A short account was read, sent through the Rev. J. L. Petit, by the Rev. John Brooke, of Haughton Hall, Shiffnal, illustrated by several drawings, respecting the remains of Old Bewick Chapel, near Chillingham, Northumberland, which presents some interesting details of Norman character. They will be published in a future volume.
Mr. C. Winston gave the following account of a palimpsest inscription, which he discovered, last September, in the east window of the north aisle of Llanrhaiadr Church, Denbighshire.
The window, a perpendicular one, consists of five lower lights, and a rather complicated head of tracery. It was originally entirely glazed with a stem of Jesse, the greater part of which remains, and is in a remarkably perfect state. The glass in the lower lights is more perfect than that in the tracery lights; this unusual occurrence may be accounted for by giving partial credit to the popular tradition, and supposing that the former was taken down and hid at the time of the Rebellion; whilst the latter, from the greater difficulty of removing it, was left in the window. There is nothing very remarkable in the design of the glass.
A large figure of Jesse lies along the bottom of the three centre lower lights. From his side proceeds a bifurcated vine branch, which, ascending the centre light, forms in it three ovals,—the lowest containing a figure of King David (the name is written on a scroll); the next, King Joras: and the uppermost, the Virgin with the Infant Jesus. In the cuspidated head of the light is a small oval, representing a pelican feeding its young.
Lateral branches from the main stem form a series of foliaged scrolls, each terminating in a flower or bud, from which issues the demi figure of a king or prophet, &c. There are four of these scrolls in each of the outer- most lights, and three in each of the lights next the central light. The individuals represented, taken in rows across the window from north to south, are,—in the topmost row, Manasses, (Ma)thapha, Ozias, Abiud; in the second row, Acham (this figure and that of Ezechias ought to be transposed), Asa, Josaphat, Zorobaell; in the third, Ezehias, (sic) Salamon, Roboas, Salathiel; and in the lowest row, Moyses and Sadoch. In the cuspidated head of the southernmost light is a small oval, exhibiting the emblem of St. Luke; and as there is the indent of an oval in a similar position in each of the other three lights, it may be concluded that the rest of the evangelistic symbols were represented. The costumes and details generally, remind one of the woodcuts of the time of Henry VIII. In the tracery lights are represented Isayas, Zacary, Elija, Abdias, Joel, and another figure, whose name is lost.
The palimpsest occurs on a scroll above the head of King David, in the centre lower light. The beginning of the scroll is broken away, and with it the letters which below are supplied in italics. Upon the scroll is now written, "Misericordias dn'i in eternum cantabo R. I." But this was not the original inscription; for, upon a minute examination of the glass, the faintest possible trace is perceptible of another inscription, which may be thus rendered:—Orate pro bono statu Rob'ti Joh'ni' clerici qui hoc lume' vitriari fecit." That this last inscription is coeval with the Jesse is placed beyond a doubt by the following facts. The scroll bearing the inscription is painted upon several pieces of glass, each wider than the scroll; and on those parts of the glass which are not covered by the scroll are represented leaves belonging to the vine branches, the crown of David, &c. These objects, as well as the outline and shading of the scroll itself, are painted
