300 REVIEWS OF BOOKS April Many years ago, I suggested that it might denote the abode of a squatter, who had settled on a piece of land ' without the owner's consent ' ( wsj> hldfordes unfiances). But Mr. Mawer may be right in seeing in the name an allusion to the ' ungrateful ' character of the soil. Esperley (Esperdeslegh, 1230) and Esper-Shields (Esperdosele, 1225, Estberdesheles, 1230) seem certainly to contain the genitive of a personal name. But there is no analogy for such a name as *JEspheard, and its existence is not rendered more credible by the remark that ' as aspen wood is very soft, the name was probably ironical in its original application '. It seems possible that the name was *Easibeorht, which, though not recorded, is at any rate formed from elements that are common in personal nomen- clature. In the thirteenth century the spellings Estberdes- and Esperdes- are not surprising. Mr. Mawer may be right in regarding the first element in Elchester, Helchester, Oulchester, and Rudchester as of English origin. But the etyma proposed, although quite possible, afe not so convincing as to exclude the possibility that any one of these names may (like Manchester, Gloucester, Dorchester, and many other ' chesters ') contain the first syllable of the older British name. On the other hand, it is not certain that Binchester is the Omvvomov of Ptolemy. The continental analogues cited to show that a primitive Celtic W may yield B in modern names prove nothing for this country ; and the author's reference to ' Richard of Cirencester's Benonis for Venonis ' must surely be a mere slip: he can hardly be unaware that the itinerary of the pseudo-Richard is an eighteenth- century forgery. Although I have found a good deal to criticize in the details of Mr. Mawer's work, I wish to reaffirm the high estimate of its value that I expressed at the beginning of this article. In the present state of the study of place-names, no single investigator, however able and diligent, can escape falling into a number of mistakes which he would have avoided if he had had the opportunity of discussing every problem with his fellow- workers. Henry Bradley.
