_Davy Jones's Locker_ (Vol. iii., p. 478.).--During many years of seafaring life, I have frequently considered the origin of this phrase, and have now arrived at the conclusion, that it is derived from the scriptural account of the prophet Jonah. The word _locker_, on board of ship, generally means the place where any particular thing is retained or kept, as "the bread locker," "shot locker," "chain locker," &c. In the sublime ode in the second chapter of the Book of Jonah, we find that the Prophet, praying for deliverance, describes his situation in the following words: "In the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about:--the depth closed me round about:--the earth with her bars was about me." The sea, then, might not be misappropriately termed by a rude mariner, Jonah's locker; that is, the place where Jonah was kept or confined. Jonah's locker, in time, might be readily corrupted to Jones's locker; and Davy, as a very common Welsh accompaniment of the equally Welsh name, Jones, added; the true derivation of the phrase having been forgotten. W. PINKERTON. _Umbrella_ (Vol. iii., p. 482.).--The use of this word may be traced to an earlier period than has yet been shown by any of your correspondents? In Florio's _Worlde of Wordes_, 1598, we have it thus:-- "_Ombrella_, a fan, a canopie, also a testern or cloth of state for a prince, also a kind of round fan or shadowing that they use to ride with in summer in Italy, a little shade." Δ. _Nao, a Ship_ (Vol. iii., p. 477.).--A. N. is informed that _naw_ is a Celtic name for a ship (the _w_ is sometimes sounded like _oo_); though the word is obsolete, authority for its application may be found in Davies' _Mythology, &c. of the Druids_. In the appendix to this work there is a poem (No. 6.) by Taliesin, containing the following example:-- "Ymsawdd yn llyn, heb _naw_." "Sinking in the lake, without a ship." The Britons consequently had a name for a ship, independent of Roman influence. Can A. N. produce any evidence that the Britons in pre-Roman times did not possess any vessels superior to the _cwrygl_? Is it probable that the warlike aid which the Britons constantly rendered the Gauls, was conveyed across the channel in mere "osier baskets?" Had the "water-dwellers" (Dwr-trig-wys) of Dorsetshire (Durotriges) attained no higher grade in navigation than that simple mode of water conveyance? I am almost inclined to exclaim, "Mi dynaf y torch a thi" ("I will pull the torque with thee") in respect to the position claimed for the Latin _longa_; but passing this, I will advance the opinion that the Celtic _naw_ is the root of the Latin _navis_. GOMER. _Birth of Spenser_ (Vol. i., pp. 489. 482.).--Is not 1510 a mistake for 1550? The figures 1 and 5 are often confounded in manuscripts of Spenser's age. The mistake was probably that of the sculptor. D. X.