66 Otto Jespersen: I have simply arranged alphabetically what I have found by chance reading or by turning over the leaves of not a few dictionaries, the only thing really original being perhaps the explanation of a passage in King Lear, s. v. jakes. I have made extensive use of the Collection of local proverbs and popular superstitions‘ found at the end of F. Grose’s Provincial Glossary (2d ed. 1790), qnoted in the list as G., while Grose, Vu/g., means the same anuthor’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (2d ed. 1788, the edition of 1823 being also consulted). I have made no efforts to ascertain which of the expressions are still current and which are obsolete. ass: ”He has gone over Assfordy-bridge backwards. Spoken of one that is past learning‘. (G.) Assfordy in Leicestershire. bally (vulgar = ‘bloody’)‘““: Go to Ballyhack (and buy buttermilk)‘, explained by Muret as meaning "geh zum henker'‘ go to the devil); is there a place called Ballyhack? bark: ”He is a representative of Barkshire /Berkshire]. A vulgar joke on any one afflicted with a cough, which is here termed barking‘. (G.) ”A member or candidate for Barkshire‘. (Grose, Vulg.) barley: John Barleycorn as a personification of ale. Inspiring bold John Barleycorn! What dangers thou canst make us scorn!“ (Burns, Tam o'Shanter). bed: ᾽ΓῺ for Bedfordshire‘, i. e. I want to go to bed. Swift, Polite Conversation ed. Saintsbury p. 188 (cf. below nod). The New Engl. Dict. (NED) has a quotation from Cotton (1665): Each one departs to Bedfordshire, And Pillows all securely snort on. — Also expanded: ”to go down Sheet-Lane into Bedfordshire‘. The Germans say: ich gehe nach Bethlehem‘ or nach Bettingen‘, cf. bett ‘bed’; Bettingen is a village near Basle. Cf. Danish Ferholm, Ferup, Slumstrup, Sovstrup, see Nyrop; also AHvilshøj, Hvilsov, Hvilsted in Feilberg, Ordb. ov. jyske almuesmål. bed: ” Bedworth beggars‘. (Grose gives it under Leicestershire and adds, Probably some poor hamlet‘. Perhaps there is some allusion to ”worth their beds‘‘?) beggar: This is the way to Beggar’s-bush. It is spoken of such who use dissolute and improvident courses, which tend to poverty; Beggar'’s-bush being a well-known tree, on the left hand of the London-road from Huntingdon to Caxton. This punning adage is said to be of royal origin, made and applied by King é