Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/334

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL APRIL 3, im

in 1883 ? Mr. Pycroft gives a short sketch of Hilliard's life, and states that his works may be found in the collections of the Duke of Buccleuch, Mr. W. H. Pole-Carew, Sir John Salusbury Trelawny, and the Earl of Portsmouth. The Duke of Buccleuch is said to have seven portraits of Queen Elizabeth, who sat often to Hilliard. He was born in Exeter in 1560. In the third volume of Devon Notes and Queries will be found a note of mine on Hilliard, giving, inter alia, a record of the extraordinary prices his works realized in 1904 at Christie's.

Of Ozias Humphrey, who was born at Honiton, Mr. Pycroft gives only a short biographical sketch, and does not say where any of his works may be seen.

A notable omission from Mr. Pycroft's book is that of Edward Calvert, who was born at Appledore in 1799, a painter chiefly of classical subjects. A collection of his works was exhibited at the Carfax Gallery in April, 1904. A. J. DAVY.

Torquay.

WADDINGTON AS A PLACE-NAME (10 S. xi. 70, 136, 195). The last article by MB. WADDINGTON is of the most perplexing description. Surely no good purpose can be served by mixing up, in a wholly promis- cuous manner, all the places which, by some unlucky accident, happen to look just a little alike to the inexperienced eye. We are actually asked to consider, as being allied to Waddington, such a place-name as Wodetone (Dorset) ! This word repre- sents the A.-S. Wudatun, which any Norman scribe would write Wodeton, regu- larly. And equally the modern English form must be Wootton or Wotton, of which there is a large number of examples. It means " wood-town."

It is best to say at once that the scribes of Domesday Book nearly always make a mess of names containing -ing. They actually substitute en for ing without any remorse in a large number of cases. And this is why, for any place-name containing -ing, this celebrated record is the worst possible authority ; and it is far better to consult even such a book as the Inquisi- tiones post Mortem, which (though of later date) was at any rate written mainly by scribes who could spell English decently. Take the case of Wadenhoe, Northampton- shire. This, in the Inquisitiones, was written Wadenhowe in 1263, and represents the A.-S. Wadan-hoh, i.e. "Wada's hill-spur."

I must decline to proceed further in un- ravelling this needlessly complicated tangle.

If one mixes up Woden and Wada and Wadda and Wood and all the French and German names which resemble any one of them, there can only result confusion. And such confusion is easily increased by neglect- ing the difference between the suffixes -an, -a, -inges, and -inga. WALTER W. SKEAT.

BRITANNIA AS THE NATIONAL EMBLEM (10 S. xi. 168). The seated figure of Rome, which we have called Britannia ever since she was re-uniformed and seated on the reverse of our copper coinage in the reign of Charles II., appeared first on the coins struck by Hadrian, and subsequently by Antoninus Pius, to commemorate his victories in Britain. The same figure occurs on the coins of several other Roman emperors, and the rock upon which the emblematic Rome is sitting is supposed to represent the conquered province.

EDWARD HERON-ALLEN.

The name Britannia can hardly be con- sidered so much a national emblem as the ancient designation, primarily, for the five provinces of Britain, so divided by the Emperor Severus Britannia Prima, Bri- tannia Secunda, &c. The copper coin, the prototype of our penny, which was uttered by Charles II. is supposed to bear the re- semblance, under the figure of Britannia, of Louise de Querouaille, Duchess of Ports- mouth, a design copied from the coins of Antoninus Pius.

Camden, in the opening observation of his ' Britannia,' says : " Albion, the most famous Island in the World, was called by the Greeks B/oerai/ia."

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

Copper halfpence and farthings, made of pure Swedish copper, were first issued for circulation in 1672. The figure of Britannia is said to be a portrait of the beautiful Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond.

A. R. BAYLEY.

"DRUCE," LANE-NAME (10 S. xi. 189). I suppose the spelling druce will do, if it rimes with truce. We are not told the essen- tial point, viz., whether the lane is flat or sloping. If it slopes, it is plainly the same word as the Isle of Wight druss, a slight slope or descent on a road ('E.D.D.'). This is one of a large number of words, all from the Teutonic root DREUS, to fall, to descend, &c. Examples are dross, drowse, drizzle, and many more.

The word drus actually occurs in Gothic to denote " a fall," as in Matthew vii. 27 ; driu-so is " a steep place," as in Mark v. 13 ;