Part 29

=Wayzgoose.= A printers’ summer outing, so called from the wayz or stubble goose which, when the outing took place later in the season, was the invariable dinner dish. The term _wayz_ is from the Dutch _wassen_ and German _waschen_, to grow; hence a goose that has fattened among the stubble after the harvest has been gathered.

=Wedding Breakfast.= The nuptial banquet had in Catholic days a real significance, when, having fasted from midnight, the entire party attended Mass, and partook of the Communion. At the close of the marriage ceremony the priest regaled them with wine, cakes, and sweetmeats in the church porch by way of breakfast.

=Wednesday.= In the Scandinavian mythology this was “Wodin’s Day,” or that set apart for the worship of Odin or Wodin, the god of magic and the inventor of the Arts.

=Wedgwood Ware.= The style of pottery invented or introduced by Josiah Wedgwood in 1775.

=Weeping Cross.= A cross set up on the way to a churchyard where the coffin was rested for a brief space while prayers were offered up for the soul of the deceased. The wailing of the women generally interrupted the proceedings.

=Weeping Philosopher.= Heraclitus of Ephesus, who voluntarily embittered the declining years of his existence by weeping over the folly of mankind.

=Wedlock Street.= After Welbeck Abbey, the seat of the Duke of Portland, the great ground landlord.

=Wellingborough.= Anciently “Wellingbury,” on account of the medicinal wells or springs which abound in its vicinity.

=Wellington.= This province and capital city of New Zealand received the name of the Duke of Wellington.

=Wellington Boots.= After the Duke of Wellington.

=Wellington Street.= In honour of the Duke of Wellington, because it leads to Waterloo Bridge.

=Wells Street.= A corruption of “Well Street,” after Well in Yorkshire, the seat of the Strangeways family, from whom Lady Berners, owner of the estate, was descended.

=Welsher.= The name borne by an absconding bookmaker on a race-course was originally a “Welshman,” in allusion to the old ditty: “Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief.”

=Welsh Rabbit.= A popular corruption of “Welsh Rarebit.”

=Wesleyan Methodists.= The name borne by that portion of the Methodist sect which worship in chapels and so-called churches, which was far from the intention of their founder. See “Primitive Methodists.”

=Wesleyans.= The followers of John Wesley, or “Methodists” in general.

=Wessex.= The great kingdom of the _West Seaxe_, or West Saxons, under the Heptarchy.

=Westbourne Park.= The district formerly traversed by the west bourne or stream between “Kilburn” and “Bayswater.”

=West Indies.= Those islands in the Caribbean Sea, which Columbus imagined to form part of the great unknown India, as approached from the west.

=Westminster.= This name has been from time immemorial given to the district of which the ancient fane tautologically styled “Westminster Abbey” is the centre. One does not speak of “York Minster Abbey” or “Lincoln Minster Abbey.” A minster is a great church in connection with a monastery. Since the Reformation the abbeys have been swept away, the Minsters remain. The earliest mention of “the West Minster” occurs in a Saxon charter of 785, in contradistinction to “the East Minster” that stood in those days somewhere on Tower Hill. All trace of this has been lost, yet it is possible that St Katherine’s Hospital, now displaced by the docks of the same name, grew out of it.

=Westmorland.= The land peopled by the Westmorings, or those of the Western moors.

=Weymouth Street.= After Lord Weymouth, the son-in-law of the ground landlord, the Duke of Portland.

=What’s the Damage?= This expression arose out of the damages awarded to a successful litigant in the Law Courts.

=Whig Bible.= So called owing to the substitution of the word “placemakers” for “peacemakers.”

=Whigs.= An abbreviation of “Whigamores,” first applied to the Scottish Covenanters in consequence of a rising among the peasantry among the Lowland moors called the “Whigamore Raid,” and finally to that political party which strove to exclude the Duke of York, James II., from the throne because he was a Catholic. The term “Whigamore” arose out of the twin-syllabic cry “Whig-am!” of the teamsters and ploughmen of those districts of Scotland to drive their horses.

