An Architectural Puzzle.

the Scandinavian antiquary to M . Didron , in 1861 , hardly seemed to Mr . Hills to be borne out by his published works . Passing on to France , where the evidence seemed wholly negative as to the survival of any fragment or trace of the pots put up by Ode le Roy , in the church of the Celestins , at Metz , Mr . Hills said it was in April , 1842 , at the church of St . Blaize , at Aries , that the first modern French discovery of earthenware pots built into the walls was

found . Of this a detailed description was given , after M . Didron , who called the pots found " cornets" of baked earth , and . " pots acoustiques . " They were shaped quite like the horns sounded by French herdsmen . The Abbe Cochet ' s experience of acoustic vases in the churches of Alvimare , Mont Aux Malades , Peruel , ancl Contremoulins , were next spoken of , reference beingmade to his work" Les Eglises de l'Arrondissement cle Tvetot" first

pub-, , lished in 1852 . The same author afterwards described like discoveries in the old church of St . Laurent en Caux , Canton Dondeville , ancl two other churches . Besides these , the so-called acoustic pottery had been found at Aberbrach , in Brittany , St . Martin , Angers , ancl Clisson . In Switzerland it was commonl y said that numerous examples of acoustic pottery in walls were known . A few

particulars were cited from Mr . Albert Way , F . S . A ., ancl Dr . Keller , President of the Society of Antiquaries at Geneva . Crossing over from the Continent , Mr . Hills found one Irish ancl a few English instances , on all of which he dwelt . The Irish discovery was at the fine old collegiate church of St . Mary ' s , Toughal . The English finds of pottery built into church walls were next spoken of in order , from the earliest at Fairwell , in Staffordshire , in 1771 ,

to the latest , in 1878 , at Leeds Church , near Maidstone . This last Mr . Hills elaborately described from personal examination of the site and all the architectural features and facts . Intermediate examples were the churches of St . Nicholas , Ipswich , where the discovery was made in the course of repairs going on about 1848-9 ; St . Peter , Mancroft , Norwich , in 1852 ; Fountains Abbey , Yorkshire , , in 1854 ; St . Peter , Mountergate , Norwich , in 1860 ; St .

Olave , Chichester , in 1851 ; Upton , near Southwell , Notts , in 1863 ; Denford , Northamptonshire , in 1864 ; St . Clement , Sandwich , Kent , in 1869 ; East Harling , Norfolk , in 1872 . In conclusion , Mr . Hills spoke as to the purpose of the embedded jars , reviewing the evidence for and against the acoustic theory , but inclining to agree , on the whole , with M . " Didron , who deemed such an acoustic device quite childish , if not with the Metz chronicler ' s derisive judgment , " Ecce risu digna ! "

The Sunderland And Hamilton-Beckford Libraries.

THE SUNDERLAND AND HAMILTON-BECKFORD LIBRARIES .

TT may be a question whether the dispersion of great libraries is good J- or bad , wise or unwise in itself ; but there can be no doubt whatever , we think , that the general science of Bibliography is thereby advanced and developed in wondrous measure . In the Freemason allusion has been made to the sale of the first portion of

the famous Sunderland Library , and a brief abstract ancl epitome of this second sale , which promises , for various reasons , to rival the first , may not be unacceptable to the readers of the Magazine , which we have put together