_--Can you or one of your learned
correspondents, tell me the origin or first user of the literary
"smelling of the lamp?" I know that it is commonly attributed to
Demosthenes? but if it is his, I want chapter and verse for it.
_Gourders of Rain._--Will any of your correspondents be kind enough to
suggest the etymology of the word "gourders" (= torrents)? It occurs
in the following passage of _Harding against Jewel_ (p. 189., Antv.
1565):
"Let the _gourders_ of raine come downe from you and all other
heretikes, let the floudes of worldly rages thrust, let the
windes of Sathan's temptations blowe their worst, this house
shall not be overthrowen."
C.H.
St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge.
The _Temple or_ a _Temple_.--I am happy to see that your
correspondent, Mr. Thoms, is about to illustrate some of the
obscurities of Chaucer. Perhaps he or some of your learned
contributors may be able to remove a doubt that has arisen in my mind
relative to the poet's well-known description of the Manciple in his
Prologue to the _Canterbury Tales_.
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