There are no records of the earliest inventors of andirons or dogs. It is quite clear that small fire-dogs were in use in Rome at an early period; the one illustrated in Fig. 6, measuring 6 3/4 in. in height, of artistic form, two draped figures being the supports of the arch, is in the National Museum in Naples, where there are many other beautiful examples of early Roman metal work. In the seventeenth century some of the more elaborate ornamental cast brass fire-dogs were enriched with black and white or blue and white enamel, several varieties of fireside ornaments being decorated in the same way. Enamel thus applied to metal is exceptionally valuable, as much as two hundred guineas being paid for an enamelled pair of fire-dogs. It is the ordinary forms of cast or wrought dogs with which collectors are mostly familiar, especially those made in the famous Sussex ironfields, such as those shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, which are of early date, the pair illustrated in Fig. 9 being dated 1625, the others probably contemporary. Single examples of similar designs are shown in Fig. 8. The need of the metal furnishings of the hearth--as the chimney places of the smaller manor houses and the dwellings of the traders were being erected--caused an impetus to the trade of the ironfounder and smith, and the founders and smiths of the Sussex villages came to the aid of the builder. There are dated examples from the sixteenth century onwards, recording the periods when these interesting souvenirs of domestic building and the great Sussex ironfields--now deserted--were in operation. Sussex Backs.