294 SNUFF AND SNUFF-BOXES. 



tion of a Ship of War. We engrave one of these boxes, 

 constructed from the famous mulberry wood, soon after 

 the tree was cut down, and 

 before it was so greatly 

 prized. It was made by 

 William Sharpe of Stratford 

 on Avon, who bought the 

 wood, and by oath testified 

 to the genuine character of 

 the works he made ; an oath he again registered on 

 his death-bed. His work is well known by its rude 

 and peculiar character, and the introduction of the 

 mulberry as a decoration, as we see it on the lid of this 

 box, which has been constructed from a portion of the 

 root of the tree, one of its bosses being cut into a 

 medallion of Shakespeare. 



Boxes of China, tortoise-shell, and horn are not 

 considered good for snuff by connoisseurs, as they allow 

 it to become dry too quickly. Horn is the material for 

 the Scottish mull ; but that is an entire horn, well 

 stopped by a cover, almost " plugged " in the opening, 

 and the climate of Scotland is colder and damper than 

 our own. Very neat wooden boxes covered externally 

 with a pattern of various-coloured Tartans and known 

 as "Lawrence-Kirk boxes" were in much favour some 

 few years since. They were remarkable for neatness, 

 cheapness, and the excellence of their joints, which 

 were also of wood. They were invented by one 

 James Sandy, a poor mechanic of Perthshire, who 

 had lost the use of his legs ; but whose long life 



