putting on of apparel,' against which St. Paul wrote, and which is one of the great sins of our day; for though we find elaborate and costly robes represented on the brasses of the great and the wealthy, you always see the figures of the humbler classes clothed in neat and simple attire. If people would only follow the good advice of old Polonius to his son, 'Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy[49],' there would be less sin, and less want, and less misery in the world." _CHAPTER X_ THE PAVEMENT "Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours." Isa. liv. 11. "How all things glow with life and thought, Where'er our faithful fathers trod! The very ground with speech is fraught, The air is eloquent of God. In vain would doubt or mockery hide The buried echoes of the past; A voice of strength--a voice of pride-- Here dwells amid the stones and blast! "Still points the tower, and pleads the bell, The solemn arches breathe in stone, Window and wall have lips to tell The mighty faith of days unknown;-- Yea! flood, and breeze, and battle shock Shall beat upon this Church in vain, She stands a daughter of the rock-- The changeless God's eternal fane!" R. S. HAWKER. Illustration: Church of St. John the Baptist, Kidmore End THE PAVEMENT Illustration: Encaustic Tile, Brooke Church Mr. Acres and his family attended Morning Prayer at St. Catherine's the day following the Vicar's lecture; and after service they examined with greater interest than ever they had done before the floor of the church--indeed Mr. Acres confessed that till that morning he had never had the curiosity to walk up either of the aisles of the church with the view of finding any object of interest on the pavement. In the course of their search they now discovered a large flat stone, hitherto unknown even to the Vicar; the stone, when cleansed from the dust which had accumulated upon it (for it was placed in a remote corner of the church), was very white; it was engraved with the figure of a priest, and the incised lines were filled with a black resinous substance, so that it almost looked like a large engraving on paper, or still more like one of the copies of brasses which Ernest had exhibited the night before[50]. But what most attracted their attention was the curious old _pavement tiles_, of various patterns, which they found in different parts of the floor of the church. Their admiration of these ancient works of art was soon so deeply engaged, and their desire to know more about them so excited, that Ernest was speedily despatched to the vestry to request the Vicar to come and satisfy their inquiries.