Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/284

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. SEPT. 19, im

date of coronation. Inscription : "IN DE- FENCE " OF SCOTLAND'S NATIONAL BIGHTS

AND HONOUR.

Large numbers of this unique medal were sold in the year of His Majesty's coronation, and specimens were obtained by various museums in Britain. A few are still for sale at a nominal price, and may be had from the Hon. Secretary of the Scottish Patriotic Association, 179, West George Street, Glasgow, or from the under- signed. D. GLEN MACKEMMIE. 9, Smith Street, Billhead, Glasgow.

WATERLOO : ITS PRONUNCIATION (10 S. x. 190). Surely it is understood that the English pronunciation of foreign names has nothing to do with the correct pronuncia- tion of the same meaning by " correct " the pronunciation of the native inhabitants. No one in England pronounces Paris as a Frenchman would. This was remarkably exemplified in the late Boer war. Many who were wholly unaware that the English word boor was merely borrowed from the Dutch boer (in which oe has its usual sound of the English oo in cool) often talked of the " Bo-ers," riming with goers, i.e., people who go.

The latest book that treats of Latin etymology is that by Walde ; and his article upon the word lucus is worth giving. I here translate the whole of it, omitting his refer- ences :

" Liicus, a grove, probably a clearing (compare particularly collucdre, to make light, to clear or thin a forest) [see Lewis and Short] ; Oscan luvkei, in a grove; cf. Skt. loka-s, free room, space; Lithuanian laukas, field, open space ; Old Hih German loh, an overgrown clearing, low brusn- wood, also found in place-names such as Water-loo, &c.; A.-.S. leak [E. lea], Old Icel. Id; allied to lucere, to shine."

It is clear that Crabbe simply adopted the Flemish instead of the English pronun- ciation. WALTER W. SKEAT.

Waterloo is a Dutch or Flemish name, and as pronounced by Belgians it rimes with the English words " barter low." Crabbe is therefore quite correct in riming it to " foe " ; but of course the name was soon anglicized.

A similar fate has befallen the name Ostend. The original spelling was Oostende, the double vowel having the same sound as in the termination -loo. The inhabitants still pronounce it with O long, in marked contrast to the English visitors, who pro- nounce it with O short. JAS. PLATT, Jun.

In the Netherlands oo is pronounced as our broad o, so that Crabbe would strictly be correct, though precision requires that W should become V. The name of the place is due, I believe, to local aridity, German Wasserlos.

FRANCIS P. MARCHANT. Streatham Common.

Crabbe, being a Suffolk man who lived a hundred years ago, would probably pro- nounce " foe " as " foo," and Waterloo as it is spelt.

I have heard a well-educated Suffolk man say, only sixty years ago : " Noobody would know that I come from Suffolk if tha warn't towd on it." W. SCARGILL.

Colchester.

SMALLPOX HOSPITAL IN 1804 : ALEXANDRA INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND (10 S. x. 187). The Smallpox Hospital was situate at King's Cross (then known as Battle Bridge), and was built in 1 7 9 3-4. It was demolished about 1850, and upon its site now stands the Great Northern Railway Station, built by Mr. Lewis Cubitt in 1852. An easily accessible view of the hospital (from a print of 1800) is in Thornbury and Walford's ' London,' v. 361.

The Alexandra Institution for the Blind was founded in Queen Square in 1865 : the name is, however, not to be found in recent issues of Fry's ' London Charities ' or of ' The Post Office Directory.'

F. J. HYTCH.

The Smallpox Hospital was established early in the reign of George III. in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square. Then it was removed to King's Cross. When the Great Northern Railway wanted the site, the hospital was removed to Highgate, where it now is. The date of its removal from Charlotte Street to King's Cross could doubtless be ascertained from the Clerk to the Metropolitan Asylums Board. S. D. C.

WILLIAM CROWMER : WATTS FAMILY OF SUSSEX (10 S. x. 149). Possibly the follow- ing stray notes on the family of Crowmer may be of interest to your correspondent.

On Friday, 3 July, 1450, Lord Say was seized by Jack Cade and his rout and be- headed. About the same time William Crowmer, Sheriff of Kent, Say's son-in-law^ who was execrated as the instrument of extortionate taxation, was seized and brought to Mile End, where he was beheaded in Cade's presence. The heads of Say and Crowmer were then carried through the