m court
on the 19th January, 1603, by Toby Matthew, Bishop of Durham, to Hutton,
Archbishop of York, I find the term _Scarborough warning_. Can any of
the correspondents of your valuable paper inform me of the origin and
prevalence of this saying? The postscript is--

"When I was in the middest of this discourse, I received a
message from my lord chamberlaine, that it was his majesty's
pleasure that I should preach before him upon Sunday next; which
_Scarborough warning_ did not perplex me, but so puzzled me, as
no mervail if somewhat be pretermitted, which otherwise I might
have better remembered."

Quoted in Caldwell's _Conferences_, p. 166.

W.M.C.

[NARES tells us, that Ray, on the authority of Fuller, states
that this saying took its origin from "Thomas Stafford, who, in
the reign of Mary, A.D. 1557, with a small company, seized on
Scarborough Castle (utterly destitute of provision for
resistance), before the townsmen had the least notice of their
approach;" but shows that it was probably much older, as, in a
ballad written by J. Heywood on the taking of that place by
Stafford, the following more probable origin is given to the
proverb:--

"This term _Scarborow warning_ grew (some say),
By hasty hanging for rank robbery theare.
Who that was met, but suspect in that way,
Straight he was trust up, whatever he were."

This implies that Scarborough imitated the Halifax gibbet law.
Is any thing known of such a privilege being claimed or
exercised by the men of Scarborough? We should be glad to hear
from any local antiquary upon this point.]

_Gray's Elegy._--In answer to your correspondent, J.F.M. (p. 101.), who
asks for information respecting the competition for the best translation
of Gray's _Elegy_, in which Dr. Sparke was a candidate, I would beg to
refer him to the satirical poem attributed to Mr. T.J. Matthias,
formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, entitled _The Pursuits of
Literature_, in which a ludicrous account is given of the affair. It
does not appear who offered the prize, but Mr. Nares, the editor of _The
British Critic_, was the judge, and the place of meeting "The Musical
Room in {139} Hanover Square," which was decorated for the occasion with
appropriate scenery--at least so says _The Critic_. He thus describes
the solemnity (p. 174 8th edit. 1798):--

"Lo, learned clerks