Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/502

 366 EFFIGIES OF THE DE SULNEYS, in hauberk, chausses, and hood of banded mail, with a cervelUere of plate of similar form to the preceding. Let it not be objected to the foregoing remarks that the inferences are mostly of a negative character. Next to knowing what a thing is, the most desirable point appears to be — to know what it is not. It seems pretty clear, then, from the absence of varied colours to which we have alluded, that the banded armour is not pourpointerie of any kind. And from the presence of the ring-work on the inside of the fabric, as well as the out, it appears not to be of the con- struction suggested by M. de Vigne. If meant for ordinary chain-mail, it must be confessed that the medieval artists never hit upon a mode of expressing this material so little resembling the original. It is to the further examination of ancient evidences, or to the discovery of monuments hitherto unobserved by the curious antiquary, that we must look for a satisfactory solution of this knightly mystery. Hot-pressed theories from Paternoster Row, or the Quai des Ai(gnstins, can do us no good. The secret lies hidden probably in a slip of mouldy parchment, a scrap of broken glass, a fractured paving-quarry, or a morsel of sealing-wax. The second effigy at Newton Solney, to which we have already alluded as remarkable for the camail tied down upon the shoulders, lies under a pointed mural arch on the north side of the chancel. The proportions are those of a man six feet high : the sculpture is of the highest finish and in fine preservation. The material is alabaster, of which an abundance is found in the neighbourhood ; and there seems much probability that this monument may have been pro- duced by one of the " marblers " of the neighbouring town of Burton. In the time of Leland these artists were in force in that town. At Burton, he says, in the " Itinerary," are " many Marbelers working in alabaster." They were still numerous in Camden's time : the place is noticed as " famous for its alabaster works." Stcbl)ing Shaw, the historian of the county, who resided in the neighbouring village of Hartshorne, writes, " How long Burton continued thus famous, we are not in- formed ; but certainly there has been no such manufactory here of late years, though alabaster is still plcntifid on the sides of Necdwood forest, particularly about Tutbury."' The effigy of our knight reposes on an altar tomb of very ' Leland, vij. 24, cd. of 174 I ; Cough's Camden, ij. 377; Shaw's Staffordsbii'c, j. 13-