they were raised. In Mackinnon's _History of
the Coldstream Guards_, he will find that regiment's dress from the year
1650 to 1840.

C. D.

_Book Inscriptions_ (Vol. vii., p. 455.).--At the end of No. 1801. _Harl.
MSS._ is the following:

"Hic liber est scriptus,
Qui scripsit sit benedictus.
Qui scriptoris manum
Culpat, basiat anum."

In the printed catalogue there is this note:

"Neotricus quidam hos scripsit versiculos, ex alio forsan Codice
depromptos."

[omega]. [phi].

I have not seen the following amongst your deprecatory rhymes. It may come
in with another batch. The nature of the punishment is somewhat different
from that usually selected, and savours of Spain:

"Si quisquis furetur
This little libellum,
Per Phoebum, per Jovem,
I'll kill him, I'll fell him!
In ventum illius
I'll stick my scalpellum,
And teach him to steal
My little libellum."

RUBI.

In a Gesner's _Thesaurus_ I have the following label of the date 1762:

"Ex Caroli Ferd. Hommelii Bibliotheca.

"Intra quatuordecim dies comodatum ni reddideris, neq' belle
custodieris, alio tempore, Non habeo, dicam."

L.

_Humbug_ (Vol. vii., pp. 550. 631.).--I do not remember any earlier use of
this word than in Fielding's _Amelia_, 1751. Its origin is involved in
obscurity: but may it not be a corruption of the Latin _ambages_, or the
singular ablative _ambage_? which signifies _quibbling, subterfuge_, and
that kind of conduct which is generally supposed to constitute _humbug_. It
is very possible that it may have been pedantically introduced in the
seventeenth century. May, in his translation of Lucan, uses the word
_ambages_ as an English word.

H. T. RILEY.

A severe instance of the use of the term "humbug" occurred in a court of
justice. A female in giving her evidence repeatedly used this term. In her
severe cross-examination, the counsel (a very plain, if not an ugly person)
observed she had frequently used the term humbug, and desired to know what
she meant by it, and to {65} have an explanation; to which she replied,
"Why, Sir, if I was to say you were a very handsome man, would you not
think I was humbugging you?" The counsel sat down perfectly satisfied.

G. H. J.

_Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire on Railway Travelling_ (Vol. viii., p.
34.).--The passage in Daniel alluded to is probably the following:--"Many
shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased," chap. xii