Mar. 20. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



285 



Paring the Nails (Vol. iii., p. 462. ; Vol. v., 

 p. 142.). — In reference to the superstitious prac- 

 tices in question, the readers of the Prose JEdda, 

 many of whose traditions still survive amongst 

 Xis, will remember what it is therein narrated con- 

 cerning the ship Naglfar. Amongst the terror- 

 fraught prodigies preceding Ragnarok, or the 

 Twilight of the Gods, and the Conflagration of 

 the Universe, we are informed that " on the wa- 

 ters floats the ship Naglfar, which is constructed 

 of the nails of dead men. For which reason," it 

 is said, "great care should be taken to die with 

 pared nails ; for he who dies with his nails un- 

 pared, supplies materials for the building of this 

 vessel, which both gods and men wish may be 

 finished as late as possible." Of this ship, the 

 more ancient and poetical Voln-spa also speaks 

 in something like the following terms : — 

 " A keel from distant East is nearing, 

 Pilotted by Loki's hand, 

 Muspellheimr's children bearinj):, — 



Sea-borne comes that horrid band ! 

 With the wolf to join, are speeding, 



In a grim and gaunt array, 

 Monster-forms "neath Loki's leading, — 

 Byleist's brother leads the way." 



CoWGiLt,. 



Mottoes on Dials. — I have not seen the fol- 

 lowing motto noticed either in your pages or else- 

 where. I quote it from memory, as I recollect 

 reading it many years ago on the sun-dial in front 

 of the Hospice on the summit of the Mont Cenis : 

 " Tempore nimboso securi sistile gradum — 

 Ut mihi sic vobis hora quietis erit." 



J. E. T. 



Mispronounced Names of Places (Vol. v., p. 196 ). 

 — Allow me to add to P. M. M.'s list : 



Spelling. Pronunciation. 



North-brook-end (Cambridgeshire) - Nobacken. 



Mountnessing (Esses) . - - Moneyseen. 



Brookhampton (Glostershire) - - Brockington. 



Barnstaple - - . _ . Barinn. 



Crediton - _ . _ . Kirton. 



Penrith ------ Perith. 



Brougham - - - . - Broome. 



Birmingham ----- Brummagem. 

 It is hardly worth while to mention the larger 

 tribe of contractions, such as Alsford for Alresford, 

 Wilsden for Willesden, Harfordwest for Haver- 

 fordwest; nor the class of derivations from the 

 Roman Castrum, as Uxeter for Uttoxeter, Tester 

 for Towcester, and the like. 



The railroads are correcting these grosser 

 errors wherever they fall in with them. I remem- 

 ber a few years ago, being at Gloster, and in- 

 tending to take the train to Cisiter, as I had 

 always called it. "Oh!" said the porter, with 

 quite the air of a Lingo, " you mean Ci-ren-cester." 

 But I believe the good folks of the neighbourhood 

 still stick to Aberga'ny and Cisiter. 



P. M. M.'s appeal to your Scotch and Irish cor- 

 respondents will I think produce little. In Scot- 

 land, names are generally pronounced as written, 

 with a few exceptions, such as Enbrd' and Lithgow^ 

 and perhaps a few others : but in Ireland I do not 

 remember a single instance of the corruption of a 

 name; though certainly the Irish might be for- 

 given if they had contracted or mollified such 

 names as Drumcullagher, JBallagkaddireen, Moata- 

 greenoque, and Tamnaughtfinlaggan. The Eno-lish. 

 are, I believe, the only people who habitually 

 clip proper names of persons or places, but \ 

 think it is also the only language in which the 

 spelling of words does not afibrd a general guide 

 for their pronunciation. No other language that 

 I know anything of can afford such anomalies as 

 are to be found, for instance, in i-ough, cough, 

 lough, plough, dough, through, &c. &c. C. 



The following are such names of places as have 

 come within ray observation : — 



Spelling. 

 Happisburgh - - - - 

 Wormegay _ - - - 

 Sechehithe - - _ . 

 Wiggenhall St. Mary Magdalen. ' 



By the last word this place is 



named to distinguish it from 



others beginning with the word 



" Wiggenhall " 

 Babingley - - . _ Beverley. 

 Methwold - - - . Muell. 

 Northwold - - - _ Nordell. 

 Hockwold cum Wilton - - Hockold- Wilts. 



J. N. c. 



" There's ne'er a villain," Sfc. (Vol. v., p. 242.). — 

 In support of A. E. B., with whose view I entirely 

 concur, it may be added that villain and knave do 

 not make the proposition such a truism as Horatio 

 (who is not intended for a conjuror, much less a 

 verbal critic) admits it to be. Alexander the 

 Great has been called a villain and a robber, but 

 never a knave or a thie/". By the Kule of Three, 

 villain : robber :: knave : thief. As a truism, 

 intended hj Hamlet before the first line was 

 spoken, it is not good enough for Hamlet's wit. 

 But, supposing the second line invented, pro re 

 nata, to cover the retreat of the disclosure which 

 was advancing in the first line, it is just what 

 might have suggested itself — for Hamlet's uncle 

 was both villain and knave. M. 



Pronunciation. 

 Ha'sboro', 

 Rungay. 

 Setchey. 



"Maudlin. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



Those who judge of a book's importance by its size 

 will be most egregiously taken in by Regal Rome : an 

 Introduction to Roman History hy Francis W. Newman, 

 Professor of Latin in University College, London.. In 

 this small volume of less than two hundred pages the 



