_The Iron Mask._--MR. JAMES CORNISH (Vol. v., p. 474.) says, that "after half a century's active exertions, the Iron Mask was unveiled," and this sanguine person gives it also as his opinion that the author of _Junius's Letters_ will "eventually be unearthed." The last event may perhaps happen; but what authority has he for asserting that the mysterious secret of the "Masque de Fer" has ever been satisfactorily explained? Numerous, learned, and ingenious, as many of the hypotheses on the subject have been for upwards of a century, I have always imagined that an impenetrable veil of secrecy still continued to cover this wonderful historical mystery. A. S. A. Wuzzeerabad. _Bland Family._--In the Carey pedigree in the _Ducatus Leodiensis_, it is stated that Sir Philip Carey of Hunslet, near Leeds (brother of the first Visct. Falkland), married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of _Rich. Bland of Carleton_ (about A.D. 1600). Can any of your numerous readers inform me _who_ this Mr. Bland was, _whom_ he married, and _which_ Carleton is meant? I have searched the Yorkshire Visitations at the Museum, and consulted Nich. Carlisle's _History of the Bland Family_, with no result. Possibly MR. HUNTER, who is so deeply versed in Yorkshire matters, might throw some light on the subject. G. E. ADAMS. Oxford and Cambridge Club. _Thomas Watson, Bishop of St. David's, 1687-99, &c._--No notice of the period or place of his death has yet appeared, nor of the age of _Bishop Turner of Calcutta_, 1829-31, as also that of _Bishop Gobat_. Regarding, the latter prelate, as he is styled D.D. in the ecclesiastical almanacks and {235} directories, I am anxious to learn whether that degree was conferred upon him by any English university on his consecration in 1846? A. S. A. Wuzzeerabad. _Crescent._--The article under this head in the _Encyclopædia Metropolitana_, asserts that the crescent was first adopted by the Ottomans as a symbol after the taking of Constantinople in 1446. If so, the device must have been unknown to the Saracens at the time of the Crusades. Can any of your readers inform me whether this statement is correct? FICULNUS. "_Quod fuit esse._"--I should be glad to know the sense of the following epitaph, copied at Lavenham Church, Norfolk, many years since; it has long lain in my note-book, waiting for such a publication as "N. & Q.," through which to inquire its meaning: "JOHN WELES, Ob. 1694. Quod fuit esse, quod est Quod non fuit esse, quod esse, Esse quod non esse, Quod est, non est, erit, esse." A. B. R. Belmont. "_Coming home to men's business._"--Where does the phrase "coming home to men's business and bosoms" first occur? I find it said of Bacon's Essays in _Baconiana_, 1st edit. 1679? J. P. Birmingham.