_Derivation of "Island"_ (Vol. viii., p. 49.).--H. C. K.'s derivation of _island_ from _eye_, the visual orb, because each are surrounded by water, seems to me so like a banter on etymologists, that I am doubtful whether I ought to notice it; but as our Editor seems, by the space he has given it, to take it as serious, I shall venture to say two or three words upon it. H. C. K. begins by begging the question: he says that "the etymon from the Fr. _isle_, It. _isola_, Lat. _insula_, is _manifestly erroneous_." Now I think I can prove--and that by a single word--that it is "manifestly" the true one. I only reverse his order of placing these words; they should stand, the mother first, the children after; _insula_ Lat., _isola_ It., _isle_ Fr., and to them I add my _single word_, which H. C. K. has chosen to ignore altogether, _isle_ English; as, _Isle_ of Wight, _Isle_ of Man, _Isle_ of Thanet, _Isles_ of Arran, &c. This single word, thus supplied, is to my mind a sufficient answer to H. C. K.'s theory, but I may add, as a corroboration, the peculiarity of retaining in _spelling_, and dropping in _pronunciation_, the _s_ in the English _isle_ and _island_, just as it is in the French _isle_ and _islot_. Indeed the relation between the French and English words is, in this case, not _derivation_ but _identity_. I may also observe that the Scotch and Irish names for an island, _inch_, _innis_, _ennis_--as, _Inch_-keith, _Innis_-fallen, _Ennis_-killen--are "manifestly" derived from _insula_, the common parent of all. I half suspect that H. C. K. is a wag, and meant to try whether we should take seriously what he meant as _all my eye_! C. _Spur_ (Vol. vi., pp. 242. 329.).--To _spur_ is to _spere_, by Gower written _sper_, to search or seek, to inquire into; and your correspondents might have found the word fully treated and illustrated by Jamieson, and more briefly by Richardson. To _ask_ at church is a common expression, and _Spur_ Sunday is merely _Asking_ Sunday. Q. Bloomsbury. _On the Use of the Hour-glass in Pulpits_ (Vol. vii., p. 489. Vol. viii., p. 82.).--The complete iron framework of an hour-glass remained affixed to the pulpit of Shelsley Beauchamp Church, Worcestershire, until the restoration of the church, about eight years ago, by the present rector, the Rev. D. Melville, who carefully preserved the hour-glass relic. In order to show how much had been done for the church, I drew interior and exterior views of the old building, with its great dilapidations and unusually monstrous disfigurements, which drawings were hung in the vestry, at the suggestion of the rector, as parish memorials; a proceeding which I think might be copied with advantage in all cases of church restoration. In the one drawing mentioned the hour-glass stand is a conspicuous object. CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A. The following extract is from a tract published by the Cambridge Camden Society, entitled _A few hints on the Practical Study of Ecclesiastical Antiquities_: