THE INNS OF CHANCERY.

lost the friend (most likely his father) who had introduced him to the inn, and had no chance of ever getting up and dividing the "spoil."

I find this note longer than I had the least idea of, and I have not got half through my story; possibly this accounts for the outsiders being allowed to have the matter all their own way. ANOTHER ANTIENT.

(To be continued.)

antients in turn had the right of nomination to certain sets of chambers. The person nominated It would appear that the profession generally had to pay a sum calculated on the rental of the know as little of the difference between an Inn of chambers, and to purchase as freehold for life only Chancery and an Inn of Court as the public. This possibly 400l. This was paid to the upper is probably due to the private nature of the former. table and divided amongst them. "Spoil" a genIt would be as difficult for the Inns of Court to tleman who writes to the Times would no doubt dissolve and divide as it is easy for the Inns of call it; and so thought the unfortunate fellow who Chancery. The Inns of Court have clear and dis-had been twenty years at the lower table and had tinct duties to perform amongst those they call to the Bar. They have never divided their income, and are admittedly not private societies. The Inns of Chancery have no duties whatever, and have always divided their income. They originated by a few solicitors clubbing together to get a lease of a property which in early days was known as or called an inn, though possibly confined to lawyers. They dubbed themselves "antient" and "honourable" (a common assumption years ago), and were no doubt pleased if they could get people MRS. SIDDONS'S DESCENDANTS.-In Mr. Percy to believe they formed part of a "legal university"; Fitzgerald's Lives of the Kembles' a list of Mrs. but nothing of the kind was ever vouchsafed to Siddons's descendants is given,* but is somewhat them. incomplete, and leads to the inference that her The selfish character of these inns possibly pre-name must become extinct. In case there may be vented their assuming any public functions. I any readers of N. & Q.' who take an interest in will show what mean by selfish. The members the subject, I venture, as the male representative would have been glad to have undertaken any of her name, to supplement as under the list in public duty provided they lost none of their per- question. sonal privileges; but one was inconsistent with the other. To show what the personal privileges were I must go into the constitution. The Inns of Chancery were formed thus with slight variations. There was a head or principal, with twelve antients, or rulers. These for centuries not only governed the inn, but they divided the surplus income of the property their predecessors had leased or purchased, so that it can be well understood that they were jealous of anything that would diminish their income from this source. They alone had the power of admitting to their inn students, who when admitted were called members, or commoners, or fellows. These latter had to enter into a bond to pay dues and for good conduct, &c., and to pay for the privilege of joining not only to the antients, or upper table, but also to the fellows, or lower table. Upper" and "lower" table well illustrates the gastronomic objects of the society. No doubt the fellows had not much to pay on admission to the inn-probably 20l. would cover it--but neither was it worth much. The only privilege they had was that of dining at their own expense four times a year. They might never get to the upper table, and frequently never did. They had to be "qualified" before they could be called up; but the antients could, and sometimes did, qualify an outsider, make him a fellow, and call him up over the heads of the other fellows, who had, perhaps, been members of the inn twenty years.

The qualification was obtained thus. The

Sarah Siddons (the tragédienne) left three children who married, namely, Henry, George, and Cecilia.

Of these, Henry married Miss Murray, and left issue (a) Henry Siddons, of the Bengal Engineers, who married his cousin, Harriott Siddons (below named), and left one child, Sarah Siddons, now living, unmarried. (b) Sarah, who married Wm. Grant, of Rothiemercus, and left no issue. Elizabeth, who married Major Mair, of Edinburgh, and left a son and four daughters.

(c)

Mrs. Siddons's second son, George, of the Bengal Civil Service, married Miss Fombelle, and left issue (a) Frances, who married Prof. Horace Wilson, and left six daughters. (b) George Siddons, of the Bengal Cavalry, who left one child, Mary, married to J. Hawtrey, and now living. (c) Harriott, who married her cousin, Henry Siddons, and left one child, Sarah Siddons, above named. (d) Sarah, who married Wm. Young, of the Bengal Civil Service, is now living, and has two sons and two daughters. (e) Henry Siddons, of the Madras Cavalry, who left one child, Henry Siddons (the undersigned), now living, married. (f) William Siddons, of the Bengal Native Infantry, who left four children, all now living, namely, Mary Scott Siddons, who married, but resumed the name; Harriott Siddons, unmarried; William Siddons, of the Bengal Uncovenanted Service, who is married and has two daughters; and Henry

* Vol. ii. pp. 292-3.

Siddons, unmarried. (g) Mary, who married Robert Thornhill, of the Bengal Civil Service, and was killed at Cawnpore, leaving two sons and one daughter.

Mrs. Siddons's daughter Cecilia married George Combe, of Edinburgh, and left no issue. The other children of Mrs. Siddons died single, to the best of my belief.

It may further be pointed out that Mr. Cox, of Edinburgh, who is described as Mrs. Siddons's grandson, appears by his own letter, quoted verbatim in the preface (p. xi), to be merely her connexion by marriage

Liverpool.

