_Aboriginal Chambers near Tilbury_ (Vol. i., p. 462.).--Mr. Cook, of
Abeley, Essex, having seen this Query, which had been kindly quoted into
_The Athenæum_ of the 25th ultimo, communicated to that journal on
Saturday, June 1st, the following information respecting two of these
caves, the result of a personal examination of them:--
"The shafts are five in number; and are situated at {63} the edge of
Hanging Wood, in the parish of Chadwell, about three miles from Grays
Pier. I descended two of them in 1847, by means of a rope and pulley
fixed to the branch of a neighbouring tree,--taking the precaution to
have a lighted lanthorn swinging a few yards beneath me. They were
between eighty and ninety feet in depth,--their diameter at the top six
feet, gradually diminishing to three feet at the bottom. There was a
great deal of drift sand at the bottom of the shaft, extending a
considerable way up, which nearly blocked up the entrance to the
chambers. By treading down the sand I soon gained an entrance, and
found five chambers communicating with the shaft--three on one side and
two on the other. In form they were nearly semicircular. Their
dimensions were small, not exceeding thirty feet in length by fifteen
in width, but very lofty; they were quite dry and free from foul air.
The chambers in both shafts corresponded exactly with each other in
size, form, and number. I trust this brief account may be of some
service to those gentlemen who intend to explore them, and should be
most happy to afford any assistance in my power."
_Mistake in Conybeare and Howson's Life of St. Paul._--In the splendid and
learned _Life of St. Paul_, now publishing by Messrs. Longmans, there
occurs in a note a broad assertion, but quite erroneous, which may mislead
those who would be inclined to take it without examination, induced by the
general accuracy and learning of the work. At page 35, note 1., the writer
says, "It is remarkable that the Sadducees are mentioned in no other books
of the New Testament, except St. Matthew and the Acts." I mentioned this as
a _fact_ to a friend, who immediately remembered a passage in St. Luke,
chap. xx. v. 27.: "Then came to him certain of the Sadducees," &c. I then
turned out Sadducees in Cruden, and there found only Matthew and Acts
referred to. On looking at the passage of St. Mark parallel to the
abovementioned of St. Luke, I read, "Then came unto him the Sadducees," &c.
(xii. 18.) The note, therefore, should end, "except the first three Gospels
and the Acts."