The French Change, Soho.A place so called in the reign of Queen Anne. Gough, in a MS. note, now before us, thought it stood on the site of the present bazaar.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.NOTES ON THE DODO
I have to thank "Mr. S.W. SINGER" (No. 22. p. 353.) for giving some interesting replies to my "Dodo Queries" (No. 17. p. 261.). I trust that Mr. S. will be induced to pursue the inquiry further, and especially to seek for some Portuguese account of the Mascarene Islands, prior to the Dutch expedition of 1598. I am now able to state that the supposed proof of the discovery of Bourbon by the Portuguese in 1545, on the authority of a stone pillar, the figure of which Leguat has copied from Du Qesne, who copied it from Flacourt, turns out to be inaccurate. On referring to Flacourt's Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar, 4to., Paris, 1658, p. 344, where the original figure of this monument is given, I find that the stone was not found in Bourbon at all, but in "l'Islet des Portugais," a small island at the mouth of the river Fanshere (see Flacourt, p. 32.), near the S.E. extremity of Madagascar. From this place Flacourt removed it to the neighbouring settlement of Fort Dauphin in 1653, and engraved the arms of France on the opposite side to those of Portugal. We are therefore still without any historical record of the first discovery of Bourbon and Mauritius, though, from the unanimous consent of later compilers, we may fairly presume that the Portuguese were the discoverers.
The references which Mr. Singer has given to two works which mention the Oiseau bleu of Bourbon, are very important, as the only other known authority for this extinct bird is the MS. Journal of Sieur D.B., which thus receives full confirmation. May I ask Mr. Singer whether either of these writers mentions the Solitaire as inhabiting Bourbon?
The "Oiseaux appelez Flamands" quoted by Mr. S., are merely Flamingos, and are devoid of interest as regards the present question.
The history of the Dodo's head at Copenhagen, referred to by Mr. Singer, is fully recorded in the Dodo and its Kindred, pp. 25. 33.
The name Dodo seems to have been first applied to the bird by Sir Thomas Herbert, in 1634, who adds, in his edition of 1638, "a Portuguese name it is, and has reference to her simpleness." Before that time the Dutch were in the habit of calling it Dodars, Dodaers, Toters, and Dronte. I had already made the same guesses at the etymology of these words as those which Mr. Singer has suggested, but not feeling fully satisfied with them, I put forth my Query VII. for the chance of obtaining some further elucidation.
Mr. Singer's reasonings on the improbability of Tradescant's specimen of the Dodo having been a fabrication are superfluous, seeing that the head and foot of this individual are, as is well known, still in existence, and form the subjects of six plates in the Dodo and its Kindred.
In regard to my Query IX. as to the local habitation of the family of Dronte, who bore a Dodo on their shield, it has been suggested to me by the Rev. Richard Hooper (who first drew my attention to this armorial bearing), that the family was probably foreign to Britain. It appears that there was a family named Dodo, in Friesland, a member of which (Augustin Dodo, deceased in 1501) was the first editor of St. Augustine's works. Mr. Hooper suggests that possibly this family may have subsequently adopted the Dodo as their arms, and that Randle Holme may, by a natural mistake, have changed the name of the family, in his Academy of Armory, from Dodo to the synonymous word Dronte. Can none of your genealogical readers clear up this point?
H.E. Strickland.DERIVATION OF "STERLING" AND "PENNY"
Your correspondent suggests (No. 24. p. 384.) an ingenious derivation for the word Sterling; but one which perhaps he has been too ready to adopt, inasmuch as it helped his other derivation of peny, from pecunia or pecus. I quote the following from A short Treatise touching Sheriff's Accompts, by Sir Matthew Hale: London, 1683:
"Concerning the second, viz. the matter or species whereof the current coin of this kingdom hath been made, it is gold or silver, but not altogether pure, but with an allay of copper, at least from the time of King H. I. and H. II., though possibly in ancienter times the species whereof the coin was made might be pure gold or silver; and this allay was that which gave the denomination of Sterling to that coin, viz. Sterling Gold, or Sterling Silver. Wherein there will be inquirable,
"1. Whence that denomination came?
"2. How ancient that denomination was?
"3. What was the allay that gave silver that denomination?
"For the former of these there are various conjectures, and nothing of certainty.
"Spelman supposeth it to take that denomination from the Esterlings, who, as he supposeth, came over and reformed our coin to that allay. Of this opinion was Camden. A Germanis, quos Angli Esterlings, aborientali situ, vocarunt, facta est appellatio; quos Johannes Rex, ad argentum in suam puritatem redigendam, primus evocavit; et ejus modi nummi Esterlingi, in antiquis scripturis semper reperiuntur. Some suppose that it might be taken up from the Starre Judæorum, who, being the great brokers for money, accepted and allowed money of that allay for current payment of their stars or obligations; others from the impression of a starling, or an asterisk upon the coin. Pur ceo que le form d'un Stare, dont le diminutive est Sterling, fuit impressit on stamp sur ceo. Auters pur ceo que le primer de cest Standard fuit coyn en le Castle de Sterlin in Scotland pur le Roy Edw. I. And possibly as the proper name of the fourth part of a Peny was called a Farthing, ordinarily a Ferling; so in truth the proper name of a Peny in those times was called a Sterling, without any other reason of it than the use of the times and arbitrary imposition, as other names usually grow. For the old Act of 51 H. III., called Compositio Mensurarum, tells us that Denarius Anglice Sterlingus dicitur; and because this was the root of the measure, especially of Silver Coin, therefore all our Coin of the same allay was also called Sterling, as five Shillings Sterling, five Pounds Sterling.
"When this name of Sterling came first in is uncertain, only we are certain it was a denomination in use in the time of H. III. or Ed. I. and after ages. But it was not in use at the time of the compiling of Doomsday, for if it were we should have found it there where there is so great occasion of mention of Firmes, Rents, and Payments. Hovended in Rich. I fol. 377. b. Nummus a Numa, que fuit le primer Roy que fesoit moneies en Rome. Issint Sterlings, alias Esterlings, queux primes fesoient le money de cest Standard en Engleterre."Sheriffs' Accompts, p. 5-9.
So much for the derivation of Sterling, which evidently applied originally to the metal rather than to a coin. May I be allowed to hazard a suggestion as to the origin of peny, its synonym? They were each equivalent to the Denarius.