"Pope, in a letter to Steele, at whose suggestion he had adopted the subject, gives this brief history of his composition:--'You have it,' he says, 'as Cowley calls it, warm from the brain; it came to me the first moment I waked this morning; yet you'll see it was not so absolutely inspiration but that I had in my head not only the verses of Hadrian, but the fine fragment of Sappho.' Pope omitted to observe the close similarity of his lines to those of Flatman, an obscure writer of the century before. Between his rough versification and the polished elegance of Pope there can be no comparison; but the thoughts are the same. Prior translated Hadrian's ode with more fidelity, but less good fortune." HENRY H. BREEN. St. Lucia. DERIVATION OF "LONDON." (Vol. iv., p. 437.) I beg to suggest that the word _London_ is derived from the Celtic _Luan_, "the moon," and _dun_, "a city on a hill;" thus _Luandun_ would mean "the city of the moon," _i.e._ of "the temple of the moon." I have seen it stated somewhere, that the site of St. Paul's was formerly that of a temple of Diana: if this be true, it gives weight to my definition of the word. I would also suggest that the name of _Greenwich_ is indicative of the religious worship of the ancient people of Britain; as _Grian_ is "the sun" in Celtic, and no doubt Greenwich could boast of its "Grynean grove." "His tibi Grynæi nemoris dicatur origo: Ne quis sit lucus, quo se plus jactet Apollo." FRANCIS CROSSLEY. M. C. E. is referred to the two following passages from Fuller, if he has not already met with them:-- "That it was so termed from _Lan Dian_, a temple of Diana (standing where now St. Paul's doth) is most likely, in my opinion."--_Worthies_, art. "London." "This renders their conceit not unlikely who will have London so called from _Llan Dian_, which signifieth in British, 'the temple of Diana.'"--_Church History_, i. § 2. J. EASTWOOD. The name of _London_ is certainly older than the Romans, and is probably, therefore, as your correspondent says, British. Its significance, if any, therefore, is to be sought in Welsh. Now, your correspondent is certainly quite wrong as to the meaning of _Llan_ in Welsh. It always means, here at any rate, _church_, not _plain_. Possibly your correspondent was thinking of _Llano_. The word is written in Welsh _Llyndon_, or _Llyndain_, which also speaks against its being compounded with _Llan_. The word certainly _might_ mean anything: but I know of no satisfactory explanation having been given for it as yet. The only words for _town_ in Welsh are, I believe, _tre_ "city," or _caer_ "castle,"--as parts of compound words, I mean. SC. Carmarthen.