Principle of Notation by Coalwhippers, &c.
—I shall feel much obliged to any of your readers who can inform me whether the principle adopted by the coalwhippers on the river Thames, and by the seafaring class in general, is adopted by any other class in these islands, or particularly in the North of Europe.
This principle may be thus explained, viz.:
1. A set of four perpendicular, equal, and equidistant straight lines are cut by a diagonal line, which runs from right to left; that is to say, from the higher end of the fourth line to the lower extremity of the first line. This diagonal then represents number 5, and completes the scale or tally of 5.
2. A similar set of four lines are cut by another diagonal, which passes from left to right, or from the higher extremity of number one, to the lower extremity of number four. The diagonal thus completes the second score or tally for number 5.
The two fives are marked or scored separately, and the diagonals thus form a series of alternations, which, when repeated, form a scale of ten, the tally of the coalwhippers.
The "navvies" of the railroads carry this principle somewhat further. They form a cross with two diagonals on the perpendiculars, and count for ten; then, by repeating the process, they have a division into tens, and count by two tens, or a score.
I. J. C.
Kiss the Hare's Foot.
—This locution is commonly used in some parts of the United Kingdom, to describe what is expressed by the Latin proverb: "Sero venientibus ossa." Will any of your readers be so good as to explain the origin of the English phrase?