=Whisky.= An English form of the Irish “Uisquebaugh.”

=Whitby.= So called by the Danes when they took possession of this abbey town on the cliffs, literally “white town.”

=Whitebait.= On account of its silvery whiteness and because it was at one time used exclusively for baiting crab and lobster pots.

=Whiteboys.= A band of Irish insurgents who wore white smocks over their ordinary garments.

=Whitechapel.= As in the case of Westminster, this name now expresses a district, and “Whitechapel Church” sounds ridiculous. Its ancient designation was the “White Chapel of St Mary.”

=Whitecross Street.= See “Redcross Street.”

=Whitefriars Street.= In olden days this was the western boundary of the Carmelite or White Friars’ Monastery, built in 1245.

=Whitehall.= The central portion of the wide thoroughfare between Charing Cross and Westminster. This received its name from the Banqueting-hall of white stone, originally part of a palace designed by Cardinal Wolsey for the London house of the Archbishop of York, and now the United Service Museum.

=White Hart.= An inn sign from the device of Richard II.

=White Hart Street.= After an ancient inn, “The White Hart,” removed during the reign of George I.

=White House.= The official residence of the President of the United States at Washington, so called because it is built of freestone painted white.

=White Quakers.= An offshoot of the Quaker sect, about 1840, who adopted white clothing.

=White Queen.= Mary Queen of Scots, who appeared in white mourning for her murdered husband, Lord Darnley.

=White Lion.= An inn sign from the badge of Edward IV. as Earl of March.

=White Sea.= So called because during six months out of each year it is frozen over and covered with snow.

=White Swan.= An inn sign complimentary to Edward III. and Henry IV., whose badge it was.

=Whit Sunday.= A corruption of “White Sunday,” so called from the earliest days of Christianity in England because the catechumens or newly baptised attended Mass, and received the Sacrament dressed in white, on the Feast of Pentecost.

=Whittington Avenue.= After Sir Richard Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London, who resided in this neighbourhood.

=Whittington Stone.= The name of a tavern on Highgate Hill, opposite to which is, according to tradition, the identical stone on which Dick Whittington, the future Lord Mayor of London, rested while listening to the bells of Bow Church chiming across the pleasant fields.

=Wicked Bible.= Wilfully or otherwise the word “not” is omitted from this edition of the Scriptures, so that the passage in Exodus xx. 14. reads: “Thou shalt commit adultery.”

=Wide-awake.= The slang term for a soft felt hat, because, having no nap, it must always be wide awake.

=Widow Bird.= A corruption of “Whydaw Bird,” from the country in West Africa where it is found.

=Wigmore Street.= In common with several neighbouring streets, this perpetuates one of the titles of Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, who in 1717 was created Baron Harley of Wigmore in Herefordshire, the ground landlord.

=Wilburites.= The orthodox or strict members of the Society of Friends in America under John Wilbur, as opposed to the “Hicksite Friends.”

=William the Lion.= The surname of this King of the Scots was due to his selection of a lion rampant for his crest.

=Willis’s Rooms.= See “Almack’s.”

=Will Scarlet.= A euphonism invented by Robin Hood for William Scathelocke, the real name of one of his merry men.

=Wilton.= See “Wiltshire.”

=Wiltshire.= A corruption of “Wiltonshire,” or the Shire of Wilton, which name in its original form, “Willy Town,” expressed the town on the River Willy.

=Wimbledon.= Originally _Wibbadon_, expressing the Celtic for a low-lying meadow or common belonging to one Wibba.

=Wimpole Street.= After the country seat of the Harleys on the Herefordshire and Cambridgeshire border.

=Winchester Yard.= From Winchester House, the ancient town mansion of the Bishops of Winchester.

=Windermere.= Expresses the Anglo-Saxon for “clear water lake.”

=Winchester.= Inhabited by the _Belgæ_, this stronghold, called by them _Cær-Gwent_, “fortified enclosure on the plain,” was after the Roman invasion made a great centre of military activity under the Latinised name of _Venta Belgarum_, which the West Saxons changed into _Wintancæstre_, “the camp town of the Winte,” whence its modern name has been derived.

