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"Gromet seems to be a diminutive of 'grome', a serving-man, whence the modern groom. The provincialism grummet, much used in Sussex to designate a clumsy, awkward youth, has doubtless some relation to this cabin-boy of the Ports' navy."
I ought to add, that the passage above given is to be found in Jeake's Charters of the Cinque Ports.
MARK ANTONY LOWER.
Lewes, March 18. 1850.
Grummett.—Bailey explains, "Gromets or Gromwells, the most servile persons on ship-board," probably, metaphorically, from "Gromet or Grummet," "small rings," adds Bailey, "fastened with staples on the upper side of the yard." The latter term is still in use; the metaphorical one is, I believe, quite obsolete.
C.
Meaning of "Grummett," &c.—The word is derived from the Low Latin "gromettus", the original of our "groom" (see Ducange's, Gromes and Gromus), and answers to the old French gourmète, i.e. garçon. In old books he is sometimes called a "novice" or "page," and may be compared with the "apprentice" of our marine. He was employed in waiting on the sailors, cooking their victuals, working the pumps, scouring the decks, and, in short, was expected to lend a hand wherever he was wanted, except taking the helm (Clairac, Commentaire du premier Article des Rooles d'Oléron); and, consequently, is always distinguished from, and rated below, the mariner or able-bodied seaman.
The information here given is taken from Jal, Archéologie navale, vol. ii. p. 238.
A. RICH, Jun.
MISCELLANIES
The Duke of Monmouth.—I made the following note many years ago, and am now reminded of its existence by your admirable periodical, which must rouse many an idler besides myself to a rummage amongst long-neglected old papers. This small piece of tradition indicates that the adventurous but ill-advised duke was a man of unusual muscular power and activity.
"On the 8th of July, 1685, the Duke of Monmouth was brought a prisoner to Ringwood, and halted at an inn there. My mother, who was a native of Ringwood, used to relate that her grandmother was one of the spectators when the royal prisoner came out to take horse; and that the old lady never failed to recount, how he rejected any assistance in mounting, though his arms were pinioned; but placing his foot in the stirrup, sprang lightly into his saddle, to the admiration of all observers."
ELIJAH WARING.
Dowry Parade, Clifton Hotwells, March 21. 1850.
TO PHILAUTUS
(From the Latin of Buchanan.)
Narcissus loved himself we know,
And you, perhaps, have cause to show
Why you should do the same;
But he was wrong: and, if I may,
Philautus, I will freely say,
I think you more to blame.
He loved what others loved; while you
Admire what other folks eschew.
RUFUS.
Junius.—Nobody can read, without being struck with the propriety of it, that beautiful passage in the 8th letter—"Examine your own breast, Sir William, &c. &c. &c." A parallel passage may however be found in Bevill Higgons's Short View of English History (temp. Hen. VI.), a work written before 1700, and not published till thirty-four years afterwards:—
"So weak and fallible is that admired maxim, 'Factum valet, quot fieri non debuit,' an excuse first invented to palliate the unfledged villainy of some men, who are ashamed to be knaves, yet have not the courage to be honest."
I have not quoted the whole of the passage from Junius, as I consider it to be in almost every body's hands. I am collecting some curious, and I hope valuable, information about that work.
B.G.
Arabic Numerals.—Your correspondent T.S.D.'s account of a supposed date upon the Church of St. Brelade, Jersey, brings to my mind a circumstance that once occurred to myself, which may, perhaps, be amusing to date-hunters. Some years ago I visited a farm-house in the north of England, whose owner had a taste for collecting curiosities of all sorts. Not the least valuable of his collection was a splendidly carved oak bedstead, which he considered of great antiquity. Its date, plainly marked upon the panels at the bottom of the front posts, was, he told me, 1111. On examining this astounding date a little closely, I soon perceived that the two middle strokes had a slight curvature, a tendency to approach the shape of an S, which distinguished them from the two exterior lines. The date was, in fact, 1551; yet so small was the difference of the figures, that the mistake was really a pardonable one.
Is your correspondent "E.V." acquainted with the History of Castle Acre Priory, published some years ago? If my memory fails me not, there is a date given in that work, as found inscribed on the plaster of the Priory wall, much more ancient than 1445.
Has the derivation of the first four Arabic numerals, and probably of the ninth, from the ancient Egyptian hieratic and enchorial characters, for the ordinals corresponding with those numbers, ever been noticed by writers upon the history of arithmetical notation? The correspondence will be obvious to any one who refers to the table given in the 4th vol. of Sir G. Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians (3rd edit.), p. 198.
C.W.G.
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