Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/298

 228 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. lance or staff. The thickness of the iron is about three-eighths of an inch. The coronal, or little crown, was used in tilting in lieu of a pointed head, as less liable to pierce the armour, and inflict severe injury, whilst the in- dented edge, which gave it a better hold upon the polished surface of the armour, aided the jouster in unhorsing his opponent. The size of the ring found at Hildersham has been thought too large for the purpose conjectured, but the tilting shaft was often of very unwieldy dimensions. Sir John Peche ran a course at the betrothal of the Princess Margaret to the King of Scotland, A.D. 1502, with a great spear, twelve inches in compass : and at the nuptials of the Princess Mary with Louis XII., the Count Galeas used a square spear measuring five inches each side, at the head. The lance attributed to Charles Brandon, in the Tower Armory, is of these huge dimensions. The coronal is usually represented as formed with three or four points only, as in the Triumjih of Maximilian, or the Tournament Book of the Duke William of Bavaria, 1510, published at INIunich. The fashion and number of points probably varied according to the size of the lance. We have received the following remarks from a correspondent who signs himself " Rusticus," relative to the difficult and interesting subject of low side windows : — Among various tlieories or speculations about the use of the Low Side Windows found in the chancels of many of our churches, which were enume- rated in a late number of this Journal, there is one (the 5th) which supposes them to have been used " To place a light in, to scare away evil spirits from the churchyard." I am not aware how far the remark " that the situation of these windows is generally not convenient for such a purpose," would be borne out by an induction sufficient to overthrow the theory, nor perhaps is it easy to say why this or that place should be more or less convenient for such a pui"- pose. That the lights should be, at whatever distance, before the altar, would seem natural ; and that they should be near the ground, is not in- consistent at least with the belief involved in this theory concerning them. However, being wholly unacquainted with the subject, and being famihar with a church where there are two of these low side windows very near the ground, it may be worth while to state that the following note which I met with accidentally in the commentary of Cornelius a Lapide on St. Luke viii. 29, suggested a similar notion of their possible use, whilst a well-known passage in Milton's Comus, came as it were by association to account for their position. Speaking of the spirits mentioned in the Gospel, as haunt- ing the tombs, C. a Lapide says, " From this and other passages it is clear that there are many evil spirits not in hell, but which haunt this upper air, the earth, water, mountains, caverns, woods, and deserts, and that, even till the day of judgment, to tempt men." (Here reference is made to Isaiah xiii. and xxxiv.) " So," he continues, " St. Athanasius in the life of St. Antony, and St. Augustine in the eleventh book, De civitate Dei, c. 33, Hence, the pious custom of the Church that the faithful should be buried in cemeteries, and holy places, blessed by the bishop ; in order that by this act of bless- ing, evil spirits may be kept away from these places, and the faithful