The Express.
London, England, 1858-08-10 00:00:00

LITBRATURB.

Bngluh Surnamees, and their Place in Ma Teutonic

Fansity. By AO DIRT FERGUSON. Rontledge.
If Wordsworth wrote poems on the naming of
places, we see no reason why Mr. Ferguson should
not write prose on the naming of men. Either at-
tempt is legitimate, and to be commended, but espe-
cially the latter, inasmuch as natural scenery fails
in iuterest when compared with the living man.
The subject which Mr. Ferguson has selected is an
old one. The ancients invented • science called
Onomantica. "They cut up," saysthe elder Dimuslii,
"the numeral letters of names, and Achilles was,
therefore, fated to vanquish Hector from the nume-
ral letters in his name amounting to a higher num-
ber than his rival's." They believed in lucky names.
The Emperor Severe. very philosophically bore
with the frailties of his wife—her name was Julia.
Plato was a great admirer of beautiful names, and
Socrates thinks it worthy a father's care to give fine
same. to his children. The father of Tristram
Bhudy was of a similar opinion. " How many
Caesars and Pompey., he would say, by mere inspi-
ration of the names, have been rendered worthy of
them' And how many, he would add, are there
who would have done exceedingly well in
the world bad not their characters and
spirits been totally depressed and Nicoderous'd into
nothing." The old gentleman firmly believed" that
there was a strange kind of magic bias which good
or bad name,, sa he called them, irresistibly im-
pressed upon our characters and conduct." We read
in Montaigne—" It is really convenient to have such
• name as is easy of pronunciation and easy to be
remembered, by reason that kings and other great
persons do by that means the more easily know and
the more hardly forget us ; and indeed, of our own
servants we more frequently employ those whose
names are most ready upon the tongue. I myself
have seen Henry the Second when he could not for
his heart hit of a gentleman's name of our country
of Gascony, and moreover, was fain to call one of
the Queen's maids of honour by the general name of
her family, her own being so difficult to pronounce
or remember." A. additional authority we may
quite John Wilkes, the hero of an unheroic age.
Hs says :—" The list City poet was Eikanah Settle.
Than is something in names which we cannot help
feeling. Now, Elkanah Settle mounds so queer, who
can expect much from that name ? We should have
no hesitation to give it for John Dryden in pre-
ference to Elkanah Settle." Still more may be
urged with respect to names. Fuller tells us—An
opulent citizen of London of the name of John Cutts
was ordered by Queen Elizabeth to receive the
Spanish Ambassador, but the latter complained
grievously of the insult done him by being sent to a
man with so short a name. Had not Cutts's hospi-
tality been copious, his mere name might have been
• eases helli, for the Spaniards in those days thought
very much of dignified names, and believed with
Montaigne. " Dona Gramedan, Quadragan, Arms-
ellen were evidently men of another stamp than
Peter, Giles, and Michael." Richardson, who gloated
over every line he penned, with more than an au-
thor's vanity, makes his heroine write of Sir Charles
Orandison, " You know his noble name, my Lucy."
Bat the reader must not imagine Mr. Ferguson is
similarly sentimental. Comparative Etymology is a
science, and science is exempt from such weak-
nesses; and Mr. Ferguson, it is evident, has made
groat proficiency in his favourite science. His °b-
illet is to vindicate the antiquity, and to assert the
nobility of our English names—to explain their
meaning, and to assign their place in the Teutonic
family. He believes, in opposition to the generally-
received opinion, that • very large proportion of
them are as old as Anglo-Saxon times; and that
not a few remount to the highest Teutonic anti-
quity. To compare them with other names
of the urns family, ancient and modern, is a
feature essential to the investigation. Oar au-
thor deems the Directory of London "perhaps the
crowning wonder of that wonderful place." He is
amazed as he studies its two thousand two hundred
sad aixty pages of names. In all these names he
ems manifold histories. " There are," he enthusias-
tically exclaims, "deeds of forgotten valour that
are summed up in a word ; there are trivial inci-
dents that have named generations of men • there
are good Christians that are called after heathen
gods; there are gentle women that are called after
savage brute! ; there are names on the signs of Re-
gent-street that were given in the unhewn forests
of Germany." Oar industrious brethren in that land
of learning and meerschaums have already several
works on this subject. With the exception of Mr.
Lover, whose book on English surnames will
always remain a standard book of reference, Mr.
Ferguson is almost alone in the field. The follow-
ing is a summary of our author's conclusion as to