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'Do you know where the clerk of the church lives?'

Ess, I do; leastways I ought to, having lived about these parts man and boy . . .' and so on, for ever so long, which was tedious, and not to the point.

'Would you kindly show us the way to the house in which he lives?'

'You're going straight away from it; you see you oughter have gone the other way.'

This was provoking, and not much more satisfactory. It is almost as difficult to get a direct answer to a simple question from a countryman as it is from a lawyer.

Then could you kindly tell us which way we should go to get to the clerk's house from here?'

'Well, 'taint exactly easy to tell; you've got to go down one road and up another, and maybe you wouldn't know the cottage when you saw it. It's out of my way, you see, but I'll tell you what I'll do: I doan't mind agoing a bit out of my road to show you for a sixpence.' This was business-like and a good deal to the point, and we concluded, to save time, that we would pay the 'fee.' Our guide included more for the 'fee' than we bargained for; as he trudged slowly along he would relate to us a longwinded and intensely uninteresting history all about himself and his 'fayther who lived in these parts afore I, and brought up a family of eight children, and eddicated 'em all, and he were only a farm hand.' We were not sorry when we came to the clerk's cottage and got rid of our guide, who suggested

that, if we would give him a threepence extry,' he would drink our very good healths. I am sorry to say that we were weak enough to give the 'extry' threepence.

Knocking at the cottage door, to our dismay we learnt that the clerk had just gone out. 'I'm not quite sure where he is gone to,' said his good wife--at least we presumed the woman to be such—' but I think it most likely that you'll find him at the church. He has not been gone five minutes.' This was provoking, but we had become accustomed to this sort of thing; there was manifestly nothing for it but to tramp back to the church, which we did accordingly.

Fortunately, we eventually ran the clerk to ground in the churchyard, and a very civil, intelligent clerk he proved to be. He even expressed his regret at the trouble we had had in finding him; doubtless he also had his fee in view and had learnt that as a rule civility adds thereto. To our remarks as to the general difficulty we experienced when travelling across country in finding the clerks of the various churches we wished to inspect, he pertinently replied that it was not always possible for him to be at home, or to be aware when strangers might be coming to see the church. So much for the clerk's point of view, and after all there is a good deal in it. A clerk, as he said, might wait at home a whole day long and nobody come for him; and, besides, he had other duties to perform than acting as showman to a church. Truly, but if country rectors could only see their way to allowing their churches to be left open during week

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days, much trouble and time would be saved to tourists desiring to see them; but, again, this arrangement would hardly suit the clerk's views, who would certainly lose considerably in fees thereby, all of which goes to prove how impossible it is in this imperfect world to arrange matters to please everybody.

CHAPTER XXI.

The Oldest Church in England-Across Country-English Scenery -Through Epping Forest-Drivers Asleep-Chingford-The Royal Forest Hotel-Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge-Upstairs on Horseback-The Genus Tripper-To-day and the Long AgoHome Again-Pleasant Memories of the Past.

HAVING at last got hold of the clerk, the next thing to do was to inspect the curious church. This is not a large structure, the nave being, by rough step measurement, only about thirty feet long and fourteen feet wide. The walls are composed of great trunks of trees split asunder and roughly hewn to an approximately smooth surface on the inside; these trunks are set upright close together, as shown in the illustration, which is a faithful representation of the building. The better to preserve these ancient timbers (that originally had their ends fixed in the ground and had become rotten in the damp earth), a foundation of bricks has been made to receive them, and, in spite of the weight of centuries that is upon them, the olden walls seem strong still and apparently well able to outlive centuries to come. The tops of the timbers are fixed into a wall-plate by wooden pegs, and thus sustain the roof.

The first thing that struck us upon entering this ancient fane was the warm, comfortable appearance that the walls of wood give to it, in such marked

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contrast with the chilly look of the bare stone that mostly prevails in country churches. The walls are not high, measuring only about six feet from the base to the eaves of the roof.

Another peculiar feature about this church that we remarked is the fact that there are no windows, as is usual, in the walls at the side, the nave being lighted by dormer windows in the roof above; the effect of this is a softened gloom that is very pleasing and restful to the eye. In the church we were shown a fragment of ancient stained glass, with the crowned head of St. Edmund upon it, also a bit of mediæval carved wood, representing the tradition of the wolf watching the king's head.

So old and black are the timbers of the walls that the clerk told us there had been many disputes amongst authorities upon such matters as to whether these were of oak or of chestnut, but though the matter was still in dispute, the generally received opinion was that they are of oak. There are some monuments in the church, but none of special interest. Taking us outside, the clerk pointed out the spot where at one time the entrance had beenjust opposite to where it is now. This former doorway had been filled up in past days with half trunks of trees to match the others, and he supported the fact that the entrance had once been there by showing us a holy-water stoup hollowed out of one of the ancient timbers. Wonderfully interesting is this ancient wooden church, taking us back to the morning of English history, possibly the most interesting, certainly the most ancient, in Great Britain. If walls