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subsequently Rector of Great Alne, Warwickshire. His Recollections of the Two S. Mary Winton Colleges' appeared in 1883. What else is known of him? When did he die? JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

THE SOCIAL USE OF NAMES.-We have departed a good deal from the

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THE PLACE-NAMES MEDMENHAM AND MEDMENNY. (clii. 257).

MR. ALFRED ANSCOMBE brings an array of personal names forward in support of his contention that this name is not formed of an adjectival prefix to the ending "ham"; and, from consideration of the

right. Mrs.

custom of our forbears in the use of Christian names. One has but to compare our use of them with that of Jane Austen, where for men the surname is in ordinary social use; and the contrast is still greater if we look back to such a book as Inchbald's Simple Story' where the heroine is always called Miss Milner," and, if I remember rightly, never has her Christian name revealed. It will be remembered that Sir Walter Scott in his Journal, except when writing under stress of emotion, calls his wife Lady Scott." I should be glad to know when this use of titles and surnames in speaking of and to relations and intimate friends was dropped for the Christian name. I suppose the moment and the circle would best appear from letters. In whose published letters is the change first seen?

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I should be grateful for similar information in regard to French usage. Is it at the present day usual for parents and grown-up sons and daughters to tutoyer one another? C. E. H.

SUPERNATURAL RELIGION AUTHOR WANTED.-In the Index of Pseudonyms, etc., which appears at the end of Chambers's Dictionary of Biography' (1889), the work Supernatural Religion is ascribed to one of three authors John Muir, Sir J. R. Seeley, or P. E. Pusey. Has it been definitely ascertained who wrote this book?

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meaning of " ham " alone, he is probably heim" or "home" would more frequently be distinguished by the name of the occupant than in any other way. Why, however, eliminate the n in the personal names and regard them as having ended in a was not the ending the man, ," and the meaning homo pure and simple? What for instance is the meaning of Medema, Mettema? MR. ANSCOMBE appeals to the Southern English names of Hampshire and Dorsetshire. I have encountered in the early documents. of Devonshire what I take to be the name in question; and have no doubt as to its meaning, as the noun is invariably preceded by the preposition 'le"; the individual was le metema."

In the earliest Guild Roll at Totnes, dat ing from the period 1200, the forty-third name is Adam le metema. The name soon became a puzzle to the early scribe and was probably pronounced, as it was certainly spelt, in different ways; which, however, assist us to arrive at the meaning of this distinguishing name. We find in the same Rolls, all early thirteenth century, the renderings:-metema; meteiva; metifa; metihma; le meteyeve (twice) and le meteyene. Thus they were carefully transcribed and indexed (Hist. of Totnes Priory and Medieval Town see Index) and making every allowance for mal-formation of n and u, the rendering metifa strongly suggests that the writers of the time were uncertain as to the correctness of metema or meteyeve.

In the archives of the Corporation of Dartmouth I have found two instances of, in all probability, the same individual as at Totnes, who seems to have migrated to Dartmouth about the year 1210, when the latter town was following the development of Totnes.

C. 1210 Adam le metehyve obtains messuage.

c. 1220 Adam le metheyve is grantor of a house.

5.

(To the latter deed is attached a seal upon which the name is fortunately imprinted EDY Metewwe.)

The name or occupation seems to disappear M. in the records of both towns, unless other forms can be recognized as descendants, which seems quite likely; we find "le Mey :both at Totnes and at Dartmouth; le and Mesurer at Totnes.

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In the cartulary of Torre Abbey (p. 156b), clearly written, is reference to land which Peter le metevue formerly held."

I have little doubt that the occupation of le metevue, le metewwe, or le metema was but a continuation of the Saxon maergerefa, found to-day in the zemlimaer or surveyor of Slavonic countries. He was the measureman whose act and presence was an essential of the law having once made his measure and set up his monolith or heap of stones, that mete was sacrosanct and woe unto him that removed a land-mark. The occupation was as ancient as necessary in the days of the hide, virgate, librate, ferling, carucate and solidata; and I consider that Medmenham or Metemannaham was the home of probably generations of measuremen whose special knowledge of mensuration would certainly pass from father to son with the necessary standard gauges.

