and covered from their attacks by these brothers, and as one fell, another came up in succession to cover him, crying, " Another for Hector!" This phrase has ever since continued as a proverb, or watchword, when a man encounters any sudden danger that requires instant success. HECTOR'S CLOAK. The Earl of Northumberland having joined the Duke of Norfolk, and others, who were the supporters of Mary Queen of Scots, the former was betrayed by a faithless borderer to the regent Moray, whose successor, Morton, sold his unfortunate captive to Lord Hunsdon, governor of Berwick, to expiate his errors on the scaffold. This borderer was Hector Graham of Harelaw. A list of the Border Clans, in 1605, enumerates among them this name, and “the griefs and cuti of Harelaw." It may be some satisfaction to learn, that this villain did not go unpunished: from affluent circumstances he sunk into unaccountable poverty; and to take "Hector's Cloak," has become proverbial throughout the country for betraying a friend. I PLEDGE YOU! Pledging each other in drinking is a custom which took its origin from the time the Danes were in England, who invited to their banquet those island chiefs whom they wished to put out of the way either by the dagger or by poison. The consequence was, that no native would drink at a Danish festival unless his entertainers, or one of them, would "pledge" his safety in a cup of wine beforehand; and, even among those barbarian invaders, this pledge was deemed sacred. The drinking phrase, “I pledge you," is said to have originated from the murder of Edward, by his stepmother Elfrida, while drinking on horseback at the gate of Corfe castle, in the isle of Purbeck. The treachery of the crime occasioned a general distrust; no one would drink without security from him who sat beside him, that he was safe while the bowl was at his lips; and hence is said to have originated the customary expression at table of "I pledge you," when one person invited another to drink first. SOUND AS A ROACH! Butler states, that St. Roche, being afflicted with a pestilence, crawled into a forest, where he bore such pains, and manifested so much patience under his afflictions, that an angel visited him, healed his wounds, and made him perfectly sound. He was esteemed the patron saint from that period of all afflicted with the plague, for it was believed that the miraculous intermission of St. Roche could make them as sound as himself; and from hence came the saying, “Sound as a roach.” NERO FIDDLED WHILE ROME WAS BURNING. Suetonius relates, that somebody in conversation saying, "When I am dead let fire devour the world;""Nay," rejoined Nero, “let it be whilst I am living;" and then he set Rome on fire in so barefaced a manner, that many of the consular dignities detected the incendiaries with torches and tow in their own houses, and dared not touch them because they were officers of Nero's bedchamber. The fire, during six days and seven nights, consumed a prodigious number of stately buildings, the public temples, and every thing of antiquity that was remarkable and worthy of preservation. The common people were driven by this conflagration to the tombs and monuments for shelter; and Nero himself beheld the flames from a tower on the top of Mecænas's house, and sung a ditty on the destruction of Troy, in the dress which he used to perform in on the public stage. This atrocious want of feeling occasioned the saying, "Nero fiddled while Rome was burning.' A PEG TOO LOW! Frequent and bloody were the quarrels of our Saxon ancestors over their wassail bowls. To soften these, Dunstan advised that none should drink except from cups pegged so regularly within, that from peg to peg should be considered a legal bumper. Such pegged vessels are still to be seen in the cabinets of antiquaries; and to this regulation we owe the expression of a man being a peg too low." Priests are directed, by a council held in 1102, not to drink two pegs-Nec ad pinnas bibant. 66 YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT! The use of "your humble servant" came first into England on the marriage of Queen Mary, daughter of Henry IV. of France, which is derived from votre tres humble serviteur. SHAMMING ABRAHAM. If any of the old accounts of London are looked into, it will be seen that, when Bethlem was first built and endowed, there was a part appropriated for the reception and maintenance of idiots. They were designated by the title of Abraham Men, because that was the name of the ward wherein they were confined. On the first of April, such as were not too incapacitated had a holiday to see their friends; such as had not any begged about the streets. They wore the dress of the hospital, and excited the compassion of many on account of the game made of them by the vulgar and children, who knew no better; which induced numbers of vagrants to imitate the dress, and pretend idiotism, till an order was issued from the governors, that if any person should sham an Abraham he should be whipped and set in the stocks; from whence came the saying, "He is shamming Abraham." In Decker's English Villanies there are many curious particulars of the habits of this class of impostors. "She's all Abram," that is, quite naked. "What an Abram!" an exclamation for a ragged fellow. "An Abraham man' was an impostor who personated a poor lunatic called Tom of Bedlam: one of this class is described by Shakspeare in his Lear, Act II. Sc. 3.; "The basest and most poorest shape, That every penury, in contempt of man, Among sailors, "An Abram" is being unwell, or out of sorts. When Abraham Newland was cashier of the Bank of England, it was sung "I have heard people say, That sham Abraham you may, But you must not sham Abraham Newland." HANG ON JERRY! This phrase, so