Part 9

=Oxford= derived its name from the _Ox-ford_ over the Isis; =Hertford=, from the ford crossed by harts; =Hereford=, from the army ford; and =Stafford=, from the ford crossed by means of staves or stilts. =Bedford= is a contraction of _Bedican ford_, the Anglo-Saxon for “the protected ford.” =Cambridge= owes its name to the University town by the bridge over the _Cam_, or crooked river [_see_ CAMBERWELL]. =Huntingdon= was anciently a great deer forest, and therefore much resorted to for hunting. =Northampton= is a corruption of _North-avon-town_, alluding to its position north of the river _Neu_, in olden times known as the Avon. =Rutland= expresses the Anglo-Saxon for “red land,” referring to the colour of its soil. =Warwick= is the modern description of the Anglo-Saxon _Waer-wic_, signifying the garrison, or war town. =Nottingham= is a corruption of _Snotingaham_, “the place of caves,” so called on account of the soft sandstone which so greatly facilitated the formation of caverns during the early history of our country; as _e.g._, “Mortimer’s hole,” and the subterranean passage that led thereto from Nottingham Castle in the reign of Edward III. =Derby= is a contraction of the Saxon _Deer-by_, or “wild-beast village,” doubtless so designated from its frequent invasion by strange animals from the mountainous district of “The Peak” in search of prey. =Shropshire= denotes the Shire of _Scrobbesburgh_, the Anglo-Saxon for “shrub-town,” modified by the Normans into _Sloppesburie_ (from which the present town of =Salop= derived its name), and corrupted in modern times into =Shrewsbury=. =Monmouth= indicates the county that includes the mouth of the _Mon_, originally described as the _Mynwy_, “the border river.”

=Anglesea=, properly _Anglesey_ [_see_ CHELSEA, &c.], is one of the three counties of Wales whose names are not essentially Welsh. Thus, =Glamorgan= signifies the _Gwlad-Morgan_, or territory of Morgan, a chieftain who lived in the tenth century; =Brecknock= is the hill of Brecon, or Brychan, a Welsh prince; =Radnor= is a modern spelling of _Rhiadnwr-Gwy_, meaning “the Cataract of the Wye”; =Montgomery= refers to the fortress built on the _mont_, or height, by Roger de Montgomerie, in 1093; =Denbigh= was originally _Dinbach_, the Celtic and Cymric for “a little fort”; =Flint= was so called from the quantity of quartz found in this county; =Carnarvon= owes its origin to _Cær-yu-ar-Fon_, the _cær_, or fortress, on the _arfon_, or water; =Carmarthen= denotes the fortress erected by Merlin; =Merioneth= was named after Merion, an early British saint; =Cardigan= indicates the territory of Ceredig, a Welsh chieftain; while =Pembroke= signifies the _pen_, or head of the _broc_, the Celtic and Cymric for a district, so called because this promontory was virtually the Land’s End.

_CARRIAGES._

The =Phaeton= owes its designation to the mythological personage of that name who received permission to drive the sun-car of Helios, his father, for one day, with the result that, being overthrown, he nearly set the world on fire. The =Victoria= was introduced in the year that witnessed the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The =Clarence= was the favourite conveyance of the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV. The =Brougham=, invented in 1839, received its name from Lord Brougham, who was the first to permanently adopt it; and the same may be said of the =Stanhope=, so called in compliment to Lord Stanhope. The =Sociable= is an appropriate name enough for an open carriage of which the facing seats afford opportunity for pleasant conversation. The =Landau= was first made at Landau in Germany; whereas the =Tilbury= perpetuates the name of a celebrated London sportsman who introduced this particular species of carriage during the early part of the present century.