HENRY G. F. SIDDONS,

Major, Royal Artillery.

(Phrase and Fable'), and saw the other in N. & Q.,'6th S. v. 496.

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I fully believe that (1), in which leave=departure, or permission to depart+ (for Johnson and others give it this meaning in the expression "to take leave"), is the original meaning of the phrase, because it is in this meaning, and this meaning only, that we find an equivalent in other languages, or at all events in French and German. Miss BUSK has alluded to the French use of a similar expression, in which, however, as is only natural, English" is substituted for "French"; but Í have not met with or heard her form of the phrase, viz., "prendre congé à la manière anglaise," and it seems to me rather cumbersome, and was probably quoted from memory only. What I myself have seen, or rather noted, is "s'esquiver à l'anFRENCH LEAVE. (See 5th S. xii. 87; 6th S. v. glaise" (French Figaro, August 28) and " se re347, 496; viii. 514; ix. 133, 213, 279.)-I myself tirer à l'anglaise" (La Société de Londres,' Paris, have always used the expression "to take French 1885, p. 25); and I am assured by three French leave" in the two different meanings of (1) "to friends who are staying with me that one can slip away (as from a party) without saying good- substitute (as one might expect) for these verbs bye or bidding farewell," a meaning which I find any other expressing departure, such as s'échapper, in Webster and in Hotten's Slang Dictionary,' filer, disparaître, s'éclipser, se dérober, partir, s'en but which is contested by some of your correspond-aller (for this last see 6th S. viii. 514), the preference ents, though I myself, as I shall show further on, believe it to be the original meaning of the phrase; and of (2) "to do anything without permission, without asking anybody's leave." This I believe, with MR. ABRAHAMS (ix. 213), to be chiefly a schoolboy's interpretation of the phrase, for whilst I was a schoolboy myself it was certainly in this mean- Again, in Sanders's 'German Dict.' I find ing that I usually employed the words. But I never "französischen Abschied nehmen" explained heard nor saw the two other meanings given to the "ohne Abschied weggehen"; whilst in Hilpert's expression, and derived, so it is said, from the sup- 'German Dict.' (1845) I find, s. v. Abschied," posed practices of French soldiers-viz. (3) "to" Hinter der Thüre Abschied nehmen" (see note †) take without leave, to purloin "; and (4)" to run explained, "to go away without bidding farewell, away (before the enemy)," without, I suppose, the to take French leave"; and, s. v. 66 Beurlauben," permission of their officers-until I found the one er beurlaubte sich in aller Stille" explained (3) given, as the only meaning, by Dr. Brewer er stahl sich, schlich sich davon," and translated "he took French leave," as is also (s.v. "Stehlen ") "sich aus einer Gesellschaft stehlen."

being, however, decidedly given to the verbs which express that the departure is quiet-nay, stealthy. Of the verbs given, therefore, the last two are the least frequently used, whilst se dérober is also but seldom heard, and se retirer and s'éclipser are about the most common.

According to my view, therefore (viz., that (1)

*If used of a soldier or servant, it would naturally mean, as DR. NICHOLSON says (ix. 133), "to abscond," i.e., to slip away without leave; but surely this is really the same meaning as that which I have given above. When a person goes to a party he considers himself as to This explanation derives support from the fact that a certain extent under the control of the host and hostess, we still find in German (see Hilpert and note )—though and therefore it is that, if he slips away, he takes care it is no longer in general use-Urlaub nehmen to take not to do so under the eye of his entertainers. DR. leave, in which Urlaub undoubtedly means leave-perNICHOLSON thinks that the "phrase invariably presup- mission. And, indeed, when one is going to leave a poses that" the person who takes French leave" is a sub-person, one does not ask leave to go, one takes it, using ordinate, bound to seek leave from a possibly only temporary superior." I doubt whether this is necessarily so. A man who goes to a party is no doubt temporarily in a somewhat subordinate position, and he always recognizes this instinctively, even though he may be of opinion that he is doing his hosts much honour, but he is not "bound to seek leave" before he goes away; he is bound simply to say "good evening," "good-bye," or something equivalent. But the phrase certainly always does imply that the person who uses it or of whom it is used does something which-at any rate, strictly speaking-he ought not to do, and of which he is, or ought to be, more or less ashamed,

a few polite words, so as to give the liberty some little
gloss. "To take French leave," therefore, is simply "to
take leave in its very crudest form; not only is no
polite speech uttered, but the leave is taken in an under-
hand and stealthy manner. I am not at all sure, how-
ever,
that leave, in" to take leave," has not borrowed, to
some extent, its meaning from to leave to quit, and that
hence it is that "to take one's leave" is so very nearly
equivalent to "to take one's departure."

He gives as equivalents also, "Hinter der Thür Abschied [or "Urlaub "] nehmen," a very expressive way of putting the matter. All Sanders's examples are supported by quotations from known authors.

