_Serpent's Tongue_ (Vol. vi., p. 340.).--The _Lingua Serpentina_ of old MSS., and the fossil now commonly termed a Shark's-tooth. In former days, few pilgrims returned from the East without bringing at least one of those curious stones. Being principally found in Malta, it was said they were the tongues of the vipers, which once infested that island, and which St. Paul had turned into stone. Considered to be antidotes, and possessed of talismanic qualities, they were set in cups, dishes, knife-handles, and other requisites for the table. W. PINKERTON. Ham. _Croxton or Crostin of Lancashire_ (Vol. vii., p. 108.).--A full account of the parish of Croston (not Crostin), which was formerly very extensive, but is now divided into the six parishes of Croston, Chorley, Hesketh, Hoole, Rumford, and Tarleton, may be found in Baines's _Lancashire_, vol. iii. pp. 395. to 440. There does not appear to have been a family of Croston of any note, though the name is common in the county. In Burke's _Heraldic Dictionary_, I find three families named Croxton; the principal one being of Croxton in Cheshire, since temp. Hen. III. Their arms are--Sable, a lion rampant arg. debruised by a bend componée or and gu. BROCTUNA. Bury, Lancashire. _Robert Dodsley_ (Vol. vii., p. 237.).--In the _Biographia Dramatica_ it is stated that "this author was born _near_ Mansfield, in Nottinghamshire, _as it is supposed_;" and this supposition was, {317} not improbably, founded on the following lines, which occur in one of his poems, as Mansfield is situated in the forest of Sherwood: "O native Sherwood! happy were thy Bard, Might these, his rural notes, to future time, Boast of tall groves, that nodding o'er thy plain, Rose to their tuneful melody." TYRO. Dublin. _Lord Goring_ (Vol. ii., pp. 22. 65.; Vol. vii., p. 143.).--In the order-books of the council of state, I find that William Killegrew was, on the 1st Oct., 1642, appointed lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of Colonel Goringh, _vice_ Thomas Hollis, deceased; and that, on the 26th March, 1647, he was named colonel of the same regiment, vice Colonel Goringh, resigned. That the last-mentioned colonel is _George_ Goringh we learn from the war-budget (Staat van Oorlog) of 1644, where the salaries of Colonel George Goringh iij^c£ William Killegre, Lieutenant-Colonel lxxx£ are charged on the province of Holland. It nowhere appears from official reports that Lord Goring held a higher military rank than that of colonel in the Netherlands army. That he left England previous to 1645 is proved not only by the above, but also by his presence, as colonel in the service of Spain, at the siege of Breda in 1637. If he afterwards served in the Spanish army as lieutenant-general, what could have induced him at a later period to accept the rank of colonel in the army of the States? --t.