chemistry was produced instead of the Course of chemistry, and as the day was far advanced, and copy due, I gave up the pursuit. On examination, it turns out that the volume contains a memoir of Pemberton in twenty-three pages. Chalmers cites Hutton and Shaw as his authorities; and Hutton, as I conceive, gives the substance of it as his own composition! Wilson, in this important memoir, declares that his intimacy with Pemberton was the greatest felicity of his life. He dates it the 10th Aug. 1771. He died on the 29th of September in the same year.

Wilson remarks, in his previous work, that on the successful practice of navigation "depends, in an especial manner, the flourishing state of our country." To this remark no one can refuse assent. The Dissertation on the history of the art has fallen into oblivion, because it exists only in a work which has been superseded by others; but I venture to express my opinion that a separate edition of it, with such corrections and additions as might be required, and a continuation to the present time, would be a desirable addition to scientific literature; and that no one would perform the task with more ability, or more conscientiously, than professor DE MORGAN.

BOLTON CORNEY.

BAXTER'S PULPIT.

The pulpit formerly used at Kidderminster by Richard Baxter, the eminent author of The Saint's Rest, is still preserved there. In his day it stood on the north side of the nave of the parish church (St. Mary's), against the second pillar from the east. But in 1786, the church was "repaired, repewed, and beautified," in the style of those good old times: when, it being thought advisable to have a new pulpit built in a central situation, Baxter's old pulpit was condemned, and, together with other pieces of carved work, was offered for sale (!) by the then churchwardens, as old and useless church furniture. The churchmen of that day appear to have held the same opinions as their wardens; so the pulpit (with the exception of its pedestal) was purchased by the Unitarians of the place. Their successors have carefully preserved it, and it now stands in a room adjacent to their chapel.

The pulpit is of oak: octagonal in its shape, and properly decorated with flowers and architectural ornaments, in the well-known style of the period. Gold letters, inserted in six of the panels, somewhat ostentatiously informed the congregation that—

"ALICE · DAWKX · WIDOW · GAVE · THIS."

On the face of the pulpit, and immediately beneath the preacher's desk, is the text:

"PRAISE · THE · LORD."

And round the sounding-board are the words:

"O · GIVE · THANKS. UNTO · THE · LORD. AND · CALL · UPON · HIS · NAME. DECLARE · HIS · WORSHIP · AMONG · THE · PEOPLE."

On the oak board at the back of the pulpit is the date:

"ANNO · 1621."

surmounted by a projecting crown and cushion of bold workmanship. The mariner's compass is painted on the underside of the sounding-board, and the entire pulpit bears manifest traces of having once been adorned with gold and colours.

The octagonal pillar and pedestal on which the pulpit once stood, now serve to support the floor of a bookseller's shop in the High Street.

Within the room where the pulpit is now preserved is placed a folio copy of Baxter's work in four volumes, and an engraving of "the reverend and learned Mr. Richard Baxter," taken from the original picture in the possession of Mr. Fawcett, formerly of Kidderminster. A handsomely carved chair, formerly the property of Bishop Hall, is also placed near to the pulpit.

Can any of your correspondents inform me, if any engraving of Baxter's pulpit has been published? I have made many inquiries, but have never met with or heard of one. Three years since, I etched on the copper a correct representation of the present state of the pulpit; when, in answer to my inquiries, I was told that no one had even sketched it for many years.

A notice of "Richard Baxter," and his 168 publications, occurs in "N. & Q.," Vol. iii., p. 370.

I inclose you an impression from the etching just referred to.

CUTHBERT BEDE.

POPULAR STORIES OF THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY, NO. I.

Only a few years before the advent of Ambrose Merton, it was the sorrowful lament of Picken that he could find no legendary lore among our English peasantry. The rapid progress of education, according to him, had long ago banished our household traditions. Want of acquaintance with the shy and reserved character of John Bull probably proved a stumbling-block to our collector, for what a rich harvest has been reaped since his day! Our mythic treasures, however, are far from being exhausted; and if we wish to emulate our brethren of Deutschland, we must do yet more. The popular tales and legends which abound among our rural population, are still for the most part ungarnered. The folk-tales of the sister kingdoms have been ably chronicled in the pages of Croker and Chambers, but our own have been almost entirely neglected. So much indeed is this the case, that we have had recourse to Germany in order to recruit our exhausted nursery literature; and readers of all sizes devour with avidity the charming versions of the Messieurs Taylor, few of them suspecting that stories of like character form the sole imaginative lore of their uneducated countrymen.

Some years ago while in the country I made a practice of noting down the more curious traditionary stories which came under my notice; and, with the kind permission of the Editor, will transfer a few portions of my researches to the columns of "N. & Q.," in the hope of inducing some of your rural correspondents to embark in a similar design. I am aware that certain antiquaries of the old régime still entertain doubts as to the utility of these collections. As vestiges, however, of primitive fiction, they will interest the philosophical inquirer; while their value as contributions to ethnological and philological science has been recognised by all writers on the subject.

Premising that these tales, however puerile, are not associated with any such idea by the people among whom they were gathered, permit me to introduce your readers to "Thoughtful Moll," in whom they will trace a remarkable resemblance to Die kluge Else of Grimm. It is from Oxfordshire, and affords no bad specimen of the facetious class of fables which often enliven the winter's evening hearth-talk. I have endeavoured to preserve the narrators' style and dialect.

In a certain village there once lived a young woman so extremely noted for prudence and forethought, that she was known among her neighbours as "Thoughtful Moll." Now this young lady had a thirsty soul of a sweetheart, who dearly loved a drop of October, and one day when he came a-wooing to her: "O Moll," says he, "fill us a tot o'yeal, I be most mortal dry." So Moll took a tot from the shelf and went down the cellar, where she tarried so long that her father sent down her sister to see what had come of her. When she got there she found her sister weeping bitterly. "What ails thee, wench?" said she. "O!" sobbed Moll, "don't ye see that stwon in the arch, that stands out from the mortar like? Now, mayhaps, when I be married an have a bwoy, an he comes down here to draw beer, that big stwon'll fall down on'm and crush'm." "Thoughtful Moll!" said her admiring sister, and the two sat down and mingled their tears together. The drink