Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/236

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192


NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. xn. SEPT. 4, igoo.


tion of " xx. [manentes] set Stoce juxta Scealdeburnan." In a charter of King Edgar, of similar purport, and dated A.D. 968, the " xx. manentes " are " set, Scealde- burnan stoce," a name which is repeated in the Anglo - Saxon version. The process seems to be that some one built a " stoke " on the banks of the " Scealde- burne," which was first called the stoke at the Scealdeburne, and then Scealde- burne- stoke; finally the "stoke" was dropped, and the place remained simply Scealdeburne. The same process is observ- able in a charter of King Edward the Elder, dated A.D. 900, where reference is made to " x. manentes in illo loco qui dicitur set Stoce be Hysseburnan." In later charters this place is simply Hysse- burne, which Thorpe identifies with Hurst- bourne in Hampshire.

Sometimes " ham " is employed instead of " stoke." In King Alfred's will the " ham set Lambburnan " is mentioned, with refer- ence to the modern Lambourn in Berkshire. This would probably become " Lambburne- ham," and in time the final "ham" would be dropped, just as " tun " has been dropped in " Angemseringtun," the modern Angmer- ing in Sussex.

There are, however, some apparent diffi- culties in the way of a full acceptance of PBOF. SKEAT'S view. Why should people forget the origin of the name of the stream because it is applied to the village ? Nothing is more permanent than the names of rivers. The Thames and the Severn, the Seine and the Loire, the Rhone and the Rhine, have not changed their names since Roman times, and had probably been known by those appellations for many centuries before Romulus was heard of. It seems, therefore, contrary to experience that the name, say, of the stream Milbourn should be forgotten because the village Milbourn was built, especially as the meaning of the word "bourn" was by no means forgotten. It was in common use long after the days of Leland. " Come o'er the bourn, Bessie, to me " was a favourite song in Queen Eliza- beth's time, and is quoted by Shakespeare in ' King Lear.' Knowing thus the meaning of " bourn," why should the villagers make a new compound, and invent the tautologous " bourn- water " ?

I will not take up space by saying more, but will confine myself to one point. It- might remove some doubts in my mind if the origin of ^the Low Latin word could be ascertained, of which the earlier form was butina, and the later form bodina or


bodena. From this word were derived the French bodne, bosne, bone, bonne, bonde, and borne, and the English bound and bourne in the sense of a boundary or limit.

W. F. PBIDEAUX.

'A SKETCH FBOM NATUBE ' (10 S. xii. 148). Though I cannot answer MB. HAYES'S question, he may like to make the acquaint- ance of " Observations on Early Rising and on Early Praying, as a Means of Happi- ness, and as an Incentive to Devotion. By Henry Erskine Head, A.M., Curate of Broom- field, Somerset," 12mo, Longman, 1828.

WM. H. PEET.

BAGNIGGE HOUSE (10 S. xi. 385). If the " satyr's head " is still in evidence between 61 and 63, King's Cross Road, it must, I think, be an imaginary restoration, for I have a tracing of the sculpture as it is recorded by the eminent antiquary Mr. E. B. Price in the Descriptive Index to vol. iii. of the * Publications of the Anti- quarian Etching Club,' 1852. The head is no more the head of a satyr than that of Bacchus himself ; but it does strongly resemble the Chandos portrait of Shake- speare without the tufted chin and mous- tache, and certainly it differs entirely from the illustration of it in Mr. Philijp Norman's ' London Signs and Inscriptions ' (1893, p. 195). The Descriptive Index alluded to says :

" 13. E. B. Price. Sculpture, Old Bagnigge Wells. This etching was made from a sketch taken in 1845. Since then the head has disappeared [the italics are mine], and the inscription has become scarcely discernible. It is placed over the door leading to the garden of Mr. Chapman, whose house and brewery adjoin. The fame of Bagnigge Wells and its tea gardens has long since faded away. Its arbours and its alcoves, its Cupids and its fountains, have all given place to bricks and mortar."

There is a very interesting account of Bagnigge Wells in Samuel Palmer's ' St. Pancras,' 1870, pp. 77-90. The etching of 1845 represents rather a death-mask. The eyes are closed, and it has neither beard nor head-dress, as in the so-called " satyr's head."

Punch in 1833 gave a humorous account of Bagnigge Wells, with woodcuts. See also Tomlins's * Perambulation of Islington,' 1858, pp. 163, 172 ; Wheatley's * Cunning- ham ' ; The City Press, 18 March, 1903, p. 4, col. 5 ; ' Ancient Tea-Gardens round London,' in The Mirror (date unnoted) ; Colman's ' Prologue to Bon-Ton,' 1775 ; Daily Telegraph, 21 March, 1903 ; Globe, 20 March, 1903 ; the Archer Collection in the British Museum (Print Department) ;