I was preparing to answer your correspondent E. S. TAYLOR by a reference to the conversation between Gurth and Wamba, _Ivanhoe_, chap. i., when a friend promised to supply me with some additional and fuller information. I copy from a MS. note that he has placed in my hands: "Nec quidem temerè contigisse puto quod animalia viva nominibus Germanicæ originis vocemus, quorum tamen carnem in cibum paratam originis Gallicæ nominibus appellamus; puta,--bovem, vaccam, vitulum, ovem, porcum, aprum, feram, etc. (an ox, a cow, a calf, a sheep, a hog, a boar, a deer, &c.); sed carnem bubulam, vitulinam, ovinam, porcinam, aprugnam, ferinam, etc. (beef, veal, mutton, pork, brawn, venison, &c.) Sed hinc id ortum putaverim, quod Normanni milites pascuis, caulis, haris, locisque quibus vivorum animalium cura agebatur, parcius se immiscuerint[8] (quæ itaque antiqua nomina retinuerunt) quam macellis, culinis, mensis, epulis, ubi vel parabantur vel habebantur cibi, qui itaque nova nomina ab illis sunt adepti."--Preface to Dr. Wallis's _Grammatica Linguæ Anglicanæ_, 1653, quoted by Winning, _Comparative Philology_, p. 270. C. FORBES. Temple. [Footnote 8: "immiscuerint" corrected from "immiscuerunt" by erratum in Issue 170.--Transcriber.] If your correspondent E. S. TAYLOR will refer to the romance of _Ivanhoe_, he will find in the first chapter a dialogue between Wamba the son of Witless, and Gurth the son of Beowulph, wherein the subject is fully discussed as to the change of names consequent on the transmutation of live stock, under the charge of Saxon herdsmen, into materials for satisfying the heroic appetites of their Norman rulers. It would be interesting to know the source from whence Sir Walter Scott derived his ideas on this subject: whether from some previous writer, or "some odd corner of the brain." A. R. X. Paisley. See Trench _On Study of Words_ (3rd edit.), p. 65. P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A. MR. TAYLOR will find in Pegge's _Anonymiana_, Cent. i. 38., and Cent. vii. 95., allusion to what he inquires after. THOS. LAWRENCE. * * * * * GOLDSMITHS' YEAR-MARKS. (Vol. vi., p. 604.) In answer to MR. LIVETT'S Query, as to the marks or letters employed by the Goldsmiths' Company to denote the year in which the plate was "hall-marked," I subjoin a list of such as I am acquainted with, and which might with a little trouble be traced to an earlier period: I have also added a few notes relating to the subject generally, which may interest many of your readers.