The removal, and material, of the altar, the change of vestments, the gradual introduction of close pews, the innovation of a reading pew, were all figurative enough. Something like a return to church art was made just before the great Rebellion: chancels became elongated, {cxxvii} altars resumed their old position, copes reappeared, and the like. Details began to improve: and (which we could hardly have expected) intentional symbolism is sometimes to be discovered in them. So, in Baltonsburgh, Somersetshire, a stone pulpit of the date of 1621, has among other devices, an equilateral triangle, containing, and surrounded by, a _tre_-foil: and evidently setting forth the Holy Trinity. After the Rebellion, but still more after the Revolution, those faint traces of symbolism died away into that _ne plus ultra_ of wretchedness, the Georgian style. {cxxviii} CHAPTER XI GENERAL CONCLUSION It is very remarkable, as has been already observed, that the buildings of those who most strongly object to the principle of symbolism, do in effect contain as striking an exemplification of it as it would be possible to find. Let us look at a Protestant place of worship. It is choked up and concealed by surrounding shops and houses, for religion, nowadays, must give way to business and pleasure: it stands north and south, for all idea of fellow-feeling with the Church Catholic is looked on as mere trifling, or worse: the front which faces the High Street is of stone, because the uniformity of the street so required it: or (which is more likely) of stucco, which answers as well, and is cheaper: the sides, however, are of brick, because no one can see them: there is at the entrance a large vestibule, to allow people to stand while their carriages are being called up, and to enter into conversation on the news of the day, or the merits of the preacher: it also serves the purpose of making the church warmer, and contains the doors and staircases to the galleries. On entering, the pulpit occupies the central position, and towards it every seat is directed: for preaching is the great object of the Christian ministry: galleries run all round the building, because hearing is the great object of a Christian congregation: {cxxix} the altar stands under the organ gallery, as being of no use, except once a month: there are a few free seats in out-of-the-way places, where no one could hear, and no pews would be hired, and therefore no money is lost by making the places free: and whether the few poor people who occupy them can hear or not, what matters it? The font, a cast-iron vase on a marble pillar, stands within the altar rails; because it there takes up no room: the reading pew is under the pulpit, and faces the congregation; because the prayers are to be read to them and not addressed to God. Look at this place on Sunday or Thursday evening. Carriages crash up through the cast-iron gates, and, amidst the wrangling and oaths of rival