_Pokership--God tempers the Wind_.--I am disposed to think that
_Parkership_ will turn out to be the right explanation, because
almost every forest or chase contained a _fenced park_, in
which the deer were confined; and the charge of the woods and park
might be consigned to the same person; and the error in spelling the
word was probably copied from one genealogist to another.
Nevertheless, Mr. Corney's conjecture may be right, as Forby
(_Vocabulary,_ vol. ii. p. 258.) mentions Poke-Day as the day
on which the allowance of corn is made to the labourers, _who, in
some places, receive a part of their wages in that form._ Now the
_Pokerer_ might be the officer who distributed the grain on
these occasions.
I open my note to add, that Mr. Gutch (No. 14. p. 211.) will find,
in Sterne's _Sentimental Journey_,--"_God tempers the wind_,"
said Maria, "to the shorn lamb."
The words which I have underlined are printed in Italics in my
edition of the work (London, 12mo. 1790), which may indicate that
they are quoted from some other author.