Will MR. BOLTON CORNEY be kind enough to explain the occasion of Porson's notable speech recorded on the last page of his _Curiosities Illustrated_? His sagacity was not at fault in suspecting a French origin for D'Israeli's story, p. 89. See Bassompière, in _Retrospective Review_, xiii. 346. S. Z. Z. S. _Tea-marks._--Accident threw in my way lately a catalogue of a large sale of teas in Mincing Lane; and my attention was drawn to certain marks against the several lots, which appeared to indicate particular qualities, but to me, as uninitiated, perfectly incomprehensible. In this dilemma I asked one of our principal brokers the meaning of all this, and I was informed that teas are sampled and tasted by the brokers, and divided in the main into seven classes, distinguished as follows: [Illustration] Can any of your correspondents tell us when this classification was first introduced, or the origin of the first two characters? Can they be Chinese, and the names given from some fancied resemblance to the gallows, or the letter _T_ turned sideways? My friend the broker, though a very intelligent man, could give me no information whatever on these points. W. T. 42. Lowndes Square. _William the Conqueror's Surname._--Had William a surname? If so, what was it? By surname I mean such as is transmitted from father to son, not the epithets he used to bestow on himself in documents, as "I, William the Bastard," "I, William the Conqueror," &c. TEE BEE. _Old Saying._-- "Merry be the first And merry be the last, And merry be the first of August." Having frequently heard this old saying, I take the liberty of asking, through your much valued paper, it any of your readers are able to tell me its origin? EDM. L. BAGSHAWE. Bath Literary Institution. _To pluck a Crow with One._--It is a common expression in all ranks, I believe, of this country, to speak of "plucking a crow" with such a one; meaning to call him to account for some delinquency. Can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of the phrase? W. W. _"Well's a fret."_--When, after a short pause in conversation, any one utters the interjection, "Well!" it is a very common practice in Nottingham to say: "... and _well's a fret_, He that dies for love will not be hang'd for debt." I have asked a great number of persons for an explanation, but they all use the phrase without any meaning. Can you, or any of your readers, tell me if it have any; or if it be only nonsensical doggrel? DEVONIENSIS. {198} _Pay the Piper._--This expression surely has a firm foundation. Can any of your correspondents trace it? W. T. M. Hong Kong. _Greek Inscription upon a Font, mentioned by Jeremy Taylor._-- "This was ingeniously signified by that Greek inscription upon a font, which is so prettily contrived, that the words may be read after the Greek or after the Hebrew manner, and be exactly the same: