Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/85

 12 S. III. JAN. 27, 1917.] NOTES AND QUERIES,,

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when a pupil at Dr. Doddridge's at North- ampton ; and Rev. David Evans, pastor at Great Gransden, 1749-51, whose wife Mary, the daughter of Joshua Mead, gent., of Staughton (?), Gloucestershire, lies in the grave adjoining hers. An original letter of Mrs. Anne Dutton, dated April 28, 1764, communicated by " John Ryland Junr." of Northampton, appears in The Gospel Maga- zine for 1771, pp. 377-81. In this she mentions Mr. Keymer, pastor at Great Gransden, 1755-71. B. Nutter in his ' Story of the Cambridge Baptists,' 1912, says :

" Through that remarkable woman Mrs. Dutton of Gt. Gransden, they heard of a young man of 23, of Norwich, invited him to preach at Cambridge, and in 1761 he became their pastor. This was the Rev. Robert Robinson, who remained until his death."

R. H.

Jlofcs 0n

The Johnson Calendar; or, Samuel Johnson for Every Day in the Year. By Alexander Mont- gomerie Bell. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2s. net.)

HEBE we have a booklet, not a wall calendar or a series of leaves that can be turned over or torn off daily. The compiler is evidently a keen Johnsonian, for he goes beyond the daily supply, beginning with the ' Chief Events in Johnson's Life,' and a few pages on Johnson's ' Political and Social Opinions,' and ending with four tributes of his friends and a Latin quotation. The title-page and the dedication to Mr. Asquith as that rare thing, a correct quoter of Johnson, are quite in the old-fashioned style, and pleasantly reminiscent of an earlier age.

The quotations are admirably chosen, each month exhibiting some special phase of Johnson's mind. January leads off with that maxim which is at the root of Johnson's philosophy of life : " Clear your mind of cant." Exact references are given for all the passages quoted, and the occa- sional notes which are added are always pertinent. Knowledge of classical quotations, which in Johnson's day was " the parole of literary men all over the world," is freely supposed. It might have been well to add versions or exact references, e.g., to the tender line of Tibullus which Johnson quoted to Langton on his death-bed. The Greek at the end of ' The Rambler ' has an English version which might have been added here, though it is but a paraphrase. We perceive everywhere Mr. Bell's competence for his theme ; he reduces the verdict of the less trustworthy on Johnson, and only loses his urbanity when he accuses Mrs. Thrale of lying. It is asked if the " prodigious " of Dominie Sampson is due to the criticism of the word by Johnson. We think not, since an early friend of Scott's noticed the constant use of the word lengthened out syllabic- ally by the Rev. James Sanson and mentioned it to Scott, whose memory for such oddities was unequalled. The reader will find under May several pertinent references to war, the bravery of the English soldier, and Prussian ideas of kingship.

The " tail " of young Col (p. 190) might refer to - his Highland following as well as Lord Mon- boddo's theories.

The little essay on Johnson's opinions gives a good idea of the England in which he lived and of his loyalty to Church and State. What we always wish to see emphasized in Johnson is that he was a moralist who came much nearer practising his doctrines than many a divine or statesman of his time. He had more command of himself than any of his brilliant circle. The claims of drink, the applause of the crowd, the reputation for gaiety, or the advantages of selfishness are obvious influences which dim the fame of leading lights in Johnson's day.

The little volume has given us much pleasure, and is suitably published by the great Oxford house which has done so much for the study of the needy scholar of Pembroke.

Surnames. By Ernest Weekley. (John Murray, 6s.)

A SURNAME was originally equivalent to a " nick- name," i.e., an " eke-name ' or additional name. The only name to which one had a right was that given by the Church at one's baptism. But it was found necessary in mediaeval times to- differentiate and individualize the multitude [of Johns (say) who were contemporary in the same generation by affixing to each a further name, surnom, supernomen (ad-gnomen), or, as the Elizabethans called it, " an addition," which would define his parentage, or place of residence, or occupation, or some peculiarity of personal appearance. Thus he would be known to his neighbours as John the son of William -of South Town at the Town's End the sieve- wright the short-nosed (curt-nez), which eventu- ally settled down into the "sur-names" Wilson, or Sutton, or Townsend, or Searight, or Courtney, Mr. Weekley gives us fully illustrated chapters on each of these subjects, names from places, names from occupations, from costumes, from physical features, from pageant characters, &c. He has made especially good use of the Rolls, Cartularies, and other mediaeval documents, but he by no means professes to give an account of all, or even the best known of, surnames, which would be manifestly impossible in the space at his disposal. . He takes generally as his basis the ' London Direc- tory ' of 1842, but the meaning of the cryptic remark that this edition appeared " before the Conquest " (p. 17) we confess escapes us.

Mr. Weekley makes the interesting observation that many words preserved in surnames are centuries older than those for which a date can be found in the ' Oxford Dictionary.' He goes so far as to say that " a complete dictionary of English surnames would not only form a valuable supplement to the ' N.E.D.,' but would in a great measure revolutionize its chronology." It is manifest that men give names to their families and friends and farms in the spoken language long before they dream of writing books.

Ingenious though Mr. Weekley 's interpretations are as a rule, we often find it difficult to accept them. Was it ever possible that the name God'smark was identical with an oath-name- " By God's maufe (or brother-in-law) " ! as sug- gested, p. 246. Maufe, still surviving as a rare Cumbrian word for the Devil ( Muff y), is known to- represent Malfe (Maufait), " the misshapen one,"