The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-16 00:00:00

Nominal Nonsense.

The Round Table makes some most amusing re-
marks on this subject, and asserts that Young
America's constitutional disregard for traditional
customs would take no very surprising direction—
were it to challenge the right of one generation to
decide for another the name it is to bear for life,
irrespective of the tastes and preferences of the
latter. Boys in America choose their business or
calling simply as it suits themselves, and not on any
account whatever on the recommendation of parents.
Why, therefore, asks the Round Table should they
more cheerfully accept names that are inapplicable,
and of which, if distasteful, they cannot divest them-
selves? With few exceptions, it asserts, people have
abundant reason to be disgusted with their names.
Anybody who likes, may learn how the use of two
or more names was taken by the Romans from the
Etruscans ; how names apparently devoid of signi-
fication have come by elision, or corruption, from
patronymic, local, business, official, or other de-
scriptive terms. How surnames began to be used
in the 10th century, and transmitted from father to
son in the succeeding one ; how Fitz (Ills), Ben,
zip, Mac o', prefixed to a name, and -ing,
-son -s, at its close, signify son of, and many other
facts on the subject. Admiral Farragut was lately
informed in print that his name signified a " sharp
sword," and was-borne in a slightly modified form
by a gigantic pagan gentleman who challenged
Charlemagne, but his aspect was so tremendous
that the Emperor sent a substitute. " It matters
little," it affirms, " when our surname testifies that
our forefathers followed some occupation, in which
we take anything but pride, but it is uncomfort-
able to know that a number of highly respectable
appellations-.. King, Bishop, Pope, Abbott, Par6ol2S,

Deacon, Dean, Prior—were affixed to their original
proprietors as a stigma, and signified their claim to
a bend sinister. Another style 'of name, which re-
flects discredit upon one's fathers, is that in which
gradual deterioration has effaced its original form—
as the Snooks's, whose progenitors resided a t the Seven
Oaks, the Rumpuses from Ron Repos, or the Plants,
a branch of the Plantagenets, for in such cases it is
manifest that the owners of the name must not only
have had vulgar associates, who alone could be cap-
able of such transformation, but that their own
self-respect was too little or their ignorance too
great to resist the encroachment, as they might
have done in writing, the plan adopted by the Eng-
lish families, whose names—pronounced Beecham,
Ch and ey , rellban ks, Archdeacon—are still spelled
Beauchamp, Cholmondeley, Maljoribanks, Arce-
(feeble." Of course absolute precision would not be
desirable. No one who had frequently to sign his
name need lament the old Welsh custom of string-
ing together an entire pedigree by Aps until the
name resembled the "louse that Jack Built, and we
must respect the economy with which the descen-
dants of a line of ap Owens ap Evan ap Thomas,
and so indefinitely to ap Harry or ap Hugh, went
back to first principles, and, discarding the connect-
ing links, became 'P'arry, or 'P'ugh. These patrony-
mics have the recommendation which names derived
from residence, employment, or personal appear-
ance have not—that they alone retain any signifi-
cance beyond the lifetime of the generation which
acquires them. And although there are those who
resent the apparent evidence given by a directory
to the exceeding miscellaneousness of their connec-
tions by remote descent—a miscellaneousness which
is increased when we remember that there are some
thirty variations, quite dissimilar in form, which sig-
nify descent from William; that, Gow being Welsh
for Smith, M' Gowan and Smithson are identical
except as to nationality. Even this objection to
the patronymic is removed by the reflection that
Christian names were originally bestowed upon com-
panies at a time, so that not one, but a dozen or a.
hundred Williams, Jameses, or Thomases gave their
names to descendants who had no relationship to
one another. Then we have numbers of flatly con-
tradictory names, as Duncan ("brown") Gray,
Priscilla (" ancient") Young, Maurice (" dark-
coloured") White—which last needs only that its
owner should be a negro to complete the folly ; and
of pleonastic names, such as Brian (" strong")
Strong, or Laban, Susan, or Blanche (all meaning
" white") White; beside pleonasm of the Welsh kind
which eliminates the ap, but in a meaningless man-
ner reiterates such names as John Johns, Evan
Evans, James James. Occasionally (the Round
Table further remarks) we see persons apply to the
Legislature to relieve them from the infliction of a
name which is intolerable. It is a national faith in
America that a man is the architect of his own for-
tunes. To carry out the theory, it only needs that
every man should be the architect of his own name
literally, as he now is metaphorically.

