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,
Brought near to beast."

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."

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

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
FORTY DAYS AFTER.

"St. Swithin's day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain:
St. Swithin's day, if thou be fair,
For forty days 'twill rain na mair."

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,
On which, if that it rain, they say,
For forty days after it will,
Or more, or less, some rain distil.
This Swithin was a saint, I trow,
And Winchester's bishop also,
Who in his time did many a feat,
As popish legends do repeat:
A woman having broke her eggs
By stumbling at another's legs,
For which she made a woful cry,
St. Swithin chanced for to come by,
Who made them all as sound, or more
Than ever that they were before.
But whether this were so or no
"Tis more than you or I do know;
Better it is to rise betime,

And to make hay while sun doth shine,
Than to believe in tales or lies

Which idle monks and friars devise!"

A ROWLAND FOR AN OLIVER!

Who has not read of Charlemagne's expedition against the Saracens for the recovery of the relics of the Passion? Those who have, will recollect, that if Alexander had his Bucephalus, Charlemagne had "twain steeds,"* who, if they were not endowed with the instinctive destructiveness of the former, possessed at least a tractability and fidelity not to be surpassed. These were his Roland and his Oliver, whose qualities were so equally poised, that Roland was as good as Oliver, and Oliver was as good as Roland; and hence arose the saying, "I'll give you a Roland for your Oliver;" or, "I'll give as good as you'll send."

WILKES AND FORTY-FIVE.

"Wilkes and Forty-five," originated from a pamphlet called the North Briton, which was written by Mr. Wilkes and his friends; and the forty-fifth number of which was so obnoxious, that it was ordered by law to be publicly burnt by the common hangman, before the Royal Exchange, which was the cause of much popular clamour for a season. John Wilkes was elected Lord Mayor of London in 1775.

Foote used to relate, that on the day for celebrating Wilkes' liberation, an old fish-salesman at Billingsgate, well known by the appellation of King Cole, invited forty-five male and female friends to dine at the Gun. Every thing that bore on that number gave the possessor a local importance: the devil was in the number forty-five!

The

On the occasion, there was a gigantic plum-pudding, with 45lbs. of flour, and 45 of fruit, which was boiled the same number of hours, and paraded from Wapping with flags, and 45 butchers with marrow-bones and cleavers: 45 pigeons in pies, and 45 apple dumplings. Each bowl of punch, said the player as he smacked his lips-each had 45 Seville oranges, and lemons in due proportions. At night there was a well-regulated riot. watchmen and police interfered, and (continued the wag) 45 of the noisy politicians were committed to the Compter. The commencement of this Billingsgate row arose from 45 sailors, each with a wooden leg, bearing about an old besotted captain, who had crossed the Atlantic 45 times, who chose to quarrel with another drunken ass, a bankrupt stockbroker, who went roaring about (such was the general infatuation), "I don't care who knows it, but I'm the man who stopped for five and forty thousand pounds!"

This same old fishmonger afterwards lost a son, whom he used to call the staff of his old age; he consoled himself, however, in the mystical number, inviting 45 fishmongers to attend the * Some writers say Roland and Oliver were his pages.

funeral, had him interred at Queenborough (smelling strong of fish), being 45 miles from town, paid two pounds five shillings to the sexton, which was the best day's work he ever had, for 45 tolls of the tenor bell at one shilling per toll, and to eke out the last consolation from the memorable 45, they mourned ninety days, namely, in deep mourning five-and-forty, and in half mourning, forty-five!

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. When any one was desirous that his words should be confined to the breasts of those present, he prefaced his communications by the words, "Remember, we are under the Rose." Old German houses have a rose sculptured on the ceilings of banqueting-rooms.

TO SLEEP ON IT!

"To sleep on it," or, "go to bed and sleep on it," derives its origin from the following circumstance. A French soldier who, having lost all his money at play, wished to fight with any of his companions that would come out. No one accepting the challenge, he threw himself down by the side of a tent, and went to sleep. Two or three hours after, it happened that another soldier who had met with the same fortune, was passing by the tent and heard the other snoring-waking him, he cried, "Get up, comrade, I have lost my money as well as you; quick, draw your sword, and let us fight!" "Fight? we fight?" cried the other, rubbing his eyes; "no, not yet, lay down a bit, and take a nap as I have done, and then we'll fight as much as you please."

O, YES! O, YES! O, YES!

This cry, so well known in our courts of justice, is the old Norman French oyez !* oyez! oyez! signifying, hear! hear! hear! When the French language was discontinued in our courts of law, this portion of it remained.

ENGLAND AND ST. GEORGE.

This ancient battle-cry of the English was first used by Henry II. in Ireland. Nares, in his Glossary, observes, there is also this injunction to the English in an old art of war: "Item, that all souldiers entering into battaile, assault, skirmish, or other fraction of armes, shall have for their common crye and word, 'St.

* Norman. + See Origin of English language, &c., in courts of law.