Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/348

 254 ON THE SEPULCHRAL SLABS EXISTING IN THE they almost all bear. The emblems which accompany the cross, are generally regarded as indicating only the trade or profession of the deceased, but a careful study of numerous examples has induced me to differ somewhat from the gene- rally received explanation of at least one of the symbols. The grave-stones of ecclesiastics are easily recognised by the chalice sculptured thereon. Sometimes there is only the chalice, or again, the paten is also to be seen, and sometimes both the host and the paten. Not unfrequently the chalice is incorporated in the stem of the cross, with the paten above it, as in the annexed cut of a slab from St. Mary's Hos- pital, Newcastle. No doubt this refers to the well-known custom of burying a leaden ? chalice and paten in the coffin of a priest, when these insignia of his sacerdotal office were generally laid upon the breast of the deceased. I have found the chalice thus forming part of the stem of the cross in four instances out of twenty-four grave-stones of ecclesiastics of which I possess rubbings. In two instances only have we seen the hand extended in benediction over the chahce. One of these slabs occurs at Barnard Castle in Durham, and is figured by Surtees, in his History of Durham ; the other was fonnd four years ago in taking down the south transept of St. Andrew's church, Newcastle. We have rarely found the chalice and book together. The latter has been supposed by some to indicate a deacon, but I have often found the book combined with other emblems certainly not of an ecclesiastical character. It has long appeared to me somewhat singular, that while the emblems of the trade or profession of the deceased were pretty frequently discovered upon these grave-stones, no symbol had yet been determined upon, as the distinctive emblem of the female sex. When we remember how jealously the sexes were separated in churches during service, and how frequently altar-tombs have been raised to females of high rank, it seems strange that the wives and daughters of the tradesman or of the knight should not be distinguished by any sign whatsoever. Before this time I had beei) well aware of the general opinion of the common people in the north, that the shears on a grave-stone indicated that the deceased was a female. Such was also the opinion held by the late historian of Northumberland, the Rev. John Hodgson. By most of the writers in the Archaeological Journal, the