Chapter C: W. B

In addition to the names already given, the following occur to my mind:--

Spelling. Pronunciation.

Alwalton, Hunts Allerton
Caldicott, Hunts Cawcott
Overton, Hunts Orton
Brewood, Staffordshire Brood
Chaddesley, Worcestershire Chaggeley.

In connexion with this inquiry, would it not be interesting to make out a list of proper names of individuals, the pronunciation of which is different from the spelling; and, if possible, to trace (for example) how Trevelyan and St. John became _Trevethlan_ and _Sinjin_, and the high-sounding Cholmondeley sank, in the bathos of pronunciation, to plain Chumley?

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

_The Word "Pick."_--Presuming that the proposal at Vol. v., p. 173., involves the discussion and illustration of the words inserted, allow me, as a Lancashire man, to express my belief that the word _pick_ has invariably the sense of "to throw," and not "to push." It is in fact another form of the verb "to pitch;" the two terminations being almost convertible, especially in words formed from the Saxon, as "fetch" from "feccean," "stitch" from "stician," "thatch" from "theccan," the earlier form of the latter word being retained in the well-known lines of "Bessy Bell and Mary Gray." _Pick_, in the sense of "throw," will be found in Shakspeare's _Henry VIII._, Act V. Sc. 3.:

"I'll _pick_ you o'er the pales."

And in _Coriolanus_, Act I. Sc. 1.:

"As high as I could _pick_ my lance."

And see the notes of the various commentators on these passages. If the subject be worth further illustration, I may mention that in the district of the cotton manufacture, the instrument by which the shuttle is _thrown_ across the loom is called a _picker_; and each thread of the woven fabric, being the result of one throw of the shuttle, is, by using the word in a secondary sense, called a _pick_. I have heard a story of a worthy patron of the Arts, more noted for his wealth than his taste, who, attributing certain freedom of touch in a picture, for which he had given a commission, to a want of due pains in elaboration, expressed his dissatisfaction by saying, "there were not the right number of _picks_ to the inch;" the threads of calico, when received from the weaver, being usually counted under the microscope as a test of the goodness of the work.

J. F. M.

_North Lincolnshire Provincialisms_ (Vol. v., pp. 173. 250.).--I have noted the following North Lincolnshire provincialisms since the appearance of MR. RAWLINSON'S suggestion:--

_Beat._ A bundle of flax.

_Blower._ A winnowing machine.

_Bumble._ A rush used to make the seats of chairs.

_Bun._ The stalk of hemp.

_Casson._ Cow dung.

_Charking._ The wall lining a well.

_Choo._}

_Huigh._} Words used in driving pigs.

_Connifolde._ To cheat; to deceive.

_Coul Rake._ An instrument used to scrape mud from roads.

_Dozel._ A toppen; a ball placed on the highest point of a corn-rick.

_Feat._ Clever.

_Fingers-and-toes._ Turnips are said to go to fingers and toes when instead of forming bulbs they branch off into small knotty substances.

_Gizen._ To stare vacantly.

_Grave._ To dig turf.

_Gyme._ A breach in a bank.

_Hales._ The handles of a plough.

_Hethud._ A viper.

_Kedge._ Trash; rubbish.

_Kelp._ The handles of a pail.

_Ketlack._ Wild mustard.

_Kittlin._ A kitten.

_Lew._ A word used in driving geese.

_Livery._ Sad; heavy; said of freshly-ploughed soil.

_Mazzen._ To stupify; to make dizzy.

_Meant._ Meaning of.

_Nobut._ Only.

_Nout._ Nothing.

_Nozzel._ The spout of a pump.

_Rate._ To revile.

_Snail-shelley._ Cankered; said of wood.

_Tod._ Dung.

K. P. D. E.

LONDON STREET CHARACTERS.

(Vol. v., p. 270.)

I believe more than one of the courts to be haunted by persons who may have suggested Mr. Dickens's "Little Old Lady." More than twenty years ago a female of about fifty was a constant attendant on the Court of Queen's Bench in Banco: I never saw her at a Nisi Prius sitting. She was meanly but tidily dressed, quiet and unobtrusive in manners, but much gratified by notice from any barrister. It was said she had been ruined by a suit, but I could not learn anything authentic about her; though I several times spoke and listened to her, partly from curiosity and partly from the pleasure which she showed at being spoken to. Her thoughts seemed fixed upon the business of the day, and I never extracted more than, "Will they take motions?--Will _it_ come on next?--I hope he will bring it on to-day!" but who was "he," or what was "it," I could not learn; and when I asked, she would pause as if to think, and pointing to the bench, say, "That's Lord Tenterden." I have seen her rise, as about to address the court, when the judges were going out, and look mortified as if she felt neglected. I cannot say when she disappeared, but I do not remember having seen her for the last eight years.

I have heard that an old woman frequented Doctors' Commons about seven years ago. She appeared to listen to the arguments, but was reserved and mopish, if spoken to. She often threw herself in the way of one of the leading advocates, and always addressed him in the same words: "Dr. ----, I am _virgo intacta_."

The sailor-looking man described by Charles Lamb lasted a long time. I remember him in Fleet Street and the Strand when I was boy, and also an account which appeared in the newspapers of his vigorous resistance when apprehended as a vagrant; but I cannot fix the dates. I think, however, it was about 1822. His portrait is in Kirby's _Wonderful and Eccentric Museum_, vol. i. p. 331. Below it is, "Samuel Horsey, aged fifty-five, a singular beggar in the streets of London." The date of the engraving is August 30, 1803. As the accompanying letter-press is not long, I copy it:

"This person, who has so long past, that is to say, during
nineteen years, attracted the notice of the public, by the
severity of his misfortunes, in the loss of both his legs, and the
singular means by which he removes himself from place to place, by
the help of a wooden seat constructed in the manner of a
rocking-horse, and assisted by a pair of crutches, first met with
his calamity by the falling of a piece of timber from a house at
the lower end of Bow Lane, Cheapside. He is now fifty-five years
of age, and commonly called the King of the Beggars: and as he is
very corpulent, the facility he moves with is very singular. From
his general appearance and complexion, he seems to enjoy a state
of health remarkably good. The frequent obtrusion of a man
naturally stout and well made, but now so miserably mutilated as
he is, having excited the curiosity of great numbers of people
daily passing through the most crowded thoroughfares of the
metropolis, has been the leading motive of this account, and the
striking representation of his person here given."

The likeness is very good. Among the stories told of him, one was that his ample earnings enabled him to keep two wives, and, what is more, to keep them from quarrelling. He presided in the evenings at a "cadgers' club," planted at the head of the table, with a wife on each side. Not having been present at these meetings I do not ask anybody to believe this report.

H. B. C.

U. U. Club.

I believe Mr. Dickens's sketch, in the _Bleak House_, of the woman who haunts the various Inns of Court, to be a clever combination of different real characters. It is principally taken from a stout painted old woman, long since dead, and who I believe was really ruined by some suit in Chancery, and went mad in consequence, and used to linger about the Courts, expecting some judgment to be given in her favour. Mr. Dickens seems to have combined this woman's painful history with the person and appearance of the diminutive creature mentioned by MR. ALFRED GATTY. This latter personage is the daughter of a man for many years bedmaker in one of the Inns of Court (I think Gray's Inn), and much of her eccentricity is assumed, as, when begging from the few lawyers who are old enough to remember her father as their bedmaker, no one is more rational and collected. Though this little woman is well known from her singular appearance and demeanour, there is no romance about her history, and her craziness (if it really exists) is not to be attributed to the Court of Chancery,--at which, as it is in the position of the dying lion in the fable, every donkey (I mean no disrespect to Mr. Dickens) must have its fling.

If any correspondent really feels an interest in this little creature's history, I can undertake, with very little trouble, to supply the fullest particulars.

B. N. C.

Oxford.

Although I have for many years ceased to be an inhabitant of the metropolis, I am much gratified at the suggested record of these worthies, and think it would be a most interesting book, were truthful particulars got together concerning them, with good portraits--I mean striking likenesses--of these beings, who, as ALFRED GATTY observes, "come like shadows, so depart." I will inform him something about the "half-giant," of whom Charles Lamb says, that he "was brought low during the riots of London." I almost doubt this, for just about then he lived in the parish of St. Mary-le-Strand; indeed, before then, my grandfather was there overseer, or otherwise a parochial authority, and he had him apprehended and imprisoned as a rogue and a vagabond. I have often heard my father talk about him; indeed, he knew this man well, and I regret that I have forgotten his name. He always spoke of him as having been _a sailor_, and that he had his legs carried away by a cannon-ball. This burly beggar had two daughters, to each of whom he is said to have given 500_l._ on her wedding; and it was also said he left a handsome sum of money at his death. But, doubtless, some curious correspondent will be able to forward the desideratum with farther information. I only tell the little I know.

