nster to Christchurch,
where he took the degree of M.A. March 23. 1696, and that of B.D. Dec.
12. 1706. He was soon distinguished by Dean Aldrich as worthy of his
patronage and encouragement. He was consequently appointed tutor and
censor, and in course of time left college, on his promotion to a
prebendal stall in Winchesser Cathedral by Sir Jonathan Trelawney, the
then Bishop, with the rectory of Brightwell, near Wallingford; at which
latter place he chiefly resided till the time of his death, which
happened by an accident, June 10. 1726. Sir Francis Bernard, Bart., who
had himself been a student of Christchurch, published the 4to. volume of
_Latin Odes_ mentioned by "R.H.," Lond. 1753; for which he had issued
_Proposals_, &c., so early as July, 1748. In addition to these _Odes_,
four English poems by Alsop are said to be in Dodsley's collection, one
in Pearch's, several in the early volumes of the _Gentleman's Magazine_,
and some in _The Student_. Dr. Bentley calls him, rather familiarly,
"Tony Alsop, editor of the _AEsopian Fables_;" a work published by him at
Oxford, in 1698, 8 vo., in the preface to which he took part against Dr.
Bentley, in the dispute with Mr. Boyle.

J.I.

Trinity College, Oxford.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Origin of the Word "Snob"_.--I think that _Snob_ is not an archaism,
and that it cannot be found in any book printed fifty years ago. I am
aware that in the north of England shoe-makers are still sometimes
called _Snobs_; but the word is not in Brockett's _Glossary of North
Country Words_, which is against its being a genuine bit of northern
dialect.

I fancy that _Snobs_ and _Nobs_, as used in vulgar parlance, are of
classic derivation; and, most probably, originated at one of the
Universities, where they still flourish. If a _Nob_ be one who is
_nobilis_, a _Snob_ must be one who is _s[ine] nob[ilitate]_. Not that I
mean to say that the _s_ is literally a contraction of _sine_; but that,
as in the word slang, the _s_, which is there prefixed to _language_, at
once destroys the better word, and degrades its meaning; and as, in
Italian, an _s_ prefixed to a primitive word has a privative
effect--e.g. _calzare_, "to put on shoes and stockings;" _scalzare_, "to
put them off:" _fornito_, "furnished;" _sfornito_, "unfurnished," &c.;
as also the _dis_, in Latin (from which, possibly, the aforesaid _s_ is
derived), has the like reversing powe