Chapter Ready to Red Boots of R by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Red The colour of magic.

“Red is the colour of magic in every country, and has been so from the very earliest times. The caps of fairies and musicians are well-nigh always red.”- Yeates: Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, p. 61.

Red applied to gold. Hence a gold watch is a “red kettle.”

"Thou shew'st an honest nature; weep'st for thy master;
There's a red rogue to buy the handkerchief.”
Beaumont and Fletcher: Mad Lover, v. 4.

Red Basque Cap The cognisance of Don Carlos, pretender to the Spanish throne.

Red Book The book which gave account of the court expenditure in France before the Revolution was so called because its covers were red. We have also a “Red Book” in manuscript, containing the names of all those who held lands per baroniam in the reign of Henry II., with other matters pertaining to the nation before the Conquest. (Ryley, 667.)

Red Book of the Exchequer (The). Liber Rubens Scaccarii in the Record Office. It was compiled in the reign of Henry III. (1246), and contains the returns of the tenants in capite in 1166, who certify how many knights' fees they hold, and the names of those who hold or held them, also much other matter from the Pipe Rolls and other sources. It has not yet (1895) been printed, but is described in Sims' Manual (p. 41), Thomas's Handbook (p. 255), and in the Record Report of 1837 (pp. 166-177). A separate account of it was printed by Hunter in 1837. It contains the only known fragment of the Pipe Roll of Henry II., and copies of the important Inquisition returned into the exchequer in 13 John. It is not written in red ink. (Communicated by A. Oldham.)

Red Boots A pair of red boots. A Tartar phrase, referring to a custom of cutting the skin of a victim round the upper part of the ankles, and then stripping it off at the feet. A Tartar will say, “When you come my way again, I will give you a pair of red boots to go home in.”