_Artesian Wells_ (Vol. ix., p.222.).--Wells are often so called without just pretence to a similarity with those in Artois, whence this name is derived. There are some natural springs in the northern slope of the chalk in Lincolnshire, near the Humber, called _blow-wells_, which may be considered naturally Artesian. The particular character by which an Artesian well may be known is, that the water, if admitted into a tube, will rise above the level of the ground in its immediate vicinity up to the level of its sources in the basin of the district; this basin being usually gravel, lying betwixt two strata impervious to water, formed the surrounding hills, and extending often over many miles of the earth's surface. If we conceive the figure of a large bowl, inclosing a somewhat smaller one, the interstice being filled with gravel, and the rain falling on the earth being collected within such interstice, then this interstice being tapped by boring a well, the water will rise up from the well to the same height as it stands in the interstice, or rim of the natural basin. Such is an Artesian well. Supposing this huge mineral double bowl to be broken by a geological _fault_, the same hydrostatic principle will act similarly. The question of _preferable_ put by STYLITES must be governed by the _cui bono_. Universal adoption is forbidden, first, by the absence of a gravelly stratum betwixt two strata impervious to water; and secondly, by the excessive expense of boring to such great depths. Where expense is not in excess of the object to be attained, and where the district is geologically favourable, the Artesian wells are preferable to common ones derived from natural tanks or water caverns, first, for the superabundant supply; secondly, for the height to which the water naturally rises above the ground; and thirdly, because boring Artesian wells, properly so called, does not rob a neighbour's well for your own benefit, afterwards to be lost when any neighbour chooses to dig a little deeper than you. This is a matter with which London brewers are familiar. T. J. BUCKTON. Lichfield. _Prior's Epitaph on Himself_ (Vol. i., p. 482.).--MR. SINGER quotes an epitaph on "John Carnegie," and says it is the prototype of Prior's epitaph on himself. I have looked among Prior's poems for this epitaph, and have not been able to discover anything that can be said to answer MR. SINGER'S description of it. Would your correspondent oblige me with a copy of the epitaph to which he alludes? My edition of Prior is a very old one; and this may account for the omission, if such it be. HENRY H. BREEN. St. Lucia. [The following is a copy of the epitaph: "Nobles and heralds, by your leave, Here lies what once was Matthew Prior, The son of Adam and of Eve; Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?"]