Minor Queries Answered.

A Kelso Convoy.

—What is the origin of a Kelso convoy,—a Scotch phrase, used to express going a little way with a person?

[Jamieson, in his Dictionary of the Scottish Language, Johnstone's Abridgment, thus explains the phrase:—

"KELSO CONVOY, an escort scarcely deserving the name south of Scotland. 'A step and a half ower the door stane.' (Antiquary.) This is rather farther than a Scotch Convoy, which, according to some, is only to the door. It is, however, explained by others as signifying that one goes as far as the friend whom he accompanies has to go, although to his own door.">[

Cardinal Wolsey.

—In the life of Wolsey in the Penny Cyclopædia is the following:

"It is said that while he lived at Lymington, he got drunk at a neighbouring fair. For some such cause it is certain that Sir Amias Paulett put him into the stocks,—a punishment for which we find that he subsequently revenged himself."

I have been unable to find what was his revenge.

[Collins, in his Peerage of England, vol. iv. p. 3., says, "that in the reign of Henry VII., when Cardinal Wolsey was only a schoolmaster at Lymington, in Somersetshire, Sir Amias Paulett, for some misdemeanor committed by him, clapped him in the stocks; which the Cardinal, when he grew into favour with Henry VIII., so far resented, that he sought all manner of ways to give him trouble, and obliged him (as Godwin in his Annals, p. 28., observes) to dance attendance at London for some years, and by all manner of obsequiousness to curry favour with him. During the time of his attendance, being commanded by the Cardinal not to depart London without licence, he took up his lodging in the great gate of the Temple towards Fleet Street.">[

Brunswick Mum.

—Why was the beer called Brunswick Mum so named? When I was young it used to be drunk in this country, and was, I am told, extensively exported to India, &c. Is it still manufactured?

G. CREED.

[Skinner calls Mum a strong kind of beer, introduced by us from Brunswick, and derived either from German mummeln, to mumble, or from mum (silentii index), i.e. either drink that will (ut nos dicimus) make a cat speak, or drink that will take away the power of speech.

"The clamorous crowd is hush'd with mugs of mum,

Till all, tun'd equal, send a general hum."—Pope.

Brunswick Mum is now advertised for sale by many publicans in the metropolis.]

Meaning of "Rasher."

—What is the derivation of the word rasher, "a rasher of bacon?"

J. H. C.

Adelaide, South Australia.

[Surely from the French raser, to shave—a shaving of bacon. Our correspondent will probably recollect that vessels that have been cut down are commonly known as razees.]