Also we find that John Skepworth, by will dated 17th Oct. 1678, gave two closes of land to the parish of Louth, to the intent that the churchwardens and overseers of the poor there should apply the rents and profits of the same in providing so much coarse woollen cloth as would make ten suits yearly to be given to ten poor people of Louth, the men to have coats and breeches, and the women to have waistcoats and _safeguards_.[18] {268} If "BURIENSIS" has a friend belonging to the Clothworkers' Company, it is probable that he will acquire much information on this subject from their old records. H. EDWARDS. [17] Reports from the Commissioners of Charities b. 235. 32nd part 4.--696. [18] Ibid. _Derivation of "Calamity"_ (No. 14. p. 215.)--"Calamity" is from the Latin _calamitas_, from _calamus_ a straw or stalk of corn, signifying, 1st, the agricultural misfortune of the corn being beaten down or laid by a storm; and thence, any other trouble or disaster:-- "Ipsa egreditur nostri fundi _calamitas_." Ter. _Eun_. i. 1. Upon which the commentator in the Delph. ed. has this note:-- "_Calamitas_ est grando et tempestas, quæ calamos segetum prosternit et conterit. Unde Cicero Verrem vocat '_calamitosam tempestatem_.'" Ainsworth, quoting the above passage from Terence, adds:-- "Ubi Donatus. Proprie _calamitatem_ rustici vocant quod comminuat _calamum_; h.e. culmen et segetem." The etymology of its synonym, "_disaster_," is more direct--[Greek: dhus hasthaer], a star of evil influence, or, as we say, "born under an ill planet." [Greek: Philologos] Forcellini, _s.v. Calamitas_, says:-- "Proprie significat imminutionem clademque calamorum segetis, quæ grandine vel impetuoso aliquo turbine aut alia quapiam de causa fit." He then quotes Servius, _Ad Georg_, i. 151:-- "Robigo genus est vitii, quo culmi pereunt, quod a rusticanis calamitas dicitur." Then follows the note of Donatus on Ter. _Eun_. i. 1. 34. It appears to me, if "_calamitas_" were derived from _calamus_, it would mean something very different from what it does. Another suggestion is, that the first syllable is the same as the root of _cad-o_, to fall; _l_ and _d_, everybody knows, are easily interchangeable: as Odysseus, Ulixes: [Greek: dakruon], _lacrima_, _tear_, &c. &c. If so, _calamitas_ is a corrupted form of _cadamitas_. Mar. Victorinus, _De Orthogr_. p. 2456., says:-- "Gueius Pompeius Magnus et scribebat et dicebat _Kadamitatem_ pro _Kalamitatem_."--(Quoted from Bothe's _Poetæ_," _Scenici Latinorum_, vol. v. p. 21.) But how is the -_amitas_ to be explained? I may as well add, that Döderlein, with his usual felicity, derives it from [Greek: kolouo]. EDWARD S. JACKSON.