Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/223

 9* s. vi. SEPT. s, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 181 LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. KOO. CONTENTS.-No. 141. NOTES :—The Halberts, 181—Poem attributed to Milton, 183-No. 4, Totbill Street. Westminster, 183—" Charity- f»ir," 184—Bnrlquez— "Giaravugli "=0harivari—Anglo- Israel—Volcanic Eruption at Krakatoa, 18S—Locard and the Heart of Bruce —" Adelphi drama": " Adelpbl guest," 186—"Oocco": "Bddoes"—Penanceof a Harried Priest—G. G. Zerffy—" Devon," 187—"News"—" Pin- pricks," 188. QUERIES :—Sixteenth-Century Terms—Serjeant Hawkins, 188—" Bridewaln "—John Montague Crosby — Coventry —Bishop Sanderson's Descendants—Novels of the French Revolution— Taafe Family, 189—Etherington—Holy Rood of Lisle-Author of Lines—Brick House, Great Hormead, Herts—Chori-episcopus — Joseph Brennan — Sackville— Medallions on Jug—Authors Wanted, 190. BEPLIES :—John Dawes, 190—Bibltotheque Nationale, 191 —"Inunda(e," 193—Unicorns—Place-name Oxford, 193— "Tyre"—Borough-English, 194— "Le mot de Oam- bronne "—Truffle-hunting Pigs—Age of Entry at Inns of Court—Tashllch—Trental, 196—"To lug the coif"— Qoat In Folk-lore-Picts and Scots, 198—" Blood of Hailes"—Blessing of the Throats—Inscription on Hedal, 197—Webb the Swimmer, 198. NOTES ON BOOKS : — 'Calendar of Letter-Books of London' — Murray's ' Handy Classical Maps' — Mrs. Pennell's ' Over the Alps on a Bicycle '—Reviews and Magazines. Notices to Correspondenta. THE HALBERTS. In 1625 Gervase Markham wrote that "halberds doe properly belong unto the serjeants of companies" ('Souldiers' Acci- dence,' p. 4). They were for a very long period the weapon carried by sergeants in our military forces, and as emblems of authority they are still to be seen among us in some civic ceremonies. The ' Gentleman's Diction- ary,' 1705, says:— " Halbard is the arras carry'd by the Serjeants of foot and dragoons; the head of the halbard ought to be a foot or 15 inches long; one end ought to be hollow to receive the staff, out the other broad, ribb'd in the middle, edg'd on both sides, and draw- ing to a point, like the point of a two-edged sword. On one side of the head is likewise fixed a piece in form of a half-moon or star, and on the other a broad point of four inches long, crooked a little, which is very commodious for drawing fascines, gabions, or whatever obstacle happen in the way. The staff of the halbard is about five foot long, and an inch and half diameter, made of ash or other hard wood. Halbards are very useful in determining the ground betwixt the ranks, and fur dressing the ranks and files of a battalion, and likewise for chastising the soldiers." Early in Charles II.'s reign sergeants were empowered to strike with their halberts in correction of private soldiers' faults (' Pallas Armata,' 1671, p. 349), and frequent allusions to sergeants striking soldiers are to be found in military narratives down to a comparativelj recent date, Howell. for example, in his inter- esting little book ' Journal of a Soldier of the 71st Regiment,' telling us that soon after his enlistment in 1806 he was " often beat by the sergeant." But the special use of halberts which has become historical consisted in placing three of them upright and triangularly, so as to form a whipping-post, while a fourth was fastened horizontally across two of them, about the height of a man's chest, to keep the culprit outside, and for him to lean upon. Sometimes a fifth was fastened horizontally behind his knees, but this was not usual; he was generally strapped or tied about the thighs. In the case of the old " whipping- stock" (Randle Holme, III. yii. 311), a culprit's hands were made fast in the irons which were fixed to the post, but a mili- tary delinquent's arms having been raised, his thumbs were tied to the halberts. Thus it came about that the figurative use of the word halbert in an honourable sense— " Corporals hoping to get the vacant halberts," meaning promotion to the rank of sergeant- was eclipsed by such phrases as "brought to the halberts," "tied to the halberts," "bare his back at the halberts," "striping at the halberts," " died at the halberts." The term " flogging " did not come into use until well on in the eighteenth century, the old word for this kind of punishment having been "whipping" or "scourging," which was inflicted with rods, or switches tied in a bunch; and Sir James Turner says that " when regimental hangmen are wanting, scourging must be converted into the gat- loupe." So early, however, as in the year 1670 the drummers—or "arum-beaters," as they were then often called—had been looked to for assistance in the infliction of punish- ments, and by 1685 it had become part of their duties. There is no satisfactory ex- planation of their having been selected for this degradation, to act the part of hangmen or executioners, and their youth should iiave been against it. Even after this employment of drummers had become general it remained customary in some corps, and at some stations, for the soldiers of the regiment or garrison to file past a culprit at the nalberts, each soldier giving him a stroke ; but this, like the "gat- loupe," was to make all soldiers act as exe- cutioners. Behind the officiating drummer stood the drum-major with his rattan, ready to strike the drummer if the lashes were not administered with sufficient severity -; and behind the drum-major stood the adjutant