Chapter M: =Ma’am.= An Americanism for mother. See “Madam.” (3)

=Phaeton.= A name derived from the Phaeton of ancient mythology, who,
having received permission to drive the sun car of Helios, his
father, for a day, had the ill fortune to cause it to be overturned,
and thereby almost set the world on fire.

=Pharmacist.= An Americanism for a chemist; derived, of course, from
“Pharmaceutist,” one who keeps a _pharmacy_ or drug store.

=Pharisees.= Those of the Jews who affected a greater degree of holiness
than their neighbours, and were consequently regarded as a separate
people. The word is from the Hebrew _pharash_, “separated.”

=Philadelphia.= Expresses the Greek for “city of brotherly love.” This
name was happily chosen by William Penn for the capital of his
Quaker colony in the New World.

=Philippe Egalité.= See “Egalité.”

=Philippi.= A ruined city of Macedonia, named after Philip II. of
Macedon, who conquered it. It was to the _Philippians_, the people
of this city, that St Paul addressed one of his Epistles.

=Philippic.= A powerful invective or denunciation. So called from a
famous oration of Demosthenes against Philip of Macedon with a view
of arousing the Athenians to repel his ambitious designs.

=Philippine Islands.= Discovered by Magellan in 1521, he named them in
honour of Philip II. of Spain.

=Philistines.= The inhabitants of ancient Philistia, or “Palestine.”
Because these were continually at war with the Jews, the term has
been applied by university students to the citizens generally, and
to the preservers of law and order more particularly. “A battle with
the Philistines” is but another name for “a town row.” By the people
of Norfolk too, policemen and bailiffs, likewise earwigs and such
tiny tormentors, are called Philistines.

=Philistinism.= The name given to that cynicism which sneers at
religion. This arose out of the scorn with which the Philistines of
Palestine regarded the rites and ceremonies of the Israelites.

=Phiz.= Slang for the face; derived from “Physiogomy.”

=Phœnicia.= Called by the Greeks _Phoinike_, from _phoinos_, purple,
which colour was discovered by the Tyrians and manufactured by them
for the supply of all the then known Eastern nations.

=Photograph.= From the two Greek words _photos_, light, and _graphein_,
to write. Accordingly a picture obtained by the action of light and
transferred to paper chemically prepared.

=Phyrric Dance.= The famous war dance of the ancient Greeks, so called
after Phyrrichos, a flautist of great skill and renown.

=Pianoforte.= A modern development of the old harpsichord and
clavichord, so called because it was the first musical instrument
which, by means of pedals, admitted the alternations of _piano_,
soft, and _forte_, loud.

=Piccadilly.= After “Piccadilla Hall,” a once famous mart for the sale
of “piccadilly lace,” having _pica_, or spearlike points. Of this
_pica_, the word _piccadilly_ expressed the diminutive. So
fashionable was this lace during the time of Elizabeth that when in
the succeeding reign of James I. the high ruff came into vogue, it
bore the name of a _piccadilly_, though shorn of its lace edging.
“Piccadilla Hall” must have stood somewhere about the modern circus
of the same name, since there were no houses further afield.

=Pickaninny.= From the Spanish _pegueno nino_, a little child.

=Pick-me-up.= A stimulating beverage or a medicinal tonic as a remedy
for languor or lowness of spirits.

=Pick up.= An Americanism for a cold dinner composed of the fragments of
the previous day’s joint. Sometimes such a one is called a “Pick-up
Dinner.”

=Picts.= The Lowlanders of Scotland, called by the Romans _picti_, or
painted men, because, they stained their skins with woad.

=Pie Corner.= It has been considered curious that the Great Fire of
London should have broken out in “Pudding Lane” and ended at Pie
Corner. Scarcely less curious was it that this Pie Corner was an
eating-house. Its sign was “The Pie,” a corruption of “Magpie.”

=Piedmont.= Expresses the French for “mountain foot.”

=Pierrot.= French for “Little Peter.”

=Pig and Whistle.= A tavern sign corrupted from “Piggen Wassail.” Piggen
expressed the Anglo-Saxon for a milking pail, of which _pig_ was the
diminutive. When a large party frequented the alehouse the liquor
was set before them in a _piggen_, each helping himself from it with
his _pig_, or mug. “Wassail” was, of course, the Anglo-Saxon _Was
hæl_ (“Be in health”). See “Hail.”

=Pigeon English.= That employed by the Chinese in their commercial
relations with Europeans. The word _pigeon_ is a native corruption
of “business,” which it seems impossible for a Chinaman to pronounce
correctly. Their business English is therefore a jargon of many
languages heard by him in the “Open Ports.”

=Pig in a Poke.= See “Buy a Pig in a Poke” and “Let the Cat out of the
Bag.”

=Piggott Diamond.= One of the smaller diamonds of celebrity, weighing
82¼ carats. This was brought to England from India by Lord Piggott
in 1818, when it passed into the hands of Messrs Rundell & Bridge.

=Pigtails.= The European nickname for the Chinese on account of their
shaven heads and braided pigtails.

=Pikes.= The name given in California to the poor southern whites, most
of whom came from Pike County, Missouri. See “Pukes.”

=Pilgrim.= From the Italian _pellegrino_, “a visitor to foreign lands.”
Since the days of Peter the Hermit and the Crusades this term has
been confined to one who travels on foot to worship at a holy
shrine, whether he be a Christian, Mohammedan, or Buddhist. See
“Palmer.”

=Pillow Lace.= So called because produced by twisted threads around rows
of pins arranged on a cushion or pillow.

=Pilot Jack.= The name given to the “Union Jack” when flown from the
mast-head in the merchant service as a signal for a pilot.

=Pimlico.= This was originally a district of tea gardens for holiday
folk, with a _specialité_ for nut-brown ales. It received its name
from Ben Pimlico, the owner of a noted resort in Hoxton on the site
of what is now the Britannia Theatre. The nut-brown ale was first
popularised by this worthy, who could not have regarded the
application of his name to ales purveyed elsewhere with much favour.
From “Pimlico Ales,” the neighbourhood itself soon came to be known
as Pimlico.

=Pimlico Walk.= It is hard to believe that this was once a regular
holiday promenade for the citizens of London. On Sundays and on
week-day evenings it was thronged, skirting as it did the famous tea
gardens of Ben Pimlico, in whose retired arbours courting couples
softly murmured “sweet nothings.” This resort was to Londoners of a
bygone day what Rosherville is in our own time. From a tea garden it
developed into what was styled a “saloon,” and eventually into a
regular theatre.

