figures, not
merely disposed single, but also in groups, formally arranged, may be
observed. As a composition, wherein a better display of grouping and
aerial perspective is evinced, the splendid window in St. Margaret's
Church, Westminster, of the crucifixion between the two thieves, and
numerous figures in the foreground, not grouped formally but with
artistical feeling, with the figures of St. George and St. Catherine on
each side of the principal design, and the portraits of Henry the Seventh
and his consort Elizabeth in separate compartments beneath, each kneeling
before a faldstool, may be noticed. This window, which in some of the
details exhibits an approach to the renaissance style, was presented to
Henry the Seventh by the magistrates of Dort in Holland, to adorn his
chapel at Westminster. The era of the various specimens of ancient stained
glass we meet with in our churches may generally be ascertained by the
costume and disposition of the figures, the form of the shields, the
mosaic pattern or other back-ground, and architectural designs of the
canopies.

The pavement beneath the high altar was frequently composed of small
square encaustic bricks or tiles, whereon the arms of founders and
benefactors, interspersed with figures, flowers, and emblematic devices,
were impressed, painted, and glazed; other parts of the church were also
paved with these tiles.

The walls of the church were covered with fresco paintings of the day of
judgment, legendary stories, portraits of saints, and scriptural,
allegorical, and historical subjects, in the conventional styles of the
different ages in which such were executed, the costume and details being
according to the fashion then prevailing. These paintings have in most
churches been obliterated by repeated coats of whitewash, so that few
perfect specimens now remain; traces of such are, however, occasionally
brought to light in the alteration and reparation of our ancient churches.
The subject of the judgment-day was commonly represented on the west wall
of the nave, or over the chancel arch; and in the contract for the
erection of the Lady Chapel, St. Mary's Church, Warwick, A. D. 1454, is a
covenant "to paint fine and curiously, to make on the west wall the dome
of our Lord God Jesus, and all manner of devises and imagery thereto
belonging." The west front of the wall over the chancel arch, Trinity
Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon, was some years back found to be thus cove