted that it stood by the 
 water-side. Sherborne, then, in the Saxon, signifies, 
 a clear stream of water, and, in many ancient records 
 of this place, is called Fons clams. It is situate on 
 the declivity of a hill, being separated into two parts 
 by the river Ivel, one part being called Sherborne, and 
 the other Castleton, from a castle built there by 
 Roger, Bishop of Salisbury ; but that prelate having 
 taken part with the Empress Maud, King Stephen was 
 so incensed, that he seized it for himself, and it con- 
 tinued annexed to the crown till the reign of Edward 
 III., when Robert Wyvil, Bishop of Salisbury, re-
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 203 
 
 covered it, and it became part of the revenues of his 
 successors. 
 
 When the civil wars broke ou-t between King Charles 
 and his Parliament, this was the first garrison besieged, 
 and it held out till that unfortunate prince's affairs 
 became desperate, and himself in a state of captivity. 
 
 William the Conqueror, whose life for the most part 
 was spent in warlike enterprizes, preferred Sherborne 
 to all other parts of his dominions as a summer re- 
 treat, where he enjoyed his favourite diversion of 
 hunting in the neighbouring forest. 
 
 Cranbourn, i. e. accordiiig to Bailey, " the bourn, 
 or river of cranes," is delightfully situate on the 
 borders of a large chase, reaching almost to Salis- 
 bury. In the beginning of the tenth century, when 
 the monks were first introduced into England, one 
 Ailward or Aired, founded a monastery here for Bene- 
 dictines, which was afterwards annexed to the Abbey 
 of Tewkesbury, long before the dissolution of religious 
 houses. 
 
 WiMBOURN (lUynbupnham Sax. tUm-najleby C. 
 Br.) signifies a town between two rivers. Thus Wim- 
 bourn, as its name imports, is pleasantly situate be- 
 tween the rivers Allen and Stour, near their influx. 
 We are told by Camden that this is that ancient town 
 called Vindogladia, of which Antoninus takes notice ; 
 by the Saxons called Wynhurnham, by contraction 
 Wimburne, and from its monastery Wimburneminster ; 
 from whence it is just sixteen miles to Dorchester, the
 
 204 DERIVATIONf OF THE 
 
 same distance stated by Antoninus between Vindogla- 
 dia and Durnovaria. 
 
 During the times that the Romans were in Bri- 
 tain, Wimbourn was one of their principal stations ; 
 and some of their governors were so pleased with its 
 situation, that they adorned it with several elegant 
 buildings, which remained till the Saxons drove the 
 Britons out of this part of the island. In the reign of 
 King Ina, about the beginning of the eighth century, 
 Cuthberg, his sister, and wife of Ofred, King of Nor- 
 thumberland, having obtained a divorce from her hus- 
 band, left his court, and returned to that of her brother, 
 who resided mostly in Dorsetshire, and founded a 
 religious house for nuns, or, as they were then called, 
 Holy Virgins, which was afterwards destroyed by the 
 Danes. When it was rebuilt, instead of nuns, the 
 Saxon kings made it a collegiate church for a dean, 
 four prebendaries, three vicars, singing men, &c. ; and 
 Reginald Pole, of the Royal House of York, grand- 
 son of George, Duke of Clarence, Cardinal and Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, enjoyed this benefice as one of 
 his ecclesiastical preferments, before he was attainted by 
 Parliament in the reign of Henry VHI. 
 
 In the year 851 the Danes were totally defeated 
 here by the English, under the command of Karl, Earl 
 of Devonshire. The collegiate church, a venerable 
 gothic structure, is still remaining, and, no less from its 
 age than from its several peculiarities in style and archi- 
 tecture, is deserving of particular notice. The eastern
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 205 
 
 tower and part of the church are Saxon, and it is the 
 only collegiate church in the county in which cathedral 
 service is performed. Several royal and noble per- 
 sonages have been buried in the choir, most of whom 
 were commemorated by suitable monuments, particu- 
 larly the Courtneysin the time of Henrys VII. and VIII. ; 
 and Ethelred, the brother of King Alfred, who was 
 slain fighting with the Danes at the battle of Whin- 
 tingham, and consequently sainted, and considered a 
 martyr, in the following inscription on his tomb : 
 
 " III hoc loco quiescit corpus S. Ethcldredi, Regis irest Saxomnn, 
 Martyris, qui. Anno Dom. DCCCLXXII. xxiii. Aprilis per manus 
 Danorum Paganorum occubiiit." 
 
 That is : 
 
 Here rests the body of the Martyr St. Ethelred, king of the 
 West Saxons, who fell by the hands of the Pagan Danes, on the 
 23d of April, in the year of our Lord 872. 
 
 Stourminster signifies a monastery or minste.}' upon 
 the Stour. This place was left by King Alfred, by his 
 will, to his yoimger sons. The church is a spacious 
 structure, lately repaired; but it is altogether a poor 
 mean place. 
 
 Cerne Abbey, so called from an abbey built here 
 by Austin, the English Apostle, when he had dashed 
 to pieces the idol of the Pagan Saxons there, called 
 Heii, and reformed their superstitious ignorance ; and 
 the river Cerne, by which the place, which stands in a 
 valley, is watered. 
 
 It was here that Edward, brother of Edmund, the 
 Martyr, lived in a state of solitude, and with great
 
 206 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 reputation for sanctity, after having retired from busi- 
 ness. A monastery was erected over liis relics, which 
 received considerable additions from Canute the Dane 
 and his successors. It remained in a very flourishing 
 state till the general dissolution of such establish- 
 ments, when its annual revenues were valued at 
 £515. lis. lOd. 
 
 Milton Abbey (of Milton, g. d. Middle-town, and 
 Abbey) is an ancient town, chiefly noted for its abbey, 
 now in ruins, built and founded by King Athelstan, 
 by way of atonement for having bereft his brother 
 Edwin of his life and crown. 
 
 Shaftsbury was called by the Saxons Sceaprej^- 
 bipig, of burg a town, and the church spire called by 
 them Scheaft. For this we have Camden's authority, 
 while others consider shaft to signify an arrow. Shafts- 
 bury is a very ancient town, having been of great re- 
 pute under the West Saxons ; but rebuilt, according 
 to William of Malmesbury, by Alfred the Great, after 
 it was destroyed by the Danes. That it was a place 
 of great consideration before the Norman conquest, 
 may be inferred from Domesday-Book, 1067, which 
 informs us that it then contained three mints for coin- 
 ing, and 104 dwelling-houses. 
 
 A monastery was built here, and endowed either by 
 Alfred or one of his immediate successors, for reli- 
 gious women, but not Benedictine nuns, this order not 
 being as yet known in England. In order to increase 
 its sanctity, and attract numbers of pilgrims with their
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. ^07 
 
 offerings thither, it was pretended that the body of 
 King Edward, commonly called the Martyr, was stolen 
 from Wareham church, where it had been first interred, 
 and deposited under a shrine in this monastery. This 
 pious theft, committed by the clergy of Shaftsbury, 
 had the desired effect ; for the place was, in conse- 
 quence, so much frequented by people from all parts 
 of the kingdom, that they built no less than ten new 
 churches ; and the shrine of St. Edward received so 
 many offerings from the pilgrims, that it became im- 
 mensely rich, and the name of the town was for some 
 time lost in that of the Martyr. There were several 
 other monasteries and priories in Shaftsbury ; but so 
 great was the reputation of St. Edward's shrine, that 
 they were not only totally eclipsed, but even sunk 
 into decay before the general dissolution of such esta- 
 bhshments. 
 
 Shaftsbury has sent members to Parliament ever 
 since the original summons in the reign of Edward I. 
 
 THE COUNTY OF SOMERSET. 
 
 Somersetshire, at the time that the Romans in- 
 vaded Britain, was inhabited by the Cangi, a colony of 
 the Belgce, who landing here from the Continent, drove 
 the ancient inhabitants into the more interior parts of 
 the island. These Belgians, although accused of in- 
 viting the Romans over to Britain, no sooner found 
 that their intention was to subdue the island, than they
 
 208 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 appear to have joined with the inhabitants in resisting 
 their lawless attempts upon their liberties. 
 
 This county in all probability takes its name from 
 Somerton, formerly the shire town, but long since ob- 
 scured by Bath, Bristol, Wells, and other places of 
 far greater importance. In Stow's Annals we are in- 
 formed that Asser, a very ancient author, " calls it 
 every where the county of Somertiin" and Camden is 
 also decidedly of this opinion. Some, however, have 
 derived the word Somersetshire from summer, as the 
 ancient British or the modern Welch name of it im- 
 ports, " because the largest share of that season is 
 enjoyed in this county above any other in England ;" 
 but this derivation appears to have little foundation, 
 for though it is certainly a beautiful summer county, 
 yet, as observed by Camden and others, it might with 
 equal propriety be called a winter county ; for the lat- 
 ter season is as severe and unpleasant as the former is 
 mild and delightful. 
 
 Bristol is said to have been founded by Brennus, 
 the son of Malmutius, first king of the Britons, who 
 lived 380 years before the Christian sera. Berinus, 
 another son of Malmutius, reigned jointly with his 
 brother, after their father's death, as kings of Breteign, 
 and peaceably governed the kingdom for the space of 
 five years, during which Brennus built the city of Bris- 
 tol. — Shiercliff"s Bristol. 
 
 Of the two brothers above-mentioned there are un- 
 doubtedly statues on the south side of the tower
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. ^20\) 
 
 oi' St, John's church — one on the right, and the other 
 on tlie left hand of the gateway. When or by whom set 
 up is uncertain ; but they are indisputably of remote 
 antiquity. 
 
 The city of Bristol was originally called by the 
 Britons Caer Oder Nante Dadon, i. e. the city of 
 Odera in Badon valley. But Leland is of opinion that 
 it should be read Nante Avon, from the contiguity of 
 that river, rather than Badon, Nante signifying properly 
 a place in which a river flows. 
 
 During the Roman times it was called Venta Bulga- 
 rum ; and afterwards that name was changed to Caer 
 Brito, the city Brito. As Ca;sar records that the 
 Britons had not any buildings of stone or brick, and as 
 Caer Brito was walled round, and a place of some 
 consideration in the fifth century, when the Romans 
 left Britain, it appears that they must have taught and 
 assisted them to plan their city, and fortify it with a 
 wall of stone. The Romans generally laid out their 
 towns in four streets, directing to the four cardinal 
 points, which was and is still the plan of the internal 
 and most ancient part of Bristol, as well as of Chester, 
 and other places of Roman foundation. 
 
 After the Saxon conquest, Caer Brito, as well as 
 most other original names of places, became Saxonized, 
 and variously modified, according to the fancy or dif- 
 ferent orthography of the chronologers of the earlier 
 ages; but was generally called Brig/itsforve, which sig- 
 nifies a place of i'ame or beauty, and from which its
 
 210 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 present name Bristol is derived. Thus we are told by 
 Leland, that about the year 900, Aylward (surnamed 
 Snean, \. e. snow, from his fair complexion), a Saxon 
 nobleman of rank and fortune, was " Lord of Bright- 
 ston, and founder of the monastery of Cranbourne." 
 
 And to shew how the name has by degrees been 
 corrupted to that which it at present holds, we find the 
 following entry in Domesday-Book, wliich, as is gene- 
 rally known, was finished in 108G : — " Bristow, with 
 Barton, an adjoining farm, paid to the king 110 marks 
 of silver." 
 
 Bath This ancient city, which takes its name from 
 
 its waters or baths, is called by Ptolemy T5a7a Bip/ma, 
 hot waters; and by Antoninus AqucB soils, or waters 
 of the sun ; by the Britons, Yr ennaint Furymhi, the 
 warm bath, as also Caer Badon, the city of Bath ; by 
 the Saxons Bajjancej-tep, bar Bajjan ; and from its being 
 the resort of sick persons, Ac-mannes-ceaster, or, as 
 afterwards written, Acmanchester, or the City of Vale- 
 tudinarians. Stephanus, in his treatise " De Urbibus," 
 calls it Badiza, as we at this day Bath ; and, in Latin, 
 Bathonia. 
 
 By the monkish writers we are assured that Bath 
 was a great and flourishing city before the Roman in- 
 vasion. That it was a place of consequence in very 
 early ages cannot be doubted, as King Edgar was 
 crowned here ; but the antiquity of the city, and the 
 baths themselves, are not to be referred to any more 
 remote period than the arrival of the Romans, A.D.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. !^11 
 
 44. This people had a mUitary station at Bath, and 
 soon discovered the heahng virtues of its waters ; but, 
 in the subsequent wars between the Saxons and Bri- 
 tons, the place was long neglected. 
 
 The great Arthur fought many battles near this 
 place ; but the West Saxons proving at last victorious, 
 it made part of their kingdom, and here they built 
 several churches and monasteries, which were after- 
 wards utterly destroyed by the Danes, and not rebuilt 
 till the beginning of the eleventh century, when Al- 
 phage, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was a native 
 of Somersetshire, erected a small church, and from 
 that time till the reign of William Rufus, the place 
 began to flourish ; but, towards the latter end of that 
 prince's reign, many of the west-country people took 
 up arms, having been greatly distressed by the forest 
 laws, and, in their route, burnt and destroyed Bath. It 
 was rebuilt, and, in 1137, the foundation of the present 
 cathedral was laid by Dr. Oliver King, then bishop of 
 this see, as appears by a stone at the west end of the 
 cathedral, on which is the following inscription, but of 
 a much more modern date : — 
 
 " The trce.3 goeing to clieese a king, 
 Said, Be to us thou, Oliver, king." 
 
 The cathedral, though small, is an elegant gothic 
 
 structure, the east window being finely painted, and 
 
 the roof curiously carved. The Romans had a temple 
 
 on this spot dedicated to Minerva, as is evident from 
 
 p 2
 
 ;212 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 the inscriptions on two stones dug up near tlie place,' 
 and affixed to the eastern wall of the church. 
 
 Wells is said by some to have derived its name 
 from the river called JVelwe, but by others, with greater 
 probability, " from the wells which spring up in all 
 parts of it." Camden decides upon the latter deriva- 
 tion, and adds, in a note, " Verily, near the church 
 there is a spring called St. Andrew's Well — the fairest, 
 deepest, and most plentiful that I have seen." 
 
 Ina, the great legislator, and King of the West 
 Saxons, built a church here about the beginning of the 
 eighth century, to the honour of St. Andrew, hence 
 called St. Andi'ew's church, and endowed it with large 
 possessions ; so that before, and some time after the 
 Norman conquest, the see of Wells was reckoned one 
 of the best ecclesiastical preferments in England. 
 After the conquest, one John de Vilbula, whom Wil- 
 liam of Malmsbury calls a French empiric fiisu, non 
 Uteris, medicus j)robatus J ,■ was advanced to this see, and 
 created a great disturbance by transferring the episco- 
 pal seat to Bath. This act of the bishop not only 
 occasioned very hot disputes, but also frequent appeals 
 to Rome concerning the legality of elections, which 
 remained unsettled till 1133, in the reign of Henry I. ; 
 when it was agreed that the bishop should be chosen 
 by the joint consent of both chapters, and enthroned 
 in both churches, with this provision — that Bath sV.ould 
 have the precedency when named in any record or
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 213 
 
 public act ; from which arrangement the same person 
 has been since styled Bishop of Bath and Wells. 
 
 The cathedral, erected in 1239, by Bishop Jocelyn 
 de Wells, is a fine structure ; containing nine chapels, 
 dedicated to the Virgin, and highly admired for its 
 gothic windows, its statues, and monuments. The 
 chief curiosity is Peter Lightfoot's clock, standing in 
 an old chapel in the north transept, brought hither 
 from Glastonbury, a most singular piece of mechanism 
 for the age in which it was invented. The Bishop's 
 palace is also a noble old structure, and the deanery 
 a handsome edifice. 
 
 Keynsham For the derivation of the name of this 
 
 town we can find no authority ; but it appears that, 
 in its neighbourhood, there was anciently a quarry 
 famous for crooked stones in the shape of serpents, 
 and believed by the ignorant to have been formerly 
 alive, but changed by one Keina, a British saint, who 
 lived in the place. We have little doubt, therefore, 
 that the place received its name from that of the 
 saint ; quasi, Keina s-ham, or, the town of Keina. 
 
 At Keynsham, the river Avon is remarkable for vast 
 quantities of small red fish called elvers, which in the 
 spring season swim in millions on the surface of the 
 water. The people take them in small nets, and 
 having skinned them, make them into small cakes, 
 which they sell to the people of Bristol, Bath, and other 
 neighbouring towns. 
 
 Keynsham has bridges over the Avon and Chew. It 
 J' 8
 
 214 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 was formerly a place of importance, but has now dwin- 
 dled into insignificance. William of Gloucester, son 
 of the Great Earl Robert, built and endowed a priory 
 of canons regular in this town, about the year 1171 ; 
 but, we believe, no remains of it are now left. The 
 large gothic church, and the bridge of fifteen arches 
 over the Avon, are the only objects worthy of 
 notice. 
 
 Nether-Stowey, Stow or StoiKey is a Saxon ap- 
 pellative, signifying a small town or village, and the 
 prefix Nether distinguishes the place from Over- 
 Stowey in the same county. In a letter from Mr. 
 Lock, inserted in Boyles " History of the Air," the 
 antiquarian reader will find a curious account of a 
 spring, which, from a hill above the church, is described 
 as running down through this place, and covering every 
 thing it meets in its way with a stony crust. 
 
 Petherton, or Pedderton, was formerly called Pec?- 
 redton, or Pedred's-town, from the river Pedred, now 
 Parret, on which it stands, and over which it has a 
 stone bridge. 
 
 Taunton. Tantun, Taxvnton, Thonton, or, as it is 
 usually written, Taunton, derives its name from the 
 river Thone or Tone, on the banks of which it is plea- 
 santly situate. It was anciently called Tone-town, 
 and is still, as formerly, a place of considerable im- 
 portance. In the time of the Saxon Heptarchy this 
 was the seat of Ina, who wrote a code of laws for the 
 government of the West Saxons, his subjects, and was
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 215 
 
 one of the manors given by Queen Emma to the 
 bishops of Winchester. 
 
 Glastonbury (of Elaej^enbyjjij, Sax., o? biirig or 
 burg, a town ; and glastn, glass : in the British, Inis 
 Witrin ; and in the Latin, Glasconia, a glassy island — 
 from its being almost encompassed with rivers) is a very 
 ancient town, the houses of which are chiefly built 
 with the materials of its once magnificent abbey, the 
 visitors to the ruins of which venerable structure ma- 
 terially contribute to the support of the place. 
 
 Shepton Mallet For the derivation of the name 
 
 of this town we can find no authority ; but we may 
 reasonably presume that it was called Shepton or Sheep- 
 town, from being famous either for the breed or ex- 
 tensive sale of that animal ; and Mallet must, in all 
 probabihty, have been added, from the place having 
 formerly been part of the possessions of the Lords 
 Mallet, of Norman extraction, who had a seat in this 
 county. The church at Shepton Mallet is a very large 
 and handsome edifice, and near it is a very curious 
 market-cross. 
 
 Wellington — of well and foxvn, from the mineral 
 springs there ; the one sort similar in property to that 
 at Tunbridge, and the other resembling the Harrow- 
 gate Spa. 
 
 WivELscoMB (of LUeeble, a weazel; and comb, aval- 
 ley — Baileys Dictionary) is seated on the river Tone, 
 and is famous for a considerable and flourishing manu- 
 p 4
 
 216 DERRATION OF THE 
 
 factory, established for upwards of two centuries, of 
 blanketings, knap-coatings, baize, &c. 
 
 AxB RIDGE takes its name from its wooden bridge 
 over the river Ax, erected on stone piers. It is a small 
 but neat town, and sent representatives to the first five 
 j)arliaments after the original summons, until excused 
 at the request of the inhabitants. The church is a fine 
 structure, in the gothic style of architecture : on the 
 tower are two very ancient statues, which, from the 
 architecture, are considered to liave been first set up 
 under the West Saxon kings ; but neither history nor 
 tradition has left us any account of them. 
 
 Briugewater is a large and populous town, which 
 by most people has been thought to derive its name 
 from the bridge and the water, from its being situate 
 on the river Parret, and the bridge built over that river, 
 commenced by William de Brivere, in the time of King 
 John, Lord of Bridgewater, and finished at a great 
 expense by Thomas Trivet, a nobleman of Cornwall. 
 To refute this natural conjecture, however, it appears 
 that, in all ancient charters, the place is called Burgh- 
 Wdlteri ; and Camden is of opinion that it took that 
 name from one Walter de Dowey, who was a soldier 
 under William the Conqueror, who bestowed the 
 manor of this town, and many other lands in this county, 
 on the said Walter. In the charter in which the Lord 
 of Bampton resigned the possession of this place to the 
 above-mentioned William de Brivere, who was a parti-
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 217 
 
 cular favourite of King Richard III., it is also called 
 Burgh Walteri, or Walter's Burgh. 
 
 Bridgewater was one of the first towns seized by the 
 barons in, the reign of Henry III., as a place of great 
 importance at that time. Its charters were renewed 
 and confirmed by Edwards II. and III., and Edward 
 IV. renewed its privileges, settled the limits of the 
 corporation, and changed the name of its chief magis- 
 trate from bailiff to mayor. In the reign of Henry 
 VII. Bridgewater was a place of great trade, having 
 many rich merchants resident in it, who had acquired 
 fortunes by dealing with the Spaniards. During the 
 civil wars, this place was first garrisoned by the Parlia- 
 ment's army : but soon after taken by the Royalists, 
 who kept it till the conclusion of the war ; during which 
 time many of the neighbouring gentry who adhered to 
 Charles, deposited their money and other effects in the 
 place ; so that, when Cromwell took it, he found, be- 
 sides great store of ammunition, above £100,000 in 
 money. 
 
 The church at Bridgewater is a spacious structure, 
 and its spire one of the loftiest in the kingdom. 
 
 Bruton, so named from its situation on the river 
 Bru, over which it has a stone bridge, is a well-built 
 town, consisting principally of three streets, having a 
 handsome church, and spacious hall over the market- 
 place, where the quarter-sessions for the eastern divi- 
 sion of the county are sometimes holden. King Ed- 
 ward VI. built and endowed a freeschool here,
 
 218 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 where Latin and Greek are still taught by a master 
 and usher. 
 
 Castle Carey is now a small market town of ver)-^ 
 little consideration, but was formerly a place of some 
 note, having a castle, built before the commencement 
 of the civil wars between the Empress Maud and King 
 Stephen, from which castle the place derived its name ; 
 and during those unhappy times, William Lovell, the 
 then lord of the manor, defended it against the royal 
 army. In the reign of Henry VIII., when the noble 
 family De la Poles were attainted, this castle fell to 
 the crown, and was given to Lord Willoughby de 
 Broke ; but by that family, who had estates in other 
 parts of England, it was neglected, and soon fell to 
 ruins. 
 
 Frome is so called from its situation on the river of 
 the same name, and was anciently written From-Sel- 
 wood, being the chief town of one of those forests which 
 the first three Norman kings used as chases for hunting. 
 The manor of this town, with its parsonage and tithes, 
 was given by Henry I. to the Abbey of Cirencester ; 
 but, whether of alienation or otherwise, it afterwards 
 passed into the possession of the noble family of the 
 Thynnes, earls of Weymouth, who had also the right 
 of presentation to the benefice. 
 
 Ilchester is a corruption of the Saxon word Ivel- 
 chester, which signifies a city upon the Ivel. By some 
 authors, among whom is Camden, it has been consi- 
 dered that this is the place called by Antoninus Ischa-
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 219 
 
 lis, formerly a Roman station of considerable impor- 
 tance ; of which there is little doubt. Nennius, the 
 monkish historian, calls it in his catalogue Pontavel- 
 coit, for Pont-ivel-coit, i. e. a bridge over the Ivel in a 
 wood ; and Florence of Worcester, Givelcester. At 
 the Norman Conquest it was a place of great strength, 
 having a castle encompassed with a double wall and 
 ditch, the traces of which are still, as we are informed, 
 quite visible. At that time Ilchester contained within 
 its walls 107 burgesses, and six churches, all of which, 
 with their lands and revenues, were bestowed by the 
 Norman upon his chaplain and chancellor, Maurice, 
 afterwards promoted to the see of London. Several 
 Roman coins have been found here. The Fosse-way 
 which runs through the principal street, still retains its 
 name ; and the pavement of the original ford across the 
 river may still be seen on the west side of the bridge. 
 The town is a borough by prescription, and returns two 
 me mbers toparliament. In the reign of Edward I. the 
 itinerant justices were ordered to hold assizes here; but 
 they are now holden alternately at Taunton, Wells, and 
 Bridgewater, though the county gaol is still kept here. 
 At present there is but one church in Ilchester, although 
 it had four at the time of the Reformation ; and there is 
 still a tradition that there were formerly sixteen churches 
 in the town ; but we are inclined to believe that many 
 of them were only chantries. There can be no doubt, 
 however, that the place was once much more consi- 
 derable than it now is, as great heaps of ruins are still
 
 2'20 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 to be seen scattered up and d'own, and many stone cof- 
 fins have been dug up adjoining to where the ancient 
 wall was built. Ilchester gave birth to the celebrated 
 philosopher, Roger Bacon, commonly called Friar Ba- 
 con, who, in the unenlightened age in wliich he lived, 
 was considered as a magician. 
 
 Ilminster is so named from its being situate on the 
 river Itle, and from its minster, or church, which is an 
 elegant gothic structure, almost the only thing remark- 
 able in the place. Here is an excellent charity school, 
 well endowed, and founded by Edward VI. The town 
 is situated at the intersection of two great roads — the 
 one from London to Taunton, the other from Bristol 
 to Exeter — along which the streets are chiefly ranged. 
 The vicinity of this town is remarkably pleasant, being 
 surrounded by beautiful orchards, and the eminences 
 commanding very extensive prospects over great i)art 
 of the county, as well as parts of Dorsetshire and 
 Devon. 
 
 Yeovil is a corruption o( Ivel, the river upon which 
 it is seated. The public buildings are the market- 
 place and church ; the latter a fine gothic structure. 
 This town suffered considerably from a fire in 1449, 
 which consumed 117 houses. 
 
 THE COUNTY OF WILTS. 
 Wiltshire, which, like Somersetshire, appears to 
 have been principally inhabited by the BeI<yfC.. though
 
 NAMES OF PLACES, 221 
 
 tiie learned Mr. Tanner is inclined to assign the north 
 part of it to the Cangi, a people mentioned by Taci- 
 tus (Annal. lib. 12), was called by the Saxons lUil- 
 j'e'cra, or Wiltunscyre, from whence Wiltshire is con- 
 tracted, and by the Latin historians Wiltonia, from its 
 former capital Wilton, now much fallen to decay, which 
 again took its name from the river Willy, between 
 which and the Nadder the town is situate. 
 
 Wiltshire is a fertile and very pleasant part of Eng- 
 land, and, to use the quaint words of Dr. Fuller, who 
 wrote about two centuries ago, " were an ox left to 
 himself to choose his residence, he would prefer the 
 northern part of this county to any other spot in Eng- 
 land ; a sheep would choose the southern part, and a 
 man the middle." 
 
 The chief commodities of the county are sheep, 
 wool, wood, and stone. There are also considerable 
 woollen manufactures. Of the most memorable military 
 transactions in this county are the battle of Edingdon, 
 south of Devizes, where Alfred defeated the Danes; 
 and that of Roundway Down, in which the Parliament's 
 troops were defeated by those of the King in 1643. 
 
 Ambresbury, or Amesbury, is a place of great 
 antiquity, and was in considerable repute under the 
 West Saxon kings. Those who would derive the name 
 of this town from a British word, say, that it was an- 
 ciently called Amhres ; but, by the best authorities, the 
 place is said to have derived its name from Ambrosius 
 Aurelianus, the famous British general, at the time
 
 222 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 the Romans abandoned this island ; after whom it was 
 called Ambresbury, or Ambrose's-town. 
 
 When the Saxon general, Hengist, attempted to make 
 a settlement in this island, he was gallantly opposed 
 by the Britons, under the command of Ambrosius ; 
 and both armies meeting at this place, a bloody battle 
 ensued, and the prisoners taken by Hengist are said to 
 have been barbarously murdered. On this spot, there- 
 fore, in memory of so melancholy an event, Ambrosius 
 erected a monastery. This was changed by Elfrida, 
 in order to atone for the murder of her son-in-law, King 
 Edward, into a nunnery ; but in the reign of Henry II. 
 the nuns, who were thirty in number, were expelled 
 on account of their scandalous amours with the priests. 
 After this it was given by the king to the nunnery of 
 Efrault in Normandy ; but soon after regained its free- 
 dom, as appears from the fact of several ladies of great 
 quality having retired to it during the latter period of 
 their lives, among whom w^as Eleanor, the queen of 
 Henry II. In the reign of Edward I., Mary, the 
 daughter of that prince, not only secluded herself from 
 the world in this monastery, but also persuaded thir- 
 teen noblemen's daughters to follow her example. It 
 continued a place of great repute until the dissolution 
 of such establishments ; and we understand that, since 
 the French Revolution, some emigrant nuns have again 
 founded a religious house there. 
 
 Bradford is situated on the river Avon, and was 
 called by the Saxons Brndanford, from its broad ford.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 223 
 
 It is noted for being the place where kerseymeres were 
 first made, and is still particularly famous for the best 
 manufacture of superfine cloths in the kingdom. Near 
 this town a most bloody battle was fought between 
 Kenelwachius, king of the West Saxons, and his kins- 
 man, Cuthred ; and here was formerly a monastery, 
 which the Danes utterly destroyed, the lands being 
 afterwards bestowed on the abbey of Sherborne. 
 
 Chippenham was called by the Saxons Cyppan- 
 ham, or the market- town, from the considerable trade 
 carried on formerly by the inhabitants. Cyppan, in 
 the Saxon language, signifying to traffic ; and cypman^ 
 a trader : whence, we presume, our cheajjen and chap- 
 man, and certainly the German coppman. The editors 
 of an edition of Camden in our possession say, " of 
 the same original is Cheapside in London ;" and we 
 may also mention Chipping Norton, Chipping Sudbury, 
 &c. Chippenham is situated on the Lower Avon, and 
 during the times of the Saxon kings those monarchs 
 had a palace here, particularly the great Alfred, m- 
 whose time it was one of the finest and strongest cities 
 in the kingdom, the taking of which by the Danes, 
 about the year 880, was the principal cause of the 
 retreat of that great king. Alfred, at his death, left 
 the palace with the manor to his daughter Elfleda, who 
 married Baldwin, Earl of Flanders. Whether it had 
 fallen into decay before the Conquest we are not in- 
 formed — only that, in Domesday-Book, no mention is 
 made of it : nor did it make any figure in the History
 
 224 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 of England until many years after, wlien, in the rci<;u 
 of Richard II., it became part of the estates of the 
 Hiingerfords ; but, reverting to the crown, was given 
 by Richard III. to the first Duke of Norfolk, but re- 
 stored to the heirs of the former proprietors some 
 time in the reign of Henry VIII. Before the reign of 
 Queen Mary this town was considered a borough by 
 prescription; but a charter of corporation was afterwards 
 granted it, by which it is still governed by a bailiff and 
 twelve burgesses. Here is a bridge of sixteen arches 
 over the Avon, and the parish church is a venerable 
 gothic structure, the painted glass of which is extremely 
 fine, having the arms of the Hungerfords on the great 
 front window, from which is to be inferred, either that 
 the church was built at their expense, or that they con- 
 tributed largely towards it. In the times of Popery 
 there was a chantrey in the church, where mass was 
 said for the repose of the souls of the family of the 
 Hungerfords. 
 
 Devizes is called by Florence of Worcester Divisio, 
 because it was formerly divided among our kings and 
 the bishops of Salisbury. Here was anciently a castle* 
 called De Vies, built, according to Camden, " at the 
 vast expense of Roger, Bishop of Sarum, to excel all 
 the castles in England." This place is said to be the 
 Divisce of Neubregensis, and was called by Westmin- 
 ster Visa:, and by Walter Ileniingford JVi/sce. It is 
 
 * Others contend tliat tliis castle was built by tlie Romans, hut 
 rendered iiDjiregiiable I)y Roger, I!i.->hop of Salislmry.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 225 
 
 built in a rural situation, and bears great marks of 
 antiquity. It is said to have been enclosed by the 
 Romans with a vallum and ditch, and there is little 
 doubt that it must have been well known to them, as 
 many of their coins, &c. have been, at different times, 
 dug up here. In 1714 a gardener dug up a Roman 
 brick perfectly sound, which was esteemed a great cu- 
 riosity ; and a few days after, the same person dug up 
 a Roman urn filled with coins, brass images, &c., of 
 which he made a public exhibition. 
 
