Replies to Minor Queries.
Peculiar Ornament in Crosthwaite Church (Vol. viii., p. 200.).—I am exceedingly obliged to Cheverells for his reply to any Query. I am sorry to say that I failed to make a note of the number of the circles; but, as far as I can remember, there are six windows in each aisle, so in all there would be twenty-four, each window having two carved upon it, one on the right jamb without, and the other on the left within.
R. W. Elliot.
Clifton.
Nursery Rhymes (Vol. viii., p. 455.).—I would suggest to L. that a consideration of rhymes may sometimes indicate, by the change in the pronunciation, the antiquity of the verse e.g.,
"Hush aby, baby, on the green bough,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock,
And when the bough breaks," &c.
Here, according to modern pronunciation, the rhymes of the first couplet are imperfect, so that it was probably composed in the Saxon era, or while the word bough was still pronounced bog or bock.
J. R.