The Rev. Francis E. Powell, M.A., in his pleasantly-written work entitled "The Story of a Cheshire Parish," gives particulars of the parish chest of Over. "The chest," says Mr. Powell, was "the gift of Bishop Samuel Peploe to Joseph Maddock, Clerk, April 30th, 1750." It probably was an old chest even then. The donor was Bishop of Chester from 1726 to 1752. He was a Whig in politics, and a latitudinarian in religion, as so many bishops of that time were. That he was a man of determined courage may be seen by his loyalty to the House of Hanover, even under adverse circumstances. One day, in the year 1715, he was reading Morning Prayer at the parish church at Preston. The town was occupied by Jacobite troops, some of whom burst into the church during the service. Approaching the prayer-desk, with drawn sword, a trooper demanded that Peploe should substitute James for George in the prayer for the King's Majesty. Peploe merely paused to say, "Soldier, I am doing my duty; do you do yours;" and went on with the prayers, whereupon the soldiers at once proceeded to eject him from the church. The illustration of the chest is kindly lent to us by the Rev. Francis E. Powell, vicar of Over. In the vestry of Lambeth Palace is a curiously painted chest; several of an early date are preserved in the triforium of Westminster Abbey; there is one at Salisbury Cathedral, and another in the Record Office, having been removed from the Pix Chapel. One of the original uses of these coffers, as we have seen, was to preserve the vestments of the church. The copes, however, being larger than the other vestments, and in the cathedrals and other important churches, being very numerous, frequently had a special receptacle provided. At York, Salisbury, Westminster, and Gloucester, ancient cope-chests are still preserved. These are triangular in shape, the cope being most easily folded into that form. In not a few instances these large coffers, or sections of them, were used as alms boxes, for which a very ancient precedent can be found. At the restoration of the Jewish Temple under King Joash, we are told (2 Kings xii., 9, 10) that "Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the Lord: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord: and it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the King's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags, and told the money that was found in the house of the Lord."