Bishop of Winchester, Dr. Stephens. These prelates indeed had no children; but these instances may serve to shew, nevertheless, with what facility Christian names would pass into sirnames, in cases where there were children.

1772, July, Aug.

I am, Sir, &c.

T. Row.

4. Sirnames derived from Trades, Occupations, Professions, and Conditions of Life, now obsolete.

Archer. There is a noble family of this name.

Arrowsmith. So named from the old trade of making the heads of arrows.

Armitage. Corrupted from Hermitage.

Abbot.

Arblaster. Balistarius in Latin.

Billman. The bill was an instrument much used in war, and by watchmen.

Bowes. De arcubus, Campbell's lives of the Admirals, ív. p. 267,

Bowman. Ibidem.

Butts. The place of exercising with the bow and arrow. Boulter. From bolting or sifting flour; or, perhaps, a maker of arrowheads. v. Shotbolt.

Bowyer. He that made or sold bows.

Broadspear. The spear is now little used.

Breakspear. v. Broadspear.

Benbow, quasi Bend-bow. Campbell, iv. p. 267.

Cardinal.

Crosier. The ancient pastoral staff of our prelates. Forester, and by contraction Forster; an officer of ac count whilst the Forest-laws were in force.

Foster. From fostering or nursing; the first of which is now little used.

Fortescu, quasi Strong-shield. The shield is now out of

use.

Friar.

Fletcher. He whose business it was to finish, or put the feathers to the arrows, from the English word fledge; or, perhaps, a maker of arrows, from the French flèche.

Forbisher, In Latin Forbator, vide Spelman's Gloss. in voce; called from furbishing, i, e. cleaning and brightening

of armour. It is not the Saxon formunge, as Spelman derives it; but is the French fourbir, whence they have the term Fourbisseur, in the same sense.

Falkner. A falconer.

Hawker. One that sports with hawks; and not from hawking and pedling, though, in some cases, perhaps, from this last.

Hookeman. The hook was anciently a warlike instru

ment.

Minors. This, I suppose, may be taken from the friars minors, or grey friars, but quere; for see Camden, p. 150. Moigne, or Monke. The French is La Moine, as appears from the genealogy of Gen. Monke.

Massinger. Denominated, I suppose, from the mass. We have a good comic poet of this name.

Masters. De monasteriis. Camden, p. 150.

Nun.

Prevost. Lat. præpositus, but immediately taken from the French.

Pike. An instrument of war now disused; but q. pike, the fish, as Camden, p. 130.

Prior. This has relation to that monastic officer.

Pope. He has nothing to do here now.

Pyle. So called from the head or pile of the arrow.
Pilgrim.

Palmer. A pilgrim returning from Jerusalem, and carrying a palm-branch.

Parmenter. Pergamenatrius, a maker of parchment. A. Wood, Hist. et Antiq. p. 90.

Pointer. A maker of points, formerly much worn; or perhaps, one that pointed arrows.

Strongbow. Campbell, iv. p. 267.

Stringer. He had his employment in the trade of bowmaking; or, perhaps, in making the strings only.

Stringfellow. Same as the former. A name common in

the north.

Spearman, v. Broadspear.

Shakespear, v. Broadspear.

Shotbolt. The bolt was the head of an arrow, but à square one.

Talsas, or Talsace. The name of a shield; but this, I think, died with the person. See Camden's Remains, p. 129, Dugd. Baronage, I. p. 31.

Valvasor, or Vavasor. The name of a certain rank or order. See Spelm. Gloss. v. Valvasores.

Ward. A common name; but the thing has been much, though not entirely, disused, since the abolition of the court of wards and liveries. Wards there are yet of the court of chancery.

1772, Oct.

I am, &c.

