Along this hill slope, to the south of Lincoln, and hard by the old Roman Ermine Street, rests a series of quaint villages with interesting churches.

Waddington, the nearest to the city, possesses a small church, rich in the variety of its sculptured capitals and the plans of its columns; while Coleby, three miles off, is remarkable for its Norman remains. The church is dedicated to All Saints, and has, besides the Late Norman nave with its southern arcade of graceful octagonal columns, an Early English chancel and a Late Decorated spire, cleverly adapted to the Early Norman tower.

On the slope of the ridge, and within a short walk of Coleby, rests the village church of Navenby. Here the chancel is of conspicuous interest. Loftier than the nave, and terminated eastwards by a splendid window of unusual tracery of the flowing Decorated period, it contains a piscina and sedilia on the south side, and an Easter sepulchre and founder's tomb on the north, enriched with most elaborate sculpture, and very closely resembling in character and design those of Heckington and Hawton, near Newark. The Easter sepulchre may rightly be described as a gem of Gothic Art. It is about seven feet high, and has a central niche for the reception of the Host, with an ogee crocketted head, flanked by panelled and crocketted pinnacles, and having above sculptured figures of the Virgin and an angel with a censer on one side, and the women bringing spices to the tomb on the other; while below is a panel with three soldiers, carved in bas-relief, in full medieval armour. The figures are standing, but their attitude is nevertheless wonderfully indicative of drowsiness; indeed, one is leaning against the side of the panel as though on the point of falling asleep. It is not usual to find in a village church such refined sculpture as is here exhibited.

At Welbourne the church has a Norman tower surmounted by a crocketted spire of cigar shape, probably so designed so as not to exert too great a pressure on the old tower walls. The south porch has a strong resemblance to that of Heckington, and was probably designed by the same architect. Probably, too, the same mason was employed in carving the canopied niches of the buttresses and the central niche over the doorway, representing apparently-for the sculpture is much weathered,-God the Father sustaining the Son crucified.

Leadenham and Brant Broughton are in the neighbourhood, the former possessing what may be regarded as a typical Lincolnshire church, the latter with a church of unusual beauty, made more beautiful by its excellent restoration by Messrs. Bodley and Garner.

Quaintest of all the churches I visited in Lincolnshire, or, indeed, of any I have visited elsewhere, is Honington. The diminutive nave, with its narrow north aisle and arcade of two simple Norman arches, resting on a massive centre pier, with a wide-spreading cap; the still more diminutive chancel, entered through a narrow arch of transitional character, and holding within its scant area the tombs of the lords of the estate; the quaint hagioscope, the high-backed pews,

even the stove pipe ascending in the middle of the nave give a very picturesque air to the interior, which is enhanced by the dim light from the narrow openings in the thick walls, or the half-open door. Without, the church seems buried amongst trees.

Turning now eastwards, and passing by Ancaster with its well-known stone quarries, we may stop for a time at Sleaford and examine its beautiful church. Founded in 1271, it has passed, like most of its fellows, through many vicissitudes, and the present building is the resultant of many changes. The tower is Early English, and is surmounted by a broach spire 144 feet high; the nave is Decorated and the chancel Perpendicular. A screen of elaborate tracery separates the chancel from the nave. Sleaford once possessed a monastery, now only a few ruins remain.

There are few parts of England more interesting to a village-church hunter than this district. Heckington is near, justly proud of one of the finest village churches in the land. Unlike that of Sleaford, it was built from one design and during the most refined period of the Decorated style. There is, perhaps, a little luxuriousness about its elaborately carved pinnacles, and windows of flowing tracery, but there is none the less a restraint and severity about its chief lines and masses, which, while giving repose to the whole, emphasize the grace of its ornament. The steeple, with its hexagonal turrets cleverly adapted to the angles of the square tower and its simple spire with well-marked spire lights, has a strong masculine outline, possessing strength without clumsiness, and refinement without effeminacy. Indeed, so much does its beauty depend upon the disposition of its chief parts, that all its ornament might be swept away with little detriment. The chancel, while recalling that of Hawton and Navenby, excels both. Here the sedilia, piscina, Easter sepulchre and founder's tomb are still more sumptuous. In the Easter sepulchre there are four soldiers in the lower panels, and these, weary with watching, have fallen asleep. But Christ is risen and is represented standing above the sepulchral recess in the central panel, accompanied by adoring angels, while others in the side panels lead the wondering women to the empty tomb.

The steeple of Silk Willoughby, in the same neighbourhood, has probably been designed by the same hand as that of Heckington; the belfry lights with their deeply weathered sills are identical in design. The present church is Decorated; the original was Norman, and occupied the site of the present north aisle, in the wall of which a fragment of zigzag ornament has been incorporated. A short time ago the stone altar table was dug up with its consecration marks still well defined. A utilitarian spirit recognised its suitability as a paving slab to replace the worn tiles near the south door; but as the scruples of many prevented them from entering the church, the slab had to be again removed lest the attendance of the congregation should suffer. The Vicar, to whom I had the pleasure of speaking when visiting the church, called my attention to the much.

weathered label stops of the south door, representing the heads of a King and Bishop. He said that an archæological friend once recognised the kingly label stop as the sculptured portrait of Edward II. "How do you know?" asked the Vicar. "Because I have seen him." The archeologist then explained that he had been present at the opening of the King's coffin at Tewkesbury, and had seen the King's features ere they crumbled into dust on the admission of the air, and that he recognized in the carved head the very wide jaws peculiar to that King. This incident stimulated enquiry into the history of the church, and it was found that a native of Silk Willoughby, one William Armyn by name, after having served as village priest for some years, during which he acquired a reputation for learning extending beyond his village surroundings, was raised by Edward II. to the see of Norwich. With a fond recollection of the village where he had spent the days of his boyhood and early manhood, he sought an early opportunity of restoring its church. Thus is history written in stone: the right label stop is the sculptured portrait of the good bishop, the left that of his royal patron. I do not doubt there is many a carved head in our parish churches which is the portrait of a once living man or woman, whose name is lost and whose history is forgotten, but who, for a noble deed in those long bygone years, has been deemed not unworthy of this memorial, which has silently, through the centuries, adorned the little village church where once he knelt.

Silk Willoughby has still the remains of its village cross, and a fine one it must have been. The square base, adorned by sculptured panels in bas-relief representing the symbols of the four Evangelists, is all that now remains.

Helpringham is another large church in this neighbourhood; Ewerby has a church of marked beauty; and Sempringham is particularly interesting for its rich Norman work.

There is Swaton, too, with a low central tower and a very attractive interior. The chancel, seen through the small massive tower arches, has the mystery of an inner shrine. The west end is not unlike that of Solihull, and three large windows flood the nave with light. Too much, far too much, not a dim religious light by any means; but were these windows filled with painted glass as was doubtless intended, the effect at sunset would have been gorgeous.

Moving further eastwards we shall recognise a long way off, far, indeed, before any town becomes visible, the lofty lantern tower of Boston. Placed near the mouth of the Witham, and but a few miles from the open sea, Boston, or "St. Botolph's Town," was at one time a considerable port. In 1204 its assessment towards a port tax was as much as £780; London itself being only £836. In the fifteenth century the town rose to the height of its prosperity, due, no doubt, in a large measure, to the settlement there of certain wealthy. Hanseatic merchants. But the merchants and the townspeople quarrelled; blood was shed; the merchants returned to their country and the town declined in