Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/213

 io s. XIL AU. 28, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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CONSTITUTION HILL (GBEEN PAKK, S.W.) : PARLIAMENT HILL (N.W.) OB PARLIAMENT FIELDS (10 S. xii. 110). Immediately west of a chain of ponds four in Lord Mansfield's park, three outside, the latter known as Highgate Ponds is Parliament Hill, or as it is sometimes called Traitors' Hill, the latter name, as is asserted, being due to a tradition that the conspirators in the Gun- powder Plot were to meet on the hill to witness the effect of the explosion (Hewitt's ' Northern Heights '). The more common belief, however, is, says Mr. James Thorne, that it was called Parliament Hill from the Parliamentary generals having planted cannon on it for the defence of London (' Handbook to the Environs of London,' 1876, vol. i. p. 356).

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

In The Cornhill for June, 1886, is an article by Sir Walter Besant, ' Traitors' Hill,' in which he says (p. 636) :

" Perhaps it was called Parliament Hill because the members for Middlesex were elected here. It ia certain that at the beginning of the last century, before the hustings were removed to Brentford, the members for the county were elected at the open space which lies in front of ' Jack Straw's Castle ' at Hampstead. But there may have been a time when the elections were held on this actxml hill. If this theory cannot be maintained for want of evidence, the name may be derived from the memory of some older Parliament, whether Hundred-moot or Folk- moot. The latter of these was held twice a year, in May and October."

He has before dismissed as untenable the theory that the hill is so called from having been fortified by the Parliamentary generals. There was, he says, " another * Jack Straw's Castle ' further east than the present one." If that be the place where the hustings were held, it would bring it nearer the present hill.

W. HENRY JEWITT. 38, North Eoad, Highgate.

"THE" PREFIXED TO PLACE-NAMES (10 S xii. 68, 116). "The'' is to be found pre- fixed to several place-names in this district, and in each case some qualifying word, now omitted, was once understood. Examples like "The Teams,*' "The Mushroom,' "The Linnels," "The Side," "The Fell,' " The Spital," and many others, are all of them abbreviations of phrasal forma. These in full were once, in all probability, " Th< Teams [haughs] " ; " The Mushroom [quay] " " The Linnels [plains] " site of the battl of Hexham ; "The Side [street] "= the long street ; " The [High or Low] Fell " " The Spital [field]." As far as local usage is concerned, the definite article in a place-

ame invariably marks a compound form,, is in the above instances. A well-known lame on the Tyne is " The Friars Goose " ; mce " The Friars Goose-Croft," belonging Equally well known is " The Felling," which
 * o the Monastery of St. Edmund, Gateshead,

esolves itself into "The Fell Ing" ("Ing,, i meadow, a pasture," &c., ' E.D.LV), as- distinguished from " The High Fell " imme- diately above. R. OLIVER HESLOP. Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

' THE BRITISH CONTROVERSIALIST ' : S. N. ,10 S. xii. 109). I have very little doubt that S. N. stands for Samuel Neil, the author of ' The Home of Shakespeare Described,' 1871 ; ' Culture and Self-Culture,* 1863 ; and numerous other books. I think I remember Mr. Neil's death as occurring during the last two or three years.

WM. H. PEET.

The editor of The British Controversialist, which had a very beneficial influence upon many young men by interesting them in the discussion of public questions, was Mr. Samuel Neil, whose initials are found at the end of leading articles.

WILLIAM E. A. AXON.

Manchester.

HENQLER'S CIRCUS : " THE PALLADIUM,'' ARGYLL STREET, W. (10 S. xii. 47, 116). Had I been going to attempt anything like a history of the above building, the para- graph from The Daily Chronicle might have needed looking into more closely ; but as I merely wished to place on record its latest change in name and character of entertainment, I let the other portion pass. I do not regret doing so, as my inadequate text has led to so illuminating and excellent a sermon by MR. ABRAHAMS. I must admit that I prefer the spelling of the name of the street as I give it ; and if I err in doing so, I find I am in the company of Mr. Wheatley, who in * London Past and Present ' uses the same spelling, as does Waif or d in his over-maligned * Old and New London.' I would also remark that in the advertise- ment in 'The Era Almanack' for 1875 (the fiist I can trace in that work) Mr. Charles Hengler, " director and proprietor " of Hengler's Grand Cirque, gives the address as " Argyll Street, Oxford Circus, London," and probably he knew what he was about. .\ Thomas Frost in ' Circus Life and Circus Celebrities,' p. 304, says, "I now come to Mr. Hengler's second appearance in London," and then goes on to speak of the gutta- percha merchant who had a predilection