be argued that such works of architecture are
not always devoid of decoration, and that "decorative art," even though
the "decorative artist" is unconscious of this fact, is based upon rules
and employs symbols which have a deep significance. The truly artistic
element in architecture, however, is more clearly manifest if we turn
our gaze to the past. One thinks at once, of course, of the pyramids
and sphinx of Egypt, and the rich and varied symbolism of design and
decoration of antique structures to be found in Persia and elsewhere in
the East. It is highly probable that the Egyptian pyramids were employed
for astronomical purposes, and thus subserved physical utility, but it
seems no less likely that their shape was suggested by a belief in some
system of geometrical symbolism, and was intended to embody certain of
their philosophical or religious doctrines.

(1) Published in _The Occult Review_ for August 1912, vol. xvi. pp. 98
to 102.

The mediaeval cathedrals and churches of Europe admirably exhibit this
combination of art with craft. Craft was needed to design and construct
permanent buildings to protect worshippers from the inclemency of the
weather; art was employed not only to decorate such buildings, but
it dictated to craft many points in connection with their design. The
builders of the mediaeval churches endeavoured so to construct their
works that these might, as a whole and in their various parts, embody
the truths, as they believed them, of the Christian religion: thus the
cruciform shape of churches, their orientation, etc. The practical
value of symbolism in church architecture is obvious. As Mr F. E. HULME
remarks, "The sculptured fonts or stained-glass windows in the churches
of the Middle Ages were full of teaching to a congregation of whom
the greater part could not read, to whom therefore one great avenue of
knowledge was closed. The ignorant are especially impressed by pictorial
teaching, and grasp its meaning far more readily than they can follow a
written description or a spoken discourse."(1)

(1) F. EDWARD HULME, F.L.S., F.S.A.: _The History, Principles, and
Practice of Symbolism in Christian Art_ (1909), p. 2.

The subject of symbolism in church architecture is an extensive one,
involving many side issues. In these excursions we shall consider only
one aspect of it, namely, the symbolic use of animal forms in English
church architecture.

As Mr COLLINS, who has written, in recen