The Sparrowhawk Companion (15 page)

Compiled by Edward Cline

Many fans of the
Sparrowhawk
series remark that while they enjoyed the story, they needed to keep a dictionary handy to find the meanings of many of the eighteenth–century terms encountered in the narrative and dialogue. With that “complaint” in mind, the
Companion
features a glossary of such terms. Most of the definitions below are the author’s own, although some are taken from Samuel Johnson’s 1755
Dictionary
, while others are adapted from the
Oxford English Dictionary
. Other sources were
Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates
(1881) and Richard Lederer Jr.’s
Colonial American English
(1985). The author kept employment of eighteenth–century terms to a minimum, but endeavored to balance their usage, especially in dialogue, with economy and clarity to evoke the period’s spoken and written styles.

The glossary here is selective and does not claim to be exhaustive. In fact, a handful of terms, such as
embracery
and
barratry
, do not occur in the series at all. They are included because their meanings, bribery, and corruption respectively, are dramatized. Also, many classical Greek and Roman historical and mythological references that occur in the story have been omitted here, chiefly because I believe that sufficient contexts are established in the narrative and dialogue.

address
In British politics, a document addressed to a monarch or legal body that supports or protests a specific government policy or instance of legislation. See MEMORIAL, PETITION, REMONSTRANCE.

advocate
One who pleads for another, as in law; one who pleads for a cause or idea.

ague
A fever marked by paroxysms of chills and sweating that recur at regular intervals; a fit of shivering.

Albion
In the English version of the Greek legend, a son of Poseidon who taught men how to build ships; an ancient name for the British Isles.

arrack
An alcoholic beverage made from coco sap or rice.

assize
Periodical session of civil and criminal courts. See QUARTER SESSION.

attainder
In eighteenth–century British law, the extinction of all civil and political rights after a sentence of treason, especially after a
bill of attainder
, which permitted the arrest and imprisonment of a person without the right of trial, was passed in legislation. The practice of attainders was much abused by political enemies, employed to neutralize or dispose of opponents. See GENERAL WARRANT, WRIT OF ASSISTANCE.

Attic salt
Quickness and delicacy of wit; justness in taste; facility of conversation.

attorney
One appointed or hired to act for another in business or legal matters; a qualified lawyer who represents clients in civil or criminal proceedings. See BAR, BARRISTER, SOLICITOR.

auto-da-fé
Act of faith; the burning of a heretic, especially during the Inquisition.

bagnio
1. A public bath; 2. a brothel.

bailiff
An officer of the court, under a sheriff, who executed writs and other legal documents; a warrant officer, pursuivant, or “catchpole.” See CATCHPOLE, CONSTABLE, SHERIFF.

bar
The profession of barristers, the “bar” a railing that segregated a judge and presiding officers from the rest of a chamber or courtroom. See ATTORNEY, BARRISTER, SOLICITOR.

baron
A member of the lowest order of nobility, in the eighteenth century nominally holding lands by leave or grant of the monarch. It was an alliance of barons that in 1215 forced King John of England to sign the Magna Carta. See DUKE, EARL, MARQUIS, VISCOUNT.

baronet
A
petite
baron, below a baron and above a knight. See BARON, DUKE, EARL, MARQUIS, VISCOUNT.

barratry
The trade in church or government appointments, or the selling of positions in the army, navy, and civil service. A regular source of political corruption in eighteenth–century England. See EMBRACERY.

barrister
A lawyer called to the “bar” having the right to practice as an advocate in the superior courts. See ATTORNEY, BAR, SOLICITOR.

bashaw
A “big” or important, powerful man (a corruption of the Hindu
pasha
).

battalion
Two or more companies within an infantry regiment. See BRIGADE, COMPANY, REGIMENT.

beat to windward
1. To sail against the wind; 2. to oppose a trend, consensus or fashion. See also SOLDIER’S WIND.

