The mahogany desk shown in Illustration 98 belongs to Walter Hosmer, Esq., and is a most graceful and charming little piece, intended probably for a lady’s use. It measures twenty-four and a half inches in length and forty-one and a half inches in height. There are three square drawers in the lower part, and the upper part has two small square drawers for pens, with a third between them. The two pen drawers pull out and support the lid when lowered. The interior of the desk has eighteen small drawers, shaped and placed so that their fronts form a curve, and each little drawer at the top is carved with the rising sun, or fan, like the middle drawer in the lower part. The entire design of the interior is like that in a large block-front desk now owned by George S. Palmer, Esq., of Norwich, which was made by Benjamin Dunham in 1769, and it is possible that the two pieces were made by the same Connecticut cabinet-maker. [Illustration: Illus. 99.—Desk, 1760.] Another desk belonging to Mr. Hosmer is shown in Illustration 99. The bandy-legs end in a claw-and-ball of a flattened shape, and instead of the drawer, plain or with a carved sunburst, usually seen between the side drawers of the lower part, the wood of the frame is sawed in a simple design. The upper part has three drawers, and the lid when down rests upon two slides which pull out for the purpose. The interior is quite simple, having four drawers with eight small compartments above. This desk measures twenty-six inches in width and thirty-nine inches and a half in height. The desk in Illustration 100 is now owned by the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, and belonged formerly to Governor John Hancock. It measures four feet six inches from the floor, and is of the sturdy, honest build that one would expect in a desk used by the man whose signature to the Declaration of Independence stands out so fearless and determined. [Illustration: Illus. 100.—Desk, about 1770.] [Illustration: Illus. 101.—Block-front Desk. Cabinet Top, about 1770.] The slanting lid has a moulding across the lower edge, probably to support a large book, or ledger, and as it is at the right height for a man to write standing, or sitting upon a very high stool, it may have been used as an office desk. Below the slanting lid are two doors behind which are shelves. Two drawers extend across the lower part, and at each end of the desk two small, long drawers pull out. The desk was made about 1770. Illustration 101 shows a mahogany block-front desk with cabinet top, owned by Charles R. Waters, Esq., of Salem, which was bought by Mr. Waters’s grandfather, about 1770. It is a fine example of the best style of secretary made during the eighteenth century. The doors are of panelled wood. The lid of the desk is blocked like the front, and like the lid of the desk in Illustration 109, requiring for the blocked lid and drawer fronts wood from two to three inches thick, as each front is carved from one thick plank.