Maidstone.
[The four aspirants probably were, 1. Sherlock of Salisbury; 2. Herring
of York, the next primate; 3. Mawson of Chichester; 4. Gibson of
London.]
_Nose of Wax._--In so famous a public document as the _Nottingham
Declaration of the Nobles, Gentry, and Commons_, in November, 1688, against
the Papistical inroads of the infatuated King James, I find in the Ninth
Resolution that he is accused of "rendering the laws a _nose of wax_," in
order to further arbitrary ends. I have often heard the phrase familiarly
in my youthful days; may I ask of you to inform me of its origin? Its
import is plain enough,--a silly bugbear, of none effect but to be laughed
at.