[The origin of this phrase is involved in some obscurity. Jacob, in
his _Law Dictionary_, speaks of it as "from the French," and his
definition is _verbatim_ that given in _The Termes of the Law_ (ed.
1598), with a very slight addition. Blackstone (book II cap. 12.)
says, "which term I shall explain in the very words of Littleton:
'It seemeth that this word _hotchpot_ is in English a pudding; for
in a pudding is not commonly just one thing alone, but one thing
with other things together.' By this housewifely metaphor our
ancestors meant to inform us that the lands, both those given in
frankmarriage, and those descending in fee-simple, should be mixed
and blended together, and then divided in equal portions among all
the daughters."]
_High and Low Dutch._--Is there any essential difference between High
and Low Dutch; and if there be any, to which set do the Dutchmen at the
Cape of Good Hope belong?