bigger in compass and thickness, as the usual bread and water heretofore named singing-cakes, which served for the use of the private mass.' It was made into small round cakes, impressed with the cross."-P. 239. Davies, in his Monuments, &c., of the Church of Durham, 1593, speaks of an almery near one of the nine altars in that cathedral, "Wherein singing-bread and wine were usually placed, at which the Sacristan caused his servant or scholar daily thereat to deliver singing-bread and wine to those who assisted in the celebration of mass." In Strype's Life of Archbishop Parker is given a certificate from the Cathedral of Canterbury, concerning thec onformity to the rites and ceremonies of the church, in which it is stated (inter alia), "For the ministering of the communion we use bread appointed by the Queen's Injunctions." A marginal note, referring to the word "bread," repeats what has been quoted, viz., that it was to resemble the singing-cakes formerly used in private masses.-Notes and Queries, vol. vi. p. 471.

STATHE.

Stathe, Staid, and Steed, are Anglo-Saxon terms, formerly applied to single fixed dwellings, or to places on the banks of rivers, where merchandise was stored up, and at which vessels could lie to receive it. In 1338, the Prior of Tynemouth let for two years, at 40s. a year, a plot of ground in Newcastle, upon which sea coal had usually been laid up, and which was at the west end of a house upon the Stathes, which in modern language is, as if one said, upon the Wharf, or upon the Quay.

SURNAMES.

In Additional MSS., British Museum, No. 5805, p. iv., Cole says: "Before surnames were in use, they were forced to distinguish one another by the addition of Fitz or Son, as John Fitz-John, or John the son of John, or John Johnson, as now in use. This was in the first Edward's time: nay, so late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in some places in France they had no surnames, but only Christian names, as the learned Monsieur Menage informs us: 'Il y a environ cent ans, à ce que dit M. Baluze, qu'à Tulle on n'avait que des noms propres, et point de surnoms.""-Menagiana, tom. i., p. 116, edit. 1729. Again, in Cole's MSS., vol. xliii. p 176, relating to a deed of the Priory of Spalding, Cole says: "One observes in this deed several particulars: first, that the Priory used a seal with an image of the Blessed Virgin, together with one of their arms; if possibly they used one of the latter sort so early as this John the Spaniard's time, in the reign, as I conceive, of King Richard I., when arms for the gentry were hardly introduced. Among the witnesses are two Simons chief, one distinguished by his complexion, and called Simon Blondus, or the Fair; the other had no name as yet to distinguish him by, and

therefore only called here another Simon.' This occasioned the introduction of surnames, and shows the necessity of them."

TAWDRY.

At the annual fair in the Isle of Ely, called St. Audrey's fair, much ordinary but showy lace was usually sold to the country lasses, and St. Audrey's lace soon became proverbial; and from that cause Tawdry, a corruption of St. Audrey, was established as a common expression to denote not only lace, but any other part of the female dress, which was much more gaudy in appearance than warranted by its real quality and value.

TERM.

Term is derived from Terminus, the heathen god of boundaries, landmarks, and limits of time. In the early ages of Christianity, the whole year was one continued term for hearing and deciding causes ; but subsequently, the daily dispensation of justice was prohibited by canonical authority, that the festival might be kept holy.

Advent and Christmas occasioned the winter vacation; Lent and Easter, the Spring; Pentecost the third; and hay-time and harvest, the long vacation, between Midsummer and Michaelmas. Each term is denominated from the festival day immediately preceding its commencement; hence we learn the term of St. Hilary, Easter, the Holy Trinity, and St. Michael. There are in each term days called dies in banco (days in bank), that is, days of appearance in common bench. They are usually about a week from each other, and have reference to some festival. All original writs are returnable on those days, and they are therefore called the return days.

TOADY.

Toady, or Toad-eater, a vulgar name for a fawning, obsequious sycophant, was first given to a gluttonous parasite, famous for his indiscriminate enjoyment and praise of all viands whatever set before him. To test his powers of stomach and complaisance, one of his patrons had a toad cooked and set before him, which he both ate and praised in his usual way.-Ogilvie's Imperial Dictionary.

TOMBSTONE.

The compound word Tombstone, which signifies a tablet on which is inscribed the virtues or peculiarities of the deceased, is derived from toma, a volume. The hillocks of earth over the majority of graves, originated from the Roman Tumuli, or Mound, which they placed over their dead, and those who are at all versed

in history, are aware that a great many of our artificial hills are the Tumuli of numbers who have been slain in battle.

VOLUME.

Volume is derived from the Latin volvo, to roll up, the ancient manner of making up books, as we find, in Cicero's time, the libraries consisted wholly of such rolls.

WALLOON.

The Body Guard of the Spanish monarch, denominated the Walloon Guard, receive their name from the Walloons, a people in the Low Countries, so called. They were famed for making and dyeing fine woollen cloths. The Duke of Alva, who was Governor of the Netherlands for Philip II. of Spain, in order to flatter those whom he ruled, selected a body guard from among the Walloons for the Spanish monarch, and gave it the appellation of the Walloon Guard, or Walloon Guards.

