A Sculptured Legend at St Laurence Church in Thanet

208 SCULPTURED LEGEND AT ST. LAURENCE CHURCH. has evoked him, previous to inMeting upon him a sentence of banishment from the church. These sculptures are on the inside of the pillars in this angle of the tower. The adjoining pillar completing the south arch of the tower bears no carving upon its capital. But at the southwest corner (4) of the nearest pillar in the nave's south arcade, on tbe outer side, is a bold outline of a head, having the mouth covered with a conspicuous gag. Silence, symbolical of restraint from further mischief, and an immediate expulsion from the sacred edifice, have been enforced upon the evil spirit. He has sped thus far in his outward flight. At the corresponding angle (5) of the next pillar, nearly opposite the south door, is a most uncouth head. Only a rough outline is visible here, in which the principal feature is a pair of staring eyes, and the left cheek is distorted by the tongue being thrust derisively into it. The demon has displaced the gag, and takes advantage of the screen afforded by the massive angle of the tower intervening between him and his reprover to leer impudently at the latter before making his exit through the south porch. Such was the manner in which the builders of old time delighted to embody spiritual allegories in stone; quaint as their conceits often were, they were at the same time symbolical and instructive, and presented to the eye abundant matter for reflection, being attractive alike to the careless or to the devout mind.