such sales to take place. The learned Chancellor of Exeter very wisely
recently refused to allow the rector of Churchstanton to sell a
chalice of the date 1660 A.D., stating that it was painfully repugnant
to the feelings of many Churchmen that it should be possible that a
vessel dedicated to the most sacred service of the Church should
figure upon the dinner-table of a collector. He quoted a case of a
chalice which had disappeared from a church and been found afterwards
with an inscription showing that it had been awarded as a prize at
athletic sports. Such desecration is too deplorable for words suitable
to describe it. If other chancellors took the same firm stand as Mr.
Chadwyck-Healey, of Exeter, we should hear less of such alienation of
ecclesiastical treasure.

[33] Canon F.E. Warren recently reported to the Suffolk Institute
of Archaeology that while he was dining at a friend's house he saw
two chalices on the table.

[Illustration: Fourteenth-century Coffer in Faversham Church, Kent
From _Old Oak Furniture_, by Fred Roe]

[Illustration: Flanders Chest in East Dereham Church, Norfolk, _temp._
Henry VIII From _Old Oak Furniture_]

Another cause of mutilation and the vanishing of objects of interest
and beauty is the iconoclasm of visitors, especially of American
visitors, who love our English shrines so much that they like to chip
off bits of statuary or wood-carving to preserve as mementoes of their
visit. The fine monuments in our churches and cathedrals are
especially convenient to them for prey. Not long ago the best portions
of some fine carving were ruthlessly cut and hacked away by a party of
American visitors. The verger explained that six of the party held him
in conversation at one end of the building while the rest did their
deadly and nefarious work at the other. One of the most beautiful
monuments in the country, that of the tomb of Lady Maud FitzAlan at
Chichester, has recently been cut and chipped by these unscrupulous
visitors. It may be difficult to prevent them from damaging such works
of art, but it is hoped that feelings of greater reverence may grow
which would render such vandalism impossible. All civilized persons
would be ashamed to mutilate the statues of Greece and Rome in our
museums. Let them realize that these monuments in our cathedrals and
churches are just as valuable, as they are the best of English art,
and then no sacrilegious hand would dare to injure them or deface