ay be. The Cheshire clowns, on the other hand,
murder the word _at_, in just the same strange and inappropriate manner.

The indiscriminate use of the term _forrell_, when describing the cover of
a book, is a solecism, I fancy, peculiarly Devonian. Whether a book be
bound in cloth, vellum, or morocco, it is all alike _forrell_ in Devonshire
parlance. I imagine, however, that the word, in its present corrupt sense,
must have originated from _forrell_, a term still used by the trade to
designate an inferior kind of vellum {631} or parchment, in which books are
not unfrequently bound. When we consider that vellum was at one time in
much greater request for bookbinding purposes than it is just now, we shall
be at no great loss to reconcile this eccentricity in the vocabulary of our
west country brethren.

T. HUGHES.

Chester.

_Humbug_ (Vol. vii., p. 550.).--A recent number of Miller's _Fly Leaves_
makes the following hazardous assertion as to the origin and derivation of
the term _Humbug_:

"This, now common expression, is a corruption of the word Hamburgh, and
originated in the following manner:--During a period when war prevailed
on the Continent, so many false reports and lying bulletins were
fabricated at Hamburgh, that at length, when any one would signify his
disbelief of a statement, he would say, 'You had that from Hamburgh;'
and thus, 'That is Hamburgh,' or _Humbug_, became a common expression
of incredulity."

With all my credulity, I cannot help fancying that this bit of specious
_humbug_ is a _leetle_ too far-fetched.

T. HUGHES.

Chester.

_George Miller, D.D._ (Vol. vii., p. 527.).--His Donnellan Lectures were
never published.

[Greek: Halieus].

Dublin.

"_A Letter to a Convocation Man_" (Vol. vii., p. 502.).--Your correspondent
W. FRASER may be informed that the "great preacher" for whom he inquires
was Archbishop Tillotson.

[Greek: Halieus].

[Perhaps our correspondent can reply to another Query from MR. W.
FRASER, viz. "Who is the 'certain author' quoted in _A Letter to a
Convocation Man_, pp. 24, 25.?"--ED.]

_Sheriffs of Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire_ (Vol. vii., p.
572.).--This is a very singular Query, inasmuch as Fuller's list of the
sheriffs of these counties begins 1st Henry II., and not, as is assumed by
your correspondent D., "from the time of Henry VIII."

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge.

_Ferdinand Mendez Pinto_ (Vol. vii., p. 55