apples are inverted. One of the cherubim holds a shield of armorial bearings:—Argent, on a chevron sable, three roses, or. Under which is a scroll, with the words "Orate pro anima domini Radulphi parsons." Under the other cherubim are the words "Gloria tibi trinitas." Over the pine-apples on the border are the words "Da gloriam Deo." At the entrance of the chancel is the brass of a priest, bearing the chalice and paten, who appears to be the donor of this vestment. The inscription to it runs thus:
"Orate pro anima domini Radulphi Parsons quondam Capellani perpetuæ cantariæ, sanctæ Trinitatis in hac Ecclesia fundata qui obiit 22 die Augusti Anno Domini 1478, cujus animæ propitietur deus. Amen."
It seems probable by this that the vestment was left by Ralph Parsons for the use of the chapel of the Holy Trinity, which will give both the date of the vestment and the conventional pattern. This chapel was founded before the year 1478, though the present building was made at the expense of Richard Ruthal, bishop of Durham, a native of the town, in the reign of Henry VIII.
There is, moreover, another form, under which the art of embroidery was displayed. The Hangings, Frontals, and Antependia of the Altar received the same care as the priestly vestments. Still fewer of these remain, a fact easily accounted for, by the destruction of the Altar itself, and the substitution in its place according to Queen Elizabeth's letter, Jan. 25, in the seventh year of her reign (1565) of "a decent table provided at the cost of the parish, standing on a frame." Of these Antependiums I have seen three. Two of white watered silk (holosericus) beautifully wrought, having the re- presentation of the Assumption in the centre, and the other part of the ground powdered with a conventional pattern, ten feet ten inches long, and three feet wide, preserved at Chipping Campden. One probably of tarterain, (Tartarinus, tartariscus, Cloth of Tars,) temp. Edw. III., a most interesting specimen of this kind of manufacture, at Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire. It is purfled (pourfilé, brullatus) with various patterns, two of which are introduced (see figures, p. 318 and 343); others represent the crucifixion of the Redeemer, the death of St. Stephen and other holy martyrs; these are heightened by needlework, and the countenances have been pressed with a hot iron, to give the more prominent parts higher relief.
