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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. in. APRIL 22, 1911.

HUMPHREY COTES AND SAVAGE BARRELS. The first wife of Humphrey Cotes, the friend of John Wilkes, died during the patriot's exile on the Continent. Later, Cotes married again. Was his second wife the widow, the sister, or the daughter of Savage Barrel 1, a prominent member of the Bill of Eights society ?

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

A CURIOUS Box. T have in my possession a box which puzzles all who see it, and perplexed the curiosity-shop keeper who sold it to me. It is a beautiful piece of Sheraton, 8 in. long, 4 in. wide, and 2 in. high. In the inlaid top are eight holes, TV in. in diameter, communicating with the only receptacle the box contains an unlocked drawer. The peculiarity of the box or rather drawer-case is that its corners are clamped with brass and a large piece of lead has been let in the bottom, which is covered with green baize. The green baize seems to suggest that it was to be pushed along a table, and the excessive weight that in the holes were to be inserted articles long enough to need ballasting. But so much massive strength for the case of a tiny drawer without any lock seems odd. I \\onder if any reader has seen anything of the kind, or if this is unique, made to one person's design. The dealer thought it might be part of a game. Another sugges- tion is that it was possibly used in lady's fancy work ; a third, that it is a ballot box, but the clamps and lead and absence of lock should disprove that. E. V. L.

' THE UNIVERSITIES AND THE SCIENTIFIC CORPS.' In 1872 a pamphlet was published entitled ' The Universities and the Scientific Corps,' written by the late Col. Francis Duncan, R.A., in conjunction with a leading Oxford tutor. There is no copy in the British Museum Library. Particulars of this pamphlet are required for a bibliography. Please reply direct. J. H. LESLIE, Major.

31, Kenwood Park Road, Sheffield.

ROBERT CARNALL I should be glad of a few brief biographical details about him beyond what his own works furnish. In 1 822 appeared ' Leisure Hours Employed, con- taining Poems on Various Subjects,' pub- lished at Maidstone, and sold at Chatham, Tunbridge, Sevenoaks, and London. On the title-page the author is described as " late* schoolmaster, Shipborne, Kent." His next effusion appeared in 1839, and was entitled ' Anthology, with Dictates,' pub- lished in London. It was dedicated to his

aunt Mrs EUza Charlotte Broughton Lachlan Vale, Appin, New South Wales. The preface is dated from Seal School, near Sevenoaks. There are " poems " to^his cousins Miss E. A. London, Mr Peto Davis, Miss Mary Ann Ward, and Mrs Thomas Ward. From one of the pieces we learn that he was educated at Greenwich (" where first I learnt to spell "), and that more than twenty years previously he joined a ship. I may say that I have consulted Boase's ' Modern English Biography ' and ' The Kentish Note-Book without result. The information sought is for ' bibliographical purposes. A. RHODES.

GRAINOE FAMILY. A daughter Christian, born about 1705, married John Baker of Spitalfields, a great promoter of the silk- reaving manufacture. Her sister Anne, born about 1716, married, before 1746, the Rev. Timothy Butter, Rector of Upwell, Wisbech, 1740-57. She died, his widow, at Hackney, 1789. Information regarding the family and parentage of these sisters is desired. Please reply direct.

G. G? BAKER CRESSWELL.

Barndale, Alnwick.

' CHURCH HISTORIANS OF ENGLAND.' Seeleys were well-known publishers in Fleet Street and Hanover Street sixty years ago. In 1853, or it may be the year before, they began the publication of ' The Church Historians of England.' I possess the mediaeval part, which was translated by the late Rev. Joseph Stevenson. Of this the first part of the first volume is wanting, and I have strong reasons for thinking that it was never issued ; neither is the second part of the fifth of my set to be found, though whether it was never published, or is deficient in my copy, I do not know. I shall be grateful to any one who can throw light on the subject. F. H.

SNOW STATUES. I shall be obliged for any references to works similar to Comte de Robiano's ' Collection des Dessins des Figures colossales et des Groupes qui ont ete f aits de Neige dans plusieurs Rues ....

de la Ville d'Anvers Janvier 1772.'

ALECK ABRAHAMS.

REV. ANTHONY GORDON : FRANCIS HAS- TINGS GORDON. Born at Chelsea on 4 Feb- ruary, 1794, Anthony was the elder son of Capt. Anthony Gordon (born 1741 or 1746), the re-inventor of bayonet exercise. He was educated at St. Paul's School and at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. 1816), of