But enough for the present. I should esteem it a favour if your correspondent would inform me where these curious terms are found, as the context would greatly facilitate their elucidation. ALBERT WAY. Wonham, Reigate, August 3. * * * * * Replies to Minor Queries. _Solingen_ (Vol. ii., p. 135.).--Will you allow me to state, for the information of T.S. LAWRENCE, who inquires who S_a_lingen, the sword cutler, was,--that S_o_lingen is the name of a small town near Elberfeld, in Westphalia; a sort of Sheffield for the whole of that part of Germany. Immense quantities of cutlery of all sorts are made there, and many knives are, I was told, made there, stamped with English names, and imported into England as true British ware,--being equally good with ours, and, of course, cheaper. Solingen is still, and has been for centuries, renowned for its sword blades. You cannot ride through the town without meeting a troop or two of girls with a load of sword blades on their heads. May I suggest to your inquirer JARLTZBERG that the derivation of _blackguard_ is as likely to be _blagarode_, the Russian for _nobleman_, as many words are to be descended from their reputed parents. C.B.M. P.C.S.S. believes that a little research would have enabled MR. LAWRENCE (Vol. ii., p. 135.) to ascertain that _Solingen_ (not S_a_lingen) was not the name of a sword cutler, but of a place in Prussian Westphalia, long celebrated for the fabrication of that weapon, as well as of fencing-foils. Of the latter instrument P.C.S.S. has several pairs in his possession, all marked with the inscription "In Solingen." That the Solingen manufactory still flourishes there, is stated in Murray's _Handbook for Northern Germany_, p. 373. P.C.S.S. _Blackguard_ (Vol. ii., p. 134.).--In the second vol. of B. Jonson's works by Gifford, page 169., there is the following note on this word:-- "In all great houses, but particularly in the royal residences, there were a number of mean, dirty dependants, whose office it was to attend the wool-yard, sculleries, &c.; of these the most forlorn wretches seem to have been selected to carry coals to the kitchens, halls, &c. To this smutty regiment, who attended the {171} progresses, and rode in the carts with the pots and kettles, the people in derision gave the name of _black_-guards" I find also the following in Butlerts _Hudibras_, part 3.:-- "Thou art some paltry, _blackguard_ sprite, Condemn'd to drudgery in the night; Thou hast no work to do in the house, Nor halfpenny to drop in shoes." AREDJID KOOEZ. _The Three Dukes_ (Vol. ii., p. 9.).--Perhaps a note which I have just stumbled upon, in a MS. account of the Griffin family, may furnish some clue as to "the Dukes who killed the Beadell."