_Early Visitations_ (Vol. iv., p. 8.).--Your remark that Mr. Noble's statements "are extremely loose" is, generally speaking, very just; although in the particular instance referred to there is some foundation for his statement, as in the 12th Henry VI. commissions were issued into the several counties, not merely to collect the names of the gentry, but to administer an oath to the gentry and others for conservation of the peace and observance of the laws. The returns containing the names of the parties sworn in all the counties (except twelve) are printed by Fuller in his _Worthies_ from records in the Tower, which are probably yet extant. See _Rotuli Parliamentorum_, iv. 455.; v. 434.; Fuller's _Worthies of England_, chap. xiv.; Grimaldi's _Origines Genealogicæ_, 68, 69. I do not understand that all the parties who were sworn were accounted gentlemen, although Dr. Fuller's and Mr. Grimaldi's impressions on this point appear to have been similar to Mr. Noble's. C. H. COOPER. Cambridge, July 5. 1851. _Rifles_ (Vol. iii., p. 517.).--I am neither Mr. Gordon Cumming, nor an officer of the Rifle Brigade; nevertheless, I have seen much of rifles and rifle-firing; and I think I can assure your correspondent A. C. that "_We_ make the best rifles" is rather an assumption. That the Americans make most excellent ones, there can be no doubt; but I question whether they ever turned out a rifle which, either for finish or performance, would bear comparison with those made by Purdey, Lancaster, and others. As an example of what an English rifle will do, I subjoin the performance[4] of one made by Beattie of Regent Street on Minie's principle for an officer in the artillery now going out to the Cape. At _one thousand_ measured yards, sixteen balls out of thirty were put into the target; and at four hundred yards, balls were driven through four regulation targets, each of two inch oak, placed six inches apart from one another; and into the earthen mound behind them ten or twelve inches. If the Americans can beat that, either for precision or force, they may claim to make the best rifles. [Footnote 4: In Woolwich Marshes.] E. N. W. Southwark, June 30. 1851. Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC. _A Glossary of Terms used for Articles of British Dress and Armour, by the Rev. John Williams (ab Ithel)_, classifies alphabetically the several names which our British forefathers applied to the different portions of their garments and military weapons, and supplies the reader with their English synonymes; and, in the majority of cases, cites corroborative passages from documents in which the original terms occur. Its value to the antiquaries of the Principality is sufficiently obvious; and as Celtic elements may still be traced in our language, it will clearly be found of equal utility to their English brethren.