Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/144

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. xn. Aug. 15, im

was presumably taken from a Bath paper. It appears, then, that Nash died either on the evening of 12 February or on the morning of 13 February, 1761. Obviously, therefore, he could not, as stated in the 'D.N.B.,' have been buried on the 8th. On 14 February the Bath Town Council voted " a sum not exceed- ing 50/." for thej funeral expenses; and the funeral took place 17 February, as we learn from A. J. Jewers's 'Registers of Bath Abbey, 1901, ii. 449. The same date is also given in the following extract from the London Chronicle of 21-24 February, 1761 :

' Tuesday evening [i.e., 17 February] the remains of Richard Nash, Esq., were interred in the abbey church, Bath. The funeral procession began about half an hour after four o'clock, in the following order : 1. The children of the charity schools, sing- ing a hymn [this hymn is given by Goldsmith at p. 176 of his 'Life'] ; 2. Mr. Nash's and the city band of music, playing the ' Dead March ' in * Saul ; 3. Three clergymen ; 4. The body, covered with a black velvet pall, adorned with plumes of feathers, and supported by the six senior aldermen. Messrs. Wiltshire and Simpson, masters of the assembly- rooms, followed as chief mourners, accompanied by several of the corporation, and many other gentle- men. In this manner they proceeded (the musick and hymn being alternately continued) till they came to the chancel. The first part of the service being over, an anthem was sung, taken out of the 39th Psalm ; that being ended, the musick again played, and continued till they arrived at the grave, where the body was interred. After the solemnity was over, the ringers rung a funeral peal of grand- sire triples, consisting of 1,260 changes, the clappers of the bells being muffled on one side. And minute guns were fired 87 times, denoting that the de- ceased had entered into the 87th year of his age, being born Got. 14, 1675." Vol. ix. p. 186.

Mr. Seccomjr>e's probable fourth error is in saying that Nash died in Gascoyne Place, whereas both the London Chronicle and Gold smith state that he died in St. John's Court.

There is a curious discrepancy as to the date of Nash's birth. Mr. Seccombe, follow ing Goldsmith (p. 6), says that he was born 18 October, 1674. If so, then Nash died a the age of eighty-six years and nearly fou months, and not, as Goldsmith himself say (p. 175), "aged eighty - seven years, three months, and some days." Dr. Oliver and the London Chronicle of 17-19 February giv Nash's age as eighty-eight. But the Londoi Chronicle of 21-24 February gives 14 October 1675, as the date of Nash's birth, and ye says that eighty-seven guns were fired at hi funeral because he " had entered into th 87th year of his age." If so, then he mus have been born in 1674. An examination the parish registers of Swansea would doubt less show whether 14 or 18 October, 1674, wa the true date of Nash's birth.

In conclusion, let me call attention to

urious epitaph printed in the London Chronicle of 12-14 February, 1/61, ix. 158, hich is much too long to quote m full, but hich begins as follows :

For the London Chronicle. Epitaph intended for Mr. Nash s Tomb.

Here lyes

Richard Nash, Esquire,

Who died the 24th pf January, 18o2,

Having liv'd 171 years, 2 months, and 5 days,

In one continued scene of felicity, .his fills an entire column is very compli- mentary, and is signed " J. T. fee. & mv It doubtful whether, when this epitaph was vritten, the author could have heard of Cash's death. ALBERT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.

"To MUG" (9 th S. xii. 5). MR. H. SNOW- MEN WARD is quite correct in stating that 'mug" is colloquially used for "face,' and ilso for a simpleton, a person who is im- posed upon. I have not heard the verb " to mug " in connexion with fighting, but I am lot familiar with either the slang of pugilism jr the Yorkshire dialect. I have, however,
 * requently heard it used in Liverpool in rela-

_ion to drinking ; but I should add that it was by a coterie in which there was a strong East Cumberland element. That coterie no onger exists, and the only member of it with whom I had more than a casual ac- quaintance is, alas ! beyond the reach of in- terrogation. I fear he "mugged" himself, or was " mugged " by his friends, too often, and the inevitable funeral followed.

E. RlMBAULT DlBDIN.

" KEEP YOUR HAIR ON " (9 th S. ix. 184, 335 ; x. 33, 156 ; xi. 92, 195). This expression usually signifies "keep cool; don't lose your temper." How it came to have that sense does not appear quite clear ; but lately I came across what may probably be the earliest use of the expression, though not exactly with that meaning. It is in a letter from Lord Chatham to his son William Pitt, which is dated 9 October, 1773, and is given in Bp. Tomline's ' Life of Pitt,' vol. i. p. 15. The father at that time felt a good deal of natural anxiety about his son's health, and at the end of his letter says, " If you acquire health and strength every time I wish them to you, you will be a second Sampson [sic], and, what is more, will, I am sure, keep your hair." The allusion is evidently to Samson's loss of supernatural strength when his locks of hair had been shorn off.

In 9 th S. x. 33 the expression " keep your hair on " is traced to the times of wiggery (not Whiggery, if I may indulge in a bad joke)j and; supposed to mean "do not throw