Oxford.
[Fosbroke says that "the brank is a sugar-loaf cap made of iron hooping, with a cross at top, and a flat piece projecting inwards to lie upon the tongue. It was put upon the head of scolds, padlocked behind, and a string annexed, by which a man led them through the towns." (See also Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 108., Bohn's edition.) Engravings of them will be found in Plot's History of Staffordshire, p. 389., and in Brands History of Newcastle, vol. ii. p. 192. In the Historical Description of the Tower of London, p. 54., edit. 1774, occurs the following libellous squib on the fair sex: "Among the curiosities of the Tower is a collar of torment, which, say your conductors, used formerly to be put about the women's neck that cuckolded their husbands, or scolded them when they came home late; but that custom is left off now-a-days, to prevent quarrelling for collars, there not being smiths enough to make them, as most married men are sure to want them at one time or another." Waldron, in his Description of the Isle of Man, p. 80., thus notices this instrument of punishment: "I know nothing in the Manx statutes or punishments in particular but this, which is, that if any person be convicted of uttering a scandalous report, and cannot make good the assertion, instead of being fined or imprisoned, they are sentenced to stand in the market-place, on a sort of scaffold erected for that purpose, with their tongue in a noose made of leather, which they call a bridle, and having been exposed to the view of the people for some time, on the taking off this machine, they are obliged to say three times, 'Tongue, thou hast lyed.'">[
Not caring a Fig for anything.—What is the origin of this expression?
J. H. Chateau.
Philadelphia.
[Nares informs us that the real origin of this expression may be found in Stevens and Pineda's Dictionaries under Higa; and, in fact, the same phrase and allusion pervaded all modern Europe: as, Far le fiche, Ital.; Faire la figue, Fr.; Die Feigen weisen, Germ., De vÿghe setten, Dutch. (See Du Cange, in Ficha.) Johnson says, "To fig, in Spanish, higas dar, is to insult by putting the thumb between the fore and middle finger. From this Spanish custom we yet say in contempt, A fig for you." To this explanation Mr. Douce has added the following note: "Dr. Johnson has properly explained this phrase; but it should be added, that it is of Italian origin. When the Milanese revolted against the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, they placed the Empress his wife upon a mule with her head towards the tail, and ignominiously expelled her their city. Frederick afterwards besieged and took the place, and compelled every one of his prisoners, on pain of death, to take with his teeth a fig from the posteriors of a mule. The party was at the same time obliged to repeat to the executioner the words Ecco la fica. From this circumstance far la fica became a term of derision, and was adopted by other nations. The French say likewise, faire la figue.">[
B. C. Y.—Can you give me any information respecting the famous B. C. Y. row, as it was called, which occurred about fifty years ago? A newspaper was started expressly to explain the meaning of the letters, which said it was "Beware of the Catholic Yoke;" but it was wrong.
H. Y.
[These "No-Popery" hieroglyphics first appeared in the reign of Charles II. during the debates on the Exclusion Bill, and were chalked over all parts of Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament. O B. C. Y. was then the inscription, which meant, "O Beware of Catholic York." On their re-appearance in 1809 the Y. was much taller than the B. C.; but the use and meaning at this time of these initials still remains a query.]
Earl Nugent's Poems.—I would be much obliged for any information relating to the poems written by Robert, afterwards Earl Nugent, between the years 1720 and 1780. It is supposed that they were first published in some periodical, and afterwards appeared in a collected form.