is printed as by Savage in Johnson's _Life of Savage_. In the notes to _The Dunciad_, i. 106., it is said to be by Pope. _Utri credemus?_ S. Z. Z. S. [From the fact, that this epigram was not only attributed to Pope, in the notes to the second edition of _The Dunciad_, published in 1729, but also in those of 1743, the joint edition of Pope and Warburton, and both published before the death of Pope, it seems extremely probable that he was the author of it; more especially as he had been exasperated by a twopenny tract, of which Dennis was suspected to be the writer, called _A True Character of Mr. Pope and his Writings_; printed for S. Popping, 1716. D'Israeli however, in his _Calamities of Authors_, art. "The Influence of a bad Temper in Criticism," quoting it from Dr. Johnson, conjectures it was written on the following occasion: "Thomson and Pope charitably supported the veteran Zoilus at a benefit play, and Savage, who had nothing but a verse to give, returned them very poetical thanks in the name of Dennis. He was then blind and old, but his critical ferocity had no old age; his surliness overcame every grateful sense, and he swore as usual, 'They could be no one's but that _fool_ Savage's,' an evidence of his sagacity and brutality. This perhaps prompted 'the fool' to take this fair revenge and just chastisement." After all, Dr. Johnson, who was at that time narrating Savage's intimate acquaintance with Pope, may have attributed to the former what seems to have been the production of the latter.] _Football played on Shrove Tuesday._--The people of this and the neighbouring towns invariably play at football on Shrove Tuesday. What is the origin of the custom? and does it extend to other counties? J. P. S. Dorking. ["Shrove-tide," says Warton, "was formerly a season of extraordinary sport and feasting. There was {224} anciently a feast immediately preceding Lent, which lasted many days, called _Carniscapium_. In some cities of France an officer was annually chosen, called Le Prince d'Amoreux, who presided over the sports of the youth for six days before Ash Wednesday. Some traces of these festivities still remain in our Universities." In these degenerate days more is known, we suspect, of pancakes and fritters, than of a football match and a cock-fight:--the latter, we are happy to say, is now almost forgotten among us. As to the pancake custom, no doubt that is most religiously observed by the readers of "N. & Q.," in obedience to the rubric of the _Oxford Sausage_: "Let glad Shrove Tuesday bring the pancake thin, Or fritter rich, with apples stored within."