MRS GRUNDY—AND OTHERS

Shannon News, 2 May 1924, Page 4

MRS GRUNDY—AND OTHERS

WHERE SOME QIJAISIIiEXPRES* SIONS CAME FROM. In Tuesday’s issue there was an articlo entitled “Who is Mrs Grundy?” Here is something more about that much abused lady of uncertain age, besides other information curious and useful. * ' MRS GRUNDY* Everybody knows «-nat Mrs Grundy is a,prim, severe dame, who -looks (With! disapproval upon some of the modern tendencies of. her sex; and#(to delt the i truth, some of us are glad to know that she is still alive. Hows many readers of that newspaper, however, could say why this particular name should be applied to so stern and uncompromising a critic? . . Mrs Grundy, it is interesting to. know, was born dramatically, and appropriately, “ What will Mrs Grundy say?” occurs in Morton’s Speed the Plough,” a comedy written in, 1798. Farmer Ashfield.grew tired.of constant* references by his wife..to Mrs Grundy; who, was very likely the * mother of Sairey Gamp’s Mrs Harris. He turned on his wife in the comedy and cried, “Be; quiet, will ye: Always ding-dong-ing Dame Grundy into my ears! ‘What wills Mrs Grundy say?’” “What will Mrs Grundy think ?” The phrase and the name caught the public ear, and, Mrs Grundy became a character —and a force. JACK ROBINSON. There is another person we hear mentioned almost .every day, and yet know nothing about How many ~PCQpie who use the old as I could say. Jack Robinson,” - know that the aforementioned gentleman was* a real character, and-, not somebody out of a nursery rhyme? Jack Robinson, as he was called, was a politician during the reign of George 111., and • a great favourite with the King.. His career was a long and -lively one, for he was a member for Harwichduring twentysix years. On one occasion he was bitterly attacked by Sheridan, who, denouncing bribery and .its instigators, replied,to the cries of “Name, name,” by pointing to Robinson on the Treasury Bench, and. ex r , claimed, “Yes, I could' name him as soon I could say ’Jack Robinson. ’ The saying became current coin, as it is to this day. IN A JIFFYi

Still more interesting .is the conuec: tion between a real person and the very familiar phrase, “I can do, it m a jiffey,” or, “I will be with you in & jiffey.” (Some dictionaries spell it “jiffy” and define it as “a moment, an instant.”) There seems to be little doubt that the word owes its place m eighteenth century thieves’ slang (where the. learned Captain Grose found it bearing the 'same' meaning as it bears to-day) to the notorious proceedings of Judge Jeffreys. Jeffreyswas .described by King.-.Charies as having no learning, no sense, and no manners; and one biographer said he , was. “the worst criminal judge who ever disgraced the Bench.” He^-had, however* one quality which is considered by. many to be a merit in, judges; he polished off his casefe in remarkably , quick time. On August 25th, 1685, Jeffreys, sent io trample on the embers of Monmouth’s rebellion, opened the , Assizes in the West Country. On tho 28th in the same year, he was, at Windsor, reciving, the insignia of the/Lord Chancellorhip as A reward for his distinguished services during the past month. Those, services- Including the sending- .to the scaffold ‘.of about three hundred persons,, tQie, handing over of more than*eight hundred to be sold into -slavery abroad, and the whipping and imprisonment of many others. The name of Jeffreys as a synonym for speediness, might easily pass into the vocabulary of the criminal classes. WORTH HIS SALT.

When we say a person is “not worth his salt,” we are hsing one of the oldest phrases in the English language. It’s origin is to be found, in the Latin, salarium, or salt money, from which we get our “salary.” “ YOU’RE A BRICK.’’ When Toni says to Harry admiringly “ You’re a brick!” has he any thought of the origin of. the saying? Many readers probably know it and, have heard it quoted in sermons, but it is worth repeating. ; Plutarch, ■in his life of.Agesilaus, King,of. Sparta, tells the story. An. ambassador: from Epirus, on a diplomatic, mission was, shown by the king over his . capital. “Sire,” said he, “I have visited most of the principal towns, and. I: And no; walls reared for defence. Why. is this?”

“Come with m e to-morrow morning,” said Agesilaus, “and I will show you the walls of Sparta.” On the following day the king led his guest out,on the plain,,and pointing to his army drawn up in. full ar r ray, said, “There .bejigld, the, walls , of. Sparta—ten thousand men, and, every man, a brick.” FROM THE ANCIENTS. It is often a surprise to learn of-the antiquity of some of the- common ex. pressions of daily life. The man who boasts that he "Calls a spade a .spade” does not knpw that it was . Plutarch who first did so, and. Aristophanes after him. “Begging- the . question ”, was a legal subterfuge of the- Greeks, and (Aristotle so far as to set down five ways in which it might bo done. Plutarch and Libanus both made mention of “the sinews of war.” “Filthy lucre ” is found in St Paul’s epistle to Timothy. “ When I am in Rome, I da as the Romans do,” was a remark made by Sit Augustine with reference to fasting. “Better,late than never” appears in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and also in Tusser’s Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. “ Hdnesty is the best policy,” was a ro-‘ flection made by Don Quixote.'William of Orange is said first to have used the now common expression “tio die in the last .ditch.”