J.H. MARKLAND.
Bath, May.


_Early Inscriptions._--The excellent remarks by "T.S.D." on "Arabic
Numerals, &c." (No. 18. p. 279.) have put me in mind of two cases which
in some degree confirm the necessity for his caution respecting
pronouncing definitively on the authenticity of old inscriptions, and
especially those on "Balks and Beams" in old manorial dwellings. The
house in which I spent the greater portion of my youth was a mansion of
the olden time, whose pointed gables told a tale of years; and whose
internal walls and principal floors, both below and above stairs, were
formed of "raddle and daub." It had formerly belonged to a family of the
name of Abbot; but the "last of the race" was an extravagant libertine,
and after spending a handsome patrimonial estate, ended his days as a
beggar. Abbot House was evidently an ancient structure; but
unfortunately, as tradition stated, a stone, bearing the date of its
erection, had been carelessly lost during some repairs. However, in my
time, on the white wainscot of a long lobby on the second floor, the
initials, "T.H. 1478," were distinctly traced in black paint, and many
persons considered this as nothing less than a "true copy" of the lost
inscription. Subsequent inquiry, however, finally settled the point; for
the inscription was traced to the rude hand of one of the workmen
formerly employed in repairing the building, who naively excused himself
by declaring that he considered it "a pity so old a house should be
without a year of our Lord."

The second instance is that of the occurrence of "four nearly straight
lines" on one of the compartments of a fine old font in Stydd Church,
near Ribchester, which many visitors have mistaken for the date "1178."