Chapter Six-and-Eightpence to Skimmington of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Six-and-Eightpence to Skimmington

Six-and-Eightpence used to be called a “noble” (q.v.), the third of a pound. The half-noble was often called “ten groats,” and was in Shakespeare's time the usual lawyer's fee.

“As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney.”- Shakespeare: All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 2.

Six Articles (33 Henry VIII.) enjoins the belief in (1) the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; (2) the sufficiency of communion in one kind; (3) the celibacy of the priests, (4) the obligation of vows of chastity; (5) the expediency of private masses; and (6) the necessity of auricular confession.

Six-hooped Pot A two-quart pot. Quart pots were bound with three hoops, and when three men joined in drinking each man drank his hoop. Mine host of the Black Bear calls Tressalian “A six-hooped pot of a traveller,” meaning a first-class guest, because he paid freely, and made no complaints. (Kenilworth, chap. iii.)

Six Members The six members that Charles I went into the House of Commons to arrest were Lord Kimbolton, Pym, Hollis, Hampden, Sir Arthur Haselrig, and Stroud. Being warned in time, they made good their escape.

Six Months' War The Franco-Prussian (July 28th, 1870, to January 28th, 1871).

Six Nations (The). The Iroquois confederacy since the Tuscaroras was added.

Six Points (See People's Charter .)

Six-Principle Baptists (The). Those whose creed is Hebrews iv 1, 2.

Sixes and Sevens (All). Ill-assorted; not matched, higgledy-piggledy.
   To be at sixes and sevens. Spoken of things, it means in confusion; spoken of persons, it means in disagreement or hostility. “Six, yea seven,” was a Hebrew phrase meaning an indefinite number, hence we read in Job (v. 19), “He [God] shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea in seven,” etc. What is indefinite is confused. Our modern phrase would be five or six things here, and five or six things there, but nothing in proper order.

“Old Odcombs odness makes not thee uneven,
Nor carelessly set all at six and seven.”
Taylor: Workes, ii. 71 (1630).

   Long and short sixes. Certain dip candles, common in the first half of the nineteenth century. Long sixes were those eight inches long, short sixes were thicker and about five inches long. Called sixes because six went to a pound.

Sixteen-string Jack John Rann, a highwayman, noted for his foppery. He wore sixteen tags, eight at each knee. (Hanged in 1774.)

“Dr. Johnson said that Gray's poetry towered above the ordinary run of verse as Sixteen-string Jack above the ordinary foot-pad.”- Boswell: Life of Johnson.

Sizar A poor scholar whose assize of food is given him. Sizars used to have what was left at the fellows' table, because it was their duty at one time to wait on the fellows at dinner. Each fellow had his sizar. (Cambridge University.)

Sizings The quota of food allowed at breakfast, and also food “sized for” at dinner. At Cambridge, the students are allowed meat for dinner, but tart, jelly, ale, etc., are obtained only by paying extra. These articles are called sizings, and those who demand them size for them. The word is a contraction of assize, a statute to regulate the size or weight of articles sold. (See Sice .)

“A size is a portion of bread or drinke: it is a farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the buttery. It is noted with the letter S.”- Minshen. (See also Ellis: Literary Letters, p. 178.)