=Pinafore.= Literally an apron pinned on the bosom and at the hips of
the wearer. The modern example of a pinafore with armholes is pinned
or buttoned behind.

=Pinchbeck.= A mixture of copper, zinc, and tin, out of which metal
watch cases and cheap jewellery were formerly made. So called after
its inventor, Christopher Pinchbeck of Fleet Street.

=Pindaric Verse.= A style of verse, irregular in regard to metre,
imitative of the Odes of Pindar, the Roman poet.

=Pine-tree State.= Maine, from the pine-tree distinguished in her arms,
symbolical of her glorious forests.

=Pin Money.= The allowance made by a husband to his wife in order to
purchase pins for the current year. Such articles were at one time
neither abundant nor cheap.

=Pin your Faith on it.= An expression derived from the days of
feudalism, when all the dependents of a baron or feudal lord
displayed his badge pinned on the sleeve. Sometimes while on a
predatory expedition of their own these vassals exchanged the badge
for another to prevent recognition. This gave rise to the saying:
“You may wear the badge, but I cannot pin my faith on your sleeve. I
require some further evidence whence you came.”

=Pipeclay.= The fine white clay out of which clay pipes are made.

=Pistol.= From _Pistoja_ in Italy, where this kind of small firearm was
first introduced in 1545.

=Pit.= The floor of a theatre bears this name because the original Drury
Lane Theatre was built by Killigrew on the site of the famous
cockpit in Drury Lane.

=Pitcairn Island.= Discovered by Captain Cartaret in 1767, and named by
him after one of his officers.

=Pitchfork.= A fork for pitching hay; also one for determining the
correct pitch of a musical note.

=Pitt Diamond.= After Thomas Pitt, grandfather of the first Lord
Chatham, who, while Governor of Fort St George in India, purchased
it for £24,000. On coming to England he sold this gem, weighing 136¾
carats in its cut state, to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France,
for £130,000, on which account it bears the name also of the “Regent
Diamond.” It decorated the sword hilt of Napoleon I., and after the
battle of Waterloo passed into the hands of the Prussians.

=Pittsburg.= This city was built on the site of the French Fort
Duquesne. When, after a sanguinary engagement, it was taken from the
allied French and Indians in 1758 by General Forbes, he gave it the
name of Fort Pitt, after the English statesman, William Pitt, Earl
of Chatham.

=Pius X.= The Vatican Journal _Voce Della Verita_ recently gave an
authorised explanation as to why the present Pope chose to be styled
“Pius the Tenth.” It said: “The Holy Father preferred a name that
would emphasise the undying struggle of the Holy See against the
Revolution. From the very beginning _Pius_ has been the name of
predilection assumed by our most illustrious Pontiffs. His present
Holiness, whose Pontificate opens under a hostile Government, and at
a time when both Pope and State are the victims of imperious
revolution, was determined to adopt the title of ‘Pius the Tenth.’”

=Plain.= The name given to the Girondist party on the floor of the
French House of Assembly during the Revolution, as opposed to the
“Mountain” party.

=Plantagenet.= The family name of the House of Anjou, which succeeded to
the throne of England at the extinction of the Norman dynasty. It
was assumed by Fulke Martel, the first of this line, as a perpetual
reminder of the incident of having allowed himself to be scourged by
two attendants with branches of the _genista_, or broom plant, while
on a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, as an atonement for his
murder of the Earl of Brittany.

=Platonic Affection.= The kind of mutual esteem between persons of
opposite sexes free from carnal desires or love in an earthly sense,
as advocated by Plato and his school of philosophers.

=Platonists.= The disciples of Plato. See “Academy.”

=Play Fast and Loose.= An expression derived from a very old cheating
game called “Pricking the Belt,” which in the modified form of
“Prick the Garter,” may yet be met with at fairs and race meetings.
The victim was invited to stick a skewer through a folded belt so as
to pin it to the table; whereupon the other, taking the two ends,
proved that the belt had not been made fast at all; hence to “play
fast and loose with a man.”

=Playhouse Yard.= Marks the site of the “Fortune Theatre,” the second
regular playhouse opened in the city of London.

=Please the Pigs.= A corruption of “Please the Pixies,” or woodland
fairies, still common in many rural districts.

=Plebeians.= The ordinary citizens among the Romans, so called from
_plebs_, the people, as distinguished from the “Patricians,” or
fathers of the State.

=Plough Monday.= The first Monday after the Epiphany, when, the
Christmas festivities having come to an end, farm labourers were
supposed to return to the plough. Instead of which they dragged a
plough round the parish, begging for “plough money” from door to
door, and spent the evening at the alehouse.

=Plume and Feathers.= An inn sign, corrupted from “The Plume of
Feathers,” in allusion to the plume of ostrich feathers adopted as
his crest by Edward the Black Prince. See “Ich Dien.”

=Plunger.= A gambler who plunges into bets without considering the risks
he incurs. Recklessness is his characteristic. To retrieve his
losses he plays for high stakes, which make or break him in a very
short time.

=Plymouth.= The seaport town at the mouth of the Plym.

=Plymouth Brethren.= A sect which sprang into existence at Plymouth in
1830. It has extended far and wide, both on the Continent of Europe
and in America. Its chief tenet is the utter rejection of priestly
or ministerial organisation.

=Pocket Borough.= An old Parliamentary term for a borough in which the
votes at an election could generally be commanded by one influential
person.

=Poet Laureate.= The officially appointed poet of any nation, so called
from the Roman custom of crowning a favourite poet with laurel,
symbolical of Apollo, the god of poetry.

=Pogrom.= Expresses the Slavonic for “devastation” or “desolation.” The
word is allied to _grom_, thunder, thunder clash, and _gromit_, to
thunder, batter down, as with a thunderbolt; utterly overthrow,
destroy without mercy.

=Pointer.= This dog is so called on account of its remarkable instinct
for pointing out or indicating to sportsmen the presence of game.

=Point Lace.= So called because it is worked with the point of a needle.

=Poke Bonnet.= One which poked out beyond the face on all sides. See
“Kiss-me-Quick.”

=Poland.= From the Slavonic _poln_, “a country of plains.” Its original
settlers were a tribe called the _Polnali_, “men of the plains.”
When this country was an independent kingdom it bore the name of
“Polska,” and its people “Polacks.” Shakespeare mentions “the
sledded Polacks on the ice” in _Hamlet_ Act i. sc. i.

