Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/471

 NOTICES OP AllCIIAEOLOOICAL PUBLICATIONS. ^31 5 A MANUAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE SEPULCHRAL SLABS AND CROSSES OF THE MIDDLE AGES. By the Rev. Edward L. Cutt.s. 8vo. London and Oxford, Parker. Published as a portion of the Scries of Archaeological Manuals, under the sanction of the Central Committee of the Institute. The investigation of sepulchral antiquities of mediaeval date is a suliject of curious inquiry, prosecuted almost exclusively, as we believe, in our own country. A few local monographs have been produced in France and Germany, and representations of specimens of great interest have been given in Archaeological publications on the Continent. Amongst these may specially be cited the " Costume du Moyen Age," of Hefner, and the examples of art collected in the interesting " Beitrage zur teutschen Kunst," by Miiller (Leipsic, 4to, 1S37). No attempt, however, has been hitherto made on the Continent resembling the great work of the indefatigable Gough, to reduce into system the variety of sepulchral memorials, inscribed stones, effigies and tombs ornamented with characteristic symbols, forming so instructive a class of Middle Age-antiquities, ranging from early Chris- tian times to the period of totiil debasement of monumental art. The first attempt to bring this subject, in a concise and popular manner, before English aiitiquaries, was achieved some years since by Mr. Bloxam, whose useful " Glimpses at Monumental Antiquities" aroused interest, and sent forth a legion of inquirers into the remotest comers of the country. A profuse harvest of curious facts has been the result, and several later writers have already done much towards a scientific classification of English sepulchral memorials. The useful works of Mr. Haines and Mr. Boutell have guided the collector of monumental brasses, but another and extensive class of incised memorials were left, well deserving of careful investigation. To these, with some varieties of analogous character, the useful hand-book pi'epared by Mr. Cutts is devoted. The work before us comprises tombs, entitled Incised cross-slabs, some of them (existing in Ireland) assigned to as early a period as the sixth century : — cross-slabs with crosses or symbols in relief, occasionally exhi- biting heads or demi-figures of curious design : and head-stone crosses, dllTcring chiefly from the otliers in their erect position. A casual observer of ecclesiatical remains would scarcely credit the number or variety of the remains of this nature: not less than '-270 memorials of various kinds are included in the series selected by Mr. Cutts, from a thousand which have come under his observation, and fresh specimens are continually brought under notice. A large collection of drawings of such subjects, as we believe, existed in the Stowe Library, containing doubtless many now lost. In the researches of Mr. Cutts our readers will find a very serviceable manual of information; and, whilst some may take exception to the dates assigned to these memorials, chai'acterised by no very distinct features, it should be borne in mind that this volume comprises the results of the fust systematic endeavour to classify the simpler types of sepulchral memorials in England, and to reduce them to chronological order. In a recent beautifully illustrated work by IMr. Boutell, the same sub- ject has been treated in less detail, and illustrated by fewer examples. It may be a cause of regret that two works, presenting so much similarity in