Ancient Rings.

open and clasp each other . There is also another variety , which consists of rings with three hoops , opening on a pivot , and disclosing under the bands two hearts . Strange as it may seem , the Jews did not adopt the wedding ring until after they saw it in general use with other nations . Several of the Jewish wedding rings are in the collection . Some are curiously ornamented with filigree and enamel ;

and they all have the inscription , in Hebrew , MAZTO TOUR , " God be with you . " These rings are made for the use of the synagogue , where they serve in the celebration of the marriage ceremony , being placed on the finger of the couple at a certain part of the rite . During the middle ages many stones wore worn in rings and highly esteemed for the talismanic and medicinal

proherties aud virtues which they were held to possess . The ruby , the emerald , the heliotrope , and others were much esteemed . The turqoise was likewise valued , and it will be membered that Shylock prized his " turkoyse" beyond a " wilderness of monkeys . " The toadstone or crapaudine , which is in reality a fossil , but which , for many ages , was believed to be engendered in the head of a

toadand hence its name—was much worn . Rings set with crapaudines constantly occur in old inventories . A ring made of the hoof of an ass was held to be good against epilepsy . Resuming again the chronological order of the rings from the thirteenth century , there appear some rude bronze rings set with glass , found in a stone coffin in the neighbourhood of Oxford , and some very beautiful

examples of the fourteenth century . These are followed by some silver rings with nielloed portraits , which are of rare occurrence ; and a series of rings of the Renaissance . It is somewhat difficult to meet with rings of this period , with the ori ginal stones in them . The settings are exceedingly elegant , and frequently display a graceful combination and adaptation of classical figures for the

shoulders of the hoop . Several marvellous rings of the Renaissance , the work of Benvenuto Cellini , are , or were , at least in 1858 , preserved in the Gabinetto dolle Gemme , in the Uffizij at Florence . Amongst the miscellaneous rings of this date may be enumerated a leaden ring , with the heads of the Emperor Charles V . and his empress , which is made to serve as a

whistle ; and also a curious copper ring , with the head of Medusa , which can be used as a squirt . Then there come some memento or mourning rings , with death ' s heads , such as were often bequeathed by will in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries . Finally , there are two shelves of miscellaneous rings , consisting of Indian , and Caffre , and others , which

require no observations . In preparing this brief sketch , the remai-ks have been arranged as much as possible to suit the order in which the rings are placed in the case . Several of the rings show the early use of niello ; one of Late Roman work is ornamented with it , as also two of Byzantine make . Then there is the Anglo-Saxon ring of Alhstan ; and the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries present numerous other examples .

Architectoral Review Of The Year.

ARCHITECTORAL REVIEW OF THE YEAR .

The following is from the Introductory Address delivered at the Institute of British Architects , hy W . lite , Esq ., F . R . S ., & c , President . Gentlemen , —In obedience to what has now become our regular custom , it is my duty as your President to address you on this our first meeting for the session of 1862-63 . And I have the more pleasure in doing so , because I think the Institute has never exhibited so satisfactory whether

an appearance , we regard its influence in society and in the scientiBc world , the increasing number of its members , or the prosperous state of our funds . ¦ Nothwithstanding , however , this satisfactory condition of our affairs , the events which I shall have to bring under your

consideration must ho prefaced by a notice of the melancholy bereavement the nation generally , and the Institute of Architects particularly , have to deplore in the premature death of one of our distinguished patrons , in the person of the Prince Consort . At the time that event happened , we offered to her Gracious Majesty the Queen our humble but affectionate condolence ; but I must still be permitted to add a few words on this melancholy subject .

His Royal Highness the Prince Consort earned , in the course of his short but eminently useful career , the gratitude and esteem of all who are directly or indirectly connected with the development of a taste for the fine arts in our fatherland . It is not for us , feeling bitterly as we still do the loss of a hind patron , and an earnest lover of our profession , to inquire curiously into tbe peculiar tastes , or the a ? sthetieal theories adopted hy his late Royal Hihness in matters connected with

g architecture ; because , emphatically , these are questions beyond the reach of abstract reasoning , and because the manner of their solution depends greatly upon the early associations which modify the faculties to be brought into action in our perceptions of the good , the beautiful , and the true . We may , then , entertain individually opinions with regard to objects of art different from those which guided the late Prince in his preference for certain architectural forms ; but after every allowance has been

made on this score , the conviction must remain that his Royal Highness actually did more to promote the love of pure art , for art's sake , than any of his prececessors iu the positions which enable men to modify the modes of thought of their contemporaries . On occasions of the public expression of regret for the loss of one so good and great , it is , perhaps , undesirable to suggest comparisons of any description , because they are apt to

disturb the unanimity of feeling it is so desirable to retain ; hut I cannot refrain from remarking that one of the characteristics of the action of his late Eoyal Highness in his patronage of art always seemed to me to he especially worthy of admiration ; namely , his respect for personal character and independence of . judgment on the part of those whom he delighted to honour . He loved art for art's sake ; not for the sake of imposing his own views and opinions on its external manifestations . His loss has been indeed a heavy blow to English art in all its branches .

Our estimation of tbe good he has clone , and the best proof of our regret for his premature removal from amongst us , would be , I humbly think , most satisfactorily shown by our endeavouring to carry forward , so far as lies in our power , the task he set to himself , namely , that of improving the tone and of diffusing the love for art . So he laboured ; and so shall we most effectuall y retain bis spirit , and advance his work ! The next important event to which I propose to call your

attention is the one the departed Prince had himself zealously laboured to prepare during his lifetime , and which will always be connected with his name in the nation ' s recollections ; I mean the Great International Exhibition . Properly understood , and properly managed , these periodical gatherings of the products of art and manufacture from all quarters of the globe must be the most efficient means of advancing the attainment cf that " peace on earth and goodwill toward men , " which we believe

to be the end of all social organisation ; and though the bright visions men began to indulge upon the occasion of the inauguration of the first great gathering of this description have been rudely shaken by the sad events now taking place in America , it is still morally certain that the more nations learn to appreciate one another ' s merits and powers , the less likely are misunderstandings to arise amongst them . As to the building erected for the of this Exhibition

purposes , it will be most becoming for architects to observe silence on the subject of its artistic qualities ; but we certainly may record our protest against its being in any wise considered as a representative of the architectural taste of our age and times . It was unfortunate that a gentleman whose studies and pursuits had not been of a nature to develope the artistic faculties required for the successful cultivation of our profession , should

have been selected to design and execute a structure necessarily intended to illustrate before the assembled nations the actual state of art amongst Englishmen . The very merits of the construction do but point the moral of this objection , because they are of a nature to indicate that its author had solely directed his attention to the scientific and technical details of the problem submitted to him , without being able to grasp its a ; sthetical or moral signification . We thus find that the goods are exhibited in a shed , tolerably well lighted ; the pictures and sculptures are also placed in rooms where they can be seen , speaking gene-