2'"» S, No 106,, Jan. 9. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



29 



]\Ialines), and the consternation was very great even as 

 far as Antwerp. At Brussels the phenomenon was most 

 beautiful, and jt lasted with little diminution till the 

 dawn of day came over it, when it was only faintly s.een. 

 Till six o'clock one might have almost read a large print 

 by it." ■ 



The fearful earthquake which happened at 

 Naples on Friday, July 26, 1805, destroyed six 

 towns and villages, and partially destroyed six 

 others, and 20,000 persons lost their lives. And 

 it appeiirs from what is at present known of the 

 recent catastrophe at Naples, that the popular 

 estimate places the loss of human life at about 

 20,000 persons ; the Government, however, com- 

 putes it at a lesser estimate. J. Y. 



LOCAL NAMES AS INDICATIVE OP EACE. 



Some remarks of your correspondent E. C. B., 

 in his reply concerning the Kentish Horse, has 

 reminded me to write to you on a subject that 

 has long occupied my thoughts. The means by 

 which we are to discover, or demonstrate, by 

 what race any given portion of. this island has 

 been peopled, is principally the comparison of the 

 names of places in England with those of the land 

 from which the settlers are supposed to have come, 

 or with the language they used. This method of 

 proof has been employed very eflFectively by M. 

 Worsaae, and to a less extent by other writers ; but 

 it must have occurred to these writers, and to 

 many readers of their books, that the materials for 

 "forming an accurate judgment on these matters 

 are not as yet in the possession of any one. The 

 names of places in England quoted by M. Wor- 

 saae are entirely those of towns and villages. He 

 had not the power of using the minor local no- 

 menclature of any district, for no such names 

 have ever been catalogued ; and yet it is obvious 

 that the names of towns and villages are no higher 

 evidence of the race and language of the early 

 settlers, than are those of brooks, rocks, meadows, 

 and the hundred other objects that were familiar 

 alike to them and to us. Students are frequently 

 not aware that there is hardly an object in our rural 

 districts that has not Its distinguishing name. In 

 the old enclosed lands almost every field is named ; 

 sometimes from a former owner, sometimes from 

 its form or its natural productions, but very fre- 

 quently by an epithet that has now lost all signi- 

 fication to those who use it, but which would, 

 were it to be analysed by a man learned in such 

 lore, bear evident marks of Norse or Saxon origin. 

 . I wish to suggest that your correspondents who 

 live in the country should form catalogues of all 

 such local names as are not obviously of modern 

 origin. If it were made public that such lists 

 were in progress of formation, I have little doubt 

 but that some known antiquary would be found 

 to undertake the task of arrangement. 



among records should l?e requested to note down 

 all the local names they me^t with. Many that 

 were in common use In times gone by are now 

 forgotten on account of the altera,tIon that the 

 country has undergone. K. P. D. E. 



Minat mitS. 



" Ilonores mutant mores." — The following from 

 Sir llichard Bulstrode's Essays, 1715, may merit 

 disinterment : — 



" When the Earl of Rutland, who had been instru- 

 mental in the Preferment of Sir Thomas More to be Lord 

 Chancellor of England, and thinking, the Chancellor did 

 not show him that Respect he merited, meeting him ac- 

 cidentally, told him in Keproach, Honbres mutant Mores, 

 alluding to his Name ; the Lord Chancellor sharply re- 

 turn'd upon him, telling him, It was not true in Latin, 

 hut in English, That Uonotirs chariged Manners." 



The supper companions of Charles 11. "of 

 Glorious Memory," were " usually {Hannibal 

 Sested, base Brother to the then King of Den- 

 mark) the Duke of Ormond^ the Lords Cai-ling- 

 ford, Wentworth, and Crofts, with Sir Frederick 

 Cornwallis, Sir John Mynnis, and sometimes Tom 

 Killigrew." When the wits began to be piquant 

 and sharp, Charles would " interpose his lioyal 

 Authority, telling them, Good Jests ought to bite 

 like Lambs, not Dogs ; to Tickle, not Wound" 



R. Webb. 



The Foremothers of Philadelphia, — 



" On the 7tli of August, 1752, twentj"^ women, who had 

 sold themselves for tour years to a shipmaster bound for 

 Philadelphia, were taken from the 'Bolt and Tun' inn. 

 Fleet Street, London, to his ship. ' As women are wanted 

 in our colonies,' remarked the Stamford Mercury at the 

 time, ' and we abound with them, it is thought that none 

 of them will come back.' " 



(From the Gainsbro' News, Dec. 19, 1857.) 



K. P. D. E. 



" Peine forte et dure." — Is not the following a 

 remarkable instance of the application of the pun- 

 ishment for "standing mute" in court, and re- 

 fusing to plead ; and of the extraordinary power 

 of endurance with which the human frame is 

 sometimes found to be gifted ? — 



« 31 Edw. III., 1 Pat. m. 11. 



" Cecilia quaj fuit uxor Johannis de Rygeway indictata 

 apud Nottingham de morte ipsius Johannis, eo quod se 

 tenuit mutam ad poenam suam extitit adjudicata. In qua 

 sine cibo et potu in arcta jprisona per quadraginta dies 

 vitam sustinuit (sicut Rex accepit ex testimonio fide 

 digno). Qu§, de causa Rex pardonavit eodem execu- 

 tionem." 



A fast of forty days by a mere mortal is un- 

 parallelled, I think ; yet it appears to have been 

 made out to the satisfaction of the king. 



Carlisle. 



East. — I find that Richardson, following Tooke, 

 derived East from the Anglo-Saxon yri'<=angry, 

 enraged. I cannot but think that the derivation 



