334 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 51. 



24th chapter of Leviticus, 21st and 22nd verses, 

 "He that killeth a man," &c.; and he boldly and 

 fearlessly denominates the act as a murder, and 

 severely rejjrehends those in authority who screened 

 and protected the murderer. The sermon is of 

 sixteen pages, and there is an appendix of twenty- 

 six pages, in which are detailed various depositions, 

 and all the circumstances connected with the ca- 

 tastrophe. § N". 



Your con-espondent Senex will find rn Mal- 

 colm's Anecdotes of London (Vol. ii., p. 74.), " A 

 summary of the trial of Donald Machine, on 

 Tuesday last, at Guildfoi-d Assizes, for the murder 

 of William Allen, Jun., on the 10th of May last, 

 in St. George's Fields." K. Barker, Jun. 



A long account of this lamentable transaction 

 may be found in every magazine eighty-two years 

 since. The riot took place in St. George's Fields, 

 May 10. 17G8, and originated in the cry of" Wilkes 

 and Liberty." Gilbert. 



MEANING or " GRADELY. 



(Vol. ii., p. 133.) 



For the origin of this word, A. W. II. may refer 

 to Brocket's Glossai-y of Noi-th Country Words, 

 where he will find — 



" Gradely, decently, orderly. Sax. grad, grade, 

 ordo. Rather, Mr. Turner says, from Sax. gradlie, 

 upright; gradely in Lane, he observes, is an adjective 

 signifying everytliiiig respectable. The Lancashire 

 people say, our canny is nothing to it." 



The word itself is very familiar to mo, as I have 

 often received a scolding for some boyish, and 

 therefore not very wise or orderly prank, in these 

 terms: — "One would think you wei'e not alto- 

 gether gradely," or, as it was sometimes varied 

 into, "You would make one believe you were not 

 right in your head;" meaning, " One would think 

 you had not common sense." H. Eastwood, 



Ecclesfield. 



Gradely. — This word is not only used in York- 

 shire, but also very much in Lancashire, and the 

 rest of the north of England. I have always 

 understood it to mean " good," " jolly," " out 

 and out." Its primary meaning is " orderly, de- 

 cently." (See Richardson's Dictionary.^ The 

 French have grade ; It. and Sp., grado ; Lat. 

 gradus. Aredjid Kooez. 



Gradely. — This word, in use in Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire, means grey-headedly, and denotes such 

 wisdom as should belong to old age. A child is 

 admonished to do a thing gradely, i. e. with the 

 care and caution of a person of experience. E. H. 



Gradely. — In Webster's and also in Richard- 

 son's Dictionaries it is defined, " orderly, decently." 

 It is a word in common use in Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire, and also Cheshire. A farmer will tell 



his men to do a thing gradely, that is, " properly, 

 well." G. AV N. 



Gradely. — In Carr's Cruven Dialect appears 

 " Gradely, decently." It is also used as an adjec- 

 tive, " decent, worthy, respectable." 



2. Tolerably well, "How isto?" '' Gradely r 

 Fi\ Gre, "satisfaction;" d mon gre. S. N". 



Gradely. — HoUoway* derives ^ra&Zj/ fi-om the 

 Anglo-Saxon Grade, a step, order, and defines its 

 meaning, " decently." He, however, fixes its 

 paternity in the neighbouring county of York. 



In Collier's edition of Tim Bobbin it is spelt 

 greadly, and means " well, right, handsomely." 



" I connaw t-ell the greadly, boh I think its to tell 

 fok by." — p. 42. 



" So I seete on restut ineb, on drank meh pint o ele ; 

 boh as I'r naw greadly sleekt, I cawd for anotlier," &c. 

 — p. 45. 



" For if sitch things must be done greadly on os teh 

 aught to bee," &c. — p. 59. 



Mr. Halliwell | defined it, " decently, orderly, 

 moderately," and gives a recent illustration of its 

 use in a letter addressed to Lord John Russell, 

 and distributed in the Manchester Free Ti-ade 

 Procession. It is dated from Bury, and the writer 

 says to his lordship, — 



" Dunnot be fyert, mon, but rapt eawt wl awt 

 uts reel, un us Berry foke '11 elp yo as ard as we kon. 

 Wayn hclpt llobdin, un wayn elp yo, if yoan set 

 obeawt yur wurk gradely." 



Gradely. — I think this word is very nearly con- 

 fined to Lancashire. It is used both as an adjec- 

 tive and advei"b. As an adjective, it expresses 

 only a moderate degree of approbation or satisfac- 

 tion ; as an adverb, its general force is much 

 greater. Thus, used adjectively in such phrases 

 as " a gradely man," " a gradely crop," &c., it is 

 synonymous with " decent." In answer to the 

 question, " How d'ye do ? " it means, " Pretty 

 well," " Tolerable, thank you." 



Adverbially it is (1.) sometimes iised in a sense 

 closely akin to that of the adjective. Thus in 

 " Behave yourself gradely," it means " properly, 

 decently." But (2.) most frequently it is pre- 

 cisely equivalent to " very ;" as in the expressions 

 " A gradely fine day," " a gradely good man " — 

 which last is a term of praise by no means appli' 

 cable to the mere "gradely man," or, as such a 

 one is most commonly described, a " gradely sort 

 of man." 



Though one might have preferred a Saxon origin 

 for it, yet in default of such it seems most natural 

 to connect it with the Latin gradus, especially as 

 the word grade, from which it is immediately 

 formed, has a handy English look about it, that 

 would soon naturalise it amongst us. Gradely 



* Dictionary of Provincialisms, 

 f Uictionaiy of Provincial Words, 



