order to shoot it. This bolt, which is taken from M. Liger's work, so closely resembles the next one to be described, that if he had been a less careful writer one might suppose that it was the same lock, and that he had omitted to represent the spring which alone constitutes the improvement shown in figs. 3C, 4C, and 5C, Plate IV., which was presented to me by Dr. Engelhardt, at Copenhagen. It is still in use on barn and outhouse doors in Norway, and was first brought to notice by Professor O. Rygh, of Christiania. The key, which is of the same form as the last, enters the slit in the same manner, and after receiving the quarter turn is pressed home into the holes on the inside surface of the bolt like the last. In so doing, when firmly pulled back, it presses down a straight flat steel spring, the fixed end of which is attached to the door between it and the bolt, and the free end of which, when released, catches in a notch in the bolt so as to keep it securely in its place when shut. When the free end of this spring is pressed down by the returns of the key, it clears the edges of the notch, and the bolt can then be drawn back by pressing the key sideways. Both these specimens are therefore key-drawn as in Class B. Assuming this modern Norwegian lock to be a survival of an ancient form, one might naturally expect that the wooden portions of the ancient locks would have perished. The springs, which are the only metallic portions of this lock, would certainly become detached from the wood; their uses, when discovered separately, would not be recognised, and nothing to identify the mechanism with a door fastening would remain but the iron keys.

We must therefore judge of the distribution of this class of lock by the localities in which keys of this form are found. They are of two kinds, one T-shaped as in the preceding examples, and the other, serving the same purpose, but having the two teeth on one side of the shank; both are found together mainly in northern countries, which have been subject to Scandinavian influence. Notwithstanding which, however, the evidence is insufficient to establish the fact of their being of Scandinavian origin. They appear certainly to have been used in Roman times in England and elsewhere, and the influence of southern civilization upon the Scandinavian arts of the iron age is well established. It is always necessary to be on one's guard against inferring that forms originated of necessity in the regions in which they are most widely distributed, for, as we have seen, and have reason to believe, the wooden Scotch lock was carried to the West Indies and used by negroes on account of the facility with which it was constructed and the materials of which it was composed, so in all ages the more simple forms of contrivances must have found acceptance and survived longer on the outskirts of civilization than in those countries in which they were quickly superseded by new improvements.

Figs. 6C, and 7C, Plate IV., are iron keys of these two kinds obtained by me at Clermont-Ferrand, in Auvergne, France. Figs. 8C, and 9C, Plate IV., are two similar specimens from Colchester, which are figured in Wright's 'Uriconium,' where he supposes them to be latch keys, and he says that two similar ones were found at Wroxeter.[21] Fig. 10C, Plate IV., another in my collection from Jordan Hill, near Weymouth. Fig. 11C, Plate IV., was discovered in a Roman building at Caudebec-les-Elbeuf, by the Abbé Cochet, in 1864,[22] together with an iron lock plate, fig. 12C, Plate IV., showing the slit through which the key entered, and which is similar to the modern Scandinavian specimen above described. Figs. 13C, and 14C, Plate IV., are two similar specimens discovered in a Roman villa at Hartlip, in Kent, and are taken from Roach Smith's 'Collectanea.'[23] Figs. 15C, 16C, and 17C, Plate IV., are similar keys found in Anglo-Saxon graves at Sarr, in Kent, where the presence of these keys on the left side of the skeleton usually denoted a female grave.[24] A similar occurrence of keys in the graves of females has been noticed in the Island of Björkö. According to an old Scandinavian custom they were the badges of the lady of the house, who was said to be married to lock and keys, and from certain law texts of the Middle Ages, it appears that two of them were suspended from the girdle.[25] Keys of this shape of both bronze and iron were found at Sarr, corroded together. It is worthy of remark that in these Saxon graves some fragments of Roman pottery were found, pointing to the influence of the earlier Roman period. Fig. 18C, Plate IV., is a bronze key from Gotland, and is taken from Mr. Montelius's 'Antiquités Suédoises,'[26] where it is described as being of the late iron age, perhaps as late as the 10th century. Figs. 19C, and 20C, Plate IV., are from Björkö, in the Gulf of Bothnia, found in association with relics of the 8th century of our era.

Whether or not the lock which has been described in the preceding paragraph was the origin of the spring padlock, constructed entirely of metal, may perhaps be doubtful; but it is evident that the principle of its construction was the same. In both systems the bolt was secured by the end of a spring catch. It is only necessary to transfer the fixed end of the spring from the door to the bolt, and the notch from the bolt to the door, to make it resemble the spring catch of the Roman padlock about to be described.

The Roman iron padlock and key represented in figs. 21C to 22C, Plate V., which is put together from specimens in my collection obtained partly from Jordan Hill, near Weymouth, and other sources, consisted of a square box, having a bar, d, on the top, and parallel to it, which was attached to one end of the box by means of a curved portion. The bolt a was provided with two perpendicular bars, b b, at the end of which were rings, c c, which slipped on to the parallel bar d. At the end of the bolt were two or more catch springs, e, put on like the barbs of an arrow. These, being placed into the hole of the tube f, at the same time that the rings were slipped along the bar, collapsed and sprung open again, after having passed the opening, thereby fixing the bolt in the tube. To open the lock, a pin or key, g, having a return at the end, in which was a slit made to fit the springs, was pressed in at