Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/595

 io*s. m. JUNE 24, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

491

Sir Richard Fanshawe, a confidential servant of Charles I, and ambassador from Charles II. to the Court of Spain (Ogbourne's ' Hist, of Essex,' 1814, p. 62). A description of Parsloes is given by Mr. Barrett in his beautifully self-illustrated work 'Essex: Highways, By- ways, and Waterways,' 1892, vol. i. p. 54.

J. HOLDEN MAC'MlCHAEL.

It is indeed a pity to see the interesting old seat Parsloes lying desolate, or nearly so, year after year. The house itself is probably doomed at an early date, now that a monster East-End colony is within hail. G. C. W. will find some mention of Parsloes in the county histories. A monograph was prepared some years ago by Mr. E. J. Sage for the use of the Fanshawe family. I believe it was printed for private circulation only.

EDWARD SMITH.

"Pop GOES THE WEASEL" (10 th S. iii. 430). This phrase certainly refers to a purse made of weasel-skin, which opened and closed with a snap. The " popping of the weasel " in the song (I believe a sort of music-hall ditty of the fifties) is the opening of the purse, and consequent spending of money, as the con- text shows. "Bang went saxpence" is a verbal, not a real, parallel.

The following is all I can contribute. About 1857-8 I often heard scraps of the song sung, and the purse explanation was current and accepted naturally enough in our family, which possessed a weasel-skin purse. The head and two fore-paws came together, and were fastened with a small gold clasp. I remember two stanzas :

Up and down the City Road,

In and out the Eagle, That's the way the money goes Pop goes the weasel.

Every night when I come home

Supper 's on the table ; That 's the way, &c.

In 1896-7 I found that my children had been taught by a nursemaid other stanzas, as follows :

Half a pound of tuppenny rice,

Half a pound of treacle, Mix it up and make it nice Pop goes the weasel.

Every night when I come home

The monkey 's on the table ; Take a broom and knock him off, &c.

This was crooned to a tune which may have been like the original tune or not, but, as neither nurse nor children had any "ear," was not reducible, when challenged, to any definite notation. H. K. ST. J. S.

My view of the reference in the above is as follows. I am afraid I cannot gi\'e my authority, it is so long since I read or heard it ; but I supposed it was generally known and agreed upon. "Weasel," I believe, is (or iron implement which is used by tailors in cutting out their cloth, and without which it is impossible to carry on their trade. A certain tailor, residing, presumably, in the vicinity of Islington, was in the habit of travelling with too great frequency " up and entitled the "Eagle." His object in doing so is implied, but not expressly stated. In any case, "that's the way the money goes," and to such an extent does the said " money go " that he is ultimately reduced to the dire necessity of "popping" (i.e., pawning) his " weasel." This is clearly his last resource, as without his " weasel " he is unable to earn his living, so that the poem evidently repre- sents a man reduced to the last extremity, and comprises a somewhat laconic, but im- pressive sermon on the evils of drink.
 * was) the technical or slang name for a narrow
 * down the City Road " for the purpose of
 * going " in and out " a certain public-house

I must have overlooked the former question on the subject, or I might have answered it then. I was not aware that there was any doubt on the subject. J. FOSTER PALMER. 8, Royal Avenue, S. \V.

From a correspondence which appeared in

the Daily Mail of 6, 7, and 8 November, 1902,

I gather that Lord llosebery had recently

quoted in a speech at Edinburgh the words :

Up and down the City Road,

In and out the Eagle, That 's the way the money goes Pop goes the weasel.

The first correspondent ("Puzzled") sug- gested that "weasel" in the slang of the day was equivalent to a flat-iron, the song being *'a poetic hint that those who too fre- quently visited the Eagle (a City Road tavern) would eventually be compelled to ' pop ' (that is to say, pawn) that valuable but prosaic household article."

The second correspondent ("Philologist") opined that " Pop goes the weasel" was simply " one of those rococo and high-spirited expres- sions with which the poet of the music-hall loves to round off his lyrics, and has exactly the same meaning as ' What ho, she bumps ! ' 'Hi-tiddly-hi-ti,' and ' Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay.'"

The third letter, signed E. J. C., contained the following sentences :

" ' Pop goes the Weasel ' was an American rustic dance, introduced into this country in the late forties or early fifties of the last century. A very pretty dance it was, the performers bearing chains