_Bab in the Bowster_ (Vol. ii., p. 518.).--In your valuable periodical your correspondent "MAC." makes an observation regarding "Bab in the Bowster," which is not correct so far as regards this part of the country at least. He says "it is now danced with a handkerchief instead of a cushion," whereas the fact is I have never seen it danced but with a pillow, as its name "Bab in the Bowster (Anglice bolster)" would seem to denote. The manner of dancing it is, the company having formed itself into a circle, one, either male or female, goes into the centre, carrying a pillow, and dances round the circle with a sort of shuffling quick step, while the others sing,-- "Wha learn'd you to dance, you to dance, you to dance, Wha learn'd you to dance, Bab in the Bowster brawly?" To which the dancer replies: "Mother learn'd me to dance, me to dance, me to dance, Mother learn'd me to dance, Bab in the Bowster brawly." He or she then lays down the pillow before one of the opposite sex, when they both kneel on it and kiss; the person to whom the pillow has been presented going over the above again, &c, till the company tires. I may add that the above is a favourite dance here, particularly among young people, and at children's parties in particular it is never omitted. If your correspondent wishes the air to which it is danced, I shall be glad to send it to him. GLENIFFER. Paisley. _Sir Cloudesley Shovel_ (Vol. iii., p. 23.).--"H.J." will find a "Note" in Cunningham's _Lives of Eminent Englishmen_ (vol. iv. p. 47.), of the circumstances attendant upon Sir Cloudesley's death, as preserved in the family of the Earl of Romney, detailing the fact of his murder, and the mode of {46} its discovery. I shall be happy to supply your correspondent with an extract, if he has not the above work at hand. J.B. COLMAR. _Noli me tangere_ (Vol. ii., p. 153.).--In addition to the painters already enumerated as having treated this subject, the artist Le Sueur, commonly called the Raphael of France, may be mentioned. In his picture, the figures are somewhat above half nature. W.J. MERCER. _Cad_ (Vol. i., p.250.).--Jamieson derives this word, or rather its Scotch diminutive, "cadie," from the French, _cadet_. I have heard it fancifully traced to the Latin "cauda." W.J. MERCER. * * * * * MISCELLANEOUS. NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.