The meaning of the word _wretch_ is one not generally understood. It was originally, and is now, in some parts of England, used as a term of fondest tenderness. This is not the only instance in which words in their present general acceptation bear a very opposite meaning to what they did in other times. The word _wench_, formerly, was not used in the low and vulgar acceptation that it now is. _Don Quixote's Sheep._ Don Quixote's mistaking two flocks of sheep for two armies is not without parallel. In Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, written 1516, the hero, in his madness, falls foul of a flock of sheep. Still more ancient is "Ajax Mad," a tragedy founded on the madness of Ajax, because of the armor of Hector being awarded to Ulysses instead of himself. In his insanity, Ajax fell upon a flock of sheep, driven at night into the camp, supposing it to be an army led by Ulysses and the sons of Atreus. On discovering his mistake he stabs himself. _The Oldest Ballad._ The earliest English ballad is supposed to be the "Cuckoo Song," which commences in the following style:— "Sumer is incumen in Lhude sing cuccu, Groweth sed, and bloweth med, And sprigth ye wede nu, Singe cuccu." _Two Certificates of Gretna-Green Marriages._ "This is to sartfay all persons that may be consern'd, that A. B., from the parish of C. in the county of D., and E. F., from the parish of G., in the county of H., and both comes before me and declares themselves both to be single persons, and now mayried by the form of the Kirk of Scotland, and agreible to the Church of England, and givine ondre my hand, this 18th day of March 1793." "Kingdom of Scotland, "County of Dumfries, "Parish of Gretna: "These are to certify, to all whom it may concern, that John N——, from the parish of Chatham, in the County of Kent, and Rosa H——, from the parish of St. Maries, in the County of Nottingham, being both here now present, and having declared to me that they are single persons, but having now been married conformable to the Laws of the Church of England, and agreeable to the Kirk of Scotland. As witness our hands at Springfield, this 4th day of October, 1822. "Witness me, "Witness, David Lang. Jane Rae. John N——. John Ainsle. Rosa H——." _Swift's Latin Puns._ Among the nugæ of Dean Swift are his celebrated Latin puns. They consist entirely of Latin words, but, by allowing for false spelling, and running the words into each other, the sentences make good sense in English. The subjoined is one of his best—