2nd s. N« 80., July H. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



27 



the miserable condition of London streets (matters 

 had been much worse in foreign towns), the utter 

 absence of pavement, and the consequent unpro- 

 tected state of the foot passenger in many of our 

 streets, made it a matter of honourable gallantry 

 that a man should present himself to face the 

 dangers of the way, and thus protect his fair and 

 defenceless fellow pedestrians. This was very 

 laudable, though, truth to say, it was, if not the 

 origin, at least the companion of a not highly eu- 

 logistic phrase, " the weakest goes to the wall." 

 But the fair sex, of course, willingly accepted the 

 practical safety without inquiring into, or perhaps 

 even being conscious of, the dislogistic proverb. 

 It became in their minds a settled rule that a lady 

 was entitled to take the wall, and that rule ap- 

 peared to them established in virtue of a compli- 

 mentary deference to their sex, and not through a 

 sensible and manly desire to protect them irom 

 danger. To them, therefore, it still appears quite 

 natural and proper that they should continue to 

 keep the wall, and that everybody, under all cir- 

 cumstances, should make way for them to enable 

 them to do so. With the present crowded state of 

 our streets this has come to be a real public incon- 

 venience, but that is not all. Whenever a privilege 

 is supposed to exist there will always be aspirants 

 for its enjoyment. It matters not that the aspirant 

 has not the smallest title to the privilege, he will 

 nevertheless claim it. Imitation of those above 

 them is not confined to such scenes as those 

 enacted in High Life below Stairs. The ten- 

 dencies there laughed at are in universal activity. 

 So, because ladies are supposed entitled to keep 

 the wall, every dirty cobbler's boy claims the 

 same privilege, and insists on it to the great hin- 

 drance of free movement, and the inconvenience 

 and sometimes danger of the general passengers. 

 It is hardly possible to expect a remedy for this 

 evil except by an appeal to the good sense of the 

 ladies. If they cease to claim a privilege, the ne- 

 cessity for which no longer exists, (for our pave- 

 ments supply the protection which individual 

 gallantry formerly afforded,) they will do much to 

 improve the freedom and ease of walking in the 

 crowded streets of London ; and those who wrong- 

 fully usurp what might be a graceful concession 

 to the ladies, ceasing to think that a privilege 

 existed, would cease to annoy others by claiming 

 it. 



There does exist "a rule of the pavement" 

 quite as clear as the " rule of the road ; " but, as 

 the same danger and the same legal liability do 

 not follow its infraction, it is treated with neglect. 

 If you violate the "rule of the road," and a horse 

 or a carriage is injured, a demand for damages 

 follows; if you perform the same misdeeds in 

 walking, and tread on your neighbour's corns, or 

 tear a lady's gown, an apology is the only penalty, 

 and the graceless will walk off without even offer- 



ing that, no fear of an attorney's letter haunting 

 their minds. Public convenience is forgotten, 

 because the fear of actions and costs does not 

 exist. Yet this disregard of public convenience 

 is something that ought to come to an end. Our 

 streets are not large enough for the increasing 

 numbers that now crowd through them. We must 

 walk according to rule if we do not desire to lose 

 both time and labour. Each line of pedestrians 

 must keep to its own side, the right-hand line 

 keeping the wall, and in this way will the streets 

 be found sufficient for the traffic of the town ; and 

 people, instead of walking like crabs in angles, 

 thus, Z, or moving like vessels tacking against the 

 wind, like Commodore Trunnion and his wedding 

 party, will walk like sensible men and women in a 

 straight line, and with ease, facility, and comfort. 



Ck. 



Sflfnar ^aXti. 



Cheshire Antiquities. — The Archaeological In- 

 stitute of Great Britain being about to hold its 

 Annual Meeting at Chester, from the 21st to the 

 29th of this present month, July, the Committee 

 are most desirous to obtain, for their temporary 

 Museum, the loan of any objects of Ancient Art 

 and Manufactures, especially such as possess a 

 local interest for Cheshire and the surrounding 

 counties. As no doubt many readers of "N. & 

 Q." have both the will and the way to assist us in 

 this endeavour, I should feel particularly obliged 

 by their communicating with me, immediately, at 

 my address as under, in order that the necessary 

 arrangements may be made for the safe conduct 

 of the antiquities to and from the Museum. 



T. Hughes. 

 4. Paradise Row, Chester. 



Irish Justice. — Among the 



" Statutes and ordinances made and established in a 

 Parliament holden at the Naas the Friday next after the 

 feast of All Saints, in the 35"» year of the reign of King 

 Henry the sixth, before Thomas Fitz Maurice, Earl of 

 Kildare, deputy to Richard Duke of York, the King's 

 Lieutenant of his land of Ireland, Anno Dom. 1457," 

 is the following enactment of the Irish Parliament, 

 chap. ii. : — 



" An act that every man. shall answer for the offence of 

 his sons as the offender ought to do, saving punishment of 

 death." — Bot. Pari, cap. vii. 



" Also, at the request of the Commons, that forasmuch 

 as the sons of many men from day to other do rob, spoil 

 and coygnye the King's poor liege people, and master- 

 fully take their goods, without any pity taking of them : 

 Wherefore, the premises considered, it is ordained and 

 established by authority of the said Parliament, that 

 every man shall answer for the offence and ill-doing of 

 his son as he himself that did the trespass and offence 

 ought to do; saving the punishment of death, which 

 shall incur to the trespasser himself." 



F. A. Cabrinqton. 



Ogboume St. George. 



