before the Norman line of our kings, that the esquires had after. I must own, indeed, the title of yeoman is now pretty much disregarded, because our gentry, by reason that the English tongue is not so universal as that of our next neighbours, prefer titles derived from their language. Moreover after the conquest, the Roman dialect was introduced, and used for many ages at court and at the bar. If some of our gentry of rank and fortune would agree to be stiled by no other than that genuine English title, it would soon appear in another light. When statutes are deficient, lawyers have recourse to ancient customs, general practices, precedent reports, authorized maxims, and evident conclusions, to decide cases at law. Customs and maxims generally approved of were entirely kept in remembrance by some poetical expressions; the title of yeoman is therefore much more considerable than is generally imagined, since it is said, A Spanish Don, a German Count, and a French Marquis, A Yeoman of Kent is worth them all three. This adagium may be of modern date, and may regard wealth only, but it can be also adapted to honours; for formerly the titles yeoman of the crown, yeoman of the chamber, and now the title yeoman usher, is in as much honour with us, as don, count, and marquis, are in their respective nations; for they are given not only to the higher nobility, but also to the gentry or chief commoners. Wherefore, to argue syllogistically, according to the mode of Aristotle and his adherents, who were undoubtedly the best logicians in the schools of Athens, though the worst natural philosophers, or rather they hardly set up for natural philosophy; let us say, Yeomen are on a level with dons, counts, and marquisses; Dons, counts, and marquisses are on a level with esquires; Therefore, yeomen are on a level with esquires. These arguments are, methinks, sufficient to revive the splendor of yeomanry in honour of Old England and the English name; yet I must observe, that it should never be more esteemed than in the present age, because it never was more gloriously signalized; it should not therefore become too common, and it is better to be a great yeoman, than a little esquire. 1759, Sept. XLIX, On the word BUMPER.-Grace Cups. MR. URBAN, THE jolly toper is so fond of the thing we call a bumper, that he troubles not himself about the name, and so long as the liquor is but fine and clear, cares not a farthing in how deep an obscurity the etymology is involved. The sober antiquarian, on the contrary, being prone to etymology, contemplates the sparkling contents of a full glass with much less delight than he does the meaning, the occasion, and the original of the name. I, sir, who profess myself to be one of the latter tribe, am for discarding the vulgar original of the name, and for substituting something more plausible in its place. The common opinion (I call it the common opinion, because I have heard it from so many) is, that the bumper took its name from the grace-cup; our Roman Catholic ancestors, say they, after their meals, always drinking the Pope's health, in this form "au bon Pere." But there are great objections to this; as first, the Pope was not the bon Pere, but the saint Pere, amongst the elder inhabitants of this kingdom, the attribute of sanctity being in a manner appropriated to the Pope of Rome, and his see. Again, the grace cup, which went round of course, after every repast, did not imply any thing extraordinary, or a full glass. Then 3dly, let us consider a little the nature of the grace cup. Drinking glasses were not in use at the time here supposed, for the grace cup was a large vessel, proportioned to the number of the society, which went round the table, the guests drinking out of the same cup one after another. Virgil describes something like it, when speaking of the entertainment Queen Dido gave to Æneas, he says, Postquam prima quies epulis, mensæque remotą; * Hic regina gravem gemmis auroque poposcit, * Primaque, libato, summo tenus attigit ore. Post alii proceres. The feast was ended, the cup went round after it, and the health was, that Jupiter would shower down his blessings, and that peace and concord might reign between the parties, the Trojans and Tyrians; which leads me to remark, 4thly, and lastly, that there is no proof of the fact, that the grace cup was the Pope's health. At St. John's College, Cambridge, the president, or his locum tenens, gave the "old house," meaning prosperity to the college. But then this, it may be said, was since the Reformation, therefore, to go higher, at Mr. Newman's of Westbere, near Canterbury, in Kent, I saw the grace cup of John Foch, alias Essex, the last Abbot of St. Austin's, Canterbury, and my ever valuable friend, Dr. George Lynch, was pleased afterwards, with Mr. Newman's leave, to make me a present of a very neat drawing of it, which now I have by me. It was mounted with silver gilt, much in the manner as the shells of cocoa nuts commonly are, and was very neat, Foch, the abbot, was a man of note in his time, as likewise afterwards, as appears from John Twyne's Commentary de Rebus Albionicis, in which piece he is the principal interlocutor. Mrs. Newman was a Foch, of the same family, and by that means the cup came to Mr. Newman. Now, the inscription round the neck of this cup, in old letters of the time, is this, welcome ze be This cup is too small to be a vessel employed in the common refectory of that large foundation, and probably was only used in the abbot's own apartment. But now, if the Pope's health was not usually drank after dinner, by the religious societies, and I think there is no proof it ever was, we can much less expect it should go round in those jovial meetings of the laity, where bumpers were introduced. For these reasons, Mr. Urban, I am for looking out for a different original; and, in the first place, the word is of no great antiquity, but on the contrary rather modern, for it occurs not either in Littleton's Dictionary, or Cotgrave; I should think it might be the French bon verre, which is a genuine French phrase, as may be seen in Boyer; and certainly, B, P, and V. being letters of the same organ, are easily changed one for another. But if this does not please, I would observe, next, that in some of the midland counties, any thing large is called a bumper, as a large apple, or pear; hence, bumping lass, is a large girl of her age, and a bumpkin is a large-limbed uncivilized rustic; the idea of crossness and size, entering the character of a country bumpkin, as well as that of an unpolished rudeness. Mr. Johnson, in his dictionary, I observe, deduces the word bumper from bump. But what if it should be a corruption of bumbard, or bombard, in Latin bombardus, a great gun; and from thence applied to a large flaggon, black jack, or a full glass? Thus the lord chamberlain says to the porters, who had been negligent in keeping out the mob, You are lazy knaves: And here ye lie baiting of bumbards, when Shakes. H. VIII. A. v. Sc. 3. Baiting of bumbards is a cant term for sotting and drinking, which Nash, in his Supplication to the Devil, p. 44. calls by a like metaphor, beer-baiting. So Shakespear again, "yond some black cloud, yond huge one, looks like a foul bumbard that would shed his liquor." Tempest, A. ii. Sc. 2. where Mr. Theobald rightly explains it a large vessel for holding drink, as well as the piece of ordnance so called. P and B, as I said, being so similar, bumbard would easily be turned into bumper. However, Mr. Urban, I should prefer any one of these etymologies to that of au bon Pere, but which of the three to chuse I am uncertain, and therefore am very willing to leave it to Squire Jones to take which he likes best; and, if he approves of none of them, the liquor I hope, and the quantity, may still please. Yours, &c. 1759, June. PAUL GEMSEGE. L. On the Word Culprit. SIR EDW. COKE says, our books of reports and statutes in ancient time, were written in French, and observes the difference betwixt the writing and pronouncing that lan guage; also, that the legal sense ought not to be changed. believe there is not any word in any language more corrupted, or applied with greater impropriety, than the word Culprit. After indictment read against the prisoner at the bar, hẹ is asked whether he is guilty or not guilty of the indictment; if he answers not guilty, the clerk of the arraignments replies culprit, which it is said is from cul prist, and culprist from culpabilis and presto, and signifies guilty already. What! are our laws so severe, or their procedure so preposterous as to declare a person guilty because he hath pleaded not guilty, and before the prosecutors are called on their recognizances to give evidence, and afterwards to ask him how he will be tried? Etymologies are a necessary part of grammar; by them we arrive at the primary signification of terms, but if far fetched they become ridiculous. How many, Dalton and Burn not excepted, have tortured themselves with the word culprit, a plain corruption from the French qu'il paroit? The officer of the court says to the prisoner, guilty or not guilty? If the prisoner says guilty, his confession is recorded; if he answers not guilty, the officer says culprit, whereas he ought to say qu'il paroit; i. e. make it appear, or let it appear if thou art not guilty. Culprit is evidently a corruption of qu'il paroit, which is pure French, and bids the prisoner plead for himself, and make his innocence appear. Culprit hath manifestly changed the legal sense or true reading, and a false one, which ought to be exploded, hath been admitted. Common reason, common humanity, and similarity of sound evince this. MR. URBAN, M. N. I have read in your last Magazine M. N.'s account of the term Culprit. I cannot help thinking that gentleman as much out in his conjecture, as Dalton, Burn, or those whom, he says, have tortured themselves about its etymology. I think its derivation very obvious: Cul prist taken by the tail or skirts from cul and prendre two French words, and might be a very just definition of a delinquent before he had been imprisoned: or perhaps it might signify one caught in the fact.-The term being I presume not applied to debtors. It perhaps came first in use before imprisonment was so much practised, or when all crimes or misdemeanors were immediately tried before judges appointed for the purpose, in all which senses the term is most proper and significant. Your constant reader, R. J. [Another correspondent has suggested, that the word might originally have been culp-prist, that is, taken (supposed |