=Poland Street.= From the Polish refugees who congregated in it soon
after this street was built.

=Police.= The appropriate designation of civil guardians of the peace,
from the Greek _polis_, city.

=Polka.= Originally a Bohemian dance, so called from the native word
_pulka_, a half, on account of the half step peculiar to it.

=Polynesia.= Greek for “many islands.”

=Polytechnic.= An institute or academy of the Arts, so called from the
Greek _polys_, many, and _techne_, art.

=Pompeii.= So called by the Romans in honour of Pompeius Magnus, or
Pompey the Great.

=Pomeranian.= A valuable breed of dog from Pomerania in Prussia.

=Pomeroy.= From _pomme roi_; expresses the French for “King’s Apple.”

=Pommery.= After Madame Pommery, mother of the Duchess de Polignac, and
owner of the estate near Rheims where this fine brand of champagne
is produced.

=Pompadour.= Both the puce colour and the dress material of this name
were first popularised by Madame le Pompadour, the mistress of Louis
XV.

=Pompadours.= The nickname of the 56th Foot on account of their claret
or Pompadour facings.

=Pontac.= From the town of the same name in the south of France.

=Pontefract.= Literally “broken bridge.” The popular corruption of this
name is “Pomfret.”

=Pontiff.= The Pope of Rome bears this name conformably to the Latin
_pons_, bridge, and _facere_, to make, because the earliest bridge
over the Tiber was constructed at the sole cost of the High Priest
of the Romans.

=Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguard.= The first regiment of Foot, the oldest in
the service.

=Poole.= From the pool or inlet of the sea on which this Dorsetshire
port is situated.

=Pope.= From the Greek _papas_, and Latin _papa_, father.

=Poplar.= From the poplar-trees formerly abounding in this district.

=Poppin’s Court.= A corruption of “Poppingay Court”; originally, in the
reign of Elizabeth, “Poppingay Alley,” so called because it marked
the site of an ancient inn or mansion owned by the Abbots of
Cirencester, and displaying the sign of “the Poppinjaye” or parrot.

=Pop the Question.= A corruption of “Propose the question of marriage.”

=Porkopolis.= The nickname of Chicago and Cincinnati, both
world-renowned cities in relation to the pork-packing industry.

=Port.= The native wine of Portugal, shipped from Oporto.

=Porte.= The official designation of the Government of Turkey, because
anciently justice was administered at the _porta_, or gate, of the
Sultan’s palace.

=Porter.= Another name for “Entire,” which was first retailed at “The
Blue Last” in Curtain Road, Finsbury. Finding that it was in great
request by the porters who frequented that house of call, the
publican dropped the name of “Entire” and called it “Porter.”

=Portland Place.= After William Bentinck, second Duke of Portland, the
owner of the estate.

=Portman Square.= After Edward Berkeley Portman, Viscount Portman of
Bryanstone, Dorsetshire, the great ground landlord.

=Portmanteau.= From the French _porter_, to carry, and _manteau_, a
cloak; literally a receptacle for a cloak on a journey.

=Porto Rico.= Express the Spanish for “rich port.”

=Portsmouth.= The seaport town built at the mouth of the harbour.

=Portsoken Ward.= One of the wards of the city of London, so called
because anciently the thirteen knights styled the “English Knighten
Guild,” claimed the _soken_, or franchise, at the _porta_, or gate,
to their ward in return for services rendered to King Edgar by their
ancestors.

=Portugal.= From the ancient name of the capital city, _Portus Cale_,
“the gate of Gaul.”

=Portugal Street.= In compliment to Catherine of Braganza, queen of
Charles II.

=Portuguese Hymn.= The “Adesta Fidelis,” so called from the erroneous
assumption of the Duke of Leeds that it was part of the regular
service in Catholic Portugal, since he first heard it sung in the
private chapel of the Portuguese Ambassador in London.

=Portway.= The name given to that portion of a great Roman highway in
this country wherever it was crossed by an arch or within sight of a
walled city; from _porta_, gate.

=Poser.= A corruption of “Opposer”; derived from collegiate
argumentative examinations.

=Poses Plastiques.= French for “statuesque attitudes.”

=Poster.= So called because auction, play, and other public
announcements were first exhibited on the posts separating the
roadway from the side walk. Being stuck on these posts, the bills
were said to be “posted.”

=Post Paper.= So called from the original watermark, a post horn, which
it bore.

=Pot Boilers.= Specifically pictures painted by a poor artist for ready
sale to a dealer in order to “Keep the pot boiling.” The term is
also employed by authors and journalists in the same sense.

=Pothooks.= The nickname of the 77th Foot, owing to the fancied
resemblance of these two figures to pothooks.

=Pot Luck.= Anything ready at hand for a meal. The allusion is to the
primitive stock pot, into which meat and vegetables were thrown at
any time for boiling up as required.

=Potomac.= Indian for “place of the burning pine.”

=Poultry.= Where the scorchers and stuffers of poultry in connection
with the old Stocks Market on the site of the Mansion House had
their shops.

=Pouter Pigeon.= So called on account of its pouting or bulging breast.

=Powis Place.= Marks the site of the town house of William Herbert,
Marquis of Powis, _temp._ Charles I.

=Prairie State.= Illinois, which for the most part consists of prairie
lands.

=Praise-God Barebone.= A fanatical leader of the time of the
Commonwealth, and a prominent member of the “Barebone Parliament,”
who was addicted to praising God and damning his neighbours. This
kind of hypocrisy was characteristic of the Puritans.

=Pratt Street.= After one of the family names of the Earl of Brecknock,
Marquis of Camden, landlord of the estate.

=Presbyterians.= From the Greek _presbuteros_, an elder. The National
Church of Scotland is governed not by prelates, as in England, but
by elders, equal in office and power.

=Press Yard.= The open courtyard between the Sessions House and Newgate
Prison. Those who refused to plead when put upon their trial were
pressed to death with heavy weights.

=Preston.= A corruption of “Priests’ Town,” so called on account of its
many ancient monastic establishments.

=Pretoria.= In honour of Pretorius, the first President of the Boer
Republic in South Africa.

=Pretty Kettle of Fish.= Save that the second word should be “Kiddle,”
expressive of a basket placed in a river for catching fish, this
expression is very old. During the time of the Plantagenets the
warder of the Tower claimed the right of trapping fish outside
Traitors’ Gate in this way for his own benefit; but the citizens of
London systematically made a raid upon his kiddles, and destroyed
them. “A pretty kiddle of fish indeed!” he was wont to exclaim to
the Beefeaters on discovering the damage done to his preserves.

