588 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 243. 



John, Robert Lord Hungerford, and Henry II., 

 in Stothard's Monumental Effigies of Great Bri- 

 tain, and the Introduction to that work. 



I think it is not irrelevant to remark that at a 

 very early period a recumbent figure was some- 

 times placed on a tomb as in a state of death. 

 The recumbent Etruscan figures generally repre- 

 sent a state of repose or of sensual enjoyment ; 

 but there is one given by Micali (Monumenti 

 inediti a Illustrazione degli Antichi Popoli Italiani, 

 Tav. 48. p. 303.), which is, undoubtedly, that of 

 a dead person. In his description of it, Micali 

 says, " On the first view of it one would say it was 

 a sepulchral monument of the Middle Ages, so 

 greatly does it resemble one." Mrs. Gray, too 

 (Tour to the Sepulchres of Etruria, p. 264.), men- 

 tions a sepulchral urn, " very large, with a woman 

 robed, and with a dog upon it, exactly like an 

 English monument of the Middle Ages" If it 

 were not for the dog, I should suppose this to be 

 the one given by Micali. Though it may be too 

 much to suppose that this form of representation 

 may have been not uncommon, and may have 

 passed into early Christian monuments, the in- i 

 stance in Micali at least shows that the idea of 

 representing a dead body on a tomb is a very 

 ancient one. It may be added, perhaps, that it is 

 an obvious one. 



Though the reasons for thinking that the ordi- 

 nary mediseval figure represents death may not 

 be conclusive, still that opinion is, I think, en- 

 titled to be looked upon as the more probable 

 one, until some satisfactory reason is given why a 

 living person should be represented outstretched, 

 and lying on his back — a position, as it seems to 

 me, more inconsistent with life than the open eyes 

 and hands joined in prayer are with death. For 

 too much weight is not to be attached to slight 

 inconsistencies. These would probably be dis- 

 regarded for the sake of expressing some favourite 

 idea or sentiment. Thus, in the proposed monu- 

 ment of Henry VIII., though the king and queen 

 are directed to be represented as living, their 

 souls are to be represented in the hand of " the 

 Father." 



In modern tombs the mediaeval idea has been 

 entirely departed from, and the recumbent posi- 

 tion sometimes expresses neither death, nor even 

 sleep, but simple repose, or contemplation, re- 

 signation, hope, &c. If it is proper or desirable 

 to express these or other sentiments in a recum- 

 bent figure, it seems unreasonable to exclude 

 them for the sake of a rigid adherence to a form, 

 of which the import is either obscure, or, if rightly 

 conjectured, has, by the change of customs, be- 

 come idle and unmeaning. F. S. B. E. 



ROGER ASCHAM AND HIS LETTERS. 



To the epistles of Roger Ascham, given in 

 Elstob's edition, have since been added several to 

 Raven and others*, two to Cecil f, and several to 

 Mrs. Astley, Bp. Gardiner, Sir Thos. Smith, Mr. 

 Callibut, Sir W. Pawlett, Queen Elizabeth, the 

 Earl of Leicester, and Mr. C. H. [owe] 4 Some 

 of your correspondents will, doubtless, be able 

 farther to enlarge this list of printed letters. 



In a MS. volume, once belonging to Bp. Moore,, 

 now in the University Library, Cambridge, is a 

 volume of transcripts!, containing, amongst other 

 documents, letters from Ascham to Petre|| and to 

 Cecil ; one (p. 44.) " written by R. A., for a gent 

 to a gentlewoman, in waie of marriage," and one 

 to the B. of Winchester], which, though without 

 a signature, is certainly Ascham's. In another 

 MS. volume, in the same collection (Ee. v. 23.), 

 are copies of Ascham's letter to his wife on the 

 death of their child % and of a letter to Mr. 

 Richard Goodrich. Lastly, Ascham's College 

 (St. John's) possesses his original letter to Car- 

 dinal Pole, written on the fly-leaf of a copy of 

 Osorius De nolilitate civili**; and also the original 

 MS. of the translation of CEcumenius, accompanied 

 bv a Latin letter to Seton.ft 



' These unpublished letters will shortly be printed 

 for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. Early 

 information respecting any other MS. works of 

 Ascham, or collations of his published letters with 

 the originals, will be thankfully acknowledged. 



° J. E. B. Mayor. 



St. John's College, Cambridge. 

 p. s.— I may add that we have at St. John's a 



* In The English Works of Roger Ascham, London, 

 1815, 8vo. : this edition is reprinted from Bennet's, 

 with additions. Bennet took these letters from Baker's 

 extracts (in his MSS. xiii. 275—295., now in the 

 Harleian Collection), " from originals in Mr. Strype s 

 hands." One letter is more fully given by Mr. lytler, 

 England under Edward VI. and Mary, vol. n. p. 124 



+ In Sir H. Ellis's Letters of Eminent Literary Men, 

 Camden Soc. Nos. 4 and 5. Correcter copies than 

 had before appeared from the Lansdowne Mbb. 



I Most incorrectly printed in Whitaker s History of 

 Richmondshire, vol. i. p. 270. seq. The letters them- 

 selves are highly important and curious. 



§ Dd. ix. 14. Some of the letters are transcribed by 

 Baker, MSS. xxxii. p. 520. seq. . 



II This letter has many sentences in common with 

 that to Gardiner, of the date Jan. 18 [1554], printed 

 by Whitaker (p. 271. seq.) 



^ Whitaker, who prints this (p. 289. seq.) says that it 

 had been printed before. Where ? 



** This, I believe, unpublished letter is referred to 

 by Osorius, in a letter to Ascham (Aschami Epistola, 

 p. 397.: Oxon. 1703). ■ 



tt Both of these have been printed, the letter in 

 Aschami Epistolm, lib. i. ep. 4. p. 68. seq. Compare 

 on the commentary, ibid. pp. 70. and 209. 



