that in olden time, still perpetuated by its name, there was sanctuary just outside the Abbey of Westminster, the right being retained even after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540. There were similar places of refuge for criminals at the Minories, Whitefriars, and the old Mint in Southwark. The Durham knocker, around which some interest centres, was in the form of an animal's head, in which are now two empty eye-sockets, behind which it is said lights were placed, although it is probable that they may have been filled with crystal balls. The brass lion knocker of Brazenose College, Oxford, has won some notoriety, and has been much copied. The legends regarding its ancient association with the College, and the migration of the students to Stamford in 1334, and the subsequent return of the knocker to Oxford after it had been in other hands for many years, vary, and are not altogether borne out by proven facts. The brass-nosed knocker does not appear to have given the name to the College, notwithstanding the very generally accepted belief. Indeed, according to several authorities the name originated in the words _bracinum_, malt, and _house_, a brew-house having been incorporated in the older buildings. The old knocker, however, is still regarded as historic. Few collectors of old copper and brass can hope to possess such historical relics, nor yet are they likely to secure any of the massive knockers, some of which are to be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington. They can, however, readily obtain brass knockers dating from the reign of Queen Anne, and especially the ornate knockers of Georgian times, many of them bearing traces of the Adams' style and of Chippendale influence. Some knockers are peculiar in that the design is not always apparent. In Fig. 16 is shown a fine knocker of the much favoured armorial style, and in Fig. 17 is given a drop knocker in the form of a dolphin. Some of the knockers, repeated in great numbers in certain districts, are essentially local, such as a hook and worm pattern, which took its origin in a Sussex village. It was the invention of a local smith, an admirer of Izaac Walton, who it is said frequently passed his smithy door on his way to a fishing stream. Technically described by a fisherman, this knocker is said to be "a lobworm of buxom proportions dangling from a hook." There are others, equally interesting examples, to be met with in out-of-the-way places. One of the advantages of collecting these common objects in brass and other metals is that they can still be made to serve a useful purpose on room doors, although the rat-tat of the larger specimens is sometimes startling. "Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigued, I said; Tie up the _knocker_; say I'm sick, I'm dead." Pope. Interior Metal-Work.