"Quid est veritas? = Vir qui adest." I add another chronogram "by Godard, upon the birth of Louis XIV. in 1638, on a day when the eagle was in conjunction with the lion's heart:" "EXorIens DeLphIn AqUILa CorDIsqUe LeonIs CongressU GaLLos spe LaetItIaqUe refeCIt." B. H. C. _"Haul over the Coals"_ (Vol. viii., p. 125.).--This appears to mean just the same as "roasting"--to inflict upon any one a castigation _per verbum_ and in good humour. _To cover over the coals_ is the same as to cower over the coals, as a gipsy over a fire. Thus Hodge says of Gammer Gurton and Tib, her maid: "'Tis their daily looke, They cover so over the coles their eies be bleared with smooke." _To carry coals to Newcastle_ is well understood to be like giving alms to the wealthy; but viewed in union with the others would show what a prominent place coals seem to have in the popular mind. B. H. C. Poplar. _Sheer Hulk_ (Vol. viii., p. 126.).--This phrase is certainly correct. _Sheer_ = mere, a hulk, and nothing else. Thus we say _sheer_ nonsense, _sheer_ starvation, &c.; and the song says: "Here a _sheer hulk_ lies poor Tom Bowling, The darling of our crew," &c. The etymology of _sheer_ is plainly from _shear_. B. H. C. Poplar. _The Magnet_ (Vol. vi. _passim_).--This was used by Claudian apparently as symbolical of Venus or love: "Mavors, sanguinea qui cuspide verberat urbes, Et Venus, humanas quae laxat in otia curas, Aurati delubra tenent communia templi, Effigies non una Deis. Sed ferrea Martis Forma nitet, Venerem _magnetica gemma figurat_."--Claud. _De Magnete._ B. H. C. Poplar. _Fierce_ (Vol. viii., p. 125.).--OXONIENSIS mentions a peculiar use of the word "fierce." An inhabitant of Staffordshire would have answered him: "I feel quite _fierce_ this morning." W. FRASER. Tor-Mohun. _Connexion between the Celtic and Latin Languages_ (Vol. viii., p. 174.).--Your correspondent M. will find some curious and interesting articles on this subject in vol. ii. of _The Scottish Journal_, Edinburgh, 1848, p. 129. _et infra_. DUNCAN MACTAVISH. Lochbrovin. _Acharis_ (Vol. viii., p. 198.).--A mistake, probably, for _achatis_, a Latinised form of _achat_, a bargain, purchase, or act of purchasing. The passage in Dugdale seems to mean that "Ralph Wickliff, Esq., holds two-thirds of the tithes of certain domains sometime purchased by him, {281} formerly at a rental of 5s., now at nothing, because, as he says, they are included in his park." J. EASTWOOD.