quoting upon you, "Whose erudition is a _Christmas tale_." But Mr. Johnson is ready to bruise any one who calls in question your classical knowledge and your happy application of it. I hope Mr. Johnson has given you an entertaining account of his Northern Tour. He is certainly to favour the world with some of his remarks. Pray do not fail to quicken him by word as I do by letter. Posterity will be the more obliged to his friends the more that they can prevail with him to write. With best compliments to Mrs. Garrick, and hoping that you will not punish me by being long silent, I remain faithfully yours, JAMES BOSWELL. To David Garrick, Esq., Adelphi, London. W. P. * * * * * MINOR NOTES. _White Roses._--In an old newspaper, _The Weekly Journal, or British Gazetteer_, of Saturday, June 15, 1723, I find the following paragraph: "Monday being the anniversary of the White Roses, some persons who had a mind to boast that they had bid defiance to the government, put them on early in the morning; but the mob not liking such doings, gathered about them, and demolished the wearers; which so terrified the crew, that not one of them afterwards would touch a white rose." Can you, or any of your correspondents, explain this curious allusion? Is it to the emblem of the House of York, or the badge of the Pretender? E. G. B. _Fifeshire Pronunciation._--I have observed, in various parts of Fifeshire, a singular peculiarity in the pronunciation of certain words, of which the following are specimens: Pronounced Wrong, Vrang. Wright, Vricht (_gut._). Wretch, Vretch. Write, _v. a._ Vrite. Write, or writing, _s._ Vreat. This strange mode is not altogether confined to the most illiterate portion of the people. My query is, Does this peculiarity obtain in any other portion of Scotland? A. R. X. Paisley. _Original Letter._--The following letter, written by the French general at Guadaloupe, when it was taken in 1810, to his conqueror, is an exquisite specimen of something more than that national politeness which does not desert a Frenchman even in misfortune. I possess the original: Au quartier général du Parc, le 6 Février, 1810. A son Excellence Le Général Beckwith, Commandant en chef les forces de sa Majesté Britannique aux isles du Vent. Monsieur le Général, J'ai été prévenu que Votre Excellence se proposait de venir au Parc demain dans la matinée. J'ose espérer qu'elle voudra bien me faire l'honneur d'accepter le diner que lui offre un Général malheureux et vaincu, mais qu'il présente de tout coeur.