 " When Stephen de Blois broke the oath he had 
 sworn to Henry I. that he would support the title of 
 the Empress Matilda, he obtained the crown of Eng- 
 land by the intrigues of his brother Henry, Bishop of 
 Winchester, and Roger, Bishop of Salisbury ; and in 
 consequence of such important services, he gave the 
 castle and lordship of the Devizes to the latter. But 
 upon the Bishop of Winchester's deserting the interests 
 of his brother, the Bishop of Salisbury, with his 
 nephew, the Bishop of Ely, followed his example, which 
 enraged the haughty king so much, that he determined 
 if possible to seize them both; but the Bishop of Salis- 
 bury sent his nephew to take possession of the castle 
 of the Devizes, where he had hoarded up an immense 
 treasure : soon after which he himself, with his son, 
 then only a youth, were taken prisoners by the king, 
 who, with them in his retinue, marched to besiege the 
 Bishop of Ely ; but he made a most vigorous defence ;
 
 226 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 and Stephen, being afraid that he should be obh'ged to 
 raise the siege, and being likewise in great want of 
 money to pay his foreign mercenaries, determined to 
 force the bishop to surrender, by erecting a gallows in 
 sight of the castle, and sending a messenger to inform 
 the warlike prelate, that unless the castle was instantly 
 delivered into his hands, he would hang the youth, his 
 uncle's son, on the gibbet. Ely still refusing to com- 
 ply, the youth was actually led to the gallows with a 
 halter round his neck — an affecting sight for the Bishop 
 of Salisbury ; who earnestly entreated his nephew to 
 surrender, swearing that he would neither eat noi* 
 drink till he complied with the king's demand. This 
 procured a respite for the innocent youth ; but Ely 
 continuing to persist in his obstinacy for three days, 
 his uncle, who had fasted during the whole of that 
 time, was seized with a quartan ague, which put an 
 end to his life." 
 
 When the Bishop of Ely heard that his uncle was 
 dead, it appears that he delivered up the castle, and 
 the king found therein forty thousand marks of silver — 
 a prodigious sum, when we consider the scarcity and 
 value of money in those days. This castle was ever 
 after considered a place of great strength, and the 
 government of it bestowed on some of the principal 
 nobility. In the civil wars between Charles I. and his 
 Parliament, it was besieged several times ; but the Par- 
 liament army having taken the place, they demolished
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 2^7 
 
 the walls and other fortifications ; after which it was 
 utterly neglected, and scarcely a vestige of it is at 
 present to be seen. 
 
 DowNTON, or Low-town, takes its name from its 
 being situate in a vale, on the east side of the Avon. 
 This is an ancient borough by prescription, and the 
 privilege of sending representatives to parliament 
 was first granted by the 23d of Edward I., and vested 
 in the inhabitants paying scot and lot. Here are a 
 good church and workhouse. 
 
 High WORTH This place also takes its name from 
 
 its situation ; the town being seated on the top of a 
 hill near White Horse Vale. Worth, as a termination 
 to the names of places, signifies a way, street, field, 
 &c.; as in Wandsworth, Thistleworth, and many others. 
 
 Mere is said by Dr. Holland to have derived its 
 name from the Saxon Meapc, a boundary or land- 
 mark, from its being near the borders of Wilts, Somer- 
 set, and Dorsetshire. There appears to be nothing 
 in this little market-town worthy the notice either of 
 the antiquary or the traveller. 
 
 Trowbridge, formerly Trubridge, was called by 
 the Saxons Tpujjahjiij, that is, a firm or true bridge. 
 But " for what reason it had this name," says Cam- 
 den, " does not at all appear." Dr. Holland thinks it 
 more probable that the right name is Trolbridge ; for, 
 besides the natural melting of I into u, there is a 
 tything in the liberty and parish called Trol, and a 
 large common near it of the same name. Also, in a 
 Q 2
 
 228 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 manuscript history of Britain, the place is written Trol* 
 bridge. 
 
 Whether Mr. Camden's derivation be right or not, 
 there is now, at all events, a good stone bridge over 
 the river Were, which may be called either a true or 
 firm bridge. This place was formerly famous for a 
 castle belonging to the dukes of Lancaster, some of 
 the ruins of which were to be seen in Mr. Camden's 
 time ; and, we believe, a court for the Duchy of Lan- 
 caster, to which, if we mistake not, this manor be- 
 longs, is still annually holden here. The church is a 
 spacious fabric, having a lofty tower. 
 
 Warminster, or Werminster, is generally sup- 
 posed to occupy the site of the Roman station Verlu- 
 cio — of the first syllable of which, and the Saxon 
 minster, a church or monastery, it is considered to be 
 compounded. This derivation has, we are aware, been 
 disputed upon the ground that " the name is evidently 
 Saxon, &c. ; " but we can see no reason to doubt, on 
 that account, that it might not be compounded, and 
 more especially as no attempt is made, on the part of 
 those who deny it, to afford us a better derivation. 
 Warminster is a place of great antiquity, and may 
 boast of a large and very ancient church, the town- 
 hall, and a sessions-house, in which the petty sessions 
 for the division are holden. Its manor, with many 
 others in this part of Wiltshire, belonged formerly to 
 the Hungerfords ; but, in the reign of Edward IV., went 
 by marriage to Lord Hastings, who suffered death in
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 229 
 
 the reign of Richard III., when that prince gave all 
 his estates to his great favourite, the Duke of Norfolk. 
 Westbury was called by the Saxons LUej^tanbyrij, 
 or Westborough ; << and it was natural enough for 
 them " says Camden, " to give this name to a town 
 which they found to be the most considerable in those 
 western parts." This name appears to have been more 
 particularly given from the place being situate on the 
 western extremity of Salisbury Plain. The privilege of 
 returning two members to Parliament was conferred 
 on this town by the 27th of Henry VI., and the 
 right of election vested in every tenant of any burgage 
 tenement in fee for life, or nfnety-nine years determi- 
 nable upon lives, or by copy of court-roll, paying a 
 burgage rent of four-pence or two-pence yearly, being 
 resident in the borough and not receiving alms. In the 
 reign of Henry IV., it received a charter of incorpora- 
 tion, to be governed by a mayor, recorder, twelve 
 aldermen, and other proper officers. The church is an 
 ancient and spacious gothic structure, having a fine 
 peal of very large bells. Many Roman coins have 
 been found near the town ; and at Bratton, a hamlet 
 of this parish, are still, we believe, to be seen the 
 remains of a Danish encampment, where the Danes 
 were defeated by the English after a siege of fourteen 
 days. 
 
 Wilton which gives name to the county, is of itself 
 so called from the river Willey, at the confluence of 
 which and the Nadder it is situate ; and the Saxon "ton," 
 a 3
 
 230 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 a town. This was originally the county town, and, in 
 the time of the West Saxon kings, Wilton was the seat 
 of a bishop, and, as Leland tells us, had twelve 
 churches, though it has now only one. The place has 
 much fallen to decay, though it is still noted for its 
 manufacture of carpets, woollen stuffs and fancy arti- 
 cles ; but was formerly very famous for its numerous 
 religious foundations, which were chiefly destroyed 
 when the Benedictines came first into England, about 
 the middle of the tenth century. During the civil wars, 
 in the reign of King Stephen, the inhabitants of Wilton 
 joined with those of old Sarum in espousing the cause 
 of the empress, which induced the king to place a 
 garrison here, who, being mostly Flemish mercenaries, 
 treated the inhabitants with great cruelty ; but Robert, 
 earl of Gloucester, who commanded for the empress 
 his sister, having taken the place by assault, dispersed 
 the garrison, and burnt the town ! Its last charter of 
 incorporation was granted by Henry VIII. 
 
 This place justly boasts of Wilton House — a villa of 
 the Earl of Pembroke, so elegant and magnificent for 
 its building and furniture, that more than would form 
 a volume has been already written in its celebration. 
 This seat was begun on the ruins of a sequestered 
 abbey, towards the latter end of the reign of Henry 
 VIII., but not finished until many years after. The 
 noble proprietors spared neither labour nor expense to 
 make it one of the most magnificent seats in the king- 
 dom, and the buildings were principally designed under
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 231 
 
 Holbeins and Inigo Jones, on a plan worthy of ancient 
 Rome. Here are the family portraits by Vandyke, 
 with other valuable pictures, antique busts, &c. ; among 
 which is the whole collection of the cardinals Richelieu 
 and Mazarine, and the greatest part of that of the 
 Earl of Arundel. It was here that Sir Philip Sydney 
 wrote his Arcadia. 
 
 WoTTON Basset, or Wood Town Basset, so 
 named from the great quantity of wood hereabouts, and 
 the family of the Bassets to whom the place formerly 
 belonged, consists principally of two streets, formed 
 by the roads to Cricklade and Swindon, and has in 
 general a very mean appearance, most of the hous6s 
 being covered with thatch. The privilege of returning 
 two members of Parliament was conferred by the 25th 
 of Henry VI., and the right of election vested in the 
 principal inhabitants. 
 
 Malmsbury is said, by the monkish writers, to 
 have been a place of great note under the Britons ; but 
 it appears more probable that it was little known before 
 the arrival of the Saxons, who built a castle here, and 
 called the place Ingelborn, which name it retained for 
 many years after, until one Maildulphus, a Hebridean 
 Scot, first lived as a hermit, and afterwards built a mo- 
 nastery here, and obtained so great a reputation for 
 learning and sanctity, that the place was from him 
 called Maildulphbury ; and, by Bede, Maildulfi urbs — 
 Maildulf's city; which, in process of time, was con- 
 tracted to Malmsbury. This place was much cele- 
 Q 4
 
 232 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 brated in the times of popery for its rich abbey, the 
 abbot of which sat in Parliament. It is a well-built 
 populous town, and was incorporated early under the 
 West Saxon kings ; but the charter by which it is 
 governed was granted by William III. 
 
 Wilham Somerset, well known as an historian under 
 the title of William of Malmsbury, was born here, and 
 wrote the purest Latin of any person of the age in which 
 he lived. This place also gave birth to Oliver of 
 Malmsbury, the mathematician and mechanist, and 
 Thomas Hobbs, the philosopher. 
 
 Malmsbury is called, in some ancient manuscripts 
 Adhelmsbury, from one Adhelm, the scholar of Mail- 
 dulphus, and favourite of Athelstan, whose memory is 
 still kept up in a meadow near this town called Ad- 
 helm's mead. This Adhelm is said to have been the first 
 who taught Latin to the Anglo-Saxons— thus fufilling 
 what he promised himself in the following distich : 
 
 " Primus ego in palriam mecuvi, modo vita supcrsit, 
 
 Aonio rediens deducam verlice musas." 
 
 " I to my country first, if Fates permit, 
 Will bring flie muses from their native seat." 
 
 Salisbury arose out of the ruins of old Sarum, 
 which latter is supposed by Leland to have been a 
 British fort before the arrival of Julius Caesar, as it 
 was a Roman station afterwards, and called in the 
 Itinerary, Sorbiodunum. 
 
 Salisbury, Seapij-bji^iij, Sax., signifies a dry-town, 
 for the old town stood upon a hill where there was no 
 water. The following verses written by Dr. Pope,
 
 NAMES OF TLACES. Q33 
 
 chaplain to Seth Ward, Bishop of Salisbury, in the 
 reign of Charles II., will not only confirm this deriva- 
 tion, but much amuse our readers, from tlie just, 
 though quaint and humorous style, in which the dis- 
 sensions between the soldiers and monks, respecting 
 the amours of the latter with the nuns of Wilton, are 
 described and ridiculed : — 
 
 " Oh ! Salibury people, give ear to my song, 
 
 And attention to my new ditty ; 
 For it is in praise of your river Avon, 
 
 Of your bishop, your church, and your city. 
 
 " And your mayor and aldermen all of a row, 
 
 Who govern that watered mead, 
 First listen awhile on your tiptoe ; 
 
 Then carry this home and read. 
 
 " Old Sarum was built on a dry barren hill, 
 
 A great many years ago ; 
 'Twos a Roman town, of strength and renown. 
 
 As its stately ruins show. 
 
 " Therein was a castle for men of arms, 
 
 And a cloister for me« of the gown : 
 There were friars and monks, and liars and punks, 
 
 Tho' not any whose names have come down. 
 
 " The soldiers and churchmen did not long agree ; 
 
 For the surly men with the hilt on. 
 Made sport at the gate, with the priests that came late. 
 
 From, shriving the nuns of JVilto7i." 
 
 Salisbury is particularly famous for its cathedral, the 
 most regular and elegant gothic structure in the king-
 
 234 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 dom, crowned by a spire, and built in the form of a 
 lantern, 410 feet high. 
 
 The following old rhymes, which we believe are 
 founded on fact, are descriptive of some of the pecu- 
 liarities of the building. 
 
 " As many days as in one year there be, 
 
 So many windows in one church we see ; 
 
 As many marl)le pillars there appear 
 
 As there are hours throughout the fleeting year ; 
 
 As many gates as moons one year does view : 
 
 Strange tale to tell, yet not more strange than true /" 
 
 The foundation of this stately edifice was laid by 
 Kandulph, the Pope's legate, who placed one stone for 
 the sovereign pontiff, a second for King Henry III., a 
 third for William Longspee, Earl of Salisbury, a fourth 
 for the countess his wife, and a fifth for the bishop. 
 Although large contributions were raised from every 
 part of the kingdom, yet were they not sufficient to 
 defray the expense, which induced the bishop to pub- 
 lish an order to the priests of his diocese to remind all 
 dying persons of his piotis intention, which answered 
 the desired end so effectually, that the whole was 
 finished in the space of thirty-nine years, and conse- 
 crated on the 30th November 1258, in the presence 
 of King Henry III. and his nobility. There are 
 several fine monuments in the church, particularly 
 those of the Seymours, dukes of Somerset. 
 
 The rise of Salisbury was owing originally to this 
 cathedral, and so, after it was finished, did the buildings
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 235 
 
 increase, that it was erected into a corporation before 
 the death of Henry III. Matthew of Westminster, in 
 the beginning of Edward III.'s reign, says that it was 
 then " a county in itself, distinct from "Wiltshire." 
 
 We must not quit this place without some notice of 
 Salisbury Plain, or the Wiltshire Downs, one of the 
 most agreeable spots in Britain, and not only useful 
 for the numbers of sheep which are fed there, but in 
 many parts well cultivated, and producing fine crops 
 of corn. In this place are traces of many Roman and 
 British camps, sepulchres, and other antiquities, but 
 none equal to the famous Druidical monument of 
 Stonehenge, which stands on the summit of a hill which 
 rises with a gentle ascent. This stupendous piece of 
 antiquity consisted, in its original form, of two circles 
 enclosing an oval. Seventeen vast stones are now stand- 
 ing, which, with seven others lying on the ground, 
 constituted the outward range. Of the inner circle 
 eleven stones are standing, and eight fallen ; and be- 
 tween them was a walk of 300 feet in circumference. 
 The oval space within is supposed to have been the 
 Adytum or Sanctum Sanctorum of the Druids, where 
 it is said the priests offered up their sacrifice on the 
 altar at the upper end. This altar is composed of a 
 kind of blue coarse marble, twenty inches thick, four 
 feet broad, and sixteen feet long. Most of the stones 
 composing this wonderful ruin, the entire number of 
 which is 140, are of amazing bulk, and are supposed 
 to have been brought from the Grey Wethers upon
 
 Q36 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 Marlborough Downs ; but the means by which they 
 were removed excites universal astonishment, as no 
 mechanical powers now known are sufficient to raise 
 those which lie across to their former extraordinary 
 situation. One stone at the upper end, which has 
 fallen down and broken in half, measures, according 
 to Dr. Hales, twenty-five feet long, seven broad, and 
 at a medium seven and a half thick. 
 
 It has long been a dispute among the learned, by 
 whom, and for what purpose, these enormous stones 
 were collected and arranged. The first account of 
 this structure we meet with is in Geoffrey of Mon- 
 mouth, who, in the reign of King Stephen, wrote the 
 History of the Britons in Latin. He tells us, it was 
 erected by the counsel of Merlin, the British enchan- 
 ter, by the command of Aurelius Ambrosius, the last 
 British king, in memory of 460 Britons, who were 
 murdered by Hengist the Saxon. The next account is 
 that of Polidore Virgil, who says that the Britons 
 erected this as a sepulchral monument of Boadicea, the 
 famous British queen. Inigo Jones is of opinion that 
 it was a Roman temple, from a stone, sixteen feet long, 
 and four broad, placed in an exact position to the east- 
 ward, altar fashion. Mr. Charlton attributed it to the 
 Danes, who were two years masters of Wiltshire ; a tin 
 tablet, on which were some unknown characters, sup- 
 posed to be Punic, was dug up near it in the reign of 
 Henry VHI., but is lost ; probably that might have 
 given some information respecting its founders. Its
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 237 
 
 common name, Stonehenge, is Saxon, and signifies a 
 " stone gallows," to which those stones, having trans- 
 verse imposts, bear some resemblance. It is also called 
 in Welsh choir gour, or the " giant's dance." Mr. 
 Gross thinks that Dr. Stukely has completely proved 
 this structure to have been the metropolitan temple, in 
 which the Druids officiated. 
 
