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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. xn. OCT. 23, 1915.

In connexion with. false quantities there comes to mind a quaint little incident in point. Fifteen years ago or so, a committee was formed by the Government to take over the management of Chelsea Physic Garden from the Apothecaries' Company. I went on to represent the Privy Council j the London County Council, the Apothecaries' Company, and other local authorities were represented ; and the present Lord Redesdale (at that time Mr. Freeman Mitford) was appointed chairman. During our first meet- ing some proposal (I forget what) was being discussed, which did not meet with much approval. One of the members asked : " Could not Mr. Freeman Mitford say ' Non possilmus ' to that proposal ? " " No, by G, 1 couldn't ! " exclaimed the chairman, with a vigorous thump on the table, much to the bewilderment cf the last speaker, who was quite unaware of his offence.

HERBERT MAXWELL. Monreith.

MR. SMITH DAVIS quotes ' Webster's Dictionary,' which gives " glad-I'-o-lus " as the correct pronunciation of this originally Latin word. But ' Smith's Latin Diction- ary ' gives the pronunciation " glad-i-o-lus " with all the syllables short. It is, of course, the diminutive of " gladius," from which we get our English words " gladiate," " gladia- tor," and " gladiatorial " ; and nobody, so far as I am aware, has suggested that the second of these should be pronounced " glad-I'-a-tor." I therefore agree with Mr. H. G. KELSEY that as the word is the Latin botanical name of the plant, as first used by Pliny, there is no reason whatever why it should not be correctly pronounced " glad- I-6-lus " (glad'-e-o-lus). The pronuncia- tions "glad-r-o-lus" and " glad-i-o'-lus " are, I think, merely the incorrect pronun- ciations of gardeners.

SAMUEL WADDINGTON.

15, Cambridge Street, Hyde Park, W.

ANCIENT ISLE OF WIGHT PORT (11 S. xii- 242). With reference to my inquiry in ' N. & Q.' for 25 September,, Mr. Alfred E. Stamp, of the Public Record Office, kindly writes to me as follows :

27 September, 1915.

DEAR SIR, With regard to your query in the current number of ' N. & Q.,' the entry in the Fine Roll Calendar reads " Shamelhorde " not "Sha- melforde," as printed in ' N. & Q.* The place was afterwards called Sham lord, and the actual place is stated in the " Victoria County History " for Hants (vol. v., art. ' Whippingham ') to be the site of White's Yard in East Cowes ; but in the record Shamelhorde seems to mean East Cowes itself, I

think, or rather the germ from which East Cowes^ grew. The name Cowes only dates from the fif- teenth or sixteenth century ; and the name Sham- lord seems to have become obsolete some time when the place was swallowed up by East Cowes. Yours faithfully,

ALFRED E. STAMP.

It would be interesting to know the derivation of the mysterious name " Shamelhorde "" or " Sham lord."

CHARLES LLEWELYN DAVIES. 14, Barton Street, Westminster, S.W.

The reply to MB. DAVIES' s query, " Is anything known of the whereabouts and history of the port of Shamelhorde ? "" must, from the lapse of time, be meagre and indefinite.

In a map of ' The Wight in the Fourteenth Century ' Shamlorde is figured as being near the entrance of the Medina estuary.. The date of the map was probably about the period in Edward III.'s reign when, a French invasion was apprehended as imminent, and all ingress and egress was forbidden save at the three ports La Riche (Ryde), Ermue (Yarmouth), and Shamblord, where " the peels " for de- fence were being constructed.

Anciently, however, there were two Shamblords facing each other on the op- posite shores of the Medina estuary. East Shamblord in the parish of Whippingham was an estate held under the Russels of Yaverland, and this holding was, later on,, granted to the Abbey of Beaulieu. After the lapse of two centuries, at the dissolution in 1538, the monastery is seised of lands and rents at " Esthamlode " in the Isle of Wight, these being conjecturally the holding referred to. The name is retained to the present day in a field locally known as " Shamblers," lying between the Naval College and the Cemetery. West Shamblord formed part of Northwood parish, and was situated just above the present steam ferry to East Cowes, where White's building yard now is. A wood to the south is still called "Shamblers Copse."

Hence the query arises : on which side of the estuary was the " ancient port of Shamelhorde " located ? Since all traces of the defensive works erected there in Edward III.'s time have long ago disap- peared, the location becomes a mere matter of inference. The trend of evidence, I think, goes in favour of East Shamblord as being the site. All authorities are agreed that before the two forts were built at the mouth of Newport haven, A.D. 1540, there was not a house of any description on ther