_Sich House_ (Vol. vi., pp. 363. 568.).--_Sike_ or _syke_, a word in common use in the south of Scotland, and on the Border, meaning a small water run. In Jamieson's _Dictionary_ it is spelt "_Sike_, _syik_, _syk_, a rill or rivulet; one that is usually dry in summer; a small stream or rill; a marshy bottom with a small stream in it." J. S.S. _Americanisms so called_ (Vol. vi., p. 554.).--The word _bottom_, signifying a piece of low ground, whether _upon_ a stream of water or not, is English. I recollect two places at this moment (both dry), in the county of Surrey, to which the word is applied, viz. Smitham Bottom, to the north of Reigate, through which the railway runs; and Boxhill Bottom, a few miles to the westward, in the same range of chalk hills. _Sparse_ and _sparsely_, it is said by UNEDA of Philadelphia, _are_ Americanisms. This, however, is not so. There is a Query on the word _sparse_ in Vol. i., p. 215. by C. FORBES: and on p. 251. of the same volume J. T. STANLEY supposes it to be an Americanism, on the authority of the _Penny Cyclopædia_. I have a strong conviction that I then wrote to "N. & Q." to claim the word _sparse_ as aboriginal to the British Isles, for I find memoranda I had made at the time on the margin of my Jamieson's _Dictionary_ on the subject; but I do not find that what I then wrote had been printed in "N. & Q." In the _Supplement to Jamieson's Dictionary_ is the following: "SPARS, SPARSE, _adj._ widely spread; as, 'sparse writing' is wide open writing, occupying a large space." The word is in common use throughout the south of Scotland. I have come to be of opinion that there are few, if any, words that are real Americanisms, but that (except where the substance or the subject is quite modern) almost every word and expression now in use among the Anglo-Americans may be traced to some one of the old provincial dialects of the British Isles. J. S.S. _The Folger Family_ (Vol. vi., p. 583.).--I do not know whether there are any of that name in Wales, but there was a family of that name near Tregony in Cornwall some years ago, and may be now. I am not quite certain whether they spell it Folger or Fulger, but rather think the latter was the mode of spelling it. S. JENNINGS-G. _Wake Family_ (Vol. vi., p. 290.).--The Rev. Robert Wake was vicar of Ogbourne, St. Andrew, Wilts, from 1703 to 1715, N.S., during which time he had these children:--Thomas, born the 17th of July, 1706, and baptized on the 28th of the same month; Elizabeth and Anne, both baptized on the 16th of July, 1711. ARTHUR R. CARTER. Camden Town. _Shakspeare's "Twelfth Night"_ (Vol. vi., p. 584.).--Agreeing with MR. SINGER in his doubts regarding the propriety of changing the word _case_ into _face_, in the line,-- "When time hath sow'd a grizzle on thy _case_"-- I would instance a passage in _Measure for Measure_, where Angelo says--