78
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[9 th S. I. JAN. 22, '98.
MRS. W. WEST (8 th S. xii. 507). The
Christian name of this lady was Sarah.
There are portraits of her, as Portia, in Cum-
berland's 'British Theatre,' and as Desdemona
and Cordelia in Oxberry's acting edition of
plays WM. DOUGLAS.
125, Helix Road, S.W.
TODMOEDEN (9 th S. i. 21). Your correspond- ent says there is an "erroneous impression" as to the etymology of Todmorden. This may probably have arisen from a confusion between Todmorden in Yorkshire and Tad- marton in Oxfordshire. We do not know with certainty the meaning of the first, as we possess no early form of the name, which does not appear even in Domesday. But the guess that it means Fox-moor-valley is not improbable. In Tadmarton, in Oxfordshire, we have, however, an A.-S. form, since, in a charter of King Eadwig (see Birch's ' Cartu- larium Saxonicum,' vol. iii. p. 148 ; or Kemble, ' Cod. Dipl.,' Nos. cccliii. and mcxcv.), dated in A.D. 956, it appears as Tddemcertun, which can only mean the " tun by the frog-pool." The A.-S. tdde exhibits the vowel which is preserved in tadpole. ISAAC TAYLOR.
Sweet gives mordenu, swampy valley. It is possible that the prefix is A.-S. tddige, once written tadde, M.E. tode or toode, a toad. Compare, however, Tod wick, near Kotherham.
S. O. ADDY.
GEORGE PETER ALEXANDER HEALY (8 th S. xii. 387). I remember an account of the demise of this once well-known American artist (who appears in the Longfellow ' Memoirs ') within a year or two. His reminiscences, edited by himself, came out recently, published by A. C. McClurg & Co., of Chicago, Illinois, a highly respectable firm, which doubtless could furnish exact date of death if your inquirer would put herself in communication with them. C.
Mr. Healy died in Chicago 24 June, 1894. Appleton's ' Annual Encyclopedia,' vol. xix., for 1894, p. 580, gives a sketch of his life and works. F. J. P.
Boston, Mass.
BREWSTER'S ' LIFE OF NEWTON ' (9 th S. i. 43), Probably MR. LYNN is not aware that the Newton window in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, is a standing joke, on account of its treble anachronism. Alma Mater is represented as presenting Newton to George III., and Bacon assists as recorder Doubtless this triumph of pictorial imagina tion was intended to show that Newton was honoured here by posterity and acknowledgec in the unseen world by his predecessors. The
window was the work of Peckitt, of York, in
775. See 'D. N. B.,' xliv. 197; and Prof. Sir
Gr. M. Humphry's ' Guide to Cambridge,' sixth
edition, 1894, p. 213. W. C. B.
CORBELS (8 th S. xii. 428, 496). My thanks ire due to two of your correspondents for nformation as to corbels ; but my curiosity )eing not entirely appeased, I beg to reword
my question thus : What is the earliest date
- hat I could assign to square corbels, set
straight and not lozenge wise, as the termina- tion of a rectangular label or dripstone, over i straight-headed window ? I have seen them
represented in engravings of Boringdon House the oldest parts of which are of the fourteenth
century), of Marston Church, Oxon, c. 1520,
and of Tickenham Court, temp. Henry IV.,
early fifteenth century.
ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES.
THE EARL OF DUNFERMLINE (8 th S. xii. 489). The above title was granted to Alex- ander, fourth son of George, fifth Lord Seton, and brother of Robert, first Earl of Wintoun. It was forfeited in 1690. Crawfurd's * Peerage of Scotland,' 1716, says :
' So that the Honour by Reason of the entail to Heirs Male wou'd descend to George Seton of Barns, descended of Sir John Seton, Knight, immediate elder Brother to Alexander first Earl of Dumferm- ling, were it not for the Forfaulture."
JOHN RADCLIFFE,
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
A New English Dictionary. Edited by James A. H.
Murray. Vol. IV. Frank-law Fyz ; G Gain-
coming. Edited by Henry Bradley, M. A. (Oxford,
Clarendon Press. )
THE results of the extra energy thrown into the work of the 'Historical English Dictionary' be- come abundantly manifest, and the accelerating progress of the book is equally a subject of con- gratulation as boon and augury. With the appear- ance of a double part, issued with the new year, we find ourselves well advanced in the letter G, and no longer, accordingly, among the opening letters of the alphabet. With this section are delivered the dedication of the ' Dictionary,' by permission, to the Queen, and other prefatory matter connected with the letter F, including many particulars that will be read with extreme interest. A conspicuous feature in the half -volume comprising F is the total absence of words directly taken from the Greek, with which, if F were used as the equivalent of Phi, it would be crowded. F is also remark- able as containing no words beginning with Latin prefixes, which in all earlier letters are necessarily numerous. Of all the other various sources which have contributed to the formation of our language it is full. Turning, however, to the special con- tents of the present part, we find with how much zeal the task of keeping the work up to date is performed. Among the half-dozen emendations
