"That whereas huers, bonnets, and cappes, as well single as double, were wont to be truly made, wrought, fulled, and thickked by the might and strength of men, that is to say, with hand and foot; and they that have so made, wrought, fulled, and thickked such huers, bonnets, and cappes, have well and honestly afore this gotten their living thereby, and thereupon kept apprentices, servants, and good household. It is so that there is a subtile mean found now of late, by reason of a Fullyng Mille, whereby more cappes may be fulled and thickked in one day than by the might and strength of four score men by hand and foot may be fulled and thickked in the same day: the which huers, bonnets, and cappes, so fulled and thickked by such mill, are bruised, broken, and deceivably wrought, and cannot by the mean of any mill be truly made."
The petitioners conclude by praying Parliament to impose heavy penalties upon all who use the fulling mill, or who sell huers, hats, or bonnets that have been "fulled or thickked" by means of any such mill. So early did the antagonism between hand-labour and machinery prevail.
I doubt whether the more ancient name of haberdasher were milainer. There were haberdashers at York in the time of Edward III., but no milliners. In 1372 the haberdashers of London were separated from the hurrers, with whom they had been previously associated. I should be glad to have a reference to the use of the term milainer, as applied to traders of any sort prior to the reign of Edward III.
I should also be obliged to any of your correspondents who will tell me what was the description of trade or business carried on by uphalders in former times.
Δ.
Cou-bache (Vol. v., p. 131.).
—In Halliwell's Archaic Dictionary the word balk is interpreted, "a ridge of greensward left by the plough in ploughing, or by design, between the different occupancies in a common field." This is exactly the meaning of the word as it is commonly used in Yorkshire at this day; but in a Yorkshire village with which I am acquainted, we have the very phrase of the Golden Legend, "cou-bache," (pronounced skoo-bauk, the prefix s being a not infrequent corruption), as the name of a wide grassy road between thorn-hedges, upon the verbage of which the milch cows of the villages are pastured. This seems to be just the sort of place described in the legend as the scene of Kenelm's murder. I need not add, that it is not unusual to find pure Anglo-Saxon words retained in the rural dialects of Yorkshire.
Δ.
Meaning of Groom.—M. F. Barrière (Vol. v., p. 347.)
—Having some reason to doubt the high editorial authority attributed to M. Barrière by J. R. (Cork), I would request your ingenious correspondent to favour us with references to one or two (or more, if not too troublesome) of the "frequent cases" in which the Quarterly Review adopts M. Barrière's statements.