514
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io th s. v. JUNE 30, im
McMrjRRAY, the street was named Gresham
Street.
In the ' Catalogue of Ancient Deeds in the Record Office' (vol. iii. A. 4519) the form " Catte strete " occurs in a release of 11 Henry VI.
A writer at 8 th S. vii. 206 suggests that the old name " Catte strete " or " Cat strete" is derived from one Sampson le Chat, angli- cized "The Cat," who possessed property there in the reign of King John, his principal house being the corner spot which now faces the church of St. Lawrence Jewry. But he gives no authority for these statements.
H. A. HARBEN.
DR. LETSUM OR LETTSOM (10 th S. v. 148, 191, 210, 393). There is a variation in the spelling of this name and some indication of its pronunciation in the last stanza of 'A Journey to Epsom Races ' (' Poems on Various Subjects,' by R. K[emmich], of Camberwell, 1815 :
Next morn, it was enough to vex one,
A bill was brought from Doctor Lettsome ;
The bill was due that very day,
And pa had not enough to pay,
For what was sav'd to pay poor Lettsome
Was spent the day before at Epsom.
It is worth noting that he was living in Basinghall Street, 1794-7.
ALECK ABRAHAMS. 39, Hillmarton Road, N.
SOCIETY LADIES (10 th S. y. 469). I seem to remember the paper to which the HON. MRS. HALFORD refers, but venture to think it appeared nearly twenty years ago or there- abouts. It was called, if I remember rightly, either The Swallow or The Magpie ; anyhow, it had the picture of a bird on the cover. It appeared during only one season, and used to be on sale at Hyde Park Corner, and at the old newsman's at the corner of Knights- bridge (he has now disappeared). I had copies of the first few numbers, but cannot now find them. FRANK SCHLOESSER.
15, Grosvenor Road, S.W.
HOLBORN (10 th S. ii. 308, 392, 457, 493; iii. 56, 234 ; v. 295, 338, 354). The contention of PROF. SKEAT and COL. PRIDEAUX does not require any endorsement on the part of such as myself. Of course Domesday Book is a more ancient record than Stow, Camden, and Munday. It, however, appears to me that is rather wide of the mark. Their claim to veneration is not sufficient, for me at least, to warrant my depending on all found in any of them. I require to compare authorities, and other writers, as near as possible of the same period. All the authori-
ties, although differing on some, are reliable
on many points, but not all. The following,
[ think, should be added to the notes which
lave appeared on the subject. They are
earlier records than the PROFESSOR refers to
n his reply at p. 338, and are evidence of
what I have said with regard to the necessity
of comparing authorities on a given subject,
and other writers, not necessarily on the
actual subject under consideration. In the
bypaths of history, &c., there is often found
information (confirmatory or otherwise) on
many points which is lacking, or unobtain-
able, in any recognized, so-called history.
In the Fine Rolls, 42 Henry III., i.e., 1258, before the Justices at Westminster, in a matter between "William le Bacheler and Isabella his wife " and '* Simeon de Gardio " and others, mention is made of tenements " in the ways of Holeburn and Purtpol, in the suburb of London."
The * French Chronicle of London ' (edited by Henry Thomas Riley, M.A., 1863, p. 252), in July, 1316-7, refers to " vast damage to Flete Bridge and to Holborne Bridge."
In " an inquisition taken at Holbourne in the county of Middlesex" (44 Edward III., i.e., 1371) Roger Leget and others say that Reginald de Grey of Wilton "did not hold lands," &c., on the day of his death, "in the county aforesaid," but admit that "a certain inn in Portepole, near Holbourn," was held by him u as of fee, 3 ' &c.
In Lambard's ' Chief Places in England,' &c., written before Camden, mention is made of Holburn in 1249, and "that Paris hathe mention that in the king's time [Henry III.] al the Fryers of that order [Friar Preachers] within this Realme met theare."
ALFRED CHAS. JONAS, F.S.A. Scot.
Thornton Heath.
RIME v. RHYME (10 th S. v. 469). Although I have written so much on this subject, I hope I may still be allowed to add a word.
The statement that "if our current English is to be thus judged, condemned, and executed, we shall have lost our mother tongue," is one with which I most deeply sympathize.
But such "judgment" is not the way of modern philologists, who merely wish to correct what has gone wrong. The crime was really a great one, but it was committed in the sixteenth century, in the sacred name of "revival of learning." There were ignorant pedants in those days, who thought tit to display their learning by introducing
