The Eighteenth Century 63 



Sailors! — As to dirty faces, there is an Ocean around us, to wash 

 them clean; and there is never danger of taking cold from an immer- 

 sion in salt water." 



(Gentleman's Magazine: and Historical Chronicle. London, 1792. 

 V. 71 [62], p. 412-414.) 



Sylvanus Urban ranks high as an editor closely in touch with the public taste of his day. Wit- 

 ness the 137-year record of his London publication that gave commoners as well as the gentry and 

 nobility so many things they hked to read, light in touch as well as impressively serious and 

 profound and informative. 



He spread this story before his readers, as requested by "A Rambler" in May, 1792, ( vol. 62, 

 p. 412-414) headed "Ceremony used on board ships crossing the Line." So far as I know he never 

 told how happy he was when The Daily Advertiser newspaper of New York lifted the story 

 entirely, though with a few minor changes of no real importance, on the 30th of April, 1793 

 (v. 9, no. 60, p. 2, col. 2) and with never a word of acknowledgment, not one bit of thanks 

 to Sylvanus. 



George Laurence Gomme thought the story worth including also in the "Manners and Customs" 

 volume of his The Gentleman's Magazine Library: being a classified collection of the chief con- 

 tents of the Gentleman's Magazine from 1731 to 1868 (p. 178-180) -with no changes except for 

 modernizing the spelling and using our round "s" instead of the long. 



This sprightly tale seems probably — undoubtedly? — from the hand of a woman vsT:iting to 

 family or intimate friend on her second trip to India on one of the John Company ships carrying 

 troops, passengers, cargo. 



"Callibogus" may send some of us to our dictionaries. The Oxford dismisses it simimarily as 

 "American beverage," vidth 1783 and Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue as source, nothing 

 beyond that. Grose's use of it seems to show that the "vulgar" knew it well for some time before he 

 printed it. And one would think that the letter writer would scarcely have used it here so casually 

 and as so weU-known if it had not rung a famihar note to her ears and those her letter went to. 



The Chicago Dictionary of American English goes back to 1758 under "Calibogus" and 

 Nathaniel Ames in The Dedham [Massachusetts] Historical Register, v. 1, p. 16, 1890, as giving 

 1758 for the almanac birth date of the "Calabogus" Club. 



"A Rambler" in his introduction asks "from what occasion it arose," meaning custom arose . . . 

 whoever he was, he had a wise head; for long voyages require a bustle every now and then to 

 keep the devil out of the sailors heads ... it would be good practice to pipe all hands to drum, 

 fife, and dance; for what can be more harmless than kicking bad thoughts out of the head by 

 the chearful sound of the drum, exhilarated with a well-timed glass of grog, or more salutary 

 callibogus ... ?" 



The speculation of 1792 is quite as much speculation in 1955 as when first voiced, is it not? 



"Swearing at Highgate" is explained in the Encyclofsedia Britannica, 11th edition (v. 13, 

 p. 455 ) : "In the time of stage-coaches a custom was introduced of making ignorant persons 

 believe that they required to be sworn and admitted to the freedom of the Highgate before 

 being allowed to pass the gate, the fine of admission being a bottle of wine." 



1796 



In the afternoon of this day [27 January] we passed the tropic. In the course 

 of the morning saw several tropical birds, and in the afternoon a ceremony, 

 with which the sailors always treat their brethren that have not passed the 

 line, was performed. It is a very old custom, and practised by, I beheve, all 

 nations. One of the sailors is made to personate Neptune, who is supposed 

 to rise from the sea, accompanied by his wife Âmphitrite. They are clad in a 



