150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



" I could nol tell what its exact meaning is," I replied, 

 "unless I saw the context: but it must be something 

 connected with division, because the Norse skilja [pr. 

 skil-ya] means to divide." 



" You are right. It means the division of a barn : the 

 ' bay ' of a barn. I was up at Sherston lately, — a curious 

 old place : and there is a public-house there wath the sign 

 of the 'Rattlebone, and a figure of a warrior with a drawn 

 sword. I asked a labourer who was passing, who this 

 man was. 'John Rattlebone,' he replied. 'He was a 

 Sherston man that fowl with the Danes in old times ; and 

 he killed a whole skiln 'vul of 'em wi' his own hand ! ' " 

 Sherston, I may remark, formed the subject of a paper by 

 John Jones, some years after, in the Proceedings of the 

 Club ; and an excellent paper it is, although I will not say 

 that all the writer's conclusions are right. 



John Jones introduced me to several Members of the 

 Club with whom it was afterwards my privilege to form 

 close friendship ; and among them to the most intimate 

 friend I have had for now between thirty and forty years : 

 William Lucy. Geology had been the pursuit that had 

 drawn him to John Jones, from whom he derived a good 

 deal of his earlier knowledge of that science. Jones was 

 at that time a shipbroker in Gloucester, and I am not sure 

 that he did not make the mistake of giving up too large a 

 portion of his time to the scientific pursuits which ought 

 to have been always subordinate to the business by which 

 he gained his livelihood. But if ever a man was specially 

 exposed to this temptation it was he : for no one of larger 

 or more varied natural ability has ever been connected 

 with the Cotteswold Club. I have myself been present 

 when he has been in the company of such men as Professor 

 Owen, and witnessed the marked degree of respect in 

 which he was held by them, and their ackiliowledgment of 

 his right, in his owii specialty, to parler en maitre. 



