W. S. G.
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Hexameter Poem on English Counties.
—Will any of your correspondents be kind enough to furnish me with a copy of a poem in hexameter verse, and in an abbreviated form, enumerating the shires or counties in England? In my early days it was very common in public schools, and I am enabled to give a portion of one verse, viz.—-—-"Dev. Dors. Gl. Oxfo. Buck. Hart. Ess."
M.
Dublin.
Wild Oats, Origin of the Phrase.
—Can any of your correspondents favour me with the origin and definition of the phrase "To sow your wild oats?" It has never been very clear to me why "oats" should be the grain selected as emblematical of the dissipations and excesses of youth. They constitute the food of the inhabitants of the poorest regions only, and where the absence of all aid from climate and sunshine, renders almost unceasing toil necessary, in order to obtain a meagre subsistence.
The "oat" appears to me so little the companion of luxury and pleasure, that I am wholly at a loss to account for the origin of this phrase, which is in the mouth of every one.
BEAU NASH.