Notes and Queries, Number 26, April 27, 1850 | Page 3

service at that Cathedral drew together, twice
a day, all the lovers of music in London; not to mention that the
chairmen were wont to assemble there, where they were met by their
friends and acquaintance."-- _Sir John Hawkins' History of Music_, vol.
v. p. 108.
_The French Change, Soho._--A place so called in the reign of Queen
Anne. Gough, in a MS. note, now before us, thought it stood on the site
of the present bazaar.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
* * * * *
NOTES ON THE DODO.
I have to thank "Mr. S.W. SINGER" (No. 22. p. 353.) for giving some
interesting replies to my "Dodo Queries" (No. 17. p. 261.). I trust that
Mr. S. will be induced to pursue the inquiry further, and especially to
seek for some Portuguese account of the Mascarene Islands, prior to
the Dutch expedition of 1598. I am now able to state that the supposed
proof of the discovery of Bourbon by the Portuguese in 1545, on the
authority of a stone pillar, the figure of which Leguat has copied {411}
from Du Qesne, who copied it from Flacourt, turns out to be inaccurate.
On referring to Flacourt's _Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar_, 4to.,
Paris, 1658, p. 344, where the original figure of this monument is given,
I find that the stone was not found in Bourbon at all, but in "l'Islet des
Portugais," a small island at the mouth of the river Fanshere (see
Flacourt, p. 32.), near the S.E. extremity of Madagascar. From this
place Flacourt removed it to the neighbouring settlement of Fort
Dauphin in 1653, and engraved the arms of France on the opposite side
to those of Portugal. We are therefore still without any historical record
of the first discovery of Bourbon and Mauritius, though, from the
unanimous consent of later compilers, we may fairly presume that the
Portuguese were the discoverers.
The references which Mr. Singer has given to two works which
mention the Oiseau bleu of Bourbon, are very important, as the only
other known authority for this extinct bird is the MS. Journal of Sieur
D.B., which thus receives full confirmation. May I ask Mr. Singer
whether either of these writers mentions the Solitaire as inhabiting
Bourbon?
The "Oiseaux appelez _Flamands_" quoted by Mr. S., are merely

_Flamingos_, and are devoid of interest as regards the present question.
The history of the Dodo's head at Copenhagen, referred to by Mr.
Singer, is fully recorded in the _Dodo and its Kindred_, pp. 25. 33.
The name Dodo seems to have been first applied to the bird by Sir
Thomas Herbert, in 1634, who adds, in his edition of 1638, "a
Portuguese name it is, and has reference to her simpleness." Before that
time the Dutch were in the habit of calling it _Dodars_, _Dodaers_,
_Toters_, and Dronte. I had already made the same guesses at the
etymology of these words as those which Mr. Singer has suggested, but
not feeling fully satisfied with them, I put forth my Query VII. for the
chance of obtaining some further elucidation.
Mr. Singer's reasonings on the improbability of Tradescant's specimen
of the Dodo having been a fabrication are superfluous, seeing that the
head and foot of this individual are, as is well known, still in existence,
and form the subjects of six plates in the Dodo and its Kindred.
In regard to my Query IX. as to the local habitation of the family of
_Dronte_, who bore a Dodo on their shield, it has been suggested to me
by the Rev. Richard Hooper (who first drew my attention to this
armorial bearing), that the family was probably foreign to Britain. It
appears that there was a family named _Dodo_, in Friesland, a member
of which (Augustin Dodo, deceased in 1501) was the first editor of St.
Augustine's works. Mr. Hooper suggests that possibly this family may
have subsequently adopted the Dodo as their arms, and that Randle
Holme may, by a natural mistake, have changed the name of the family,
in his _Academy of Armory_, from Dodo to the synonymous word
Dronte. Can none of your genealogical readers clear up this point?
H.E. Strickland.
* * * * *
DERIVATION OF "STERLING" AND "PENNY".
Your correspondent suggests (No. 24. p. 384.) an ingenious derivation
for the word _Sterling_; but one which perhaps he has been too ready
to adopt, inasmuch as it helped his other derivation of _peny_, from
pecunia or pecus. I quote the following from _A short Treatise
touching Sheriff's Accompts_, by Sir Matthew Hale: London, 1683:
"Concerning the second, _viz._ the matter or species whereof the
current coin of this kingdom hath been made, it is gold or silver, but not
altogether pure, but with an allay of copper, at least from the time