8»* S. VIII. Dkc. 17. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



493 



bargees— well blunted or stiver cramped — against dun or 

 don — nob or big wig— so may you never want a bumper 

 of hisliop." (p. 255.) 



An article entitled " Gents," in the Saturday 

 Review for Sept. 24, 1859, also directs attention to 

 another likely mine ; and Silk and Scaidet would* 

 appear to b» one of the new books of the season 

 from which a gleaning might be made. But my 

 note has already too greatly trespassed upon your 

 apace, and I therefore hasten on to notice a few 

 words omitted from Mr. Hotten's Dictionary. 



Beetle-squashsj^s, large feet. Buff, the bare 

 skin. 



" When our pair were soused enough, and returned in their 



iM/f."— (Mr. Hughes' " Magic Lay of the One-horse 



Chay," Blackwood, i824.J 



Bustle, money — "draw the bustle." Coper, a 

 horse-dealer. Crumbs, "to pick up one's crumbs." 

 Daddies, hands — " tip us your daddies." Fin is 

 also used in the same sense ; and, further, hands 

 are termed/lapper-shahers. Brandy and port mixed 

 in equal quantities is (in slang) called Jlesh and. 

 blood. A ginger is a showy, fast horse. Golgotha, 

 a hat, " the place of a skull." Goggles are spec- 

 tacles."' HangmarCs wages is an equivalent for 

 thirteenpence halfpenny (why?). Slash, "a regular 

 hash;" "he made quite a hash of it." Malting, 

 drinking beer. Queer, used as a verb ; " to queer 

 a flat, to puzzle or confound a gull, or silly fellow." 

 See Don Juan (and also the notes thereupon). 

 Canto xi. 19., where is another word omitted in 

 the Dictionary — spellkert, a theatre: — 



" Who in a row like Tom could lead the van, 

 Booze in the ken, or at the spellken hustle? 

 Who queer a flat ? " &c. 

 Rails, as " front-rails," i.e. the teeth, also called 

 " head-rails." Strong, " to come it strong." Wool- 

 bird, a lamb. The "wing of a wool-bird" is a 

 shoulder of lamb. 



I will conclude with a few guesses and queries. 

 Is blowen, one whose reputation is blown upon or 

 damaged ? May not button have taken its meaning 

 .of " a decoy, sham purchaser," from its connexion 

 with "Brummagem" {i.e. Bromwich-ham), which 

 was often used as a synonym for a sham ? Rook, 

 "a clergyman;" perhaps, not only from the black 

 dress, but from the cock-robin nursery song — 

 " I says the Eook 



With my little book, 



I'll be the Parson." 

 Whence " Parson Rook" came to be a general ex- 

 pression. T, " to suit to a t," — perhaps, from the 

 T square of carpenters. Tile, " a hat" — from its 

 covering-in the head ? or, from the square college 

 cap? — also termed "mortar-board" by the pro- 



• In this Slang Dictionary-, I find " Giglamps, spec- 

 tacles. University." If the compiler has taken this epithet 

 from Verdant Green, I can only say that I consider the 

 word not to be a " University " word in general, but as 

 only due to the inventive genius of Mr. Bouncer in parti- 

 cular. C. Bede. 



fane. Whence the derivation of Rip, " a rake, a 

 libertine?" I remember a person reading the letters 

 R. I. P. (Requiescat in Pace) on the top of a tomb- 

 stone, as one word ; and soliloquising, " Rip ! well, 

 he was an old rip, and no mistake ! " 



CuTHBERT Bede. 



The Old French Invasion. — I do not know 

 where I picked up the enclosed ; perhaps it is in 

 print somewhere. Nevertheless it would not be 

 amiss to put it in "N. & Q." just now, would it? 



J. 0. 

 « Said to be written by Professor Porson, during the Alarm 

 of the French Invasion. 

 " Ego nunquam audivi such terrible news 

 As at this present tempus my senses confuse. 

 I'm drawn for a miles ; I must go cum Marte, 

 And, comminus ense, engage Buonaparte. 

 " Such tempora nunquam videbant majores, 

 For then their opponents had different mores. 

 But we will soon prove to the Corsican Vaunter 

 Tliough times may be changed, Britons never mutantur. 



" Mehercle ! this Consul non potest be quiet, 

 His word must be lex — and when he says fiat. 

 Quasi Deus, he thinks we must run at his nod, 

 But Britons were ne'er good at running, by G 



" Per mare, I rather am led to opine 

 To meet I3ritish naves he would not incline. 

 Lest he should in mare profuudura be drowned, 

 Et cum alga, noa laura, his caput be crowned. 



" But allow that this boaster in Britain could land, 

 Multis cum aliis, at his command, 

 Here are lads who will meet — aye — and properly 



work 'em, 

 And speedily send them, ni fallor, iu Orcum. 



" Nunc let us, amici, join manus et cordis, 

 And use well the vires Dii Boni afford us ; 

 Then let nations combine, Britain never can fall; 

 She's — multum in parvo — a match for them all." 



Sir Walter Raleigh, presumed Relic of. — In the 

 house in which Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have 

 resided at Mitcham, and which has recently been 

 pulled down, was discovered a well staircase of 

 wood. The newel of this staircase tradition says 

 was formed of the mainmast of one of the ships in 

 which Raleigh sailed for the Western Hemisphere. 

 The newel (or mast, if it be so,) lies in Dodd's 

 timber yard at Mitcham, and may easily be ex- 

 amined by those who are curious on the subject. 

 I merely give this as a Note. Rotalist. 



[A resident at Mitcham informs us that this place was 

 pulled down between twenty and thirty years since, 

 when the discovery was made; and, moreover, that at 

 the foot of this well-staircase was a box of nautical in- 

 struments, but what became of them is not known.] 



Sermons before the Battle of Bothwell Bridge. — 

 I discovered lately, in looking over an old Bible 

 of the " breeches " edition, which has long been 

 in the possession of ray family, two marginal 

 notes in old and faded handwriting, which I think 



