If this is slang, it is classical slang. Of the thousands who use the expression, very few know its origin or its primitive significance. Truly, it is a heroic thing to say of a man to call him a brick. The word so used, if not twisted from its original intent, implies all that is brave, patriotic and loyal. Plutarch, in his life of Agesilaus, King of Sparta, gives us the original of the quaint and familiar expression.
On a certain occasion an ambassador from Espirus, on a diplomatic mission, was shown by the king over his capital. The ambassador knew of the monarch's fame—knew that though only nominally king of Sparta, he was ruler of Greece—and he had looked to see massive walls rearing aloft their embattled towns for the defence of the town; but he found nothing of the kind. He marvelled much at this, and spoke of it to the king.
"Sire," he said, "I have visited most of the principal towns, and I find no walls reared for defence. Why is this?"
"Indeed, Sir Ambassador," replied Agesilaus; "thou canst not have looked carefully. Come with me to-morrow morning, and I will show you the walls of Sparta."
Accordingly, on the following morning, the king led his guest out upon the plain where his army was drawn up in full array, and pointing proudly to the serried hosts, he said—
"There thou beholdest the walls of Sparta—ten thousand men, and EVERY MAN A BRICK!"
Although Punch was not originally French, he has always been greatly esteemed in France. The following entries are found in the registers of the royal treasury:—
"Paid to Brioché, the puppet-player, for sojourning at St. Germain-en-Laye, during September, October and November, 1669, to divert the royal children, 1365 livres."
"Paid to François Daitelin, puppet-player, for the fifty-six days he remained at St. Germain, to amuse Monseigneur le Dauphin (July and August, 1669), 820 livres."
Five successive months must almost have been enough of such amusement for the royal children of France.
On the 20th of November, 1746, fifty-one barbers were convicted before the commissioners of excise, and fined twenty pounds each, for having in their custody hair-powder not made of starch, contrary to Act of Parliament.
In Ireland, in the taverns by the road-side, in which illicit whiskey can be obtained, the traveler is informed of the fact by a piece of turf unobtrusively placed in the window. In the Middle Ages, road-side ale houses in England were indicated by a stake projecting from the front of the house, from which some object was suspended. Sometimes a garland was hung upon the stake, to which occasional reference is made in Chaucer's poems. The bush, however, was more common than the stake, and was often composed of ivy. The saying "Good wine needs no bush," no doubt originated from this custom.