=Primitive Methodists.= The original Methodists, those who resort to
open-air preaching and singing, after the style of Wesley and
Whitfield. On account of their “Camp Meetings” they are styled also
Ranters.

=Primrose.= So far from expressing the first or spring rose, the term is
a corruption of the Italian _primerola_, the first spring flower.

=Primrose Day.= The 19th of April bears this name because it is the
anniversary of the death of Lord Beaconsfield, 1881. When the body
of this great statesman was laid to rest his coffin was adorned by a
wreath sent by Queen Victoria, and superscribed “His favourite
flower.” This gave rise to the formation of the Primrose League and
the annual decoration of the Beaconsfield Statue at Westminster with
a wreath of primroses on this day.

=Prince of Wales’s Feathers.= See “Plume and Feathers.”

=Prince of Wales Island.= Named in compliment to the Prince Regent,
afterwards George IV.

=Princes Street.= Laid out on the site of the old Westminster Mews, and
so named on account of its proximity to King Street.

=Printer’s Devil.= When Caxton introduced printing into England many
people regarded it as an invention of the devil. This idea was also
fostered by his boys, whose hands and faces were besmeared with ink.
They were accordingly called “Imps” and “Devils.” Since his day the
boys engaged in feeding the printing press have not improved in
their personal appearance. Young devils they are, and young devils
they will remain until the end of time.

=Printing House Square.= This, the courtyard of _The Times_ office, was
formerly covered by the King’s Printing House, where King James’s
Bible was printed, and which for centuries had the monopoly of
turning out Bibles for the people.

=Priory.= This term denoted a lesser house or branch establishment of an
abbey, under the control of a Prior or Prioress, who had the prior
claim to election as Abbot or Abbess of the mother community.

=Private Boxes.= The idea of these adjuncts to a theatre auditorium was
derived from Spain, where plays were formerly performed in a public
square, the ordinary spectators being accommodated on the ground,
while the grandees looked on from the windows of the houses.

=Privy.= See “Petty.”

=Pro-Cathedral.= The beautiful Catholic Church in High Street,
Kensington, erected as a provisional cathedral at the time when the
present Westminster Cathedral was first mooted.

=Profile.= The outline of a side view, so called from the Italian
_profilo_, and Latin _filum_, a thread.

=Protectionist.= One who advocates the protection of home industries by
levying imposts on foreign merchandise.

=Protestants.= Those who, with the Lutherans of Germany, protested
against the decree of the Emperor Charles V. This decree was
ostensibly to invoke the aid of the German princes against the
Turks, but really to restore peace and order after the disturbances
caused by Martin Luther’s opposition to the Church of Rome. From
this protest the Reformers received the name of “Protestants.”

=Prussia.= A Western corruption of _Porussia_, which expresses the
Slavonic for “near Russia.”

=Prussian Blue.= After its inventor, Diesbach of Berlin, in 1710.

=Prussic Acid.= Originally the acid of “Prussian Blue,” but nowadays
obtained from cyanide of iron.

=Pye Street= (Old and New). See “New Way.”

=Pymmes Park.= This new suburban “lung” at Edmonton comprised the
grounds in connection with the lordly mansion built by William
Pymme, which was mentioned in 1593 as the residence of the great
Lord Burleigh, and in 1612 as that of Robert Cecil, Earl of
Salisbury.

=Pythagoreans.= The school of philosophy founded by Pythagoras.

=Public-house.= A house of public resort for refreshment and
conviviality. It may be either an inn or a tavern in the modern
sense.

=Pudding.= From Stow’s description of “Pudding Lane” it would seem that
the puddings of his day were scarcely edible productions. The word
is derived from the Celtic _poten_, a bag, and was applied
originally in the sense of a modern hog’s pudding or black
pudding--to wit, a sausage.

=Pudding Lane.= Whether or not the Great Fire of London broke out in the
house of the King’s baker, as generally stated, the lane did not
receive its name from the royal bakery. Old Stow tells us it was so
called “because the butchers of Eastcheap have their scalding-house
for hogs there, and their puddings with other filth of beasts are
voided down that way to their dung boats on the Thames.”

=Pudding-time.= The old name for “dinner-time,” because, as still is the
custom in some parts of the country, the pudding was served before
the meat.

=Pueblo Indian.= One who in the western states has been brought under
Catholic influences, and lives in a village, where he subsists by
agriculture. The word _Pueblo_ is Spanish for village.

=Pukes.= A corruption of Pikes, generally applied to the natives of
Missouri, who originally settled in Pike County of that state.

=Pullman Car.= After its inventor, Pullman of Chicago.

=Pull up Stakes.= An Americanism for to pack up one’s belongings and
remove elsewhere. The expression has, of course, reference to
dismantling a tent among a mining community.

=Pumps.= Dancing shoes bear this name in allusion to the fashionable
assemblies in the pump-room at the Western Spas when Beau Nash,
styled “King of Bath,” presided over the ceremonies.

=Punch.= From the Hindoo _panch_, five, this beverage being composed of
five ingredients: spirit, sugar, lemon juice, spice, and water.

=Punch and Judy.= A hybrid form of entertainment evolved out of an old
mystery play, _Pontius cum Judæis_ (“Pontius Pilate and the Jews”).

=Punic Wars.= Those waged between Rome and Carthage. By the Romans the
Carthaginians were called the _Puni_, a corruption of _Phœni_, in
allusion to their descent from the Phœnicians.

=Punitive Expedition.= A petty war with the set purpose of inflicting a
well-merited punishment upon a rebellious tribe. The word “punitive”
is derived from the Latin _pœna_, penalty.

=Punjab.= Expresses the Persian for “five rivers.”

=Punkah.= From the Hindoo _pankha_, a fan.

=Puritans.= Those who affected a greater degree of holiness or purity
than their neighbours. They were to the Anglicans and Roman
Catholics of the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth what the
Pharisees were to the Jews.

=Purple.= This dye, in which the people of Tyre excelled, was discovered
in the following manner:--One day a favourite dog of Hercules of
Tyre ate a species of fish known to the ancients by the name of
_purpura_, and on returning to his master his lips were found to be
tinged with the colour, which, after a few experiments, Hercules
successfully imitated.

