Quis vetat?'
'What doth forbid that one may smile,
And also tell the truth the while?'
hath in a jesting way, in some of his books, delivered much smart truth of the present times." Dr. Mather, in his Magnalia, remarks of him, that "he was the author of many composures full of wit and sense; among which that entitled The Simple Cobler (which demonstrated him to be a subtil statesman) was most considered." This work passed through several editions in England in 1647. It was reprinted in Boston in 1713. The best edition, containing the author's subsequent additions, is that edited by David Pulsifer, Boston, 1843.]
Back.—What is the meaning and derivation of "Back," as applied to several localities in Bristol, as, for instance, The Back, Welsh Back, Temple Back, St. Augustine's Back, St. James' Back, Redcliffe Back? Many of them are not on the river, or I should have imagined it a corruption of the word bank.
Malcolm Fraser.
Clifton.
[Barrett, in his History of Bristol, p. 72., gives a clue to the origin of this local name: "Before the quay was made the usual place, as Leland says, for landing goods out of the ships was at the Back (or Bec, a Saxon word for a river), where was the old Custom-house. The quay being completed, and the marsh of Bristol thereby effectually divided from that
of St. Augustine, houses and streets began to be built there; Marsh Street terminated with a chapel, dedicated to St. Clement, and a gate; and Back Street, with a gate also, and a chapel near it, dedicated to St. John, and belonging to St. Nicholas; the church of St. Stephen and its dependent parish, and the buildings between the Back and the quay, seem to have taken their rise at this period, and were all enclosed with a strong embattled wall, externa or secunda mœnia urbis, extending from the quay to the Back, where King Street has since been built.">[
Broom at Mast-head.—Whence did the custom originate of a broom being fastened to the mast-head of boats and small craft, to indicate their being for sale?