2'"i S. VIII. Nov. 12. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



405 



there was only one, as in the case he gives, simply 

 "la donna," or "the woman;" one or two male 

 soprani (or eunuchs), known as " primo e secondo 

 uomo," or " first and second man ; " a contraltg, 

 sometimes a female, at others an eunuch, the 

 virile alto voice having been rarely, if ever, em- 

 ployed for the opera ; a tenor, and a bass. The 

 eunuchs were, for a lengthened space of time, the 

 most important personages connected with the 

 Italian opera, all the principal male characters 

 being assigned to them. The names of some of 

 the chief of these gentlemen are, doubtless, fami- 

 liar to most readers, musical or otherwise — those 

 of Nicolini and Valentini, celebrated in The Spec- 

 tator, and the subjects of the epigrams of the wits 

 of the day ; of Fariiielli, whose singing is said to 

 have cured the melancholy of Philip V. of Spain ; 

 of Senesino, known by his contest with Handel ; 

 and of Velluti, whose appearance in London is 

 within the recollection of many ; hardly need re- 

 calling to memory. The second eunuch, men- 

 tioned by Pepys and Evelyn, was in all probability 

 the contralto of the official document. A poet, 

 whose business was to furnish the composers with 

 dramas, was always, and in Italy I believe still is, 

 attached to an operatic company. W. H. Husk. 



(2°* S. viii. 206. 255.) 



" Wainsford " is no more " waggon-ford," than 

 EfFord is " horse-ford." The first syllable in 

 Wainsford more probably refers to the name of 

 the owner, or may be from Dan. vand, " water." 

 There is TFansford, a parish in liberty of Peter- 

 bro', CO. Northampton ; and Wansford in parish 

 of Nafferton, co. York ; and WainAeet on a creek, 

 CO. Lincoln, said to be the ancient Vainona, 

 and to derive its name from Brit, iiain on, I. e. 

 ilain avon, " the marshy river." Ealand, igland, 

 is water-land, i. e. " land surrounded by water," 

 and the first syllable ea, ig, like the Scand. aa, is 

 probably corrupted from Goth, ahwa, from L. 

 aqua, a word having its root in the Sanskrit. 

 Efford might be derived from ea-ford, were it not 

 that it was anciently written Einforde and Eni- 

 forde, which are probably from Brit, hen-fordd, 

 " the old ford." 



Axford is not " Oaks-ford," but the "ford of the 

 river Ax," literally the " ford of the water ; " like 

 Oxford, Ashford, and Uxbridge, which are not 

 the " ford of oxen," the " ash-ford," the " bridge 

 of oxen," but the "ford of the Ox and Ash," 

 the " bridge of the Ux," literally the " ford of and 

 the bridge over the water." (The ancient Brit. 

 VfoxAfordd is supposed to have been used in a more 

 extended sense than the A.-S. word, and to have 

 denoted " a road or passage whether over a stream 

 or jjry land.") The vocables .4a;, Ex, Ox, Ux, Wox, 



Yax, Yox, Ash., Ouse, Oise, Ouche, Os, Us, Use, Ese, 

 Wis, Esh, Usk, Isis, Itz, Wish, Brit, isc, are merely 

 different orthographies of the same word, and may 

 be traced to the Gael, uisg, uisge (Ir. uisge, uisc, 

 W. wysg. Corn, and Armor, isge, Belg. escli, asch), 

 " water," which Gael, root is found in some form 

 or other in upwards of 1000 local names in Eu- 

 rope. Again, Shawford is just as likely to mean 

 the "ford of the water " as the "ford of the wood ;" 

 from Brit, ys-aw, " the water." Conf. Vonioise, 

 Yaarham, Faxley, Foxford, Oxley, 0«burn, (Ouse- 

 burn), Wishe'dch (Owse-beach), Tees (i. e. Yt-ese, 

 " the water "), the same word as Adige (G. Etsch), 

 both having been formerly called the Athesis ; 

 Sesia (Ys-ese), and Ticino, properly the Tessin, 

 from Yt-ese-an (an, a river). There is also a river 

 called the Tesina, on the other side of the Adige 

 (not yet crossed by the French), which rises in Le 

 Sette Commune, and flows near Vicenza. The 

 Welsh call Oxford both the " ford of oxen," and 

 the "ford of the Ouse or water." (Rydychen, 

 Rhydwysg.) R. S. Chabnock. 



" This worthy knight (John Arundel) was forewarned 

 (by what Calker I wot not) that ho should be slain on 

 the sands. This made him to shun his house at Efford 

 (alias Ebbing-ford) as too maritime, and remove himself 

 to Trerice, his more inland habitation in this county, but 

 he found it true ' Fata viam invenient ; ' for being this 

 year sheriif and the Earl of Oxford surprising Mount 

 Michael (for the house of Lancaster), he was concerned 

 by his office and command from the king, to endeavour 

 the reducing thereof, and lost his life in a skirmish on the 

 sands thereabouts. Thus it is just with Heaven to punish 

 men's curiosity in inquiring after, credulitj'' in believing 

 of, and cowardice in fearing at, such prognostications." — 

 Fuller's Worthies of Cornwall. 



E. H. A. 



SEVEN DATES WANTED. 



(2"^ S. viii. 309.) 



I hope the following replies may supply G. W. 

 S. P.'s vacancies : — 



March 8, 1701, King William III. died at 

 Kensington ; 1803, the Duke of Bridge water, 

 the father of canal navigation, died. 



March 12, a.d. 365, Belisarius died. 



17, 1715, Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of 



Salisbury, died ; 1828, Sir J. E. Smith, the emi- 

 nent botanist, died. 



April 6, 1807, Lalande, the astronomer, died. 



, 1590, Sir Francis Walsingham died. 



, 1695, Dr. Busby, Master of Westmin- 

 ster school, died. 



July 1, 1312, Piers Gaveston died at Warwick. 



, 1690, Duke of Schomberg killed at the 



battle of the Boyne. 



July 1, 1818, Sir Thomas Bernard, author of 

 Spurinna, founder of the British Institution for 

 the Cultivation of the Fine Arts, died. 



