within the rood-screen, and not easily to be seen by the congregation. Moreover, the whole of the plaster appeared bad, and crumbled from the wall at a touch. Three or four attempts were made in different parts to ascertain this point, but without coming to a surface similar to that on which the paintings are executed,—a layer of fine and pure lime.

For the discoveries of late years of mural paintings, which in olden time ornamented even the poorest and most insignificant parish churches, as well as stately cathe-. drals and magnificent abbeys, we have been chiefly indebted to the zeal for church restoration; and, uncovered as they are by mere labourers, with their ruthless trowels, in endeavouring to bring the walls to a smoother surface, we ought not to express any surprise at there being only a few indistinct fragments left, of what might have been a fine or interesting series, for a zealous archæologist, who makes all haste to the spot on receiving the intelligence. On his arrival he finds the church gutted out, even the very flooring removed, the interior filled with stones, scaffoldpoles, and planks of all sizes, together with workmen who appear to delight in making a tremendous dust as well as noise. By the time our friend has looked round and produced his sketch-book, he is accosted by the builder or foreman, who tells him the workmen must not be interrupted, and to make all the haste he can, as they want to make mortar where he is standing, which, by-the-bye, happens to be the only vacant spot left. But, nothing daunted, he endeavours to make a few notes, now and then attempting to sketch portions, climbing over heaps of stones, etc., sometimes having his hat knocked off by the end of a scaffold-pole, and numerous lumps of mortar and even stones falling on him from above, where the men are scraping, some inflicting indeed no very gentle taps: at last he beats a retreat, being almost blinded and stifled with dust. Perhaps he may next day again venture to the church, but it is only to find that the paintings have been destroyed in the interval, and only the few notes and hasty sketches, done under every disadvantage, are thus left on record.

As regards the paintings under discussion, they have had their successive coverings of whitewash carefully re

moved by the hand of one who loves to dwell on these memorials with which the taste and piety of our forefathers enriched their churches, and conveyed instruction to the vulgar; and the more he sees of them, the more he is convinced that every effort was made in those days to instruct the poor and the ignorant, and to raise up a high moral and religious feeling among the people. In this instance, by the kindness of the incumbent, the rev. Francis Swanton, and the churchwardens, permission was given to examine the walls at leisure. After the removal of the whitewash, tracings were made of the entire paintings as soon as uncovered: from these tracings, reduced drawings of them have carefully been made, and are represented in the accompanying engravings, one-twentieth of the size of the original paintings.

The first portion discovered was the figure of St. Andrew (plate 5). Near the feet of this figure were observed faint traces of letters, which looked at first almost coeval with the figure; but, on a closer examination, proved to be some remains of a text or prayer, not later than the time of Edward VI; and that the defacing of paintings, and the custom of writing Scripture texts, began in this reign, may be seen by the following extracts, under the year 1550, in the churchwardens' accounts of St. Mary's the Great, Cambridge:1

It. payd for wythynge ye chyrch xx iiija

It. payd for wryghtynge of the chyrch

walls with Scriptures.....iiij iijs iiijd.”

Shortly after the accession of queen Mary, in 1553, the following entry occurs:

"Payd to Barnes for mendyng the rode

and over the altar in the chapell, and for

washing oute the Scriptures...... 4$ 4a."

On scraping the wall near the rood-screen, a scrollpattern border of the time of queen Mary was met with (see annexed cut, which is here given on a scale one-third less than the engravings of the paintings), painted with two

1 See the interesting paper on this church by the rev. E. Venables, in the Transactions of the Cambridge Camden Society.