When, and under what peculiar circumstances, was it first introduced
into our language?

In the town in which I reside, in the north of England, the word
Snob was formerly applied to a _cobbler_, and the phrase was in use,
"_Snip_ the _tailor_, and _Snob_ the _cobbler_."

I cannot discover how and why the word Snob was enlarged into its
present comprehensive meaning.

Explanations of many of the slang phrases met with in the dramatic
works of the last century, such as, "Thank you, sir, I owe you one,"
"A Rowland for an Oliver," "Keep moving, dad," &c. &c. would perhaps
give much light upon the manners of the times, and an interesting
history might be compiled of the progress of slang phrases to the
present day.

ALPHA.


_Mertens, Martins, or Martini, the Printer._--Can any of your
correspondents inform me what was really the surname of Theodoric
Mertens, Martins, or Martini, the printer of Louvain, and who {186}
was a friend of Erasmus? In a small volume of his, now before me,
printed in 1517, the colophon gives: "Lovanii apud Theodoricum
Martinum anno MDXVII mense April;" while, on the reverse of _the
same leaf_, is a wooden block, of his device, occupying the whole
page, and beneath it are inscribed the words "Theodoricus Martini."
This appears to put _Mertens_ out of the question.