The old porter, John, at the King's printing-office, whom I remember as quite a character, "N. & Q." have peculiar facilities to immortalise. We sexagenarians all remember the blackee at the crossing by Waithman's in Bridge Street. He was said to have died very rich, and reported to have sold his "walk," when he retired from business, for 1000_l._

But other "characters" might amusingly be introduced, such as those two or three last roses in summer who continue to wear pig-tails or pantaloons. I would even not omit Baron Maseres, and such peculiarities--the German with his Bible and beard, without a hat--_et hoc genus omne_. There is a large work of the kind, exhibiting portraits and biographies of these illustrious personages in Edinburgh; it is now scarce and valuable. I remember spending a most interesting evening over it with a Scotchman, who knew and described many of the characters developed.

B. B.

Pembroke.

STONE PILLAR WORSHIP.

(Vol. v., p. 121.)

SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT has accumulated many interesting particulars, but by no means exhausted the subject. O'Brien, in his _Essay on the Round Towers_, advocates the opinion of their being idolatrous objects--remnants of Buddhism. The _Lia fail_ is celebrated in Irish history. The episcopal city of Elphin has its name from a celebrated pillar stone, which remained erect until Charles II.'s time, when it fell in accordance with an ancient prophecy. This is attested by the cotemporary evidence of O'Flaherty. Clogher has its name from another celebrated stone, designated "The Golden Stone," which I believe was oracular. There was in the city of Dublin, until recently, a curious remnant of this veneration for stones, and in which we could probably trace the transition from the Pagan to the Christian usage. At the base of the tower of St. Audoen's Church was a rude-looking stone, something like a spud-post, let into the wall, but so as to abut upon the street. On the upper part of this stone was carved a cross in very low relief. The stone was designated "The Lucky Stone," and the lower classes of the people, especially hawkers and itinerant vendors of small wares, believed that their success in business depended on their making a daily visit to this stone, which they kissed; and thus a portion of the stone became perfectly smooth and polished. There was a tradition, too, that whenever the stone was removed, it was miraculously conveyed back to its place. Thus it was said to have been stolen away to Galway, but to have been restored to its original site on the following day. However this may be, it remained attached to the church tower until about the year 1828, when some alterations being made in the church, it disappeared from its place. The belief was, that one of the churchwardens, a man in trade, had removed the stone into his own place of business, with a view of engrossing all the luck to himself. Whether he succeeded or not, I do not know; but after an interval of twenty years the identical stone reappeared in front of a large Roman Catholic chapel lately erected near St. Audoen's Church. It remained there, a conspicuous and well-remembered object, near the donation-box, which it perhaps assisted; but about six months ago it again disappeared, having been removed, I know not where.

R. T.

ON A PASSAGE IN HAMLET, ACT I. SC. 4.

(Vol. v., p. 169.)

Theobald long since observed--

"I do not remember a passage throughout our poet's works more
intricate and depraved in the text, of less meaning to outward
appearance, or more likely to baffle the attempt of criticism in
its aid."

He then proposes his reading:

"The dram of _base_
Doth all the noble substance of _worth out_
To his own scandal;"

observing that "the dram of base" means the _alloy_ of baseness or vice, and that it is frequent with our poet to use the _adjective of quality_ instead of the substantive signifying the thing.

It would be tedious to enumerate all the hapless attempts at emendation which have been subsequently made, but I must be allowed to refer to that adopted by MR. SINGER as long since as the year 1826, when he vindicated the original reading, _doubt_, from the unnecessary meddling of Steevens and Malone. MR. SINGER thus printed the passage:

"The dram of _bale_
Doth all the noble substance _often_ doubt,
To his own scandal."

_Bale_ was most probably preferred to _base_ as more euphonous, and nearer to the word _eale_ in the _first_ quarto; but MR. S. would now perhaps adopt _base_, as suggested by the word _ease_, in the _second_ quarto, for the reasons given by Theobald and your correspondent A. E. B.

It is evident that _dout_ cannot have been the poet's word, for, as your correspondent remarks, the meaning is obviously, that "the dram of base" renders all the noble substance doubtful or suspicious, not that it extinguishes it altogether. This will appear from what precedes:

"Or by some habit that too much _o'erleavens_
The form of plausive manners," &c.