peculiar to our meat markets, derives its importance from the following. The retail butchers, especially those who have stands in the markets of a Saturday night, when the working classes are generally seeking their Sunday dinner, hang on a heavy meat hook, weighing half or three-quarters of a pound, to the end, of the beam over the meat scale. "It is seven o'clock, Bill," says the master to the boy; “hang on Jerry!" on goes the hook, and every joint of meat sold afterwards, on that evening, is deficient in weight. Nothing annoys a butcher more than the use of this phrase as you pass his shop. WHEN THE STEED'S STOLEN, SHUT THE STABLE DOOR! This saying originated out of an old Cheshire proverb, “When the daughter is stolen, shut the Pepper-gate.' This is founded on the fact, that the mayor of Chester had his daughter stolen as she was playing at ball with other maidens in Pepper-street; the young man who carried her off came through the Peppergate, and the mayor wisely ordered the gate to be shut up, which gave cause for the above saying, and from which originated the more general one, "When the steed's stolen, shut the stable door." WHILE THE GRASS GROWS THE STEED STARVES! In some parts of Lincolnshire the soil is very prolific, so much so, that it has been said, "Turn a horse into a new-mown field over night, and the grass will have grown up to his fetlock-joints the next morning!" A trooper, during the troubles in the reign of Charles I., travelling over Lincoln Heath, was benighted; espying, however, a light at a distance, he made towards it, and found that it proceeded from a lone house. He knocked for a length of time before any one appeared; at last a voice inquired, who it was that thus disturbed their rest? Upon which the traveller replied, "a trooper belonging to the parliamentary forces who has lost his way." The door was cautiously opened, a fagot was thrown on the dying embers, which was no sooner done, than he of the sword (no less a person, it is said, than the afterwards famous Ireton) inquired where he should put his horse; the host directed him to an adjoining shed, observing, "That he had neither hay nor corn, but if he remained till morning, some grass would be grown in a neighbouring field!" Humph!" replied Ireton, who was a shrewd character, “so, while your grass is growing, my steed must be starving!" This was said in a particular way, which the Lincolnshire man (who was a royalist) perfectly understood, and in the twinkling of an eye produced a feed of corn. The trooper's remark he treasured up, as well as his name, which he became acquainted with the following morning, on a foraging party joining him at that place; and from which circumstance originated the saying, particularly common in Lincolnshire, “While the grass grows, the steed starves." 66 IT'S A DIRTY BIRD THAT BEFOULS ITS OWN NEST! This saying is from the Scotch, and it is said, takes its origin from the celebrated John Knox. No one was more vindictive against Mary Queen of Scots, than this founder of the Presbyterian tenets. The various intrigues which her enemies charged her with, were the constant theme of this popular reformer. It was on the occasion of the death of David Rizzio, at Holyrood House, the residence of Henry (Darnley) and Mary, that this saying first emanated from the mouth of Knox, and which in the Scottish tongue is a common phrase to this day. It need scarcely be observed, that Mary was charged with an illicit intercourse with Rizzio, in the very house where, with her husband, she resided. Hence originated the cutting reproach used by the Scottish reformer, in allusion to the circumstance, viz., "It's a dirty bird that befouls its own nest.” HE MAY PAY TOO DEAR FOR HIS WHISTLE! This saying originated from Dr. Franklin, of celebrated memory. Proceeding to France as Charge d'Affaires of the United States, the vessel which bore him passed very near a vessel of the enemy, when the boatswain, a bold but imprudent man, and who was very expert on his call, whistled a kind of threat of defiance, which he 66 had no sooner done, than a shot from the maintop of the enemy, sent him to another world! Dr. Franklin, who was standing close to him, observed, with all the naïveté imaginable, Poor fellow ! he has paid dear for his whistle !" and from hence originated the common saying, "He may pay too dear for his whistle!" IF IT RAINS ON ST. SWITHIN'S DAY, THERE WILL BE RAIN FOR "St. Swithin's day, if thou dost rain, In Brand's Popular Antiquities there is a statement to the following purport:-In the year 865, St. Swithin, bishop of Winchester, to which rank he was raised by king Ethelwolfe the Dane, dying, was canonized by the then pope. He was singular for his desire to be buried in the open churchyard, and not in the chancel of the minster, as was usual with other bishops, which request was complied with; but the monks, on his being canonized, taking it into their heads that it was disgraceful for the saint to be in the open churchyard, resolved to remove his body into the choir, which was to have been done with solemn procession on the 15th of July. It rained, however, so violently on that day, and for forty days succeeding, as had hardly ever been known, which made them set aside their design as heretical and blasphemous; and, instead, they erected a chapel over his grave, at which many miracles are said to have been wrought. Hence, reader, came the saying, "If it rains on St. Swithin's day, there will be rain for forty days after." In Poor Robin's Almanac for 1697, the saying, together with one of the miracles before alluded to, is noticed in these lines: "In this month is St. Swithin's day, Or more, or less, some rain distil. And to make hay while sun doth shine, Which idle monks and friars devise!" |