The conjecture of Mr. Knight, in his note to _As You Like It_, and to which your correspondent J.M.B. has so instructively drawn our attention, is undoubtedly correct. The "sun-ring" or ring-dial, was probably the watch of our forefathers some thousand years previous to the invention of the modern chronometer, and its history is deserving of more attention than has hitherto been paid to it. Its immense antiquity in Europe is proved by its still existing in the _remotest_ and _least civilised_ districts of North England, Scotland, and the Western Isles, Ireland, and in Scandinavia. I have in my possession _two_ such rings, both of brass. The one, nearly half an inch broad, and two inches in diameter, is from the Swedish island of Gothland, and is of more modern make. It is held by the finger and thumb clasping a small brass ear or handle, to the right of which a slit in the ring extends nearly one-third of the whole length. A small narrow band of brass (about one-fifth of the width) runs along the centre of the ring, and of course covers the slit. This narrow band is movable, and has a hole in one part through which the rays of the sun can fall. On each side of the band (to the right of the handle) letters, which stand for the names of the months, are inscribed on the ring as follows:-- J A S O N D J M A M F J [the letters in the lower row inverted] _Inside_ the ring, opposite to these letters, are the following figures for the hours:-- 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 [the figures in the upper row inverted, the 12 sideways] The small brass band was made movable that the ring-click might be properly _set by the sun_ at stated periods, perhaps once a month. The second sun-ring, which I bought in Stockholm in 1847, also "out of a deal of old iron," is {53} smaller and much broader than the first, and is perhaps a hundred years older; it is also more ornamented. Otherwise its fashion is the same, the only difference being in the arrangement of the inside figures, which are as follows:-- 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 [the figures in the lower row inverted]