sbury, are some remains of a
stone shrine, which from the workmanship may be considered as a production
of the early part of the fifteenth century: this is much mutilated: but
the shrine of St. Frideswide, in Oxford Cathedral, the lower part of which
is composed of a stone tomb, the upper part of rich tabernacle-work of
wood, is still tolerably perfect: this is also of the fifteenth century.
Of the small movable feretories, one apparently of the workmanship of the
twelfth century, seven inches long and six high, formed of wood, enamelled
and gilt, with figures on the sides representing the crucifixion, is still
preserved in Shipley Church, Sussex; and a small stone reliquary or shrine
of the fourteenth century was discovered a few years ago, and is now
preserved in the church of Brixworth, Northamptonshire.

[Illustration: Ancient Organ.]

The organ, as a solemn musical instrument, may claim a very early origin,
and has been in use in our churches from the Anglo-Saxon era. The ancient
organs were small, and all the pipes were exposed. The phrase "_a pair of
organs_," so frequently met with in old inventories and church accounts,
may probably have answered to the great and choir organ of a subsequent
period--one instrument in two divisions. The mechanism of the old organs
was rude and simple, compared with the improvements of modern times, and
the cost was small; they were generally placed in the rood-loft.

The church chest is often an ancient and interesting object: sometimes we
find it rudely formed, or hollowed out of the solid trunk of a tree, with
a plain or barrel-shaped lid of considerable thickness. The churches of
Bradford Abbas, Dorsetshire; Long Sutton, Somersetshire; and Ensham,
Oxfordshire; contain chests thus rudely constructed. Sometimes they are
strongly banded about with iron. The fronts and sides of these chests are
not unfrequently embellished more or less richly with carved tracery,
panel-work, and other detail in the style prevalent at the period of their
construction. In Clemping Church, Sussex, is an early chest of the
thirteenth century, the front of which exhibits a series of plain pointed
arches trefoiled in the head, and other carved work. In Haconby Church,
Lincolnshire, and in Chevington Church, Suffolk, are very rich chests
covered with tracery and detail in the decorated style of the fourteenth
century. In Brailes Church, Warwickshire, is an ancient chest of the
fifteenth century covered