leave the pistol form, although the striking mechanism is retained. Most of the earlier pistol tinder boxes are of the middle and late eighteenth century. They were obviously made for the use of travellers. There is no doubt that many a horseman saw to his tinder box as carefully as he did to the priming of his pistols when he set out on a lonely journey.

The study of the tinder box is only outlined here. There are other forms, some with barrels to hold a coiled wax taper. In regard to presentday lighters, a dearth of matches in war-time induced people to ponder over the older methods of producing fire. Indeed it may be suggested that a collection of war-time devices and the various forms of lighters using petrol, benzine, and other aids to procure light in lieu of matches, might claim the attention of the collector.

Tobacco Boxes.-There is a kinship between tobacco boxes and tinder boxes, inasmuch as many of the latter now pass for the former, especially in the brass variety made in Holland. There are several forms, the rectangular about six inches in length, the most common type, the oval, the circular, the hexagonal and other forms of lesser dimensions. The earliest and the rarest date from the end of the seventeenth century, but most examples are of the eighteenth century. There are other boxes of silver or even of gold used by the wealthy classes, but the type with which we now deal was made for sailors, and

Leather pouch, with brass ornament.

farmers, and the lower ranks of the bourgeois class. The Dutch have always been great smokers. They have also been renowned for their metalwork. It is not unnatural, therefore, that their brass tobacco boxes should appeal to the collector.

In regard to Dutch brass tobacco boxes there is no class of object more fabricated. Thousands are sold to tourists or exported, which purport to be old but have been made to please collectors. The prices of these vary according to the fancy of the seller. Five or six shillings will procure a modern copy, but five or six pounds will not always buy a genuine old specimen.

In regard to the decoration there is a marked tendency to employ biblical subjects, as was always the idiosyncrasy of the Dutch, filled as they were with strong Protestant traditions. Such subjects are common on delft tiles. The incongruity of the use of sacred subjects on so secular an object of everyday use as a tobacco box did not apparently deter the designer. The Staffordshire potter with his inscriptions on alehouse mugs dearly loved a text, but he had less excuse than the Dutch craftsman, for the tobacco box was used in church, as in former days in Holland the congregation smoked and spittoons were provided.

Three Dutch examples are illustrated (p. 97). The box on the right is six inches in length, and is embossed on lid and bottom with ten ornamental panels illustrating the story of the Cruci

fixion. The oval box is four and a half inches long, and has incised decoration at lid and bottom. This is dated 1691, and has for subject the figures of a man and woman with inscription in Dutch signifying "Oh! my beautiful mistress." The box in the shape of a book has incised design representing a man driving two horses, having seated behind him a woman, and seated behind her is evidently a female servant with peasant cap. The inscription in Dutch means: "Is it not fine to have a cart and horses in this world?"

Apart from metal tobacco boxes there are many of delft of larger dimensions than those intended to be carried on the person. Pictures of interiors by the old Dutch masters representing peasant carousals and drinking and smoking bouts are valuable records showing the objects in common use. "The Smoking Room" by Teniers, and "The Smoking Club" by van Ostade are typical instances.

Of English metal tobacco boxes the types are not very diverse in character. A quaint form in lead with floriated raised pattern around base and top, and having the lid surmounted by the head of a negro is an interesting example. The negro head is a trade mark long associated with tobacco. It was found on the bales of leaf coming into Bristol and Liverpool, and has established itself as an ornament on the tobacco box, as a symbol determining its use (illustrated p. 103).