424
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9< s. n. NOV. 26, m
been puzzled by the name 'Aluredus,' which is
common enough in Domesday. Mr. Freeman looked
on those who bore it as Alfreds and Englishmen;
but it was really a Breton name, and seems to
represent AuvreV
I have been long interested in Alured Corn- burgh; and, in the hope of ascertaining something further concerning him, I ask permission to give the following particulars gathered some years since :
" In the thirty-third year of the reign of Henry VI. (1454-5) ' Aluendus Corneburgh' was appointed by patent ' Controrotulator omnium minerar' auri, argenti, &c. Regis in comitatibus Devon' et Cornub' ad p'litum Regis' (' Calendar! um Rotulorum Patentium,' p. 296 b); and in 1460-1 (39 Henry VI.) there was further granted by that king to Alvere- dus Corneburgh ' Custodiam Castri de lliaunceston, ac Officium Feodarii & Escsetoris Regis, Ducatus Cornubiae ad Vitam,' &c. (Originalia, 39Henrici VI., Rotulo 10, Jones's 'Index to the Records,' vol. ii., Addenda). This was the last year of Henry VI. 's reign, but Corneburgh was evidently in equal favour with the victorious Yorkists who overthrew that monarch. As 'Alver Cordburgh' he figures in the accepted list of Sheriffs of Cornwall as having held the shrievalty in 1465 and 1469; and his name twice occurs as the collector of a subsidy during the reign of Edward IV. Among the ' Lay Subsidies of the Exchequer ' one (87-102) is the account of ' Alvered Cornebury,' late Sheriff of Cornwall, of the 'Alien Subsidy' granted at Reading, March 6th, 31 Henry VI. (1453), the collection being from Michaelmas 4 Edward IV. (1464) to the next Michaelmas, William Beare (or Bere), the Sheriff for 1465-6, being the next to account; while another (87-101) is the account of 'Alvered Cornburgh, esq.,' Sheriff of Cornwall, collector of the alien subsidy of 16rf., Qd., 40s., and 20s., granted at the date and place before men- tioned, and collected from Michaelmas 8 Ed- ward IV. (1468) to the next Michaelmas. The accepted list of sheriffs gives Sir John Colshull of Tremadart as Bere's successor in 1466-7; but in the Launceston Mayor's Accounts of 6 Edward IV. (1466-7) is an entry of a payment for wine given to Aluered Cornburgh, Sheriff of Cornwall (Peter's ' History of Launceston,' p. 148). And in the ' Grants, &c., from the Crown during the Reign of Edward the Fifth' (published by the Camden Society in 1854) it appears (p. 44) that Alveredus Cornburgh was appointed to the controllership of the coinage of tin in Cornwall and Devon, May 19, 1 Edw. V. (1483); and he seems from the Harleian MSS. (433 art. 1421) to have been also under-treasurer of Cornwall." Western Antiquary, vol. x. p. 40.
To these particulars I would nowadd that "Alveredus Corneburgh, armiger," was re- turned for Cornwall to the Parliament of Edward IV. summoned to meet at Westminster on 3 June, 1467, and as "Alfredus Corn- burgh" was elected for Plymouth to the Parliament summoned for 16 Jan., 1477/8. It is further to be noted that in a letter of 15 July, 1462(?), from John Kusse to John Paston, referring to one Thomas Chapman, "an evyl disposyd man al wey ayens you," the writer adds :
"The seyd Chapman supporters is Blakeney r
clerk of the sygnet, and Avery Cornburght, yomaa
of the Kynges chaumbre. He hathe here of Avereyes
xxiiij. tune wyn, whereof at the long wey he shal
make the seyd Averey a lewd rekenyng." (Jaird-
ner's edition of the ' Paston Letters,' vol. ii. p. 107.
DUNHEVED.
THE CONSONANTAL COMBINATION "ST."- Under the heading ' Modestest' (ante, p. 351)- DR. SPENCE affirms his conviction that "modestest" is a very ugly word, while MR.. YARDLEY pronounces just the opposite opinion. Tastes differ, but I agree with DR. SPENCE, and take occasion to add that the st sound is far too prevalent in our language. It seems to- me only a barbarous ear that prefers "amidst," "amongst," "betwixt," "whilst," to "amid/' "among," "between," "while." "Against" might be added to these, but it is no longer permissible to use " again," as it formerly was and in dialect still is. " Alongst " is for- tunately obsolete. Harshness is imparted to- the spoken language by the use of the st forms, owing to the aggregation of so many consonants, even before a word commencing; with a vowel, "amongst" and "whilst being hideous. But the cacophony is much aggravated when they precede a word begin- ning with two or three consonants in such verbal collocations, for instance, as "whilst dreading " and " amongst strangers," the latter pair presenting a concourse of seven consonants. The employment of these forms,, eschewed by the Authorized Version of the Scriptures,* is a sin against etymology as- well as against euphony, for the final t in all is the work of corruption. Yet I have known, writers alter "while" and "among" in printers' proofs to " whilst " and " amongst,' ignorant probably of the existence, certainly of the propriety, of the former. F. ADAMS.
Two QUOTATIONS. Quotations in the- issues of the Times and of the Globe respec- tively of the last few days suggest to me the following note, which may be useful.
1. "Mend or end." Some fourteen years- ago, when the House of Lords was not in the height of popularity with one of the great political parties in the State, a well-known leader on its side gave vogue to the saying that the House "must either be mended or ended."
In the Times of 23 October, 1884, 1 recalled the alliteration, as dating from at least as- early as 1584, from Lyly's 'Alexander and Campaspe,' Act V. sc. iv. :
- There are three examples therein of "betwixt,"
and one (Matt. v. 25) of the archaic adverbial form "whiles." Elsewhere "among," "between," and "while" are invariably used.
