Excavations At Ostia.

Immaculate Conception ; this last , from the thermse pavements , being an example of the geometric and decorative without figures or other design . Apart from the interest of antiquities severally , there is , in the level uncultured waste , the

serpentine windings of the Tiber between low banks and underwood , the frowning old castle , the fortified but desolate village ( now three miles from the retreating sea ) , the aggregate of ruins strewn over the solitary , memory-haunted coast , at Ostia , a solemn mournfulness ancl strikingly marked

character that impress aud fascinate—disposing for such musings as would require poetic language for their just expression .

Famous Seats.

FAMOUS SEATS .

THE subjective association of people with their accustomed jilaces leads us to look upon various objects with interest which would , perhaps , have little charm for us hut for this relationship . After the houses in which celebrities have lived , and the clothes or trinkets they have worn , we seem , to feel this association of idea in its greatest intensity when we

look upon their vacant seats . Berauger gave expression to this feeling in his " Songs of the People , " when he caused the village crowd to exclaim , as his " old and hoary dame" related her reminiscences of Napoleon ' s visit to her house , —

" Mother , and was that the choir , Mother , wns he seated there ? " As might be expected , we have several chairs and seats preserved as relics of departed celebrities , although their number is not so large as we could wish . A gallery of famous seats would be at once instructive and attractive in the now frequent

exhibitions . "We throw out the hint for the benefit of those concerned in organizing the most recently proposed of these . Applying the theory of development to furniture , the first stage of a seat is a stool ; the second , a chair ; the thirda throne ; the hihesta ied throne

, g , canop raised on a dais . Perhaps , the three-legged stool was the precursor of the four-legged one ; but , whether this was the case , or vice versa , we are never likely to ascertain . We can see , however , how the addition of a back to a stool made it into a chair ; and the further

addition of arms developed it into an ann-ehair ; aud the adoption of a large scale and costly materials exalted it into a throne . We need not trust entirely to the illuminations of Saxon MSS . for information concerning early seats , for we have actual examples . There are Saxon fridstolsor stone seats of peacepreserved at Hexham

, , , Beverley , and Sprothurgh . The last of these three is but little known , but an illustration of it may be seen in a little volume recently published by the Eev . Scott P . Surtees , entitled "Waifs and Strays of North Humber History . " Besides these stone seats we-have an earlwooden chair preserved in Jarrowwhich is

y , said to have been used by the Venerable Bede . This consists of a seat , having three planks , reachiug from the ground to a convenient height , to form the back and sides . The boards forming the sides are sloped away from the front of the seat till they die into the

top of the back . Although there is nothing distinctly indicative of Saxon workmanship about this seat , there is nothing that negatives the assumption of its great antiquity . The Glastonbury chair has a reputation of interest . It was the property of Horace Walpole for some time , and formed one of the attractions among his

curiosities at Strawberry Hill . At the dispersion of those objects at the memorable sale , it was bought by Mr . Smyth Pigott , of Brockley Hall , Somersetshire , for £ 75 . It was again sold in October , 1849 , to Mr . Brackenridge , of Clevedon , this time fetching only £ 49 . The following is the account of it given in the

catalogue of the sale in which it changed hands . " 351 . A very ancient chair of oak wliich came out of Glastonbury Abbey ; on it are carved these sentences : — ' Johannes Arfchurus , Monacus , Glastonie—Salvet enum Dens JDa Pacem Domine , Sit laus Deo . ' This chair , from its authenticity , shape , and extreme comfort , has been repeatedly copied , particularly for the late Earl Batlmrst . It belonged to Sir Robert AValpole ,.

and was purchased by Mr . Pigott , at Strawberry Hill sale . " Another famous seat is preserved at Dunmow , an illustration of which is given by Dr . Chambers in " The Book of Days . " It is used iu the ceremoniesattending the award of the Hitch of bacon to contended couples . At Bedford , in the vestry of the new Bajitist

chapel , erected on the site of the " old meeting , " is preserved a chair for the sake of its owner , John Banyan , the enrapt writer of the " Pilgrim's Progress . " This is illustrated in " Pilgrimages to English Shrines , " by Mrs . S . G . Hall . The coronation chair in Westminster Abbey , in its intimate association with our successive kines and o

_ _ _ _ queens , may be called the seat of honour . The Woolsack is another famous seat ; although , perhaps , not available for the exhibition we have suggested . Ducking-stools would be , however , a curious branch of the subject . These were terrible realities iu their day ; and our museums possess several forms of them . As a contrast to the scoldingscreaming damesand

, , the noisy scene of the execution of the ducking sentence , it is composing to remember that some famous seats have had a reputation only , but no existence ; Miss Eliza Cook ' s " Old Arm-chair" being a case in point . Where , for instance , could our collectors look for the " seat of the scorners , " or the

" stool of repentance ? " And that others have had both reputation ancl existence , but the former only survives , as in Canute's chair , from which he bade the waves retire . Sedan-chairs would be a further appropriate variety . The chairing of members of Parliament is intended , perhaps , has a simple honour

only ; but it is interesting to trace the observance of a similar mode of showing respect to Eome , where the Pope is always carried on men's shoulders in a gorgeous chair , ou ceremonious occasions ; and to take the two facts together , and see an adaptation of a rare custom to every-day convenience in the

sedanchair . To be invited to take the chair , and be the chairman at a public meeting , is another ^ forin of the same intention to pay respect . We leave the suggestion of collecting all our identifiable and historical chairs that are available for the purpose into one groupwith a catalogue of a few

, scattered curiosities not available : —The Queen ' s Bench , London ; King Arthur ' s Seat , Edinburgh ; Cader Idris , North Wales ; the civic chair ; and a country-seat . Builder .