y
to the north. To the south, I know not that it occurs, but
in Angles-ark and Brettargh. To the north are Battarghes,
Ergh-holme, Stras-ergh, Sir-ergh, Feiz-er, Goosen-ergh. In
all the Teutonic dialects I meet with nothing resembling this
word, _excepting the Swedish_ Arf, _terra_ (_vide_ Ihre _in
voce_), which, if the last letter be pronounced gutturally, is
precisely the same with _argh_."

Can any of your readers give a more satisfactory explanation of this
local term?

T.W.

Burnley, May 4. 1850.

_Burial Service_.--During a conversation on the various sanitary
measures now projecting in the metropolis, and particularly on the
idea lately started of re-introducing the ancient practice of burning
the bodies of the deceased, one of our company remarked that the
words "ashes to ashes," used in our present form of burial, would in
such a case be literally applicable; and a question arose why the
word "ashes" should have been introduced at all, and whether its
introduction might not have been owing to the actual cremation of the
funeral pyre at the burial of Gentile Christians? We were none of us
profound enough to quote or produce any facts from the monuments and
records of the early converts to account for the expression; but I
conceive it probable that a solution could be readily given by some of
your learned correspondents. The burning of the dead does not appear
to be in itself an anti-christian ceremony, nor necessarily connected
with Pagan idolatries, and therefore might have been tolerated in the
case of Gentile believers like any other indifferent usage.

CINIS.

_Gaol Chaplains_.--When were they first appointed? Did the following
advice of Latimer, in a sermon before King Edward, in 1549, take any
effect?

"Oh, I would ye would resort to prisons! A commendable thing
in a Christian realm: I would wish there were curates of
prisons, that we might say, the 'curate of Newgate, the curate
of the Fleet,' and I would have them waged for their labour.
It is a holiday work to visit the prisoners, for they be kept
from sermons."--Vol. i. p. 180.

THOS. COX.

_Hanging out the Broom_ (Vol. i., p. 385.).--This custom exists in
the West of England, but is oftener talked of than practised. It is
jocularly understood to indicate that the deserted inmate is in want
of a companion, and is really to receive the visits of his friends.
Can it be in any way an