and all fees, which nominal office is
accepted by any Member of Parliament who wishes to vacate his seat.
* * * * *
PEG TANKARDS.
At Braintree and Booking, in Essex, when topers partake of a pot of
ale, it is divided into three parts or draughts, the first of which is
called _neckum_, the second _sinkum_, and the third _swankum_. In
Bailey's Dictionary, _swank_ is said to be "that remainder of liquor
at the bottom of a tankard, pot, or cup, which is just sufficient for
one draught, which it is not accounted good manners to divide with the
left-hand man, and according to the quantity is called either a large
or little swank."
* * * * *
CHIMNEYS.
Has the precise period been ascertained when chimneys upon the present
mode were first constructed in England? It was apparently not sooner
than Henry the Eighth's time; for Leland, when he visited Bolton
Castle, in Yorkshire, seems to have been greatly surprised by the
novelty and ingenuity of the contrivance. "One thing (says he) I much
notyd in the haull of Bolton, how chimneys was conveyed by tunnills
made in the sydds of the waulls, betwixt the lights; and by this
meanes is the smoke of the harthe wonder strangely convayed.
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