y St. Edmund's, from which, we are
told, the abbot was accustomed to preach to the people in the vulgar
tongue and provincial dialect[164-*]. The most ancient pulpit, perhaps,
existing in this country, is that in the refectory of the abbey (now in
ruins) of Beaulieu, Hampshire: it is of stone, and partly projects from
the wall, and is ornamented with mouldings, sculptured foliage, and a
series of blank trefoiled pointed arches, in the style of the thirteenth
century. The church of the Holy Trinity, at Coventry, contains a fine
specimen of a stone pulpit of the fifteenth century. In Rowington Church,
in the county of Warwick, is a stone pulpit of the same age as that at
Coventry, but much plainer in design. At Long Sutton Church,
Somersetshire, is a splendid wooden pulpit of the fifteenth century,
painted and gilt; and the sides are covered with ogee-headed niches, with
angular-shaped buttresses between; but the pulpits of this era may be
distinguished without difficulty by the peculiar architectural designs
they exhibit.

We now approach the division between the nave or body of the church and
the chancel or choir: this was formed by a beautiful and highly decorated
screen, sometimes of stone, but generally of wood, panel and open-work
tracery, painted and gilt: above this was a cross-beam, which formed a
main support to the rood-loft, a gallery in which the crucifix or rood and
the accompanying images of the blessed Virgin and St. John were placed so
as to be seen by the parishioners in the body of the church, and also in
accordance with the traditional belief that the position of our Saviour
whilst suspended on the cross was facing the west. The passage to the
rood-loft was generally up a flight of stone steps in the north or south
wall of the nave; but as the rood-loft frequently extended across the
aisles, we sometimes meet with a small turret annexed to the east end of
one of the aisles for the approach. Though the introduction of the
lattice-work division between the chancel and nave may be traced in the
eastern church to the fourth century, we possess in our own churches few
remains of screen-work of earlier date than the fifteenth century; and it
appears probable that wooden screen-work before that period was not
common, and that in most instances a curtain or veil was used for the
purpose of division. The rood-loft generally projected in front, so as to
form a kind of groined cove, the ribs of which sprang or div