184 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Shd S. TIL Feb. 26. '69. 



Red Coats (2""' S. vii. 130.) — The scarlet uni- 

 form was adopted at an earlier date than William 

 III.'s reign ; as the following lines from Hudibras 

 will show : — 



" Some were for Gospel ministers, 

 And some for Eedcoat Seculars." 



Part III. C. ii. 11. 291, 292. 

 where the first line refers to the Presbyterians, 

 and the second to the Independents, whose "secu- 

 lar " soldiery had a habit of preaching exceed- 

 ingly distressing to the orderly Presbyterian 

 mind. 



" One single Red- coat sentinel 

 Outcharmed the magic of the spell, 

 And, with his squirt-fire, could disperse 

 Whole troops with chapter raised and verse." 

 Part IV. C. ii. 11. 1167—1170. 

 The orator (presumedly Antony Ashley Cooper) 

 is contrasting the Independents with the Presby- 

 terians, and refers to the success of the former, 

 when the others took up the cause of the " cove- 

 nanted King," Charles, afterwards the Second. 



The Red Coat, although it was the distinctive 

 uniform of the Ironsides, is not a thing to be 

 ashamed of, for " truly they never were beaten at 

 all;" and we can only hope that, if war should 

 ever arise again, and the Red Coats be called to 

 deeds of arms, they may never lose, by any means, 

 the prestige of victory. B. B. WoodWabd. 



Haverstock Hill. 



Cvlverkeys (1" S. vi. 293.; 2°'^ S. vii. 48. 117.)— 

 Culverkeys being so often mentioned by Izaak 

 Walton, I have been hoping that the renewed dis- 

 cussion in " N. & Q," would enable us to deter- 

 mine beyond a doubt what field-flower it is to which 

 Walton alludes. We seem, however, to be thrown 

 back upon the editorial note of the First Series 

 (vi. 293.), which gives the brief, but, as there is 

 good reason to think, correct definition of Nares : 

 " Culver-keys ; the flower or herb Columbine. 

 Culver being Columba, and the little flowrets like 

 keys." 



We may remark, with regard to the connexion 

 of " culver " with " columba," a pigeon or dove, 

 that where we speak of rfowetailing, our forefathers 

 spoke of cwZrertailing. Moreover, with respect to 

 the word columbine itself, it occasionally signifies, 

 according to Johnson, " a kind of violet colour, a 

 changeable dove colour." In like manner the old 

 French adjective colombin, ine, now obsolete, sig- 

 nified a colour subsequently called "g-org-e de 

 pigeon." There can be little doubt of the con- 

 nexion between "columbine " and " culver." But 

 in what sense are the "little flowrets " of the co- 

 lumbine " like keys ? " 



They certainly are not at all like the key of a 

 lock ; nor do they bear the slightest resemblance 

 to those flat husks, containing the seeds of the ash, 

 &c., which are sometimes called keys. But there 

 is another sense of the word key, which comes 



nearer the mark. Key signified occasionally the 

 chief talon of a hawh. Now the whole botanical 

 class to which the common columbine belongs is 

 called aquilegia ; and is so called from aquila, an 

 eagle, " because the inverted spurs of the flower 

 have been likened to the talons of a hii-d of prey " 

 (Loudon). Any person who has examined the 

 flower of the columbine must have noticed this 

 hooked appearance of the spurs. " Nectaria 

 curved^'' says old Berkenhout. These spurs, then, 

 are the keys of the culverkey. "Key. The prin- 

 cipal claw in a hawk's foot " (Halliwell). 



And now will any reader of " N. &. Q." wind 

 up by telling us why the claw of a hawk or eagle 

 should in old English have been called a key f 



Thomas Boys. 



" A Maris a Man for a' that" (2"'i S. vii. 146.) 

 — The coincidence between the passage quoted 

 by your correspondent J. R. from Wycherley's 

 Plain Dealer, and the sentiment so felicitously 

 expressed by Burns in his famous song, is cer- 

 tainly remarkable ; but the original idea belongs 

 to an earlier writer than Wycherley, as the fol- 

 lowing verses by Thomas Carew, extracted from 

 a poem addressed by him " To T. H., A Ladt 

 RESEMBLING MY MiSTBESs," wiU render evident : — 



" To lead, or brass, or some such bad 

 Metal, a prince's stamp may add 

 That value, which it never had. 



"But to the pure refined ore, 

 The stamp of Kings imparts no more 

 Worth, than the metal held before ; 



" Only the image gives the rate 

 To subjects, in a foreign state 

 'Tis priz'd as much for its own weight." 



I may add that Moore, in the Preface to the 

 fifth volume of his collected Works (1841 — 1842), 

 points out in a note this coincidence of thought 

 between Wycherley and Burns. T. C. Smith. 



Skowbanker (2""* S. vii. 104.) — The term 

 Skowhanker, applied in Australia to a person 

 who is more disposed to hang about and live upon' 

 others, passing his time in idleness, than to work 

 for his own support, appears to be of German ori- 

 gin. The seats of a theatre are in German called 

 Schaubanke (literally, "show-benches ") ; and the 

 German sch often acquires in English the harder 

 form of «A ; e. g. in Schiffer, the master of a ship, 

 Anglice Skipper. iScAaubanker, then, or Skovr- 

 banker, would imply one who delights to sit or 

 loll upon a bench (like idlers at a play). 



Or Skowbanker may be a combination of the 

 two German words, Schaub, a truss of straw, a 

 bundle, and bank, a bench : — Schaub- Bank, 

 bundle-bench. The derivation first offered, how- 

 ever, seems preferable. 



A propos of Skowbanker, what is a Loafer ? An 

 etymological fHend understands by a Loafer an 

 idle fellow who will not work, but prefers receiv- 