bench
A judge’s seat, or the office of judge; a division of a higher court; collectively, judges and magistrates.

bencher
A senior member of one of the Inns of Court who shared in management of an Inn. See INNS OF COURT.

benefit of clergy
A condition of criminal sentencing, by which a defendant was granted a pardon if he could read, especially the Bible.

benefit of clergy, without
A condition of criminal sentencing, regardless of a defendant’s literacy.

big wig
A gentleman, or member of the landed gentry. So called because of the more expensive perukes or wigs worn by this set.

bill
1. A quantity of printer’s type, in various fonts, usually weighing 500 pounds; 2. a tabulation of charges for goods or services.

bill of exchange
A commercial instrument, or a draft on a merchant’s
account, as good as currency, but based on credit; a written order to pay a sum to a drawer or to a named payee, usually dated.

bingo
Brandy or other sweet alcohol.

blackleg
A swindler.

blanc mange
A dessert of opaque jelly of corn-flour and milk.

bottom
1. Courage; capacity to endure hardship; 2. that part of a vessel below its water line.

breakfas
t In the eighteenth century, a morning meal, taken about 8 o’clock. See DINNER, SUPPER.

brig
A two-masted sailing ship, square-rigged on both masts, with two or more headsails and a quadrilateral gaff sail or spanker aft of the mizzenmast, and armed with ten to twelve guns. Brigs were often used as prisoner-of-war billets.

brigade
An infantry unit usually consisting of three battalions. See BATTALION, COMPANY, REGIMENT.

brigantine
A two-masted sailing ship, square-rigged on the foremast, having a for-and-aft mainsail with square main topsails.

bumbo
A cheap drink of rum, sugar, and water. A variation was
bumpo
.

butt
A barrel of beer or wine, equal to about two hogsheads. See HOGSHEAD, PUNCHEON.

caitiff
A man of base, cowardly, or despicable character.

callidity
Shrewdness.

cambist
A dealer in bills of exchange, often forged or counterfeit.

canister
An “encased” shot for close range artillery action. See CASE.

capon
A domestic rooster, castrated and fattened for food.

carcass
An incendiary shell fired by naval or land artillery containing embers designed to explode on an enemy vessel or position to start a fire. See SABOT.

case
An artillery munition, consisting of bagged musket shot the size of marbles, designed to inflict maximum casualties. See CANISTER, GRAPE.

casuist
1. A theologian or ombudsman who resolves questions of duty, conscience, and related moral matters; 2. a sophist or quibbler.

catchpole
A constable or bailiff, especially one who arrests for debt. See BAILIFF, CONSTABLE, SHERIFF, WATCHMAN.

chamade
A military drum signal calling for a parley between opposing forces.

Chancery
A court of equity in the civil court system. See INNS OF COURT.

chap
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a term of mild contempt for a stranger or intruder.

chapbook
A cheap, small book (usually 15-24 pages) that contained news, laws, and folk wisdom, which sold for a penny.

chapman
An itinerant purveyor of miscellaneous wares, including chapbooks, in rural England. See HIGGLER.

chilblain(s)
A malady marked by the itching or swelling of a hand or foot, caused by exposure to the cold and poor circulation.

chocolate pot
A pot of either copper or salt-glazed stoneware for serving hot chocolate.

cockalorum
1. A self-important little man; 2. a children’s game like leapfrog.

cocket
A customs house certificate of specifically labeled and destined goods on board a merchant ship. See DOCKET, DUTY, MANIFEST.

cogger
A flatterer, a wheedler. “To cog: to lie, to wheedle.” (Samuel Johnson’s
Dictionary
) A variation is
codger
.

