168 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[No. 11. 
of the unhappy Sufferers, who would have flown to 
their Assistance, were ignorant of their Distress till it 
was too late to do them Service; and also that most 
of the said Watchmen, on other Occasions, are very 
negligent, whence it happens that many Robberies, 
Burglaries, and other Offences, which their Care might 
prevent are committed; and that even some of them 
are in Fee with common Harlots and Streetwalkers, 
whom they suffer at unseasonable Hours, unmolested 
to prey on the Virtue, Health and Property of His 
Majesty’s Liege Subjects: Be it known to the said 
Watehmen, and their Masters, that, having taken the 
Premises into Consideration, I intend whenever I set 
out from Spring Gardens with my invisible Cap, my 
irradiating Lanthorn, and my Oken Staff of correction, 
to take the City of London, under Leave of the Right 
Hon. the Lord Mayor, into my Rounds, and to detect, 
expose, and punish all Defaulters in the several Stands 
and Beats: Whereof this fair Warning is given, that 
none may be surprized in Neglect of Duty, I being 
determined to shew no Fayour to such Offenders.” 
Euston Square, 12th Dec. 1849. 
Ailfric’s Colloquy. — Permit me to correct a 
singular error into which the great Anglo-Saxon 
scholars, Messrs. Lye and B. Thorpe, have been 
betrayed by some careless transcriber of the cu- 
rious Monastic Colloquy by the celebrated Ailfric. 
This production of the middle ages is very dis- 
tinetly written, both in the Saxon and Latin por- 
tions, in the Cotton MS. (Tiberius, A 3, fol. 
586.) Mr. Lye frequently cites it, in his Saxon 
Dictionary, as “Coll. Mon.,” and Mr. Thorpe 
gives it entire in his Analecta Anglo-Saxonica. 
The former loosely explains higdifatu, which oc- 
curs in the reply of the shoewright (sceowyrhta), 
thus — “ Calidilia, sc. vasa guedam.—Coll. Mon.” 
—and Mr. Thorpe prints both higdifatu and cali- 
dilia. Higdifatu is manifestly vessels of hides, 
such as skin and leather bottles and buckets. The 
ig is either a clerical error of the monkish scribe 
for y, or the g is a silent letter producing the 
quantity of the vowel. ‘TI buy hides and fells,” 
says the workman, “and with my craft I make 
of them shoes of different kinds; leathern hose, 
flasks, and higdifatu.” The Latin word in this 
MS. is casidilia, written with the long straight 
s. Du Cange explains capsilis to be a vessel of 
leather, and quotes Matt. Westmon.: “ Portans 
cassidile toxicum mellitum.”— Goss. tom. ii. col. 
387. The root caps, or cas, does not appear to 
have any Teutonic correspondent, and may merit 
a philological investigation. R. T. Hameson. 
Humble Pie.—The proverbial expression of 
“eating humble pie,” explained by A. G., will be 
found also explained in the same manner in the 
Appendix to Forby’s Vocabulary, where it is sug- 
gested that the correct orthography would be 
“umble pie,” without the aspirate. Bailey, in his 
valuable old Dictionary, traces the word properly 
to umbilicus, the region of the intestines, and 
acknowledges in his time the perquisite of the 
game-keeper. J.1. 
Oxford. 
By Hook or by Crook.— You have noted the 
origin of Humble Pie. May I add a note of a 
saying, in my opinion also derived from forest 
customs, viz. “ By hook or by crook?” Persons 
entitled to fuel wood in the king’s forest, were only 
authorised to take it of the dead wood or branches 
of trees in the forest, “ with a cart, a hook, and a 
crook.” 
The answer to the query respecting the meaning 
of “per serjantiam Marescautiz,” is the Serjeantry 
of Farriery, i.e. shoeing the king’s horses. In | 
Maddox, vol. i. p. 43. you will find a very full 
account of the office of Marescallus. J.R.F, 
THE ORIGIN OF GROG. 
“Written on board the Berwick, a few days 
before Admiral Parker’s engagement with the 
Dutch fleet, on the 5th of August, 1781. By 
Dr. Trotter. 
“°Tis sung on proud Olympus’ hill 
The Muses bear record, 
Ere half the gods had drank their fill 
The sacred nectar sour’d. 
« At Neptune’s toast the bumper stood, 
Britannia crown’d the cup ; 
A thousand Nereids from the flood 
Attend to serve it up. 
«« ¢ This nauseous juice,’ the monarch cries, 
‘Thou darling child of fame, 
Tho’ it each earthly clime denies, 
Shall never bathe thy name. 
“ * Ye azure tribes that rule the sea, 
And rise at my command, 
Bid Vernon mix a draught for me 
To toast his native land.’ 
** Swift o’er the waves the Nereids flew, 
Where Vernon’s flag appear’d ; 
Around the shores they sung ‘ True Blue,’ 
And Britain’s hero cheer’d. 
« A mighty bowl on deck he drew, 
And filled it to the brink ; 
Such drank the Burford’s* gallant crew, 
And such the gods shall drink. 
«« The sacred robe which Vernon wore 
Was drenched within the same ; 
And hence his virtues guard our shore, 
And Grog derives its name.” 
W.H.S. 
[The gallant correspondent to whom we are indebted 
for the foregoing satisfactory, because early and docu- 
mentary, evidence of the etymology of the now familiar 
term Groce, informs us that there is a still earlier 
ballad on the subject. We trust that he will be 
enabled to recover that also, and put it on record in our 
columns. | 
* Flag-ship at the taking of Porto-Bello. 
