—What is the derivation of the word orloff, as applied to the deck of a ship of war? The "orloff deck" is, I believe, the first lower deck which runs flush frown stem to stern.
W. A. L.
[Falconer and others spell it Orlop, from the Dutch overloop, a running over, or overflowing. Dr. Ogilvie says, "In a ship of war it is a platform of planks laid over the beams in the hold, on which the cables are usually coiled. It contains also sail-rooms, carpenters' cabins, and other apartments. Also, a tier of beams below the lower deck for a like purpose. In three-decked ships the second and lowest decks are sometimes called orlops.">[
"A Captain bold of Halifax."
—Byron says, in a note somewhere, that many of the modern Greek poems are in the metre of the English ballad:
"A captain bold of Halifax, that lived in country quarters."
The same may be said of a metre much used Terence and Plautus.
Where is this ballad to be found?
ED. G. JACKSON.
Saffron Walden.