The memorial erections put into so many churches after the middle of the sixteenth century are to be placed in the same category as the less often ludicrous effigies of earlier times, and may be dismissed as "ugly monumental vanities, miscalled sculpture." The grotesqueness of some of these sepulchral excrescences may in future centuries be still more apparent, though to many even time cannot supply interest. Not all are like the imposing monument to a doctor in Southwark Cathedral, on which, by the way, the epitaph is mainly devoted to laudation of his _pills_. Yet, though the grotesque is not entirely wanting in even these monuments, it is chiefly through errors of taste. The worst of them are more pathetic than anything else. The grotesque proper implies a proportion of levity, whereas the earnestness evinced by these effigies are more in keeping with the solemnity of the church's purpose than the infinitely more artistic and unobtrusive ornament of the fabric. The other class of grotesque is the modern imitation of mediæval carving, with original design. Luckily, it is somewhat rare to find the spirit of the old sculptors animating a modern chisel. One of the best series of modern antiques of this kind is a set of gargoyles at St. Nicholas's, Abingdon, executed about 1881, of which I think it worth while to append a warning sample. These two classes are left out of account in the following pages. [Illustration: MODERN GARGOYLE, ABINGDON, 1881.] Contents. PAGE PREFACE v INTRODUCTION 1 DEFINITIONS OF THE GROTESQUE 5 THE CARVERS 9 THE ARTISTIC QUALITIES OF CHURCH GROTESQUES 19 GOTHIC ORNAMENT NOT DIDACTIC 24 INGRAINED PAGANISM 27 MYTHIC ORIGIN 34 HELL'S MOUTH 60 SATANIC REPRESENTATIONS 64 THE DEVIL AND THE VICES 78 ALE AND THE ALEWIFE 99 SATIRES WITHOUT SATAN 106 SCRIPTURAL ILLUSTRATIONS 112 MASKS AND FACES 121 THE DOMESTIC AND POPULAR 134 THE PIG AND OTHER ANIMAL MUSICIANS 152 COMPOUND FORMS 157 NONDESCRIPTS 169 REBUSES 173 TRINITIES 175 THE FOX IN CHURCH ART 184 SITUATIONS OF GROTESQUE ORNAMENT IN CHURCH ART 213 INDEX 219