n occasional
half-view of the clergyman in the pulpit, seen at intervals through the
interstices of the gallery supports--such are the recollections which
will occur to some. Certainly they are calculated to animate even an
excessive zeal for opening out churches, and creating wider space and
freer air.

And who does not remember some of the other special adjuncts of an
old-fashioned church, as it had been handed down little altered from the
time of our great-grandfathers? There were the half-obliterated
escutcheons, scarcely less dismal in aspect than the coffin plates with
which the columns of the Welsh churches were so profusely decorated. No
wonder Blair introduces into his poem on 'The Grave' a picture of--

the gloomy aisles
Black plastered, and hung round with shreds of 'scutcheons.[896]

And then, in the place of the ancient rood loft, was that masterpiece of
rural art--

Moses and Aaron upon a church wall,
Holding up the Commandments, for fear they should fall.[897]

There was the glorified record of the past deeds of parish officials,
well adapted to fire the emulation of a succeeding generation--

With pride of heart, the Churchwarden surveys
High o'er the belfry, girt with birds and flowers,
His story wrought in capitals: 'twas I
That bought the font; and I repaired the pews.[898]

There were the tables of benefactors conspicuous under the western
gallery. The Lower House of Convocation in 1710 had issued special
directions in recommendation of this practice. The bishops
also--Fleetwood,[899] Secker,[900] and others--did not fail to enjoin it
in their charges. And not without reason; for a great number of parish
benefactions appear to have been lost by lapse or otherwise about the
beginning of the eighteenth century. Yet smaller letters, and a less
prominent position, might have served the same purpose, with less
disfigurement, and less offence to the decent humility which best befits
the deeds of Christian benevolence.

The great three-decked pulpit of the Georgian age is still familiar to
our memories. To the next generation it will be at length a curiosity of
the past. Nor must the mighty sounding-board be forgotten, impending
with almost threatening bulk over the preacher's head, and adorned with
the emblematic symbol of grace:--

I cast my eyes upon him, and explored
The dove-like form upon the sounding hoard.[901]

The pu