_Blockade of Corfe Castle in 1644._--In Martyn's _Life of Shafetesbury_ (vol. i. p. 148.) it is stated that a parliamentary force, under Sir A.A. Cooper, blockaded Corfe Castle in 1644, after the taking of Wareham. I can find no mention any where else of an attack on Corfe Castle in 1644. The blockade of that castle, which Lady Bankes's defence has made memorable, was in the previous year, and Sir A.A. Cooper had not then joined the parliament. I should be glad if any of your readers could either corroborate Martyn's account of a blockade of Corfe Castle in 1644, or prove it to be, as I am inclined to think it, a mis-statement. I should be very thankful for any information as to Sir Anthony Asteley Cooper's proceedings in Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, and Somersetshire, during the Civil War and Commonwealth, being engaged upon a life of Lord Shaftesbury. C. _MSS. of Locke._--A translation, by Locke, of Nicole's _Essays_ was published in 1828 by Harvey and Darton, London; and it is stated in the title-page of the book, that it is printed from an autograph MS. of Locke, in the possession of Thomas Hancock, M.D. I wish to know if Dr. Hancock, who also edited the volume, is still alive? and, if so, would let this querist have access to the other papers of Locke's which he speaks of in the preface? C. _Locke's proposed Life of Lord Shaftesbury._--I perceive that the interesting volume of letters of Locke, Algernon Sidney, and Lord Shaftesbury, published some years ago, by Mr. Foster, is advertised in your columns by your own publisher; and I therefore inquire, with some hope of eliciting information, whether the papers in Mr. Foster's possession, which he has abstained from publishing, contain any notices of the first Earl of Shaftesbury; and I am particularly anxious to know whether they contain any references to the Life of Lord Shaftesbury which Locke meditated, or throw any light upon the mode in which Locke would have become possessed of some suppressed passages of Edmund Ludlow's memoirs. C. _Theses._--Many German works introduced into Catalogues, are _theses_ defended at the universities. The name of the _President_ is generally first, and in larger letters than that of the propounder, who is usually the author. Hence, it often happens, that the _Thesis_ is entered as a work written by the _Præses_. But is not unfrequently happened, that this Præses was _really_ the author; and that, as an easy way of publishing his thought, he entrusted an essay to a candidate for a degree, to be defended by him. The seventh rule of the Museum Catalogue runs thus:-- "The respondent or defender in a thesis to be considered its author, except when it unequivocally appears to be the work of the Præses." Now, I would ask, what are the usual signs of the authorship? Are there any catalogues of Theses? Any bibliographical works which contain hints for guidance in this matter? Any correspondents who can advise generally on the whole matter? M.