June 10. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



539 



Restatt. — In the curious old church book of the 

 Abbey Parish, Shrewsbury, the word restall occurs 

 as connected with burials in the interior of the 

 church. I cannot find this word in any dictionary 

 to which I have access. Can the readers of " N. 

 & Q." explain its meaning and origin, and supply 

 instances and illustrations of its use elsewhere ? I 

 subjoin the following notes of entries in which the 

 word occurs : 



" 1566. Received for restall and knyll. 

 1577. Received for buryalls in the church, viz. 



Itm. for a restall of Jane Powell for her gra d 

 mother, vijs. viijd" 



1593. The word is now altered to "lastiall," and 

 so continues to be written till April 29, 1621, 

 when it is written " restiall," which continues to 

 be its orthography until 1645, when it ceases to 

 be used altogether, and " burials in the church " 

 are alone spoken of. Prior Robert of Salop. 



dHuttiti. 



SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS. 



(Continued from p. 514.) 



In a previous communication, fighting under 

 the shield of a great authority, I attempted to 

 prove that the effigies of the mediaeval tombs pre- 

 sented the semblance of death — death in gran- 

 deur, mortality as the populace were accustomed 

 to behold it, paraded in sad procession through 

 the streets, and dignified in their temples. The 

 character of the costume bears additional testi- 

 mony to their supposed origin, and strongly war- 

 rants this conclusion. It is highly improbable that 

 the statuaries of that age would clothe the expir- 

 ing ecclesiastic in his sacerdotal robes, case the 

 dying warrior in complete steel, and deck out 

 other languishing mortals in their richest apparel, 

 placing a lion or a dog, and such like crests or 

 emblems, beneath their feet. They were far too 

 matter-of-fact to treat a death-bed scene so poet- 

 ically. The corpse however, when laid in state, 

 was arrayed in the official or the worthiest dress, 

 and these heraldic appurtenances did occupy that 

 situation. Thus in 1852 were the veritable re- 

 mains of Prince Paul of Wurtemburg, in full 

 regimentals and decorated with honours, publicly 

 exhibited in the Chapelle Ardente at Paris (Il- 

 lustrated London News, vol. xx. p. 316.). Un- 

 imaginative critics exclaim loudly against the 

 anomaly of a lifeless body, or a dying Christian, 

 being thus dressed in finery, or covered with 

 cumbrous armour ; and such would have been the 

 case in former days had not the people been so 

 familiarised with this solemn spectacle. In an 

 illumination in Froissart we have the funeral of 

 Richard II., where the body is placed upon a 

 simple car attired in regal robes, a crown being 



on the head, and the arms crossed. We are in- 

 formed that " the body of the effigies of Oliver 

 Cromwell lay upon a bed of state covered with a 

 large pall of black velvet, and that at the feet of 

 the effigies stood his crest, according to the custom 

 of ancient monuments." The chronicler might, 

 perhaps, have said with more propriety " in ac- 

 cordance with tradition ; " cause and effect, 

 original and copy, being here reversed. 



" In a magnificent manner (he proceeds) the effigies 

 was carried to the east end of Westminster Abbey, and 

 placed in a noble structure, which was raised on purpose 

 to receive it. It remained some time exposed to 

 public view, the corpse having been some days before 

 interred in Henry VII. 's Chapel." , 



In the account of the funeral obsequies of 

 General Monk, Duke of Albemarle, in 1670, the 

 writer says : 



" Wren has acquitted himself so well, that the 

 hearse, now that the effigy has been placed upon it, 

 and surrounded by the banners and bannerols, is a 

 striking and conspicuous object in the old abbey. It 

 is supported by four great pillars, and rises in the 

 centre in the shape of a dome." 



It is here also worthy of note, that Horncastle 

 Church affords a curious example of the principle 

 of a double representation — one in life, and the 

 other in death ; before alluded to in the Italian 

 monuments, and in that of Aylmer de Valence. 

 On a mural brass (1519), Sir Lionel Dymock 

 kneels in the act of prayer ; and on another plate 

 covering the grave below, the body is delineated 

 wrapt in a shroud — beyond all controversy dead. 



Mr. Markland, in his useful work, mentions 

 " the steel-clad sires, and mothers mild reposing 

 on their marble tombs;" and borrows from ano- 

 ther archaeologist an admirable description of the 

 chapel of Edward the Confessor, who declares that 

 "a more august spectacle can hardly be con- 

 ceived, so many renowned sovereigns sleeping 

 round the shrine of an older sovereign, the holiest 

 of his line." It can only be the sleep of death, 

 and this the sentiment conveyed : " These all died 

 in faith." The subjects of this disquisition are 

 not lounging in disrespectful supplication, nor 

 wrapt in sleep enjoying pious dreams, nor stretched 

 on a bed of mortal sickness : but the soul, having 

 winged its way from sin and suffering, has left its 

 tenement with the beams of hope yet lingering on 

 the face, and the holy hands still refusing to relax 

 their final effort. Impossible as this may seem to 

 calculating minds, it is nevertheless one of the 

 commonest of the authorised and customary modes 

 designed to signify the faith, penitence, and peace 

 attendant on a happy end. C. T. 



