_W_ is not a distinct letter in the French alphabet; it is simply
_double v_, and is pronounced like _v_, as in Wissant, Wimireux,
Wimille, villages between Calais and Boulogne, and Wassy in Champagne.

W. R. D. S.

_Green Eyes_ (Vol. viii., p. 407.).--The following are quotations in
favour of green eyes, in addition to MR. H. TEMPLE's:

"An eagle, madam,
Hath not so _green_, so quick, so fair an eye."

_Romeo and Juliet_, Act III. Sc. 5.

And Dante, in _Purgatory_, canto xxxi., likens Beatrice's eyes to
emeralds:

"Disser: fa che le viste non risparmi:
Posto t' avem dinanzi agli smeraldi,
Ond' Amor gia ti trasse le sue armi."

"Spare not thy vision. We have station'd thee
Before the _emeralds_[8], whence Love, erewhile,
Hath drawn his weapons on thee."

Cary's _Translation_.

I think short-sightedness is an infirmity more common among men of
letters, authors, &c., than any other class; indeed, one is inclined to
think it is no rare accompaniment of talent. A few celebrated names
occur to me who suffered weakness of distinct vision to see but the
better near. I am sure your correspondents could add many to the list. I
mark them down at random:--Niebuhr, Thomas Moore, Marie Antoinette,
Gustavus Adolphus, Herrick the poet, Dr. Johnson, Margaret Fuller,
Ossoli, Thiers, Quevedo. These are but a few, but I will not lengthen
the list at present.

M----A S.

[Footnote 8: Beatrice's eyes.]

_Came_ (Vol. viii., p. 468.).--H. T. G. will find this word to be as old
as our language. Piers Ploughman writes:

"A cat
_Cam_ when hym liked."

_Vision_, l. 298.

"A lovely lady
_Cam_ doun from a castel."

_Ib._ l. 466.

Chaucer:

"Till that he _came_ to Thebes."

_Cant. T._ l. 985.

Gower:

"Thus (er he wiste) into a dale
He _came_."

_Conf. Am._ b. i. fol. 9. p. 2. col. l.

Q.

"_Epitaphium Lucretiae_" (Vol. viii., p. 563.).--Allow me to send an
answer to the Query of BALLIOLENSIS, and to state that in that rather
scarce little book, _Epigrammata et Poematia Vetera_, he will find at
page 68. that "Epitaphium Lucretiae" is ascribed to Modestus, perhaps the
same person who wrote a work _de re militari_. The version {113} there
given differs slightly from that of BALLIOLENSIS, and has two more
lines; it is as follows:

"Cum foderet ferro castum Lucretia pectus,
Sanguinis et torrens egereretur, ait:
Procedant tes