Page images
PDF
EPUB

had considerable landed property, the annual income of which amounted to 3917. 11s. 7d. in the 26th Hen. VIII. whilst the offerings were as follows:- -In the Chapel of the blessed Virgin Mary, 250l. 1s. ; at the sacred Milk of the blessed Virgin, 27. 2s. 3d.; in the Chapel of Saint Lawrence, 87. 98. 11⁄2d.

(18) Andrew and Katharine.

The tomb of Saint Andrew was at Constantinople: that of Saint Katharine at Mount Sinai-" ex cujus tumulo oleum indesinenter emanat: quod cunctorum debilium membra sanat." (Petrus de Natalibus, lib. x. ca. cv.) The same miraculous virtues were attributed to the tomb of Saint Perpetuus, at Dinan in Britany; and are assigned by Matthew Paris to that of Robert the founder of the house of Gilbertines at Knaresborough.

In his treatise called "Ecclesiastes," or the Preacher, Erasmus thus enumerates the posthumous merits of the saints: "Ad insequens tempus pertinent, prodigia mortem consequentia, et fons salubris aquæ illic exiliens ubi martyris caput amputatum terram contigit, aut oleum medicantis efficax sponte resudans e monumento, aut ad martyrum monumenta profligati demones, quæ pro divinis testimoniis haberi debent."

elgium

(19) Mary was not buried.

It is unknown how long the Virgin survived the crucifixion of our Saviour: Epiphanius saying it was for twenty-four years, other writers for twelve; whilst in the vision of Saint Elizabeth of Sconangia it is related that it was for little more than a year. This version seems to have been adopted to accommodate the circumstance of all the apostles being brought together to her death-bed. The same vision relates that on the fortieth day after her death her soul was re-united to her body, and she was carried up to heaven. But those who believed this corporeal assumption-which was not universally the case, Saint Jerome thinking it safer to suppose the assumption was only of her soul-were not content without making it take place on the third day after death, after the prototype of our Lord's resurrection. The Assumption was a solemn festival of the Church, observed on the 15th of August.

(20) The knight who was saved from his pursuer.

An English version of this story is cited in Blomefield's History of Norfolk, from an old MS. which described the wicker gate as "not past an elne hye, and three quarters in bredth. And a certain Norfolk knight, Sir Raaf Boutetourt, armed cap a pee, and on horseback,

being in days of old, 1314, pursued by a cruel enemy, and in the utmost danger of being taken, made full speed for this gate, and, invoking this lady for his deliverance, he immediately found himself and his horse within the close and sanctuary of the priory, in a safe asylum, and so folled his enemy."

Though it must be regretted that Blomefield did not print the "old MS." here quoted more at full, or at least state where it was preserved, yet it combines with other proofs to show that Erasmus closely described what he had actually seen at Walsingham, without (as some might suspect) drawing upon his invention, or borrowing (as Fosbroke imagined) incidents from Loretto or elsewhere.

As to the costume in which Erasmus describes the knight to have been represented, we must not be surprised if we do not find it coincide with the date assigned to the occurrence; for it was very possible that the plate was engraved at a period considerably later, and it is well known that it was the practice with the medieval artists to adopt the costume of their own day. Supposing the plate to have been engraved in the reign of Henry the Fourth, the knight would very likely appear with a very slender waist; and even earlier, from the time when Edward the Third wore the very long beard which appears on his effigy in Westminster Abbey, many of his knights may have followed their sovereign's fashion. Of the bifid beard worn in the reign of Richard II. there are abundant examples. I have been favoured by the Rev.

Charles Boutell, M.A. the author of the beautifully embellished volume on "Monumental Brasses and Slabs recently published, with the use of the engraving which faces p. 18. It is the brass of Sir William de Tendring, who died in 1408, in the church of Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk.

:

The gateway in the story may be presumed to have been that of which a view is here presented to the reader, and which, when Mr. Cotman drew it, appears to have had an old pair of gates, with the very wicket which was the supposed scene of the miracle. This is now altered but the gatehouse remains, standing in the town street, and opposite to it was formerly a range of cooks' shops and houses of entertainment for the pilgrims, one of which, when Mr. Gough visited the town in 1763, retained its old sign, of a drinking-pot, carved in stone. The head in a quatrefoil in the front of the gateway, and two smaller ones in the side walls, are portions of the original design, and intended to represent the porter and warders on the look-out.

(21) The shed brought from a great distance.

This part of the mysteries of Walsingham was directly parodied from the famous shrine of Loretto, which, next to Rome itself, was the great focus of Italian pilgrimage. The santissima casa of Loretto is supposed to have been

[graphic][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »