Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/504

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vm. DEC. 20, wia

With regard to Dr. Nelson's county lists of old glass, which make a brave show, we have an uncomfortable feeling that they are not altogether reliable. In cases where printed lists were available for reference such as Canterbury and York Cathedrals and the two counties, Herts and Bucks, already surveyed by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments our author's lists, no doubt, are correct, but as to the general run of English counties we are not sure of them. Frankly, we hardly see how they could be accurate and complete, for, short of a personal visitation of every church, a thing well-nigh impossible for any individual, such lists cannot be satisfactorily com- piled. Unfortunately, the author gives no caution on the subject, but leaves the reader to assume that the lists are presented as accurate and exhaustive, save for such minor mistakes as would be covered by the author's prefatory apology for shortcomings.

The accuracy of such 'lists as these is difficult to test, but it happens that our own information with regard to one county Essex is nearly complete, so that we are able to test Dr. Nelson's list for that county at least.

In Essex there are about four hundred ancient parish churches, of which some two hundred con- tain remains of old glass. Dr. Nelson's Essex list comprises only forty -four churches, and some of these do not at the present time contain any old glass, although the sources from which the author's information is derived were, no doubt, correct in their day. Thus he tells us that at Great Ilford " in east window in chapel of the hospital are quarries bearing grasshopper" (sic). In fact, there is no old glass whatever in the east window, but the north window of the chapel is tilled with late fifteenth-, sixteenth-, and seventeenth- century heraldry, among which are two shields of Gresham, a Gresham merchant's mark, and two quarries bearing grasshoppers (presumably a Gres- ham badge), while in the south window is (inter alia) a most interesting collection of sixteenth- century Flemish heraldic panels, including the arms of the Emperor Charles V.

Lindfcell. The figures of saints mentioned by Dr. Nelson as fourteenth-century are thirteenth-, or possibly twelfth-, century.

Messing. East window contains the Last Judg- ment, says our author. The most cursory glance at this seventeenth-century window, usually attri- buted to one of the Van Linges, is enough to show that it has nothing whatever to do with the Last Judgment. Its subject is the temporal works of mercy feeding the hungry, and so forth ; while in the tracery are figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Romford The figure of St. Edward the Con- fessor mentioned by Dr. Nelson has been lost to Romford for many a long year. Its presence there once on a time is attested by seventeenth-century writers, but otherwise it is merely traditional.

Stapleford Abbots. Our author's "fourteenth- century shields" in the window of the Abdy pew are conspicuous by their absence, although one may see there some very poor eighteenth century heraldry in glass. The fourteenth-century figure of St. Edward is, in fact, in the vestry, not in the Abdy pew.

According to Dr. Nelson, there is ancient glass at Sible Hedingham Church, but we found none when we visited that church in June last.

Colville (under West Hanningfield) seems to be a pardonable mistake for Clovill. We may add

that the Clovill shield at West Hamiingfield is now in a south window of the south aisle, though it was formerly in the north window of the chancel.

Under Thaxted, where there is a large quantity of very fragmentary Perpendicular glass, arranged, on the whole very well, by Kemp, " the arms of York quartered with de Burgh, Mortimer, and Grenville" are mentioned. It might have been- better to use the expression " England " or the "Royal Arms" rather than "York," and mention that the ascription of the first quarter to the Duke of York is a probable one only, for to-day this quarter is filled with modern plain white glass. " Grenville," too, ought to read Gene- ville, an old Mortimer quartering. The figure of a. knight with shield bearing the Mortimer arms, probably a panel from a lost genealogical window, is in the south transept not in the west window r as stated by our author.

White Notley. The thirteenth-century figure- described by l)r. Nelson as "a crowned female saint" is, we suggest, meant for a king, perhaps St. Edward the Confessor. It is of interest to- note that the small Norman window which contains this little figure, with its setting of circular-arched canopy and white quarries de- corated with fleurs-de-lis, was found by a former rector built up with masonry and imbedded in the vestry wall.

Roothing Abbots is another, and probably erro- neous, form of Abbess Boding or Roothing Abbess,, and not, as given here, a different place.

Are we to think that the author's lists for other counties are more accurate and complete than his list for Essex? The fact that the one for West- moreland commences with S (Swindale) has some bearing on this question.

Nevertheless these lists, with all their imper- fections, have a certain value as helps towards appreciation of old painted glass still left to us in England.

Had Dr. Nelson given vis more expository matter, such as his knowledge of the subject well qualifies him to give, and merely used the existing examples- of old glass known to 'him to illustrate his obser- vations only, his book would, we think, have been materially strengthened.

The Cambridge Medieval History. Planned by J. B. Bury, edited by H. M. Gwatkin and J. P. Whitney. Vol.11. The Rise of the Saracens and the Foundation of the Western Empire. (Cam- bridge University Press.)

THIS volume covers one of the darkest periods of history. The gloom overcasts it of ignorance and barbarism, of profound disturbance, and endless suffering; and, for our own eyes, this is thickened, as to many parts, by the paucity of the records and our relative neglect of even what we have. Neces- sarily a large proportion of these pages is devoted' to following in colourless brief notes the compli- cated military movements whereby the Visigoths made themselves masters in Spain, and the Franks in Gaul, the Lombards seized the North of Italy, and the Saracens, spreading from East to West, overthrew the Visigoths on the one hand, and, on the other, menaced the very heart of the empire.

Intertwined in the closest relationship with the history of the wars is the history of religious con- troversy, and across the distance of time the violent clash of opposing religious convictions reverberates even more loudly than the tumults of mere invasion-