It is usual, both

added, according to circumstances. here and in other places, for the crucifix to be accompanied by figures of Our Lady and St John. This is, however, not compulsory, nor is it always desirable. Where the low screen (only the height of the stall backs) is used, the rood should be placed on a beam crossing the church near the east end of the nave.' The same may sometimes be done, with good effect, even where the screen is high. This beam need not be exactly over the screen. At Newark church, where the fine late fifteenth-century screen and loft still remain, the roodbeam was placed westward of them by the whole width of the transept. In designing a rood-beam of this sort, care should be taken to prevent its appearing top-heavy.

The gates, both of the western and side screens, should be provided with locks, and kept fastened between the services. It will generally be found best for the gates to open inwards.

Under ordinary circumstances no material equals wood for screens. It is at once light and substantial, both in appearance and in reality. It is equally adapted for simple and for elaborate treatment, and, above all, it is most suitable for coloured enrichment. Stone or metal, separately or combined, may, however, sometimes

1 At Winterton church, near Brigg, in Lincolnshire, there seems to have been a screen about four feet high set in the middle of the chancel arch. In the chancel walls just east of the arch remain the two corbels which carried the beam. All the wood-work has gone. I know of no remaining instance of a similar arrangement which makes me hesitate about its existence here, but I can account for the present appearances upon no other hypothesis.

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be used with good effect, particularly for side screens. Wood and metal rarely work well together. All metalwork, whether in screens or in anything else, should be soberly and rationally treated, according to the nature of the material, be it brass or iron, cast or wrought. Nothing disfigures our churches more than the gimcrack rubbish with which they are stuffed under the name of "art" metal-work.

The rood-screen is now generally the last piece of furniture which is put into a church, instead of being, as it should be, one of the first. I think it should take precedence of the pulpit. It certainly should of the lecterns and reredos, and of all painted glass. In small churches it may sometimes be carried up into the roof, and be made part of the construction of the building.

SECTION VIII.

OF THE ROOD-LOFT.

THIS is a narrow gallery running across the top of the screen at the entrance to the chancel. It anciently served two requirements, neither of which exists to any great extent at the present moment. But one of them is developing with great rapidity, and the other will arise when churches are built a little larger than they are now. Indeed, a few have already been erected of such dimensions that a loft would be a convenience, although it is not a necessity.

The principal and earlier use of the rood-loft was the reading of the Gospel and Epistle from it at high services. For this there were practical, and, in the case of the Gospel, ritual reasons also, all of which still remain in force. These are, firstly, the same as have already been mentioned when speaking of the preaching arrangements—namely, that whilst the constant parts of the service, which the people know by heart, can be followed, even when the words are very imperfectly audible, the variable portions require to be heard distinctly. This of course does not apply to lessons to

the same extent that it does to the sermon, as they are more or less familiar to the audience. But they are intended to be heard, and it is therefore reasonable to read them from a place whence they may be heard. Now the altar is commonly at the part of the building farthest removed from the people, and consequently if it be insisted that words spoken there must be audible to the whole congregation, our church must be limited to a comparatively small size. But, if it be allowed to read the Gospel and Epistle in the body of the church, we can make practical use of a building, the nave of which alone may equal in length the combined nave and chancel with the other arrangement. The roodloft, besides being in many cases a great improvement to the church in which it is erected, provides a place in every way convenient for this purpose. Where it does not exist and inconvenience is felt from the remoteness of the altar, the Gospel and Epistle may reasonably be read from the pulpit.

The

A further argument for a special place being set apart for the reading of the Gospel is, that it is thereby marked out pre-eminently as the chief of the lessons. Gospel at mass has in all ages been looked upon more particularly as the actual Word of God, and has in consequence been surrounded by peculiar ceremony. In England of old the gospeller having received the textus or gospel-book from the altar with the priest's benediction, carried it solemnly to the appointed place, accompanied by the epistoler, and with lights and incense borne before him. The place appointed was, on week

days and in smaller churches, usually a lectern on the north side of the sanctuary; but on Sundays and festivals, in the larger churches, it was the rood-loft.

It is impossible to lay down any definite rule as to when a loft ought to be introduced. This will depend, to some extent, on the character as well as the size of the church. But, roughly speaking, it may be said that churches accommodating as many as a thousand persons should not be without it.

The loft itself should be not less than five feet broad. Access to it should be easy, and generally by two stairs. In a new building, these stairs should be of stone, and be built in the walls. The entrances to them may be either in the nave, the nave aisles, or the chancel aisles; perhaps they will be best facing one another in the north and south responds of the nave arcade. If a loft is added to an existing building, the stairs will have to be of wood, and will be best to start from the chancel aisles.

The restoration to the church's service of instrumental music other than that of the organ is quite recent among us, but it has been made simultaneously in so many different places that there can be no doubt it will shortly become general. It therefore behoves us to consider how to provide for it in our buildings. A few instruments may be admitted into the chancel, and played by choristers; and, if their use is simply to lead the singing, this should be done. But if a band is wanted, special accommodation must be provided. Their presence in the chancel is objectionable, partly