Cogita mori
“Think upon death.” (Latin)

Common Pleas
In eighteenth– and nineteenth–century Britain, a superior or supreme court whose venue was fixed in 1215 at Westminster Hall. Until then, like the King’s Bench, it sat wherever the monarch happened to be. See KING’S BENCH.

company
1. A social term for a group of guests; 2. in the eighteenthcentury British army, a unit consisting of one captain, two lieutenants, two sergeants, three corporals, one drummer, and thirty-eight privates, or a full company. See BATTALION, BRIGADE, REGIMENT.

coney
A rabbit; fur from this animal (“coney wool”).

constable
An officer (municipal or parish) of a county, parish, or township appointed to act as conservator of the peace and to perform a number of public administrative duties. See BALIFF, CATCHPOLE,
SHERIFF.

copyhold
The right to farm leased or rented land for one or more lifetimes within a family. The father was usually the
copyholder.
A copyhold was usually passed on to the eldest son. See ENTAIL, PRIMOGENITURE.

cornet
1. The standard or colors of a troop of cavalry; 2. The fifth commissioned officer in a troop of cavalry, who carried the colors, corresponding to an ensign in the army. See ENSIGN.

count
A foreign nobleman corresponding to the rank of earl. The French style is
comte
.

Country-dance
From the French
contradance
. A popular group dance of several couples in Britain and the American colonies. The forerunner of the American “square dance.”

crack
A prostitute. See FIRESHIP.

crack lay
A burglary in which force is used to enter a house. See DUB LAY, RUM LAY.

cresset
An iron basket fitted to a pole in which pitch pine was burned to serve as street lighting or a source of warmth.

crimp
To trap or entrap into military service; a person who entraps or forces a man into naval or army service. Eighteenth–century recruiting sergeants and officers were paid a bonus for each man who enlisted in Britain’s volunteer army. The navy, however, resorted to and relied upon impressment to fill its ranks. See IMPRESSMENT.

crimping house
A house used by army recruiters to house recruits until they are sent to their regiments. See CRIMP.

crop note
A receipt issued by colonial tobacco inspectors listing a planter’s hogsheads by mark and number; the gross, net, and tare weights of the tobacco; and specifying whether it was sweetscented or Oronoco, stemmed or leaf. In the American colonies, a crop note could be used as currency to purchase goods or pay debts. See TARE, TRANSFER NOTE.

currency
Coin or bank notes. See DOLLAR, GUINEA, HALF-JOE, POUND, SPECIE.

custom
A duty or tax on foreign imported goods. Distinct from an excise tax. See EXCISE, TARIFF.

daggle
To splash with water and mud, or to run through muddy water.

device
The forerunner of a trademark, usually a combination of a planter’s initials and a unique symbol that identified a planter’s hogshead of tobacco. See also PLANTER.

disseise
In law, to wrongfully deprive or dispose of property or life.

dinner
In the eighteenth century, the main meal taken in midday, around 2 o’clock. See BREAKFAST, SUPPER.

dissolve
In government, the act of an executive, such as a colonial governor or Britain’s monarch, to end a legislative session. See PROROGUE.

docket
A warrant from a customs house certifying that duties have been paid on imported goods. See COCKET, DUTY, MANIFEST.

dog-cart
A two-wheeled cart with cross seats back-to-back (originally used to carry dogs).

dollar
A Spanish milled silver coin, used in the colonies in lieu of scarce British hard currency, with a value of between two shillings sixpence and four and sixpence. The term first occurs in Shakespeare’s
Macbeth
. (From the Dutch
daler
, or German
thaler
.) See PISTOLE, SPECIE.

Dover’s powder
An eighteenth–century patent medicine of opium and the ipecacuanha root, taken or administered for almost any pain.

dragoon
A mounted infantryman.

drawback
In the eighteenth–century mercantilist system, a duty paid on imported goods, remitted or returned as a rebate to an importer when the goods have been cleared for re-export. In the eighteenth– century, tobacco planters were required to send their tobacco to Britain on British vessels, and were taxed for the “import” to Britain. Most tobacco imports were sent on to the Continent. British agents who stored the tobacco for re-export credited the planters’ accounts with the rebated duties.