Ecclesfield, May 27. 1850.
This Eton phrase, the meaning of which is very correctly explained Lord Braybrooke (Vol. i., p. 485.), appears to be connected with the Cheshire provincialism, which is thus interpreted in Wilbraham's Cheshire Glossary:—
"'Brosier, s. a bankrupt.' It is often used by boys at play, when one of them has nothing further to stake."
The noun brosier, as Mr. Wilbraham indicates, seems to be derived from the old word brose, or, as we now say, bruise. A brosier would therefore mean a broken-down man, and therefore a bankrupt. The verb to brosier, as used at Eton, would easily be formed from the substantive. In the mediæval Latin, ruptura and ruptus were used to signify bankruptcy and a bankrupt. See Duncange, Gloss. in vv.
Etoniensis.
The word brozier, or (as I always heard it pronounced) brosier, does not, or did not exclusively belong to Eton. It was current at Hackney School, an establishment formerly on the site of the present Infant Orphan Asylum, and had the precise meaning attributed to it by Lord Braybrooke. It was used both as a verb and as a substantive, but of its origin and etymology I am ignorant. The last master of Hackney School was the Rev. Dr. Heathcote, who died, I believe, about 1820. The schoolhouse was a very large and a very old building. May I take this opportunity of asking if anything is known of its history? There was a tradition prevalent among the boys, that it had been an hospital in the time of the Plague.
I recollect there was another singular word current at Hackney, viz. "buckhorse," for a smart box on the ear.
C. M.
[Buckhorse was a celebrated bruiser, whose name has been preserved in this designation of a blow, in the same way as that of his successor "Belcher" has been in that of the peculiar style of silk handkerchief which he always wore.]
Symbols of Four Evangelists.—Among the several replies to Jartzberg's Query (Vol. i., p. 385.), I do not observe any notice of Sir T. Brown's account of the symbols of the four Evangelists. I will therefore copy part of a note I have on the subject, though see it is unfortunately without any other reference than the name of the author.