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Idioms & Phrases: The Top and Tail

Top and tail is a versatile idiom and technique used across several contexts.  Most commonly it refers to specific method of washing a baby's face and bottom using cotton wool and warm water, trimming the ends of vegetables, sleeping head to toe with someone or placing a train engine at both ends.  The exact meaning depends on context:  Parenting This is a method for keeping a baby clean between baths or before the umbilical cord falls off.  You wash the face and upper body (the top) using warm water and cotton balls, and then clean the bottom (the tail) using fresh water and clean cotton. Cooking  It means the trimming off the hard inedible parts at each end of the fruit or vegetable, such as the ends of green beans or carrots before cooking. Sleeping  When two people share a same bed or sleep in the same room, they may sleep with their heads facing opposite directions (head-to-toe) to save space or maximize comfort. Railway Refers to train operation where...
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Sheenen

In Chapter 56 of Far From The Madding Crowd, the word sheenen is an old dialectical or poetic form related to sheen, meaning brightness.  The entire lines run:  "Few worn-out traps all a-sheenen  Wi' long years of handlen."  Trap here means cart; wi' means with and handlen meaning handled. It means the old carts had become smooth and glossy from many years of being handled.  The shine is not because they are new or polished, rather it is the rich patina that develops after decades of use -- worn smooth by hands, harmesses, weather and constant use. Hardy often notices such details finding beauty in objects that have served genrations. 
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Fifty Five: Far From The Madding Crowd: Thomas Hardy: The March Following Bathsheba Boldwood

The month of March.  A breezy day without sunshine, frost or dew.  On Yalbury hill, midway between Weatherbury and Casterbridge, where the turn-pike passes over the crest, numerous groups of people had gathered, their eyes stretched a distant north. The groups consisted of idlers, javelin men, and two trumpeters.  In the midst were carriages, one of which contained the sheriff in uniform.  Among the idlers were Weatherbury men and boys, and included Joseph Poorgrass, Jan Coggan, and Cain Ball.  They were waiting there for half an hour, and a travelling carriage brought one of the judges, which came up the hill and halted at the top.  The judge changed carriages , while the trumpets were blown and the procession proceeded towards the town, while the Weatherbury men returned home to their work. "Joseph, I saw you squeezing close to the carriage," said Coggan as they walked.  "Did you see my lord judge's face?  "I saw," said Poorgrass, "I looked hard...
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Decalogue

In Chapter 55 of Far From The Madding Crowd, the word decalogue means The Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Senai according to Bible.  The word comes from the Greek deka meaning ten logos meaning word or saying. Decalogue means the ten commandments. Hardy contrasts the trial of Boldwood where the law is administered by judges in the courtroom, with divine law embodied in Decalogue.  The judges enforce the law of England, but the moral principles behind justice ultimately trace back to biblical commandments, especially:  • Thou shall not kill. • Thou shall not steal. • Thou shall not bear false witness. The allusion lends the trial a solemn and sacred atmosphere.  The decalogue in this chapter symbolises the foundation of moral law and emphasizes the connection Hardy draws between legal justice and ethica responsibility.
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Certitude

Certitude refers to a state of mind being completely confident, free from doubt, or absolute certain of something.  It is a noun that conveys a strong unwavering conviction or assurance, often in matters of belief, faith or subjective judgement where objective proof may be absent. In Chapter 55 of Far From The Madding Crowd the general belief that Boldwood was not responsible for for his activities for the last two months is a certitude and runs contrary to material evidence and his pleading guilty of the act of killing Troy. 
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Azzize Judges

In Chapter 55 of the Far From The Madding Crowd, the reference of procession and judges occurs after Sergeant Troy was killed by Boldwood. The procession refers to a solemn movement of legal system that follows after a murder.  The judges are Azzize judges who travelled on circuit through the counties of England to hear serious criminal cases such as murders. In Victorian England the murder cases were tried before the judges and jury.  Azzize Judges were senior judges of English superior courts who travelled around England on regular circuits to hear serious criminal and civil cases.  The word Azzize comes from old French assise meaning a sitting or session of court.  In Hardy's time England did not have a permanent crown court in every county. Instead judges from the superior courts in London travelled several times a year to the counties.  In Boldwood's case after he shot Troy, Boldwood was committed for trial at next Azzize.  There an Azzize judges and j...
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Fifty Four: Far From The Madding Crowd: Thomas Hardy: After The Shock

Boldwood passed into the high road and turned in the direction of Casterbridge.  He passed the Buck's Head,  Casterbridge hill and descended down into the town. It was midnight.  The streets were deserted, the waving lamp-flames only lighted up the rows of gray shop shutters, and strips of white paving, upon which his steps echoed as he passed along.  He turned to the left and halted before an arching of old brown bricks, which was closed by an iron studded pair of doors.  This was the entrance to the jail, and over it a lamp was fixed, the light enabling him to find a bell-pull.  A small wicket at length opened, and a porter appeared.  Boldwood stepped forward and said something in a low tone, when after some delay, another man came. Then Boldwood entered, and the door was closed behind him, and he walked the world no more.  Weatherbury had been thoroughly shaken by the catastrophe.  Gabriel Oak was one among the first to come to the scene o...
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