298 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[No. 19. 
the Year 1575, now in my possession, Stowe 
says :— 
“Tt is nowe x yeres, since I (seing the confuse order 
of our late englishe Chronicles, and the ignorant 
handling of aunci“t affaires) leauing myne own peculiar 
gains, cosecrated my selfe to the searche of our famous 
antiquities.” 
Stowe was born in 1525; he was then 40 years 
of age when he gave up his “peculiar gains,” and 
devoted himself entirely to antiquarian labours. 
There had already appeared his edition of Chaucer 
in 1561, also the commencement of the Summaries ; 
but his greater works, the Annals, Survey of 
London, &c., were not published till several years 
after. 
In his old age he was reduced to poverty, or 
rather to actual beggary ; for shortly before his 
death, when fourscore years old, he was permitted, 
by royal letters patent, to become a mendicant. 
This curious document is printed in Mr. Bolton 
Corney’s Curiosities of Literature Illustrated, and 
sets forth, that 
“Whereas our louing Subiect, John Stowe, this 
fiue & forty yeers hath to his great charge, & with 
neglect of his ordinary meanes of maintenance (for the 
generall good aswell of posteritie, as of the present 
age) compiled & published diuerse necessary bookes 
& Chronicles; and therefore we, in recompens2 of 
these his painfull laboures, & for the encouragement to 
the like, haue in our royall inclination ben pleased to 
graunt our Letters Patents &c. &c.; thereby autho- 
rizing him and his deputies to collect amongst our 
louing subiects, theyr voluntary contributions & kinde 
gratuities.” 
The whole preface to this edition of the Sum- 
marie is curious, and is followed by a List of 
“ Authors out of whom this Summary is collected.” 
In Hearne’s Robert of Gloster, preface, p. 1xi., 
allusion is made to these Summaries. He says :— 
“I have not yet met with a copy of this Summary in 
which we have an account of his authors.” 
After a panegyric on Stowe’s incredible industry, 
he says: — 
“Sir Rozer Lestrange, talking some years before his 
death with a very ingenious and learned Gentleman 
about our Historians, was pleas'd to say, that it was 
always a wonder to him, that the very best that had penn’d 
our History in English should be a poor Tuylour, honest 
John Stowe, Sir Roger said a Taylour, because Stowe, 
as is reported, was bred a cap-maker. The trade of 
Cap-making was then-much in fashion, Hats being not 
at that time much in request.” 
JEN. 
TRANSPOSITION OF LETTERS. 
The only reason, I imagine, which ean be given 
for the transposition of letters spoken of by Mr. 
Wiurams (No. 12. p. 184.), is that it was done on 
“‘phonetie” principles — for the sake of euphony : 
— the new way was felt or fancied to be easier to 
the organs of speech, or (which is nearly the same) 
pleasanter to those of hearing. Such alterations 
have at all times been made, —as is well known to 
those versed in the earlier stages of the language, 
and often most arbitrarily. It is needless to 
say that “provincial and vulgar” usage throws 
much light on the changes in the forms of words ; 
and perhaps a little attention to the manner in 
which words are altered by the peasantry would 
illustrate the point in question more than a learned 
comment. 
No form of verbal corruption is more frequent 
throughout the rural districts of England than 
that produced by the transposition of letters, 
especially of consonants: such words as world, 
wasp, great, are, as every one knows, still ordi- 
narily (though less frequently than a dozen years 
ago) pronounced wordle, waps, gurt. So with 
names of places: thus Cholsey (Berks.) is called 
Chosley. 
The dropping of a letter is to be accounted for 
in a like manner. . Probably the word was first 
pronounced short, and when the ear became ac- 
customed to the shortened sound, the superfluous 
(or rather unpronounced) letter would be dropped 
in writing. In proper names, to which your cor- 
respondent particularly refers, we observe this 
going on extensively in the present day. Thus, 
in Caermarthen and Caernarvon, though the e is 
etymologically of importance, it is now very gene- 
rally omitted — and that by “those in authority :” 
in the Ordnance Maps, Parliamentary ‘“ Blue 
Books,” and Poor-law documents, those towns are 
always spelled Carnarvon, Carmarthen. A still 
more striking instance is that of a well-known 
villaze on the Thames, opposite Runnimede. 
Awhile back it was commonly spelled Wyrardis- 
bury; now it appears on the time-tables of the 
South-Western Railway (and perhaps elsewhere) 
Wraysbury, which very nearly represents the 
local pronunciation. 
It is, perhaps, worth while to remark that letters 
are sometimes added as well as dropped by the 
peasantry. Thus the Cockley, a little tributary 
of Wordsworth’s Duddon, is by the natives of 
Donnerdale invariably called Cocklety beck ; 
whether for the sake of euphony, your readers 
may decide. 
And now, Sir, you will perhaps permit me to 
put a query. ‘om Brown, in his Dialogues, p. 44. 
ed. 1704., has a well-known line : — 
“© Why was not he a rascal 
Who refused to suffer the Children of Israel to go 
into the Wilderness with their wives and families 
to eat the Paschal?” 
which -he says he found on some “very ancient 
hangings in a country ale-house.” Ihave never 
doubted that he was himself the author; but 
having heard it positively ascribed to a very 
different person, I should be glad to know whether 
