_Shakspeare in Sweden._--The writings of Shakspeare would appear from the following fact to be read with as much avidity and delight in Sweden as in his native country. A translation of his plays by Hagberg, Professor of Greek in the University of Lund, is now in course of publication. Of this, twelve volumes have appeared; and although the first edition consisted of no less than two thousand copies, the whole have been sold off, and a second edition is in preparation. Professor Hagberg's translation is most favourably spoken of by those who are qualified to judge of its merits. W. J. T. Queries. ON THE ELISION OF THE LETTER "V." Through the medium of "NOTES AND QUERIES" I would be permitted to invite attention to a peculiar pronunciation that has extensively prevailed, though unnoticed I believe in print, of many words wherein the letter _v_ occurs between two vowels. While resident in the country, when a boy, I was struck with the singular manner in which the names of certain places, having a _v_ so circumstanced, were pronounced, for the _v_ was wholly silent, and occasionally the latter vowel also; but as this was chiefly among uneducated people, I was led to regard it as a provincialism. However, as I became further acquainted with the names of places, I did not fail to observe, that it was by no means limited to any particular part of England. Thus, for example, the provincial pronunciation of Cavendish (Suffolk) is Ca'endish; of Daventry, Da'entry; of Staverton and Coverley (Warwickshire), Sta'erton and Co'erly; of Evesham, E'esham; of Davenham (Cheshire), Da'enham; of Lavington (Lincolnshire), La'enton or Lenton; of Avebury (Wilts), Abury; of Lavenham and Cavenham (Suffolk), Lanham and Canham; of Overton (Leicestershire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland), Orton; and the Principality gives us Aberga'enny for Abergavenny. Ivilchester has become Ilchester, and Tovecester (now written Towcester) is pronounced To'ecester; while Hoveden (Yorkshire) is called Ho'eden, or Howden, as it is now commonly spelt. Similar examples might be multiplied. Sometimes a succeeding consonant has undergone a change, as Pe'emsey for Pevensey, and Rochester for Rovecester or Rofecester. Numerous as the instances are, there has been some apparent caprice in the matter, not easily explained. For though, as we have seen, Staverton and Coverley in Warwickshire, and Daventry on the borders of that county, undergo this change, yet, as far as I can learn, Coventry was ever free from it; and in the like manner Twiverton in Devonshire is called Twerton, yet I believe Tiverton was never Terton. There may have been something in the original forms or meanings of Coventry, Tiverton, and the like, that occasioned the _v_ to be retained.