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


WHIMSICAL   BOXES.  295

passed  happily  in  the  ingenious  fabrication  of  these
boxes.*

Quaint  forms  are  as  common  to  snuff-boxes  as  to
tobacco-pipes.  One  favourite  in  the  last  century  was
A  Ladies  Shoe  (Fig.  1.),  carved  in  wood  and  inlaid
with  threads  of  silver  to  imitate  ornamental  stitches.
