Notes and Queries, Number 211, November 12, 1853. Various
Rhymes, Kent.—
"Between Wickham and Welling
There's not an honest man dwelling;
And I'll tell you the reason why,
Because Shooters' Hill's so nigh."
Unless this is preserved in "N. & Q." it will probably be forgotten with the highwaymen, whose proceedings at Shooters' Hill, no doubt, originated it.
Samuel Pepys's Grammar.—I have lately been looking over the Diary of this very clever person, and I confess it has surprised me to find him, a graduate of Cambridge, and, in fact, I may say a man of letters, constantly employing such vulgar bad grammar as "he do say," and such like. I am the more surprised when, on looking at his letters, even the familiar ones to his cousin Roger and to W. Hewer, I can find nothing of the kind, they being as grammatical and as well written as any of the time.
My hypothesis is—Lord Braybrooke can correct me if I am wrong—that Pepys, writing his Diary in short-hand, used one and the same character for all the persons of the present tense of do, and that the decypherer did not attend to this circumstance. In his letter to Col. Legge (vol. v. p. 296.), Pepys writes "His R. H. does think," &c., which in the Diary would surely be "His R. H. do think," &c. In a similar way I would account for the use of come instead of came in the Diary, as there is nothing of the kind in the Letters. Should I be right, I may have rendered a slight service to the memory of an able and worthy man.
Roman Remains.—In Wright's Celt, Roman, and Saxon, p. 207., a curious Roman altar, dedicated to Silvanus, "ab aprum eximiæ forme captum," is mentioned as found at Durham. It was found in the wild district to the west, in the neighbourhood of Stanhope in Weardale, and is preserve in the rectory house there.
P. 330., figure A. This armilla (?) was not found in Northumberland, but in Sussex, together with several others of the same form, a torques and celts.
Wallington.
To grab.—A very popular writer has lately rightly denounced the use of this word as a vulgarism. Like many other monosyllables used by our working classes, it may plead antiquity in extenuation of its vulgarity. It has been derived from the Welsh word grabiaw, to grasp, and in ancient times was one of our "household words." The retention by a tailor of a portion of the cloth delivered to him, although it had been a usage from time immemorial, might have been considered by our forefathers as a grabbage: we now call it cabbage.
Curfew at Sandwich.—Sometime back it was stated that the curfew at Sandwich had been discontinued. It has been resumed in consequence of the opposition made by the inhabitants. The same occurred about twenty years ago. (From information on the spot.)
Ecclesiastical Censure.—Ecclesiastical censure was often used in the Middle Ages to enforce civil rights, specially that of the exemption of the clergy from the judgment of a lay tribunal. The following instance thereof is new to me. I have copied it from "Collectanea Gervasii Holles," vol. i. p. 529., Lansdowne MS. 207., in the British Museum:
"The Major and Burgesses of Grimesby hanged a Preist for theft called Richard of Notingham. Hereupon yē Bp sendes to yē Abbott of Wellow to associate to himselfe twelue adjacent chapleins to examine yē cause, and in St. James his Church Excommunicates all yt had any hand in it of whatsoever condition they were, yē King, Queen, and Prince of Wales excepted; and yē Bp himselfe did Excommunicate them in yē Cathedral Church of Lincolne, yē fifth of yē Ides of Aprill following."
Bottesford Moors, Kirton-in-Lindsey.
The Natural History of Balmoral.—Dr. William Macgillivray, Professor of Civil and Natural History in the Marischal College of Aberdeen, and who died there Sept. 5, 1852, left an unpublished MS. on "The Natural History of Balmoral and its Neighbourhood." This work has been purchased from his executors by His Royal Highness Prince Albert; and is to be printed for the use of Her Majesty and the Royal Family, and for circulation among their august relatives. It was the last work on which the distinguished author was engaged, and was only completed a short time previous to his death. It also contains some curious speculations regarding several plants and herbs of that Alpine district, and their uses in a medicinal and domestic point of view, as known to the ancient Caledonians and Picts. Altogether it is a most interesting work.
Shirt Collars.—In Hone's Every-day Book, vol. ii. p. 381., I find the following, which I think is after the present ridiculous fashion of wearing shirt collars, viz. so tight round the neck, and so stiff, that it is a wonder there are not some serious accidents.
These collars, at present worn by the fast young men of the day, are called "The Piccadilly three-folds." Now, if this goes on until they get to a "nail in depth, and stiffened with yellow starch, and double wired," I think it will only be proper to put a heavy tax upon them.
"Piccadilly.—The picadil was the round hem, or the piece set about the edge or skirt of a garment, whether at top or bottom; also a kind of stiff collar, made in fashion of a band, that went about the neck and round about the shoulders: hence the term 'wooden piccadilloes' (meaning the pillory) in Hudibras; and see Nares' Glossary, and Blount's Glossographia. At the time that ruffs and picadils were much in fashion, there was a celebrated ordinary near St. James's, called Piccadilly: because, as some say, it was the outmost, or skirt-house, situate at the hem of the town: but it more probably took its name from one Higgins, a tailor, who made a fortune by picadils, and built this with a few adjoining houses. The name has by a few been derived from a much frequented shop for the sale of these articles; this probably took its rise from the circumstance of Higgins having built houses there, which however were not for selling ruffs; and indeed, with the exception of his buildings, the site of the present Piccadilly was at that time open country, and quite out of the way of trade. At a later period, when Burlington House was built, its noble owner chose the situation, then at some distance from the extremity of the town, that none might build beyond him. The ruffs formerly worn by gentlemen were frequently double wired, and stiffened with yellow starch: and the practice was at one time carried to such an excess, that they were limited by Queen Elizabeth 'to a nayle of a yeard in depth.' In the time of James I., they still continued of a preposterous size: so that, previous to the visit made by that monarch to Cambridge in 1615, the Vice-chancellor of the University thought fit to issue an order, prohibiting 'the fearful enormity and excess of apparel seen in all degrees, as, namely, strange piccadilloes, vast bands, huge cuffs, shoe roses, tufts, locks, and tops of hair, unbeseeming that modesty and carriage of students in so renowned a university.'"
It is scarcely to be supposed that the ladies were deficient in the size of their ruffs, &c.
I must conclude this in the words of the immortal poet:
" . . . . New fashions,
Though they be never so ridiculous,
Nay, let them be unmanly, yet are followed."
Queries
"DAYS OF MY YOUTH."
The following lines are understood to have been written by the late Mr. St. George Tucker of Virginia, U. S. Any information in support of this opinion, or, if it be unfounded, in disproof of it, is requested by
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