at Perranzabuloe, and may thus account for the absence of windows.

The door-way is in high preservation, neatly ornamented with the Egyptian zig-zag, or arrow, having on the key-stone of its round-headed arch a tiger's head sculptured, and two human heads on the corbels of the arch. On entering the interior, it was found to contain none of the modern accompaniments of a Roman Catholic place of worship. Here was no rood-loft for the hanging up of the host, nor the vain display of fabricated relics-no latticed confessional-no sa'cring bell,* no daubed and decorated images of the Virgin Mary, or of saints, to sanction the idolatrous transgression of the second commandment. Here was found nothing that indicated the unscriptural adoration of the wafer, or the no less unscriptural masses for the dead. The most diligent search was made for beads and rosaries, pyxes and agnus dei's, censers and crucifixes not one-not the remnant of one, could be discovered. Strange, that this ancient Church should so belie the Papist's constant appeal to antiquity—to the faith of their forefathers—to the old religion! Strange that it should, on the contrary, so closely harmonise with that novelty which Cranmer and the Reformers introduced into the doctrine and ritual of the Church of

A bell rung before the host.

England! For, in the absence of all these inventions and wonder-workings of popery, what does this little Church contain? At the eastern end in a plain unornamented chancel, stands a very neat, but simple, stone altar; and in the nave of the Church are stone seats, of the like simple construction, attached to the western, northern, and southern walls with such humble accommodations were our fathers content, who worshipped God in spirit and in truth! The Church, originally, contained also a very curious stone font, which fortunately has been preserved; having been removed before the building was irretrievably buried in the sand. This font was transferred to the second Church, mentioned by Carew and Norden, and now stands in the third or present parish church at Lambourne.* On removing the altar three ske

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* When the inhabitants were deprived of their ancient Church, they erected another on the other side of the valley, about half a mile further off, close to a brook, which, according to Carew, was considered a protection against the sand. 'Howbeit," he observes, "when he meeteth with any crossing brooke, the same, by a secret antipathy, restraineth and barreth his farther encroachment that way." Unfortunately, this brook was in process of time dried up by the adits made for draining the tin mines; and consequently the accustomed protection was taken away. Borlase, in a MS. account of an excursion made in 1755 to this spot, speaks of the second Church as "being then in no little danger, the sands being spread all around it." It stood among the sand hills, with only a solitary cottage near it, half-buried in the sand, and the porch frequently so blocked up, that it was with great difficulty admittance could be obtained. It was therefore

letons* were discovered; one of gigantic dimensions, the second of moderate size, and the third apparently of a female. No doubt the former is that of the old saint Piranust himself, and the latter his aged mother Wingela. They were carefully replaced in their narrow cell; there, let us hope, to remain undisturbed till that day when "the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible!"

Such are the particulars attending the discovery and restoration of Perranzabuloe-a discovery most interesting to the lover of antiquarian lore-a restoration invaluable to those who are happily within the pale of the Established Church. Legibly can we read in its history, now that it is scoured and cleared of what so long had defaced its ancient characters, the

determined, about thirty years ago, to abandon also the second Church, and to build a third, three miles off, more in the centre of the parish, at Lambourne, taking for the purpose the pillars, &c., of the second Church. This was accordingly done, and the new Church was consecrated by Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Exeter, in 1805. It consists of a neat though low tower, two aisles, and two transepts. The tower of the second Church, according to a sketch of it that is still in existence, was a very fine one. It contained one aisle, and a south transept, with pointed windows, neatly decorated.

* The ground around the Church was, when the author visited it, strewed with human bones, which, from time to time had been uncovered by the winds, and were bleaching on the sand. Vide Appendix.

"In sabulo positum S. Pirano Sacellum, qui sanctus etiam Hibernicus hic requiescit." Camden, p. 180.

image and superscription of our pure and reformed Church-it illustrates, in a manner most literally and strikingly true, the actual condition of the long-lost Church of England, at the time of the Reformation-when it was not rebuilt but restored, purged, and cleansed, from those monstrous errors and incrustations which the Church of Rome, the great western tyrant, had spread over the walls of our Zion, and by her repeated encroachments had at last entombed in the very dust and depth of her own abominations.

To our Protestant and Roman Catholic brethren, we would say, in the spirit of congratulation to the one, and of solemn warning to the other-" Behold here the pattern of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt-offerings nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between us and you. God forbid that we should rebel against the Lord." Joshua xxii. 28, 29.

CHAPTER II.

"Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.

"And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them

the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them."-EZEK. xliii. 10, 11.

By that pattern, then, which our fathers have left us, as a lasting testimony between Protestants and Roman Catholics, we desire to have our Church measured, and "showing" our erring Roman Catholic brethren, in the following pages, "the form of our house," and "the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof," we will fearlessly answer that old and threadbare question, which, from the days of