=Purse Strings.= In the days of our grandfathers, when hasp and clasp
purses were unknown, the only kind of purse was a small money bag
secured round its mouth by a tape or string. To “tighten one’s purse
strings” was therefore to be proof against almsgiving or
money-lending.

=Putney.= Described in ancient documents as _Puttaney_, or “Putta’s
Isle.”

Q

=Quack.= The name borne by an itinerant trader, who makes a great noise
in open market, quacking like a duck in his efforts to dispose of
wares that are not genuine; hence anyone nowadays who follows a
profession which he does not rightly understand. A “Quack Doctor”
was formerly styled a _Quack Salver_, from the salves, lotions, and
medicines he dispensed to the crowd at the street corners.

=Quadragesima Sunday.= The first Sunday of Lent, expressing in round
numbers forty days before Easter.

=Quadrant.= The Piccadilly end of Regent Street, so called because it
describes a quarter of a circle.

=Quadrille.= Expresses the French for “a little square,” in allusion to
the positions taken up by the dancers.

=Quadroon.= A Mulatto being half-blooded, like a mule, the offspring of
such a woman by a white man is black-blooded to the degree of
one-fourth.

=Quaker City.= Philadelphia, the seat of the Quaker colony founded by
William Penn.

=Quaker Poet.= The sobriquet of Bernard Barton.

=Quakers.= The origin of this designation of the “Society of Friends” is
thus given by George Fox, the founder of the sect in his _Journal_:
“Justice Bennet of Derby was the first to call us ‘Quakers,’ because
I bade him quake and tremble at the word of the Lord.” This occurred
in 1650.

=Quarantine.= Agreeably to the French _quarantaine_, the period of a
ship’s detention outside a port in the circumstances of infectious
disease should be forty days.

=Quarter Sessions.= See “Petty Sessions.”

=Quarto.= In the printing and stationery trades this term expresses a
sheet of paper which, when folded into quarters, makes four leaves
or eight pages.

=Quassia.= A tonic obtained from the bark of a tree of South America,
the virtues of which were discovered by a Negro of this name.

=Quatemala.= When the Indians who accompanied Alvarado into this region
discovered the ruins of an ancient palace of the kings beside an old
worm-eaten tree they assumed this to be the centre of the country,
and gave it the name of _Quahtemali_, “a decayed log of wood.”

=Quebec.= Indian for “take care of the rock.”

=Queen Anne’s Bounty.= A perpetual fund raised by the augmentation of
the tithes and first-fruits at the instance of Queen Anne for the
benefit of the poor clergy whose incomes are insufficient for their
proper maintenance.

=Queen Anne’s Square.= Like the gate and the street further west of the
same name, this was built during the reign of Queen Anne.

=Queen Charlotte Island.= In honour of Queen Charlotte, the consort of
George III.

=Queen City of the Lakes.= Buffalo, in the state of New York, situated
at the junction of the Erie Canal with Lake Erie.

=Queen City of the Mountains.= Knoxville (Tennessee), admirably situated
on the hills overlooking the Upper Tennessee River.

=Queen City of the Plains.= Regina, in the north-western territory.

=Queen City of the West.= Cincinnati (Ohio), so called in virtue of its
fine situation, beautiful parks, and noble architectural features.
Also styled “The Queen City” and “Queen of the West.”

=Queen Elizabeth’s Walk.= In compliment to Queen Elizabeth, who often
visited the Earl of Leicester when he resided in this portion of
Stoke Newington.

=Queenhithe.= So called because the tolls collected at this _hithe_, or
wharf, were appropriated by Eleanor, Queen of Henry II., for her pin
money.

=Queen of Hearts.= Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, the daughter of James
I., who by her amiable disposition endeared herself to all hearts.

=Queen of Watering-places.= Scarborough.

=Queen’s College.= At Oxford, founded by Robert de Eglesfield, the
confessor of Philippa, queen of Edward III., in her honour. At
Cambridge, founded by Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry VI.

=Queen’s Hall.= Built on the site of the Langham Hall, and opened in
1893, this high-class concert hall was named after the late Queen
Victoria.

=Queen’s Head Street.= From the ancient inn, “The Queen’s Head,” now
modernised, at its juncture with Essex Road. Queen Elizabeth is said
to have slept at this hostelry on several occasions.

=Queensland.= This portion of Australia received its name in honour of
Queen Victoria, when in 1859 it became an independent colony.

=Queen’s Square.= After Queen Anne, in whose reign it was laid out.

=Queen Street.= In Cheapside, from a permanent wooden balcony situated
between Bow Church and this corner for the accommodation of the
reigning queen and her ladies when jousts and tournaments were held
here. In Mayfair, after the queen of Charles II., in whose reign it
was built.

=Queen’s Tobacco Pipe.= The name given to the furnace at the London
Docks where contraband tobacco was formerly consumed. This custom
obtained down to within the last few years of the reign of Queen
Victoria.

=Queenstown.= Originally styled “The Cove of Cork,” this Irish seaport
received its present name on the occasion of the visit of Queen
Victoria in 1850.

=Queen’s Weather.= Throughout the long reign of the late Queen Victoria
it was remarkable that, whenever she appeared abroad on the occasion
of a public function, glorious weather favoured her invariably;
hence the expression “Queen’s Weather” came to be applied to a fine
day for a summer outing.

=Queen Victoria Street.= A modern thoroughfare, named after the late
Queen Victoria.

=Queue.= Expresses the French for a tail, like that of a periwig or
peruke. In the sense of a line of people waiting outside the doors
of a theatre the term has latterly become popular on both sides of
the English Channel.

=Quick Lunch.= An American stand-up luncheon served with expedition.

=Quicksilver.= Living or moving silver. _Quick_ is old English for
“living”; hence “The Quick and the Dead.”

=Quidnunc.= One who is always inquiring after news. “What news?” is the
literal interpretation of the term. As a personal designation, it
originated in the name of the chief character in Murphy’s farce,
“The Upholsterer, or What News?” A kind of political Paul Pry.

=Quid of Tobacco.= A corruption of “Cud,” because it is used for
chewing. The allusion is to the cud chewed by ruminating animals.

=Quids.= The slang term for cash, properly restricted to gold. A
sovereign is called a “Quid” in allusion to the Latin phrase, _Quid
pro quo_, something of equal value, which change for a sovereign
truly is.

=Quill-driver.= The popular designation of a clerk. Quill pens having
been supplanted by those of steel, it is scarcely appropriate in our
time.

