Bath, May.
Early Inscriptions.—The excellent remarks by "T.S.D." on "Arabic Numerals, &c." (No. 18. p. 279.) have put me in mind of two cases which in some degree confirm the necessity for his caution respecting pronouncing definitively on the authenticity of old inscriptions, and especially those on "Balks and Beams" in old manorial dwellings. The house in which I spent the greater portion of my youth was a mansion of the olden time, whose pointed gables told a tale of years; and whose internal walls and principal floors, both below and above stairs, were formed of "raddle and daub." It had formerly belonged to a family of the name of Abbot; but the "last of the race" was an extravagant libertine, and after spending a handsome patrimonial estate, ended his days as a beggar. Abbot House was evidently an ancient structure; but unfortunately, as tradition stated, a stone, bearing the date of its erection, had been carelessly lost during some repairs. However, in my time, on the white wainscot of a long lobby on the second floor, the initials, "T.H. 1478," were distinctly traced in black paint, and many persons considered this as nothing less than a "true copy" of the lost inscription. Subsequent inquiry, however, finally settled the point; for the inscription was traced to the rude hand of one of the workmen formerly employed in repairing the building, who naively excused himself by declaring that he considered it "a pity so old a house should be without a year of our Lord."
The second instance is that of the occurrence of "four nearly straight lines" on one of the compartments of a fine old font in Stydd Church, near Ribchester, which many visitors have mistaken for the date "1178." A closer scrutiny, however, soon dispels the illusion; and a comparison of this with similar inscriptions on the old oak beams of the roof, soon determines it to be nothing more than a rude, or somewhat defaced, attempt to exhibit the sacred monogram "I.H.S."
J.W.
Burnley, April 27. 1850.
American Aborigines called Indians (No. 16. p. 254.).—I believe the reason is that the continent in which they live passed under the name of India, with the whole of the New World discovered at the close of the fifteenth century. It is, of course, unnecessary to dwell upon the fact of Columbus believing he had discovered a new route to India by sailing due west; or upon the acquiescence of the whole world in that idea, the effects of which have not yet passed away; for we not only hear in Seville, even now, of the "India House" meaning house of management of affairs for the "New World," but we even retain ourselves the name of the West Indies, given as unwarrantably to the islands of the Caribbean Sea. It is needless to do more than allude to this, and to other misnomers still prevalent, notwithstanding the fact of the notions or ideas under which the names were originally given having long since been exploded; such as the "four quarters of the globe," the "four elements," &c. If your correspondent searches for the solution of his difficulty on different grounds from those I have mentioned, it would not satisfy him to be more diffuse; and if the whole reason be that which I conceive, quite enough has been said upon the subject.
G.W.
89. Hamilton Terrace, St. John's Wood.
"Northman" is informed, that on the discovery of America by Columbus, when he landed at Guanahani (now called Cat Island), he thought, in conformity with his theory of the spherical shape of the earth, that he had landed on one of the islands lying at the eastern extremity of India; and with this belief he gave the inhabitants the name of Indians. The following quotations will perhaps be interesting:—
"America persæpe dicitur, sed improprie, Indiæ Occidentales, les Indes Occidentales, Gallis, West Inde, Belgis: Non tantum ab Hispanis, qui illam denominationem primi usurparunt, sed etiam a Belgis, Anglis, et aliquando a Francis, quod eodem fere tempore detecta sit ad occidentem, quo ad Orientem India reperta est."—Hofmanni Lexicon Univ. 1677, sub titulo "America."
"At eadem terra nonnullis India Occidentalis, nuncupatur, quia eodem tempore, quo India Orientalis in Asia, hæc etiam delecta fuit; tum quod utriusque incolis similis ac pene eadern ivendi ratio: nudi quippe utrique agunt."—P. Clurerii Introduct. in Univ. Geographiam, Cap. xi (iv.) 1711.
"The most improper name of all, and yet not much less used than that of America, is the West Indies: West, in regard of the western situation of it from these parts of Europe; and Indies, either as mistook for some part of India at the first discovery, or else because the seamen use to call all countries, if remote and rich, by the name of India."—Heylyn's Cosmography, 1677, Book iv., sub initio.