runs more smoothly; while the
altered line is prosaic in comparison, and the metre is not correct.

My dwindling space warns me that I must very soon pause; but these examples
can be extended _ad infinitum_, should another opportunity be afforded me.

The instances of alterations simply _unnecessary_ are too numerous to be
recorded here. I have already a list of forty odd, selected from only eight
plays.

CECIL HARBOTTLE.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Local Rhymes, Norfolk._--

"Halvergate hares, Reedham rats,
Southwood swine, and Cantley cats;
Acle asses, Moulton mules,
Beighton bears, and Freethorpe fools."

Z. E. R.

"_Hobson's Choice._"--I, the other day, in a paper of 1737, came upon the
inclosed, if of interest sufficient for insertion in "N. & Q.:"

"Upon the mention of Mr. Freeman being appointed one of the four horse
carriers to the university of Cambridge, we had the following
paragraph:--'This was the office that _old Hobson_ enjoyed, in which he
acquired so large a fortune as enabled him to leave the town that
ever-memorable legacy the conduit, that stands on the Market Hill, with
an estate to keep it perpetually in repair. The same person gave rise
to the well-known adage, 'Hobson's choice--this or none;' founded upon
his management in business. He used to keep, it seems, hackney horses,
that he let out to young gentlemen of the university, with whose
characters being well acquainted, he suited his beast to its rider, who
upon a dislike was sure to receive that answer from him, 'This or
none.'"

J. W. G. G.

_Khond Fable._--The following is a free version of a fable current among
the Khonds of Oriosa, of whom a very interesting account is given by
Captain Macpherson in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_ for 1852:

"A mosquito was seated on the horn of a bull, and fearing that his
weight might be oppressive to the quadruped, he politely accosted him,
begging that, if he felt any inconvenience, he would mention it, and
professing himself ready, in that case, to remove to some other
position. The bull replied, 'O mosquito, so far are you from oppressing
me with your weight, that I was not even aware of your existence.'"

The moral of this is common enough, but is the fable found elsewhere in a
similar _form_?

J. C. R.

_Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart._--As those who have r