 The following poem, which obtained the prize of Sir 
 Roger Newdigate for 1823, is well worthy of inser- 
 tion here : — 
 
 STONEHENGE. 
 
 Wrapt in the veil of Time's unbroken gloom, 
 Obscure as death, and silent as the tomb. 
 Where cold oblivion holds her dusky reign, 
 Frowns the dark pile on Sarum's lonely plain. 
 
 Yet think not here with classic eye to trace 
 Corinthian beauty, or Ionian grace ; 
 No pillared lines with sculptured foliage crowned, 
 No fluted remnants deck the hallowed ground ; 
 Firm, as implanted by some Titan's might, 
 Each rugged stone uprears its giant height, 
 Whence the poised fragment tottering seems to throw 
 A trembling shadow on the plain below. 
 
 Here oftj vvlien evening sheds its twilight ray. 
 And gilds with fainter beam departing day, 
 With breathless gaze, and cheek with terror pale. 
 The lingering shepherd startles at the tale. 
 How, at deep midnight, by the moon's chill glance, 
 Unearthly forms prolong the viewless dance ; 
 While on each whisp'ring l)reeze that murmurs by. 
 His busied fancy hears tlic hollow sigh.
 
 238 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 Rise from thy haunt, dread genius of the clime ! 
 Rise, magic spirit of forgotten time! 
 'Tis thine to burst tlie mantling clouds of age, 
 And fling new radiance on Tradition's page; 
 See, at thy call, from Fable's varied store, 
 In shadowy train the mingled visions pour ; 
 Here the wild Briton, 'mid his wilder reign. 
 Spurns the proud yoke, and scorns th' oppressor's chain ! 
 Here wizard 3Ierlin, where the mighty fell,* 
 Waves the dark wand, and chants the thrilling spell. 
 Hark ! 'tis the bardic lyre, whose harrowing strain 
 Wakes the rude echoes of the slumbering plain ; 
 Lo ! 'tis the Druid pomp, whose lengthening line 
 In lowliest homage bends before the shrine. 
 He comes — the priest — amid the sullen blaze 
 His snow-white robe in spectral lustre plays ; 
 Dim gleam the torches through the circling night, 
 Dark curl the vapours round the altar's light ; 
 O'er the black scene of death each conscious star, 
 In lurid glory, rolls its silent car. 
 
 'Tis gone ! e'en now the mystic horrors fade 
 From Sarum's loneliness, and Mona's glade ; 
 Hushed is each note of Talicbin's f lyre, 
 Sheath'd the fell blade, and quenched the fatal fire. 
 On wings of light Hope's angel form appears, 
 Smiles on the past, and points to happier years — 
 Points, with uplifted hand, and raptured eye, 
 To yon pure dawn that floods the opening sky ; 
 And views, at length, the Sun of Judah pour 
 One cloudless noon o'er Albion's rescued shore. 
 
 • On this spot it is said that the British nobles were slaughtered 
 by Hengist. 
 
 f Taliesin, president of the bards, flourished in the sixth century.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 239 
 
 Marlborough, a place of great antiquity, is sup- 
 posed to have been the Roman station Cunetio, men- 
 tioned by Antoninus, and was called by the Saxons 
 CDaple-bujng, from the marie or chalk in the neighbour- 
 hood, used by them, as by ourselves, in the improve- 
 ment of the soil. Camden is rather doubtful of tliis, 
 but continues : " this is certain, that it lies at the foot 
 of a hill of white stones, which our forefathers called 
 marte, before they had borrowed the word chalk from 
 the latin calx." Others have considered Marlborough 
 to be a contraction of Merlin's-borough ; whence 
 Alexander Neckam : — 
 
 " Great Merlin's cave 
 The name to Marlborough in Saxon gave." 
 
 But this derivation has been ridiculed by the best 
 authorities. We are told by some writers that the 
 Saxons built a castle here on the site of the Roman 
 garrison ; but Marlborough is mentioned by scarcely 
 any author, except Antoninus, till the reign of Richard 
 I., when that prince was taken prisoner on his return 
 from his expedition to the holy land. 
 
 In the latter end of the reign of Henry III. a great 
 council of the nation met at this place, and passed a 
 body of laws — hence called the Marlborough Statutes 
 — pretended to be for preventing tumults, but in reality 
 to prevent too many of the barons assembling at one 
 place. It is an ancient borough by prescription, and 
 returns two members to Parliament by the 23d of 
 Edward I.
 
 240 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 On the Downs, in the neighbourhood of Marlbo- 
 rough, there are many British sepulchres called bar- 
 rows, but some of them are supposed to be Danish ; 
 and here are also the Grey Wethers, which we have 
 spoken of in our brief account of Stonehenge — a vast 
 heap of stones, which appear at a distance like sheep 
 lying down to rest. Some think that this pile of stones, 
 like Stonehenge, is also the remains of an ancient 
 Druidical temple. 
 
 THE COUNTY OF BERKS. 
 Berkshire, as we are told by Asser, was called 
 by the Latin writers Bercheria, and by the English 
 Saxons Beppocj-cype, from the wood berroc or box, 
 which grew in great plenty all over the county. This 
 is stoutly denied by Dr. Holland in his " Additions to 
 Camden," who affirms that, " from the most ancient 
 annals of the Saxons, the old name was Beappucj-cipe, 
 and aftenvards Bappucj-cipe, from which the present 
 name is easily melted." But here the learned doctor 
 stops, and, though he denies the definition of others, 
 attempts not to find any substitute himself. This 
 county was anciently inhabited by the Attrebatii, a 
 people who are supposed to have come over from 
 amongst the Attrebates in Gaul ; as we are told by 
 Caesar, that the foreigners which came out of Gallia 
 Belgica inhabited the sea-coasts of Britain, and still 
 retained their ancient names.
 
 N~AMES OF PLACES. '24 \ 
 
 Heading, the county town, derives its name from 
 the British word Redin, which signifies fern, of 
 which great abundance formerly grew in this place and 
 its vicinity. This place has claims to high antiquity, 
 and was of great repute under the West Saxon kings, 
 as appears from the testimony of William of Malms- 
 bury ; who tells us, that its castle being seized by the 
 Danes, about the end of the ninth centur}', those bar- 
 barians fortified themselves in it, after they had been 
 defeated in the battle of Ashdown by Ethelwulph, 
 Earl of Berkshire. When the Danes abandoned the 
 place, they left several of their people in it; who wow 
 murdered by the Saxons, and the town burnt to the 
 ground. From the effects of this calamity it soon re- 
 covered ; and, in the reign of King Stephen, held out 
 against the empress, which induced her son, Henry II,, 
 to demolish the castle, of which no traces are now lei't. 
 Reading makes a conspicuous figure in the ecclesiasti- 
 cal history of England, on account of its famous abbey, 
 now long since gone to decay, being one of those whose 
 prelate sat as a lord in Parliament. Elfrida erected a 
 monastery in this place for nuns ; but Henry I. pulled 
 it down, and in its stead built this abbey, one of the 
 most magnificent in England, bestowing upon it many 
 manors, and ample privileges. It was begun in 1121, 
 and finished, in about four years after, for the residence 
 of an abbot and 200 Benedictine monks, and the re- 
 freshment of travellers. This building appears to have 
 •occupied a circumference of nearly half a mile, l)ut 
 u
 
 242 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 scarcely any remains are now left of it. At the dissolu- 
 tion, its possessions were hardly inferior to any in Eng- 
 land ; and Henry I. was so enamoured of it, that he con- 
 tinued to heap favours on it until the time of his death ; 
 when he left orders for his body to be interred in the 
 chancel, which was done accordingly : whence the 
 following lines, translated from a Latin poet : 
 
 " Thence little Chawsey sees, and hastens on 
 
 To Reading, famed for cloth, a handsome town ;" &c. 
 
 " But where, poor banished virtue, art thou gone ? 
 Here Henry lies, without a single stone ; 
 Equalled, alas ! with common dead too soon." 
 
 The abbey of Reading continued to flourish till the 
 reign of Henry VHL, when Hugh Farrington, the 
 thirty-first and last abbot, refusing to deliver an ac- 
 count of the revenues and treasures, was, together 
 with two of his monks, found guilty of high treason, 
 and hanged, drawn, and quartered within sight of the 
 place. The greater part of this stately edifice remained 
 till the civil wars in the sixteenth century, when the 
 Parliament army pulled down the upper part of the 
 walls, considering it as a rehc of popish idolatry. 
 
 With respect to the present state of Reading, it is 
 the most considerable town in the county, returns two 
 members to Parliament, is divided into three parishes, 
 has as many good churches ; the streets are large, and 
 the houses extremely handsome. 
 
 Maidenhead is so called, according to Lcland,
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 243 
 
 irom a head kept lierc of one of tlie 11,000 virgins who 
 accompanied St. Ursula to Germany, where they all 
 suffered martyrdom. This is repeated by Camden ; 
 and that such a pretended relic might have been re- 
 commended by the priests as an object of worship, is 
 far from improbable ; but the story of the 11,000 vir- 
 gins is a notorious falsehood, according to the testimony 
 of the learned Jesuit Sirmondas, who, in examining 
 some ancient manuscripts, discovered that the legend 
 had taken its rise from the ignorance of the monks, 
 who, reading ." Ursula et Undecimella," construed those 
 two proper names into " Ursula and eleven thousand of 
 her followers." 
 
 By the charter of its incorporation in the reign oi' 
 Edward III., this place was called Maidenhithe. Its 
 privileges were again confirmed, and many new ones 
 added in the reign of Henrjr VI. A new charter was 
 also granted by Queen Elizabeth in the beginning of 
 her reign ; but all these being delivered up when the 
 Court of King's Bench granted the writs of ^uo "war- 
 ranto in the reign of Charles II., another new charter, 
 the last, was granted by James II., by which the go- 
 vernment is vested in a mayor, high steward, ten alder- 
 men, &c. 
 
 Maidenhead was a place of very little consideration 
 in former times; but, on account of its situation on the 
 high western road, is now a populous thoroughfare ; 
 can boast of several excellent inns for the accommo- 
 dation of travellers, and has an elegant stone bridge 
 R 2
 
 214 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 over the Thames, on the banks of which the town is 
 deHghtfully situate. 
 
 At a village called Bisham, about two miles from 
 Maidenhead, was a preceptory for knights-templars 
 formerly, founded by the famous Robert de Ferrars, in 
 the reign of King Stephen ; but those ecclesiastical 
 soldiers having sold its lands to the Earl of Salisbury, 
 William Montacute erected a priory for Augustine 
 monks in its room, which remained till the general 
 dissolution, when its revenues were valued at £285 per 
 annum. 
 
 Wallingford is a place of great antiquity, and is 
 supposed to have been the chief city of the Attrebatii. 
 It is called by Antoninus, Gallena Attrebutum ; and 
 Mr. Camden is of opinion that it was called in the Bri- 
 tish Guall-hen., that is, the old fort ; " which name 
 being still kept, ^wAford, from a shallow place in the 
 river, added to it, the Saxons called it Guallenjapopb 
 and lUallenjpojnh, as we now-a-days, by contraction, 
 Wallingford." The place vvas anciently surrounded 
 by a wall a mile and a half in circumference ; and a 
 plausible conjecture, we think, might be hazarded 
 whether imll and Jord be not the true derivation of its 
 name ; but we must defer to Mr. Camden and many 
 other high authorities. 
 
 On the arrival of the Saxons, Wallingford was made 
 one of their principal forts, and continued in consider- 
 able repute until destroyed by the Danes in 1006, 
 Soon after this it must have recovered, according to
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 245 
 
 Ingulphus, who tells us that, in the reign of Edward 
 the Confessor, it was a borough by prescription, and 
 contained 276 houses. At the Norman invasion, Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror here received the homage of Sti- 
 gand, Archbishop of Canterbury, and other prelates 
 and barons. When Henry of Anjou, afterwards Henry 
 n. of England, arrived from Normandy, finding W^al- 
 lingford a place of great nnportance, he laid close siege 
 to the town; but Stephen having marched with a large 
 army to its relief, Henry was obliged either to raise 
 the siege, or engage with the royal army. This was 
 prevented, however, as is well known, by the inter- 
 position of the gallant Earl of Arundel ; and a congress 
 was holden, the result of which was, that Stephen 
 should possess the crown for life, and that, after his 
 death, it should descend to Henry. In the succeeding 
 reign it became the property of the crown, and was 
 given by Richard I. to his brother John. 
 
 In the times of the Danes and Saxons W^allingford 
 had a strong castle, now demolished — once besieged by 
 the regal armies in vain. Many Roman coins have 
 been found in the neighbourhood, and without doubt 
 this place was once a Roman settlement. 
 
 The town is large and populous, and returns two 
 members to Parliament by the 23d of Edward I. A 
 spire of a very singular form, with which St. Peter's 
 church is ornamented, was built about fifty years since 
 at the sole expense of Sir William Blackstone. 
 
 Wantage — so called from j-anta, Sax., less, from 
 R 3
 
 ^^4() DERrVATION OF THE 
 
 its inconsiderable size — is a pretty little market-town, 
 situate on the Acke, and celebrated in history for 
 being the birth-place of King Alfred. In the times of 
 the Saxons it was one of the country seats or villas of 
 the English monarchs ; and, after the Conquest, it was 
 made a borough through the interest of Fulk Fitswar- 
 ren, who obtained a grant of the manor from Roger 
 Bigod, Earl Marshal of England. 
 
 Newbury signifies a neiv toivn; but, notwithstanding 
 its name, is a place of considerable antiquity, as ap- 
 j)ears from Domesday-Book, when it was given to 
 Ernulph de Hesdin, in whose family it remained till 
 the reign of Stephen. In the reign of Henry III. the 
 number of its inhabitants began to increase ; aiid before 
 Henry Vlllth's time, it was one of the most flourishing 
 towns in the clothing trade in England ; and one John 
 Smalwood, of Winchcoomb, commonly called Jack of 
 Newbury, was so remarkable for his knowledge of that 
 useful art, and such a patriot to boot, that he had 
 constantly an hundred looms in his shop ; and when 
 the Earl of Surry marched against James IV, of Scot- 
 land, this eminent tradesman attended in his retinue 
 with one hundred of his servants, all clothed and armed 
 at his own expense. The success which attended the 
 English army on that occasion is universally known ; 
 and we are assured that the famous Jack of Newbory, 
 at the head of his little band, behaved with the most 
 distinguished bravery. The house in which he lived 
 remained until about a century and a half since, when 
 it was divided into small tenements for letting.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 247 
 
 Newbury will be long celebrated in English annals 
 for the two battles fought near it in the civil wars 
 during the reign of Charles, in both of which the un- 
 fortunate monarch commanded in person. 
 
 This place is said to have been built on the site of 
 the Roman town Spinte. It sent two members to Par- 
 liament in Edward I 's reign, and, in that of Edward 
 III. was represented by three persons, in a council hol- 
 den at Westminster on the subject of trade. Newbury 
 has one of the largest markets in the kingdom. 
 
 Windsor (lUmble-yhojaan, Sax.) takes its name 
 fi-om its winding shores, being situate at the side of a 
 hill near the Thames. Although the name of this 
 place is evidently Saxon, yet it did not make any re- 
 markable figure in history before the time of William 
 the Conqueror ; when that prince revoked a grant of 
 Edward the Confessor, who had given it to his new 
 abbey of St. Peter's, Westminster, and, in exchange 
 for it, gave some lands in Essex, and built a castle here, 
 with several lodgings, for the accommodation of himself 
 and suite in his favourite diversion of hunting. His 
 son Henry I. added several new buildings, and fortified 
 the castle ; and when Richard I. went to the Holy 
 Land, the Bishop of Ely made this castle, then a place 
 of vast strength, his residence, and thence exercised 
 great tyranny over the adjoining counties. Edward I., 
 during several of his expeditions, left his family in 
 Windsor Castle ; and here his first consort, Queen Elea- 
 nor, was delivered of four of her children Edward 
 R 4
 
 248 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 bad often re^icicd here ; and his son and successor, Ed- 
 "urd Ill.jwas called, from the place of hisbirtli, Edward 
 of Windsor, and to him is greatly owing its present 
 grandeur. The royal castle, the most delightful and 
 n)agnificent of all our palaces, was, under his direction, 
 finished according to the gothic taste of those days, upon 
 the design of the famous William of W^yckham. During 
 the wars between the families of York and Lancaster, 
 this noble palace was much neglected ; but Edward IV., 
 during the latter part of his reign, made several addi- 
 tions, which were enlarged by Henrys VII. and VIII. 
 and Queen Elizabeth. The castle suffered considera- 
 bly during the civil wars ; but, soon after the restora- 
 tion, Charles II. caused it to be repaired, and restored 
 it to its ancient splendour. This prince was so attached 
 to the place that he made it his summer residence. 
 
