nigh a hundred years. For it was probably built by Gley le Breton, when Stephen was seated on the royal throne of Westminster, and Roger de Clinton, thirty-third successor of St. Chad, on the episcopal throne of Coventry. It was the hand of a Clinton that first blessed this altar and these walls; and now, when seven centuries have rolled away, it is under the noble patronage of a Clinton that this altar and these

walls have been restored. Steetley Chapel, then, is older than Welbeck Abbey. Gley le Breton built it, perhaps, for his own convenience, as a private chapel to stand near his house; and, no doubt, Parson Hugh or Parson Walter used sometimes to walk down here from Whitwell early in the morning, to say mass for the benefit of Gley, or Gley's son John, with his four sons and their sister, Matilda, and the Gurths and Wambas of his day. These four young men, if they married, left no children, and Matilda becoming heiress, brought the property by

marriage to the Vavasours, who held it till the year 1360. Thenceforward, and all through the Reformation period, it was held by the Frechevilles. From them it passed to the Wentworths, to the Howards, and to the Pelham Clintons. Although for some two hundred years this building remained as a "capella" in Whitwell parish, yet in the fourteenth century, while Roger Northburgh and

Robert Stretton were Bishops of Lichfield, nine separate institutions are known to have been made, and the priest is called "Rector of Steetley Church." This brief independence of forty years lapsed as mysteriously as it arose, and Steetley Chapel serves now once more the purpose for which Gley le Breton built it.

The chapel is 56 ft. long. It is divided into three parts-a nave, a chancel, and an apse (a parallelogram, a square, and a semi-circle). The nave is 15 ft. 9 in. broad, and the chancel measures 13 ft. 9 in. across.

Rev. Dr. J. C. Cox (whose name needs no comment) has pronounced Steetley Chapel to be "the most perfect and elaborate specimen of Norman architecture to be found anywhere in Europe." The chief features of interest are the porch, the chancel, and the apse. Observe the porch. It is composed of a triple arch resting on three pillars. The inmost member of the arch is plain, the second and third are ornamented with the beak-head and with the zigzag design.

pillars the sculptor has lavished his art. The inmost one is simply moulded; the next is very rich with deeply-cut interlacing foliage; the third is ornamented with picturesque medallions, and on the capital is a syren or a mermaid and two fish. It is not extravagantly fanciful to suppose that these three pillars represent the works of Creation: three steps in the progress of life. The inmost is inanimate; the second displays the wealth of vegetable growth; the third the activity of animal life-the sea-monster and the fish; the wild beast, the lamb of the flock, the man; and the flying eagle—that is, things "in heaven above, in the earth beneath, and in the water under the earth." This idea is visible on both sides of the porch. There is, no doubt, a further meaning in the medallions. Thus, on the left side is plainly seen the Good Shepherd delivering the lamb out of the paw of the bear; on the right the figure of the pelican in her piety. Two new pillars have been added by Mr. Pearson on the old basement discovered. The carved stones lying on the grass may have originally belonged to the porch. They were found blocking up the lower of the two west windows. Outside the porch, right across the entrance, was found yonder priest's tombstone, and beneath the stone a skull. On the stone is carved an altar with three legs, and on the altar a chalice and paten, and a hand extended in blessing. At the head and foot is a sort of cross in a circle. There are two other stones: one plain, the other with a cross rudely scratched on it. Perhaps that unearthed skull beneath the carved stone was part of the skeleton of Lawrence le Leche, who was instituted to Steetley the year before the great plague of 1349, during which seventy-seven priests in Derbyshire died and twenty-two resigned. It is not difficult to imagine him, like Mr. Mompesson, at Eyam, in 1666, refusing to quit his post, comforting the sick and dying, or restoring them to health by that medical skill which had earned for him the title of "le Leche." Then, after seven years' service he died, and, in the humility of his self-devotion, chose, like St. Swithun at Winchester, to be buried before the porch, so that the people whom he had so faithfully served during his life might tread upon his bones, as they passed within to pray. Dying, he left no name, no epitaph upon his tomb, only a hand stretched out eternally

to bless. It was a happy omen to find, when we began to restore, a holy hand that blessed us from the grave. To these ancient graves are now added new ones; a few little children; and two old men, who made their first and last Communion here before they died.

The chancel arch forms a kind of frame, through which the second arch and the lovely apse are seen. It gives an effect of solemn depth and rich beauty. The arch is triple. The inmost design is the zigzag, the next the battlement, and the third is "an escalloped border over reticulated cones." The two pillars on the north side are richly

carved, one with a double-bodied lion, the other with a St. George and the Dragon. The winged dragon, his long sweeping tail curled round the next capital and terminating in foliage, tramples on a prostrate lady. The warrior, in a complete suit of armour, strides to the rescue. His left hand thrusts a kite-shaped shield against the monster's mouth, and his right hand, grasping a long broadsword, is stretched out behind him to deal a death-blow. The chancel is paved with stone, as it was anciently. The aumbrey in the north wall contains a specimen of the stone tiles with which the chapel was once roofed. An old copper key, a piece of wrought iron, and a silver penny of the reign of Richard II, are the only things found here. In

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Lysons' Magna Britannia (vol. v, pp. ccxxii-iii) are shown two doors opposite each other in the chancel, evidently cut for the convenience of the pigs or sheep that once lived inside. The decorated window in the south side is the only feature later than the Norman period. The apse has a stone vaulted roof, supported by four ribs resting on engaged pillars. In the centre, where the ribs meet, immediately over the altar, is a medallion containing the "Lamb as it had been slain." The capitals of the pillars are elaborately carved. On the left is represented the tree of knowledge, loaded with fruit. Round it curls the serpent, and on either side stand Adam and Eve an emblem of temptation and defeat. On the right are seen two doves; a symbol of peace after resisted temptation. The two together suggest and teach the text: "Be ye as wise as serpents and harmless as doves." Some remains of the colour can still be seen on the capital of the south pillar of the arch.

It would be a thousand pities to touch the carving with modern paint. It is painted with the inimitable art and colour of the great master, Time. But the chapel needs colour and enrichment; and, if the spaces between the ribs were tastefully decorated, the stone carving would appear to greater advantage. One word to suggest a scheme. Behind the altar a reredos, representing the Crucifixion; in the central window, the Ascension; in the central space of the roof, Christ in Majesty, surrounded by the four living Creatures, the Angels, and the Saints after whom the chapel is named. Between the arch and the ribs of the roof is a semi-circle, which surrounds and frames the vaulted roof. This must be the "rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald," and it must be composed of created things. In the summit the ranks of the angels; then the sun, moon, and stars; the clouds, lightnings, and storms; then the birds; then the beasts, the trees, the flowers; and then the water and the fish.

It only remains for me to call your attention to the grotesque heads that surround the chapel immediately beneath the roofs, and also to the very beautiful stringcourse of carved foliage that girdles the apse immediately below the three exquisite little narrow windows.

The chapel has not been re-consecrated. It was "reconciled" by the present Lord Bishop of Lichfield on November 2nd, 1880.

The last visit of the afternoon was to Barlborough Hall, four miles further on the road. After a pleasant drive into the old village, the conveyances entered the grounds, and turned into the magnificent avenue of elm trees which leads up to the front of the mansion. The