weekly duty is continued. Upon king Charles's Martyrdom, I was induced to attend divine service at the cathedral, because I highly venerate that day, and greatly admire the solemnity of the service appropriated for the observance of it: and I was always led to understand, that, upon all state holidays, it was customay either for the dean, or one of the prebendaries, to preach. The stalls, certainly, were occupied (though not filied) by two prebendaries, and the sermon preached by one of the minor canons. After the service was ended, I had the curiosity to enquire the cause of this alteration, but I could not obtain any satisfactory answer from the person I addressed, because (as I learnt afterwards) he was a servant belonging to the cathedral. But entering into conversation with some of the citizens upon the subject, I was informed that this custom had prevailed for some time past, whether from indolence or disloyalty in the dignitaries of the church, they could not pretend to say. I was agreeably informed that the dean (who stands high in the estimation of the public,) condescended (and I make no doubt from motive of principle,) to preach on the King's Accession. This example, one should have imagined, would have induced the other dignitaries of the church (especi-, ally in the present times,) to have "gone, and done likewise."

time, it gave me no small degree of pleasure, to find that the abominable abuses which were constantly offered to the south side of the cathedral, were now likely to be remedied by the erection of iron palisades as far as the south entrance, which I was informed will be continued at some future time to the west end. This alteration, (and a very laudable one it is) would, I must confess, have met my approbation in a greater degree, if the base,upon which these palisades are erected, had been coustructed of stone instead of brick, provided the revenues of the church were adequate to the expence.

My next visit was to that part of the Precincts called the Oaks, which I was happy to find much improved, and some oak trees planted there, in order to perpetuate its name, as there were none before existing there. From hence I directed iny course to a place called the Green court, which I found much improved, owing to the grass-plats being levelled, and the gravel walks being kept in good preservation. But here, I am sorry to relate it, I found myself in great jeopardy, owing to the idle custom of coachmen and grooms exercising their masters' horses in this contracted spot. That this dangerous custom should be connived at, or permitted, by the dean and chapter, astonished me; more particularly when I considered the great anDuring my stay at Canterbury, I noyance it must be to the inhabitants, always make a point of visiting the Pre-and the imminent danger it occasions to cincts of the cathedral, which building cannot fail of giving great pleasure to those who survey its innumerable beauties with any degree of attention. To form some criterion of the pure Gothic, a more beautiful instance than the nave of the cathedral cannot be adduced. I was here highly gratified to find that most of the nuisances at the west end of the cathedral, and which have "repeatedly raised the indignation of the antiquarian, and the man of taste, are now removed, At the same time I was happy to hear that the dean and chapter (highly to their honour be it spoken,) had it in contem. plation to purchase of the archbishop's lessee the house which has, for a great number of years, been made use of as a barber's shop. Should this take place, the building be removed, and the site of it laid open, it would have a grand effect, and become one of the greatest improvements which the cathedral has experienced for many years. At the same

the young gentlemen educated at the King's School, who have no other place appropriated to them for their play ground. It is much to be lamented, that some more retired spot, and one better calculated for the purpose, could not be found. But what disgusted me most of all was, that when I passed through the precincts in the evening, to find such a deficiency of lamps; for I am very confi dent, that even the inhabitants themselves, cannot, without the greatest dilliculty, and without the assistance of their own lanthorns, find their way to their respective abodes. This darkness is productive of vicious practices; for assignations are made in the streets, and then the parties retire into the Precincts, because they love darkness rather than light, and because their deeds are evil." Therefore, humbly hoping that these abuses will be rectified, and these nuisances removed, I beg leave to subscribe A WANDERER. myself,

Το

7. Do not wear other spectacles than your own, to which your eyes have accommodated themselves.

SPECTACLES ARE NECESSARY, 1. When we are obliged to remove small objects to an increased distance from the eye, to see them distinctly;

2. When we find it necessary to have more light than formerly; as, for instance, when we find ourselves placing the candle between the eye and the object;

3. When, on looking at and attentively considering a near object, it becomes confused, and appears to have a kind of. mist before it;

4. When the letters of a book run into one another, and become double and treble;

5. When the eyes are so fatigued by a little exercise, that we are obliged to shut them from time to time, and to relieve them by looking at different objects.

Then it will be prudent and necessary to set aside all prudery; honestly confess that age is creeping upon us; that our eyes are an unerring warning; and without coquetry, or apology, ask the optician for a pair of spectacles.

For those who live at a distance from large cities, the following modes of calculating the focus of glasses will prove useful. Rule for calculating the Focus of Conrex Glasses.-Multiply the distance at which a person sees distinctly, by the distance at which he wishes to see, and divide the product by the difference between the said distances; the quotient is the desired focus.

Rule for Concave Glasses to read and write, for a near-sighted Person.—Multiply the greatest distance at which the short-sighted sees distinctly with his naked eye, by the distauce at which it is required he should see distinctly by a concave glass, and divide the product by the difference between the said distances. If it is to see remote objects, the focus should be the same as that required for the distance of distinct vision..

The preceding observations are va Jurable just in proportion to the value of sight, and to the pleasure of seeing distinctly and without pain. Feb. 12, 1811.

COMMON SENSE.

ries into the origin of thes cappellations had exercised the pens of authors of all ages; and it will hereafter be scarcely credited, that men had at length supposed these names to be impenetrable mysteries. In my last, I hinted that Scotland, like all other parts of Great Britain, was a name given from situa tion. I will now trace this name, and the word Pict, from their source.

