would be most amusing, and would besides possess the valuable property of lasting out the lives of the controversialists, and of leaving each party crowned with the wreath of conquest, in his own estimation, at the close, for who could decide between them, or say to whom the victory belonged?

The fifth class of sirnames is derived from natural objects or productions, chiefly animals, fruit, vegetables, flowers, &c. These were doubtless originally conferred from some supposed analogy between the individual and the object which supplied the designation; and if this be admitted, we must suppose that the first possessors of the names of Lion, Panther, Bull, and Bear, would be avoided for their ferocity; while we must confess that with the original family of the Sharks, (now mostly written Stark,) we would rather have left a P. P. C. card than have sent one of invitation. Then what opinion must be formed of the first Lizards, Foxes, Weazles, Badgers, Tadpoles, and Cats? The primitive Lambs, Hares, Coneys, Harts, Partridges, Doves, Goldfinches, Pointers, and Beagles, were, on the contrary, no doubt distinguished for their gentleness and other agreeable or serviceable qualities. All social intercourse with the first Snows and Frosts we must imagine to have been of a most repelling nature; while that with the original Springs, Summerfields, Honeymen, and Goodales, must have been equally agreeable and inviting. The name of Rose, now so common, we can only imagine to have been first bestowed on some fair maiden of surpassing beauty; and our ancestors were surely too gallant to attach such appellations as those of Lily, Hyacinth, Primrose, Hawthorn, or Roseberry, to any other but the fair sex. For the same reason we may conjecture that the first Peaches, Melons, Pines, Gages, and Plumtrees were females. The names of Hawk, Leopard, and some others, inspire us with no agreeable ideas of their original possessors; while we naturally suppose pertness or insignificance to have marked the first Sparrows, Starlings, Flounders, Whitings, and Smelts.

However the first persons on whom this class of names was bestowed might have deserved them, like those who derived theirs from some quality or attribute, it is clear that their descendants no longer possess the analogous dispositions or qualities which marked their original owners. This may in part have arisen from numerous intermarriages; for though Shakspeare says, with a feeling of indignation, "What! shall the lion couple with the lamb?" it is quite certain that as strange unions have taken place. We lately read in the newspaper the announcement of the marriage of Mr. Sparrow with Miss Hawk, surely an alliance as unnatural as that anathematised by our great bard. In the range of our acquaintance most of us can recognise some Lion who is tame and pusillanimous; some Lamb who is full of spirit; a Swallow "who ne'er has changed nor wished to change his place;" a Nightingale who cannot distinguish one note from another; a Rose anything but fair; a Bright who is the dullest of the dull; a Wise who is foolish; a Hardy who is timid; a Strong who is weak; and a Worthy who is worthless. Indeed so inapplicable have the appellatives of these two classes become, that we have known many persons now bearing them who have been greatly annoyed at the continual repetitions of their names, and who, we believe, would have been

1833.]

BRITISH SIRNAMES.

very glad if their ancestors had been too insignificant to have merited the honour of having any analogous epithets applied to them.

There are some English sirnames that cannot be comprised in either of the above classes. These are mostly monosyllabic, of which it is difficult to trace the etymology, partly from the change which orthography has undergone since the days of early civilization, and partly from the words having become so obsolete as to elude the efforts of the most industrious research. If they could be successfully investigated, it is generally supposed that they could be referred to one of the five classes enumerated in this paper.

Names derived from dignified titles, such as King, Prince, Duke, Bishop, Earl, &c., have been the subject of some contention. Camden thinks that many names of this kind were taken from the device in the armorial bearings of particular families, and were borne by their servants and dependents; and this seems probable, for it is not likely that dignitaries themselves would be thus called, as they were always distinguished by their proper titles. They might sometimes, however, have been given in derision to individuals who were ostentatious or assuming.

On taking promiscuously a hundred names from a General Directory, Mr. Merritt found the proportion of the different classes to be as follows:

Names of countries, towns, or villages

Attributes, qualities, or nicknames
Trades or professions

Patronymics

Natural objects or productions

Not comprised in any of the above

48

19

14

9

7

3

100

No trace can be found in this country of the time when the appropriation of sirnames ceased, or went out of fashion. Those who have given most attention to the subject, think the practice has not existed, except in a few instances, for the last two or three centuries; and it is the opinion of some, that from the great increase of population it will be found necessary, ere long, in order to avoid confusion, to revive the custom; to issue a new coinage, and by giving individuals bearing the commonest names, the privilege of assuming others on their marriage, to ensure to posterity more distinctive appellations than those enjoyed by the families of the present day.

MYSIA.

ARECA LANCE-SHAFTS.

