The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1907-05-07
ORIGIN OF GARGoYLEs.
Stone Effigy Early Used as Roof Spout
on Cathedral Of Rouen.

on Cathedral of Rouon.
One OF the earliest OF the more elab.
crate attempts to transform roof spouts
seems to have been ut the Cathedral of
Rouen, where the figure of a great
dragon was adopted for one Of them
though whether it was intended as an
object of terror to the hobgoblin fra.
ternity of the seventh century or n
symbol Of the church's triumph over a
public foe can only be conjectured.
This fearsome wild fowl terrorized
both banks Of the Seine and terribly
rayaged the city Of Rouen until he was
CALAMITY slain by st. Rominus, bishop
of the cathedral there. Probably In
sheer jubilatlon of spirits and in com
pliment to the yalorous bishop the car.
cass of the mischievous beast was EN-.
bodied in stone and set up aloft as a
warning to all depredators and any
evil spirits by which they might be
actuated, says the London Globe. Tho
name given to this unlucky animal is
said to have been glrgoille. and hence
the name given to his efIigy. according
TO some authorities.
Others, however, derive the appella-
ton from "gargoille." the weasand of
the throat, or from .'gargale," disease
to which swine are liable and which
causes gurgling sound in the throat.
like that which water makes in pass
ing through pipe. We are all at lib.
erty to choose a derivation, since no
body can speak with authority.
If gargouille really was the name
given to some more or less fabulous
beast whose carcass was initiated by
some fanciful sculptor in the making
of an ornamental spout. then the prob.
ability is that we have here the origin
not only of "gargoyle." but of the
French word for the weasand, as well
as of the English words "guggle" and
"gargle."
One ugly creature having been
adopted for stone effigy on so famous
church as that at Rouen in the sew
enth century may easily be conceived
to have set the fashion for other
churches, and the superauous hideous-
ness of so many OF these objects Ger.
tainly supports the notion that in part
their sculptors were actuated by the
idea Of frightening the uncanny folk
from the sacred edifices and the wor.
shippers.
The dragon Is the commencement of
all forms for the gargoyle, and toward
the end of the thirteenth century,
when the proprlety of adopting this
creature had become an old tradition
of church architecture, the form OF the
monster was transformed into a thing
Of some approach to grace and ele-
gance. In the meantime, however, al
most every bird or quadruped of evil
repute and of figure that could by
any maleyolent ingenuity be distorted
into something frightful has been cali
ed in for the spiritual defense Of the
church. and when animal shapes alone
had been made to undergo every con-
tortion TINT could be conceived they
We're combined with human figures
and faces develupment which In
evitnbly led to the later adoption OF
all sorts OF imps and demons.
Thus on many Of the finest churches
In Christcndom we find not only al
most every kind Of bird and beast. real
and legendary. but everything uncanny
and dtnbollcal In human form. 1t
must be allowed that it showed excep-
tional originality and an uncommon
power Of good nature in the nineteenth
century sculptor who, in the course of
the restoration of Chester cathedral
about the time OF the disestabIishment
Of the Irish church. capped this long
series Of ecclesiastical embellishments
with a caricature headpiece of Mr..
Gladstone.