"_Paid down upon the nail._"--The origin of this phrase is thus stated in
the _Recollections of O'Keefe_ the dramatist:
"An ample piazza under the Exchange [in Limerick] was a thoroughfare:
in the centre stood a pillar about four feet high, and upon it a
circular plate of copper about three feet in diameter: this was called
_the nail_, and on it was paid the earnest for any commercial bargains
made; which was the origin of saying, 'Paid down upon the nail.'"
But perhaps the custom, of which Mr. O'Keefe speaks, was common to other
ancient towns?