is described by a cavalier, William Blundell, in 1642. When some
gentlemen came to use the bowling-green they found their game
interfered with by the fallen cross. A strong, powerful man was
induced to remove it. He reared it, and tried to take it away by
wresting it from edge to edge, but his foot slipped; down he fell, and
the cross falling upon him crushed him to death. A neighbour
immediately he heard the news was filled with apprehension of a
similar fate, and confessed that he and the deceased had thrown down
the cross. It was considered a dangerous act to remove a cross, though
the hope of discovering treasure beneath it often urged men to essay
the task. A farmer once removed an old boundary stone, thinking it
would make a good "buttery stone." But the results were dire. Pots and
pans, kettles and crockery placed upon it danced a clattering dance
the livelong night, and spilled their contents, disturbed the farmer's
rest, and worrited the family. The stone had to be conveyed back to
its former resting-place, and the farm again was undisturbed by
tumultuous spirits. Some of these crosses have been used for
gate-posts. Vandals have sometimes wanted a sun-dial in their
churchyards, and have ruthlessly knocked off the head and upper part
of the shaft of a cross, as they did at Halton, Lancashire, in order
to provide a base for their dial. In these and countless other ways
have these crosses suffered, and certainly, from the æsthetic and
architectural point of view, we have to bewail the loss of many of the
most lovely monuments of the piety and taste of our forefathers.

We will now gather up the fragments of the ancient crosses of England
ere these also vanish from our country. They served many purposes and
were of divers kinds. There were preaching-crosses, on the steps of
which the early missionary or Saxon priest stood when he proclaimed
the message of the gospel, ere churches were built for worship. These