Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/63

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i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

Common Ward ; but in addition there were these distinctions and fees :

" If any Prisoner be charged in Execution, he is to pay for his Fine of Irons, for all sums under Thirty Pounds, Two-pence per pound ; and for all suras above, Penny Halfpenny."

A " command " prisoner was subject to a minimum charge of three shillings and sixpence if he lodged in the Common Ward. These fees increased if he had a bed, includ- ing sixpence for the Beadle of the Ward ; but if he was committed by the Lord Mayor's command there was one shilling payable "to the carver" presumably the Chief Magistrate's carver.

This additional fee was also payable at the Poultry Compter, which had five grada- tions of accommodation : the Master's Side or House ; the Knight's Ward Side ; the Twopenny Ward Side ; the Two-Hole Ward ; the Book-house on the Master's Side. There are distinctive extra fees pay- able here :

,To the Serjeant, &c., for Dogger-Bill, for each

Prisoner that is arrested and committed Os. id.

To the Stock of poor Prisoners in the Hole-Ward

1*. Od.

Ludgate was evidently of less importance than either of the others, and it has no dis- tinctive fees, but the charges are worth noting :

Fees of Ludgate. 8. d.

At the first coming of every Prisoner. . 10 To the Officer that brings him. . . . 02 To the Turn-key upon the Discharge of a

Prisoner. . . . . . . . . . 10

To the Chamberlain 02

To the Master Keeper upon Discharge of a

Prisoner. . . . . . . . ..20

To the Chamberlain for washing the Sheets

Monthly ... 08

Prisoners lying in the best lodging are to

pay by the Jught. . . . . . 03

In the second. . . . . . . . . . 02

In the worst .. .. ... .. .. 01

Prisoners charged with every action. . 10

With every Writ. . . . . . . . 20

The Prisoner that goes abroad with a

Keeper pays per Diem. . . . ..14

The Keeper to have his Dinner or ..04

It is to be hoped that some one capable of making the necessary research will under- take a history of the City prisons.

ALECK ABRAHAMS.

"~* AUSTRALIAN GOLD YIELD. Of the Great Exhibition in 1851 Bishop Boyd Carpenter writes :

'' We saw the huge column which was supposed to represent the total mass of gold which Australia had yielded."

This occurs at p. 107 of ' Some Pages of my Life.' Now a page of my life places the glittering monument in the Exhibition of

1862. It was early for Australia to make such a demonstration of her auric riches in 1851, the very year w r hen her possession of them was discovered. ST. SWITHIN.

" ON THE NAIL." What is the origin of this phrase ? It is now generally used with reference to making prompt money pay- ments, to bargains closed on the spot, without any delay. ' N.E.D.' has a quota- tion for the phrase as early as 1600 from Holland's ' Livy ': " He paid the whole debt downe right on the naile." An editorial note says :

" The origin of the phrase is obscure...... The ex- planations associating it with certain pillars at the Exchange of Limerick or Bristol are too late to be of any authority in deciding the question."

The editor thinks that it is not even certain to what sense of " nail " the phrase belongs, whether the human nail or the metallic n'ail. He has placed the phrase under the latter sense ; I think we may refer it to the thumb- nail. The origin of the phrase may pro- bably be traced to an old drinking custom, called in Latin supernaculum, and in German Nagelprobe, i.e., the pouring of the last drop of beer or wine " on the nail " to prove that the cup was empty. In Brand's ' Popular Antiquities ' (ed. 1877, p. 502) there is an article with the heading ' Super- naculum,' in which it is stated that " to drink supernaculum was the ancient custom both in England and in several other parts of Europe, of emptying the cup or glass, and then pouring the drop or two remaining at the bottom upon the nail of him that drank it, by way of showing that he was no flincher." Compare the French plirase in Cotgrave (s.v. ' Ongle '): " Boire la goutte sur Vongle, To drink all but a drop to cover the nail with " ; and the German " Nagelprobe trinken (or machen], to leave no heeltaps, to drink supernaculum " (Grieb-Schroer, ' Deutsches Worterbuch,' 1902, s.v. 'Nagel').

The following story may be found in Green's ' Oxford Studies ' (ed. 1901, p. 70) :

" When the Spanish ambassador visited the University in the time of James I., a letter-writer of the time says, I shall not tell you how our Doctors pledged healths to the Infanta and Archduchess, and, if any left too big a snuff, Colombo would cry ' supernagulum ! ' i.e., invert the cup on the nail, so that if a drop remains it would be detected."

It is quite easy to see how the phrase "on the nail " was transferred from the drinking custom to the making of prompt money payments, the link of association being the notion of promptness combined with free- dom from deception. A. L. MAYHEW.

Oxford.