The _second_ is in my possession. The book is quite perfect; but some wiseacre has carefully erased the date. The _Almanac for xxvi Yeares_ tells nothing, being for the years 1603 to 1628. But the book contains a prayer for "Frederick, the Prince Elector Palatine, and the Lady Elizabeth, his wife, with their hopeful issue." He married the princess in 1613; and in 1619 he was elected King of Bohemia, and thenceforward would be prayed for under his higher title. If the Sunday letter in the calendar is to be trusted, the book was printed (according to De Morgan's _Book of Almanacs_) in 1617. The Dublin Society of Stationers was established in that year; and it is not unlikely that they commenced their issues with a Prayer-Book. I have never seen nor heard of another copy, with which I might compare mine, and thus ascertain its date. The _third_, of 1637, is reported; but I have never met with it. H. COTTON. Thurles. * * * * * ETYMOLOGY OF PEARL. (Vol. vi., p. 578.) The inquiry of your correspondent IFIGFOWL respecting the etymology of the word _pearl_ does not admit of a simple answer. The word occurs in all the modern languages, both Romance and Teutonic: _perla_, Ital. and Span.; _perle_, French and German, whence the English _pearl_. Adelung in v. believes the word to be of Teutonic origin, and considers it as the diminutive of _beere_, a berry. Others derive it from _perna_, the Latin name of a shell-fish (see Ducange in _perlæ_; Diez, _Grammatik der Romanischen Sprachen_, vol. i. p. 235.). Neither of these derivations is probable: it is not shown that _beere_ had a diminutive form, and _perna_ was a local and obscure name: see Pliny, _N. H._ xxxii. ad fin. Salmasius (_Exercit. Plin._, p. 40. ed. 1689) thinks that _perla_ is formed from _perula_, for _sperula_, the diminutive of _sphæra_. A more probable origin is that the word is formed from the Latin _pirum_, as suggested by Diez, in allusion to the pear-shaped form of the pearl. Ducange in v. says that the extremity of the nose was called _pirula nasi_, from its resemblance to the form of a pear. But _pirus_ was used to denote a boundary-stone, made in a pyramidal shape (Ducange in v.); and this seems to have been the origin of the singular expression _pirula nasi_, as being something at the extremity. Another supposition is, that the word _perla_ is derived from the Latin _perula_, the diminutive of _pera_, a wallet. A wallet was a small bag hung round the neck; and the word _perula_, in the sense of a small bag, occurs in Seneca and Apuleius. The analogy of shape and mode of wearing is sufficiently close to suggest the transfer of the name. _Perula_ and _perulus_ are used in Low Latin in the sense of _pearl_. Ducange cites a passage from a hagiographer, where _perula_ means the white of the eye, evidently alluding to the colour of the pearl.