With regard to _captious_, it is not so much a matter of surprise that none of all these learned commentators should fail in their _guesses_ at the meaning, as that none of them should have remarked that the sense of the Latin _captiosus_, and of its congeners in Italian and old French, is _deceitful_, _fallacious_; and Bacon uses the word for _insidious, ensnaring_. There can be no doubt that this is the sense in which Shakspeare used it. Helen speaks of her hopeless love for Bertram, and says: "I know I love in vain, strive against hope; yet in this _fallacious_ and _unholding_ sieve I still pour in the waters of my love, and fail not to lose still." When we speak of a _captious_ person, do we mean one _capable of taking or receiving_? Then how much more absurd would it be to take it in that impossible sense, when figuratively applied in the passage before us! Bertram shows himself _incapable of receiving_ Helena's love: he is truly _captious_ in that respect. In French the word _captieux_, according to the Academy, is only applied to language, though we may say _un homme captieux_ to signify a man who has the art of _deceiving_ or leading into error by captious language. It is not impossible that the poet may have had in his mind the fruitless labour imposed upon the Danaides as a punishment, for it has been thus moralised: "These virgins, who in the flower of their age pour water into pierced vessels which they can never fill, what is it but to be always bestowing over love and benefits upon the ungrateful." S. W. SINGER. Mickleham, Oct. 4. 1850. * * * * * ORATORIES OF THE NONJURORS. As the nooks and corners of London in olden times are now engaging the quiet musings of most of the topographical brotherhood, perhaps you can spare a nook or a corner of your valuable periodical for a few notes on the Oratories of those good men and true--the Nonjurors. "These were honourable men in their generation," and were made of most unbending materials. {355} On the Feast of St. Matthias, Feb. 24, 1693, the consecrations of Dr. George Hickes and Thomas Wagstaffe were solemnly performed according to the rites of the Church of England, by Dr. William Lloyd, bishop of Norwich; Dr. Francis Turner, bishop of Ely; and Dr. Thomas White, bishop of Peterborough, at the Bishop of Peterborough's lodgings, at the Rev. William Giffard's house at Southgate in Middlesex: Dr. Ken, bishop of Bath and Wells, giving his consent. Henry Hall was consecrated bishop in the oratory of the Rev. Father in Christ, John B---- [Blackburne?], in Gray's Inn, on the festival of St. Barnabas, June 11, 1725. Hilkiah Bedford was consecrated in the oratory of the Rev. R---- R---- [Richard Rawlinson], in Gray's Inn, on the festival of St. Paul, Jan. 25, 1720. Ralph Taylor was also consecrated at the same time and place.