I have found very similar expressions, but never the exact words as above. H. * * * * * REPLIES. AELFRIC'S COLLOQUY, AND THE A.-S. WORD AEGYPE IN THE A.-S. PSALTER. In reference to MR. THORPE'S note (No. 15. p. 232.), I beg leave, with all possible respect and deference, to suggest that his joke is not quite _ad rem_.--What would do for a _beefsteak_ does not help his _mistake_; for it is quite evident that _sprote_ applies to fish-_swimming_ and not to fish-_catching_; and I presume that "useful and sagacious" auxiliary, Dr. Kitchener himself, would hardly have ventured to deny that _fish_ may _swim quickly_? Now let us try how MR. THORPE'S proposed _salice=wicker_, or _sallow_, with or without the _basket_, will suit the context. The fisherman is asked, "Quales pisces capias? = What fish do you take?" The answer is Anguillos &c. &c. et qualescunque in amne natant salu = Eels &c. &c., and every sort whatever that in water swimmeth [wicker/sallow] basket! Let it be remembered that the question here is not, "_How_ dost thou take fish?" which had been put and _answered before_, but "_What_ fish dost thou take?" and then let common sense decide; for the fisherman having already mentioned that he cast _nets_ and _hooks_, and [_spyrian_/spartas], i.e. _baskets_, now only replies as to the _fish_ he takes. MR. THORPE calls the A.-S. dialogue a _Gloss_; is it not rather an _interlineary version_? like those in use, in later times, of Corderius, and used for the same purpose. I have no doubt that upon more mature consideration MR. THORPE will see that it could not be a substantive that was intended; and, as he admits my conjecture to be _specious_, that he will, in the course of his very useful labours, ultimately find it not only specious but correct. Meanwhile, I submit to his consideration, that beside the analogy of the Gothic _sprauto_, we have in Icelandic _spretta_, imperf. _spratt_, "subito movere, repente salire, emicare;" and _sprettr_, "cursus citatus," and I do think these analogies warrant my conclusion.