Under present impressions, therefore, I should prefer, as the least deviation from the old copies, to read:

"The dram of _base_
Doth, all the noble substance _o'er_, a doubt,
To his own scandal:"

i.e. _doth cast a doubt over_ all the noble substance, _bring into suspect_ all the noble qualities by the leaven of one dram of baseness. This, according to your correspondent's own showing, is the very sense required by the context, "the base _doth_ doubt to the noble, i.e. _imparts_ doubt to it, or renders it doubtful." And when we recollect the frequent use of the elision _o'er_ for _over_ by the poet, and the ease with which _of_ might be substituted for it by the compositor, I cannot but think it conclusive. To me the proposed reading, "_offer_ doubt," does not convey a meaning quite so clear and unequivocal.

Conjectural emendation of the text of our great poet is always to be made with extreme caution, and that reading which will afford a clear sense, with the slightest deviation from the first editions, is always to be preferred. The errors are chiefly typographical, and often clearly perceptible, but but they are also not unfrequently perplexing.

That MR. COLLIER and MR. KNIGHT, who do not often sin in this way, should on the present occasion have countenanced such a wide departure from the old copies as to read _ill_ and _doubt_, may well have surprised A. E. B., as it certainly did

PERIERGUS BIBLIOPHILUS.

"THE MAN IN THE ALMANACK."

(Vol. v., p. 320.)

Nat Lee's _Man i' th' Almanack stuck with Pins_ has no reference to "pricking for fortunes;" but to the figure of a man surrounded by the signs of the zodiac found in old almanacks, and intended to indicate the favourable, adverse, or indifferent periods for bloodletting. From the various signs are _lines_ drawn to various parts of the naked figure; and these lines give it very much the appearance of being _stuck with pins_.

I have not ready access to any old English almanacks; but a German one of the early part of the sixteenth century contained the figure as above described, with this inscription:

"In dieser Figur sihet man in welchem
Zeichen güt, mittel, oder böss lassen sey."

Surrounding the frame, the words "güt," "mittel," or "böss" are placed against each sign of the zodiac from which the lines are drawn; and underneath the figure are the following verses:

"Im Glentz und in des Sommers zeit,
So lass du auff der rechten seyt,
In Winters zeit, und in dem Herbst,
Auff der lincken;--dass du nit sterbst."

Some former possessor has written on the margin:

"Signa coeli sunt 12. sqr:

"Quatuor _boni_: Aries, Libra, Sagittarius, et Aquarius.

"Et etiam quatuor _medii_, sqr.: Cancro, Virgo,
Scorpio, et Pisces.

"Et quatuor _mali_: Geminij, Leo, Capricornus et
Taurus."

Similar figures no doubt occur in our old English almanacks. I will merely add that the figure above described is pasted on the back of the title-page of an edition of _Regimen Sanitatis_, with an interlineary version in German verse, bearing the following imprint: "Impressum Auguste per Johannem Froschauer, Anno D[=m] MDij." 4to.

The book also bears a German title which, as it mentions the subject of bloodletting [lassen], I may as well transcribe: ¶ _Diss ist das Regiment der Gesuntheyt durch all monat des ganzen iars, wie man sich halten sol mit essen und trincken, und auch von lassen._ I presume that the rules for bloodletting which accompany the old almanacks are chiefly derived from this _Regimen Sanitatis_, which is founded upon that of the school of Salerno, as they form a principal feature in its precepts.

This edition of the book does not appear to have been known to Sir Alexander Croke: I will therefore give the general precepts for the twelve months which are prefixed to it.

"Januarius { Ante cibum vina
{ tu sumas pro medicina.

Februarius { Non minuas, non balnearis,
{ Mala ne patiaris.

Marcius { Hic assature
{ tibi sunt balnea quoque cure.

Aprilis { Ut vivas sane minuas venam
{ Medicinam.

Mayus { Carnes arescentes
{ non sume sed recentes.

Junius { Sanus eris totus
{ si fons erit tibi potus.

Julius { Ut tua te vita
{ non vitas balnea vita.

Augustus { Potio te lædit
{ te quippe minutio sedat.

September { Tempore Septembris
{ prodest agrimonia membris.

October { Sumere que potes
{ et musti pocula potes.

{ Hoc tibi scire datur
November { quod reuma Novembri curatur,
{ Potio sit sana
{ atque minutio bona.

December { Sit tepidus potus
{ frigori contrarie totus."

