JAS. CROSSLEY. _General Monk and the University of Cambridge_ (Vol. vii., p. 427.).--I cannot doubt that "W. D." was Dr. William Dillingham, Master of Emmanuel College, and Vice-Chancellor of the University, from November 1659 till November 1660. The election to which his letter relates took place April 3, 1660. The votes were: Lord General Moncke 341 Thomas Crouch, M.A., Fellow of Trin. Coll. 211 Oliver St. John, Chancellor of the University 157 The Vice-Chancellor, in his accounts, makes this charge: "Paid to two messengers sent to wait on y^e Lord Generall about y^e burgesship, 4l. 10s."--_M. S. Baker_, xl. 59. On the 22nd of May, General Monk, who had been also chosen for Devonshire, made his election to sit for that county. C. H. COOPER. Cambridge. In reply to LEICESTRIENSIS, I beg leave to inform him that "W. D." was Wm. Dillingham, D.D., master of Clare Hall, and at the time Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. The letter in question, which was the original draft, was, with a variety of other family papers, _stolen_ from me in 1843. J. P. ORD. P.S.--Query, from whom did the present possessor obtain it? _The Ribston Pippin_ (Vol. vii., p. 436.).--The remarks of your correspondent H. C. K., respecting the uncertain origin of the Ribston pippin, reminded me of a communication which I received about fifty years ago, from one of the sisters of the late Sir Henry Goodricke, the last of the family who possessed Ribston. Though it leaves the question concerning the origin of that excellent apple unsettled, yet it may not be uninteresting to {487} H. C. K. and some others of your numerous readers. I therefore send a transcript: "_Tradition of the Ribston Pippin Tree._ "About the beginning of the last century, Sir Henry Goodricke, father of the late Sir John Goodricke, had three pips sent by a friend in a letter from Rouen in Normandy, which were sown at Ribston. Two of the pips produced nothing: the third is the present tree, which is in good health, and still continues to bear fruit." "_Another Account._ "Sir Henry, the father of the late Sir John Goodricke, being at Rouen in Normandy, preserved the pips of some fine flavoured apples, and sent them to Ribston, where they were sown, and the produce in due time planted in what then was the park. Out of seven trees planted, five proved decided crabs, and are all dead. The other two proved good apples; they never were grafted, and one of them is the celebrated original Ribston pippin tree." The latter tradition has, I believe, always been considered as the most correct. S. D. _Cross and Pile_ (Vol. vi., _passim._).--The various disquisitions of your correspondents on the word _pile_ are very ingenious; but I think it is very satisfactorily explained as "a ship" by Joseph Scaliger in _De Re nummaria Dissertatio_, Leyden, 1616: