(Vol. iv., p. 57.)
The derivation of these terms, as applied to the two extreme parties in
politics, is a much vexed question, which will probably never be
satisfactorily settled. That staunch Tory, Roger North, in his _Examen_,
has referred the origin of the name of his party to their connexion with
the Duke of York and his popish allies.
"It is easy (says North) to imagine how rampant these procurators
of power, the Exclusioners, were under such circumstances of
advantage as at that time prevailed; everywhere insulting and
menacing the royalists, as was done in all the terms of common
conversation, and the latter had the wind in their faces, the
votes of the house and the rabble into the bargain. This trade,
then not much opposed, naturally led to a common use of slighting
and opprobrious names, such as Yorkist. That served for mere
distinction, but did not scandalize or reflect enough. Then they
came to Tantivy, which implied riding post to Rome. Observe, all
the while the loyal church party were passive; the outrage lay
wholly on the other side. These observing that the Duke favoured
Irishmen, all his friends, or those accounted such by appearing
against the Exclusion, were straight become Irish; thence
bog-trotters, and in the copia of the factious language, the word
_Tory_ was entertained, which signified the most despicable
savages among the wild Irish; and being a vocal and clear sounding
word, readily pronounced, it kept its hold, and took possession of
the foul mouths of the faction."
Burton, in vol. ii. of his _Parliamentary Diary_ on the state of
Ireland, under date of June 10, 1657, has the following passage:
"Tory is said to be the Irish word _Toree_, that is, _Give me_,
which was the summons of surrender used by the banditti, to whom
the name was originally applied."
In support of this assertion it may be as well to state that Tory or
Terry Island, on the coast of Donegal, is said to have taken its name
from the robbers by whom it was formerly infested. Dr. Johnson also
supports Burton's derivation of the word; he calls it a cant term, which
he supposed to be derived from an Irish word, signifying a savage. Mr.
G. O. Borrow (alias Lavengro), who has devoted much attention to the
Celtic dialect, in a paper which he contributed some years back to the
_Norfolk Chronicle_, suggested that the etymology of the word Tory might
be traced to the Irish adherents of Charles II. during the Cromwellian
era; the words _Tar-a-Ri_ (pronounced Tory, and meaning _Come, O King_),
having been so constantly in the mouths of the Royalists as to have
become a by-word to designate them. So much for the word _Tory_, which
from these premises is evidently of Irish origin. We now come to
consider the derivation of the term _Whig_, concerning which there is
not quite such a diversity of opinion. The first authority we will quote
shall be Burnet, who says:
"The south-west counties of Scotland have seldom corn enough to
serve them round the year; and the northern parts producing more
than they need, those in the west come in the summer to buy at
Leith the stores that came from the north; and from a word,
Whiggam, used in driving their horses, all that drove were called
Whiggamors, and shorter, the Whiggs. Now, in that year (_i.e._
1648), after the news came down of Duke Hamilton's defeat, the
ministers animated their people to rise and march to Edinburgh;
and they came up marching on the head of their parishes with an
unheard-of fury, praying and preaching all the way as they came.
The Marquis of Argyle and his party came and bearded them, they
being about 6000. This was called the Whiggamors' inroad, and ever
after that, all that opposed the court came in contempt to be
called Whiggs; and from Scotland the word was brought into
England, where it is now one of our unhappy terms of
disunion."--Burnet's _History of his own Times_, vol. i. p. 43.
Such is Burnet's account of the derivation of this word, in which he is
followed by Samuel Johnson, who has transcribed the above passage in his
_Dictionary_. Kirkton also, in his _History of the Church of Scotland_,
edited by C. K. Sharpe, Esq., in 1817, adheres to the same opinion:
under the year 1667, he says:
"The poor people, who in contempt were called Whiggs, became
name-fathers to all that owned one honest interest in Britain, who
were called Whiggs after them, even at the court of England."
That the term Whig was originally from Scotland, I believe is a
well-ascertained fact; but while some of our etymologists follow the
opinion of Burton, others, with (as I think) greater show of reason,
adhere to the opinion of Roger North and the historians Laing and
Lingard, all of whom were of opinion that the original Scotch Whigs were
called so, not, as Burnet supposes, from the word used by them in
driving their horses, but from the word Whig being vernacular in
Scotland for sour whey, which was a common drink with the people.