_Muffins_.--The correspondent who, in No. 11., p. 173., inquires the origin of the word "Muffin," is referred to Urquhart's _Pillars of Hercules_, vol. ii. p. 143., just published, where he will find a large excursus on this subject. The word, he avers, is _Phoenician_: from _maphula_, one of those kinds of bread named as such by Athenaeus. "It was a _cake_," says Athenaeus, "baked on a hearth or griddle." He derives this by taking away the final vowel, and then changing _l_ for _n_; thus: "maphula," "maphul," "mufun!!!" In this strange book there are fifty other etymologies as remarkable as this. The author plainly offers them in hard earnest. This is something worth _noting_. V. _By Hook or Crook_.--"As in the phrase 'to get by hook or crook;' in the sense of, to get by any expedient, to stick at nothing to obtain the end; not to be over nice in obtaining your ends--_By hucke o'er krooke_; e.g. _by bending the knees, and by bowing low_, or as we now say, by bowing and scraping, by crouching and cringing."--Bellenden Ker's _Essay on the Archaeology our Popular Phrases and Nursery Rhymes_, vol. i. p. 21. ed. 1837. I wish your correspondent, "J.R.F.," had given a reference to the book or charter from which he copied his note. Has Mr. B. Ker's work ever been reviewed? MELANION. [Mr. Ker's book was certainly reviewed in _Fraser's Magazine_ at the time of its appearance, and probably in other literary journals.] _By Hook or By Crook_.--I have met with it somewhere, but have lost my note, that Hooke and Crooke were two judges, who in their day decided most unconscientiously whenever the interests of the crown were affected, and it used to be said that the king could get anything by Hooke or by Crooke. Query, is _this_ the origin of the phrase? If I cannot give _my_ authority, perhaps "J.R.F." may be able to give _his_, for deriving it from "_Forest Customs_?" H.T.E. _El Buscapié_.--A very full and able disquisition on the subject of MR. SINGER's query (No. 11., p. 171.), respecting _El Buscapié_, will be found in the appendix to a work which is just published, viz. Ticknor's _History of Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. Appendix D. 371. _et seq_. That writer, whose opinion is entitled to credit as that of a consummate student of Spanish letters, and who gives good reasons for his conclusions in this instance, pronounces against the authenticity of the poor little pamphlet recently put forth as belonging to Cervantes. Those who take an interest in Spanish literature will find this book of Ticknor's a most valuable contribution to their knowledge of its whole compass, and worth "making a note of." V.