_To the Editor._
Dear Sir,--Bailey derives “_tailor_ from _tailler_, French, a maker of
garments:” but when a boy I remember perfectly well, my grandfather, who
was facetious, and attached to the usages of the past, acquainting me
with _his_ origin of the word “tailor.” He stated it nearly thus:--“The
term tailor originated between a botcher (a man that went from
farm-house to farm-house, and made and repaired clothes by the day) and
his wife--who, going to a town fair without her husband, returned in a
storm at a late hour, all bespattered with mud. The wearied botcher had
searched for her in vain, till meeting a neighbour, who told him his
wife was gone home draggletailed, he exclaimed, ‘God be praised!
_she’s_ where she ought to be; but the De’el take the _tail-’o’her_.’
His brother villagers ever after called him (not the botcher) but the
_tail o’her_--hence _tailor_. The Devil among the Tailors perhaps owes
its origin to a similar freak.”
Speaking of a _tail_, the following from Bailey may not be
inappropriate.--“_Kentish long tails._ The Kentish men are said to have
had tails for some generations, by way of punishment, as some say; for
the Kentish pagans abusing Austin the monk and his associates, by
beating them, and opprobriously tying fish-tails to them; in revenge of
which, such appendages grew to the hind parts of all that generation.
But the scene of this lying wonder was not in Kent, but at Carne, in
Dorsetshire. Others again say, it was for cutting off the tail of Saint
Thomas of Canterbury’s horse; who, being out of favour with Henry II.,
riding towards Canterbury upon a poor sorry horse, was so served by the
common people. _Credat Judæus Apella._”
“Animals’ tails” were worn at country festivals by buffoons and
sportmakers; for which, see “Plough Monday,” in the _Every-Day Book_;
and also, see Liston, in Grojan, “I could a _tail_ unfold!” &c.
Yours truly,
*, *, P.
* * * * *
_For the Table Book._