Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/333

 ST. DENIS, ITS CHURCH AND ROYAL TOMBS. 245 mained by the side of a holy veil in Columbkill's Glen, in the county of Clare, and another was found last year in the county of IMeath, near the ruins of Ardmulchan church." The Hon. "William O. Stanley, in the third volume of this Journal, has described the remarkable interment at Towyn y Capel, Anglesea, supposed to be of the Irish slain there about the year 450. ]Ir. Wakeman states that in the cemetery near the very early church at St. John's Point, co. Down, sepulchral cists appear, arranged in circular order, as in Wales, the feet converging to the centre. We are not aware that any other like in- stance is on record. " In conclusion we may remark (observes our author) that a few hours' examination of the truly national collection of antiquities preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy alone, will afibrd an enquirer a more correct knowledge of the taste, habits, and manufacturing skill of the an- cient Irish, than may be obtained by mere reading, even should he devote years, instead of days, to the attainment of his object." We hope nevertheless that our readers will be induced to purchase this excellent little guide-book, which cannot fail to aid the researches of any one interested in this line of study. MONOGRAPHIE DE l'EgLISE RoYALE DE SaINT-DeNIS, TOMBEATTX ET FiGUEES HisTOEiQUES, par le Baron deGuilhermy, dessins par Ch. Fichot. Paris, Didron, 1848, pp. 326. 12mo. 5 francs. This most excellent manual is far from being confined in its use to a mere guide-book to the Royal Church of St. Denis, and the tombs of the royal family of France, the accuracy of the illustrations, the care with which they are engraved and their great number, make it really a valuable work on costume and monumental sculpture, equally available for this country as for France itself. The care with which these tombs have been restored, and the skill with which they have been identified, make them almost as valu- able authorities as if they had not suffered the barbarous mutilations com- mitted during the first revolution in France. Some parts of the earlier restorations at St. Denis, executed when the details of medieval architecture were little understood, have met with severe criticism from members of the " Comite des Monumens," but much credit is due to the government of Louis Philippe, for the zeal and liberality with which these works, com- menced in the time of the empire, were conducted under his auspices. "We rejoice to'hear that the republican government has not stopped the works, but ordered them to be continued and completed, rightly considering that .these tombs are of national and historical interest, and not merely dynastic. The volume is divided into four parts. I. I'he history of the church built by the Abbe Suger in the twelfth century, with notices of the two or three previous structures, the last of which, apparently of the eleventh century, was not entirely destroyed by Suger, but portions of it still remain in the crypt; some fragments of the earlier structures have also been found.
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