186 
THE MONUMENTAL BRASSES OF WARWICKSHIRE. 
jambs, sollerets, and rowelled spurs. At the armpits are 
circular plates called roundels , which served to cover the 
joints of the harness. The breast-plate has a skirt of seven 
overlapping taces, to the lowermost of which at its centre 
are fastened three smaller plates forming the baguette . Below 
this skirt is a row of rings, every third ring having another 
depending from it. This edging of mail may be part of a 
mail shirt, but is probably merely a survival in the shape of 
a fringe. The knight’s sword has a straight cross-guard 
(part of which is lost) and is fastened to an ornamental 
belt, arranged diagonally across the hips. Part of a dagger 
remains at the left side, and the scabbards of this and the 
sword are ornamented with the usual rows of guttes or drops. 
The knight’s head rested upon a tilting-lielmet, which is lost; 
the 'panache of peacock’s feathers which adorn it is, however, 
in good preservation. At the feet of the effigy is an animal 
resembling a bear. The lady’s effigy measures 5ft., and is at 
the knight’s left hand, the head resting on two cushions. 
She wears the crespine head-dress, which confined the hair 
in a net, and formed two small bunches over the ears, the 
whole being kept in place by a band encircling the head. Over 
this is thrown a kerchief. The rest of the costume is a long 
mantle fastened across the chest by a cord, and a tightly- 
fitting kirtle, with tight sleeves reaching to the knuckles and 
buttoned beneath the forearm with eighteen buttons. A 
small dog, with a collar of bells, is at the lady’s feet. 
There is neither inscription nor canopy, and as the brasses, 
both of which have been broken, have been relaid in a new 
stone, there are no matrices. Haines refers to illustra¬ 
tions of this brass in Gresley’s Forest of Arden, and Boutell’s 
Series. Gresley seems to suppose that the knight’s effigy 
represents Bobert Earl Ferrers, who founded the Abbey of 
Mere vale in 1148, and was there buried in an ox-liide, a most 
improbable supposition. 
MERIDEN. Elizth. Eottoii, 1688, with anagram. 
Haines. 
An effigy, 2ft. 4in. long, representing a young lady of 
very comely appearance. She wears a cap with escalloped 
edges, beneath which her hair hangs in graceful curls. 
Her bodice, which is tied at the waist with a ribbon, has a 
double falling-collar and double cuffs, both with escalloped 
edges. The upper parts of the sleeves have lappets caught 
up above the elbow and tied with a bow. The skirt of the 
dress is plain, and short enough to reveal a pair of higli-heeled 
shoes with rosettes in front. 
