Dec. 6. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



437 



V and b having the same pronunciation in Spanish, 

 it became Balis, then ISalize, Belize, the actual 

 name. Philip S. King. 



Pasquinade (Vol. iv., p. 292.). —Will A. B. R. 

 allow me to correct one or two typographical 

 errors in the Italian version of his clever epigram? 

 In the first phice " Piit," in both places where It 

 occurs, should be '• Pio," which the sense demands, 

 while Pill is downright nonsense. AVhat A. B. E. 

 intended to write was iio doubt : 



" Quando Papa o' Cardinale 

 Chics' Inglese tratta inale^ 

 Quel che cliiarao quella gente 

 Pio ? No-no, ne sapiente." 

 The alteration in the third line is required both 

 by sense and metre, which last is octosyllabic ; 

 and chiamo is pronounced as a dissyllable, as are 

 also cliiesa and -piente. E. S. Taylor. 



Epigram on Erasmus. — The following epigram, 

 written in a fly-leaf of a copy of the Epistolce Ob- 

 scurorum Viroruin., published at Frankfort, 1624, 

 in the possession of a friend, is commended to your 

 notice ; not, however, without a suspicion of its 

 having been printed already : 



" Ut Rhadamantheum stetit ante tribunal Erasmus, 

 Ante jocos scribens serio damnor, ait 

 Cui Judex, libri dant seria damna jocosi, 

 Si tibi culpa jocus, sit tibi poena jocus."' 



Anglici, T. CoRBETT. 

 " Erasmus standeinge fore hell's tribune said. 

 For wrlteinge iest I am in earnest paid. 

 The iudge replied, lests will in earnest hurt. 

 Sport was thy fault, then let thy paine be sport." 



D. B. J. 



Etymology of London. — I believe the word 

 London has never yet received a satisfactory ex- 

 planation, and it is, perhaps, too late in the day to 

 try to explain it entirely. It lus always, however, 

 been supposed that it was significant in the old 

 British language. It has been explained as " the 

 town of ships," the final syllable don, formerly dun, 

 meaning a town. Several other explanations have 

 been given also on the same principle, namely, that 

 the final syllable meant a town or fortified place, 

 and the first was the characteristic distinguishing 

 it froui other towns or duns in the neighbourhood. 



This mode of explanation is repugnant to the 

 general principles of British topographical nomen- 

 clature : for they generally put the general name 

 first, and the characteristic last. Might the first 

 syllable " Lon " not be a corruption of the 

 British " Llan," so connnon yet in luimes of ])laces, 

 and so universally retained in Wales to this day ? 

 Llan means a level place generally, as most of 

 your readers who are versant in those subjects 

 know. The don is not so easily explained, but 

 perhaps some of your readers may be able to assist 

 in findinor a meanin;;. 



" Don " might indeed still mean an enclosed 

 strong place, and the meaning of the whole word 

 " London " would then be Llandun, or " the level 

 ground near the fort or strong camp." Perhaps 

 some of your correspondents may be able to offer 

 something confirmatory or adverse to this ex- 

 planation, and in either case I should join with the 

 rest of your readers in thanking them. M. C. E. 



Verses on Shipmoney. — 

 " A coppy of certaine Verses dispersed in and 

 about London in febr. 1634 in y' lO"" year of y^ 

 Raigne of y° King Cliarls occasioned by y° eager 

 prosecucon of Shipmoney, andlmprisonm" there- 

 fore. 



The Cittie Gofers abounding with Treasure, 



Can pay this ship Tribute, and doe poor men 



pleasure 

 To save that Pelfe : the more is the pitty. 

 The Grey Cloaks divide it and yet tax the Citty. 

 A p'sent there being small occasion for Gold 

 Hast thether Collectors, 'tis time ib were tould 

 And taken from such citty Asses : 

 ilony whom sly Proiects easily passes, 

 And speedily conveyt to Court 

 Wher they to see it will make sport. 

 And set out Shipps from Puddle dock 

 To scoure y'= seas. A pretty mock 



If that this ship Tribute be not speedily paid 



Pycrust Lord Maior saith in Newgate you shall 

 be laid, 



Wher you shall see rogues, theeves, and vile 

 knaves. 



Yet none so bad as are Tributarie Slaves. 

 If men like Pycrust could make so great gain 

 As xx'^ in y° hundred to Irish mens paine 

 For moneys lent, some reason ther were, 

 To pay this ship Tribute w"'out wit or feare. 



O crewell hard Pycrust though pay all men must 

 This crewell hard Tribute cause thou art uniust 

 And favourest this Project, when laid in thy 



grave 

 All good men will say then : Parkhurst was a 



knave. 



Finis." (From a MS. at Oxford.) 



Columbus's Bust, S)~c. at Havanna. — In case you 

 do not happen to possess a correct copy of the 

 inscri])tion on Columbus's bust and tablet in the 

 cathedral at Havanna, I send you one, and my 

 translation of it, for the benefit of those who may 

 not make out the force and beauty of the " elofe." 



" () restos e imagen del grande Colon, 

 Mil siglos durad guardados en la urna, 

 Y oil la renicmbranza de nuestra nacion \" 



" O remains and image of the great Columbus, 

 [ages] 

 For a thousand centuries rest ye securely in this urn, 

 And in the remembrance of our nation." 



