This is thought a phrase of some difficulty. It occurs in Fuller's "Worthies," Herefordshire, p. 40, where we read of _spick and span new money_. A late friend of mine was willing to deduce it from spinning, as if it were a phrase borrowed from the clothing art, _quasi_ new spun from the spike or brooche. It is here written _speck and span_, and in all cases means _entire_. I deem it tantamount to every _speck and every span, i.e._, all over.--_Pegge._ In "Hudibras," Part I. c. 3, l. 397, are these lines-- "Then, while the honour thou hast got Is _spick and span new_, piping hot," &c. Upon which Dr Grey has this note: "Mr Ray observes ('English Proverbs,' 2d edit. p. 270), that this proverbial phrase, according to Mr Howel, comes from _spica_, an ear of corn: but rather, says he, as I am informed from a better author, _spike_ is a sort of _nail_, and _spawn_ the _chip_ of a boat; so that it is all one as to say, every _chip_ and _nail_ is new. But I am humbly of opinion that it rather comes from _spike_, which signifies a _nail_, and a _nail_ in measure is the 16th part of a yard; and _span_, which is in measure a quarter of a yard, or nine inches; and all that is meant by it, when applied to a new suit of clothes, is that it has been just measured from the piece by the _nail_ and _span_." See the expression in Ben Jonson's "Bartholomew Fair," act iii. sc. 5. [See Nares, edit. 1859; Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869; and Wedgwood's "Dictionary of English Etymology," all in _v._] [280] [Edits., _Hilech_.] The name of Ursa Major in Greek.--_Pegge._ [281] A famous Indian philosopher (Fabricius, p. 281); but why he terms him a Babylonian I cannot conceive.--_Pegge._ [282] See [Suckling's Works, by Hazlitt, ii. 4.] [283] I believe this word should be Artenosoria, the doctrine of Antidotes; unless we should read Artenasoria in allusion to Tallicotius and his method of making supplemental noses, referred to by Butler in "Hudibras."--_Pegge._ [284] Coskinomancy is the art of divining by a sieve.--_Pegge._ [285] It was not known then, I presume, that Venus had her increase and decrease.--_Pegge._ [286] The Greek word for _Plenilunium_.--_Pegge._ [287] All people then wore bands.--_Pegge._ [288] i.e., Bottles out of which liquid perfumes were anciently cast or thrown.--_Steevens._ They are mentioned in "Lingua," [ix. 419.] [289] See note to the "Antiquary," [act iv. sc. 1, vol. xiii.] [290] These, and what follows are terms of falconry; _flags_, in particular, are the second and baser order of feathers in the hawk's wing (Chambers's "Dictionary").--_Pegge._ [291] The _sear_ is the yellow part between the beak and the eyes of the hawk.--_Pegge._ [292] They usually carried the keys of their cabinets there.--_Pegge._ [293] The first 4º inserts the name of _Cricca_ for that of Trincalo, which is decidedly wrong.--_Collier._