"_Beggars of Bath._--Many in that place; some natives there, others repairing thither from all parts of the land; the poor for alms, the pained for ease. Whither should fowl flock in a hard frost, but to the barn-door? Here, all the two seasons, being the general confluence of gentry. Indeed laws are daily made to restrain beggars, and daily broken by the connivance of those who make them; it being impossible when the hungry belly barks, and bowels sound, to keep the tongue silent. And although oil of whip {578} be the proper plaister for the cramp of laziness, yet some pity is due to impotent persons. In a word, seeing there is the Lazar's-bath in this city, I doubt not but many a good Lazarus, the true object of charity, may beg therein." J. EASTWOOD, M.A. R. R. inquires the origin of the above saying, but has forgotten the context, viz. "and get your head shaved." I have often heard it explained as an allusion to the fact, that, in former days, persons who showed symptoms of insanity were sent to Bath to drink the medicinal waters; the process of shaving the head being previously resorted to. The saying is applied to those who either relate "crack-brained" stories, or propose undertakings that raise a doubt as to their sanity. N. L. T. _Ridings and Chaffings_ (Vol. ix., p. 370.).--Though unable to give MR. THOMAS RUSSELL POTTER any information respecting the "Ridings and Chaffings" of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, I send the following note of a somewhat similar custom prevalent in Oxfordshire (I never heard of it elsewhere), thinking it may perhaps interest him and others of your correspondents. I remember once, about three years ago, I was walking in Blenheim Park, with a friend then resident at Woodstock, when suddenly the stillness of a summer evening was broken by strange and inharmonious sounds, coming to us across the water from the old town. The sounds grew louder and louder, and in great surprise I appealed to my friend for an explanation; when I learned that it was a custom in that part of the country, whenever it was discovered that a man had been beating his wife, for the neighbours to provide themselves with all sorts of instruments, fire-irons, kettles, and pots, in fine, anything capable of making a noise, and proceed _en masse_ to the house of the offender, before whose door they performed in concert, till their indignation subsided or their arms grew weary; and that the noise we then heard was the distant sound of such music. I do not know if my friend gave any name to this practice; if he did, I have since forgotten it. Doubtless, some of your Oxford readers can assist me. R. V. T. Mincing Lane.