Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/63

 9»avi.juLT2i,i9oa] NOTES AND QUERIES. 49 whether that chartulary is in a public or private library, and if access can be had to it. Again, Smith of Melsonby, Yorkshire, who died about 1715, left a great amount of MSS., part of which are in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries. Can any one inform me where the rest of the MSS. are ? W. E. LAYTON, F.S.A. Cuddington Vicarage, Surrey. FREDERICK GILBERT, ARTIST.—In the fifties, sixties, and seventies there was a most pro- lific illustrator named Frederick Gilbert. He was contemporary with, and drew much after the manner of, Sir John Gilbert, but was by no means his equal. Were they brothers 1 I presume Frederick Gilbert is now dead, as I have not seen his well-known style for some years. K. D. WALBUHY CAMP, HALLINGBURY, ESSEX.— Very little appears to be known, or, at any rate, is accessible, concerning this very interesting British (?) earthwork. It con- sists of a double bank with ditch, containing some thirty acres, and is situated on the east bank of the Stort, some two miles south of Bishop Stortford. The only legend I can trace concerning the place is to the effect that Queen Boadicea lies buried under a very fine and indubitably ancient cork tree just inside the west bank of the camp. Any information respecting the camp and its history would be welcome. W. B. GEKISH. Bishop Stortford. HARD FROST IN AUGUST.—In Miss Eva Scott's 'Rupert, Prince Palatine.' p. 60, we are told, under the year 1642. that "as ill- luck would have it, August though it was, a hard frost came on, and Rupert's horse slipped and fell, pitching him on his shoulder." The place where this occurred is not mentioned, but I gather that it was somewhere on the way between Tynemouth and Nottingham. Severe frosts, such as would cause a horse to lose his foothold, are, according to modern experience, unknown in England in August. Is there a mistake in the authority on which Miss Scott has relied ; or did a wonderful thing come to pass on the occasion ? If the latter, some maker of notes may have recorded the event. Should evi- dence be extant it would be well to have the matter cleared up. ASTAHTE. LONDON LAND IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.—I shall be glad if you can inform me where I can obtain information as to the value of land, with or without buildings thereon, within the liberties of or adjacent to the City of London, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. I shall be glad to pay any reasonable fee which may be required for reply. GEO. BOOTH. 48, Vicarage Road, Leyton, Essex. ' THE LOST PLEIAD.'—Can any one tell me who is the author of a sonnet, or other lines, on, or addressed to,' The Lost Pleiad ' ? JONATHAN BOUCHIER. [' The Lost Pleiad' is the second title of Stirling Coyne's ' All for Love; or, the Lost Pleiad,' pro- duced at the A ili.-1 phi 16 Jan., 1838.] TREBLE CHRISTIAN NAMES.—What is the earliest known instance of the use of three Christian names'? Chester Waters, in his 'Parish Registers,' p. 42, gives George III., who was baptized in 1738 as George William Frederic, and saya that the Court set the example. W. P. W. PHILLIMORE. LARGEST FIRST ISSUE OF A BOOK.—What is the largest first issue of a book in the century ? I know of ' The Farringdons ' (25,000). Did 'The Christian' or any of Dickens's books beat this 1 HIPPOCLIDES. gtplits. EDGETT. (9th S. iii. 407 ; iv. 177 ; v. 13, 193.) ALTHOUGH MR. HARRISON describes me as "an old hand " at local etymology, he does not hesitate to charge me with rashness in making the statement " that in local names the rules as to h are well observed." I deliberately made this statement as the result of the examination of many thousands of local names throughout England, and_ by it I meant to convey that the loss of initial h in local names cannot be assumed, but must be proved by irrefragable evidence. MR. HARRISON regards this as an assertion that the aspirate was never lost in local names, and then states that a long list of instances of such loss could be drawn up. From the specimen given by him it would not appear that the list would be of very great length, for there is only one of his examples that is ad rem. the name Anfield, which, he says, is derived from " Hangingfield." As no in- stances of the name older than this century are known, it is obvious that we cannot be certain as to its original form. He then states that " Arras, Yorks, was anciently Herghes." Why does he suppress the fact that it was more usually Lrghes] The consensus of the later mediaeval forms, written by English clerks, of the Yorkshire and Lancashire names beginning with Ergh- disproves the