Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/263

 io«-s. iv. SEPT. 9. loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 217 EASTER WOODS (10th S. iv. 149). — Isaac Taylor, in his 'Words and Places' (1875), says :— "The word Easter, as we learn from Beda, is derived from the name of Eostre, or Ostara, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month of April was sacred. As in other instances, the Catholic clergy seem to have given the heathen festival a Christian import, and to have placed ' our Lady' on the throne previously occupied by the virgin goddess of the spring. She seems to have bestowed her name on two parishes in Essex, which are called Good Eazter ana High Eatter (Estra in Domesday): we find also the more doubtful names of Ewilerford in the same county, Easterleake in Notts, and Eastermear in Hants."—P. 221. I find also JSasteryate near Chichester, and Ea&terton near Devizes. ERNEST B. SAVAGE, F.S.A. S. Thomas, Douglas. Easter and Wester, signifying East and West (like Over and Nether, meaning Upper and Lower), are of frequent occurrence among names of fields, woods, farm buildings, &c., in documents of the seventeenth century. RICHARD WELFORD. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I have often met with the word " easter " astheequivalent of eastern, in such connexions as "easter side" and "easter part," in old documents, and I would suggest that this is the explanation of Easter Woods in the terrier of the vicarage of Messingham. THOS. WAINWRIGHT. Barnstaple. Without personal knowledge of the district, I would suggest that "Easter" has nothing to do with the festival of that name, but flimply designates locality. In Scotland, at least, Easter and Wester are frequently thus used, e.g., Easter Ross and Wester Ross, de- scribing both sides of the county. I should like to Itnow whether there is, or ever was, a place known as " Wester Woods " in the dis- trict in question. 0. S. JERRAM. Oxford. [AYEAHR and R. B—R also refer to the use of Easter in Scotland.] THE DUKE'S BAGNIO IN LONG ACRE (10th S. iv. 24, 115).—The chief point of interest in connexion with this establishment deserves to be mentioned. In it is laid one of the most famous scenes in fiction—the death of Lord Castle wood ('Esmond,'bk. i. ch. xiv.). 'Thackeray's choice of the place was due to its mention in 'The Trial of Edward. Earl of Warwick and Holland, before the House of Lords, for the Murder of Richard Coote, Esq.' (11 William III., A.D. 1699: Howell's •• State Trials,' vol. xiii.), and in the trial of Charles, Lord Mohun, which follows in the same volume. See, e.g., col. 956 in the former trial: "Afterwards my lord of Warwick and Mr. French were carried by two of the chairs to Mr. Amy's, the surgeon at the Bagnio in Long-acre, and of. Esmond and Colonel Westbury bade the chairmen come into the field; and so ray lord was carried to one Mr. Aimes, a surgeon in Long Acre, who kept a bath " (' Esmond,' bk. i. ch. xiv.). EDWARD BENSLY. 23, Park Parade, Cambridge. "TWOPENNY" FOR HEAD (10th S. iv. 69).— I may be accused of guessing, but, when I was a boy in West Yorkshire, we considered that " tup " was the proper name for a head, and that '' tuppeny " was a facetious modern play on the word. My guess is that the "tup" came from the common word "tup," to signify a ram, and also to signify the action of a ram, goat, or cow in butting, or, as the Yorkshire folk call it, tupping, with the head. As these creatures " tup " with their heads, it is quite easy to see why the head should be the tup, and especially in games like leap- frog, " ships and sailors," and " buck, buck," where many of the players put their heads into the position usual for a ram's head. H. SNOWDEN WARD. Hadlow, Kent. So far as I remember, the lads always said " tupney," never " twopenny," when in the game of leap-frog the head was not well down und_er the chest. I am sure that we had no notion of two pennies in the matter. Our heads were " tappers," or butters, and we had a rough sort of game called " tupping," in which we butted each other with our " tupneys." As lads wo called ourselves " Darby Tups." THOS. RATCLIFFE. Worksop. If no historical references are forthcoming, I would offer a suggestion or two upon this derivation. In my schooldays the term was used in sarcastic humour, and described that which was accounted cheap or worthless. As a valuation, " Not worth twopence " is quite a commonplace expression of contempt. A century or more ago the bulky two- penny copper coins in circulation were variously termed " cartwheels " and " heads," just as the first adhesive postage stamps of 1840 were known for many years as penny and twopenny "queen's heads1' respectively. WM. JAGGARD. OWEN BRIGSTOCKE (10th S. ii. 86, 237; iii. 452). — Owen Brigstocke, who died in the winter of 1689-90, erected a costly