ernicia was placed. As there is no evidence as to the
locality or limits of this ancient district, it is hoped that an
answer to the above query will afford a satisfactory solution to an
uncertainty that has long existed among Welsh antiquaries.

Gomer.

{336}

_John Bull_.--Might I beg to ask, through your columns, the origin of
the name "_John Bull_," as applied to Englishmen? I have frequently
heard the question asked; but I never heard it satisfactorily
answered. An antiquary once told me that it was so applied from the
number of _Johns_ among our countrymen, and the profusion of _bles_
in our language; an explanation which I placed to the credit of my
friend's ingenuity.

R.F.H.

* * * * *

REPLIES.

LETTER ATTRIBUTED TO SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.

I feel very confident that I once read the letter attributed to Sir
R. Walpole (No. 19. p. 304.) in some magazine, long before I had ever
seen _Banks' Extinct and Dormant Peerage_. My impression is, also,
that I never believed the document to be authentic; and that opinion
is confirmed by a reference to the _Correspondence of Horace Walpole_,
vol. i. ed. 1840, and to the journals of the day. I find from these
authorities, that the first of the memorable divisions which drove
Sir Robert from the helm, took place on the 21st Jan. 1741-2, when
Pulteney's motion for a secret committee was lost by three voices
only. We are told that the speeches were very brilliant, and Sir
R. Walpole particularly distinguished himself. He might have been
tormented by his enemies, but not by the stone, (the excuse assigned
in the letter for his inability to attend the king), for Horace left
him at one o'clock in the morning, after the debate had terminated,
"_at supper all alive and in spirits," and he even boasted that he was
younger than his son_. The next struggle was on the 28th of Jan., on
the Chippenham election, when the minister was defeated by one, and
his friends advised him to resign; but it was not till after the 3rd
of Feb., when the majority against him upon the renewal of the last
question had increased to sixteen, that he intimated his intention
to retire. These facts, coupled with the inferences drawn by your
correspondent P.C.S.S. as to the suspicious style of the letter, and
the imprudence of such a communication, go far to prove that it was
a forgery: but the passage in _Walpole's Reminiscences_, vol. i. p.
cviii. ed. 1840, with which