[Both William Elstob and his learned sister were born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of which place their father, Ralph Elstob, was a merchant.]
Corporation Enactments (Vol. ix., p. 300.).—Your correspondent Abhba having omitted to mention where he found the curious piece of information which under this title he supplied to you, I beg leave to supply the deficiency. The same paragraph, nearly verbatim, has been long since published in a book which is by no means rare, the Dublin Penny Journal, vol. i. p. 226. (No. 29, January 12, 1833), where it appears thus:
"In the town books of the corporation of Youghal, among many other singular enactments of that body, are two which will now be regarded as curiosities. In the years 1680 and 1700, a cook and a barber were made freemen, on condition that they should severally dress the mayor's feasts, and shave the corporation—gratis!"
Is not this the very paragraph which has been supplied to you as an original? The attempt to disguise it by the alteration of two or three words is below criticism. Surely, if passages from common or easily accessible books are to occupy valuable space in the pages of "N. & Q.," it is not too much to expect that reference be honestly given to the work which may be cited.
Arterus.
Dublin.
Misapplication of Terms (Vol. ix., p. 361.).—Your correspondent is quite entitled to the references he demands, and which I had considered superfluous. I beg to refer him to the school dictionaries in use by my boys, viz. Mr. Young's and Dr. Carey's edition of Ainsworth, abridged by Dr. Morell; also to the following, all I possess, viz. Dr. Adam Littleton's, 4to. 4th ed., 1703; Robertson's ed. of Gouldman, 4to., 1674; and Gesner's Thesaurus, 4 vols. fol. I may add that the observations of Horne Tooke are quite to my mind, especially when applied to the "legendary stories of nurses and old women." (Todd's Johnson.)
Working in the same direction as your correspondent who has caused this invasion of your space, I cannot resist the opportunity of protesting against the use of "opened up" and "opened out," as applied to the developments of national enterprise and industry. These expressions, common to many, and frequently to be read in the "leading journal," stand a fair chance of becoming established vulgarisms. It is, however, something worse than slipshod when a paper of equal pretension, and more particularly addressed to the families of the educated classes, informs its readers "that some of the admirers of the late Justice Talfourd contemplate the erection of a cenotaph over his grave in the cemetery at Norwood." (Illustrated News, March 25, 1854.)
Squeers.
Dotheboys.