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 a Presbyterian. Butler, in Hudibras [I., p. 26], says:—

''twas Presbyterian true blue, For he was of the stubborn crew Of errant saints, whom all men grant To be the true Church Militant.'

Blue is still the Presbyterian colour, and is used as an adjective by them in describing books and people.

2. (West Indian.)—A half-breed—the child of a black woman by a white man.

Blue Squadron, subs. (colonial).—One of mixed blood; properly one with a Hindoo strain. Eurasians belong to the blue squadron. Cf., Touch of the tar brush.

Blue Stocking, subs.—A literary lady: applied usually with the imputation of pedantry. The generally received explanation is that the term is derived from the name given to certain meetings held by ladies in the days of Dr. Johnson for conversation with distinguished literary men. One of the most eminent of these literati was a Mr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, who always wore blue stockings, and whose conversation at these meetings was so much prized, that his absence at any time was felt to be a great loss, so that the remark became common, 'We can do nothing without the blue stockings,' hence these meetings were sportively called blue-stocking clubs, and the ladies who attended them blue-stockings. It is stated that the name specially arose in this way. A foreigner of rank refused to accompany a friend to one of these parties on the plea of being in his travelling costume, to which there was the reply, 'Oh! we never mind dress on these occasions; you may come in bas bleus or blue stockings,' with allusion to Stillingfleet's stockings, when the foreigner, fancying that bas bleus were part of the necessary costume, called the meeting ever after the Bas-bleu Society. In modern slang the term blue-stocking is abbreviated into blue. Derivatives are blue-stockingism, blue-stockinger, etc.

b. 1738, d. 1819. Wolcot ('P. Pindar'), Benevolent Epistle, in wks. (Dublin, 1795), vol. II., p. 125.

I see the band of blue-stockings arise, Historic, critic, and poetic dames!

1780. Mad. D'Arblay, Diary, i., 326. Who would not be a blue-stockinger at this rate?

1784. Walpole, Letters, iv., 381. [Walpole, writing to Hannah More, playfully makes it a verb = to put on blue stockings.] When will you blue-stocking yourself, and come amongst us?

1877. Macmillan's Mag., May, p. 50. On the airs and graces of the gushing blue stockings who were in vogue in that day she had no mercy.

1877. Miss Martineau, Autob., vol. I., p. 100. Young ladies (at least in provincial towns) were expected to sit down in the parlour to sew,—during which reading aloud was permitted,—or to practice their music; but so as to fit to receive callers, without any signs of blue-stockingism which could be reported abroad.

Blue Stone, subs. (common).—Gin or whiskey of so bad a quality that it can only be compared to vitriol, of which bluestone is also a nickname in the north of England and Scotland. For all synonyms, see Drinks.

1880. Blackwood's Mag., June, p. 786. The bar was still thronged, and the effects of the mixture of spirits of wine, bluestone, and tobacco-juice, were to be seen on a miserable wretch who lay stretched in the courtyard.