crimson velvet, and in coloured silks and gold thread, done in the latter half of the 14th century. Each piece 2 feet 8-1/2 inches by 10-1/2 inches. Presented by Ralf Oakden, Esq.
In many respects these two apparels, seemingly for the lower adornment
of the liturgical alb, one before, the other behind, are very valuable;
besides the subjects they represent, they afford illustrations of the style
of needlework, architecture, costume, and heraldry of their time.
In the upper apparel, we have the birth and childhood of the mother of our Lord, as it is found in one of the apocryphal books of the New Testament, entitled,—"Evangelium de Nativitate S. Mariae," which the Latins got from the Greeks, as early, it would seem, as the second or third age of the Church. Though of no authority, this book was in especial favour with our countrymen, and it was not unfrequently noticed in their writings; hence, no doubt, the upper apparel was suggested by that pseudo-gospel. In its first compartment, we behold a middle-*aged lady, richly clad, having a mantle of gold, lined with vair or costly fur, about her shoulders, seated on a cushioned stool with a lectern, or reading-desk before her, and upon it an open book of the Psalms, with the beginning of the fiftieth written on its silver pages,—"Miserere mei, Deus," &c, and outstretching her hands towards an angel coming down from the clouds, and as he hails her with one hand, holds, un-*rolled, before her eyes, a scroll bearing these words:—"Occurre viro ad portam." This female is Ann, wife of Joachim, and mother of Mary; and the whole is thus set forth in the Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti; where the angel, who appeared to her while she was at prayer, is said to have spoken these words:—"Ne timeas, Anna, neque phantasma esse putes. . . . Itaque surge, ascende Hierusalem, et cum perveneris ad portam quæ aurea, pro eo quod deaurata est, vocatur, ibi pro signo virum tuum obvium habebis," &c.—Evangelium de Nativitate S. Mariae, c. iv. in Cod. Apocry. ed. Thilo, pp. 324, 325. This passage is thus rendered in that rare old English black-letter book of sermons called "The Festival," which was so often printed by Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, and other early printers in London:—"Anne was sory and prayed to God and sayde, Lorde, that me is woo. I am bareyne, and I may have noo frute . . . and I knowe not whyther he (Joachim my husband) is gone. Lorde have mercy on me. Whene as she prayed thus an angell come downe and comforted her, and sayd: Anne, be of gode comfort, for thou shalt have a childe in thyne olde age, there was never none lyke, ne never shall be . . . and whan he (Joachim) come nye home, the angell come to Anne, and bade her goo
