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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vm. DEC. 21, 1907.

each other a merry Christinas and having a chat about the Christmases past. The old men came in their billycocks and clean white smocks their Sunday best each with staff in hand, grasped just above the middle. The old women folk came, too, in cap or poke bonnets, as their fancy inclined, each having on her best shawl and a fine white apron which was worn only on special occa- sions and Sacramerst Sundays, and known as the Sacrament apron. These homely country folks looked nice in this costume, which, however, was not the thing for the younger ones, who kept as near as they could to the fashion set by " Darby Town," some miles away. The wind might blow keen, and some sleet or snow drive into their faces ; but no one thought of entering the church until the rector came from the parsonage in the church grounds, stopped to welcome each with a seasonable greeting, and chat a while before the " dropping bell " told that the time for service had come. The parson being in the pulpit, and the " Amen " clerk in his below, the fiddles, the flutes, and the bassoon compared " pitch," and the clerk having given out " Christians, awake," the whole congregation fell to sing- ing, while the parson with his old kindly face beamed down upon the gathering before him "on Christmas Day in the morning."

THE CRUSTY LOAF : THE MOULDY CHEESE.

Hardly ever does one hear folks talk at this season of the year, as they used to do, of a crusty loaf and a mouldy cheese, and it almost seems that both are of the for- gotten past. Yet the combination with a tot of ale was in my young days essentially of a Christmas character. The invitation of the Christmas singers at the door to

Bring us a loaf of your crusty bread, And a piece of your mouldy cheese,

was seldom disregarded ; and there was no more tempting sight than a gate-legged table laid in a convenient spot in the house-place, set out with a snow-white cloth, on which stood the crusty loaf and the mouldy cheese, flanked with a big brown jug of Denby pottery, the nut - brown home- brewed of which has been seen and tasted maybe for the last time. The crusty loaf was the old-fashioned cottage loaf, big and crusty all over, made so by the art of " the mother of the house," as she was wont to be called. The cheese, a big wedge of the " mouldy" whether so, or merely " green " or "sage" cheese or perhaps a whole cheese with a wedge taken out was of the

cut-and-come-again order, and formed a real old Derbyshire ' snap," a relish by no means to be despised, especially with a, " tot " thrown in. Few could resist a crust from the crusty loaf and a " hunk" from the cheese, with the mould plain to see and taste, washed down by some of the contents of the brown jug. Such fare was superior to the mince pie, but none objected to a cut from a pork pie to keep company with the slices from the crusty loaf and the mouldy cheese and the tot thrown in.

THOS. RATCLIFFE. Worksop.

THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY.'

UNDER this title there was printed at 8 S. xi. 107 a jeu d' esprit by your inde- fatigable contributor PROF. SKEAT on the letter H. It is so long ago (6 Feb., 1897) that many readers will feel " glad and gay " to see it again, to say nothing of a whole army of new readers who have never seen the verses at all. I have obtained the learned Professor's permission to print not only this, but also two others, on C and D, which I have been treasuring up all these years.

To DR. MURRAY ON COMPLETING THE LETTER C. Wherever the English speech is spread

And the Union Jack flies free, The news will be gratefully, proudly read, That you Ve conquered your A, B, C ! But I fear it will come As a shock to some That the sad result will be

That you 're taking to dabble and dawdle arid doze., To dolour and dumps, and worse than those To danger and drink. And shocking to think To words that begin with d.

THE WORDS IN D.

Those words in D ! A dismal, dreary dose ! Here dilatory dandies dandling doze, Dull dunces dog our steps and dreadful duns, Dolours and dragons, donkeys, dolts, and dupes,. Devils and demons, and " the dreaded name Of Demogorgpn ! " Dirks and daggers haunt, Dank dandelions flourish, dampness daunts, Depression and dejection drag us down, Drear desolation dwells, and dire delay, Disaster, disappointment, disarray, Defeat, disintegration, and despair, Disease, decay, delirium, darkness, death !

Yet through the darkest dens of dimmest doubt Dogged determination drives its way, Dilemmas yield to diligence at last, Deliberation dissipates dispute, Dismay is dashed with draughts of dear delight, Deft dainty dances, and delicious dreams ! The power to do one's duty still survives, Still dawns the day, divine dominion rules.

13 Aug., 1893-