“This was the way and custome that had been used in the College, time out of mind, to initiate the Freshmen; but between that time and the restoration of K. Ch. 2. it was disused, and now such a thing is absolutely forgotten.”

The editors in a note intimate that it was probable the custom was not peculiar to Merton College, and that it was perhaps once general, as striking traces of it might be found in many societies in Oxford, and in some a very near resemblance of it had been kept up until within a few years of that time (1772).

C.H.  COOPER.

Cambridge, Feb. 23. 1850.

“E.V.,” after quoting the passage given by Mr. Cooper from Anthony Wood, proceeds:—­

It is clear from Owen’s epigram that there was some kind of salting at Oxford as well as at Cambridge; is it not at least probable that they were both identical with the custom described by old Anthony, and that the charge made in the college book was for the cawdle mentioned above, as provided at the freshman’s expense; the whole ceremony going under the name of “salting,” from the salt and water potion, which was the most important constituent of it?  If this be so, it agrees with Dr. Maitland’s idea, that “this ‘salting’ was some entertainment given by the newcomer, from and after which he ceases to be fresh;” or, as Wood expresses it, “he took his place among the seniors.”

The “tucks” he speaks of could have been no very agreeable addition to the salted beer; for, as he himself explains it, a few lines above, “to tuck” consisted in “setting the nail of the thumb to their chin, just under the lip, and by the help of their other fingers under the chin, they would give him a mark, which sometimes would produce blood.”

Before I leave Anthony Wood, let me mention {307} that I find him making use of the word “bull” in the sense of a laughable speech ("to make a jest, or bull, or speake some eloquent nonsense,” p. 34.), and of the now vulgar expression “to go to pot.”  When recounting the particulars of the parliamentary visitation of the University in 1648, he tells us, that had it not been for the intercession of his mother to Sir Nathan Brent, “he had infallible gone to the pot.”  If Dr. Maitland or any of your readers can give the history of these expressions, and can produce earlier instances of their use, they would greatly oblige me.

P.S.  I ought to mention, that “Penniless Bench” was a seat for loungers, under a wooden canopy, at the east end of old Carfax Church:  it seems to have been notorious as “the idle corner” of Oxford.

E.V.

* * * * *

QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 5.

A comparative statement of the number of those who ask questions, and those who furnish replies, would be a novel contribution to the statistics of literature.  I do note mean to undertake it, but shall so far assume an excess on the side of the former class, as to attempt a triad of replies to recent queries without fear of the censures which attach to monopoly.