Notes on an Inscription on a Buttress of Salisbury Cathedral. 349 



HAC IA[CET IN]TUMBA FIDEI TUBA TIBIA MOTT[RAM] 

 MUSICA MENDICAT MUTA VIOLLA DOLET 



PSALTEKIUM CITHARE LIRA SISTRA SALES LITUORUM 

 CONTICUERE SUO FUNERE MESTA lACENT 



INSTRUMENTA 



QUI or QUE • 



In the first line I should like to read TIBIO instead of TIBIA, 



giving the meaning, " the musician Mottram," but I cannot find 



that the word was ever used ; it is one that I should not be 



surprised to meet with, but I cannot find authority for it. In the 



second line, MUSICA MUTA may refer to the Precentor's duties 



as conductor, as I find that musica muta was used to describe a 



conductor's action in beating time. The Bishop of Salisbury has 



suggested instead of the fifth, sixth, and seventh words, in the first 



line, FIDEI VEEA UNIO, that is, "the true pearl of faith 



Mottram." UNIO is masculine,and the epithet should consequently 



be masculine, VEEUS, but the Bishop says that in baser Latin 



he would expect to find it feminine. This suggestion is not the 



result of any lengthy consideration on the part of his lordship, as 



I believe he only saw the small photograph for a short time, but 



even an offhand suggestion of his is worthy of attention. Mr. 



Eeginald Poole, of Magdalen College Oxford, does not believe in 



MOTT[EAM] at the end of the first line, but he has only seen the 



photograph, and the letters MOTT are, I think, more evident on 



the stone than in the photograph, and I have no doubt of them 



myself. The Eev. Douglas Macleane and Mr. J. U. Powell have 



also been kind enough to look at the photograph, and Mr. Macleane 



has also inspected the stone. I do not know if Mr. Powell has 



done so. Mr. Macleane suggests in the first line FIDES ET 



TUA TIBIA, but not, I think, quite seriously, but with an eye 



to a pun upon the double meaning of TIBIA. Mr. Powell would 



put VIELLA for VIOLLA in the second line. It is true there is 



' Which may be roughly translated : — 



In this tomb, oh Mottram, lie thy lute and pipe, 



The silenced music is wanting, the viol laments, 



The psaltery, harp, lyre, timbrel, and skill upon the clarion 



All were silent in his death, mournful lie 



The instruments 



Which .....'.".' 



Z 2 



