208 The Norman Tympanum of Little Langford Church. 



is fair to assume that this saint is here designated." But in 

 Archozologia xlvii., 176, for 1882, he gives an additional, but per- 

 haps mistaken, detail which I do not press into the argument : 

 "The left hand holds a pastoral staff whence a branch has sprouted.' 



The Editor of this Magazine suggested a different interpretation \ 

 namely, that here is represented the story of Aldhelm, whose staff 

 took root while he preached, and "burgeoned in his hand with 

 ashleaves." 



The words in William of Malmesbury are : Gesta Pontif. Bk. V. 

 230 (Eolls Series 52). 



" Quae res amrnonuit ut quod fama de Biscepes truue jactitant non 

 tacerem. Villa est in valle, ad quam praedicationis sollicitudinem 

 expleturus venisse dicitur. Dum sermonem sereret in plebem, forte 

 baculum fraxineum quo nitebatur terrae fixisse. Ilium interim per Dei 

 virtutem miram in magnitudinem excrevisse, suco animatum, cortice 

 indutum, foliorum pubem et frondium decorem emisisse. Pontificem, 

 qui verbo intenderet, clamore populi ammonitum respexisse, adoratoqu© 

 miraculo, deo munus ibidem reliquisse ; ex primae arboris pulla multas 

 pullulasse fraxinos ; adeo ut, sicut dixi, villa ilia vulgo Ad Episcopi 

 Arbores nuncupetur." 



Bishopstrow is about 12 miles distant. For further criticism 

 of the story see W.A.M., xxxiii., 116. 



Let us first dispose of St. Nicholas. The only ground for assum- 

 ing the central figure to be St. Nicholas is, that the Church is 

 dedicated to him. But there is nothing narrated in his fabulous 

 life which would account for the birds in the tree and the boar- 

 hunt. We must not however press this too far ; for though the 

 ecclesiastic and the tree may be connected, the boar-hunt may be 

 a separate subject. 



Now to turn to the subject of the carving. There are six extant 

 examples of hunting-scenes onTympana(Keyser'siVor??m?i7'?/?Hpana 

 Introd. xliii.). A boar-hunt is figured at Tutbury (Staffs.), Clifton 

 Hampden(Oxon.), has a very good example. 1 At Eibbesford(Worc) 

 an archer appears to be shooting a monster which had come out of 

 the Severn and devastated the forest of Wyre ; the carving at 

 Lostwithiel (Cornwall) appears to have a hawking scene, and 



'For an account of it, see Proceedings and Excursions of the Oxford 

 Architectural and Historical Society, Vol. V., New Series, p. 278. 



