176
NOTES AND QUERIES, [lo* s. in. MARCH 4, 1905.
ledge of this thorny subject, but we are still
far from having that thorough and syste-
matic guidance for which we looked in vain
in 1884.
The following is a more probable etymology of the place-name Saxton than any of those offered by MR JAMES TALBOT, although, in the absence of a very early form of the word, it is impossible to be quite certain. If Mr. Searle's ' Onqmasticon Anglo-Saxonicum ' is referred to, it will be seen that "Seax" is the prototheme, or first constituent, of many Anglo-Saxon names. These protothemes in familiar intercourse, or even on more serious occasions, often received the termination -a, Seax, for instance, becoming Seaoca. Mr. Searle gives half-a-dozen instances of persons bearing the name of Seaxa, and it is probably from some one of this name that Saxton is derived, the original word being Seaxan-tiin, which in course of time would readily become Saxton. Or if the " eponymus ;J had a dithematic name, we might assume that he was Seaxhelm, who was Bishop of Chester-le- Street in 944, or some other worthy who had Seax as the first theme of his name.
That either the Yorkshire family of De Sexdecim Vallibus, which in English natur- ally became Sixtendale, <fcc., or the Kentish family of DeSeptem Vannis, which in Anglo- French was written Septvans, had any con- nexion with the place-name Saxton, cannot, I think, be easily accepted.
W. F. PRIDEAUX.
LUTHER FAMILY (10 th S.iii. 27). Dr. Taylor (or Taylor Gordon), who is given by MR. HELTON as a representative of the Luther family, was the great-grandson of Phila- delphia Gordon, daughter of General Patrick Gordon, the first Governor of Pennsylvania. This Patrick belonged to the family of Birsemore, cadets of the Gordons of Cluny, who were descended from the third Earl of Huntly. But recent investigation has gone to show that this earl's mother was not Princess Annabella Stuart, so that the " royal descent" of John Taylor Gordon collapses. When did this Taylor take the additional surname of Gordon ? and when did he die ? J. M. BULLOCU.
118, Pall Mall, S.W.
SIR ED-WIN ARNOLD (10 th S. ii. 286). MR. PICKFORD is correct in stating that there is a slight error in the inscription on the tablet placed in the Chapel of University College, Oxford, in memory of Sir Edwin Arnold, for he was not Newdigate Prizeman in 1853. I have a copy of his poem, which has on the title-page these words: "The Feast of Bel-
shazzar. A Prize Poem recited in the Theatre,
Oxford, June XXIIL, MDCCCLII., by Edwin
Arnold." Printed at Oxford by Francis
Macpherson, MDCCCLII. JAMES WATSON.
Folkestone.
" WHEN OUR OLD CATHOLIC FATHERS LIVED" (10 th S. iii. 109). About forty-five years ago the boys of the Christian Brothers' Schools, North Richmond Street, Dublin, were accustomed to sing the above song. I have never found it in any book ; but there hung upon the wall of one of the class-rooms a chart, upon which the song was printed, with a coloured illustration to each stanza. I remember the following stanza and the refrain :
They loved their Church, they loved their king,
They loved their freedom, too ; Their hands were quick for action,
And their hearts were brave and true. They dearly loved their merry land,
Its customs and its laws ; Right glad to tight for Ireland's rights, ) i* an . n ,
And bleed for Ireland's cause. J a epec
Refrain. And thus they passed a happy time,
As ev'ry one may know, When our old Catholic fathers lived. 1 />,
A long time ago. ')Sepeat.
It was set to the air of " The days when we went gipsying." P. C.
Dublin.
"Oil! THE PILGRIMS OF ZlON " (10 th S. iii.
109). A hymn with the refrain "Shout to the Lord of Glory!" was very common at negro revival meetings in the Southern States some twenty years since. I never heard the rest of the hymn, but the effect of some thousands of voices singing the refrain was very striking.
FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.
' REBECCA,' A NOVEL (10 th S. iii. 128). The cjuery of MR. E. S. DODGSON has greatly interested me, and I regret I am unable to answer it in a more satisfactory manner. The work mentioned, strange to say, is omitted by Mr. Rupert Simras from his ex- haustive 'Bibliotheca Staffordiensis,' 1894; consequently, I surmise ' Rebecca ' has escaped his notice.
The printer, Robert Richards, was born at Coventry, and was apprenticed on Aris's Gazette, Birmingham. When his apprentice- ship had expired he began business as a printer at Uttoxeter ; he was of Carter Street, 1818, and of High Street, 1834. He was post- master from 1793 to 1835, when he died. He married Miss Askin, of the " White Hart '* Hotel, Uttoxeter. 'Rebecca' was not the first three-volume work printed by Richards
