356 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°* S. IX. May 5. '60. 



Grimston Garth, Esq., had William, who married 

 Ann, daughter of Robert Thornton of East New- 

 ton ; and having, according to the monumental 

 brass still in Welwick church, and engraved by 

 Poulson, " lived lovinglv together y° space of 50 

 years in y° feare of God & love of Men, finished a 

 laire Pilgrimage to a ioyfvll Paradice" — Ann, on 

 the 28th Dec. 1618, and William on the 23rd 

 Aug. 1621. Robert Wright, by his second wife, 

 Ursula, daughter of Nicholas Rudston of Hayton, 

 and his second wife Jane, daughter of Sir William 

 Mallory of Studley, Knt. (liv. 1589), had issue, 

 1. John, the Gunpowder Plot conspirator, bap- 

 tized at Welwick 16th Jan. 1568, who married 

 and had issue, as appears by the Welwick regis- 

 ter ; 2. Christopher, attainted in 1605, and three 

 daughters. 



The arms on the brass in AYelwick church are : 

 arg. a fess chequy or and az. between three eagles' 

 heads, erased, sab. quartering 1 az. three crescents 

 or, for Ryther (Barons Ryther temp. Edw. I.) 2. . . . 

 a lion rampant. F. R. R. 



Gumption (2 nd S. ix. 125. 188. 275.) — Jon 

 Bee (John Badcock), in his Dictionary of the Va- 

 rieties of Life, or Lexicon Balatronicum, 12mo. 

 1823, says that — 



"A general uppislmess to things, and being down to 

 the most ordinary transactions of life, is gumption; and he 

 who knows what the world would be at is gumptious." 



The same authority farther says, that, 

 "A knowing sort of Humbug, is Humcfumptious." 

 Grose, in his Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar 

 Tongue, ed. 1823, defines gumption or 7-umgump- 

 tion to be " docility, comprehension, and saga- 

 city." In this signification the word is vulgarly 

 used in Warwickshire ; indeed, almost as an exact 

 equivalent with 7ious, nousy ; a person not charac- 

 terised by this " uppislmess " or "downishness," — 

 for these apparently opposite terms are inter- 

 changeable (see Edgworth's Irish Bulls, chap, x.) 

 *■» is said to be " gumptionless." The word is, 

 perhaps, not much older than the century. 



The adverbs compte, comptiiis, in the sense of 

 neatly, orderly, are used by Aulus Gellius, (lib. 

 vii. cap. 3.), &c. 



But is it not from a rearer source, and with re- 

 gard to an altogether different signification, that we 

 are to look for the origin and etymology of the word, 

 as popularly used in the sense above-mentioned ? 

 In the language of art, the term gumption is in 

 common use to denote one of those gellied vehicles, 

 or megilps, which are used by the artist to tem- 

 per, dilute, and promote the drying of his colours, 

 and which, when so termed, is understood to be a 

 compound of acetate of lead, linseed-oil, and mas- 

 tie-varnish. It is so defined in Field's Rudiments of 

 the Painters' Art, Weale, 1 850, p. 1 40. ; and without 

 searching for it in the older treatises on the sub- 

 ject, I find it alluded to, as a term well known, in 



the Introduction to the Art of Painting, SfC, by J. 

 Cawse, 8vo., 1822, where the author speaks of 

 " the ill effects of the nostrums in the shape of 

 megelps, gumtions, impastoes," SfC. Here we have 

 gumtion without the p, and thus, remembering 

 that its principal constituent is "-Mm-mastic, an d 

 that its appearance and consistence is gummy, I 

 think that we may reasonably surmise, — not 

 thinking it worth while to travel to the "rivers of 

 Damascus" when the Jordan is close at hand, — 

 that it simply means the act of gumming, or paint- 

 ing in giim, as creation means the art of creating. 

 Now, a colour not drying, or "bearing out" well 

 on the canvass, would be said not to be used with 

 gumtion, and the artist would be spoken of, or to, 

 as not appearing to possess this valuable aid. 

 Hence the term may have got into the language 

 of every-day life, and one. acting his part with 

 skill, and doing his work cleverly, may be said to 

 have plenty of gumtion about him, just as he has a 

 varnish of manners, or a veneer of learning. 



William Bates. 

 Edgbaston. 



MiiteTlmtouit. 

 BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES 



WANTED TO PUBCHASB. 



Particulars of Price, &c, of the following Books to be sent direct to 

 the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and ad- 

 dresses are given below. 



Avni-ai, R roister, 1732 to 1830, or any odd volumes. 

 Colonial Ciu-rch Chronicle, January and April, 1859. 

 Jenan's Infant Baptism. 

 Gbosb's Antiquities in Enoland and "Wales. 8 Vols. 



in Irklanu ami Scotland. 4 Vols. 8vo. 



Newton's PniNcinA in French, by Madame de Chartelet, with Notes 



by Clairaut. 

 Sacred Poems for Mourners. Fcap. 



Stradlino's Ijett^rs in tue Time op Queen Elizabeth. 

 Newman's Parochial Sermons. Vol. IV. 8vo. 



Wanted by Messrs. Sivinglons, Waterloo Place. 



Smith 's(Henrt) Sermons. 4to. 1675. 



Wonted by Z>. Kelly, Bookseller, 53. Market Street, Manchester. 



flatati to CatTc£p0iitiCitte. 



Weave unavoidably compelled to postpone km ' ourNoteeon 



Books, including Hayes* very interesting Arctic Boat Journey: Cosmo 

 Junes" Scotland in the Middle Aces; dow we spent the Autumn, &c. 



The Secretary of the Royal Shakspfare Club. Can any corre- 

 spondent/avow us with Ins name and address? 



A. B.R. The line is from Borbonius. See "X. & Q." 1st S. i. 231. 

 419. 68. r ). The very liberal and utgt nious suggestion of OUT correspondent's 

 second communication has been superseded by the explanation ; 

 The Athenxum of Saturday last. 



E.S. (Soho.) The Index to our \st Series will furnish our cort'.spxn- 

 dentwith amass oj i ■■ m the Curji_w,$c.,andon the Litera- 



ture of Bells generally. Application should be made to the Keeper 

 Begalia. 



Clammild. Our correspondent will. find a tetter addressed to Clam- 

 mild at the Athenaeum Club. 



R. S. will find his Query respecting Ludlam'a Doc solved in our \§i 

 51 ries, eis vxll as t/> ojnis ■ Hon* 



J. W. Only one volume of Wood's Athens was published by tlw Ec~ 

 • fesiasttcal J/istory Society, who published also the English and Irish 



J', of- r Bonis, and Strupe's Cranmer. 



Erratum.— 2nd S. ix. p. 315. col. ii. 1. 24. for "Juan" read 

 " Tun^rr 



11 Notes and Queries" is published at noon on Friday, and is also 

 issued in Monthly Parts. The subscription for Stamped Copies for 

 Six Months forwarded direct from the Publishers ^including the Half- 

 yearly Index) is \\s.\d., which may be paid by Post Office Order in 

 favour of Messrs. Bell and Daxdt,186. Fleet Street, E.C.j to whom 

 all Communications for the Editor should be addressed. 



