1294
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vn. OCT. 9 , mo.
ALDGATE AND WHITECHAPEL (9 S. iv. 168,
- 269, 385, 441 ; v. 34, 134). The meaning of
""Aldgate" was discussed in *N. & Q.' -.twenty years ago, and Mr. Henry Harben, jdn his 'A Dictionary of London,' 1918, 'brings up once more the earliest form of the fiiame that is known and tacitly abandons it.
Personally, I think it was wise of Mr. Haroen
- to treat it in that way. This form, "Ealse-
-gate," appears in Herman's ' De Miraculis .Sancti Edmundi ' (c. ]095), edited in Rerum .Britt. Scriptores, No. 96, by Mr. Thomas
Arnold, 1890. Mr. W. H. Stevenson cited sit in 1897 in The English Historical Review,
xii. p. 491, and dubiously derived it from Ealh [gen. edles]. He referred. to that in the -discussion in ' N. & Q. ' and, having assumed vthat es suffered metathesis into se, suggested 'two more derivations, namely, Ealu and
Alusa. The general reader, therefore, can
take his choice of Ealh or Ealu or Alusa.
But each of these leads to a cul-de-sac, where
- !he is concerned.
In " Ealsegate " we have a unique form -that never appears again. The regular
West Saxon "Ealle-", for Eallan, is known,
- and the eleventh-century author Herman
tells us that he compiled his work partly
from oral tradition and partly from an old
manuscript written in a very difficult and crabbed way: " calamo. . . .difficillimo, et
ut ita dicam, adamantine "; 'Prologue, 1
p. 27, u.s., 1. 3. The general reader, there- fore, is justified in asking Can "Ealse- gate " be a scribal mistake for Eallegate ?
Well, s does appear in place of Z in early
medieval script in England, and, moreover, ,<l sometimes appears for s. The latter con- fusion sets us upon the right track and such
scribal errors in the ' Historia Brittonum, ' .and elsewhere, as Cair legeint, lignum,, and
poluistis, for "Cair Segeint," " signum " -and "posuistis," indicate the use of an s
which suggested I to inexperienced readers. 'This particular s can only have been one of
the reverted type, namel}^ i, ana it is quite .easy to' see that carelessness in marking the .stem of I, and diminution of its height,
would suggest this reverted letter to one
who could not identify a proper name sueh
as Eallegate.
The six following errors will, I feel sure,
-convince the fair-minded reader of the
possibility postulated :
1. Concilium for concilium, a mis-spelling
of conchylium, in ' A Latin and Anglo-Saxon 'Glossary,' ed. J. H. Hessels, 1890, from a
Oorpus Christi College (Cambridge) MS. of
ribhe eigHth century.
2. Wandesberie for Wcendelberie in the
Domesday Record for Oxfordshire, fo. 160.
3. Hiresgas for Hirelgas in Master Wace's 'Roman de Brut,' c. 1155.
4. Estut for Eltut, a dialectical form of "Iltut," in the 'Historia f Brittonum,' cap. 71, p. 216, MS. Q., thirteenth century.
5. Percusa for Pertula in the ' Itinerarium Antonini,' Gallia, MS. G (now lost), edd. Parthey and Finder, 1848..
6. Durosipons for Durolipons, a mis- reading (?) of Camden's ; cp. " Durolisponte " in Pseudo -Richard, Iter XVII.
ALFRED ANSCOMBE.
SILVER WINE CISTERNS FOR COOLINO WINE BOTTLES (12 S. vii. 250). Jackson in the second volume of his ' Illustrated History of English Plate ' treats of these and mentions one belonging to the Duke of Cumberland which is 35 inches long and weighs 1,930 ozs., with maker and hall-mark, David Willaume, 1708-9. The Duke of Portland has one 27 inches long and 14 inches high, weighing 365 ozs. The one at the Winter Palace, Petrograd, is 8,000 ozs., made in 1734 by Charles Kandler. The Duke of Rutland has a cistern dated 1681, which is 48 inches long and weighs 2,000 ozs. Was it not a fountain which Plymouth presented to King Charles II. in 1680, and not a cistern ? ARCHIBALD SPARKE.
Cripps illustrates the wine cistern of 1734, now as formerly at the Winter Palace Petrograd, and states it was made by Charles Kandler, in London, and weighed nearly 8,000 ounces. Cripps refers to the Welbeck cistern of 1682, and to one of 1667. He alludes to the doubt as to whether these very large pieces of plate were wine cisterns in fact, or rather cisterns for washing forks and spoons in. A large wine cooler formerly belonged to the Marquesses of Hastings and from them descended to the Countess of Loudoun and Lord Donington. who died in 1895. It was a German piece of about 1750, and weighed (with its wooden box) nearly 780 ounces. W. H. QUARRELL.
Wine coolers are fairly common, and may be met with at silversmith's and antique furniture shops. They are not always of pure silver. I had a pair in heavy Sheffield plate some years ago, which I disposed of to a member of the family in Virginia, whose ancestral arms were engraved thereon.
So far as memory serves the details were these approximately: height, 20 inches weight,