The small, light, one-horse vehicle known as a =Dog-cart= is so called because such a one was originally constructed for sportsmen to drive their pointers and setters (which they kept in a box under the seat) to the scene of the sport. The term =Buggy= is a corruption of _Bourgeois_, a French name indicating a vehicle intended for the middle classes so denominated; while =Gig= is a contraction of the Italian _giga_, a romp, and the French _gigue_, a lively dance, a jig, in allusion to its jumping and rocking motion. The like derivation applies to the long, light ship’s wherry which passes under the same name. The term =Sulky=, as applied to a light two-wheeled conveyance, owed its origin to the fact that, when it was introduced, people hazarded the opinion that none but sulky, morose, and selfish people would ride in such a carriage, because it had only accommodation for one person. The =Noddy=, peculiar to Dublin, derives its title from the jolting motion which keeps its riders continually nodding; and the =Jaunting Car=, from the jaunts and country outings for which, on the other side of the Irish Sea, these vehicles are largely employed. The English =Break= bears its name because it partakes of the character of the four-wheel vehicle used by horse-breakers; indeed, it differs from the latter only in the addition of the upper portion containing the seats.

=Stage-coaches= were originally so called on account of the different stages at which they stopped to change horses and refresh the passengers. =’Bus= is short for =Omnibus=, a Latin word signifying “for all.” The step at the back of an omnibus is facetiously styled the =Monkey-board=, in consequence of the capers usually executed thereon by the conductor. The board on either side of the roof of the vehicle, upon which theatrical and other advertisements are exhibited is known as the =Knife-board=, from its fancied resemblance to that article of domestic utility. So far from having derived its name from one of the northern suburbs of London, a =Hackney-coach= is simply an English rendering of _coche-a-haquence_, the literal French for a coach drawn by a hired horse. The word =Coach= (French, _coche_, the diminutive of the Italian _conchula_, a shell) really means a shell-like contrivance upon wheels. =Cab= is a contraction of the =Cabriolet=, from _cabriole_, a goat’s leap, in allusion to its lightness and springiness, first introduced in Paris. This vehicle, after undergoing sundry changes and improvements, was patented in the year 1883 as the “Safety Cab” by Joseph Aloysius Hansom, from which circumstance it has in more recent times come to be generally designated the =Hansom Cab=.

The term =Hearse= traces its origin through the German _hirsch_ from the Gothic _hersa_, a sepulchral mound. At a later date it implied a temporary monument, but nowadays it denotes the funeral car. The word =Funeral=, by the way, is a contraction of the Latin _funeralis_, signifying a torchlight procession, from _funis_, a torch, because interments among the Romans always took place by night. =Pantechnicon= is a Greek word, composed of _pan_, all, and _techne_, art, indicative of the place where every kind of industrial art was exhibited or exposed for sale. In modern days the term has come to be exclusively applied to a vehicle constructed for the removal of household furniture. Lastly, the cloth that covers the box-seat of a carriage of any kind is called the =Hammer-cloth=, because in the old coaching days it concealed the box which contained a hammer, nails, and other implements useful for repairs in the event of a breakdown on the journey.

_DANCES._

Dancing is styled the =Terpsichorean Art= in honour of Terpsichore, the daughter of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, whom the ancients regarded as its inventress. The =Morris Dance=, from which our “Jack in the Green” and his fellow May-day revellers trace their origin, was the military dance of the Moors, or Moriscoes, introduced into this country by John of Gaunt on his return from Spain in the reign of Edward III. Five men and a boy took part in it, and from the fact of the boy wearing an ill-fitting helmet called a _morione_, he received the name of “Mad Morion,” which was subsequently corrupted into =Maid Marian=. The =Saraband= was invented by Zarabanda, a famous dancer of Seville in the sixteenth century. The =Gavotte= arose among the Gavots, a people who inhabited the department of the Upper Alps and the province of Dauphiny, in France. =Quadrille= is the literal French for “a little square,” so called from the position taken up by the dancers; while the Lancers derived their name from a company of =Lancers= who originally improvised this variation of the Quadrille for their own amusement while seated in their saddles. The =Polka=, of Polish origin, is so designated on account of the Bohemian word _pulka_, a half, in allusion to the half step occurring in it; the =Schottische= is a variation of the Polka; the =Mazourka= is the national dance of Poland--all of which, with the addition of the =Redowa=, are native terms. The =Waltz= is a contraction of the German =Waltzer=, derived from the verb _waltzen_, to roll, to revolve, alluding to the revolutions made by the pairs of dancers placed _vis-à-vis_. The =Country Dance=, so far from being a peasants’ dance, is nothing more than a corruption of the French _contre-danse_, signifying that the parties place themselves opposite to each other during the dance. Strictly speaking, the Contre-danse and the Quadrille are one and the same. The =Roger de Coverley= derived its name from the great-grandfather of Roger de Coverley, or rather, to be precise, of Roger of Cowley, near Oxford, who invented it. The =Minuet= (Latin _minutus_, small) is so called wholly on account of the short steps peculiar to this dance. The =Tarantella= was invented in Italy out of the supposition that the profuse perspiration which it induced was a certain cure for the poisonous bite of the TARANTULA SPIDER, named after the city of Taranto, where its baneful presence was first manifested. =Cinderella Dances= are those which terminate before midnight, in allusion to Cinderella of nursery renown.

