Latin inscriptions generally commenced with Hic Jacet,' or Orate pro anima;' and, after stating the name of the person, the day and year in which he died, and other particulars, commonly ended with, Cujus anime propicietur Beus. Amen.' Many of the words were often abbreviated, and the numerals were designated by letters, and not figures.

Those in French most frequently began with 'Eci Gist,' and concluded with 'Be qp alme Dieu eyt mercy.'

There are some curious tombs of this century, where the bust and feet only of the effigy appear, emerging, as it were, from beneath a slab hollowed out at the upper and lower extremities for that purpose; the rest of the body being apparently concealed by the slab, on which the shield and tilting helmet are sculptured in relief.

Of this description is the monument before alluded to, of Sir William de Staunton; it consists of a slab, chiselled out of the top like the ancient stone coffins, with a circular cavity for the head; the effigy appears in relief in a hooded hawberk, and gloves of chain-mail, but below the breast the whole of the body is concealed, except the feet, which appear in a trefoliated compartment chiselled in the slab; round the verge is a Latin inscription, and on the middle of the slab, carved in relief, is the tilting helme, a very early instance, and shield.

The monumental slab in Brize Norton Church, Oxfordshire, of John Daubynyne, who died in 1346, is of a similar design, though the details in armour are somewhat different.

In many churches there is a monumental arch or recess, formed within the thickness of the north wall of the chancel, over what appears to be a low altar tomb, without either effigy or inscription. This was the place where the holy sepulchre, typical of the tomb hewn out of the rock,

wherein the body of Jesus was laid, was anciently set up; and at Easter the Resurrection of our Lord was solemnly commemorated by certain religious rites or ceremonies representing that event, performed at this particular spot. On Good Friday, the host and crucifix were carried in procession through the church to the north side of the chancel, a and deposited in the sepulchre b there erected, which was generally a moveable structure or shrine, prepared for the occasion; the door of the sepulchre was then shut, and on that and the following night watched by persons appointed for that purpose, in imitation of the soldiers set to guard the body of Christ; and early on Easter morning the host and crucifix were removed with great solemnity, the priest at the same time pronouncing the words, Surrexit non est hic,'d

In old parochial accounts, charges frequently occur of payments made to persons for watching the sepulchre, and for the wax lights and tapers burnt before it; and among the constitutions for the office of deacon in Trinity Church, Coventry, A. D. 1462, one is, that "he shall watch the sepulcur on Astur evyn till the resurecion be don."

Owing to the construction of the sepulchre, which was chiefly of wood, and painted, and taken away from the

"Processio eat per ostium occidentale usque ad locum prime stacionis que ex parte ecclesie boriali erit.”-M.S. Pen. Auc.

b "Deinde exuat sacerdos casulam, et assumit secum crucem de prelatis discalciatum in superpellicio et reponit crucem in sepulchro, deinde corpus Domini, sed in pixide, in eodem sepulchro."-Ibid.

• "Deinde incensato sepulchro, et ostio clauso."— Ibid.

d" In die Pasche ante matutinam et ante campanarum pulsationem conveniant omnes clerici ad ecclesiam et accendantur luminaria per ecclesiam. Episcopus et decanus, vel duo excellentiores presbyteri in superpelliciis cum ceroferariis et thuribulo et clero ad sepulchrum accedant et incensato prius sepulchro cum magna veneratione et reverentia (videlicit genuflectendo) statim post thurificationem corpus Domini privatim super altare deponant. Iterum accipiant crucem de sepulchro.”—Breviarium ad insignis Sarisburiensis ecclesie usum. ed. 1556.

arched recess it occupied at a certain period after Easter, e the altar substructure and the arch above are generally the only vestiges remaining.

But the sepulchre was sometimes irremoveable, and constructed of stone of rich tabernacle work, with sculptured figures in relief, illustrative of the Resurrection.

A very perfect and fine specimen of the holy sepulchre, thus embellished, is in the parish church of Heckington, in Lincolnshire.

On the north side of Kingsland Church, Herefordshire, is a small building called the Volkre's chamber, within which, out of the thickness of the wall, an arch is formed over a kind of altar, with an open window at the back of four lights, for the convenience of those within the church; and on this altar the holy sepulchre was anciently placed.

The position which the holy sepulchre in Bilton Church, Warwickshire, formerly occupied, is indicated by an elegant and enriched ogee-shaped arch in the north wall of the chancel; near to it is a low door, through which access was obtained to a small building adjoining the chancel, of which no other vestiges now remain, the building having been entirely demolished, probably early in the seventeenth century, when the church underwent considerable repairs.

At Cubbington Church, in the same county, the substructure of the sepulchre consists of a low raised altar or tomb in the north wall, under a plain pointed ellipticshaped arch, devoid of sculpture or ornament.

The holy sepulchre was sometimes erected on a real, and not an imaginary tomb. On the south side of the Clopton chapel or chantry, adjoining the north side of the

e "Et notandum est quod sepulchrum domini stabit continue in loco suo ab hac die usque ad proximam feriam et tunc ante missam amoveatur."-M.S. Pen. Auct.

chancel of Milford Church, Suffolk, and under an open arch formed through the entire thickness of the wall, and open to the chancel, is the altar tomb of John Clopton, who died 1497, and on this was placed the moveable sepulchre at Easter.

The custom of watching the sepulchre, and other ceremonies connected therewith, though generally discontinued at the Reformation, was revived during the reign of Mary; but early in the reign of Elizabeth, it was, on the change of religion, with other rites, again discontinued.

From Neale's Parochial Churches.

Monument in Meriden Church, Warwickshire. Temp. Henry VI.

CHAPTER X.

FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

THE chasteness and elegance of design which so preeminently characterised the architectural structures of the fourteenth century, was succeeded in the fifteenth by a style of composition remarkable for the profusion and display of minute ornament, and almost endless subdivision of detail. Throughout this century, indeed, the attention paid to the memorials of departed greatness was such, that, judging from the costly and elaborate manner in which they were executed, no preceding or subsequent era will be found