This word was first introduced into the English language by Mr. Dundas, in a debate in the House of Commons on American affairs, in 1775. From it he obtained the nick-name of "Starvation Dundas." (Vide the _Correspondence between Horace Walpole and Mason_, vol. ii. pp. 177. 310. 396., edition 1851.) The word is of irregular formation, the root starve being Old English, while the termination _-ation_ is Latin. E. G. R. The word may perhaps be originally American; but if the following anecdote be correct, it was introduced into this country long before Webster compiled his _Dictionary_: "The word _starvation_ was first introduced into the English language by Mr. Dundas, in a speech in 1775 on an American debate, and hence applied to him as a nickname, 'Starvation Dundas.' 'I shall not,' said he, 'wait for the advent of starvation from Edinburgh to settle my judgment.'"--_Letters of Horace Walpole and Mason_, vol. ii. p. 396. J. R. M., M.A. Throughout this part of the country, "starved" always refers to cold, never to hunger. To express the latter the word "hungered" is always used: thus, many were "like to have been hungered" in the late severe weather and hard times. This is clearly the scriptural phrase "an hungred." To "starve" is to perish; and it is a common expression in the south, "I am quite perished with cold;" which answers to our northern one, "I am quite starved." H. T. G. Hull. I cannot ascertain the period of the adoption of the unhappily common word "starvation" in our language, but it is much older than your correspondent Q. supposes. It occurs in the _Rolliad_: "'Tis but to fire another Sykes, to plan Some new _starvation_ scheme for Hindostan." M. * * * * * OSMOTHERLEY IN YORKSHIRE. (Vol. viii., p. 617.) R. W. CARTER gives an account of folk lore in reference to Osmotherley, and expresses a desire to know if his statement is authentic. I have endeavoured to make myself acquainted with Yorkshire folk lore, and beg to inform MR. CARTER that his statement approaches as near the truth as possible. In my early days I frequently had recited to me, by a respectable farmer who had been educated on the borders of Roseberry (and who obtained it from the rustics of the neighbourhood), a poetical legend, in which all the particulars of this curious tradition are embodied. It is as follows: