NICKNAMES: ROYAL, POLITICAL, AND NATIONAL.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue II, 13 July 1895, Page 28

NICKNAMES: ROYAL, POLITICAL, AND NATIONAL.

BY

WILLIAM FRANCIS.

You jig, you amble, and you Hep, and nickname God’s creatures.— Shakespeare.

Nicknames are by no means the product of the 19th century. They ‘ nicknamed God’s creatures ’ long before the * Bard of Avon ’ penned the above line. Among the witty Greeks nicknames were common. Doson, which expresses the future of the verb to give, was a name bestowed on a king of Macedonia who was liberal in oromises, but sparing in actual gifts. He was the man who will give, maybe, but who really never gives. Among the Arabs we also find some of those names which were given in ridicule. Abu Horeirah, ‘ Father of the Cat,’ was so named by Mohammed in consequence of his excessive fondness for a cat, and in the nickname so universally adopted the man’s real name has been wholly lost. And at this day in the streets of Oriental towns the gamins use the same prefix Abu in the composition of the names of ridicule. Dr. Thompson tells us in ‘ The Land and the Book ’ that the Syrian boys called him after Abu Tangera, ‘Father of a Saucepan,’ because they fancied hishat resembled a saucepan. Abu’sh Hamat, ‘ Father of the Moles, ’ is given by Lane as an actual Arabic name, and as moles are considered lucky it would be a name of good omen and become popular. ROYAL NICKNAMES. From the days when a king first reigned over men, the subjects of a monarch have been fond of attaching to his title some epithet descriptive of his appearance, disposition, and habits, sometimes complimentary, sometimes the reverse. A noble epithet was that bestowed on King Alfred, * The Truthteller. ’ William I. was called ‘ The Conqueror,’ because he defeated the Saxons at the Battle of Hastings, and founded the Norman dynasty in England, while his son, William 11., was called Rufus from the florid complexion — rufus being the Latin name for ruddy. Henry I. was called Beauclerk, a good clerk, in recognition of his scholarly attainments, while Edward, on account of his spindle legs, was styled ‘Longshanks.’ Richard and John are well distinguished as 'Lionheart’ anjd ‘Lackland.’ Henry VIII. on account of his bluff manners was called ' Bluff King Hal,’ but he also received from Pope Leo X., in recognition of a tract he published against the heresy of Luther, the title of ‘ Defender of the Faith,’ but by not a few he was called the ‘Royal BlueBeard.’ ‘Bloody Mary would perchance never have won such a title qad not fate sent her into the world three centuries too late; and ‘ Good Queen Bess's ’ virtue is not dazzling when viewed close. Charles I. is called ‘The Martyr,’ while his sou was called ’ The Merry Monarch,’ which was the favourite gloss of a character that was very worthless, but loveable through all. He was also nicknamed ‘Old Rowley,’ after a stallion of that name which was one

of his favourite race horses. ‘ Good Queen Anne ’ demonstrates the power of genuine amiability unbacked by any sort of mental power. ‘ Farmer George ’ is kindly thought of yet among his grand-daughter’s subjects, and we fear we have heard an irreverent generation describe his worthy consort as ‘ Snuffy.’ William IV. was called ‘ The Sailor King ’ from the circumstance of his having entered the navy as a midshipman, and worked his way upwards until he attained the rank of Lord High Admiral. But of all the many epithets bestowed on Royal personages, it may well be said that none is more thoroughly true of its object than that given by the late Poet Laureate to the Queen’s lamented husband—‘ Albert the Good.’ PARLIAMENTARY NICKNAMES. No community of schoolboys have every been readier to catch at an appropriate nickname than the British House of Commons, and honourable members of the past and present generations are known by names never heard of at the baptismal font. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, was known as ‘ The Great Commoner,’ and also as‘The Bottomless Pitt,’ while some irreverently termed him ‘Loggerhead of London.’ The incident of his having been fired at by a turnpike keeper, at Wimbledon, for riding through the gate without paying, supplied Captain Charles Morris with a subject which he called ‘ An American Song,’ and which closes with the lines — Solid men of Boston go to bed at sundown And never lose your head like the Loggerhead of London. We find Sir Robert Walpole called by his son, Horace, ‘ The Triumphant Exciseman,’ but by his opponents ‘ 'I he Great Corrupter,’ on account of the wholesale bribery practised during the time that he was in power. It was he who said ‘ Every man has his price.’ ‘ Singlespeech Hamilton ’ was the name bestowed on the Right Hon. William Gerald Hamilton, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland, and at one time member for Wilton, in Wilts. On the night of November 13th, 1773, he delivered in the House of Commons the only speech he was

ever known to make, but then, to quote Waller, ‘ he broke out like the Irish rebellion three score thousand strong when nobody was aware or least suspected it.’ According to Macaulay, ‘ the eloquence of that speech threw into the shade every orator except Pitt.’ George Greville, who represented Buckingham in Parliament for nearly 30 years, and was at one time Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister, won for himself the designation of the ‘ Gentle Shepherd ’ by not taking care to steer sufficiently clear of a popular song of his day. He was not Chancellor at that time, but the Budget speech had just been delivered in the House and had provoked ridicule and signs of opposition. Grenville got up to defend it, and wanted to know whether gentlemen who were not satisfied with it could suggest any better. If they wouldn’t have taxes laid on where it was proposed, where would they have them laid on ? Let them tell me where ?’ repeated Grenville in a peevish and monotonous tone. ‘ I say, sir, let them tell me where—l am entitled to say where r’ Unluckily, says Macaulay, Pitt had come down to the House that night and had been bitterly provoked by the reflections which Grenville had been making. He revenged himself by murmuring in a whine resembling Grenville a line of a well-known song, • Gentle Shepherd, tell me where ?’ Grenville turned round acrimoniously, but Pitt emphasized his sneer by rising and walking out of the House, and for many a long day George Grenville was familiarly known as ‘ The Gentle Shepherd,’ ‘Starvation Dundas’ is the curious name bestowed on Henry Dundas, first Lord Melville, who was the first to introduce the word into the English lauguage, doing so in the course of a speech which he delivered in Parliament in 1775. Equally curious are the names of ‘ Prosperity Robinson ’ and ‘Adversity Hume.’ The former sobriquet was given to Frederick Robinson, afterwards Earl of Ripon, Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1823, who on bringing forward his budget adduced a greatly increased consumption since 1816 as a proof of the prosperity of the country. The facts were questioned by Mr Joseph Hume, who went to the opposite extreme in predicting ruin and disaster, so William Cobbett nicknamed him ‘ Adversity Hume ’ as a set off to that of ‘ Prosperity

Robinson.’ Sir Robert Peel’s father was called ‘ Parsley Peel,’ and for this reason. When a poor farmer he felt that some source of income must be added to the meagre products of his little farm. He therefore directed his thoughts to calico printing, quietly conducting his experiments in his own home. One day, thoughtfully handling a pewter plate from which one of his children had just dined, he sketched upon its smooth surface the outline of a pars'ey leaf, and filling this with colouring matter he was delighted to find that the impression could be accurately conveyed to the surface of cotton cloth. This was the first suggestion towards calico printing from metal rollers, and to this day Sir Robert is called in Lancashire ‘ Parsley Peel.’ His son, the ‘ Corn Law Repealer,’ has also borne the same nickname, and besides he has been called ‘ Orange Peel ’ —a name given to him by Daniel O’Connell, who himself rejoiced in the title of ‘The Liberator.’ Lord John Russell was the ‘Lycurgus of the Lower House ’ on account of his indubitable self reliance and tenacity of self-assertion. Lord John was a very little, insignificant looking man, and when he took a seat on the Treasury Bench—or, as the wits would have it, ‘ cast into the Treasury,’ they dubbed him ‘The Widow’s Mite.’ Later he came to be known as ‘ Finality John,’ because he maintained that the Reform Bill of 1832 was a final measure. ‘ The Cicero of the Senate ’ was the complimentary title which the eloquence of George Canning as a debator won for him, while in Disraeli's novel of ‘ Vivian Grey ’ he is characterised as ‘ Charlatan Gas.’ ‘Pam’ was the familiar name given to Lord Palmerston. Benjamin Disraeli. Earl of Beaconsfield, will always be remembered as ‘ Dizzy,’ while his great rival will always be known among English-speaking peoples as • The Grand Old Man.’ The late Right Hon. W. H. Smith was often referred to as ‘Old Mortality,’ and the late Lord Randolph Churchill was spoken of as ‘ Randy.’ Mr Chamberlain is known as ‘ Joe,’ the Right Hon. James Lowther as • Jimmy,’ and MrT. P. O’Connor as’TayPay.’ NATIONAL NICKNAMES are known, though not always their origin. The nickname of the typical Englishman, ‘John Bull,’ was derived from Dr. Arbuthnot’s satire of this title published in 1721. The Irish, as a nation, are universally alluded to as ‘ Pat’ or ■ Paddy,’ being short for Patrick, their most common Christian name, selected in honour of their patron saint, St. Patrick ; the Scots as ‘ Sandie,’ a contraction of their most popular Christian name Alexander ; and the Welsh as ’ Taffy,’ a corruption of Davy, and short for David, the name of their archbishop and saint. ‘ Brother Jonathan ’is the most popular nickname of the United States, and arose out of the person of Jonathan Trumbill, the Governor of Connecticut, whom General Washington never failed to consult in cases of emergency. ‘We must refer the matter to Brother Jonathan,’ he was won’t to exclaim when no other officer could offer any paactical suggestion, and true enough Brother Jonathan proved himself in every instance equal to the confidence reposed in him. Another stock name for the United States is ‘ Uncle Sam. ’ This originated from a vulgar misconception of the initial letters U.S. (United States) for those of the well-known sobriquet of an official whose business it was to mark them on the Government property. The numerous acquaintances of this person understood that the goods so marked had passed through the hands of Uncle Sam, and the joke becoming popular, it spread far and wide, until in the end it was considered far too good to allow it to drop.