The Olden Time Series, Vol. 6: Literary Curiosities: Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, MassachusettsBrooks, Henry M. (Henry Mason)
History
The Olden Time Series, Vol. 6: Literary Curiosities: Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, Massachusetts
Brooks, Henry M. (Henry Mason)
Literary curiosa; New England -- Social life and customs
Though sculptors, with mistaken art,
Place weeping Angels round the tomb;
Yet, when the good and great depart,
These shout to bear their conquerors home.
Glad they survey their labours o'er,
And hail them to their native skies;
Attend their passage to the shore,
And with their mounting spirits rise.
Britain may mourn her Patriot dead,
And pour her sorrows o'er his dust:
But streaming eyes, and drooping head,
Ill suit those guardians of the just.
Parents may shed a tender tear,
And friends indulge a parting groan;
If these in mimic form appear,
Such pious grief becomes the stone.
But if the wounded marble bear
Celestial forms to grace the urn,
Let triumph in their eyes appear,
Nor dare to make an angel mourn.
_Salem Register,_ 1819.
* * * * *
Varieties.
_Origin of the word_ DUN.--Dunny, in the provincial dialect
of several countries, signifies deaf: to dun, then, perhaps
may mean, to deafen with importunate demands. Some derive it
from the word _donnez_, which signifies _give_; but the true
original meaning of the word owes its birth to one Joe Dun,
a famous bailiff of the town of Lincoln, so extremely active
and so dexterous in his business, that it became a proverb,
when a man refused to pay, "Why do you not _dun_ him?" that
is, Why do not you set _Dun_ to arrest him?--Hence it became
a cant-word, and is now as old as since the days of Henry
VII. Dun was also the general name of hangman, before that
of Jack-ketch.
And presently a halter got,
Made of the best strong hempen tear,
And e'er a cat could lick her ear,
Had tied it up with as much art,
As Dun himself could do for 's heart.
COTTON'S VIRGIL TRA. BOOK iv.
It is curious to observe that _Dun_, who, as we said before,
was _finisher of the law_ in the reign of Henry VII., had a
son, who became a bailiff--This bailiff having scraped some
money together, made his son an attorney, who changed the
name of _Dun_ to _Dunning_--the rest of the genealogy are
well known.
_Massachusetts Gazette,_ Aug. 29, 1786.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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