ial. The ornamentation on this cross is very
perfect and beautifully executed. The very beautiful cross at Eyam, in
Derbyshire, differs both in style and workmanship from almost any other.
The shaft has evidently been broken. In the panels of the head of the
cross are figures of angels.

Sometimes we find some very strange beasts carved on the old crosses. On
the cross at Ilkley we observe some of these curious animals with their
long tails interlacing. Sometimes the tail is wound round the creature's
body, and the idea of the artist was to represent the animal reduced to
a state of powerlessness. One forepaw is held up in sign of submission.
Above is a figure of our Lord triumphing over the powers of evil, and
these animals represent probably man's lower nature owning the supremacy
of the King of Heaven. On the other side of the cross are figures of the
four evangelists. The upper half of the figures alone appears dressed in
flowing garments; each is carrying a book; circles of glory surround
their heads, which are the symbols of the evangelists. St. Matthew has a
man's head; St. Mark a leopard's; St. Luke's a calf's; and St. John an
eagle's head.

The crosses at Hexham, where Archbishop Wilfrid founded a monastery, are
very ancient. We are able to tell the date of these stones, for they
were placed at the head and feet of the grave of Bishop Acca, who was a
follower of St. Wilfrid, and accompanied him on his missionary journeys.
Acca succeeded Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham, and according to the old
chronicler Bede, "being a most active man and great in the sight of God
and man, he much adorned and added to his church." Acca died in 738
A.D., and as the monastery of Hexham was soon destroyed, these crosses
must have been erected eleven hundred and sixty-three years ago.

The cross at St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland, is of much later date, and
the workmanship is not nearly so fine and delicate as in the earlier
crosses. The Saxons had deteriorated as a race just before the Normans
came, and although the cross still appears on the flat stone, the design
on the shaft of the cross merely represents a hunting scene; and a Saxon
bowman is shown shooting at some animals. The religious conceptions of
an earlier and purer time have disappeared. The moustache of the
sportsman also shows that the stone belonged to a period very near the
Norman Conquest, when that fashion of wearing the hair was in vogue.

England is remarkable for