On Proper Names,^^ 285 



and so in innumerable instances. This often arises from pro- 

 vincial accent or pronunciation, by which local and colloquial 

 €Frrors are perpetuated in writing. For example, the word 

 Gates, in many of our northern provinces, is pronounced Yates; 

 Pert is pronounced Pritt, and hence arise the two sirnames of 

 Yates and Pritty which, without a knowledge of this mode of 

 corruption, could never be traced. Instances of this kind are 

 abundant, and add greatly to the difficulty of classifying our 

 catalogue of sirnames. 



On analysing a list of 100 names taken promiscuously from. 

 B General Directory, the proportion appears as follows :-i«^*^^ 



Namesofcountries, towns, or residences, . 48 

 Attributes, qualities, or nicknames, . • 1& 

 m'' Trades or professions, . . ^^^^H^^i*\r,^4m^''*'* 



Patronymics, , . . ; ^ ^'>* . 9 o^ 



Natural objects or productions, V" #8 u J b • ^ mi| 



^W. ;?i.Not comprized in any of the above,;y y^^.^ .^^-^ , 3 , .^ 



■ f 



100 



Two or three general corollaries may be deduced from this 

 gjight survey, and will conclude the subject. 

 ^ In the first place, it may be remarked, that 'a large part of 

 bur great families bear the name of some town, village, or 

 district, in =* Normandy or France, as Beaufort, Russell or 

 Rousselle, Nugent, Montague ; a few are from the French de- 

 signations of trades or occupations, as Grosvenor, Molyneux, 

 Sutler. Many of them, however, still bear Saxon names, 

 which shews that, even after the conquest, some of the old 

 families retained their dignity, and that some were ennobled, as 

 Stanley, Howard, Pelham, Parker, Wentworth, 



In the second place, we find scarcely any of the patronymics, 

 any of the trades or professions, and, indeed, very few of any 

 of the five general classes, except the first, amongst our great 

 families ; a proof that, in the earlier periods of our history, per- 

 sons of the lower orders were very seldom advanced to the 

 higher classes. Before the general spread of trade, commerce, 

 and manufactures, opportunities of such advancement rarely 



^ . Camden remarlcs that there is scarcely a village in Normandy that has not 

 given its name to some of our great families j a proof that the spoliation of pro- 

 perty at the conquest was very general. 



APRIL— JUNE, 1830, U 



