_Bacon_ (Vol. iii., p. 41.).--The explanation given in a former number from old Verstegan, of the original meaning of the family name of Bacon, and the application of the word to the unclean beast, with the corroboration from the pages of Collins's _Baronetage_, is very interesting. The word, as applied to the salted flesh of the _dead_ animal, is another instance of the introduction of a foreign term for a _dead_ animal, in opposition to the Anglo-Saxon name of the living animal. It was used in this sense in France at a very early period; and Ampere, in his _Histoire Litteraire de la France avant le 12ieme Siecle_, iii. 482., mentions the word among other instances of Gallicisms in the Latin of the Carolingian diplomas and capitularies, and quotes the capitularies of Charles the Fat. _Bacco, porc sale,_ from the _vulgar_ word _bacon_, _jambon_. The word was in use as late as the seventeenth century in Dauphine, and the bordering cantons of Switzerland, and is cited in the _Moyen de Parvenir_, ch. 38. The passage is curious, as it would seem to intimate that Lord Bacon was one of the personages introduced in that very extraordinary production of the Rabelaisian school. I have frequently heard the word employed by the country people in the markets of Geneva. J. B. D. _Lachrymatories_ (Vol. ii., pp. 326. 448.).--In illustration of the question as to the _probable_ use of those small vases so commonly found in sepulchral monuments, I extract the following from _Wayfaring Sketches among the Greeks and Turks_. 2d edit. Introduction, pp. 6, 7. London: Chapman, 1849. "The poorest of the sepulchres is certain to contain (in Greece) at least a few of these beautiful vases, the lachrymatories, &c. * * * * * When found in the graves of females, their form would generally seem to indicate that they had been used for containing scents, and other requisites of the toilet; in one that was found not long since, there was a preparation evidently (?) of rouge or some such paint for the face, &c., _the mark left by the pressure of two fingers of a small hand was distinctly visible_ (?)." To me, ignorant as I am of antiquarian matters, this sounds very curious; and I send it you in case you may find it worthy of insertion, as provocative of discussion, and with the utilitarian idea that _I_ may gain some information on the subject. C. D. HAMONT. Greenock, Jan. 16. 1851. _Scandal against Queen Elizabeth_ (Vol. iii., p. 11.).--An intercepted letter, apparently from a popish priest, preserved among the Venetian correspondence in the State Paper Office, gives the following account of the death-bed of the Queen; which, as illustrative of the observations of your correspondent CUDYN GYWN, may not be uninteresting:-- "London, 9 Martii, 1603.