Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/224

 182

NOTES AND QUERIES, no s. vm. SKPT. 7, 1907.

records of Taunton, Honiton, &c., and the histories of Somerset adhere to the genuine " pot-waller."

Of other forms, pot-wallader occurs in Dunsford's ' Histor. Memorials of Tiverton ' (1790), p. 180. " In the first parliament of King James I., 1604, the pot-walladers elected two burgesses to represent the borough of Tiverton." Pot-wobbler is used by S. Shaw, ' Tour West of Engl.' (1789), 337, " all pot- wabblers, or those who dress their own victuals, are entitled to vote " ; and by Bentham, ' Parl. Reform' (1817), Introd., 109, " Those boroughs in which the right has the extent marked by the word house- holders, or by the word pot-wabblers." The 'Lexicon Balatronicum ' of 1811 has also Pot-wabblers, and says, " These boroughs are called pot- wabbling boroughs."

It is thus evident that all the variants pot-walloner, pot-wallader, pot-walloper, and pot-wobbler, are mere perversions of the original form pot - waller, due largely, no doubt, to the fact that wall, to boil, and waller, boiler, had become obsolete, and no longer conveyed any definite meaning, so that pot-waller was very liable to corruption or perversion, either by " popular etymology " or individual caprice or misunderstanding. The idea in pot-wobbler is obvious ; pot-wallader may seem to be after Cadwallader ; and pot- walloper was no doubt associated in sound, if not in sense, with the verb wallop or wollop. But there is no ground whatever for attributing to wallop, any more than to wallon, wallad, or wabble, the sense of " to boil," all being alike mere phonetic corruptions or perversions. It is only in nineteenth-century newspaper English that we meet with such absurd expressions as " every householder is sup- posed to wallop his own pot," or that an adventurous author has written of " the pot- wallopings of the engine boiler" as absurd as if he had called the ebullition of the Lord George Gordon Riots " a pot-wal- loping of popular bigotry."

It will be observed that the earliest quotation cited for pot-waller is of 1701, though the second of 1710 purports to take back the use of the term to 1661 or 1670 ; and we have always the Dublin instance of pot-walling, which implies pot-waUer, in 1456. But actual instances of the latter in the fifteenth, sixteenth, or seventeenth century would be very welcome, and would help to complete the history of pot-waller and its bastard progeny. J. A. H. MTJBBAY.

Oxford.

ALLAN RAMSAY : HORSE-RACING AT LEITH.

ALLAN RAMSAY, writing in May, 1736, declared that for " these six or seven years past " he had not written a line of poetry ; but in the following year there was pub- lished his poetical address to Duncan Forbes, the Lord President of the Session, and other judges on the closing of his playhouse ; and as late as 1755 he again dropped into verse. We may therefore perhaps attribute to the author of ' The Gentle Shepherd ' some humorous lines which appeared in The London Magazine for August, 1736. They are as follows :

When the City Plate of 401. was run for on the Sands of Leith, it was won with great Ease by Sir James Cunninghani of Milcraigjs Grey Mare,, the Bonny Lass of Livingston, against two Eng- lish Horses. On which occasion we received, the following Piece of Poetry. His majesty, heaven guide his grace, Encourages each year a race Upon Leith-Sands ; where, at laigh tide, A million may uncrowded ride : And the good town, to mend the play, Maintains the sport another day. The sprightly lads from far and near, In their best airs and looks appear, Dress'd in their easy hunting weeds, Well mounted on their mettled steeds ; While from the chariot, or the green, A shining circle charms our een, Whose ev'ry glance emits a dart. Whops whizzing thro' the stoutest heart.

Ye men of Rowth, ne'er hain your treasure,. For any thing may give them pleasure ; And since they like to shew their faces At plays, assemblies, and horse-races, Support these interviews of love, Which men of clearest heads approve, Rather than waste your wealth at cards, Or blast your health with drunken lairds. Ah ! ne'er let manly pastime dwine, For sake of either dice or wine ; But keep a groom can rightly nurse The shapely racer for the course, That, barring some unseen mischance, The master's honour may advance. While loud o'er the extended sands The crowd rejoice, and clap their hands. Should we endure the taunting tales Of hunters on Northumber's dales, While o'er their tankards of brown stout, They at our careless gentry flout. ' Come, Dick ! says Harry, mount your gray,. I '11 bett against you on my bay :

Let 's down to Leith we 're sure to win,

Where there 's no better nags to run. Of two rich plates their gazette tells, For which they keep no horse themsells : Since we so cheap may gain each cup, We'll e'en step down and bring them up.''

Well, this had been just now our case, Had not Sir James join'd in the race, Whose bonny lass of Livingston Defeats cutlugs and judy brown.