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is the original meaning), the other meanings, (2), | with the chaine, and also his purse with three and (3), and (4), would have developed themselves out fiftie shillinges were taken out of his pocket in this of No. 1, simply because leave in English not only strugling." We know by No. 3 that the handkercher means departure or permission to depart (see ante), and chain were in his sleeve, hence it seems certain but also permission generally. In (4), however, that the pocket was one in his sleeve. 5. In 'The leave may well have the same meaning as in (1), Disputation,' p. 260, where there had been no preof which it would thus be merely a variation (see vious mention of sleeves or of any garment or part note*). Or (3) and (4) may be regarded as natur- of attire, a gentleman putting his hand in his ally springing out of (2), for surely "taking with-sleeve gave the poore mayd [in his household emout leave," whether it amounts to purloining or ploy, in return for some valuable information] sixe not (see next paragraph), and "running away be- Angels to buy her a new gowne," in as ordinary a fore the enemy" are well comprised within "doing way as we should now put our hands into our something without leave." trousers or waistcoat pocket. 6. In the 'Life and Death of Ned Browne,' vol. xi. p. 24, this worthy says: "I having an eagle's eye, spied a good bung [purse] containing many shels [coins] as I gest, carelesly put up into his sleeve." 7. And this purse with 201. in it being stolen, the careless fellow "presentlie putting his hande in his pocket [. e., in the pocket of his sleeve] for his handkercher, hee mist his_purse." 8. P. 32: "For I remember once that I supposing to crosbite a gentleman who had some ten pound in his sleeve, left my wife to perform the accident, who in the ende was crosse bitten herself."

I lately asked four ladies, to whom I had said nothing whatever about my own views, what they considered the meaning of "to take French leave" to be. The oldest (seventy-seven) at once said she had always understood it in the meaning which I have called No. 1; the second lady (fifty-one) and the fourth (twenty-seven) declared for No. 2; whilst the third (twenty-eight) said she understood it to mean to take a thing without asking the owner's permission, but without the intention of stealing it. This comes under No. 3. This inquiry of mine shows how very differently the phrase is understood, even by people who, like the Is it not then evident that "a sleeveless errand" four ladies mentioned, have lived very much to- is a bootless or useless errand, one for which the gether; but it also seems to show (what had already errand-monger received no guerdon, no remunerabeen indicated by some of the notes in N. & Q.)tion, or, metaphorically speaking, no satisfaction? that No. 1, which I call the original meaning, is Once the word "sleeveless" had this signification gradually giving way to the others, for the oldest attached to it, it was naturally used as a synonym lady unhesitatingly declared for No. 1. for useless or futile, as in Hall's "sleeveless rhymes" and "sleeveless tale," and in Milton's "sleeveless reason." Nares, indeed, says: "It is plain, however, that sleeveless had the sense of useless before it was applied to an errand"; then, by way of supporting this, though his examples virtually contradict it, he quotes Hall and Milton. But the earliest use of sleeveless in this sense was in the proverbial phrase "a sleeveless errand." BR. NICHOLSON. NAUTICAL EPITAPH.-I copied the following inscription in the picturesque churchyard of St. Brelade's, Jersey, as it seemed above the average of such compositions. It occurs on the tombstone of " George Marett, drowned off Noirmont Point on June 23, 1882, aged 11 years and 7 months":—

F. CHANCE.

39

Sydenham Hill.

"A SLEEVELESS ERRAND." (See 1st S. i. 439; v. 473; xii. 58, 481, 520.)-Nares and, I believe, all since his time tell us that "all the conjectures respecting the derivation of this phrase seem equally unsatisfactory." But seven passages, in Greene's 'Cony-catching Tracts' alone, show clearly that sleeves, that is, sleeve pockets, were used equally with hose pockets or girdle, &c., purses, wherein were placed money, valuables, and other matters. Thus the second part of Conniecatching,' vol. x. p. 105, Grosart's ed., has: "The Nip [thief]......spieth what everie man hath in his purse, and where, in what place, and in which sleeve or pocket he puts the bung" (=purse). 2. In the third part, p. 162, is: “Which made them often feel where their pursses were, either in sleeve, hose, or at girdle, to know whether they were safe or no. 3. At p. 179 we find : "And giving him [the thief] many thanks for this good warning, presently takes the chaine from about his necke, Is this original; or do the lines occur elsewhere? and tying it up fast in a handkercher, put it into FREDERICK E. SAWYER, F.S.A. his sleeve, saying, 'If the Conny-catcher get it heere, let him not spare it.'" 4. In continuation of this p. 181 says: "Marie indeede the gentleman had most of the blowes, and both his handke her

39

Till time's last signal blazes through the skies,
In harbour safe from shipwreck now he lies.

Brighton.

COLERIDGE'S LECTURES OF 1811-12.-There are to be found in Leigh Hunt's 'Tatler,' ii. 893-897,

Think of a Fisher Lad honest and sincere,
Not cast away, but brought to anchor here.
Storms had overwhelm'd him, but the conscious wave
Repented, and resigned him to his silent grave.
Sailed from this port on an eternal sea
Refitted in a moment then shall be