My hypothesis is—Lord Braybrooke can correct me if I am wrong—that Pepys, writing his Diary in short-hand, used one and the same character for all the persons of the present tense of do, and that the decypherer did not attend to this circumstance. In his letter to Col. Legge (vol. v. p. 296.), Pepys writes "His R. H. does think," &c., which in the Diary would surely be "His R. H. do think," &c. In a similar way I would account for the use of come instead of came in the Diary, as there is nothing of the kind in the Letters. Should I be right, I may have rendered a slight service to the memory of an able and worthy man.
Thos. Keightley.
Roman Remains.—In Wright's Celt, Roman, and Saxon, p. 207., a curious Roman altar, dedicated to Silvanus, "ab aprum eximiæ forme captum," is mentioned as found at Durham. It was found in the wild district to the west, in the neighbourhood of Stanhope in Weardale, and is preserve in the rectory house there.
P. 330., figure A. This armilla (?) was not found in Northumberland, but in Sussex, together with several others of the same form, a torques and celts.
W. C. Trevelyan.
Wallington.
To grab.—A very popular writer has lately rightly denounced the use of this word as a vulgarism. Like many other monosyllables used by our working classes, it may plead antiquity in extenuation of its vulgarity. It has been derived from the Welsh word grabiaw, to grasp, and in ancient times was one of our "household words." The retention by a tailor of a portion of the cloth delivered to him, although it had been a usage from time immemorial, might have been considered by our forefathers as a grabbage: we now call it cabbage.
N. W. S.
Curfew at Sandwich.—Sometime back it was stated that the curfew at Sandwich had been discontinued. It has been resumed in consequence of the opposition made by the inhabitants. The same occurred about twenty years ago. (From information on the spot.)
E. M.