The first of these archæological rarities is a pair of Snuffers,
found in Dorsetshire sixty-four years since, and engraved in Hutchins's
history of that county. They were discovered, says the historian,
"in the year 1768, in digging the foundation of a granary, at the
foot of a hill adjoining to Corton mansion house (formerly the seat
of the respectable family of the Mohuns), in the parish of St. Peter,
Portisham. They are of brass, and weigh six ounces: the great difference
between these and the modern utensils of the same nature and use is,
that these are in shape like a heart fluted, and consequently terminate
in a point. They consist of two equal lateral cavities, by the edges of
which the snuff is cut off, and received into the cavities, from which
it is not got out without particular application and trouble."
"There are two circumstances attending this little utensil which seem to
bespeak it of considerable age: the roughness of the workmanship, which
is in all respects as crude and course as can be well imagined, and the
awkwardness of the form."
So little is known of the comparatively recent introduction of snuffers
into this country, that the above illustration will be acceptable to the
observer of domestic origins and antiquities. See also _Mirror_, vol.
xi. p. 74.
The KEY, annexed, was the property of Mr. Gough, the eminent
topographer, and is supposed to have been used as a passport by some of
the family of Stawel, whose arms it bears.
* * * * *