Mar. 23. 1850.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
337 
I should like to see the German verses your 
correspondent mentions, if he will be good enough 
to favour me, through your intervention, with an 
inspection of the volume containing them. 
S. W. S. 
March 12, 1850. 
CHANGE OF NAME, 
“B.” inquires (No. 16. p. 246.) what is the use 
of the royal license for the change of a surname? 
He is referred to Mr. Markland’s paper “ On the 
Antiquity and Introduction of Surnames into 
England” (Archeologia, xviii. p. 111.). Mr. 
Markland says, — 
“Sir Joseph Jekyll, when Master of the Rolls, in 
the year 1730, remarks —‘I am satisfied the usage of 
passing Acts of Parliament for the taking upon one a 
surname is but modern; and that any one may take 
upon him what surname, and as many surnames, as 
he pleases, without an Act of Parliament.’ The decree 
in the above case was reversed in the House of Lords.” 
Mr. Markland adds, — 
“From the facts and deductions here stated, it would 
seem that the Master of the Rolls had good ground 
for making his decree. The law, as it stands, however, 
has grown out of the practice: and common prudence 
dictates, that the assumption of a new surname should 
now be accompanied by such an authority as may esta- 
blish beyond all question the legality of the act.” 
It must also be remembered, that a testator 
often directs that a devisee shall procure the 
royal license or an Act of Parliament for the 
change of name, in order to entitle him to the 
testator’s property. If this direction be neglected, 
could not the party next benefited sue for it on 
that ground, and with success ? 8. D. D. 
Change of Name (No. 16. p. 246.).—The doc- 
trine, that a person may change his surname with- 
out any formality whatever, has long been “ set- 
tled,” and is by no means of so recent a date as 
your correspondent supposes, which will presently 
appear. 
In Coke upon Littleton, after some observations 
as to the change of Christian name at confirmation, 
it is stated — 
“ And this doth agree with our ancient books, where 
it is holden that a man may have divers names at divers 
times, but not divers Christian names.” (Vol. ii. p. 218, 
ed. 1818, by J. H. Thomas.) 
Reference is made to Acc. 1 Com. Dig. 19, 20, 
“ Abatement” (E.18,19.); Bac. Abr. “ Misnomer,” 
B.; Rex v. Billinghurst, 3 Maul. & S. 254.: but 
these passages throw no additional light upon our 
immediate subject. 
Sir Joseph Jekyll, in the case of Barlow v. 
Bateman, in 1730, said, — 
“JT am satisfied the usage of passing Acts of Parlia- 
ment for the taking upon one a surname is but modern, 
and that any one may take upon him what surname, 
and as many surnames, as he pleases, without an Act of 
Parliament.” (3 Peere Williams, 65.) 
The decision of the Master of the Rolls in this 
case was afterwards overruled by the House of 
Lords; but on a point not affecting the accuracy 
of the observations I have quoted. 
Lord Eldon, in the case of Leigh v. Leigh, 
decided in 1808, made the following remarks :— 
“An Act of Parliament, giving a new name, does 
not take away the former name: a legacy given by that 
name might be taken. In most of the Acts cf Parlia- 
ment for this purpose there is a special proviso to pre- 
vent the loss of the former name. ‘The King’s licence 
is nothing more than permission to take the name, and 
does not give it. A name, therefore, taken in that 
way is by voluntary assumption.” (15 Ves. Jun., 
p. 100.) 
This case decided that the assumption of a name 
by a person, by the King’s license, would not 
entitle him to take under a limitation in a will 
“‘unto the first and nearest of my kindred, being 
male, and of my name and blood.” The same rule 
would no doubt hold as to a change of name by 
Act of Parliament. (See Pyot v. Pyot, 1 Ves. 
| Sen. 335.) 
These extracts from the highest authorities will 
sufficiently show of how little use is an Act of 
Parliament, or the royal license, for effecting a 
change of name: indeed, the chief, perhaps I 
might almost say the only, advantage of these 
costly forms, except, of course, where they are 
required by the express terms of a will, is the 
facility they afford in case it should become neces- 
sary to prove that John White was ten years ago 
John Brown. ARUN. 
QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 6. 
There is no class of books which it more behoves 
future compilers of glossaries to consult, than those 
which treat of geography, navigation, military and 
naval economy, and the science of warfare both on 
shore and afloat. As far as the technical terms 
have been used by poets and dramatists, much 
valuable illustration may be found in the anno- 
tated editions of their works, but much more is 
required for general purposes, and I could point 
out some fifty volumes which would enable an in- 
dustrious student, possessing a competent acquaint- 
ance with those subjects in their modern state, to 
produce a most useful supplement to our existing 
glossaries. 
With very small pretensions to the amount of 
information which ¥ ascribes to me, I will at once 
answer his query on the meaning of grummett. 
GruMerE is pure Spanish. It also occurs as a 
Portuguese word. I shall transcribe the expla- 
nations of it as given by the best authorities on 
those languages :— 
“ Grymere.— El muchacho que sirue en el nauio, y 
sube por el mastil, o arbol, y por la antena, y haze todo 
