John Cheap, the Chapman's Library. Vol. 1: Comic and Humorous / The Scottish Chap Literature of Last Century, Classified

by Dougal Graham

PATRIMONY AND MATRIMONY.

At an examination of a school in Edinburgh, a gentleman asked one of the scholars by what name they called property that descended from a father? “Patrimony,” answered the scholar: and what do you call it, when descended from a mother? “Matrimony,” was the reply.