 Abingdon — anciently called Sheovesham, and after- 
 wards by the Anglo-Saxons, Abanbune — signifies an 
 abbey-town, from the abbey built here about the year 
 670, as some say, by Cissa, King of the W^est Saxons, 
 or, according to the testimony of others, by Hearn, his 
 nephew. It continued to flourish until the arrival of 
 the Danes, who reduced it to ashes. It did not, how- 
 ever, long remain in a state of ruin ; for Ethelwaldus, 
 one of their abbots, and afterwards Bishop of Winches- 
 ter, rebuilt the whole in an elegant style. A short time 
 after the Conquest, this place was selected by William 
 the Conqueror, then making his tour of England, to 
 pass his Christmas at. Here also his son Henry wasr
 
 NAMES OF PLACES ^249 
 
 left to be instructed by the monks, who performed their 
 duty so sedulously, that, as is well known, their pupil 
 afterwards acquired the appellation of Beauclerc. 
 
 In the church were many ancient monuments, espe- 
 cially one of Jeffery of Monmouth, the monkish his- 
 torian, who, according to William of Newbury, was 
 abbot in Henry I.'s reign. The abbey, its fine church, 
 and every thing belonging to them, were destroyed at 
 the general dissolution, when its revenues were no less 
 than £2,042. 
 
 Abingdon is pleasantly situate on the banks of the 
 Isis, and is a populous and flourishing place. 
 
 Lamborn takes its appellation from a small river of 
 the same name, which is remarkable for being high in 
 the summer and low in the winter, and falls into the 
 Kennet, below Newbury. 
 
 Near this town is the most remarkable antiquity in 
 Berkshire, of which the following is, we believe, a very 
 accurate description : — 
 
 " White-Horse Hill is about two miles to the north 
 of Lamborn, on the summit of which is a large Roman 
 intrenchment, called Uffington Castle, from its over- 
 looking the village of Ufiington, in an adjacent valley ; 
 and a little below this fortification, on a steep side of 
 the same hill, facing the north-west, is the figure of 
 a white horse, the dimensions of which are extended 
 over about an acre of ground. Its head, neck, body, 
 and tail, consists of one white line, as does also each 
 of its four legs. The lines are formed by trenches cut,
 
 1250 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 in the chalks, two or three feet in depth, and about 
 ten feet in breadth. The chalk of the trench being of 
 a brighter colour than the surrounding turf of the hill, 
 the whole figure, when the mid-day sun darts its rays 
 on it, is visible at more than twelve miles distance. 
 A white horse is known to liave been the Saxon stand- 
 ard, and some have thence supposed, that this figure 
 was made by Hengist, one of the Saxon kings. But 
 Mr. Wise, the author of a letter on this subject ad- 
 dressed to Dr. Mead, and published in 1738, brings 
 several arguments to prove that this figure was formed 
 by order of Alfred, during the reign of Ethelred, his 
 brother, as a monument of his victory gained over the 
 Danes in the year 871, at Ashdown, now called Ashen, 
 or Ashbury Park, the seat of Lord Craven, near Ash- 
 bury, not far from this hill. Others, however, suppose 
 it to have been partly the effect of accident, and partly 
 the works of the shepherds ; who, observing a rude 
 figure somewhat resembling a horse — as there are, in 
 the veins of wood and stone, many figures that resem- 
 ble trees, caverns, and other objects — reduced it by 
 degrees to a more regular figure. 
 
 But, however this be, it has been a custom imme- 
 morial for the neighbouring peasants to assemble on a 
 certain day about Midsummer, to clear away the weeds 
 from this white horse, and trim the edges, to preserve 
 its colour and shape, which they call scouring the 
 horse ; after which the evening is spent in mirth and 
 festivity. To the north of this hill tliere is a long
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. ^251 
 
 valley, extending to the western side of the county 
 where it borders upon Wiltshire, as far as Wantage, 
 which, from this hill, is called the Vale of the White 
 Horse, and is the most fruitful part of the country." 
 
 THE COUNTY OF HANTS. 
 
 Hampshire, accoi*ding to Mr. Camden, was called 
 by the Saxons Hanrejicijie ; but in the ancient annals it 
 is written Haratunj^cyjie ; and by later writers Ham- 
 teshyre, Hamteshire, and Hampshire. Florence of 
 Worcester calls it Hantunscyre, which is supposed to 
 be a mistake for Hamtunscyre, as written in the Saxon 
 annals, from which he transcribed. As to the derivation 
 or origin of the name of this county we are left in the 
 dark, it being slurred over by every author we have 
 met with, and not noticed at all by the learned Cam- 
 den. It is probable, however, that it takes its name 
 from the river Anton ; and this is confirmed by Bailey's 
 Dictionary — " Hampshire, (Hanreficijie, Sax.) so called 
 from the river Anton." 
 
 Hampshire, at the time of Julius Caesar's arrival in 
 this island, was inhabited by a colony of the Belgian 
 Gauls, called by the Romans Regni ; and, according 
 to Dio, when Vespasian was sent to command the forces 
 in Britain, he landed somewhere in this county, and at 
 one time was so fiercely attacked by the natives, that, 
 if his gallant son Titus had not come to his assistance, 
 he must inevitably have perished. The same author
 
 552 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 tells us, that he fought above thirty battles with the 
 inhabitants ; but the Roman discipline having overcome 
 the numbers of the barbarians, the natives of this part 
 of the island submitted to their victorious foes, and 
 Vespasian took possession of the place in the name of 
 the Emperor Nero. 
 
 During the Heptarchy, Hampshire formed part of 
 the kingdom of Wessex. 
 
 Southampton, the county town, is pleasantly si- 
 tuate between the Aire, or Hitching river, on the east, 
 and the Tees, or Anton, on the west ; from which latter 
 river, the ancient name of the Tees, the place is sup- 
 posed to have taken its appellation. It was anciently 
 called Hantun, and has since been termed South Han- 
 ton, or Hampton, to distinguish it from North- 
 ampton (Northamptonshire), and others of the same 
 name. 
 
 " Returning again in order to go to Southampton, 
 we meet with the mouth of the river Test, Tees, or 
 Tese, as it is variously written. But Ptolemy calls it 
 Trisanton, which Camden supposes should be read 
 Traithanton, i. e. the bay of Anton, which was the an- 
 cient name of the Test, as may be collected from the 
 names of Antport, Andover, Hanton, or Southamp- 
 ton, situate thereon.'" — Universal Magazine, 1750. 
 
 In Domesday-Book we read, " in the town of SotUh- 
 Anton," &c.; and from the same record we learn that, at 
 the Norman Conquest, there were in Southampton 
 eighty tenants, who held their lands as royal demesnes.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. ^53 
 
 In the reign of Henry II. it received a charter of incor- 
 poration, after which it became a flourishing place, 
 but was burnt down by the French in the reign of 
 Henry III., and soon after rebuilt in a more handsome 
 manner, and surrounded with walls, ditches, and bat- 
 tlements, having watch-towers at proper distances, of 
 Avhich some remains are still left 
 
 Most of our historians are of opinion that this was 
 the Clavsentum of the Romans — but we are aware that 
 this has been stoutly opposed; though, by some, it has 
 still been thought that that ancient city stood in the 
 hamlet of St. Mary's, a little more to the right, where 
 some of its ruins were formerly quite visible. Whether 
 of Roman origin or not, however, Southampton has 
 claims to high antiquity, and was in considerable re- 
 pute under the West Saxon kings. The earliest men- 
 tion, we believe, which is made of it occurs in the 
 Saxon Chronicle ; from which it appears that it was 
 attacked by the Danes in 873, who, after committing 
 many barbarities, were x'epulsed and driven to their 
 ships. About 980 they again landed, and ravaged 
 the town and its neighbourhood, and a third time, 
 about twelve years afterwards. When Canute attained 
 the British sceptre, these ravages were stopped, and the 
 town became the occasional residence of that monarch. 
 Here it was that he rebuked, so justly, his flattering 
 courtiers, when the disobedient tide washed his feet ; 
 and here the gallant Henry V. mustered his forces for 
 the conquest of France, when the conspiracy against
 
 26'4 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 his life, by the Earl of Cambridge, was previously dis- 
 covered and punished. 
 
 In the reign of Henry VI. this town must have 
 been a considerable place for mercantile affairs ; for we 
 find that Sir Thomas Cooke, lord mayor of London, 
 was collector of the customs. It was at this port that 
 the Portuguese first landed with their foreign wines, 
 after they had discovered the Canaries ; but the Lon- 
 don merchants, being jealous of the growing power and 
 riches of the place, procured an order that all ships 
 coming from the Canaries should land their goods at 
 some port on the river Thames. 
 
 In this place ai'e six churches. The new church, 
 chiefly designed by Mr. Reevely, from various ancient 
 temples in Italy and Greece, is much admired, and the 
 roof is said to be the most masterly performance of the 
 kind in the world. Southampton was made a county 
 of itself in the reign of Henry VI. 
 
 Winchester, a very ancient city, was called by 
 the Romans Venta Belgarmn The word Venta, ac- 
 cording to Leland, is derived from the British Guen or 
 Guin, i. e. white, from the situation of the place being 
 in a soil of chalk and whitish clay. By the Saxons 
 this place was called tUmrancepreja ; by the Latin 
 writers, Wintonia ; by the Britons, Caer Givent, as 
 by us, Giventchester, Wintchester, Winchester. It 
 was the capital of the Belgian Britons, and, after the 
 decline of the Roman empire, the chief residence of 
 the West Saxon kings, as well as of the English mo-
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. ^55 
 
 narchs after the dissolution of the Heptarchy. That it 
 was famous among the Romans we are well assured from 
 the imperial weaving shops (textrina sua sacra), where 
 great quantities of cloth were woven, for the use both 
 of the emperors and the army. We are likewise told 
 that great numbers of dogs, of the best English breed, 
 were here trained up for the chase, and afterwards sent 
 over to Rome, and esteemed at that time superior to 
 any others in the Roman provinces. Winchester was 
 generally esteemed the capital of England before the 
 Conquest, and thus often became the seat of great ac- 
 tions. Wlien Egbert had reduced the other kingdoms 
 of the Heptarchy, he was solemnly crowned king of all 
 England, in a smttenagamote, or great council of the 
 nation, holden in this city. The bishop, either at that 
 time or soon after, was the famous St. Swithin, on 
 whose festival, if it happens to rain, the superstitious 
 tell us that it will continue to do so for forty successive 
 days. This bishop was a man of great repute, as ap- 
 pears from King Egbert's appointing him tutor to his 
 children ; and so high was his fame and sanctity, that 
 after his death he was canonized at R ome. 
 
 Great ravages were committed by the Danes in this 
 city, but it was soon rebuilt, and continued increasing 
 many years after. Alfred the Great intended to have 
 built a monastery in Winchester ; but dying before he 
 could execute the scheme, it was begun and finished by 
 liis son, Edward the Elder, who bestowed many lands, 
 and ample privileges on it. Canute kept his court here,
 
 S.56 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 and sent for Queen Emma from Normandy, whom liC 
 married ; and when the Barons invited Edward the 
 Confessor to the throne of his ancestors, he was 
 crowned in this city by Edfius, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. 
 
 Henry I., on the death of Rufus, attended a great 
 assembly of the nobles sitting in this town, and claimed 
 the crown ; and when they told him that they were 
 bound by oath to give it to his brother Robert, know- 
 ing that he had the love of the people, from his being 
 the first of the Norman race born in England, he drew 
 his sword, and swore that no man should take possession 
 of the crown, unless he was approved of by the peo- 
 ple ; and, rather than involve the nation in a civil war, 
 the crown was given to him. 
 
 It was in the monastery of this city that Matilda, the 
 daughter of Malcolm King of Scotland, resided; when 
 Henry I., to ingratiate himself with the English, took 
 her out of the monastery and married her, thereby 
 restoring the ancient Saxon line of the royal lamily, she 
 being, by her mother Queen Margaret, great-grand- 
 daughter of Edmond Ironside. 
 
 Prince Henry, son of Henry II., was crowned here 
 in 1172; and the Duchess of Saxony, daughter of the 
 same monarch, being on a visit to her father's court, 
 was here delivered of a son, named William, from 
 whom the illustrious family of Hanover is lineally de- 
 scended. 
 
 When Richard I. returned from his romantic expedi-
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 257 
 
 tion to Syria, he was crowned in this city, although 
 that ceremony had been performed at Westminster 
 several years before. King John often kept his court 
 here ; and his son, Henry III., who was born in the 
 castle, was always called Henry of Winchester, in 
 whose reign, when the barons took up arms, Simon de 
 Montfort took this city, plundered the inhabitants, 
 and, at the instigation of the priests, put all the Jews 
 that could be found to the sword ; but the barons being 
 overpowered by the royal army, the king held a par- 
 liament here, wherein the grievances of the people 
 were heard and redressed. 
 
 It was in this city that Edmund Plantagenet, bro- 
 ther of Edward II., was beheaded, at the instigation of 
 Mortimer; and here Richard II. held one of his par- 
 liaments, wherein nothing was to be heard but com- 
 plaints against the oppressions of the magistrates all 
 over the kingdom. 
 
 During the civil wars between Charles and his 
 Parliament, this city suffered considerably from 
 depredations made on the ancient monuments by the 
 soldiers, who considered them as relics of idolatry ; 
 but it revived again at the restoration — the king and his 
 court often making journies to, and spending some 
 time in this place. 
 
 Winchester is particularly famous for its cathedral, 
 ' the bishopric of Winchester being one of the richest 
 in England, if not in Europe. This, according to Wil- 
 liam of Malmsbury, was first built by Kenelwach, king 
 s
 
 258 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 of Ihe West Saxons, on the ruins of the one erected 
 while the Romans were in possession of the island. 
 But this being destroyed by the Danes, another was 
 begun by Bishop Wakelin, a few years after the con- 
 quest ; but it was not brought to any great perfection, 
 until the reign of Edward III., when William Edendon, 
 the then bishop, carried on the work ; and it was 
 finished by his successor, the celebrated William of 
 Wyckham, High Chancellor of England. 
 
 Alresford, i. e. the Ford of Aire, or Arle, was 
 so named, according to Camden, from a river on the 
 east side of Southampton, formerly called the Aire. It 
 is but a small place, though of considerable antiquity, 
 and is situate near one of the Roman highways, part 
 of which serves as the head of a pond, called Aires- 
 ford pond, a noble piece of water, wherein is a great 
 number of swans. In May 1690, this town was entirely 
 consumed by fire, but was soon after rebuilt in a hand- 
 some manner ; but we are informed that it has been 
 destroyed twice since in a similar way. 
 
 Andover was called by the Saxons Anbeapapan, 
 i. e. the ferry of the river Ande, Ant, or Anton, upon 
 which it stands. This is a large well-built town, and a 
 place of great antiquity, as its first charter was granted 
 by King John. In Elizabeth's reign a new charter 
 was granted. The church is an ancient edifice, the 
 patronage of which was given by William the Con- 
 queror to the abbey of St. Florence, at Salmur, in An- 
 jou. In Henry Vth's reign that grant was revoked, and
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 259 
 
 its whole temporalities settled on Winchester college. 
 Andover was well known to the Romans, as is evi- 
 dent from the several Roman encampments which may 
 be traced in its vicinity. The Roman road from Win- 
 chester to Cirencester passes near the town ; and Dr. 
 Stukeley has conjectured, with some probability, that 
 this place was the Andaoreon of Ravennas. 
 
 Portsmouth is so called from its situation on the 
 mouth of a small bay, and arose out of the ruins of 
 Porchester, where it is supposed Vespasian landed, 
 when he was sent by the Emperor Nero to command 
 the army in Britain. There was formerly a harbour at 
 the latter place ; but the sea having retired, the trade 
 and population were removed to Portsmouth, which 
 has now for a long time past been the principal ren- 
 dezvous of the navy, its haven being in extent almost 
 sufficient for the whole navy of England. 
 
