my money as well as you: quick, draw your sword, and let us fight!" "Fight? we fight?" cried the other, rubbing his eyes; "no, not yet, lay down a bit, and take a nap as I have done, and then we'll fight as much as you please." O, YES! O, YES! O, YES! This cry, sometimes used by the bellmen of country towns, is a corruption of the old Norman French oyez! oyez ! oyez ! signifying, hear! hear! hear! When the French language was discontinued in our courts of law this portion of it remained. ENGLAND AND ST. GEORGE. This ancient battle cry of the English was first used by Henry II. in Ireland. Nares, in his "Glossary," observes, there is also this injunction to the English in an old art of war: "Item, that all souldiers entering into battaile, assault, skirmish, or other fraction of armes, shall have for their common crye and word, 'St. George, forward!' or, 'Upon them, St. George!' whereby the souldier is much comforted, and the enemie dismaied, by calling to minde the ancient valour of England, which with that name has so often. been victorious." Shakespeare so uses it in his "Richard III.;" he makes Richmond conclude his address to his soldiery with, "Sound, drums and trumpets, boldly and cheerfully, God, and Saint George, Richmond and victory!" So also, Richard, after he receives the news of Stanley's defection, exclaims, "Advance our standards, set upon our foes! Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George, MERRY IN THE HALL, WHEN BEARDS WAG ALL! Mr. Brand says: "In Christmas holidays the tables were all spread from the first to the last; the sirloins of beef, the minced pies, the plumb porridge, the capons, turkies, geese, and plumb puddings were all brought upon the board; every one ate heartily, and was welcome, which gave rise to the proverb, 'merry in the hall when beards wag all!"" NINE TAILORS MAKE A MAN! This saying, we believe, had its origin in the following manner :-In 1742, an orphan boy applied for alms at a fashionable tailor's shop in London, in which nine journeymen were employed. His interesting appearance opened the hearts of the benevolent gentle men of the cloth, who immediately contributed nine shillings for the relief of this little stranger. With this capital our youthful hero purchased fruit, which he retailed at a profit. Time passes on, and wealth and honour smile upon our young tradesman, so that, when he set up his carriage, instead of troubling the Heralds' College for his crest, he painted the above motto on his carriage, "Nine tailors make a man !"-" Notes and Queries." NOT FIT TO HOLD A CANDLE TO HIM! Candle-bearers preceded candle-sticks, and so did (however strange it may appear) chandeliers. Candlesticks did not come into general use until the latter end of the reign of Edward VI. Prior to that period, candles were held to, borne, or carried before, by youths expressly for that purpose. It was a situation which required tact, independent of a steady hand; hence there arose a question as to the candidates' fitness, and out of that the saying, "Not fit to hold a candle to him!" SEND HIM TO COVENTRY! The phrase of "sending to Coventry!" is by some said to have originated in the fact, that if a soldier was found to be a coward he was sent to Coventry as being a central town of England, and a place where he was least likely to be exposed to the terrors of an unfriendly army. Hutton, in his "History of Birmingham," gives a different origin to this expression, which he says arose as follows:-The day after Charles I. left Birmingham, on his march from Shrewsbury, in 1642, the Parliamentary party seized his carriages, containing the royal plate and furniture, which they conveyed for security to Warwick Castle. They apprehended all messengers and suspected persons, and frequently attacked small parties of the Royalists, whom they sent prisoners to Coventry. Hence the expression respecting a refractory person, "Send him to Coventry!"-" Notes and Queries." IT'S AN ILL WIND THAT BLOWS NO ONE GOOD! Antiquaries generally agree that this phrase has a Cornish origin. The coast of Cornwall is, perhaps, the most disastrous to the mariner of any, and what makes it still more lamentable, the Cornish people (not even excepting the more intelligent classes) look upon the plunder of a wreck as a birthright. If the wind blows hard, thousands are immediately on the look-out, impatient for their prey, and if any one makes the common-place remark of, "It's boisterous weather, neighbour," or, "It's a boisterous morning;" the very general reply is, "It's an ill wind that blows Cornwall no luck!" and from hence arose the common saying, "It's an ill wind that blows no one good!" WE'LL NOT CARRY COALS! This saying, so common in the northern counties, takes its origin from the following anecdote :-"Three soldiers in the fifteenth century, a German, a Scot, and an Englishman, being condemned to be hanged in the Low Countries for plunder, their lives were begged— the "benefit of clergy" in that part of the world—by persons who had occasion for their services. A brickmaker saved the German's life, that he might help him in his business; and the culprit thanked his stars. The Scot was taken by a brewer; and he only covenanted that he should not be compelled to make small beer. When the Englishman's turn came, a collier appeared to demand him, dressed in the costume of the mine-grim, black, and sooty: the Briton looking at him for a time, coolly observed, that he had not been used to carry coals, and that the law had better take its course! hence came the saying, "We'll not carry coals!" half proverbially used by Shakespeare and others, to signify the uttterer would not put up with indignity. NE SUTOR ULTRA CREPIDAM. "Ne sutor ultra crepidam," (no cobbler should go beyond his last), owes its origin to this practice of |