Another explanation of the existence of a few watching lofts is sometimes given, besides the need of guarding the Church's treasures. It is held by some that in the face of the deterioration of monastic simplicity and devotion in the later times before the Dissolution in England, the abbots felt the need of keeping a stricter eye upon their community; and these rooms were consequently constructed to enable them to look, unobserved themselves, into their abbey church, and to see that all whose duty called for their presence were there, and properly occupied. This theory is perhaps supported by the traditional name of "the abbot's pew," by which a very simple and substantial watching-chamber in the triforium of Malmesbury Abbey is called. With this may be compared another example in the priory church of S. Bartholomew, Smithfield. In these, and most of the other instances, the watching-chamber is an addition to the original structure, dating often considerably later than the rest. This is quoted by the believers in the rapid spread of monastic depravity in later ages in support of the theory just noticed; as is also the fact, that the "pew" is often near what formerly constituted the abbot's private apartments within the adjoining monastery. It is probable that both explanations are true; some of these lofts forming "abbot's pews," as others certainly were for the guardian watchers of the shrines. In a large community it would certainly be wise for the head to be able at times to survey quietly and unobserved the actions of the rest; but this admission no more implies that the lives of all monks were scandalous, than does the presence of watchers by the shrines prove that all worshippers were thieves. We have noticed in this paper the chief watching-chambers in this country, but no doubt other examples occur which may have special points of interest. Church Chests. By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A. An interesting article of Church furniture which has scarcely received the amount of notice which it deserves, is the Church Chest, the receptacle for the registers and records of the parish, and sometimes also for the office books, vestments, and other valuables belonging to the Church. In recent years attention has frequently been directed to the interesting character of our ancient parochial documents, but the useful cases which for so many years have shielded them, more or less securely, from damage or loss, have been largely overlooked.