St. Lucia, March, 1851.
_Rub-a-dub._--This word is put forward as an instance of how new words are
still formed with a view to similarity of sound with the sound of what they
are intended to express, by Dr. Francis Lieber, in a "Paper on the Vocal
Sounds of Laura Bridgeman compared with the Elements of Phonetic Language,"
and its authorship is assigned {388} to Daniel Webster, who said in a
speech of July 17, 1850:
"They have been beaten incessantly every month, and every day, and
every hour, by the din, and roll, and _rub-a-dub_ of the Abolition
presses."
Dr. L. adds:
"No dictionary in my possession has _rub-a-dub_; by and by the
lexicographer will admit this, as yet, half-wild word."
My note is, that though this word be not recognised by the dictionaries,
yet it is by no means so new as Dr. L. supposes; for I distinctly remember
that, some four-and-twenty years ago, one of those gay-coloured books so
common on the shelves of nursery libraries had, amongst other equally
_recherche_ couplets, the following attached to a gaudy print of a military
drum:
"Not a _rub-a-dub_ will come
To sound the music of a drum:"
--no great authority certainly, but sufficient to give the word a greater
antiquity than Dr. L. claims for it; and no doubt some of your readers will
be able to furnish more dignified instances of its use.