ROBERT POCOCK. 7 



office 2 links the ' Lap-eared' Club, about 20 couple 

 2 links the minister, clerk, and undertaker 2 links 

 the body, with six pall-bearers and five couple of 

 mourners, closed the rear. Many hundreds of people 

 attended the funeral the music played very solemnly 

 going to the interment ; after which the bells rung a 

 dumb peal." 



Pocock was fond of the dissemination of learning, 

 and impressed with the absence of elementary works, he 

 at an early period turned his attention to the more easy 

 instruction of children in the rudiments of spelling 

 and reading. Perhaps one of the most useful of his 

 efforts, was the publication of the children's books, 

 " Reading made Easy/' which he published under the 

 titles of " The Child's First Book ; or, Eeading made 

 Easy/' and "The Child's Second Book; being a further 

 Improvement in Learning." These publications speedily 

 superseded the ancient horn books, of one of which 

 (discovered on pulling down an old house at Newbury) 

 a recent correspondent of " Notes and Queries " gave 

 the following account : 



" It consists of a page of letter-press which measures 

 2J x 2J inches, mounted on a piece of oak of slightly 

 larger size, the lower end of which is shaped as a handle. 

 It is covered with a sheet of transparent horn, which 

 is kept in its place by means of narrow strips of 

 thin brass, fastened with small nails. The letter- 

 press, which is surrounded by an ornamental border, 

 consists of the alphabet, preceded by a + , first in small 

 letters and then in Roman capitals. Next are, on one 

 side of the middle line, the vowels alone, followed by 

 the vowels with the consonants, b, c, d ; on the other 

 side the same reversed. Following, is, first, ' In the 

 name of the Father/ &c., and lastly, the Lord's Prayer. 



