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Things Not Generally Known: Grundy

Mistress of the World. A common designation of ancient Rome, which was for centuries the grandest, richest, and most populous of European cities, and was regarded as the capital of a kind of universal empire. Mrs. Grundy was born in Tom Morton's play of "Speed the Plough," in which one of the characters, Mrs. Courtfield, is constantly wondering "what will Mrs. Grundy say?" The old lady is now the genuine name for society. Not Earning his salt. This saying is derived from a custom of the Romans when a man earned a "salary," and had his "salarium," i.e., his allowance of "saltmoney," or of salt wherewith to savor the food on which he lived. Old Bags. A nickname given to John Scott, Lord Eldon (1751-1838), Lord Chancellor of England for twenty-five years. He was so very cautious of delivering a hasty judgement, that he always expressed his doubts, and was accustomed to take all the papers of complicated cases home with him in different bags-hence the name. According to another account, he was so called from the large and richly embroidered bag in which the great seal of England is carried-or supposed-before the Lord Chancellor when he proceeds to take his seat on the judicial bench or on the woolsack.

Painter of the Graces. A name applied by his contempories to Andrea Appiani (1754-1817), an Italian painter celebrated for his beautiful frescoes. Peeping Tom. An appellation given to a person of ungovernable inquisitiveness, from the legend of Lady Godiva, who rode naked through the streets of Coventry, everyone having been forbidden to look, only one individual, "Tom," peeped.

Prince of Artists. A title often given by the Germans to Albert Durer (1471-1528), a celebrated painter, sculptor, and engraver. He is said to have invented the art of etching, and he carried wood engraving to a degree of excellence that was not for a long time surpassed.