Such were the popular dietetics, and the almanacks were made the vehicle of communicating them. As late as the year 1659, Edmund Gayton, author of the _Festivous Notes on Don Quixote_, put forth a book in verse entitled _The Art of Longevity, or a Dietetical Institution_. He had graduated in physic at Oxford, but in his book he plays the part of a Merry Andrew more than that of a physician. The book, however, is curious as well as rare.

S. W. SINGER.

EPIGRAM ON DR. FELL.

(Vol. v., pp. 296. 333.)

Your correspondent E. F. may very probably have been informed, by ladies intimate with the Sheridan family, that Tom Sheridan composed the lines on Dr. Fell, respecting whose author and subject inquiries were made by a querist in page 296.; but it is nevertheless quite untrue. My memory of those lines goes back to a date earlier than Tom Sheridan's capacity for writing an epigram; and this on Dr. Fell may be found, if memory does not deceive me, in the _Elegant Extracts in Verse_, of a date at least as early as Tom Sheridan's work. The subject of the epigram was Dr. Fell, who held the deanery of Christ Church with the bishopric of Oxford, in the times of Charles II. and James II. Its author probably put it into circulation anonymously, as is usual with such brief specimens of personal satire.

As lodged in my memory, the third line was,--

"But this I'm sure I know full well."

That Dr. Fell, with some learning and a character for loyalty, had somewhat in him which a discerning observer could not like, is become notorious since the publication of his correspondence with the obsequious and unprincipled Earl of Sunderland respecting Locke, whom James II. wished the Dean to deprive of the income he received as a student of Christ Church. (See Appendix to _Fox's History of Early Part of Reign of James II._) Dr. Fell there tells the Earl that he had long watched Mr. Locke, and made "strict inquiries," but that no person had ever heard him speak a word against the government. He adds, that language disparaging Locke's political friends had frequently been used for the treacherous purpose of provoking such replies as might have been used to his ruin, but hitherto all in vain; and that, as he had withdrawn to the Continent, some other plan must now be adopted. He accordingly proposes a mode of ensnaring him, subjoining, that if the King would simply order his expulsion, the mandate should be obeyed, without asking for any proof of his deserving such a sentence. This was accordingly done; but in two short years the circumstances of all the parties were changed. The Bishop and Dean was gone to appear before Him who has said, "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment;" the King had withdrawn to the Continent, expelled by his own terrors, and deprived of his inheritance; Locke was returning to his native land, to be counted one of its chief ornaments; the Earl of Sunderland had betrayed his master, and was desiring to be allowed to do any dirty work for another.

H. W.

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Verses in Prose._--I consider the following _not_ to be an instance of casual versification by prose authors:

"Fides antiquitatis religione firmatur. Stato tempore in sylvam,

"'Auguriis patrum et priscâ formidine sacram,'

"omnes ejusdem sanguinis populi legationibus coëunt."

_Tacit. Germ._ cap. 39.

But I consider it to be a quotation from some lost Roman poet. It is too lofty and sonorous to be casual, though such quotations are unusual to the historian.

A. N.

_Stops, when first introduced_ (Vol. v., pp. 1. 133., &c.).--In order to assist SIR HENRY ELLIS in his inquiry into the use of stops in the early days of typography, I examined some of the earlier specimens of printing which my library afforded, and made the following notes. P. T. had not found the semicolon earlier than 1636, with the exception of Gerard's _Herbal_, 1597. It is, however, probable that the communication of A. J. H. (p. 164.), by which it appears that the semicolon was used in 1585, may render my notes of no use. However, I send my contribution, such as it is.

In an edition of Latimer's _Sermons_, small 4to., black letter, judged to be the edition of 1584, the stop in question is not found. The note of interrogation is very curiously formed,--a colon surmounted by a comma, thus [,:] I might also observe that, to one of such limited knowledge as myself, the paging is singular,--only one numeral on each leaf.

In _Caroli Sigonii de Republica Hebræorum_, libri vij, Hanoviæ, 1608, no semicolon occurs. But in Purchas' _Pilgrimage_, 1613, all the four stops are used. So also in _The Spanish Mandevile of Myracles_, 1618.

S. S. S.

_Rev. Nathaniel Spinckes_ (Vol. v., p. 273.).--Anne Spinckes married Anthony Cope, Esq., second son of Sir John Cope, fifth baronet, but had _no issue_.--See Debrett's _Baronetage_.

