[This seems to be the fish noticed by Izaak Walton, called the
_Ruffe_, or _Pope_, "a fish," says he, "that is not known in
some rivers. He is much like the perch for his shape, and taken
to be better than the perch, but will grow to be bigger than a
gudgeon. He is an excellent fish, no fish that swims is of _a
pleasanter taste_, and he is also excellent to enter a young
angler, for he is a greedy biter." In the _Faerie Queene_, book
I. canto iv., Spenser speaks of
"His _ruffin_ raiment all was stain'd with blood
Which he had spilt, and all to rags yrent."
To these lines Mr. Todd has added a note, which gives a clue to
the meaning of the word. He says, "Mr. Church here observes,
that _ruffin_ is reddish, from the Latin _rufus_." I suspect,
however, that the poet did not intend to specify the _colour_ of
the dress, but rather to give a very characteristical expression
even to the raiment of Wrath. Ruffin, so spelt, denoted a
swashbuckler, or, as we should say, a _bully_: see Minsheu's
_Guide into Tongues_. Besides, I find in _My Ladies'
Looking-Glasse_, by Barnabe Rich, 4to. 1616, p. 21., a passage
which may serve to strengthen my application of _ruffin_, in
this sense, to garment: "The yong woman, that as well in her
behaviour, as in the manner of her apparell, is most _ruffian_
like, is accounted the most gallant wench." Now, it appears,
that the _ruff_, or _pope_, is not only, as Walton says, "a
greedy biter," but is extremely voracious in its disposition,
and will devour a minnow nearly as big as itself. Its average
length is from six to seven inches.]
_Origin of the Word Etiquette._--What is the original meaning of the
word _etiquette_? and how did it acquire that secondary meaning which it
bears in English?