_Stage Coaches._--It occurs to me as highly desirable that, before the recollection of the old stage coach has faded from the memory of all but the oldest inhabitant, an authentic statement should be placed on record of the length of the stages, and the speed that was obtained, by this mode of conveyance, in which England was for so many years without a rival. The speed of mail coaches is, I believe chronicled in the British Almanac of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; but their speed, if I mistake not, was surpassed by that of the "Rival," which travelled (from Monmouth, I think) to London after the opening of the Great Western Railway. Could any of your correspondents favour us with the time-bill of that coach, detailing the length of the several stages, and the time of performance? It would also be interesting to chronicle the period during which this rivalry with the railway was maintained. GEO. E. FRERE. _Antecedents._--The word "antecedents," as a plural, and in the sense attached to it by the French, is not to be found in any English dictionary that I have the means of consulting. And yet it seems now to be commonly used as an English expression, even by some of our best writers. When was this word first imported, and by whom? I have just met with an instance of it in Jerdan's _Autobiography_, vol. i. p. 131.: "I got him (Hammon), with a full knowledge of his antecedents, into the employment of a humane and worthy wine merchant of Bordeaux." HENRY H. BREEN. St. Lucia. _The Letter X._--The letter X on brewers' casks is probably thus derived: _Simplex_ = single x, or X. _Duplex_ = double x, or XX. _Triplex_ = treble x, or XXX. This was suggested by Owen's _Epigram_, lib. xii. 34.: "Laudatur vinum _simplex_, cervisia _duplex_, Est bona duplicitas, optima simplicitas." B. H. C. _A Crow-bar._--In Johnson's _Dictionary_ the explanation given of this word is "piece of iron used as a lever to force open doors, as the Latins called a hook _corvus_." In Walters' _English and Welsh Dictionary_, the first part of which was published about the year 1770, this word is printed "_Croe_-bar." Is it probable that the word _crow_ has been derived front the Camb.-Brit. word _cro_, a curve? and that the name has been given from the circumstance of one end of a crow-bar being curved for the purpose of making it more efficient as lever? N. W. S. * * * * * {440} Minor Queries. _Bishop Grehan._--I want any information obtainable with reference to a Roman Catholic bishop in Ireland named Grehan; his Christian name, family, date of his bishopric, and name of it. Where can I find such particulars? O. L. R. G. _Doxology._--In his "Christmas Caroll" to the tune of "King Solomon," old Tusser has the following: