Page:The Ancestor Number 1.djvu/191

 THE ANCESTOR 141 seal, and is disposed over the body. The buskins are covered with a fretty pattern with leopards between. The sceptres are lost, as are all the applied ornaments on the crown, cuffs and edges of the vestments. As the effigy was not made until 1289 it may be taken to represent also the royal orna- ments then in use. Of the coronation robes of Edward 1. I have not yet found any official record, but a description of some of the actual ornaments is contained in Sir Joseph Ayloffe*s account of the opening of the king's tomb at Westminster on 2nd May, 1774, by the Society of Antiquaries : ^ On lifting up the lid [of the marble coffin], the royal corpse was found wrapped up within a large square mantle, of strong, coarse, and thick linen cloth, diaper'd, of a dull, pale, yellowish brown colour, and waxed on its under side. The head and face were entirely covered with a sudarium, or face-cloth, of crimson sarcenet, the substance whereof was so much perished, as to have a cobweb-like feel, and the appearance of fine lint. | . . . When the folds of the external wrapper were thrown back, and the sudarium removed, the corpse was discovered richly habited, adorned with ensigns of royalty, and almost intire, notwithstanding the length of time that it had been entombed. Its innermost covering seemed to have been a very fine linen cerecloth, dressed close to every part of the body, and superinduced with such accuracy and exactness, that the fingers and thumbs of both the hands had each of them a separate and distinct envelope of that material. The face, which had a similar covering closely fitted thereto, retained its exact form, although part of the flesh appeared to be somewhat wasted .......... Next above the before-mentioned cerecloth was a dalmatic, or tunic, of red silk damask ; upon which lay a stole of thick white tissue, about three inches in breadth, crossed over the breast, and extending on each side downwards, nearly as low as the wrist, where both ends were brought to cross each other. On this stole were placed, at about the distance of six inches from each other, quatrefoils, of philligree-work, in metal gilt with gold, elegantly chased in figure, and ornamented with five pieces of beautiful transparent glass, or paste, some cut, and others rough, set in raised sockets. The largest of these pieces is in the centre of each quatrefoil ; and each of the other four is fixed near to the angle : so that all of them together form the figure of a quincunx. These false stones differ in colour. Some are ruby ; others a deep amethyst : some again are sapphire ; others white ; and some a sky-blue. The intervals between the quatrefoils on the stole are powdered with an immense quantity of very small white beads, resembling pearls, drilled, and tacked down very near each other, so as to compose an embroidery of most elegant form, and not much unlike that which is commonly called. The True- lover's Knot. These beads, or pearls, are all of the same size, and equal to that of the largest pin's head. They are of a shining, silver-white hue ; but not so pellucid as necklace-beads and mock-pearls usually are. Over these habits is the royal mantle, or pall, of rich crimson sattin, fastened Archceologia, iii. 376-413.