HENRY H. BREEN.
Bigot (Vol. v., p. 277.).
—I beg to direct attention to the subjoined extract from Mr. Trench's Lectures on the Study of Words, a most able and interesting little work:
"'Bigot' is another word widely spread over Europe, of which I am inclined to think that we should look for the derivation where it is not generally sought, and here too we must turn to Spain for the explanation. It has much perplexed inquirers, and two explanations of it are current; one of which traces it up to the early Normans, while they yet retained their northern tongue, and to their often adjuration by the name of God, with sometimes reference to a famous scene in French history, in which Rollo, Duke of Normandy, played a conspicuous part; the other puts it in connexion with 'Beguines,' often called in Latin 'Beguttæ,' a name by which certain communities of pietest women were known in the Middle Ages. Yet I cannot but think it probable, that rather than to either of these sources, we owe the word to that mighty impression which the Spaniards began to make upon all Europe in the fifteenth century, and made for a long time after. Now the word 'bigote' means in Spanish 'mustachio;' and, as contrasted with the smooth or nearly smooth upper lip of most other people, at that time the Spaniards were the 'men of the mustachio.' That it was their characteristic feature comes out in Shakspeare's Love's Labour's Lost, where Armado, the 'fantastical Spaniard,' describes the king, 'his familiar, as sometimes being pleased to lean on his poor shoulder, and dally with his mustachio.' [Act V. Sc. 1.] That they themselves connected firmness and resolution with the mustachio, that it was esteemed the outward symbol of these, is plain from such phrases as 'hombre de bigote,' a man of resolution; 'tener bigotes,' to stand firm. But that in which they eminently displayed their firmness and resolution in those days, was their adherence to whatever the Roman See required and taught. What then more natural, or more entirely according to the law of the generation of names, than that this striking and distinguishing outward feature of the Spaniard should have been laid hold of to express that character and condition which eminently were his, and then transferred to all others who shared the same? The mustachio is, in like manner, in France a symbol of military courage; and thus 'un vieux moustache,' is an old soldier of courage and military bearing. And strengthening this view, the earliest use of the word which Richardson gives, is a passage from Bishop Hall, where 'bigot' is used to signify a pervert to Romanism: 'he was turned both bigot and physician.' In further proof that the Spaniard was in those times the standing representative of the bigot and the persecutor, we need but turn to the older editions of Fox's Book of Martyrs, where the Pagan persecutors of the early Christians are usually arrayed in the armour of Spanish soldiers, and sometimes graced with tremendous 'bigotes.'"—2nd edit. 80-82.
Mr. Trench's derivation of bigot is, I think, very preferable to those you cite.
C. H. COOPER.
Davies Queries (Vol. iv., p. 256.).
—LLAW GYFFES asks for a correct description of the monument erected to Sir John Davys, Davis, or Davies, in St. Martin's church. Perhaps the following will answer his purpose: it is extracted from one of a series of MS. volumes in my possession, in the autograph of John Le Neve:—
"On the 3rd pillar, on the south range, a plain white marble monument, in memory of Sir John Davis, Knight. Inscrip.: