oards, like the double roof of a
house; in other respects the shape is of the common form. The idea is, that
such coffins resist much longer the weight of the superincumbent earth; but
there can be no doubt that it is a very ancient shape. Many years ago I
heard that in some parish in this county the coffin was shaped like a
flat-bottomed boat; the boat shape is known to have been an old form.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Clyst St. George.

_St. George Family Pictures._--In Gough's _Sepulchral Monuments_, vol. iii.
p. 77., it is mentioned, with reference to the estate of Hatley St. George,
in county of Cambridge, that, at the sale of the house in 1782, "The family
pictures were removed to Mr. Pearce's house at Cople, Bedford." Can any one
tell me if the family pictures here spoken of were those of the St. George
family (which inhabited the house for six hundred years); and if so, what
has become of them?

R. A. S. O.

Ceylon, June 11, 1853.

_Caley (John), "Ecclesiastical Survey of the Possessions, &c. of the Bishop
of St. David's," 8vo. 1812._--The above is said, in a bookseller's
catalogue, to be privately printed. It is unknown to the bishop of the
diocese and Mr. Black. Can any of your readers give any information about
it?

JOHN MARTIN.

Froxfield.

_Adamson's "Lusitania Illustrata."_--Is there any prospect of Mr. Adamson
continuing his _Lusitania Illustrata_? Could that accomplished Portuguese
student kindly inform me if there is any better insight into Portuguese
literature than that contained in Bouterweck's _Geschichte der Poesie und
Beredsamkeit_?

W. M. M.

_Blotting-paper._--When did blotting-paper first come into use. Carlyle, in
his _Life of Cromwell_, twice repeats that it was not known in those days.
Is not this a mistake? I have a piece which I am able to refer to 1670.

SPERIEND.

_Poetical Versions of the Fragments in Athenaeus._--Can any of your
correspondents inform me of the locus of any of these, in addition to
_Blackwood_, xxxvi., and _Fraser's Magazine_?

P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.

* * * * *

Replies.

ROBERT DRURY.

(Vol. v., p. 533.; Vol. vii., p. 485.)

Under the conviction that Robert Drury was a real character, and his
_Madagascar_ a true narrative of his shipwreck, sufferings, and captivity,
I crave your permission to give a few additional reasons why I think he
should be discharged from the fictitious, and admitted into the catalogue
of re