=Quinquagesima Sunday.= The name given in the Church calendar to the
Sunday preceding Ash Wednesday or the commencement of Lent;
approximately fifty days before Easter.

=Quit Rent.= A rental anciently paid by a tenant to a baron with a view
of being relieved or quit of feudal service.

=Quod.= The slang term for prison; also “Quad.” See “In Quad.”

R

=Rabbi.= The title of a Jewish expounder of the Law. The word is Greek
for “My Master,” through the Hebrew _rabi_, from the root _rab_,
lord, chief.

=Rack.= From the Saxon _wrocan_ and German _recken_, to stretch. The
word is therefore correctly applied to the instrument of torture of
former days.

=Rack Rent.= A term expressing the actual full annual value of land as
paid from the earliest times, not modified by circumstances. See
“Rack.”

=Radcliffe Library.= Founded at Oxford by the celebrated physician, Dr
John Radcliffe, in Radcliffe Square, also named after him.

=Radicals.= That advanced section of the Liberal party, whose set
purpose it is to root out the evils, according to their view, of our
constitutional system which are systematically maintained by the
Conservatives. The term first came into notice in 1818, when a
strenuous effort was made to institute a radical change in the
Parliamentary representation of the country. This paved the way for
the Reform Act of 1832.

=Radnor.= The modern form of _Rhiadnwr-Gwy_, signifying “The Cataract of
the Wye.” This is in reference to the beautiful cascade, with a fall
of seventy feet, called “The Water-break-its-Neck,” the great
natural feature in the vicinity of the county town.

=Rag.= Theatrical slang for the curtain, having originally reference to
the green baize. Also military slang for the national flag, and the
members’ colloquial term for the Army and Navy Club.

=Rag Fair.= The name given to the old clothes mart in Petticoat Lane,
now Middlesex Street, Aldgate, on Sunday mornings.

=Ragged Regiment.= Dilapidated waxen effigies of several English
monarchs and persons of note that were borne through the streets at
the obsequies of the subjects represented. They are located in
Islip’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

=Ragging.= In military parlance this word expresses the system of
persecution by which an unpopular man suffers indignities at the
hands of his comrades. It has the same meaning as the North Country
“Rag,” to enrage or make angry, and “Bullyrag,” to administer a
severe scolding. The latter, however, of which the former is an
abbreviation, has not been derived from the Dutch _bulderen_, to
scold or bully, as is generally supposed, but from the custom of the
Spanish bullfighters of waving a red cloak in front of the bull in
order to excite him to fury. This is the _rag_ referred to. The
corresponding United States term for “ragging” is “Hazing.”

=Rag Money.= American slang for paper money.

=Rag Time.= An Americanism for a dancing frolic of the
“go-as-you-please” order, in which musical time and rhythm are, as
it were, torn into shreds; a ragged, loose, disconnected,
unconventional time. The term has been well explained by an
authoritative writer in _The Referee_ as follows:--“Rag time is the
outcome of ‘Rag Speech,’ a speech that casts tradition, balance,
beauty, elegance, and refinement to the winds, and that believes
that more effect can be made by punching certain syllables into the
brain of the listener. Technically speaking, ‘Rag Time’ shifts the
strong accent from the first to the second beat of the bar. Against
this there is a cross-rhythm with a kind of halting contrapuntal
ornamentation in the accompaniment, which sometimes brings a stress
on to the fourth beat of the bar. The result of this irregularity
and false quantity is to destroy the rhythm to an extent that often
makes it difficult to say whether the music is in duple or triple
measure. The musical consequence is the breaking down of symmetrical
form, and the tendency is to reduce the organised structure to its
component parts.”

=Railroad City.= Indianapolis, a junction of the great trunk lines.

=Railway King.= The sobriquet of George Hudson, Chairman of the Midland
Railway Company, who amassed a huge fortune by successful
speculations in the early days of railway enterprise.

=Rains Cats and Dogs.= This expression is traceable to two distinct
sources--popular superstition and Scandinavian mythology. Witches
who rode the storm on broomsticks were believed to have the power of
transforming themselves into cats at will, while the dog or wolf is
represented as the attendant of Odin, the Storm King of the northern
nations.

=Rainy Day Smith.= John Thomas Smith, the antiquary, whose chatty
volume, “A Book for a Rainy Day,” brought him more money and
reputation than all his other works put together.

=Raise your Screw.= This expression arose out of the custom of masters
paying their employées’ wages screwed up in a tiny paper of uniform
size. The more money it contained the less tightly the paper could
be screwed; hence an advance of wages implied metaphorically giving
the screw one turn backwards.

=Rake the Pot.= An American gambling phrase meaning to seize the stakes.

=Ram and Teazle.= A tavern sign common to the woollen manufacturing
districts, this being the device of the Clothworkers’ Company.

=Ranch.= From the Spanish _rancho_, a hut of posts, covered with
branches or thatch, in which herdsman or farm labourers in the
western states of North America lodge by night.

=Rand.= Expresses the Dutch, specifically in South Africa, for a mining
district.

=Ranelagh Gardens.= This fashionable public resort, now built over,
occupied the site of Ranelagh House and its grounds, owned by an
Irish peer, whose title it bore.

=Ranters.= Another name for the “Primitive Methodists.”

=Rape.= The name given to a division under the Danes of the county of
Sussex, from the Norse _repp_, a district.

=Rapier.= This species of sword being eminently adapted for rapid
thrusting and withdrawing, its name, from the Latin _rapere_, to
snatch away, is appropriate.

=Rappahannock.= Indian for “quick-rising waters.”

=Rapparee.= The name given to an Irish plunderer, because he was armed
with a _rapera_, or half pike.

=Rascal.= From the French _racaille_, “the scum of the people.”

=Ratcliff Highway.= Originally a manor belonging to the parish of
Stepney, this highway for sailors ashore, where they found lodgings
and entertainment of a low class in days prior to the provision of
“Seamen’s Homes,” received its name from the multitudes of water
rats that congregated on the Thames wall by night. On account of the
evil reputation which this neighbourhood bore in former days, its
name was changed to “St George’s in the East.”

=Rathbone Place.= After Captain Rathbone, its builder, in 1718.

=Rat Hole.= A printers’ term for a non-society house. Since rats are
known to desert a sinking ship, so a journeyman who refuses to take
advantage of a trades union is stigmatised as a “Rat,” because he
forsakes the general cause of his craft. Hence also the term
“Rattening,” by which is meant the taking away of or destroying a
workman’s tools consequent upon his desertion of the union or
accepting work in a house opposed to its principles.

