accordance with a conventional rule that, when carried by an Abbot, the crosier-head was turned thus, to designate their pastoral jurisdiction as limited within their particular establishment, whilst the head of the Bishop's cambuca is customarily turned outwards, denoting that his functions were extended over a wider range.[1]
This rule, if ever recognised in England, was certainly not invariably observed, as appears by comparison of the seals and effigies of bishops and abbots.
The lower portion of both slabs has been cut away. This appears to have been done subsequently to their removal from St. Denis; since, in the plate engraved after a drawing by Lenoir, a singular detail appears, under the figure of Pierre d'Auteuil, and it has been slightly sketched in the accompanying representation. Near the lower corners of the slab appear two birds, their heads turned towards each other; their necks appear bent, and they bear resemblance to ducks, but conjecture as to the kind of fowl intended would be vain, no portion of this part of the design now remaining. They are not introduced as supports to the feet, but apart from the figure. I am not aware that any similar example has been noticed on medieval monuments. The symbol of the two birds, occasionally peacocks, but usually resembling doves, is found upon sepulchral tablets of heathen times, and is of very frequent occurrence on early Christian memorials.[2]
The use of coloured mastic appeared in some parts of the work, as before mentioned in regard to the slab at Chalons. The colours were bright blue and red. The stone is of a soft quality, and from the state of the surface, it is probable that the slabs had been affixed to the walls of the church. Their dimensions are 4 ft. 8 in. by 2 ft. 4 in.
There are very few, if any, incised memorials in England, comparable either in point of antiquity or beauty of execution, with those existing on the Continent. A few specimens, apparently of foreign execution, have been noticed,—such as
- ↑ L'Abbé Crosnier, Iconographie Chretienne, p. 322; Pugin's Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament, p. 191.
- ↑ A singular coincidence, in connexion with the use of this symbol in ancient times, is found in one of the cinerary urns, apparently of early Anglo-Saxon times, found near Newark, in 1836, and represented in Mr. Milner's interesting Memoir on "Cemetery Burial," p. 16. A pair of birds, rudely fashioned, like martlets, are found upon the operculum of this vase, which contained bones, bronze tweezers, iron scissors, and a fragment of a comb.
