Chapter Wood to Word of W by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

honour men had a silver or golden one, a spoon being the usual prix de mèrite instead of a medal. (See Wooden Wedge. )

Wooden Sword To wear the wooden sword. To keep back sales by asking too high a price. Fools used to wear wooden swords or “daggers of lath.”

Wooden Wall When the Greeks sent to Delphi to ask how they were to defend themselves against Xerxes, who had invaded their country, the evasive answer given was to this effect-
   Pallas hath urged and Zeus, the sire of all,
   Hath safety promised in a wooden wall;
   Seed-time and harvest, weeping sires shall tell
   How thousands fought at Salamis and fell.
   Wooden walls of Old England. The ships of war. We must now say, “The iron walls of Old England.”

Wooden Wedge Last in the classical tripos. When, in 1824, the classical tripos was instituted at Cambridge, it was debated by what name to call the last on the list. It so happened that the last on the list was Wedgewood, and the name was accepted and moulded into Wooden-wedge. (See Wooden Spoon .)

Woodfall brother of the Woodfall of Junius, and editor of the Morning Chronicle. Woodfall would attend a debate, and, without notes, report it accurately next morning. He was called Memory Woodfall. (1745- 1803.) W. Radcliffe could do the same.

Woodwardian Professor The professor of geology in the University of Cambridge. This professorship was founded in 1727 by Dr. Woodward.

Wool Dyed in the wool. A hearty good-fellow. Cloth which is wool-dyed (not piece-dyed), is true throughout “and will wash.”
   No wool is so white that a dyer cannot blacken it. No one is so free from faults that slander can find nothing to say against him; no book is so perfect as to be free from adverse criticism.

“Maister Mainwaring's much abuzed, Most grievously for things accuse,
And all the dowlish [devilish] pack;
E'en let mun all their poison spit,
My lord, there is no wooll zo whit
That dyers can't make black.”
Peter Pindar: Middlesex Election, letter iii.

Wool-gathering Your wits are gone wool-gathering. As children sent to gather wool from hedges are absent for a trivial purpose, so persons in a “brown study” are absent-minded to no good purpose.

“But, my dear, if my wits are somewhat wool-gathering and unsettled, my heart is as true as a star.”- Ilarriet B. Stowe.

Woolen In 1666 an Act of Parliament was passed for “burying in woollen only,” which was intended for “the encouragement of the woollen manufactures of the kingdom, and prevention of the exportation of money for the buying and importing of linen.” Repealed in 1814.

“ `Odious! in woollen I`twould a saint provoke;'
(Wefe the last words that poor Narcissa spoke).
`No! let a charming chintz and Brussels lace
Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face.
One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead;
And- Betty- give the cheeks a little red.' ”
Pope: Moral Essays, Ep. i.

   This was the ruling passion strong in death. At the time this was written it was compulsory to bury in woollen. Narcissa did not dread death half so much as being obliged to wear flannel instead of her fine mantles. Narcissa was Mrs. Oldfield, the actress, who died 1731.
   Woollen goods. (See Linen Goods.)

Woolsack To sit on the woolsack. To be Lord Chancellor of England, whose seat in the House of Lords is called the woolsack. It is a large square bag of wool, without back or arms, and covered with red cloth. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth an Act of Parliament was passed to prevent the exportation of wool; and that this source of our national wealth might be kept constantly in mind woolsacks were placed in the House of Peers, whereon the judges sat. Hence the Lord Chancellor, who presides in the House of Lords, is said to “sit on the woolsack,” or to be “appointed to the woolsack.”

Woolwich Infant (The). (See Gun .)