The name Scotland is unknown in im❤ port, and it has been stated "that Ammianus Marcellinus, who wrote in the 4th century, is the first historian who mentions the Scots." "But St. Jerom, in his epistle against Ctesiphon the Pela gian, has given a much more ancient passage, which he translated out of Por phyry, who wrote an age before Ammianus, to wit, "Neither Britain, a province fertile in tyrants, nor the Scottish nations, nor the barbarous nations round about to the very ocean, did ever acknowledg Moses and the Prophets."

The word Spain is in Spanish Espana; I have shewed its derivation. The sy lable Es being pronounced like the letter S, the E is dropped in our spelling of Spain. Scodra, a city of Albania, is now called by the Turks Escodar, and by the Italians Scutari. Scutari, also opposite Constantinople, is called by the Turks Iscodar. The import of each of these names may be traced from Is wa ter, Cot, or Cod, an hill, and Ar border. The same may be said of the letter S in Scotland, which is written with an E before it by foreigners. The Es then in Escotia, being the same as the Es in Espana, &c. will imply water; Cot, or Cote, is a French word for a coast, rising ground, or hill. From the name Cot, or Cote, hill, in Cumberland, this name must early have obtained in England. Escotia, or Scotland, will therefore imply the Water, Hill, or High Land. Should it, however, be supposed that the letter S, in this word, is used as Dr. Harris on Isaiah supposes, and which I have mentioned in a former letter, then Scotland will only imply the Hill or High Land; and this exactly agrees with the old term Caledonia, and shews that new names are translations of older ones. The word Scuite has been supposed the etymon

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. from whence Scot was derived; but, as all

SIR,

N your two last Magazines, I have

I given derivations of the names Celli,

Cymbri, and of some countries which gave denominations to these people. Euqui

countries are named from their features, and lands were all settled by wanderers, nothing but ignorance of the subject will

account for authors adopting this chiming

and inapplicable etymon for Scotland in particular.

The

The Picti, or Pictæ, have been said to come originally from Scythia, and to have received this name from painting their bodies with different colours, to appear more terrible to their enemies. A colony of these is reported by Servius, the commentator on Virgil, to have emigrated to Scotland, where they still preserve their name and savage manners. That the Picts painted their bodies, I will not dispute, although I will shew that they took not their name from this circumstance, nor from being emigrants from Scythia; but, that like all other provinces or portions of this island, their name is derived from the features of their lands which they inhabited.

The Isle of Wight, of which so much has been unskilfully said on its derivation, was called Ictis, Mictis, and Victis, in which the ending in is, is likely to be a diminutive, although it may unply water. The root of the first syllable of these names, as well as that of Fich, Bich, Crick, and Toick, is Ie; and these all meau border-land, or land: Victis, Mictis, and Ictis, will therefore imply the little land. The syllables Ic, Vic, and Mic, took a T to strengthen their sound, in the same manner as the Gaelic word Direach, straight, takes a Tin the English word Direct. Vicht, or Wicht. For, as G and C are Wight comes from convertible, Wickt and Wight are the

same.

In like manner, the word Pict is written Pight in Pight-land, otherwise named Pent-land, the northernmost corner of Scotland: the H being dropped, which is disused in many other words, becomes Pigt, and this, by the change of G to C, was written Pict: and hence Pight-land was also called Pict-land.

I must here observe, that P is called convexity and prominence by writers on the power of letters, as in Pic, Peac, or Peake; and hence P prefixed to En, land, will become Pen, Head or Point Land. In like manner, Pight, Pigt, or Pict, having for its root Ic, may be written Pic, Peac, or Peake, a Head, or Point Land. Pic also, to strengthen the syllable, takes a Tin Pict, as direach did in direct. The word Peu also becomes Pent in Pent-land, which implies Pointland. Pic and Pen, or Pict and Pent,* then will imply the same, and each mean

A more formal proof might be given, if required. See Lloyd's Archeologia on the head of D and T following N.

head or point land. The Picts were on the borders and projecting corners of therefore the Point-landers, or dwellers Scotland.

letters, let me give a more probable But leaving assertions on the power of account of their meanings. The word Aighe, is hill; it is often changed to eighe, or ey, and to ee in pronunciation: with the prefix B, there is in Devon a sharp hill named Bee-tor. The letter B [Bee] being then in pronunciation a name for hill, becomes, with a root for land, often a name for hill land, as in Binn, an hill; in which the root In, or Inn, means land only. And, as Band P pronunciation of a word for hill; and were used for each other, P also was the therefore Pinn, Pin, or Pen, meant the same as Binn, or Bin. In like manner the letter D (or Dee,) with En, land, land, in Dee-un, which is written Dune. varied to Un, becomes a name for hill So also C, (or Cee,) which is called Col in the Gaelic, with en, varied to an, land, becomes Cec-an, or Ceann, a Head Land. If we suppose an to imply water, then Ceann will be the Water Head. But enough for the present on the meanings of prefixes.

There is no doubt that many letters variation or addition to their meanings: are prefixed to words without giving any thus Ann is called Nan. Sometiines word, conveys a different meaning. I also the same letter, prefixed to the same will here instance the word Dun, which may mean land only, but which is often used for hill land: I think, however, in this case it should always be written Dune, to make a proper distinction.-But to return.

said to be found on the coast of Scotland, A few plains, of no great extent, are from whence the ground rises to great heights, or heads, in the middle of the kingdom. Col, or Cal, then the head or hill, Don, land, and Ia, territory, Hill, or High-land Territory. The Cale were appropriate terms for this Head, donii were therefore the Highlanders, as I have already shewn. On the contrary, however, it is asserted in Camden that, from the plural of Caled, hard, or Caledon, this name is derived. And in a note " Kalt, or Kelt," is defined "Cold." And the word "Chiltern*" follows from

"Gale

Ern is therefore a plural ending: from my
• Children is often pronounced Childern.
last letters Cel and Cil, or Chil, is hill. Chil