become one of the early bishops of Cornwall, but that he soon returned to his hermitage, where he died, "was buried in his oratory, and then became sainted by the reverence of the country adjoining." Ordulph, Duke of Cornwall, knowing how Rumon was reverenced, caused the Saint's bones to be removed to the monastery which he founded at Tavistock, A.D. 961. And so greatly was the Saint esteemed in the vicinity of his abode, that two churches were there consecrated to his name, and are now distinguished by the titles of St. Ruan Major and St. Ruan Minor.

St. Ruan Major consists of a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, a south porch, and western tower. The chancel, projecting one bay beyond the aisles, is the oldest part of the church, and, as at St. Antony, has a single lancet on the north and south sides. The east window, a late insertion, consists of three ogee lights under a very depressed head. The two easternmost windows in the side of the south aisle are Decorated, of two lights, the head of one being filled with a trefoil. Some of the other windows of the aisle are of good Perpendicular. Over that in the western gable is a corbel-head.

The gable of the porch is surmounted by a granite cross, boldly chamfered. The jambs of the outer entrance are octagonal and panelled.

In the eastern wall of the north aisle, which is probably the latest part of the church, are traces of an altar, with remains of brackets north and south. The rood-turret is of most unusual breadth-eight feet. Of the rood-screen itself some panels remain across the chancel and the north aisle. The carving is not very bold, but better finished than usual; several of the

e

"King William II., A.D. 1096, in the ninth year of his reign, confirmed to this monastery the manor of Wulurinton, in Devonshire, giving seisin of it to the abbat 'per cultellum eburneum' (by the delivery of an ivory knife), in the presence of the Bishops of Winchester and Bath and Wells, and the Abbat of Glastonbury. The knife, it is added, was deposited in the shrine of St. Rumon."Dugdale's Monasticon, ii. 489.

designs are on medallions. The heads of a male and female are particularly good. On one medallion the carver has represented his own toolsa pair of compasses, a mallet, and two curiously-formed instruments, apparently graving tools, one of which seems well adapted for cutting a sort of triangu

found as a border orna-
ment in fifteenth-century work.

The most peculiar features in the church are two narrow openings formed at the junction of the nave and chancel side arcades, and immediately adjoining the screen piers (see next page). On the north side the easternmost pier rests on a solid block of

TI

Plan of St. Ruan Major Church.

masonry, 3 ft. 5 in. high (A); the height of the opening is 2 ft. 11 in., breadth 1 ft. 10 in. The height of the southern opening (B), which extends from the lintel to the floor, is 6 ft. 2 in., its breadth only 1 ft. 6 in., so that it could scarcely have been used as a passage from the chancel to the south chancel-aisle; whilst on the north side the passage theory would be still more improbable, owing to the low dimensions of the opening, and its height from the floor, there being no connecting steps'. The eastern piers are octagonal, whilst the western ones are the same as those in the nave, three-quarter rounds and cavettos. This peculiar arrangement of the aisle-churches occurs in

These openings were probably connected with the chantry altars at the ends of the aisles.-ED.

two or three other instances in Western Cornwall. At St. Mullion the openings are nearly four feet wide, and both extend to the floor, the piers and arches being of the same character, and nearly as high as those of the nave and chancel. In no other instance are the spaces so narrow as at St. Ruan 5. Within the screen are two carved desk-ends, the slope above

Openings at Junction of Chancel and Nave, St. Ruan Major.
(The dotted lines mark the position of the Rood-screen.)

the square top of the standard being formed by a kneeling angel. On one panel is a shield with the letter R. These desks face eastward, and are in a line with the peculiar openings described above h. They seem to occupy their original position.

An engraving of the tower is given, as it serves to illustrate the general features of three or four towers of the Lizard district. The ground-plan is oblong, its greatest length being from north to south; dimensions, 17 ft. 10 in. by 14 ft. 10 in. outside. The height is about 45 ft. The staircase in the northwest angle is contained within the thickness of the wall, by which arrangement the western doorway and window are thrust southward from the centre. The tower-arch has a plain soffit. There are two stages, divided by a bold set-off, carried round the tower, after the manner of a stringcourse; the parapet,

At St. Grade Church, recently taken down, the opening on the north side was about the same breadth, 1 ft. 10 in.

h These desks were probably for the use of the chantry priests.-ED.

with a plain cavetto mould, overhangs the upper stage, being brought out to the plane of the base of the tower. The battlements are plain, without mouldings. The pinnacles are square and crocketed, with peculiar finials-crosses placed horizontally and diagonally to the sides of the tower. There are four belfry windows, each of two lights,

with a quatrefoil in the head. The western window is Perpendicular, with three lights.

This tower, like others previously noticed, presents a singular effect from the material used in its construction; it is one of the black and white towers, ashlar blocks of dark serpentine and coarse granite, giving the walls an irregularly chequered appearance. For the window-tracery, pinnacles, battlements, and courses, a finer granite is used, which must have been brought from a considerable distance. At St. Grade, a neighbouring parish, the tower in every respect nearly resembles that at St. Ruan, and was, according to C. S. Gilbert ", built in the year 1400. This seems a probable date for both towers h.

On the floor of the south aisle is a coffin-lid of red porphyry, five feet long, with a cross fleury in relief on three steps.

History of Cornwall, vol. ii. p. 773.

h A useful paper on the church towers of the Lizard district, by J. J. Rogers, Esq., M.P., was published in the Transactions of the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society, vol. iv.

GENT. MAG, VOL. CCXIII.

3 U

THRUPP'S ANGLO-SAXON HOME 2.

WE hardly know what to say about this book. It is evidently the result of a great deal of reading, and the author starts with correct notions on several points which are commonly misunderstood. On the other hand, though there are not many of the ludicrous blunders which amuse us in certain authors, there is a good deal of inaccuracy in detail; there are a great many very strange statements in support of which no authority is quoted; there is a general incapacity to appreciate evidence; and the mere style of the book is poor, even to childishness. On the whole, Mr. Thrupp seems to have formed an ideal of a book which it was quite beyond his own powers to carry out in practice. It is one of the misfortunes of our times that everybody who reads-and some who do not read-thinks himself called upon to write. Mr. Thrupp has evidently read a great many books, and read them with great profit to himself. But it is not every man who reads with profit to himself who is able to write with profit to others. People are apt to forget this very obvious truth, especially when dealing with subjects which are studied by comparatively few. Certain portions of Greek and Roman history form part of the early course of instruction of every educated man. To have read Herodotus and Thucydides is no particular distinction; a large body of young men master them yearly. In subjects which are known to so many, there is no temptation for every student to set up for a teacher, for every man to write because he has read. Hence men constantly read ancient history and profit by it, without feeling any call to write anything about it. But mediæval history, even English history, is studied by comparatively few; familiarity with ancient chronicles and documents is very rare; every man who knows a little about them is tempted to overvalue his own attainments, from having so few competitors to balance himself against. Hence the number of writers on these subjects is almost co-extensive with the number of readers. And, again, these studies are not the subjects of any real academic

"The Anglo-Saxon Home; a History of the Domestic Institutions and Customs of England, from the Fifth to the Eleventh Century. By John Thrupp." (London: Longman and Co.)