which appears in the representation of Hedda, bishop of Winchester, executed about the same period, deserves notice. The same form appears in both, the elevation is slight, compared with mitres of a subsequent period, and the apex forms a right angle. This curious subject is taken from the Roll, which presents a series of drawings illustrative of the Life of St. Guthlac, and it exhibits his admission into priest's orders. These designs have been engraved for Nichols' History of Leicestershire, and the original roll, a remarkable specimen of English design during the latter part of the twelfth century, is preserved at the British Museum[1].
The successive variations in the form of the mitre, or other similar details, serve to the practised eye as indications of date; it is on this account interesting to compare the simple embroidered mitre of the twelfth century with the superb, but less elegant work of the fifteenth, the splendidly jewelled mitra pretiosa, wrought by Thomas O'Carty for Cornelius O'Deagh, bishop of Limerick, about the year 1408, which has supplied Mr. Shaw with the subject of one of his most beautiful plates. This valuable relic of Irish workmanship in the precious metals had previously been represented in the Archæologia, vol. xvii., accompanied by a dissertation from the pen of the
- ↑ Harl. Charter, V. 6.
