brook to steal,
  Seeking repose in sport which WALTON loved—­
    Sport meet alike for Youth or thoughtful
          Age—­
    Free, an I wish to go a pilgrimage
  With CHAUCER, my companion long approved,
  Or thee, thou Greater One, who lovedst to sing,
  “Of books in brooks, and good in every thing.”

WILLIAM J. THOMS.

* * * * *

THE DEVOTEE.
(From the Latin.)

  Balbus, in vain you urge the notion
  That Ignorance begets Devotion—­
  We can’t believe it till we see
  Yourself a fervent devotee.

RUFUS.

* * * * *

By Hook or by Crook.—­It is said that Strongbow, when debating with his followers on the best mode of capturing Ireland, said, that it must be taken “by Hook or by Crook.” “The Hook” is the name of a well-known promontory, forming the N.E. boundary of Waterford Harbour; and Crook-haven is an equally well-known harbour, on the south coast.  Could this have any thing to do with the proverb?

J.G.

Kilkenny.

Macaulay’s Young Levite.—­I send you an advertisement, from a local paper of 1767, which shows what stipend was offered to a curate at that period.  The population of Burton Bradstich and Shepton Gorge, in 1821, was respectively 854 and 311.  I do not know what it was in 1767.

The value of the rectory of Burton, with the chapelry of Shepton, was returned, in 1650, as 201l.  In 1826 it was computed to be 500l.

A.D.M.

From “Cruthwell’s Sherborne, Shaftesbury, and Dorchester Journal; or Yeovil, Taunton, and Bridgewater Chronicle of 10th July, 1767.”

“A Curate is wanted, at Old Michaelmas next, to serve the Churches of Burton and Shipton, in Dorsetshire; Salary 36l. per annum, Easter Offerings, and Surplice Fees; together with a good House, pleasant Gardens, and a Pigeon House well stock’d.  The Churches are within a mile and a half of each other, served once a Day, and alternately.  The Village of Burton is sweetly situated, within half a mile of the Sea, about a mile and a half from Bridport Harbour, and is noted in the Summer for its fine Mackarel Fishery.  Application to be made to the Rev. Mr. Richards, Rector.

    “A married gentleman will be most agreeable.”

Praise undeserved.—­Does any one know where the oft-quoted line,

  “Praise undeserved in censure in disguise,”

is to be found?  A long search for it has hitherto proved ineffectual.

D.S.

    [This line, which is so often quoted, with the variation—­

      “Praise undeserved is Satire in disguise,”