2"<J S. X. Dec. 15. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



465 



pronounce with a Flint-Stone in his Mouth, the most 

 wretched and hideous Rhymes ever made by the vilest 

 Devil of a Poet. 



" Death, Sfc. — This respects these their Verses (which 

 indeed may be esteem'd their best), viz. : — 

 " ' There is Four Things consider well. 

 Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell ; 

 Which if in Cause you do neglect, 

 Unquiet Rest you may expect ; 

 Good-morrow Mr. Such-an-One.' 



(Thump !), &c., &c., &c. 

 " Though I am apt to fear that if in Cause many 

 among us did not neglect to consider of these Four Things, 

 they would take less quiet Rest than usually they take." 



5. Christmas Waits, Frights, Sprites, and Gob' 

 tins : — 



" Shrill Hautboys and the shriller Trumpet greet 

 Attentive Ears, by Turn, in ev'ry Street." — P. 48. 



" Hautboys. — The City Waits and Trumpet : — 



•« ' And though in later Cloaks some Grander Wights 

 Appear Town-Whifflers to our distant Sights.' 



P. 148. 

 " Town- Whifflers.—Hhe. City Waits. Several Dons of 

 the Party * have lately by Agreement and in Concert, 

 made themselves Blue Cloaks. And three or four of them 

 appearing in a Knot together, have been at a Distance 

 verily mistaken for the Waits." 



" The Waits maj' now, in blackest Month, go through 

 Ev'n the suspicious Close of Bartho'mew^, 

 Nor by that Calvary hear dismal Groan, 

 But dismal that from snuffling Courtal blown, 

 Nor Southgate's Porter now lets in a Miss 

 At Night's dark Noon whom wou'd he fear to kiss. 

 Ev'n in Church-Porches — (Antient Grandams told) — 

 In Winter Nights lewd Mormo's,^ — horrid bold! 

 By us Bullbeggars hight, were yelling heard. 

 And dev'lish Rackets in the sacred Yard. 

 Then Jack-in-the- Lantern fooling would mislead 

 Through Bog and Brake the Sot's benighted Tread, 

 Sprights were as frequent in void Houses then 

 As were in lonely Lanes grim Gagger-men. 

 Then frighted Candles gave, by flaming blue, 

 The sure Ostent some Ghost's Approach to rue ; 

 Down went .the Cards, though Trumps, for Satan's 



Books, 

 And each beheld a Ghost — in t'others Looks. 

 Then in the Streets dead Scavengers wou'd drive 

 As nat'ral Wheelbarrows as when alive. 

 In Meadows then, by Moonshine, frisky Elves 

 In Circlets, handing, tripp'd to breathe themselves; 

 And where their petty Toes went featly round, 

 More florid Pasture dignify'd the Ground ; 

 To Nurse a-dream then wou'd they stealing glide. 

 And softly draw her Bantlin fromher Side, 

 And in its stead slip a young Fairy Brat, 

 Thrice taller than themselves, more gross, and pat, 

 As like as if Twin-Brother born to that. 

 Then Puck — (or Goodfellow) — From Room to 



Room 

 Hurl'd Comb, Cowl, Shoe, Trowsers, Beads, Ladle, 



Broom ; 

 And when wou'd fumbling Beldams Pitcher fill, 

 Joggling their wither'd Arms the Ale he'd spill ; 

 Nay, oft o'erturn the Chamber's needful Vase, 

 And with foul Deluge ill-perfume the Place ; 



'■} 



* I.e. The Political party (Blue and yellow) of which 

 he is speaking. 



Sometimes long Grass o'er Paths in Knots he'd tie. 



And upwards make DoLt. Milkmaids Trotters * fly. 



But now they're banish'd quite, nor big as Eft 



One to be lash'd by Demogorgon left. 



Not Oberon returns, nor Mab his Queen, 



By Cynthia's and by Collin's Eyes is seen. 



We not their Footsteps search ; But when we view 



The Grassy Ringlets shine of Greener Hue, 



Conclude we Compost, for Manuring brought. 



With richer Juice the bord'ring Verdure wrought. 



The Fiends which once did frightful Routings keep 



In Porches, now turn out-shut Dogs asleep. 



Hence the old flaming Sprights prove Glow-worms 



now. 

 And Guttur Glympses Whitens Heads we know. 

 Hence Death-watches, which often slew the Sick, 

 Are now found Insects of a harmless Click. 

 Hence skitt'ring Rats are Rats, whose Squeaks not 



scare 

 With Fairy Talk the suckling Nurse's Ear. 

 To Manhood hence Exonian Mothers bring 

 Ten Politicians ere one Chan-ge-ling." 



Pp. 110. to 114. 

 ^ " Blackest Month. — They have, or had, a Notion, that 

 m the black Month (as they call it when the Days are at 

 the shortest) the Devils are the most privileged to roam 

 about, and play their Devilish Tricks ; whereby the 

 serenading Waits, in their nightly Walks, us'd very 

 particularly to be frighten'd, and to scamper off. Those 

 are call'd suspicious Places where People Had hatig'd 

 themselves, died suddenly, &c. Churches, and Church- 

 yards, and empty Houses, use here to be call'd suspicious 

 Places. I remember it was reported, and believ'd, that 

 during the Portership of Old Mr. Nichols at S. Gate, 

 the Devil in Shape of a fine Gentlewoman us'd to give a 

 single Knock, just after Twelve o'Clock at Night, and 

 was let in constantly by him. 



" Gaggennen. — So we used to call Plagiaries, Kidnap- 

 pers, or Boystealers, from the Gags they are reported to 

 clap in the Children's Mouths whom they have spirited 

 away. 



" Changeling. — Many vulgar People here in the Pronun- 

 ciation of the Word make it consist of Three Syllables, 

 thus : Chan-ge-ling." 



The book from which I have made the fore- 

 going extracts contains many curious matters, 

 some of which shall be mentioned at a future 

 time. CuTHBERT Bede. 



GREAT TOM OF OXFORD. 



The following poem (from a MS. collection) 

 which bears the signature of Jerom Terrent, re- 

 lates to the recasting of the great bell of Christ 

 Church in 1680, and some portions of it, mutatis 

 mutandis, might almost be applicable to the recast- 

 ing of Big Ben in our own times. Who this Jerom 

 Terrent was I am desirous to learn. I find under 

 Christ Church College the burial of one Thomas 

 Terrent, B.D., April 3, 1660 ; and I would fur- 

 ther ask, are there extant any other fugitive pieces 

 of this Jerome Terrent ? 



It would seem, however, that " Great Tom " like 



* Trotters — Gaggermen, &c. The early use of these, 

 and many other, slang words in this book, is noticeable, 

 and will be the subject of a future note. 



