THE QUERIST, 119 



"Behold the earth hath roots; 

 Within this mile hreak forth a hundred springs; 

 The oaks bear mast, the briars scarlet hips." 



The question, "What are Hips?" is therefore easily answered: — they are 

 the fruit of the wild rose. But there is an episode connected with thia 

 subject which has few equals in the history of words and the blunders of 

 commentators. Dr. Johnson, in his folio Dictionary, gives the following 



definition : — 



"Heps— Hawthorn berries, commonly called Hips;" 



with the inconsistent quotation* — 



"In hard winters there is observed great plenty of heps and haws, which preserve the 

 small birds from starving." — Bacon. 



Now, as haivs are, beyond all question, the berries of the hawthorn. Dr. 

 Johnson ought to have seen that heps could not also be "hawthorn berries," 

 or Bacon would have written "heps or haws," instead of "heps and haws." 

 And as this quotation from Bacon appears to have monopolised the atten- 

 tion of most Dictionary-compilers, (to the exclusion of the more apposite 

 one from Shakspere,) they have made some singular guesses as to what 

 ^^hips" are, seeing that they are not "haws." In the 8vo. edition of Bailey's 

 Dictionary (London, 1733) are the following definitions: — - 



"Haw (of Hagan, Sax.) — A sort of berry, the fruit of the white-thorn." 

 "Hip, Hep (Heope, Sax.) — A berry, the fruit of the large bramble." 



But as the bramble is the black-herry, and as heps are scarlet, Guess No. 



2, was no nearer the mark than Dr. Johnson's. Dyche's Dictionary supplies 



another supposition equally unsatisfactory in a double definition of the word 



in question. Defining "haw" as "the fruit of the white-thorn tree or bush," 



he gives — 



"Hips — The berries or fruit of the large bramble." 

 "Heps or Hips — The fruit of the black-thorn tree." 



Scott's Folio edition of Bailey (Lond: 1765) gives the four following defi- 

 nitions of "Hips and Haws:" — 



"Hip (Heopa, Sax.) — The fruit of the briar or dog-rose." "Store of haws and hips." — Bacon. 



"Heps or Hips. — The fruit of the black-thorn shrub, commonly written hips." — Bacon. 



"Haw (Hag, Haeg, Sax.) — The berry and seed of the hawthorn." 



"Haw (Hagan, Sax.) — A berry, the fruit of the white-thorn." 



Here we find the true account given in the first case as to the thing 

 itself, and in the second as to its relative orthography and pronunciation. 

 Derived from the Saxon Heopa, the word is almost universally pronounced 

 hep, but written hip. Whereas Dr. Johnson, not content with the egregious 

 blunder that hips are haws, spells the word heps, but tells us the berries 



» I cannot see the inconsistency here ; the quotation could only properly be made in its entirety. The 

 reference is to be made by the reader, only quoad it applies, namely, to the heps.— F. O. Mobris. 



