[_Shakes_, as used in the following passage by Byron, is a vulgarism, which probably may be traced to the custom of _shaking_ hands, the _shake_ being estimated according to the value set upon the person giving it, and hence applied to the person. Byron writing to Murray, Sept. 28, 1820, says, "I had my hands full, and my head too just then (when he wrote _Marino Faliero_), so it can be no great _shakes_."--See Richardson's _Dict._ _s.v._] _Translation of Richard de Bury._--Is the translation of Richard de Bury's _Philobiblon_, "with a memoir of the illustrious bishop," promised by W. S. G., Vol. ii. p. 203., yet published? L. S. [Our correspondent should remember, that "church work is slow work," as Addison facetiously makes Sir Roger de Coverley complain. From a prospectus recently issued, we learn that the _Philobiblon_ is still preparing for publication; and that gentlemen who may wish to have copies are requested by the author to transmit their names to Mr. R. Robinson, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne.] _Life of Ken._--Who is the author of the _Life of Bishop Ken_, by a Layman, published a year or two since? E. G. Dorchester. [J. L. Anderson, Esq., author of _The River Dove_, &c., and editor of Bishop Ken's _Approach to the Holy Altar_.] _Wedding Rings._--Can any of your informants give me the origin of the wedding ring, by whom it was introduced, and what it was meant to signify, and does now signify? BOSQUECILLO. [Wheatly, in his _Rational Illustration of the Book of Common Prayer_, ch. x. sect. 5., has ably discussed the origin of the marriage ring, accompanied with numerous references to early and later writers on this visible pledge of fidelity.] _Monasteries, &c. dissolved._--Will any of your correspondents kindly inform me where I can find an _authentic_ account of the hospitals, monasteries, and religious houses pillaged and destroyed, consequent on the commission of inquiry issued by Henry VIII.? T. DYSON. Gainsborough. [The most authentic account of English monasteries, &c. will be found in Dugdale's _Monasticon_, edited by Cayley and Ellis; Tanner's _Notitia_, edit. 1744; and Stevens's _Additions to Dugdale_. In Dodd's _Church History_, by Tierney, vol. i. p. 458., will be found "A List of the Abbots, Priors, and other Superiors of the Principal Religious Houses in England, from the Foundation to their Suppression." And for a list of all the mitred abbots and priors of England, who are known to have been mitred, or to have sat in parliament subsequent to the beginning of the reign of Edward III., see _Glossary of Heraldry_, pp. xxix. xxx.] _Bishops at the Hampton Court Controversy._--Can you inform me who were the nine bishops who attended the Hampton Court conference in 1603-4? C. H. D.