"_To put a _spoke_ in his wheel_" (Vol. viii., pp. 269. 351.).--W. C.'s
answer to G. K.'s inquiry is so very facetious, that I must confess I do
not understand it.
As to the meaning of the expression, I think there can be no doubt.
Ainsworth interpreted "Scrupulum injecisti mihi, spem meam remoratus es."
In Dutch, "Een spaak in t'wiel steeken," is "To traverse, thwart, or cross
a design." See Sewel's _Woordenboek_.
The effect is similar to that of _spiking_ cannon. And it is not improbable
that _spoke_, known by the {577} ignorant to form part of the wheel, has
been by them corrupted from _spike_: and that the act is, driving a _spike_
into the nave, so as to prevent the wheel from turning on its axle.