The Stock Horn.—Can any of your readers or friends tell me where I can see a specimen of the musical instrument called the "Stock Horn?" Or any musical instrument of primitive form, similar to that which Wilkie has represented in a subject from the "Gentle Shepherd," entitled "Roger and Jenny." It seems to be a kind of hautboy, or oboe, and often appears in musical devices of the last century, especially by Scotch printers.
J. Gordon Smith.
Lady Harington.—Can any of your readers give the pedigree of the late Lady Harington, mother of the lamented Principal of Brasenose Coll. Oxford? The writer of this, who was distantly related to her, recollects, though very young, being struck with her beauty when he saw her in 1787. One of her brothers died in India; and another was curate of the lower church in Guildford in 1806; he was probably Thomas Philpot, of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, M.A. in 1798. Her mother was daughter or granddaughter of the celebrated mathematician Abraham de Moivre, and had a sister, or aunt, housekeeper of Windsor Castle. Her mother, the writer believes, was related to the Gomms, a branch of the family descended from Eustache de St. Pierre.
Anat.
Descendants of Sir M. Hale.—Are there any of the descendants of Sir Matthew Hale, the famous judge of the seventeenth century, living either in England or Ireland?
W. A.
A Query for the City Commission.—In the London Gazette of January 23, 1684-5, we read that King Charles II. sent to the Lord Mayor, in a silver box sealed up with his majesty's seal, the receipts of the several cements used by the patentees for making sea-water fresh; as also the receipt of their metallic composition and ingredients, certified under the hand of the Hon. Robert Boyle, to be kept so sealed up by the present and succeeding lord mayors, lest a secret of so great importance to the public might come to be lost, if lodged only in the knowledge of a few persons therein concerned.
It is to be hoped that the commissioners who are now engaged in investigating the affairs of the Corporation of London, will not fail in making inquiry of the present Lord Mayor after this silver box, committed so carefully to City preservation.
H. E.