Decomposed Cloth.—In Mr. Wright's valuable work on The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 308., is mentioned the discovery at York of a Roman coffin, in which were distinctly visible "the colour, a rich purple," as well as texture of the cloth with which the body it had contained had been covered.

I should think that the colour observed was not that of the ancient dye, but rather was caused by phosphate of iron, formed by the combination of iron contained in the soil or water, with phosphoric acid, arising from the decomposition of animal matter. It may often be observed in similar cases, as about animal remains found in bogs, and about ancient leather articles found in excavations, especially when any iron is in contact with them, or in the soles of shoes or sandals studded with nails.

W. C. Trevelyan.

Wallington.

First and Last.—There cannot be two words more different in meaning than these, and yet they are both used to express the same sense! Of two authors equally eminent, one shall write that a thing is of the first and the other of the last importance, though each means the greatest or utmost. How is this? To me first appears preferable, though last may be justifiable. Being on the subject of words, I am reminded of obnoxious, which is applied in the strangest ways by different authors. It is true that the Roman writers used obnoxius in various senses; but it does not seem so pliable or smooth in English. Generally it is held to indicate disagreeable or inimical, though our dictionaries do not admit it to have either of those meanings!

A. B. C.

Cucumber Time.—This term, which the working-tailors of England use to denote that which their masters call "the flat season," has been imported from a country which periodically sends many hundreds of its tailors to seek employment in our metropolis. The German phrase is "Die saure Gurken Zeit," or pickled gherkin time. A misunderstanding of the meaning of the phrase may have given rise to the vulgar witticism, that tailors are vegetarians, who "live on cucumber" while at play, and on "cabbage" while at work.

N. W. S.

MS. Sermons of the Eighteenth Century.—Having lately become possessed, at the sale of an an old library, of some MS. Sermons by the Rev. J. Harris, Rector of Abbotsbury, Dorset, from the year 1741 to 1763, I shall be happy to place them in the hands of any descendant of that gentleman.

W. Ewart.

Pimperne, Dorset.

Boswell's "Johnson."—In vol. v. p. 272. of my favourite edition, and p. 784. of the edition in one volume, Johnson, writing to Brocklesby, under date Sept. 2, 1784, calls Windham "inter stellas Luna minores." Boswell, in a note, says, "It is remarkable that so good a Latin scholar as Johnson should have been so inattentive to the metre, as by mistake to have written stellas instead of ignes." Now, with all due deference, a Captain of Native Infantry ventures to suggest that both stellas and ignes are wrong, and that Johnson was thinking of the noble opening of Horace's 15th Epode:

F. C.

Bangalore.

Stage Coaches.—It occurs to me as highly desirable that, before the recollection of the old stage coach has faded from the memory of all but the oldest inhabitant, an authentic statement should be placed on record of the length of the stages, and the speed that was obtained, by this mode of conveyance, in which England was for so many years without a rival.

The speed of mail coaches is, I believe chronicled in the British Almanac of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; but their speed, if I mistake not, was surpassed by that of the "Rival," which travelled (from Monmouth, I think) to London after the opening of the Great Western Railway.

Could any of your correspondents favour us with the time-bill of that coach, detailing the length of the several stages, and the time of performance? It would also be interesting to chronicle the period during which this rivalry with the railway was maintained.

Geo. E. Frere.

Antecedents.—The word "antecedents," as a plural, and in the sense attached to it by the French, is not to be found in any English dictionary that I have the means of consulting. And yet it seems now to be commonly used as an English expression, even by some of our best writers.

When was this word first imported, and by whom? I have just met with an instance of it in Jerdan's Autobiography, vol. i. p. 131.:

"I got him (Hammon), with a full knowledge of his antecedents, into the employment of a humane and worthy wine merchant of Bordeaux."

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

The Letter X.—The letter X on brewers' casks is probably thus derived:

This was suggested by Owen's Epigram, lib. xii. 34.:

B. H. C.

A Crow-bar.—In Johnson's Dictionary the explanation given of this word is "piece of iron used as a lever to force open doors, as the Latins called a hook corvus." In Walters' English and Welsh Dictionary, the first part of which was published about the year 1770, this word is printed "Croe-bar." Is it probable that the word crow has been derived front the Camb.-Brit. word cro, a curve? and that the name has been given from the circumstance of one end of a crow-bar being curved for the purpose of making it more efficient as lever?

N. W. S.