Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-06-11
WHAT ROUND ROBIN. MEANS.
Term Originated With Goldsmith's
 Friends.

to most people, but which uncommon ly few have seen or signed. Every one knows that the thing which bears so singular a name is communication letter, remonstrance, warning, Or the nke-the signatures to which are writ ten around the circumference of the circle which encloses the body of the epistle, or radiating therefrom like the spokes of a wheel from the hub, so that the responsibility of signing is equally shared. No one signatory can be accused of being either the first or the last to sign, of being the leader or the wh1pper-in.
 The most famous example on record, probably is the remonstrance which was sent to Dr Johnson in connection with his epitaph on Oliver Goldsmith. The doctor had prepared an epitaph in Latin, but some of his friends, who had also been friends of Goldsmith, took exception to it on two grounds, the first being that it did not quite do justice to the author of ''The Traveller" as writer, and particularly as poet, and the second, that it should be writ ten in English. The party of friends were gathered around Sir Joshua Reynolds's hospitable, if somewhat ill- served table, and though they found themselves in general agreement on these two points, no one had the cour- age to be willing to ''bell the cat or in other words, to take the lead in taokling the formidable Johnson on these two rather delicate matters. At last says Sir William Forbes, ''it was htnted that there could be no way so good as that of round robin, as the sailors call it, which they make use of when they enter a conspiracy so as not to let it be known who put his name first or last to the paper" The idea was at once accepted, the address to Dr Johnson was prepared, and all signed it in the form proposed. This very interesting paper is still extant and is preserved among other valuable manuscripts in the library of Haigh hall, near Wigan, the seat of the Earl of Crawford. It begins, We, the cir cumscribers,' and the signatures writ ten around the circle which incloses the address, include those of Gibbon, Burke, Joseph Warton, Sheridan, Sir Joshua Reynolds. George Colman and half a dozen others which are nowa- days but little known. Johnson took the remonstrance in good part, but as to not writing the epitaph in Latin, declared that he would never consent to disgrace the wall of Westminster abbey with an English inscription! The whole story is eminently char acteristic both of Johnson and his times.
 No one has yet been able to give a satisfactory explanation of the strange term round robin" Perhaps when pr Murray, in the course of his la bors, reaches the letter R in the great Oxford dictionary, we may get some new light on the phrase; but mean while the only explanations of it's origin which have been suggested are far from satisfactory. Most refer ence books which profess to explain and account for popular phrases of this kind content themselves with copying from one another, and repeat ing derivation which cannot be taken seriously. They tell us. that round robin Is "corruptfon''--and invalu- able word to the guesser at etymolo- gies-from the French ''rond ruban,'' a circular ribbon or band. This is found in more than one dictionary or repute, yet 1t will not bear a mo- ments examination. There is no ap- parent connection between ,. round ribbon. whatever that can be con ceived to be, and a round robin and no evidence has ever been brought for ward to prove or illustrate any rela- tionship. Moreover, ''rond ruban' is impossible French, for 'srond" is one of the adjectives which follow the sub- stantives they qualify. The whole story is absurd l
 The terms seem to have come into use with it's present meaning in con- nection with the navy some time in the seventeenth century, when it was used to describe the method adopted by the seamen of that day in bringing in their grievances before the authorities. Dia- lect dictionaries tell us that in Devon shire small round pancake is called a round robin," and as Devonshire has always been great provider of men for our navy as we'll as for our mercantile marine, it is just possible that the name of the pancake suggest ed because of it's form, the name of the circumscribed letter. But this sug-
 
 gestion, of course-which has been made more than once before-is only guess. Tn any case, 1t simply pushes the difficulty further back. for why should a pancake be called a round robin2'' %S# ..f
 Another curious use of the term has been unearthed by the pathological contributors to Notes and Queries" i" and that is as sixteenth century name for the sacramental wafer. Bishop Latimer, preaching on June 9, 1886, referred to the wafer as a piece of bread or a little pretty piece Round Robin.'. Similarly, a century later Fuller, in his Church History" wrote of the sacred symbol as "a piece of brad or little predie round robbin' There seems to be here plainly a con nection of some kind with the Devon shire application of the name to a pancake, but in either case the why and the wherefore of the use of such a phrase are still to seek.
 The question will probably have to remain one Of the many insoluble yarhnI vroh1ornS Evarynno bc !, s