HUGH R. WATKIN.

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tant differences." I have not observed any of the latter, but if they cannot be noticed, I should hardly expect to do so and should like some examples. H. N. A. CHARLES I AND THE BANQUETING HOUSE, WHITEHALL (clii. 117, 173, 210, 247, 282).-The position of the scaffold and of the window through which the King passed is very fully discussed in Whitehall and the execution of King Charles I' by writers as well as Sir Reginald Palgrave Canon Edgar Sheppard, who quotes early and Dean Stanley. In the end, he favours the opinion that the King was executed "" in the

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open street before Whitehall," the scaffold facing the Horse Guards and St. James' Park, "at the Gate of Whitehall.” Dean Stanley held the view that the structure was in front of the middle window."

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Hugh Owen writing in 1831 states that it was under "either the second or third window next Charing Cross," most probably the second; and that he had seen a stone "under the second or third window, in the foot of the pavement,' indicating the site of the scaffold. Respecting the passage broken through the wall" Canon Sheppard quotes Pennant: this passage still remains at the north end of the room and is at present the door to a small additional building." Vertue is then quoted as follows: out of scaffold to be beheaded, the window frame this window King Charles went upon the being taken out purposely to make the passage on to the scaffold." The window referred to was part of the small building at the north end of the Banqueting Hall referred to above by Pennant. This building appears to have been removed later and a Georgian entrance re-erected. Sir Reginald Palgrave concludes that the passage cut through the north wall is the existing doorway that now gives to Whitehall Chapel (as it was in Georgian times) and that the actual window was in a small building somewhat similar to that which now exists and in position corresponding with the window above the present entrance to the Banqueting Hall.

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The general inference appears to be that the passage cut through the wall exists as a doorway, but that the actual window through which the King passed on to the scaffold has disappeared.

Canon Sheppard also makes the statement that the front windows were not glazed but walled up at the time of the execution.

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This explanation regarding the particular century none belongs to a city, and chiefly window may also answer the question, Why they belong to quite small places. do the writers say the " great window and not "one of the great windows"? for in the

small building there was only one window on that floor.

I have read somewhere, but cannot now find the reference, that when the workman arrived to fix the existing tablet, no one could tell him under which window it should go, so it was decided for appearance' sake to put it under the centre one!

WALTER E. GAWTHORP.

96, High Road, N.2.

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EMEDY WORSE THAN THE DISEASE" (cli. 389, 431, 464; clii. 53).From Kaibara's 'Materia Medica of Japan,' Kyoto, 1709, tom, ii., we learn that thought akin to this has been expressed as follows in the Chinese History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku (ob. 92 A.D.): To leave diseases without applying remedies thereto would ever prove as salutary as a mediocre doctor's treatment." On this dictum Liu Chung-tah has commented thus: These words speak the veriest truth. When one is diseased and there is no skilled physician by, the best way for him is to calm himself and wait the arrival of the experienced doctor. But most friends of his, too eager in their wellwish for his life, hasten to rescue him at haphazard, make no choice of good and bad doctors, and make him continually take a hundred several drugs tout ensemble, which certainly would bring about his untimely end. They might boast that they have acted thus from the love of their friend; whereas the fact is, they have killed him." Indeed, the remedy is sometimes much worse than the disease!

KUMAGUSU MINAKATA.

Tanabe, Kii, Japan.

THE CIVIC MACE (clii. 170, 214, 246).

