Sept. 13. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



197 



however does not exactly hit the mark when he 

 infers, that " the Lords, the Clergy in convocation, 

 and the Commons" are the " three estates." The 

 phrase "assembled in Parliament" has no appli- 

 cation to the Convocation; which moreover does not 

 sit at Westminster, and was not exposed to the 

 peril of the gunpowder plot. The three estates of 

 the realm are the three orders (etats) into which 

 all natural-born subjects are legally divided : viz. 

 the clergy, the nobility, and the commonalty. They 

 are represented " in Parliament" by the "Lords 

 Spiritual," the "Lords Temporal," and the "Com- 

 mons" (elected by their fellows). The three es- 

 tates thus meet their sovereign in the "chamber of 

 Parliament" at the opening of every session; and 

 there it was that the plot was laid for their de- 

 struction. 



W. F. is no doubt aware that originally they all 

 deliberated also together, and in the presence of 

 the sovereign or his commissioners : and though, 

 for the freedom of discussion, the sovereign now 

 withdraws, and the Commons deliberate in a sepa- 

 rate chamber (leaving the chamber of Parliament 

 to be used as " the House of Lords," both Spiri- 

 tual and Temporal), yet to this day they all re- 

 assemble for the formal passing of every act ; and 

 the authority of all three is recited by their 

 proper names in the preamble. 



The first and second estates are not fused into 

 one, simply because they continue to deliberate 

 and vote togetlier as all three did at the first. 



The Convocation of the Clergy was altogether a 

 different institution, which never met either the 

 sovereign or the Parliament : but their order was 

 represented in the latter by the prelates. It is 

 another mistake (therefore) to think the Bishops 

 sit in the House of Lords as Barons. 



Canonicus Eboracensis. 



" You Friend drink to me Friend" (Vol. iv., p. 59.) . 

 — When I was a boy, about sixty-five years ago, 

 Mr. Holder (a surgeon of some eminence at that 

 time) was a frequent visitor at our house, and 

 much amused us by several catclies in which 

 (under his instruction) we delighted to join ; and 

 among which was — 



" / friend, drink to tliee, friend, as my friejid drank 



to me ; 

 /friend, charge thee, friend, as mi/ friend charged me; 

 So do th^it, friend, drink to iliy friend, as my friend 



drank to me. 

 For the more we drink liquor the merrier are we." 



R. S. S. 

 56. Fencliurch Street. 



Broad Halfpenny Down (Vol. iv., p. 133.). — 

 Broad kalpcny, or broad halfpenny, signifies to be 

 qiiitof a certain custom exacteil for setting up tables 

 or boards in fairs or markets ; and those that were 

 frecii by the King's charter of tiiis custom, had 

 this word put in tbeir letters-patent : by reason 



whereof, the freedom itself (for brevity of speech) 

 is called broad halfpenny. (^Les Term.es de la Ley.) 

 Hence the origin of " liroad-halfpenny Down." 



Franciscus. 



Whence the name I cannot say, btit would just 

 note the fact, that sixteen miles from London, on 

 the Brighton railway, is a breezy upland called 

 Farthing Down. The coimtry folk deem it a suf- 

 ficiently famous place, and one told me " that was 

 once London;" meaning, a town stood there be- 

 fore Loiidon was built. It is a locality well 

 known to those who hunt with the Croydon pack. 



P. M. M. 



Horner Family (Vol. iv., p. 131.). — Is it true 

 that the following rhymes apply to one of the 

 Homers of Mells ? 



" Little Jack Horner 

 Sat in a corner. 

 Eating a Christm.is pie, 

 He put in his thumb. 

 And pulled out a plum, 

 And said what a good boy am I." 

 The plum being 100,000Z. I have been told a 

 long story on the matter by Somersetshire people. 



P. M. M. 



The Man of Law (Vol. iv., p. 153.). — The lines 

 so felicitously quoted by Mr. Serjeant Byles at a 

 recent tri;d were thus given in The Times : 

 " The man of law who never saw 

 The way to buy and sell. 

 Wishing to rise by merchandise, 

 Shall never speed him well." 

 This version is rather nearer the original than 

 that of your correspondent Me. King, who 

 avowedly writes from memory. The author of 

 the lines was Sir Thomas More. They are thus 

 given in " A Mery Jest how a Sergeant would learn 

 to play the Freere. Written by Maister Thomas 

 More in hys youth : " 



" A man of lawe that never sawe 

 The wayes to bye and sell, 

 Wenyng to ryse by marchaundyse, 

 I praye God spede hym well !" 

 My quotation is at second-hand from Warton's 

 History of English Poetry, sect, xliii. 



C. II. Cooper. 

 Cambridge, August 30. 1851. 



[We are also indebted to T. Lawrence and Bartanus 

 for replying to this Query. The latter adds, " The 

 poem is given at length in the History of the English 

 Language prefixed to the 4to. edition of Johnson's 

 Dictionary."^ 



Riddle (Vol. iv., p. 153.). — The riddle (query 

 rcbtts f) for the solution of which your correspon- 

 dent A. W. H. inipiircH, m.ay be found printed in 

 vol. i. pp. 109, 110. of the poems of Dr. Byrom, 

 well known as the author of the " Pastoral," in- 

 serted with nmch commendation by Addison iu 