 When the Empress Matilda came over from Nor- 
 mandy to claim the crown of England, she landed at 
 this place, but was obliged to take shelter in the castle 
 of the Earl of Arundel, who had married her step- 
 mother, the widow of Henry I. And when Henry HI. 
 intended to invade France, he here mustered the 
 greatest army that had ever been raised in England. 
 When Richard H. was on very bad terms with his sub- 
 jects, the French landed here and burnt the town, after 
 robbing the inhabitants. A few years after they made 
 a second attempt, but the town being rebuilt, the inha- 
 bitants fitted out a fleet, .and took all the enemies' ships> 
 s 2
 
 260 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 and only nine Frenchmen, who got ashore and were 
 taken prisoners, escaped alive. PVom this period the 
 place began to flourish ; and, in the beginning of the 
 reign of Edward IV., that prince erected two forts at 
 the mouth of the harbour, which were made into a 
 garrison for the protection of the coast bj*^ Henry VII. 
 During the reign of Henry VIII. tlie fortifications were 
 carried on rapidly, and they were completed in the 
 reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 In the reign of Charles I., Portsmouth was appointed 
 as the rendezvous for the armament destined for the 
 relief of the protestants in Rochelle, at which time the 
 Duke of Buckingham was stabbed by Felton. During 
 the civil wars, it was garrisoned for the Parliament. 
 Charles II. was married in this town to Catharine, the 
 Infanta of Portugal. 
 
 Lymington is so called from a creek or river of the 
 same name, where the river Boldre discharges itself, 
 and is about a mile from the sea Few events of in- 
 terest are recorded of this town, though it is said to 
 have been thrice burnt by the French. The place is 
 famous for the manufacture of sea salt. The brines 
 are collected in summer, and in the winter season the 
 medicinal salts, known by the names of Epsom and 
 glauber, are manufactured from the residuum depo- 
 sited in the drying troughs. 
 
 Christchurcii, so called from its church dedicated 
 to our Saviour, is a place of great antiquity, and in 
 the times of the West Saxon kings, had a collegiate
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 26l 
 
 church, which, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, 
 had a dean and twenty-four secular canons. Some 
 time after the Conquest, Ranulph de Flambard, a 
 Norman ecclesiastic, was appointed dean of this 
 college, and he rebuilt the whole edifice after he 
 was appointed to the see of Durham. Considerable 
 additions were made to its revenues by Richard, 
 Earl of Devonshire, in Henry I.'s reign ; and towards 
 the latter end of the reign of Stephen, the seculars 
 were ousted, and Augustine monks placed in their 
 room. There was anciently a strong castle in this 
 town, of which no remains are now left. 
 
 THE COUNTY OF KENT. 
 
 Kent was called by the Greeks Kmrai, and by the 
 Latins Cantinm. Lambard derives it from the Welch 
 Caine, a leaf, because the county formerly abounded 
 in woods ; but Camden, from Canton, a corner, " be- 
 cause England in this place stretcheth out itself in a 
 comer to the north-east." Kent, being situated nearest 
 the continent of Europe, has often been the theatre of 
 great actions. It was in this county that Julius Caesar 
 landed when he came to invade Britain : it was the 
 place first seized by the Saxons, after they had defeated 
 the northern barbarians ; and popery was first preached 
 at Canterbury by Austin and his followers. At the 
 arrival of the Romans it was gov*ned by four British 
 s 3
 
 262 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 chiefs ; and it was the first, although not the largest, oi 
 the kingdoms of the Heptarchy. 
 
 Canterbury is called by Bede and others Dorober- 
 nia ; by the Saxons Cant-pajia-bypij, which signifies 
 the city of the people of Kent ; by the Britons Caer 
 Kent, or the city of Kent, and by the Latins Cantuaria. 
 This place is generally agreed to have been the Roman 
 Durovernum, and it is famous for being the archi-epis- 
 copal seat of the primate of all England. The Saxon 
 kings of Kent had their residence in this city, from the 
 arrival of Hengist till the end of the sixth century. 
 
 The chief ornament of this city is its fine cathedral, 
 partly built by Ethelbert, the first Christian king of 
 Kent, and entirely rebuilt, in 1080, by Archbishop 
 Lanfranc, who filled it with 150 monks, and, till the 
 reformation, it had thirty-seven altars. Here was the 
 once famous shrine of Thomas a Becket, who, having 
 been murdered here in 1170, was afterwards canonized, 
 and even miracles pretended to be performed at his 
 tomb. Pilgrims visited it from all parts of Europe, and 
 to such an extent was the adoration of Becket carried, 
 that in one year the offerings at his tomb amounted to 
 £954. 6s. 3d. ! at that of the Virgin's, £4. Is. 8d. ! and 
 at that of the Deity, not a single farthing ! ! ! In 1179 
 Louis VII. of France made a pilgrimage to this place 
 in disguise, and bestowed on the shrine a jewel, called 
 Regal of France, which Henry VIII., at the dissolu- 
 tion of the monasteries, appropriated to his own use 
 and wore as a thumb ring. All the other treasurer
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. Q63 
 
 were also seized, together with the estates of the mo- 
 nastery, and the cathedral was then established on the 
 new foundation of a dean, twelve prebendaries, six 
 preachers, six minor canons, and other officers and 
 servants. 
 
 From the west door to the choir steps, the body of 
 the church measures 178 feet; from north to south, 
 including the side aisles, seventy-one feet ; and, to the 
 vaulted roof, in height eighty feet. The choir is 
 considered the most spacious in the kingdom. The 
 altar-piece was designed by Sir James Burrough, mas- 
 ter of Caius college, Cambridge ; and the great stained 
 window rivals any thing of the kind in England. Behind 
 the altar is the beautiful chapel of the Holy Trinity, 
 in the middle of which stood the shrine of the famous 
 Becket. It contains the episcopal choir, and the mo- 
 numents of Henry IV. and his queen, Edward the 
 Black Prince, &c. 
 
 There are eleven other churches in this city ; and 
 there were formerly several others, no remains of 
 which are now left. In and near Canterbury are many 
 ruins of ancient buildings, particularly of a strong wall, 
 supposed to have been built by the Saxons, the work 
 not being in the Roman taste. This has been suffered 
 by the inhabitants to fall to decay, though its remains, 
 and those of several other antiquities in this city and 
 its vicinity, are still well worthy the attention of the 
 curious traveller. 
 
 Maidstone was anciently called COebpa-'geptun, 
 s 4
 
 264 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 Sax., which signifies Medway's town, from its being 
 seated on the river of that name. Nennius, who wrote 
 about the ninth century, calls it Caer Megwad, cor- 
 ruptly, as is supposed, for Medivng, or the Medway 
 city, and states that it was the third considerable city 
 in Britain before the arrival of the Saxons ; and it ap- 
 pears from Domesday-Book to have been a borough 
 by prescription, although it did not send representa- 
 tives to Parliament till the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
 when it received a charter of incorporation to be go- 
 verned by a mayor, assisted by twelve of the principal 
 inhabitants. 
 
 When the foreign Protestants found shelter in Eng- 
 land, many of them settled at Maidstone, where they 
 carried on trade ; and there being a manufactory of 
 baize, at the time of the reformation, and hops planted 
 at the same time, the following distich was often re- 
 peated : — 
 
 " Hops, reformation, baize, and beer, 
 Came into England all in a year." 
 
 Maidstone is the county town, and contains above 
 8,000 inhabitants. It has a gaol (a spacious stone 
 building), a large, handsome church, a neat theatre, 
 and extensive barracks for horse and foot. The trade, 
 by means of the Medway, is considerable, particularly 
 in hops, of which there are numerous plantations 
 around the town. It is considered to have been an- 
 ciently a Roman station of great repute. The chief 
 antiquities are the gate of St. Mary, and All Saint's
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. ^65 
 
 college, built by Archbishop Courtney in 1396. The 
 privilege of returning two members to Parliament was 
 conferred by Edward VI. and confirmed by Queen 
 Elizabeth. The assizes for the county are holden 
 here. 
 
 Sevenoaks received its name from seven tall oaks, 
 which formerly grew on the spot where the town is 
 built. In the reign of Henry V. one Sir John Sevenoke, 
 lord mayor of London, and once a poor foundling, 
 brought up by the benevolence of the people, and 
 named, of course, after the place in which he was 
 found (a custom generally adopted by the parish offi- 
 cers), built an hospital here, for the support of aged 
 persons, and a free school for the education of the 
 youth of the town, in gratitude for the charity he had 
 himself formerly received from the inhabitants. This 
 school was afterwards further endowed by Queen Eli- 
 zabeth. In the ancient market-house, standing near 
 the middle of the high street, the assizes were holden 
 several times in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as they 
 have been twice or thrice since. The church of this 
 town is a spacious and handsome structure, forming a 
 very conspicuous object for several miles round, from 
 its elevated situation at the south end of the town. 
 
 THE COUNTY OF SURREY. 
 Surrey, or Surry, was called by the Saxons Sub- 
 pea, from its situation on the south side of the river.
 
 266 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 sub signifying the south, and pea a river. It is called 
 by Venerable Bede Suthriona, whence commonly Suth- 
 ret/, and, by contraction, Surrey or Surry. 
 
 The inhabitants of this county, as well as those of 
 Hampshire and Sussex, were called by the Romans 
 Regni, but for what reason we have only conjectures, 
 as to whether the term was proper or appellative. 
 During the Heptarchy, Surrey made part of the king- 
 dom of Sussex, or the South Saxons, till the whole 
 was united under Egbert the Great. 
 
 Kingston [i. e. king's town) was so called from its 
 having been the residence of several of our Saxon kings, 
 and because Athelstan, Edwin, Ethelred and others, 
 were crowned here, upon an open stage erected for the 
 purpose in the market-place. In the reigns of Edwards 
 II. and III., it received summonses to send members to 
 Parliament ; but, neglecting to pay them for their at- 
 tendance, it was afterwards deprived of that privilege. 
 The Lent assizes for the county are holden at this place. 
 
 Guildford is said by Camden to have been, in the 
 Saxon, Gulbepopb, which signifies a golden ford ; but 
 by others it has been considered that its name is com- 
 pounded of Gilbb, Sax., a college, and^^rZ. 
 
 Guildford is the county town, and a place of great 
 antiquity, having been one of the country residences of 
 the West Saxon kings, and given by Alfred the Great 
 to his nephew Ethelwald. At the Norman conquest 
 there were seventy-five houses in this town, inhabited 
 by 175 men able to bear arms, whence it is to be in-
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 267 
 
 ferred that it was then a place of considerable repute. 
 Mr. Blount, in his account of ancient tenures, informs 
 us that Henry III. bestowed some lands on this town 
 upon condition that the inhabitants should maintain the 
 king's laundresses, who, in the old monkish Latin, were 
 called Meretrices, from which some writers have either 
 supposed or pretended to suppose, that the lord of the 
 manor was the keeper of the king's mistressesif 
 
 Henry II. and his son. King John, often kept their 
 Christmas here in the castle, some ruins of which are 
 still to be seen. 
 
 Guildford returns two members to Parliament, by 
 the twenty-third of Edward I. The churches, of which 
 there are three, are handsome gothic structures, and 
 the town-hall in which the assizes for the county are 
 holden, alternately with Croydon, is considered ele- 
 gant, and was built entirely of stone at the joint ex- 
 pense of Lords Onslow and Grantley. 
 
 Croydon. — For the derivation of the name of this 
 town, the author has sought industriously, but in vain. 
 Camden merely says that it was *' formerly Cradideriy 
 lying under the hills, &c." 
 
 The manor of Croydon has belonged, ever since the 
 conquest, to the archbishops of Canterbury, who had a 
 venerable palace here, in which the first prelate that 
 can be traced as resident is Archbishop Peckam, 
 in 1278, and the last. Archbishop Hutton, in 1757. 
 It was alienated and sold by authority of Parlia- 
 ment in 1780, and is now employed as a cotton ma-
 
 268 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 nufactory. Of the hospital, founded and endowed by 
 Archbishop Whitgift in the reign of Queen EHzabeth, 
 we believe the following to be a correct account. 
 
 Archbishop Whitgift's Hospital, Croydon. 
 
 Institutions of this nature arose upon the dissolution 
 of the monasteries, in the grants of property to which 
 the support of the poor was frequently made a condi- 
 tion ; and the hospital of the Holy Trinity is one of 
 the many Instances of the benevolence and humanity of 
 Whitgift, who was the third archbishop of Canter- 
 bury after the reformation. The building was com- 
 menced in the year ] 596, and wholly completed about 
 1602. Never having been rebuilt, it retains the ar- 
 chitectural character of that interesting period of our 
 liistory — the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The principal 
 front of the edifice remains, as is represented in a 
 print engraved in 1755, with the exception of the re- 
 moval of a projecting clock, and a bell turret on the 
 roof. It is constructed with brick, the quoins and. 
 dressings of the windows, stone ; in the centre and at 
 each end of this front are pointed gables. Over the 
 entrance is the arms of the Archbishopric of Canter- 
 bury, surmounted by the mitre, and accompanied by 
 tlie following appropriate inscription : — 
 
 " Qui dat pavperi, non indigebit." 
 
 The buildings surround a quadrangle, and consist 
 of a hall, chapel, free-school, and apartments for the 
 poor brethren, as the inhabitants are denominated.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 209 
 
 The court is now converted into gardens, crossed or 
 divided by numerous little paths into separate plots, 
 each apparently cultivated agreeably to the taste of the 
 brother to whom it may be allotted. In the north-west 
 angle stands a small sun-dial, the face of which is 
 glazed. Crossing the centre of this court, or quadran- 
 gle, on the opposite side is an arched entrance — over 
 it, an inscription, denoting its having been " restored 
 1817. Francis Walters, warden." On the left hand 
 of the passage, to which this arch leads, is the hall, or 
 refectory : it is small and low, probably twenty-eight 
 feet by eighteen. In the large fire-place, at the south 
 end, are dogs, for the convenience of burning wood ; 
 and in the small windows, about four in number, are 
 many fragments of painted glass, consisting of the royal 
 arms within the garter, mutilated, a crown, swags of 
 flowers, parts of Whitgift's motto, &c. ; one small piece 
 is perfect, containing a shield of arms placed between 
 caryatides ; the coat is quarterly : first argent, a fess 
 engrailed, between six billets gules ; second argent, a 
 mullet sable ; third azure, a fess dan cette ermine ; 
 fourth argent, a chevron purpure, between three pe- 
 rukes proper — brown ; the whole inscribed — " Ed- 
 wardus Aylworth, anno 1598." In the hall are two 
 strong oaken tables, formerly in one; they are of con- 
 temporary workmanship, and bear the name of the 
 donor, who gave it " to the poore for ever." The 
 brethren dine here three times in the year ; and it is 
 traditionally asserted, that a chief delight of the
 
 ^270 DEllIVATION OF THE 
 
 founder, during his retirement at Croydon, to which 
 place he was greatly attached, was in dining frequently 
 at the hospital with his poor brethren, as he called 
 them. Upon one of the tables is placed a large Bible, 
 printed by Barker, given to the society by Abraham 
 Hartwell, secretary to the archbishop, in the year 
 1599. It is preserved in a very curiously ornamented 
 cover, with large brass bosses, &c. This has been 
 repaired, in an indifferent manner, at the expense of 
 John Lett, of Lambeth, in 1813, two hundred and 
 fourteen years after its original presentation. 
 
 This charitable foundation, like many others, has 
 been much abused, as appears by " An Account of 
 the Proceedings and Evidence on a Writ of Enquiry, 
 to ascertain the Damages due from the Rev. John 
 Rose, D.D., unto the Warden and Poor," published 
 at Croydon, in 1813. In the entrance to the hall 
 hangs a list of their estates, with the former produce 
 contrasted with the increased produce since an in- 
 quiry has taken place. This list was printed in 1817. 
 
 The apartments of the poor brethren are of conve- 
 nient size ; and the inhabitants appear now to possess 
 much comfort : they are each allowed twelve shillings 
 weekly, and twenty shillings every alternate year, in 
 lieu of cloaks. Their allowance had been reduced so 
 low as three shillings per week. 
 
 The chapel is entered from the south-east corner of 
 the quadrangle, and, like the hall, is small in its dimen- 
 sions. The east window, which is pointed and divided
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 271 
 
 by stone mulleons, was erected at the expense of the 
 Archbishop of York ; over it. on the outside, is a stone 
 panne], thus inscribed : — 
 
 " Ebora Censis 
 
 Hanc Fenestra 
 
 Fieri Fecit, 
 
 1.597." 
 
