Could we ascertain who first in mercy ordained the browning of the barrel, we might have some prospect of ascertaining the first introduction of the term brown Bess. Doubtless it was some hero of the fight, not of the field-day. For a further illustration of the term brown Bess, it may be proper to remark that in Northumberland, according to Halliwell, a gun is known by the not very elegant title of black-bitch. Now like bus in Dutch, büchse is in German a gun-barrel. ('Büchse, 2, ein eisernes Rohr zum schiessen,' an iron tube for shooting.) May we not infer, therefore, that black-bitch was originally 'black büchse,' i.e., black barrel, in conformity with brown barrel or brown Bess? 'Formerly,' says Zedler, 'and before the invention of gunpowder, arquebuse signified a bow with a barrel' (Bogen Büchse), which is the literal meaning of the word. Hotten, however, says it is much more likely that the phrase is derived from the fact that 'the soldier is wedded to his weapon,' and some colour is given to this alternative derivation by the fact that the Dutch soldier, mindful of all the care he has to bestow upon his gun, calls it his wife—mijn geweer is mijn vrouw. French soldiers call their weapon la clarinette de cinq pieds.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Brown Bess, a soldier's firelock.
1820. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, Tour II., ch. ii. Religion Jack did never profess, Till he had shoulder'd old Brown Bess.
1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xi. The British soldier, with his clothing and accoutrements, . . .—not to mention brown Bess, his main-*stay and dependence—nothing punishes him so much as wet.
1877. Chambers' Journal, No. 720. Such may have been the case in the days of brown Bess, but a spinning conical ball from the Martini-Henry will pierce the largest crocodile.
3. (old.)—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.
1631. Dore, Polydorun. Things proffered and easie to come by diminish themselves in reputation and price, for how full of pangs and dotage is a wayling lover, for it may be some bbown Bessie.
To hug brown Bess, verbal phr. (old).—To serve as a private soldier.
Brown George, subs. (old).—1. Explained by quotations.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby L., 3 S. 'Jerry Jarvis's Wig.' He looked disdainfully at the wig; it had once been a comely jasey enough, of the colour of over-baked ginger-bread, one of the description commonly known during the latter half of the last century by the name of a brown George.
1882. Globe, 24 July, p. 2, col. 1. The King [George III.] wore a brown wig . . . known popularly a century ago as brown George.
2. (common.)—A jug; generally of brown earthenware. Cf., Black-jack.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxiv. He . . . stood behind his oak, holding his brown George, or huge earthenware receptacle, half full of dirty water, in which his bedmaker had been washing up his tea-things.
1881. Besant and Rice, Chap. of the Fleet, pt. II., ch. iii. His country brother might have been seen at the Crown, over a pipe and a brown George full of strong October.
3. (old.)—A coarse brown loaf; or hard biscuit.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. IV. Author's Prologue. The devil of one musty crust of a brown George the poor boys had to scour their grinders with.
