another name for a fife or small flute; for whifflers were originally those who preceded armies or processions, as fifers or pipers: in process of time, the word whiffler, which had always been used in the sense of a fifer, came to signify any person who went before in a procession." He observes, that Minshew defines him to be, a club or staff bearer, and that it appears whifflers carried white staves, as in the annual feast of the printers, founders, and inkmakers, as well as in funeral processions, &c.

WARDMOTE.

e.,

Wardmote is a compound of the words Ward and Mote, i. the Ward Court; for in London parishes are as towns, and wards as hundreds; wherefore the Ward Court resembles that of the Leet in the County: for as the latter derives its authority from the county court, so does the former from that of the Lord Mayor; as is manifest by the annual precept issued by the Lord Mayor to the several Aldermen, for holding their respective Leets for the election of proper offices in each Ward.

WHITE.

White was anciently used as a term of fondling, or endearment. In the Return from Parnassus, 1606, Amoretto's page says, "When he returns, I'll tell twenty admirable lies of his hawks; and then I shall be his little rogue, his white villain, for a whole week after." [Act ii., sc. 6.] Doctor Busby used to call his favourite scholars, his White Boys. Various other authorities might be cited.

WIFE.

This term, appropriated to a man's better-half, as she is termed, is derived from the Saxon husewyf, or housewife-signifying one who has the superintendence of household affairs-wyf, or wyf, but as it is now spelt wife, implying a matron.

WINE.

This appellation of the "juice of the grape," is derived from the Saxon word wyn. October was called Wyn-monath; and albeit they had not anciently wines made in Germany, yet in this season had they them from divers countries adjoining.

WITCH.

Witch is derived from the Dutch witchelen, which signifies whinnying and neighing like a horse: in a secondary sense, also, to foretell and prophesy; because the Germans, as Tacitus informs us, used to divine and foretell things to come, by the whinnying and neighing of their horses. His words are, hinnitu et fremitu.

i

WAPENTAKE.

There have been several conjectures as to the origin of this word; one of which is, that anciently musters were made of the Armour and Weapons of the inhabitants of every hundred, and from those they could not find sufficient pledges of their good abearing, their weapons were taken away, and given to others; whence it is said this word is taken. Wilkins, an old writer, says, "In England every man was a soldier, and the county meetings were styled 'wapen-takes,' from the custom of going armed to the assembly, and of touching the spear of the magistrate, to show the readiness of each man for action. Slaves, he says, were not suffered to carry arms about them; the very gift of a weapon conferred freedom. On the other hand, the freeman never stirred abroad without his spear; and laws were actually made to guard against the damages occasioned by the careless bearer."

The word is of Saxon origin, says another authority, the meaning whereof is the same as hundred, a division of a county so called, because the inhabitants did give up their arms in token of subjection. With King Alfred the dividing of this kingdom into counties originated, and of giving the government of each county to a sheriff; these were afterwards divided into hundreds (some say from its containing a hundred families, or from its furnishing a hundred able men for the king's wars), of which the constable was the chief officer. These grants were at first made by the king to particular persons, but they are not now held by grant or prescription, their jurisdiction being devolved to the county court; a few of them only excepted, that have been by privilege annexed to the crown, or granted to some great subjects, and still remain in the nature of a franchise.

WINDFALL.

Arvine, in his Cyclopædia, gives the following plausible reason for the origin of this term, now in such common use." "Some of the nobility of England, by the tenure of their estates, were forbidden felling any trees in the forests upon them, the timber being reserved for the use of the royal navy. Such trees as fell without cutting, were the property of the occupant. A tornado was therefore a perfect godsend, in every sense of the word, to those who had occupancy of extensive forests; and the windfall was sometimes of very great value."

A TABLE OF THE KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND.

{

{

CHARLES I.
INTERREGNUM...
CHARLES II....
JAMES II........

His father was Edmund, eldest son of
Owen Tudor and Queen Catherine,
widow of Hen. V.; and his mother
was Margaret Beaufort, great grand-
daughter of John of Gaunt
Only surviving son of Hen. VII.
Son of Hen. VIII. by Jane Seymour..
Daughter of Hen. VIII. by Cath. of Arrag.
Daughter of Hen. VIII. by Anne Boleyn

THE HOUSE OF STUART.

Son of Mary Queen of Scots, grand-
daughter of James IV. and Margaret,
eldest daughter of Hen. VII.

Only surviving son of James I.

WILLIAM III.

Son of Will. of Nassau, by Mary, daugh

1702

ter of Charles I.

1688

58

22

48

54 25

67 3

51

24

13

1702 1714 49 12

Sophia, daughter of Fed. V., king of
Bohemia, and Elizabeth, daughter of

James I.

Only son of George I.

Grandson of George II...

Eldest son of George III.

3d son of George III..

Daughter of Edward, duke of Kent, 4th)

son of George III.

2882

1837 WHOM GOD PRESERVE.

M'CORQUODALE AND CO., PRINTERS, LONDON, WORKS NEWTON.