58 



mace, a quarter sessions of its own, a county assembly, the 

 assizes, and tlic gallows."^ 



From circumstances of locality, names of a certain class 

 exist in groups, wherever they are found. Thus heck 9xAfell, 

 if not peculiar to Cumberland and Westmoreland, are found 

 most frequently there ; and in several of the hilly districts, 

 dale is a common termination. In the south-west of Scotland, 

 wald is common, and the limits of ancient forests may be 

 traced by the word lyne. In Berwickshire and other parts of 

 Scotland, a former condition of the country is indicated by the 

 frequent occurrence of mire^ bog, moss, &c. where nothing of 

 the kind is visible now ; and in England almost all the fields, — 

 Sheffield, Macclesfield, Huddersfield, Wakefield, &c., — are 

 found within a fixed area. In Essex, many of the places are 

 Halls ; and in Cornwall a very large number take their names 

 from Irish saints. Where particular languages prevail or 

 have prevailed, of course we must expect to find the words of 

 the language or dialect ; as ballt/, kil, leg, more, in Ireland ; 

 coed, cader, llan, ffynon, in Wales ; cairn, law, hum, kirk, in 

 Scotland. In Ireland, a large number embody the names of 

 ancient proprietors, or the possessors in the seventeenth 

 century; as Hill-ioYin, Hill-hdW., and Hills -hovovL^', Stewarts- 

 town, Vort- Stewart, 'Newton-stewart j Parsons-town; Manor- 

 hamilton, Hamiltons-hawn ; Hume-wood, CsLstle- Hume ; Bally- 

 gilhert. Bally- w«^ow, 'B^Wy-jam.es-duff ! In general, when the 

 names oi places have existed for seven centuries, the names of 

 persons, if identical with them, are derived from them ;t and 

 in the ancient official documents of Scotland, Dunbar of 

 Dunhar, or Wemyss of Weynyss, would be described as " of 

 that IW^ (i.e. '* of that same" — sc. name.) But when names 

 have been given to places in more recent times they are 

 usually derived from those of persons; as in the instances 

 quoted from Ireland. 



♦ McCuUoch. 

 + A very large nutnber of the townships in England, and many of the parishes, 

 districts, and farms, in Scotland, have given rise to family surnames. 



