I may add that at Barnstaple, North Devon, the evening previous to the proclamation of the fair, a large glove, decked with dahlias, is protruded on a pole from a window of the Quay Hall, the most ancient building in the town, which remains during the fair, and is removed at its termination. May not the outstretched glove signify the consent of the authorities to the commencement and continuance of the festivities, &c., and its withdrawal a hint for their cessation? I may add also that on the morning of proclaiming the fair, the mayor and corporation meet their friends in the council chamber, and partake of spiced toast and ale. DROFSNIAG. _"An" before "u" long_ (Vol. viii., p. 244.).--The custom of writing _an_ before _u_ long must have arisen and become established when _u_ had its primitive and vowel sound, nearly resembling that of our _oo_, a sound which it still has in several languages, but seems to have lost in ours. The use of _an_ before _u_ long, was _then_ proper; habit and precedent will account for its retention by many, after the reason for it has ceased, and when its use has become improper. But although the custom is thus accounted for, there exists no satisfactory reason for its continuance, and I am sorry to learn from your correspondent that it is "increasingly prevailing." J. W. THOMAS. Dewsbury. _"The Good Old Cause"_ (Vol. viii, p. 44.).--D'Israeli, in _Quarrels of Authors_, under the head of "Martin Mar-Prelate," has the following remarks on the origin and use of the expression, "The Good Old Cause:" "It is remarkable that Udall repeatedly employed that expression, which Algernon Sidney left as his last legacy to the people, when he told them he was about to die for 'that _Old Cause_, in which I was from my youth engaged.' Udall perpetually insisted on '_The Cause_.' This was a term which served at least for a watch-word: it rallied the scattered members of the republican party. The precision of the expression might have been difficult to ascertain; and, perhaps, like every popular expedient, varied with 'existing circumstances.' I did not, however, know it had so remote an origin as in the reign of Elizabeth; and suspect it may still be freshened up and varnished over for any present occasion." HENRY H. BREEN. St. Lucia. The following curious paragraph in the _Post Boy_, June 3-5, 1714, seems to have been connected with the Jacobites: "There are lately arrived here the Dublin Plenipo's. All persons that have any business concerning the GOOD OLD CAUSE, let 'em repair to Jenny Man's Coffee House at Charing Cross, where they may meet with the said Plenipo's every day of the week except Sundays, and every evening of those days they are to be spoke with at the Kit-Cat Club." E. G. BALLARD.