Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/240

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

. IL SK. 17, i*

that Ayot St. Laurence and Ayot St. Peter's, contiguous parishes in West Herts = ay ios Aavpavrios and ayios Herpes. T. WlLSON. Harpenden.

This is Uppham in the 'Taxatio Ecclesi- astica ' of Pope Nicholas IV., A.D. 1291. In this survey there are between forty and fifty places of which the first syllable in the name is up, which probably is a preposition or adverb describing the situation of the ham, or ton, or church, or wood. ED. MARSHALL.

Unless the old form of this name be given its meaning cannot be determined with cer- tainty. But as Upton is A.-S. Uptun and Upwood is Upp-wudu, it is probable that Upham is the " upper ham."

ISAAC TAYLOR.

THE PLOUGHING OF THE EMPEROR OF CHINA <9 th S. ii. 108, 156). In Sir John F. Davis's 'China,' vol. i. p. 352 (London, Murray, 1857, second edition, revised), there is a short account of this ancient and important cere- mony. After saying that

"this ceremony bears some resemblance to the pro- cession of the bull Apis in ancient Egypt, which was connected in like manner with the labours of agriculture and the hopes of an abundant season,"

Sir John proceeds as follows :

"The emperor himself, at about the same period of the year, honours the profession of husbandry by going through the ceremony of holding the

Bough. Accompanied by some princes of the ood, and a selection of the principal ministers, he proceeds to a field set apart for the purpose, in the enclosure which surrounds the Temple of the Earth, where everything has been duly prepared by regular husbandmen in attendance. After cer- tain sacrifices, consisting of grain which has been preserved from the produce of the same field, the emperor ploughs a few furrows, after which he is followed by the princes and ministers in order. The ' five sorts of grain ' are then sown, and, when the emperor has viewed the completion of the work by the nusbandmen present, the field is committed to the charge of an officer, whose business it is to collect and store the produce for sacrifices."

Such is the description given by Sir John Davis. The completest account of this annual festival is to be found in Hue's 'L'Empire Chiiiois ' (vol. ii. p. 338, &c., Paris, fifth edition, 1879), a translation of which I subjoin :

"Though the eighteen provinces of the Chinese Empire cannot all be put in the same line as regards the abundance and richness of their products, it may, however, be said that China is in general a country of wonderful fertility, and everywhere cultivated with intelligence and activity. In no part of the world has agriculture ever been so highly esteemed as in China. From the remotest antiquity it has held the first rank among all kinds of industry. It has been celebrated by the greatest moralists, such as Confucius and Mencius. The magistrates have unceasingly recommended to the

people diligence in the cultivation of their fields ; the Chief of the State, the Emperor, never fails to render homage to it, by opening every year the works of husbandry at a public ceremony whose origin dates as far back at least as the twelfth cen- tury of our era. On the 23rd day of the third Chinese month, that is about the end of our month of March, the monarch proceeds to the Sacred Field with three princes of the imperial family, the nine presidents of the courts, a great number of functionaries of secondary rank, and husband- men. After offering sacrifice on an earthen altar, he himself directs the plough and opens a furrow of a certain length ; following his example, the princes and ministers, in turn, handle the plough and trace a few furrows. Lastly, the common people finish the ploughing of the Sacred Field."

The importance of this ceremony is shown in a programme of the feast, presented in the shape of a request to the Emperor Kien- long, which was inserted in the gazettes of Peking and the provinces in the year 1767. This is very interesting, but, unfortunately, too long to be given entire. The ceremony was until recently carried on. I believe the notice was published in the Imperial Gazette every year. JOHN T. CURRY.

KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES (9 th S. i. 475 ; ii. 4, 154). CANON TAYLOR opens up an interest- ing subject. With which tribe, for instance, was the coronation stone at Kingston origin- ally connected ? There can be no doubt that after the introduction of Christianity the " consecratio " or hallowing of the Anglo- Saxon kings took place in church, but it is not improbable that the coronation oath was taken by the king, seated on the stone, in presence of the Witan and people. Perhaps the stone, if we may judge from that which underlies the coronation chair in West- minster Abbey, was placed in the old church at Kingston. Authentic evidence on early coronations would be very welcome. ^Ethel- stan was crowned at Kingston in 925 as King of the Mercians. Mr. J. R. Green was of opinion that, " as King of the West Saxons, ^Ethelstan was doubtless chosen and hallowed at Winchester" ('Conquest of England,' p. 218, note). But although Kingston may have become a part of the Mercian province after the institution of the ealdormanries necessitated a geographical redistribution of boundaries, it was probably originally in- cluded in the Kentish kingdom, and the sacred character of the stone must have been asso ciated with the house of Hengest rather than with that of Cerdic. I do not know where ^thelstan's successor, Eadmund, was crowned, but the coronation of Eadred took place "in villa quse dicitur regis, Cyngestun," and, as Mr. Green points out, was a national event of high importance (' Conquest of England,'