140 MtTEAL PAINTINGS IN COENISH CHtJECHES. 



carved work with, huntsmen, hounds, foxes, deer and birds, and 

 glowing with gold and colour, may be judged by the scanty 

 fragments remaining. 



At Lanreath, the panels of the screen were decorated with, 

 paint and gilding, with portraits of the four Latin Fathers — 

 SS. Grregory, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, and also of St. 

 Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Barbara, and St. Catherine. The 

 person employed to clean and renovate some of the woodwork 

 of this screen several years ago, scraped off and effaced almost all 

 this old ornamentation, and what now remains owes its preserva- 

 tion to the fortunate arrival of the vicar. 



The great wave of church restoration that swept over 

 Cornwall in the latter half of the 19th century (of immense 

 importance in the quickening of church life, and the broadening 

 of church influence), was unfortunately, in most cases, accom- 

 panied by a general disregard, and sweeping away, of the ancient 

 work. 



Oak roofs which, with some slight repairs, would have stood 

 for years to come, and which would have been allowed to stand 

 now, were thrown down and replaced by pitch pine ; the old slate 

 monuments in the floor, telling their tale of the former inhab- 

 itants of the parish, were in many cases removed and replaced 

 by Minton and other tiles ; and what might have been, under 

 wiser guidance, a gain, not only to the living Church, but also to 

 Art, Architecture, Painting, and History, its handmaids, often 

 resulted in the destruction of all architectural continuity with the 

 church of our forefathers. 



Happily we have entered on a more conservative period, 

 when church restoration as a rule aims at preserving wherever 

 possible, and not destroying the work of the men who toiled so 

 nobly and so well in rearing the stately houses of Grod throughout 

 our land. 