A full description and history of the mace, including the civic use of the mace will be found in Jewett and Hope's 'Corporation Plate,' 2 volumes, 4to. 1895. A large part of the introduction is devoted to the history of the mace, viz. pp. xxx.-lxii. and cxxi to cxxxii. MR. WATKIN should read the article. But it is clear from this that it was customary for mayors of the smallest boroughs to have one or more maces from an early period. Out of the dozen or so that actually survive from the fifteenth

A. J. H.

CLAUDIUS JAMES RICH (1787?-1821)

(clii. 262).-Claudius James Rich was born at Dijon in Burgundy, on March 28, 1787, but passed his childhood at Bristol In 1803 he was appointed a cadet in the East India Company's service. The direc tors were so much impressed by his linguistic attainments that they presented him with a writership on the Bombay establishment, thus changing his career from the military to the civil side. At the same time he was provisionally attached as secretary to the Egyptian Consul-General's staff in order to improve his knowledge of Arabic and Turkish. He embarked in 1804 in the Hindostan, which was burned in the Bay of Rosas, and escaped to the Catalonian coast. From here he made his way to Malta, after a stay in Italy. The Consul died before Rich could reach Egypt, and by permission of the Directors he prosecuted his oriental studies at Constantinople and Smyrna.

After several journeys into the interior of Asia Minor he was appointed assistant to Col. Missett, the new Consul-General in Egypt, and in this post perfected himself in Arabic. From Egypt he travelled in Mamluk disguise over a great part of Syria and Palestine, visited Damascus in the pilgrimage time, and even ventured to enter the great mosque, undetected. Thence by Mardin and Baghdad, he journeyed to Basra, where he took ship for Bombay arriving on Sept. 1, 1807. Here he resided with the Governor, Sir James Mackintosh, who fully endorsed Hall's eulogy. afterwards, on Jan. 22, 1808, Rich married Sir James's eldest daughter, and before he was 24 was appointed the East India Company's resident at Baghdad, "by mere merit."

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In 1813 ill-health compelled Rich and his wife to go for change of air to Constanti nople, where he stayed with Sir Robert Liston, the ambassador, and in 1814 he prolonged his journey through the Balkan provinces to Vienna, and thence to Paris. It is stated that Rich had been appointed to an important office at Bombay by Monstuart Elphinstone, when he was attacked by cholera, during a visit to Shiraz, while exerting himself to help the sick and allay the panic among the inhabitants. His promising career was thus cut short at the age of 33 on Oct. 5, 1820. He lies in the

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Jan Numa, one of the royal gardens at Shiraz, in which he was living at the time f his death.

For fuller details see the 'D.N.B.' and Rose's Biographical Dictionary.'

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ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

There is an account of him in the D.N.B.,' which says he was born at Dijon in 1787 and died of cholera at Shiraz in 1820. His Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan and on the site of Ancient Ninevah was edited by his widow, who was Mary daughter of Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832), and a half-sister of Robert James Mackintosh (as to whom see cxlvii. 373; cxlviii. 52). It is reviewed at length the front and second pages of Athenæum of March 26, 1836.

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JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

HE OLDEST SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND. THE (clii. 47, 83, 103, 140, 158, 190, 214, 232, 250, 267).—In reply to the remarks made by S." at p. 250, my authority for giving the foundation date of the Modern School, Bedford, as 1566, at p. 158, is the following:-Paton's List of Schools and "The Modern Tutors,' 1926 Edition, p. 312. School, Bedford, Founded 1566. Head Master:-H, W. Liddle, M.A., . Cantab. This Modern School is one of the well-known Harpur Trust Schools of Bedford and is the great centre for the education of children whose parents are abroad.

In my list of Schools on p. 141 I included the Bedford School. This School is one of the sixteen grammar schools licensed by Letters Patent of King Edward VI in 1552. It was endowed by Sir William Harpur, Knt., Merchant Taylor, Sheriff, and Lord Mayor of London in 1566, but seems to have bren the continuation of a school which

existed before the Conquest. Owing to the increase in number, the School was transferred, in January, 1892, to a new site, the new buildings on which were opened on 29 Oct., 1891. (Public Schools Year Book,'

1926 Edition, p. 15.)

The following School should be added to the list of Schools:

Foundation Latymer School. 1624.
ALFRED SYDNEY LEWIS.
Librarian.

