It described the Norman derivation of the names of all kinds of meat, as beef, mutton, veal, venison, &c.; while the corresponding animals still retained their original Saxon appellations, ox, sheep, calf, &c.: and it accounted for this by the fact, that while the animals were under the care of the Saxon thralls and herdsmen, they retained of course their Saxon names; but when served up at the tables of their Norman lords, it became necessary to name them afresh.
I think the word heronsewes (cf. Vol. iii., pp. 450. 207.; Vol. iv., p. 76.) is another example, which are called harnseys at this day in Norfolk; as it is difficult, on any other supposition, to account for an East-Anglian giving a French appellation to so common a bird as the heron.
E. S. Taylor.
Locke's Writings.—In an unpublished manuscript of Paley's Lectures on Locke's Essay, it is stated that so great was the antipathy against the writings of this eminent philosopher, at the time they were first issued, that they were "burnt at Oxford by the hands of the common hangman." Is this fact recorded in any Life of Locke; or how may it be ascertained? There is no notice of it, I believe, in either Law's Life, or in that of Lord King.
George Munford.
East Winch.
Passage in Göthe's "Faust."—Has the following passage from the second part of Faust ever been noticed in connexion with the fact that the clock in Göthe's chamber stopped at the moment that he himself expired? If it has not, I shall congratulate myself on having been the first to point out this very curious coincidence
"Mephistopheles. Die Zeit wird Herr, der Gries hier liegt im Sand,
Die Uhr steht still——
Chorus.Steht still! Sie schweigt wie Mitternacht