[The origin of this phrase is involved in some obscurity. Jacob, in his _Law Dictionary_, speaks of it as "from the French," and his definition is _verbatim_ that given in _The Termes of the Law_ (ed. 1598), with a very slight addition. Blackstone (book II cap. 12.) says, "which term I shall explain in the very words of Littleton: 'It seemeth that this word _hotchpot_ is in English a pudding; for in a pudding is not commonly just one thing alone, but one thing with other things together.' By this housewifely metaphor our ancestors meant to inform us that the lands, both those given in frankmarriage, and those descending in fee-simple, should be mixed and blended together, and then divided in equal portions among all the daughters."] _High and Low Dutch._--Is there any essential difference between High and Low Dutch; and if there be any, to which set do the Dutchmen at the Cape of Good Hope belong? S. C. P. [High and Low Dutch are vulgarisms to express the German and the Dutch languages, which those nations themselves call, for the German _Deutsch_, for the Dutch _Hollaendisch_. The latter is the language which the Dutch colonists of the Cape carried with them, when that colony was conquered by them from the Portuguese; and has for its base the German as spoken before Martin Luther's translation of the Bible made the dialect of Upper Saxony the written language of the entire German empire.] _"A Wilderness of Monkeys."_--Would you kindly inform me where the expression is to be found: "I would not do such or such a thing for a wilderness of monkeys?" C. A. Ripley. ["_Tubal._ One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey. "_Shylock._ Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah, when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for _a wilderness of monkies_."--_Merchant of Venice_, Act III. Sc. 1.] _Splitting Paper._--Could any of your readers give the receipt for splitting paper, say a bank-note? In no book can I find it, but I believe that it is known by many. H. C. Liverpool. [Paste the paper which is to be split between two pieces of calico; and, when thoroughly dry, tear them asunder. The paper will split, and, when the calico is wetted, is easily removed from it.] _The Devil on Two Sticks in England._--Who is the author of a work, entitled as under? "The Devil upon Two Sticks in England; being a Continuation of Le Diable Boiteux of Le Sage. London: printed at the Logographic Press, and sold by T. Walter, No. 169. Piccadilly; and W. Richardson, under the Royal Exchange, 1790." It is a work of very considerable merit, an imitation in style and manner of Le Sage, but original in its matter. It is published in six volumes 8vo. WILLIAM NEWMAN.