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.].
=Dalston= is properly _Daleston_, or Vale-town. This was a quiet
suburban village situated in a valley during the days when the northern
districts of the Metropolis were more or less wooded--as witness =Stoke
Newington=, or the new town in the meadow by the wood. The word _Stoke_
comes from the Anglo-Saxon _stoc_, a wood or stockade; _ton_ is the
Old English for town, and _ing_ the Anglo-Saxon for a meadow, also a
family settlement. =Southgate= is expressive of the southern entrance
to the enclosure, anciently known as Enfield Chase; and =Kingsland=
the royal domain adjacent to it. =Abney Park= owes its name to ABNEY
HOUSE, recently converted into a Conservative Club, but originally
the residence of Sir Thomas Abney (born 1639, died 1722), Lord Mayor
and a distinguished Nonconformist, knighted by William III. Dr. Isaac
Watts died at Abney House in 1748. =Green Lanes= indicates the rural
character of this neighbourhood in bygone times. =Edmonton= is properly
_Edmond’s-town_. The name of =Ball’s Pond= is all that remains to
remind us of the one-time existence of “The Salutation” house of call
which had a pond for dog and duck sports, kept by John Ball. =Mildmay
Park= is so called after MILDMAY HOUSE, the family seat of Sir Henry
Mildmay, who came into possession of the estate by his marriage with
the daughter of William Halliday, an Alderman of the City in the time
of Charles I. =Muswell Hill= is a slight corruption of _Mustwell Hill_,
derived from the Latin _mustus_, new, fresh; because on this hill there
was anciently discovered a well of clear, fresh water by the friars
of St. John’s Priory, Clerkenwell, who had a dairy hereabouts. That
portion of the hill which has been cut through for the construction of
the line of railway to Enfield, Barnet, and the north, bears the name
of =The Hog’s Back=, in allusion to its shape. The name of =Wood Green=
is self-explanatory. =Hornsey= is a corruption of “Harringe,” or meadow
of hares. =Canonbury= received its title from the residence of the
Prior of the Canons of St. Bartholomew, built in this neighbourhood
soon after the Conquest. _Bury_ is Saxon for a town or enclosed
habitation, equivalent to the Celtic _don_, and Old English _ton_. In
days of old, =Highbury= contained a Priory of the Knights of St. John
of Jerusalem, built in 1271. The establishment was called _High-bury_,
because it stood upon higher ground than their previous residence which
had borne the name of _Tolentone_, or lower town. =Holloway= reminds
us that this was once a miry hollow between Highgate and Islington.
=Barnsbury= is a corruption of _Berners-bury_, originally a manor
belonging to Lady Juliana Berners, Abbess of St. Albans. =Islington=
has always been a favourite suburb in modern times, and even our
mediæval ancestors must have been delighted with its situation, lying
high and dry beyond the fens and the sloughy neighbourhood of the “old
bourne.” Its name signifies “the settlement of the Islings.”
=King’s Cross= derived its name from a wretched statue of George IV.,
set up in honour of his accession in 1820, and demolished to make
way for the London terminus of the Great Northern Railway in 1842.
The parish of =St. Pancras= is so called after the church dedicated
to the boy-saint who was martyred by Diocletian in the early days
of Christianity. =Agar Town=, now entirely swept away by modern
improvements, was designated after William Agar, a miserly lawyer
who acquired the lease of the land for building purposes in 1840.
=Somers Town= is the property of Lord Somers, and =Camden Town=, of
the Earl of Camden. =Kentish Town= was formerly written “Kestestown”;
but even that was a corruption of “Kantelowes Town,” erected upon
the Manor of Kantelowes. The modern spelling of this family name is
_Cantlowes_. =Primrose Hill= is still a pleasant eminence whereon
primroses grow, despite the encroachments of bricks and mortar all
around. =Highgate= is a title expressive of the elevated situation
of the village that sprang up around the toll-gate established on
the common highway from Barnet to Gray’s Inn Road about the year
1400. =Holly Village=, Highgate, was so called by its foundress, the
Baroness Burdett-Coutts-Bartlett, after her residence, Holly Lodge,
hard by. =Hampstead= signifies a farmhouse or homestead. The word is
Saxon: _ham_, a home, and _stede_, a place. In its wider sense, _ham_
denotes a town. The western slope of Hampstead bears the name of
=Frognal=, after Frognal Priory, an ambitious edifice built here by
Memory-Corner Thompson (born 1757, died 1843), in imitation of Horace
Walpole’s toy village on Strawberry Hill. =Bishop’s Wood=, Hampstead,
comprised the private estate of the Bishop of London, at the time
when that ecclesiastic resided at Highgate. =Gospel Oak= received its
designation from the oak that marked the boundaries of Hampstead and
St. Pancras, and under which, in accordance with an ancient custom, the
Gospel was read once a year. John Whitfield is said to have preached
under this oak. =Chalk Farm= is a corruption of “Chalcot Farm,” a
picturesque farmhouse in whose vicinity duels were usually fought
during the century gone by. =St. John’s Wood= was anciently a thickly
wooded district sheltering an “Abbey of the Holy Virgins of St. John
the Baptist.” =Kilburn= owes its name to the _Kil_, the Celtic word for
a cell, occupied by “one Godwyne, a holy hermit,” beside the _bourne_,
or brook. =Maida Vale= was so called in commemoration of the Battle
of Maida, in which the English defeated the French, July 4, 1806.
=Marylebone= does not signify “Mary the Good,” as the majority of
Londoners imagine, but “St. Mary of the Bourne,” alluding to the church
of St. Mary within sight of the bourne that ran from the hermit’s cell
at _Kilbourne_ down to =Tyburn=, or rather _Twa-burne_; so called
because two different bournes, or streams, met in the neighbourhood
where the Marble Arch now stands.
The name of =Bayswater= has undergone considerable change from the
original. Not so very long ago the whole of this district was known as
=Bayswater Fields=; during the last century it bore the name of “Bear’s
Watering,” and previously that of _Baynard’s Watering_. By the last was
meant the land dotted with pools held from the Manor of Westminster,
by Ralph Baynard, the favourite of William the Conqueror, who resided
at BAYNARD’S CASTLE, at Blackfriars, on the north bank of the Thames.
These pools, together with the Tyburn were converted into what is now
styled the SERPENTINE, owing to its form, in 1733. =Paddington=,
originally written _Padynton_, was the settlement or town of the
Pædings, a branch of the family who originally established themselves
at, and gave their name to, _Padendene_, in Surrey. =Westbourne Park=
derived its name from the west bourne, or stream, that wended its
way from the hermit’s cell at “Kilbourne,” in the direction of the
“Baynard’s Watering,” and thence, after passing under Fulham (or
Knights’) Bridge, emptied itself into the Thames. =Notting Hill= is
a corruption of _Knolton Barn (Hill)_, a manor held by the De Veres,
and subsequently by Robert Fenroper, an Alderman of the City, in the
reign of Henry VIII. The name of =Shepherd’s Bush= once more puts us in
mind of the pastoral character of the environs of London in the days
gone by. =Acton= is an Anglo-Saxon name for “Oak town,” signifying
the town built in the vicinity of the large Oak Forest. =Gunnersbury=
denotes the town, or enclosed habitation, named after Gunylda, the
niece of King Canute, who resided here during the Danish occupation
of England. =Kew= was anciently described in documents as _Kay-hoo_,
meaning a quay situated on a _hoo_, or _hoe_, the Scandinavian for
a spit of land. =Brentford= signifies the ford over the Brent, a
tributary of the Thames that takes its rise near Hendon. =Isleworth=
means a manor beside the water. The first portion of the word comes
from the Celtic, _Isis_, water; the second is Anglo-Saxon for a manor.
=Staines= owes its name to the boundary stone (Saxon _stane_, a stone)
by the river, which displays the words “God preserve the City of
London.” The date of this stone is 1280. =Kingston= was designated
after the King’s stone, now preserved within railings near the Town
Hall, upon which the Saxon monarchs sat to be anointed. =Shepperton=
is Old English for _Shepherd’s Town_, or the abode of shepherds. The
name of =Twickenham= denotes a hamlet situated between two tributaries
of the Thames. =Richmond= was anciently known as =Sheen=, a Saxon term
for “resplendent,” in allusion to the palace erected by Edward I. When
Henry VII. rebuilt the palace, after its destruction by fire in 1479,
he changed the name of the village to Richmond, in perpetuation of his
title of Earl of Richmond prior to ascending the throne. This king died
here in 1509.