394 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 156. 



urn, giving him directions for the compass and height 

 of it, and to bring with it a board of the just height of 

 his body. These being got, then without delay a 

 choice painter was got to be in readiness to draw his 

 picture, which was taken as followeth. Several char- 

 coal fires being first made in his large study, he brought 

 ■with him into that place his winding-sheet in his hand, 

 and having put off all his clothes, had this sheet put 

 on him, and so tied with knots at his head and feet, 

 and his hands so laced as dead bodies are usually 

 fitted to be shrouded and put into their coffin or grave. 

 Upon this urn he thus stood with his eyes shut, and 

 with so much of the sheet turned aside as might show 

 his lean, pale, and death-like face ; . . . and when the 

 picture was fully finished, he caused it to be set by his 

 bedside, where it continued and became his hourly 

 object till his death." 



The monument, I believe, is still to be seen in 

 the crypt of St. Paul's, being among the few that 

 escaped the disastrous fire. Shrouded and ema- 

 ciated figures appear to have first come into use 

 on the continent, probably in the fourteenth cen- 

 tury, I am not aware that any are to be found 

 in England of so early a date, those at Lincoln 

 (1430), and Fy field, Berks, are among our earliest 

 examples. At Margate, Kent, is a skeleton in 

 brass, of the date 1446 ; and a shrouded figure, 

 date 1431, is, I am informed, in existence at 

 Sheldwich in the same county. To the list of 

 *' cadavera " sculptured in stone, and already no- 

 ticed in "N. & Q.," I may add the efiigies of 

 Bishop Beckyngton, 1465, at Wells, and two 

 others at St. Mary Overy's, Southwark, and St. 

 Peter's, Bristol. This class of monuments seems 

 to have given rise to the adoption of skulls and 

 cross-bones as emblems of mortality, the cross- 

 bones being probably suggested by the crossed 

 arms of the skeleton effigies. 



If I have not already occupied too much space 

 in these columns, I beg leave to Insert here a 

 Query ; whether the kneeling, shrouded, figure in 

 brass, of the wife of William Bulstrode, 1462, has 

 Iseen replaced In the old church of Upton near 

 Eton, during the recent restorations ? When I 

 visited the church in 1849, I was informed It was 

 in the possession of the incumbent. If it has not 

 been already relaid In the church, it Is to be hoped 

 that measures will be taken to prevent this Inter- 

 esting memorial from sharing the too common fate 

 of its fellows, H, H, 



Gloucester, 



In the north aisle of the parish church of Sedge- 

 field, Durham, Is an ancient brass, representing 

 two skeletons In shrouds ; one shroud is open so 

 as to display the whole figure, the other has the 

 shroud folded over the loins. There has been an 

 armorial shield above the figures. 



According to Gough (Sepulchral Monuments), 

 the monument of Paul Bush, Bishop of Bristol, 



1558, represented a skeleton In a shroud lying on 

 an altar-tomb, Haxby, treasurer of York, has a 

 monument of the same description in 1241 ; and 

 there are (adds Mr, Gough) Instances In almost 

 every cathedral, and of every Intermediate age : 

 among others. Bishop Fleming at Lincoln, 1431. 

 There is also one at Bury St, Edmunds. Lay 

 figures of this kind are not very common, yet he 

 enumerates the Countess of Suffolk at Ewelme, 

 Oxon., and several others. At Hitchin In Herts, 

 are brasses very nearly resembling the Sedgefield 

 figures; and at Sawbridgeworth, In the same 

 county, are brasses of a male and female figure, 

 each holding a heart. On a brass plate against 

 the wall of Yarnton Church, Oxon,, Is the effigy 

 of Dr. Nele, professor of Hebrew at Oxford, who 

 died 1500, He Is represented lying at full length 

 wrapt in a shroud, beneath a quaint Latin In- 

 scription In verse. Representations of this sort, 

 therefore, seem by no means uncommon ; and Mr. 

 Gough's remarks contain all that need be said on 

 the subject : 



" The least degree of reflection would have shown 

 that the figure here alluded to (Bishop Bush), which 

 has created an unnecessary perplexity with several 

 curious persons, and given rise to the foolish tales of 

 vergers and sextons, was nothing more than a striking 

 exemplification of the change of condition made by 

 death," 



He adds In a note : 



" The common story is that these persons starved 

 themselves to death by endeavouring to fast forty days 

 in imitation of Christ." 



J, E. M,, M,A. 



Already some score or so of such memorials 

 have been referred to In " N, & Q.," and these are 

 not one-fourth, perhaps not one-eighth of those 

 that still exist In our churches. It Is therefore 

 well that L, A, M, limits the Inquiry to examples 

 prior to 1452. A good example may be seen in the 

 middle of the nave of St. John's Church, Margate. 

 It commemorates Richard Notfield, who died in 

 1446, and exhibits him as a complete skeleton, 

 without shroud or clothing of any description, the 

 background diapered. The inscription Is perfect : 

 the effigy 2 ft. 7 in, long. 



In the church of Clifton Reynes, on the floor of 

 the north chancel, or chantry, is a brass containing 

 two shrouded emaciated effigies, male and female. 

 No inscription remains ; but over each effigy Is the 

 Reynes' arms impaling those of Tyringham, The 

 only Reynes known to have married a Tyringham 

 was Sir Thomas, who died about 1370, certainly 

 not later, I doubt not many other examples of 

 such effigies exist belonging to about the same 

 period. W. H. K. 



