•2"^ S. V. 117., Mar. 27. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



249 



LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 27. 1858. 



PRESERVATION OP MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. 



(2"0 S. V. 201.) 



[We are glad to see this important question attracting 

 so much attention. Since it was originally'- discussed in 

 our First Series, some great reforms have taken place in 

 the organisation of tliat body which would seem pecu- 

 liarly called upon to take the' lead in this matter — we 

 mean the Society of Antiquaries. Let us hope that 

 the expectation of those who long to see that Society 

 more actively engaged in the preservation of our na- 

 tional antiquities — monumental and historical — may 

 be realised on this occasion; and that, by the appli- 

 cation of some of the various iweans at its disposal, we 

 may soon see it busily engaged in what would be the 

 honourable and patriotic task of organising some well- 

 considered scheme for preserving authentic records of 

 our Monumental Inscriptions.] 



I am delighted to find it is probable that the 

 preservation of monumental inscriptions is again 

 likely to be discussed in "N. & Q." Several com- 

 munications on this matter appeared in the 1st 

 Series (vol. iii. pp. 14. 116. 217. 313. 417. 513.), 

 but the subject soon dropped, and I fear little 

 good resulted. 



The monumental stones which record past ge- 

 nerations have been formerly, and are even now, 

 exposed to so many dangers that it is not wonder- 

 ful antiquaries should complain of their frequent 

 destruction. The Vandalism of the clergy, squires 

 and churchwardens of the last century probably 

 did more to sweep away such records, as it cer- 

 tainly did to destroy the beauty of the fabrics to 

 whicli they were attached, than the outburst of 

 Puritan fanaticism at a more remote period. The 

 church restorers too of the present time have de- 

 stroyed or hidden many a fair tomb, because it 

 did not harmonise _with the plan of the building, 

 or with their conceptions of beauty. As this evil 

 can never entirely come to an end, it behoves those 

 who have the interests of topography and genea- 

 logy at heart to set about making a permanent 

 record of such inscriptions as soon as may be. I 

 have no great idea of the division of labour in 

 matters topographical. I believe that one man, 

 if he have his heart in his work, may do a larfre 

 ^district in the course of the summer months, but 

 before he begins he should have a clear idea of 

 what is wanted and what is not. There are in the 

 British Museum, the Bodleian, and elsewhere, 

 many manuscript collections of inscriptions.* Of 

 these we ought to have a catalogue so prepared as 

 to give, not only the date of the MS., but also 

 inform us whether the notes are general, or only a 

 serection from such as were then extant in the 

 localities where they were copied. All our first- 



* For an extensive list of these, see Mr. Sims's Hand- 

 hook for the Genealogist and Topographer, p. 287. et seq. 



rate county and town histories too contain the in- 

 scriptions in the churches of the districts to which 

 they relate, or at least such a selection as the 

 authors of the works considered worthy of a place 

 in their pages. Add to these the Rev. J. H. 

 Hewett's Monumentarinm of Exeter Cathedral, and 

 two or three publications similar in character and 

 scope. To go over this ground again would be 

 waste of time and energy ; the collector ought 

 merely to supply such matters as are wanting in 

 his predecessor's, giving a general reference to the 

 rest, whether they are contained in printed works 

 or accessible manuscript collections. 



To take in extenso copies of all the inscriptions 

 in all the burial-grounds of Great Britain would 

 be a task so mighty that no division of unpaid 

 labour would ever bring about a satisfactory result. 

 And were such a mass of material got together, 

 what an immense collection of rubbish should we 

 have intermixed with the information that was 

 really useful ! The great mass of the modern in- 

 scriptions might be reduced to a tabular form with 

 very great advantage. We should get rid of the 

 endless succession of "most tender parents," and 

 " most affectionate of wives," with the nonsense 

 verses that usually accompany such records, and 

 only retain the valuable genealogical residuum. 

 Of course all the old inscriptions should be copied 

 in full — say all before 1700; and of such it would 

 be well in most cases to describe the position that 

 each slab or tomb occupies in the church or 

 churchyard. All the coats of arms too should be 

 noted, and when they occur on parchments or in 

 stained glass a note stating their probable age 

 should be given by the copyist, who should also 

 be very careful to record the existence of any un- 

 inscribed tombs, effigies, religious, military, and 

 civil, slabs from which brasses have been torn 

 away and the arches in church walls, which go 

 by the name of founders' tombs, for these may in 

 many cases be identified whenever we have less 

 restricted access to the testamentary records of 

 our ancestors. The collector, moreover,jShould be 

 determined not to be led astray by making his 

 collection ecclesiological as well as sepulchral. 

 Ecclesiological notes are of equal or greater value, 

 and there is a pressing need of their being taken 

 as early as possible, but they cannot fittingly be 

 arranged in the same collection with genealogical 

 data. Architectural description and family his- 

 tory harmonise well in the pages of the County 

 Historian, but should iiot be blended in the notes 

 from which his work is compiled. 



If a plan were once organised, and a guarantee 

 given that the manuscripts when finished would 

 be deposited in the British Museum or some other 

 place of safety and easy access, I believe a large 

 mass of highly valuable material would soon be 

 gathered together. ' But before anything is done 

 in the way of joint-labour some one person should 



