12 S. VIII. MARCH 19, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 235 Serjeant Ballantine in his ' Experiences animadverts with some plainness thereon The excitement attendant on the trial hac been heightened by contemporary failure of the Western Bank of Scotland, and o -other banks in Liverpool, Northumberlanc Durham, and at Wolverhampton occasioning suspension of the Bank Charte Act of 1844. W. B. H. 52ND REGIMENT OF FOOT (12 S. viii. 191) It appears from Capt. Moorsom's History of the 52nd that they returned home frorr America at the end of 1778. In 1779 they were stationed in ** South Britain," in 1780 they were encamped at Dartford, and in 1781 they were encamped at Bye. 1782 they went to India. H. J. B. CLEMENTS. In reply to E. G. T-'s query in your issue of the 5th, the 52nd was not quartered in Surrey in 1781-82. In 1781 the 52nd were in Kent, at Dartford, Rye, and camps in neighbourhood. In 17 82 at Chatham. During these- years they had Recruiting parties out
- all over England, and possibly in Surrey.
In "February, 1783, the regiment went to ilndia. E. T. C. B. PAUL MARNY (12 S. viii. 88, 136). His ^designs at the Sevres China works were much appreciated by the Emperor Napo- leon III., who selected him to undertake sets for presentation to the Emperor of Russia, Emperor of Brazil, and the King of Prussia '(first German Emperor of the Hohenzollern family). This was, of course, before the Franco -German war. Marny's Sevres sets still fetch good prices at Paris auction-rooms, = and specimens of his skill in that branch of art are to be found in many country mansions in France. ANDREW DE TERNANT. CULBIN SANDS (12 S. viii. 190). This tract, extending to nearly 10,000 acres, is reputed to have Ireen once the very garden of Moray, and, according to Boece, was buried in sand so long ago as A.D. 1100. Part of it, however, -consisting of the barony of Culbin, continued in cultivation until it 'also was overwhelmed in 1670-95. An
- account of this calamity is given in Cham-
bers' s ' Domestic Annals of Scotland,' vol.. iii pp. 119, 120. In 1875 Mr. Hercules Linton Dundee visited the place in order to /examine some shell mounds or kitchen middens, and discovered the first relics of 'human occupation in the shape of manu- factured articles of bone, flint, bronze, iron, &c. -A;paper which he read on the subject is printed in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. xii. pp. 543 546. A paper by Mr. Allan Mathewson upon the age of the settlements on Culbin will be found in vol. xiii. pp. 302-305, and pp. numerous other papers dealing with the vast number of artifacts subsequently exhumed from these sandhills have been published in the later volumes of the Proceedings of the said Society. HERBERT MAXWELL. Monreith. The old barony of Culbin has been entirely obliterated owing to the sands of the shore having overwhelmed this once fertile tract of land. "I have wandered for hours," says Hugh Miller in his ' Sketch Book of Popular Geology,' 1869, p. 13, " amid the sand- wastes of this ruined barony, and seen only a few stunted bushes of broom, and a few scattered tufts of withered bent, occupying, amid utter barrenness, the place of what, in the middle of the seventeenth century, had been the richest fields of the rich province of Moray ; and, where the winds had hollowed out the sand, I have detected, uncovered for a few yards breadth, portions of the buried furrows sorely dried into the consistence of sun-burned Drick." An account of Alexander Kinnaird's petition to Parliament for exemption from
- he payment of Cess for his lands, two-
irds of which were then covered with sand, will be found in Chambers' s ' Domestic Aimals of Scotland,' vol. iii. p. 119. ARCHIBALD SPARKE. ARMY BADGES (12 S. viii. 170). I have abstracted the following information from various sources, and trust that it will be ome little service to your correspondent. Chevrons for N.C.O.'s were first intro- duced by G. O. of July, 1802. Stars and crowns for commissioned officers have been in general use since 1855, when epaulettes were abolished in the army. Previously ranks were indicated as follows : Field officer, two epaulettes ; captain, one epaulette (right shoulder) ; subaltern, one epaulette (left shoulder). In addition the following badges were worn on each shoulder strap : colonel, crown and star ; lieutenant-colonel, crown ; major, star (by G. O. of Dec. 24, 1811). A chevron is one of the heraldic devices called " Ordinaries," and its military use is derived from heraldry. Probably the chev- rons of the City Marshal are taken from some heraldic device. The star worn in the army as a badge of rank resembles the star of the military Order of the Bath, which has three golden crowns