The origin of the word =Ball=, in its application to a dancing-party, is somewhat singular. Centuries ago there was in vogue on the Continent a three-fold game, in which the players danced to the sound of their own voices while they threw to one another a ball. In all probability this arose out of the curious “Ball-Play in Church” by the Neapolitans during the Saturnalia, or “Feast of Fools,” corresponding to our Easter-tide. There is even now a statute in existence which regulated the size and character of the ball to be used on such occasions. In opening the ceremony, the Dean took the ball in his left hand, and commenced an antiphon, which the organ took up; whereupon he tossed the ball to first one and then another of the choir-boys, as they joined hands, sang, and danced around him. When, therefore, the three-fold game alluded to above divided and its three sets of dancers became independent of each other, the dance itself took the name of the article that was, as if by common consent, discarded--to wit, _the ball_; and the song was styled the _Ballata_, or, according to the modern English, a BALLAD indicative of a dancing-song; while the verb _ballare_, to dance, gave existence to the French =Ballet=, signifying a dance tune. _Apropos_ of the Ballet, the term =Coryphée=, as applied to a ballet-dancer, traces its origin from the Greek _coryphœus_, the designation of one who danced to the lute in the theatres of the ancients. _En passant_, the famous war dance of the Greeks, executed in very quick time and known as the =Phyrric Dance=, was so denominated after Pyrrichos, a celebrated Dorian flautist.

The =Hornpipe= is an inversion of _pib-gorn_, the name of the old Welsh instrument consisting of a _pib_, or pipe, with a _gorn_, or horn, at each end, to which this dance was originally stepped; the =Reel= has reference to the whirling evolutions performed by the dancer, as of winding cotton on a reel; whereas the =Jig= comes from the French _gigue_, a lively dance, and _gige_, a stringed instrument, the usual accompaniment to this rough-and-ready style of pedal exhilaration. The term =Breakdown= is an Americanism, denoting the last boisterous dance before the breaking _up_ of a dancing-party towards early morning. Appropriately enough, such a dance invariably constitutes the final item of a negro-minstrel entertainment.

_PIGMENTS AND DYES._

The word =Pigment= is a contraction of the Latin _pigmentum_, based upon the verb _pingere_, to paint. =Dye= traces its origin to the Anglo-Saxon _deag_, a colour, remotely derived from the Latin _tingere_, to stain. Several of the pigments most generally used owe their names to the places whence they are, or were originally, brought. As examples: =Umber= was first obtained in the district of =Umbria=, in Italy, and =Sienna=, properly called _Terra di Sienna_, or Sienna Earth, from Sienna; =Gamboge= comes from Cambodia, formerly known as Gambogia, in Siam; =Indigo=, from Indicus, the ancient description of India; and =Krems White=, from the city of Krems, in Austria, where it is exclusively manufactured. =Prussian Red=, =Brunswick Green=, =Brunswick Black=, =Frankfort Black=, =Hamburg Lake=, =Venetian Red=, and =Chinese Yellow=, speak for themselves. =Prussian Blue=, also called =Berlin Blue=, was first made by a native colourman of Berlin in the year 1710; whereas =Saunders Blue= is merely a corruption of _cendres-bleus_, the French for blue ashes, this pigment being obtained from calcined bluestone. Another name for the latter is =Ultramarine=, because it was originally brought from _ultra_, beyond, and _marinus_, the sea.

