Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/216

198 the quaint fashion of an heraldic bearing or device may be sufficient to define the age of the work in question. The fidelity, with which at different periods the propriety of such details was uniformly observed, is remarkable; there was indeed great variety in dress and the character of ornament, but it arose from the caprice of the period, not of the artist; each period had its distinctive prevalent fashion, each country its own marked peculiarities, which were faithfully observed in all works of art and decoration. It was only when the revived classical style, termed by the chronicler Hall "antique Romaine woorke," was introduced from France during the reign of Henry VIII, that artists and decorators ceased to observe the proprieties of the costume of the period, and the conventional rule which had previously curbed their caprice. These observations may serve to remind our readers, that the chief advantage which is to be derived from an assemblage of examples, such as the numerous sepulchral memorials which exist in England present, arises from the evidences which they supply towards forming a key to the chronology of art, evidences which, taken in combination, will almost invariably suffice to fix with precision the date of any works of painting or sculpture, or of the productions of the enameller, the limner, and the worker in metals, as well as the country where they were executed. Without such an aid, the investigation of the numerous and ingenious artistic processes which were in use during the middle ages, would be deprived of all its real interest.

It is not necessary to repeat here the remarks given in various works which exhibit specimens of sepulchral brasses. The precise period of the earliest use of such memorials has not been ascertained, but it is probable that they began occasionally to supply the place of the effigy sculptured in relief, during the earlier part of the thirteenth century. The fashion appears to have become prevalent in England, France, and the Low Countries, almost simultaneously; it is obvious that as the practice of interring persons of distinction in churches became frequent, the use of table-tombs, or effigies in relief, was necessarily found inconvenient, as occupying space in the area of the fabric, which was required for the services of the church. The advantages, therefore, arising from the introduction of flat memorials, which formed part of the pavement, and offered no obstruction, must have quickly brought them into