Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/191

 n s. in. MAR. 11, i9iL] NOTES AND QUERIES.

185

WINCHESTER MEASURES AND BOTTLES. The old Winchester standards lasted from 1588 to 1824. And glass bottles were first made in England in 1588. The present unit of capacity for liquids as well as for dry goods is the imperial gallon measure, introduced in 1824 in place of the old Winchester gallon. Three separate gallon measures had been in use, as follows, from ancient times (two of them probably from 1225) until 1824, when, by the passing of the Act 5 Geo. IV. c. 74, the present imperial gallon, then containing 277*274 cubic inches, was introduced, and the use of the three ancient gallon measures was made illegal, viz., a Winchester corn gallon = 272|, a wine gallon = 231, an ale gallon=282 cubic inches. A collection of old local standards at Winchester is interest- ing, as it includes standard troy weights dated 1588, being the year in which Elizabeth granted a charter to Winchester, and a Winchester bushel sent to the Corporation in 1487. The old Winchester Bushel was so called because the standard bushel was ordered by King Edgar to be kept there. The collection at Winchester also includes other standards of 1487, 1601, 1700, and particularly a 56-lb. weight, supposed to be of the time of Edward III., which was found in the old muniment room over the West Gate.

In the Municipal Buildings at Edinburgh is a collection of the ancient Scotch standards. Among the exhibits is a Scotch choppin, or half -pint, dated 1555. The Scotch pint, or the stoup of Stirling, was defined in the Scotch Act of 1618 as being " 3 pounds 7 ounces of French Troy or weight of clear running water of Leith."

The old " Winchester quart," or one quarter of the Winchester gallon, contained 68.06 cubic inches, therefore the old Win- chester pint would hold half that quantity. The ancient English pint is so close to the Roman sextarius (1.01 pint), that one can hardly doubt the derivation of the pint from the sextarius.

The so-called " Winchester " gallon, quart, or pint, is not a measure of capacity, but is simply the name of a particular kind of bottle or vessel used for storing liquids. For instance, in the catalogue of a maker of chemical apparatus this occurs : " Acid bottles, blue or green glass. Corbyns and Winchesters." The shape of each is the same, but the size varies. The quart con- tains either 80, 90, or 120 ozs., the Corbyn is 40 ozs. = 2 pints, and when the old term " Winchester pint " is employed in ordering a modern 16 oz. bottle is supplied.

The Winchester bottle appears therefore to be another instance in which the liquid or article in which it is placed becomes in the trade recognized as, and confused with, a measure. At present it seems impossible to ascertain whether the ex- pression " Winchester " was derived from the name of a place or of a manufacturer. As to the ancient term Corbyn being transferred from the firm of that name (which, by the way, is comparatively modern), this is scarcely correct. It is true that their business in the Poultry was at the sign of the " Bell and Dragon," formerly con- ducted by WinstanJey & Co., and that " Ye ancient druggist sign of this house, 1666," is now in the Guildhall Museum. But the Corbyn who gave his name to the bottle, whether as manufacturer or otherwiss, is unrecorded the name only has survived, and, with the Winchester, it is seldom seen in print outside the trade lists. As an example of derivation, there is a globular bottle of green or blue glass, called a Carboy, which is a corruption of the Persian qardbah, a large flagon. It holds from 4 to 10 gallons.

The above notes are taken mostly Irom a treatise on ' Standard Weights and Measures,' by H. J. Chaney, 1897, and a letter con- tributed by the same authority to The Chemist and Druggist, 19 June, 1897, vcl. L, p. 982. See also US. iii. 56.

TOM JONES.

THE CONFESSION OF Louis XVI. I do not remember meeting this confession of Louis XVI. anywhere, except in the book from which I extract it, viz., * The Book of Remembrance,' by Ralph Wedgwood, 1814, vol. i., pp. 156-7. The only other copy of this rare work I have heard of, besides my own, is in the British Museum Library. It is called * The Confession of Louis Capet on the Eve of his Decapitation.' It is taken from the ' Gazett de France,' and was drawn up with M. Hebert, General of the Eudists (? Jesuits), his Majesty's Confessor, and given to Abbe D. In 1814 he was interrogated by the Duchess of Angouleme ; but he did not know whether the originals were in the hand- writing of Louis XVI.

" If, through the infinite goodness of God, I recover my liberty and my royal power, I solemnly promise :

"1. To revoke, as soon as possible, all the laws that shall be pointed out to me (either by the Pope, in a Council or by four Bishops chosen from amongst the most enlightened and virtuous in my kingdom) as contrary to the purity and integrity of the faith, to the discipline and spiritual