"To the wandering harpers we are certainly indebted for that species of music which is now scarcely known, I mean _the Port_. Almost every great family had a _Port_ that went by the name of the family. Of the few that are still preserved are, _Port Lennox_, _Port Gordon_, _Port Seton_, and _Port Athole_, which are all of them excellent in their kind. The _Port_ is not of the martial strain of the _march_, as some have conjectured; those above named being all in the plaintive strain, and modulated for the harp. "The _pibroch_, the march or battle-tune of the _Highland clans_, with the different strains introduced of the _coronich_, &c., is fitted for the _bagpipe_ only: its measure, in the _pas grave_ of the _Highland piper_, equipped with his flag and military ensigns, when marching up to battle, is stately and animating, rising often to a degree of fury." Although anxious to do so, I have never yet been able to meet with any of the _ports_ here referred to. E. N. _Elizabeth, Equestrian Figure of_ (Vol. iv., p. 231.).--The "unnatural gait" which MR. LAWRENCE inquires about, is known in Spain as the "paso Castiliano;" and supplies the place of the more familiar trot, which the Spanish horses are rarely broken into. I did not see the piece of plate alluded to, but probably the horse was a Spanish (Andalusian) jennet, which would account for the peculiarity of the pace. I cannot explain how this step is taught, but Spanish horses fall into it at once on being touched with the spur, and simultaneously curbed; and they perform long journeys thus, at the rate of five miles an hour, with little fatigue to themselves or their riders. Does not the dromedary also _pace_ in the same way? G. W. T. _Meaning of Stickle_ (Vol. iv., p. 209.).--MR. RELTON'S supposition that the word _stickle_ is used for a _pool_, is at variance with the common usage of the word in Devonshire, where only I have met with it. It is there used to describe the shallow swift running water immediately below a pool. It is thus equivalent to the word _rapids_. It is by no means obsolete, or a mere technical term of the "patient anglers." The opposition in the line quoted, "Near to some _stickle_ or _deep_ bay," would alone have been a good reason to doubt whether it could be the same as _pool_. G. W. T.