 In the centre of this window are the armorial bear- 
 ings of the Archbishopric of Canterbury, impaling the 
 coat of Whitgift, argent, on a cross fleury sable five 
 bezants ; the whole reversed, through the inattention 
 of the glazier. 
 
 On the wall, on each side, at the east end, are verses 
 in honour of the founder : — " To the happie memorie of 
 the most Reverend Father in God, Doctor John Whit- 
 guift, the late Archbishop of Canterburie, &c. His 
 Grace's some time faithfull loving servant, and unwor- 
 thy Gent. Usher, I. W. consecrated this testimonial of 
 his ancient duty. Obiit 29 Febr. 1603." Then follow 
 nine stanzas. 
 
 There are two small windows on the south side, and 
 between them a painting of the Decalogue, with the 
 figures of Moses and Aaron. 
 
 On the north side hangs a tablet, in the centre of 
 which are the arms as before ; at the top, the initials 
 I.W. 1600, united by a curiously formed knot ; the rest 
 of the tablet is filled by sentences in Latin within or- 
 namental compartments. On the right side, and 
 nearest the east window, is a portrait of a lady, " An'o
 
 272 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 Dn 1616, aetatis suae 38." She is dressed in black witli 
 a rufF, and holds in her hand a closed book. 
 
 On the other side of the ornamental tablet hangs, 
 within a frame, an emblematic figure of a skeleton ; but 
 now so obscured by age, that its reference is not clear. 
 
 The west end of the chapel is occupied by a very 
 fine portrait of the founder : he is represented standing 
 at a table, on which rests an open Bible, which he 
 holds in his hand ; on the table stands another book, 
 clasped; also, a bell, watch, and seal, an inkstand, 
 containing his knife, pens, &c. : the whole of these 
 utensils are curiously formed, and well painted ; be- 
 hind, are books, carefully ranged on a shelf. The 
 portrait is in the hard manner of Marc Garrard, and is, 
 no doubt, a faithful resemblance of the worthy, hu- 
 mane, and pious prelate. Over it are the arms, as in 
 the window, with his motto — '• Vincit qui Patitur ;" 
 on the frame is inscribed, in gold letters, the following 
 expressive lines : — 
 
 " Feci quod potui ; potui quod, Cliriste, dedisti ; 
 
 Improba fac melius, si potes, Invidia 
 Has Triadi Sanctee primi qui struxerat ffldes, 
 
 Illius en veram Prassulis effigiem." 
 
 The archbishop died February 29, 1603, and is bu- 
 ried under a sumptuous monument in the south aisle of 
 Croydon church ; the tomb is remarkable, as being 
 the exact counterpart of his immediate predecessor, 
 Archbishop Grendall, who lies buried near the altar in 
 the same church.
 
 >JAMES OF PLACES. '■2'^S 
 
 Archbishop Seeker, who died in 1768, left five hun- 
 dred pounds to the hospital founded by Whitgift. 
 
 Ryegate, or Reigate — formerly Rhie-gat, i. e. ac- 
 cording to Camden, in our ancient language, the 
 course or channel of a small river — is delightfully 
 situate in a vale called Holmsdale ; the inhabitants 
 whereof, from having once or twice defeated the 
 Danes, boast of their own bravery in the following 
 lines : — 
 
 " .The vale of Holmsdale, 
 Never won, nor never shall." 
 
 There was an ancient castle here, called Holm-castle, 
 built in the time of the Heptarchy, some ruins of which 
 are still to be seen, particularly a long vault with a 
 room at the end, capable of holding 500 persons, where, 
 according to tradition, the bai*ons who took up arms 
 against King John held their private meetings. Tlie 
 market-place here was formerly a chapel dedicated to 
 Thomas a Becket. The church is a handsome free- 
 stone building, and under the chancel are several mo- 
 numents of the Howards, Earls of Nottinghamshire. 
 
 This town is an ancient borough by prescription, 
 and has returned two members to Parliament ever since 
 the original summons. 
 
 Chertsey, i. e. Cejitj^pa, Sax., CeH's isle, is called 
 by Bade Ceroti Insula, that is, the island of Cerotus. 
 This is a place of considerable antiquity among the 
 Saxons, and it is generally supposed, that at a place 
 called Cowey Stakes, near this town, Julius Caesar 
 
 T
 
 274 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 crossed the Thames, when he led the Roman army 
 into the kingdom of Cussibelanus, who had encamped 
 his forces on the opposite shore. 
 
 A monastery was founded here almost as soon as 
 the Saxons were converted from Paganism ; but the 
 Danes burnt it to the ground, after murdering the 
 ecclesiastics. It was rebuilt by King Edgar, who 
 granted it many privileges ; and in succeeding times it 
 received great benefactions, as appears by its valuation 
 at the dissolution, when the rents amounted to £744. 
 The unfortunate Henry VI. was buried here ; but after- 
 wards removed to Windsor, by order of Henry VII. 
 
 This place is celebrated for the residence of Cowley 
 the poet, who, after having refused many court prefer- 
 ments, retired hither to enjoy the pleasures of a coun- 
 try life, and here ended his days. 
 
 Chertsey is situate near the Thames, over which it 
 has a handsome bridge of seven arches. 
 
 Farnham, or Fern-totvn, which derives its name 
 from the great quantity of fern which formerly grew in its 
 neighbourhood, is pleasantly situate on the banks of the 
 river Lodden. It was a place of great repute among 
 the Saxons, and given by King Ethelbald to the 
 church of Winchester, to whose bishops it has belonged 
 ever since. In the reign of King Stephen, Henry de 
 Blois, Bishop of Winchester, built a castle on an emi- 
 nence, long noted for being the summer residence of 
 his successors. This is said to have been a most mag- 
 nificent structure, strongly walled and moated round,
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 27^ 
 
 with towers at proper distances, and a large park for 
 the diversion of hunting. A large market-house for 
 wheat and hops was built many years ago, at the sole 
 expense of one Mr. Clarke ; and we are told by Dr. 
 Fuller that, whilst it was building, the workmen u ere 
 often interrupted by great numbers of people, some 
 approving and others disapproving of the design, which 
 induced the founder to cause the following distich to 
 be engraven on one of the stones : — 
 
 " You who do like me, give money enough to end me ; 
 You who dislike me, give as much to mend me." 
 
 This town is surrounded with plantations of hops, 
 for the culture and quality of which it is greatly famed. 
 Its corn-market was formerly reckoned one of the 
 largest in the kingdom ; but it is now much diminished 
 by the Sussex and Hampshire farmers sending their 
 meal to London by sea. 
 
 GoDALMiNG, an ancient town situate on the river 
 Way, is said to have taken its appellation from Goda, 
 a pious lady among the Saxons, who founded a reli- 
 gious house here, giving it the name of her arms, from 
 whence the present name of the place is corruptly 
 derived. Godalming received a charter of incorpora- 
 tion in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by which it was 
 appointed to be governed by a warden and eight 
 assistants, who act as common council. 
 
 SouTHWARK, commonly called the Borough, par ex- 
 cellence, is so called from its situation south of Lon- 
 don ; its name signifying a mark, or building, to the south : 
 T 2
 
 ^7G DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 it is not mentioned in history before the j'ear 1053, in 
 the reign of Edward the Confessor, when it appears to 
 have been a corporation governed by a baihfF, and 
 continued in that state till the year 1327 ; when the 
 city of London obtained a grant of it from the crown, 
 and the mayor was to appoint all its officers. Some 
 few years after, the inhabitants recovered their former 
 privileges, and remained in possession of them till the 
 reign of Edward VI., when the crown made a second 
 grant of it to the city of London, for a pecuniary con- 
 sideration. 
 
 At the same time London purchased all the privi- 
 leges belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
 abbots of Bermondsey, in Southwark, and from that 
 period it has been annexed to London. It is divided 
 into two parts, called the Borough liberty and the 
 Clink : the former, reckoned one of the wards of the 
 city, and as such named Bridge Ward Without, is under 
 the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor, and the latter is 
 under the control of the Bishop of Winchester, who, 
 by his steward, keeps a court-leet. The whole bo- 
 rough is divided into six parishes^ viz. Christchurch, 
 St. Saviour's, St. Olave's, St. John the Evangelists, St. 
 Thomas's, and St. George's, and returns two members 
 to Parliament by the 23d Edward I. 
 
 The charities are both numerous and considerable, 
 consisting of St. Thomas's and Guy's Hospitals ; the 
 Magdalen Hospital ; the Asylum for Female Orphans ; 
 the Freemason's School ; the Philanthropic Society's
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 277 
 
 Institution ; the Asylum for the Orphan Bhnd, &c. 
 The prisons are the county gaol, King's Bench, Mar- 
 shalsea and County Bridewell. 
 
 THE COUNTY OF SUSSEX. 
 
 Sussex, in Saxon Sub-j-ex, which signifies South 
 Saxony, or the country of the South Saxons. While 
 the Romans were in this country, it made the seat of 
 the Regni, the principal district of Belgae Britain, and, 
 though a small county, was esteemed a place of great 
 importance. 
 
 There are several considerable hills in this county, from 
 the north-west borders of Hampshire, and extending to 
 Beachey Head on the south-east ; that part running to 
 Lewes, distinguished by the name of the South Downs, 
 being noted for feeding innumerable sheep, celebrated 
 for the fineness both of their wool and meat. 
 
 Chichester is said by some to have derived its 
 name from cicer a vetch, and castra a camp, " because 
 wlien the Romans first settled there, that part of the 
 country abounded with vetches." But this supposition 
 has been set at nought by far higher authorities. Chi- 
 chester, in Latin Cicestria, was called by the Saxons 
 Cij'fanceay'cefi ( Cissan-ceaster ) , which signifies the 
 city of Cissa, who is said to have rebuilt the place after 
 it had been burnt down by some Saxon and Norwegian 
 pirates. It was then called Cissa's ceaster or city, and was 
 the royal town of the South Saxon monarchs. We are 
 T 3
 
 278 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 informed that the cathedral still contains a portrait ol 
 the before-mentioned Cissa. 
 
 The Bishop's see was translated from Selsey to this 
 city in the time of William the Conqueror. It was, 
 undoubtedly, a place of great repute among the Ro- 
 mans; and, from a stone dug up in one of the streets in 
 1725, the important fact that the Britons were, in 
 some degree at least, subject to the Romans, during 
 the interval between the arrival of Julius Caesar and 
 the reign of Claudius, which has been denied by many 
 historians, would seem to be established. 
 
 This flxmous monument of antiquity was given to 
 the then Duke of Richmond, who placed it in a tem- 
 ple in his garden. The inscription runs thus : — 
 
 " Nqituno el Minerva Tcmplum, pro salute domvs divina, ex 
 auctorilate Tiberii Claudii, Cogidubni regis, legati Augusli in Ihi- 
 tannii, collegium fabrorum, el qui in eo a sacris, vel hoiiorali sunt, 
 de suo dedicaverunt ; donante aream Pudente Pudenlini^io." 
 
 " For the safety of the Imperial family, this Temple was 
 dedicated to Neptune and Minerva, by the college of artificers 
 belonging to King Cogidubnus, the lieutenant of Augustus in 
 Britain, and by those who officiated as priests, or were honoured 
 in it, at their own expense ; (he ground being given by Pudens, 
 the son of Pudentinus." 
 
 It appears, from Domesday-Book, that in the reign 
 of the Conqueror it had only 100 hagae, or houses ; 
 but, when the seat of the Bishopric of Selsey was 
 removed hither, many houses were erected, the popu- 
 lation increased considerably, and it soon became an 
 extensive place.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 279 
 
 The cathedral, which, thougli not large, is a very 
 elegant gothic structure, and the Bishop's palace here, 
 are both well worthy the attention of the curious. 
 
 WiNCHELSEA is defined by Mr. Somner to signify, 
 from its Saxon name, " a waterish place, seated in a 
 corner :" which refers to the situation of the old town, 
 which was almost surrounded by the sea, and in the 
 angles of Sussex and Kent. Its Saxon appellation was 
 lUmcelj'ea of wincel, a corner, and 6a, or Ige, an 
 isle. 
 
 The present town was built, by King Edward I., in 
 the year 1250, who made it one of the cinque ports, 
 and surrounded it with a wall ; but since the reigns of 
 Richard II. and Henry VI., when it was sacked by the 
 French and Spaniards, and deserted by the sea, it has 
 sunk gradually into its present insignificance; and, 
 though it still returns two members to Parliament, even 
 its market has been discontinued. 
 
 The site of the old town, which was destroyed by the 
 sea, in a dreadful storm and inundation, was upon the 
 shore about three miles from the present. The old 
 town had formerly a large and spacious harbour, and 
 no less than eighteen churches. New Winchelsea had 
 also a harbour; but it never was comparable to the old 
 town, having had but three parish churches when it 
 flourished most. 
 
 Brighthei/MSton, by contraction Brighton, was 
 called by the Saxons Bjiighceahudrjirun, and is said to 
 T t
 
 ^^80 DERIVATION 01< IHi: 
 
 have been so named from St. Brighthelm, of whom we 
 can find no account. 
 
 Brighton, as it is now commonly called, is undoubtedly 
 a place of great antiquity ; but concerning the ancient 
 state of this town we have little information. The 
 inhabitants have a tradition that there was a bloody 
 battle fought in its neighbourhood, and as a great 
 number of human bones has been dug up, and as the 
 coast of Sussex must have been the place where 
 the Belgians often landed, and at last effected a 
 settlement ; many engagements undoubtedly took 
 place, of which this might have been the most san- 
 guinary. 
 
 In Elizabeth's reign, it was considered a place of 
 some importance, especially at the time of the threat- 
 ened invasion from Spain ; and we are told that it was 
 then encompassed with a stone wall above fifteen feet 
 high, with four large gates. Charles II., after the 
 battle of Worcester, escaped from thence with Lord 
 Wilmot, and being disguised was landed safely, in a 
 fishing boat, on the French coast. During the civil 
 wars, it was esteemed the greatest fishing town in the 
 country ; but its dependance is now principally upon 
 the immense number of the nobility and gentry who 
 resort hither at almost all seasons of the year. The 
 Pavilion, the country residence, for many years, of 
 his present Majesty, to whom this town owes a large 
 debt of gratitude, was erected in 1784, and is now
 
 NAMES OF i>LACES. '281 
 
 littcd up with till the assistance which art and taste can 
 supply. 
 
 Lewes is supposed by Camden to have taken its 
 name from pastures, called by the Saxons Lej^pa. This 
 is the principal borough-town of Sussex, and is a place 
 of great antiquity, as we learn from our ancient histo- 
 rians that Athelstan had a mint here for coining. In 
 Domesday-Book is an account of 127 burgesses in 
 Lewes, the manor of which was granted, at the Con- 
 ([uest, to William de Warren, Earl of Surrey, whose lady 
 founded a priory of Cluniac monks, the first of that 
 superstitious order in England. It is seated on the 
 declivity of a hill, on which are the remains of an 
 ancient castle, the environs of which command a view 
 scarcely to be matched in Europe. Here are six 
 parish churches, the handsomest of which is St. Tho- 
 mas's in the Cliff. Races are annually holden on the 
 neighbouring downs ; at which time the town is en- 
 livened by most of the fashionables from the neigh- 
 bouring bathing-places. Lewes returns two members 
 to Parliament, by 23d Edward I. Near this town, in 
 1263, the battle was fought between Henry III. and 
 the barons ; in which the king was defeated and taken 
 prisoner, and in consequence of which he afterwards 
 ratified our glorious charter given by his father King 
 .lohn. 
 
 Horsham, as most of our antiquarians have ima- 
 gined, has its name from Horsa, the brother of Hen-
 
 282 DERIVATION OF THE 
 
 gist, vvho first commanded the Saxons in this part of 
 our island. King John granted its markets, and, in 
 the reign of Richard III., it was given, by that prince, 
 to his favourite, John Duke of Norfolk ; but he having 
 been attainted, in the reign of Henry VII., it became 
 forfeited to the crown, till the attainder was reversed 
 by act of Parliament, and it was restored to that noble 
 family. The duke has lately enlarged the town- hall. 
 This is, properly, the county town ; although the 
 assizes are not always holden here. 
 
