_Wat the Hare_ (Vol. ii., p. 315.).--In the interesting, though perhaps
somewhat partial, account of the unsuccessful siege of Corfe Castle, during
the civil wars of the seventeenth century, which is given in the _Mercurius
Rusticus_, there is an anecdote which will give a reply to the Query of
your correspondent K. The commander of the Parliamentarian forces was Sir
Walter Erle; and it was a great joke with his opponents that the pass-word
of "Old Wat" had been given (by himself I believe) on the night of his last
assault on the castle. The chronicler informs us that "Old Wat" was the
usual notice of a hare being found sitting; and the proverbial timidity of
that animal suggested some odious comparisons with the defeated general.
I have not the book at hand, but I am pretty sure that the substance of my
information is correct.