for the murder of one Captain Drummond (a very memorable case, as it bore upon the Union of the kingdoms, at the time under discussion); and in course of his inquiries Mr. Burton has brought forth Drury's Journal to prove the existence of the said Captain Drury for many years subsequent to Green's execution for his murder!

It becomes, therefore, a serious question to ascertain whether Drury was a real or a fictitious character, and his book what it pretends to be, or the speculation of some clever writer, envious of the fame and profit derived by Defoe from the publication of a similar work. I would not take the subject out of such good hands as those of Mr. Crossley, who has evidently something to offer us thereon; but would merely observe, by way of interesting your readers generally in the matter, that Drury, by the old octavo of 1729, now before me, did not flinch from inquiry, as he announces the book for sale "by the Author, at Old Tom's Coffee House in Birchin Lane," where, he says, "I am every day to be spoken with, and where I shall be ready to gratify any Gentleman with a further Account of any Thing herein contained;

to stand the strictest Examination, or to confirm those Things which to some may seem doubtful."

"Old Tom's" is still a right good chop-house in the locality named; and it would be interesting to know if there is any contemporaneous note existing of an evening with Robert Drury there. But for the misfortune of living a century and a quarter too late, I should doubtless often have found myself in the same box with the mysterious man, with his piles of books, and his maps of Madagascar, invitingly displayed for the examination of the curious, and the satisfaction of the sceptical.

J. O.

FOLK LORE.

Gabriel Hounds.—Seeing that Mr. Yarrell, the distinguished ornithologist, is a contributor to "N. & Q.," may I ask that gentleman, or any other correspondent, what is the species of bird whose peculiar yelping cry during its nocturnal migrations, has given rise to the superstition of the "Gabriel Hounds," so common in some rural districts?

D.

Weather Prophecy.—Can any of your correspondents inform me as to the truth or falsehood of a proverb I have heard, namely, that the dryness or wetness of a summer may be prognosticated by observing whether the oak or the ash tree comes first into leaf? I cannot recollect which denoted which; but I should much like to know whether there is such a proverb, and whether there is any truth in it.

G. E. G.

Oxford.

Origin of Moles.—Meeting with an octogenarian molecatcher a few weeks since, in the neighbourhood of Bridgwater, the old man volunteered the following account of the origin of moles, or wants as they are sometimes called in Somerset. "It was a proud woman, sir, too proud to live on the face of the earth, and so God turned her into a mole, and made her live under the earth; and that was the first mole." My informant was evidently much confirmed in his belief, by the fact of "moles having (as he said) hands and feet like Christians."

W. A. J.

Mistletoe.—The mistletoe grows upon the poplar tree, near the railway station at Taunton, and likewise at White-Lackington near Ilminster. I have not seen any upon the oak.

W. A. J.

Minor Notes.

Byron's "Siege of Corinth."—In the late Dr. Moir's Lectures on the Poetical Literature of the last Half Century, in commenting on Byron's Siege of Corinth he mentions "the glorious moonlight scene in which Francesca and Alp part for the last time, the one to die of a broken heart, the other to perish in his apostasy." From this he evidently considers that in this celebrated scene it is the still living form of Francesca that visits her lover; but though Lord Byron has, according to his frequent practice, left this unexplained, the whole passage seems to me to show that his intention was, that the visit should be considered as a supernatural one. Space will not allow of my bringing forward the proofs of this, but it can be easily verified by any one who reads the passage in question attentively. A singular mistake occurs in p. 8. of the work above quoted. Could any one have supposed that a poet, and a writer on poetical literature, should be ignorant of the best known poetical name of the last century? Yet Mr. Moir talks of "William" Pope. He might as well have talked of "Alexander" Shakspeare.

J. S. Warden.

Goldsmith's "Poetical Dictionary."—It has not been noticed by any of Goldsmith's biographers that, in addition to The Art of Poetry, in 2 vols. 12mo., 1762, published by Newbery, and The Beauties of the English Poets, in 2 vols. 12mo., 1767, published by Griffin, he also edited for Newbery an useful work entitled A Poetical Dictionary, or the Beauties of the English Poets alphabetically displayed, in 4 vols., 1761, 12mo. The Preface is evidently written by Goldsmith, and with his usual elegance and spirit, and the selection which follows is one of the best which has ever yet been made. It certainly deserves more notice than it seems hitherto to have received; and were it only that it contains Goldsmith's favourite passages, and may possibly have been a preparation and incentive to the composition of the Traveller and the Deserted Village, it ought not to be forgotten in the list of his compilations. In examining it I have frequently been struck by the appearance of lines and passages, and sometimes epithets, which were evidently in Goldsmith's mind when he wrote his two beautiful poems. Some, but not all, have been quoted as parallel passages by his editors.

James Crossley.

Corrupted Names.—In Vol. i., pp. 215. and 299., are some notes on the ordinary corruptions of Christian names. One came once in my way which, as the name corrupted is not by any means an ordinary one, may not have occurred to many of your readers. I was called on to baptize a child by the name Nucky: fortunately it is my practice to ascertain the sponsor's intention in the vestry, before proceeding to the font; and I was able, with much difficulty, to make out that the name meant was Ursula, of which Nucky was their ordinary corruption. Passing from names of persons to those of places, I would add two corruptions to those named in your current volume: Wiveliscombe, pronounced Willscombe;

Minehead, Minyard—both in Somerset; and Kenilworth, sometimes called Killingworth, in Warwickshire.

Balliolensis.

Queries.

MR. HALLIWELL'S ANNOTATED SHAKSPEARE FOLIO.

"This volume contains several hundred very curious and important corrections, amongst which I may mention an entirely new reading of the difficult passage at the commencement of Measure for Measure, which carries conviction with it; and shows, what might have been reasonably expected, that that to is a misprint for a verb."—Mr. Halliwell in Notes & Queries, p. 485.

In common, doubtless, with many other of your readers, I am curious to know what this verb can be, which, while carrying conviction with it, is yet so mysteriously withheld from publication.

In a small pamphlet, published a month or two since by Mr. Halliwell, in opposition to Mr. Collier's folio, he lays down at p. 7.