SECTION XXVII.

OF NOTICE BOARDS.

THESE, like the alms-boxes, must be where they are likely to be seen by people entering and leaving the church. If there is an antechurch they should be placed there, and such as contain permanent notices may even be placed in an open porch; but those on which are fixed papers with temporary notices ought to be in a more sheltered position-that is, in most cases, in the church itself.

Notice boards cannot be too simple. Attempts to give them an "ecclesiastical" character usually result only in making them horribly ugly. A plain rectangular board is the best; a simple moulding round the edge will do no harm, but "Gothic" tops, "Oxford" frames, and the like, with their chamfers, stops, and all other concomitant abominations, are without reservation to be condemned. Permanent inscriptions should be written with black paint upon light-coloured boards, in letters of simple and ordinary form. Black-letter is of course "correct," but to many people it is illegible, and I take it the object of setting up notices is that they may be read.' What is called illuminating is open to the same

1 I do not say that the more complicated forms of lettering ought never to be used, only that they are unfit for everyday utilitarian purposes.

In

objection, with this additional one that as generally practised it is in itself offensive from its crude forms and colouring. Boards intended for posting papers upon are, I think, best stained black, with a word or two in white at the top, indicating the general nature of their contents.

In un-" restored" churches, in the north of England, and perhaps elsewhere, there may occasionally be seen, set up in some conspicuous place, a frame containing moveable panels, upon which figures are painted. These are intended to show which verses of which of the metrical psalms are to be sung. The idea is an excellent one, and worthy of general imitation, for by it the unseemly breaks in the service, caused by "giving out" the hymns, may be entirely avoided, and also the inconvenience which sometimes arises from the indistinct utterance of the giver out. So far, however, I only know of one modern church in which anything of the kind is used, and there it consists of nothing but some large cards hung upon nails driven into one of the joints of the masonry. This works perfectly well, and all it requires is to be put into a somewhat more formal shape. Let

inscriptions introduced in architectural decorations they are quite allowable, and also in commemorative and other inscriptions professedly addressed ad clerum; but those intended to be read by everybody should be in the characters taught at the national school.

1 Even at its shortest this is objectionable; it is made much more so by the common practice of reading out a considerable portion of the hymn. In favour of this, it may be said that those who have failed to catch the number announced may recover it from the first line read out. There is, however, no such excuse for the custom which exists in some churches of reading out a text, or motto prefixed to each hymn.

three hooks be fixed at proper distances in any position which is at once easy to reach, and visible to all the congregation-in the wall, or in the rood-screen, or even in front of the pulpit. Conveniently near let there be a case containing wooden tablets pierced for suspension, and with large figures painted on both sides of them. With a set of fifteen tablets every number from I to 999 may be composed, and twelve only will reach up to 554 which is far in excess of the requirements of any well-regulated hymn-book. Above the hooks there. should be a reversible board, with the word HYMN on one side, and PSALM on the other; the latter is not wanted for the ordinary psalms of the day, but will be found convenient for indicating special psalms.

SECTION XXVIII.

OF MONUMENTS AND INSCRIPTIONS.

THE essential quality of a monument is permanence, to obtain which two points ought to be observed. First, that the monument shall be itself neither perishable, nor of a sort calculated to provoke alteration or destruction; and secondly, that it shall be placed where it is least likely to be interfered with. Churches have always been looked upon as the most fitting places for monuments, and are, I believe, still so; although that statement may seem rather bold, when it is remembered that within the last few years many thousands of monuments have been turned out from English churches and destroyed. The fact is, that we are just now in a very exceptional state; the neglect and apathy of three centuries has produced a violent reaction; the guardians of our churches have changed their natural conservatism for an innovating zeal, which in its indiscretion amounts to fanaticism. This zeal, guided and led on by ignorant "correctness," has certainly made terrible havoc. What with the "restoration" of what is "Gothic," and the annihilation of what is not, a large portion of our birthright is already lost, but a truer appreciation of art and of history is even now arising; our losses will be mourned over, but a remnant will be saved. Then will

follow yet another period of change; old churches which have been "restored" must be disrestored, and such new ones as are worth it must have their "correct" arrangements altered, so as to make them practically convenient. After which, the natural order being resumed, our churches, the requirements of which are constant, whilst those of secular buildings are continually changing, will again become, as they ought to be, the proper and safest receptacles for those objects which we design to bequeath to posterity.

Nothing, I believe, can justify the deliberate destruction of the monuments of the dead, which are a sacred trust committed to each succeeding age for the benefit of those who come after; but there may, in individual cases, be excellent reasons for removing them from their original positions, or even, under extreme circumstances, for withdrawing them entirely from public view. Amongst these are their obstructiveness, where they interfere with the legitimate uses of the building in which they stand, their indecency, which may lie either in their designs, their inscriptions, or in the positions which they occupy, their incongruousness, and their intrinsic ugliness. These faults exist more or less in almost every monument which has been set up in England during the past two centuries, and moderns, who do not hesitate even to destroy old monuments because of them, must themselves avoid them, or they cannot hope that their works will be treated with more respect. It is to our interest then to make the monuments we set up suitable, but we ought to go further, and make them not only