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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th B. n. DEC. ,

MARGARET PLANTAGENET, COUNTESS OF SALISBURY (9 th S. ii. 468). In ' Blessed Mar- garet of Salisbury,' by G. Ambrose Lee, Blue- mantle, the frontispiece is a likeness of the countess, " from the original picture in the possession of Lord Donington." The barony of Donington is now merged in the earldom of Loudoun. GEORGE ANGUS.

St. Andrews N.B.

" EARDLY " (9 th S. ii. 247). Halli well gives yeardly=very, as used in the North. For want of a better etymology one might sug- gest a derivation through " eard = earth or ground " also used in the North with the sense of "down to the ground," or "tho- roughly." See 'Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words.' ARTHUR MAYALL.

KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES (9 th S. i. 475 ; ii. 4, 154, 232, 373). I wish it were in my power to comply with CANON TAYLOR'S invitation, by helping to authenticate the list of Saxon kings which has been inscribed round the base of the coronation stone at Kingston ; but at present I am travelling, with no literature at hand but a Tauchnitz novel. There must, however, be some authority for the list, which it will be seen differs in some particulars from that given by MR. H. G. HOPE. Should any correspondent be in a position to adduce this authority, I trust it may be given in the ipsissima verba of the chroniclers. The pic- turesque style of the modern historian renders it impossible for the ordinary reader to dis- tinguish between those parts of his narrative which are based upon the facts recorded by the annalists and those which are founded only upon a vivid imagination. For instance, in the " striking account " which Dean Hook gives of the coronation of ^Ethelstan (ante, p, 373), it may be presumed, but it is certainly not distinctly stated, that the " stone seat " upon which the king took his place, the better to be seen by the multitude, was the " coronation stone,' the actual coronation taking place within the church. Probably this procedure was followed after the intro- duction of Christianity, but previous to that epoch the stone itself was doubtless the coronation seat. I am not aware that any good authority has stated, as MR. HOPE seems to think, that the name Kingston was imposed on account of the coronation of the Saxon kings after the termination of the Heptarchy. In all probability many Jutish and Saxon kings received the insignia oi sovereignty at Kingston before the hegemony of Egbert.

I agree with MR. LOWSLEY notwithstand- ing his faith in the untenable heresy that the

name of Kingston-upon-Thames originates r rom its possession of a king's stone that it would be well if some distinction were made Detween the names of places ending in tun and those ending in stdn. Not only kings, 3ut bishops seem to have possessed these stones, the origin and meaning of which might form the subject of a valuable inquiry. At Shrewsbury an old street exists, which was formerly known as Biscopes-stdn, or Bishop's-stone, but I have never been able to ascertain the reason of this appellation.

W. F. PRIDEAUX.

PARISH REGISTERS DATED FROM THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN (9 th S. ii. 427, 478).! thank MR. E. H. COLEMAN for his note on p. 478, but if he will read my query on p. 427 he will see that he has not afforded any explanation why the parish registers which were before me when I wrote are headed as dating from the Feast of St. John, 1558 (I have not mis- taken the date), whereas they do not then commence. I see nothing in Cromwell's injunction of twentv years earlier to explain it. The "register of the day evidently regarded St. John's Feast as the proper com- mencement of the registration year. My query is, Why ? If MR. COLEMAN can explain I shall be glad. As it is, he has altogether misread the query. THURSTAN C. PETER.

LOCAL SOCIETY IN DEVON (9 th S. ii. 448). There is no society known as the Devon and Exeter Graphic Society at present existing in this county. HARRY HEMS.

Fair Park, Exeter.

DR. IRON-BEARD AND AESCULAPIUS (9 th S. ii. 146). I do not find Dr. Iron-Beard in Grimm. How can the name be identified 1 We have Eisenberta and Eiserne Bertha, as a feminine, otherwise Frau Bertha ; she is associated with an iron ploughshare, which conveys the sense of iron as a prefix, and the whole becomes a masculine, as in Isambart Brunei, the once famous engineer. A. H.

NOBLEMEN'S INNS IN TOWNS (9 th S. i. 327, 412). Apparently every county town con- tained a residence for each of the principal families of the shire. This was certainly the case at Cardiff and Monmouth down to the beginning of the present century.

JOHN HOBSON MATTHEWS.

Town Hall, Cardiff.

Not necessarily secondary residences, but a form of household property. Fulbert of Dover, the Lord of Chilham, held also thir- teen houses in Canterbury belonging to his manor ; Kempsford, in Gloucestershire, as