14
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. x. JULY 5, 1902.
of hospitality, then sought them from me. I
at once, whilst at the same time inviting him,
said to my wife, " He is bent upon boxing
Harry." 'Phrase and Fable' defines the
expression as "to save expense," quoted as
from Halliwell, 'to take care after having
been extravagant." In MR. PAGE'S instance
the woman seems to have meant she must
beg some potatoes to make up the deficiency.
MISTLETOE.
This is a very old and well-known cant phrase, used specially by commercial travel- lers. These persons are allowed a certain sum per diem for expenses, usually a liberal sum ; but in the very frequent event that, from con- vivial or other causes, the amount has in any week been overspent, it is the custom to retrench by avoiding so many of the regula- tion meals at the hotels as may bring the expenditure back to the stipulated allowance. This universal practice is called " boxing Harry." A man leaving just before the dinner hour would naturally reply to an acquaintance, "I must box Harry," and would be perfectly understood. It is rather a matter of etiquette, and considered good form on "the road," not to save money "out of expenses "; while to " box Harry " is re- garded as the proper method of adjustment. F. T. ELWORTHY.
I have good authority for stating that this phrase, in the sense of to do without, was fairly common in the neighbourhood of Sheffield some thirty-five or forty years ago.
H. P. L.
MR. PAGE will find this phrase discussed throughout vol. ii. chap. i. of George Borrow's 'Wild Wales' (London, Murray, 1862), and the information there given may be useful, although the author confesses himself unable to trace the term to its origin.
LLEWELYN LLOYD.
'A Dictionary of Words. Facts, and Phrases,' by Eliezer Edwards, published by Chatto & Windus in 1884, and the ' Slang Dictionary,' issued by the same firm in 1887, give : " Box Harry, a term with commercial travellers, implying dinner and a substantial tea at one meal in order to save expense."
EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.
JAMES ECCLESTON (9 th S. ix. 428). Mr. James Eccleston, B.A. Trinity Coll., Dublin, was appointed head master of the Sutton Coldfield Grammar School in 1842. He was a fairly popular and successful man. He published in 1847 a handsome octavo volume of 463 pages entitled 'An Introduction to
English Antiquities, intended as a Companion
to the History of England,' which he dedi-
cated to Sir Francis Lawley, Bart., and the
other trustees of Sutton Coldfield Grammar
School. In 1849 he accepted the headship of
a new educational institution in Australia,
and died on board ship before he could land.
The following is a copy of the inscription on
the tombstone in Sutton Coldfield Church-
yard :
Erected to the
Memory of James Eccleston Esquire,
For some years Head Master
of the Grammar School
of this Town, Who died Mch 8 th , 1850,
Age 34 years,
Rector of the High School
of Hobart Town Van Diemen's Land
Where he is interred.
Beneath are interred the remains
of
James Lester Eccleston Born Nov 25 th 1845, Died Mch 6 th 1849,
And of
Lucinda Maria Anna Eccleston Born Dec 5 th 1840, Died Mch 8 1849.
G. S.
AN HEUSKARIAN RARITY IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY (9 th S. viii. 378 : ix. Ill, 415). Is it correct to say "An Heuskarian " ? Even assuming the ^silent (of which I am not sure), still the article should, I hold, be a, not an, as the^ sound following the If is you, though the letters are eu. I am fully aware what a trouble the aspirate is to a Southron, but this does not affect the matter. R. B R.
"BAR SINISTER" (9 th S. ix. 64, 152, 215, 315, 376). At 9 th S. ix. 316 it is stated that the " old Princess Buckingham " died " childless in the usual signification of that word," and not only in a heraldo-legal sense. Is not this wrong 1 The Lady Catharine Darnley (daugh- ter of James II. and Catharine Sedley), whose second husband was John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, married first James, Earl of Anglesey, and had by him a daughter Catharine, born 7 January, 1700. This daughter married William Phipps, son and heir to Sir Constantino Phipps, Lord Chan- cellor of Ireland. PCONALD DIXON. 46, Marlborough Avenue, Hull.
I venture to break a lance with my old friend MR. PICK FORD. "Baton sinister de- bruised" seems to me not quite accurate. Arms may be " debruised of (or by) a baton sinister "C'brise d'un baton "). The arms, not the baton, are debruised. As to the Powlett and Orde cases, quoted by my friend, the
