Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/311

Rh nexion between them is maintained by a narrative always lively, and not unfrequently aspiring to a quaint eloquence. Of the correctness of the documents we cannot speak too highly. Indeed it may be truly said that this is one of the ablest, and also one of the most magnificent, volumes ever dedicated to the history of a single ecclesiastical foundation at the cost of one individual. We trust the expense has not been incurred in vain, at a time when the spirit of preservation is actively exerted to shield the venerable relics of the past from dilapidation and decay.

It is not our purpose to dwell on the architectural portion of the work further than to commend the style in which the engravings and details are executed.

As might have been expected, the volume contains a mine of information respecting the ancient families of the district, the Flemings, Harringtons, and others; and we may call the attention of the herald to the curious seal of William le Fleming, in the time of Henry II., on which a winged dragon foreshadows the serpent which the family eventually adopted for their crest. The conventual seal of Furness is known only by an impression of it attached to the deed of surrender in the Augmentation Office; which was badly engraved by West. The matrix was destroyed by the commissioners at the Dissolution. We are indebted to the politeness of the author for an opportunity of presenting the accompanying accurate engravings of it, and of the abbot's Secretum, to the readers of the Archæological Journal. (See frontispiece.)