n--"Ou, it's just _bugs_." I did not anticipate when in a
former edition I introduced this answer, which I received from my nephew
Sir Alexander Ramsay, that it would call forth a comment so interesting
as one which I have received from Dr. Barber of Ulverston. He sends me
an extract from Matthew's _Translation of the Bible_, which he received
from Rev. L.R. Ayre, who possesses a copy of date 1553, from which it
appears that Psalm xci. 5 was thus translated by Matthew, who adopted
his translation from Coverdale and Tyndale:--"So that thou shalt not
need to be afrayed for any bugge by nyght, nor for the arrow that flyeth
by day[16]." Dr. Barber ingeniously remarks--"Is it possible the little
boy's mother had one of these old Bibles, or is it merely a
coincidence?"

The innocent and unsophisticated answers of children on serious subjects
are often very amusing. Many examples are recorded, and one I have
received seems much to the point, and derives a good deal of its point
from the Scottish turn of the expressions. An elder of the kirk having
found a little boy and his sister playing marbles on Sunday, put his
reproof in this form, not a judicious one for a child:--"Boy, do ye know
where children go to who play marbles on Sabbath-day?" "Ay," said the
boy, "they gang doun' to the field by the water below the brig." "No,"
roared out the elder, "they go to hell, and are burned." The little
fellow, really shocked, called to his sister, "Come awa', Jeanie, here's
a man swearing awfully."

A Scotch story like that of the little boy, of which the humour
consisted in the dry application of the terms in a sense different from
what was intended by the speaker, was sent to me, but has got spoilt by
passing through the press. It must be Scotch, or at least, is composed
of Scottish materials--the Shorter Catechism and the bagpipes. A piper
was plying his trade in the streets, and a strict elder of the kirk,
desirous to remind him that it was a somewhat idle and profitless
occupation, went up to him and proposed solemnly the first question of
the Shorter Catechism, "What is the chief end of man?" The good piper,
thinking only of his own business, and supposing that the question had
reference to some pipe melody, innocently answered, "Na, I dinna ken the
tune, but if ye'll whistle it I'll try and play it for ye."

I have said before, and I would repeat the remark again and again, that
the object of this work is _not_ to string togethe