=Windmill Street.= A name suggestive of peaceful rusticity. The thoroughfare in Finsbury so denominated marks the site of three windmills that were erected on a mound formed by the deposition of a thousand cart-loads of human bones from the Charnel-house of St Paul’s Cathedral by order of the Lord Protector Somerset in 1549.

=Windsor.= Anciently described as “Windlesora,” the winding shore.

=Wine Office Court.= From an ancient office where wine licences were issued.

=Winnipeg.= Indian for “lake of the turbid water.”

=Wirepuller.= In allusion to the manipulators of the figures at a marionette show.

=Wisconsin.= Indian for “wild-rushing channel.”

=Within an Ace.= Since the ace in a pack of cards is the unit of pips, he who accomplishes anything by the merest shave does so within a single mark.

=Wizard of the North.= Sir Walter Scott, so called on account of the enchantment which, through his novels, he exercised over the inhabitants of North Britain.

=Woburn Square.= After Woburn Abbey, the ancestral seat of the Duke of Bedford.

=Woke up the Wrong Passenger.= An Americanism for having made a mistake in the individual. This originated in the Mississippi steamboats, the stewards on board of which often call up the wrong passenger at the stopping-places by night.

=Wolverhampton.= Anciently “Wulfrune’s Hampton,” so called from the church and college of St Peter founded by Wulfrune, the sister of King Edgar, in 996.

=Wolverine State.= Michigan, on account of the prairie wolves which formerly infested this region. Its people are called “Wolverines.”

=Wood Green.= In old days this was a glade in Hornsey Wood.

=Wood Street.= In this locality congregated the turners of wooden cups, dishes, and measures of olden times.

=Woolly Heads.= An Americanism for the Negroes of the southern states.

=Woolsack.= The seat reserved for the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords, being a large sack stuffed with wool, and covered with scarlet cloth, its object being to keep him in constant reminder of the great importance of the woollen manufacture in England.

=Woolwich.= Anciently described as _Hylwich_, “hill town.”

=Worcester.= Known to the Anglo-Saxons as _Hwicwara ceaster_, “the stronghold of the Huiccii.” The latter portion of the name, however, proves that this must have been a Roman encampment; the _Huiccii_ were a Celtic tribe.

=Worcester College.= Originally known as Gloucester Hall, this Oxford foundation was in 1714 enlarged and endowed as a college by Sir Thomas Cooksey of Astley, Worcestershire, who, not desiring his name to be handed down to posterity, called it after his native county.

=Work a Dead Horse.= A journeyman’s phrase implying that he has to set to work on the Monday morning upon that for which he has already been paid on the previous Saturday.

=World’s End.= A famous house of entertainment during the reign of Charles II., so called on account of its immense distance in those days out of London. Like many other places of outdoor resort, it exists now only as a public-house.

=Wormwood Street.= From the bitter herbs which sprang up along the Roman Wall in ancient times.

=Worsted.= After a town in Norfolk of the same name where this fabric was of old the staple industry.

=Writes like an Angel.= Dr Johnson said of Oliver Goldsmith: “He writes like an angel and talks like a fool.” The allusion was to Angelo Vergeco, a Greek of the sixteenth century, noted for his beautiful handwriting.

=Wych Street.= This now vanished thoroughfare was anciently _Aldwych_, “Old Town,” so called because it led from St Clement Danes Church to the isolated settlement in the parish of St Giles’s-in-the-Fields, which in our time is known as Broad Street, Bloomsbury.

=Wye.= From the Welsh _gwy_, water.

=Wyndham College.= The joint foundation at Oxford of Nicholas and Dorothy Wyndham of Edge and Merefield, Somersetshire, in 1611.

X

=X Ale.= The original significance of the X mark on beer barrels was that the liquor had paid a ten shilling-duty. Additional X’s are simply brewers’ trade marks, denoting various degrees of strength over that of the first X.

=XL’ers.= See “Exellers.”

=XXX’s.= See “Three Exes.”

