rds wear out so fast? Why, I have not reached three-score, and did
not I "whip my gig" when I was an "infant"?--not an infant born in a remote
province, sucking in archaism with my mother's milk, playing with heirloom
toys, and calling them by obsolete names, but a smart little cockney, born
and bred in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, where, no doubt, there were
gig-whipping brats plenty. In the crowded state of your columns, you would
not thank me for enlarging on the top-_hic_, or I should really feel
disposed to enter into a dissertation on the nature and characteristic
differences of whipping-tops, humming-tops, peg-tops, and gigs. As to the
latter, it certainly occurs to me, now that the question is raised, that I
have not seen such a thing for a long time; though I fancy _gigs_ lying in
the shop-windows, as they did at a period when I was more likely to observe
them; and if they have become so far forgotten, it may be worth while, for
the sake of Shakspeare, to say that they were generally (as far as I
remember always) made of horn; and therefore, when Holofernes says "Go,
whip thy gig" (which means just the same as Mr. Oldbuck's "Sew your
sampler, monkey!"), Moth replies, "Lend me your _horn_ to make one, and I
will whip about your infamy _circum circa_; a gig of a cuckold's horn!" It
is enough to add that the gig was made of the tip of the horn, and looked,
while spinning, like an inverted extinguisher. It was hollow, but my
impression is that there was sometimes lead at the bottom of the inside.
Even with the ballast, it was a ticklish, volatile, kickety thing, much
more difficult to set up and to keep up than the sober whipping-top, and
bearing somewhat the same relation to one in bulk and motion, {284} that a
ship's gig may do to herself, or a gig on land to a coach. As to Gig Hill,
however, unless it has a conical top, some other explanation must be
sought.

N. B.

[C., E. H., and numerous other correspondents, have also kindly replied
to this Query.]

_Epigram against Burke_ (Vol. iii., P. 243.).--

"Oft have I heard that ne'er on Irish ground,
A poisonous reptile ever yet was found;
Nature, though slow, will yet complete her work,
She has saved her venom to create a Burke."

The author of these lines was Warren Hastings himself; his private
secretary (Mr. Evans) sat by his side during the trial, and saw him write
the above. My authority is a niece of Mr. Evans, who formed one of her