"And so I pass to the great and glorious occasion of this day, wh gives us manifold cause of praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for ... mercies and deliverances. For ye happy success of her Majesty's arms both by land and sea [under the] Duke of Marlborough, whose fame now flies through the world, and whose glorious actions will render his name illustrious, and rank him among the renowned worthies of all ages. Had that threatning Bullet, wh bespattered him all over with dirt, only that he might shine the brighter afterwards; had it, I say, took away his Life, he had gone down to the grave with the laurels in his hand."
Is this incident of the bullet mentioned in any of the cotemporary accounts of the battle?
E.
Etymology of "till," "until.""—Many monosyllables in language are, upon examination, found to be in reality compounds, disguised by contraction. A few instances are, non, Lat. ne-un-(us); dont, Fr. de-unde; such, Eng. so-like; which, who-like. In like manner I believe till, to-while, and until, unto-while. Now while is properly a substantive, and signifies time, corresponding to dum, Lat., in many of its uses, which again is connected with diu, dies, both which are used in the indefinite sense of a while, as well as in the definite sense of a day. Adesdum, come here a while; interdum, between whiles. If τε (Gr.) is connected with this root, then ἑστε, to-while, till. Lawrence Minot says, "To time (till) he thinks to fight."
Dum has the double meaning of while and to-while.
E. S. Jackson.
Dog-whipping Day in Hull.—There was some time since the singular custom in Hull, of whipping all the dogs that were found running about the streets on October 10; and some thirty years since, when I was a boy, so common was the practice, that every little urchin considered it his duty to prepare a whip for any unlucky dog that might be seen in the streets on this day. This custom is now obsolete, those "putters down" of all boys' play in the streets—the new police—having effectually stopped this cruel pastime of the Hull boys. Perhaps some of your readers may be able to give a more correct origin of this singular custom than the one I now give from tradition:
"Previous to the suppression of monasteries in Hull, it was the custom for the monks to provide liberally for the poor and the wayfarer who came to the fair, held annually on the 11th of October; and while busy in this necessary preparation the day before the fair, a dog strolled into the larder, snatched up a joint of meat and decamped with it. The cooks gave the alarm; and when the dog got into the street, he was pursued by the expectants of the charity of the monks, who were waiting outside the gate, and made to give up the stolen joint. Whenever, after this, a dog showed his face, while this annual preparation was going on, he was instantly beaten off. Eventually this was taken up by the boys; and, until the introduction of the new police, was rigidly put in practice by them every 10th of October."
I write this on October 10, 1853: and so effectually has this custom been suppressed, that I have neither seen nor heard of any dog having been this day whipped according to ancient custom.
John Richardson.