36 Transactions. 



the union of letters, and even what we must call interlineation. 



Mr Hutchison remarks on the singularity of a female 

 being buried within the precincts of a monastery, but he 

 offers no explanation of the present case, nor any explanation 

 of the inscription, but supposes that the nun must have been 

 of the same monastic order as the monks of the Abbey, 

 though other considerations than co-fraternity may have led 

 to her being buried here. 



Commencing the inscription at the top of the Slab, the 

 first words are entire — Hie jacet, Here lies. And the con- 

 concluding words hardly admit of doubt. They are biit aiio 

 d 1440. The initial letter to biit cannot be doubted, and 

 ano has the usual mark of a contraction for anno. Obiit 

 anno domini 1440 — She died in the year of our Lord 1440. 

 The next considerable passage in the inscription is domina 

 pr — vxmdan. The last word is obviously quondam, for- 

 merly, at one time ; and if we take pr to be a contraction, 

 as it probably is, it Avould perhaps intend iwioressa, prioress. 

 Here the significance of the lambs under the feet of the 

 figure becomes apparent. The S3rmbol of a lamb does indeed 

 denote purity and meekness, as Mr Hutchison suggests by 

 his quotation to that effect, but here it seems as natural 

 to betoken office and authority, that the lady prioress had 

 under her the lambs of the flock. 



Immediately following the commencing words of the 

 epitaph there is a long blank, in consequence of the mutila- 

 tion of the Slab, and then come the letters chea. If these 

 letters be assumed to be part of the name of the deceased, 

 the name they would suggest is Blanche, in Latin Blancha 

 or Blanchea, preceded by the usual title domina — domina 

 Blanchea, the lady Blanche. 



The only remaining letters are v si. The v is either 

 the end of a word, which on the foregoing supposition must 

 be only of two letters, or it is an abbreviation for a word. 

 In either case it might be virgo, followed by the word sit, or 

 some such similar short word, meaning that she was a vestal 

 or nun. 



