_Aelfric's Colloquy_.--Permit me to correct a singular error into which the great Anglo-Saxon scholars, Messrs. Lye and B. Thorpe, have been betrayed by some careless transcriber of the curious _Monastic Colloquy_ by the celebrated Aelfric. This production of the middle ages is very distinctly written, both in the Saxon and Latin portions, in the Cotton MS. (Tiberius, A 3, fol. 58_b_.) Mr. Lye frequently cites it, in his _Saxon Dictionary_, as "_Coll. Mon._," and Mr. Thorpe gives it entire in his _Analecta Anglo-Saxonica_. The former loosely explains _higdifatu_, which occurs in the reply of the shoewright (_sceowyrhta_), thus--"Ca_l_idilia, sc. vasa _quoedam.--Coll. Mon._"--and Mr. Thorpe prints both _higdifatu_ and _ca_l_idilia_. _Higdifatu_ is manifestly vessels of hides, such as skin and leather bottles and buckets. The _ig_ is either a clerical error of the monkish scribe for _y_, or the _g_ is a silent letter producing the quantity of the vowel. "I buy hides and fells," says the workman, "and with my craft I make of them shoes of different kinds; leathern hose, flasks, and _higdifatu_." The Latin word in this MS. is _casidilia_, written with the long straight _s_. Du Cange explains _capsilis_ to be a vessel of leather, and quotes Matt. Westmon.: "Portans _cassidile_ toxicum mellitum."--_Gloss_. tom. ii. col. 387. The root _caps_, or _cas_, does not appear to have any Teutonic correspondent, and may merit a philological investigation. R.T. Hampson. _Humble Pie_.--the proverbial expression of "eating humble pie," explained by A.G., will be found also explained in the same manner in the Appendix to Forby's _Vocabulary_, where it is suggested that the correct orthography would be "umble pie," without the aspirate. Bailey, in his valuable old _Dictionary_, traces the word properly to _umbilicus_, the region of the intestines, and acknowledges in his time the perquisite of the game-keeper. J.I. Oxford. _By Hook or by Crook_.--You have noted the origin of Humble Pie. May I add a note of a saying, in my opinion also derived from forest customs, viz. "By hook or by crook?" Persons entitled to fuel wood in the king's forest, were only authorised to take it of the dead wood or branches of trees in the forest, "with a cart, a hook, and a crook." The answer to the query respecting the meaning of "per serjantiam Marescautiae," is the Serjeantry of Farriery, i.e. shoeing of the king's horses. In Maddox, vol. i. p. 43. you will find a very full account of the office of Marescallus. J.R.F. THE ORIGIN OF GROG. "Written on board the Berwick, a few days before Admiral Parker's engagement with the Dutch fleet, on the 5th of August, 1781. By DR. TROTTER. "'Tis sung on proud Olympus' hill The Muses bear record, Ere half the gods had drank their fill The sacred nectar sour'd. "At Neptune's toast the bumper stood, Britannia crown'd the cup; A thousand Nereids from the flood Attend to serve it up.