of these small animals.[1] The shield gives a great interest to this statue. It is much broken, but it bears arms, two hedgehogs being distinctly visible; thus identifying the statue, without the shadow of doubt, with the family (De Heriz) which bore the arms still remaining in the small portion of stained glass in the window of the chancel. It may be added of this interesting effigy, that the head rests on a double cushion—one square, the other diamond shaped; and that there are traces of sculpture on the mattress on each side of the pillow; doubtless of small statues of draped angels kneeling.
The effigy (Fig. 2) of the lady is chiefly interesting, in the absence of any marks of family, for the extreme grace and elegance exhibited in the composition of the drapery, and for the unaffected simplicity of expression in the whole figure. It is more perfect than either of the others. The nose is slightly injured, but otherwise the face is well preserved, and has all the individual character of a portrait. The hands are composed with elegance, but the fingers are unfortunately more or less injured. She clasps before her an object of an oval form, about the size of an ostrich's egg, of which a portion of the upper part is broken off. Her feet rest against an animal, probably a dog, closely resembling, though on a larger scale, the animals mentioned above, as lying at the side of the knight. The costume consists of a hood or veil falling on the shoulders, with a broad strap across the forehead, and another similar to it passing under the chin. The throat is bare. The upper part of the dress fits closely, but from the waist downwards it terminates in ample and graceful folds, just showing the points of the shoes. Over the head of this effigy is a trefoliated testoon or canopy, of early decorated architecture, the ends terminating in prettily-devised foliage continued from the moulding.
In the third figure, the knight is cross-legged, and habited, like the other, in chain armour; but his surcoat is short, and he, has no shield. His feet rest on a lion demi-couchant. It seems to represent a young man; for, although the slab on which the figure reposes measures very nearly the same length as that of the other knight, the figure is several inches shorter, and of a more delicate frame.
I should observe in conclusion, that there are some faint
- ↑ See the note at the conclusion of this Memoir.
