Chudleigh, March 24. 1851.
Slums (Vol. iii., p. 224.).—This word is, I take it, an Americanism, being an abbreviation of settlements.
The back settlements and back slums are used synonymously.
D. Q.
"God's Acre" (Vol. ii., p. 56.).—On looking back to some of your old numbers I find W. H. K. has never been answered with regard to the above application of the term to churchyards. Longfellow (Liverpool edition, 1850, p. 36.) commences one of his poems thus:
"I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls
The burial-ground God's Acre. It is just;
It consecrates each grave within its walls,
And breathes a benison o'er the sleeping dust."
Whether this may be any help to W. H. K., I know not, but I cannot refrain from the Query—What is the Saxon phrase alluded to?