270 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



t2»<' S. VIII. Oct. 1. '59. 



Bocardo. — Over and above standing for a cer- 

 tain mood of syllogism, this word was used in the 

 seventeenth century as a cant name for some , 

 prison. What prison, and why ? All I can make ' 

 out is, that it was not the King's Bench. 



A. De Morgan. 



[Nares, in his Glossary, edit. 1857, informs us that the 

 " Bocardo is the old north gate of Oxford, taken down 

 in 1771. There is a good view of it in the first number of 

 Oxonia Antiqua Restaurata. Whether it was originally 

 so named, from some jocular allusion to the Aristotelian 

 syllogism in Bocardo, I have not discovered. It was used 

 as a prison ; and hence the name was sometimes made a 

 general term for a prison. ' Was not this [Achab] a 

 seditious fellow? — Was he not worthy to be cast in bo- 

 cardo or little-ease?' — Latimer, Serm.', fol. 105. C. Bo- 

 cardo was the last prison of that good man himself, 

 before his shameful murder ; to himself a glorious mar- 

 tvrdom, Its downfal was celebrated by Oxford wits, 

 both in Latin and English. One says, — 

 ' Num jam 

 Antiqui muri venerabilis umbra bocardo 

 Visitur Oxonii ? Salve hand ignobile nomen ! ' 



Dialogtts in Theatr., 1773. 

 The other, — 



• Rare tidings for the wretch whose ling'ring score 

 Remains unpaid, bocardo is no more.' 



Newsman's Verses, 1772, by Warton. 

 Socardo, as a logical term, for a particular kind of syllo- 

 gism, occurs in Prior's Alma, canto 3. • There are many 

 in London now adaies that are besotted with this sinne, 

 one of whom I saw on a white horse in Fleet street, a 

 tanner knave I never lookt on, who with one figure (cast 

 out of a scholler's studie for a necessary servant at bo- 

 cardo) promised to find any man's oxen were they lost, 

 restore any man's goods if they were stolne, and win any 

 man love," where or howsoever he settled it.' — Lodge's 

 Incarnate Devils, 1596."] 



Pensionarg. — Can you enlighten me as to the 

 meaning of "Pensionary " applied to De Witt and 

 certain other statesmen of Holland. Fagus. 



[A pensionarj- is one who receives a pension from go- 

 vernment for past services, or a yearly allowance from 

 some prince, companj', or individual. Grand Pensionary 

 is an appellation formerly given to the chief magistrate 

 of the republic of Holland, who was a member of the 

 Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands. The Pen- 

 sionary was the president of the council of the states or 

 legislature of Holland, and he was for the time the first 

 minister of the republic. He was elected for five years, 

 but was generally confirmed indefiniteh-, and often for 

 life. Pensionary was also a name given to the first minis- 

 ter of the regencj' of any city in Holland.] 



Itev. Joseph Grigg. — Any information con- 

 cerning the Rev. Joseph Grigg of St. Albans 

 (author of some few hymns), who died at Wal- 

 thamstow, Oct. 29, 1768, would be acceptable; 

 also the date of his small book of hymns, which 

 was printed several years after his death. Z. (1.) 



[Joseph Grigg was assistant minister to Mr. Bures of 

 Silver Street, London ; but upon the death of the latter, 

 Mr. Grigg retired from this serv^. He married a lady 

 possessed of considerable property, the widow of Colonel 

 Drew. He died at Walthamstow, Oct. 29, 1768. He 



published nineteen hj'mns in a 12mo. volume, entitled 

 Hymns, bj' the late Rev. Joseph Grigg, Stourbridge. 

 Amongst these is that well-known hymn, — • 

 " Jesus ! and shall it ever be," 



which has been ascribed to so many different persons. — 

 Gadsby's Memoirs of Hymn Writers and Compilers, p. 63.] 



Wcdpurgis. — What is the exact meaning and 

 derivation of this word ? The dictionaries simply 

 say " the 1st of May." Philologicus. 



[Although Feb. 25. stands in Butler as the day of St. 

 Walburge, a considerable portion of her relics was in- 

 shrined at Fumes Maj' 1st, whence the name Walpurgis 

 has become connected with the latter day, not with the 

 former. Indeed her chief festival is placed in the Belgic 

 Martyrology on May 1. (Butler.) Respecting the deri- 

 vation of the name itself (Walburge, Walpurga, Vau- 

 bourg, &c.), Butler states that the " English Saxon name 

 Walburge is the same with the Greek Eucharia, and sig- 

 nifies gracious." St. Walburge was undeniably of English 

 origin ; but we find what some will probably consider a 

 more likely derivation of her name (probably assumed 

 when she entered the monastery of Winbourn, or when 

 she took the veil), in the Italian name Valpurga. Al- 

 though Walpurgis-night (Walpurgisnacht) is generally 

 believed in Germany to be the night of a great muster of 

 German Avitches, it does not appear that the term Wal- 

 purgis has any connexion with this gathering, beyond 

 the fact that the night itself happens to be that which 

 precedes the 1st of May, on which, as we have seen, the 

 festival of St. Walpurgis is held. In like manner " Hal- 

 loween " was supposed in Scotland to be a night when 

 witches, &c. are all rambling abroad, so that there was 

 no such night in the year for intercourse with them ; and 

 to " baud Halloween " was to observe the rites supersti- 

 tiously or sportively connected with that evening. But 

 the term Halloween itself had originally no necessary 

 connexion with these notions or observances, being 

 simpl}', in its proper signification, the evening preceding 

 All Hallows, or All Saints Day. So Walpurgis-night, 

 on which witches assemble, is'simply the eve of St. Wal- 

 purgis, the night between May 1. and April 80 ; and the 

 reason for the assembling of witches at that particular 

 time is said to be just this, that May 1. was formerly the 

 first daj' of the j'ear. Adelung, W'drterbuch, on Wal- 

 purgis.] 



'■'^ Beaver." — The brickmakers near London, and 

 perhaps elsewhere, call their three o'clock meal 

 their " beaver." What does the word mean ? 



R. H. A. B. 



[Beaver, Bever, or Beverage (Ital. bevere; old 

 French, beivre), is a name given to the afternoon colla- 

 tion, or any refreshment taken between the regular 

 meals, as noticed in the following examples : — 



" Drinking between dinner and supper, called beaver. 

 Antccanum." — Huloet. 



"Betimes in the morning they break their fast; at 

 noon they dine; when the day is far spent they take 

 their beaver; late at night they sup."— Gate of Lan- 

 guages, 1568. 



" He is none of those same ordinary eaters that will 

 devour three breakfasts, and as many dinners, without 

 any prejudice to their bevers, drinkings, or suppers." — 

 Beaumont and Fletcher, TToman Hater, i. 3.] 



Go/ton, of Fockwell, Surrey. — I would feel 

 greatly obliged to any of your correspondents 

 who would kindly give me any information of the 



