Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 298, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1920 — THE ROMANCE OF WORDS [ARTICLE]

THE ROMANCE OF WORDS

“FOOLSCAP." THE use of this word to designate paper a certain size • dates back to the reign of Charles I of England. This monarch, being desirous of increasing bls revenues which had been sadly depleted by extravagance, disposed of a number of governmental privileges, among these the right to manufacture paper. At that time, as proof of the fact that paper was made by the crown, each sheet bore the royal coat-of-arms as a water-mark. The parliament, under the protectorate of Cromwell, ridiculed the royal bouse in every possible manner—even going so far as to degree that a fool’s cap and bells be substituted for the coat-of-arms. The proroguing of the rump parliament nullified this law, but, meanwhile, the change had been made and the .paper used in the parliamentary journals, approximately 17 by 14 inches, retained the title of “foolscap”—the title by which the larger, or legal, sheets, are known to this day, though indi- , vidual watermarks have taken the place of the original cap and bells. (Copyright.)