INSCRIPTIONS.

THE subject would hardly be complete without a few words on the inscriptions which we find upon these ancient grave-stones.

The most remarkable thing in them is that they are, until a comparatively late period, very brief, and have little variety in them nearly all of the same age were taken, with slight variations, from one conventional form which obtained at that period.

We find

Thus from A.D. 600 to 1000 the conventional mode seems to have been "Pray for the soul of.” it on the Irish slabs, Plates I., II., and elsewhere. In the thirteenth and early part of the fourteenth centuries, the model seems to have been

When the deceased is an ecclesiastic, a forty or a hundred days' pardon are sometimes promised to all those who shall pray for the deceased, as in the example from St. Neot's, Beds., Plate XIX. There is a curious variety belonging to this age on a slab at Kirklees, Yorks. (Gough, vol. iii. plate 18. p. 247.) "DOUCE IHU DE NAZAREth Fils DIEU EIT MERCI DE ELIZABETH DE STANTON JADIS PRIORESS DE CEST MAISON."

From the middle of the fourteenth to the latter part of the fifteenth century, the conventional form appears to have been, "ic jacet Dns- -cujus anime propicietur

Deus. Amen."

A not uncommon addition in this period is, "Jesu merci, Ladie help." Sometimes it is the sole inscription.

Towards the close of the fifteenth century, longer inscriptions began to grow common; and in the succeeding centuries the conventional method appears to have been to give a brief biography of the deceased, with a catalogue of all the titles which he did possess, and all the virtues which he ought to have possessed.

In contrast with this more modern practice there is something very striking in the ancient practice which we frequently find of putting upon the slab the name of the deceased alone, or with the prefix, "Hic jacet."

In a church at Chester, is a stone inscribed, " HIC JACET RADULFUS;" this may, perhaps, have been that Radulf, earl of Chester and Lincoln, of the time of Henry and Stephen, the most powerful and renowned of England's barons, the greatest warrior of his age, whose name was the theme of a hundred ballads; then there is a noble simplicity in the inscription, there is a whole sermon on the vanity of human greatness in the words, "Here lies Radulfus." Or this Radulfus may have been some other man who left behind a weeping wife or orphan daughter: is there not something very touching in the desolation of that grief which could only think-Radulfus is deadwhich could only write "Here lies Radulfus" on the stone lid of his stone coffin. But suppose this Radulfus to have been a man undistinguished, and uncared for,-" Here lies Radulfus" was a sufficient inscription, much better than undeserved eulogy or feigned lamentations; better to say nothing, than to "lie like an epitaph."

It is very worthy of remark too, that by far the greater number of these ancient monuments have no inscription whatever, not even a name; nevertheless these stones are not dumb; they speak more justly and eloquently than

I

long and laboured epitaphs. The cross upon them tells that a Christian lies in the grave beneath, its flowery form speaks of hope and triumph through the cross; the lamb at the base of one speaks to the most unlettered Christian of the Lamb of God who bare the cross for us, and that we must take up our cross and follow Him, in self-denial here, if we would follow Him to glory hereafter; the dragon at the base of another, pierced through by the shaft of the cross, tells how Christ bruised the serpent's head, and how we must overcome sin and Satan through the cross; the mystic fish upon another directs our thoughts to "Jesus Christ the Son of God the Saviour;" and these sermons in stones are the more eloquent and impressive for being thus symbolically given; they speak to the imagination and to the heart as well as to the reason. Again, the sword or the pastoral staff, beside the cross, say more eloquently than words, Here lieth a Christian warrior, whose warfare is done—a Christian bishop who has resigned his staff into the hands of the great Shepherd: it matters little that we know not their names they are written we trust in the Lamb's book of life.

NOTES.

Ir is to be particularly observed that the date of some of these designs, from their want of character, or from the imperfect knowledge which is as yet possessed on the subject, is very doubtful, and their present position in the series has been assigned to them sometimes on but slight grounds; in all these cases the uncertainty is mentioned in the notes.

PLATE I.

INCISED CROSS SLABS.

NINTH CENTURY.

Clonmacnoise, Ireland, A.D. 822. There are two inscriptions upon this stone to members of the same family: the first "Oroit do Conaing Mac Coughal," A prayer for Conaing son of Cougal: the second inscription is "Oroit do Dulcen Mac Thadggan,” A prayer for Dulcen son of Thadggan". The characters are similar to those in Irish MSS. of the period.

Glendalough, Ireland. This is the stone of Blaimac, abbot of Clonmacnoise, who died c. A.D. 896.

TENTH CENTURY.

PLATE II. 1. Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The inscription is "Oroit do Maelfinnia," A prayer for Maelfinnia, abbot of Clonmacnoise who died c. A.D. 992c.

2. Clonmacnoise, Ireland. Inser. "Oroit do Flannchaddh," abbot of Clonmacnoise, died c. A.D. 1003.

The above examples are engraved with some others in Mr. Petrie's

a Petrie's Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, p. 324.

b Petrie, p. 321.

e Ibid., p. 320.

valuable work on the "Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland." Their dates are well ascertained, and they are very valuable and interesting examples.

ELEVENTH CENTURY.

PLATE III. Hartlepool, Durham. Date doubtful; it may be much earlier than the eleventh century. This is not properly a grave-stone, as may be seen from its size; it was probably used as a bolster upon which the heads of the corpses were laid. It was discovered on the site of the nunnery founded soon after the mission of St. Augustine, and of which St. Hilda was abbess: some other specimens are figured in the Journal of the Archæological Association, vol. i. p. 185. This stone bears the letters A and 2 above the cross, and below in Saxon characters the name of a female, HILDITHRYTHa.

Glendalough, Ireland. Date doubtful, it may be much earlier. A singular design: at the same place is a small stone 2 ft. 7 in. by 2 ft. 3 in., upon which is a St. Andrew's cross of similar character.

Glendalough, Ireland. Date doubtful, but may be earlier. It is to be observed that many of the designs upon these Irish incised cross slabs are treated in the same way, viz., formed of three or more narrow lines with circles at the intersections, and segments of circles at the extremities. It is rather singular perhaps that we do not find upon these stones any of the interlaced figures or strange lacertine animals so usual in the early Irish MSS., standard crosses, &c.

TWELFTH CENTURY.

PLATE IV. Bakewell, Derbyshire. In 1841 the tower and transepts of Bakewell church were taken down, and very many fragments of sculptured stones were found which had been used in the old work; above seventy examples, chiefly cross slabs and head-stones, were preserved, and about four times as many are said to have been again used in the new work. From the date of the parts of the church

See Archæologia, vol. xxvi. pl. 52; and vol. xxviii. p. 346.