THE general efficiency of the Lance-shaft being a matter of some importance, I beg leave to observe, that of all the different woods that I have seen used for that purpose, the Areca appears to me to be best adapted. The natives on the Malabar coast, and also of Ceylon, make the shafts of their hog-spears of this wood, in preference to the bamboo, which itself is excellent. The manner of making the shaft is this:-three pieces of Areca, of the length required, are planed into an angular form, each the third of a circle, they are then glued together, and bound round with a These shafts are not liable to be insmall thread, and varnished over. J. N.

jured or broken by any service they may be engaged in.

THE LATE LIEUT.-GENERAL EARL of pomfret.

EARLY in 1791, this officer, then the Hon. Thomas William Fermor, was appointed to an ensigucy in the 3d Foot Guards. He served in the campaign in Flanders, in 1793, and was present at the battle of Famars, the sieges of Valenciennes and Dunkirk, and the battle of Lincelles, where his regiment was greatly distinguished. In 1794, he was promoted to a lieutenancy. He served in Ireland during the rebellion. In 1799 he accompanied his regiment in the expedition to the Helder, where he was present at the several actions of that short campaign. In 1800, he was promoted to a company, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He served with the Guards in Spain and Portugal from 1809 until his promotion, in 1813, to the rank of Major-General, which obliged him to return to England. In 1825 he was promoted to Lieut.-General. He succeeded to the honour as fourth Earl of Pomfret upon the death of his brother in 1830. His Lordship married, in 1823, the eldest daughter of Sir Richard Borough, Bart., by whom he has. left issue two sons and two daughters. His decease took place on the 29th June last, in the sixty-third year of his age.

MEMOIR OF THE SERVICES OF THE LATE GENERAL SIR ROBert

BROWNRIGG, BART., G.C.B.

THE military career of this veteran commenced in the 14th foot, a detach-' ment of which he joined, as Ensign, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the year 1776, and from thence proceeded to join the body of the regiment at New' York, which being drafted, he returned to England. In 1778, he became Lieutenant and Adjutant in that regiment; and, in 1780, embarked with it' on board the Channel fleet, where it was appointed to serve as marines. In 1781 the regiment disembarked, and Lieutenant Brownrigg proceeded with it, in 1782, to Jamaica, where he remained till the beginning of 1784, when he was appointed to a company in the 100th foot, from which he exchanged to the 35th in October of that year, and in June 1786, into the 52d." In 1790 he received the brevet step of Major, and was appointed Deputy Adjutant General to an expedition then fitting out to act against the Spaniards in South America, but which never proceeded to its destination. He exchanged into the 49th, and in the latter end of this year he was appointed Commandant and Paymaster to the detachments of regiments on foreign service assembled at Chatham barracks, in which situation he continued till December 1793, when he was appointed Deputy Quarter-Master-General to the Army serving in Flanders. The 25th September, the same year, he had been appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the 88th foot.

He was present in all the actions in which the British forces took part during the campaign of 1794, and on the retreat of the army through Holland and Westphalia in the winter of that year.

Lieut.-Colonel Brownrigg was nominated Military Secretary to the Duke of York on his Royal Highness being appointed Commander-in-Chief of the army when he returned to England; and in June, 1795, he exchanged to a company in the Coldstream guards. The 3d May, 1796, he received the rank of Colonel. In 1799, he accompanied the Duke of York in the expedition to Holland. He continued as Secretary to his Royal Highness until March, 1803, when he was appointed Quarter-Master-General of the Forces.

In June, 1799, he became Colonel-Commandant of the 6th battalion of the 60th regiment; was promoted to the rank of Major-General in 1802; Lieut.-General in 1808; and, in 1819, to that of General. He obtained the Coloneley of the 9th foot in 1805, which appointment he held till his decease.

In July, 1809, General Brownrigg, as Quarter-Master-General of the forces, accompanied the expedition to the Scheldt, and was present at the siege of Flushing, and the subsequent operations in South Beveland. In the subsequent inquiry that took place before the House of Commons, General Brownrigg gave it as his opinion that the failure of the ulterior objects of the expedition, the destruction of the arsenal at Antwerp, was the result of the unfortunate necessity which obliged the whole armament to have been assembled in the Roompot, and which it would not have had recourse to had the intricacies of the Slough passage been known before the expedition left England, for, from the prevalence of the south-west winds after the British shipping arrived off the coast of Zealand, it became impossible to move the transports round the north-west side of Walcheren, by which the original intention to carry the force destined to operate against Antwerp up the West Scheldt was defeated; so that an operation which might have been performed in four or five days from the Downs was lengthened to three weeks, that time having been occupied in passing all the transports through the Slough, a distance of only fifteen miles.

In 1813, General Brownrigg was appointed Governor and Commander-inChief of the forces in the island of Ceylon.