Travelling in America.

A " Traveller " has written to the Times an
excellent letter exposing the folly of many insur-
ance offices in restricting the liberty of the insured
in travelling, arguing that this restriction has been
one of the main causes why the English do not
more generally travel in the United States. He
maintains that the policy is injurious to the
insurance companies by preventing people from
more universally adopting so admirable a means of
securing for their families some provision in case of
death. A " Traveller " having lately returned
from a visit to America contrasts the numbers of
Americans always found in Europe with the paucity
of Englishmen visiting the United States. "Of all
countries," he says, " from which an Englishman
may hope to derive profit as well as pleasure in
visiting, I know of none equal to the United States.
It is the duty of the politician, it should be the de-
light of every man of spirit and energy to make
himself personally acquainted with a country whose
future must be the future of the world, and whose
people, identified with our own in blood, religion,
and language, are destined, perhaps after many
internal struggles, to achieve the last victories of
civilisation over the heathen nations of the earth.
The Americans are great travellers, and think
nothing of crossing the Atlantic. Many families
send their children to be educated in Europe. We
fall in with them everywhere abroad—in Paris, in
Switzerland, in Italy ; but we seldom meet them
where we should naturally most expect to do so,
in our own country. I have been often puzzled to
account for this, but I cannot help thinking that it
is chiefly owing to the fact that comparatively few
Englishmen visit America, except for purposes of
business. In the course of a journey of 5,000 miles
through the States and Canada last autumn I did
not meet with half a dozen Englishmen who were
travelling for purposes similar to my own—i.e.,
to male themselves acquainted with the people and
institutions of the country. Were it otherwise,
were Englishmen in the habit of visiting America
and enjoying the hospitality of its frank and kind-
hearted people, I am sure that we should more fre-
quently have the pleasure of meeting Americans in
our English homes, and that much of the absurd
prejudice and misunderstanding which exists on
either side would be done away." With respect to
insurance he says :—" One great argument against
the present practice is that the insurance offices
themselves appear to be all in the dark about it.
They have no fixed rules to go by, and act quite
ca discretion.' While their ordinary rates of in-
surance are tolerably uniform, nothing can be more
various than their mode of dealing with such a case
as lam describing. Supposing a person to be in-
sured for £lO,OOO, and to be desirous of spending
three months in Canada and the United States, he
would be required to pay, as au additional pre-
mium or fine, if insured in the—

Equitable 10s. per cent., or £5O.
London Assurance ... ditto ditto
•••
Atlas ... ditto ... ditto
Sun £25
•••
Law Life •
ditto ... ditto
Economic... ditto ..• ' ditto
North British nil.
Alliance ~. nil.
Lancashire
... nil.
Guardian nil.
Mutual •
nil.
So that, while a person insured in either of the five
last-mentioned offices would be at liberty to per-
form his journey without paying any additional
premium, he would be taxed by each of the three
first to the extent of £so—a sum nearly equal to the
cost of his voyage as a first-class passenger out and
back. But this is not all. The offices which thus
heavily mulct his pocket impose also serious re-

striations on his personal liberty. I strongly sus-
pect that the American maps which doubtless adorn
the Board-rooms of some of these venerable institu-

tions are of very ancient date, and that neither the
rivers nor the railways of the American continent
are very accurately laid down. No limit, indeed,
is prescribed in a northerly direction, and I presume
that a traveller might explore the whole region be-
tween Canada and Boothia Felix without forfeiting
his policy. But the Mississippi is the Rubicon of
America. He must on no account cross that turbid
river, even though St. Louis, a town of 200,000
inhabitants, lies on its right bank, and though hun-
dreds of miles of railway connect it with flourishing
and popalous towns in the healthy States of lowa,
Missouri, and Kansas. As for the Southern States,
they are, of course, as effectually shut out from his
ken as they are from Congress itself. The New
York or Philadelphia merchant or man of business
thinks no more of running down by train to New
Orleans and back than the Londoner does of going

