File:Devon notes and queries (1907) (14581772930).jpg

Identifier: devonnotesquerie04amer (find matches)
Title: Devon notes and queries
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Amery, Peter Fabyan Sparke, d. 1907 Amery, John S Rowe, Joshua Brooking, 1837-1908
Subjects:
Publisher: Exeter, England : J. G. Commin
Contributing Library: Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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itson —whowas the first to see the font after an interval of many centuries,having discovered it buried upside down—in a letter toDr. Oliver, Nov. 23rd, 1824, describes this animal as a sala-mander emblematic of fire, with the head regardant. MissGray says it is a beaver. Of course, that it is unlike both the salamander and thebeaver goes for nothing, but its likeness to the horse ought togo for something ; possibly it may be intended for a wild ass ;a beast of bad character, according to the Bestiaries. Again,it might be the hyena, described by Philippe de Thaun as thestag-wolf, which stinks and is very fierce. This animalappears to be of a most shocking disposition, and was used tosymbolise either a luxurious and covetous person, or Jews ingeneral. In the porch of Alne Church, Yorkshire, there is acarving of a hyena. There is no doubt about it, because thename is carved above it, otherwise it might be any quadrupedon the face of the earth ; it has a less regular profile than the
Text Appearing After Image:
Devon Notes and Queries. *35 creature we are now considering, but the body is not unlike,and it has a foliated tail. Still I think the St Mary Church beast is more likely tobe a wild ass, the fan-shaped tail would be just the artistictouch that would differentiate it from thedomestic ass. What-ever the animal may be, it is clearly intended to represent asinner seeking refuge under the wing of the Church. The font of St. Michaels, Alphington, presents a wealthof decorative imagery. Emile Male, in LArt Religieux,has a passage, which in connection with this font is sosuggestive that I append a translation :— The Anglo-Saxon manuscripts are astonishing ara- besques, inextricable mazes, wherein monsters and warriorspursue one another as across the primaeval forest. The English monks of the sixth century, who, in a half dream, created this strange decorative art, were Christians, who still retained all the obscure paganism of the Germanic races. The old monsters still lived in the deep re

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