Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/314

This page needs to be proofread.

258


NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. v. MA*, so, 1912.


ASTABTE, who wrote the note eighteen to nineteen years ago, gave one stanza of an old Jacobite song :

As I was walking through James's Park,

I met an old man in a turnip cart ;

I took up a turnip and knocked him down,

And bid him surrender King James's crown.

ASTABTE then gave as an illustration an extract from Salmon's ' Chronological His- torian ' to the effect that on 2 Aug., 1716, at Norwich Assizes, Mr. Matthew Fern was convicted of drinking the Pretender's health, and calling King George a " turnip - hougher," for which he was sentenced to pay a fine of 40 marks, to be imprisoned for one year, and to find sureties for his beha- viour for three years.

Salmon does not mention he song, which, indeed in the stanza given says nothing about a " turnip-hougher." Salmon records in the same paragraph the conviction, with the same punishment (less 20 marks), of the Rev. Mr. John St. Quintin, for " asserting that the Pretender was landed in the West with 50,000 Men, and drinking to his Health." According to the same paragraph,

" One Thomas Shirley was also convicted of saying, ' King George has no more Right to the Crown than I have,' for which he was sentenced to be whipped, and to find Sureties for his Be- haviour for 3 years."

Lecky, in his ' History of England in the Eighteenth Century,' 3rd ed., i. 210, writes of the years about 1716 :

" Innumerable ballads and pamphlets circu- lated through the country, sustaining and repre- senting the prevailing discontent."

According to ' Sobriquets and Nicknames,' by Albert R. Frey, George I. was nicknamed " The Turnip-Hoer " because, it is said, " when he first went to England, he talked of turning St. James' Park into a turnip - ground." This is given as a quotation, but without any reference.

The late Dr. Cobham Brewer, in his ' Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,' new ed., 1895, s.v. 'Turnip - Garden (The),' says that " George II. was called the ' Turnip- hougher ' (hoer)." It may be, of course, that he inherited his father's sobriquet, but little reliance can, I think, be placed on Brewer's note. The carelessness with which it was written is shown by the fact that one does not know at the end what " The Turnip -Garden " is supposed to mean ; pre sumably it is Hanover.

In my copy of Salmon, 2nd ed., 1733, the reference is p. 385. I assume that the para- graph given there is identical with that quoted from by ASTABTE.


The paragraph is reproduced verbatim in W. Toone's ' Chronological Historian/ 1826, except that " hoer " appears for " hougher." ROBERT PIEBPOINT.

ATJTHOBS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (11 S^ v. 68, 154). I have to thank MB. WAIXE- WBIGHT for the information which he gives- The lines in question, however, which it is true were quoted from memory and incor- rectly, were found not in the ' East London Church Fund Calendar,' but in the ' S. Ste- phen's (Westbourne Park) Kalendar ' for 3 August, where they are attributed simply to "Byron," without any initial. Hence my query. Is there any modern edition of the complete works of John Byrom, who was, I believe, the author of the ingenious Jacobite^ toast ? BLADUD.

(11 S. v. 90, 154.)

MB. B. W. MATZ informs me that the article entitled ' Epsom/ which appeared in. Household Words on 7 June, 1851, was by W. H. Wills and Charles Dickens. MB.. MATZ writes :

" No doubt Dickens merely put the editorial touches to it, for if the reverso was the case, the Contributors' Book, from which I gather my information, would have reversed the order of the names. .. .Since writing above I discover that ' Epsom ' appears in Wills's volume entitled ' Old Leaves gathered from Household Words,' published during Dickens's lifetime, which dis- poses of the idea that he claimed any authorship- in it."

WM. H. PEET.

KIBBY'S ' WINCHESTEB SCHOLARS ' (11 S- v. 168). In Kirby's ' Winchester Scholars,' C.F. certainly stands for " Consanguineua Fundatoris " (founder's kin), as may be inferred from pp. ix, x, though it does not occur among the ' Explanations.' p. xviii. JOHN R. MAGBATH.

Queen's College, Oxford.

The letters C.F. are the initials of " Con- sanguineus Fundatoris" (founder's kin). The descendants of the founder's sisters were given special privileges of election into Winchester College, and thence to New College, Oxford. These privileges were abolished by the first Oxford University Commission, in whose operations Win- chester College was included. C. B. M.

JONES AND BLTJNKETT (11 S. v. 29, 117). Blunkett, like the more aristocratic Plunkett. is an uncouth spelling of the surname Blankett or Blanket. K. W. HILL.

New York.