=Rationalism.= The kind of religion (if it deserved such a name) set up
during the French Revolution, when Reason took the place of Faith.
The worship of the “Goddess of Reason,” in the person of an actress
installed in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, was a fitting illustration
of the unreasoning tenet that public worship was opposed to the
natural instincts of mankind.

=Rattening.= See “Rat Hole.”

=Ray Street.= After the victim of an old-time Clerkenwell sensation,
Miss Ray, who, on becoming the mistress of Lord Sandwich, was shot
by her jilted lover, Hackman.

=Ready.= Short for ready money, cash always on hand, in readiness for
emergencies.

=Rechabites.= The name borne by total abstainers in the United States,
after the followers of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, who lived in
tents and abstained from the use of wine.

=Reckon without your Host.= When putting up at an inn the cost is often
greater than the traveller anticipates; therefore it is always wise
to be well prepared with funds, lest, when the host presents his
bill, discomfiture may arise.

=Recluse.= From the Latin _reclusus_, shut up; one who voluntarily cuts
himself off from communion with his fellow-men, a solitary.

=Rector.= A clergyman who enjoys a living in his own right, as
distinguished from a “Vicar,” who holds the appointment at the
pleasure of the Lord of the Manor. The former also receives the
tithes direct, whereas the latter passes them on to a layman, a
college, or a chapter, by whom he is paid a proportion thereout as a
stipend.

=Red Cent.= An Americanism for a copper coin.

=Redcross Street.= From the red stone cross anciently set up by the
Knights Hospitallers to define the limits of the land belonging to
them in the direction adjacent to that of the Knights Templars,
indicated by a white cross of stone in what is now “Whitecross
Street.”

=Red Dragon.= An inn sign, complimenting Henry VII., whose device it
was.

=Redemptorists.= Also called “Redemptorist Fathers.” See “Liguorians.”

=Red Eye.= The Far West term for fiery new whisky, which is well
calculated to make the eyes of the toper look red.

=Red-hot Time.= An Americanism for a jolly time, because the proceedings
were conducted with the utmost warmth.

=Red-Letter Day.= A phrase used to express a pleasurable event in one’s
past life. This had its origin in the old calendars and almanacks,
in which high Church festivals were printed in red ink, and all the
other days in black.

=Red Lion Court.= After an ancient tavern, “The Red Lion.”

=Red Lion Square.= After a famous old coaching-house, “The Red Lion.”

=Red Republicans.= The extreme Republican party of the French
Revolution, which adopted the red cap, the Roman symbol of Liberty.
The lower orders of the people, to whom the cap meant everything,
were likewise only too ready to follow the behest of their leaders,
and steep their hands in the blood of the aristocrats.

=Red Skins.= The name first given by the white settlers to the Indians
of North America.

=Red Rose.= An inn sign, in compliment to the Lancastrians during the
Wars of the Roses.

=Red Sea.= Three reasons are assigned for the name of this sea: the red
sandstone which forms its bottom, the red rocks which in some parts
border its shores, and the colouring imparted to its waters by coral
reefs, animaculæ, and sea-weed.

=Red Tape.= That leisurely officialism which refers a matter from one
department to another, until at length the highest authority is
reached to take it in hand. The term has been derived from the red
tape with which all legal and official documents are tied together.

=Reel.= A whirling dance by a single person, peculiar to the Scots, so
called in allusion to the winding of cotton on a reel.

=Reformed Presbytery.= See “Macmillanites.”

=Reform School.= An Americanism for an institution for the reformation
of juvenile offenders.

=Refresher.= The legal term for an extra fee paid to a barrister by a
client while the latter’s case is pending, in order to refresh the
former’s memory concerning the interests at stake.

=Regent Diamond.= See “Pitt Diamond.”

=Regent’s Park.= Part of the general scheme of John Nash, the royal
architect, when he projected the building of Regent Street, was to
provide a magnificent palace for his patron, the Prince Regent, in
the park named after him. This was not realised, and the site of the
intended palace was appropriated to the Zoological Gardens.

=Regent Street.= In honour of the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV.

=Regiomontanus.= The name assumed by Johann Müller, a celebrated German
mathematician of the fifteenth century, being a Latinised rendering
of “Konigsberg,” his native place.

=Regius Professor.= The professorial chair in various departments of
learning at Oxford and Cambridge Universities founded by Henry VIII.

=Regular Brick.= See “He’s a Brick.”

=Regular Clergy.= Those who in the Catholic Church are attached to
monasteries and friaries, living by rule; in contradistinction to
the “Secular Clergy,” who are appointed to parochial work by a
bishop, and move among the people.

=Regular Zantippe.= See “Zantippe.”

=Rehan.= See “Ada Rehan.”

=Rendezvous.= Literally an individual haunt or resort, and in no sense a
place of public meeting. The word is French for “betake yourself.”

=Republican Marriage.= The name given by the Red Republicans during the
French Revolution to their atrocious procedure, instigated by Jean
Baptiste Carrier, of tying a young man and woman together and
drowning them.

=Resurrection Men.= Body snatchers, who “resurrected,” as the Americans
say, bodies from the graves in order to sell them to the medical
faculty for dissection. Since the general institution of public
hospitals, the last refuge of so many “unknowns,” whose dead bodies
are never claimed, the demand for subjects snatched from the grave
has entirely ceased.

=Revolver.= The modern type of pistol, in which the breach which
contains the cartridges revolves. In the earlier stage of this
invention it was the barrel that revolved.

=Rheims.= The capital of the _Remi_, a Gallic people referred to by
Cæsar.

=Rhine.= From the Celtic _rhe_, “rapid.” This name was given by the
Swiss to rivers generally.

=Rhinoceros.= Greek for “nose-horned.”

=Rhode Island.= A corruption of “rood,” red, the name given to it by the
Dutch settlers on account of its reddish appearance.

=Rhodes.= From the Greek _rhodon_, a rose; expresses “the isle of
roses.”

=Rhododendron.= From the two Greek words _rhodon_, rose, and _dendron_,
tree.

=Rhody.= The American designation of Rhode Island on account of its
limited area; also called “Little Rhody.”

=Rhone.= Derived from the same root as “Rhine.”

