Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/263

 io<" s. ii. SEPT. 10, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

215

roe that at one time Mr. E M. Fitzgerald had a good position in London society, but owing to some disgraceful conduct forfeited it, and went to live abroad. Of his subse- quent career there Mr. Browning gave some further details ; but as his chief title to fame is derived from the confusion of his work with that of more celebrated men, I do not consider that I am justified in publishing them in print until I know that there are no relatives living to whom they might cause pain. WILLIAM E. MOZLEY.

FOTHERINGAY (10 th S. ii. 128). The origin of Fotheringay involves a long and some- what difficult story, which I must decline to publish all over again. In my * Place-names of Cambridgeshire,' pp. 56-8, I have proved that the real suffix is -a?/, Anglo-French -hay, variant of -ey ; from the Anglian eg, an island, peninsula. It is situate on a peninsula formed by the river Nen and a tributary. To get the true value, we require a truly old spelling ; but a likely origin is an A.-S. form Forthheringa ey, " isle (or peninsula) of the Forth-herings" or of the " sons (or tribe) of Forth- here." The name Forth-here occurs in the 'A.-S. Chronicle,' and in Sweet, 'Oldest Eng. Texts,' p. 537. WALTER W. SKEAT.

The recognized modern spelling of this word is undoubtedly Fotheringhay. In both the ' Post Office Directory ' it is thus recorded. The two historians of Fotheringhay, Arch- deacon Bonney and Cuthbert Bede, also adopt this spelling of the word in every instance. Perhaps in time we may learn to pronounce the last syllable " hay " instead of u gay," and then all difficulty will be at an end. Arch- deacon Bonney says :
 * Kelly's Directory of Northamptonshire ' and

".The name of this place is variously spelled by the authors who have mentioned it. In Domesday it is called Fodringtia ; which Leland properly renders Foderinyeye, meaning Fodering indosure or that part of the forest which was separated from the rest, for the purpose of producing hay."

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

The ' Encyclopaedia Britannica ' spells this word both Fotheringay and Fotheringhay. Pigot leaves out the last h, the 'National Gazetteer' admits it, so does the 'Beauties of England and Wales.' The ancient spelling was Fodringhey.

CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D-

Bradford.

Sir Amias Paulet and Sir Drue Drury, writing to Sir Francis Walsingham on 2 February, 1586 [1587] (according to Mr. Charles Knight), dated their letter from

Fotheringay. The Harleian MS., as quoted by Mr. Knight, uses the same spelling, which would thus appear to be the correct one. The late Mr. John Henry Parker, C.B., in his ' Introduction to the Study of Gothic Archi- tecture,' on p. 201 (1900 edition), speaks of Fotheringhay. RONALD DIXON.

46, Marlborbugh Avenue, Hull.

The occasional spelling Fotheringto/ sug- gests that this word meant meadow or grass land. Father is an old form of fodder, and a hay was a forest or park fenced with rails, whence " to dance the hay " was to dance m a ring. J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.

[MR. S. J. ALDRICH also gives Bonney's quotation from Leland.]

PARISH CLERK (10 th S. ii. 128).-In the southern portion of the churchyard attached to St. Andrew's Church, Rugby, is a plain upright stone, containing the following in- scription :

In memory of

Peter Collis

33 Years Clerk of

this Pariah who died Feb> 28 th 1818

aged 82 years. (Then follow some lines of poetry not now- discernible.)

At the time Peter held office the incumbent was noted for his card-playing propensities, and the clerk was much addicted to cock- fighting. The following couplet relating to these worthies is still remembered : No wonder the people of Rugby are all in the dark, With a card -playing parson and a cock -lighting

clerk.

Peter's father was clerk before him, and on a, stone to his memory is recorded as follows:

In Memory of John Collis Husband of Eliz : Collis who liv'd in Wedlock together 50 Years he served as Parish Clerk 41 \ ears and Died June 19 th 1781 Aged 69 Years. Him who covered up the Dead Is himself laid in the same bed Time with his crooked scythe hath made Him lay his mattock down and spade May he and we all rise again To everlasting life AMEN. The name Collis occurs among those who have held the office of parish clerk at West Haddon. On the occasion of a recent resig- nation of the office I gleaned the following particulars from the parish registers and other sources. The clerk who resigned m 1903 was Mr. Thomas Adams, who filled the position for eighteen years. He succeeded lis father-in-law William Prestidge, who died 24 March, 1886, after holding the office