By Indian natives spoke."
M. Philarète Charles then has too hastily concluded that this etymology is not given in "aucun ouvrage américain ou anglais," and has supplied us with a surprising coincidence, since he appears to have fairly translated the first two lines, viz.: "Les Anglais, quand ils se moquent des Yankies, se moquent d'eux-mêmes."
W. DN.
Letters on the British Museum (Vol. iii., pp. 208. 261.).
Your correspondent's Query as to the author of these letters, published by Dodsley in 1767, 12mo., has not yet been answered. The author's name was Alexander Thomson. It is inserted in manuscript in two copies of this work which I possess. I have also seen the assignment of the copyright to Dodsley, in which the same name occurs as that of the author.
JAS. CROSSLEY.
Names of the Ferret (Vol. iii., p. 390.).
—The name by which the male ferret is known in the midland counties is the hob: the female is called the jill. In that district there is a saying current, which is applied to the human genus:
"There's never a Jack but finds a Jill."
In Welsh, the name of the ferret is ffured, which means a wily, crafty creature.