Glimpses and Gleanings of Church Lore. By T. E. Thiselton
Dyer. (A. D. limes and Co.)—Mr. Dyer has put together a number of interesting facts and fancies, and made a very readable book out of them. " Church-Building Legends," in which, of course, the Evil One frequently figures ; the curious stories about " worms," and other monsters that -somehow fasten themselves on to churches ; traditions about the various portions of the building, the porch, tower, belfry, &c.; the lore of the churchyard,—are among the subjects treated of. Then we hear of officials whom we are now happily able to dispense with, as in the records of a church near Marlborough we find a man paid four shillings a year for whipping dogs out of church. Another had a shilling more for the same duty, coupled with the more invidious task of waking sleepers. Mr. Dyer is not invariably correct. The tradition of the forty days' rain connected with St. Swithin belongs to the attempted translation of his bones. Why should his corpse not have been " allowed to enter the church " P A propos of " Memorials of the Dead," the helmet that hangs over Henry V.'s tomb- in Westminster Abbey is mentioned. It is an instance of the diffi- culty of being exact in antiquarian matters. Dean Stanley says that it is " in all probability 'that very casque that did affright the air' at Agincourt still showing in its dents the marks of the ponderous sword of the Duke of Alencon." But we find the price of a helm and crest for the King's funeral in Rymer's " Finders." Thereupon it is stated that it was an undertaker's " property " helmet. Then, again, comes a third authority who declares that it is "a genuine tilting helmet of the period."
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