Mar. 27. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



301 



Foundation Charters of St. Neot's Priory and 

 Tintern Abbey, in Gorham's St. Neot's, p. cv. ; 

 Monasticon, vol. v. p. 267. Geo. O. 



S. P. near Chepstow. 



DEATHS FROM FASTING. 



(Vol. v., p. 247.) 



In the parish church of Tenby there is an ema- 

 ciated figure, lightly wrapped in a winding-sheet, 

 which is supposed to represent TuUy, Bishop of St. 

 David's, of whose death a tradition, similar to that 

 related by Bdeiensis, is current. I should mention 

 that there is also in the same church another monu- 

 ment of a bishop (as is shown by the still distinguish- 

 able mitre and crozier), which is also stated to be his. 

 I have been informed that where a monument was 

 surmounted by a representation of an emaciated 

 corpse (emblematic of the poverty of spirit in 

 which the original was supposed to live and die), 

 it was usual to erect a second effigy, representing 

 the departed as he actually appeared to his fellow 

 men. This last sentence I must however put in 

 the form of a Query, in the hope that some of 

 your correspondents may answer it with special 

 reference to the supposed tomb, or tombs, of 

 Bishop Tully ? Seleucus. 



There are two monuments of the description 

 respecting which Bueiensis desires information, 

 in the county of Devon. One against the south 

 wall of the chancel of Feniton Church, is an 

 elegant altar tomb ornamented with quatrefoils, 

 on which lies the effigy in a shroud, tied at the 

 head and feet. This may be assigned to the 

 thirteenth century, but nothing appears to indicate 

 whether it is the monument of a priest or of one 

 of the Malherbe family, who were the lords of the 

 soil. The other similar monument is in the north 

 aisle of the choir of Exeter Cathedral, and is of 

 later date. The skeleton figure lies on a slab in a 

 recess under an obtuse arch, all highly decorated 

 with tracery, panels, and foliage. This is said to 

 be to the memory of Canon Parkhouse, buried in 

 1540. See Gough. Sepulch. Mon. Introd. p. 1 11. ; 

 and Britton's Exeter Cathedral, p. 139., and plate 

 xxii. J. D. S. 



In the north aisle of Exeter Cathedral there is 

 an instance similar to that mentioned by your cor- 

 respondent, Buriensis, of a monument with the 

 figure of a human skeleton lying at full length on 

 a winding sheet. The following inscription is over 

 the arch : 



" Ista figura docet : nos omnes premeditari qualiter 

 ipsa nocet: mors quando venit dominari." 



Tradition ascribes it to Bishop Lacy's tomb, and 

 the vergers even at the present day inform visitors 

 that it was erected to commemorate his attempt to 

 fast during Lent. It is an exquisite piece of work. 



An engraving of it may be found in Britton'a 

 Exeter Cathedral. I have heard that there is a 

 similar monument in Salisbury Cathedral, and it 

 appears probable, from there being more than one^ 

 that it was a favourite device to represent the in- 

 stability of human grandeur. Exoniensis- 



There is a tradition similar to that related by 

 Bueiensis, and alike unfounded, concerning Flem- 

 ing, Bishop of Lincoln, who is buried on the north 

 side of the choir of Lincoln cathedral in a chapet 

 of his own foundation. On the floor is an image 

 of a decayed skeleton -like body; on the tomb 

 above, his effigy arrayed in his episcopal robes. 



K.P.D.E: 



I would remind your correspondent Buriensis of 

 the splendid monument in Winchester cathedral, be- 

 neath which are deposited the remains of Richard 

 Fox, Bishop of Winchester, and founder of Corpus. 

 Christi College, Oxford, who died here on the 

 14th of September, 1528. In an oblong niche, 

 under the third arch, lies the figure of Bishop 

 Fox, represented as an emaciated corpse in a 

 winding-sheet, with his feet resting on a skull. It 

 is a tradition of the vergers that he died whilst 

 endeavouring to imitate the example of Our Lord 

 by a fast of forty days. 



The figure of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of 

 Winchester, is also represented, like that of Fox,, 

 as a skeleton ; and the same tale of a forty days' 

 fast traditionally delivered by the same authori- 

 ties. E. S. S. W.. 



Winton. 



burning fern brings rain. 

 (Vol. v., p. 242.) 



Your correspondent ix asks whether any traces 

 of such a popular belief exist at present. 



In the Highlands of Scotland, where at this 

 season the heather is burned by the shepherds, the 

 belief is general among the people ; I may add that 

 it is a belief founded on observation. In Aus- 

 tralia a hot wind blowing from the north caused 

 (in part at least) by bush fires in the interior, 

 is invariably succeeded by rain from the opposite 

 part. 



It would not be difficult, perhaps, to assign a 

 satisfactory reason for a meteorological fact, which 

 by a misnomer is dubbed " Folk Lore." W. C. 



It is believed in the neighbourhood of Melrose 

 that burning the heather brings rain. 



It must be remarked that Tweeddale runs 

 mainly west and east; that the heather-covered 

 hills are all to the west of this place. West wind 

 brings rain. t 



In the north of England, and in Scotland, and 

 probably in all moorland districts of the country, 

 it is the practice of shepherds in spring, when the 



