athedral, there was the representation of a funeral performed by
animals--a hare carried the taper, a wolf the cross, and a bear the holy
water--while in another place a stag was celebrating mass, and an ass
reading the gospel. We often find carvings in which foxes are habited as
ecclesiastics, sometimes accompanied by geese, who represent their
flock, and thus we can understand the significance of the design in
Sherborne Minster and Wellingborough, where two geese are hanging a fox.

In St. Mary's, Beverley, are two foxes dressed as ecclesiastics, each
holding a pastoral staff, while a goose's head is peeping out of his
hood. At Boston Church we find a fox in a cope and episcopal vestments,
seated on a throne, and holding a pastoral staff, while on the right is
an ass holding a book for the bishop to read. The fact was that no means
were left untried by the Church to make converts and to obtain a hold on
the people. They wished to render religion as attractive as possible,
and perhaps to direct and control tendencies which they could not
destroy. It was then a favourite doctrine that the end justified the
means--the Roman Church instituted persecutions, adopted heathen rites,
and ordained fasts and festivals to impress the mind. It is recorded
that Theophylact of Constantinople introduced into the Church, in the
tenth century, the licentious "Feast of Fools," to wean the people from
the revels of their old religion, and have we not until late years
celebrated the Nativity of our Lord, not only by games and frolics, but
gluttony and drunkenness, and riotous proceedings, under pagan misletoe!
I believe that among the masses of the people the Roman saturnalia still
survive. We need not then be surprised that the early Christians tried
to recommend religion by unsuitable ornamentation. They adopted all
kinds of floral designs, they represented fables and romances. In the
old church of Budleigh, in Devonshire--which Sir Walter Raleigh
attended, and where his head is buried--all kinds of devices are
represented on the pews, from a pair of scissors to a man-of-war,
including a cook holding a sheep by the tail. It was only a step from
this to introduce humour, and as men's feelings had not then been
chastened or brought into order by reflection, they probably overlooked
the lowering tendencies of levity. Those who came to laugh, might remain
to pray, and so a strange crop of incongruities germinated upon the
sacred soil. Thus,