"_M. or N._" (No. 26. p. 415.)--I do not think that "M. or N." are used as the initials of any particular words; they are the middle letters of the alphabet, and, at the time the Prayer Book was compiled, it seems to have been the fashion to employ them in the way in which we now use the first two. There are only two offices, the Catechism and the Solemnisation of Matrimony, in which more than one letter is used. In the former, the answer to the first question has always stood "N. or M." In the office of Matrimony, however, in Edward the Sixth's Prayer Books, both the man and woman are designated by the letter N--"I, N., take thee, N., to my wedded wife;" whilst in our present book M. is applied to the man and N. to the woman. The adoption of one letter, and the subsequent substitution of another, in this service, evidently for the sake of a more clear distinction only, sufficiently shows that no particular name or word was intended by either. Possibly some future "J.C." may inquire of what words the letters "A.B.," which our legislators are so fond of using in their Acts of Parliament, are the initials. ARUN. * * * * * "_M. or N._" (No. 26, p. 415.).--"M." and "N.," and particularly "N.," are still in frequent use in France for _quidam_ or _quaedam_; so also is X. We read every day of Monsieur N. or Madame X., where they wish to suppress the name. C. * * * * * _Sapcote Motto_ (No. 23. p. 366.).--This motto is known to be French, and as far as it can be decyphered is-- "sco toot X vinic [or umic] X pones," the first and last letters _s_ being possibly flourishes. This certainly seems unpromising enough. The name being Sapcote, _quasi_ Sub-cote, and the arms "three dove-cotes," I venture to conjecture "Sous cote unissons," as not very far from the letters given. If it be objected that the word "cote" is not in use in this sense, it may be remarked that French, "After the scole of Stratford atte bowe," might borrow such a meaning to suit the sound, from "cote," in the sense of a side or declivity. And if the objection is fatal to the conjecture, I would then propose "Sous toit unissons." If we reject the supposed flourishes at the beginning and ending of the inscription, and take it to be-- CO TOOT VNIC CONC, the c being a well-known ancient form of s, there is a difference of only one letter between the inscription as decyphered and the proposed motto. If either of these is adopted, the sentiment of family union and family gathering, "As doves to their windows," is well adapted for a family device. T.C. Durham, May 2. 1850. * * * * *