Q: "travelling lady"?

[Jonathan Lighter]

You mean you think they were an item?

Regardless, it may be that by 18th C. standards her prison confinement was
not considered very different from confinement as a PW - perhaps an
especially wicked one for her close association with her boss.

JL
On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Q: "travelling lady"?
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> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I would think more than a laundress.  Why would a servant, and only
> this one, be especially mentioned as taken to prison?  And if she was
> the only woman in the castle, would she not have been someone
> special?  The only other persons of M'Cullogh's party mentioned are
> "the rest of the Garrison", many of them wounded, who were made
> "prisoners of war".
>
> Joel
>
> At 10/15/2010 11:42 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >Laundress and attendant?
> >
> >JL
> >
> >
> >
> >On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 11:23 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
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> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > > Subject:      Q:  "travelling lady"?
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > In 1736 Ireland, a Capt. M'Cullogh forcibly, with arms, resisted a
> > > sheriff trying to serve a "writ of restitution" to remove him from a
> > > castle he was resident in.  When he was captured, he, "together with
> > > his travelling Lady", was sent to his Majesty's Goal.  [From a Boston
> > > newspaper.]
> > >
> > > Does "travelling lady" have any meaning beyond the notion of a woman
> > > who travels?  Here M'Cullogh is not described as travelling; rather,
> > > the newspaper article is entirely about the siege of the castle and
> > > the capture of Mc'Cullogh.
> > >
> > > Joel
> > >
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