1903 A re hero logy 1 6 3 



Archaeology. 



s. Michael's church, garway, Herefordshire. — 11. 



By Rev. P. J. Oliver Minos, Ph.D., M.R.A.S. (Lond.) 



I do not understand Mr Micklethwaite's description of 

 the carvings on the four capitals, therefore I will venture 

 to describe them briefly for my readers. On the outer 

 capital to the left (1) is carved the lotus with ferns and ball 

 ornament, and on the inner capital (2) is carved a curious 

 capped head 1 with set pearls issuing from the mouth. On 

 the outer capital to the right (3) is carved the lotus leaf 

 and flower, and on the inner capital (4) are carved curious 

 bundles of twigs, &c. These carvings are certainly sym- 

 bolical ; and symbolical ornaments came into Europe with 

 the Crusaders. Therefore the Templar architect (and 

 perhaps the workman) intended the said carvings to be 

 tongues in stones. Let me (as far as I am able) interpret 

 them. On the left (1) lotus stands for life in the East; 



(2) is a fine representation of a common Eastern saying — 

 viz., "a good man's words are like strings of pearls." Our 

 Lord used a similar expression (and His hearers under- 

 stood it) when He said, "Neither cast ye your pearls," &c. 

 (S. Matt. vii. 6. Compare Job xxviii. 18). On the right 



(3) the lotus again appears, but in a different form from (1), 

 and it may be said to refer to life utilised ; (4) the bundles 

 of twigs, Sec, represent good and evil of this mortal life. 

 In connection with the last there is a striking passage in 

 the Bible: "The soul of my lord shall be bound in the 

 bundle of life with the Lord thy God" (1 Sam. xxv. 29). 



Not far from the west door, and on the left, stands the 

 font. This font is (late) Norman, because its surface shows 



1 "In the eleventh century it appears in the form of a low cap, with orna- 

 mental band round the forehead, and a depression in the middle which produces 

 two blunt horns at the sides. There is a good representation of this form in the 

 MS. Cott. Nero, b. iv. f. 34, which has been engraved by Strutt, Shaw, and Dr 

 Rock."— Dr Cutt's 'Diet, of the Church of England,' p. 407. 



