Page:Archaeologia volume 38 part 1.djvu/152

 132 Notes on a Collection of Pilgrims' Signs. eng." This was regarded as the chamber of an alchemist ; the more likely con- jecture is that it was the place where the sacristan fabricated his " signacula " for the overcoming tide of pilgrims that frequented the shrine. I am told that a furnace of strictly similar character, and doubtless intended for a like purpose, exists in Canterbury Cathedral. That the sale of these objects was very profitable, we learn from a curious ordinance of Louis and Johanna, King and Queen of Sicily, which has been brought to light by M. Hucher. The sacristan of the Church of St. Mary Magdalen at St. Maximin was authorised by the prior and convent to sell to the pilgrims the leaden signs, " imagines plumbeas dicta? Sancta? Maria? quse peregrinis dantur ad devotionem ipsius sanctoc," and had the custody of the iron moulds for making them; but certain others seem also to have made these images and sold them to the pilgrims, greatly to the loss of the convent. The King and Queen of Sicily issued therefore their letters forbidding such inter- ference with the ancient rights of the church. This ordinance is dated 1354, and a leaden sign, such as is there alluded to, has been discovered in the Seine.* It now only remains for me to describe the specimens under consideration. The great Canterbury Saint, as we may naturally expect, is frequently repre- sented among these relics, and it is probably to him that we may ascribe the signs -iven in Plate IV. figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 ; and Plate V. figs. 2, 3, 6, 7. The largest of these (fig. 1), representing the Archbishop riding, is a very rare variety; and I am aware of only another specimen, and that is in the Roach Smith collection, British Museum. This latter example is of about the same size, but differs in the details, shewing that it has been cast in a different mould. Fig. 2 exhibits the bust of Beckct, with his name underneath tlXJOOA'S. Fig. 3 resembles the last, but has no name. In both these specimens the pontifical ornaments are carefully rendered. Fig. 1, probably somewhat later in date than the others, is very elegant, and must have formed a handsome brooch. Sometimes the saint is merely indicated by his initial, as in fig. 10. The two swords which appear in Plate V. fig. 3, are not usual, but are to be seen in another example found in the Thames in 1855, and now in the British Museum. It is somewhat doubtful whether the two episcopal personages represented in figs. 6 and 7 are intended for the Archbishop ; but, in the absence of the emblems of any other saint, they may be considered to do so. Two of the most curious relics however remain to be 1 The sign is engraved in Collectanea Antiqua, vol. iv. pi. xxxix. as well as in the Bulletin Moumental, torn. xix. p. 50C, and in M. Forgeais' work. The original is in the possession of M. Forgeais at Paris.