J. M. B.
An old Riddle.—I lately found the following mysterious verse upon a scrap of paper. It is of the time of Henry VIII.:
"Vj is come, v is goone, wyth thris tene beware al men
Vij wyth vij shall mete wyth viijth and viijth manye
A thousande shall wepe Ad parabulam hanc
If I shulde seye what it is I shuld have no thanke
For he that ne rekketh where that he steppeth
He may lightly wade to depe."
J. Bt.
The Word "rather."—The word rather is, as far as I know (if I am wrong, perhaps some of your correspondents will correct me) a solitary instance in our language of a comparative regularly formed from a positive which is now obsolete. In the Cant. Tales, v. 13029., we find the positive form: