in his first volume, where she is
erroneously called Dingley. If this be a fact, it is very
interesting; for it is strange that both Mr. Ruddell, the narrator
(whose manuscript I lent to Gilbert), and De Foe, should have
called her Dingley. I have no doubt it was a fictitious name, for I
never heard of it Launceston or the neighbourhood; whereas Durant
is the name of an ancient Cornish family: and I remember a tall,
respectable man of that name in Launceston, who died at a very
advanced age; very probably a connexion of the Ghost Lady. He must
have been born about 1730. Durant was probably too respectable a
name to be published, and hence the fictitious one.' Mr. Arundell
likewise says, 'In Launceston Church is a monument to Charles Bligh
and Judith his wife, who died, one in 1716, and the other in 1717.
He is said to have been sixty years old, and was probably the
brother of Samuel, the hero of Dorothy Dingley. Sarah, the wife of
the Rev. John Ruddell, died in 1667. Mr. Ruddell was Vicar of
Aternon in 1684. He was the minister of Launceston in 1665, when he
saw the ghost who haunted the boy.'"

Such is Mrs. Bray's account of these very curious circumstances. The
ghost story inserted in Gilbert, as mentioned above, is altogether so
much in the style of De Foe, that a doubt remains whether, after all, he
may not have been the author of it. Can "D.S.," or any of your readers,
throw further light on the subject?

D.S.Y.

[Footnote 1: Of Landulph, Cornwall, the author of _Discoveries in
Asia Minor_, and the well-known _Visit to the Seven Churches of
Asia_. Mr. Arundell is now dead.]

* * * * *

PET-NAMES.

"Mary" is informed that "Polly" is one of those "hypocorisms," or
pet-names, in which our language abounds. Most are mere abbreviations,
as Will, Nat, Pat, Bell, &c., taken usually from the beginning,
sometimes from the end of the name. The ending _y_ or _ie_ is often
added, as a more endearing form: as Annie, Willy, Amy, Charlie, &c. Many
have letter-changes, most of which imitate the pronunciation of infants.
_L_ is lisped for _r_. A central consonant is doubled. _O_ between _m_
and _l_ is more easily sounded than _a_. An infant forms _p_ with its
lips sooner than _m_; papa before mamma. The order of change is: Mary,
Maly, Mally, Molly, Polly. Let me illustrate this; _l_ for _r_ appea