Y

=Yale University.= After Elihu Yale, formerly Governor of the East Indian Company’s settlement at Madras, whose princely benefactions to the Collegiate School of the State of Connecticut, founded by ten Congregational ministers at Killingworth in 1701, warranted the removal of that seat of learning to New Haven fifteen years later.

=Yang-tse-Kiang.= Chinese for “great river.”

=Yankee.= A term popularly applied at first to one born in the New England states of North America owing to the fact that _Yankees_, _Yangkies_ and similar perpetrations were the nearest approaches to the word “English,” which the Indians of Massachusetts were capable of. Afterwards it came to be applied to the people of the continent generally.

=Yankee Jonathan.= The nickname of Jonathan Hastings, a farmer of Hastings, Mass., on account of his addiction to the word “Yankee,” used adjectively for anything American. Thus he would say “a Yankee good cider,” “a Yankee good horse,” etc.

=Yankee State.= Ohio, so called by the Kentuckians on account of its many free institutions.

=Yarmouth.= The port situated at the mouth of the Yare. See “Yarrow.”

=Yarn.= A spun-out story bears this name in allusion to the thread out of which cloth is woven.

=Yarrow.= From the Celtic _garw_, rough, rapid.

=Yeddo.= Japanese for “river entrance.”

=Yellow Book.= A French Government report, so called from its yellow cover.

=Yellow Boy.= Slang for a sovereign.

=Yellow Jack.= A yellow flag which is flown from a vessel in quarantine and from naval hospitals as a warning of yellow fever or other contagious disease on board. See “Union Jack.”

=Yellow Press.= By this term is meant that section of the Press which is given up to creating a scare or sensation. It has been derived from what in the United States bears the name of “Yellow-covered Literature,” consisting of trashy sensation novels, published chiefly for railway reading.

=Yellow Sea.= From the tinge imparted to its waters by the immense quantities of alluvial soil poured into them by the Yang-tse-Kiang River.

=Yendys.= The literary sobriquet of Sydney Dobell, being simply his Christian name reversed.

=Yeoman’s Service.= Originally that rendered to the State in time of war by volunteers of the Guilds or City Companies. The term “Yeoman” is derived from the German _gemein_, common, and applied in the sense of enlistment for the common good.

=Yokohama.= Japanese for “Cross Shore.”

=York.= The _Eboracum_ of the Romans, a Latinised rendering of the British _Eurewic_ (pronounced _Yorric_), “a row of houses on the Eure,” which river is now called the Ouse.

=York and Albany.= An omnibus stage in Camden Town named after Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, the second son of George III.

=York Gate.= The water gate, still standing, built for York House, of which no other vestige remains.

=York Road.= This long road, parallel to the Great Northern Railway at King’s Cross, owes its designation to the circumstance that the line in question was originally styled the “London and York Railway.”

=Yorkshire Stingo.= A public-house sign indicating that the celebrated ale of this name, due to the sting or sharpness of its taste, is sold on the premises.

=York Street.= In Covent Garden, after James, Duke of York, the second son of Charles I., and brother of Charles II., subsequently James II. In Westminster, from the erstwhile residence of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, son of George III.

=Young Buffs.= The 31st Foot, whose uniforms were very similar to those of the Buffs, or 3rd Foot--viz. scarlet coats faced and lined with buff, and the remainder wholly of buff-coloured material. Soon after their formation in 1702 they distinguished themselves greatly in action, whereupon the General rode up, exclaiming: “Well done, old Buffs!” “But we are not the Buffs,” some of the men replied. “Then, well done, young Buffs,” was the retort, and the name stuck to them ever after.

=Young Nipper.= See “Nipper.”

=Yucatan.= From _Yuca tan_, “What do you say?” which was the only answer the Spaniards were able to obtain from the aborigines when they asked them the name of the country.

=Yuletide.= Christmastide, from the Norse _juul_, Christmas.

Z

=Zadkiel.= The literary sobriquet of Lieutenant Richard James Morrison, author of “The Prophetic Almanack,” after the angel of the planet Jupiter in the Jewish mythology.