T. Row

LXXIII. Origin of the word Lady.

MR. URBAN,

AS I have studied more what appertains to the ladies than to the gentlemen, I will satify you how it came to pass that women of fortune were called ladies, even before their husbands had any title to convey that mark of distinction to them. You must know, then, that heretofore it was the fashion for those families whom God had blessed with affluence, to live constantly at their mansion-houses in the country, and that once a week, or oftener, the lady of the manor distributed to her poor neighbours, with her own hands, a certain quantity of bread, and she was called by them the Leff-day, i. c. in Saxon, the bread-giver. These two words were in time corrupted, and the meaning is now as little known as the practice which gave rise to it; yet it is from that hospitable custom, that, to this day, the ladies in this kingdom alone, serve the meat at their own tables.

1772, June.

I am, Sir, &c. &c.

LXXIV. Pigs of Lead.

§ 1. An ancient Pig of Lead discovered on Hints Common.

MR. URBAN,

As some workmen were digging for gravel, last winter, on

the

Hints Common, about three quarters of a mile north from Watling-street-road, they discovered at the depth of four feet from the surface of the earth, a pig of lead, one hundred and fifty pounds weight, with an inscription cast in basso relievo, surrounded by a border of an equal height. Through favour of the possessor, Ralph Floyer, Esq. I have been permitted to measure and make an exact drawing of this monument of antiquity, which I have herewith sent you, not doubting of your readiness to oblige your antiquarian readers with a representation of it in your Magazine, to whom it is also submitted for an explanation, by,

Your humble servant,

RICHARD GREEN.

Litchfield, Oct. 17.

P.S. Hints, called by the Saxons HENDON, (or Old Town) is a pleasant village, whose lofty situation commands a very extensive prospect of the counties of Stafford, Leicester, and Derby; it is about four miles from Litchfield, and three from Tamworth. Near the church, which is prebendal, there is a very large tumulus, not long since planted over with firs. 1772, Dec.

MR. URBAN,

WE are infinitely obliged to Mr. Floyer for communicating to the public the very ancient block of lead discovered upon Hints Common, Com. Staff. A. D. 1771, and to Mr. Green, whose accuracy in those things is well known to you, and may be thoroughly depended upon, for presenting us with an exact drawing of it. This block, so perfect in all

its parts, and a remnant of such remote antiquity, may be esteemed a most admirable curiosity. The inscription is to be read Imperatore Vespasiano septimum, Tito Imperatore quintum, Consulibus, and plainly betokens the year of Christ 76, U. C. 828, when, viz. before the kalends of July, Vespasian and Titus were consuls, the first the 7th, and the other the 5th time*. Titus, the son, is here called emperor as well as his father, having been associated by his father in the government of the empiret; and this block of lead is now, A. D. 1773, 1697 years old.

The weight of the piece is 150lb. avoirdupois, this being, I presume, that species of weight with which the gentlemen tried it. The pound avoirdupois is heavier, as all know, than the Troy pound, and the Troy pound is heavier than the Roman pound, in the proportion of 1560 grains to 1256; insomuch that it weighed more than 150 pounds Roman weight. But this is of no consequence, as little would be learned from it, though one should be at the pains of computing the exact Roman weight of it to a scruple. Suffice it therefore to say, in regard to this point, that it was of a proper size (22) inches long,) and weight, for loading and unloading, and a suitable burthen for a small horse, such as, I imagine, the British horses then were; and especially in bad roads, as we may suppose the ways in our island certainly to have been before the military roads were formed, which was not done till many years after the reign of Vespasian.

The figure of the piece is incommodious; the size, indeed, 22 inches, was convenient enough for lifting; and the weight was sufficiently manageable by a man in loading: but as the bottom was broader than the top, the inscription being undoubtedly put on the uppermost and most visible side when out of the mould, this of course would make it troublesome either in taking up or laying down. The letters, and the border round, were impressed, I conceive, by an engraven stamp of iron, applied whilst the metal was hot, if not placed at the bottom of the form or mould, and consequently the die must have been renewed every year, the date annually varying. The person that marked the piece was certainly the Roman director, or superintendant of the

*Fasti Consulares, p. 79.

+ Universal History, XV. p. 28.

Greaves's Works, I. p. 305.

The face of the country was then overgrown with woods, and the pathe were both narrow, and but little beaten.