SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this columa does sot necessarily preclude sohseptent review.] Bench-Ends in English Churches. By J. Charles Cox. (H. Milford. 7s. 6d. net.)—This now volume in Mr. Bond's well-known scrips on English Church art abounds in fascinating photographs of the old woodwork and " poppy-heads " which, despite the " restorer," still exist in many country churches. The book is largely an inventory of them, county by county, which testifies anew to Dr. Cox's extraordinarily wide and accurate knowledge of things ecclesiastical. In the introductory chapters he treats of the history of pews, manorial pews, and galleries. It is distressing, and yet consoling, to know that seat-rents were common before the Reformation. The squire's pew, often with its fireplace and a separate entrance, and in one case with a sofa, originated in the squire's chantry, in which the pious founder retained seats for his family. When the chantries were abolished, they were transformed, often with little alteration, into the manorial pews, of which far tco many still survive.
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