_"Trash" or "Skriker."_--Many hundreds of persons there are in these districts who place implicit credence in the reality of the appearance of a death sign, locally termed _trash_ or _skriker_. It has the appearance of a large black dog, with long shaggy hair, and, as the natives express it, "eyes as big as saucers." The first name is given to it form the peculiar noise made by its feet when passing along, resembling that of a heavy shoe in a miry road. The second appellation is in allusion to the sound of its voice when _heard_ by those parties who are unable to _see_ the appearance itself. According to the statements of parties who have seen the _trash_ frequently, it makes its appearance to some member of that family from which death will shortly select his victim; and, at other times, to some very intimate acquaintance. Should any one be so courageous as to follow the appearance, it usually makes its retreat with its eyes _fronting_ {53} the pursuer, and either sinks into the earth with a _strange noise_, or is lost upon the slightest momentary inattention. Many have attempted to strike it with any weapon they had at hand; but although the appearance stood its ground, no _material_ substance could ever be detected. It may be added that "trash" does not confine itself to churchyards, though frequently seen in such localities. T. T. W. Burnley. * * * * * NOTES ON MILTON. (Continued from Vol. i., p. 387.) _L'Allegro._ On l. 6. (D.):-- "Where triumphant Darkness hovers With a sable wing, that covers Brooding Horror." _Crashaw_, Psalm xxiii. On l. 11. (G.) Drayton has this expression in his _Heroical Epistles_:-- "Find me out one so young, _so fair, so free_." _King John to Matilda._ and afterwards,-- "Leave that accursed cell; There let black Night and Melancholy dwell." On l. 24. (G.) Most probably from a couplet in Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_:-- "And ever and anon she thinks upon the man, That was so fine, so fair, _so blith, so debonaire_." P. 3. Sc. 2. p. 603. ed. 1621. 4to. And in Randolph's _Aristippus_,-- "A bowle of wine is wondrous boone chere To make one _blith, buxome, and deboneere_." P. 13. ed. 1630. 4to. On l. 27. (G.):-- "_Manes._ Didst thou not find I did _quip_ thee? "_Psyllus._ No, verily; why, what's a _quip_? "_Manes._ We great girders call it a short saying of a sharp wit, with a bitter sense in a sweet word." _Alexander and Campaspe, Old Plays_, vol. ii. p. 113. ed. 1780. "Then for your Lordship's _Quippes_ and quick jestes, Why Gesta Romanorum were nothing to them." _Sir Gyles Goosecappe_, a Com., Sig. G. 2. 4to. 1606. _Crank_ is used in a different sense by Drayton:-- "Like Chanticleare he crowed _crank_, And piped full merily." Vol. iv. p. 1402. ed. 1753. On l. 31. (M.):--