Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/392

 436 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9«" s. iv. Nov. 25, m XIII., and if other circumstances tended to make it likely that 901 was only one year too late, XIII. might be a slip for XII. Ethel- werd's statement is that Edward's accession was one hundred years after that of his grandfather Egbert, which may be only in- tended to be in round numbers. But, on the other hand, Simeon of Durham does give 899 as the year of Alfred's death. I should like to be allowed to refer to an astronomical event mentioned in the 'Chro- nicle.' In the year 878 there was a great eclipse of the sun on 29 October, total over part of England. The ' Chronicle' mentions an eclipse in 879,i"when none took place, so that it is most probable that the date there mentioned is one year too late, and that the great battle of Alfred with the Danes, followed by the peace of Chippen- ham, took place, not in 878, but 877. No other eclipse is mentioned in the ' Chronicle' during the reignjof Alfred. An annular one occurred in 880, on 14 March, and the Rev. S. J. Johnson, in his ' Historical and Future Eclipses,' says that it is mentioned by Asser • but this is a mistake, for Asser assigns his eclipse to 879, and evidently means the one erroneously entered in the ' Chronicle' under that date. A comet is mentioned in the ' Chronicle' under a.d. 891, but no posi- tive conclusion can be drawn from this. Mr. Stevenson mentions it in a note, but does not refer to the eclipse. I should like to ask him, through your columns, whether he does not think this makes it probable that Alfred's retreat in Athelney, followed by the battle and treaty with the Danes, occurred one year earlier than is generally stated, i.e., that the correct year was 877. Simeon of Durham dates it then, though he also (in the printed copies) puts the eclipse in 879 which undoubtedly occurred in 878. I am not sure whether my remarks will modify Mr. Stevenson's view about the date of the death of Alfred, because I understand him^to mean that "some of the printed dates in the 'Chronicle' are one year, and others two years, in error. W. T. Lynn. "A good pennyworth."—A curious use of this phrase is to be found in an advertise- ment of champagne in the Postman for 11-14 Jan., 1701 :— "A French man who has good Champaign Wine as any in England, being to depart this Country in a very short time, gives notice, that he intends to dispose of it at a good pennyworth, either by Hogshead, Gallon or otherwise. Inquire for Mr. Clement at his Chamber at the Sign of the City of Smirna at the Billiard House over old paved Alley, where attendance is daily given." The phrase " good pennyworth," used here, may be compared with one in an advertise- ment in the Daily Courant of 26 Aug., 1706, notifying that "at the Sign of the Angel in Aldermanbury, great Penny-worths may be bought of Cabinet Work and Glasses." Alfred F. Robbins. South African Names.—Most persons are aware that to Sir Harry Smith, Governor of the Cape, and to his wife we owe the names of Harrismith in the Free State and Lady- smith in Natal. There are many similar names constructed on the same principles, the most familiar being Durban, properly D'Urban, which was named after Sir Ben- jamin D'Urban, Governor of the Cape. Less known is Zwellendam, founded in 1740, an odious compound constructed out of the names of Swellengrebel, a Dutch governor, and of his wife, Ten Damme. Still worse is Potscherfstrom, in the Transvaal, a name manufactured by combining syllables from the names of three Boer leaders, Potgieter, Scherf, and Stockenstrom. Nearly as bad is Pietermaritzburg, which is named after two Boer commanders, Pieter Retief and Gerrit Maritz. Less objectionable is Pretoria, named in honour of Andries Pretorius, father of the first President of the Transvaal. Oom Paul's names are Johannes Paulus Kriiger, which explain those of Johannesburg and Kriigers- dorp. Isaac Taylor, "Frail."-Halliwell gives, "(3) a light kind of basket made of rushes or matting, much used for fruit, such as figs, raisins, <fec. Here it means the forked branch in which thatchers carry straw to the roof of the rick to be thatched. Halliwell refers to ' Piers Plough- man,' p. 252, for frayel, the true Hampshire sound of the word. ' John P. Stilwell. Hilfield, Yateley, Hants. " Cordwainer."—The following—recently copied from a card in a window at Gains- borough—is worth noting as an instance of the survival of the word " cordwainer," and also as a specimen of present-day ortho- graphy : " Boots and shoes repared near by D. Foster, Coard Wayner." H. Andrews. " Hiati."—In an interesting letter on ' New Hittite Discoveries,' from the pen of Col. Conder, R.E., which appeared in the Times for 10 October, occurs the following passage: "No. 1, an appeal from the Hittites to the Cappadocian tribes, is much injured, and the hiati are due to the gaps in the text." I trust that I shall not be considered a carping critic for drawing attention to the above solecism;