On the other hand, having heard some persons say that they had always understood the phrase to denote affording _help_ to an undertaking, and confidently allege that this must be the _older_ and {270} more correct usage, for "what," say they, "is a wheel without spokes?" I inquired of an intelligent lady, of long American descent, in what way she had been accustomed to hear the phrase employed, and the answer was "Certainly as a help: we used to say to one who had anything in hand of difficult accomplishment, 'Do not be faint-hearted, I'll give you a spoke.'" Dr. Johnson, in the folio edition of his _Dictionary_, 1755, after defining a spoke to be the "bar of a wheel that passes from the nave to the felly," cites: " . . . . All you gods, In general synod, take away her power, Break all the _spokes_ and fellies to her wheel, And bowl the round nave down the hill of Heaven."--_Shakspeare_. G. K. _Sir W. Hewit._--At p. 159. of Mr. Thoms's recent edition of Pulleyn's _Etymological Compendium_, Sir W. Hewit, the father-in-law of Edward Osborne, who was destined to found the ducal family of Leeds, is said to have been "a pin-maker." Some other accounts state that he was a clothworker; others again, that he was a goldsmith. Which is correct; and what is the authority? And where may any pedigree of the Osborne family, _previous to Edward_, be seen? H. T. GRIFFITH. _Passage in Virgil._--Dr. Johnson, in his celebrated Letter to Lord Chesterfield, says, in reference to the hollowness of patronage: "The shepherd, in Virgil, grew at last acquainted with Love; and found him a native of the rocks." To what passage in Virgil does Johnson here refer, and what is the point intended to be conveyed? R. FITZSIMONS. Dublin. _Fauntleroy._--In Binns' _Anatomy of Sleep_ it is stated that a few years ago an affidavit was taken in an English court of justice, to the effect that Fauntleroy was still living in a town of the United States. Can any of your correspondents refer me to the circumstance in question? C. CLIFTON BARRY. _Animal Prefixes, descriptive of Size and Quality._--Will somebody oblige me by pointing out in the modern languages any analogous instances to the Greek [Greek: bon], English _horse_-radish, _dog_-rose, _bull_-finch, &c.? C. CLIFTON BARRY. _Punning Devices._--Sir John Cullum, in his _Hist. of Hawsted_, 1st edit. p. 114., says that the seal of Sir William Clopton, knight, t. Hen. VII., was "a ton, out of which issues some plant, perhaps a _caltrop_, which might be contracted to the first syllable of his name." This appears to be too violent a contraction. Can any of your readers suggest any other or closer analogy between the name and device? BURIENSIS.