was held to be the personification of the god Apis, was "the form of a beetle found under his tongue."* Both Isis and Osiris, themselves the symbols of the moon and the sun, were likewise connected with the worship rendered to the cow, ox, or bull, into which figure Osiris was said to have passed by the doctrine of Metempsychosis. As therefore the scarabæus became thus identified with the mythology of Egypt, it may be supposed that it had some mystical allusion to the religious veneration so universally paid to an animal, whose authenticity, as a divine being, it essentially contributed to establish. Axminster. N. T. S. STAFFORD CASTLE. (With a Plate.) ERDESWICKE, the old historian of Staffordshire, says of the County Town: "The town hath been walled (as I take it) round about, whereof some part remains, and the rest sheweth by the ruins where they have been; and there hath been also a castle within the town, but now it is quite decayed. The castle, which now stands on the south side, and is half a mile or more from the town, hath and doth belong to the Earls and Barons of Stafford. The said castle that now is was builded by Raufe first Earl of Stafford, as the report is, and not unlike to be true; and yet I have a certain deed dated apud castrum juxta Stafford, long before the said Raphe lived, so that it would seem that Raufe Earl of Stafford did but re-edify the said castle, and not build it." Doctor Plot's account is somewhat different; he says, "The earliest authentic account of Stafford, is of the year 913, when Elfleda, sister to Edward the elder, and Countess of Mercia, built a castle there, but the site of it is not now known. (Saxon Chron. 104.) Another was founded by William the Conqueror, on an insulated hill near the town, and was given in custody to Robert de Toeni, who assumed the name of de Stadford, and was the progenitor of the illustrious family of Stafford. This castle was garrisoned by King Charles I. but was taken by the Parliamentary forces and demolished in 1644." ++ Further information may very probably be obtained from the work of Pignorius, from Bochart De sacris Animalibus, and from the more recent discoveries in the drawings and hieroglyphics of Egypt. Mr. Clifford, the historian of Tixal, (in 1817,) says, "About thirty years ago, nothing of the castle remained visible but a solitary fragment of wall which the late Sir William Jerningham underbuilt to prevent it from falling. Some workmen being employed to search for an ancient wall, discovered that all the basement story of the castle (keep) lay buried under the ruins of the upper parts; Sir William Jerningham immediately ordered whole to be excavated and cleared of the rubbish, so that the curious traveller may now explore every part of it, and contemplate at his leisure the form and extent of a fortress or baronial castle in the time of the Conqueror. the "Sir George Jerningham, son of Sir William, has undertaken to build the castle on its old foundations, and has already completed one front, flanked by two octagonal towers, in a very elegant castellated style." So far the historian. Sir George Parliament as Baron Stafford of StafJerningham, who was summoned to ford Castle, in 1824, completed only this front. In the tower are deposited some armour and other curiosities. The ancient well (160 feet deep) of the castle, a little distance from the northeast angle of the keep, was discovered in 1819 by preparations for planting; it was covered with oak planks under 3 feet of soil or rubbish; the water is good and abundant. No search has been made for the outworks of the castle, the foundations of which no doubt remain, and probably included Castle Church. The artificial mount on which the castle stands is of an oblong form, measuring one hundred and five feet by fifty. The walls are twelve feet high and eight in thickness. J. W. BEATISSIMÆ . ET. GLORIOSISSIME. TRINITATIS. AMEN. LAPIS. HIC. PRIMARIUS. CAPELLE. IN. NOMINE. S. REGINE. VICTORIE. V. A. CAROLO. MARCHIONE. AILESBURENSI. ASSISTENTE. EI. GEORGIO. GUL. FRED. COMITE. BRUCE. REGENTE. ECCLESIAM. SARISB. EDVARDO. DENISON. EPISCOPO. DECANO. ECCL. CATH. SARUM. HUGONE. NICOLAO. PEARSON. HUJUS. LOCI. OFFICIALI. PAROECIE. BEDWYN. MAGNE. VICARIO. IOANNE. WARD. BENJAMINE. FERREY. ARCHITECTO. New Church at East Grafton, Wilts. The population of this parish is dispersed in several hamlets, over an extent of 10,000 acres; and as the mother church, situated in the principal township, is quite at one extremity of the parish, about half of the population is distant from two to four miles from it. The hamlet of East Grafton is central to this outlying population, which exceeds 1,000; and the new church is calculated to accommodate nearly 500 persons in open sittings, four-fifths of which are free for the use of the poorer classes. We are anxious to give a full account of this building, as it is decidedly one of the most successful attempts, that have been made, to produce a good, substantial, correct, and appropriate village church. The style is Norman, about the time of Henry I. and the plan consists of a fully developed chancel terminated with a circular apse, a well-proportioned nave with clere-story and aisles, and at the northwest angle a substantial tower, pierced near the top with open arches, and covered by a low stone spire, of which there is a good example at Than church near Caen, in Normandy. The whole is built of Bath stone, the exterior face of the walls being left in the rough, and the interior dragged to a smoother finish, yet not so as to destroy the idea of reality; whilst the ornamental detail, both interiorly and exteriorly, is simple, bold, and effective, neither thrust in out of place, nor overdone where it is necessary. The chancel with its apse, 27 feet by 16, is covered with a semi-circular vault, which is divided by transverse ribs over the chancel, with two others converging to a point at the centre of the easternmost transverse rib, over the apse. Astring-course runs round the whole at the springing of the vault. of the building is lighted by three roundThis part headed narrow windows in the apse, the chancel walls being unpierced. The windows are connected together by an horizontal string, level with the abaci of the shafts supporting the mouldings of the window-arches, and further by a low arcade of two openings between the windows, and of one opening between them and the vaulting shafts which divide the apse from the chancel; another string-course forms a base to the arcade and windows. The floor of the chancel is raised three steps from the nave, and the apse one from the chancel. The pavement is of Chamberlain's encaustic tile, of an early pattern, and arranged very effectively after a design by Willement. The altar is of a polished, dark-coloured marble, in the shape of a plain tomb, having engaged Norman shafts at the four angles, a chevron moulding under the slab, and a cross pattée within [July, a nimbus carved in the centre. The glass of the apse is beautifully stained by Willement. The centre window exhibits five subjects selected from the life of Christ, namely: the Adoration of the Magi, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection from the tomb, and the Ascension. In the side windows are represented the and Omega, the IHS, and the double emblems of the four evangelists, the Alpha triangle, emblematic of the Holy Trinity. These windows were the gift of the Marquess of Ailesbury. The Commandments are painted in illuminated Norman characters on richly gilt zinc plates, which line the concave of the apse immediately above jambs, the recesses of the arcade, and the the altar. The deep splay of the window spandrels of the arcade arches, are highly decorated with painting in Norman pattern, and over the arcade are introduced sentences of Scripture, the Lord's Prayer, letter. The effect produced in this chanand the Creed, in a very legible Norman cel by a happy combination of design on rator, cannot be fully expressed by words, the part of the architect and of the decoA rich, solemn, and Christian character but must be seen to be duly appreciated. has been given to this sacrarium by the skilful adaptation of very simple elements. The nave, measuring with the aisles 64 feet by 40, is divided from the chancel by a tall and massive arch, and from the aisles by four round piers on the south side, and by three on the north, with a plain the piers, sculptured from examples of wall next to the tower. The capitals of the time, differ from each other in every instance. Above the arches, which at clere-story, pierced with narrow, circularpresent are left quite plain, rises a simple headed slits. Between these are corbels supporting shafts, whereon are laid the paved with plain encaustic tiles, but the timbers of the roof. The passages are general floor of the church is boarded. The whole of the benches are open, massive, and very low; they are greatly preferred by those who have hitherto been used to pews. The font is placed near the west door, and is copied, in Painswick stone of very fine grain, from an original Norman example now remaining at Welford church in projecting base rise seventeen three quarter Berkshire. It is, in plan, circular, and on a shafts, the capitals of which are connected together by intersecting arches of deeply-cut mouldings; over these is a lip-moulding running round the upper edge of the font. The basin is capacious, and lined with thick lead, on the margin of which the following sentence is circumscribed in raised Norman letters, |