When in a little shop the other day, in the same part of the country, one village dame was speaking of the death of some neighbour, when another said, that she hoped "they had been and told the bees." In the same neighbourhood I was told a sovereign cure for the goitre was to form the sign of the cross on the neck with the hand of a corpse. M. M. P. THE CAXTON COFFER. The devices of our early English printers are often void of significancy early, or else mere quibbles. In that particular, Caxton set a commendable example. His device is "W.4.7C." The two figures, however, are interlaced, and seem to admit of two interpretations. I must cite, on this question, the famous triumvirate--Ames, Herbert, and Dibdin: "The following mark [above described] I find put at the end of many of his books, _perhaps_ for the date 1474, when he began printing in England, or his sign."--Joseph AMES, 1749. "The following mark [above described] I find put at the end of many of his books, _perhaps_ for the date 1474, when he began printing in England, or his sign."--William HERBERT, 1785. "The figures in the large device [above described] form the _reverse impression_ of 74; meaning, _as it has been stated_, that our printer commenced business in England, in the year 1474: but not much weight can be attached to this remark, as no copy of the _Chess book_, printed in 1474, has yet been discovered which presents us with this device."--T. F. DIBDIN, 1810. In lieu of baseless conjectures, I have here to complain of timidity. There is scarcely room for a doubt on the date. As dom de Vaines observes, with regard to dates, "dans le bas âge on supprimoit le millième et les centaines, commençant aux dixaines." There can be no objection to the interpretation on that score. The main question therefore is, in what order should we read the interlaced figures? Now, the position of the _point_ proves that we should read 74--which is the date of _The game and playe of the chesse_. The figures indicate 1474 as clearly as the letters W. C. indicate William Caxton. What is the just inference, must ever remain a matter of opinion. In the woodcut of _Arsmetrique_, published in the _Myrrour of the worlde_, A.D. 1481, I observe the figures 74 rather conspicuously placed, and perhaps the device was then first adopted. BOLTON CORNEY. Minor Notes.