The deep blue known as =Mazarine= was named after Cardinal Mazarin, the Prime Minister of France (born 1602, died 1661), in whose time it was first prepared; while the puce colour known as =Pompadour= received its designation from Madame le Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV. (born 1721, died 1764), who popularized it. =Cardinal= is so called because it expresses the exact shade of the red habit worn by the cardinals of the Church; the term =Carmine= owes its origin to the Italian _carminio_, purple; while =Carnation= denotes a flesh tint, in accordance with the Latin _caro_, flesh. The colour which results from the combination of a vivid red with more or less white is styled =Pink=, owing to its resemblance to the flower so designated.

The origin of the word =Purple= must be sought in connection with the circumstance in which this dye, or colour, was discovered. It appears that one day a favourite dog belonging to Hercules of Tyre chanced to eat a species of fish known to the ancients as the _purpura_; and upon returning to his master, the latter found the lips of the animal tinged with the colour that was shortly afterwards imitated and denominated _purple_. The term =Scarlet= is a modification of _sakarlat_, the Persian description of a bright red colour; while =Crimson= traces its existence through the Old English _crimosyn_ to _garmaz_, the Arabic term for the cochineal insect, from whose dried body, found upon a species of cactus, this vivid dye-stuff is obtained. The beautiful purple obtained from chloride of gold bears the name of =Cassius= after its inventor.

=Magenta= was named in commemoration of the Battle of Magenta, fought in 1859; and =Vandyke Brown=, from its having been so frequently used by Vandyk (born 1599, died 1641) that it forms a characteristic colour in all his portraits. =Sepia= is the Greek designation of the cuttle-fish, and the pigment so called is obtained from the dark juice secreted by the glands of the Indian species of this fish. =Sap-Green= is prepared from the juice of the ripe berries of the buckthorn; whereas =Emerald Green= denotes the particular shade of green that characterizes the emerald. =Lamp Black= is so called because it was originally obtained from the burning of resinous matter over a lamp. =Ivory Black= is a pigment formerly obtained from charred ivory, but nowadays from bones. The origin of =Isabel=, a dull brownish-yellow, with a mixture of red and grey, is as follows:--When the Duke of Austria was besieging Ostend in 1601, Isabella, his wife, the daughter of Philip II. of Spain, vowed that she would not change her linen until the town had been taken. Unfortunately for her personal comfort, the town held out for two years, at the end of which period her linen assumed the characteristic hue that was afterwards imitated by the ingenious colourman who sought to honour her by perpetuating the incident.

_LONDON DISTRICTS AND SUBURBS._

At that remote period when the first rude huts were established on the banks of the Thames, the surrounding scene could have presented nothing more inviting to the eye than an extensive marsh or morass. That such was undoubtedly the case the existing names of FENCHURCH Street and FINSBURY, furnish ample evidence. The former marks the site of an ancient church situated among the fens, while the latter is an easy corruption of _Fensbury_, the Anglo-Saxon designation for “a town among the fens.” Therefore it was not surprising that the barbaric Britons, who founded what we now call =London=, should have given the name of _Llyn-dun_ [_see_ LINCOLN] to their colony beside the Thames. _Apropos_ of the =Thames=, the name of our noble river is merely a slight contraction of the Latin _Thamesis_, signifying “the broad Isis.” =Isis= is the Celtic for water.

