noticed, being the bells (figs. 9 and 10). They are inscribed CAMPANA THOME,[1] but it is not easy to ascertain the purpose for which they were made.
The Rood represented in Plate IV. fig. 6, may possibly be only an ordinary symbol of devotion, or it may refer to the "Rood of Grace" at Boxley, in Kent. Another crucifix is represented in fig. 9, where the cross takes the form of the Greek Tau; on the arms may be seen the word signum. This form of cross, which was considered a symbol of St. Anthony, was especially regarded during the middle ages as being the sign put on the foreheads of the faithful.[2] The inscription to the memory of Thomas Talbot, priest, on a sepulchral slab in Southwell Minster, terminates "expectans resurrectionem mortuorum sub signo thau." The very elegant device of the Agnus Dei (Plate V. fig. 1), scarcely needs to be pointed out; one almost identical, from the Thames in 1853, is preserved in the British Museum. The figures of the "Blessed Virgin, such as Plate IV. fig. 13, Plate V. figs. 15 and 17, refer possibly to the great shrine at Walsingham. In fig. 13, the Virgin and Child appear to issue from a crescent, which has however been considered by some as a ship, in which case it would refer to our Lady of Boulogne, whose image was said to have been so conveyed to that town.
The episcopal figure, Plate IV. No. 8, is no doubt intended for St. Leonard, who, though more often represented in works of art as a deacon, is pictured as an abbot in several instances in England. In the British Museum is a headless sign of similar character and costume, under which is a tablet inscribed s. lennard. This sign has been attributed by Mr. C. R. Smith to the Priory of St. Leonard's at York.
The royal heads, Plate IV. fig. 7, and Plate V. fig. 4, refer to St. Edward the Confessor, whose shrine was at Westminster, or to St. Edmund, at Bury.
The combination of dagger and shield represented in Plate IV. fig. 5, is somewhat unintelligible. Another, identical in general form and size, is preserved in the British Museum, but is different in several of the details. The devices on the shield appear to be boars' heads.
Of the remainder of the signs, the half-length figure, Plate V. fig. 11, seems from the inscription kenelmi to refer to St. Kenelm,[3] son of Kenulph, King of Mercia, whose tomb at Winchcombe in Gloucestershire was reputed to be endowed with
- ↑ An ampulla on which is represented the martyrdom of Becket may be found engraved in Proceedings, vol. ii. p. 186.
- ↑ Ezekiel, ix. 4, thus given in the Vulgate: "Signa Thau super frontes virorum gementium et dolentium super eunctis abominationibus."
- ↑ For an account of this saint, and representations of him, see Norfolk Archæology, vol. ii. p. 280.
