116 Inspection of Curiosities at the Institute. 



beauty, the foreign marbles to have a superiority; 

 yet those at home being Irish, and equally use- 

 ful, ought to secure them a preference. 



Here we were also shown a most singular 

 model of a circular building, not long ago dis- 

 covered in the county of Kerry ; and I think 

 I understood that a second had also been found 

 in another quarter. Though somewhat differ- 

 ently constructed, it has much the appearance 

 of a theatre. The seats, instead of being car- 

 ried entirely round the building, are placed 

 singly in diagonal lines, appearing like so many 

 separate staircases, internally surrounding the 

 whole building. There is but one entrance into 

 the circus, which is at the bottom or ground 

 floor of the model. This door-way by some has 

 been offered as an argument against the design 

 being intended for a theatre ; and the com- 

 paratively few who could have had the accomo- 

 dation of seats seems to corroborate this opi- 

 nion : the model, however, does not enable us 

 to form any reasonable conjecture, whether the 

 entrance to the audience might not have been 

 from the top. From its recent discovery, I 

 should presume it must have been found at 

 some depth hidden in the earth. 



The Institute has an allowance of eight thou- 



