The house at
present stands near the highway leading from Sturminster to Sherborne,
about five or six miles from the former, and six or seven from the
latter.
RURIS.
_Blandford, April 9, 1829._
* * * * *
ORIGIN OF SIGNS.--CAT AND THE FIDDLE.
_(To the Editor of the Mirror.)_
No part of the history of civilized nations is involved in such deep
obscurity as the origin and progress of their names. I do not mean their
names of men and women, the etymology of which are easy; for any stupid
fellow can see with half an eye that Xisuthrus and Noah are one and the
same person; and that Thoth can only be Hermes; nor is there any
discernable difference between Pelagius and Morgan; _tout cela va sans se
dire_, but when we come to account for the names of places or of signs,
then indeed are we lost in a vast field of metaphysical disquisition and
conjectural criticism. The _Spectator_, your worthy predecessor, threw
much light upon the science, but still he left it in its infancy. To be
sure, he traced the Bull and Mouth to the Boulogne Mouth, but I don't
remember that he made many other discoveries in this _terra incognita_.
However, he hinted that the roots of most of these old saws were to be
found in the French language, or rather in the jargon spoken by the
would-be-fine people, in imitation of the court, and by them called
French. Neither the _Spectator_, however, nor any of his periodical
imitators have ever found out why a certain headland, bare as the
back of my hand, should be dignified with the appellation of Beechey
Head; unless indeed, according to the Eton grammar, our ancestors used
the rule of _lucus a non lucendo_.
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