THE GATE OF REMEMBRANCE.* THIS is an exceedingly curious, entertaining,
and above all puzzling book. It is written by Mr. Bligh Bond, the Director of the Exca- vations at Glastonbury Abbey, and his friend " J. A." The two men in question were very deeply interested in their researches among the ruins, but considerably hampered in their work by the want of records and plans of the Abbey as it was before its destruction. Both of them were also, it appears, experimenters in Psychical Research, though not in any sense extravagant devotees thereof. Very naturally in all the circumstances, they attempted to see whether they could get by automatic writing, in which " J. A." had some experience, any light upon their work of architectural exploration. They got in the end a very large amount of infor- mation, including rough sketch-plans, and a mass of weird and curious stuff, conveyed either in colloquial Latin such as a monk Knight be supposed to use, or else in what we are obliged by our sincerity to describe as thoroughly bad, Wardour Street English. The dramatis personae of " J. A.'s " script include William the Monk, Abbot Whyttinge, Abbot Bere, and a large number of miscellaneous spiritual " supers," among them a suspiciously over-characterized Anglo-Saxon calling himself " Awfwold ye Saxon." Whether these characters " were what they professed to be or not, we shall not attempt to determine, any more than do the bewildered " producers " of the script. What is a notable and, as far as we can see, an un- doubtable fact is that certain rough sketch-plans which were pro. duced in the automatic script were found to be uncannily true when the turf was turned and the trenches dug. Now were these plans what Sir Thomas Browne called " the courteous revelations of spirits," or were they the clever guesses of the subconscious per- sonalities of Mr. Bond and his friend " J. A." ? The producers of the script are inclined to think that neither of them was sub- consciously aware of facts which would have put them in a position to do good trance guessing ; but on the other hand it seems to us, and probably the producers would admit it, that there was, scattered about in old books, MSS., and plans, more or less accessible, enough
• The Gate of Remembrance. By P. Bligh Bond, F.ILI.B.A. Oxford : B. El• Blackwell, Lek nett material for such. guessing. Though the producers could not remember ever having consciously assimilated these facts, they may have done so unconsciously. No doubt this is pushing the subconscious-personality hypothesis and the telepathic or thought- reading theory—for, remember, many people will not allow that
it is more than a theory—rather far. Still, no one can say that it is impossible. Anyway, the coincidences and accidents, if they are nothing but coincidences and accidents, are often extremely sensational, and produce very lively reading.
As to the bona fides of the two producers there cannot, we think, be any doubt. Though psychically inclined, they do not attempt to strain or improve upon their scripts, but very properly just throw them at our heads for what they are worth.
It may amuse our readers to see a specimen of the colloquial Latin with which certain of the sketch-plans were accompanied :- " Capella St. Edgar. Abbas Beare fecit hanc capellam Beati Edgari . . . martyri et hic edificavit vel fecit voltam . . . fecit voltam petriam quod vocatur quadripartus sad Abbas Whitting . . . destruxit . . . at reetoravit earn cum nov . . . multipart . . . nescimus earn quod vocatur. Portus introitus post reredos post altarium *mere passuum at
capella extensit 30 virgas ad orientem et (? nti) in latitudine cum fen (1) . . . (?).'
F.B.B. Please repeat ; we cannot read this.'
(Repeated.) 'Quinquaginta virgas at fenestrae transoraatae.' "
Of course " J. A.'s " subconsciousness may be a " dab " at rolling off this kind of thing, but we are bound to say that it has by no means an impleasing sound, and is much to be preferred to the Wardour Street English in which a certain " Johannes, Lapidator or Stone- Mason," often writes. On one occasion the jovial Stone-Mason writes as follows :-
"' I think I am wrong in some things. Other influences cross my own. . . . Those monks are trying to make themselves felt by you both. Why do they want to talk Latin ? . . . Why can't they talk English ? . . . Benedicite. Johannes. . . . It is difficult to talk in Latin tongue (repeated, being illegible). Seems just as difficult to talk in Latin language.' [Conf. Stevenson's Wrong Box, where the immortal solicitor says, ' Very easy say Brown—Browndee. No so easy after all.']*
' Ye names of builded things are very hard in Latin tongue —transome, fanne tracery, and the like. My son, thou cant
not understande. Wee wold speak in the Englyshe tongue. Wee aside that ye volts was multipartite yt was fanner olde style in ye este ende of ye choice and ye newe volt in Edgares chappel. . . . Glosterfannes (repeated). Fannes . . . (again) yclept fanne . . . Johannes lap. lap mason.'
Q. 'What is meant by " lap mason " A. 'Lapidator . . . stonemason.' Having this signature ' Johannes' now again repeated, F.B.B. felt curious to know how far this dramatisatior an memory of a personality might be developed. Q. by F.B.B. 'Tell us more about yourself.'
A. . . . died in 1533.' (Repeated because almost illegible.) ' Yn 1533 obitus . . . curator capellae at laborans in mea ecsclesia pro amore ecelesiae Del . . . sculptans at supervisor . . . yn Henricum septem . . . anno 1497 et defunctus anno 1533.' " That sounds rank " Antiquities" Sludgery, and yet the egregious old Lapidator proved a most useful digger's guide ! Since, how- ever, space will not allow us to quote fully, we prefer to leave the book to our readers. If they are not of the high-sniffing order —persons to whom all automatic scripts are anathema—they will find a good deal to excite their imaginations, a good deal to amuse, and on the whole a rather low percentage of what will disgust and annoy them as "pure rubbish and imposture." Exceedingly strange is the story of the very stagy Anglo-Saxon mentioned above who declared that he had a wattled but upon the site of the Edgar Chapel—a building whose foundations were brought to light by means of the automatist's pencil. Though he appeared to have " impostor " written all over him, when they came to dig a trench in the place he maundered about in his impossible Anglo-Saxon jargon, they found unmistakable traces of burnt wattle. As Mr. Kipling makes one of his Generals say, " How am I to put that into a Report ? " Happily the Glastonbury architect is not afraid, but sticks it into his Report and "d---s the consequences." Another very curious and attractive passage in the automatic writing is that which describes the tomb of Arthur, though, if we may be allowed to be a little malicious, there are obvious reminiscences of Sir Walter Scott and Ivanhoe in this piece of most unblushing but rather vivid Wardour Street.
Seriously, we should like some more of this script. It is excellent reading, anyway.
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