7 FEBRUARY 1914, Page 18

" TO GROUSE."

[To ram Eamon or rus 013rsorsros."]

SIR,—I have wondered often as to the derivation of the expression "to grouse," which is used frequently, especially in military circles, for " to grumble." Does it come from the word " grocchede," or "grocehede " P I have found in Work- worth's Chronicle of the first thirteen years of the reign of King Edward the Fourth, printed for the Camden Society, in 1839, on p. 3, the word " grocehede," and, in the same con- nexion, on p. 35, the following explanatory note: "Whereof the peple grocehede sore." "The taxes which Edward appears to have levied were most onerous on the people, and partly served to pay for his extravagant luxury, which he seems to have carried to the extreme."—I am, Sir, hie.,