Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/368

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NOTES 'AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. NOV. 2, 1901.

body of the work, and Stevenson s twenty- eight of them in a different order as an appendix, while Todd's agrees with the latter in the order and number 9f the cities and with the former in their position. On turther examination it becomes clear that the seeming confusion in the order of the names arose from reading a tabular arrangement in dif- ferent ways. Suppose that the common original of the differing lists was thus ar- ranged :

Ebrauc. Ceint. *Gurcoc.

Guorthegern. Gusteint. Guoranegon. Segeint. Guintruis. *Merdin. Peris. Lion.

Mencipit. Caratauc. *Ceri. *Gloui.

Luilid. Graut. Daun. Britoc.

Meguaid. Mauiguaid. Ligion. Guent.

Collon. Londein. Guorcon. Lerion.

Draithou. Pensauelcoitt. "Teirn. Urnahc. Celemion. Loitcoit.

NOTE. The word Cair has been omitted before each name for convenience in printing. In the fac- simile in Gunn, the spelling in which has been^ fol- lowed, several names are divided : Gur coc, Guor thegern, Drait hou ; and Teim may be read as Teun.

If this table be read across Ebrauc, Ceint, & Ct we have the thirty-three cities of Gunn's text, wherein, by the way, they are numbered i., ii., iii., and so on, as if to prevent any mis- take or omission ; but if it be read down- wards in columns Guorthegern, Guintruis, &c. omitting the names marked with an asterisk, we have Stevenson's twenty-eight cities, the only variation being the transposi- tion, no doubt accidental, of Britoc and Guent. Two peculiarities, however, are manifest. In the first place, although four names (in the tabular portion) are omitted, their presence is necessary for the correspondence between the two ways of reading the table, and they must therefore have been rejected deliberately for some reason or other ; and in the second place, the last lines must be read across, so that they are independent of the table, and pro- bably an addition. Now the names in the tabular portion number twenty-seven, i.e., three triplets of three triads each, and those in the addendum six, or two triads. Perhaps, therefore, the original verses read as follows :

C. Ebrauc. C. Ceint, C. Gurcoc.

C. Guorthegern. C. Gusteint. C. Guorane^ori

C. Segeint. C. Guint. C. Merdin.

C. Peris. C. Lion. C. Mencipit.

C. Caratauc. C. Ceri. C. Gloui.

C. Luilid. C. Graut. C. Daun.

C. Britoc. C. Meguaid. C. Mauiguaid

C. Ligion. C. Guent. C. Collon.

C. Londein. C. Guorcon. C. Lerion.

If Merdin, Ceri, and Gloui be interpolations lines 3 to 5 will read


 * Omitted by Stevenson.

C. Segeint. C. Lion.

C. Guint. C. Peris.

C. Mencipit. C. Caratauc.

And then there would be four couplets of triads, each having a monosyllable in the centre of its first line Ceint, Guint, Graut (or Grant), Guent. There are also a number of verbal consonances noticeable, as Ceint, Gusteint; Collon, Lerion. Readers who are acquainted with the Welsh language and modes of verse- composition may be able to inform us which of the two forms is more likely to be the original. In favour of the shorter one of four couplets it may be remarked that " C. Segeint, C. Guint, C. Peris," form a geographical triad also, if they repre- sent Silchester, Winchester, and Porchester. On the other hand, 3x3x3 seems a very per- fect arrangement, and it leads to Guint being placed over Lion, on which a little piece of textual criticism may hang. Gunn's text

ives Guintruis for the former name, and tevenson's Guinntguic; the latter also en- larging Lion to Legeion guar usic. Now, sup- posing the originals were as above written, Guint and Lion, some annotator may have placed the note " (gu)ar uisc " over the latter name, and therefore under Guint, to which a later copyist in mistake added the note or part of it, leading to the -ruis and -guic of the manuscripts, while the original note was also in time affixed correctly to Lion or Legeion, and so all the variations would be accounted for. Other forms of the names which may bs mentioned are Granth for Graut, Britton for Britoc, and Maunguid for Mauiguaid. It may also be remarked that Draithou looks like the Welsh Traethau, and that if Cair Gur coc is the same as Rouge- mont Castle, then the first line will become York, Canterbury, Exeter, a very significant beginning of the list. Those ending in -guaid probably lay on the great "work" called Wat-ling Street ; one is supposed to be Man- cetter, and the other may be Fenny Stratford (Magiouentum). J. B.

CHOPIN MSS. In the Daily Telegraph of the ; 25th of October its Paris correspondent states that the Baroness Nathaniel de Rothschild's bequests have now been placed in the Con- servatoire de Musique :

" The gifts include several manuscripts of music j by Chopin. There are eight pieces, all in the com- i poser's own hand, together with a Berceuse, a Nocturne, and three waltzes. One of these latter i is the first composition of the kind by the famous j Polish musician ; another is a piece dedicated to Mile. Charlotte de Rothschild, with the inscription 'Hommage, Paris, 1842. J. Chopin'; and finally the famous Waltz in D flat."

It is gratifying to know that the Russian j