THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING IS IN THE EATING!

That James I. was a pedant is well known to all literary men; but that he also professed a knowledge of the culinary art, may have been thought unworthy of a page in history. Buckingham, his favourite, was not only a regular bon vivant, but availed himself of his royal master's penchant as one of the means of securing that favour which he ultimately enjoyed. It happened one day, when dining with Buckingham, that a discussion on the merits of various viands took place, some of the most costly and delicious then being before them; one of which was particularly recommended by Buckingham to his Majesty as being superior to any other. "It may be so, Steenie,' ,"* replied the king, "but the prufe of a gude thing is in the eating on't, so here's at it!"

THROWING A TUB TO THE WHALE.

The Greenland vessels, and indeed the South Sea vessels, are sometimes (especially after stormy weather) so surrounded with whales, that the situation of the crew becomes dangerous. When this is the case, it is usual to throw out a tub in order to divert their attention; when the marine monsters amuse themselves in tossing this singular sort of a plaything into the air, to and fro, as children do a shuttlecock. Their attention being drawn, every sail is hoisted, and the vessel pursues its course to its destination. Hence came the saying, "Throwing a Tub to the Whale!"

THE LAWYERS' PATRON!

Saint Evona, a lawyer of Britain, went to Rome to entreat the Pope to give the lawyers a patron; the Pope replied, that he knew of no Saint not disposed of to some other profession. His Holiness proposed, however, to Saint Evona, that he should go round the church of St. John de Lateran blindfold, and after saying a certain number of ave-marias, the first saint he laid his hand on should be his patron. This the good old lawyer undertook, and at the end of his ave-marias stopped at the altar of St. Michael, where he laid hold, not of the Saint, but unfortunately of the Devil, under the Saint's feet, crying out, "This is our Saint, let him be our patron!" Ben Jonson was once going through a churchyard in Surrey, and seeing some poor people weeping over a grave, asked one of the women why they wept. "Oh," said she, "we have lost our precious lawyer, Justice Randall; he kept us all in peace, and always was so good, as to keep us from going to law; the best man that ever lived." Well," said Ben Jonson, "I will give you an epitaph to write upon his tomb:

"God works wonders now and then,

Here lies a lawyer, an honest man."

* A familiar name by which James used to address Buckingham.

AS MERRY AS A GREEK!

This proverb obtained existence since the subjugation of the country by Mahomet II., in 1455. Patrick Gordon, in a work published seventy-seven years ago, thus writes-"The Greeks (most famous of old both for arms and arts, and every thing else that's truly valuable) are so wonderfully degenerated from their forefathers, that instead of those excellent qualities, there is nothing to be seen among them but the very reverse. There is, nevertheless, no people more jovial and merrily disposed, being so much given to singing and dancing that it is now become a proverbial saying, 'As merry as a Greek.””

MERRYANDREW.

Although Strutt, in his Sports and Pastimes, has several allusions to Merryandrews, he does not attempt to explain the origin of the term. Hearne, in his Benedictus Abbas (tom. i. Præf. p. 50. ed. Oxon. 1735, as quoted by Warton in his English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 74. ed. 1840), speaking of the well-known Andrew Borde, gives it as his opinion that this facetious physician gave rise to the name of MERRYANDREW, the fool on the mountebank's stage: "Twas from the Doctor's method of using such speeches at markets and fairs, that in after times those that imitated the like humorous, jocose language, were styled MERRYANDREWS, a term much in vogue on our stages."

COCK AND BULL STORY.

The following notice of this phrase occurs in The Universal Character, by which all the Nations in the World may understand one another's Conceptions, reading out of one Common Writing their own Mother Tongues, &c. By Cave Beck, M.A. Lond. 1657.-"The Egyptians of old had a symbolical way of writing by emblems and pictures, which might be read by other nations instructed in their wisdom, but was so hard to learn, and tedious in the practice, that letters soon justled them out of the world. Besides, most of their hieroglyphicks were so catachrestical (the picture showing one thing to the eye, and a quite different sense imposed upon it), that they justified the painter who drew a misshapen cock upon a signboard, and wrote under it 'This is a bull.""

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND!

The Diamond is the hardest substance in nature, and hence there is no way of grinding or polishing diamonds, but by acting upon them with their own powder, which is obtained by laborious rubbing of them one against another. Hence the phrase of "Diamond cut Diamond," so generally applied when cunning and dexterity come in contact.

PUT A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK, AND HE'LL RIDE TO THE

DEVIL!

A century ago, there existed in Scotland a class of privileged persons, or Beggars, called Blue-gowns. These itinerants were a very hardy race, and from the knowledge they attained of the country from their ramblings, were often employed as messengers. Every village and every mansion had its Blue-gown; the secrets of the laird and of his fair daughter were alike known to him. In every case of importance, whether to the magistracy, to the midwife, or to the post-office, the Blue-gown was the Mercury employed. Every cross-cut, bypath, and winding of the country, was better known to him than it was to any of the Scottish lieges; indeed, he was the oracle of the locality in which he vegetated, -the lover's messenger, the laird's confidant, and the gossip's chronicler. His privileges were also greater than any; for what would get the Blue-gown reprimanded, would get another transported. In his ramblings he did not always use his own extremities, but would sometimes make free with a neighbour's horse, or when he could not do that, would avail himself of one of the half-wild stragglers with which Scotland abounded at that period. In fact, when the Blue-gown was supposed to be in the north, he would be in the west; and when he was considered to be on some distant errand, he would suddenly make his appearance before the astonished parties. Of course, his knowledge of the cross country, and his four-legged assistant, gave him this celerity. Hence, when the laird wanted a special messenger, Bluegown was employed, and "Put the beggar on horseback!" was the charge given, and whence originated the common saying,"Put a beggar on horseback, and he will ride to the devil!"

