Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/49

 viii. JULY is, loci.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

41

Society for Psychical Research, which cover 442 pages of the Society's Proceedings.

L. L. K.

VANISHING LONDON AND THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL. The following notice to the workmen employed in demolishing the houses required for the great "improve- ments " in Central London affords a good illustration of "how to do it," and seems well worthy of preservation in the pages of corporations :
 * N. & Q.' as setting a good example to other

LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL.

Strand Improvements and New Street from

Holborn to the Strand.

REWARD.

If any workman comes across any out-of-the-way object or substance imbedded in the soil in which he is working, he is required to at once hand the same over to the foreman or clerk of works. Any find which is of geological or antiquarian value may prove to be the property of the London County Council, and a reward will be given to the finder, and will be paid at once on application to

The Clerk of the Council, County House, Spring Gardens, Charing Cross.

R. CLARK. Walthamstow,

CHARLES COTTON, POET AND ANGLER. I have recently obtained a folio of Cotton's translation of the ' Life of the Duke of Esper- non,' printed in 1670. Inside the volume (formerly in the Tixall library) was an old letter without name or date, but which, by comparison, is evidently in the handwriting of Chas. Cotton himself, in which case it is of great interest, as it appears to elucidate an obscure portion of his life which is referred to in the memoir prefixed to his portion of Walton and Cotton's 'Complete Angler.' The passage is, " In which undertaking [i.e., this translation] he was interrupted by an appoint- ment to some place or post, which he hints at in the preface, but did not hold long."

The letter is as follows, and is copied ver- batim :

"S r When I was last w th y u I aquanted y u how S p Thomas Ingram had aquanted me how he was by his magestyes order to send downe a comytyon to me & others to exammyne dyvers wasts offenses & losses his Magesty suffered in Needwood & y e Honor of Tutbury. I am through his Magestyes gratyouse Favor his lieutennant off y e Forrest & his high Steward off y e Honor of Tutbury. I then like- wise tould y u I conceaved I had reason to beelieve iff y e commytyon weare Full itt would tuch some persons y* would endevor to avoyd itt & I have some assurance now it is so For y e commytyon a coppy off w ch y e Chauncelor sent mee to peruse is I conceave defective in w fc I Feared itt would For itt gives us Full power to fynd out all trespases in y e woods & game but y e greatest prejudice his Magesty suffers in is his grants of offyces ; in grants

off Lands concealements off Lands & incrochments. I have given S r Tho: Ingram an answer by a letter For hee writt to mee to know my opynyon off y comytyon."

It does not appear to whom the letter was written, but it was probably sent from Beres- ford Hall, Derbyshire, about 1667.

H. T. WAKE. Fritchley, Derby.

THE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. Now that there is evidently a disposition to revive this controversy, it may be in place to note the following letter addressed to the Standard on 1 April :

SIB, It is well known that Dr. Parr used to boast that he knew who was the author of "Junius." The late Dr. Whorwood, rector of Willoughby, near Daventry who was for many years a resident Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford once told me that, when speaking on the subject of Junius's letters to Dr. Routh, the latter said : " Dr. Parr told me, Sir, that a Mr. York, in the Foreign Office, a brother of the then Dean of Norwich, was the author of * Junius.' " H. ALGAB.

W. B. H.

STAGE-COACH DRIVERS. The Daily Tele- graph of July 4th contains the following :

"By the death of Mr. Stephen Philpott, of Dover, in his eighty-ninth year, the last of the mail stage- coach drivers between London and the Kent coast has passed away, to the regret of many friends. He regularly drove the mail-coach between the capital and the Kentish seaport for many years, and when the railway superseded that method of conveyance for the mails he drove the mail-coach between London and Herne Bay. Naturally, he had many interesting reminiscences of old times, and was fond of telling how, when driving from London to Dover, he met Prince Albert proceeding to the metropolis for his marriage with Queen Victoria. Mr. Philpott drove the first coach in the funeral procession of the Duke of Wellington from Walmer Castle."

N. S. S.

SPELLING OF PROPER NAMES. The spelling of old names, classical or otherwise, is often really absurd, owing to the purely arbitrary and senseless way in which letters are altered, dropped, or added, sometimes to such an extent that one has to look twice before recognizing the word under its strange garb. Slight alteration is occasionally necessary to fit a name for English lips, but for the per- nicious habit of latinizing every Greek name there is no excuse a habit so deeply rooted that we may well despair of ever changing it. But it is Northern names that have received the hardest and most meaningless treatment : it is rare to find two books that spell the name, for instance, of a Scandinavian in the same way. English histories are the chief offenders here. I have seen Hakon spelt Hacon, Hako, Haco, and Hacho; for