Aug. 11. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



103 



authorities of weight, I must really renture to 

 suggest the desirability of universally adopting 

 contemporary in lieu of its rival, whose claims 

 were, on solid reasons, disallowed by Bentley him- 

 self. C. Mamsfleu) Inglebt. 

 Birmingham. 



Curious Inscription. — I offer no apology for 

 forwarding this very curious inscription from a 

 monument in Watringbury churchyard, Kent : 



" Here lyeth the body of Henry Wood, late Citizen 

 and Haberdasher of London, who was born in this Parish, 

 and gave unto the poor thereof a yearely portion for ever. 

 He departed this life the 4th day of Nov., a.d. 1630. 



*' Houses we build, and ships we make of wood. 



Engines for warr, instruments musical. 

 No man but knows it is exceeding good ; 



Ruin must come, if that y« wood doth fall. 

 It's not in vaine that men him Wood did call, 



Consideringe howe usefuU he was heere, 

 Unto the cittie, parish, hospital]. 



Sitting with Comon Counsaille at the steere. 

 " Whereas he had a voyce among the best 



Of those grave sages of this honor d cittie, 

 Out of their number he is gone to rest, 



Death hath him crusht — y» more the pittie. 



" Henricus Wood, downe I crushe, 

 O downe I crush. It is the voyce of death ; 



■ Downe are we crusht, when once we lose our breath, 

 , "Kings, potentates, and princes downe are crushte ; 

 . jThe noble, learned, rich, and all are hushte, 



[In death's receptacle, they lie like wood: 



Those on the earth like oaks and cedars stood. 



In our chief mirth, the thoughts may make us blush, 



' Ere long come death, our brittle house to crush. 

 " The loftie cedar, oake, and lustie pine, 



As well as shrubs, are subject to declyne ; 



No wood but must at last to ashes turne, 



As well as those contayned in this urne. 



None ever sounder was, none whose good name 



A sweeter odour left, nor better fame ; 



Nor with more zeal desir'd that blessed pension. 



To be materiall in the heavenly mansion." 



C. W. Bingham 



^xxtxitS, 



WHEN DID COPES CEASE TO BE WOEN ? 



At the present day, copes are but rarely worn. 



"By the Canons of the Church of England, the clergy 

 are directed to wear this vestment ; but, out of tenderness 

 to the superstition of weaker brethren, it has gradually 

 fallen into disuse, except on such an occasion as the Coro- 

 nation." — Dr. Hook's Church Dictionary. 



The last occasion of this wearing of the cope is 

 well displayed in the engraving from Leslie's pic- 

 ture of her Majesty receiving the Holy Commu- 

 nion after her Coronation. The Rev. George 

 Ornsby, in his Sketches of Durham (p. 129., 

 1846), speaks of the copes belonging to the cathe- 

 dral (which are now carefully preserved in the 

 library), and says : 



« They were used in the Cathedral of Durham, in ac- 



No. 302.] 



cordance with the XXIV. Canon, at the administration 

 of the Holy Communion, within the last seventy years." 



And he proceeds to give the following curious ac- 

 count of the cause of their disuse. 



" Bishop Warburton, who held a prebendal stall here, 

 until his death in 1779, was the first who laid them aside. 

 His temper, which was none of the best, was wont to get 

 uncommonly ruffled by the high collar of the cope getting 

 between his neck and his full-bottomed wig. At last, in a 

 fit of more than ordinary irritation, he threw aside the 

 cope, and vowed he would never wear it again. After 

 this, they were gradually laid aside by the other pre- 

 bendaries, and at last fell into total desuetude." 



I would ask if there are any data to show at 

 what period the wearing of copes fell into disuse 

 in other cathedrals ; and, whether Warburton set, 

 or followed, the fashion ? His arrogant and bold 

 originality may have induced this change in the 

 clerical vestments ; or th'e disuse of the cope may 

 have been attributable to the infirmities both of 

 mind and body that fell upon him in his latter 

 years. Is the anecdote above quoted mentioned 

 by any of Warburton's biographers ? 



I have elsewhere (Vol. xii,, p. 96.) spoken of the 

 cope (with the figure of David with the head of 

 Goliath) presented to the Cathedral of Durham by 

 Charles I. On the Sunday of his visit to Durham 

 (in 1633), he went to the cathedral to hear a ser- 

 mon from the bishop (Thomas Morton) ; and, 

 " after service, he dined at the Deanery, at the 

 bishop's- charge ; where his Majesty had a cope 

 that cost 140Z., belonging to the church, presented 

 to him." Carter saw at Durham, in 1795, the cope 

 which was presented to the monks by Queen 

 Philippa after the battle of Neville's Cross, in 

 1346 (see Raine's Brief Account, p. 47.). 



In the year 1355, the Lord Ralph de Neville 

 gave to St. Cuthbert a set of vestments, including 

 a cope made of velvet, and covered with silk and 

 gold embroidery, and jewels of the richest descrip- 

 tion. His widow, the Lady Alice, at her death, 

 left, among many other things, to the sacrist, the 

 two pieces of cloth of gold which covered her coffin. 

 One of these was red, embroidered with Saracen 

 flowers, and of this was made a cope, with a 

 border of blue velvet embroidered with moons 

 and stars (of. Raine, p. 29.). 



In the Holy Thursday procession in Durham 

 Cathedral — 



" That holy Relique, St. Cuthbert's Banner, was carried 

 first in the procession, with all the rich copes belonging 

 to the church, every monk one. The Prior had an exceed- 

 ingly rich one of cloth of gold, which was so massy that he 

 could not go upright with it, unless his gentlemen, who at 

 other times bore up his train, supported it on every side 

 whenever he had it on." — Sanderson's Antiquities of 

 DurJiam Abbey, p. 85. 



" Valuable were the jewels and ornaments which were 

 bestowed upon that holy man St. Cuthbert. King Richard 

 gave him his parliament robe of blue velvet, wrought 

 with great lions of pure gold, an exceedingly rich cope. 

 There was another cope of cloth of gold given to the 



