Curious Sepulchral Monuments In Warwickshire, Of The 13th And 14th Centuries.

I can find mention of one incumbent only of this parish of the thirteenth century . "Hugo Eector eccles de Avene Derced mense Male 1 * 232 , " I only know of one other sepulchral effigy of a deacon in this country . That is a mutilated

recumbent effigy in relief lying amongst the ruins of Furness Abbey , Lancashire . This is somewhat rudely , at least formally , sculptured in relief from from a block of lias or limestone , ancl from the hardness of the material the artist has failed

to give anything like effect or breadth to the drapery . The head has been broken off : the body of the effi gy is represented rested in an alb with closefitting sleeves : the alb is represented in parallel puckered folds . In front of the alb , near the skirt in front of the feet , appears the parura or apparel .

The cuffs of the sleeves are also covered parures or apparels ; but these are quite plain . The alb is girt above the loins by the girdle , cingulum , sen zona , sen baltheus , the tasselled extremities of which hang clown to the apparel at the skirt of the alb . This is the only instance I have met Avith

in the sepulchral effigy of an ecclesiastic in which this vestment , the girdle , is apparent . From the wrisfc of the left arm hangs , in somewhat an oblique position , the maniple ; aud crossing diagonally from the left shoulder to the right hip , and thence falling straight down by the riht sideAvifcli both

g , extremities hanging down , is ivorn the stole . In front of the body a book is held with both hands . The slab out of which this effigy has been sculptured is coffin-shaped , AA'ider at the upper part than at the lower , and I should infer is of the fourteenth

century . This effigy at Furness Abbey is illustrative of that at Avon Dassett , for the mode of wearing the stole over the left shoulder , Avith the extremities hanging do * vn on the ri ght side , Avas peculiar to the office of deacon , ancl is alluded , to by Duranclns ,

who , in treating * of this office , tells us that the stole Avas placed upon the left shoulder , supra sinistrmn humerum stola imponitur . The book represented is eA'idently that of the Gospels , for the same writer tells us that Avhen the deacon Avas ordained there was delivered to him a stole , aiid the Book of the Gospels . Diaconus cum ordinatum traditur sub certis A'erbis stola et codex

E \ 'angelii . In a manuscri pt Pontifical in my possession of the latter part of the fifteenth or early part of the sixteenth century , but which does not , probably , materially differ from the Pontificals of an earlier age , the bishop at the ordination of a deacon is represented as putting the stole over

the left shoulder of the deacon , ancl adjusting it under his ri ght arm . Hie Episcopus sedens cum ruitra ponit stolam supra humerum sinistrum , reducens earn sub alam dextram , & c . He , the bishop , is also represented as delivering to the deacon the Book of the Gospels . Hie tradit episcopus librum Evangeliorum . In these two effigies the Dalmatic is represented

Curious Sepulchral Monuments In Warwickshire, Of The 13th And 14th Centuries.

as Avorn on the one but not on the other ; and this singularity may thus be accounted for although the- Dalmatic AA'as Avorn over the alb by deacons , and the tunic AA'as worn over the alb by sub-deacons , there were certain occasions on which neither the Dalmatic nor the tunic were thus

worn . For , as Durandus writes , " non ergo diaconus dalmatican nee subdiaconus tunicellain in diebus jejuniorum in officio missa ? 2 riant . " The manip le worn over the left arm was a- vestment common to the various orders of the Church , from the sub-deacon upwards ; for at the

ordination of the sub-deacon , the bishop placed the maniple on his left arm , as appears by the Pontifical . Hie episcopus sedens mittit manipulum in brachium sinistrum . The mode of Avearing the stole by the deacon differed essentiallfrom the mode in AA'hich it Avas

y worn by the priest , for in the case of the latter , the stole came over both shoulders and . crossed the breast diagonally , or saltire-Avise , in front , down to the girdle , from whence the two extremities , which Avere fringed , hung pendant , one on

each side . This mode of Avearing the stole is seldom visibly apparent on the effigies of the priests , as the chasuble covers the alb , and the ¦ fringed ends of the stole only appear beneath the chasuble . In some few instances , however , as on a brass iu Sudborough Church , Northamptonshire ,

the effigies of priests are represented without the chasuble , in the alb only , Avith the stole over , crossed in front , as if vested for the Sacrament of Baptism , or some other sacred office in Avhich the chasuble was not required to be worn . This difference in the wearing of the stole between the

priest and deacon is thus alluded to by Durandus : ¦ —¦ " Ovarium itaque jugum scilicet onus est jugum sacerdotibus , onus diaconibus . Uncle fit est et sacerdotibus circa collum et diaconibus supra sinistrum humerum ponatur . Sicut enim juqum collo portatur sic et humeris onera feruntur . " ( To be continued . )

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FUEEMASOITS IK THE "WILDS OU AUSTRALIA—At one place Stuart met an old man and his two sons , handsome and wellarmed . Tho native could not understand the questions put to him about the country and its supply of water but , we read , " After some time , having conferred with his sons he turned round ancl surprised me by giving me one of the Masonic signs . I looked at him steadily ; be repeated it , and so did his two sous . I then

returned it , which seemed to please them much , the olcl man patting me on the shoulder and stroking down my beard . They then took their departure , making friendly signs till they were out of sight . " AVill not the Freemasons of Europe send out a body of missionaries to their benighted brethren in the wilds of Australia , and so obtained information about the vast district much more copious and trustworthy than any that can be obtained from rapid travellers , oven though they be as observant aud energetic as Mr . John M'Douall Stuart ?—Fxaminer .

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LOVE changes all into splendour , even tears and the grave ; and before us , life , like the declining sun of the longest day of the north sea , touches only with its rim the passing earth , and rises again , like morning , in the archof heaven .