Malta.
"_Going to Old Weston_" (Vol. iii., p. 449.).--In turning over the pages of
the third volume of "N. & Q." recently, I stumbled on ARUN'S notice of the
above proverb. It immediately struck me that I had heard it used myself a
few days before, without being conscious at the time of the similarity of
the expression. I was asking an old man, who had been absent from home,
where he had been to? His reply was, "To Old Weston, Sir. You know I must
go there before I die." Knowing that he had relatives living there, I did
not, at the time, notice anything extraordinary in the answer; but, since
reading ARUN'S note, I have made some inquires, and find the saying is a
common one on this (the Northamptonshire) side of Old Weston, as well as in
Huntingdonshire. I have been unable to obtain any explanation of it, but
think the one suggested by your correspondent must be right. One of my
informants (an old woman upwards of seventy) told me she had often heard it
used, and wondered what could be its meaning, when she was a child.