industry and commerce, to realize the madness
of Louis XIV. and the wisdom of the English Government.

Here are a few taken at random from Smiles's History of the
Huguenots--Bosanquet, Casaubon, Chenevix Trench, Champion de Crespigny,
Dalbiac, Delane, Dollond, Durand, Fonblanque, Gambier, Garrick,
Layard, Lefanu, Lefroy, Ligonier, Luard, Martineau, Palairet, Perowne,
Plimsoll, Riou, Romilly--all respectable and many distinguished, even
cricket being represented. These more educated foreigners usually
kept their names, sometimes with slight modifications which do not
make them unrecognizable. Thus, Bouverie, literally "ox-farm," is
generally found in its unaltered form, though the London Directory has
also examples of the perverted Buffery. But the majority of the
immigrants were of the artisan class and illiterate. This explains
the extraordinary disappearance, in the course of two centuries, of
the thousands of French names which were introduced between 1550 and
1700.

We have many official lists of these foreigners, and in these lists we
catch the foreign name in the very act of transforming itself into
English. This happens sometimes by translation, e.g. Poulain became
Colt, Poisson was reincarnated as Fish, and a refugee bearing the
somewhat uncommon name Petitoeil transformed himself into Little-eye,
which became in a few generations Lidley. But comparatively few
surnames were susceptible of such simple treatment, and in the great
majority of cases the name underwent a more or less arbitrary
perversion which gave it a more English physiognomy. Especially
interesting from this point of view is the list of--"Straungers
residing and dwellinge within the city of London and the liberties
thereof," drawn up in 1618. The names were probably taken down by the
officials of the different wards, who, differing themselves in
intelligence and orthography, produced very curious results.

As a rule the Christian name is translated, while the surname is
either assimilated to some English form or perverted according to the
taste and fancy of the individual constable. Thus, John Garret, a
Dutchman, is probably Jan Gerard, and James Flower, a milliner, born
in Rouen, is certainly Jaques Fleur, or Lafleur. John de Cane and
Peter le Cane are Jean Duquesne and Pierre Lequesne (Norman quene,
oak), though the former may also have come from Caen. John Buck, from
Rouen, is Jean Bouc, and Abraham Bushell, from Rochelle, was pr