ome time to see if any solution would be given of the charade;
and I now send you the one in my possession, in default of a better.

REBECCA.

_Dutch Language_ (Vol. i., p. 383.).--E. V. asks what are the best _modern_
books for acquiring a knowledge of the Dutch language. If E. V. insist upon
_modern_ books, he cannot have better than Hendrik Conscience's novels, or
Gerrits's _Zoon des Volks_. I would, however, advise him to get a volume of
Jacob Cats' _Poems_, the language of which is not antiquated, and is
idiomatic without being difficult to a beginner.

H. B. C.

_"Construe" and "Translate"_ (Vol ii., p. 22.).--It is very common, I
apprehend, in language, for two words, originally of the same meaning, or
two spellings of the same word, to be gradually appropriated by usage to
two subordinate uses, applications, and meanings of the word respectively,
and that merely by accident, as to which of the two is taken for one of the
subdivisions, and which for the other. We have made such an appropriation
in our own time,--despatch and dispatch.

It may be curious, however, to inquire how far back the distinction
mentioned by your correspondent is found.

"Construe," originally, must probably have meant, not to turn from one
language into another, but to explain the construction, or what is called
by the Greek name syntax, much like what in regard to a single word is
called parsing.

C. B.

_Dutton Family_ (Vol. ii., p. 21.).--B. will find the _Dutton_ proviso in
the statute 17 Geo. II. explained by reference to Ormerod's _Cheshire_,
vol. i. pp. 36. 477. 484.; Lyson's _Cheshire_; Blount's _Antient Tenures_,
298., &c. An early grant by one of the Lacy family transferred to Hugh de
Dutton and his heirs "magistratum omnium leccatorum et meritricum totius
Cestriae." In the fifteenth century the jurisdiction was claimed by the
Dutton family, in respect of the lordship or manor of Dutton, and was then
confined to a jurisdiction over the minstrels and musicians of the
palatinate and city of Chester, who constituted, I presume, a department
among the _leccatores_, or licorish fellows, mentioned above. In virtue of
this jurisdiction the lord of Dutton had the advowry or "advocaria" of the
minstrels of the district, and annually licensed them at a _Court of
Minstrelsy_, where the homage consisted of a jury of sworn fiddlers; and
certain dues, namely, flagons of wine and a lance or flagstaff, were yearly
rendered to the lord.