Chapter Thorns to Three Sheets in the Wind of T by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

in Threadneedle Street. The directors of the Bank of England were so called by William Cobbett, because, like Mrs. Partington, they tried with their broom to sweep back the Atlantic waves of national progress.

“A silver curl-paper that I myself took off the shining locks of the ever-beautiful old lady of Threadneedle Street [a bank-note].”- Dickens: Dr. Marigold.

Three Pythagoras calls three the perfect number, expressive of “beginning, middle, and end,” wherefore he makes it a symbol of Deity. The world was supposed to be under the rule of three gods, viz. Jupiter (heaven), Neptune (sea), and Pluto (Hades). Jove is represented with three-forked lightning, Neptune with a trident, and Pluto with a three-headed dog. The Fates are three, the Furies three, the Graces three, the Harpies three, the Sibylline books three; the fountain from which Hylas drew water was presided over by three nymphs, and the Muses were three times three; the pythoness sat on a tripod. Man is three-fold (body, soul, and spirit); the world is three- fold (earth, sea, and air); the enemies of man are three-fold (the world, the flesh, and the devil); the Christian graces are three-fold (Faith, Hope, and Charity); the kingdoms of Nature are threefold (mineral, vegetable, and animal); the cardinal colours are three in number (red, yellow, and blue), etc. (See Nine , which is three times three.)
    Even the Bible consists of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Apocrypha. Our laws have to pass the Commons,-Lords, and Crown.

Three Bishoprics (The). So the French call the three cities of Lorraine, Metz, and Verdun, each of which was at one time under the lordship of a bishop. They were united to the kingdom of France by Henri II. in 1552. Since the Franco-German war they have been attached to Germany.

Three-Decker (A). The pulpit, reading-desk, and clerk's desk arranged in a church, towering one above the other. Now an obsolete arrangement.

“In the midst of the church stands ... the offensive structure of pulpit, reading-desk, and clerk's desk: in fact, a regular old three-decker in full sail westward.”- The Christian Remembrancer. July, 1852, p. 92.

Three Chapters (The). Three books, or parts of three books- one by Theodore of Mopsuestia, one by Theodore of Cyprus, and the third by Ibas, Bishop of Edessa. These books were of a Nestorian bias on the subject of the incarnation and two natures of Christ. The Church took up the controversy warmly, and the dispute continued during the reign of Justinian and the popedom of Vigilius. In 553 the Three Chapters were condemned at the general council of Constantinople.

Three Estates of the Realm are the nobility, the clergy, and the commonalty. In the collect for Gunpowder Treason we thank God for “preserving (1st) the king, and (2nd) the three estates of the realm;” from which it is quite evident that the sovereign is not one of the three estates, as nine persons out of ten suppose. These three estates are represented in the two Houses of Parliament. (See Fourth Estate .)

Three Holes in the Wall (The), to which Macaulay alluded in his speech, September 20th, 1831, are three holes or niches in a ruined mound in the borough of Old Sarum, which before the Reform sent two members to Parliament. Lord John Russell (March, 1831) referred to the same anomaly. (See Notes and Queries, March 14th, 1885, p. 213.)

Three Kings' Day Epiphany or Twelfth Day, designed to commemorate the visit of the “three kings” or Wise Men of the East to the infant Jesus. (See under Kings .)

Three-pair Back (Living up a). Living in a garret, which is got at by mounting to the third storey by a back staircase.

Three-quarters or 3/4. Rhyming slang for the neck. This certainly is a most ingenious perversion. “Three- quarters of a peck ” rhymes with neck, so, in writing, an expert simply sets down 3/4. (See Chivy .)

Three R's (The). (See under R.)

Three Sheets in the Wind Unsteady from over-drinking, as a ship when its sheets are in the wind. The sail of a ship is fastened at one of the bottom corners by a rope called a “tack;” the other corner is left