=Westminster= was denominated after the Abbey [_see_ WESTMINSTER ABBEY]. =Belgravia= is the name given to the fashionable district of which Belgrave Square is the common centre. =Pimlico= owed its designation to an attempt on the part of the tavern-keepers of this neighbourhood to rival the celebrated nut-brown ales of one Ben Pimlico, who kept a pleasure-garden near Hoxton, the road to which was known as =Pimlico Walk= (still in existence), and the garden itself, first as “Pimlico’s,” and subsequently as “Pimlico.” The name of =Knightsbridge= carries us back to the time when two knights, on their way to receive a blessing from the Bishop of London at Fulham, engaged in a deadly combat on the bridge that spanned the Westbourne, exactly on the spot where Albert Gate now stands. Prior to this incident the bridge had borne the name of Fulham Bridge. =Mayfair= occupies the site of an annual six days’ fair held in May, originally at the instance of Edward I., for the benefit of the leper hospital of St. James the Less, Bishop of Jerusalem, now St. James’s Palace. The district of =Soho= was known by its present name as long ago as the sixteenth century; “_So ho!_” being the cry of the huntsmen when calling off their harriers in the days when the whole of London west of Drury Lane was open country. =Bloomsbury= is a corruption of “Lomesbury Village,” of which the Manor House stood on the site of Bloomsbury Square. =Smithfield= is a modern perversion of “Smoothfield,” an extensive tract of meadow land where horses were sold and tournaments were held as far back as the twelfth century. The first recorded English horse-race was witnessed in Smoothfield in the year 1154. =Clerkenwell= derived its name from an ancient well (now marked by an iron pump let into the wall at the south-east end of Ray Street) beside which the parish clerks performed their Miracle Plays. =Spa Fields=, now built over, owed their designation to a medicinal well, or Spa, discovered in 1206, and subsequently known as “The London Spa.” The proper description of =Bunhill Fields= is _Bonhill_, _i.e._, “good hill” Fields, so styled because the victims of the Great Plague were buried here in 1665. =Moorfields= was formerly a bleak moor skirting the northern portion of the marshy land known as Fensbury, now =Finsbury=, already referred to.

=Shoreditch= did not receive its name from Jane Shore, neither is the word a corruption of “Sewer Ditch,” as some writers have suggested. This district really comprised the manor of Sir John Soerditch, a wealthy London citizen and a valiant knight who fought by the side of Edward the Black Prince at Crecy and Poictiers. =Whitechapel= was designated after the White Chapel of St. Mary, built in 1673. =Goodman’s Fields= perpetuated the name of the owner of the land now known as the Minories, upon which a Priory of the Nuns of St. Clare was afterwards built. =Shadwell= is a corruption of St. Chad’s Well, discovered in this neighbourhood in ancient times. The once-notorious =Ratcliffe Highway= derived its name from the Manor of Ratcliffe, belonging to the adjoining parish of Stepney. The title has now been changed to St. George’s Street. =Stepney= was anciently described as _Stebenhithe_, signifying that it contained a wharf or haven belonging to one Steben or Steven. =Spitalfields= marks the site of the ancient Priory of St. Mary of the Spittle, dissolved in 1534. The French refugees established the silk manufacture here in 1685. =Bethnal Green= recalls the existence of the old family of the Bathons, whose history is first recorded in connection with their property situated in this neighbourhood during the reign of Edward I. =Hoxton= is a corruption of _Hogsdon_, meaning hog’s town. In proof of this statement we may add that HOG LANE still exists in the vicinity. =De Beauvoir Town= preserves the family name of the De Beauvoirs, whose original ancestor, Richard de Beauvoir, of Guernsey, resided here in princely style. =Copenhagen Fields= were so called after a tea-house opened by a Dane, about the time when the King of Denmark paid a visit to James I. =Haggerstone= is a corruption of “Hergotestan,” the literal Saxon for “Our God’s Town.” =Hackney= was originally described as _Hackoneye_, signifying an _ey_, or portion of well-watered pasture land, appropriated by a Danish chief named Hacon [_see_ CHELSEA, &c.].