my strong impression is that this sonnet was
written _by_ Blanco White.

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

_Captain Ayloff_ (Vol. vii., p. 429.).--Your correspondent will find a
short notice of Capt. Ayloff in Jacob's _Poetical Register_ (1719-20, 8vo.,
2 vols.), and two of his poetical pieces--"Marvell's Ghost" and the
"Cambridge Commencement"--in Nichols's _Collection of Poems_ (vol. iii. pp.
186-188.), 1780, 12mo. There is considerable vigour in his "Marvell's
Ghost;" and had he cultivated his talent, he might have taken a respectable
place as a poet amongst the writers of his time.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

_General Monk and the University of Cambridge_ (Vol. vii., p. 427.).--I
cannot doubt that "W. D." was Dr. William Dillingham, Master of Emmanuel
College, and Vice-Chancellor of the University, from November 1659 till
November 1660.

The election to which his letter relates took place April 3, 1660. The
votes were:

Lord General Moncke 341
Thomas Crouch, M.A., Fellow of Trin. Coll. 211
Oliver St. John, Chancellor of the University 157

The Vice-Chancellor, in his accounts, makes this charge:

"Paid to two messengers sent to wait on y^e Lord Generall about y^e
burgesship, 4l. 10s."--_M. S. Baker_, xl. 59.

On the 22nd of May, General Monk, who had been also chosen for Devonshire,
made his election to sit for that county.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge.

In reply to LEICESTRIENSIS, I beg leave to inform him that "W. D." was Wm.
Dillingham, D.D., master of Clare Hall, and at the time Vice-Chancellor of
the University of Cambridge. The letter in question, which was the original
draft, was, with a variety of other family papers, _stolen_ from me in
1843.

J. P. ORD.

P.S.--Query, from whom did the present possessor obtain it?

_The Ribston Pippin_ (Vol. vii., p. 436.).--The remarks of your
correspondent H. C. K., respecting the uncertain origin of the Ribston
pippin, reminded me of a communication which I received about fifty years
ago, from one of the sisters of the late Sir Henry Goodricke, the last of
the family who possessed Ribston. Though it leaves the question concerning
the origin of that excellent apple unsettled, yet it may not be
uninteresting to {487} H. C. K. and some others of your numerous readers. I
therefore send a transcript:

"_Tradition of the Ribston Pippin Tree._

"About the beginning of the last century, Sir Henry Goodricke, father of