3. _Parliament._--FRANCISCUS's etymology of Parliament (Vol. ii., p. 85.) is, I think, fit companion for MR. HICKSON's derivations of _news_ and _noise_. I take FRANCISCUS for a wag: but lest others of your readers may think him serious, and be seduced into a foolish explanation of the word _Parliament_ by his joke, I hope you will allow me to mention that _palam mente_, literally translated, means _before the mind_, and that, if FRANCISCUS or any one else tries to get "freedom of thought or deliberation" out of this, or to get Parliament out of it, or even to get sense out of it, he will only follow the fortune which FRANCISCUS says has befallen all his predecessors, and stumble _in limine_. The presence of _r_, and the turning of _mens_ into _mentum_, are minor difficulties. If FRANCISCUS be not a wag, he is perhaps an anti-ballot man, bent on finding an argument against the ballot in the etymology of _Parliament_: but whatever he be, I trust your readers generally will remain content with the old though humble explanation of _parliament_, that it is a modern Latinisation of the French word _parlement_, and that it literally means a talk-shop, and has nothing to do with open or secret voting, though it be doubtless true that Roman judges voted _clam vel palam_, and that _palam_ and _mens_ are two Latin words. C.H. * * * * * SHAKSPEARE'S USE OF THE WORD "DELIGHTED." "_Delighted_" (Vol. ii., p. 113.).--I incline to think that the word _delighted_ in Shakspeare represents the Latin participle _delectus_ (from _deligere_), "select, choice, exquisite, refined." This sense will suit all the passages cited by MR. HICKSON, and particularly the last. If this be so, the suggested derivations from the adjective _light_, and from the substantive _light_, fall to the ground: but MR. HICKSON will have been right in distinguishing Shakspeare's _delighted_ from the participle of the usual verb _to delight, delectare_=gratify. The roots of the two are distinct: that of the former being _leg-ere_ "to choose;" of the latter, _lac-ere_ "to tice." B.H. KENNEDY. _Meaning of the Word "Delighted."_--I am not the only one of your readers who have read with deep interest the important contributions of MR. HICKSON, and who hope for further remarks on Shakspearian difficulties from the same pen. His papers on the _Taming of the Shrew_ were of special value; and although I do not quite agree with all he has said on the subject, there can be no doubt of the great utility of permitting the discussion of questions of the kind in such able hands.