to Aberdeen ; but the Britisher who values his
policy of insurance must not set foot in North
Carolina, Georgia, or Tennessee, and cannot be
trusted so far to take care of himself as to keep
away from New Orleans in the season of yellow
fever. Surely, sir, it is time that these absurd
restrictions should be put an • end to, and that
travellers should be credited with a little common
sense as well as with some regard for their own
lives ? During the whole of my travel through the
States I am not conscious of having run any greater
risk than I should have encountered on a similar
journey in England ; and it is a curious fact that
the only accident which befel any railway train
by which 1 might have had occasion to travel was
one that happened to the Birkenhead and London

train, by which I should have travelled on my re-
turn home, had I not landed at Queenstown and
taken the Holyhead route instead."

COUNTRY MARKETS.

WAKEFIELD.—FRIDAY.
Wheat meets a fair consumptive demand at last Friday's
prices. Barley steady. Ocher articles dull.

LINCOLN.-FRIDAY.

To-day the supply of wheat was middling. Prices for
fine were is per qr. higher ; other kinds firm. Not much
barley on offer, and with a fair inquiry last week's prices
were realised. Oats wero a scanty supply, and moved off
steadily, at recent currencies. A fair trade in beans and
peas at former prices.
New white wheat, Gss to GBs ; new red, 59s to G4s per 36
stone. Barley for malting, 19s to 51s per qr ; grinding,
32s to 3Gs per 30 stone. Oats, 24s to 365. Beans, 18s to
&0s per 38 stone.

DERBY-FRIDAY.

There was a moderate show of wheat on offer to-day,
and the demand was slow at over Into rates. Barley ruled
firm, at former quotations. Oats and beans sold at recent
prices. . _

New white wheat, 65s to 68s ; old red, 60s to 65s per 36
stone. Barley for malting, 38s to 52s per qr. ; grinding,
33s to 34s per 30 stone. Oats, new, 27s to 295; old, 29s to
34s per 21 stone. Beans, old, 58s to 60s; new, 41s to 515
per 38 stone.

LIVERPOOL-FRIDAY.

Wheat was in more general demand to-day, at the full
prices of Tuesday last. Flour steady at previous rates.
Indian corn dull. Oats and oatmeal in limited request, at
previous rates.

RIPON-FRIDAY.

White wheat, 8s Gd to 9s 3d per bushel ; red, Gs Gd to is
93 ; beans, 7s 3d to is Od ; oats, Tes to 33s per qr ; barley
35s to Its Ud.

S TAMF ORD-FRIDAY.

Not quite so much wheat as usual, the demand was more
animated, at prices in favour of the seller. Barley was a
small show, and sold at former quotations. Oats were in
good request, at recent currencies. A moderate show of
beans, which sold at last week's prices.
New white wheat, 64s to 67s ; red do., 58s to G3s per 86
stone. Barley, malting, 50s to 535; grinding, 27s to 35s
per qr. Oats, new, 24s to 28s ; old, 28s to 32s per 21 stone.
Beans, 52s to 54s per 38 stone. Peas as of late.

BRISTOL SUGAR.—FRIDAY.
Tho raw and refined markets continue extremely flat,
and very little doing. Prices 6d to is lower.

COAL MARKET.
Price per ton at the close of the market.

s. d. 8. (1.
Original Hartlepool 19 0 Walls End Hetton „. 19 0
Tees

Lambert's W.Hartley 16 0 Walls End Haswell... 19 0
Braneepoth Cannel l7 6 Davison's W. Hartley 16 3
Caradoc l7 9 Hartlepool
Cassop : _ l7 6 Buddle'sWestliartley 16 3

Holy1;rell Main IG G West Hartley - 16 6
Pensher Primrose
Riddell
Ships at market, 102—sold. 24.

Foreign Mail Packet List.