Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/66

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vm. JULY 20, 1007.

Terms and Phrases used in American or English Jurisprudence,' ii. 58.

So far as I am aware, this is the first appear- ance of the term in a dictionary of any sort.

These American extracts prove that from 1 Sept., 1869, to 1879, the term was in use among temperance agitators, in the news- papers, in legal decisions, and among people in general that, in short, it had become a household term in the United States long before Sir Wilfrid Lawson took it up.

A striking and not unamusing difference between the English and the American extracts will be noted. Since 1869 English writers have insisted that Gladstone in- vented the term. Since 1869 American writers have been ignorant of the claim on behalf of Gladstone, and have regarded local option both the name and the thing as peculiarly American. Which view is correct ? If Gladstone invented it in Octo- ber, 1868, how did it reach America in less than a year ? If it originated in the United States, how did Gladstone stumble on it ? So far as I can ascertain, the term did not occur in print in England until the publica- tion of the Seventeenth Report of the United Kingdom Alliance, quoted above under date of 19 Oct., 1869 ; but this Report, though noticed in The National Temperance Advo- cate for December, 1869 (iv. 181), could have had nothing to do with the appearance of the term in this country, for the term had been in use here for certainly six weeks before the Report was written. Among the noted English writers on temperance at that time was Dr. F. R. Lees, who had visited this country before 1868, who in- tended to come again in 1868, who actually did return in June, 1869, and who while here published his ' Text-Book of Temper- ance ' (1869). (This book, by the way, does not contain the term "local option.") Did Dr. Lees introduce the term to Americans ? Perhaps. On the other hand, American temperance advocates were frequently in England. Neal Dow, the father of the " Maine Law," was there in 1857, in 1866-7, and in 1873-5, each time at the invitation of the United Kingdom Alliance ; he attended the meetings of the Alliance held in 1866 and 1867; while William Lloyd Garrison was also present at that held in 1867. It would have been as easy for " local option " to be carried to England by Ame- ricans, as for it to be taken to America by Englishmen.

So far as the evidence presented above goes, Gladstone appears to have used the term in or about October, 1868, while the

Americans did not employ it until 1 Sept.,. 1869 ; but I cannot help thinking that it is wiser to accept the sceptical attitude of the authors of ' Local Option ' than the certainty of MR. ROBBINS. Whatever may have been the actual origin of the term, it will be difficult to deny that the term first came into vogue in this country, and that it thence spread to Canada, England, New Zealand, and Australia. '> --,

ALBERT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.A.

[We are not able to find room for all our corre- spondent's examples, which cover the subject with admirable completeness.]!

MARSHALL'S ' GENEALOGIST'S GUIDE ' : A SUPPLEMENT (10 S. vii. 347). My atten- tion has been drawn to MR. GERALD FOTHER- GILL'S query under this heading. It appears in several instances to have misled the genealogical public. I should be glad, therefore, to let it be known that MR. FOTHERGILL is not in any way associated with myself, either as owner of the copy- right or in keeping the work up to date for the purposes of a new edition. The book is, including the manuscript notes of the late Mr. G. W. Marshall, in process of being kept up to date, and in due course a new edition will be brought out. I shall be grateful to any interested who will forward me notes or suggestions which may tend to add to its completeness and usefulness.

ISAAC MARSHALL.

Sarnesfield Court, Weobley.

" SALUTATION " TAVERN, BILLINGSGATE (10 S. vii. 429, 510). This tavern was situated at the end of St. Mary at Hill, facing Billingsgate. In a book called ' The Topography of London,' published in 1813, there is marked a Salutation Court at 101, Lower Thames Street, opposite Billingsgate. This may possibly be on the site of the old " Salutation " Tavern.

The earliest mention I have of this tavern is in 1560. On 5 March, 1659, Pepys visited it. MR. McMuRRAY gives an interesting notice of it in 1667.

It was again casually mentioned in 1734, and after the bankruptcy of William Gillett in 1742, referred to by MR. HOLDEN MAC- MICHAEL, I cannot find any further account of it. 59

It may be of interest to place upon record the following notes upon City taverns having the sign of the " Salutation."

In Inquisitiones Post Mortem, 1576, mention is made of the house called " The