Cambridge, Feb. 23. 1850.
"E.V.," after quoting the passage given by Mr. Cooper from Anthony Wood,
proceeds:--
It is clear from Owen's epigram that there was some kind of _salting_ at
Oxford as well as at Cambridge; is it not at least probable that they
were both identical with the custom described by old Anthony, and that
the charge made in the college book was for _the cawdle_ mentioned
above, as provided at the freshman's expense; the whole ceremony going
under the name of "salting," from the salt and water potion, which was
the most important constituent of it? If this be so, it agrees with Dr.
Maitland's idea, that "this 'salting' was some entertainment given by
the newcomer, from and after which he ceases to be fresh;" or, as Wood
expresses it, "he took his place among the seniors."
The "tucks" he speaks of could have been no very agreeable addition to
the salted beer; for, as he himself explains it, a few lines above, "to
tuck" consisted in "setting the nail of the thumb to their chin, just
under the lip, and by the help of their other fingers under the chin,
they would give him a mark, which sometimes would produce blood."
Before I leave Anthony Wood, let me mention {307} that I find him making
use of the word "bull" in the sense of a laughable speech ("to make a
jest, or _bull_, or speake some eloquent nonsense," p. 34.), and of the
now vulgar expression "to go to pot." When recounting the particulars of
the parliamentary visitation of the University in 1648, he tells us,
that had it not been for the intercession of his mother to Sir Nathan
Brent, "he had infallible _gone to the pot_." If Dr. Maitland or any of
your readers can give the history of these expressions, and can produce
earlier instances of their use, they would greatly oblige me.
P.S. I ought to mention, that "Penniless Bench" was a seat for loungers,
under a wooden canopy, at the east end of old Carfax Church: it seems to
have been notorious as "the idle corner" of Oxford.