From the Gower MS. Soc. Ant. 134, f. 46.
The word occurs also in Chaucer (p. 549. ed. Urry):—
"To-broken ben the Statutes hie in heven;"
and also in the Vision of Piers Ploughman (p. 156. ed. Wright):
"The bagges and the bigirdles
He hath to-broke them all."
And Mr. Wright very properly remarks, that "to- prefixed in composition to verbs of Anglo-Saxon origin, has the same force as the German zu, giving to the word the idea of destruction or deterioration.">[
NOTES UPON CUNNINGHAM'S HANDBOOK FOR LONDON.
Lambeth Wells.—A place of public entertainment, first opened in 1697. It was celebrated for its mineral water, which was sold at one penny per quart. At the beginning of the eighteenth century it was provided with a band of music, which played at intervals during the day, and the price of admission was threepence. A monthly concert, under the direction of Starling Goodwin, organist of St. Saviour's church, Southwark, was held here in 1727.