Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/134

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. iv. AUG. 12, 1911.

Is there any satisfactory explanation for the retention of these ancient names in their original spelling by a few persons, whilst the same names all about them were changed? Was it because a few of the possessors of these names were proud of them, considered them distinctive, and did not wish to make the change ? So a son who was proud of his father's reputation might wish to keep his name unchanged. Or was it because of individual peculiarity and caprice ? Or was it because the bearer of the name lived in so secluded a locality that he knew nothing of what was going on about him in the neighbouring villages ? If the last be the case, then some of the oldest families of England must be descended from men who were of very humble station during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

The answer to the foregoing questions may perhaps be found in the study of the causes and extent of what appears to have been an Anglo-Saxon revival during the reign of Edward I., which seems to have largely displaced and swept away the Norman French. Is there any work which thoroughly discusses this interesting phase of the development of the English langua-ge ? JOHN Ross DELAFJELD.

New York.

[A good deal bearing on the question will be found in the articles on prepositions in place-names at 30 S. xi. 201, 270, 291, 356, 415, 451.]

' TESTAMENTA EBORACENSIA.' Can any one kindly give me the meaning of the following italicized Words, which occur in the fifth volume of ' Test amenta Ebora- censia ' (Surtees Soc.) ?

P. 31. Item, "a marcy chalice al gilted and inameld."

P. 35. Inventory of William Thwates, "Fonder " : ' The Shoppe," "a tabar dish."

P. 79. Inventory of John Tennand, "Funder": "The Schoppe," "In wesshe and thran-e xxvij dossen."

P. 301. "vj stone of hemp and a nett and a warrope."

P. 324. "To Agnes Hilton, cremet of Sancte Leonardo's, in lente money, xvj 3 vj tl . ''

R. C. HOPE, F.S.A. Florence.

[For "cremitt money" see 8 8. ix. 348, 397; x. 264; 98. v. 254; 10 S. x. 106.]

JAMES HOLWORTHY, ARTIST. I should be glad of any particulars of James Hoi- worthy, of Brookfield Hall, Hathersage, co. Derby, other than those contained in the ' Life of Wright of Derby,' Glover's ' Derby,' the ' D.N.B.,' and previous references in
 * N. & Q.' I am anxious to have a list of

his paintings in public and private collections* A view of Brookfield Hall was to have ap-~ peared in the second volume of Glover's- ' Derby,' but this volume was never issued* Was the view ever published ? Any par- ticulars as to James Holworthy's parentage w r ould be welcomed.

F. M. R. HOLWORTHY. English Club, Santa Cruz, Teiierife.

INDIAN QUEENS, PLACE -NAME. Be- tween Bodmin and Truro there is a Cornish village so called. What is the origin of t he- name ? It was probably derived from the- inn, which was a place where the coaches- changed horses in earlier days. Did the- inn record memories of a Pocahontas, or some other notable visitor of Indian blood ?

NEL MEZZO.

STONEHENGE : ' THE BIRTH OF MERLIN.' In the play called ' The Birth of Merlin * there is a curious account of the origin of Stonehenge. The play was probably written, about 1614-23, and has been attributed to Shakspere, W. Rowley, and Ralph Row- ley. In the edition of 1662 it is ascribed to- " William Shakespeai, and William Rowley." The author is more likely to have been Ralph Rowley, a clergyman, " a rare scholar of learned Pembroke Hall, in Cambridge." The- second act introduces a remarkably fresh and original comic character. A devil, Incubus^, falls in love with a peasant woman, Joan of the Gotoot family, who lives at Carmarthen.. The result is the birth of Merlin. Poor Joan does not know her lover's name, but merely^ says he " had a most rich attire, a fair hat and feather, a gilt sword, and most excellent hangers." The comic character is Joan's, hilarious wag of a brother. Merlin, pre- ternaturally born, first appears by his mother's side with a beard on his face, a book in his hand. In the fifth act the devils again comes to visit Joan, but she now loathes him. She utters the poignant prayer :

Help me, some saving hand !

If not too late I cry : Let Mercy come.

Merlin hears the cries of his mother, and promptly comes to her rescue. His father,, the devil, is annoyed :

Belie v'st thou her to disobey thy father ?.' Merlin answers :

Obedience is no lesson in your school.

Nature and kind to her commands my duty..

The part that you begot was against kind.

The devil is angry, but Merlin exercise* his spells, and a rock opens its jaws and swallows up his Satanic Majesty,, so that