Constitutional Club, W.C.2. MR. LEWIS refers to the Royal Grammar School here. Perhaps your readers will like to be directed to an interesting article on the School which the late William Oliver

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REV EV. JOHN OWEN (clii. 245).—The Rev. John Owen, Rector of East Anstey, Devon, was born at Cardigan, the county town, in 1833 and died in 1896. His father was a school-master at Cardigan and afterwards at Pembroke where the Rev. John ·

Owen was brought up. He was educated at St. David's College, Lampeter. It is erroneously stated in Eminent Welshmen (T. R. Roberts) p. 382, that he was born at Pembroke. MR. WILLIAMS may find a full biographical sketch of the Rev. John Owen in a certain number of the Welsh quarterly, Y Geninen, the article was penned by the Rev. A. S. Thomas (Anellydd), rec

tor of St. Nicholas, Pembrokeshire.

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often had pieces to upholster with the upholsterer's name inside, and now and again with writing similar to what your enquirer found. It would appear to be a very old custom. In the room in which I am writing this is a walnut-wood bureau (it has been in my possession since 1868, and was my great-grandfather's). On the bottom of the first long drawer is written in ink " 'N.B. 1719 made by Nathaniel Baines from Norwich."

My great-grandfather Edmund Gower was a miller at Wramplingham, a few miles south of Norwich.

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JOHN ABSOLON, WATER COLOUR ARTIST (clii. 263).-John Absolon was born at Lambeth on May 6, 1815; began painting poprtraits in oil in 1830. He became a member of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1861; hon. member 1888 to death; treasurer 1867 to 1887. Member of the Institute of Painters in Oil

Colours 1883-7. Exhibited sixteen pictures at the Royal Academy, seven at the British Institute, twenty-two at Suffolk Street, 660 at the New Water Colour Society, and three at various exhibitions. He was granted a civil list pension of £50 on May 24, 1890. Died at 52, Chetwynd Road, Highgate Hill, on June 26, 1895. An account of him, which may give some intimate details of his life appeared in the International Magazine (1885) p. 108. ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

THOMAS STEPHENS, TRANSLATOR OF STATIUS (clii. 225).-Thomas Stephens was admitted sizar at Jesus College, Cambridge on Nov. 14, 1629. Matricu lated 1629; Scholar, 1623; B.A., 1633-4; M.A., 1637; D.D., 1661 (Lit. Reg). He was ordained priest at Norwich, Dec. 20, 1640. Master of Bury St. Edmunds Grammar School, 1638-45, and 1647-63. Became Rector of Lackford, Suffolk in 1662-77, and Rector of Fen Ditton, Cambs. 1665-77. He died at Cambridge on July 2, 1677.

A retrospective review of his works will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1850 (vol. xxxiii N.S.) pp. 35-40.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON (clii. 222, 266).-The following works may be found useful to Mr. PAINE:

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Burghersh, Lady P. Correspondence with the Duke of Wellington 80. London (1903).

Chambers, W. & R.- Papers for the People

vol. xii.

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Clinton, H. R.- The War in the Peninsula' (1882).

Stanhope, P., Earl.- Conversations with the Duke of Wellington' (1889).

Swinton, Hon. Mrs. J. R.-Life of Georgiana, Lady de Ros; with some reminiscences of her family and friends, including the Duke of Wellington' 80. London (1893). Thornton, P. M.- Foreign Secretaries of the xix century' vol. iii. (1882).

PORTRAITS

J. F. B. (clii. 260).Bernard Gardiner, Warden of All Souls' (Rector of Hawarden 1714-1726). There is a portrait in All Souls' College.

W. BELL JONES.

College there is a portrait believed to be In the Warden's Lodgings of All Souls' that of Warden Bernard Gardiner, who died 1726. See Mrs. R. Poole's Catalogue, Vol. ii., p. 188.

KE

W. H. QUARRELL. ENSINGTON GRAVEL PITS (clii. 170. 193, 268)." In 1651, two acres of land, part of what was known as the Kensington Gravel Pits, was conveyed by deed of feoffment to twelve parishioners. Tradition ascribes this gift to Oliver Cromwell. Upon this land now stand 51 private houses in Clanricarde Gardens, Notting Hill Gate, and six shops in the High Street." (Ernest P. Woolf, History of Portobello Road.' No d., p. 27).

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B. J. L.

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