Part 33 (1/2)

=Namby= (_Major_), a retired officer, living in the suburbs of London. He had been twice married; his first wife had four children, and his second wife three. Major Namby, though he lived in a row, always transacted his domestic affairs by bawling out his orders from the front garden, to the annoyance of his neighbors. He used to stalk half-way down the garden path, with his head high in the air, his chest stuck out, and flouris.h.i.+ng his military cane. Suddenly he would stop, stamp with one foot, knock up the hinder brim of his hat, begin to scratch the nape of his neck, wait a moment, then wheel round, look at the first-floor window, and roar out, ”Matilda!” (the name of his wife) ”don't do so-and-so;” or ”Matilda! do so-and-so.” Then he would bellow to the servants to buy this, or not to let the children eat that, and so on.--Wilkie Collins, _Pray Employ Major Namby_ (a sketch).

=Names of Terror.= The following amongst others, have been employed as bogie-names to frighten children with:--

ATTILA was a bogie-name to the Romans.

BO or BOH, son of Odin, was a fierce Gothic captain. His name was used by his soldiers when they would fight or surprise the enemy.--Sir William Temple.

? Warton tells us that the Dutch scared their children with the name of Boh.

BONAPARTE, at the close of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, was a name of terror in Europe.

CORVI'NUS (_Mathias_), the Hungarian, was a scare-name to the Turks.

LILIS or LILITH was a bogie-name used by the ancient Jews to unruly children. The rabbinical writers tell us that Lilith was Adam's wife before the creation of Eve. She refused to submit to him, and became a horrible night-spectre, especially hostile to young children.

LUNSFORD, a name employed to frighten children in England. Sir Thomas Lunsford, governor of the Tower, was a man of most vindictive temper, and the dread of everyone.

Made children with your tones to run for't, As bad as b.l.o.o.d.y-bones or Lunsford.

S. Butler, _Hudibras_, iii. 2, line 1112, (1678).

Na.r.s.eS (2 _syl._) was the name used by a.s.syrian mothers to scare their children with.

The name of Na.r.s.es was the formidable sound with which the a.s.syrian mothers were accustomed to terrify their infants.--Gibbon, _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, viii. 219 (1776-88).

RAWHEAD and b.l.o.o.d.y-BONES were at one time bogie-names to children.

Servants awe children and keep them in subjection by telling them of Rawhead and b.l.o.o.d.y-bones.--Locke.

RICHARD I., ”Cur de Lion.” This name, says Camden (_Remains_), was employed by the Saracens as a ”name of dread and terror.”

His tremendous name was employed by the Syrian mothers to silence their infants; and if a horse suddenly started from the way, his rider was wont to exclaim, ”Dost thou think King Richard is in the bush?”--Gibbon, _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, xi. 146 (1776-88).

SEBASTIAN (_Don_), a name of terror once used by the Moors.

Nor shall Sebastian's formidable name Be longer used to still the crying babe.

Dryden, _Don Sebastian_ (1690).

TALBOT (_John_), a name used in France _in terrorem_ to unruly children.

They in France to feare their young children crye, ”The Talbot commeth!”--Hall, _Chronicles_ (1545).

Here (said they) is the terror of the French, The scarecrow that affrights our children so.

Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._ act.[TN-27] i. sc. 4 (1589).