hrif," to censure; "Scheorfian," to bite;
"Schyrvan," to beguile. _German_, "Schreiven," to clamour; none of
which, it is obvious, come very near to "Schreava," the undoubted
Saxon origin of the word shrew.

Now it was a custom amongst our forefathers to endeavour to provide
a remedy against the baneful influence of the shrew-mouse by plugging
the wretched animal alive in a hole made in the body of an ash tree,
any branch of which was thenceforth held to be possessed of a power to
cure the disease caused by the mouse. It thereupon occurred to me that
just as _brock_, a still existing name for the badger, is clearly from
the Saxon _broc_, persecution, in allusion to the custom of baiting
the animal; so _schreava_ might be from _schraef_, a hollow, in
allusion to the hole in the ash tree; and on that supposition I
considered "shrew," as applied to a woman, to be a different word,
perhaps from the German _schreyen_, to clamour. I have, however, found
mentioned in Bailey's Dictionary a Teutonic word, which may reconcile
both senses of "shrew,"--I mean _beschreyen_, to bewitch. I shall
be obliged to any of your subscribers who will enlighten me upon the
subject.

W.R.F.

_A Chip in Porridge_.--What is the origin and exact force of this
phrase? Sir Charles Napier, in his recent general order, informs the
Bengal army that

"The reviews which the Commander-in-Chief makes of the troops
are not to be taken as so many 'chips in porridge.'"

I heard a witness, a short time since, say, on entering the
witness-box--

"My Lord, I am like a 'chip in porridge'; I can
say nothing either for or against the plaintiff."

Q.D.

_Temple Stanyan_.--Who was Temple Stanyan, concerning whom I find in
an old note-book the following quaint entry?

"Written on a window at College, by Mr. Temple Stanyan, the
author of a _History of Greece_:--

"Temple Stanyan, his window.
God give him grace thereout to look!
And, when the folk walk to and fro',
To study man instead of book!"

A.G.

_Tandem_.--You are aware that we have a practical pun now
naturalised in our language, in the word "_tandem_." Are any of your
correspondents acquainted with another instance?

[Greek: Sigma].

"_As lazy as Ludlum's dog, as laid him down to bark._"--This
comparison is so general and familiar in South Yorkshire (Sheffield
especially) as to be frequently quoted by the first half, the other
being mentally supplied by