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Southey, Robert, 1774-1843. / The doctor, &c.
(1848)

Chapter CXL. How there arose a dispute between Barnaby and Nicholas concerning the naming of this colt, and of the extraordinary circumstances that ensued,   pp. 353-354


Chapter CXLI. A singular anecdote and not more sad than true,   pp. 354-355


Page 354


354
it ended in tyeing the two last cards. Never
in any contest had Jupiter held the scales
with a more even hand.
" The Devil is in the business to be sure,"
said Nicholas, " let us toss up for it! "-
"Done," saidBarnaby; and Nicholas placing
a halfpenny on his thumb nail sent it whizz-
ing into the air.
" Tails! " quoth Barnaby. -" 'Tis heads,"
cried Nicholas, " hurrah ! "
Barnaby stamped with his right foot for
vexation-lifted his right arm to his head,
drew in his breath with one of those sounds
which grammarians would class among inter,
jections, if they could express them by let-
ters, and swore that if it had been an honest
halfpenny, it would never have served him
so! He picked it up, -and it proved to be
a Brummejam of the coarsest and clumsiest
kind, with a head on each side. They now
agreed that the Devil certainly must be in
it, and determined to lay the whole case
before the Doctor.
The Doctor was delighted with their story.
The circumstances which they related were
curious enough to make the naming of this
horse as remarkable as his birth. He was
pleased also that his own difficulties and in-
decision upon this important subject should
thus as it were be removed by Fate or For-
tune; and taking the first thought which
now occurred, and rubbing his forehead as
he was wont to do, when any happy concep-
tion struck him, (Jupiter often did so when
Minerva was in his brain), he said, "we must
compromise the matter, and make a com-
pound name in which both shall have an
equal share. Nicholas Ottley, and Barnaby
Sutton; N. 0. -B. S. -Nobs shall be hisl
namie."
Perhaps the Doctor remembered Smec-
tymnuus at that time, and the notorious
Cabal, and the fanciful etymology that be-
cause news comes from all parts, and the
letters N. E. W. S. stand for North, East,
West, and South-the word was thence
compounded. Perhaps, also, he called to
mind that Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, the
famous Maimonides, was called Rambam
from the initials of his titles and his names;
and that the great Gustavus Adolphus when
he travelled incognito assumed the name of
M. Gars, being the four initials of his name
and title. He certainly did not remember
that in the Dialogue of Solomon and Satur-
nus the name of Adam is said to have been
in like manner derived from the four
Angels Archox, Dux, Arocholem, and Min-
symbrie. He did not remember this-be-
cause he never knew it; this very curious
Anglo-Saxon poem existing hitherto only
in manuscript, and no other portions or
account of it having been printed than those
brief ones for which we are indebted to
Mr. Conybeare, a man upon whose like we
of his generation shall not look again.
CHAPTER CXLI.
A SINGULAR ANECDOTE AND NOT MORE
SAD THAN TRUE.
Oh penny Pipers, and most painful penners
Of bountiful new Ballads, what a subject,
What a sweet subject for your silver sounds!
BEAUMONT and FLETCHER.
THE chance of the Birmingham halfpenny
was a rare one. I will not so far wrong the
gentle Reader as to suppose that he will
doubt the accuracy of anything which is
recorded in this true history; and I seri-
ously assure him that such a halfpenny I
have myself seen in those days when the
most barefaced counterfeits were in full
circulation, - a halfpenny which had a head
on either side, and consequently was like
the fox in the fable, or a certain noble
Marquis, and now more noble Duke when
embassador at Petersburg,-not as being
doublefaced, but as havinff lost its tail.
A rare chance it was, and yet rarer ones
have happened. -I remember one concern-
ing a more serious appeal to fortune with
the same instrument.   An Organist not
without some celebrity in his day, (Jeremiah
Clark was his name,) being hopelessly in
love with a very beautiful lady, far above
his station in life, determined upon suicide,
and walked into the fields to accomplish his
THE DOCTOR.
.


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