 Hastings is called by Somnerus Jjaej^cmj, of ha3j"ce, 
 heat, " because of the bubbling, or boiling, of the sea 
 in that place ;" but Camden surmises that it was so 
 called from one Hasting, a Dane ; a great robber, who 
 either seized, built, or fortified it. This is a sea-port 
 and borough town, and one of the Cinque ports. We 
 are told that there was also a mint in this place, in the 
 reign of King Athelstan. It was here that the Con- 
 queror mustered his army ; and by Domesday Book it 
 appears, that it was a place of some repute in the 
 reign of Edward the Confessor. It received several 
 charters from the first three Norman kings. In the 
 reign of Richard II., the French landing here, reduced 
 the whole place to a heap of ashes. Its last incorpo- 
 ration was granted by Charles II. The principal trade 
 here is in fish, of which great quantities are sent to 
 London, and it is now a good watering place. Hast- 
 ings returns two members to Parliament, by the 42d 
 Edward III.
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 283 
 
 Arundel takes its name from the river Ariin, 
 which flows through it, and signifies a dale by the river 
 Aran. It is an ancient town, and was of great repute 
 under the Saxon kings ; being mentioned by Alfred in 
 his will, as '* a manor to which belonged a castle." 
 At the Norman Conquest it was given to Roger de 
 Montgomery ; and we are told by Lord Lyttleton, that 
 when the Empress Maud arrived from Normandy, she 
 took shelter in the castle here. By her it is said to have 
 been given to William D'Albani, as a recompense for 
 his defence of it against King Stephen. The old castle 
 is still stcinding, and, although not entire, more perfect 
 than could be expected. The possession of it confers 
 an earldom on its proprietors, by an act passed in the 
 reign of Henry VI., by which right the Duke of Nor- 
 folk is Earl of Arundel. The church is a venerable 
 gothic structure, in which are several monuments of 
 the Arundel family. Arundel is a boi'ough by pre- 
 scription, and has sent members to Parliament ever 
 since the original writs in the reign of Edward I. 
 
 Battel or Battle, formerly called Epiton, took 
 its present name from the great battle of Hastings, 
 fought near this place, between William — thence, from 
 proving the victor, styled the Conqueror — and Harold. 
 An adjacent hill, with a beacon on it, and therefore 
 called Beacon Hill, was formerly called Standard Hill, 
 because William the Norman set up his standard of 
 dcriance there the day preceding the battle. An abbey
 
 284 DERIVATION OF NAMES OF PLACES. 
 
 was erected, by the Conqueror, on the spot where the 
 battle was fouglit, and Harold fell : thence called 
 Battle Abbey. It was a stately pile, of about a mile in 
 circumference, but scarcely any part of the original 
 structure, except the gatehouse, used now for the ses- 
 sions and public meetings, remains entire.
 
 INDEX TO PROVERBS. 
 
 A 
 
 Page 
 
 A 'cute man • 1 
 
 A dab at any thing il>. 
 
 After Death the Doctor IV.) 
 
 Ape, the higher he goes the more lie shows his tail . . . . 37 
 
 April Dove's flood, &c 22 
 
 Art and part 7 
 
 As blind as a beetle 4!> 
 
 As bold as Beaucliamp jh. 
 
 As cunning as Crowder 'J 
 
 As dead as mutton 10 
 
 As dead as a herring 9 
 
 As dead as Chelsea ib. 
 
 As fine as a horse 1 
 
 As mad as the baiting bull of Stamford 15 
 
 As pure as the gold of Acanny 23 
 
 B. 
 
 Bankrupt cart 51 
 
 Bear the bell 40 
 
 Beau tnips 50 
 
 Bishop the, has set his foot in it 32 
 
 Blarney 2(5 
 
 Blarney, he has been at '. .. lb.
 
 286 INDEX TO PROVERBS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Blarney, none of your 21) 
 
 Blind as a beetle 49 
 
 Blood, bound in I'J 
 
 Blow a Moor, to 11 
 
 Bold as Beauchamp 49 
 
 Bolt, I have shot my , 21 
 
 Bolt, the fool's, is soonest shot ib. 
 
 Boot (as " to boot") 51 
 
 Bound in blood 19 
 
 Bray, the vicar of, &c 29 
 
 Bristol milk, why sherry is so called 52 
 
 Buridan's ass (J 
 
 By hook or by crook l^ 
 
 By tre, pol, and pen, you shall know the Cornish men .. 49 
 
 C. 
 
 Canterbury gallop 51 
 
 Case, the, is altered, quoth Plowden 2'.> 
 
 Cat, touch not the, but a glove 12 
 
 Char, char-woman, char-ing 58 
 
 Chelsea, dead as 9 
 
 Chelsea, to get tb- 
 
 Cock-a-hoop 57 
 
 Cockney 54, 55 
 
 Come in pudding-time 44 
 
 Cornish gentlemen are all cousins 14 
 
 Crocodile's tears 37 
 
 Crow, the, thinks his own hiid fairest il>. 
 
 Cunning as Crowder 2 
 
 D. 
 
 Dab at any thing i 
 
 Daggle-tailed a!)
 
 INDEX TO PROVERBS. 287 
 
 Page 
 
 David's sow ^ .. 1.3 
 
 Dead as Clielsea 9 
 
 Devil did over Lincoln, to look as the 32 
 
 Devil and Dick Senliousc, it will do in spite of the . . . . 12 
 
 Dine with Duke Humphrey 29, 30 
 
 Doff, to 59 
 
 Dogs, the favourite, of the Prince of Orange 7 
 
 Don, to 57 
 
 Done secundum usum Sarum 48 
 
 Dout, douter fiO 
 
 Drunk as David's sow 13 
 
 Dutch sale 52 
 
 E. 
 
 -E/e a aet/i yn Glough 27 
 
 English the, are the Frenchmen's apes 43 
 
 Every bean hath its black 37 
 
 Every grain its bran //). 
 
 F. 
 
 Fine as a horse 1 
 
 Fire and water, to go through . . . . 30 
 
 Frogs — why Frenchmen so called 42 
 
 From Hell, Hull, and Halifax, good Lord deliver us ,. 3 
 
 G. 
 
 Gantlet, to throw the 25 
 
 Gantlope, to run the ib. 
 
 Gold goes in at any gate . . . . 3C 
 
 Gone to pot 27 
 
 Gotham, the wise men of 18 
 
 Gotham, as wise as a man of ib. 
 
 Go through fire and water 30 
 
 Greenwich geese— why Greenwich pensioners so called . , 53
 
 288 INDEX TO PROVERBS. 
 
 H 
 
 Page 
 
 Harum scaiutn 61 
 
 He did very well for his own liand, as Henry Wynne did . . ■"> 
 
 He is in a merry pin 17 
 
 He is become a clough 27 
 
 He shoots like a crowkceper 21 
 
 Hell, Hull, and Halifax, good Lord deliver iis, from .. '^ 
 
 Holler -skelter . . . . fiO 
 
 Henry Wynne, he did very well for his own hand, as. . . . 5 
 
 Herring, as dead as a 9 
 
 Higher the ape goes, &c 37 
 
 Highway to Needhain 4H 
 
 Hohson's choice 41 
 
 How will you be tried ? ;'):i 
 
 Hugger mugger 61 
 
 Hurly burly '/'• 
 
 I. 
 
 I have paid all my Englishmen 28 
 
 I have shot my bolt 21 
 
 In April Dove's flood is worth a king's good 22 
 
 It will do in spile of the devil, &c 12 
 
 J. 
 
 Jack would be a gentleman if he could speak French . . . . 3") 
 
 Jn'i paye fons mes Anglois 28 
 
 K. 
 
 Kingtlie, never dies 7 
 
 L. 
 
 Lady Done, there is, &c 11 
 
 Lincoln, to look as the devil did over .''2
 
 INDEX TO PROVERBS. 289 
 
 Page 
 
 Lincoln, Tom of /i3 
 
 Loud as Tom of Lincoln ib. 
 
 Lob's Pound 'AH 
 
 London Cockney 55 
 
 Love me, love my dog 7 
 
 M. 
 
 Mad as the baiting bull of Stamford 15 
 
 Manners make the man 12 
 
 Maudlin 58 
 
 Mealy-mouthed i(>. 
 
 Merry pin, to be in a 17 
 
 Moon, the, is not seen when the sun shines 3*J 
 
 More sirs than knights , . . . . 10 
 
 Mutton, as dead as jV>. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nail, on the 40 
 
 Needham, on the highway to 48 
 
 O. 
 
 One beats the bush, and another catches the bird . . 2? 
 
 On the nail 40 
 
 On the tapis 52 
 
 1'. 
 
 Paid all my Englishmen 28 
 
 Paid my shot 36 
 
 Pick-a-back 57 
 
 Pigs, an it please the 34 
 
 Piping hot 42 
 
 Please the pigs 34 
 
 Post Bel/um. Jurilium 39 
 
 Pudding lime, to come in 44 
 
 Pure as the gold of Acanny 23 
 
 V
 
 290 INDEX TO PROVERBS. 
 
 R. 
 
 Page 
 
 Rob Peter to pay Paul 32 
 
 Rose, under the 44 
 
 Rowland for an Oliver 42 
 
 Rule the roast 40 
 
 Run a muck 31 
 
 Run tlie gantlope 25 
 
 S. 
 
 Sale, the, frees from rent 11 
 
 Scarl)orough warning, a 41 
 
 Scotcli warming pan, a 40 
 
 Secundum usum Saruvt ; 48 
 
 Sherry, why so called . . . . 52 
 
 Sherr)', why called Bristol milk ib. 
 
 Shoot like a crowkeeper 21 
 
 Shot, I have paid my -• 36 
 
 Sirs, more than knights 10 
 
 Skin-flint 39 
 
 Sleep like a top 1^ 
 
 Spick and span new 56 
 
 Spite of the Devil and Dick Senhouse 12 
 
 T. 
 
 Take ground at Villa Viciosa . • 44 
 
 Tag, rag, and bobtail 43 
 
 The case is altered, quoth Plowden 23 
 
 The king never dies 7 
 
 The sale frees you from rent H 
 
 There is Lady Done for you ^• 
 
 Thou art a bitter bird, said the raven to the starling . . . . 33 
 
 Throw the gantlet 25 
 
 Tit for tat ^'^
 
 INDEX TO PROVERBS. 291 
 
 Page 
 
 Tittle tattle 60 
 
 To blow a Moor 11 
 
 Top, to sleep like a 14 
 
 Topsy turvy 60 
 
 Touch not the cat but a glove 12 
 
 True blue will never stain 22 
 
 U. 
 
 Under the rose 44 
 
 U. P. K. spells Blay goslings 16 
 
 V. 
 
 Venla deshaze Renta 11 
 
 Vicar of Bray 29 
 
 Villa Viciosa, the history of 44 
 
 Villa Viciosa, to take ground at ,. 44 
 
 W. 
 
 Water Millock, the wicked of 15 
 
 Welsh rabbit, a 51 
 
 Welter 59 
 
 When the child is christened, godfathers enough 39 
 
 Wicked of Water Millock 15 
 
 Wise as a man of Gotham 18 
 
 Wise men of Gotham ib. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yorkshire way-bit, a . . 50 
 
 Young men think old men fools, &c 15 
 
 u 2
 
 INDEX OF MISCELLANEA. 
 
 A. 
 
 Page 
 
 Arraigned, probable origin of ti.i 
 
 Arrested, probalile origin of i/>, 
 
 B. 
 
 Balls, three, why pawnbroker's sign .90 
 
 Bankers, the first in Lonrloii 11!) 
 
 Barbers, why they hang out long poles for a sign 85 
 
 Beggarly Scot 67 
 
 Black Monday 81 
 
 Blue Monday 83 
 
 Boar's head, the ceremony of the ; with a carol from Wynkyn 
 
 de Worde, and a song by Dr. Harrington 71 
 
 Boot account, what the sailors call a 91 
 
 Borough, English, origin of that custom, and why so called 6T) 
 Britain, why represented by a woman sitting with a shield, 
 
 &c 78 
 
 C. 
 
 Cap, why the symbol of liberty ; when first used, and why 
 
 worn by the students at Universities 101 
 
 Ceremony of the boar's liead .. .. 71 
 
 Checquered boards, why on public bouses 92
 
 INDEX OF MISCELLANEA. 293 
 
 Page 
 
 Chinese custoiT!, origin of a 122 
 
 Coffee house, tlie first in London 97 
 
 Couriers, first invention of 123 
 
 CousiES, marriage of .. 78 
 
 D. 
 
 De Courcy's, why privileged to wear their hats before the 
 
 king 94 
 
 Derry down, the meaning of 102 
 
 Diamonds, the origin and use of 12<) 
 
 Druids, the magic circle of the 6V> 
 
 E. 
 
 Eating in company, the question discussed, whether condu- 
 cive to health 87 
 
 Emphatic syllables, the discovery of the 125 
 
 Epitaplis and elegies, the antiquity of 116 
 
 G. 
 
 Gamut, the 125 
 
 Godiva, the story of 104 
 
 Gog and Magog IK) 
 
 " Gwabr Merched," or " Maid's Fee," an old custom, ex- 
 plained ., ,, .. G'ri 
 
 J. 
 
 Jack Ketch, why executioners so called, witii some notice of 
 
 his predecessors 74 
 
 Joan, the Popess <)K 
 
 I- 
 
 Leofric and Godiva 104 
 
 Logbook, the origin of tiie ..• 12K
 
 294 INDEX OF MISCELLANEA. 
 
 M. 
 
 Page 
 
 Magic circle of the Druids 63 
 
 Marriage of cousins 78 
 
 Masquerade, account of the first in England 124 
 
 Medical question, whether eating in company be conducive 
 
 to health 87 
 
 Morris dancing, by whom first introduced, &c 6fi 
 
 O. 
 
 Orrery, the invention of the 124 
 
 P. 
 
 Peeping Tom of Coventry 104 
 
 Poet Laureat, account of the first institution of .. .. .. Ill 
 
 Pope Joan , . . 98 
 
 Posting, first invention of 1 23 
 
 Protestant, whence the name took its rise 95 
 
 R. 
 
 Round robin, the antiquity of the 115 
 
 S. 
 
 Saint Monday 82 
 
 Scotch and English, a game 67 
 
 Slave trade, the origin of the 108 
 
 Sneezing, the antiquity of saluting persons when 79 
 
 St. Vitus's dance, why so called. &c 86 
 
 Superstition, the original meaning of 63 
 
 Surgeons, why exempt from serving on juries 87 
 
 Suttees, origin of 121 
 
 T. 
 
 Three balls, why the pawnbroker's sign 90 
 
 Tontine, why so called ; when first invented, &c 99 
 
 Turbans, whence the practice of wearing them, &c., . .. 101
 
 INDEX OF MISCELLANEA. 295 
 
 V. 
 
 Page 
 
 Vivant Rex et Regina, why at the end of the play-bills . . 93 
 Verger of a court .. .. 64 
 
 W. 
 
 Watchmen, intimating the hour at Herrnhuth, in Germany, 
 
 the maimer of 98 
 
 Why a man measures more in the morning than at night. . 69 
 
 N. B. The portion of this work which is devoted to the " Deri- 
 vation of the Names of Places," being arranged in counties, and 
 tljat part which is appropriated to " Curious Derivations," being 
 arranged alphabetically ; it has been deemed unnecessary to supply 
 any further Index. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BT COX ANU BAVUS, GREAT QUKKN STREET.
 
 This book is DUE on the last 
 date stamped below. 
 
 21965 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 REMINGTON RAND INC. 20 
 
 

 
 
 L 009 500 329 9 i 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 001 232 881 
 
 .i^' 
 
 oaNiA 
 
 LOb m^GBLES
 
 
 
 ""Ciifir 
 
 .^<jC' 
 
 .,!S^'.'*^'''<c;- 
 
 *<: < 
 
 - <<« 
 
 
 < 
 
 t 
 
 ■c 'CKi -m 
 
 ' 
 
 en 
 
 < 
 
 -"^\<j 
 
 
 <| 
 
 
 '- -'■ ST: 
 
 < 
 
 ■, J| 
 
 
 « 
 
 c 
 
 <ti 
 
 "■ t <• 
 
 '■•~_a«JM>!. < 
 
 <c 
 
 CM 
 
 ]^«Sj 
 
 Z^~ 'IL 
 
 •c. 
 
 c« 
 
 ^■.*«s 
 
 SEL--P 
 
 <c^ 
 
 <^ 
 
 23^ 
 
 
 *^~" 
 
 cat 
 
 p-.#* 
 
 (i'?'*' iji^ 
 
 <;«SC3: 
 
 «^^^/-<^^ 
 
 
 
 «r_Ci 
 
 \V 
 
 
 ■^•r