S. L. P.

Oxford and Cambridge Club.

_"'Twas they," &c._ (Vol. v., p. 10.).--

"'Twas they unsheath'd the ruthless blade,
And Heaven shall ask the havock it has made."

AMICUS asks where this couplet is to be found. It appears to me that it has been derived from an imperfect translation of the last two lines of Martial's epigram, L. iv. Ep. 44., in which he describes the effects of a recent eruption of Vesuvius:

"Cuncta jacent flammis, et tristi mersa favillâ:
Nec Superi vellent hoc licuisse sibi."

It is a _petit morçeau_ of heathen blasphemy, in supposing that the gods ought to repent of what they have done.

W. N. D.

_Madrigal, Meaning of_ (Vol. v., p. 104.).--NEMO will find all that I could collect upon this subject in the introduction to my _Bibliotheca Madrigaliana_, published by J. Russell Smith, 8vo., 1847.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Absalom's Hair_ (Vol. iv., pp. 131. 243.).--In answer to P. P., who says that "Absalom's long hair had nothing to do with his death, his head itself, and not the hair upon it, having been caught in the boughs of the tree," RT. refers to the "respectable antiquity" of the popular tradition. In the Vulgate edition of the Bible (Venetiis, 1760, ex Typographia Balleoniana) there is a rude woodcut, evidently of much older date than 1760, in which Absalom is represented as hanging by his hair. Perhaps some of your correspondents can mention similar woodcuts of a far earlier date.

In a family Bible (black letter, 1634), I find the following MS. note on 2 Sam. xiv. 26.: "And when he polled his head ... he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight;" which suggests a solution of the difficulty which has puzzled many commentators, who, to make Absalom's hair of the full weight, have to suppose that it was plastered with pomatum and sprinkled with gold dust:

"Ye lesser shekel weighed a quarter of an ounce, ye greater half
an ounce. We cannot therefore suppose yt ye loppings of Absalom's
hair weighed either 50 or 100 oz. But yt wn it was cut off his
serv'ts might have sold it for 12lb 10s or 25lb to ye Ladys of
Jerusalem, who were ambitious of adorning yr heads wth ye Hair of
ye beautifull Absalom: wth ye locks of ye Ks son...."

It is recorded that when Absalom was buried "they laid a very great heap of stones on him." Was this in detestation and abhorrence (cf. Joshua vii. 26., viii. 29.), or in honourable memory of a prince and chief? If the former, did it give rise to the custom of flinging stones in the graves of malefactors?

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

_Bowbell_ (Vol. v., pp. 28. 140. 212.).--Several of your correspondents have pointed out instances of the use of the word _Bowbell_ as nearly synonymous with _Cockney_. The following lines are, I believe, of earlier date than any which have been quoted on this subject; but it is not quite clear in what sense the word _Bowbell_ is there used.

They are from a satirical poem by John Skelton, who died in 1529; and the subject of them is Sir Thomas More.

"But now we have a knight
That is a man of might,
All armed for to fight,
To put the truth to flight
By _Bowbell_ policy."

JUVENIS.

_Quid est Episcopus?_ (Vol. v., p. 255.).--I know not to whom Bingham may refer these words in the edition of 1843; but in that of 1840 he expressly refers them to "the author of the _Questions upon the Old and New Testament_, under the name of _St. Austin_." But, the spurious book being part of the collection printed as _S. Augustini Opera_, the reference "Aug.," &c. very properly occurs there "at the foot of the page."

A. N.

_Nightingale and Thorn_ (Vol. iv., pp. 175. 242.).--As an addition to the examples already adduced concerning this fable, I give the following:

"Come, let us set our careful breasts,
Like Philomel, against the thorn,
To aggravate the inward grief
That makes her accents so forlorn."

Hood, _Ode to Melancholy_.

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

_The Article "An"_ (Vol. v., p. 297.).--"_Hospital_" is to be found with the prefix "an" in Addison, and probably in the works of all other writers who need the word and the prefix; but, as to there being only _six_ words beginning with _h_ to which the case of the said prefix will apply, I cannot assent to the assertion. Witness the following words, which will form decided exceptions to a supposed rule of that kind:--_Harangue_, _hereafter_, _historical_, _hour_, _hostler_, _hyperbole_, _hypothesis_, _hysteric_. Can any one speak these words in succession with the prefix "a" to each without impediment? I trow not.