Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/61

 and inscriptions; v. 'A Historical Grammar of the French Language,' by Auguste Brachet (tr. G. W. Kitchen, 1874), p. 78.

The scribe who was primarily responsible for the copies of Geoffrey's 'Historia' that Jerome Commelin of Heidelberg (c. 1590) and Dr. J. A. Giles (1842) depended upon, was puzzled by the scribal error and the prothetic i, and he gave way to the inclination to pun. The word he could not understand, namely, Istrophius, suggested to him. So he twisted the name of the king of the "Greeks" into "Epistrophius." These particular enemies of King Arthur were the Crēācas of 'Widsith'; cp. 'N. & Q.', 11 S, x. 341. Now the name of this king was undoubtedly set down as Iscrophius originally, and that was misread Istrophius and punned upon as above. "Iscrophius" is a regular sixth-century latinisation of the Germanic name Scrof, and that also appears as Scrob and Scrop (Shrop).

In the Saxon Chronicle we get Scrob-sæte, Scrobbes-burh, Scrob-scir. We also find Scropes-burh. This is more truly "Greek" (i.e., Alemannic) in dialect; cp. Scropton, Derbyshire, and Shropham, Norfolk. We say Shropshire, to-day, although we call the town Shrewsbury. This postulates *Scrofis > *Scrœfis > *Screwis ; cp. O.E. efete, an evet > a newt, and Gif-(ica)> *Gif-is: Yiew's-ley.

In King Arthur's time (459–492) the Brythonic name of Shrewsbury was Cair Amguidic, and Welchmen call that town Amwythig to this day. "Sir Amwythig" is Welch for Shropshire and that was the Land of the Amōthingas of 'Widsith.' The "Greeks" who captured the town c. 492 were, as I said above, Crēācas, and they issued either from Wiltshire (cp. O.E. "Creccagelād," Cricklade, and Shrewton, near Amesbury) or from Lincolnshire (cp. "Crōco-calana," an unidentified station in 'Antonine'). Latin Crōco- represents an Alemannic Crouco, the O.E. Crēāca. The unshifted stem appears in the possessive case in a fifth-century Gallician inscription (v. 'N. & Q.,' 12 S. vi. 166); and also in "Crog[in]dæn," an O.E. form of Croydon. Cp. Kemble, 'Codex Diplomaticus,' No. 492. The Latin rendering of this charter (K., ' C.D.,' No. 1242) yields "Croindene"; v. 'Textus Roffensis', ed. Hearne, p. 112, and cp. Domesday Book, 'Sudrie,' fo. 30b (2).

2em

—A note in the 'N.E.D.' runs thus: "An act of 1640, limiting the duration of parliament to three years; also the name given to an act of 1694, following an earlier one of Charles II., providing against any longer intermissions of parliament than three years." Is not this misleading? The Act of 1641 (not 1640) did indeed provide for automatic dissolution after three years, but the main provision, was that Parliament must meet every third year. This Act was virtually repealedin 1664, in order to continue the life of a subservient house, but there was a proviso that Parliament must meet at least once in three years. The danger now was the continuance of a subservient house, so the Act of 1694 fixed a three years' limit to the life of a Parliament, retaining the old provision that three years should not pass without a meeting. The note in 'N.E.D.' emphasizes the wrong point of each Act, and it is not clear whether the last clause refers to the Act of 1694 or that of 1664.

(1713-71).—According to the will of his brother, William Sharpe, of Brockley Hill, Middlesex (he died Aug. 19, 1767, aged 71), the full name of the Master of the Temple was John Gregory Sharpe. The writer of the notice in the 'D.N.B.' appeared to know nothing of Dr. Sharpe's parentage. His father was William Sharpe, who died Jan. 19, 1732–3, aged 68, and his mother was Margaret, daughter of Thomas Beake, Esq. Some particulars of the family will be found in Clutterbuck's 'Hertfordshire,' 1815, i. 162. The Master of the Temple, with his brothers, Joshua Sharpe ("The Honest Lawyer"), Horatio Sharpe, Governor of Maryland, and William Sharpe, figure in a family group or "Conversation Piece" by Hogarth which is now on view in a West End gallery. 2em

—The existing Chapel of the Savoy is a meagre relic of the famous Palace, and recorded memories and history belonging to it are therefore of great interest, so little of the buildings and so few sites having survived to our own time. What must be considered the standard history is

In its 267 pages there is much useful information and nothing has displaced it or been offered as a supplement.