painted or unpainted is almost always the best material for a pulpit. Stone and marble are too cold, and do not furnish a church well. And, under ordinary circumstances, a church cannot afford to have its furniture sacrificed.

SECTION VI.

OF THE LITANY DESK.

THE small desk for the Litany to be said from, generally miscalled the Faldstool, is now usually placed facing east between the pews, near the east end of the central alley. But when first introduced it seems to have stood in the middle of the chancel. The present position is a very good one, and should be retained; but as it is sometimes desirable to have the alley unobstructed, the litany desk should be movable. In large churches it should be made long enough to accommodate two clergy.

1 Faldstool-French, fauteuil; late Latin, faldistorium=sella_plicatilis (Du Cange)—really means a folding stool or shut-up chair. It is the sella curulis of the Roman magistrates, which continued to be the chair of state, both ecclesiastical and secular, all through the Middle Ages (compare Siége pliant in Tartuffe, Act II. Scene III.) The so-called throne of Dagobert is a well-known example. In Winchester Cathedral may still be seen the faldstool, said to have been used by Queen Mary on the occasion of her marriage with Philip of Spain. Considering that both the words which make up faldstool are still current English, the mistake as to its meaning is curious, but it appears to be as old as the seventeenth century.

SECTION VII.

OF SCREENS.

IT is not necessary for me to show at length that in all places and at all times, until the present day, it has been customary to separate, by some sort of barrier, the sanctuary from the part of the church allotted to the congregation. It has been already proved by others beyond all doubt, and will scarcely now be disputed. The primary use of these barriers is of course to protect the altar and its surroundings from profanation. And little though it be to the credit of our boasted toleration and civilisation, the necessity for a good stout fence has not altogether passed away.

On practical grounds these screens should be retained. They are aesthetically valuable on account of the quality of what is called mystery which they introduce. The artistic use of this perfectly legitimate element in architectural composition seems to be understood by comparatively few of our modern church architects; although, from the accident of their commonly following mediæval plans, it is rarely altogether absent from their buildings. Mystery is more easily understood than

defined. It is the not showing of everything at once, the leaving of something to the imagination of the spectator. It was the absence of it which Pope condemned when he said of Timon's garden

"On ev'ry side you look behold the wall!

No pleasing intricacies intervene,

No artful wildness to perplex the scene.

In a church, mystery may be obtained both by the disposition of parts and the arrangement of the furniture; and by its judicious use, not only the apparent size, but the dignity and solemnity of the building may be greatly increased. Our ancient minsters owe their religious aspect far more to this than to the dim religious light which is as often as not imaginary. The effect obtained by concealed skylights, and such like theatrical tricks, is of a different order, and is to be altogether condemned. Real art is not to tell lies, but to reserve the truth till the proper moment for speaking it.

Practically, a stone or marble wall is a sufficient screen, if it be high enough on the outside, which, if properly managed, it easily may be without unduly cutting off the chancel from the nave. But, for architectural effect, high screens, as used in the Middle Ages, are much to be preferred. It is a great mistake to suppose that a high rood-screen necessarily cuts a church in two, and detracts from the importance of the altar. Some certainly do so, but the fault is with the design of the screens, not with their height-very often it is that the screen is not high enough. Well managed, it adds very much to the

1 Epistle to the Earl of Burlington, "Of the use of Riches," ll. 114-116.

apparent size of the building, and, moreover, it forms a very valuable link in the gradual concentration of interest upon the altar.

For about four feet from the ground á rood-screen should be unpierced, partly because open work here generally gives the whole a flimsy appearance; but more especially because it forms the back of the returned stalls, of which more will be said in the proper place. Above this the screen should go up with mullions and tracery until stopped by the cornice or loft, as the case may be. It is important that this light part of the screen should be so high, that from the nave the altar and its ornaments for some distance upwards should be visible through it. If this be the case, the size of the crowning member will not bring about any apparent blocking out of the chancel. Indeed, it is possible that the addition of a heavy cornice, or even of a parapeted loft, may actually increase the transparency of a screen.

The rood-screen should be surmounted by a large cross or rood, not the tree of infamy, but the glorified standard of the Church. The cross must be environed with a halo of tracery and carving, and the figure, if there be one, should express majesty, power, and beneficence, not suffering and death. If it be preferred, the crucifix may be idealised, and, instead of a human figure, a medallion, with a lamb, may be placed at the intersection of the cross. Other images may, or may not, be

1 Nearly all modern crucifixes represent our Lord as dead, and wounded in the side. This, which I cannot but regard as an erroneous custom, seems only to date from the fifteenth century.