196 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 122. 



wont to fly open at midnight " withouten hands," 

 and a carriage drawn by four spectral horses, and 

 accompanied by headless grooms and outriders, 

 proceeded with great rapidity from the park to a 

 spot called " the nursery corner." What became 

 of the ghostly cortege at this spot, I have never 

 been able to learn ; but though the sight has not 

 been seen by any of the present inhabitants, yet 

 some of them have heard the noise of the head- 

 long race. The " Corner," tradition says, is the 

 spot where a very bloody engagement took place 

 in olden time, when the Romans were governors 

 of England. A k'^ coins have I believe been 

 found, but nothing else confirmatory of the tale. 

 Does history in any way support the story of the 

 battle ? Whilst writing on this subject, I may as 

 well note, that near this haunted corner is a pool 

 called Wimbell Pond, in which tradition says an 

 iron chest of money is concealed : if any daring 

 person ventures to approach the pond, and throw 

 a stone into the water, it will ring against the 

 chest ; and a small white figure has been heard to 

 cry in accents of distress, " That's mine ! " 



I send you these legends as I have heard them 

 from the lips of my nurse, a native of the village. 

 W. Sparrow Simpson, B.A. 



Theodoric, Legend of. — May we not consider 

 the Saxon legend quoted by Mr. Kemble in his 

 Saxons in England, foot-note on page 4'23., vol. i., 

 as something like a parallel to " Old Booty" and 

 Mr. Gresham, mentioned in Vol. iii., p. 93. of 

 "N. &Q. ?" or is it possible to have been the 

 origin of both ? 



The legend is, that an anchoret in Lipari told 

 some sailors that at a particular time he had seen 

 King Theodoric ungirt, barefoot and bound, led 

 between St. John, pope and martyr, and St.Finian, 

 and by them hurled into the burning crater of the 

 neighbouring island volcano. That on the sailors' 

 return to Italy they discovered, by comparison of 

 dates, that Theodoric died on the day on which 

 the anchoret noticed his punishment by the hands 

 of his victims. Thomas Lawrence. 



Ashby de la Zouch. 



NAMES OP PLACES PROVINCIAL DIALECTS. 



Every reader of " N. & Q." must be acquainted 

 with places throughout the country pronounced 

 very differently to their spelling. It has occurred 

 to me that a collection of them would be interest- 

 ing, both as a topographical curiosity, and as an 

 illustration of our provincial dialects. No paper 

 is fitter for such a collection than the " N. & Q. ;" 

 its correspondents would doubtless communicate 

 any within their notice, and you, Mr. Editor, 

 would from time to time give up a little space to 

 them. 



The following are what I remember just now : — 



Spelling, Pronunciation. 



Wednesbury (near Birmingham) - Wedgbury 

 Sraethwick (near Birmingham) - Smerrick 

 Cirencester . _ _ Cisiter 



Bothal (Northumberland) - - Botal 



Merstham (Surrey) - - Maestrum 



Carshalton (Surrey) - - Casehortoii 



Shepton (Somersetshire) - - Shepun 



Ratlinghope (Salop) - - Ratchup 



Chantlingbury (Sussex) - - Shankbury 



Hove (Sussex) - - - Hoove 



Wavertree (near Liverpool) - Wartree 



St. Neots - - - - St. Nouts 



Beauchamp _ _ - Beechera 



Belvoir - . - - Beever 



f Sapswoi'tb 

 \ or Sapsey 

 Some of your correspondents may send Scotch,, 

 Irish, and Welsh specimens ; I would suggest suck 

 be kept separate from the English. My own ex- 

 perience bids me carefully abstain from sending- 

 Welsh ones. When on a walking tour in Wale* 

 three years ago, I asked a peasant " if that road 

 led to Ahergciny " (with a conscious pride in 

 my pronunciation) ; " Nay, nay, sir, tliat road 

 takes to Abergavenny." P. M. M> 



Saubrldseworth 



;^tnar ^aiti. 



The BanTiing Company in Aberdeen, and the- 

 Bank of England. — The Banking Company in 

 Aberdeen was established in the year 1767 ; and 

 the following Note respecting it may be new to 

 many of the readers of " N. & Q." This Company 

 adopted the plan of using paper bearing in water- 

 mark a waved line, and the amount of the note 

 expressed in words, along with the designation of 

 the Company ; but about the year 1805 a gentle- 

 man connected with Aberdeenshire brought thi& 

 paper under the notice of the Bank of England, 

 in consequence of which they adopted it, and pro- 

 cured an act of parliament to be passed prohibit- 

 ing the use of paper so marked by any provincial 

 bank. * Petrapromontoriensis. 



Which are the Shadows ? — In the notes to the- 

 beautiful poem Italy, by Samuel Rogers, published 

 (I think) in 1830, the following occurs : — 



" ' You admire that picture,' said an old Dominican 

 to me at Padua, as I stood contemplating a Last Supper 

 in the refectory of his convent, the figures as large as 

 life. ' I have sat at my meals before it for seven-and- 

 forty years ; and such are the changes that have taken 

 place among us ; so many have come and gone in the 

 time, that when I look upon the company there — upon 

 those who are sitting at the table silent as they — I am 

 sometimes inclined to think that we, and not they, are 

 the shadows.' " 



In the sixth volume of Lord Mahon's History of 

 England, chap. Ix. p. 498., we find this passage : 