On the transfer of Ceylon from Holland to Great Britain, the latter succeeded to a singularly circumstanced possession, the ring of sea-coast being under European occupation or authority, whilst the central parts were held by the native sovereign of Candy. Such a divided dominion could not fail of being the cause of frequent differences; and so far back as 1803, an expedition had been undertaken by the British Government against the Candian king, which, after the temporary conquest of the capital, fatally terminated in the massacre or imprisonment of the whole British detachment. The Candian troops afterwards advanced to the British frontier, and hostilities were for some time carried on; till, at length, a suspension of warfare rather than renewal of amicable intercourse succeeded, the king still refusing to release the captured British officers.

In 1814, the seizing and barbarously mutilating ten natives of the British province of Columbo, who were pursuing their traffic in the Candian territory, joined with a revolt of the people on the frontier provinces, finally determined General Brownrigg to take up arms, and the troops were put in motion in January following, whilst a proclamation was issued, promising security and protection to the Candians, and announcing that the tyrannical proceedings of the king and his government were alone the object of hostility. General Brownrigg arranged the march of the army in divisions, to avoid the difficulty in supplying it with provisions. This, and the ruggedness of the roads and rainy weather, were, in fact, the only obstacles they had to contend with; for at no point did they meet with armed resistance, and the Adigars were all ready to join them as soon as they found it could be done with safety to their families. A detachment entered Candy on the 11th of February, which was found deserted by all the inhabitants, and stripped of all valuable property. The king had taken to flight with a small number of adherents; and, after much inquiry, was known to be in the Dessavany or Dombera, whence he had no means of escaping. On the 18th he was surrounded by his own people and taken prisoner, with two of his wives, his Malabar attendants alone making a slight resistance. The conquest was entirely bloodless on the part of the victors: and it concluded with a treaty between General Brownrigg, and the Adigars and principal Candian chiefs on the part of the natives, by which the king was deposed, and the dominion of the province declared to be vested in the sovereign of the British empire.

The Secretary of State, Lord Bathurst, in his reply to the General's' despatch, announcing the above conquest, observed, "the success of your enterprize has been so complete and immediate, that you must have yourself anticipated the lively satisfaction with which his Royal Highness the Prince

Regent received the intelligence. Had it been confined to the mere liberation of a people from a foreign despotism, (as sanguinary and cruel as that under which the inhabitants of Candy so long groaned,) it could not but have been grateful to the feelings of his Royal Highness; but as the overthrow of that tyranny has given increased security to his Majesty's possessions, and has been followed by an annexation of territory, voluntarily and unanimously made by its inhabitants, the satisfaction which his Royal Highness would in any case have felt, derives considerable accession from these circumstances, and from the proofs which they afford, on the part of a whole people, of confidence in the British name and character. H.R.H. has commanded me to assure you that he considers this favourable result as mainly to be attributed to the wise and judicious policy which you have uniformly adopted, to the promptitude with which, when war was unavoidable, you decided upon its immediate commencement, and to the vigor with which you planned and conducted its operations."

General Brownrigg continued as Governor and Commander-in-Chief in Ceylon till 1820, when he returned to this country. He was created a Baronet of Great Britain, 9th March, 1816; and he was also a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. In 1789, he married a daughter of Matthew Lewis, Esq., then Deputy Secretary at War, whose other daughter was married to General Whitelock. He became a widower in 1804, and, in 1810, married a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Bissett, of Knighton House, in the Isle of Wight.

The death of Sir Robert Brownrigg, which took place at Helstone, near Monmouth, on the 27th May last, is deeply lamented by the army in general and a large circle of friends. With the late Duke of York he was a particular favourite, and, indeed, with all persons who became acquainted with his manly and exemplary character.

In addition to the colonelcy of the 9th foot, Sir Robert Brownrigg held the governorship of Landguard Fort.

OBSERVATIONS ON A PROPOSED ESTABLISHMENT FOR THE BOARD AND EDUCATION OF THE SONS OF NAVAL OFFICERS.

BY PROFESSOR LAURENT.

MR. EDITOR,-In one of your preceding Numbers you favoured me with the insertion of a Synopsis or Plan of Education, &c. &c., by Professor Laurent, for conducting the Royal Naval School, which he had matured after a long and attentive consideration, to enable me to meet a public meeting prepared with a knowledge of every item of expense.

Professor Laurent, by birth and education connected with the two first nations in the universe, having passed one half of his life in France and the other in this country, is most eminently qualified to unite the advantages of the different systems of education for the benefit of the above institution.

The detailed plan herewith sent is an inference, drawn comparatively from the modes of education in France and England, which, in the Professor's opinion, will produce for the Royal Naval School a system of education far superior to any extant.

The importance of this subject to the different branches of the public service, is too manifest to need any further apology for the liberty I take in soliciting its publication in your valuable Journal.

Naval Club, Bond-street,

June 5, 1833.

Believe me, Mr. Editor,

Your obedient Servant,
W. H. DICKSON, Com.

The observations now submitted to the consideration of the British navy have for their object, to prove to the officers of that service, who have families, with what