GRINNING LIKE A CHESHIRE CAT.

This phrase owes its origin to the unhappy attempts of a sign painter of that country to represent a lion rampant, which was the crest of an influential family, on the sign-boards of many of the inns. The resemblance of these lions to cats caused them to be generally called by the more ignoble name. A similar case is to be found in the village of Charlton, between Pewsey and Devizes, Wiltshire. A public-house by the roadside is commonly known by the name of The Cat at Charlton. The sign of the house was originally a lion or tiger, or some such animal, the crest of the family of Sir Edward Poore.

HE IS GONE TO POT!

A tailor of Samarcand, living near the gate that led to the burying-place, had by his shopboard an earthen Pot hanging

on a nail, into which he threw a little stone when any corpse was carried by; and at the end of every moon he counted the contents of his pot, in order to ascertain the number of the deceased. At length the tailor died himself; and some time after one that was unacquainted with his death, observing his shop to be deserted, inquired what was become of him. One of the neighbours answered, "The tailor is gone to the Pot as well as the rest."

AS DRUNK AS DAVID'S SOW !

A common saying, which took its rise from the following circumstance :-David Lloyd, a Welshman, who kept an alehouse at Hereford, had a living sow with six legs, which was greatly resorted to by the curious: he had also a wife much addicted to drunkenness, for which he used sometimes to give her due correction. One day, David's wife having taken a cup too much, and being fearful of the consequence, turned out the sow, and laid down to sleep herself sober. Company coming to see the sow, David ushered them into the stye, saying, "There is a sow for you! Did any of you ever see such another?"—all the while supposing the sow to have been there. To which some of the company, seeing the state the woman was in, replied, "That it was the drunkennest sow that had ever been beheld;"-whence the woman was ever after called "David's Sow."

MIND YOUR P'S AND Q'S.

This expression arose from the ancient custom of hanging a slate behind the alehouse door, on which was written P or Q (i. e., Pint or Quart) against the name of each customer, according to the quantity which he had drunk, and which was not expected to be paid for till the Saturday evening, when the wages were settled.

The expression so similar to schoolboys of "going tick," may perhaps be traced to this, a tick or mark being put for every glass

of ale.

GIVE US A TOAST!

It happened on a public day at Bath, that a celebrated beauty of those times was in the cross-bath, and one of the crowd of her admirers took a glass of the water in which the fair one stood, and drank health to the company. There was in the place a gay fellow, half-fuddled, who offered to jump in, and swore," Tho' he liked not the liquor, he would have the Toast!" He was opposed in his resolution; yet this whim gave foundation to the present honour, which is done to the lady or gentleman we mention in our liquors, and has ever since been called a Toast.

CHRIST-CROSSE A.

In Tatham's Fancie's Theater, 12mo, 1640, is a poem in praise of sack, wherein the following lines occur:

"The very children, ere they scarce can say
Their Pater Noster, or their Christ crosse A,
Will to their Parents prattle and desire

To taste that Drinke which Gods doe so admire."

The alphabet was so designated, because in the old primers a cross was prefixed to it. Nares tells us that in French it was called Croix de par Dieu: and upon reference to Cotgrave for an expression for that term, we find, "The Christ's-cross-row ; or the hornbook wherein a child learns it."

LADY IN THE STRAW.

The situation of a "Lady in the Straw" has something in it pleasing and dignified; she commands at once our admiration and respect. It has puzzled many to know from whence this expression took its rise; others have attributed it to, and which is most probably correct, the state of the blessed Mary when she brought forward the child Jesus in the stable.

So late as Henry the Eighth's time, there were directions for certain persons to examine every night the Straw of the king's bed, "that no daggers might be concealed therein." Againformerly, when the kings of France quitted Paris to reside elsewhere, the straw of their beds and their chamber belonged to the poor of the hospital, Hotel Dieu. This anecdote proves that former kings of France were no better bedded than felons in the dungeons of our days.

SHE IS IN HER WILLOWS.

"The Willow," old Fuller says, "is a sad tree, whereof such who have lost their love make their mourning garlands; and we know that exiles hung up their harps upon such doleful supporters. The twigs hereof are physic to drive out the folly of children. This tree delighteth in most places, and is triumphant in the Isle of Ely, where the roots strengthen their banks, and the top affords fuel for their fire. It groweth incredibly fast, it being a bye-word in this county (Cambridge), that 'the profit by willows will buy the owner a horse before that by other trees will pay for his saddle.' Let me add, that if greene ashe may burn before a queen, withered willows may be allowed to burne before a lady." The old saying, "She is in her willows," is here illustrated; it implies the mourning of a female for her love.