M. C.
[This ballad was written by Miss Fanny Steers.]
Under Weigh or Way.
—Does a ship on sailing get under "weigh," or under "way?"
E. S. T. T.
[Webster and Falconer are in favour of way. The latter says, "The way of a ship is the course or progress which she makes on the water under sail. Thus, when she begins her motion, she is said to be under way; and when that motion increases, she is said to have fresh way through the water; whereas, to weigh (lever l'ancre, appareiller) is to heave up the anchor of a ship from the ground, in order to prepare her for sailing.">[
The Pope's Eye.
—Why is it that the piece of fat in the middle of a leg of mutton is called the "Pope's eye?"
J. D. G.
[Boyer, in his French Dictionary, explains it: "Le morceau gras d'une éclanche ou d'un gigot de mouton." Others have derived it from popa, which seems originally to have denoted that part of the fat of the victim separated from the thigh in sacrificing; and in process of time, the priest who sacrificed.]