Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/273

 S. I. APRIL 2, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

265

r jcords, temp. Edward II., it is Chelcheya and ( helchuthe* In 1314-1315 Gerard de Staun- cbne, rector of Styvenach (Stevenage), be- q leaths to Peter de Batlesfeld houses in the 1; ,ne and parish of St. Martin Orgar de Can - delwykstrate for life, subject to a payment of five marks annually to Sir Robert de Staundone, rector of Chelchehuth (Sharpe's persons in the 'Calendar' are found with the surnames "deChelchehethe," " Chelchehithe," " Chelcheth," and " Chelchith." In the will of Bichard Laykyn, mercer, A.D. 1535, the name is spelt in the transitional form Chelsehyth (ll>. ii. 639). In the same year Sir Thomas More addressed his celebrated letter to the king from " my pore Howse in Chelchith " (Faulkner, ' History of Chelsea,' 1829, i. 103); and in his indictment he is described as " Thomas More, nuper de Chelchithe, in comi- tatu Midd., Miles." In the time of Elizabeth the modern softened pronunciation prevailed.
 * Calendar of Husting Wills,' i. 250). Several

Norden, in his ' Speculum Britannise,' seems to be responsible for the etymology favoured by Sir Walter Besant, and, I may add, en passant, by Canon Taylor in his ' Words and Places.' But there is no historical groundwork for this theory. Bosworth has suggested Ceoles-ig, which would mean Ship's Island. But the place of that name which is mentioned in the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' (Thorpe's edition, i. 256; ii. 113), is not Chelsea in Middlesex, but Cholsey in Berkshire.

At a former reference (3 rd S. ix. 522) a correspondent stated, on the authority of Mr. Blunt, that the old church at Chelsea was originally built of chalk, as may still be seen (1866) in the chancel. It would be well if this statement could be verified.

W. F. PEIDEAUX.

Kingsland, Shrewsbury.

THE BIBLIOGRAPHIES OF THE * SCOTS MAGAZINE' AND 'BLACKWOOD'S MAGA- ZINE.' In the recently published work ' Annals of a Publishing House : William Blackwood and his Sons, their Magazine and Friends,' by the late Mrs. Oliphant, the author says of the Scots Magazine, and referring to the events of the year 1817, "Constable's small magazine, which they [Pringle _ and Cleghorn] managed for a short time, soon went the way of all dull periodicals." For a " dull " periodical none has been more quoted from except its English contemporary the Gentle- man's Magazine; but regarding its discon- tinuance, which did not happen till 1826, all


 * See also Faulkner, ed. 1829, i. 175.

bibliographers appear to be at fault. Lowndes says of the Scots Magazine and the Edin- burgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany, "This and the preceding periodical were driven out of the field soon after the appear- ance of Blackwood's Magazine" The facts are that the Miscellany was purchased by Constable, and incorporated with the Scots Magazine and its title added in 1803 ; and the Scots Magazine was purchased from Alexander Cowan, the trustee of Constable's estate, on 12 July, 1826, by William Black- wood, although, strange to say, he did not incorporate the ancient magazine with his own and much younger periodical, lack- woods Magazine, the usual practice of a publisher under similar circumstances. The latter fact, discovered by the present writer some time ago, was communicated to the

rges of the Scots Magazine (Perth, Cowan Co.) in February, 1896, in an article entitled ' The Scots Magazine, 1739-1826 ' ; bub evidently Mrs. Oliphant did not avail herself of the information there given.

The evidence of the sale of the copyright is contained in the following advertisement, which appeared in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of 27 July, 1826, a file of which for that year may be consulted in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow. It is as follows :

"Edinburgh Magazine: A new series of the Scots Magazine. The Trustee upon the Sequestrated Estate of Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co. begs to inform the subscribers to the above Work that the Publication of it is now discontinued, the Copyright having been purchased by Mr. Blackwood* Edinburgh, 12 July, 1826."

As Mrs. Oliphant's work purports to give an authoritative history of Blackwootfs Magazine, it is natural to expect the fact to which attention is now called should have received mention ; but, as already stated, the author like the bibliographers appears to have been unacquainted with the transaction. G. W. NIVEN.

23, Newton Street, Greenock.

MEAD: BRIGHT ALE: WELSH ALE: SWEET WELSH ALE. What constituted the difference between these beverages a thousand years ago is rather difficult to explain. From at least the year 852 the Saxon charters make mention of bright ale, beer, Welsh ale, and sweet Welsh ale, and it is observable that when beer is mentioned the description is not given, nor are the other ales defined. In the ' Historia Brittonum'* we are told that Vorti- gern, while under the influence of wine and "secera" (supposed to mean mead), over-


 * Rev. W. Gunn, B.D., London, 1819, p. 68.