†
[Nares, in his Glossary, says, "This curious piece of furniture is said to be still in being, and visible at the Crown or at the Bull in Ware. It is reported to be twelve feet square, and to be capable of holding twenty or twenty-four persons." And he refers to Chauncy's Hertfordshire for an account of its receiving at once twelve men and their wives, who lay at top and bottom in this mode of arrangement; first two men, then two women, and so on alternately; so that no man was near to any woman but his wife.]
Merry Andrew.
—When did the term Merry Andrew first come into use, and what was the occasion of it?
χ. β.
[Although Strutt, in his Sports and Pastimes, has several allusions to Merry Andrews, he does not attempt to explain the origin of the term. Hearne, in his Benedictus Abbas (tom. i. Præf. p. 50. ed. Oxon. 1735, as quoted by Warton in his English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 74. ed. 1840), speaking of the well-known Andrew Borde, gives it as his opinion that this facetious physician gave rise to the name of MERRY ANDREW, the fool on the mountebank's stage: "'Twas from the Doctor's method of using such speeches at markets and fairs, that in aftertimes those that imitated the like humorous, jocose language, were styled MERRY ANDREWS, a term much in vogue on our stages.">[
A Baron's Hearse.
—In reading a curious old book, entitled the Statesmen and Favourites of England since the Reformation, which was written by David Lloyd, and published in 1665, I was at a loss to know what a baron's hearse might be, and hope therefore that some of your readers may be able to give me some information respecting it. It occurs at page 448., in his observations on the life of Sir Henry Umpton, who, he says, "had allowed him a baron's hearse, because he died ambassadour leiger."
JOHN BRANFILL HARRISON.
Maidstone.