And those I love not; therefore cease my rhyme
And put my pipes up till another time."
Brit. Past., Book 2., Song. 2.
This quotation may not be of much service as a clue to the discovery of the origin of the saying; but it may be interesting to MR. BREEN as a proof that the saying itself must be considerably more than two hundred years old, the second part of the Pastorals having been first published in 1616.
C. FORBES.
Temple.
Derivation of the Word "Bummaree" or "Bumaree" (Vol. iv., p. 39.).—
"BOMERIE, S. F. [terme de mer, prêt à la grosse aventure] bottomry or bottomree."—Boyer's Fr. and Engl. Dict., ed. London, 1767.
The leading idea in the term Bomerie, and its English equivalent, when applied to borrowing money "on a ship's keel," is the hazarding all on a single venture: hence it is not difficult to see its application to other transactions, especially those connected with sea; such as wholesale purchases of fish, in which a large risk is run, with an uncertain prospect of return.
The meaning of the word, if it be really the same, when adopted by confectioners, would probably be assignable either to the shape of the pans, or the use to which they were applied.