Dunkirk, by way of reproach; probably from dun, which signifies dark or gloomy, and, if we may be allowed the conjecture, it is probable that kirk has been added in consequence of the resident Scots meeting near the place for the purpose of public worship. This, however, is all conjecture, and the reader may pass it by with a smile, or give it serious thought. This place used to be occupied with butchers' stalls, and if any person bought an inferior piece of meat, his neighbour would jocosely observe, “What, you have been to Dunkirk."

"6 WHO SHALL BE JOHNNY ARNOLD ?"

The "Johnny Arnold" alluded to in this saying, current amongst the lower classes of Nottingham, was a most eccentric character, who resided in the "metropolis of lace." He was a person of independent means, and of a good store of oddities. The saying, "Who shall be Johnny Arnold ?" is usually made when a bet is offered, and is understood to mean "wno shall be stakeholder ?" Johnny was very partial to making bets of small amounts, but he would always hold the stakes himself.

"DON'T BE LIKE DAVID LOWE, GET INTO PRISON FOR DREAMING."

This was a very common saying in Nottingham. It originated in 1757, under the following circumstances:-A hawker, named Wilson, resided in Narrow Marsh, Nottingham, in 1757. During one of his trading excursions his house was broken into, and amongst the property stolen was a quantity of silver plate. On his discovering the burglary he of course informed his neighbours, one of whom was David Lowe, a carpenter. A few days afterwards Lowe told Wilson that he had dreamt that the stolen property was concealed in a certain pigsty in the neighbourhood. Wilson, accompanied by his son-in-law, and also by Lowe, proceeded to the place, and, after a careful examination, found the whole of the stolen articles. The result of this dream (?) was that David was placed in gaol for a week or two, and then discharged, there being no evidence against him but his own account of his very extraordinary dream, which, however, was generally believed to be true, for the man bore a good character. The saying was a very common one for years afterwards.

"BEING SHOWN HIGH STREET BY OLD RUSHTON."

Old Rushton, herein alluded to was the eccentric landlord of the

This "old

“Elephant and Castle," High Street, Nottingham. whip" very unceremoniously ejected any persons who misconducted themselves while in his house, hence the saying.

"I'LL CHANCE IT, AS OLD HORNE DID HIS NECK." Horne, the person alluded to in this very common expression, was a person of very good social position, but a thoroughly licentious person, and the murderer of his illegitimate child. Some time having transpired after the commission of this crime, Horne's brother Charles, who was thoroughly conversant with the circumstances, stated that upon receiving the sum of five pounds he would leave the country. This Andrew Horne refused to give, at the same time exclaiming, "Do your worst, I'll chance it!" hence the origin of this saying. Horne was convicted of the crime and executed.

66 TALES OF ROBIN HOOD ARE GOOD ENOUGH FOR FOOLS." This saying is used to decipher such persons that talk of matters of which they have no skill or experience in.

MANY TALK OF ROBIN HOOD WHO NEVER SHOT A BOW, AND MANY TALK OF LITTLE JOHN WHO NEVER DID HIM KNOW." This proverb had extended over the country at the time that the Worthies of England was written by Fuller (1662). It is applicable, as is the previous proverb, to all ignorant pretenders and braggadocias whatever, either in knowledge or business. It intimates that bragging and boasting are common impertinences in conversation. Those who pretend to be what they are not will always be prating of what they do not know.

"TO SELL ROBIN HOOD'S PENNYWORTHS.'

This proverb is applied to those who having obtained anything dishonestly, sell it much below its value, or half sold, half given. Lightly come, lightly go. Robin Hood is alluded to because being an expert archer, and coming easily by it, he could well afford to sell venison as cheap as a leg of mutton; and by reason of his plundering he was enabled to part with his goods on very easy terms. Whenever Robin Hood went to the fair, plenty of pedlars were crowding upon him to buy his stolen goods.

"AS WISE AS A MAN OF GOTHAM."

A hundred matters of stupidity and simplicity are passed on the folk of Gotham. Men in all ages selected some spot on which they could fix the staple of stupidity. The Phrygians were accounted the fools of all Asia, and the anvils of other men's wits to work upon. The city of Abdera, in Thracia, was selected as the place for dullheads. The Boeotians were regarded as blockheads. Such is assigned to Gotham. These places thus generally scoffed at afford some as witty and wise persons as the world has produced; thus, Plutarch was a Boeotian, and Erasmus a Batavian. Gotham has produced Mr. William de Gotham, fifth Master of Michael House, in Cambridge in 1336. The origin of the saying is as follows:-It is related that King John, wishing to pass through Gotham, and over the meadows to Nottingham, was prevented by the Gothamites, who imagined that if they allowed the King to pass over the ground it would for ever become a public road. The King, on arriving at the Castle, despatched some of his attendants to Gotham to punish the villagers for their disloyalty. The Gothamites hearing of this, and wishing to dispel the wrath of the King's servants, made themselves appear in most ridiculous occupations. When they arrived some of the villagers were found endeavouring to drown an eel in a pond, others were dragging carts upon a large barn to keep the sun from scorching the roof, whilst several were employed trying to hedge in a cuckoo which had perched in an old bush. In short, all were engaged in some foolish pursuit, so that the King's messengers were convinced that the inhabitants were the reverse of wise men, and left them unmolested. Other tales are told of the Gothamites, such as a man rolling his cheeses down Wilford hill, and then coming to Nottingham Market Place, expecting that they had arrived there. Another story is told respecting a miller, who wishing to lighten his horse of a sack of flour, and wishing to ride himself, mounted the animal, and took the sack of flour on his own shoulders.

"Three wise men of Gotham went to sea in a bowl.

If the bowl had been stronger

My tale had been longer."

A man setting out from Gotham to attend the market at Nottingham was uncertain whether or not his wife, who accompanied him, had pulled the door after her when she left the house. She replied that she had not done so, upon which the Gothamite began to beat her, and drove her back to pull the door after her. The villager, after

waiting a considerable time for his wife, discovered her toiling along, dragging something behind her. The poor woman had literally obeyed the orders of her stern husband, and had actually lifted the door from its hinges, and securing a rope to the door, had pulled the door after her.

"Tell me no more of Gotham fools,

Or of their eels in little pools,
Which they were told were drowning;
Nor of their carts drawn up on high,

When King John's men were standing by,

To keep a wood from browning.

Nor of their cheese shov'd down a hill,

Nor of the cuckoo sitting still
While it they hedged around.

Such tales of them have long been told
By prating boobies young and old,

In drunken circles crowned.

The fools are those who thither go
To see the cuckoo-bush, I trow

The wood, the barn, and pools;

For such are seen both here and there,
And passed by without a sneer,

By all but errant fools."

RHYMES.

The following cuckoo rhyme is often repeated in South Nottinghamshire :—

"In April, May, and June,

The cuckoo sings a merry tune;
But in August and July,

Having sung, away does fly.

"Drunken Barnaby," in one of his peregrinations to the North, took up his quarters at Retford, of which he wrote in his usual rhyming style as follows:

"Then to Retford; fish I fed on,

And to th' adage I had read on,

With carouses I did trim me,

That my fish might swim within me,

As they had done being living,

And in the water nimbly diving." (sic.)

The following couplet is transcribed from an old work:

"Trent has such eels, and Witham pike,

As England cannot shew the like."

There is an old Latin saying relating to this neighbourhood which is, being translated,

"Sherwood my hearth, and Trent my fish supplies."

Drayton, in his vast topographical poem, the Poly-Olbion, alludes to the piscatorial treasures and tributaries of the "Venerable Trent! third Prince of streams!

in the couplet―

"The silver Trent, within itself enseems

Thirty kind of fish, and thirty different streams."

So great was the partiality of the inhabitants of the good town of Nottingham for pork in bygone days, that quite a multitude of pigs was reared in the neighbourhood. In illustration of this Wylie informs us of a tradition that a certain nobleman bequeathed no less than two thousand swine to his two daughters. A church is said to have been founded on condition that two hundred swine should be kept for his widow. It was in allusion to the great number of pigs in the county that the following lines were penned :

"Nottinghamschir, full of hoggys;
Derbychier, full of doggys."

This couplet occurs in an old MS. English poem on the counties and their characteristics, in the famed Harleian manuscripts, which are preserved in that great storehouse of learning-the British Museum Library.

The following lines are sung by the youth of the village of Clifton on the anniversary of the delivery of the British House of Parliament from the fate intended it by the Roman Catholics:

"Please to remember

The Fifth of November!

Old Guy Faux

And Gunpowder Plot

Shall never be forgot

While Nottingham Castle

Stands upon a rock."

Very early in the present century the following couplet was an

of-repeated one :

"Clifton and Glapham are all as one,

But Clifton has a church and Glapham none."