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Otago Daily Times, Issue 408, 11 April 1863, Page 5

hi ■ .-■!<.',-,'■ '~lr v.v,.?:f; ;,) <-i~-!,':>Mh f. . ■■■ -.c I ' The Confederates nre violent, against'Englnnd for iteciinuig to -rtioliinte'." "The "RictwtoW "Whi^/p,^ of piir '"groTOlnng-and-coftti'Droo'^rtVi&hntJabi" chili' 'Lord PalnieWton and KavKßHssell .ACpa,in't«a^mttini' mies," actuated by '' sordid lust and base feiits;.*' anil' promises to hate us " next to the abominable North more than any nation upon earth." Mr Seward is diotaiiuuf the policy of Earl Rua.iell, and the " Yankee fox" ia " by far the shrewder knave of the two."

CHANGE OF SURNAMES.

The strong tendency existing in English society to split into the three castes, to which I have adverted, explains many of the questions at present attracting the attention of the English newspapers. It is evident, from the letters with which their columns have hem flooded, that one of the greatest grievances under which English gentlemen of the upper and middle-classes, now suffer, is the necessity they are under of adhering to their plebeian names. An English squire who is a Smith, Brown, or Robinson, writhes in agony, it appears, when his name is mentioned. It was sometime ago decided by the English lawyers, that any man may change his name if he thinks fit. Under this decision Mr Jo3hua Bugg, innkeeper, as I mentioned at the time, became Mr Norfolk Howard. It was afterwards, however, held by Sir GeorgeGrey, that no man was to be recognised under his new name until he had acquired aright to the use of the later, by having employed it for some time. The consequence is, th;it if-a man attempts to change his name without royal license, he must pass through a stage in which he has legally no. name at all. Mr Joshua Btigrg could nothave been affected by this state of matters, but deputy-lieutenants, magistrates, aud officers in the army and navy would cnase to hold their commissions during this probationary period, and to meet their wants, legislation is necessary. "What, then, are to be the new regulations, if every man's surname," asks a writer in the Times of this morniii", v is to become the prey of the first person iv search of a new one?" The writer, hopes that his name, about the honor of which he has ever been touchy and sensitive, will nnt become the prey of any blackguard who finds it convenient to assume an alias. He thinks that people should be content with' the names they have, '" Peel" and "Peabedy" have beeu ennobled by worthy deeds; and what name ■ might not? . "Douglas- and Keith,1' he says, divested of association, are anything but musical, /"and as to all the numerous Macs and O's, of which the Highlander* and Irish are so proud, what could he more inharmonious ?" Mr Alfred- Buggey, of Bedford, furnishes a list of names extracted. from the wills in the Prerogative Court in Doctors' Commons, which, he thinks, should no longer remain fixed a* a .dead weight round the necks of men, ;who, by •■their good conduct, energy, and have' succeeded in raising themselves ,'frorh the classes in which such designations can be borne without ridicule and disadvantage. Among those enumerated are, A'ase,' Belly, Boots, Cheese, Cockles, Dunce, Drinkmilk, Ginger, Funck, Frogge, Hbidwateiy. Headach, Jelly, Kneebone, Leaky,. Mule, Monkey, Milksop, Mudd, Honeybutti, Piddle, •Phisick, Pighead, Pot, Poker, Rottengoose, Squib, Swine, Shoe, Shave, Skuil, Vittels, and Whale. It is 'difficult to account for the prevalence of these names, and their singularity certainly justifies those who bear them in desiring' a change. In the Court of Queen's Bench, a short time ago, an attorney nam^d Gimlet, finding his name obnoxious to the jokes of his fellow-lawyers, applied to be allowed to change it, and was permitted to do so by the Lord Chief-Justice. He adopted the "maternal name of Henry—a privilege which might be conferred under certain forms without any risk of abuse.— lnverness

Courier,