Monday, March 31, 2014

A Vessel

Robert Southey, Letters Written During a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal (Bristol: Bulgin and Rosser, 1797), p. 32:
On entering the room, we desired the boy to remove a vessel that did not scent it agreeably. So little idea had he that it was offensive, that he removed it from under the bed, only to place it in the closet!

A Farting Contest

Catch that Catch can, or A Choice Collection of Catches, Rounds & Canons for 3 or 4 Voyces Collected & Published by John Hilton (London: John Benson & John Playford, 1652), p. 64 (attributed to "Mr. William Ellis"):
My Lady and her Mayd upon a merry pin,
they made a match at farting, who should the wager win.
Jone lights three Candles then, and sets them bolt upright,
with the first fart she blew them out,
with the next she gave them light.
In comes my Lady then with all her might and maine,
and blew them out, and in, and out, and in, and out againe.
Also (without music, without author's name, and with slight differences) in An Antidote Against Melancholy: Made Up in Pills. Compounded of Witty Ballads, Jovial Songs, and Merry Catches (London: Mer. Melancholicus, 1661), p. 86.

Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. pin, n.1, phrase P1.a:
in (also on) a (merry, etc.) pin : in a (good, etc.) mood or state of mind; of a disposition indicated by the modifying word.