fields exhibit no more fields, the Green park was all last autumn completely brown, Green street was in no better plight, and both, according to Goldsmith's recommendation concerning the aged peas with which he was served, should be removed to Hammersmith, because that is the way to Turnham Green."

The study of names has a greater philological value than the study of common words. The names of persons and places are, in numerous instances, the only existing memorials of departed nations. The Greeks and Romans displaced or annihilated numerous nations and languages in southern and central Europe. The Pelasgi and the Etrusci are only known by their monuments and monumental inscriptions. They only live in the names which they gave to places and heroes. "Stat nominis umbra." We everywhere tread upon the ashes of buried nations. Soon nothing will be known of the red men who have occupied this whole continent but the names they have affixed to mountains, lakes, and rivers. Proper names, therefore, have a historical value. Every name is a legend or myth to tell us how men of by looked, thought, and

acted.

Says Mr. Donaldson,-" When we hear a stream called Wans-beckwater, and know that the three words of which the compound is made up

all signify water,' the first being Celtic (as in Wan's-ford, A-von), the second German (beck-back), the last English, we at once recognize three changes of inhabitants to whom the older name successively lost its significance." Every conquered country contains such historical names. Britain has been successively occupied by Celts, Romans, Danes, and Normans. Existing names of places and of men are historical proofs of the settlement of these nations in the island. "In the Celtic dialect, for instance, Glynde means a vale, Comb (crom) a deep valley, and Caburn (caer-byrn) a fortified hill. All these occur in Sussex. In Latin, Castrum is a fortified station: this word corrupted by the Saxons to ceaster' or chester is a common termination of many English words. In AngloSaxon, Ley' and Tun' mean field and an enclosure. In French, Malfosse stands for a dangerous ravine, and Beaulieu for a pleasant situation." Thus Alfriston is Aelfrick's enclosure, Clapham, Clappa's home, Chichester, Cissa's fortress, Canterbury (Anglo-Saxon, Cant-waereburg), the chief town in Kent. Names terminating in ville (Latin, villa) are of French origin. Such examples might be multiplied indefinitely, but enough has been written to show that the study of proper names yields all that Horace ascribes to true poetry— pleasure and profit.

My first visit to the land of sunshine in search of genial climate was in the winter of 1859-'60. During that season no muttering of the gathering storm, which culminated the following year, marred the agreeable social life which, though void of excitement or intellectual stimulus in any form, afforded ample material for observation and study.

On my first trip I travelled in company with a party comprising gentlemen friends, for which cause a feature of the gallantry of Southern men did not appear.

Any Northern person must always be impressed with the contrast of railroad management after reaching

the Gulf States. After a little experience of the surprising leisure of the train, that removes all sense of steam power or speed, one might imagine it possible to be favored with a halt for his own personal comfort, especially after the train had been stopped two or three times at no particular place, but because a flag was waved from somebody's dooryard which the road passed.

A marked feature of Southern manners and the social education of Southern men was made prominent on my second trip, the next year, when accompanied only by a lady friend.

From Savannah, where we left

steamer, to Montgomery, no royal guests of the country or of the railroad could have been treated with more refined and respectful consideration, more delicate anticipation of and attention to our comfort. Whether we would have a window open or closed, here or there; whether we would like more room or more bolsterings to recline upon,-seemed to be as much the self-appointed duty of the conductor as were his train responsibilities.

Occasionally a glass of water was presented without any suggestion on our part, and though these very agreeable attentions and supply of necessary comforts were bestowed with the watchful foresight of a friend, not a word or look of encroaching familiarity was offered. To a lady who has travelled alone in the South, and has been acquainted with Southern gentlemen, there is no surprise that assaults upon women are visited with summary and decisive retribution. The protection of women is an inbred virtue in Southern men.

On my first arrival in Dixie it was my fortune to leave the boat about three o'clock A. M., in the darkness before the dawn. As it happened, no other passenger landed, and under the shadow of a densely wooded bluff, on the Alabama river, at the foot of a flight of three hundred steps leading up and into impenetrable darkness, a negro with a lantern my only means of guidance or company (the station agent having taken a chill that night), to mount that long flight of steps at the rear of the lantern, or trust the elevator used for hauling up freight, was my only chance of reaching a habitation, or white folks.

The proprietor of the hotel expected me, but the time of arrival of the boat was never a certainty, and that morning it chanced to be ahead of time. My sable guide took me to the hall," as the general receptionroom was called, which was the office, and took the place of a bar-room also. A fire was blazing cheerily in the open fireplace, as during the season of fires it always did, day and night. Partly in the shadow of corners, and partly in the light of the blaze on the hearth, were stretched on the floor a half dozen forms of negroes without pillows, without even blankets.

But for the life-giving warmth and radiance of the blaze, the impression of a first glance might have deepened, and a sense of having entered a morgue remained as the introduction to a hospitable Southern hotel, for, during the brief colloquy held with my attendant, not a breath or a motion indicated any life in those recumbent forms.

The countenance, and conspicuously the eye, of the negro slave was a study. No sphinx could seem more a riddle, or wear a more stolid mien. No genius in acting could throw more expression into the eye. Passing a day as the guest of a lady who had scores of servants, one of the housemaids slyly and deftly conveyed a few figs, the first fruits of the season, to my pocket. A short time afterward her mistress ordered her to go out and pick a dish of figs especially for å treat to me of an unaccustomed fruit. As the girl rose and passed behind the chair of her mistress, she truly shot glances at me, which for earnestness of appeal were almost startling. When she returned I es