I quote on the authority of Facciolati, who adds that others derive the word from the letters A.ER.A., "annus erat Augusti." These are not at all satisfactory; and I shall be glad if you will allow me to throw in my derivation as "being worth what it will fetch."
Koch says, in note 5 to the Introduction of his _Revolution of Europe_, that "æra" is derived from the initials of the phrase "Anno erat regnante Augusto;" and was first used among the Spaniards, who dated from the renewal of the second triumvirate even down to the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries.
_Scent of the Blood-hound_ (Vol. iv., p. 368.).--C. H. asks whether it be true that hound loses his scent--
A few years ago a master of fox-hounds in the New Forest excused some bad sport in March thus "The hounds can't hunt for those d--d stinking violets!" rather to the amusement of some of his field.
_Monk and Cromwell Families_ (Vol. iv., p. 381.).--A SUBSCRIBER seems to imply that the Monk and Cromwell families intermarried. In Chauncy's _Hertfordshire_, vol. i. p. 582. of the new edition, but which was originally printed in 1700, it is stated, that the well-known manor of Theobalds was granted by Charles II. to the great Monk in tail male; on the death of his son, Duke Christopher, it reverted to the crown; and that King William, by letters patent of the 4th of April, 1689, gave it to William Bentinck, who was created Earl of Portland. It must have come therefore, to the Cromwells by intermarriage either with Bentinck, which, I believe, was not the case, or with some subsequent purchasers of the manor. Theobalds originally belonged to Sir Robert Cecil, of whom James I. obtained it in exchange for Hatfield. It was given as reward for restoring the Stuarts to Monk, and to Bentinck for assisting again to expel them.
"_Truth is that which a man troweth_" (Vol. iv., p. 382.).--For the information of your correspondent Î. I send the following, which I believe to be the original authority for the above saying. It is taken from the celebrated work of Horne Tooke's, entitled _Diversions of Purley_, which, though highly interesting as a treasury of philological information, contains this among other absurd attempts to base moral conclusions on the foundation of etymology:--