Beakesbourne.
_Apple-pie Order_ (Vol. iii., p. 330.).--The solution of J. H. M. to MR.
SNEAK's inquiry is not satisfactory. "Alternate layers of sliced pippins
and mutton steaks" might indeed make a pie, but not an apple-pie,
therefore this puzzling phrase must have had some other origin. An
ingenious friend of mine has suggested that it may perhaps be derived
from that expression which we meet with in one of the scenes of
_Hamlet_, "Cap a pied;" where it means perfectly appointed. The
transition from _cap a pied_, or "cap a pie," to _apple-pie_, has rather
a rugged appearance, orthographically, I admit; but the ear soon becomes
accustomed to it in pronunciation.