=Ribbonmen.= The name borne by the members of a Catholic political
association in Ireland early in the last century on account of the
distinctive badge or ribbon worn in the button-hole. The Ribbonmen
were violently opposed to the “Orangemen.”

=Ribston Pippins.= The name given to a fine species of Normandy apple
grown at Ribstone, Yorkshire, from pips originally planted on his
estate by Sir Henry Goodriche.

=Richmond.= When Edward I. built himself a sumptuous palace on the south
bank of the Thames he gave it the name of _Sheen_, the Saxon for
“resplendent.” This being consumed by fire in 1479, Henry VI.,
rebuilt it, and then called it Richmond, after the beautiful seat in
Yorkshire whence he took the title of his earldom. _Richmond_
signifies a rich prospect from the hill occupied by its ancient
castle.

=Riding.= A Danish division of the county of Yorkshire corresponding to
the Lincolnshire _Trithing_, of which it is a corruption, signifying
a third part.

=Riff-raff.= Expresses the Anglo-Saxon, from the Danish _rip-raps_, for
“sweepings”; hence the scum of society.

=Right off the Reel.= To do a thing without stopping until it is
finished. The allusion is to unwinding the entire length of cotton
off a reel or bobbin.

=Right Foot Foremost.= A phrase derived from the old Roman superstition
that if a visitor crossed the threshold with the left foot foremost
he would be certain to bring ill luck upon the household.

=Rile.= A provincial corruption of “Rail,” to anger or tease.

=Ring.= A professional term for a charmed circle--_e.g._ “The Dramatic
Ring.”

=Ring him up.= A telephone phrase, really borrowed from the theatrical
profession, in which the prompter’s “Ring up” and “Ring
down”--_i.e._ the curtain--have obtained favour since the “Palmy
Days of the Drama.”

=Rink.= An American variant of “Ring.” In the sense of a skating rink
the term has become popular in England.

=Rio de Janeiro.= This city takes its name from the river discovered by
Alfonso de Sousa on the Feast of St Januarius, on which it stands.

=Rio de la Plata.= Spanish for “river of silver.”

=Rio Grande.= Spanish for “great river.”

=Rip.= A corruption of “Rep.” See “Old Rep.”

=Ritualists.= The extreme High Church party, who for many years past
have revived the ancient ritual to such a degree that they may be
said to be Roman Catholics in everything save in name.

=Riviera.= Literally “coast,” “sea-shore.”

=Robbing Peter to Pay Paul.= An expression derived from the following
circumstance:--By Royal Letters Patent, dated 17th December 1540,
the abbey church of St Peter, Westminster, was constituted a
cathedral, with a resident bishop. Ten years afterwards this order
was revoked, the diocese of Westminster being united to that of St
Paul’s Cathedral, and its revenues were granted towards the repairs
of the city fane; hence what was taken away from St Peter’s went to
benefit St Paul’s.

=Robert.= The generic name for a policeman, after Sir Robert Peel, who
introduced the modern constabulary system.

=Robert Street.= In the Adelphi, after the Christian name of one of the
three brothers Adam, its builders. In Camden Town, after one of the
family names of the Marquis of Camden, the ground landlord.

=Robert the Devil.= The surname of the first Duke of Normandy, the
father of William the Conqueror, merited by his outrageous cruelty
and daring in war.

=Robin Hood.= The proper name of this renowned leader of the Sherwood
Foresters was Robert Fitzooth. The first he euphonised into _Robin_
and the second into _Hood_, leaving out the _Fitz_, which is Norman
for “son,” altogether, since having been declared an outlaw, he was
not unwilling to renounce his claims to Norman descent. Whether or
not he was really Earl of Huntingdon, as some historians assert,
cannot be proved.

=Robinson.= The French popular name for an umbrella, in allusion to
Robinson Crusoe.

=Rob Roy.= The popular name of the Scottish outlaw Robert Macgregor,
meaning simply “Robert the Red” on account of his beard.

=Rochester.= From _Hrofoceaster_, after Hrop, a Saxon chieftain, who
built a castle on the site of a _castra_, or Roman encampment.

=Rochester Row.= A name which recalls the fact that, prior to the time
of George III., the Deanery of Westminster was included in the
Bishopric of Rochester.

=Rock Day.= Another ancient name for “Distaffs’ Day,” 7th January, the
word _rock_ being the Anglo-Saxon for a distaff.

=Rogation Days.= So called from the Latin _rogare_, to beseech, and also
from the Greek _litaneia_, supplication. These being the three days
preceding the Feast of the Ascension, the Litany of the Saints is
chanted by way of preparation and supplication for the joyful event.

=Rogation Sunday.= That which ushers in the “Rogation Days.”

=Roger de Coverley.= The correct description of this surname is Roger de
Cowley, or Roger of Cowley, near Oxford. The dance of this name was
invented by an ancestor of the country squire, Sir Roger de
Coverley, mentioned by Addison in _The Spectator_.

=Rogues’ Gallery.= The name given to the collection of criminals’
photographs in the State Prison of New York.

=Roland for an Oliver.= See “Gave him a Roland for an Oliver.”

=Roll Call.= The list of names called out in the army. The term “Roll”
is a survival of those far-off days when not only a list, but
writing of all kinds, was set forth on one long roll of paper. We
still speak of a “Burgess Roll,” while to belong to any society is
said to be “enrolled” among its members; hence also the phrase “Roll
of Honour.”

=Rolls Chapel.= This ancient edifice, now incorporated in the New Record
Office, was built by Henry III. for a number of Jewish rabbis who,
had been converted to Christianity. Into it Edward III. caused all
the accumulated rolls or records to be stored, and there they
remained in the custody of the Master of the Rolls, until in more
modern days they were overhauled and catalogued.

=Roman Catholic Church.= The ancient original fold of “The Holy Catholic
Church,” which acknowledges the authority of the Pope of Rome. The
recognised head of the English Catholic Church is the King,
represented by the Archbishop of Canterbury, just as that of “The
Greek Catholic Church” in Russia is the Czar, represented by the
Metropolitan of St Petersburg.

=Rome.= After Romulus, its mythical founder.

=Romeo Coates.= Robert Coates was a fashionable amateur actor during the
early part of the last century; surnamed Romeo Coates on account of
his very many appearances in the character of the ill-fated hero in
_Romeo and Juliet_.

=Romford.= The ford over the Bourne, anciently called the Rom, this
being the Roman highway between London and Colchester.

=Romney Street.= After Charles Marsham, Earl of Romney, the owner of the
estate.