Fire-Eater

A juggler who eats or pretends to eat fire. (Also the nickname for someone who is able to do a great amount of work in a very short time.)

“Richardson, the famous Fire-eater before us devour’d brimstone on glowing coales, chewing and swallowing them.” John Evelyn, Diary (1700).

Scale of 1 to 10: 2. That’s entertainment. Painfully steep learning curve.

Diviner

Someone who foretells the future. A soothsayer.

"Waiting with them were some pilgrims bound for the Great Shrine at Ise, a hardware merchant from Osaka, a dealer in lacquer from Nara, a Buddhist priest from the monastery at Daigo, a tea-set seller from Takayama, a mosquito-net peddler from Tamba, a clothing merchant from Kyoto, and a diviner from the shrine at Kashima. What makes travel on a ferry so interesting is the fact that all the passengers come from different places.” Ihara Saikaku, Five Women Who Loved Love (1686).

Scale of 1 to 10: 5. People tend to hang on your every word. You can’t help but become aware of your own fraudulence.

Count of the Sacred Largesses

The chief treasurer in ancient Rome.

“The extraordinary title of count of the sacred largesses, was bestowed on the treasurer general of the revenue.” Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1781).

Scale of 1 to 10: 6. A position of great trust. Would be more desirable occupation if the largesses belonged to the count. Will eventually engender a fatal bitterness in the soul and larceny in the heart.

Berserk

(From “bear coat”) A Norse warrior who wore a bear coat, drank tea made with hallucinogenic mushrooms, and then went berserk--in battle--fighting with what was called the “berserker rage.”

“Out of terrible Druids and Berserkers, come at last Alfred and Shakespeare.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, Miscellanies (1855).

Scale of 1 to 10: 5. Why be loved when you can go berserk and be awe-inspiring...

Oeconomus

The person who manages the monetary matters for a religious society. The steward of a college. Directly related to the modern words “economy,” "economical," “economist,” etc. (Originally from the ancient Greek word for “house”).

“All the Alms, and all the Revenues were kept in common, under the Care of the Deacons, and Oeconomi.” Dupin’s New Ecclesiastical History of the 17th Century (1725).

Scale of 1 to 10: 7. It may be a house of God, but its eggs and nails and linen come from the world of Mammon, and that’s where the oeconomus comes in.

An Infamous Set of Engrossers

The term "grocer" originally came from "grosser," that is, someone who bought items by the gross or in large quantities. The term "engrosser" is related, deriving from the French expression "en gros," and meaning someone who buys "in bulk." But "engrosser" has a loathsome additional meaning.

Engrossers are people who have enough money to buy land or basic necessities in such large quantities that they can temporarily monopolize a market. Pockets already lined with money, they want more. They are would-be monopolists, who dream of making ungodly profits, excited (or at least untroubled) by any pain they inflict. Modern day engrossers are too numerous to mention.

“Ingrossers of tenamentes and landes, throughe whose covetousnes, villages decaye and fall downe.” Hugh Latimer, The fyrst sermon preached before Edward VI (1549).

“An artificial scarcity, created in the midst of plenty, by an infamous set of engrossers.”
R. H. Lee in Jared Sparks’ Correspondence of the American Revolution (1778).

Scale of 1 to 10: 6. If you don’t mind being despised, a path to riches.

Staff Officers

Someone with an office of significant responsibility in the household of the king or queen. A state minister, who carries a white staff.

"Staff Officers are such as in the King's Presence bear a white Staff. At other times, going abroad, have a white Staff Borne before them by a Footman bare-headed. Such are the Lord Steward, Lord Chamberlain, Lord Treasurer, etc."

Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopaedia (1728).