been concealed in a secret chamber at Fetternear,
Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, an old seat of the Leslys of Balquhane. It
was situated in the wall behind a large bookcase with a glazed
front, a fixture in the room, the back of which could be made
to slide back and give admittance to the recess.

Quite by accident an opening was discovered in a corner cupboard
at an old house near Darlington. Certain alterations were in
progress which necessitated the removal of the shelves, but upon
this being attempted, they descended in some mysterious manner.
The back of the cavity could then be pushed aside (that is to
say, when the secret of its mechanism was discovered), and a
hiding-place opened out to view. It contained some tawdry ornaments
of Highland dress, which at one time, it was conjectured, belonged
to an adherent of Prince Charlie.

The old mansion of Stonyhurst, Lancashire, contained eight
hiding-places. One of them, exactly like that at Fetternear,
was at the back of a bookcase. A secret spring was discovered
which opened a concealed door in the wall. In the space behind,
a quantity of James II. guineas, a bed, a mattress, and a flask
of rum were found. A former student of this famous Jesuit college,
who was instrumental in the discovery of a "priest's hole," has
provided us with the following particulars: "It would be too
long to tell you how I first discovered that in the floor of
my bedroom, in the recess of the huge Elizabethan bay window,
was a trap-door concealed by a thin veneering of oak; suffice
it say that with a companion I devoted a delightful half-holiday
to stripping off the veneering and breaking the lock of the
trap-door. Between my floor and the ceiling of the long gallery
below, was contrived a small room about five feet in height and
the size and shape of the bay window recess. In one corner of
this hiding-hole was what seemed a walled-up doorway, and it
occurred to my companion and myself that we had heard some vague
old tradition that all this part of the house was riddled with
secret passages leading from one concealed chamber to another,
but we did not seek to explore any farther." In pulling down a
portion of the college, a hollow beam was discovered that opened
upon concealed hinges, used formerly for secreting articles of
value or sacred books and vessels; and during some alterations
to the central tower, over the main entrance to the mansion,
a "priest's hole" was found, containing seven horse