=Zantippe.= After the wife of Socrates, whose name has become proverbial for a bad-tempered spouse.

=Zanzibar.= A European inversion of the Arabic _Ber-ez-Zuig_, the coast of the Zangis, or Negroes.

=Zeeland.= Expresses the Dutch for “Sea-land,” land reclaimed from the sea.

=Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas.= Duluth, so called from its picturesque situation at the western extremity of the Great Lakes.

=Zoroastrianism.= The religious system of the “Parsees” or Fire-worshippers, introduced into Persia by Zoroaster _circa_ B.C. 500.

=Zounds.= A corruption of “His Wounds,” or the Five Sacred Wounds on the Body of the Redeemer. This oath was first employed by John Perrot, a natural son of Henry VIII. Queen Elizabeth was much addicted to the exclamation “His Wounds,” but the ladies of her Court softened it into “Zounds” and “Zouterkins.”

=Zurich.= From the Latin _Thuricum_, in honour of Thuricus, the son of Theodoric, who rebuilt the city after it had been destroyed by Attila.

=Zuyder Zee.= Properly _Zuider Zee_, the Dutch for “Southern Sea,” relative to the North Sea or German Ocean.

THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH.

Transcriber’s Note

Hyphens in words that occur on line-breaks are retained or removed based upon the preponderance of other instances in the text.

There are numerous cross-references in this text. There are several reference to an entry for “Wassail”, which is not present as a separate entry. The entry for “Pig and Whistle”, provides a description of the word. Similarly, the reference to “Cop” in the entry for “Fair Cop” likely refers to “Copper”.

Where odd spellings are encountered without any other occurences, allowances are made for the author’s possibly idiosyncratic manner, and these are merely noted, but retained.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. The following issues should be noted, along with the resolutions.

21.27 Verses w[r]itten in praise or dispraise Inserted.

37.27 an officer in the First Del[e/a]ware Regiment Replaced.

40.30 From the way in which [b/h]e adjusts Replaced.

43.33 generally a hired assas[s]in Inserted.

94.30 After William Farrin[g]don Inserted.

101.5 [w/t]hen Prince of Wales Replaced.

117.13 in the river near[ near] Fort Niagara Removed.

123.34 [I/A]n inn sign anciently depicting Replaced.

134.28 Harvard U[u/n]iversity Inverted.

138.9 It was according[ing]ly in the heel Removed.

157.22 Maize, brought f[r]om the West Indies Inserted.

163.30 at the memorable s[ei/ie]ge of Ostend Transposed.

169.11 appl[i]ed to dried beef Inserted.

172.37 the great [lexocographer] _Sic_: lexicographer

179.12 K[ah/ha]n. Transposed.

199.3 from the Lat[a/i]n _liber_ Replaced.

201.7 A distingu[i]shed musical executant Inserted.

208.37 in the manufacturing dist[r]icts Inserted.

216.4 in the her[io/oi]c defence of the city Transposed.

223.30 After the magnific[i]ent sepulchral monument Removed.

224.1 Maydew Che[e/r]ries. Replaced.

254.23 wore a grogram clo[c/o]ak Replaced.

277.3 From the Spanish _[pegueno] nino_ _sic_: pequeno

285.22 and other public announc[e]ments Inserted.

309.32 his invention of [“]Prince Rupert’s Drops,” Added.

320.36 to the queen of[ of] Henry III. Removed.

327.9 A corruption of [“]St Chad’s Well,” Inserted.

329.33 being an abbrev[i]ation of “Companionship.” Inserted.

337.31 Called by the Ca[r]thaginians “Hispania,” Inserted.

340.27 Al[g]onquin for an Indian woman. Inserted.

354.27 A tavern sign off[,] Golden Square Removed.

358.15 the nickname be[s]towed by the Protestants Inserted.

366.5 Ur[a/u]guay. Replaced.

374.12 by weep[l/i]ng over the folly of mankind Replaced.

377.36 The [othordox/orthodox] or strict members Replaced.

381.26 and similar pe[r]petrations Inserted.

383.37 [Y]uletide. Restored.