WITH NOTES. 501 



ten millions of times, beyond the 

 knowledge of the Smith that made 

 it, or of me who invented it. 



2. If a ftranger open it, it fetteth 

 an Alarm a-going, which the ftranger 

 cannot ftop from running out ; and 

 befides, though none fhould be with 

 in hearing, yet it catcheth his hand, 

 as a Trap doth a Fox ; and though 

 far from maiming him, yet it leaveth 

 fuch a mark behind it, as will dif- 

 cover him if fufpefted ; the Efco- 

 cheon 9 or 1 Lock plainly {hewing 

 what monies 2 he hath taken out of 

 the Box to a farthing, and how 

 many times opened fince the owner 

 hath been in 3 it. 



9 Scuchion. MS. escutcheon. P. * or the. 2 money. P. 



3 at it. MS. and P. 



[An Escocheonfor all Locks.&quot;] Stow, in his Annals 

 of Queen Elizabeth, has particularly distinguished Mark 

 Sealiot as a clever blacksmith ; and Dr. Eobert Plot, in 

 his &quot; Natural History of Staffordshire,&quot; 1684, especially 

 notices the elaborate, ingenious, and expensive locks 

 made by several eminent Staffordshire locksmiths. He 

 observes : u The greatest excellency of the blacksmith s 

 profession, that I could hear of in this county, lies 

 in their making locks.&quot; He then explains at large a 

 certain kind of locks with a master s key, and inferior 

 keys for the servants ; and supposing any servant to trifle 

 with such locks, the master or mistress can &quot; certainly 



