"Traîner dans une _ramasse: on le ramassa pendant deux heures; quand
il fut sur la montagne, il se fit ramasser_."
The late Mr. Tarver, in his _Dictionnaire Phraséologique Royal_, has
also the following:
"RAMASSE, s. f. (t. de voyageur), sledge.
"_On le ramassa_, they conveyed him in a sledge.
"RAMASSEUR, a man who drives a sledge."
D. C.
St. John's Wood, May 4. 1851.
* * * * *
_Four Want Way_ (Vol. iii., p. 168.).--Halliwell describes the word
"want" as meaning in Essex a cross-road. It is still used here as
denoting a place where four roads meet, and called "a four want way." I
always fancied it meant a wont way, _via solita_; but I have no
authority for the etymology.
BRAYBROOKE.
Audley End.
["Went" is used in Chaucer in the sense of "way," "passage,"
"turning," or road: thus, in _Troilus and Creseide_, iii. 788., he
speaks of a "a privie went," and v. 605., "And up and doun there made
he many a went;" and in the _House of Fame_:
"And in a forrest as they went,
At the tourning of a went."]
* * * * *
_Dr. Owen's Works_ (Vol. i., p. 276.).--The editor of the _Works of John
Owen_ is informed, that in the valuable library of George Offor, Esq.,
of Hackney, will be found a thick volume in manuscript of unpublished
_Sermons on the Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah_, in the Doctor's own
hand-writing, and apparently prepared for publication. The same library
also contains two scarce pieces by Dr. Owen, which it is thought have
never been reprinted: 1. _The Stedfastness of Promises, and the
Sinfulness of Staggering_, opened in a sermon preached at Margaret's, in
Westminster, before the Parliament, Feb. 28, 1649, being a Day set apart
for Solemn Humiliation throughout the Nation. By John Owen, Minister of
the Gospel. London, 1650. 4to. pp. 54.--2. _God's Work in Founding Zion,
and his People's Duty thereupon._ A Sermon preached in the Abbey Church
at Westminster, at the opening of the Parliament, Sept. 17, 1656. By
John Owen, a Servant of Jesus Christ in the Work of the Gospel. Oxford,
1656. 4to. pp. 48.
J. Y.
Hoxton.
* * * * *
_Bactrian Coins_ (Vol. iii., p. 353.).--Has your correspondent read the
book by Masson _On the Coins, &c. of Afghanistan_, published by
Professor H. H. Wilson? There are also references to authorities in
Humphreys _On Ancient Coins and Medals_.