WHOOHE!

Whoohe! a well-known exclamation to stop a team of horses, is derived by a writer in the "Gentleman's Magazine,” 1799, from the Latin. "The exclamation used by our waggoners when they wish to stop their team for any purpose (an exclamation which it is less difficult to speak than to write, although neither is a task of great facility), is probably a legacy bequeathed us by our Roman ancestors; precisely a translation of the ancient Ohe! an interjection strictly confined to bespeaking a pause-rendered by our lexicographers, Enough! oh, enough!

WAITS.

The popular name for the music played in our streets on the nights of the Christmas Holidays is thought to be only a corruption of "wake," the common name for a nocturnal solemnity. It has been presumed that Waits in very ancient times meant Watchmen, and that they were minstrels at first attached to the King's Court, who sounded the watch every night, and prevented depredations. "This noun," says Dr. Busby, "has no singular number, and formerly signified hautboys. From the instrument its signification was, after a time, transferred to the performers themselves, who, being in the habit of parading the streets by night with their music, occasioned the name to be applied generally to all musicians who followed a similar practice."

WHIFFLER.

This word, which we so often meet with in Shakspeare's plays, is a term, Mr. Douce says, "undoubtedly borrowed from whiffle,

another name for a fife or small flute; for whifflers were originally those who preceded armies or processions, as fifers or pipers: in process of time, the word whiffler, which had always been used in the sense of a fifer, came to signify any person who went before in a procession." He observes, that Minshew defines him to be, a club or staff bearer, and that it appears whifflers carried white staves, as in the annual feast of the printers, founders, and inkmakers, as well as in funeral processions, &c.

WARDMOTE.

Wardmote is a compound of the words Ward and Mote, i. e., the Ward Court; for in London parishes are as towns, and wards as hundreds; wherefore the Ward Court resembles that of the Leet in the County: for as the latter derives its authority from the county court, so does the former from that of the Lord Mayor; as is manifest by the annual precept issued by the Lord Mayor to the several Aldermen, for holding their respective Leets for the election of proper offices in each Ward.

WHITE.

White was anciently used as a term of fondling, or endearment. In the Return from Parnassus, 1606, Amoretto's page says, "When he returns, I'll tell twenty admirable lies of his hawks; and then I shall be his little rogue, his white villain, for a whole week after." [Act ii., sc. 6.] Doctor Busby used to call his favourite scholars, his White Boys. Various other authorities might be cited.

WIFE.

This term, appropriated to a man's better-half, as she is termed, is derived from the Saxon husewyf, or housewife-signifying one who has the superintendence of household affairs-wyf, or wyf, but as it is now spelt wife, implying a matron.

WINE.

This appellation of the "juice of the grape," is derived from the Saxon word wyn. October was called Wyn-monath; and albeit they had not anciently wines made in Germany, yet in this season had they them from divers countries adjoining.

WITCH.

Witch is derived from the Dutch witchelen, which signifies whinnying and neighing like a horse: in a secondary sense, also, to foretell and prophesy; because the Germans, as Tacitus informs us, used to divine and foretell things to come, by the whinnying and neighing of their horses. His words are, hinnitu et fremitu.

WAPENTAKE.

There have been several conjectures as to the origin of this word; one of which is, that anciently musters were made of the Armour and Weapons of the inhabitants of every hundred, and from those they could not find sufficient pledges of their good abearing, their weapons were taken away, and given to others; whence it is said this word is taken. Wilkins, an old writer, says, "In England every man was a soldier, and the county meetings were styled 'wapen-takes,' from the custom of going armed to the assembly, and of touching the spear of the magistrate, to show the readiness of each man for action. Slaves, he says, were not suffered to carry arms about them; the very gift of a weapon conferred freedom. On the other hand, the freeman never stirred abroad without his spear; and laws were actually made to guard against the damages occasioned by the careless bearer."

The word is of Saxon origin, says another authority, the meaning whereof is the same as hundred, a division of a county so called, because the inhabitants did give up their arms in token of subjection. With King Alfred the dividing of this kingdom into counties originated, and of giving the government of each county to a sheriff; these were afterwards divided into hundreds (some say from its containing a hundred families, or from its furnishing a hundred able men for the king's wars), of which the constable was the chief officer. These grants were at first made by the king to particular persons, but they are not now held by grant or prescription, their jurisdiction being devolved to the county court; a few of them only excepted, that have been by privilege annexed to the crown, or granted to some great subjects, and still remain in the nature of a franchise.

WINDFALL.

Arvine, in his Cyclopædia, gives the following plausible reason for the origin of this term, now in such common use.-"Some of the nobility of England, by the tenure of their estates, were forbidden felling any trees in the forests upon them, the timber being reserved for the use of the royal navy. Such trees as fell without cutting, were the property of the occupant. A tornado was therefore a perfect godsend, in every sense of the word, to those who had occupancy of extensive forests; and the windfall was sometimes of very great value."