Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/483

 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 3S5 the whole surface of the slab, excepting a narrow border for the inscription. The canon is attired iti eucharistic vestments covered with bold embroidery, and wears an aumuse over his head ; from the moutli proceeds a liiljel with the words, "No incas in judicium cum servo tuo Dfie psa 143." In liis hands he holds a chalice. The canopy is extremely elaborate, and contains in seven niches, in the upper part, figures of an aged man (probably Abraham) with the soul of the deceased, and of six attendant angels, carrying censers and playing on instruments of music ; and in sixteen niches at the sides as many figures ; some of these represent Apostles, but others are too much defaced to allow of their being satisfactorily identified. At the angles of the slab are the Evangelistic symbols in cjuatrefoils. The inscription is in a small black letter, and runs as follows : — " Cy gist venerable et discrete persone Me. Philippe Infauns natif du diocese de Amiens en son vivant pbre chanoine de leglise do Leans qui trespassa le sixiesme jour du moys de April Mil cinq cens x-ii . . . msques. Priez dieu pour son ame pr . . . aue ma." Mr. W. S. Walfoud comnmnicated the following observations on the " Palimpsest " brass escutcheon shown at a previous meeting by Dr. Mantell. (See page 300, ante.) ' " The quarterly coat on the escutcheon exhibited by Dr. Mantell was, I would suggest, intended for the arms of William de Montacute, the 2nd Earl of Salisbury of that name, who died in 13137, or of William his father the previous Earl, who died in 1344 ; but in the latter case it was, in all probability, executed some years after his death. " The brass has been shortened at the top about one-eighth of an inch. Allowing for this, and judging from its form, it belongs to the latter part of the XlVth century. The arms in the first and fourth quarters were certainly those of Montacute, viz., arg. three fusils conjoined in fess gu. The colour of the shield in the second and third quarters is left to conjecture ; for after a careful examination I think no trace of the original colour remains. There is some appearance of gules, but not more or other- wise than may have come accidentally from the other side ; in addition to which I have not met with any distinguished family of the Xlllth or XlVth century, in this country, that bore gu, six lioncels ramp. or. I discovered a small speck of greenish blue under the pitch, but it was probably the eff'ect of the oxidisation of the brass. The lioncels being of brass, I have assumed they were intended for or, since the argent in the Montacute coat is represented by white metal. The absence of colour made me consider whether it might not have been sahle, and there was temp. Edward II. a Sir Renaud St. Martin who bore sa. six lioncels or. However, as far as I can trace, neither St. Martin, nor any other family that bore lioncels rampant were connected with the Montacutes. We are therefore driven to seek some other explanation of the arms in the second and third quarters. Sir William de Montacute, the father, was created Earl of Salisbury in 1337, and, dying in 1344, was succeeded by his eldest son of the same name, who died without issue in 1397, having had the misfortune to kill his only son in a tilting match at Windsor in 1382, The arms of the previous Earls of Salisbury were az. six lioncels rampant or (Longspee), which I think must be the coat here quartered with Montacute. Though no family connexion existed to account for such a quartering, yet it may be an instance, even if a solitary one in this country, of treating the coat of the first earls as the arms of the earldom, and VOL, IX. 3 B