Steevens, in reference to the last quotation, says, "I should explain the word _rack_ somewhat differently, by calling it 'the last fleeting vestige of the highest clouds, scarce perceptible on account of their distance and tenuity.' What was anciently called 'the rack' is now termed by sailors _the scud_." It is sufficiently obvious from the above what is meant by the word; but I now come to put the question, What authority had Horne Tooke for deriving it from Recan? It is, in fact, nothing more than a guess, the less probable as the word represents only an indirect result--not the clouds themselves, but a peculiar effect produced upon the clouds by the action of the winds. In another passage (in which I recognise the hand of Shakspeare) the formation of the _rack_ is employed as an illustration; and in this instance "reek" would hardly stand as a substitute for the verb used. "I might perceive his eye in her eye lost, His ear to drink her sweet tongue's utterance; And chasing passion, like inconstant clouds,-- That, _rackt upon the carriage of the winds, Increase, and die_,--in his disturbed cheeks." _Edward III._, Act II. Sc. 1. From this it would appear that the _rack_ is literally that which has been _wrecked_, and that it should be derived from wrac, past part. of wrikan, _to wreak_; in short, that _it is_ identical with the word in the _Tempest_ in the general sense of _remains_; in the present case, in its special application, meaning, as Steevens explains, "_the last fleeting vestige_[4] of the highest clouds" previous to their final disappearance. Had it ever been used with the general sense of _vapour_ or _exhalation_, or even generally for _a cloud_ or _the clouds_, the case would be different; but in fact, no examples can be produced by which it can be shown that such was ever its meaning; and in the absence of proof it will be noted as not a little remarkable that, _not_ being used to represent _the clouds_, which _already exist_ in the form of vapour or exhalations, it is only employed when a word is required descriptive of an effect of their _dispersion_. [Footnote 4: Indeed, the action of the winds is one and the same, whether upon clouds on the face of heaven, or upon bodies at sea; and the _wrack_ of one and the other, broken into fragments, for a fleeting space _remains behind_ to tell the tale.] SAMUEL HICKSON. Minor Notes. _Book-keepers._--There is a class of persons who fall under this denomination, and to whom the following lines may give a useful hint. Doubtless some of your correspondents, who are furnished with valuable libraries and works of reference, have suffered materially from a neglect of the rules herein laid down. _Lines for the beginning of a Book._ 1. "If thou art borrowed by a friend, Right welcome shall he be, To read, to study, not to lend, But to return to me.